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Imperial Culture

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The culture of the Imperium can be said to be cosmopolitan in that no two worlds are exactly alike. Making all these disparate cultures into one that owes fealty to one source — Terra — is in itself difficult. Some general statements may be made, but the scale and variety of the Imperium defies even these.

Language

Main article: High Gothic
Main article: Low Gothic

Unlike currency, there is a unifying language to the Imperium: High Gothic and Low Gothic. High Gothic (and a technical dialect known as "Tech") is the first language on a large minority of worlds, a well-known second language on still more. In the greater Imperium, High Gothic is largely unknown, and is mainly used formally, as in pious benedictions or between adepts, as High Gothic has remained uniform throughout the Imperium.[1b]

Throughout much of the Imperium, Low Gothic is the lingua franca, and it has developed a large number of local dialects, lexicons, and accents throughout the Imperium. All variations of Low Gothic have their roots in the proto-Gothic language used during the early Age of Expansion. The Nalsheen and the Sleepwalkers of Gereon use one such Old Gothic-based dialect.[3] Very few feral and feudal worlds have native High Gothic speakers.[1b]

The Adeptus Mechanicus, while cognisant of the Gothic languages, will more readily use their own collection of languages known as Cant Mechanicus.[33]

There also exist a number of sign languages, whose origins range from the ritualistic Thoughtmark of the Sisters of Silence to the battlefield-born Battle-Signs of the Astartes.[40]

Terms
Main article: Imperial Terms

Literature

Many types of literature exist in the Imperium. Treatises, monographs, textbooks and other texts are written about a multitude of subjects such as natural philosophy, planetary histories, law and religion.[84] Less serious reading exists as well in the forms of poetry, fiction[13c] and pornography.[85]

While physical books do exist in the Imperium, most people don’t read physical books printed on paper. Fewer than one in thirty thousand people ever read anything that isn’t on a slate or a devotional pamphlet. Still, paper is used and produced on many Imperial worlds[86] although the animal-hide-based vellum is the most commonly used material for record keeping. Vellum is cheaper and more durable than normal paper or other forms of storing information.[32]

The Imperium and its various organisations are known to keep their important records in their own libraries and archives. These repositories of knowledge vary in size, from a municipal[83a] or an important individual’s personal library[84] to entire archive-worlds.[32] Bookshops exist as well in the Imperium.[81c]

Two examples of famous Imperial literature are "The Spheres of Longing" written by the Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor[83c] and "Reflections and Odes" written by the Remembrancer-poet Ignace Karkasy.[13b]

Texts
Main article: List of known Imperial literary works
Known Writers

Religion

Main article: Imperial Cult

In the 41st Millennium, the standard religion of the Imperium is the Imperial Cult. The cult venerates the Emperor as a divine being, borne out by a number of miracles and saints in his name. Variations of this cult appear across the galaxy, and the Adeptus Terra investigates some of them to ensure that they do indeed pay fealty to the Immortal Master of Mankind. Note that not all of humanity's defenders worship the Emperor in the same manner: for instance, some of the Adeptus Astartes chapters' beliefs would be heretical for an ordinary citizen to hold.[7b]

Unfortunately for humankind, there are other gods that demand worship. Warp entities require tribute in order to remain in the physical realm[1a][6], while still others venerate aliens.[4][5] These deviant cults are the maggot-ridden underbelly of human culture, and it is the role of humankind's best investigators to root them out and burn them before they infest the rest of the species.

Media

Mass media, rigidly controlled by the Ecclesiarchy and the state, is usually political or religious in nature, forcing many to find other sources of entertainment.[14a]

There exist holodramas, presumably audiovisual narratives that can be watched thanks to some form of Hololithic Projector. Examples include:

Entertainment

Most recreation is achieved through religious festivals, music, and drinking. Many, particularly those who can not find fulfillment outside of worship to the Emperor, resort to drug use to escape the reality of their lives. There are parks and shows for the nobility, but these are too expensive for a commoner to enjoy.[14a] ​Circuses[87a] and traveling fairs exist in the Imperium as well.[88] On particular regressive worlds, gladiatorial combat may be used for entertainment.[14a]

Celebrations

The Imperium has several church- and state-ordained commemorations to mark significant events in its history, or to reinforce its imagined community:

More place- or people-specific celebrations include:

Games

Music

Instruments
Compositions
Known Composers

Known Dramaturges

Narcotics

Main article: Narcotics

Food and Drink

Main article: Food and Drink of the Imperium

Plastic Arts

Known Artists

Known Styles

Imperial Architecture

Many of the various Imperial buildings are constructed accross the galaxy are relatively homogenous, often being made according to an existing Standard Template Construct. These STC's allow for the easily recognisable buildings in accordance to their function, regardless of whether they are made from stone, metal, wood, coral, compacted organic waste, or any other material.[104]

Building functionality designs:

Currency

Main article: Imperial Currency

Many types of currency in the Imperium exist, such as Credits[9], Crowns[10], Aquilas[13b], Thrones[11a], Scrip and ecclesiarchy-certified tithe beads[15]. Often goods, resources, and manpower are substituted as currency on a planetary level.[12]

Technology

Since the end of the epoch known as the Dark Age of Technology, mankind's technological level has regressed. The Imperium is largely reliant on maintaining technologies from the Dark Age - such as the warp drive — which are vital to its continued operation, but which are little understood and cannot be replicated.[1b]

Transmission systems

Electricity is the single most important means of transporting energy from one place to another in the 41st millennium.[1b]. However, some of the technologies within the Imperium rely upon Photon Lines (a refined development of fibre optic cable), Phased Crystals (to transport information), hydroplastics (which generate power through pressure), Sucrosol (an abbreviation of Sucrose based solution, a synthetic 'blood' that allows bio-engineered parts to be maintained, it is usually white) or radio signals (utilising radio bandwidths previously unavailable).[1b]

Generation systems

  • Crystal Batteries — Based on engineered crystals whose structure changes as they absorb energy, slowly releasing it as they progressively recover their original form.[1c]
  • Plasma-generators — Ionized matter contained in a magnetic field. Potentially volatile.[1c]
  • Conventional — Wind, tides, sun, steam, friction, animal and so on.[1c]

Bionics

Main article: Imperial Bionics

Bionics are used throughout the Imperium, though with no real standard to make or quality. They are commonly used to repair severely wounded soldiers, although there are many other applications. High-ranking officials of the Imperium such as Adepts and members of the Inquisition are most likely to have high-quality bionics. Generally, they represent a special acquisition and would not conceivably be available to the poor or even moderately well-off.[1d]

Generally speaking, bionics are available to soldiers of the Imperium, including guardsmen (such as Domor from the Tanith First regiment), and Space Marines.[7a] They are also available to other servants of the Emperor of rank, and to the rich (such as Captain Maxilla of the Essene).[8]

Standard Template Constructs

Main article: STC

A Standard Template Construct (STC) is a system created in the Dark Age of Technology to assist colonists in creating and maintaining technologies vital to survival on new planets. In the current era of the Imperium, very few exist. The Adeptus Mechanicus is constantly searching for any rumour of an STC as part of their "Quest for Knowledge."[1c]

Data Collection and Storage

Traditional record keeping tools — ink, quills, parchment, paper — coexist[32] with more advanced forms of information technology:

Medical Science

Public health is overseen by the Officio Medicae, a division of the Adeptus Administratum[41], and various agencies have their own corps of chiurgeons[42]. While the wealthy and powerful have access to Juvenat treatments to prolong their life expectancy, ordinary citizens must do with levels of medical science ranging from leeches and herbs[14c] to treatment in fully equipped hospitals[14d] depending on their world's technological level and personal status.

Medication

Industry

Industrial Equipment
Materials Extracted or Processed

Trivia

 

The following information is not to be regarded as officially sanctioned and/ or is not written from an in-universe point of view. A detailed explanation of the term "Trivia" as used in the Lexicanum can be found here.

  • High Gothic is represented in most editions of 40k as a "latinised" form of English, which enrages Latin scholar fans of the game still, some still complaining that the book Deus Encarmine should instead have been called Deux Encarmine (See Black Library forum). [Help]
  • The prestige of bionics has wavered through the editions of Warhammer 40,000. In the 1st edition, bionics were a fairly broad selection of gear and equipment, including such devices as tendril sensors and bionic limbs. By third and fourth edition, with the focus coming much more as a large-scale warfare game, the role of bionics has diminished to giving only minimal advantages.[7]

Sources

 

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