Warhammer 40K, explained

polygon.com:

Warhammer 40,000 is a tabletop wargame played with miniatures that first launched in the 1980s, alongside rulebooks packed with additional fluff and lore. Decades later, that fluff has sprawled out into its own massive narrative universe, and the lore has been adapted into novels, audio dramas, movies, animation, and video games. Warhammer 40K, the media property, is currently in pre-production as a TV and cinematic universe led by Superman and The Witcher star Henry Cavill. Meanwhile, the wargame is about to enter its 10th edition, which aims to be more accessible and pared-down than previous versions.

You’ve likely seen images from the brand, or announcements about a new game or adaptation in the universe. If you’re curious about this huge franchise, you probably want to know: What is the world of Warhammer 40K about? Let’s dive in.

There has been little active curation of Warhammer 40K canon. Instead, Games Workshop and its publishing arm Black Library has taken the stance that everything ever written about its sprawling lore is “true” — all of it is canon, more or less since its inception in the 1980s. Just like actual history, no single narrator or historian in the grim darkness of the far future is 100% reliable. Instead, it’s up to the reader to sift through all the dusty — and highly collectible — tomes in order to parse its primary sources.

Much like real history, it can be hard to piece everything together. Fan wikis and forums can be esoteric and packed with proper nouns. Meanwhile, since the narrative has never been rebooted or retconned, there are few official on-ramps for new players. But it’s possible to engage with the 40K fandom with a running start, gathering up bits of its nearly 40-year backstory as