Warhammer 40K: The Galaxy’s Most Grimdark Things
There is only war in the grim darkness of the far future… but what exactly is so “Grimdark” about it? These things take the cake.
If you’re a fan of 40k then you already know the famous quote. Over time it’s become a trope that the “grim darkness of the far future” or “Grimdark” is actually a terrible place to live. It’s not the happy utopian society of other franchises. Oh no. The Warhammer 40,000 universe is dominated by a fascist empire, has a galaxy-spanning tear in reality that leads to a hellish dimension, endless wars and battles occur where untold billions die, and so much more. But of all the things that make the Grimdark bad these things really do rise to the top of the pile of Grimdark.
Servitors
They got me for double parking. You?
Let’s start with something that is terrible for lots of reasons, but maybe not the ones you think. The Lexicanum describes servitors as:
“Servitors are mindless drones of flesh and metal used to carry out simple, manual tasks. They are one of the few tolerated forms of robotics in the Imperium as they are surgically enhanced cyborgs, not true artificial intelligence.”
That’s not so bad, right? Except it’s how they are created that makes them both grim and dark.
“[Servitors are] often a criminal, particularly one who has offended the Cult Mechanicus, will be sentenced to “Servitude Imperpituis” and will be handed over to the Tech-priests to be mind-wiped, reprogrammed, and cybernetically-enhanced to serve some specific, rudimentary function. Servitors are mindless, possessing only the most basic of instincts. Their brains are programmed to perform only the task they were designed for. The altered and fragmented brain of a Servitor functions poorly unless constantly supervised. Most will go into a state of mindlock, babbling incoherent nonsense as the Servitor tries to assert some form of awareness.”
So yeah — they might be vat-grown or criminals but they have basically had all their humanity and free-will stripped away. Even the ones that are failed Space Marine initiates suffer the same fate. Afterward, they are “reprogrammed” to perform basic functions and are essentially mindless drones. That’s just is a polite way to say they become slaves. Perhaps that’s why no one wants to tick off their local Tech-priest.
Corpse-Starch
Look…it’s people. Corpse-Starch is the recycled dead bodies of the Imperium’s citizens used to feed the living Imperium citizens. On the hive world of Necromunda, it is also known as “Soylent Veridian”. Does this make the majority of Imperial citizens cannibals? Are we dealing with a cannibal fascist Imperium now? I mean, there is the whole Corpse Guild that is responsible for the creation of it….so…yeah?
Death Korps of Kreig
We know we know, the Death Korps of Krieg are Imperial Guard Regiments raised from the world of Krieg. Notoriously grim and fatalistic warriors, the Death Korps regiments routinely request to fight in the galaxy’s deadliest warzones, grinding their enemy down through long battles of attrition and siege warfare. But that’s not why the Death Korps are on the list. They are on the list because of WHY their entire culture is like that.
Over a millenium ago Krieg fight a 500-year civil war that included nuclear self annihilation of their homeworld. That war ended in the loyalists rejoining the Imperium. But for the sin of rebellion in the first place, the Administratum imposed a heavy burden on Kreig. By order of the High Lords of Terra, Krieg’s sole purpose is to produce new regiments, and its tithes are the maximum possible for the planet’s population, supplying over fifty million men per year. This includes the use of unusual methods such as “Vitae Womb” birthing techniques, a practice seen as dangerous and abhorrent by the Adeptus Mechanicus‘ Magos Biologis but tolerated by the Departmento Munitorium. So Kreig’s grim nihilistic culture is collective punishment from the Imperium, for winning a civil war over a thousand years back, and remaining loyal. That’s Grimdark tough love.
Warp Travel
Making a warp jump is how ships get around the galaxy in 40k.
“A warp jump is a form of faster-than-light travel around the Galaxy by means of entering the Warp, a parallel psychic dimension, and re-emerging to a new location in real space light years away from the starting position.”
Oh… that doesn’t sound so bad, except that it’s REALLY bad. These ships are punching a hole through reality to enter “warp space,” which is the chaos dimension (which is basically psychic hell full of warp entities we call daemons). So yeah — it’s pretty Grimdark! To top things off, it’s such a risk that ships often get lost in the warp and might get displaced in time and space (if they are lucky) or consumed by the entities that live in the warp and become food/or creatures of the warp themselves. Lovely.
Astronomican
A shining example of humanity’s ingenuity and will to travel the stars. It’s quite literally the “Northstar” that Navigators use to travel the warp. So it’s totally great and not grim and/or dark at all. Except…
“After the Heresy, the Emperor became interred within the Golden Throne and required increasing numbers of Psyker sacrifices to maintain the Astronomican. Today, the Astronomican is powered by ten thousand psykers trained by the Adeptus Astronomica. The omnipotent will of the Emperor constantly directs this energy across around fifty thousand light-years of the galaxy. Although the Emperor does not provide the energy of the beacon, only he has the psychic power to handle such immense energy and direct it across the galaxy. The psykers who power the Astronomican are recruited into the organization through the Adeptus Astra Telepathica. They are initiated into the Adeptus Astronomica as Acolytes. The psykers are taught how to use their powers, philosophy, the meaning of their lives, and the Lore of the Astronomican. Some achieve a mystic state, gaining the status of Chosen. It is these Chosen who are eventually called to serve in the Chamber of the Astronomican. Here they fuel the Astronomican beacon with their psychic energies; as their powers are drained, the Chosen slowly fade and die. Up to one hundred Psykers die each day powering the Astronomnican.”
To recap, the Emperor (who we’ll get to in a minute) basically devours the souls of psykers to keep the Astronomican going. “Up to one hundred Psykers die each day,” which might sound like a small price to pay for the “joy” of Warp Travel. But keep in mind that this thing has been going non-stop for…10,000 years. 365 days x 100 x 10,000 …yeah.
Oh, and then there is this little tidbit, too:
“The Astronomican, unbeknownst to the Imperium, is what is drawing the Tyranid Hive Fleets to threaten the Galaxy and all of the Imperium.”
More like AstroNOMNOMNOMnican, Amirite?!
The Emperor of Mankind
The Emperor of Mankind is a corpse-husk who sits atop a golden throne where he is fed a steady diet of psykers every day. There. I said it. I can already hear the Inquisition knocking on my door. But not a word of that is Heresy – that’s the Imperial Truth they don’t want you to know. And yeah, that’s Grim and Dark!
At the same time, the alternative is… no warp travel. Each planet becomes cut off from each other, causing a logistical breakdown, and the eventual downfall of the Imperium of Man. Sounds peachy. The Imperium really needs to research alternate means of travel; otherwise, they really aren’t much better than the forces they are fighting against, are they?
The Drukhai
If you know, you know. But if you don’t, I’m just going to leave this link here. I once heard them described as “Eldari leather-daddy space raiders who take slaves to their fighting pits and murder the rest.” I don’t think we really need to go much further into detail there, do we?
What do you think? What are some of your “favorite” Grimdark things in the Warhammer 40,000 universe?
