Several canonical sources state there are 1000 Chapters of 1000 Marines. The specific number varies, but within the limits set by the Index Astartes specifically to avoid the sheer power of a Legion under the command of one person since the Horus Heresy.
Likewise many sources are implicit that those foes you mention are held back… barely.
The Imperium has actually yet to defeat a non-human foe that is actually a direct threat to the Imperium. Even the Tau, who are a tiny Empire by comparison are in no immeadiate danger of exterminatus.
And Ive see what a guardsman with a laspistol can do to a Terminator, but it makes no difference. If a EvE DUSTer has to actually pull a rifle, well Ill leave that comparison to the Amarr, Caldari, Minmatar or Gallente ground pounders to answer.
But in terms of space combat, the Imperium is basically using sailing ships against New Eden’s ultra modern forces. They would get splashed in short order.
And given that vast numbers of guard deserted just for the promise of working on a Tau rice paddy, what do you think will happen if they find out money can be traded for the services of a Gallante Exotic Dancer, or when we introduce em to Drop?
Maybe if you’re a Traitor Space Marine. The average cultist generally ends up on a demon world having their soul violated, fed upon, torn apart, and otherwise abused in unimaginable ways. That’s the lucky ones. The unlucky ones become writhing mutant abominations or worse.
Canonically speaking there are only a million or so space marines, at most 2 or 3 million. Grey knights, black templars, no one may know their numbers but no one is saying there are more than a thousand, let alone ten thousand of them.
Thanks to the codex, space marine chapters are limited in number, and we have a rough idea of how many chapters exist, so yeah, a million or two is accurate.
And yet with all their manpower, they suck at building. In canon, they go out and send teams to recapture or collect destroyed tanks because it’s both easier and faster to repair them than to build new ones. Decades for battlecruisers, generations for battleships. Whereas we make titans in a month. It’s not a matter of manpower, it’s about the speed and efficiency at replacing ships. We may not win every battle, but we will eventually win the war.
Nah mate, Ive a Maimi Hotline to the best parties due to some deeds I may or may not have done involving a Sister of Battle, a desk lamp, a pencil sharpener and a small newt called Colin.
Guess that depends on what a Capsuleer’s soul is like. Now that I think about it, Capsuleer Clones could be specifically engineered to bear the Pariah gene. Chaos would be in big trouble if that happened.
Oh I think a Chaos invasion would go differently. Its very tempting for people like capsuleers though mortal immortality we already got. However whether the lure of the Gods or the Almighty PLEX is a more powerful force, thats a different tale.
You just don’t realize that the Emperor is but another deity of the warp. If the golden throne would fail, the emperor would only join the warp again, and be reborn later on. He is kept alive to be used, an undead without a will.
The emperor is a vegetable, whose psychic power are mandatory for the high lords of Terra, kept in a comatose state with drugs and an excess of psychic power. He is just a fed hamster in a wheel, under drug, not even realizing what he is used for.
His holy light is only the effect of the enormous concentration of psychic power released in the warp in his surrounding. He barely is a catalyst for the concentration of psychic energy to remain locally instead of spreading out. This is because his ancestors fused together in order to prevent the warp infestations from eating their spiritual energy.
The warp is made not of 4 gods ; but of lots o f them. The most powerful one is the emperor, and as always, when one entity is strong the other ones band together to defeat it.
The emperah is the god of Hope and Order, who has been embodying for thousands of years, and reached enough strength after the age of strife. This chaos god incarnation is being used by the human high lords, protected by inquisitors whose sole goal is to get the emperor stronger by giving him faith.
Truth and honesty have as much room in the terran language as logic in CODE. monkeys. Remember the imperial credo : The end always justifies the mean.
Isn’t it entirely possible that a new harsh God-Emperor Chaos entity would be fully free to interact with the materium, whilst the Emperor corpereal would be reborn as the star-child.
So the physical emporer fighting his Chaos God alterego could be interesting.
truth be told I am no fan of the 40k fluff. I like a lot of it, but am not any kind of expert. The implications of such a possibility are of the domain of the warp to me.
IMO what is nice is that many interpretations are possible, because CCP GW made a story with enough plot holes that need to be filled.
So maybe I’m right.Maybe I’m wrong. Maybe you are right, and I’m wrong. Maybe we both are right and wrong at the same time. GW makes the story progress without giving answers to the past questions. That’s somehow nice.
It’s definitly in canon somewhere that Sigismund didn’t fully disclose the number of templars during the 2nd founding and there are thousands upon thousands of them out there. I mean, there are multiple crusades going on at once for a start. I think it could be in the old codex for them but not sure. I didn’t even mention grey knights but i don’t think they number as many obviously.
I still think 1000 chapters or whatever is way too low. I always think a lot of the fluff written in canon is like imperial propaganda. So they say “we have 1000 chapters!” cause it sounds good but no one really has any idea. I don’t imagine that every chapter is sending in census information and keeping in touch with home.
Also, 1000 chapters just sounds way too convenient a number. A massive civil war, whole legions turning traitor, only god knows how many foundings since then over 10000 years of constant war and there just happen to be… 1000 chapters? Such a nice round number! Nope.
The codex had it’s enemies. Not everyone wanted to split their legion. I think it’s been implied several times in lore that not everyone did but claimed they had just to keep the peace.
>>> SUBJECT: Danger to the Imperium! The heretical capsuleers, who portray themselves as gods, have postulated an invasion by the mighty Imperial forces and are currently running simulations and tactical discussions among themselves. Further contact will be sparse as I do not wish to cause further suspicion amongst them. They think themselves above the Emporer’s Law, but have been invaded themselves by warp-spawn they named Triglavians and Drifters. They are weak and under attack, now is the time to strike! We have infiltrated their political structures and continue to study their technology and collect data. Latest report attached.
>>> THOUGHT: “The Rewards of Tolerance are Treachery and Betrayal”
