The Imperium --- Far More Organised Than You Would Imagine?

[Kage2020]

A common image conjured of the Imperium is that of the failing or inept bureaucracy that can lose worlds for centuries, resulting in the deaths of billions in an Imperium where human lives don't matter. And so on. You can probably drawn oodles of examples from the background materials that work with this type of imagery.

 

Yet I say, "Au contraire". The Imperium of Man actually has a fantastic bureaucracy and, to have survived for over ten millennia, would have to. The details are, however, in the gaps and where one finds the information. 

 

* * *

 

The premise is simple and not too stretch of the imagination from the established background materials on the structure of the Imperium. It was also something that was initially borne out of the consideration of something called the "Universal World Profile" (UWP) from a TTRPG called Traveller. These can be simple, but Googling around revealed a more complex version (that is tongue-in-cheek but includes the real version) that looks about perfect for something stored in the central archive of Terra: 

 

IMTU tc+ t5++(LBB#000016) tp ge-() 3i(+) jt a ls+
Eneri Dinshaa 0609 A588865-B S     323

 

If this looks like gibberish, you're spot on. And that's the point. The kind of thing that is archived on Terra is going to be the tip of the iceberg when it comes to the kind of data footprint that, say, an industrial world could generate over a given period of time.

 

Yet where would more detailed information be found? In that answer you have the structure of the Imperium, which is oft-noted as being feudal and, herein, inherently hierarchical when it comes to data: 

 

• Terra / Mars.
• Segmentum Fortress World.
• < Units of astrographic measure not described>
• Sector Capital.
• Subsector Capital.
• Individual world.

 

For the purposes of, say, Inquisitorial acolytes running around looking for information (ala Dark Heresy 2e---not 1e as that is a terrible system!), where do you go for information. For obvious reasons you're not going to hike your way to Holy Terra (or Mars) to get the high-order information for anything except the most abstract of data investigations looking at patterns over huge swathes of the Imperium on a periodicity of when data is sent back*. No, you're going to go further down the data chain.

 

There are some wonderful implications to this that does a lot of heavy-lifting as to how the Imperium operates in the various background materials. The big decision-makers of the Imperium are dealing with the most abstract data archives that is always going to be outdated (though not due to incompetence) and will rely heavily on "field reports" transmitted over the Astropathic Network.

 

Hmmn. Actually, I'm going to leave it at that as "food for thought".

* For those that hark back to the times of Portent / Warseer, can you remember "The Imperial Pony Express"!? ;)

 

* * *

 

As always, DISCUSS.

[Jareddm]

When I think about how to apply this to the Imperium, I can imagine this as part of a family tree of different data profiles. That adepts would not just deal with decrypting the formats directly into information, but would also need a genealogy map (more likely a giant tome) that explains how to translate from one data profile to another through means of half a dozen transitory syntax states, each of which at one point in the past was deemed the "best format" and "new standard."

[Kage2020]

4 hours ago, Jareddm said:

When I think about how to apply this to the Imperium, I can imagine this as part of a family tree of different data profiles. That adepts would not just deal with decrypting the formats directly into information, but would also need a genealogy map (more likely a giant tome) that explains how to translate from one data profile to another through means of half a dozen transitory syntax states, each of which at one point in the past was deemed the "best format" and "new standard."

 

Oh, that definitely introduces plenty of flavour to the 40k setting for sure! 

 

For me, that's an example of an exception rather than the rule. Something to throw a curve ball to the players investing "something" rather than saying that this is the rule of how the Imperium works. After all, one imagines that with an "empire" the size of the Imperium, if it wasn't a tad more efficient than it would have fallen a long time ago into smaller "micro empires".

 

Again, though, wonderful reminder about the flavour that you can introduce to bring back some of the flavour of the setting! :D

[Karak Norn Clansman]

Yes. The Imperium is vast enough to be both reasonably well organized and able to respond to most serious threats, and sclerotic enough to have planets fall between the cracks for centuries.

 

I would like to add to this topic from an angle of historical references. The thing is that one of the more dry but interesting aspects of Warhammer 40'000 background is the theme of organization. This is a very Roman historical reference, best exemplified with the Primarch Roboute Guilliman:

 

Guilliman reformed the Legiones Astartes into lots of tiny Chapters following the Horus Heresy, spreading them out for a dispersed defence of the sprawling Imperium and preventing any one large lump of forces in a Legion from rebelling. The Imperial Army was also split into Imperial Guard ground forces and Imperial Navy voidfleet forces so as to prevent rebellious Imperial Guard from having the naval muscles and logistics from easily expanding to other star systems, and vice versa prevent rebellious Imperial Navy contingents from fielding the army required to seize and hold planets. Likewise, Imperial administration was reformed into the Adeptus Terra structures familiar from the 41st millennium.

 

Newer background for the return of Guilliman include plenty of sweeping reforms, such as bringing back the sub-empire Realm of Ultramar under Tetrarchs and all the fuss around Astartes and the High Lords of Terra. For all my skepticism and doubt toward the return of Primarchs and Primaris background, I will hand it to Games Workshop on a silver platter that bringing back Guilliman first was a very good call: Not only does his headache at colliding with the decrepit, pious and humourless Imperium of the 41st millennium bring out good contrast with the enterprising and optimistic golden age of the early Imperium, but his dry paperwork and organizational reforms is extremely apt for the setting. The Imperium should be all about organizing to survive in the face of steep odds.

 

All this is of course a reference to the Roman empire. When looking at the long history of the Roman state, from little kingdom or republic in Latium to the fall of Constantinople in 1453, some things stand out:

 

Spoiler

- The Romans were never the most inventive people, unlike the ancient Greeks. They had some genuine inventions under their belt, including corvus boarding bridges and harpax grapnels fired by ballistae, segmented plate armour (requiring specialized facilities beyond the scope of any village blacksmith), the codex, concrete and a new form of anchor during classical antiquity. Late antique and medieval inventions in the Roman east include Greek fire invented by a Syrian refugee from fallen Roman Syria, the fork and the counterweight trebuchet, One wonders if the documented mind-numbing rote learning and quashing of curiosity that characterized Roman education contributed to a dampening of innovation in the long run.

 

- Instead, the Romans excelled at adapting techniques invented by others, and mastering them. Arches, domes, roads, heated baths and aqueducts are obvious engineering examples in construction, while siege engines and all manner of cavalry and infantry equipment spring out in the military, all imitating their enemies: The Romans first sported tightly packed Hoplite-style heavy infantry evolving into the iconic legionary swordsmen through battles against Samnites in Italy, then picking up the gladius short sword in Spain and mail armour from the Gauls. While naval engineering and tactics was picked up from Carthaginians and Greeks. The classical Roman legions morphed during the crisis of the third century and through late antiquity into infantry with longswords and equipment that was easier to produce and maintain in the field, such as flat oval shields instead of the curved scutum and mail or lamellar instead of lorica segmentata. The cavalry also grew in importance, picking up Cataphracts and horse archers from the Persians, then refining the cavalry arm by imitating Hunnic horse archery and adopting the stirrup and a new saddle from the Avars. Studying the medieval Roman army is a difficult challenge, but it is clear that the Romans kept modifying their army to survive and gain an edge up to the catastrophes of the later 11th century, from which the institution of the army never truly recovered. Medieval Roman features include a very large shield in the 8th century, experimentations with a phalanx-esque infantry formation, a smaller arrow for harrasment at long range and the use of specialized horse transport ships for the navy. Military manuals were used, such as emperor Maurice's Strategikon and Leo VI's Tactica. The medieval Roman army also retained medics (armidoctores of antiquity) and sported some of the first known hospitals. The long history of the Roman army saw its emphasis of professionalism and quality shift from the infantry to the cavalry, but it stayed professional even through so much decay and loss of resources and provinces. Otherwise the empire could not have lasted as long as it did.

 

See the parallells to the Imperium of Man here? Militarily the Imperium is akin to a parody of the Roman empire in decline, but still institutionally professional and capable of adapting militarily and potent at engineering. Yet the most striking historical references in 40k based on Roman history comes with overall organization:

 

Spoiler

- Changes to the infantry in late antiquity included a changed army organization, where the large legions were broken down into much smaller units, presumably to be better able to respond to smaller incursions across the border. The simplification of infantry equipment also made Roman infantry somewhat more mobile and easier to maintain as circumstances worsened. The combat record of the Roman army as seen in battles won and lost during late antiquity indicate that it remained strong until surprisingly late in the western half of the empire.

 

- The large provinces of yore were likewise broken down into many more smaller units as the administration grew in size, and governors lost their authority over both civilian and military matters so as to decrease the threat they posed to the emperor. Interestingly, the disastrous losses to the Arab invasions of the 600s saw the Romans reorganize into Themes, which was essentially a return to the larger provinces of yore, where governors were both a civil and military leader. The Themes were organized to act as regions capable of self-defence against raids and smaller invasions, mustering Akritai and professional peasant-soldiers who excelled at harassing enemy invaders (while populations in the embattled and heavily raided border region in eastern Anatolia largely survived at all because they built up fortified villages in the highlands). The Thematic armies for local defence were backed up by the elite regiments of the Thagmata, based around the capital of Constantinople and forming the core of the field army, to be reinforced by Theme troops whever it went on campaign.

 

Here, the parallells to the Imperium of Man becomes even more obvious. Guilliman is essentially Augustus, Diocletian, Constantine and Heraclius rolled into one, standing for all that has to do with order and organizational reform. Reorganizing the empire time and again to survive for an insanely long time in the face of a stupendous parade of foes pressing in from all sides is the name of the game of late antique and medieval Roman history. To say nothing of the crucial Theodosian walls of Constantinople, which has a parallel in Rogal Dorn's defences for Terra.

 

The improved Astartes that are Primaris Marines is another topic altogether, and one which clearly runs counter to some core themes of the setting by introducing better technologies invented by a hidden genius, but that is a topic for another time, and more salvagable than might at first meet the eye. Plus I like brilliant scientists slaving away in hidden laboratories, which is another point in favour of the Emperor under Himalazia in the first place.

 

So, yes, Imperial organization works sufficiently, however wonky and rotten and bloated with 10 administrators for every 1 soldier holding a gun. It works despite its dysfunctionalities, otherwise the Imperium of Man could not have lasted for fivehundred generations of creeping demechanization and loss of human grasp on science and technology against so many foes. And Imperial organization is a crucial part of this story, including the draconic taxation as seen in late antiquity and during the Byzantine dark ages. A dry part of the story, and a very Roman one.

 

Which is yet another reason why 40k is such a brilliant setting.

 

Cheers

 

Spoiler

 

 

Edited March 12 by Karak Norn Clansman

[Kage2020]

On 3/12/2024 at 7:36 AM, Karak Norn Clansman said:

...and sclerotic enough to have planets fall between the cracks for centuries.

 

First, not that you needed me to tell you, but great use of the term "sclerotic". 

 

One element to this that would---should?---have to be thrown into the mix is that there is the time that one receives information and one acts upon that information. This, for me, is the actual opportunity for glacial replies to Imperial, ah, stimuli.

 

On 3/12/2024 at 7:36 AM, Karak Norn Clansman said:

This is a very Roman historical reference...

 

The Roman inspiration was, indeed, formative and not just because it was referred to as the senatorum imperialis. The way that it works, the concept of peerage and its operation between "Imperial" and "local", screams the early Roman Empire as it staggered out of the corpse of the Republic.

 

On 3/12/2024 at 7:36 AM, Karak Norn Clansman said:

See the parallells to the Imperium of Man here?

 

There and other places, yes. Except for the potential role of lead toxicity. I doubt that made its way into the 40k universe. 

 

On 3/12/2024 at 7:36 AM, Karak Norn Clansman said:

The improved Astartes that are Primaris Marines is another topic altogether, and one which clearly runs counter to some core themes of the setting...

 

Two things spring to mind here. The first is that the introduction of the Primaris is perhaps not surprising on a modeling perspective, but that of course gets into the whole 3d printing angle that is a thorny topic.

 

Second would the continuing thread of hijacking what might be thought of as the "agenda" of the different races to suit the current narrative. In the latter case, at least, this is totally a core theme to the setting IP.

[Karak Norn Clansman]

First, not that you needed me to tell you, but great use of the term "sclerotic". 

 

One element to this that would---should?---have to be thrown into the mix is that there is the time that one receives information and one acts upon that information. This, for me, is the actual opportunity for glacial replies to Imperial, ah, stimuli.

 

Thank you most kindly!

 

Yes indeed. Time lag and response time would be core to glacial Imperial reactions. It's a theme that 40k has played around with to some good effect.
 

Spoiler

As a bonus, regarding the use of "sclerotic.", I've built up a wordpool of useful phrases to drum up hyperbolic background writing on the Imperium:

 

Dysfunctionality wordpool
Parochial, deprivation, decay, decrepit, wilted, rotting, depravity, regressive, atavistic, obtuse, debased, primitivization, degenerate, retrograde, sclerotic, etiolated, senile, atrocious, callous, horror, brutality, savagery, barbarity, depredation, deteriorate, dilapidated, abominable, heinous, terrible, impoverished, malnourished, hardship, misery, corrupt, blundering, inept, incompetent, malcontent, deviant, heretic, infidel, recidivist, blinkered, myopic, tyrannical, oppressive, repression, suppression, downtrodden, despotic, reprehensible, withered, husk, senile, behemoth, monstrous, torpid, senile, colossus on feet of clay, feed the meatgrinder with increased input of manpower and resources, Imperial subject (NEVER citizen in M41), obedience, overlord, masters, betters, superiors,  machine-spirit, technotheological, technosorcery, toxic skies, scavenge, sneaky statecraft, reign of terror, deranged, neglect, slums, hovels, holesteads, suffering, struggle, adversity, repugnant, husk, falsehood, withered, sunk, wreck, allegience, hazard, danger, threat, peril, malefactor, triumph of will over self, heart of stone, vale of tears, lamb of sorrow, hypogean/chthonic/troglodyte, bedevilled, rote work/learning, disutility, misorganization, sinspeech, shortcoming, severe regimentation, covetous, schismatic, The Emperor's brutopian dream has degenerated into a bizarre nightmare of primitivization and decay, [he] who yokes the people, learned helplessness, man is a tragic toolmaker, We have created nothing of our own, and everything we have taken from the ancients we have distorted, crippled mankind, stifling, throttling, choking, stale, idiotology, unthinking and self-righteous mob, duality of regal splendour and agonising decrepitude, cannibalize, corruption and misrule, the rugged decrepitude of the Imperium, maldevelopment of mankind, disheveled, disheveled monstrosity that is the Imperium of Man. Imperials mobilized for a diabolical cause. The Imperium is akin to a suicide pact gone wrong. The Imperium does not invent things, it relies only on the broken remains of the past. Apocalyptically incompetent. Self-predatory culture. Torment neverending. Errare humanum est. Man the monster.

 

There and other places, yes. Except for the potential role of lead toxicity. I doubt that made its way into the 40k universe. 

 

On the contrary! Thanks for pointing out yet another historically-based piece of dysfunctionality background concept to explore in 40k.

 

Two things spring to mind here. The first is that the introduction of the Primaris is perhaps not surprising on a modeling perspective, but that of course gets into the whole 3d printing angle that is a thorny topic.

 

Second would the continuing thread of hijacking what might be thought of as the "agenda" of the different races to suit the current narrative. In the latter case, at least, this is totally a core theme to the setting IP.

 

Indeed. Modelling-wise the introduction of Primaris seemed the logical response to many years of scratchbuilding project logs for truescale Marines and artscale modelling in the community. And of course it's a great way to start over and make many Astartes collectors buy new armies by having new models.

 

Background-wise you are completely correct. Not a new phenomenon as such, but writ larger than before. As someone more interested in a static setting than a forward-moving narrative, I'll eat the cake and keep it by viewing the newer narrative developments as an alternate universe and interesting thought experiment, until if and when they prove worthy to be considered the actual setting.

 

One Roman thing only shallowly having to do with organization is GW's use of unit titles and themes, inspired by such nicknames as Legio XXI "Rapax" and the Palatine unit Petulantes. Of course, 40k runs much further with this in its drilling-down on themes in Space Marine Chapters than real life military units ever would have. You can afford to have more fun with such characteristics in fiction. And in fact you should do so, since even the more convoluted fictive storylines often come up short against the strangeness of real history when one starts comparing the narratives of creative works with the historical records.

[Kage2020]

The quotation system here had me bamboozled for ages, and multi-quote it is not designed for. Do a full quote, then insert your cursor where you want to split the quote. Double carriage return (Enter) and it will cut the quote at the point unless your are splitting a paragraph. If you're splitting a paragraph, first split it with two carriage returns, then return to the end of the first split and do the same. This will split the quote.

 

The other way, which I found to be really cool but less helpful, use your mouse to highlight the section that you want to quote and a pop-up will appear asking whether you wish to "Quote Selection". 

 

On 3/15/2024 at 6:55 AM, Karak Norn Clansman said:

Yes indeed. Time lag and response time would be core to glacial Imperial reactions. It's a theme that 40k has played around with to some good effect.

 

It must be just my ageing, faulty memory. The usual culprits tend to be bureaucratic incompetence coupled with "things are done differently here" shenanigans, with a piquant (I jest) spice of warp storms.

[Karak Norn Clansman]

19 hours ago, Kage2020 said:

The quotation system here had me bamboozled for ages, and multi-quote it is not designed for. Do a full quote, then insert your cursor where you want to split the quote. Double carriage return (Enter) and it will cut the quote at the point unless your are splitting a paragraph. If you're splitting a paragraph, first split it with two carriage returns, then return to the end of the first split and do the same. This will split the quote.

 

The other way, which I found to be really cool but less helpful, use your mouse to highlight the section that you want to quote and a pop-up will appear asking whether you wish to "Quote Selection".

 

Thank you. I will experiment with this. It was not too long ago that B&C received a major upgrade, and quotes moved over from the system familiar on Warseer to the new format.

 

Quote

It must be just my ageing, faulty memory. The usual culprits tend to be bureaucratic incompetence coupled with "things are done differently here" shenanigans, with a piquant (I jest) spice of warp storms.

 

You may well be right. Perhaps there have only been a few official mentions of time lag (though I have read some of them if so), but it sure comes up again and again in both discussions and better background videos dealing with the matter, so it may have gained more traction in the community than it had screentime, so to speak. By the power of logic, if nothing else.

Edited March 18 by Karak Norn Clansman