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** In the video game ''Fire Warrior'', a Space Marine comments to an imperial governor that the Tau will eventually be exterminated by the Imperium, but that for the time being they aren't the primary threat, as there are greater threats closer to home (truer words never spoken, since {{spoiler|he's standing on a chaos tainted planet, unknowingly right next to the avatar of a Chaos Demon Prince}}). Yes, it is Imperial policy to exterminate all aliens eventually, but the Imperium realizes that they should try to eliminate the ones ''actively'' trying to eradicate humanity before worrying about the ones that are just neutral for them.
*** Given this setting, Humanity should be done fighting off the "actively" hostile aliens around the same time the Eye of Terror closes forever. ie Never. Doesn't mean Humanity won't shoot an Alien if available though.
** The Fourth Sphere of Expansion of Tau (in 8th Edition era) decided they need to exterminate all the client species (and became infamous for this in the Tau Empire, and were chastised). Because they were quite terrified to discover that once enough of creatures with stronger Warp presence (especially the Nicassar and Humans) came to believe in "Greater Good", their beliefs did ''[[Gone Horribly Right|coalesce into a nascent Warp God]]'' of the Greater Good. This wasn't catastrophic in the realspace like the Fall of Eldar, but they have found it out the hard way.
* [[Absurdly Sharp Blade]]: Nearly every faction has an example; many races' ''basic close combat weapons'' have monomolecular edges, and it only gets sharper from there.
* [[Abnormal Ammo]]: Guns which fire razor-edged molecule-thick ninja stars, guns which fire nets of [[Razor Floss]], guns which fire wooden stakes, flamethrowers which squirt ''holy'' napalm, biological guns which use, um, [[Does This Remind You of Anything?|muscle spasms]] to fire flesh-eating beetles/maggots or ''exploding tumors'', guns which open holes into hell, guns which fire tiny goblins ''through'' hell, grenades filled with tears collected from a thousand crying statues of the Emperor.
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* [[After Action Report]]: Battle reports, a long-standing feature in White Dwarf magazine.
* [[After the End]]: Though there have been about five "ends" for humanity alone, each more awful than the last.
* [[
** Tau drones are also entirely well-behaved. Mind you, their AI is approximately the same as a squirrel (OK, [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp|pterasquirrel]]), though it does increase as more of them are networked together.
* [[Air Jousting]]: Eldar Shining Spears: space elf knights on flying bikes with laser lances.
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** It should be noted that while ''every single Ork'' is an Omnicidal, [[Axe Crazy]] [[Complete Monster]] by human standards, members of the Goff klan are considered [[Axe Crazy]] '''by other Orks'''.
** There's also the Eversor Assassins; crazy and constantly pumped with hyperactive drugs and bio-engineered to reach the very limits of the human physiology. They're used to destroy the enemy's command structure by ''killing everybody.'' Eversors are insane to the point that they have to be kept in ''cryo-stasis'' between their missions.
== B ==
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*** Largely averted by the novel protagonists [[Gaunt's Ghosts|Ibram Gaunt]] and [[Ciaphas Cain]], '''HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!'''. Gaunt is working with a severely limited number of troops and cannot afford to be wasteful, while Cain knows that eventually his schemes to get out of trouble will fail, at which point he would prefer that his troops like him enough to watch his back rather than aim for it. It helps that both men are basically understanding and honorable individuals ([[Heroic Self-Deprecation|much as Cain would deny it]]), attached to disciplined regiments that don't have the kind of morale problems that typically require Commissars to be [[Bad Boss]]es.
** Commander Chenkov of Valhalla routinely abuses the Imperial Guard's [[We Have Reserves|reserves]] to overwhelm the enemy with endless waves of poorly-trained, disposable conscripts. He's also been known to use his troops to clear minefields for tanks and bog enemy units down so that the artillery can shell them, and once executed a million of his own men to build a dam from their bodies. His regiment, the Tundra Wolves, has been refounded more than a dozen times in recent decades due to casualties, and it's rumored that he's killed more of his own men than he has of the enemy. And of course, since this is the Imperium, he's routinely awarded medals and commendations for quickly defeating the enemy with these brutal tactics.
** Ork Nobz also aren't above "krakkin' a few uv da ladz' 'eadz" (often fatally) in order to restore order, and Runtherdz maintain the "morale" of their Gretchin charges by having their squighounds ''devour'' a couple of them whenever they try to flee. Their equipment also includes Grotwhip and Grot-prod (both of which double as close combat weapons, though grot-prod supposedly has adjustable voltage - assuming that Runtherd is going to remember this).
** The grand master of this trope (insofar as the 40k universe has a grand master of horribleness) is Abaddon the Despoiler, Warmaster of Chaos. A fairly unpleasant person BEFORE he turned to Chaos, Abbadon is very much a believer in the Darth Vader approach of anger control, namely immediately killing those who displease him. However, this being the '''GRIMDARK''' setting it is, Abaddon takes it just one step further and will happily destroy ships of his own fleet if the captain of said vessel displeases him. And keep in mind his flagship is the aptly titled ''[[Earthshattering Kaboom|Planet]] [[There Is No Kill Like Overkill|Killer]]''.
** It's stated that the Tau are like this to their mercenaries, and are definitely Bad Bosses to aliens who join their alliance, though more in the style of ''1984''. We have yet to see much evidence though.
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* [[Base on Wheels]]: The Leviathan, a mobile command centre on treads the size of ''a small city''... which acts as an APC ''for tanks''.
** Orks have their own version - A ''krawla'' will vary in size from a tank APC to a city on wheels which may in turn contain smaller krawlaz.
** Before the setting [[Dropped a Bridge on Him|got rid of them]], the Squats specialised in these, and it was said they built the Leviathans.
** Back in the days when Epic was still called ''Space Marine'', there was also the Cyclops [a colossal anti-Titan assault gun], Land Train, Colossus [a Leviathan variant], Hellbore [a ridiculously huge drilling machine], the Ordinatus machines, and the Capitol Imperialis [the modern Leviathan is a ret-combination of this tank-carrying monstrosity and the old Leviathan which was just a mobile command post].
** The Imperator Titan is also essentially a base on ''legs'' which carries an entire ''castle'' around on its back, particularly when the ridiculously complex ''Titan Legions'' rules are used; the same applies to the Mega-Gargant. Variant Imperators were supposed to follow the release of the ''Titan Legions'' but never did, one of which would have had an entire aircraft carrier deck on its back.
* [[Battle Trophy]]: Pretty much everyone.
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** As shown in the ''[[Ciaphas Cain]]'' novels, the Tau are so devoted to the Greater Good, that [[The Fundamentalist|any thought or idea that goes against it is met with almost physical repulsion, and they literally cannot understand why anyone would actively choose to live against it]]. Tau believe that personal ambition is evil, don't feel love in the romantic sense, and have little sense of individuality.
* [[Bodyguarding a Badass]]: Space Marine Honor Guards are deployed to protect the Chapter Master, who did not get to his position by being a pushover.
* [[Body Horror]]: You wouldn't believe the amount of it!
* [[Boisterous Bruiser]]: Space Wolves and Orks.
* [[Bond Creatures]]: Both natural, in the somewhat obscure Gyrinx, and the various creations serving psykers as Familiars.
* [[Boring but Practical]]: Or as close to 'boring' as it gets in the setting anyhow... all armies are able to field powerful special troops, amazing heroes and crazy war machines, but you generally cannot win without a good chunk of your army being made up of some variant or another of your standard rank-and-file troops, a fact often referred to as 'Boys before toys'.
* [[Boring Invincible Hero]]: Every faction tends to get this treatment in its own codex, in a manner appropriate to the race (EG the Space Marines tend to emerge triumphant against overwhelming odds, the Imperial Guard tend to win through attrition and great loss of life, the Orks tend to win by being [[Crazy Awesome]], etc.). Conversely, if a faction appears in someone else's codex, it usually means they're getting [[The Worf Effect|Worfed]].
* [[Bowdlerization]]: The game's second edition. Much of the Imperium's nastiness was downplayed or went largely unmentioned. Inquisitors and Imperial Guard [[Commissar]]s were described as heroic individuals. Commissars even lost the ability to restore unit morale by means of [[You Have Failed Me...|summary execution]]. These issues were all ''[[Darker and Edgier|brutally]]'' redressed in the third edition.
* [[Brain Bleach]]: What you'll need after reading ''[[Old Shame|Space Marine]]'' (the tabletop game, not the new video game). Or some of the stuff on [[Image Boards|/tg/]].
* [[Brain-Computer Interface]]: For those few with cerebral implants, the issue is moot - they ''are'' part computers. For everyone else there are: Mind Impulse Unit (aka sense-link), its limited (and seen outside Mechanicus more often) variant Weapon MIU - effectively third eye sight with HUD, and humble "interface port" (usually on the neck, but may be just about anywhere) - lesser version available very widely even for scribes that eases work using computers, but doesn't have tactical uses other than repair.
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* [[Call a Rabbit a Smeerp]]: And occasionally [[Call a Smeerp a Rabbit]].
* [[Canis Latinicus]]: Conventional rendering of High Gothic; e.g., Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Mechanicus. "Imperium," however, [[wikipedia:Imperium|is an actual Roman word]], according to [[That Other Wiki]].
* [[Cannibalism Superpower]]: Space Marines and Tyranid Lictors have the ability to absorb the memories of the dead by eating their flesh, particularly the brain.
** According to one version of their backstory, the Kroot started out as fairly ordinary birds, aside from their ability to absorb DNA and evolved into intelligent, humanoid lifeforms by scavenging dead Orks. Kroot are said in designers' notes to have gained Ork technology through their ability to absorb the DNA of prey, since Orks have it via [[Genetic Memory]]. Conversely, their steeds and hunting beasts supposedly came from the Kroot lines who ate too stupid things until they have stopped being sapient.
* [[Can't Argue with Elves]]: ...but you can shoot them in the face. Foul Xenos.
* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Soylent viridians are [[Soylent Green]], "Sly" Marbo is John [[Rambo]], the Black Templars possess [[Monty Python and the Holy Grail|a holy hand grenade of Antioch]], and the Necrons are effectively an entire army of [[Terminator]]s, among others.
* [[Car Fu]]: Tank Shock.
** The 5th Edition rules allow you to ram Tanks into other vehicles, which can potentially take out several enemies at once.
** Ork vehicles often have additional rules for ramming. And then there's ''Gorkamorka''.
* [[Card Games]]: There's been a few actual card games released based on the 40K universe. One could also easily count ''Second Edition'' and earlier editions of ''Epic'', which came packaged with a whole dead forest worth of cards, counters, templates and assorted other bits and pieces, sometimes including entire ''decks'' for mechanics like the Winds of the Warp or things like the Imperator and Mega-Gargant templates and counters which were entire mini-games in their own right.
* [[Cargo Cult]]: The Imperium of Man combines this with [[Ancient Astronauts]] in an interesting fashion, as the overwhelming majority of the technology they use predates the incident that put [[Messianic Archetype|the Emperor]] on life-support, and maintenance has become more of a religious ceremony than anything else.
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{{quote|[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Quotes_Space_Marines#J "Problems? Problems? There is no problem I cannot solve with this..."]}}
* [[Chandler's Law]]: When in doubt, have another Tyranid/Ork/Chaos/Necron invasion.
* [[Chaos Entity]]: The four [[God of Evil|Chaos Gods]] are powerful beings made of Chaos, which derives from the negative emotions of intelligent species and holds influence over the extradimensional Realm of Chaos. Each god represents wrath, pleasure, death, and change. They often compete in the Realm of Chaos and the mortal world to gain more power.
** Under their Chaos Gods, [[Our Demons Are Different|Daemons]] are beings made from Chaos but are weaker while under the command of the four gods.
* ''[[Dungeons & Dragons]]''
* [[Char Clone]]: With his customized silver-helmed red Battlesuit and [[Mysterious Past]], Commander Farsight is most definitely A CHAR.
* [[The Chessmaster]]: Ongoing manipulation contest between the Chaos god Tzeentch, the C'tan Deceiver, and the Eldar Seers. Chances are, ''any'' major galactic happening is going to have at least one of them cackling "just as planned".
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* [[Cold Sniper]]: Vindicare Temple Assassins.
* [[The Collector of the Strange]]: Chaos, the Orks, and the Dark Eldar collect the skulls (and occasionally other body parts) of their enemies as trophies. The Imperium collects the skulls of particularly pious servants for use as relics and [[Attack Drone]]s.
* [[Colony Drop]]: ''[https://web.archive.org/web/20080530202901/http://warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?t=33310 Deconstructed]'', if you can believe it, but also used straight on occasion. "In close consultation with his advisors, Orkimedes determined that the best solution to the tactical flexibility of Imperial forces was to drop big rocks on them." A surprisingly common Ork technique to both deploy close to the enemy [in fact on top of a portion of them] and weaken aforementioned enemy.
* [[
** Space Marines especially; many chapters feel that adding camouflage patterns to their armor would be "[[Honor Before Reason|dishonoring the colors of the chapter]]," and intentionally dress in bright and highly-visible colors so that their enemy can see them and quake in terror at their approach.
** Eldar are colour coded to the extreme- not only does each army have their own colour schemes, but each DIFFERENT KIND of soldier has their own colours- orange for Fire Dragons, green for Striking Scorpions, blue for Dire Avengers, and so on...
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** The Slaaneshi weapon aptly named "Lash of Torment".
* [[Comes Great Insanity]]: A rich tradition among leadership figures within the Imperium, from Horus to High Lord Vandire. Generally, reforms follow in their wake to stop similar incidents happening. For example, after the Horus Heresy, the Space Marine Legions were divided into smaller Chapters. In the case of Vandire, no-one was ever allowed to become both the head of the [[Obstructive Bureaucrat|Administratum]] and the [[Church Militant|Ecclesiarchy]] again. And the Ecclesiarchy couldn't keep men-at-arms. [[Amazon Brigade|Which they got around]].
* [[Commissar]]s: Fielded by the Imperial Guard in all their CommieNazi [[Bling of War]] (including the [[Putting on the Reich|black and silver]] [[Commissar Cap]]). Their job is to shoot the undisciplined, the heretics and the cowardly to keep morale high. In ''[[Dawn of War]]'', this is not only a valid tactic but an essential one, as using [[You Have Failed Me...|Execute]] temporarily increases the firing rate of all nearby infantry. In fifth edition they will summary execute the squad's leader if the squad fail's a leadership test, when assigned to command squads this can cause much more harm than good.
* [[Commissar Cap]]: [[Trope Namer]], and not entirely restricted to Commissars - a few regular regular officers and the odd Inquisitor wear similar hats, and some Orks love looting them.
** In fact, Nork Deddog, a (comparatively) super intelligent Ogryn bodyguard was rewarded a [[Commissar Cap]].
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* [[Cyberpunk]]: Many hive worlds tend towards this. The [[Gaiden Game]] ''[[Necromunda]]'' is a good example of the aesthetic.
* [[Cyborg]]: While there are "realistic" bionics, senior Mechanicus adepts often approach full-body conversion in their attempts to remove every trace of "weak flesh". Also Cyborks, Orks who suffered from particularly grievous injury or a particularly enthusiastic Painboy, and acquired lots of bionik bitz as a result.
== D ==
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* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Daemons, C'tan, and other [[Eldritch Abomination]]s ''can'' be defeated, if only by [[Death in All Directions|throwing absolutely everything at them]] - but destroying the physical form of a daemon only banishes it back to the warp for a while, and the C'tan merely need to fashion new necrodermis bodies.
** Hey, they're not always that hard to kill. An [[Badass Normal|ordinary human]] took down one armed with nothing but a melta and a chainsword, while backed up by a squad of marines. Admittedly this was out of the ordinary, in a firmly tongue-in-cheek take on the universe, by a character who was both [[Born Lucky]] and a [[Badass Normal]].
* [[
** Well, ''nearly'' everything. It's been said in fluff that the Leman Russ uses a multifuel combustion engine which can be adapted to run on almost anything that burns, so you could potentially have a [[Steampunk|coal-powered Leman Russ]].
* [[Disney Owns This Trope]]: Games Workshop released an expansion called ''Space Marine'' to the original ''Adeptus Titanicus'' game (the scale now called ''Epic''). Come the re-release, the ''entire game system'' ended up being released under the ''Space Marine'' name, with Games Workshop picking up a Registered Trademark for "Space Marine." Figures for ''Aliens'' will acknowledge this trademark on their packaging if you look, despite that ''Aliens'' came out the year before the original ''Rogue Trader'' book.
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*** It's also an expy of ''Dune'''s Galactic Empire. The Imperium even has a God-Emperor and a class of mutated transhuman hyperspace navigators.
** The [[Alien|Xenomor]]- er- Tyranids.
*** Who were then Expy'd into [[
** Commander Farsight was a prominent leader of an Empire's military forces. He eventually led some of his brethren in a rebellion against the powerful ruling cast, whose whims most Tau serve their entire lives. [[Stargate SG-1|He is also known as O'Shovah.]]
* [[Extreme Omnivore]]: Tyranids eat everything up to and including ''entire planets'', right down to the bedrock, ''including the atmosphere''.)
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* [[The Federation]]: The Tau Empire, who ironically would be the ''bad guys'' in most settings. In 40k, they're the ''idealistic'' ones.
* [[Feel No Pain]]: Necrons, Orks, Space Marines, Nurgle, Thousand Sons, the Dark Eldar if they kill enough people. Don't even ''ask'' about [[Too Kinky to Torture|followers of Slaanesh]]...
* [[Fetus Terrible]]: The offspring of the Genestealer-subverted.
* [[Feudal Future]]: The Imperium, Ork empires, and Saim-Hann Craftworld being the most prominent, though most interstellar organizations eventually exhibit shades of this. Justified in all cases by slow and unreliable interstellar communications and travel.
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* [[For Doom the Bell Tolls]]: The Bell of Lost Souls is located atop one of the highest towers of the Imperial Palace, and tolls once whenever a truly great hero of the Imperium dies. It is said to be audible on the other side of the planet.
** It is hinted at in the fluff that the bell tolls for every Space Marine that died in service to the Emperor. It must be ringing nearly all day and night if that is true.
* [[For Science!]]: Guiding star of the Adeptus Mechanicus, though their definition of "scientific progress" is tracking down and recovering ancient relics. That's the only difference; the Mechanicus will go to ''any'' ends to recover even a fragment of a STC device, no matter the cost
* [[For the Evulz]]: Dark Eldar, and Orks pretty much have this as their main motivation. [[Alternate Character Interpretation|A number of the Chaos worshippers, too.]]
** The whole franchise strives to be as mindbogglingly terrifying as it can '''for no [[Precision F-Strike|f**king]] reason!'''
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* [[Future Imperfect]]: Given that the setting takes place 10,000 years [[After the End]], this is pretty much a given.
* [[Future Spandex]]: Imperial Assassins wear uniforms that are quite literally sprayed on: the substance (called SynSkin) comes in large aerosol cans and provides whole-body protection from various airborne toxins and temperature variation whilst allowing the skin to breathe properly, but only if applied directly to naked flesh.
== G ==
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* [[Galactic Conqueror]]: Too many to count. Some evil, some ''really'' evil.
* [[Garrisonable Structures]]: Tabletop 40K was doing this long before [[Video Game]]s did. In the case of more "open" buildings such as ruins, typically the general [[Geo Effects|terrain]] and [[Take Cover|cover]] rules are used, but in the case of more "closed" (as in it is hard or impossible to place models inside of them) structures, more abstract rules exist for determining how many models can fit inside, where the fire points are and how many of them there are, where the entrances and exits are, etc.
* [[Gatling Good]]: Consider the Assault Cannon, a gatling gun which can cut through light vehicles. Next, consider the Punisher Gatling Cannon, a gatling gun the size of a main tank cannon that can slaughter entire squads of light infantry at a time. Then
* [[General Ripper]]: Imperial officers are generally this, or [[Colonel Badass]]. Sometimes both.
* [[Genetic Memory]]:
** Ork Mekboyz and Painboyz have their (respectively) technological and medical talents genetically encoded, and Kroot are said in designers' notes to have gained Ork technology [[Cannibalism Superpower|through their ability to absorb the DNA of prey]].
* [[Genius Bruiser]]: A wide variety, although who, why and to what extent vary wildly depending on the setting. Of particular note, perhaps, is [[The Emperor]] himself - who is/was clever enough to construct his own Webway Gate, design Space Marines, develop Force Weapons (at least, the current Imperial variety) and command the Great Crusade, and was badass enough to personally kick the crap out of pretty much anyone in the setting. His [[Praetorian Guard|Adeptus Custodes]] and Space Marines are a close second - in particular, the Tech Marines, and any Space Marine who survives long enough to gain some experience (notably, Dante of the Blood Angels, Logan Grimnar and Bjorn the Fell-Handed of the Space Wolves). Each faction has their own representatives, as well - Fabius Bile, various Mekboyz (though they have more of the bruiser than the genius about them, they are a damn sight smarter than the rest of da boyz), various Eldar...the list goes on.
** Much of Inquisition, given that investigation is a big part of the job
* [[Genre Busting]]: It doesn't matter if the tropes the series uses are from Scifi, Fantasy, Horror, or whatever, as long as they make the setting [[Darker and Edgier]].
* [[Genre Savvy]]: Ork madboyz have been known to [[Medium Awareness|mutter about "Rolls" and "The meta game"]]...
** The Imperial Guard are so aware of their [[Redshirt Army]] status that the commissar unit was developed specifically to address their [[You Have Failed Me...|morale problems]].
* [[Geo Effects]]: Placing units in or behind pieces of terrain can greatly increase their chances of survival thanks to various rules for movement, shooting, and close combat.
* [[Get a Hold of Yourself, Man!]]: Common among the Imperial Guard. Occasionally delivered via bullet.
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* [[Godzilla Threshold]]: Despite getting [[Flanderization|Flanderized]] to being a solution for any problem, [[Earthshattering Kaboom|exterminatus]] is actually treated this way within the canon.
* [[Goggles Do Something Unusual]]: Just about anyone who sees some action wears a visor, except those who have [[Electronic Eyes|bionic eyes]] anyway. A lot of which either can do the same or can be linked to something that does.
* [[Golem]]: Eldar wraith-constructs. Also, vat-grown Servitors/Cherubim/Gholam.
* [[Go Mad
* [[Gone Horribly Right]]: The book ''Farseer'' ([[Fanon Discontinuity|if you count it]]) has an Eldar character admitting that some of the Eldar, shortly before the fall, were actually deliberately trying to engineer the necessary psychic-resonance to create a new god of pleasure that would allow the Eldar to transcend mortality and live in eternal bliss, leaving behind the concerns of the mortal realm. [[It Got Worse|It did not work out quite as they intended]].
* [[Good Is Boring]]: Fortunately, there's very little of it around.
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** Tau rule can seem restrictive to people not accustomed to it, but the Tau inhabitants like it quite a lot. Even the humans are probably better off than they would be in most other places.
* [[Good Shepherd]]: A [[Corrupt Church]] the Ecclesiarchy may be, but there are a few Imperial preachers who legitimately care about the common folk of the Imperium. You're more likely to run into [[Sinister Minister|the other variety, though]]
* [[
* [[Gothic Punk]]: The ''nicer'' Imperial worlds are like this.
* [[Great Big Book of Everything]]: Various tomes kept by the Inquisition.
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* [[Guilt-Free Extermination War]]: pretty much every single race has a reason to exterminate every other race and has [[plan]]s to do so.
* [[Guns Akimbo]]: Cypher and Sisters of Battle Seraphim (jump pack using hit-and-run troops), mostly. Dire Avenger Exarchs can have this too. In RPG Two-weapon wielder and subsequent Gunslinger talent are present in all branches, of course.
** Of the named characters, Ursarkar E. Creed uses two [[Hand Cannon|hotshot laspistols]].
* [[Gun in My Pocket]]: Plenty of examples of models holding their guns in, shall we say, suggestive ways, but kings of this trope are the old Ork Gargant and Imperator Titan models, both of which featured rather unfortunately placed trouser cannons.
== H ==
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** Notably, 40k is one of those settings where the energy weapons can be considered Hand Cannons.
** Notable as well is that these energy weapons don't go pew, but loud "krak!", also causing the weapon to actually have some kick as well.
**
* [[Hanlon's Razor]]: Almost always inverted - never attribute to stupidity what can be explained by malice or conspiracy.
* [[Happiness in Slavery]]: Brutal aversions abound, but there is one straight example: The Chapter Serfs of the Space Marine Chapters. They fill all positions in a chapter not involving leadership or infantry combat, and are better trained and equipped than any non-Astartes. The Space Marine Chapters, in turn, recognize the skill and dedication of their serfs, and chapter serfs are full members of the chapter cult, and enjoy a better lifestyle than all except the richest citizens of the Imperium.
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** [[Emotions vs. Stoicism]]: There are the Chaos gods, hellish demons that embody (and are actually created by) the emotions of the sentient beings in the galaxy. All manner of cults and religions do unspeakable acts fueled by zealous fervor because it's part of their dogmas and faiths. The Messiah, which practically all of humanity worship with the same zeal, on the other hand, was a proponent of science, logic, and atheism. The greatest irony is that if there is any hope for humanity at all, said Messiah will ultimately end up literally becoming God (Belief is literally power. And there are countless trillions worshipping the Emperor.)
** [[Flesh Versus Steel]]: The Imperium relies on mass-produced vehicles and weapons, non-disfiguring biological implants, and sheer stubbornness to face mutated Chaos monstrosities and the Tyranid swarm. The Eldar use some psychic powers and a lot of hyper-advanced technology for everything, while the Dark Eldar are vat-grown and have a fondness for growing strange monsters and grafting bits onto themselves. The Necrons and the Daemons of Chaos wage war on each other regularly, intending to destroy each other. This is good, and bad, because if Chaos is destroyed, our universe and the Warp will not become one, but the Necrons will exterminate everything in the galaxy that isn't them. If Chaos wins, the Necrons are no longer a threat but the Chaos Gods' plans continue.
** [[Magic Versus Science]]: The battle against the Warp and Chaos (which is for all intents and purposes the "magic" of the setting) is one of the most central plot points. Faith is also used, but ridiculously large calibur guns and energy weapons also help. Of course Chaos can and does corrupt technology by stuffing demons into it. There's all sorts of scientists fallen to Chaos too since new ideas generally open someone up to the influence of the Warp and who wouldn't be slightly curious to see how it all works. The most known faction of those is the Dark Mechanicus who use more forbidden technologies like
** [[Order Versus Chaos]]: There is no real Good vs Evil. Although there are some individuals who could be considered good, as a whole the sides are basically Bad vs Worse. However, Order does come off as a slightly lighter shade of black most of the time.
* [[Have You Seen My God?]]: All but three of the old Eldar pantheon were killed before or during the Fall of the Eldar. The survivors are Cegorach, the Laughing God of the Harlequins, who hides out in the Webway and foils the plans of Chaos from the sidelines; Khaine, the god of war, who was shattered into pieces which sleep in each craftworld as [[Physical God|Avatars]]; and Isha, the mother goddess, imprisoned by the Chaos God Nurgle to test his plagues on, who nevertheless secretly whispers out the cure to every said plague to try and help her children in the material universe. The Eldar are also attempting to create Ynnead, a new god of death, from the souls of dead Eldar stored in the Craftworlds' Infinity Circuits, the idea being that when the very last Eldar dies, Ynnead will be strong enough to rise and defeat Slaanesh. They hope.
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** Epitomized by the Dark Eldar city of Commorragh, which doesn't even exist in the material world; but is hidden in the "Webway", a sort of interdimensional labyrinth that exists between the Warp and the material world.
** They can be very sociable...to other Eldar. Everyone else, not so much.
* [[Highly-Conspicuous Uniform]]: Almost everyone save certain Imperial Guard outfits. Space Marines in particular have the saying "camouflage is the color of cowardice." Then again, being an obvious target is not particularly problematic for a human tank...
** Inspired by the Imperial Guard, Blood Axe Orks typically wear camouflage patterns, rather than the vibrant clan colors favored by other Orks. The problem is that what most Blood Axes consider to be "camouflage" is still brightly-colored and garish by human standards; only the Kommandoes have really figured out how to do it properly.
* [[Hive Mind]]: The Tyranids.
* [[Hive Queen]]: Tyranid Synapse Creatures.
* [[Hobbits]]:
* [[Hollywood Atheist]]: The Tau take this one so far it turns back on itself and they become [[Scary Dogmatic Aliens]]. The Emperor is portrayed as one as well; in one story he goes to the last church on Terra with the express purpose of destroying it, but not before he's broken the faith of the [[Good Shepherd|priest]] living inside and offered him a chance to join the new Imperium.
* [[Hollywood Tactics]]: Generally averted by most races, barring the odd Imperial Guard regiment. Both thoroughly embraced and thoroughly subverted by the Orks, who actually ''make it work''. Played straight in some comics and game cutscenes, though.
** Second Edition Lord Commander Solar Macharius had the rather unique ability as your army's leader and [[Informed Ability|a tactical genius]] to ''totally screw up your battleplan'' on the basis of a dice roll; just having him in your army might potentially lead to all your reserve units being committed immediately and skipping the devastating Preliminary Barrage step that was one of the IG army gimmicks (every artillery weapon in your army could fire before the battle actually started). Um, thanks there, [[Marty Tzu|mister tactical genius]].
** While Hollywood Tactics are typically averted both in written fluff and in the game itself (again barring Orks,) it is quite commonly depicted in artwork made for the game. A very common theme is to show two opposing armies of huge size standing in lines and firing at each other from practically point blank range with no cover and no room to move laterally. [[Rule of Cool|It looks very dramatic]], but such battlefield situations almost never occur on the tabletop or in a narritive.
* [[Hologram]]: Holo-projectors and static hololith are fairly widespread.
** [[Hologram Projection Imperfection]]: Usually a somewhat flickering cone of blue-ish or green-ish light is involved.
* [[Homage]]: Tonnes and tonnes of 'em, some minor, like planets named after Games Developers or deodorants, some much more major. The best example of a major homage would be the Necrons, started as a clear and blatant homage to the ''Terminator'' films: mysterious robotic skeletons, who carried on trying to kill you even if reduced to crawling torsos with no legs, and a special rule called "I'll Be Back". Later changes [[Retcon|departed from this]], focusing more on their image as impossibly ancient servants of even more impossibly ancient monsters. Essentially now a bunch of [[Ancient Conspiracy|Ancient Evil]] [[Determinator]]s with rather too much scalpel imagery, they maintain the robo-skeleton and "I'll Be Back". "I'll be back" has since been redubbed resurrection protocols and their fluff has moved them further than a simple Terminator [[Expy]].
** In what may be a twisted homage to the original Terminator's flesh gradually getting messed up to reveal the robotic endoskeleton (as well as a reference to the Aztec deity Xipe Totec), Necron Flayed Ones invert this: they start as machines that then ''drape themselves in the flayed corpses of their victims''.
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* [[Horse of a Different Color]]: Mutant horses, cyber-horses, cyber-boars, giant lizards, daemons that look like slugs, daemons that look like ''metal rhinos''...
* [[Hot Blade]]: The [[God-Emperor]] sported one back in his heydays. Naturally, there are imitators among the fanatics.
* [[Hot-Blooded]]: [[Authority Equals Asskicking|Shas'O]]
* [[House Rules]]: If you and your opponent agree to them.
** The rulebook actually takes a very congenial stance towards them. Some things basically HAVE to be decided by the players (especially when dealing with terrain).
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* [[Human Outside, Alien Inside]]: The Orks are actually ''fungi!''
* [[Human Resources]]: The one resource the Imperium has in unlimited amounts, which tends to lead to... [[We Have Reserves|wastefulness]].
** This is hilariously lampshaded by some Hive Worlds claiming Imperial Guard troopers as their prime (and sometimes sole) export
** This is also the case with Cadia and other Fortress [[Planet of Hats|Worlds]]: their whole existence rotates around fighting a specific threat, as such they do almost nothing but maintain equipment and train soldiers, so when there's no war on the planet or in immediate vicinity, excess of soldiers is exported - the troops raised in such a tradition are said to be particularly disciplined, if not particularly imaginative - although their effectiveness is no better than any other world in-game.
**
* [[Human Sacrifice]]: The Golden Throne is fed, ''daily'', the souls of one thousand psykers who weren't selected for use by the Inquisition, Adeptus Astronomica
* [[Humans Are
* [[Humans Are Morons]]: The Imperium of Man has hardly advanced their technology in the 10,000 years since anyone has last seen The Emperor Of Mankind. Human culture throughout their vast empire is extremely paranoid and superstitious, and the government is such a vast, inept bureaucracy that a simple ''filing error'' can lead to entire populations of people being immediately forgotten about and/or destroyed.
** As a corollary, there are resourceful types who manage to survive all of this.
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** In-game, [http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Phantom_Titan Eldar Phantoms] currently take the cake, ''being over 4 foot tall''. Miniature? Hardly.
* [[Hyperspace Is a Scary Place]]: The Warp, or Immaterium, is a reflection of the emotions of all sentient beings, the collective [[Dream Land]] of the galaxy and home to all the nightmares there have ever been, given form. Part [[Spirit World]], part [[Phantom Zone]], a sea of emotion and the source of all psychic power, it's also the daemon-infested home of the [[Cosmic Horror|Chaos Gods]] and is, for all intents and purposes, ''hell''. And going through it is the only faster-than-light travel available to most races.
{{reflist}}
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