History Characters / Warhammer40000Imperium

* {{Hypocrite}}: There are quite a lot of Imperial citizens who would like to slay all psykers indiscriminately. Leaving aside the fact that a lack of psykers would cause the Imperium to collapse in a matter of days (if not hours), such an ideology neatly ignores the uncomfortable fact that the Emperor himself was a psyker.

* HumanResources: Psykers are rounded up on the Black Ships and taken back to Terra for testing. Those with potential are trained as battlefield psykers or astropaths, while others are sacrificed to power the Astronomican or maintain the Golden Throne. Several worlds also label humans as their primary export, most notably the fighters of Catachan.

* HumansAreMorons: The average Imperial citizen's source of knowledge is enormously untrue propaganda, leaving them ignorant, fearful and superstitious - said traits are even extolled barefaced with those exact words by said propaganda. This doesn't necessarily mean that Imperials are idiots so much as they're either unaware of what's lurking all around them or [[GoMadFromTheRevelation would rather not know]] what's out to kill them.

** This has actually had subtle effects on virtually all of Imperial society. For example, all canonical SpaceMarine chapters have Chaplains, {{Badass Preacher}}s of the Imperial Cult whose primary task is to keep their charges from falling to Chaos. But, pre-Heresy, the Chaplains only existed amongst one Legion, the Word Bearers, and this intense devotion to religion made them ''the very first Legion to fall to Chaos''.

The Imperium of Man, ruled from [[EarthThatUsedToBeBetter Holy Terra]], is TheEmpire of ''TabletopGame/{{Warhammer 40000}}'', and a particularly brutal and dystopian one at that. After the collapse of galactic civilization, a being known only as [[MessianicArchetype The Emperor of Mankind]] led his Great Crusade to reunify humanity in an enlightened new order. But just when a new golden age seemed imminent, the newly-forged Imperium was wracked by civil war as half of the Emperor's sons turned against him. The HorusHeresy was ultimately quashed, but at a terrible price: countless worlds were left in cinders, untold trillions were dead, and the Emperor himself was mortally wounded and forced to "ascend" to the Golden Throne, an arcane life-support machine.

Ten thousand years later [[GodEmperor the Emperor is venerated as a God]], [[MedievalStasis the Imperium's technology has barely progressed]], {{Witch Hunt}}s are commonplace since every rogue psyker is a potential gateway to the LegionsOfHell, each day [[PoweredByAForsakenChild thousands of souls are sacrificed to power]] the Golden Throne and the psychic navigational aid known as the Astronomican, planets deemed tainted beyond salvation are [[EarthShatteringKaboom subject to Exterminatus]], and the sheer size of the [[TheGovernment Terran bureaucracy]] means that entire planetary populations can be forgotten due to filing errors.

* BeliefMakesYouStupid: ...kind of. Since Warhammer 40K's magic system is based on ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve, belief can have power. It should be noted that while belief isn't treated nicely, outright atheism is treated as even worse. The reason no one saw the HorusHeresy coming and didn't believe it once it started was because the Imperial Way had outlawed all belief in demons, magic, etc.

*** Which, in the most recent additions to the HorusHeresy series, is revealed to have backfired rather badly, since, even without active belief/worship, the Chaos gods are still strengthened simply by humans going about their day-to-day existence of fighting, loving, planning, sickening, and dying. The only effective way to combat this is fervent belief in something ''else'' (i.e. the Emperor).

* TheCaligula: More than a few Planetary Governors (Herman von Strab of Armageddon was pretty blatant), but at the Imperial level, we have High Lord [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Goge_Vandire Goge Vandire]], who became Master of the Administratum and Ecclesiarch in the 36th millennium, causing the Reign of Blood during the Age of Apostasy. Completely insane and prone to wandering about the Palace in the shadows, he was guarded by a sect he co-opted called the "Daughters of the Emperor". Eventually, the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Space Marines rebelled against him, but the Daughters managed to hold the line, until the Adeptus Custodes were able to turn the Daughters against Vandire. The Ecclesiarchy was subsequently stripped of military power except for the Daughters, who became the [[AmazonBrigade Sisters of Battle]] we know and love today.

** '''Mortality and Insignificance of the Individual:''' The Galaxy is a big place, trillions battle for humanity's survival, thousands of wars rage unchecked, and against this backdrop, the death of millions and destruction of entire worlds is rendered insignificant. Imperial Dogma reflects this; there are death and skull motifs everywhere, and Imperial culture is an especially [[MartyrdomCulture fatalistic one]]. "Serve the Emperor, for tomorrow you may be dead."

* CharacterExaggeration: Much of what's been described about the Imperial Guard for this trope can apply to the Imperium as a whole. While the Imperium's bleak, "Grim Dark" nature is exaggerated by some to the point of {{Flanderization}}, the sheer size and expanse of the Emperor's realms mean that the more brutal and dystopian parts of it tend to stand out more. Meanwhile, many settled worlds are roughly AD 1000-2000 in terms of development and otherwise (relatively) quiet compared to the average Hive World, with some planets explicitly described as being paradises. While there are whole regions of the Imperium that are pockets of stable, (relatively) safe calm, such as Ultramar. In other words, there actually ''are'' halfway-pleasant places to live if you're lucky - or if your name isn't Ciaphas Cain.

** The HorusHeresy was what caused the Imperium to be the barely functioning husk that it is.

* DoNotGoGentle: The Imperium is going down, and they're [[TakingYouWithMe taking everyone they can with them]].
* DystopiaIsHard: It is shown time and time again that the harsh conditions of the Imperium do not equal a very well run state. The only thing keeping humanity together is constant outside threats from aliens, undead cyborgs, and the legions of Hell, and its size means the exponential growth is barely outpacing the exponential decay.

** A degree of genetic deviation ''is'' tolerated; abhumans like Ogryns and Ratlings are [[YouWillBeSpared useful]]. However, the human genome is sacred, and creating retroviruses that seek to change it is among the greatest of sins. The [[SuperSoldier Space Marines]] are also not human, but since they are [[ProHumanTransHuman protectors of the Imperium]] and were created by the Emperor himself, they are both revered and feared as his "Angels of Death".

* TheGovernment: The Adeptus Terra, the "Priesthood of Earth", an umbrella organization which includes the major Adepts, or government servants. In practice, though, the organizations of the Adeptus Terra are autonomous (and seriously distrustful) of each other.

** The aptly named Inquisition also functions in this respect, being literally above the law and able to render judgement as they see fit whenever they see fit. Inquisitor Lord Karamazov famously executed a young man because people believed he was the reincarnation of the Emperor (he thought otherwise). Karamazov basically skipped the trial and went straight to roasting the boy on the spot. While later findings would vindicate Karamazov's decision, it left a horrible taste in the Thorian Inquisitors, [[EstablishingCharacterMoment who felt Karamazov did it to spite them.]]

* LowCultureHighTech: The Imperium of Man is basically the culture of Medieval Europe and pretty much everything from the 11th-20th Centuries with technology far beyond it, hence the nickname of "[[FanNickname Catholic Space Nazis]]." The Horus Heresy books meanwhile suggest that the earlier days of the Imperium took quite a bit from the Roman Empire, with the Imperial Palace in particular looking much more Roman than the Gothic-inspired architecture of the post-Heresy years.

** Within the Imperium, there are lines known as "Thoughts for the Day", sayings attached to official documents. To sum it up, the Thoughts tell you that life sucks, something horrible is going to kill you in a horrible way, so you might as well kill as many of them for the Emperor as you can before you die.
* MessianicArchetype: Sebastian Thor, who lead the Confederation of Light against High Lord Goge Vandire and succeeded him as Ecclesiarch, ending the Age of Apostasy. Believed to possess some of the power of the Emperor, he gave rise to a Puritan belief in the Inquisition which holds that the Emperor will be reborn if he dies.

* MurderInc: The Officio Assassinorum, which provides elite assassins used by Imperial organizations such as the Inquisition. The Grand Master of Assassins, the head of the Office, is one of the High Lords of Terra, and is heavily monitored by the other High Lords, as the Grand Master could (and at one point did) easily wipe the others out.

* [[ObviouslyEvil Obviously Morally Grey]]: The Imperium's use of grim cyborgs, skulls and intimidatingly large architecture makes it clear they are not about being nice people.

* PuttingOnTheReich: The Imperium has always had shades of this, but when the Emperor actually reigned, things were a lot more pleasant. After the HorusHeresy, well...
* RegentForLife: The [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/High_Lords_of_Terra High Lords of Terra]], who rule the Imperium of Man in the name of the God-Emperor. Since the Emperor isn't likely to get off the Golden Throne anytime soon, they've been running the show for the last ten thousand years. They include, but are not limited to, the Master of the Administratum, the Ecclesiarch, the Fabricator-General of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Grand Master of the Officio Assassinorum, the Lord Commander of the Imperial Guard, the Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy, the Grand-Provost Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites, and representatives of the Navis Nobilite and Inquisition.

* TreacheryCoverUp: After the HorusHeresy, attempts were made to excise that dark period from history with varying success. Some worlds are dumbstruck when they are confronted by Traitor Marines, while on others Horus's fall to darkness is common knowledge.

Ten thousand years later [[GodEmperor the Emperor is venerated as a God]], [[MedievalStasis the Imperium's technology has barely progressed]], {{Witch Hunt}}s are commonplace since every rogue psyker is a potential gateway to the LegionsOfHell, each day [[PoweredByAForsakenChild thousands of souls are sacrificed to power]] the psychic navigational aid known as the Astronomican, planets deemed tainted beyond salvation are [[EarthShatteringKaboom subject to Exterminatus]], and the sheer size of the [[TheGovernment Terran bureaucracy]] means that entire planetary populations can be forgotten due to filing errors.

* HumansAreMorons: The average Imperial citizen's source of knowledge is enormously untrue propaganda, leaving them ignorant, fearful and superstitious - said traits are even extolled barefaced with those exact words by said propaganda. This doesn't necessarily mean that Imperials are idiots so much as they're either aware of what's lurking all around them or [[GoMadFromTheRevelation would rather not know]] what's out to kill them.

* LowCultureHighTech: The Imperium of Man is basically the culture of Medieval Europe with technology far beyond it. The Horus Heresy books though suggest that there was a more Roman aesthetic present at that era.

** A degree of genetic deviation ''is'' tolerated; abhumans like Ogryns and Ratlings are [[YouWillBeSpared useful]]. However, the human genome is sacred, and creating retroviruses that seek to change it is among the greatest of sins.

* ForeverWar: Ten thousand years and counting.

* CharacterExaggeration: Much of what's been described about the Imperial Guard for this trope can apply to the Imperium as a whole. While the Imperium's bleak, "Grim Dark" nature is exaggerated by some to the point of {{Flanderization}}, the sheer size and expanse of the Emperor's realms mean that the more brutal and dystopian parts of it tend to stand out more. Meanwhile, many settled worlds are roughly AD 1000-2000 in terms of development and otherwise (relatively) quiet compared to the average Hive World, with some planets explicitly described as being paradises. While there are whole regions of the Imperium that are pockets of stable, (relatively) safe calm, such as Ultramar. In other words, there actually ''are'' halfway-pleasant places to live if you're lucky - or if your name isn't Caiphas Cain.

* HumansAreMorons: The average Imperial citizen's source of knowledge is enormously untrue propaganda, leaving them ignorant, fearful and superstitious - said traits are even extolled barefaced with those exact words by said propaganda. This doesn't necessarily mean that Imperials are idiots so much as they're all too aware of what's lurking all around them.

* HumansAreMorons: The average Imperial citizen's source of knowledge is enormously untrue propaganda, leaving them ignorant, fearful and superstitious - said traits are even extolled barefaced with those exact words by said propaganda.

Though it is by far the largest and most powerful faction in the galaxy, the Imperium is nonetheless an empire [[TheEternalChurchill under constant siege]] from the rival powers of the galaxy. However, its greatest threats come from within, in the form of heretics undermining the authority of the High Lords of Terra or [[ChurchMilitant Ecclesiarchy]], recidivists who understandably want to get the hell out from under the heel of such an oppressive government, or mutants and rogue {{psy|chicPowers}}kers who threaten the purity of the human race itself. This siege mentality makes the Imperium a paranoid and superstitious place, but also keeps much of the populace in line -- though it is a far cry from the Emperor's original vision, it is the only thing standing between mankind and extinction. At least, that's what the various higher ups like to believe...

** '''The Fallen Greatness of Man:''' Everywhere in the Imperium, there is decay of mind, body, and spirit. Once, the armies of Man were led by Demigods; now, the forces of the Imperium are fragmented and distrustful of each other. The God-Emperor conquered the galaxy in a few centuries, but the Imperium now struggles to merely survive. Men once rearranged the stars to better suit themselves, but Imperial technology has been largely stagnant, when not actually regressive, for over ten thousand years.

* SpeciesLoyalty: Official policy. Those who don't show it by xenos are considered the worst of traitors.

* JudgeJuryAndExecutioner: The Adeptus Arbites are basically expies of ComicBook/JudgeDredd, although instead of pounding a beat, they act as InternalAffairs, to frequent resentment, to planetary police and governments; otherwise, they concentrate on rebellion, civil unrest, smuggling, and interplanetary organised crime.

* LowCultureHighTech: The Imperium of Man is basically the culture of Medieval Europe with technology far beyond it.

** Almost all of these draconian laws were put in place after LearningTheHardWay. HobbesWasRight.

* HumanResources: Psykers are rounded up on the Black Ships and taken back to Terra for testing. Those with potential are trained as battlefield psykers or astropaths, while others are sacrificed to power the Astronomican or maintain the Golden Throne.

* JudgeJuryAndExecutioner: The Adeptus Arbites are basically expies of JudgeDredd, although instead of pounding a beat, they act as InternalAffairs, to frequent resentment, to planetary police and governments; otherwise, they concentrate on rebellion, civil unrest, smuggling, and interplanetary organised crime.

[[redirect:Characters/Warhammer40000ImperialFactions]]

* BeliefMakesYouStupid: ...kind of. Since Warhammer 40K's magic system is based on ClapYourHandsIfYouBelieve, belief can have power. It should be noted that while belief isn't treated nicely, outright atheism is treated as even worse. The reason no one saw the HorusHeresy coming and didn't believe it once it started was because the Imperial Way had outlawed all belief in demons, magic, etc.
** Well, it would be silly to not believe in the Emperor -- his existence is a simple matter of fact.
*** The question wasn't whether or not he existed, but whether or not he was a god incarnate. The Emperor vehemently said no, to the point of [[JerkAss ordering the Ultramarines to wipe out Imperial citizens]] whose '''only''' crime was being taught by the Word Bearers that they should worship the Emperor as a god.
**** By the way, this act is what lead to the Horus Heresy (oops!)
** Of course, part of the ''reason'' the Imperial way had outlawed such beliefs was because the Emperor had determined the relationship between the Warp and physical beings, and wanted to avoid making the Chaos entities stronger.
*** Which, in the most recent additions to the HorusHeresy series, is revealed to have backfired rather badly, since, even without active belief/worship, the Chaos gods are still strengthened simply by humans going about their day-to-day existence of fighting, loving, planning, sickening, and dying. The only effective way to combat this is fervent belief in something ''else'' (i.e. the Emperor).
**** This feeding off of emotion has been present in the fluff for much longer, actually -- since at least Slaves to Darkness, released back in 1987. Granted, the metaphysics of it has changed somewhat.
** When compared to the Elder or the Interex (a human/alien alliance from the first Horus Heresy novel), the Imperium seems to have swung directly from the two extremes of this trope (fanatically denying there is anything other than what strict real-world science teaches to just as fanatically revering the GodEmperor) without hitting the interim point. This point, where the society in question doesn't worship anything but, at the same time, openly recognizes and seeks to guard against Chaos, tends to be shown as being just as effective at fighting against Chaos as the Imperial Cult.
* BizarreHumanBiology: All the various [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Abhuman abhumans]], but ''especially'' the superhuman Space Marines.
* BlindSeer: Astropaths, sanctioned psykers that act as the Imperium's communications network, are rendered blind (and sometimes even more crippled than that, to the point of losing other senses) by the [[MindRape Soul Binding]] ritual that reshapes their minds.
* BlingOfWar: Good God-Emperor, yes. They even gold-plate some of their starships.
* TheCaligula: More than a few Planetary Governors (Herman von Strab of Armageddon was pretty blatant), but at the Imperial level, we have High Lord [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Goge_Vandire Goge Vandire]], who became Master of the Administratum and Ecclesiarch in the 36th millennium, causing the Reign of Blood during the Age of Apostasy. Completely insane and prone to wandering about the Palace in the shadows, he was guarded by a sect he co-opted called the "Daughters of the Emperor". Eventually, the Adeptus Mechanicus and the Space Marines rebelled against him, but the Daughters managed to hold the line, until the Adeptus Custodes were able to turn the Daughters against Vandire. The Ecclesiarchy was subsequently stripped of military power except for the Daughters, who became the [[AmazonBrigade Sisters of Battle]] we know and love today.
* {{Catchphrase}}: "For the Emperor!" and "The Emperor protects!"
* {{Central Theme}}s:
** '''The Fallen Greatness of Man:''' Everywhere in the Imperium, there is decay of mind, body, and spirit. Once, the armies of Man were led by Demigods; now, the forces of the Imperium are fragmented and distrustful of each other. The God-Emperor conquered the galaxy in a few centuries, but the Imperium now struggles to merely survive. Men once rearranged the stars to better suit themselves, but Imperial technology has been largely stagnant, when not actually regressive, for over ten thousand years.
** '''Mortality and Insignificance of the Individual:''' The Galaxy is a big place, trillions battle for humanity's survival, thousands of wars rage unchecked, and against this backdrop, the death of millions and destruction of entire worlds is rendered insignificant. Imperial Dogma reflects this; there are death and skull motifs everywhere, and Imperial culture is an especially [[MartyrdomCulture fatalistic one]]. "Serve the Emperor, for tomorrow you may be dead."
** '''The End Justifies the Means:''' The Imperium's war is ultimately one of survival; merely living to see the next day is hailed as victory, and the price of defeat is extinction of the human race and destruction of the very fabric of reality. Against that, what is a few million lives, or even an entire world? What mercy can one afford to those who would bend knee to the Xeno or Daemon? Better that they all die. And of the loyal souls lost? Well, "The Martyr's Grave is the Keystone of the Imperium."
* ChurchMilitant: The Adeptus Ministorum, or Ecclesiarchy, exhorts Imperial citizens to kill and die in the Emperor's name. Though restricted from having their own armies, they do supply priests and preachers to help whip the Imperial Guard into a zealous frenzy.
** CorruptChurch: As the Ecclesiarch became the most powerful of the High Lords, the Ecclesiarchy became wealthy and at times corrupt. This "Temple Tendency" is considered heresy by the Inquisition following the Age of Apostasy, and is purged with extreme prejudice.
* CityPlanet: The Imperium has two types. The first type are Hive Worlds, planets whose surfaces have been covered with [[MegaCity Hive Cities]]. Life on these worlds are especially unpleasant for the lower classes living in the under hives, even for the Imperium. The second type are Forge Worlds, planets devoted wholly to building the technology the Imperium needs.
* CivilWar:
** The HorusHeresy was what caused the Imperium to be the barely functioning husk that it is.
** The Age of Apostasy started as a struggle for dominance between the Administratum and the Ecclesiarchy, which Goge Vandire ended by becoming head of both, and then became a Civil War when the Space Marines and the Adeptus Mechanicus rebelled against Vandire's increasingly repressive and bloody rule.
** The Badab War, the biggest Space Marine vs Space Marine war since the Horus Heresy, is very much an example as to why there are limits to the number of Astartes in a regular chapter.
* CommonTongue: Imperial or Low Gothic, which is used for everyday conversation (and is translated into English for the sake of convenience).
* DoNotGoGentle: The Imperium is going down, and they're [[TakingYouWithMe taking everyone they can with them]].
* DystopiaIsHard: It is shown time and time again that the harsh conditions of the Imperium do not equal a very well run state. The only thing keeping humanity together is constant outside threats from aliens, undead cyborgs, and the legions of Hell, and its size means the exponential growth is barely outpacing the exponential decay.
* TheEmpire: Pretty self-explanatory.
* FantasticRacism: Fantastic in how bad it gets. The Imperium will only grant you ''any'' privileges if you're human. A lot of times, not even then if you're ''not human enough''.
** A degree of genetic deviation ''is'' tolerated; abhumans like Ogryns and Ratlings are [[YouWillBeSpared useful.]] However, the human genome is sacred, and creating retroviruses that seek to change it is among the greatest of sins.
** The Imperium's most hated foes are the [[TheQuisling Gue'Vesa infantry]], of all people. Not because they're especially vicious or anything, but rather because they're viewed as [[DoesThisRemindYouOfAnything race traitors]].
* FeudalFuture: A necessity, given the Imperium's sheer size and the unreliability of interstellar communication. But note that a planetary overlord is not necessarily a baron or other hereditary title: so long as a governor provides the necessary tithes in manpower, sends their psykers to the Black Ships, and keeps things in some semblance of order, the High Lords of Terra don't care if it's a monarchy or republic.
* ForeverWar: Ten thousand years and counting.
* TheGovernment: The Adeptus Terra, the "Priesthood of Earth", an umbrella organization which includes the major Adepts, or government servants. In practice, though, the organizations of the Adeptus Terra are autonomous (and seriously distrustful) of each other.
* HopelessWar: The Imperium is dying, the vultures are circling, but it has a lot of fight in it yet. A mere hundred years ago, it was at its strongest ever, conquering a thousand worlds in a mere decade, and it still has men and tanks enough to throw into the meatgrinder.
* AHouseDivided: Many Imperial institutions were deliberately designed to monitor and check the others' power, which reduces their effectiveness but keeps one man from seizing control. For example, the Ecclesiarchy is banned from keeping "men under arms" to stop cardinals from becoming warlords, while the Imperial Guard is wholly reliant on the Imperial Navy for troop transport for the same reason.
** Almost all of these draconian laws were put in place after LearningTheHardWay. HobbesWasRight.
* HumanResources: Psykers are rounded up on the Black Ships and taken back to Terra for testing. Those with potential are trained as battlefield psykers or astropaths, while others are sacrificed to power the Astronomican or maintain the Golden Throne.
* HumansAreTheRealMonsters: With the Imperium's religious fanaticism, aggressiveness in taking over the Galaxy, overzealous anthropocentricism (see above), and their ability to make ''Literature/NineteenEightyFour'' look like the [[NostalgiaFilter cliched portrayals]] of [[{{Eagleland}} 1950s America]], it doesn't take a genius to see why fans sometimes call the Imperials "[[FanNickname Catholic Space Nazis]]."
* HumansAreMorons: The average Imperial citizen's source of knowledge is enormously untrue propaganda, leaving them ignorant, fearful and superstitious - said traits are even extolled barefaced with those exact words by said propaganda.
* HumansAreWarriors: This is why humanity is still alive in a galaxy where [[EverythingTryingToKillYou everything wants them dead]].
** [[PunyEarthlings Though not particularly great on an individual basis]]. [[WeHaveReserves There's a lot of individuals, though.]]
* {{Hypocrite}}: There are quite a lot of Imperial citizens who would like to slay all psykers indiscriminately. Leaving aside the fact that a lack of psykers would cause the Imperium to collapse in a matter of days (if not hours), such an ideology neatly ignores the uncomfortable fact that the Emperor himself was a psyker.
* IntrepidMerchant: Rogue Traders are starship captains who seek fame and fortune on the galactic frontiers, discovering long-lost human settlements, exploiting alien species before the inevitable genocide campaign, or searching for ancient archeotech. The more successful ones own military-grade capital ships, if not their own worlds to govern.
* JudgeJuryAndExecutioner: The Adeptus Arbites are basically expies of JudgeDredd, although instead of pounding a beat, they act as InternalAffairs, to frequent resentment, to planetary police and governments; otherwise, they concentrate on rebellion, civil unrest, smuggling, and interplanetary organised crime.
* JustBeforeTheEnd: The current epoch has optimistically been labeled The Time of Ending.
* KillItWithFire: This is ''official policy'' to all threats to the Imperium -- which is everyone.
* LightIsNotGood: Uses quite some angelic imagery and themes, but it's not really that much better to any other side. Of course, the Imperials say ''[[KnightTemplar they're]]'' [[KnightTemplar the good guys]].
* LowCultureHighTech: The Imperium of Man is basically the culture of Medieval Europe with technology far beyond it.
* MartyrdomCulture: This telling line of wisdom from the Imperium: "Even a man who has nothing can still have faith. Even a man who has nothing can still offer his life."
** [[Quotes/MartyrdomCulture ...AND MANY MORE!]]
** Within the Imperium, there are lines known as "Thoughts for the Day", sayings attached to official documents. To sum it up, the Thoughts tell you that life sucks, something horrible is going to kill you in a horrible way, so you might as well kill as many of them for the Emperor before you die.
* MessianicArchetype: Sebastian Thor, who lead the Confederation of Light against High Lord Goge Vandire and succeeded him as Ecclesiarch, ending the Age of Apostasy. Believed to possess some of the power of the Emperor, he gave rise to a Puritan belief in the Inquisition which holds that the Emperor will be reborn if he dies.
* AMillionIsAStatistic: A ''billion'' [[WeHaveReserves isn't even considered a significant loss]] for the Imperium.
* MurderInc: The Officio Assassinorum, which provides elite assassins used by Imperial organizations such as the Inquisition. The Grand Master of Assassins, the head of the Office, is one of the High Lords of Terra, and is heavily monitored by the other High Lords, as the Grand Master could (and at one point did) easily wipe the others out.
* ObstructiveBureaucrat: The Administratum has planets of them, one of which is on the verge of a civil war on where to store the files.
* [[ObviouslyEvil Obviously Morally Grey]]: The Imperium's use of grim cyborgs, skulls and intimidatingly large architecture makes it clear they are not about being nice people.
* OrderVersusChaos: Staunchly on Order's side.
* OrphanageOfFear: The Schola Progenium, run by the Ecclesiarchy, is an orphanage for children of Imperial soldiers and officials, where they receive a strong Imperial Cult upbringing. Not really a terrifying orphanage (at least by 40K standards), the Schola's graduates often go on to become various Imperial officials, such as [[ThePoliticalOfficer Commissars]], [[StateSec Inquisitors]], and [[ProfessionalKiller Imperial assassins]], while a number of the girls go on to join the [[AmazonBrigade Adepta Sororitas]].
* OutgrownSuchSillySuperstitions: The Imperium was founded as an enlightened, secular society disdainful of "daemons" or afterlives, not because the Emperor thought such things didn't exist, but because he was trying to [[GodsNeedPrayerBadly starve the Chaos gods]] and keep his people from delving into matters [[ThingsManWasNotMeantToKnow best left unknown]]. This backfired spectacularly, and today the Imperium clings to their belief in the God-Emperor because they know damn well what's out to get them.
* PlanetTerra: Well, they call it Holy Terra, but still played straight.
* PraetorianGuard: The Adeptus Custodes are [[BlingOfWar golden-armored]] warriors who guard the Imperial Palace on Terra, and are elite even compared to [[SuperSoldier Space Marines]].
* PuttingOnTheReich: The Imperium has always had shades of this, but when the Emperor actually reigned, things were a lot more pleasant. After the HorusHeresy, well...
* RegentForLife: The [[http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/High_Lords_of_Terra High Lords of Terra]], who rule the Imperium of Man in the name of the God-Emperor. Since the Emperor isn't likely to get off the Golden Throne anytime soon, they've been running the show for the last ten thousand years. They include, but are not limited to, the Master of the Administratum, the Ecclesiarch, the Fabricator-General of the Adeptus Mechanicus, the Grand Master of the Officio Assassinorum, the Lord Commander of the Imperial Guard, the Lord High Admiral of the Imperial Navy, the Grand-Provost Marshal of the Adeptus Arbites, and representatives of the Navis Nobilite and Inquisition.
* RightHandVersusLeftHand: This was institutionalized after the Horus Heresy to make sure no one man could ever topple the Imperium again. A constant, low grade civil war is a small price to pay for this balance in the eyes of the High Lords. Although after ten thousand years, the policy is beginning to backfire on them.
* SacredLanguage: High Gothic (which sounds like Latin) and is used as the official language of records for the Adeptus Terra.
* SpeciesLoyalty: Official policy. Those who don't show it by xenos are considered the worst of traitors.
* StarshipLuxurious: The upper decks of their ships, certainly. The officers, astropaths, navigators, and other important people live in what are, essentially, palaces that have been vacuum-sealed and welded to the top of the ship.
** Not so much for the rest of the crew in the hulls of these ships.
* TarotMotifs: The Imperial Tarot is occasionally consulted as another manifestation of the God-Emperor's will and foresight.
* TreacheryCoverUp: After the HorusHeresy, attempts were made to excise that dark period from history with varying success. Some worlds are dumbstruck when they are confronted by Traitor Marines, while on others Horus's fall to darkness is common knowledge.
** This has actually had subtle effects on virtually all of Imperial society. For example, all canonical SpaceMarine chapters have Chaplains, {{Badass Preacher}}s of the Imperial Cult whose primary task is to keep their charges from falling to Chaos. But, pre-Heresy, the Chaplains only existed amongst one Legion, the Word Bearers, and this intense devotion to religion made them ''the very first Legion to fall to Chaos''.
* VastBureaucracy: The Adeptus Administratum (the Imperial Bureaucracy) is this in a nutshell. As the administrative and bureaucratic arm of the Adeptus Terra, the Administratum assesses the tithes worlds must pay to the Imperium, takes census data, and maintains copious records of virtually everything. Unfortunately, ten thousand years has resulted in bureaucratic incompetence unforeseen. Whole planets can be lost due to rounding errors, Imperial Guard reinforcements can be anywhere from months to centuries late because of bureaucratic inertia, and departments will continue to function long after they're obsolete. The Master of the Administratum is its head and generally regarded as the most powerful of the High Lords, something the Ecclesiarch has had problems with a few times.
* VestigialEmpire: The Imperium is struggling in a [[ForeverWar constant]] HopelessWar for their own survival.
* TheWhiteHouse: The Imperial Palace, a massive construct [[CityOfGold made of gold]] which covers most of Europe and is not only visible from orbit, but also ''visible from Mars''. The heart of the Administratum and, most importantly, the site of the Golden Throne.