View Full Version : Civilian Life
ChaosLord127
07-27-2010, 09:50 PM
Hi guys,
been a while since i posted... thought I would get back into the forums by starting this thread.
Now to the point, I've read a lot of the codices/white dwarfs/black library novella, and I have come to the conclusion that not a lot is know about the civilian life in 40k.
Just thought I would start this thread as a way to kind of collect information on the topic.
I already know that most of their lives are spent toiling away in the manufactorums and whatnot, working hard to support the rest of the galaxy, but what about the rest of the cities? Vehicles, recreation, etc. Anybody know about any of that?
Mr.MoreTanks
07-27-2010, 11:39 PM
Well in the Commissar Ciaphas Cain novel Duty Calls there are mentions of motorcycle like and limo like vehicles as well as in Warrior of Ultramar. Civilians tend to spend alot of time either in prayer, bars, or in their gangs if they are not working it seems.
Especially in Hive Worlds, it seems entertainment is mostly gangs and the rest of civilians go to the occasional bar but mostyl are meaningless slaves in an overwhelming machine that is the Imperium!
....and they all build MORE TANKS!!!!
You would be surprised how much imperial civilians actually don't just eat work and sleep... One of the best books for finding out what civilian life is Iike is the eisenhorn novels.
For the most part the civilians are aware of the many wars and conflicts going on but it seemed that for the most part their lives were more like those civilians in star wars planets. Their lives are determined by the world and it's local government/ climate/ location (I.e. worlds close to the galactic rim are more risky and rough to live on)
One of the worlds in the book had a very naboo feeling to it (Gudrun). A lot of the civilians on that world had hobbies and had an economy similar to modern times with entrepreneurs and upper/middle/lower classes
I really suggest eisenhorn for a great idea on civilian life.
Duke
ChaosLord127
07-28-2010, 12:11 AM
I really suggest eisenhorn for a great idea on civilian life.
Duke
I had the omnibus of the trilogy a long time ago. Unfortunately I got it right when I started the hobby (battle of macragge was the extent of my knowledge) so when i tried reading it I got completely lost. I ended up selling it. Guess I'll have to go grab myself another copy. Thank you for the suggestion, I should be able to understand it now.
It is kind of surprising that their lives are more then eat, work, sleep, work, and work (did I mention work?) Pretty much all the information I have on Imperial Cities is from the Cities of Death book, which basically just said that they are slaves.
In manufactorium worlds it is Ike that. But from the way it sounds most of the imperial worlds know nothing of war except when they send their young men to guard regiments (maybe once every generation it seems). But that said it wouldn't seem very cool if the main title of the rule book said "in the dimly lit evening of the far future there is some conflict"
Some things about that book that opened my eyes to civilian life
- the emperor is supplanted as the deity for local religions... "the local religion here is a sun based religion inquisitor." "you mean the sun as the god-emperor, right?" "yes, yes of course i meant the sun as the god-emperor... Naturally"
- the tech is better than we think on civilian level: one guy crashes a land speeder while being chased by a jet bike
- even on cadia there are times of "peace" where there is no current invasion, though they are always on a war footing that doesn't mean there is always an invading force with boots on the ground.
- inquisitors aren't as scary as they seem, though some are downright terrifying!
Etc.
Duke
ChaosLord127
07-28-2010, 01:01 AM
"in the dimly lit evening of the far future there is some conflict"
Duke
lol that was pretty funny
- the tech is better than we think on civilian level: one guy crashes a land speeder while being chased by a jet bike
Duke
interesting how he was getting chased by a jetbike, seeing as according to the dark angels codex, the Master of the Ravenwing has the only imperial one left?
- inquisitors aren't as scary as they seem, though some are downright terrifying!
Duke
actually, in a couple black library books I've read, some Inquisitors seem like fairly nice guys/gals, s'long as you aren't on their bad side
Melissia
07-28-2010, 01:38 AM
That noone here has yet mentioned Dark Heresy is a travesty.
Seeing as Dark Heresy allows you to play as one of these civilians...
ChaosLord127
07-28-2010, 01:50 AM
Well, I am honored that my thread has attracted the attentions of Melissia. That's a good point, didn't think about that. However, I don't think you really play as a "civilian" in Dark Heresy (unless you are the GM)... Or at least I don't think members of an inquisitorial retinue actually count as civilians
Grailkeeper
07-28-2010, 04:25 AM
Necromunda is very good on life in a hive, in the gaunts ghost series they meet plenty of civilians, but they're already in a warzone so its not typical everyday civilian life.
jodrell
07-28-2010, 04:34 AM
I'd always assumed that civilian life in the 41st millenium was, to quote Hobbes, "nasty, brutish and short" (http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Leviathan_%28book%29): endless, brutal toil in unforgiving and harsh working conditions, dominating and oppressive religious theocracy imposing itself into every aspect of your life, and the ever-present threat of being killed in a variety of unpleasant ways by mutants, heretics, cultists, xenos invaders, and overzealous Imperial authorities.
Ian Watson talked about the universe of 40k being "psychotic"; it's hard to imagine living a nice, quiet, middle class suburban lifestyle in a psychotic universe.
Old_Paladin
07-28-2010, 08:15 AM
The fact is, that civilian life in the Imperium is just like civilian life in real life; it is infinitely varied.
You have different classes, different jobs and responsibilities and different cultures/life styles.
The average catachan and krieg citizens are going to be very different; even hive worlds like Necromunda and Ververhive are very different.
From slaves and gangers, to the low and middle class, to the high houses and noble houses; settlers, miners, survivalists: it all depends on the world you come from in the vast Imperium.
and don't forget the administratum workers; desk clerks make up a large amount of the working population.
True, most civilians are desk clerks... Again, nobody wants to hear about their lives... Who wants to see a 40k version of the office when there are astartes and planet eating hive minds out there?
Now that I think about it a 40k version of the office would be hilarious!
Duke
Grailkeeper
07-28-2010, 05:07 PM
I imagine a 40k verison of the office would go soemthing like this
"that carnifex just ate the Canoness"
"thats what she said"
"that is what she said, we should probably run or something"
Not all of the imperium is bad, it would be quite nice to live in the ultramarine controlled section- a bit like a futuristic ancient rome. But thats as nice as it gets.
There are no civilians on cadia. Any ciivilians on cadia were born on the wrong planet.
Just_Me
07-29-2010, 05:39 PM
Ian Watson talked about the universe of 40k being "psychotic"; it's hard to imagine living a nice, quiet, middle class suburban lifestyle in a psychotic universe.
...as opposed to the totally rational, logical, peaceful fluffy unicorn-verse we actually live in?
The thing is the Imperium is not home to billions of people, it is home to trillions, or even quadrillions of them, across millions of worlds. It is absurd to try to imagine a generalization that would cover all of this. The lifestyles of Imperial citizens could be anything from near slavery (or literal slavery), to middle class suburban, to savage stone age culture, to ANYTHING in between. In fact, the law of large numbers pretty much dictates that nearly any possible permutation of the human condition must exist within the Imperium somewhere. The fact is that the weird or super-intense grimdark ones just make more interesting subject matter than the population of Planet Mayberry, OK, so maybe that's going a bit far, but you see my point...
BuFFo
07-29-2010, 07:32 PM
Civilians in 40k are no different than you or I.
Wake up, go to work, and sleep, while enjoying what time you have in existence.
Do 40k Civilians play a table top simulation game of ordinary humans on earth shopping?
Capitalism 2k- In the happy, bright past there is only consumption!
Dr. Doctor
07-30-2010, 01:54 PM
I wonder if planets in the Imperium get news of whats going on in other sectors of the galaxy, like a Grimdark CNN or something to that extent.
entendre_entendre
07-30-2010, 04:53 PM
Well, IIRC, news seems to get spread from system to system by traders, merchants, etc. so news is spread by those means at least. Although the veracity of a story re-told 14 times may not be entirely correct, so it's easier for the authorities to label these as merely rumour. I think one of the Cain novels mentioned this (Cain's Last Stand?) when Cain learned about the Thirteenth Black Crusade being real.
I don't think there is some "Aquila News" or something like that as an interstellar news agency (Although Duke may think different ;) ), local (i.e. one planet)? Yes. Galactic? No.
ChaosLord127
08-10-2010, 11:52 PM
I just read the review of Nemesis, and it says that it gives a good view on citizen life. If anyone has read that, can you please share what it says about civies?
Just_Me
08-11-2010, 12:20 PM
I just read the review of Nemesis, and it says that it gives a good view on citizen life. If anyone has read that, can you please share what it says about civies?
Well, frankly it says about what the rest of the thread has been saying, that civilian life in the Imperium is pretty similar to civilian life in the here and now. It shows beat cops and harried detectives above them trying to solve day to day crimes, laborers at their work-a-day jobs punching in at shift start and punching out at end of shift, business execs who cheat on their spouses, merchants (at the local, planetary, and even interstellar level) fretting about the bottom line, and politicians trying to look good and climb the ladder, there are school teachers and clerks and bakers etc. Really the nuts and bolts of civilian life are the same as they are now and the same as they have been since about the industrial revolution, only the broad setting is changed.
rarves
09-14-2010, 12:47 PM
I think it would be cool if GW did a run of civilian models and vehicles to go along with Cities of Death and all the cool terrain they've put out. Could create some interesting scenarios.
Porty1119
09-14-2010, 02:49 PM
No, you think?
I'd buy that. Something BESIDES power-gaming models.
Grailkeeper
09-15-2010, 03:33 PM
they made some inquistor scale civilians. they were rubbish.
rkiviman
09-15-2010, 11:03 PM
The average citizen probably doesn't even know what's going on. They're involved in their everyday lives making a living, gossiping, kids, grandkids etc.... To them a Space marine, eldar, orks are stories that happened to someone else or to scare the populace and keep the kids in line.I mean it can't be real can it??? To the citizen these are just rumors,stories and imagination run rampant!! If they have guard regiments formed on their planets how many ever come back to tell them different? So, just like the rest of us they go about their daily lives in their own little worlds.:rolleyes:
Grailkeeper
09-16-2010, 04:43 AM
I think the Diversity of the impierium is such that its impossible to give a definite answer to the question.
Porty1119
09-16-2010, 03:29 PM
It's like trying to explain civvie life on Earth in a forum post.
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