Automoderated users, Autopatrolled users, Bureaucrats, Comment administrators, Confirmed users, Forum administrators, Interface administrators, Moderators, Rollbackers, Administrators
116,434
edits
Warhammer 40,000/Tropes/A to H: Difference between revisions
→C: added new trope
prefix>Import Bot (Import from TV Tropes TVT:Warhammer40000.W40kTropesAToH 2012-07-01, editor history TVTH:Warhammer40000.W40kTropesAToH, CC-BY-SA 3.0 Unported license) |
Looney Toons (talk | contribs) (→C: added new trope) |
||
| (29 intermediate revisions by 9 users not shown) | |||
Line 2:
By the will of the Immortal God-Emperor, the great reliquary, or "page" as it is known, of tropes has grown to the point that it shall be broken up into three different pages. These pages are divided by the letter that starts the trope, and misplaced tropes shall be returned to their proper place. This page is for those tropes that start with the letter A through the letter H.
Venerate the God-Emperor. To deep-strike back to the main page, click [[Warhammer
== A ==
Line 8:
** Even [[Ciaphas Cain]], one of the more pragmatic and tolerant individuals in the ''40K'' universe, is at best lukewarm towards Xenos. He's willing to cooperate with the Tau in the first novel (when it'll save his bacon), but doesn't miss an opportunity to screw them later by failing to point out an {{spoiler|Genestealer infected fire warrior}}.
*** Actually {{spoiler|He might have been TRYING to warn the Tau. The Tau were just too much in a hurry to leave the crazy humans to notice.}}
** In the ''Last Chancers'' novel ''Kill Team'' this is shown as something of a [[Self
** 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.
** Space Marine Sternguard Veterans ONLY carry abnormal ammo: rocket-propelled anti-armor rounds, rocket-propelled flaming airburst rounds, rocket-propelled ''vials of flesh-eating acid'', and rocket-propelled ''miniaturized fusion bombs''.
** Aside from a very few conventional laser weapons, Eldar ranged weapons use abnormal ammo: if they use ammo at all: more or less exclusively: the ninja star guns, [[Razor Floss]] guns, and guns that open holes into hell listed above are all theirs. The Dark Eldar top this with guns that shoot poisoned slivers of glass, pure distilled ''pain'', and the tortured souls of enemy psykers as ammunition.
Line 20 ⟶ 21:
* [[Achievements in Ignorance]]: Ork technology as a whole, via instinctive knowledge built into the Mekboyz' genetic code and [[Unreliable Narrator|possibly]] [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]].
* [[Action Girl]]: Commander Shadowsun, [[Ciaphas Cain|Inquisitor Amberley Vail]], and every [[Amazon Brigade|Sister of Battle]] ever. Most Howling Banshees, as well; there are a few token males, but even they wear [[Chainmail Bikini|armor with feminine curves]] and identify as female.
* [[Adventure
* [[The Aesthetics of Technology]]: Brutally averted for the Imperium. That huge, boxy, primitive-looking Leman Russ? That tank is so damn maneuverable it can practically ''tap dance''. Played straight for Eldar and the Tau, whose tech is every bit as advanced as the inhuman sleekness suggests. Embraced by the Orks going the other way: their vehicles look like [[What a Piece of Junk!|rickety pieces of barely functional shit]] because they are. In fact, it's suggested that Ork technology only works through the sheer willpower (and latent psychic ability) of its users.
* [[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
* [[Air Jousting]]: Eldar Shining Spears: space elf knights on flying bikes with laser lances.
* [[AKA
** The Imperial Guard's Bombard siege mortars (particularly the old Epic versions) were based on Nazi Germany's [
** The Basilisk with armored crew compartment is based on the configuration of gun carriers used by the Germans during [[WW 2]], such as the [
** The Thudd Gun was a copy of the [
** The Space Marine Rhino is a clone of the M113 APC; the original all-plastic Predator has a T-55 turret stuck on top. The Vindicator is based on the [
** The new-look Landraider bears an almost perfect similarity to the early tanks of the First World War. The older version had huge lozenge treads with a tiny box hull suspended between them, and was apparently based on a snow crawler of some kind.
** [http://www.tamiya.com/english/products/35230_dragonwagon/dragonwagon.htm This thing] with a couple of Leman Russ on the back seems an oddly common "40K Vehicle" entry at Golden Daemon events. ''White Dwarf'' once praised such an entry "even including tiny chains" which are actually a stock part of the kit in question.
* [[Airstrip One]]
* [[Akashic Records]]: In ''Mechanicum''.
* [[Alien Blood]]: Tau have blue blood and Tyranid fluids are generally described as "ichor". Eldar and Orks have red blood, although Eldar blood crystallizes instead of scabbing, and Ork blood used to be as green as their skin before Games Workshop [[
* [[Alien Kudzu]]: Both the Orks and the Tyranids inflict a form of this on planets they invade.
** The Orks stand out, because their Kudzu are sapient...
Line 43 ⟶ 44:
* [[The Alliance]]: The Tau Empire, who are the only faction with significant allies outside their own species. This being 40K, they don't always get along. And then there's the people who suspect brainwashing, and the evidence from [[Dawn of War]] of forced sterilization and concentration camps for populations that rebel...
* [[All There in the Manual]]: Numerous rulebooks, novels, magazines, supplemental sourcebooks and spinoff games with their own sets.
* [[
** And get this: in spite of all the atrocities they commit, the Imperials still consider ''[[Knight Templar|themselves]]'' to be [[Lawful Good]]. Or at least [[Lawful Neutral]], for those who aren't Space Marines or Grey Knights.
*** To some extent, this feeds into the [[Crapsack World]] of the universe. There are plenty of instances demonstrating how horrific it is if some of those atrocities are not committed. To some extent, the Imperials generally get more opportunity to go between Good, Evil and Neutral, but rarely will not be Lawful.
*** The Imperium is always depicted as knowing they are committing a necessary evil, although the alternative would possibly be creating a second [[Negative Space Wedgie]] at the heart of itself (which is kind of what happened with the Eldar). Taking the lesser of two evils means that they think of themselves as good ''in comparison to the alternative''.
* [[Amazon Brigade]]: The Sisters of Battle and Eldar Howling Banshees. ''Not'' the Dark Eldar Wyches, oddly enough, unlike their [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] counterparts.
** Howling Banshees ''do'' have male members according to the lore, though they are rare. This is not, however, represented in any of the models.
*** It's stated in some sources that males walking the path of the Howling Banshee shed their gender identity and consider themselves female, so it's more like Amazon-Transsexual Brigade.
* [[Ambiguous Robots]]: Necrons look like skeletal robots, but are apparently more [[Haunted Technology]], or metal golems, or something.
* [[Ancient Conspiracy]]: All over the place.
** A key example of this is a multi-race super secret Illuminati like group called the Cabal, an organization of various elder (and Eldar) aliens whose entire goal is to rid the universe of Chaos. And what, do you ask, is their genius way of doing this? Aid Horus in every single way so he kills the Emperor, hopefully relying on the fact this will trigger the last ounce of guilt in Horus, effectively driving him into emo mood, which will cause only more civil war, eventually ridding the universe of humanity and leaving Chaos' best plaything destroyed. They {{spoiler|recruited the Alpha Legion to this end}} but their success is...unclear, to say the least. Horus got [[Mind Rape|a nasty headache]].
* [[Ancient Tomb]]: Many varieties of these within the setting, including an ''entire race'' revolving around their use. Most of these places [[Captain Obvious|are fatal to wander into]].
* [[Ancestral Weapon]]: Almost everyone's equipment seems to be ancient to some degree, most notably Eldar and Marine war gear and Necron ''everything''. Somewhat [[Justified Trope|justified]] by the fact that a lot of the more advanced wargear has to consist of ancient hand-me-downs, because humanity has largely ''forgotten how the technology works and considers it magical''. More progress would be made in regaining that lost knowledge, but the Adeptus Mechanicus, the priesthood of technology, guards all their secrets zealously and takes a dim view of innovations that aren't based on pre-existing technologies.
* '''[[And I Must Scream]]''': A four-word description of the entire 40k universe. And then there are several [
* [[And Man Grew Proud]]: Human history up until and through the war with the Iron Men that destroyed the first great era of human civilization lingers as myth and cultural superstitions.
* [[Animesque]]: The Tau and the Eldar, albeit in two diametrically-opposed fashions, the Tau having grabbed the [[Power Armour]], but they act like Mecha, and the Eldar being firmly espoused to [[Crystal Spires and Togas]].
* [[Annoying Arrows]]: Half averted, half played weirdly straight - there's at least one instance of alien bows and arrows going straight through Space Marines, but failing to harm them because of their superhuman toughness.
* [[Another Dimension]]: The Warp.
* [[Anti
** Aw, c'mon now, it has a special machine spirit to auto-track aircraft too. And let's not forget the amount of lead it can put against ''ground'' targets when there aren't any fliers to kill...
* [[Anti
** Hexagrammatic wards and Null-fields.
* [[Apathy Killed the Cat]]: Imperial domestic policy. "Only the awkward question; only the foolish ask twice."
* [[Ape Shall Never Kill Ape]]: Played straight by the Craftworld Eldar and the Tau. ''Thoroughly'' averted by everyone else, who gladly maim, torture, kill, and even ''eat'' members of their own race, and claim no moral superiority from avoiding such acts.
** The Dark Eldar sometimes forces the Craftworld to violate this. And the Tau Commander Farsight sometimes has no problem killing his own race (especially his ethereals).
** Actually averted with the Tau, under Commander Farsight, although he mostly targets Ethereals.
* [[Apocalypse How]]: Class 0-5 happen due to rounding errors on tax forms or when an inquisitor [[
* [[Apocalyptic Log]]: A few have cropped up from doomed Imperial research expeditions.
* [[Apologetic Attacker]]: The Tau claim to always be this, at any rate. Then again, this could be [[Nineteen Eighty
* [[Arbitrary Gun Power]]: Averted in most cases - a failed To Wound roll with firearms means the target ''was'' hit, but was wounded non-fatally and not incapacitated. A failed armor roll either means the firearm pierced the target's armor or hit them in a place where the armour couldn't protect. Since most infantry only have one wound, this means they can be killed by a good hit easily. On the other hand, there are infantry which have more than one wound. They may be very [[Badass]] non-humans which served as a more reasonable justification, but may be simply very [[Badass]] humans that play the trope straight.
** Taken to ridiculous extremes with Commissar Yarrick, who is apparently a normal human pushing 70 and can not only survive three consecutive blasts from a fusion gun, but still get back up and give the opponent a [[Power Fist]] to the face.
* [[Aristocrats Are Evil]]: ...or just corrupt and ''really'' stupid. Various background pieces have members of the Imperial upper classes joining Chaos cults out of boredom, smuggling xeno artifacts, ''[[Too Dumb to Live|using Dark Eldar as mercenaries]]'' to sort out their rivals, trying to [[Deal
* [[Arm Cannon]]: Chaos Obliterators are this ''[[Up to Eleven|all over]]'': their bodies are partially made out of weapons.
** The Grey Knights strap rocket-propelled grenade launchers to their wrists as ''standard'' armaments.
Line 83 ⟶ 85:
*** And a bit infuriating as in-lore flak armor is actually extremely good, capable of dramatically increasing the survivability of the wearer against anything shy of a bolt pistol.
** Some psykers use Force Weapons which can kill any model which suffers an unsaved wound and doesn't die (like a multi-wound model for example) after a successful psychic test.
* [[Armor
** The ''Second Edition'' Earthshaker Artillery Gun had a fun special rule that even if the impressive set of dice for its AP roll failed to beat the target's armor, you would ''still'' roll a D3 on the vehicle's location damage table; since most vehicles had at least three hit locations and the blast marker would hit all of them, it was ''statistically likely'' that any vehicle hit would be at very least crippled by the shot regardless of whether the round actually penetrated the armor.
** Taken to extremes with some weapons mounted on Titans in Apocalypse. In a game where most weapons have Strength ratings from 1 (puny) to 10 (bunker-busting), Titan weapons can have a Strength value of D: short for "'''D'''estroy everything under the blast marker automatically" (and some of these weapons use a blast marker that's a full 12" in diameter). Apocalyptic indeed.
* [[Army of the Dead]]: The Legion of the Damned, a Space Marines chapter that got lost in the Warp and became spectral beings. They occasionally emerge from the warp to turn the tide of a battle in favor of the Imperium before disappearing again.
** To lesser extent, the soul-powered Wraithlords and Wraithguard of the Eldar.
* [[Artifact of Doom]]: By the truckload in every size and shape imaginable, from simple daemon weapons to entire planets serving as the titular cans in [[Sealed Evil in
* [[Artifact Title]]: In the past, ''Warhammer 40,000'' was essentially ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' [[Recycled in Space|IN SPACE!]], with many setting and system elements borrowed directly from the other game; however, as time went on, both the setting and the system moved away from their ''Warhammer'' roots, and the two games are now distinctly different beasts. The game developers have actively defied the "40,000" part of the title becoming an artifact, as they steadfastly refuse to advance the [[Metaplot]] past the end of the 41st millennium (though some Black Library authors, particularly [[Sandy Mitchell]], have included elements from the early 42nd).
* [[Artificial Limbs]]: May be the above [[Arm Cannon]]. Even in the higher echelons of pretty much every Imperial organisation, there is some discrepancy over just what it is possible to replace damaged parts with. Sometimes actual flesh and blood vat grown limbs are referred to, but most of the time it's large, mechanical, piston-driven coolness. That may be disguised as flesh. And still have hidden integrated laspistol. Or something along those lines.
** Iron Legion Chaos Marines love this trope, as do the Loyalist Iron Hands.
* [[Art Major Biology]]: First the genetically-engineered supermen are designed to look cool, then they later explain how it (doesn't) work.
* [[Ascend to
* [[Asskicking Equals Authority]]: Ork "society". It is said that a powerful enough Ork warlord uniting all of the galaxy's Orks could [[Curb Stomp Battle|curbstomp]] every other faction. This is also how Space Marines get promoted, and how champions of Chaos gain renown.
* [[A
* [[The Atoner]]: Cypher and the Fallen Angels, also the Lamenters, Executioners, and Mantis Warriors chapters along with every chapter that's been on a pentient crusade ever and (most of) the Craftworld Eldar.
** The regiments of the Death Korps of Krieg are driven by their need to atone for their planet turning against the Emperor of Terra thousands of years ago.
** Sisters of Battle, the Sisters Repentia unit are Sisters who seek to atone for their sins by going into battle wearing practically nothing, and carrying massive [[Chainsaw Good|two-handed chainswords]].
* [[Atop a Mountain of Corpses]]
* [[Attack! Attack! Attack!]]: Orks, except for the Blood Axez, who, having the most exposure to human technology of any of the clanz, have mastered the idea that "If we runs for it we don't lose either, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!"
* [[Attack Drone]]: Widely used by the Tau. Imperial servo-skulls are also somewhat like this.
* [[Attack Pattern Alpha]]: Tau and Imperial militaries follow this.
Line 112 ⟶ 114:
* [[Axe Crazy]]: Two words: Khorne Berserkers. The worst of the bunch is Kharn the Betrayer, who's so bloodthirsty that any missed attacks in close combat hit anyone in the same squad as him. Known to randomly kill anyone in his way, even other Khorne Berserkers.
** Lesser Axe Crazies include Imperial Penal Legion troopers, Blood Angel Space Marines in the throes of [[Unstoppable Rage|the Black Rage]], and the entire Ork race.
** And [[Literal Metaphor|indeed]], most Khornates use [[Chainsaw Good|chain]][[An Axe to Grind|axes]], and an Orkish "Choppa" usually looks like an [[BFS|oversized]] [[An Axe to Grind|axe.]]
** 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 ==
Line 123 ⟶ 124:
** [[Badass Beard]]: Scout Sergeant Torias Telion.
*** Every Long Fang and Grey Hunter worth his ''must'' have one - besides, when you're a nine-foot tall genetically engineered killing machine that also happens to be a Viking Expy, there's no way your beard can't be badass.
** [[Badass Biker]]: How much more badass do you get than screaming green maniacs on ramshackle scrap-metal motorbikes laden with giant machine guns? Oh yeah, that would be the [[Super Soldier
*** DOOM RIDER, who's basically the Chaos equivalent of [[Ghost Rider]].
*** The White Scars, which is basically an entire Space Marine chapter of Badass Bikers.
Line 139 ⟶ 140:
*** And his rival, Commissar Yarrick.
*** The C'tan take the cake from everyone, having probably existed since the start of the universe (they only made contact with beings after Necrodermis allowed them to take physical form). In terms of badassery, the reason why the Nightbringer looks like the goddamn [[Grim Reaper]] is because he imprinted the fear of death on all sentient beings (minus Orks, who apparently were late to the party), and he's only the second strongest C'tan.
** [[Badass in
* [[Badass Longcoat]]: Fear the Commissar more than you fear the enemy!
* [[Badass Mustache]]: Basically anybody from the White Scars Chapter.
Line 148 ⟶ 149:
** Imperial Guard Commissars, who are employed to keep morale up by setting a heroic example - and by shooting cowards and incompetents if necessary. Ok, maybe many Commissars have the justification of shooting fleeing men because there are a lot that can follow suit, and their infantry depend on [[More Dakka]] via their numbers to kill stuff, but...
*** Woe betide any commissar that tries this with Catachans. [[Unfriendly Fire|Commissars assigned to Catachan regiments have a disproportionately high fatality rate]], noted on the tabletop by the "Oops Sorry Sir" special rule.
*** Largely averted by the novel protagonists [[
** 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.
* [[Bad Vibrations]]: Justified - if you don't feel the tremors of an approaching Titan, you deserve what you get. Somehow, Titans are still able to sneak up on people despite this in ''Titanicus''.
** The Tyranid [http://warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/Mawloc Mawlocs] do this as well. Just before they pop out of the ground and EAT YOU, in best [
* [[Bald of Awesome]]: The stereotypical look for Space Marines, except for the Space Wolves and the Blood Angels.
* [[Bald of Evil]]: In ''[[Dawn of War]]'' at least, the Heretics, Cultist Squads, and Chaos Lords are shown with shaven heads.
* [[Barbarian Tribe]]: Many Space Marine chapters, such as the Space Wolves and White Scars, recruit solely from the Barbarians of their homeworld.
* [[Base
** 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
** 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.
Line 170 ⟶ 172:
** Repeat after me: ''The Commissar is always right.''
** Notice how the quote for [[Apathy Killed the Cat]] only goes as far as two...
* [[Bee
* [[Bee People]]: Tyranids. Also the Tau's Vespid Auxilaries, though they're more like Wasp People.
* [[Belief Makes You Stupid]]: ...and keeps you alive.
Line 191 ⟶ 193:
*** You will get the same reaction by declaring that the Ultramarines are the greatest of all Space Marines, a quote that has been thrown around a lot in canon lately and is both completely random and rather insulting to anyone who likes another of the 20 founding Legions.
** [[Two Words]]: Matt Ward. Ward is a long time fan that was [[Ascended Fanboy|hired as a rulebook writer]] not too long ago. He is, however, a tad biased towards his preferred army, the Ultramarines. His first work was the above mentioned Ultramarines codex, which in hindsight is one of his ''better works''. Later monstrosities include the codexes of the Blood Angels and the Grey Knights, wich made both the fluff and the mechanics completely ridiculous and completely broken. Flying superheavy tanks anyone? The result is that anyone who dares to play any of his armies is generally considered a) a munchkin of the worst order without any regard for the background, or b) a moron with the common sense of an 8 year old ''and'' no regard for the background.
** Recently he has also done work on the Necrons (fairly well received from both a fluff and gameplay perspective, believe it or not) and...Sisters of Battle, which was...less so. Basically, if you like winning you'd best not be playing Sisters.
* [[Better to Die Than Be Killed]]: Considered an honourable end for disgraced Imperial Guard officers and those touched by the Warp, and much preferable to being taken alive by the Ecclesiarchy or Dark Eldar.
** Or Chaos. Or the Inquisition. Or the Necrons. Or the Tyranids. Or....
Line 197 ⟶ 199:
** [[Beyond the Impossible|How much further can one go]] [[Beyond the Impossible]] ?
* [[Big Bad]]: Divided amongst several dozen contenders throughout. Most others are better described as forces and gods than true villains, and better fit into the [[Bigger Bad]] category.
** Abaddon the Despoiler is the closest to the traditional concept (or, he would be if he wasn't a [[General Failure|complete idiot]]).
** Ghazghkull Thraka and Asdrubael Vect are two more strong contenders.
** It's worth noting that the Tyranids are one of the most dreaded and relentless forces in the galaxy, although they don't have a "face", having instead the invisible Hive Mind, which is their collective brain. Maybe the Swarmlord?
Line 203 ⟶ 205:
** [http://www.games-workshop.com/MEDIA_CustomProductCatalog/m500485a_99110101430_SpaceWolvesCanisMain_873x627.jpg Canis Wolfborn rides a wolf so big it has its own zipcode.]
** It should be noted that the Space Wolves (Space Vikings) make extensive use of: Fenrisian Wolves (around twice the size of most wolves today), Blackmaned Wolves (even bigger) and Thunderwolf Cavalry, who are entire units of supermen on wolves the size of Canis's... and then of course, they have viking werewolves in powered armour...
** They also call themselves [[Space Wolves]], their Primarch Leman Russ was literally [[Raised
* [[Big Bad Ensemble]]: Once again, taken [[Up to Eleven]] with entire ''armies'' qualifying for this 'bull. If we get into the full details, we might have to give ''40k'' its own page for it, so for now, we'll just settle with naming the biggest antagonists in order of threat level, from mildest to most extreme: [[Asskicking Equals Authority|Ork]] [[Large and In Charge|Warbosses]], Chaos Lords, Necron Lords, [[One
* [[Big Book of War]]: The ''Tactica Imperium'' and the ''Codex Astartes''. ''The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer'' would be this - it's actually pretty useful in some places, containing useful and informative tips such as how to make a frag grenade into a booby trap, how to field-strip and clean a lasgun, and how when you are on guard duty you should '''NEVER LEAVE YOUR POST EVER''' - were it not otherwise full of outright lies,er, uplifting Imperial propaganda.
** As a sidenote: The Tactica Imperium is regarded with near-religious reverence by the Imperial Guard, and its description as occasionally self-contradictory and best used as a rough guideline even suggests similarity to the Bible.
Line 219 ⟶ 221:
** Some of the artwork floating around shows the Space Marine [[Large and In Charge|Primarchs]] using variants on the aforementioned chainsaw swords that make the ones used by regular Marines look quite ''puny'' (especially considering that the Primarchs are generally accepted as being even bigger than your "average" eight-foot tall [[Super Soldier]]). An excellent example can be seen here with [[Imperial Fists]] Primarch Rogal Dorn, holding a [http://1d4chan.org/wiki/File:DORNBABY.jpg chainsword so wide a person could probably hide behind it].
* [[Big Good]]: Deconstructed with the God-Emperor for the Imperium of Man; while he most likely ''was'' the [[Big Good]] during the [[Horus Heresy]], nowadays, he's basically been rendered as little more than a shriveled-up husk, only serving as little more than a symbolic figurehead, meant to keep the Imperium from fully collapsing in morale and structure, and the primary icon of religious worship by his subjects, to counter the corruptive daemonology of the Chaos gods.
** Not necessarily. The Emperor did have humanity's best interests at heart, but [[Well
*** According to the descriptions of his earlier life in the background, it's likely that he ''was'' a few of these dictators.
** Aun'Va, eldest and wisest of the Ethereals, serves as this for the Tau.
** Eldrad Ulthran is this for the Eldar, their greatest leader and most badass warrior.
* [[Bigger Is Better]]: The basis [[BFG|for]] [[BFS|many]] [[Humongous Mecha|things]] in this setting.
Line 230 ⟶ 232:
*** How about Fulgrim the Phoenician, Primarch of the Emperor's Children?
**** Followers of Slaanesh in general. Nuff said.
* [[Black and Grey Morality]]: Opinions vary between whether 40k is black and grey, black and ''black'', or black and '''''[[Darker and Edgier|ALL-CONSUMING, LIGHT DEVOURING VOID]]'''''. Either way, a Commissar will *BLAM* a soldier for not having excessive bravery when overrun by superior fiorces as an example to the others, Mechanicus has a knack for "recycling" criminals (such as malcontent workers) into servitors, and Inquisition can wipe out a hive of billion citizens just because they may have seen something, or sometimes a whole planet if they deem it "not salvageable"... but those are downright friendly compared to Dark Eldar, most Heretek [[Mad Scientist]]s, or many "legitimate" local lords and death cults in the Imperium, for that matter.
** [http://www.penny-arcade.com/comic/2007/
*** [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Zt5e2OX9FUk/ For the irony...]
* [[Black Comedy]]: The humor in this seting is either this or very, very dry.
* [[Black Eyes of Evil]]: Konrad Curze and his legion of [[Night Lords]].
* [[Black Magic]]: Everything connected to Chaos.
* [[Black Market Produce]]: The nobles eat the best food, imported from agral worlds. The masses... not so much (yes, [[Soylent Green]] included)
* [[The Blacksmith]]: Vulkan, who passed the trait on to the Salamanders. To a lesser and weirder extent, Ferrus Manus and the Iron Hands.
* [[Blade
** The Necron warscythe is one of the most feared close-combat weapons in existence - a glaive that can cut through ''energy fields'' without slowing down.
** The honor blades used by Tau Ethereals. The blades are swung fast enough to become invisible, and are used in bloodless duels to settle disputes. Aun'shi carries one on the battle field, and is skilled enough with it to ''kill enough Orks that they are to afraid to go near him.''
** The Berserker Glaive from the 3rd edition of Chaos Space Marines. Averted on occasion, though, as Daemon Weapons do not always resemble their given description.
* [[Blessed
* [[Blind Seer]]: The soul-binding process required to turn psykers into Astropaths - interstellar telepaths used for all long-distance communication - completely burns out their eyes, though their psychic abilities generally compensate for it. Many non-Astropath psykers are also depicted as physically blind.
* [[Bling of War]]:There's a reason it's called "war gear". Running on [[Rule of Cool]], if you see something Blingtastic, both the equipment and the user are [[Badass]] enough to have earned this title.
Line 252 ⟶ 254:
** 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
* [[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.
* [[Brain Food]]: Space Marines and Tyranid Lictors can gain some of a creature's knowledge by eating its brain.
* [[Brainwashed]]: Liberally used by... well, everyone, really.
** [[Brainwashed and Crazy]]: Much loved by Chaos.
**
* [[Breast Plate]]: The Sisters of Battle tend to wear rather... form-fitting armour. All Eldar Howling Banshees also wear armor with noticable bosoms: including, presumably, the male ones. Some Eldar Guardians also have these.
* [[Breath Weapon]]: Tyranid bio-plasma, certain daemons and daemonhosts.
* [[Bribing Your Way to Victory|Bribing Your Way]] ''[[Crack
** Unless you get your pieces off E-Bay. The market's saturated.
** Depend on what army you play. If you play World Eaters, you can get two squads of Khorne Berserkers and Kharn the Betrayer for about 50 bucks and have a pretty decent 500 point army.
* [[Broken Ace]]: The Primarchs.
* [[Broken Masquerade]]: The secular Imperium of the Great Crusade was founded on the idea that there were no gods, no daemons, nothing that could not be explained by science. That got disproved pretty comprehensively, and [[It Got Worse|things got worse]] as a result
* [[Brown Note]]: Chaos iconography can drive men insane. Chaos ''daemons'' are a whole world of horror beyond that.
** Slaanesh Noise Marines carry a manner of sonic weapons that can [[Musical Assassin|amplify their daemonic screams, produce explosive bass notes, or rip a target to shreds from the harmonics.]]
Line 278 ⟶ 282:
** In an interesting twist, the guardsman's flak armor is the best starting armor of any of the careers in ''[[Dark Heresy]]''.
* [[Burn the Witch]]: Standard government policy.
* [[Butt Monkey]]: Played for laughs with grots. Played straight with Imperial Guard as they were Games Workshop's favorite punching bag. Even extended to the players as they got two consequtive under-powered codexes with at least half the units being useless and had to (and still do) deal with [[Scrappy Mechanic|kill points]] making the Annihilate mission [[Unwinnable]]. GW eventually decided to [[Throw the Dog
** Case in point: meet the business end of a Baneblade. Who's the [[Butt Monkey]] now?
** Also played straight with Ka'Bandha. Keep in mind that he's a 20-foot-tall [[Eldritch Abomination|Greater Daemon of the Blood God]]. Yet every time he goes up against the Blood Angels, he just ends up embarrassing himself.
Line 288 ⟶ 292:
== C ==
* [[Call a Rabbit
* [[Canis Latinicus]]: Conventional rendering of High Gothic; e.g., Adeptus Astartes, Adeptus Mechanicus. "Imperium," however, [
* [[Cannibalism Superpower]]: Space Marines and Tyranid Lictors have the ability to absorb the memories of the dead by eating their flesh, particularly the brain.
* [[Can't Argue With Elves]]: ...but you can shoot them in the face. Foul Xenos.▼
** 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.
* [[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|Terminators]], among others.▼
▲* [[Captain Ersatz]]: Soylent viridians are [[Soylent Green]], "Sly" Marbo is John [[Rambo]], the Black Templars possess [[Monty Python and
* [[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.
** A little more complicated, [[Depending
** Ironically, all of the equipment used by the Imperium is kept at optimal efficiency due to all this, since a clean and well-maintained machine is a happy machine, and a happy machine means a happy machine-god. It also means that there's never an issue with poor quality materials being used (although field repairs do happen, which is looked down upon by the Adeptus Mechanicus).
* [[Casual Interstellar Travel]]: Played straight by the Eldar and Necrons with the Webway, [[Hyperspace Is a Scary Place|brutally]], [[Cosmic Horror|horribly]] averted by everyone else.
Line 306 ⟶ 313:
* [[Cerebus Syndrome]]: People often forget that the first edition was a parody. [[Alternate Character Interpretation|Some]] [[Stealth Parody|feel like it practically is, though.]]
* [[Chainsaw Good|Chainsaw Is God]]: Warhammer's love of chainsaws can be summed up in this quote:
{{quote|
* [[
* [[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".
** The Emperor is also a likely candidate for this trope, as it is hinted at in several texts that he knew the Horus Heresy would happen, and planned for it and all future events leading up to the present and probably beyond so as to (presumably) prepare the galaxy for an ultimately happy fate.
** Asdrubael Vect fits this trope in spades. An archon said he was better than Vect, three days later, a warp rift appears above said archon's house releasing an Imperial ship, which has its warp drive detonate. The only other person in Commmoragh that can match Vect is Lady Malys.
* [[Chicken Walker]]: Imperial [[Mini
* [[Chunky Salsa Rule]]: Game mechanic: Instant Death.
** Quote from the 5th ed. Codex: "It can be imagined that the creature is vaporized, burned to a pile of ash, blasted limb from limb, or otherwise mortally slain in a suitably graphic fashion."
* [[Character Exaggeration]]: The Imperial Guard's leaders are generally considered [[General Ripper
** It's understandable that Guardsmen lives are treated like that, considering most worlds where guardsmen are recruited from they're actually considered an exportable product rather than living human beings.
* [[Child Soldiers]]: Yet another way the factions in 40k violate the Geneva Convention.
Line 324 ⟶ 334:
* [[Church Militant]]: The Imperium's Cult of [[The Emperor]] asks of you: KILL THE MUTANT! BURN THE HERETIC! PURGE THE UNCLEAN!
** ... [[Church Militant/Quotes|and it has more.]] So many that we couldn't chose which ones were best and had to give ''Warhammer40000'' its own section in the page.
* [[City in
* [[Clap Your Hands If You Believe]]: Ork technology and Ad Mech rituals appear like this to the casual in-universe observer. Ork Mekboy knowledge is instinctive, so they build without conscious thought. An ambiguous amount of Ork psychic power may also be involved, which might make it a ''literal'' application of the trope. Tech-priests on the other hand ''are'' taught genuine mechanical skills, just in an odd and [[Machine Worship|highly-ritualised way]], so maintenence operations often include unnecessary praying and application of Holy Lubricant.
** [[Wild Mass Guessing|Maybe the "praying" is machine code commands to voice-activated equipment?]]
Line 337 ⟶ 347:
** Eldar Phoenix Lords as well, for certain definitions of "maniac."
* [[Cloudcuckoolander]]: Ork Madboyz at their most harmless. At their ''[[Power Born of Madness|least]]'' harmless, however...
* [[Coat, Hat, Mask]]: Commissars, although most don't wear masks. Gas masks on the other hand...
** Similarly, the Armageddon Steel Legion and the Death Korps of Krieg are Coat Helmet (Gas) Mask.
* [[Cold
** Interrogator-Chaplains. There's a reason they're named that. Especially be careful of the ones with many black pearls.
** The [[Night Lords]] legion has a special fondness for this.
* [[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
* [[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...
Line 351 ⟶ 361:
* [[Combat Medic]]: Space Marine Apothecaries, Ork Painboyz, and pretty much anyone else with a medkit or the equivalent.
* [[Combat Sadomasochist]]: Worshippers of Slaanesh and most Dark Eldar.
* [[Combat Tentacles]]: Tyranids mount these on everything from [[
** 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
* [[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]].
Line 383 ⟶ 393:
* [[Crazy Enough to Work]]: Everything the Orks do, ever.
* [[Creepy Child]]: The Apex Twins, a minor but memorable background note. Think the girls from ''[[The Shining]]'', except ''[[Person of Mass Destruction|omnipotent and deadly]]''.
** [[Creepy Twins]]: "[[Mystery Science
* [[Creepy Monotone]]: Necron Lords, and techpriests of the Adeptus Mechanicus. Servitors are independently creepy and monotonous.
* [[Creepy Souvenir]]
* [[Crew of One]]: Played straight by the Space Marines, averted by the Imperial Guard.
* [[Crippling Overspecialisation]]: The Eldar's [[Planet of Hats|Hat]].
Line 395 ⟶ 405:
* [[Culture Police]]: The Inquisition and Adeptus Arbites are pretty laid-back about culture, so long as planets revere the Emperor and pay tribute to the Imperium. However, if they see anything that could possibly be interpreted as a sign of Chaos, the purge will be swift and without mercy - and not all Inquisitors agree on what constitutes a sign of Chaos.
** The Tau are all about this trope, even before their grimdark revision. All Tau (and their allies) must work, fight, and live for the [[Utopia Justifies the Means|Greater Good.]] Deviation lands you in a concentration camp.
*** Though for their part, the Tau do not see it this way. According to the [[Novelization]] of ''[[Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior]]'', they see imprisonment-as-punishment as an (ironically) alien concept. Those who deviate from the right and just path are poor misguided people worthy of sympathy and help. If said sympathy and help involves some [[Culture Clash|"tough love" in a re-education facility]] then so be it.
* [[Custom Uniform]]: Many examples for minor characters and squad leaders, such as Imperial Guard commissars and techpriests, and Eldar warlocks.
* [[Cutscene Power to
** Lampshaded by a White Dwarf article that supplied rules for "Movie Marines", depictions of Space Marines based on the how they might appear in an in-universe war film. Basically turns every Marine into a Hive Tyrant and every Bolter into an Assault Cannon, and they're about 100 points each.
** In the ''[[Space Wolf]]'' novels, Ragnar and co. fight off what we can estimate to be 40 odd genestealers [[Too Dumb to Live|in close combat]]. In-game, that many Genestealers spell a one way ticket to rending claw ''buttrape'' for anything short of a super heavy tank.
** Among many 40K fans who are used to discussions of a big fight involving everyone in the universe, their response to the discussions [[Depending
* [[Cybernetics Eat Your Soul]]: Servitors, and most Adeptus Mechanicus magi. Possibly literal in the case of certain Necrons.
** Also Chaos Marines interred inside Dreadnaughts tend to go...a little mad.
Line 406 ⟶ 416:
* [[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 ==
* [[Dance Battler]]: Eldar Harlequins.
* [[Dark Action Girl]]: Lelith Hesperax and [[Shout
* [[Darker and Edgier]] with respect to the regular [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]], which was fairly grim to begin with.
** It uses this [[
* [[Dark Is Evil]]: The Dark Eldar and The Black Legion.
* [[Dark Messiah]]: Horus. A lot of Word Bearers seem to have delusions of this, too. The Emperor of Mankind was [[Alternate Character Interpretation|either]] this or a straight [[Messianic Archetype]] whose plans were brutally subverted by the power-seekers and paranoids who took them up after he was forced to become one with the furniture.
Line 419 ⟶ 428:
* [[Deadly Doctor]]: Mad Doks and Apothecaries are fully qualified and lethal combatants with their medical equipment.
** Taken to extremes with the Terminator and Ravenwing Apothecaries of the Dark Angels. The former can take a missile launcher, Lightning Claws, or a Thunder Hammer. The latter is mounted on a bike with Flamethrower or Plasma Gun options.
* [[Dead
* [[Death From Above]]: Jump infantry of every shape and size (half a ton of armoured super soldier approaching your face at terminal velocity, anyone?), Space Marine [[Drop Pod
** Also, Exterminatus!
* [[Death Glare]]: Common in the artwork.
Line 427 ⟶ 436:
* [[Death or Glory Attack]]: The [[Trope Namer]].
* [[Death Ray]]: Rays which ''cause'' death, rays which ''fire'' death, rays which ''eat'' death, and rays which are fired ''[[Grim Reaper|by Death]]''.
* [[Death World]]: One of the more common [[Single Biome Planet
** The whole setting is one big [[Beyond the Impossible|Death]] ''[[Everything Trying to Kill You|Universe]]''.
* [[Decapitation Presentation]]: Happens a lot.
Line 433 ⟶ 442:
** Horribly subverted, of course, when about half of them decide that they're not so friendly after all.
* [[Defector From Decadence]]: The Craftworld Eldar and Exodites, before the Fall of the Eldar. Turned out they were right...
** Also, [[Soul Drinkers
* [[Defictionalization]]: [http://thq.com/uk/features/show/6258 Look! A Rhino. A RHINO. Our game developers are building METAL BOXES, the cowards. The FOOLS!]
** [[Tome of Eldritch Lore|The Liber Chaotica]] has been published as a [[Sourcebook]] [[Exactly What It Says
** The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer has also been published.
* [[Deflector Shields]]: Starting with personal infantry shields or shield drones and reaching up to Void Shields that defend Titans and starships.
* [[Dem Bones]]: Servo-skulls and Necrons.
* [[Demonic Possession]]: Even the ''tanks'' can get possessed.
* [[Depending
** This is a frequent response to internet discussions of the "who will win" within 40K. The winner will be the protagonists of the story, regardless of the connotations of their faction.
** Official GW policy is that beyond the broad strokes each author gets to choose what counts as canon. "All of it is real, and none of it is real."
* [[Depleted Phlebotinum Shells]]:
** [[Holy Hand Grenade]]: Holy hammers, holy bullets, holy stakes, holy artillery rounds, holy flamethrowers, holy [[strike:[[Monty Python and the Holy Grail|hand grenades]] [[Shout-Out|orbs of Antioch]].... "Sanctified" weapons. The Grey Knights have an array of weapons specifically for battling the daemonic spawn of Chaos. The Black Templars have the actual Holy Hand Grenade of Antioch. Also, the frag grenades with soil of a shrine world (most commonly Maccabeus) mixed in - blessed and distributed by Ecclesiarchy.
* [[Derelict Graveyard]]: Space Hulks.
* [[Derivative Differentiation]]: It used to just be ''[[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]]'' [[Recycled in Space|with space ships]] before adding its own mythos and creatures.
* [[Determinator]]: The Necrons and Tyranids are entire races of [[Implacable Man|Implacable]] Determinators, but insanely determined people crop up everywhere in this universe.
** Non-race-specific example is any unit that has the "Rage" special rule, which force them to go after the closest visible enemy when they move, run, or charge, or the "Feel No Pain" special rule, which lets them keep going despite horrific injury.
** One of the more extreme examples is Black Templars, who are the only army that [[Attack! Attack! Attack!|move ''towards'' the enemy when their men die.]] On top of this, they are literally fearless in close combat - a lone Neophyte (a warrior ''novice'') who has just seen the rest of his squad die will stay in the fight against a monster three times his size, which just happens to have huge claws, acidic blood, head-bursting psychic powers and Emperor knows what else.
** This is also true of [[Death Seeker|Sisters Repentia]] in a Sisters of Battle army. Their zeal and will to repent is represented in their special rules, which attempt to ensure that they will always rush towards the enemy during their movement phase, and will always charge the enemy ''if they ever fail a Morale check in combat''. Adding in a Priest only <s>exacerbates the situation</s> improves their chances of doing so.
** On the Chaos side, the Khorne berserkers voluntarily undergo a partial lobotomisation that make them singlemindedly bloodthirsty and removes their inclination towards self-preservation. This means that they rush into melee brandishing chainsaw axes and are completely immune to morale effects.
** Another notable example would be Commissar Sebastian Yarrick. Despite losing his left eye and his right arm, as well as being an old, old man by the time of his main exploits, Yarrick managed to inspire terror and respect in the Orks by his uncanny ability to fight in the thick of it no matter the odds (and the pain). When his right arm got chopped off he simply beheaded the offending Ork Warboss and kept on fighting, only "allowing himself the luxury of passing out" after the long battle was won. This has granted him the dubious honour of being WH40K fandom's answer to Chuck Norris, [[
** Played with by the Tau, who are physically unable to disobey their Ethereal caste leaders. If an Ethereal tells another Tau to do something, they automatically become the Determinator. If all nearby Ethereals are killed in battle, they tend to react... [[Heroic BSOD|poorly]].
** Not only are the Orks determinators individually, they're determinators as a race. They reproduce by giving off spores that grow into orkoids (orks, gretchin, snotlings or squigs) in the ground. Orks come out of their pods fully formed and ready to [[Ax Crazy|fight anything they can find]]; since the more an Ork fights, the more spores he gives off, once you have Orks on a planet you will '''always''' have Orks on that planet.
** The Blood Angels Space Marines suffer from [[Cursed
* [[Despair Event Horizon]]: Units can rout, such as from failing a 'morale check' from casualties.
* [[Detect Evil]]: Psykers can sense the presence of Chaos. Chaos itself is supposed to have a smell somewhere between rotten flesh and sugar.
* [[Deus Est Machina]]: Taken literally by the Omnissiah, and almost literally by the Void Dragon. Then there's the part where they might be the same being...
* [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?]]: Daemons, C'tan, and other [[Eldritch Abomination
** 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.
Line 468 ⟶ 478:
* [[Divided We Fall]]: Common among the Imperial armed forces, governments, the Inquisition, etc., much to the Imperium's detriment.
* [[Does Not Like Shoes]]: Several Dark Eldar as of the new codex, including Lelith Hesperax, Urien Rakarth, the Mandrakes, and a few of the Hellions and Scourges.
* [[Does This Remind You of Anything?]]: Tyranid wargear. Do ''not'' examine [[Squick|the biology behind it]] too closely.
* [[Do Not Go Gentle]]: The Eldar and Imperium are entire ''races'' in the middle of this.
* [[Doomsday Device]]: Lots, in every form imaginable, from sucking planets into Hell to simply breaking them apart from the inside out.
Line 474 ⟶ 484:
* [[Dream Land]]: The Warp.
* [[Drop the Hammer]]: Partly ''named'' after this trope. Thunder hammers, a gigantic hammer with a tank-splitting energy release, are a favourite of Space Marine Terminators and the Ordo Malleus...which translates to "Order of the Hammer."
* [[Dropped a Bridge
* [[Drop Pod]]: The most common way for Space Marines to enter combat.
* [[Drop Ship]]: Many, the best known being Space Marine Thunderhawk Gunships.
* [[Dual
** Taken to the next step by Eldar Striking Scorpions, who have a [[Chainsaw Good|chainsword]] in one hand, pistol in the other, and mind-activated gun mounted on their helmet. Half a step to the left are the classic Dark Eldar Incubi, who trade the chainsword and pistol for a double-handed glaive, but keep the head-gun. (Modern Incubi do away with all forms of dual wielding whatsoever in favor of [[BFS|a single, massive two-handed sword]].)
* [[Duel to
* [[Due to
** The Orks actually consider being turned into a trophy a [[Due to
** As Orks reproduce via spores and constantly release them, and release a bunch when they die, Imperium forces regularly use flamers to burn their corpses, [[Kill It
* [[Dug Too Deep]]: How one usually finds out that they're on a Necron Tomb World.
* [[Dumb Is Good]]: The Imperium '''LIVES''' by this.
* [[During the War]]: Though sometimes it feels more like [[After the End]].
* [[Dying
* [[Dying Moment of Awesome]]: Really, the best you can hope for.
* [[Dying Race]]: The Craftworld Eldar.
Line 496 ⟶ 506:
* [[Earth Is the Centre of The Universe]]: Played literally, and justified. Earth is the site of the psychic beacon known as the Astronomican, necessary for humanity's faster-than-light travel.
** Not to mention that at some point during the Dark Age of Technology, humanity moved the '''entire''' terran solar system to the centre of the galaxy
* [[Earthshattering Kaboom]]:
* [[Earth That Used to Be Better|Earth That Used To Be Much, Much Better]]
* [[Eldritch Abomination]]: ''Crawling'' with them.
* [[Electronic Eyes]]: Rather common. Some of these come with enhancements, from ballistic calculations (with cartload of profiles for weapons and ammunition) to [[Eye Beams|shooting laser beam]] (though this one is quite rare). Tech-priests sometimes don't do it... because they may opt for an optical mechadendrite instead.
* [[Elite Army]]: The [[Super Soldier]] [[Space Marines]].
* [[Elite Mooks]]: Elites choices, of course. Also, Space Marines in general, compared to the rest of the Imperium's armed forces.
Line 506 ⟶ 517:
* [[Emperor Scientist]]: The Emperor, appropriately enough.
* [[The Empire]]: ''The "good" guys.''
* [[Empire
** Incidentally the same with the Necrons. Considering they gave birth to nearly a whole legion of god-like beings that are nothing but pure narcissistic malice, and lost their free will and souls to said beings, it could be said they have entire Tomb Worlds of skeletons (Pun intended). Probably only kept a secret due to the fact that they can't talk.
*** Games Workshop just retconned quite a bit of Necron history with the new Codex; now, instead of being puppets of the C'tan, the Necrons ended up [[Did You Just Punch Out Cthulhu?|blowing said beings into thousands of itty-bitty shards]]... AFTER using their help to defeat another, even more powerful foe, and attain immortality. With the C'tans no longer being the driving force, Necrons now only want their universe-spanning empire back. Or in one case, only want artefacts for a museum.
** Almost each of the Space Marine chapters have at least enough secrets to fill a tomb or two. Special mention goes to the Dark Angels, who are more than willing to kill members of the Inquisition to hide their secret (which is similar to killing a judge at your own trial) and are so secretive about it within their own Chapter that it would make [[Church of Happyology|Happyology]] seem like an open book.
* [[The End of the World
* [[Enemy Civil War]]: Ongoing between various factions of Chaos, the Imperium, Tyranids, and Dark Eldar since the beginning, and still no end in sight. Literally a way of life for the Orks.
** Possibly subverted by the Tyranids, as they waste no ammo (they eat it back up), and the winning swarm acquires any useful genes the losing swarm picked up, thereby strenghtening the race as a whole.
Line 519 ⟶ 530:
* [[Equal Opportunity Evil]]: Chaos accepts/corrupts everyone, regardless of species, though the main races are, in general, conveniently resistant or immune - Eldar know how to resist, Tau have next to no warp presence, and Orks and Tyranids have huge psychic strength and are too devoted to a single purpose (WAAAGH/OM NOM NOM, respectively) to be easily corrupted. The Necrons appear to have contractual immunity, considering Chaos comes from the Warp and the Warp is anathema to them.
** Although Chaos Orks do appear, particularly stormboy kultz.
*** The difficulty with corrupted Orks (and, to a lesser extent, Tyranids) is that it's very difficult to tell the corrupted from the non-corrupted. They'll both try to kill you with abandon.
* [[Establishing Character Moment]]: The stories and legends about the Primarchs, semi-mythical figureheads of the [[Space Marine]] legions, and the Emperor nearly all involve some establishing moment from the Primarchs first actions after being ''born'' (normally slaughtering hordes of aliens) to the first meetings between the Emperor and the Primarchs which will say something important about how they saw him or why they betrayed him.
* [[The Eternal Churchill]]: The Imperium lives by this trope. Though individual worlds may enjoy centuries of peace, the Imperium as a whole has been fighting a war for survival on a hundred thousand fronts for ten millennia.
* [[Eternal Engine]]: Adeptus Mechanicus Forge Worlds are described as being planets covered in these. Or as planets that ''are'' these.
* [[Everyone Calls Him "Barkeep"]]: Everyone calls him...the Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind.
* [[Everything Is Better With Monkeys]]: The Jokaero.
* [[
* [[Everything Trying to Kill You]]: Non-video game example: the setting in general, life on a Death World in particular.
* [[The Evil Army]]: The forces of Chaos, the Dark Eldar, and the armies of the Imperium on a bad day (or under a bad leader).
Line 534 ⟶ 545:
* [[Evil Is Not a Toy]]: Chaos, the C'tan.
* [[Evil Is Visceral]]
** Chaos — Many creatures of chaos have long prehensile tongues and various other features covered by subtropes.
*** Nurgle — The Great Unclean Ones have exposed organs, use their intestines as weapons, use vomit and pus as ranged weapons, etc.
*** Slaanesh — Daemonettes have big crab claws in place of one of their hands, and are rumored to have a nasty surprise instead of normal genitals. Keepers of Secrets are a mix of many different body parts, including breasts.
** Tyranids — ''Everything''.
* [[Evil Overlord]]: Every Chaos Lord, Dark Eldar Archon and Ork warboss, and about half of the Imperium's governors.
Line 545 ⟶ 556:
* [[Evolutionary Levels]]: Referenced as humanity evolving into a new, psychic species. Which makes ''very'' [[You Fail Biology Forever|little sense]], since 1: Daemons eat psykers, and 2: the Imperium kills psykers. Evolutionarily speaking, the "psyker species" should die out before it is even born. Possibly justified by the [[A Wizard Did It|will of the Emperor]].
** It probably means that humanity is evolving into a new breed of psyker that starts kicking Daemon ass for point 1. Point 2 is for the shitty prototypes, so to speak, and they don't kill the loyal chaos resistant ones.
* [[Exactly What It Says
* [[Exotic Weapon Supremacy]]
* [[Expansion Pack World]]: Suddenly, the Tau Empire!
* [[Explosive Leash]]: Used on Imperial Penal Legion troopers to keep them killing the enemies of the Emperor and not their fellow Imperials or each other. Another option is shock collar.
* [[Expy]]: Lord Solar Macharius, of Alexander the Great.
** "[[Rambo|Sly Marbo]]".
** The <s>[[Dune|Navigators' Guild]]</s> Navis Nobilite.
** The majority of the Imperial Guard is designed around this trope.
*** "[[In Soviet Russia, Trope Mocks You|In the Valhallan Army, it takes more courage to retreat than to advance.]]"
*** "[[The British Empire|Praetorians! First rank FIRE! Second rank FIRE! Independent fire at will!]]"
** ''[[
** Necrons seem to be an army made up entirely of [[Terminator
** The Arbitrators [[Judge Dredd|are the Law!]]
*** Amusingly, this went full circle, with the ''[[Judge Dredd]]'' movie featuring Judge Hunters who brazenly ripped off the Adeptus Arbites uniforms, which themselves were ripoffs of the original Judge uniforms.
Line 562 ⟶ 573:
*** 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
* [[Extreme Omnivore]]: Tyranids eat everything up to and including ''entire planets'', right down to the bedrock, ''including the atmosphere''.)
** Orks count, too, due to their incredibly robust physiology. Point in case, Ork Fighta-Bommas run their fuel lines through their cockpits, in case the pilot gets thirsty.
** Space Marines, due to their various enhancements, are also able to survive by eating things most people wouldn't consider food.
** The Kroot eat anything they can so near future generations will take on certain aspects. They also digest EVERYTHING they eat, to make up for the few things they don't.
* [[Eye Beams]]: Played straight with Eldar Striking Scorpions and Dark Eldar Incubi, who have lasers mounted on their helmets
** Baleful Eye implant is rare archaeotech, but a concealed hands-free laser pistol has its uses even besides scaring the savages. And it still works as a replacement eye. Commissar Sebastian Yarrick, having had his ''eye shot out of his skull'', had it replaced with a bionic laser eye implant. "If the Orks believed he had the Evil Eye, then by the Emperor, an Evil Eye he would have!"
* [[Eyepatch of Power]]: Yarrick's aforementioned bionic laser eye. Prince Yriel of the Eldar also sports one.
== F ==
* [[The Face]]: A group of Tau will often have [[Fantastic Caste System|a member of their diplomat caste]] around that can do all the talking when they have to meet with members of another species.
* [[Face Full of Alien Wingwong]]: Genestealers, Psychneuein.
* [[Faceless Goons]]: Most troops are either alien monsters or wear full-face helmets, but most squad leaders and superior officers ''don't'', to make them stand out more. While the idea that men in suits of [[Powered Armour]] the size of ''tanks'' are running around with their heads completely exposed leads to some serious [[Fridge Logic]], [[Word of God]] is generally that the characters ''do'' wear their helmets, but the models representing them don't to make them [[Rule of Cool|more distinctive]].
** It should probably be noted that, in the case of the aforementioned [[Powered Armour]] wearing tank-sized men, being shot in the exposed skull is generally seen as a [[Made of Iron|fairly minor inconvenience]], both in-game and in fluff terms.
Line 586 ⟶ 596:
** Horus himself is the most prominent example at hand. An incredibly talented, charismatic and powerful leader, Horus was, essentially, tricked into rebelling by being shown a future where (so he thought) he had been forgotten (along with all the other traitor primarchs) and the Emperor was worshipped as a God. Ironically / tragically, this was in fact that future that his very rebellion would create.
** The first Eldar Striking Scorpion Phoenix Lord, Ahra, left his aspect shrine to journey through the Dark Eldar-inhabited Webway, and is HEAVILY implied to be the Dark Eldar special character Drazhar, Master of Blades. The Dark Eldar have a unit called Incubi, which are supposedly composed entirely of fallen Striking Scorpions and their descendents.
* [[Family
* [[Fangs Are Evil]]: Averted with the Space Wolves and the Blood Angels. Played horrifically straight with Chaos Space Marines and the Tyranids.
* [[Fanon Discontinuity]]: Matt Ward is widely hated in WH40k fandom as the "paragon" of everything that's bad about [[Running the Asylum]].
* [[Fantastic Racism]]: "Beware the alien, the mutant, the heretic." The Imperium of Man is rabidly and xenocidally human-centric, but considering that the Eldar view every other species as mindless pawns to be manipulated, the Tau are divided into genetically "pure" castes based on their physical specialisations, the Orks tend to "crump any o' 'dose gits what ain't Orky enuff!" - including ''other Orks'' - and everything else is trying to kill everything else, it's fairly understandable.
** More than understandable: due to the nature of the Imperial religion and the fact that the God Emporer is the only god that Chaos can't touch, becoming a close-minded, xenophobic bigot is pretty much ''the only way your soul can be saved.''
* [[Fantastic Rank System]]: The Imperial Guard have several additional ranks, such as "Lord General Militant" and "Colonel-Commissar". Non-human factions have entirely invented rank systems; see the trope page for details.
* [[Fantastic Slurs]]:
** In the Imperium, "twist" is often used for mutants, though the mutants have largely reclaimed the term.
* [[Fantasy Counterpart Culture]]
Line 601 ⟶ 612:
** The Orks started life as a caricature of British football hooligans.
** In the ''Dawn of War'' series, the Tau are characterised by distinctly Asian accents, which rather coincides with their Taoist philosophy and rather [[Animesque]] designs. They're also commonly seen as Space Communists for their "Greater Good" philosophy.
** The Eldar are a grab-bag of different cultures, combining Greek, Japanese, medieval European, and [[Commedia Dell
** Both the Necrons and the Thousand Sons Chaos Space Marines show ancient Egyptian influence in their design.
** The Kroot have a very Aboriginal Tribal feel to them, using relatively primitive weapons and warbeasts rather than the high-tech weaponry of every other race (and it's not like it's hard for them to get the equipment either, they just simply don't want it because it's too flimsy).
* [[Fashionable Asymmetry]]: Tau Fire Warriors wear an over-large, reinforced shoulder pad on their left shoulder to provide additional protection when they open fire on the enemy. Some older patterns of Space Marine power armor have a studded, reinforced shoulder pad on one side for the same reason.
* [[Fast Roping]]: A tactic that was introduced in the ''Cities of Death'' expansion that allows troops to drop directly onto buildings from their skimmers. Later adopted as a standard - if dangerous - technique for exiting a Valkyrie at speed in ''Codex: Imperial Guard''.
** ''[[Only War]]'' rates Clip/Drop Harness as "Common" for Logistics purpose. It wouldn't be something your quartermaster almost certainly have, if it wasn't ''used'' all the time (not only from hovering transport, but also in urban and mountain warfare).
* [[Faster
** Unless you're the Tau. They just "''skim the surface''" of hell. Humans can do it too, but by the standards of Imperium it's maddeningly slow - and military doesn't want to be late to the party, while for commerce longer trips obviously drop the profit/upkeep rate, though some merchants choose more "shallow" warp drives, since this significantly reduces risks.
* [[Fatal Flaw]]: Everyone.
* [[Fate Worse Than Death]]: "Pray they don't take you alive."
Line 615 ⟶ 627:
* [[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.
* [[
** To the point that the rogue chaos god Zuvassin is, for the most part, the [[Anthropomorphic Personification]] of Murphy's Law; he doesn't so much as give his worshippers orders as much as just let them loose, because if he actually were to give orders, they would find some way of messing them up.
* [[Final Solution]]: Exterminatus is a disturbingly popular problem-solving tool.
* [[Five Rounds Rapid]]: In background material, trying to take down warp-spawned horrors with conventional weapons usually achieves nothing, and [[Depleted Phlebotinum Shells|alternative]] [[Kill It
** On the tabletop, [[Five Rounds Rapid]] is ineffective. Five ''Hundred'' Rounds Rapid, on the other hand...
** Star-gods and a few nasty T8+ creatures are utterly immune to most small-arms fire in-game, due to the rule that if a weapon's strength is 4 or more less than the toughness of the target, it can't hurt them (and the standard firearm is usually Strength 4, if not less). They also have a helluva lotta wounds to withstand anything that can hurt them.
Line 628 ⟶ 639:
* [[Flechette Storm]]: Eldar shuriken weapons, Dark Eldar splinter weapons, and at least one type of bolter shell all work like this.
** The Tau have an upgrade for their tanks that shoot flechette storms while using tank shock rules.
** Similarly with the Land Raider variant patterns (Crusaders and Redeemers): They have Frag Assault Launchers, which shoot a cloud of shrapnel outward from the front assault ramp, allowing those within (usually Terminators) time to close with the enemy. Stormshard mortar fires airburst shells. Filled with flechettes. ''Shaped as a sharp-edged Aquila''.
** Or, you know, mono-edged flechette loads. Fired from a full-auto shotgun.
* [[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
* [[Foregone Conclusion]]: For the story, no matter what new threat shows up and no matter how much its power is hyped it will ''never'' mean the end of the Imperium. In real life, whenever an army gets a new codex they will definitely win the battle report in the White Dwarf magazine or at least a second chance if they lose the first battle.
* [[Forever War]]: That should be obvious by now.
{{quote|
* [[Forged
** Vaul, the forge god of the forged ninety-eight swords and a variety of other Eldar gadgets.
* [[Four Is Death]]: The four chief [[God Is Evil|Chaos Gods]], [[The Corruption]] distilled. Massively powerful warp entities, each a reflection of one survivalist emotion as present in the collective subconscious of all sentient beings. Each has their own set of daemonic creatures and corrupted followers. Similarly, the surviving C'tan number four: [[The Chessmaster|The Deceiver]], [[The Grim Reaper|The Nightbringer]], [[And I Must Scream|The Outsider]] and the [[Deus Est Machina|Void Dragon]].)
* [[Fragile Speedster]]: Taken to extremes by the Eldar; taken to ''ridiculous'' extremes by Dark Eldar.
* [[Frickin' Laser Beams]]: Starting with lasguns.
* [[Friendly Enemy]]: Ghazghkull Thraka, to Commissar Yarrick. The feeling is ''not'' mutual.
** Orks have a word to describe this: "Skumgrod" roughly translates to "Favourite Enemy." Or "Best Friend." This is the Ork psyche in a nutshell.
* [[Full
* [[Full
* [[Funetik Aksent]]: Orks.
* [[Fun Personified]]: Orks. They're the only non-Chaos-corrupted race that really enjoys war, and see the galaxy as a big playground full of wacky hijinks. Plus, their Codexes are hilarious. Pretty much the only race [[The Loonie]] can play and not get a [[Dope Slap]].
* [[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 ==
* [[Gaiden Game]]: The various [[Spin
* [[Galactic Conqueror]]: Too many to count. Some evil, some ''really'' evil.
* [[Garrisonable Structures]]: Tabletop 40K was doing this long before [[Video Game
* [[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]]
** 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.
* [[Ghost Ship]]: Space Hulks. Also some Eldar vessels, albeit more as "ships crewed by ghosts" than the traditional sense.
* [[Giant Flyer]]: Winged strains of the larger Tyranids.
Line 671 ⟶ 683:
* [[Giant Spider]]: Giant ''robot'' spiders, no less, in the form of Necron Tomb Spyders, and a [[Humongous Mecha]]-scale variant called the Tomb Stalker, which is more of a Giant Centipede.
** The Tyranid Hierophant biotitan has elements of this as well, combined, of course, with reptilian features.
* [[Girl
* [[Glass Cannon]]: Eldar put emphasis on the "cannon", Dark Eldar on the "glass".
** The [[
*** Taken to extremes by the joke army build known as the "Barrel of Monkeys".<ref>Take Inquisitor Coteaz, who can take Jokaero as troops. Spend ''all'' the rest of your points on Jokaero</ref>
* [[Glowing Eyes of Doom]]: ''Everyone'' seems to have these.
* [[A God I Am Not]]: The Emperor, despite what his worshippers say.
* [[God
* [[Golem]]: Eldar wraith-constructs.▼
▲* [[God Emperor]]: Read through the page and if you can't guess who it is by the end, we'll give you a cookie. We'll even give you a clue, his name begins God- and ends -peror and despite ascending to literal godhood after his reign ended due to the worship of the masses [[Suspiciously Specific Denial|he is so totally not a]] ''[[Dune]]'' rip-off.
** Ironically, the guy tried to make sure that he wouldn't. It didn't work. Far worse than he would [[Alternative Character Interpretation|publically admit]] to liking.
* [[God Is Evil]]: Taken to an extreme.
** Tzeentch: [[Chessmaster]] god of change, mutation, manipulation, sorcery, [[Magnificent Bastard
** Nurgle: God of decay, disease, corruption, entropy, maggots and [[Body Horror]]. Daemons take the form of potbellied maggotridden monsters of barely-held-together rotten flesh, mortal followers aren't much better. Apparently has a sense of humour, and is called ''Grandfather Nurgle'' by his followers, who see him as a [[Nightmare Fuel|kind and loving god.]] Born from the emotion of ''despair''.
** Khorne: God of rage, violence, war, [[BFS|oversized weapons]] and the [[Axe Crazy]]. Daemons take the form of spiky muscular freaks covered with blood and brass, usually holding really big axes. Followers are uniformly psychotic axe-waving [[Blood Knight
** Slaanesh: God of pleasure, excess, indulgence, [[Sense Freak
** Gork and Mork: the ork gods of Cunning Brutality and Brutal Cunning (The subtle distinction being: one hits you when you're not looking at it, the other hits you really hard when you are. Orks have fought wars over which god is which). Reflection of...er...everything [[Axe Crazy]] in existence? By the way, those two kinda qualify as nice ones, or at least [[Comic Relief]] ones.
** Then we have the C'tan, who are almost as good as the Chaos gods themselves on the soul eating and reality warping front.
Line 691 ⟶ 702:
** Subverted (finally) with Isha, the Eldar Mother Goddess. She's been Nurgle's prisoner for centuries, and he tests his plagues on her, learning something when she cures herself. When Nurgle isn't looking, Isha whispers the cures for these diseases to mortals.
* [[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.
* [[Go Mad From the Revelation]]: Roll up! Gaze unprotected into the Warp! Lose your mind!▼
▲* [[Golem]]: Eldar wraith-constructs. Also, vat-grown Servitors/Cherubim/Gholam.
* [[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]]. ▼
▲* [[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.
* [[Good Is Not Nice]]: The Salamanders fight not for glory, but for the people. Hurting civilians is a [[Berserk Button]] for them, which a chapter master found out the hard way. Outside of that, they're ruthless in battle and are an entire chapter of [[Scary Black Man|scary black men]] who like to burn things.
** Also the Space Wolves, an entire chapter of [[Chaotic Good]] [[Boisterous Bruiser
** 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.
Line 704 ⟶ 717:
** In the case of the Dark Reapers and Maugan Ra, this is directly from the Nightbringer. The Eldar Aspect Warriors are all embodying a single aspect of Khaine, the Eldar War God; the aspect of the Reaper is a direct result of Khaine getting a bit of the Nightbringer stuck in him.
* [[Grimmification]]: First-edition Rogue Trader ''started off'' as a spectacularly grim and horrible place where the good guys were insane thugs and war and horror dominated everything. [[It Got Worse|It got much, much, much,''much'' worse]].
* [[Guilt
* [[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 ==
* [[Half
* [[Hand Cannon]]: Imperial bolt pistols, plasma pistols, and inferno/infernus (melta) pistols, particularly the versions wielded by Space Marines. Ork sluggas also qualify. Other races tend to be a bit more... restrained when it comes to their sidearms.
** Laspistols, [[Fan Nickname|or flashlights]] ''technically'' count by a great abuse of technicality that will surely land this in the YMMV tab, because, while the weakest weapon in the setting, a laspistol can easily liquefy/explode any organic matter the beam hits. Why weren't they mentioned before? Well, firstly they're ''the weakest weapon in the setting'' and everyone calls them flashlights. And it has as big a case of [[Overshadowed
** Notably, 40k is one of
** Notable as well is that these energy weapons don't go pew, but loud "krak!
** Hotshot laspistols (hellpistols), due to being not as much "pistol" as a hotshot lasgun shortened to be handy in close quarters; the result is 4 kg piece (yep, it's like a brick with handle) cable-fed from 10 kg power backpack (or bigger) - and in performance against armored targets is comparable with bolt pistol.
* [[
* [[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.
* [[Harmony Versus Discipline]]
** [[Elves vs. Dwarves]]: Everyone with a motive more complicated than "must eat" or "must kill" has some ideological (or genetically-engineered) disdain of everyone else or some futile set of grudges.
** [[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.
* [[The Heartless]]: Daemons of Chaos; Dark Eldar, especially mandrakes.
* [[Healing Factor]]: The entire gimmick of the Necrons and their "We'll Be Back" special rule, C'tan with their Necrodermis "skin", and certain Tyranid monstrous creatures. To a lesser degree Orks, who routinely survive anything <s>short of</s> including decapitation.
* [[He Knows Too Much]]: The very existence of the Grey Knights chapter is kept secret from the rest of the Imperium. If circumstances dictate that they must fight alongside other Imperial forces, then the secret is maintained after the fighting is over with [[You Have Outlived Your Usefulness|executions]] or when the soldiers in question are valuable enough to be allowed to live (such as in the case of other Space Marines) with [[Laser
* [[Hell Gate]]: The Eye of Terror, the Maelstrom, Van Groethe's Rapidity...
* [[Hell Hound]]: Khornate Flesh Hounds. Also, to a lesser extent, Dark Eldar Warp Beasts. The Imperial Guard also have a tank ''called'' the Hellhound, which is armed with a [[Kill It
* [[The Heretic]]: The Ecclesiarchy, the Adeptus Mechanicus, and the Space Marines all have different ideas of what constitutes heresy, but all three agree that worshiping Chaos fits the bill.
* [[Heroic Safe Mode]]: A core tenet of Eldar Aspect Warrior training.
* [[Heroic Willpower]]: Both played straight, and inverted - ''Villainous'' Willpower determines which of the two possible [[One
* [[Heroic Sacrifice]]: Generally how the nice people in 40K die if it's on their own terms.
** To quote von Remus from ''[[Damnatus]]'': In this universe, one is either sacrificed, or sacrifices themself.
* [[He Who Fights Monsters]]: Older Inquisitors tend to have radical (no, not [[Totally Radical|that kind of radical]]) ideas about protecting the Imperium, such as using alien technology to battle aliens or daemon-possessed weapons and artifacts to battle Chaos. This tends to cause friction with younger, more puritanical Inquisitors. Some postulate that this is the inevitable fate of every Inquisitor who lives long enough, and given their job description, it's not very surprising.
** How do you get rid of crime on a planet? Why, become [[Death Note
** Really, you can apply this to the whole of the Imperium. It helps that in some cases, they are fighting ''actual monsters''.
* [[Hey,
** Three of the main characters in the ''[[
** Wow, [[Mass Effect 2|Zaeed]] is narrating the [http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hHu4Na0lsd0 trailer] for ''Warhammer 40,000: Dark Millenium Online''!
* [[Hidden Elf Village]]: Eldar craftworlds, Exodite worlds, and Maiden Worlds. The Eldar aren't a very social bunch.
** 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
** 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
** 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''.
** Horus' betrayal began while recovering from injury like [[The American Revolution|Benedict Arnold]].
* [[Home Guard]]: The Planetary Defense Forces, considered as under equipped and far less competent by the Imperial Guard. Repeat, the Imperial Guard, [[Butt Monkey]] [[Cannon Fodder]] extraordinaire, believes the PDF to be beneath them.
** Which, given their status as "imperial speedbump" (the ones who slow down the enemy until the Guard is there), might have a grain of truth. If anything, they lack a quality the Guard has: Quantity.
* [[Hopeless War]]: For ''everyone''.
* [[Hope Spot]]: Why the Imperium discourages the foolish notion of hope.
* [[The Horde]]: The Orks, and some of the less disciplined Chaos factions.
* [[Horde of Alien Locusts]]: Tyranids are possibly the ur-example.
* [[Horny Devils]]:
* [[Horny Vikings]]: Space Wolves are Vikings IN SPACE, though they don't wear horned helmets - those are reserved for Chaos Marines (and members of the Wolves' 13th Company, who have been in the Warp for 10,000 years and occasionally had to scavenge gear from dead Chaos Marines).
* [[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
* [[Hot
* [[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).
* [[Hover Tank]]: The Tau's Hammerhead, and the Eldar's Falcon and its offshoots.
* [[Humanity Is Superior]]: Which is why everything else should be [[Kill It
* [[Humanoid Aliens]]: Pretty much every main race except for the Tyranids. Lampshaded in ''Xenology''.
* [[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,<ref>who will sacrifice ''themselves'' if they succeed, as a monastic order who trains for years to the job on which they'll burn out in a year at most, knowing exactly what they do and to what end</ref> or Astra Telepathica - where those deemed tough enough become "normal" sanctioned psykers <ref>who end up used as walking guns or sensors until they spontaneously combust, get possessed by daemon, shot by the minder if it looks like they're about to, or learn even tougher control of their powers - which gives some tiny chance to die of old age or be "promoted" into Inquisitor's retinue</ref> and "talented, but not strong-willed enough" soul-bound to the Emperor and used for communication.<ref>usually end up with burned-out eyes and dubious life expectancy due to mental strain and/or being high-priority targets for anything hostile to their employer or the Imperium in general - but given from ''what'' soul-binding protects, may still have a better deal than the rest</ref> Chaos rituals frequently make use of this also.
* [[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.
* [[Humans Are White]]: In the future there is only war... and white people.
** Though <s>most</s> [[Retcon|all]] of the Space Marines of the Salamanders chapter are black in official art, and the White Scars are distinctly Asian. [[All There in the Manual|The fluff]] states the Tau have different skin colours, although all are variants on blue/grey. We have the distinctly shh-we're-not-Arabs Tallarns too.)
Line 786 ⟶ 803:
** The Emperor himself is said to have been born in central Anatolia and is usually depicted as quite tan.
** I blame the lack of sunlight on [http://www.servantsoftheimperium.com/comic.php?comicid=81 hive worlds].
* [[Humans
* [[Human Subspecies]]: The Space Marines fall under this trope, being so modified that they're practically a different species. Also, the various Abhumans.
* [[Humongous Mecha]]: Titans, and to a lesser extent, Space Marine Dreadnoughts; Ork Dreads, Killa Kans, and Gargants; Eldar Wraithlords and War Walkers; Chaos Defilers; Tau Battlesuits; Witch Hunter Penitent Engines...
** In-game, [http://
* [[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}}
[[Category:Warhammer
[[Category:
| |||