Warhammer 40,000: Citizens and Politics (Ethics Part 2?)
This post is meant to look more into the politics and citizens of The Imperium, this was heavily touched on in my previous blog post when discussing hive cities. This post will focus on political conflicts within the Imperium and a brief look at the citizenry (Much of the discussion on the citizenry can be found in the last post).
The population of the Imperium is unimaginably vast. The Imperium’s roughly one million worlds are inhabited by humans or human-descended abhumans. Although they are all citizens of the Imperium, citizenship confers no rights, only responsibilities. The VAST majority of the imperial citizenry lives in hive cities detailed in the previous post as well as the life of those citizens.
Wartime Mentality: For most citizens the interstellar war of attrition that has engulfed the galaxy and the immaterium is a far removed threat. It likely that the average pleb citizen will be born and die having never witnessed any conflict of this war due to the size of The Imperium. Many are not so lucky however. Production for the war effort, be it material supplies or manpower, is the prime purpose of civilian life. This is an authoritarian regime that is held together through religious worship and xenophobia.
The Few the “Free”: Rogue Traders, are unique and powerful human individuals who serve as a combination freelance explorer, conquistador and interstellar merchant for the Imperium of Man. They are hereditary Imperial servants and nobles, given a starship, and a crew. I mention them here because their unique position allows them to be some of the only truly free citizens. They are not above the law but are allowed to explore and operate in many places where the arm of Imperial law is weaker or nonexistent. They receive their commission and sometimes spend years away from any authority. As a result they are often viewed with distrust by members of the Inquisition and administrators when they do return to the Imperium.
Political Structure: The Emperor of Mankind is the undisputed ruler of the Imperium. Unfortunately he is rather non-verbal in his current state as a decaying skeleton atop the golden throne. As such the majority of ruling power lies in the High Lords of Terra. While the Inquisition is on equal terms in political status, they are less administrative and more, well, inquisitive. The Inquisition acts as the secret police force of the Imperium, hunting down any and all of the myriad threats to the stability of the Imperium of Man, from the corruption caused by the Forces of Chaos, Heretics, mutants and rebels, to assaults from vicious and various alien species. The important thing to remember is that they act with practically no oversight outside the ranks of the Inquisition.
Adeptus: Many branches of Imperial administration has the title “Adeptus”. It is best to consider each Adeptus as a division within the government focusing on a specific task or domain. The language of the Imperium is a kind of gothic psuedo language loosely based off Latin. (Loose examples below)
Adeptus Astartes = Expert of the Stars
Adeptus Ministorum = Expert of the Administration
Adeptus Mechanicus = Expert of the Machines
Adeptus Astra Telepathica = Expert of Space Mind Reading
The Return of Guilliman: Aside from the innumerable political plots for power, there is an awkward political situation at the top of the Imperial hierarchy. Recently in the history of 40k Roboute Guilliman, the Primarch of the Ultramarines, has returned. As a Primarch the authority he holds is overshadowed only by the Emperor. Guilliman is currently occupied with the war effort but he remembers the Imperium of ten millennia ago and does not view the current administration as what is necessary for survival, but a reversal of human advancement brought about by religious zeal, ignorance, and fear. It is largely up to conjecture what will become of the Imperium under Guilliman. Roboute is a fine leader but he will be pulling against thousands of years of instilled fear, dogma, and mistrust. It is reasonable to believe that if the Emperor himself returned in all his glory, leaders of the Imperium would turn rebel against the Emperor who claims to not be a god and would undo the current administration. After all, it could be the deception of chaos attempting to undermine worship of the “god Emperor” As such Guilliman must take care to delicately steer the Imperium in the right direction. The grim dark of the future is usually not a place for delicate procedures, and Guilliman’s success or failure will determine the course of humanity.
In a very comedic fashion the you-tuber Bruva Alfabusa explores what the Emperor might say if he could talk in the series “If the Emperor had a Text to speech device”.
For more 40k lore check out my other posts 1, 2, and 3 where you can find other resources and related content.
