The space marines regularly have groups that splinter off from their ideology (soul drinkers) or renounce it entirely (see chaos), last I knew the dark Eldar are the ones who got corrupted by a chaos God but the craft world Eldar weren’t “created by a deity”, the orks are space fungus that have a psychic connection which creates their deities of Gork and Mork.
I can see how it can be interpreted that way and the gene seed is a really good point but I’m having a hard time making all the other connections.
Even the inquisition has tons of characters that either change their ideology or side entirely.
The Aeldar (along with the predecessor to the orks, the krorks) were created by the Old Ones to fight the necrontyr/necrons and the C’tan during the War in Heaven.
Also whether or not characters or legions deviate from the Imperium’s ideology is unimportant as they are still supporters of a theocratic, xenophobic, authoritarian, ultra-militaristic, and ultimately fascist regime. This sort of argument that the Space Marines and such aren’t fascists because they split away from the broader Imperium ideology is like when Nazis try to argue that the Wehrmacht were made up of average soldiers so not all of them were Nazis. Its irrelevant, they are still fighting to support a fascist regime which makes them a fascist. The only times Space Marines have ever actually split enough from the imperium to reliquish their loyalty to it is when they end up swapping to Chaos (which is just as bad, if not worse). My favorite faction, the Red Corsairs, being a perfect example of this.
Also the Orks are a charicature and parody of british hooligan culture.
The old ones are who created the eldar, not literal gods, but a race that was so powerful they wielded cosmic power. They disappeared 10s of millions of year ago, and you can still see how deeply their bio-engineered structure is still influencing their creations. However, in their absence, the eldar have replaced them with new gods, and had to adapt to how the galaxy is post war in heaven. The Orks are a fungus, that was created as a bio-weapon race by the Old ones. The war in heaven, which was old ones vs C’tan, cause the psychic/spirit/whatever aspect of the universe to be corrupted into the warp. That taint is what caused most of these splinter groups. However the whole structure of things is based of lineage, everything important is the result of, and/or practices eugenics of some sort. You can even see it in the structure like how Hive cities are organized. Just because there are splinter groups doesn’t mean this stuff isn’t that. If anything it leans into it because the biggest reason things splinter from the groups largely have to do with warp influence, which is what real groups, like the nazis, would call degeneracy. Also, if you look at groups like Nazis there was always infighting, fractional groups, internal rebels, etc. The existence of things resisting the system doesn’t mean that isn’t what the system is, and that it isn’t the preeminent concept at the foundation of everything.
Goddamn, I missed an entire section because I don’t remember the old ones and I’ve been playing for decades. Got any books to recommend so I can catch up?
The space marines regularly have groups that splinter off from their ideology (soul drinkers) or renounce it entirely (see chaos), last I knew the dark Eldar are the ones who got corrupted by a chaos God but the craft world Eldar weren’t “created by a deity”, the orks are space fungus that have a psychic connection which creates their deities of Gork and Mork.
I can see how it can be interpreted that way and the gene seed is a really good point but I’m having a hard time making all the other connections. Even the inquisition has tons of characters that either change their ideology or side entirely.
The Aeldar (along with the predecessor to the orks, the krorks) were created by the Old Ones to fight the necrontyr/necrons and the C’tan during the War in Heaven.
Also whether or not characters or legions deviate from the Imperium’s ideology is unimportant as they are still supporters of a theocratic, xenophobic, authoritarian, ultra-militaristic, and ultimately fascist regime. This sort of argument that the Space Marines and such aren’t fascists because they split away from the broader Imperium ideology is like when Nazis try to argue that the Wehrmacht were made up of average soldiers so not all of them were Nazis. Its irrelevant, they are still fighting to support a fascist regime which makes them a fascist. The only times Space Marines have ever actually split enough from the imperium to reliquish their loyalty to it is when they end up swapping to Chaos (which is just as bad, if not worse). My favorite faction, the Red Corsairs, being a perfect example of this.
Also the Orks are a charicature and parody of british hooligan culture.
The old ones are who created the eldar, not literal gods, but a race that was so powerful they wielded cosmic power. They disappeared 10s of millions of year ago, and you can still see how deeply their bio-engineered structure is still influencing their creations. However, in their absence, the eldar have replaced them with new gods, and had to adapt to how the galaxy is post war in heaven. The Orks are a fungus, that was created as a bio-weapon race by the Old ones. The war in heaven, which was old ones vs C’tan, cause the psychic/spirit/whatever aspect of the universe to be corrupted into the warp. That taint is what caused most of these splinter groups. However the whole structure of things is based of lineage, everything important is the result of, and/or practices eugenics of some sort. You can even see it in the structure like how Hive cities are organized. Just because there are splinter groups doesn’t mean this stuff isn’t that. If anything it leans into it because the biggest reason things splinter from the groups largely have to do with warp influence, which is what real groups, like the nazis, would call degeneracy. Also, if you look at groups like Nazis there was always infighting, fractional groups, internal rebels, etc. The existence of things resisting the system doesn’t mean that isn’t what the system is, and that it isn’t the preeminent concept at the foundation of everything.
Goddamn, I missed an entire section because I don’t remember the old ones and I’ve been playing for decades. Got any books to recommend so I can catch up?
honestly, I haven’t read any WH books since the 90s. Most of what I know recently is from my friends who are really into it.
here is a YT channel with a bunch of lore playlists, and isn’t a right wing weirdo
https://www.youtube.com/@ArbitorIan/playlists
Luetin’s lore got me back into the game:
https://youtu.be/GuEka-NHzPY
DARK BEGINNINGS Necrons, Old Ones & Eldar | WARHAMMER 40,000 Lore / History