Warhammer 40,000/Tropes/I to P: Difference between revisions

*** Eldar and Tau are not so big offenders. And while the Imperials use anti-gravity technology the fluff for the last three editions clearly states that it's used only} on the Land Speeder. Besides no amount of anti-gravity will prevent air-resistance, and the problem with Imperial aircraft is that they are not streamlined enough to reach their Mach 2+ maximum velocities given in fluff.

**** It's ''explicitly, primarily'' used on the Land Speeder...

** 4e showed some signs of this, as did the introduction of the Tau back in 3e. [[It Got Worse]].

*** Arguably, the series was at its worst in the third edition. I joke not. During 3e, there were chaos cultists on Terra, the Imperium was losing worlds by the hundreds and High Lords did not care, in fact most of them had been driven insane by imperfect deageing treatments. This was before the Horus Heresy, before the Imperium's methods were justified by dozens of books. There was no Ciaphas Cain, no likeable or sane character to be found. The Sisters of Battle fielded suicide bomber cadres, the Space Marines were a shadow of their power in latter editions, and even more insane: imperfections in their half forgotten surgical techniques rendered 9 out of 10 recruits dead and the survivors deranged. The Religious Horror was at its peak, the artwork like of things that can barely be called human hugging and kissing undetonated artillery shells, begging the gods of war for salvation has never been reprinted, the forces of Chaos, later Ultimate Evil, were simply presented as a alternate form of insanity to that of the Imperium's. By 5e, Warhammer shows an Age of War where humanity's survival hangs in the balance. 3e showed an Age of Insanity where the spirit of man was long dead.

* [[A Lighter Shade of Black]]: Probably the reason why many players still prefer to stick with the Imperium. And to a lesser degree, the Tau and Eldar.

* [[Light Is Not Good]]: The [[Church Militant]] makes sure of this one.

** The [[Asskicking Equals Authority|commanders]] of many armies are wicked fast in combat, orders of magnitude tougher than basic infantry, and often capable of wiping out entire ''squads'' of enemy troops single-handed in melee.

** A fair number of armies' units in the first place. Space Marines in particular are consistently noted as being more agile than anyone would expect given their bulkiness and mass.

* [[Limited Wardrobe]]: If the artwork and models are anything to go by, every single female Death Cult Assassin in the Imperium (and [[Amazon Brigade|we've yet to see a male one]]) wears the same slashed-up bodyglove, the same skull-decorated corset, and the same [[Combat Stilettos|high-heeled boots]], and is armed with either the same katana or the same pair of daggers. And nine times out of ten, they'll be wearing the same gimp hood and have the same bionic eye, to boot.

* [[Living Labyrinth]]

*** In Second Edition, rather than simply firing twice per round, the Cyclone came pre-loaded with twelve krak missiles, and the Terminator carrying it could launch any number he wanted at a time: meaning, if he wanted, he could trigger all twelve at once for a truly Macross-y rain of death. However, the Cyclone was also prone to potentially disastrous<ref>(and hilarious)</ref> misfires if the Terminator carrying it was hit.

* [[Mad Oracle]]: Precognition is a fairly well-known power of psykers, but carries with it [[The Dark Side]]. Aside from the Eldar, [[The Dark Side]] seems to win more often than not with would-be prophets.

* [[Made a Slave]]: All sorts of people. Orks enslave, Dark Eldar enslave, Chaos forces enslave: even Imperial Space Marines have slaves to do work that a Space Marine is not needed for (though the Marines' slaves are generally failed Marine candidates who somehow survived washing out, and are often [[Happiness in Slavery|more than happy to help]], since they're ''still'' in a better position than the vast majority of Imperial citizens).

** Imperial propaganda paints humans who join the Tau Empire as this, while the Tau propaganda paints them as becoming freed from the miserable existence of the Imperium. The actual result is likely somewhere in between, though which side it leans more toward varies on a case-by-case basis.

* [[Made of Plasticine]]

* [[Magic Is a Monster Magnet]]: Psykers risk having their brains eaten every time they use their [[Psychic Powers]].

* [[Magic Knight]]: Space Marine Librarians, Chaos Sorcerers, Eldar Warlocks, some militant psyker orders training with force weapons... the Grey Knights are a whole ''army'' of these.

* [[Magic Misfire]]: Perils of the Warp.

* [[Mechanical Horse]]: Krieg Death Riders and the like on the Imperial side, cyboars for the Orks.

** Mogul Kamir of Atilla had a mechanical horse made for him by the Adeptus Mechanicus, because he kept riding the flesh-and-blood ones to death.

* [[Medieval Stasis]]: Most of the races in the 41st millennium have been in a state of technological stagnation for thousands of years. Also literal on many worlds.

** The Imperium bans any technological advancement (there are approved ways, but those are labyrinthine at best), partly as part of their reverence for old tech in their religion, with beliefs of [[Status Quo Is God]].

* [[Planet Eater]]: The Tyranids are this, and intend to do it to every life-bearing planet in the galaxy.

* [[Planet of Hats]]: Applies to several races, to try and reduce their [[Separate but Identical]] nature.

** Eldar: Five major subfactions are each a Craftworld of Pointy Helmets: everyone from Ulthwe is either a professional soldier or a [[Psychic Powers|Seer]], everyone from Alaitoc is a [[Cold Sniper|hooded loner with a sniper rifle]], everyone from Biel-Tan is an [[Split Personality|Aspect Warrior]], everyone from Saim-Hann rides a [[Air Jousting|flying]] [[Badass Biker|bike]], everyone from Iyanden is ''[[Night of the Living Mooks|dead]]''.

** Orks: Every [[Goth|Goff]] is grim and dour and [[Serious Business|takes fighting (comparatively) seriously]], every Evil Sun is fanatically obsessed with fast-moving [[Law of Chromatic Superiority|red]] vehicles, every Deathskull is a thieving bastard who [[More Dakka|welds guns together into bigger guns]], every Bad Moon is a [[Rich Bitch|rich bastard]] who buys all the best wargear, every Snakebite is a [[Space Amish|backwoods hick]] who clings to traditional ways of doing things, and every Blood Axe is a [[Ninja|sneaky bastard]] who believes in un-Orky things like ''tactics'' and ''camouflage''.

** Similarly, naming your planet Tartarus or Armageddon is [[Tempting Fate|just asking for trouble.]]

* [[Proud Warrior Race Guy]]: Khorne Berserkers are one part this to nine parts [[Axe Crazy]]. And "Orks iz made for fightin'." Space Marines also qualify to some extent. Also: Biel-tan, Lucius the Eternal, Cadia, the Tau Fire Caste . . . let's just say 40k is quite fond of this trope and move on.

* [[Psychic Powers]]: In the background, necessary for FTL travel, but carry the risk of being possessed or worse by daemons. In the game, originally the excuse for a [[Recycled in Space]] magic system, now mostly minor but useful powers in some armies.

* [[Psychic Static]]: The Shadow in the Warp.