Source - A really cool Wallpaper! Ultramarines vs Death Guard
Good day to all my Hive friend and especially the hobby, writing and Proof of Brain Communities. Zak here from Cape Town, South Africa.
Recently, I have been getting back into my old Warhammer 40,000 tabletop hobby. It has taken some time for me to make the move and get back into it because there are a few obstacles. One being time, new models and money being another issue.
But there is another, rather strange seeming reason (to outsiders maybe) that was a bit of a mental block for me to get back into the hobby: The Lore.
The Lore has always changed and sometimes the gaming community might feel as though the company (Games Workshop) changes the lore and the game rules to suit their sales. Sometimes the changes in the lore might make the “old guard” angry as there is usually a lot of tradition built into the wargaming community – more so especially when regarding factions such as Space Marines and Astra Militarium.
There is not MEANT to be advancement and understanding of science and technology, not by humanity. Humanity is pressed at such a point of imminent destruction even while being untold trillions strong, that technology is mystical and seen as a kind of magic almost.
When aliens or Chaos gained new units, it was alright because there are aliens that develop their own Technology, Chaos would mutate and alter the reality of whatever they needed etc etc.
Anyway, the creators of the universe have decided on the course of action that would allow them to give Humanity new units and tools of war. This included allowing the storyline to progress.
A lot of the old guard of the 40k fanbase did not like it that the paused timeline had to be unfrozen and things that had stood immutable for more than 2 decades had to change in a big way.
The Unreliable Narrative
For 35 years the writers of Black Library have been adding series after series of background to the story of Warhammer 40,000 and in every rulebook and spinoff, there are sections of lore that gets expanded.
There is so much content that there are a good half-dozen or more Youtubers who manage to put out regular content just discussing and uncovering deep lore of 40k.
One of the things that happen in all this lore is that it is very possible, probable and in fact, definitely true that sometimes there will be two or more pieces of lore that do not work always show us the same information or sometimes be completely contradictory.
Why is this possible? How can the story still be so awesome if they make mistakes like this?
Well... because they are NOT exactly mistakes.
Many times the narrative of the 41st Millenium tells us that the administration of the Imperium does not even know how many worlds humanity owns at any one moment or even how many Space Marine Chapters there are. The latter is a force able to cause the destruction of an entire star system in a short amount of time and without an equally elite force, few armies can stop.
If it is not even known how many such armies exist, then there are a lot of more mysterious things NOT known for certain or retold in different ways by different people/factions.
Thus, information is subjective to the origin of the source and thus lore does not always need to explain everything in certainties...
For example: In one of the Space Wolf Codexes(Army Books) it explains how Ragnar Blackmane was the champion of a certain contest that allows him to wear a relic for 100 years but that he gave the relic to Ulrik the Slayer for training him.
But in the 6-book series Space Wolf that deals with Ragnar's life, the Wolf Priest that chooses and trains Ragnar is called Ranek.
Now... is this contradictory? Is Ranek one of Ulric's names? That is possible since they have a viking-like habit of forming elaborate Sagas with all their deeds and stories. In those stories they get all sorts of names and honorifics.
Or perhaps Ranek initially chose Ragnar, those 6 books do not cover how Ragnar became a Wolf Lord and thus there are many years of time not detailed. Perhaps Ulrik trained young Ragnar later in his career? Who knows?
The Question
So thus comes my question for all of you?
Should I do Lore posts on Hive?
Shall I explain and explore the wild depths of this rich and interesting universe in my own way?
I would like to hear from you!
Cheers!
@zakludick
