Purge the Alien.
The Other and the Subject in Warhammer 40,000
Diplomarbeit
zur Erlangung des akademischen Grades eines Magisters der Philosophie
an der Karl-Franzens-Universität Graz
vorgelegt von David PRANGL
am Institut für Amerikanistik Begutachter: Klaus Rieser, Ao.Univ.-Prof. Mag. Dr.phil. Graz, Juni 2013 Acknowledgments I would like to thank:
My family for your support throughout the whole of my studies – especially in stressful times such as the last couple of months
All the people who have in one way or another helped me during the said stressful times (you know who you are)
Marcus for introducing me to the world of Warhammer 40,000, and Adrian for reinvigorating my interest, enthusiasm and joy for this very hobby that I have been neglecting for years
Finally I would like to thank the writers of the soundtracks of Chaos Gate, Final Liberation, Rites of War, Warhammer 40,000: Space Marine and Dawn of War II for providing the musical accompaniment of my writing process. We don’t stop playing because we grow old; We grow old because we stop playing.
-George Bernard Shaw Abbreviations In the course of this thesis strong reference to books from Games Workshop’s Warhammer 40,000-related corpus will be taken. The following lists contains the abbreviations for the books most frequently used as sources.
CBA Codex: Blood Angels (Ward, 2009) CCD Codex: Chaos Daemons (Thorpe & Cavatore, 2007) CCSM Codex: Chaos Space Marines (Kelly, 2012) CCSMiv1 Codex: Chaos Space Marines (Thorpe & Cavatore, 2007) CDE Codex: Dark Eldar (Kelly, 2010) CE Codex: Eldar (Kelly, 2006) CIG Codex: Imperial Guard (Cruddace, 2008) CN Codex: Necrons (Ward, 2011) CO Codex: Orks (Kelly, 2007/2008) COiii Codex: Orks (Chambers, 1999) CSM Codex: Space Marines (Ward, 2008) CTE Codex: Tau Empire (Vetock, 2012) CTEiv Codex: Tau Empire (Hoare, 2005) CTY Codex: Tyranids (Cruddace, 2009) CTYiv Codex: Tyranids (Kelly & Chambers 2004) CWH Codex: Witch Hunters (Hoare & McNeill 2003) IUP The Imperial Infantryman’s Uplifting Primer (Ralphs, 2003) WH40K Warhammer 40,000 (Troke, Vetock & Ward, 2012; note: rulebook) Tab. 1: List of abbreviations
1 Small letter Latin numbers are used to indicate older Codex editions. Currently, the 6th edition of WH40K is in use. However, not every Codex is being reissued during each edition. Therefore the most recent editions of the Codices range from rulebook-edition 4 (e.g. Orks) to 6 (e.g. Tau Empire). Table of Contents
1. Introduction...... 1 2. Disambiguations...... 4 2.1. What is a tabletop game?...... 4 2.2. Games Workshop...... 4 2.3. Warhammer 40,000...... 5 2.3.1. Playing Warhammer 40,000...... 5 2.3.2. The world of Warhammer 40,000...... 7 2.3.3. Human history in Warhammer 40,000...... 7 2.3.4. Human society in Warhammer 40,000...... 8 2.3.5. The Warp and psykers...... 10 3. The factions of Warhammer 40,000...... 12 3.1. The Imperium of Mankind...... 12 a) The Imperial Guard...... 12 b) The Space Marines ...... 13 c) The Sisters of Battle...... 15 3.2. The Orks ...... 16 3.3. (Craftworld) Eldar and Dark Eldar...... 19 3.4. Chaos...... 22 3.5. The Tyranids...... 24 3.6. The Necrons...... 27 3.7. The Tau...... 29 4. Theory...... 31 4.1. On Identity...... 31 4.2. Of difference, mirrors, and the Rani of Sirmur – On the Other and ‘Othering’...... 31 4.3. Suture...... 34 4.4. Theoretical concept...... 34 5. (Level 1:) A galaxy at war – the Other in Warhammer 40,000 ...... 37 5.1. Approaching the Other in Warhammer 40,000...... 37 5.2. The virtue of intolerance – the Other from the Imperial viewpoint...... 37 a) “The Enemy within”...... 38 b) “The Enemy without” and “beyond”...... 40 c) The (friendly) Other amidst us...... 41 5.3. We’re da hardest of da lot - Orkish Othering...... 42 5.4. The stars once lived and died at our command – Eldar and the Other...... 44 5.5. Let the galaxy burn – the Chaos-perspective on the Other...... 46 5.6. The eternal struggle between life and death – the Tyranids and the Necrons...... 48 5.7. For the greater good - The Other from the Tau perspective...... 50 6. (Level 2:) Suture and identification...... 52 6.1. On suture, part II – or how to dive into the world of Warhammer 40,000...... 52 6.2. The player identity...... 52 6.3. Into the world...... 56 6.3.1. The role of the human viewpoint...... 57 6.3.2. The Imperial Infantryman’s Uplifting Primer...... 58 7. (Level 3:) The sutured subject and the Other...... 60 7.1. Introduction...... 60 7.2. Narrative-external Othering...... 60 7.3. Cultural references and Othering...... 61 7.4. Sex and gender in Warhammer 40,000...... 66 7.5. Changing it all...... 70 8. Conclusion...... 71 9. References...... 73 Primary Sources...... 73 Secondary Sources...... 74 Online Sources...... 75 Picture Sources...... 76 Purge the Alien. The Other and the Subject in Warhammer 40,000 David Prangl 2013
1. Introduction
The galaxy is a vast place and is filled to the brim with lesser races and species. The alien skulks and breeds in all the dark corners where even the glorious light of the Golden Throne does not reach. These undesirable elements are our enemies. The xenos threat to our Empire is constant and all pervading. Your vigilance is demanded by the Immortal Emperor. (IUP: 69)
These very words mark the initiation of every Imperial guardsmen into the matter of the alien, the xenos, the Other. Wait! Which guardsmen; and of which Empire? Fortunately, one could say, this propaganda does not derive from the realm of reality yet from that of fiction – the world of the science fiction tabletop game Warhammer 40,000. Just as in this ludic setting however, we are unfortunately still living in a world in which we can, and indeed must, encounter hatred and hostility between individuals, and especially between groups; be they based on cultural background, political or religious conviction or simply on the sport club one supports. As negative as the side effects can be, we still need the Other. We need the Other to define ourselves. This holds true for trivial matters such as the choice for a certain style of clothing or for highly relevant philosophical matters such as the choice of our actions, our ethics, and other convictions. Returning to the world of fiction, Others that we encounter in science fiction settings are generally manifold. They include futuristic humans, humanoids, aliens (sic!), cyborgs, robots, androids, hyper-intelligent computers, and sundry other illustrious beings. The same accounts for the world of Warhammer 40,000, where we can engage the Imperium of Mankind, the savage Orks, the mysterious Eldar, and a number of other factions which are in a state of permanent warfare and hostility, as could already be seen in the quote above. As to my motivation for writing about this very topic, I have to reach back a little. For me personally, Warhammer 40,000 has, although in different degrees, been a constant companion since my early youth. What has always been captivating for me is that it is not only ‘just a game’ but an immensely comprehensive hobby that, apart from playing, includes assembling, converting and painting miniatures, crafting scenery, and all of that is based on an immensely profound narrative background. Throughout my experience with Warhammer 40,000 games now I have occasionally observed that players would adopt stances of their factions, and taunts based on the in-game narrative were being thrown at the opponent. This strong role assumption got me interested in how players can get so caught-up with a, ‘story’ in a broader sense, that during what could be said to be
Page 1 Purge the Alien. The Other and the Subject in Warhammer 40,000 David Prangl 2013
‘just a game’ they would display such – admittedly oftentimes very amusing – behavior, such an extreme form of identification and Othering. This brings us to the first, and indeed most central aspect of Warhammer 40,000 that is relevant to this thesis, its representations of the Other, and in connection therewith, the role of ‘Othering’. Secondly, I was interested in how players are being sutured into this discourse, and are thereby guided towards adopting views of in-game2 characters and factions. As this my thesis is at least one of, if not the first to deal with Warhammer 40,000, and as tabletop games can generally be considered a comparatively unknown underground phenomenon, I deem it necessary to first give a concise introduction into this game genre, Warhammer 40,000, and the company behind it in section 2. In section 3 I shall then describe the factions of Warhammer 40,000. Apart from general facts that will be of further relevance later on, this section also includes a discussion of cultural references, i.e. allusions to things we know from the real world (such as historical eras and contemporary or past civilizations, films, novels, etc.), that can be detected in each faction. As the Warhammer 40,000-related corpus is of vast immensity, I have decided to restrict myself to material from the so-called Codices (i.e. faction-specific books), the rulebook, and The Imperial Infantryman’s Uplifting Primer. Thus, I excluded novels and (with one exception) material from the monthly Hobby3 magazine White Dwarf. After the discussion of the factions, I shall go into more detail about the theoretical background in section 4, where the terms ‘identity’ and ‘identification’, ‘Other’ and ‘Othering’, and ‘suture’ will be especially central. Furthermore, this section serves as a closer definition of the three-level model underlying this thesis’ discussion. Section 5 will deal with its first level, the in- game discourse, and further explore each faction’s ways of identifying the Other on the basis of statements of characters of Warhammer 40,000. The second level of my model is that of suture and identification, and it shall be dealt with in section 6, with a strong focus on theories by Stuart Hall and Kaja Silverman. Section 7 will then be concerned with the third level, which is that of the sutured subject, and possible stances players can take towards the in-game discourse, before summarizing my result in section 8. While what has been said so far could lead to the assumption that Warhammer 40,000 invites players to adopt xenophobic and hostile viewpoints, it is this thesis’ aim to show the openness of this game’s discourse allowing for a wide variety of individual interpretations in a
2 Especially in roleplaying games, the terms in-game and out-game are used to refer to either the subject in its role inside the game’s narrative or the ‘real’ subject outside the game. They are used accordingly in this thesis. 3 As Warhammer 40,000 and similar games include much more than the mere playing of battles, they are often simply referred to as ‘the Hobby’ by players. When capitalized, ‘the Hobby’ stands for this very distinct meaning.
Page 2 Purge the Alien. The Other and the Subject in Warhammer 40,000 David Prangl 2013 playful setting. In this context I also wish to understand Shaw’s quote. Especially as a future teacher I strongly believe that playful ways to engage the world – be they theatrical, role-playing or any other kind of games – are not only great opportunities for learning but also for self-realization, which both, I am convinced, keep us ‘young’ and mentally agile. Let alone the fact that playing is just plain fun. But now, let us enter the grim darkness of the 41st millennium.
Page 3 2. Disambiguations
2.1. What is a tabletop game? As the name already gives away, tabletop games, as a general term, are games usually played on a tabletop. While TV Tropes makes the distinction between tabletop games (which includes card games) and tabletop wargames, suggesting that even chess would qualify for a simple form of a tabletop wargame (cf. tvtropes.org), in this thesis I shall however stay with the more general term tabletop game, the term that is used by most game manufacturers, as well. This game genre is usually played with miniature soldiers in a battlefield environment that is normally set up on a table (although the floor is also occasionally used). Other essential paraphernalia of a tabletop game include dice, rule books, pencil and paper, and cards. With these, the players act as commanders over their miniature armies. Victories in tabletop games can usually be achieved by reaching a certain goal or a number of goals. These could be to defeat the opponent’s entire army, holding important positions on the battlefield or capturing items. While some tabletop games resort to historical settings, others are set in fictional fantasy or science fiction universes. For instance, Flames of War by the New Zealand based company Battlefront Miniatures is set in the Second World War (cf. www.flamesofwar.com), while Deus Vult by the Italian company Fireforge Games is set in the times of the crusades (cf. www.fireforge-games.com). Examples for fantasy or science fiction based tabletop games are Kings of War by Mantic Games (UK; cf. www.manticgames.com), and Games Workshop’s (also UK) Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 (cf. www.games- workshop.com 2). (Cf. WH40K: x-xvii)
2.2. Games Workshop Games Workshop, the company behind Warhammer 40,000, is without doubt one of the most influential ones of its sort on the sector of tabletop games, the company’s official website even stating that they are “the largest and the most successful tabletop fantasy wargames company in the world”. Games Workshop holds direct sales operations in the UK, the United States, Canada, France, Germany, Spain, Italy, Japan and Australia, with more than 70% of the sales coming from countries other than the UK. Games Workshop is best known for the games Warhammer, which is set in a dark, medieval fantasy world, and Warhammer 40,000, set in a science fiction universe. Next to other smaller games, the company also produces tabletop games for The Lord of the Rings
Page 4 and The Hobbit, to which it owns a global license from New Line Cinema. (Cf. www.games- workshop.com 2)
2.3. Warhammer 40,000 Warhammer 40,000, then called Rogue Trader, was first published in 1987 as a science fiction spinoff of Games Workshop’s fantasy tabletop game Warhammer. Since then it has at least drawn level with its elder sibling in terms of success. Through the massive popularity of the figure of the Space Marine amongst players the Space Marine has emerged as the mascot for Warhammer 40,000 and even for Games Workshop. Apart from the tabletop game, various computer games set in this world have been released, such as Dawn of War I and II, Chaos Gate, and Space Marine. (Cf. wh40k.lexicanum.com 7) Like other tabletop games, Warhammer 40,000 is played with miniature warriors, of whom a human-sized figure is about three centimeters tall. These miniatures are manufactured by Citadel Miniatures4 and are made out plastic or resin, the latter being a material that, since May 2011 gradually replaced tin. Resin is however not undisputed in the player community, as it is suspected to be cancerogenic if not processed properly (cf. diceofdoom.com). On their official website, Games Workshop however claim that “our own secret recipe [is] absolutely safe”. (Cf. www.games- workshop.com 1) As it is the case with the very most of tabletop games resp. tabletop miniature manufacturers, the miniatures by Citadel are to be assembled and painted by the Hobbyists themselves, which is one of the reasons for the fact that Warhammer 40,000 is a rather time- consuming hobby. I shall argue that this rather large amount of time and effort that necessarily flows into the Hobby is one enhancer for effective suture of players into the narrative of Warhammer 40,000 (see below).
2.3.1. Playing Warhammer 40,000 Warhammer 40,000 is usually played by two players, although more participants are possible and its basic rules can be found in the Warhammer 40,000 rulebook whose 6th edition was released in 2012. As it is a war game, players need an army which they can choose from (at the point of writing this paper) sixteen different (sub-)factions, whose close descriptions and rules can be found in so-called Codices. Before a game (or battle), each player compiles an ‘army list’, a list
4 Apart from Citadel, the company Forge World owns a license to also produce miniatures for both Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000.
Page 5 of each unit that he/she chooses to lead into battle. The term “unit” can refer to a squad of soldiers, a vehicle or a single mighty character. Each unit has a value in points – the more “expensive” the unit, the mightier it is in battle. Therefore, players usually agree on a certain number of points for which they ‘buy’ units, a typical middle-sized Warhammer 40,000 battle for example accounting for 1250 points on each side. (Cf. WH40K: xiii-xvii, 2f.) Apart from their value in points, units in Warhammer 40,000 have a so-called characteristic profile, determining what and how good the unit is able to perform on the battlefield. For example, a characteristic profile contains a value for “Ballistic Skill” which determines how capable the respective unit is in using fire arms. Living creatures’ (this could be a human soldier or a huge alien beast) profiles consist of nine characteristics, each of which (except for the “Armour save”-value) is ranked from 0 (or ‘-’) to 10. Vehicles have a different type of characteristic profile which contains five or nine values, depending on its type. The points value of a unit can therefore largely be attributed to how ‘good’ its characteristic profile is. As to be discussed later, this strict definition of the miniatures’ abilities provides one basis of Othering. (Cf. WH40K 2f.)
Sample characteristic profile of a Space Marine (CSM: 134)5 WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv Space Marine 4 4 4 4 1 4 1 8 3+
Apart from miniatures, an army list and a Codex, the most important tools required for playing a Warhammer 40,000 battle are a set of dice and a tape measure or similar. While other game systems use various kinds of dice, in Warhammer 40,000 only six-sided dice are being used which are required to settle matters of chance on a battlefield; for example, if a unit actually hits its target with its firearm(s) is decided by throwing a dice per fired shot. The necessary result is being determined by the characteristic profile of the unit, a unit with Ballistic Skill 5 for instance hits a target on a result of 2-6, while a unit with Ballistic Skill 1 requires a throw of a 6 in order to be successful. To sum up, Warhammer 40,000 can be described as a game with very closely defined framework of rules that, as I shall argue, require a certain way of suture (see section 6) and serve as basis for Othering (see section 7).
5 Abbreviations: WS: Weapon skill, BS: Ballistic skill, S: Strength, T: Toughness, W: Wounds, I: Initiative, A: Attacks, Ld: Leadership, Av: Armour save. While all skills from Weapon skill to Leadership are better if they are higher, the Armour save value is the better the lower it is. (Cf. WH40K: 2).
Page 6 2.3.2. The world of Warhammer 40,000 Warhammer 40,000 is set in ‘our’ galaxy in the future of the 41st millennium C.E. In this science fiction setting, mankind rules over the largest empire in the galaxy, the Imperium, a realm encompassing a vast multitude of planets (or worlds) and billions of billions of highly diverse people. The earth, referred to as (Holy) Terra, marks the spiritual and political center of the Imperium of Mankind and is the seat of the preserved body of its leader and god, the Emperor (cf. WH40K; CIG). However, humanity is not the only spacefaring civilization in this galaxy. There are the brutal Orks who are very probably the most widely spread species in the whole of the galaxy but, unlike the Imperium, do not form one unified realm but live in rather scattered tribe-like congregations (cf. CO). Another alien species is that of the Eldar. Most of these mysterious beings travel through space in so-called Craftworlds, spaceships the size of small moons, while the Eldar’s evil siblings, the Dark Eldar reside in a parallel world called the webway (cf. CE; CDE). Another parallel world in Warhammer 40,000, next to the webway, is that of the Warp (see section 2.3.5.) where the Gods of Chaos and their vicious servants, archfiends of the Imperium, dwell (cf. CCSMiv; CCDiv). Another serious threat to humanity is posed by the Tyranids, an alien race whose origins lie somewhere outside our galaxy and which, on its rampage devours whole planets and solar systems (cf. CTY). The Necrons go back to an ancient civilization, even older than that of the Eldar – the civilization of the Necrontyr, who have forged their minds and souls into the metallic bodies of machines (cf. CN). Finally, the youngest of civilizations in Warhammer 40,000, the Tau Empire, poses an ascending protagonist on this galactic stage (cf. CTE). While myriads of other races and species exist in the vastness of the galaxy, those mentioned are the ones most relevant to the game of Warhammer 40,000 and which are backed by a own Codex. Accordingly, this thesis’ focus of attention lies on these factions.
2.3.3. Human history in Warhammer 40,000 As I shall argue in the course of this thesis, the human viewpoint on the world of Warhammer 40,000 is the one most essential for players, especially for new ones. Therefore, this section is dedicated to a brief outline of the historical development of mankind. In Warhammer 40,000, our current time is part of what is referred to as the Age of Terra, lasting from the first to the fifteenth millennium (M1 – M15). According to the records, “[l]ittle is known of this period save that Mankind had begun taking its first forays into space.” (WH40K: 167) (Note the capitalization of ‘Mankind’.) The following era, lasting from M15 – M25, is called ‘The
Page 7 Dark [sic!] Age of Technology’, a time in which mankind discovered the possibility of journeying faster than light via so-called Warp jumps (see section 2.3.5.). This and other new technological achievements allowed mankind to expand their realm throughout most parts of the galaxy, which led to first contacts with alien peoples in this era, most notably that of the Eldar and the Orks (cf. WH40K: 197). However, this ascent of humanity did not last. The time between M25 and M30 is called the ‘Age of Strife’, an era shaped by wars with aliens, as well as civil war among humankind. Moreover, instabilities in the Warp isolated whole worlds which led to vast mutation in the strange environments of these human colonies. Finally however, a leader known as the Emperor emerged to reunite humankind. After creating superhuman warriors called the Space Marines, he started the Great Crusade, reuniting the worlds inhabited by humans. In this era of reunion the foundations to the galaxy-spanning Imperium of Mankind were being laid. Accordingly, the final era in the Imperial time reckoning is referred to as the ‘Age of the Imperium (M30 – present, i.e. M41). Quite at the beginning of this era (M31), nine of the existing eighteen Space Marine legions turned their backs on the Imperium. These were led by Horus, the former favorite warlord of the Emperor, into a ferocious civil war which culminated Horus’ death and in the fatal injury of the Emperor. The leader of the Imperium was however preserved in an intricate device called the Golden Throne where his spirit is still believed to be alive in his broken body. This futuristic embalming marks the point where the Emperor is finally generally claimed a deity. However, at the end of M41 ill omens of the downfall of mankind occur. This very time marks the game’s present where players usually encounter in Warhammer 40,000 battles and thereby actively enter the narrative of the game. One remarkable aspect of the background of Warhammer 40,000 is that it is said to represent ‘our’ future, a factor not uncommon in science fiction narratives which provides for suture into that universe. (Cf. WH40K: 158, 166-77)
2.3.4. Human society in Warhammer 40,000 While the Imperium is ruled centrally, by the twelve High Lords of Terra and a gigantic organizational apparatus, the everyday lives of its citizens are chiefly determined by their residency. This hinges on the fact that each planet is administrated by a sovereign Governor (or Commander) who, although nominated centrally, practically rule independently. For as long as economic and military quotas are met and basic rules such as the worship of the Emperor are not neglected, a Governor’s reign will not be infringed upon by the central apparatus of the Imperium. As a
Page 8 consequence, the Imperium encompasses a nearly endless variety of different governmental forms. (Cf. WH40K: 138-141) As hinted at, one of the essential pillars of Imperial society is the worship of the God- Emperor whose deification was finally sealed with his near-death and the following preservation in the Golden Throne. This now official religion of mankind is administered by the Ecclesiarchy (also referred to as Adeptus Ministorium), an entity which organizes the spread and preservation of the belief in the Emperor, very often with brute force; a task which is mainly carried out by the military wing of the Adeptus Ministorium, the Adeptus Sororitas (or Sisters of Battle; see section 3.1.). The only exceptions to the strict reign of the Ecclesiarchy are worlds governed by the Adeptus Mechanicus (a cult believing in the machine-god Omnissiah) and Space Marines (see section 3.1.) who are allowed to maintain certain peculiarities in their exercise of religion; a fact which has however led to sometimes fierce conflicts between these groups and the Ecclesiarchy. (Cf. WH40K: 138, 158f.) The last essential strand of Imperial society and organization to be mentioned at this point is the Inquisition. This clandestine organization is broadly aimed at the all-encompassing protection of mankind, a quest in which it is not bound by any law. The Inquisition is structured into three units, referred to as Ordos, each of which fulfills one aspect of the safeguard of humanity. These are the Ordo Malleus which specializes in hunting Daemons, the Ordo Xenos which is aimed at the protection from aliens, and the Ordo Hereticus. This latter part of the Inquisition is responsible for tracking down individuals deemed dangerous within the Imperium’s own ranks, such as mutants, heretics, and illegitimate psykers. Accordingly, the three Ordos are also referred to as Daemonhunters, Alienhunters, and Witchhunters. One extreme example for the almost boundless freedom of the Inquisition is posed by that of Inquisitor Kryptman of the Ordo Xenos who, during the war against the Tyranid hivefleet Leviathan (see section 3.5.) ordered the destruction of whole worlds in the way of these aliens in order to deprive them of prey and nourishment, marking the largest genocide in the Imperium since the time of the civil war with the legions of Horus. (Cf. WH40K: 138, 180; CTYiv: 20) To summarize, Imperial society in Warhammer 40,000 is a very complex and largely somber one. One interesting fact is that it bears a number of cultural references, most of which allude to christian religion and society – especially the Catholic Church in the Middle Ages. This can be observed in the remorseless spread of Imperial religion both by the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition – in whose case of course, the allusion is especially conspicuous. The impression of a medieval
Page 9 society is further enhanced by the common use of Latin, especially in the names of official organizations. Finally, Imperial rhetoric such as “The Word of the Emperor is the Rule of the Imperium. - The Will of the Emperor is the Might of the Imperium. - The Blessing of the Emperor is the Light of the Imperium.” (WH40K: 148) further emphasize the impression of a very dark an uncomfortable future of humanity
2.3.5. The Warp and psykers This final part of section 2 is dedicated to the explanation of the ‘Warp’, a central concept for the whole narrative of Warhammer 40,000. It is, as already mentioned, an immaterial universe that exists parallel to our time and space. The Warp’s immateriality derives from the fact that it is constituted of emotions and psychic energy, meaning that in this parallel world, “thoughts and emotions swell and grow, fed by fellow feelings until they achieve a consciousness of sorts” (CE: 4) Such a consciousness can manifest itself in the shape of a Daemon or, if it is indeed very strong, even in a deity (see sections 3.3. and 3.4.). These beings are the Daemons and Gods of Chaos, which is why the Warp is also known as the Realm of Chaos. Contact with these entities is strictly forbidden by the Imperial authorities, and they are also avoided by species like the Dark Eldar, while others, like the Tau, are utterly unaffected by Chaos. (Cf. WH40K: 144-146; CDE: 7; CTEiv: 6) The notion that emotions and thoughts can manifest and form lives of their own already hints at the fact that psychic processes are of comparatively high relevance in the world of Warhammer 40,000. This is especially apparent in the concept of psykers. These individuals, through some sort of higher psychic sensitivity, are able to establish a strong link between their minds and the Warp. Therefore, although it is conceived very perilous, psykers can channel the powers of the Warp into form and generate what could be called magic. The psykers’ connection to the Warp also allows them to send and receive messages over vast distances. Sadly however for many human psykers, the peculiar technology of the Golden Throne that preserves the Emperor’s body, requires for thousands of them to be sacrificed each day. Finally it should be mentioned that psykers can be found not only among humans. Especially the Craftworld Eldar as a whole and some Tyranids are capable of utilizing the powers of the Warp. (Cf. WH40K: 144, 160; CE: 26f.; CTY: 4) The third important role of the Warp in the narrative of Warhammer 40,000 – apart from explaining the existence of the Gods and Daemons of Chaos and that of psykers – lies in the possibility of utilizing it for traveling through space. As the laws of time and space do not hold in
Page 10 the Warp spaceships can enter this realm and, if exiting correctly, reach a place that is light years from their starting point within a comparatively short period of time. In order now to steer spaceships through the Immaterium, as the Warp is also referred to, a peculiar form of human mutants is required. These individuals are called Navigators and they possess a third eye with which they are able to see the currents in the Warp. Together with psykers, the Navigators fulfill an essential role in the maintenance of the Imperial infrastructure. The concepts of travelling and sending messages through the Warp partially explain how an empire stretching over the most part of the galaxy can at all be maintained. (Cf. WH40K: 144-146).
Page 11 3. The factions of Warhammer 40,000
3.1. The Imperium of Mankind
a) The Imperial Guard
“What I cannot crush with words I crush with the tanks of the Imperial Guard!” (CIG: 8)
The first human faction that players can choose in Warhammer 40,0000 is the Imperial Guard, the largest armed force in the Imperium. It consists of numerous common human soldiers and their war machinery - in short, this force is rather similar to armies of the 20th and 21st century, only that the technology available is advanced; for example, laser and plasma weapons are utilized. Due to the vastness of the Imperium of Mankind, the number of soldiers at its disposal is inconceivably huge, which is why the Imperial Guard is also nicknamed the Hammer of the Emperor or the Hammer of the Imperium. Another effect of the sheer size of mankind’s realm is that numerous regiments from a multitude of different planets exist which oftentimes vary decidedly in their appearances, in which they often make cultural references to the real world and constitute one essential means of Othering in Warhammer 40,000 (see section 7). For example, the regiment of the Catachan Jungle Fighters resembles the depictions of American soldiers in movies as Rambo or Predator, which again are largely based on the Vietnam War (cf. Hölbling 1990: 126f.). There is even one Catachan character6 called Marbo (which is ‘Rambo’ with the first syllable spelled backwards). Other Imperial regiments with vivid cultural allusions are the Tallarn Desert Raiders, the Valhallan Ice Warriors, the Armageddon Steel Legion and the Death Korps of Krieg. The Tallarn soldiers wear turbans and thereby resemble stereotypical Arabic Bedouins while the Valhallan Ice Warriors, through their long coats and their high fur caps, strongly allude to Russian culture in the 19th and 20th century. Finally, both the regiments from Armageddon and Krieg take strong reference to the appearance of German soldiers during both World Wars (see fig. 1). (Cf. CIG: 5, 14-21, 61)
6 In Warhammer 40,000, a number of such ‘Special Characters’ exist for each faction. While usually a Warhammer 40,000 army is comprised of anonymous fighters and leaders, players are also free to use them. These ‘Special Characters’ or ‘name-characters’ (unofficial term) have special rules and are usually better than ‘usual’ characters such as a common Imperial Commander.
Page 12 Fig. 1: (f.l.t.r.:) Catachan Jungle Fighter, Tallarn Desert Raider, Valhallan Ice Warrior, Armageddon Steel Legionaire (www.games-workshop.com), soldier of the Death Korps of Krieg (forgeworld.co.uk)
Another interesting aspect of the Imperial Guard is that it includes forces of so-called ‘abhumans’, which are creatures of human descent. Most notable of them are two species that can be deployed in Warhammer 40,000 battles, the first of which are the Ratlings. In their small height and their love for food, these resemble Tolkien’s Hobbits and Halflings in common fantasy narratives (cf. Tolkien 1954/1994: 1-7). Within the Imperial Guard the Ratlings are used as scouts and snipers, while the second abhuman species that can be played along with the Imperial Guard, the Ogryns, who are much larger and stronger than humans but are conceived rather imbecile, are deployed as assault troops. In their characteristic traits, and of course in their name, they resemble ogres of common fantasy literature. Both types of abhumans are generally perceived inferior to humans but are still valued in the Imperial Guard through their specialized abilities (Cf. CIG: 12, 42f.; IUP: 33f.)
b) The Space Marines
“The blood and sinew of legendary heroes, forged anew for an age of war.” (CSM: 10)
The second Imperial faction available to Warhammer 40,000 players are the superhuman Space Marines. Since the Horus Heresy, these are divided into so-called chapters of, with only a few exceptions, 1,000 men in strength. Some of these chapters differ largely from another, as well in their appearances as in their approaches to tactics and warfare. Players use CSM for chapters which follow the common guidelines of Space Marine warfare, the so-called ‘Codex Astartes’;
Page 13 examples for these chapters are the Ultramarines or the black-skinned7 Salamanders. Moreover, there are currently five Codices available for more unique Space Marine chapters. These are the “beauteous” (CBA: 5) but bloodthirsty Blood Angels, the clandestine Dark Angels, the Black Templars, who resemble medieval crusaders, the Space Wolves with strong allusions to Vikings, and the Daemon-fighting Grey Knights who are also distinguished by their psychic abilities. As an in-depth discussion of the Space Marines would fill up volumes it needs to suffice at this point to give a concise insight into the concept of these warriors who have emerged as one of the trademarks of Games Workshop. (Cf. CSM: 6-9, 16; WH40K: 183-7) Generally speaking, the Space Marines are genetically modified super-soldiers. They trace back to twenty so-called Primarchs who were created by the Emperor himself. Two of these specimens were lost but the gene code of the others has since been used for the creation of the Space Marines to follow. These are on the one hand set apart from ordinary men by their various physical peculiarities which include larger height and strength. Furthermore, Space Marines possess a range of additional organs which, for example, allow them to breathe poisonous air or spit a strongly corrosive acid. The feature that most markedly distinguishes them visually from other men however is their so-called power armor, which Space Marines usually will be found wearing. This intricate device covers the whole of their bodies and not only protects them but functions as an extension of their bodies which makes them even stronger. (Cf. CSM: 6, 10f., 20)
Fig. 2: (f.l.t.r.): Ultramarine, Space Wolf, Dark Angel, Grey Knight (www.games-workshop.com)
As we have been able to observe earlier, the Space Marines, in their variety of different chapters, unite a vast multitude of different cultural references. One that is common to them all
7 ‘Black’ not as it is often used to refer to the skin color of African Americans but ‘black’ in its original meaning.
Page 14 however, is that of the superhuman. In Also sprach Zarathustra, Nietzsche’s protagonist says, “Ich lehre euch den Übermenschen. Der Mensch ist Etwas, das überwunden werden soll. Was habt ihr gethan, ihn zu überwinden?” (Nietzsche 2008: 13). In Warhammer 40,000 mankind has indeed overcome the usual human – it has done so in the shape of the Space Marine. This figure thereby embodies an ancient prototype in human mythology – that of the superhuman. Ranging from Greek demigods, Nietzsche’s Übermensch to the comic-hero Superman, figures that surpass ‘normal’ humans in power, intellect and/or moral integrity have a long history. While all of these vary in their explanation of whence they gained their superiority from, in the case of the Space Marine the answer to Zarathustra’s question how the human was overcome, is ‘By the use of technology’; thereby, the creation of the Space Marine could be interpreted as a successful Frankenstein- experiment. Let us furthermore take a look at Arnold Gehlen’s definition of humanity, which is mainly based on its bodily deficiencies (‘Mängel’) in comparison to specialized animals. Therefore, while animals are adjusted to their environment, mankind needs to shape nature in order to be able to survive. This thus arranged environment is what we call ‘culture’ (‘Kultur’) (cf. Gehlen 1940: 31-37). Grounded on that image of humanity, the artificial creation of superhumans can be seen as an intensification of the term ‘culture’, as mankind has in this case not merely shaped its surroundings but enhanced itself to overcome its deficiencies.
c) The Sisters of Battle
“Defenders of the faith” (CWH: 7)
As has been mentioned earlier, the Sisters of Battle (or Adeptus Sororitas) are the armed wing of the powerful Imperial Ecclesiarchy. Notably, as the name already gives away, this force is comprised solely of women. They made their first appearance in Imperial history when they were discovered by Ecclesiarch Vandire on an isolated planet where he recruited these women, who called themselves Daughters of the Emperor, as his personal body guard and renamed them to Brides of the Emperor. In the course of time, Vandire’s power finally grew too strong and he was brought down and killed, which gave occasion to a decree forbidding the Ecclesiarchy to raise men under arms. This was however interpreted literally and the all-female Sisters of Battle thereby remained as the only armed force of the Imperial church. (Cf. CWH: 4f.; wh40k.lexicanum.com 1&3)
Page 15 Fig. 3: Sister of Battle (www.games- workshop.com)
The probably most obvious cultural reference to be found in the Adeptus Sororitas is that of a Christian nun’s convent. Both are all-female groups of religious worshipers, and both are also referred to as ‘sisters’. However, the Sisters of Battle are added an interesting touch as they are at the same time an armed and militant religious force. The fact that they have been ‘discovered’ by Vandire suggests that they used to be, from an Imperial viewpoint, uncivilized. In this and by their bearing of arms, they can be compared to the figures of the Amazons. Another prominent female warrior’s figure is that of Joan d’Arc, references to whom can be detected in the above miniature’s almost boyish haircut and the symbol of the fleur-de-lys on its shoulder and knee-pad. Finally, the fact that the Adeptus Sororitas are allowed to be armed because of a decree forbidding men to do so, shows the Imperial centricity to men in military terms. Parallels to this can be found in Tolkien’s The Lord of the Rings, where Eowyn defeats the Witch-king of Angmar, who can be stopped by “[n]o living man” (Tolkien 1955/1994: 823). As is the case with the Sisters of Battle, this story suggests that women, although they can in fact be capable warriors, are not expected to be so in societies dominated by men.
3.2. The Orks “Orkses never lose a battle. If we win, we win, if we die we die fightin so it don’t count. I we runs for it we don’t die neither, cos we can come back for annuver go, see!” (CO: 49)
The Orks in Warhammer 40,000 are a very crude and seemingly primitive species. These green-skinned aliens’ highest form of amusement – and maybe even their only purpose in life – is fighting. When led onto a warpath by a powerful warlord, called a Warboss, they pose a severe
Page 16 threat to humanity and any other species in their vicinity. Such a warpath is referred to as a Waaagh! (pronounced as ‘war’ without postvocalic ‘r’; the exclamation mark is generally conceived part of the word). However, if the Orks are not on a Waaagh!, they are very likely to spend their time fighting amongst each other in order to settle who is the strongest. In this coarseness, the Orks of Warhammer 40,000 bear similitude to the Orcs in J. R. R. Tolkien’s fiction. However, while in the Appendecies to The Lord of the Rings, Tolkien refers to ‘his’ Orcs as “being filled with malice” (Tolkien 1955/1994: 1105), the Orks of Warhammer 40,000 in fact do not appear particularly malicious. Much rather a fighting seems to be predetermined in their nature and a social system based on something else completely beyond their scope. (Cf. CO: 4; WH40K: 201) While leading figures amongst other species often excel through cunning, charisma or wisdom, Orks believe in the ultimate right of the strongest, which, because Orks markedly grow in size through fighting experience, can be equated with the right of the biggest. While a common Ork is about as tall as an average man, “though they would be much taller if he would only stand up straight” (CO: 4), an Ork Warboss can grow up to a size of up to ten feet. However, the Orks themselves are not the only beings in their society (or ‘kultur’) through which the law of the biggest runs like a golden thread. Below them in hierarchy are the smaller Gretchin (also referred to as Grots) and the even smaller Snotlings (or Snots). Those pitiful beings are left with the largest part of daily duty such as food preparation, delivery, or serving as the whipping boy. Apart from common Orks (or Boyz), larger Bosses (or Nobs) and Warbosses, Gretchin and Snotlings, the so-called Oddboyz provide another substantial contribution to Ork society. The most important sub-types of this class are the Mekboyz (or Meks) who maintain technical device and war machinery, Painboyz (or Doks) who perform a very crude form of medicine, Weirdboyz who resemble shamans or the psykers of other species, and Runtherds who serve as a sort of shepherd of Gretchins and Snotlings. (Cf. CO: 4, 8-10) These sub-classes of Ork society lead to another important aspect of this alien species as a whole. In CO (10) a fictional human scientist, Genetor Lukas Anzion, provides a treatise on genetic predetermination in Orks. While he assumes that the genetic faculty of humans only partly shapes their psychological aspects, he states that this effect is much more pronounced in Orks. Unlike in humans, concrete skills and knowledge are directly encoded in their genetic disposition. This means that whether an Ork turns out to be a common Boy or an Oddboy is fixedly predetermined in his genes. (Cf. CO: 10)
Page 17 Another distinct biological feature of the Ork species is that they are in fact part animal, part fungus. The fungal disposition of these aliens also determines their way of reproduction. Orks regularly emit spores which, if they settle right, can evolve to either Gretchins or Orks. This explains why Orks are generally very widely spread throughout the galaxy and why their enemies have great difficulties of driving back Ork invasions. (Cf. CO: 11; COiii: 46f.) Generally speaking, the Orks of Warhammer 40,000 unite a number of cultural references. At first, they fit the stereotype of a male, violent and rather mindless bully. Interestingly enough, although the procreation via spores suggests them being asexual, Orks are generally referred to as ‘he’ (see the quote on the size of Orks above). Therefore one could say that although Orks should be sexless their gender is male (see section 7.4.). The stereotype of the brutal male also corresponds with the language the Orks use which strongly resembles that associated with British hooligans. For example, according to Steyn (1998: 46) ‘‘Ere we go!’ is one of English soccer fans’ “great battle cry”, while a book about the Orks from the first edition of Warhammer 40,000 was in fact called
‘Ere we go: Orks in Warhammer 40,000 (cf. wh40k.lexicanum.com 2). This parallel gets further intensified through the mostly violent and bragging content of most of the Orks’ utterances.
Examples for Orkish language use:
• “We’re da best. Think different do ya? Come and have a go then, ya runty little wimp!” (CO: 13) • “Told yer I knew where da best fightin’ woz.” (CO: 27) • “Wot’s faster than a warbuggy, more killy than a warbike, and flies through da air like a bird? I got no bleedin’ idea, but I’m gonna find out.” (CO: 49)
Another cultural reference is a tendency towards German stereotypes in the Orks of Warhammer 40,000. This is visible in details as the rather ‘German’ letter ‘k’ in Orks (unlike the conventional ‘orcs’) or in the reference to their culture as “‘kultur’ as the Orks call it” (CO: 8). These German stereotypes are largely based on those deriving from both World Wars, three of which can be observed when comparing the image of an Ork to an American propaganda poster from World War I (see fig. 4). Firstly, the stature and face of the gorilla strongly resemble those of a typical Ork which in both cases conveys a sense of primitivity. Secondly, the gorilla’s club bears the inscription ‘kultur’ whose ‘Germanified’ spelling leads to one of – if not the – symbol of German soldiers in World War I – the spiked helmet which is also worn by Orks in Warhammer 40,000.
Page 18 Fig. 4: World War I propaganda poster (tebeau112.clevelandhistory.org) and Ork Nob (own photography)
Finally, and maybe most prominently, the Orks also unite a number of non-European, primordial stereotypes which can be traced back to the Orks’ social life being organized in tribes, a tribe being defined as “simply all the Orks in a given location”. Furthermore, their very simple- minded approach to conflict, combined with their ferocity reminds of the stereotype of the wild and ‘untamed’, uncivilized savage, an image that especially arose in the times of the British Empire (cf. Hall 1997: 239f.). One could even argue that the fact that the Orks have green skin is reminiscent of people with darker complexion, such as Africans or Southern Americans.
3.3. (Craftworld) Eldar and Dark Eldar “‘[...] we are but children compared to that ancient and powerful race.’ − Inquisitor Czevak” (CE: 7)
The two Eldar factions of Warhammer 40,000, Eldar and Dark Eldar, share a common history. These slender and proud aliens used to reign over an empire spanning the greatest part of the galaxy over a million years before the present time (i.e. the 41st millennium). However, due to their species’ markedly high technological progression, individuals were not obliged to work anymore, which is why they sought more and more extreme ways to pass their time; which could be very long as their lives on average lasted for centuries. Practically, this pleasure-seeking would also
Page 19 include the infliction of pain to others to one’s own pleasure, which gradually led to the moral and societal decay of the Eldar as murder and civil war-like conditions started to spread. At length, some among these aliens prophesied the downfall of their people if they did not change their ways. This very clash that now took place between the most extreme self-involvement on the one side and the claim for asceticism and introspection on the other can be seen as the root for the schism that took place between the two present factions of the Eldar and the Dark Eldar. The former finally used their technology and resources to construct gigantic space-ships, the Craftworlds (hence the alternative name ‘Craftworld Eldar’), which are described as “graceful space-cities the size of small moons” (CDE: 6) and in these they escaped their fellow people and the ill fate that would befall most of them. (Cf. CDE: 6f.; CE: 3-5) The gradual depravation of the Eldar, who are “psychically gifted above all other races” (CDE: 6) in Warhammer 40,000, over time manifested itself in the immaterial world of the Warp. This eventually led to the birth of a new deity, the Chaos God now known as Slaanesh (see section 3.4.) whose birth was accompanied by a psychic implosion which is also referred to Slaanesh’s birth-screams. This was strongly felt by the psychically hypersensitive Eldar and billions died in an instant. Three groups however survived the ‘Fall’, as this cataclysmic event is referred to by the Eldar, the first of which are the Craftworld Eldar who had by that time traveled far enough to escape their doom. The second group are the Dark Eldar who had receded into a parallel world called the ‘webway’, where they could carry on their decadent and cruel lifestyles and be free from the influence of Slaanesh. Finally, the so-called Exodites who had relinquished their people’s lifestyle and technology and had settled on far-off planets where they are now leading rather savage lives compared to that of other Eldar were able to escape extinction. This group however, is of very small significance in the game as they do not have an official Codex and are therefore hardly ever played by Hobbyists. (Cf. CDE: 6f.; CE: 4-7)
Page 20 Fig. 5: Eldar Farseer and Dark Eldar Archon (www.games-workshop.com)
Cultural references that can be found in the Eldar are manifold. At first, the similarity to elves of typical fantasy literature such as J. R. R. Tolkien’s work is apparent on many levels. Physically, both are, compared to humans, of high and slender build and have pointed ears while, psychically, both are distinguished by their magical (in typical fantasy narratives) or psychic (in Warhammer 40,000) aptitude and their wisdom. Moreover, especially in Tolkien’s world, the Elves are a race that has long ago reached its peak and is, in the narrative’s present, on decline – parallels to which can easily be found in Warhammer 40,000’s Eldar and their Fall. Finally, the fact that the name ‘Eldar’ was invented (or at least used) by Tolkien who uses it to refer to the West-Elves, seems noteworthy (cf. Tolkien 1955/1994: 1101f.). Apart from Tolkien’s influence, which can generally oftentimes be found in fantasy and sci- fi narratives, one aspect of the Craftworld Eldar’s society seems to be slightly influenced by Asian culture as, unlike their sinister kin, they, in order to gain and preserve inner discipline, choose one among many ways of living which are referred to as paths. These paths represent disciplines which their followers make their task to master flawlessly without any kind of diversion (cf. 9-11), a philosophy that strongly resembles the Samurai code of honor, ‘bushido’, which can be translated as ‘the ways of the knight’, amongst whose values self-control is also prominent (cf. Schmidt 1904: 507). This ethnicizing is further underlined by the mysterious and wise notion of the Eldar, which can be seen as in line with common stereotypes of the Asian guru or wise man. Therefore, both probably most important alien races in Warhammer 40,000, the Eldar and the Orks, do in different manners take references to non-European cultures. Finally, the Eldar’s history can be seen as a technological and societal dystopia, as it “offer[s] a detailed and pessimistic presentation of the very worst of social alternatives” (Moylan
Page 21 2000: 147), as even though their people thought they had mastered their fate through technological perfection they fell to decadence which finally lead to an ill fate. The story of the Eldar factions seems however to belong the category of dystopias distinguished by Moylan (ibid.), which invites the reading of a hopeful perspective on the future. Moreover, the creation of Slaanesh, a god “in their own image” (CE: 4) reminds of a twisted version of Mary Shelley’s Frankenstein, whose protagonist aimed at giving life like God, while the Eldar of Warhammer 40,000 have unknowingly created a god instead. In both cases, the consequences have proved fatal and led to a radical change of mind and repentance in the protagonists8, not including the Dark Eldar who have found a way to maintain their former lifestyle.
3.4. Chaos “Beyond the veil lies madness and the world’s ending, beware ye the Terrors of the Warp” (WH40K: 218)
As it has already been mentioned, a set of deities does exist in Warhammer 40,000 that are referred to as the Chaos Gods (or Gods of Chaos) and who reside in the parallel universe of the Warp. Similar to common religious and mythical ideas, these Gods are able to directly influence the lives of humans and other species by accursing them or granting boons, both of which usually take the form of mutation. Thereby, mortal beings can, as reward, receive additional limbs, wings, physical strength or other mutations which will slowly assimilate their bearers’ appearances to that of Daemons of Chaos – punishment by the Gods, on the other hand, will mostly take the form of death or a life in agony. The worship of Chaos is strictly prohibited in the Imperium and is severely punished – usually by death. (Cf. CCSMiv: 9, 11, 29; CCDiv: 6; IUP: 11f.) In the pantheon of Chaos four major deities exist, the first of which is Khorne, the Blood- God, who is usually portrayed as sitting on a throne of skulls and whose domain is that of bloodshed and killing, which is why warriors and conquerors will choose to worship him. In comparison to the angry deity Khorne, Tzeentch, the Changer of Ways and god of sorcery relies on subtlety. He attracts worshipers who wish to gain power through scheming and intriguing, such as politicians, while the third God of Chaos, Nurgle, whom worshipers sometimes tenderly call Papa Nurgle, is the god of bodily decay and morbidity and thus also referred to as the Bringer of Plagues. He is especially worshiped by those who fear death and wish to prolong their lives, as “Nurgle’s
8 After all, Frankenstein finally decides to hunt down and kill the monster he has created. The Eldar, on the other hand had to learn to control their impulses.
Page 22 blessing manifests not only as a suite of virulent plagues and diseases, but also as the inhuman constitution needed to survive them” (cf. CCSM: 30). The youngest God of Chaos is Slaanesh, who was given birth by the decadence of the Eldar (see section 3.3.). Therefore, unsurprisingly, the field of perversity and the uncompromising fulfillment of one’s desires is his domain. Slaanesh can be seen as a hermaphrodite deity as he/she is labeled male, female or even both in different passages. The Eldar, for example, have named him/her ‘She Who Thirsts’ (CDE: 7), while in CCSMiv (10) Slaanesh is referred to as ‘he’. What further sets him/her apart from the other three Gods of Chaos is that he/she is the only one who usually appears in beautiful form. (Cf. CCSMiv: 9-11; CCDiv: 9- 13)
Fig. 6: (f.l.t.r.): Chaos Space Marine, Bloodletter of Khorne, Pink Horror of Tzeentch, Plaguebearer of Nurgle, Daemonette of Slaanesh (www.games-workshop.com)
In Warhammer 40,000, two sub-factions of Chaos exist, the Chaos Space Marines and the Chaos Daemons, each of which is backed by an own Codex and can be played separately; a segregation which was introduced during the 4th edition of Warhammer 40,000. The first sub-faction in this current constellation, the Chaos Space Marines, represent the legions of Space Marines that turned their backs on the Imperium of Mankind during the time of Horus Heresy (see section 2.3.4.) and chapters which changed sides later on. Apart from these so-called renegades, nine legions of Chaos Space Marines exist, four of whom are especially dedicated to one of the major deities of Chaos while the remaining five are rather pantheistic in their belief. Just as their gods, these legions are at times in conflict amongst each other albeit alliances against common enemies (especially the hated Imperium) are being forged, as well. (Cf. CCSMiv: 6-22) The second faction of Chaos, the Chaos Daemons, represents the very essence of the four Gods as each Daemon is a manifestation and incarnation of either Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle, or
Page 23 Slaanesh. While the Chaos Space Marines can be regarded as a (semi-)human force that deliberately joined forced with the ‘Dark Gods’, the Daemons represent the armies that are controlled directly by these deities. Unlike their Gods, the Daemons are not utterly bound to the Warp and are therefore able to manifest in real time and space. Although they have separate Codices, the two Chaos- factions usually cooperate for a common cause, especially if they consist of worshipers and Daemons of the same god, which is also represented in the rules of Warhammer 40,000 (see section 7.2.). (Cf. CCDiv: 6-8) The most salient cultural influence on the Chaos factions can be said to come from the Bible. After all, the Gods of Chaos represent most of that which is seen as evil in Christianity and which is usually embodied by Satan – in fact, most of the seven deadly sins can be attributed to one or more of the Chaos Gods (cf. Schimmel 1997: 1f.). While Khorne quite obviously represents wrath, Slaanesh unites lust and – in the figurative sense – gluttony. The latter can also be attributed to Nurgle in so far as his worshipers tend to have a bloated appearance and usually aim at prolonging their lives and thereby, metaphorically, absorbing or swallowing life. Both the sins of greed and pride can actually be attributed to all four deities of Chaos as they all aim for power and influence is some sense. Another well-known Christian image is that of Lucifer’s fall from God, as depicted in John Milton’s Paradise Lost. Similarly, Horus, Primarch of the Black Legion (then called Sons of Horus) turned his back on the Imperium and its leader, the God-Emperor. Thus, rephrasing Milton’s famous phrase, he seemed to have deemed it “better to reign in the Warp than serve in the Imperium” (cf. Milton 1961: 13). Apart from the discussed Christian influence, the Gods of Chaos can also be compared to pantheistic and, in the Christian sense, heathen religions which were in fact often equaled with Satan. To sum up, Chaos can be seen as the anti-Imperial faction, just as Satan or heathen religions can be regarded as the antithesis to Christianity.
3.5. The Tyranids “The great devourer is come, destroyer of worlds” (CTY: 5)
Let us now turn to a faction which, more than any other, epitomizes the idea of the alien, the Tyranids, a species which poses a severe threat to humanity and in fact all other species in the galaxy of Warhammer 40,000. The source of the Tyranids is unknown but lies outside the galaxy
Page 24 into which it forces its way in so-called Hive Fleets, congregations of Hive Ships which are living spacecraft that hold a vast number of Tyranids. Generally, these aliens resemble insectoid creatures of sizes and all of the elements of their hierarchy operate on one joint consciousness called the Hive Mind, whose will is being received by some individual Tyranids higher in hierarchy and passed on to their fellow creatures through a very crude form of telepathy. These leading figures are very potent psykers who are however totally immune to the influence of Chaos. (Cf. CTYiv: 2-4) Just as their spacecraft, the Tyranids’ weapons are also constructed from organic material and are in fact separate organisms themselves. For this reason, these aliens require incredible amounts of organic material to reproduce themselves and sustain their infrastructure. It seems that to acquire this is the main purpose of the Tyranid invasion into the galaxy that houses the other species of Warhammer 40,000. During an invasion, so-called Dominatrixes and Norn Queens, the latter being space-bound, conceive warrior creatures which then invade a planet. After all opposition has been swept away, the whole biomass on the planet is being absorbed by small creatures called Rippers which transport the material into digestion pools from whence it is then sucked into the Hive Ships. (Cf. CTYiv: 4; WH40K: 215) One form of Tyranid creatures that is worth observing more closely is that of the so-called ‘Genestealers’. These are deployed as shock troops by Hive Fleets to infiltrate planets and prepare them for a Tyranid invasion – it is however their mode of reproduction which is especially interesting in this context (see section 5.6.). Unlike any other Tyranid creature, Genestealers are not bred in Hive Ships, instead, they inject tiny organisms into other creatures’ bodies, which, over time, alters the victim’s gene code and he/she/it will slowly turn into a Genestealer Hybrid that is controlled by the Hive Mind. (Cf. wh40k.lexicanum.com 6) Human contact with the Tyranids has a comparatively short history. They were first encountered when intruding into the Tyran solar system (hence the name Tyranids) in the year 745.M41 (i.e. 40,745 C.E.). This swarm fleet was dubbed Behemoth whose invasion culminated in the near extinction of the Space Marine chapter of the Ultramarines who were finally able to fight off the threat. In 993.M41 however, a new Hive Fleet, which was named Kraken, invaded the galaxy, devouring numerous planets. Moreover, the Tyranids attacked the Eldar Craftworld Iyanden killing the largest part of its inhabitants. Through the losses dealt by the Eldar, and once again by the chapter of the Ultramarines, Kraken could finally be driven back. The third major hive fleet that should threaten the Imperium was called Leviathan, and its onslaught was discovered in 997.M41. As this hive fleet was finally threatening to push forward to Terra, the already mentioned Inquisitor
Page 25 Kryptman of the Ordo Xenos ordered the Exterminatus (i.e. utter destruction) of worlds in the way of Leviathan to deprive the Tyranids of biomass. Nevertheless, this only slowed down the aliens and the threat they pose has not yet been eliminated in the present of Warhammer 40,000. (Cf. CTYiv: 6- 15) The Tyranids of Warhammer 40,000 can be compared to classic depictions of alien life forms as in the movie Alien by Ridley Scott and especially Robert Heinlein’s novel Starship Troopers and its screen adaption by Paul Verhoeven (1997). This influence is visible in the insect- like look of both Tyranids and Heinlein’s ‘Bugs’, and the swarm mentality which, in Starhip Troopers, is embodied by the ‘Brain Bug’. While it could be concluded that the Tyranids are largely influenced on the visual design of the Bugs in Verhoeven’s film-version of Starship Troopers, it needs to be addressed that the first Codex of the Tyranids was issued in 1993 (cf. wh40k.lexicanum.com 5), while Verhoeven’s film was released four years later. The conclusion that later Tyranid miniatures were influenced by the movie however stands to reason.
Fig. 7: (f.l.t.r.): Tyranid Hormagaunt (www.games-workshop.com), The Alien (www.movie- blogger.com), Bug (www.thebigbrownchair.com)
Another interesting allusion can be found in the tagging of the Tyranid Swarm Fleets as Kraken, Behemoth and Leviathan. The fact alone that all of these names originally refer to mythological beasts, signifies the perilousness attributed to the Tyranids. It is however especially the latter of these monsters, Leviathan, that poses an especially interesting analogy. On the original cover of Thomas Hobbes’ eponymous treatise on social and political theory, a giant figure consisting of numerous singular people rises above the landscape (cf. www.bl.uk), parallels to which can be observed in the fact that a Tyranid Hive Fleet too can be seen as one organism that is comprised of individual creatures.
Page 26 3.6. The Necrons “Across the galaxy, an ancient and terrible race is stirring.” (CN: 5)
The faction of the Necrons goes back to the ancient civilization of the Necrontyr, a species whose empire among the stars preceded even that of the Eldar. They were in rivalry with the so- called Old Ones who are quotes as “first of all the galaxy’s sentient life” (CN: 6). In order to defeat them, the Necrontyr asked for help from the gods or godlike entities of the C’tan, who, by luring them in with the promise of immortality, forged the Necrontyr’s minds and bodies into artificial bodies of living metal – thus the Necrons were born. Finally, these aliens were able to defeat the Old Ones in what was referred to as the War in Heaven. However, they had to find that they had been betrayed by the C’tan who had fed on the mortal bodies of the Necrontyr during the act of their bodies’ transformation. Enraged, the Necrons revolted and finally also defeated their loathsome gods who were shattered into living fragments now called C’tan Shards – an act which left the Necrons severely weakened. Their supreme leader, the Silent King, therefore ordered all Necrons to retire to so-called Tomb Worlds while he himself turned his back on the galaxy, leaving it to the aspiring race of the Eldar who had fought on the side of the Old Ones in the war against the Necrontyr/Necrons. (Cf. CN: 6f.) After millions of years of sleep however, the Necrons are now finally awaking again, although this reawakening is proceeded only hesitantly, as many of the ancient devices to trigger it have malfunctioned. Yet in 744.M41 the Silent King returned from his exile, a return that was triggered by the coming of the Tyranids. Since the Necrons had lost their mortal bodies they have wished to regain them. As the Tyranids now are a threat to all life in the galaxy, they would ultimately cross the Necron’s plans. Lest that happen, the Silent King began his venture to reawaken all of his kin. Since that time, the Necrons are at war with the other species of the galaxy, especially the Tyranids. (Cf. CN: 8f., 24-27)
Page 27 Fig. 8: Necron Warrior and Necron Monolith (different scales) (www.games- workshop.com)
In their skeletal appearance, the Necrons are reminiscent of the common fantasy figure of the reawakened dead, the undead. While both represent a form of semi-life, the Necrons are much more than just skeletons and zombies from outer space. After all, they were not only deprived of their former lives but had to abandon their living bodies as well as their minds were forged into machines. In this combination of artificial appearance and (near-)human inner life they resemble robots, androids or cyborgs from other science fiction narratives and their warfare against the living resembles technological dystopias as in the film series Terminator where the machines declare war on humanity. One decisive difference however is that the Necrons in fact used to be living beings prior to their now semi-mechanical existence. Thus they form a stark contrast to the other living species of Warhammer 40,000. Apart from the Necron’s closeness to these science fiction and fantasy stereotypes, they furthermore show allusions to Christian myth. The Necron’s revolt against the C’tan, who they felt had betrayed them, shows parallels to the rebellion of Lucifer and his angels, who “with ambitious aim [a]gainst the throne and monarchy of God [r]aised impious war in Heaven” (Milton 1961: 6). Interestingly enough, the war between the Necrontyr and the Old Ones is also referred to as the ‘War in Heaven’, which strengthens the link between that narrative and biblical imagery. Apart from those, the Necrons also display clear parallels to the ancient Egyptians. For example, their eons- long sleep can be compared to the death cult around the pharaohs, and the Necron vehicle called ‘Monolith’ could be compared to the shape of the Pyramids and similar monuments. Finally, the
Page 28 Necron army also features a unit called ‘Canoptek Scarabs’ and thereby takes up another image that is strongly connected to ancient Egyptian culture.
3.7. The Tau “A new empire dawns” (CTE: 6)
The Tau with an empire of less than two thousand years of age represent the youngest playable civilization in Warhammer 40,000. Moreover, with the release of their first Codex in 2001, the Tau represent the newest faction of Warhammer 40,000. (Cf. CTEiv: 2; wh40k.lexicanum.com 4) The civilization of this alien species can look back on a rather short history of vast technological advancement and territorial expansion. One of the reasons for their fast development is very likely to be found in philosophy of the Greater Good which is omnipresent in Tau society. This ethic system dictates that each member of Tau society sets aside his/her individual desires for the corporate good, which is suppremented with the second pillar of this empire, a rigid caste system which determines each individual’s position in society. The leading caste is that of the Ethereals whose orders will uncompromisingly be followed by the lower castes, while the other castes are structured according to the elements of nature. While the fire caste is that of warriors, the earth caste represents that of the workers and craftsmen. The remaining two are the water caste which houses politicians and administrators, and the air caste, the caste of the pilots and spaceship crew members (Cf. CTEiv: 4-9.; WH40K: 213) Compared to the other factions of Warhammer 40,000, the Tau represent a relatively peaceful civilization that will, on its strife for expansion, try to incorporate other species by trade agreements or by providing protection. Accordingly, this empire also features a large diversity of different species. Among these, the Vespids and the Kroot are of special importance as both are employed in the Tau army, while other species such as the “multi-armed Thraxians, the invertebrate Greet [and] the Nicassar” (CTE: 10) are also mentioned. If however the Tau are not able to convince others of the benefits of being part of their empire, they will use violent means of persuasion. (Cf. CTEiv: 2, 6, 16f.; CTE: 10)
Page 29 Fig. 9: Tau XV8 Crisis Battlesuit (www.games-workshop.com) and Transformers Ultimate Bumblebee toy (reviews.productwiki.com)
Probably the strongest cultural influence on the Tau, similar to the Eldar, comes from Asia. This can be observed in the visual style of their armor (or battle-suits) which are reminiscent of the style of Japanese Manga comics, a tendency especially vivid in the Crisis Battlesuit which shows parallels the Transformers TV-series and movies. Asian stereotypes are furthermore used in some pieces of Tau-related artwork where Ethereals wear plaited hair and beard on an otherwise bald head (CTEiv: 5) and one even wears a hat very similar to the conical Asian hat (CTEiv: 9). The third strong indicator of Asian influence is the Tau’s caste system, a social system that can be found foremost in South Asia, and of course especially in India. The last reference in the same direction can be detected in the philosophy of the Greater Good which resembles collectivist philosophies that are also stereotypically prevalent in Asian countries. This on a whole very pronounced link to Asian culture is even made more explicit by the fact that the Tau inhabit the “eastern reaches of the galaxy” (CTEiv: 4).
Page 30 4. Theory
4.1. On Identity The key concepts of the analysis that I wish to present in this paper are that of Othering and suture. While, in the course of this discussion, the former is predominantly triggered by the in-game narrative, I was further interested in how subjects (i.e. players) are being sutured into that discourse. One concept now, that of identity, can be regarded as a basis, or at least, as very closely linked to both Othering and suture; in the former case identity is gained through differentiation, in the latter by a certain way of engaging a discourse. While we usually use the term ‘identity’ in our everyday lives, and believe we know what this term relates to, let us look at what ‘the experts’ have to say on this, I would argue, quite central issue of human life. According to Hall (1996: 16), the first decisive quality of identities is that they are constructed within discourse, and “through, not outside, difference”. In other words, identity is an act of articulation that is greatly determined by what one is not, which underlines its closeness to the term Othering. A second notion that might contradict the everyday-conception of the term identity is that due to its rootedness in discourse, it cannot be regarded as fixed, stable, or predetermined in human beings but “constantly in the process of change and transformation” (ibid.). Furthermore, still following the premises of Hall, the process of identification is “a suturing, an over-determination not a subsumption. There is always ‘too much’ or ‘too little’ – an over-determination or a lack, but never a proper fit, a totality” (ibid.). Hall’s definition shows two very important aspects, one, the close link between identification and suture, the attempt to be woven into a context. The second interesting point he makes is that identity is rooted in an incompleteness (or, over-completeness) of some sort, which shows an explicit link to the psychoanalytical tradition. But let us leave the psychoanalysts for now; the first central conclusion of the discussion of identity in the context of Warhammer 40,000 is that in order to analyze it we are dependent on a discourse, a discourse which gives us hints on how identification might proceed in this context. It is therefore an obvious choice to analyze those texts that players usually get in contact with when entering this world, in other words, the rulebook and Codices.
4.2. Of difference, mirrors, and the Rani of Sirmur – On the Other and ‘Othering’ Indeed one of the very central concepts of human cognition that is, as afore mentioned, also closely linked to that of identity, is the distinction between the Self and the Other. If it were not for
Page 31 this central differentiation we could in fact hardly ever purposefully deal with our social and material environment. According to Lacan (1989: 44f.), one important figure in the psychoanalytical approach to identity, the realization of this schism comes about around the age of six months, when a child is able to recognize him or herself in the mirror (Lacan, for whatever reason, only assumed a male child). While this and others of Lacan’s theories have been very influential in cultural theory, there are certainly good reasons to object to his use of psychology and psychoanalysis, especially as cultural theorists without deeper knowledge of the field of psychology have usually neglected the direct evaluation of his theories (cf. Billig 2006: 1f.). It seems however that the core of Lacan’s observation on the mirror stage – that is, the conceptualization of “I” in contrast to “the Other” - still seems to be valid and sustainable in modern psychological discourse, however, according to Oerter & Montada (2008: 211), this step in a child’s development comes about only at the age of about 18 months. Furthermore, the authors speak of a doubling of the subject about that very same age, when a child is able to experience him or herself as subject (“I”), as well as object (“me”), allowing for processes of self-reflection (ibid.). If we now return to Lacan’s interpretation, the outside reflection of oneself as recognizable in the ‘mirror stage’ allows for recognizing oneself as a unified subject (cf. Hall 1997: 237). Hall further states: Psychically, we are never fully unified as subjects. Our subjectivities are formed through this troubled, never-completed, unconscious dialogue with […] the ‘Other’. It is formed in relation to something which completes us but which – since it lies outside us – we in some way always lack. (ibid.: 238) It therefore seems that unity and completion are among our aims when it comes to our self- concept, or identity – a conception that closely relates to our previous observations on the necessary incompleteness of identity, and which needs the Other to gain identity from a constant exchange with the “message” that this difference carries (cf. ibid.: 235). Let us now, from this psychological and psychoanalytical view, take a look at another approach to the question why the Other is relevant for human beings. This approach that can be called anthropological and proponents of which are Mary Douglas and her forerunners Emile Durkheim and Claude Lévi-Strauss, assumes a classificatory system, also called symbolic order, which we call culture. By classifying things within this system, we set them apart from each other and thereby assign meaning. “The marking of ‘difference’ is thus the basis of that symbolic order which we call culture” (ibid.). This order however can also be disturbed by things which fall into the wrong category or which we are not able to classify at all – Hall (ibid.) provides the examples of dirt in the bedroom or mercury as a liquid metal. While he further states that normally, in such a case we try to restore the order of things, as shall be seen later, Warhammer 40,000 represents a
Page 32 discourse which exhibits a large amount of such ‘misfits’ turning up in wrong or totally new categories. (Cf. Hall 1997.: 236) To sum up, we can now say that we certainly need the Other. While, on a psychological level, it enables us to be aware of ourselves and our environment, psychoanalysts add that, although never fully, the Other serves as a way to compensate for our own incompleteness. Another aspect that is added from looking at the subject matter through an anthropological lens is that in fact culture as a whole is based on the process of classifying things and thereby demarcating them, ‘otherfying’ them. While we can now say that a distinction between the Self and the Other is a very natural and useful distinction – in fact it would be hard to imagine a world without it -, the extent and intensity of this distinction can vary greatly. In her text “The Rani of Sirmur”, Gayatri C. Spivak (1984) uses the term ‘Othering’ when, in the context of post-colonialism, she speaks of the literary construction of the concept of the so-called ‘Third World’ as something distinctly different from “Europe as Self” (ibid.: 132). Unlike in the mirror stage, we are here encountered not only with the rather neutral statement ‘This is me, that is not me’, but with a deliberate and meticulous dissociation of the Self and the Other as this concept is transferred on the level of cultures. Naturally, such a classification is, per se, always judgmental, an example of which can be found in Spivak’s discussion as she criticizes the “strategy of the planned representation of master and native (an opposition with a different nuance from the more familiar master-servant)” (ibid.: 135) in a text drafted by the Court of Directors of the East India Company. Moreover, the suffix -’ing’ shows that Spivak considers Othering as something procedural rather than static – it implies that the Other is actually made, constructed. In the example mentioned, this means that the native is depicted as conceptually opposing the concept of the master and he/she is thereby made inferior. The deliberateness and procedurality of Othering go hand in hand with Hall’s mentioned line of arguments, describing identity, which we could say can also be constructed through Othering, as constantly transforming and based on difference. Hall (1996: 16) moreover stated that “we need to understand [identities] as produced in specific historical and institutional sites within specific discursive formations and practices, by specific enunciative strategies.” This shall be of further importance in section 5.
Page 33 4.3. Suture The third term which is essential to this thesis’ discussion is that of ‘suture’. It was coined by Jacques-Alain Miller in his article “Suture: Elements of the Logic of the Signifier” where he defined it as “the relation of the subject to the chain of its discourse”, as a “taking-the-place-of” (Miller 1978: Online). This obviously closely relates to the term of identification, as any instance of the latter could also be regarded as a ‘taking-the-place-of’. Miller’s approach is in so far very closely related to psychoanalytical theories of the Other, as “the key terms in his definition of it are ‘lack’ and ‘absence’” (Silverman 1983 in Du Gay et al. 2000: 76). The process of suture is once again one heavily based on language, as a signifier (e.g. a pronoun or a name) serves as access point to a discourse or symbolic order, through which the subject gains meaning but is also, in Miller’s theory, estranged from itself. (Cf. Silverman 1983 in Du Gay et al. 2000: 76f.) According to Silverman (ibid.), the concept of suturing has been discussed most intensely in the context of film studies. One classic example of suture in films is the so-called ‘shot/reverse shot formation’ in which viewers are presented with a shot which is followed by one showing the perspective from which that shot has been taken. Very often, this second shot shows a person, which implies that the first shot was seen through his/her eyes. In other words, we could say that viewers thereby take the place of such a fictional person. Although the medium that Silverman speaks of is obviously very different from the discourse of a game such as Warhammer 40,000, which in itself uses various media (primarily written texts and pictures) to convey its contents, section 6 shall show which places players of Warhammer 40,000 usually take in. (Cf. Silverman 1983 in Du Gay et al. 2000: 76-78.) Let us finally turn to the question of how suture in general is to be accomplished, or in other words, the question when we are rightful to speak of successful suture to which Silverman (ibid.: 80) answers, “suture is successful at the moment that the viewing subject says ‘Yes that’s me’ or ‘That’s what I see’.” In other words, we could say that suture is successful at the moment a subject truly identifies with a role that relates to its discourse.
4.4. Theoretical concept The theoretical concept that I wish to put forward in the course of this thesis is a three-level model (see fig. 10). Level 1 represents the in-game discourse, the narrative of Warhammer 40,000, the relevant participants of which are the game’s factions. This naturally has to be regarded as an abstraction of a multitude of single fictional characters who make appearance in the vast narrative
Page 34 and constitute a ‘faction-opinion’ which expresses itself in a certain way of depicting the Self and the Other (see section 5). On level 2, a subject (i.e. a player or Hobbyist) gets in contact with this world of Warhammer 40,000 and its discourse. First and foremost, the process of suture is relevant at this stage as it determines how subjects are being included into this symbolic order. It is furthermore anticipated that players will, in the course of their involvement with Warhammer 40,000, identify with one or more of the game’s factions – a process which can be seen as autonomous in contrast to the various ways of suture, which are predetermined by the texts to be analyzed. It further needs mentioning that levels 1 and 2 are strongly interconnected as the narrative itself provides certain means of suture, and their conceptual separation in this model is of course merely an artificial one (see section 6). Finally, on level 3, we are concerned with a subject that is already sutured into Warhammer 40,000 and has already identified with one or more of the game’s factions. He/she will then adopt certain discourse-immanent ways of depicting factions, depending on which viewpoint(s) he/she has taken in. Furthermore, out-game knowledge will enable him/her to interpret the symbolic order of Warhammer 40,000 in a much wider way, especially in context with the notions of gender and race/culture. To use Hall’s (1997: 235) words, “difference signifies, it carries a message”. While level 1 is concerned with differences between factions, level 3 is therefore mainly concerned with differences between the subject and the Other that is Warhammer 40,000 (see section 7).
Page 35 Fig. 10: The Other and suture und Warhammer 40,000 - a three-level model
Page 36 5. (Level 1:) A galaxy at war – the Other in Warhammer 40,000
5.1. Approaching the Other in Warhammer 40,000 Warhammer 40,000 presents players with an (in-game) discourse of permanent warfare, a centricity which is first and foremost created by the fact that, in the scope of this wargame, players can only encounter each other in battle. This impression however gets intensified by catch-phrases as “In the grim darkness of the future there is only war” (WH40K: cover) or “There is no time for peace. No respite. No forgiveness. There is only war” (WH40K: back cover). In a discourse shaped thus, to use Foucault’s words, “the subject […] cannot occupy the position of a universal subject […] he is necessarily on one side or the other” (Foucault 1994: 61). It is this very setting of permanent confrontation which elevates the importance of the concept of the Self in contrast to that of the other. After all, it lays the foundations to the mental representation of two (or more) sides which are in conflict. Without it, the concept of ‘factions’ would hardly be maintainable. We can therefore say that the concept of war presupposes a very pronounced form of the natural distinction between Self and Other. The following analysis of the Other in the in-game discourse of Warhammer 40,000 is chiefly based on pieces of in-game comments provided in the Codices and the rulebook. These are usually presented as short quotes, with the fictional speaker indicated below.
5.2. The virtue of intolerance – the Other from the Imperial viewpoint “Beware the Enemy within! - Scorn the Enemy without! - Fear the Enemy beyond!” (WH40K: 148). This slogan can be seen as an epitome of the Imperial standpoint on the Other. In it, the distinction between three different classifications of (hostile) Others are being made – the enemy within (i.e. disloyal Imperial citizens) and without the Imperial ranks (i.e. aliens), and the enemy “beyond”, which very clearly is to be interpreted as the ‘threat’ of Chaos. As all of these Others are being constructed as “Enemy”, it follows that they all need to be fought. This is very clearly represented in the three Ordos of the Inquisition – the Ordo Hereticus, the Ordo Xenos and the Ordo Malleus (see section 2.3.4.).
Page 37 a) “The Enemy within”
In Imperial discourse, two Imperium-internal enemy stereotypes are prevalent – that of the mutant and that of the heretic. Both represent Others which come from within Imperial society. Although parallels can be drawn between them, they are mainly distinguished through an outer and inner form of ‘otherness’. Let us first take a look at the heretic. In IUP (11), heresy is defined as follows: Any soldier who speaks ill of the Emperor, the Imperium, cites his loyality to any other entity besides the Emperor, defaces holy artefacts or buildings, incites heretical thoughts or actions, talks openly about forbidden subjects and generally behaves in a manner disrespectful to all that is holy and good
Although this excerpt relates to soldiers, the basic concept of heresy can certainly be generalized. Summing up this idea, it can now be said that heretics are individuals who act against fundamental rules of Imperial society – the worship of the Emperor and to obey the secular powers of the Imperium. It is especially the last sentence of the quote, which makes it obvious that the term ‘heresy’ is very open to interpretation and could, as a matter of fact, pertain most kinds of deviant behavior. Thereby it differs in so far from the out-game use of the word ‘heresy’, as it is not solely applicable to religious matters – a fact which on the whole does not surprise in a religious authoritarian empire. The Imperial heretic shares one common characteristic with what Foucault (1994: 52f.) named the “individual to be corrected” or the “incorrigible”. Both are set apart from the rest of society by the inability to fit in. This failure seems mainly to be based on inner preconditions. However, the ways of dealing with these individuals in real history and in the in-game narrative differ largely. Foucault states that the classification of the “incorrigible”, a term from the 17th and 18th century, was met with the strive to “correct, to improve, to lead to repentance, to restore ‘better feelings’” (ibid.: 53). The Imperial approach to these delinquents is however much more radical. After all, the passage quoted above continues “[...] will have his extremities removed and left to bleed to death for the Emperor’s pleasure. The body will then be burned to ensure no taint remains” (IUP: 11f.). Such measures make it very clear that the Imperium does not aim at correcting heretic individuals at all – much rather, ‘problematic’ members of society are merely being extinct. Now coming to the second internal enemy sterotype, the mutant, it needs to be mentioned, that mutation is generally widely spread in the Imperium. As has been hinted at in section 2.3.5., the three-eyed navigators represent one class of socially accepted mutants. However, as mutation is generally perceived to be connected to the Warp and thereby to Chaos, the Imperium makes a stark
Page 38 distinction between very few sanctioned and the large majority of non-sanctioned mutants – between those who are believed to function in society albeit their different nature, and those who are not. The latter are described as “an underclass, deviants that must hide from ordinary folk” (WH40K: 232). While in a modern mind-set, mutation is perceived as something rather natural or a fact that can at least be explained rationally, the Imperium denies the existence of such an explanation for this “woeful reflection of the evolutionary process” (ibid.), as “it is not a rational age” (ibid.). From this we can conclude that Chaos, in itself, does not classify as a rational explanation, from which we can conclude that Chaos in general is perceived as something irrational. While, from the Imperial viewpoint, heresy could be described as a deficiency in faith or mind, mutation can be seen as a merely bodily vice. In this, the mutant is very similar to what Foucault termed the ‘human monster’. While the latter is regarded as “half-human, half-animal”, Foucault (1994: 51) states that the real ‘problem’ is not primarily what bodily sets it apart from the rest of its kind, but the “disturbance it brings to juridical regularities” as “[t]he human monster combines the impossible and the forbidden” (ibid.). This can directly be transferred to the situation of the mutant. As the Warp is “a universe devoid of matter and life” (CCDiv: 6), “a random unstructured dimension” (ibid.), and the mutants are closely linked to it, they represent what (should be) impossible and what definitely is forbidden in the Imperium. As Foucault (1994: 51) also hints at, and as we will certainly intuitively feel, such classifications (especially of the “half-human, half- animal”) are strongly reminiscent of the Middle Ages, which fits the medieval and churchly feel of the Imperium perfectly well. Foucault (ibid.: 52) however mentions that even a rephrasing of the concept of the monster in more modern terms, leads to an unsatisfactory position. If, which certainly sounds more modern, an individual is classified as ‘dangerous’ we will end up in a position which “contradicts a penal law based solely on the condemnation of acts, and postulates a natural connection between illness and infraction” (ibid.). While this problematic approach can be expected to be rather implicitly present in our present jurisdiction it is overtly present in the Imperium where slogans like “Innocence proves nothing” (WH40K: 221) are being propagated. Now, what is the conclusion of all of this? We can summarize that the Imperium especially constructs two internal enemy-concepts. The first, the heretic, is set apart from the in-group of well- behaved Imperial citizens through his/her internal rejection of Imperial values, which manifests itself in external rebellion or non-compliance of these. The mutant, on the other hand, stands out against the in-group because his/her bodily constitution is perceived as abnormal and even harmful.
Page 39 As has been mentioned above, the maxim was to “Beware the Enemy within”. The word ‘beware’ is obviously a severe downplaying of the way the Imperium encounters these individuals, that is with torture and death. We are therefore on the one hand confronted with the depiction of two enemy- Others as extremely threatening to society and massive downplaying of measures to be taken on the other hand. Both therefore classify as “enunciative strategies” of the Imperium.
b) “The Enemy without” and “beyond”
The second and third enemy image in the cited Imperial slogan are the enemies “without” and “beyond”. Although both concepts are different in their nature, both are essentially external to the Imperium. Therefore, both shall here be dealt with simultaneously. ‘The alien’, which can be equated with the ‘enemy without’, is of course a concept that incorporates a vast variety of different species, as it includes all non-Imperial factions of Warhammer 40,000, except those of the Daemons of Chaos and the Chaos Space Marines. Additionally, other creatures like Clawed Fiends or Ambulls, which are part of other factions (the former can be deployed together with Dark Eldar), or do not play a role in the game at all (the latter) do fall into this category (cf. WH40K: 196; CDE: 35). Trying a negative definition, the alien is all that is not-human, whereby ‘human’ is to be understood in the wider concept, including the superhuman (i.e. the Space Marines) and the abhuman (e.g. Ogryns), not-Daemonic and not- animal9. While the Imperium does occasionally strike up trade agreements or alliances with aliens, the general demand, especially of the Ecclesiarchy, is for “destruction over any kind of cooperation or coexistence” (WH40K: 198). In this context, it seems to be part of the Imperial conception of humanity that “[i]t has never been Man’s nature to share his world with aliens” (WH40K: 196). Such explanations which resort on ‘Man’s nature’ are interesting for two reasons. One, it allows to assess the Imperial concept of humanity in contrast to the Other. Two, this naturalistic type of explanation for the Otherness of the Other, which we have already met when dealing with the “enemy within”, underlines its unalterability; in Hall’s (1997: 245) words, “[n]aturalization is therefore a representational strategy designed to fix ‘difference’, and thus secure it forever.” This naturally poses a very extreme standpoint which eventually aims at ridding the galaxy of all non- human life forms and which is based on the belief in ‘Mankind’s’ utter superiority. However, as has
9 Although it could be difficult to draw an exact cutting line between the concepts of the animal and the alien, we can deduct from the depictions of the various alien factions that the latter concept includes species which are at least marginally intelligent and organized in a way which threatens the Imperium.
Page 40 been discussed above, humanity is despite all still believed to bear the potential to imperfection and mental and bodily corruption in the two forms of heresy and mutation, ‘problems’ which are ultimately encountered the same way as the enemy without – with annihilation. According to the above cited Imperial diction, the essential difference between the enemy within and without seems to be that the former is less easily detectable because he/she is essentially human, which is why one has to “beware” of them. The alien however is much easier distinguishable as an enemy and therefore one need not “beware” but only “scorn” it. Coming to the third type of enemy, Chaos, or the enemy beyond, we are now confronted with one that, according to the slogan cited above, ought to be feared. Chaos can therefore, as an enemy image, not be equated with the to-be-scorned aliens, which are ultimately seen as inferior to Mankind, a fact that poses the question what exactly sets those two kinds of enemies apart from each other (and from humanity). The main distinguishing quality of the concept of Chaos (i.e. the Chaos Gods and their Daemons) seems to be that it is no materially real enemy. Through this lack of concrete substance it is difficult to compare it to humans or aliens and then draw possible conclusions on humanity’s superiority, be it in strength, height, agility, or similar traits. The immateriality of Chaos can also be seen as the reason why it makes such a fearful enemy – after all, gods can hardly be fought10. Contrariwise however, the Gods of Chaos on their part are capable of influencing the material world by manifesting in the forms of Daemons or by striking mortals with mutation. The fact that the Imperium has introduced a sort of safeguard against Chaos in the form of the Ordo Malleus of the Inquisition and the Grey Knights Space Marines suggests that the maxim “fear the enemy beyond” is directed at usual people who are not capable of dealing with this threatening enemy.
c) The (friendly) Other amidst us
Apart from the enemy stereotypes within, without and beyond, the Imperium also features at least two very interesting cases of Others, which are not enemies but still are in strong contrast to the created in-group of ‘humanity’. The first of these friendly Others within Imperial society are the already mentioned abhumans. In contrast to the heretic or the alien, Ratlings and Ogryns are de facto not perceived as
10 The C’tan from Necron history seem to pose a counter-example which suggests that they were in fact material. However, it seems to be unclear if they were in fact gods or just one very potent life form.
Page 41 an enemy to the Imperium. Much rather they are, through their different physiology, capable to fulfill tasks that ‘normal’ humans cannot. However, on a whole they are still perceived inferior to ‘normal’ humans. Imperial Guardsmen are informed that “[I]t is tempting to treat ogryns as little more than walking slabs of meat and muscle. And such they are” (IUP: 33) and that “petty crime rates tend to rise when ratling squads are attached to regiments” (IUP: 34). Thereby a strong distinction between the in-group ‘humanity’ and the out-group ‘the abhuman’ is created. The second Other in the Imperial ranks are of course the Space Marines, “[t]he foremost of humanity’s defenders” (WH40K: 183). While every Space Marine used to be a ‘normal’ man once, he is, through the procedures of genetic enhancement he undergoes, “forevermore separate from those he protects. He is no longer mortal in the truest sense, for a part of his heritage is now that of the Immortal Emperor and a spark of that same majesty flows within his veins” (CSM: 5). Apart from their ‘Übermenschian’ nature that comes through their scientific modifications, the Space Marines are further set apart through their kinship with the Emperor himself. Therefore they even gain divineness, which further sets them apart from humanity. Obviously, in contrast to the abhuman, we are here presented with an out-group which is massively being elevated. If we once again take a look at Foucault’s “individual to be corrected”, we can see that the Space Marines mark a very extreme form of correction in the shape of genetic engineering which leads to supremacy in bodily, morally, and spiritual terms.
5.3. We’re da hardest of da lot - Orkish Othering The Orks pose a rather interesting case in their view on other factions. In fact, an Ork does usually not distinguish much between different kinds of enemies in so far, as they all are “good fer a bit a sport” (CO: 18), in other words, good for a nice little fight. If we compare this with the Imperial view on the alien, we can detect one similarity which is that in both instances, at least on a very basic level, few distinction is being made between different Others. Simply by not being human resp. Ork, they qualify as enemies. The difference however, is that the Imperium aims at the meticulous extinction of the non-human while the Orks merely seem to be looking for trouble; but let us take a closer look. The Orkish perspective on the Other is on the one hand based on the Orks’ already mentioned love for a good fight. It is moreover accompanied by a comprehensive self- aggrendizement of the Orks, as well of themselves as individuals, as also of the Orkish species as a
Page 42 whole. This can be seen in utterances like “We fight cos we woz born to fight. And win” (CO: 41; see section 3.2. for further quotes). Still, the Orks do distinguish between various Others in so far, as they are all different in their manner of fighting and therefore pose different kinds of threats or – to do justice to the Orkish view – challenges. At this instance two significant Orkish statements on various Others shall be discussed. In CO (40), we are presented with “[a]n Ork Boy’s view on humanity and its failings”. He say states that Oomans [humans] are pink and soft, not tough and green like da Boyz. They’z all the same size too, so they’z always arguing about who’s in charge, ‘cos there’s no way of telling ‘cept fer badges an’ ooniforms and fings. When one of them wants to lord it over the uvvers, ‘e says “I’m very speshul so’z you gotta worship me”, or “I know summink wot you lot don’t know, so yer better lissen good”. Da funny fing is, arf of ‘em believe it and da over arf don’t, so ‘e ‘as to hit ‘em all anyway or run fer it. Wot a lot of mukkin’ about if yer ask me. An’ while they’z all arguin’ wiv each other over who’s da boss, da Orks can clobber da lot. (ibid.)
In this assessment, three main factors of Othering can be extracted. The first relates to outward appearance. For Orks, their green skin color seems to be one important distinguishing factor from humans. This factor is obviously closely linked to the self-image of toughness, in contrast to the softness of the “pink” humans. The second factor relates to the different systems of government of Orks and humanity, the latter being portrayed as much more complicated due to the lack of clearly distinguishable leading figures. The third and concluding factor is that the state of confusion that is attached to humanity makes it easier for the Orks to “clubber da lot”, that is, to defeat them. In the second statement, made by an Ork Runtherd, a wider range of enemies is being addressed: Travellin’ through space is boring. Well, boring unless da hulk [a kind of space ship] yer on is full of dem gene-sneakers [i.e. Tyranid genestealers], or a base fer da Chaos lads wiv da spikes [i.e. Chaos Space Marines], or already has Boyz on it. Or if humie lootas come callin’, that’s always good fer a bit a sport. […] One time we had some bloody great ugly fing [probably a Chaos Daemon] come straight out of Weird Lugwort’s ‘ed! It butchered half da lads, that was pretty entertainin’. (CO: 18)
In this assertion it becomes clear that Orks are able to distinguish between different enemies, as they are clearly named here. Additionally, as has been preempted earlier, Orks will find any kind of enemy valuable for passing their time. Interestingly enough, even other Orks will serve that purpose. To summarize, the Orks seem to be able to define differences between the other factions of Warhammer 40,000. In fact, as the first quote showed, they use bodily and societal aspects to reflect
Page 43 on what sets these Others apart from the Orks. However, it does not really matter to them which enemy they encounter, as long as it leads to a good fight, which, after all, is the main purpose of the Orks’ lives.
5.4. The stars once lived and died at our command – Eldar and the Other The Eldar view on the other factions seems to be dominated by a feeling of superiority. It seems mainly to be based on the supposedly glorious and ancient history of their people. This is for example expressed in statements like that of an Eldar Farseer “The stars themselves once lived and died at our command, yet you still dare to oppose our will” (CE: 10). Although the addressee of this reproof is not explicitly named, it suggests itself to be directed at one or maybe even all of the other factions. The core of the message seems to be that the Eldar, albeit their fall, are still superior to any of the other species and civilizations which prompts the conclusion that the Eldar are very proud or even arrogant. The statement furthermore seems to include a high amount of pain resonating through its utterance. Obviously, the times of the Eldar’s immense power are over, which the speaker is clearly aware of. After all, he speaks of once. The Eldar’s grief about their past is also present in the statement “What do humans know of our pain? We have sung songs of lament since before your ancestors crawled on their bellies from the sea” (CE: 4). Once again we can detect a high amount of belittlement of the Other (the human, in this case). While the Eldar certainly feel similarly about any other faction, much of their disdain seems to be directed at humanity. After all, human civilization is presently the one which rules over the largest part of the galaxy; just as the Eldar did ages ago. This contempt especially comes through in a third statement, “We bring only death, and leave only carrion. It is a message even a human can understand” (CE: 16). Finally, let us now come to an assessment on the Orks; one which seems rather surprising in the context of the Eldar’s usual elevation of themselves. The Orks are the pinnacle of creation. For them, the great struggle is won. They have evolved a society which knows no stress or angst. Who are we to judge them? We Eldar who have failed, or the Humans, on the road to ruin in their turn? And why? Because we sought answers to questions that an Ork wouldn’t even bother to ask! We see a culture that is strong and despise it as crude. (CO: 8).
This remark is made by the Eldar philosopher Ulthran the Perverse. It is interesting mainly for two reasons. The first is the content of the utterance, where an individual from a highly advanced species calls the Orks “pinnacle of creation”; a species that must clearly seem utterly primitive to the Eldar. Ulthran however, elevates them over his own kind and in fact over any other
Page 44 civilization in the galaxy. The basis for this argument seems to be that the Orks’ simplicity is, in fact, their biggest strength. In this uplifting of the primordial and the Other it can be related to the concept of the ‘noble savage’, a concept which, according to Frank (2001: 60), is marked by “the pejorative view of modern humans as morally degraded [...] by comparison to a superior past”. Although in this case, the subject are Eldar instead of humans and another species rather than just another culture, the parallels are apparent. One decisive difference however is that the figure of the noble savage lives peacefully and in harmony with his surroundings (cf. ibid.: 54), a statement which can obviously not be made about the Orks. The second reason for the significance of Ulthran’s assessment is that it is obviously highly debatable in Eldar discourse. If we regard his byname ‘the Perverse’, it becomes apparent that Ulthran is seen as twisted and unnatural by his fellow Eldar. As we miss a wider context of this character we can only conclude that the perception of his perverseness is based on such very utterances. Let us now shortly take a look at the Dark Eldar. Similarly to their Craftworld siblings, they exhibit an attitude of pride an arrogance towards other species. Unlike in the Eldar, where exhibition of violence is a minor issue, the Dark Eldar also display a high amount of cruelty, “You think you challenge me, pitiful human? I, the bane of empires, the father of pain? Let me educate you; I need a new pet...” (CDE: 34). Another distinguishing factor from the Craftworld Eldar is that the Dark Eldar do not restrict themselves to despising other species. Much rather, they are “utterly self-serving, with no respect for any living creatures, not even themselves” (CDE: 3). Regarding this aspects, an utterance like “Death? You want death? I’m afraid that would be far too boring” (CDE: 35) which is provided without reference to a wider context can in fact be interpreted more freely. Unlike the discussed Eldar comments which clearly relate to other factions, this utterance could in fact have been uttered by one Dark Eldar towards one of his own kin. Summing up, both Eldar factions of Warhammer 40,000 vividly display an attitude of self- elevation. The main difference however, is that, in the case of the Eldar, it is the whole Eldar race and civilization which is elevated, while the Dark Eldar are much more prone to elevate themselves as individuals. Moreover, the Eldar’s self-assessment is mainly based on their ancient history while the Dark Eldar seem to not even see a need to justify their perceived superiority – it just seems to be a given fact.
Page 45 5.5. Let the galaxy burn – the Chaos-perspective on the Other As shall be shown here, the two factions of Chaos display a slightly different approach towards their own identity and the Other. Especially in the case of the Chaos Space Marines it is obvious that their identity is for the most part based on their antagonism to the Imperium and on their worship of the Gods of Chaos, oppugnant to that of the Emperor, and their goal is, to use the words of the Chaos Space Marine character Harzhan, to “[s]how those fools that they worship nothing more than a rotting corpse [i.e. the Emperor]” (CCSMiv: 42). If we closely consider quotes by Chaos characters from Codices we can generally say that a large majority of them are anti- Imperial hate sermons, such as the one mentioned, or, to provide another example, “I murdered thousands for the Emperor and he gave me nothing except damning silence. Now his lapdogs yap for every life I take, while the Gods promise me the galaxy” (CCSMiv: 30). We can see that here again the concept of the Emperor as a deity is being heavily attacked, based on the conviction that he does not, supposedly unlike the Chaos Gods, speak to his worshipers – a criticism which closely relates to the epithet “rotting corpse” in the first quote. For the Chaos Space Marines, the Emperor thus seems to be a passive deity, while their gods represent activity. Another aspect which is observable in both statements is the scathing of the worshipers of the Emperor, who are called “fools” or “his lapdogs”. Such a kind of affront is naturally not far to seek in a discourse of religious fanaticism, of which we can obviously speak here. Apart from the vilification of the Emperor and the Imperium, we can further observe that a large part of quotes by Chaos characters are reflections on Chaos – a tendency which, unlike the former, can also be observed amongst the Chaos Daemons. These considerations can be divided into two groups; those concerned with the concept of Chaos in general (i.e. a concept which does not necessarily distinguish between deities as they are seen as parts of one entity) and those focusing on differences between the four major deities – the following statement being an example for the former: “Flesh and bone are weak and mutable, and yet the daemonic is ultimately insubstantial and impotent. To be master of both matter and energy […] is to achieve true immortality – neither confined by the material, nor divorced from it” (CCSMiv: 35). In this statement, the speaker makes a clear distinction between the ‘merely’ material existences of other factions, the immateriality of Chaos, and the intermingling of both in the case of (some) Chaos Space Marines, which is depicted as the ultimate goal. While such utterances focus mainly on drawing a line between the ‘Chaotic’ and the non-’Chaotic’, be it, as in the quote above, on the level of substance or on the level of worship, the
Page 46 second type of Chaos-specific statements is concerned with stances towards the Other which are specific to one deity – in this case the Other can be other Gods or other factions. Let us begin with the ‘Blood God’ Khorne, one of whose worshipers announces, “We have seen many fall today and must remember, even as we die, that our blood too is welcome” (CCSMiv: 36). In this comment it is made clear that Khorne in fact is pleased by any bloodshed, be it the deaths of his enemies or his worshipers. Therefore we could conclude that drawing a line between those groups seems to be, from the deity’s viewpoint, unnecessary, as both can, voluntarily or involuntarily, satisfy Khorne by taking lives. Let us now come to a statement about the Chaos God Tzeentch, in which another quality is being highlighted: “[...] Tzeentch cares not which of the Great Powers of Chaos you serve. In the end, aren’t the followers of the Blood God changing valiant warriors into headless corpses? Aren’t the worshippers of the Lord of Flies [i.e. Nurgle] changing strong, healthy bodies into rotting diseased carcasses? Aren’t the disciples of the Dark Prince [i.e. Slaanesh] changing stern, steadfast heroes into slaves to their own senses? […] Change rules all” (CCDiv: 39). As we can see, the utterer tries to universalize his/her deity by claiming that the three other Gods in fact carry out Tzeentch’s will under different guises. This statement can thus be said to question Khorne’s, Nurgle’s and Slaanesh’s right to exist by claiming the sovereignty of (the indeed very wide concept of) change. A similar generalization is being undertaken in what is being said about ‘Papa Nurgle’ and his domain: “All things must wither and die. Let root rot and bower blight, to feed the pestilence of abandoned hope” (CCDiv: 34). Here, it is concluded that the ultimate perishability of all things entails a loss of hope which in the end feeds Nurgle. Finally, observing a statement about Slaanesh, we find a focus on his/her (potential) worshipers: “Hope, love, hate. All are but desire by other names. Thus it is that desire is always foremost amongst the concerns of mortals, and through their desires we shall lead them into our benighted paradise” (CCDiv: 33). While on the one hand, the speaker here explicitly claims for the deception of mortals (ultimately worshipers), it also undertakes another generalization in naming three fundamental feelings and equating them with desire, the domain of Slaanesh. Thus, any beings which are able to feel these emotions (one could assume that this includes all or at least the largest majority of sentient life forms), are ultimately accessible for Slaanesh’s seduction. To sum up, the Chaos Space Marines predominately define themselves through their opposition to the Imperium which also upholds this rivalry by referring to Chaos as “The Greatest Threat” (WH40K: 218). The second focus of Othering, which also adheres to the Chaos Daemons is
Page 47 an internal marking of difference, i.e. between the Chaos Gods. While these each have an apparently independent domain, worshipers seem to tend towards universalizing their deities and claim that in fact everyone ultimately serves them. Thus we can detect the demand for the absolute sole right of each Chaos God to prevail. All things considered, Chaos features an equal share of internal and external Othering; a truly chaotic relationship between Self and Other.
5.6. The eternal struggle between life and death – the Tyranids and the Necrons Let us now turn to two factions which are distinguished from the others by a very interesting relationship to the Other, which is based on a strong amalgamation of life and death; these factions are the all-devouring Tyranids and the Necrons, deprived of their past lives. Turning to the first, the Tyranids, we can quickly interpret them as the stark embodiment of the food chain principle – after all, this alien species preys on whole planet systems and therefore truly seems to stand at the top of the food chain. The factor, however, that makes the analysis of the Tyranids especially challenging is the lack of Tyranid quotes in Codices or in the rulebook, which coincides with the fact that they do not possess language as such, as they communicate and act on the joint consciousness of the Hive Mind. The picture we get of the Tyranids is therefore necessarily one of external construction, in which the human/Imperial viewpoint is especially predominant, which can be ascertained by the fact that of thirteen in-game quotes on the Tyranids in CTY six are of human origin, three can be attributed to the Eldar, two to the Tau and one to the Orks, while one remains with an utterer of unknown origin (for the importance of the human point of view for player suture, see section 6.3.1.). The first aspect of the Tyranids which is addressed in most of the quotes is the threat that these aliens pose – an assessment which is oftentimes combined with their depiction as merciless predators. In a statement by an Imperial Inquisitor, it is for example stated that “we call it the Tyranid race, but if it is aware of us at all it must know us only as Prey” (CTY: 7), while an Ultramarines Space Marine speaks of the Tyranids’ “immortal hunger” which “is beyond our ability to slay” (ibid.: 13). Other attributes that are ascribed to them are their swiftness (ibid.: 18; Tau source) or the “proper fightin’” that a battle against them makes for (ibid.: 30; Ork source). Based on their hazardousness and their ‘intrusion’ into the galaxy, the Tyranids are at two instances even referred to as a “cancer”, by an Imperial as well as an Eldar source; such a designation of course testifies harsh and xenophobic rhetoric. Although, on the whole, the conclusion of a rather mindless species suggests itself, Marneus Calgar, Chapter Master of the Ultramarines calls this “a grave
Page 48 mistake” as the Tyranids “have shown evidence of both tactics and strategy that speaks of a far worse threat than that posed by a mere beast” (ibid.: 52). To summarize, although we must see the Tyranids as a somewhat mysterious case as we are not able to get first-hand information about them, we are left with the impression that they regard other life forms merely as prey to be hunted and eaten which would represent a very one-sided stance on the Other, not bothering for any distinction between different factions as they are all utilized for the same end. In this aspect the Tyranids can be regarded as a faction whose aim it is to annihilate and incorporate all of the others (a claim that is in rather different shape also visible in the Tau) by devouring everything that lives and turn the won biomass into Tyranid creatures. The Tyranid Genestealers, who turn other life forms into Genestealer Hybrids can be regarded as an especially vivid manifestation of the incorporation of the Other into the Hive. Finally, the proclaimed mysteriousness of the Tyranid faction as a whole can in itself be seen as a strong form of Othering. In the Necrons, who generally provide better terms of analysis as we can find in-game quotes by certain Necron characters, we find similar patterns when it comes to their attitude towards the Other. While however the Tyranids transform other life into their own, the Necrons are on a quest to find “living bodies to house their consciousness” (CN: 24). This mere circumstance however inadvertently puts them into competition with the former aliens, whose devouring of everything that lives would cross these Necron plans. Therefore we can, as a first fact, observe that this faction has a tightly woven relationship to, or even a dependence on, the lives of other factions which, despite differences in circumstances, can be compared to that of the Tyranids. Another parallel between these factions can be detected in the fact that their armies seem to be comprised of a mass of non-individuals, of creatures that lack individuality. On the Necrons’ side, this rests upon the fact that, due to their mechanical bodies, they look very alike, if not the same – an observation that can be made about the Tyranids as well, where creatures of the same class have near-identical appearances, and are controlled by the higher will of the Hive Mind. Leading figures among the Necrons however seem to be be exempt from a lack of identity, which is commented on by the character Imotekh, “What care I that my legions are faceless? Identity matters only to those who have the ability to think” (ibid.: 12). Another Necron character even states that “[w]it is not required in my vassals; they need only the ability to fight and die in the furtherance of my boundless glory” (ibid.: 33). It therefore seems to be the case that a great schism is running right through Necron society – if one may use that expression – dividing a thinking ruling class which
Page 49 can also be said to ‘have’ identity, from the masses of mindless followers who seem only to be able to act on the will of their superiors. Moreover, these leaders display a high amount of pride and arrogance which is made explicit in statements like “Order. Unity. Obedience. We taught the galaxy these things long ago, and we will do so again” (ibid.: 17) or “It is a source of constant consternation that my opponents cannot correlate their innate inferiority with their inevitable defeat” (ibid.: 21). This pretension could be compared to that of the Eldar, who however display this attitude towards other species, while these Necrons have expanded their boastfulness over their minions, as well. In this fact we can finally assess an interesting ambiguity in the Necrons’ stance towards the other factions, which are on the one hand elevated as they enviably ‘possess’ real life, but are on the other hand depricated and seen as utterly inferior to the Necrons.
5.7. For the greater good - The Other from the Tau perspective Let us now shift our analytical gaze to the faction of the Tau where we can find a stance towards the Other which is unlike any other in Warhammer 40,000. A fact which strikes the eye when analyzing Tau statements in CTEiv and CTE is that they do not directly relate to other species, the only exception being a comment on the ferocity of the Kroot (CTEiv: 17), an alien race that is however integrated into the Tau Empire. Two of the few comments on other factions of Warhammer 40,000 can, as has been mentioned, be found in CTY, where for example it is stated that while the Tau “spread progress and hope throughout the galaxy, the Tyranids spread death and despair” (CTY: 19). What now could be called a negligence of addressing the Other is yet a crucial part of the Tau philosophy which is especially epitomized in the idea of the Greater Good. This concept, in postulating the abandonment of individuality by members of Tau society for the welfare of the whole, is now contrasted by the strict caste system. While the Other within the Empire is on the one hand neglected by strong interference with individuality, the segmentation of society in five definite groups (remember, intermarriage between the castes is prohibited) constitutes an extreme strong form of Othering. It can therefore be said that the combination of the concepts of the Greater Good and the caste system make for a strong neglect of the Other on the individual’s level while at the same time strongly create Others within Tau society. The collectivist philosophy of the Tau can also be found in their relation to other species which is constituted by an explicit will to “inevitable” conquest, “Let none who are wise deny our destiny” (CTE: 7). This destiny however has the goal to “bring unity to all” (CTE: 19), a unity which is not contradictory to a diversity of species, as, as had been mentioned, the Tau pursue a
Page 50 policy of incorporating other civilizations into their Empire. It therefore appears to be the case that the Tau are on the one hand tolerant when it comes to appearance but will not countenance any non- compliance in the strife for the Greater Good. This intolerance can, on the individual’s level, take the form of social sanction which is especially obvious in the strict caste system, or, on the level of other factions, will lead to military action, “Only together and with courage and discipline shall we stand victorious. Fight with fire and courage and nothing can stand against us” (CTEiv: 46).
Page 51 6. (Level 2:) Suture and identification
6.1. On suture, part II – or how to dive into the world of Warhammer 40,000 If once again we recapitulate Miller’s definition of suture, in our case, of course, the subject is the player or the Hobbyist, while the discourse is that of Warhammer 40,000, which allows the reformulation of Miller’s statement into the questions which I seek to answer in this section, “What is the relation of the player to the discourse of Warhammer 40,000?”, and, “Which place is being taken in by subjects?” Before being able to answer these questions, it is purposeful to first discuss the nature of the underlying discourse, which can be divided into two main constituents with, to again use Hall’s (1996/2000: 16) words, “specific discursive formations and practices, by specific enunciative strategies”. The first has already broadly been presented and discussed in the prior sections and has been referred to as the in-game narrative, consisting of stories and background information of this universe; it, in short, is the discourse of the fictional ‘reality’ of Warhammer 40,000. The second component of the Warhammer 40,000 discourse however is rooted in the real world and can be described as a perspective from outside the narrative. Its texts address readers as players or Hobbyists and refer to Warhammer as a game and a hobby and its main constituents are rules, game tips, hobby tips, etc. As players will initially encounter this component, it will here be dealt with first under the name “The player identity” (section 6.2.) before discussing suture into the in-game narrative in “Into the world” (section 6.3.). As has been discussed in section 4, suture as a ‘taking-the-place-of’ is closely linked to identification, and just as there are two parts of Warhammer 40,000 discourse, we can also detect two kinds of identities, the first of which is the ‘player’-identity while the second is an in-game identity. Both are clearly detectable in their varying forms of suturing readers into their discourse in Codices and the rulebook and will accordingly be discussed in the following sections. Furthermore we shall see that, to refer back to Silverman’s definition of successful suture, the two statements ‘That’s what I see’ and ‘That’s me’ will be of different relevance and meaning in both identities and their respective modes of suture.
6.2. The player identity The player-identity is one which, as I shall argue, is very fundamental to the suture of subjects into Warhammer 40,000; after all, merely to consider oneself a player or Hobbyist sets the
Page 52 subject apart from an out-group of individuals who are not involved in the Hobby. Before turning to the nature of this view or identity, we shall first make an observation of how this identity is being realized in Warhammer 40,000 books, i.e. in the Codices and in the rulebook. In the latter, this is especially evident in the introductory and rules section where for example it is stated that “[t]his book is the launchpad for an entire hobby – a fulfilling and rewarding pastime that encompasses collecting, painting and gaming with miniatures in a far-future galaxy” (WH40K: x). We can clearly see that Warhammer 40,000 is here primarily described as a hobby, and the formulation of the segment puts the reader in the position of standing on this “launchpad” which will guide him/her to becoming a player/hobbyist him or herself. However, the last part of this sentence, which refers to “a far-future galaxy” already hints at the game’s narrative and the fact that there is actually more to Warhammer 40,000 than just the hobby aspect. The rest of the introductory section is mainly comprised of pictures of tables set up in mid-game, hobbyists playing and painting, and the texts are mainly concerned with the essential paraphernalia of a Warhammer 40,000 game and how battles are generally played. Referring back to Silverman’s ‘That’s what I see’, we can here observe that suture is, on a visual level, accomplished by depicting things which players will actually encounter in their future games. On the textual level, a factor that is especially appalling is that the reader is oftentimes addressed directly and personally, for example in promises like “you are the general of an army of mighty warriors” (ibid.; my italics) or in instructions as “[w]ith your battle planned, you’ll need to get your battlefield ready for war” (ibid.: xiv; my italics). With this technique, the reader is being realized as a subject, as him or herself as a person, which can be seen as symptomatic of the player identity’s rootedness in reality. At the same time he/she is being sutured into the role of a future Hobbyist by, as in the pictures, introducing him/her to the game and the hobby. A similar technique as in the rulebook can be observed in the introductory sections of Codices. These are short descriptions of the Codex’ contents of one page in length, which include an item usually called “Why collect [X]?” or “Why collect a(n) [X] army?”, wherein a list of the respective faction’s advantages and appeals can be found. In CO (3), for example, it is stated that “Orks appeal to players with a sense of humour and a taste for inflicting severe beatings upon the enemy”, while the Dark Eldar are described as “the evil kings and super-villains of the 41st Millennium, […] an army for the true connoisseur!” (CDE: 3). Other players again might be attracted to the Space Marines, as “[n]owhere in Warhammer 40,000 will you find an army so mobile, durable and, above all, destructive” (CSM: 3). What we can see very clearly here, is that
Page 53 readers are again addressed directly in the case of CSM or indirectly in CO and CDE. The reader is here, again, loosely, sutured into a role which can be described as that of a possible future collector of the respective army – a factor which very likely explains why those sections are in parts reminiscent of advertising language – after all, the writers’ aim is to convince readers to play those factions (and of course purchase their miniatures). In general, we can observe very similar structures in the different Codices, which, apart from a general introduction include background information, a list and description of all units available, descriptions of weapons and other wargear, a ‘showcase’ providing pictures of the faction’s miniatures, the army list, and tactical advices. Although these segments differ in their content – some are concerned with the in-game narrative while others deal with rules or with miniatures – we can observe that in their respective introductions, readers are usually again being clearly addressed. This strategy can be explained by the necessity to usher readers, especially those who are new to the Hobby, into each section’s subject matter. By thus addressing them directly – and often very casually – these segments evoke the impression of being directly involved with each section’s content and readers are thereby again sutured into the role of a player. Having discussed the realization of the player’s identity in Codices, I shall now turn to the question of this identity’s constitution. At first we can note that the assumption, unlike in in-game identities (see section 6.3.), of a close relation to the ‘real’ world, in which subjects now identify with the player’s or Hobbyist’s role and add it to their personality concept, has proved to be true. This closeness to reality is especially obvious in the depiction of Warhammer 40,000 as a game, the reference to real-world objects as dice, miniatures, etc., and the texts’ direct addressing of the reader, which despite occuring titulations like ‘general’, always very clearly relate directly to real persons. The conception of the player’s identity is furthermore very informal and jovial, as could be seen. Usually, subjects will also engage one of the central aspects of Warhammer 40,000 – ‘the Hobby’, a wide set of activities, first and foremost of which are assembling and painting miniatures. As, apart from playing, Hobbyists usually put a high amount of time and effort into this involvement with Warhammer 40,000, we can here clearly detect another form of suture. While miniatures in general can be classified as real-world objects which represent entities that exist in the in-game narrative, and thus are necessarily abstractions, players will eventually personalize them and add their personal note by assembling, painting, or even converting them.
Page 54 The last essential constituent of the player identity is what I shall coin the ‘player’s view’, which, as we shall see, is based on the player identity’s rootedness in the real world and is thus tightly interwoven with its aspects discussed above. After all, as Warhammer 40,000 games are played on tables or floors, subjects are literally positioned distant from their miniatures, an attribute in which the player’s view can be compared to that of an authorial narrator in literary theory who “is outside the world of the characters, at a different level” (Stanzel 1979/1982 :161). This aspect is further reinforced by the fact that, as mentioned above, miniatures themselves are already an abstraction and thereby can be said to generate distance. One could even go as far as to compare the player’s view to the view of a god, casting down upon the earth, just as players look down upon a table and observe the ‘battlefield’ in its entirety – a privilege which the ‘soldiers’ on the battlefield lack. Similar to an authorial narrator, the player is however able to, and in fact is even being encouraged to, temporarily abandon his aloof position and see through the ‘eyes’ of his/her miniatures, instead: Line of sight literally represents your warrior’s view of the enemy […] On those other occasions, where it’s not entirely obvious whether or not one unit can see another, the player will have to stoop over the battlefield and look from behind the model’s head for a ‘model’s eye view’. This means getting down to the level of your warriors and taking in the battlefield from their perspective to ‘see what they can see’. You will find that you can spot lurking enemies through the windows of ruined buildings, catch a glimpse of a model’s leg under tree branches and see that high vantage points become very useful for the increased line of sight that they offer. (WH40K: 8) However, even this temporary adaption of a miniature’s view common in games of Warhammer 40,000 does not change the fact that the player’s view is at the very most featured by a marked distance between the subject and the miniature. If we now reformulate Silverman’s sutured subject’s statements, we could say ‘That’s what I see: miniatures, tables set up as battlefields, gaming utensils and an opponent!’ and ‘That’s what I am: I am a player/Hobbyist!’. In the scope of this reality-based view, the subject, to refer to Foucault (1994: 61), could be expected to be able to “occupy the position of a universal subject”, to take in a neutral position towards the in-game conflict between, for example, the Imperium and Eldar. It should however be obvious to any person who has ever experienced a Warhammer 40,000 game, that neutrality is not one of the most prominent attributes that players usually display. Similar to subjects in a discourse of war, a player is “necessarily on one side or the other; he [or she] is in the battle, he has adversaries, he fights for a victory” (ibid.). So let us now turn to the question how players might get woven into a discourse of war so tightly; how they step into the world of Warhammer 40,000.
Page 55 6.3. Into the world While, as we have seen, the player’s identity is deeply rooted in what we call reality, symptomatic of which is what I have called the player’s view, we are now entering the domain of Warhammer 40,000’s in-game narrative. After all, apart from a comprehensive spare time hobby, Warhammer 40,000 can also be seen as “a universe you can live today – if you dare – […] But the universe is a big place and, whatever happens, you will not be missed...” (WH40K: inlay). The texts which mainly constitute to suture into the game’s narrative are statements by characters as analyzed in section 5, short stories and background information. These three types of texts differ in so far from one another, as the former, as has been mentioned, are utterances without a wider context, which is naturally provided in short stories. Unlike these two text sorts, background information can be seen as the ‘history’ of the narrative, the texts of which ‘merely’ stating what has been happening before the narrative’s present and therefore conveys a sense of objectivity. In general, the large majority of texts in a Codex is provided by background information, while in-game statements are rather common. Short stories however are being less and less featured in the recent Codices. Generally it can be said that in-game statements and short stories provide a large variety of views from different angles on a certain subject matter (e.g. a faction). The same does however not account for background information, which however does usually only show up in the very Codex whose faction’s ‘history’ is being examined, while short stories and utterances by characters are likely to have a much wider spread focus of attention. For example, as we could see we can find Ork statements on humanity in CO (see section 5.3.) or Eldar statements on the Orks in CE (see section 5.4.), just as we can find a short story of Imperial Guardsmen fighting Tyranids in CTYiv (22f.). This rather large variety of texts with oftentimes very different contents, can however not sufficiently explain comprehensive suture into one faction’s viewpoint. In fact, in order to explain it we need to consider where exactly these texts show up – for example, a negative comment on the Orks uttered by an Imperial human does appear differently and will be read in a different context whether it is featured in CO or in CIG. In this context it is interesting that a superfluity of Imperial viewpoints on other factions can be observed as Imperial statements or (lesser so) short stories with Imperial characters in them do appear in every non-Imperial Codex (see section 6.3.1.). Moreover, as mentioned, ‘objective’ background information on a faction is usually only provided in its own Codex. Therefore, it can be concluded that although the different text sorts do suture readers into
Page 56 various positions, comprehensive suture into one faction’s viewpoint is achieved merely by reading its Codex. After all, it will shape the perception of these very texts and will provide readers with faction-specific information they will otherwise not get. Let us now turn to the second topic of this section – players’ identification with a (or several) faction(s). While Hobbyists are provided with and sutured into a vast variety of different viewpoints, they will certainly not identify with each and every one of them. While the process of suture can be regarded as a mostly passive one, identification as understood in its trivial meaning is something that we choose. If we switch back to Silverman’s discussion of suture and film, a shot/reverse shot formation is able to suture the viewer into one character’s point of view – if he/she will however also identify with that character is a different issue probably mainly depending on emotional reactions to that fictional person. The same can now be said about players of Warhammer 40,000 who might read a certain Codex and thereby be sutured into that faction’s viewpoint without identifying with it, which shall be discussed more closely in section 7. To sum up, suture into in-game viewpoints can definitely be called pluralistic. After all, readers of a Codex are usually presented with a variety of different views on their respective faction and with views of this faction on various others. Returning to Silverman’s subject, we can also detect that the statement ‘That’s what I see’ has slightly different connotations than in the player’s identity where actually seeing can be called central. In this case however, ‘seeing’ should be understood the allegorical meaning of ‘seeing through somebody’s eyes’ as in the in-game context. Due to this pluralism we need to consider the context in which texts are approached, which can be operationalized through the Codex in which they appear. This however does not sufficiently answer the phenomenon of players’ identification with ‘their’ factions. Let us therefore take a look at two further examples of suture before turning towards the sutured subject and the Other.
6.3.1. The role of the human viewpoint When novices of Warhammer 40,000 open the rulebook, the first text they will encounter is a short introduction on the Emperor and the state of humanity in the 41st millennium (WH40K: inlay). This focus on the human viewpoint like a red thread runs throughout the remainder of this essential book which in fact each player has to read before being able to play Warhammer 40,000. Examples for this centricity can be found in the fact that Imperial slogans such as “There is no substitute for zeal” (WH40K: 21) or “By the way of their death we shall know them” (ibid.: 27) appear on the bottom of most pages throughout the book’s rules-section. Additionally, the rulebook
Page 57 contains a comprehensive introduction into the Imperium of Mankind (WH40K: 133-195), while the other factions are treated on two to four pages, the only exception being the forces of Chaos who are described on eight pages under the heading “The Greatest Threat” (WH40K: 218). As this heading now already hints at, all factions are in fact described from an Imperial point of view, which is why in order to find out more ‘insider’-information about non-Imperial factions, Hobbyists are forced to read the respective Codices. Moreover, as has been said before, many of the in-game statements by members non-human factions do in fact relate to humanity, while each Codex includes human comments on that faction. This focus on humanity could in fact be read as the statement “This is us, this is our race in about 39,000 years” and thus implicitly creates an access point for players by providing one faction in this discourse that is less different, less Other than the rest. It can therefore be assumed that the Imperial viewpoint provides the very basic mode of suture into the world of Warhammer 40,000, while other viewpoints evolve later in a player’s ‘career’.
6.3.2. The Imperial Infantryman’s Uplifting Primer The Imperial Infantryman’s Uplifting Primer poses a very interesting – and, one could say, even extreme – example of suture into Warhammer 40,000. While all of the already mentioned books, the Codices and the rulebook, present a mixture of in-game and out-game viewpoints, the Primer is presented as if written for Imperial Guardsmen; for instance, the first page contains the following warning, “This document must not fall into enemy hands. Failure to ensure this document’s safekeeping carries the penalty of death” (IUP: 1). Subsequently, the foreword (“[b]y Lord General Militant Huxlow”) starts with the sentence “You are a soldier of the Imperial Guard” (IUP: 3). Both excerpts symptomize this book’s very strong suture into the role of an Imperial soldier, whereas the second example (“You are...”) is of especial radicality, bluntly telling the reader who he ‘is’. On a whole, the image of Imperial soldiers that is conveyed is a rather unpleasant one. Apart from the warning on the first page, the Primer features pages full of rules and – mostly very unpleasant – punishment to follow if these are disobeyed. Furthermore, the reader is presented with technical details of the weapons and war machinery of the Imperial Guard and tactics and strategical principles of Imperial warfare. Especially the latter bear a special humorous momentum when in the chapter “Know your foe” (IUP: 63-70) the fictitious reader (i.e. an Imperial guardsman) gets introduced to some of the alien species that he/she can encounter in battle. While ‘real’
Page 58 guardsmen would very likely be ignorant to these facts, a player reading these descriptions will shortly find them absolutely wrong and far from (the game’s) reality. For example, Orks are generally portrayed as harmless and utterly stupid enemies (IUP: 63), who, on a drawing in a section on patrols, are depicted as way smaller than the pictured guardsman bayoneting them (IUP: 46). While the smallest Orks are of course at least the size of average humans (see section 3.2.), this example for – probably intentional – misinformation is not the only one to be found in the Primer, where it is for instance stated that Tyranid weapons often fall apart (IUP: 66) – a wholly unfounded statement – or that the extremely advanced Eldar technology (cf. CE: 13) is antiquated (IUP: 67). In order to be able to judge these statements and depictions as wrong, players need to exit the role of the Imperial Guardsman that they are radically sutured in and draw on knowledge of the in-game world. Both the narrative and the rules of Warhammer 40,000 will eventually provide enough evidence against the stated superiority of human soldiers in comparison to others (for a comparison of different characteristic profiles, see section 7.2.). Thus, the Primer requires a splitting of the subject (as discussed by Oerter and Montada ;see section 4.2.) into fictitious and real reader and it can further be understood as a text which gains supplementary meaning when readers are able to conduct this split.
Page 59 7. (Level 3:) The sutured subject and the Other
7.1. Introduction In this final section I shall discuss the implications of a successful suturing into Warhammer 40,000 for the subject as a player or Hobbyist. In it, the discussion so far shall culminate in order to discuss ‘the meaning of it all’ for subjects, which is especially based on a connection of in-game and out-game points of view and therefore draws on Oerter’s and Montada’s concept of the doubling of the subject.
7.2. Narrative-external Othering In Warhammer 40,000 there are various factors which, before even entering its narrative deeply, strongly constitute in the creation of various Others. At first, the rule system of Warhammer 40,000 prescribes players to choose one faction for the course of one game (WH40K: 108). This distinction alone creates strong boundaries by segregating each faction from the others. This rule- enforced segregation is however not equally strong for all factions. After all, it is possible for players to field one detachment of allies from another Codex, where now a distinction between various stages of alliances is made, prescribing if and how well different factions are allowed to cooperate in battle. These stages – from highest to lowest – are “Battle Brothers (e.g. Imperial Guard – Space Marines), “Allies of Convenience” (e.g. Eldar – Space Marines), “Desperate Allies” (e.g. Orks - Chaos Space Marines), and “Come the Apocalypse”, indicating a stage where an alliance is utterly impossible (e.g. Chaos Daemons – Eldar) (WH40K: 112f.). By this classification alone, without even delving into the background of any faction, players are able to discern that the Space Marines, for example, are more closely related to the Imperial Guard than to Chaos Space Marines. On the level of players, we are confronted with a similar phenomenon as Warhammer 40,000 is a game in which playing against each other is central; despite the possibility of joining up in teams and play a two on two game for example, the confrontation between two or more sides is always at a game’s core. Therefore, a subject playing Warhammer 40,000 is always confronted with at least one Other player in the role of an opponent against whom he/she plays. Another distinguishing fact constructing Others in Warhammer 40,000 is the characteristic profile of units. As this constitutes a concrete quantification of a miniature’s abilities it sets them apart from each other.
Page 60 WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv Space Marine 4 4 4 4 1 4 1 8 3+ Guardsman 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 7 5+
This comparison of the characteristic profiles of a normal Space Marine and an Imperial Guardsman (cf. CSM: 134; CIG: 96) shows that the former surpasses the latter in almost every aspect and underlies in none. The distinguishing factor of the characteristic profile is however not restricted to setting apart one faction from another – it also functions as a differentiator within factions, as the following example shows.
WS BS S T W I A Ld Sv Guardsman 3 3 3 3 1 3 1 7 5+ Veteran 3 4 3 3 1 3 1 7 5+ Company Commander 4 4 3 3 3 3 3 9 5+
As this table (cf. CIG: 90, 96) clearly illustrates, Imperial veterans are slightly more effective on the battlefield than common soldiers, yet they are surpassed by a Company Commander. Accordingly, hierarchies of abilities are easily to be made in Warhammer 40,000. Another interesting aspect of the characteristic profile that can be observed in this table is that its differentiation is not open to fine nuances. After all, values can only take the shape of natural numbers from 0-10. While it could for example be expected that a Veteran might surpass a Guardsman in Strength, Toughness or Weapon Skill, their abilities are not as good as to raise these values by 1. After all, a value difference of 1 usually makes decisive differences in Warhammer 40,000. It can therefore be said that Warhammer 40,000, by its rules alone, creates strong forms of Othering, both between players and between players and their units.
7.3. Cultural references and Othering As I have shown in section 3, all of the factions of Warhammer 40,000 do relate to real- world culture – be it hints of Asian stereotypes in the Tau or the hooliganish Orks – or to well- known cultural artifacts as to the Alien films in the case of the Tyranids or to Transformers in that of the Tau Battlesuits. The implication of these known images and ideas can be regarded as another strong factor which enhances players’ transitions into the world of Warhammer 40,000 and which I
Page 61 would like to compare to a swimming pool ladder which players can hold on to while venturing deeper into the swimming pool that is the narrative of Warhammer 40,000. This technique thereby resembles the centricity on the human viewpoint as discussed in section 6.3.1., as in both cases the Other that is Warhammer 40,000 is related to things players know from their real life experience and thereby made less different and more easily accessible. Coming to the first faction, as we have seen in sections 3.1. and 5.2., the Imperium can be classified as one that is largely based on European culture (especially of the Middle Ages), which can especially be observed in its religion, its imagery and its organizational apparatus. Moreover, it represents a society that is very exclusive in its ways of propagating religion, and especially in its superelevation of the idea of Mankind and its proclaimed superiority to the Alien and other Others. Thus it shows reactionary and conservative, if not outright fascist, tendencies which clearly contradict modern ‘Western’ values of equality and tolerance11, while at the same time the Imperium is in fact tolerant within these limitations, as could be seen in the different regiments of the Imperial Guard and diverse Space Marine chapters (both of which occasionally appear very non-European; e.g. the Tallarn Desert Raiders or Salamander Space Marines), and ‘abhuman’ life forms such as the Ogryns and Ratlings. Therefore, the Imperium on the one hand strongly contradicts our conception of a morally good society by reflecting the dark past of Europe into the far future, while it in an strangely exemplary manner upholds them in certain (limited) contexts, as racial issues among humans are apparently obsolete in this far-future realm. Apart from the topic of race, we are faced with male domination in both the Imperial Guard and the Space Marines, which is opposed by the female warriors of the Adeptus Sororitas (for sex and gender in Warhammer 40,000 see section 7.4.). On a whole, the Imperium can therefore be read in many different ways – it could be interpreted as a social criticism of the intolerance in modern society, just the same as it could be said to propagate just these values. Furthermore, its reflections of medieval times can be interpreted as both romanticizing or depreciating. Therefore, the Imperium can be seen as symptomatic of the wide range of interpretations applicable to the factions of Warhammer 40,000, as shall be shown here. If we take a look at the faction of the Orks, we are again confronted with a wide range of cultural references, which are however all somehow linked to the concept of savagery and animalistic barbarousness. To begin with, the Orks (who, in fact, are especially defined through
11 It is of course questionable if these are de facto values which are representative for Western societies. It shall at these point however suffice to say that these are propagated as such, and, maybe more importantly, are highlighted as positive and desirable.
Page 62 their skin color) can be compared to infamous views on the ‘savage’ African cultures which were prevalent especially in times of Imperialism (cf. Hall 1997: 239f.). This tendency can be observed in the fact that Orks live in tribes, are known for their fierce and remorseless fighting, or their occasional use of warpaint. Moreover, the concept of naturalization that was excessively used for explaining differences between ‘the Black’ and ‘the White’ (cf. ibid.: 245) is manifest in the Orks and their utter genetic predetermination. Thus they form a first counterpoint to the ‘Europeanized’ Imperium, which is however not strictly adhered to as the Orks also unite allusions to British working class (in their speech) and to German stereotypes. In fact, these two aspects can mainly be seen to add to their crude depiction, as both allude to groups which are or were often depicted as rather uncivilized (hooligans and Germans during the World Wars; see propaganda poster in section 3.2.) A concept that I would however like to add to the discussion is the humorous aspect of the Orks (as an example, see first long quote in section 5.3.) which allows to see them in a less serious light. The Orks can thus be seen as a strongly (yet multiculturally) racialized faction whose brutality is counterpointed by a large portion of humor. The pattern of non-European allusions in most alien factions is then continued in the Eldar, who, as has been said, show resemblance to Eastern philosophy and their depictions in Europe in their self-restrictive way of life and in their perceived wisdom and mysteriousness. Interestingly enough, they do however represent a civilization on decline, which strengthens the link to Tolkien’s elves and invites to caricature the Eldar as ‘space elves’. While this faction on the whole could appeal to players longing for a strange and exotic faction (if we assume European or American players, who can be expected to form the majority of Warhammer 40,000 players), the basic concepts behind the Dark Eldar are less abstract, as they clearly represent a culture of decadence, remorseless self-fulfillment, malice and sadism. Here, once again, a faction allows for more than one interpretation as the Dark Eldar’s way of life could be seen as social criticism of a decadent way of life in the West, just as they could likewise be said to propagate a starkly hedonistic lifestyle. While the afore mentioned factions can be interpreted merely as alternatives or counterpoints to the, let us call it Christo-European Imperium, the forces of Chaos can clearly be said to constitute its utter antithesis. While the anti-Christian tendencies of Khorne, Tzeentch, Nurgle and Slaanesh are very easily accessible, if we develop this thought further, quite a number of Christian values (e.g. thou shalt not kill, steal, etc.) are also fundamental to the Western canon of values. If one was now really to follow the guidelines provided by (one of) these four deities, he/she would clearly be perceived as sociopathic or perverse, which is why Chaos can also be seen as an
Page 63 antithesis to Western civilization as a whole. Although the forces of Chaos do appear rather pluralistic on the surface – and indeed they are, if we consider the variety of different forms of Gods, Daemons and mutation – they in fact, just as the Imperium, unite both extremes of plurality and absolutism and uniformity as they clearly aim at ridding the galaxy of other forms of belief, especially that in the Emperor. On the whole, although Warhammer 40,000 does indeed not allow for such shallow distinctions, the factions of Chaos are, similar to the Dark Eldar, easily perceived as ‘evil’, an appeal which likely is rooted in the fact that these figures live out fantasies which we usually do not. This fact in itself can in fact be seen as a very extreme form of Othering, next to its strong opposition to Christian and Western values. Let us now turn to one rather unique faction – while all of the ones discussed so far, even the Daemons of Chaos, are quite anthropomorphic in their appearances, this statement can hardly be made about the Tyranids, who could thus be called to most inhuman faction of Warhammer 40,000 who even surpass the Orks in their animality. As symptoms for this inhumanity we could name the Tyranids lack of ‘proper’ speech and their resemblance to ants, both in their appearance and the structure of their society. While the Tyranids are now clearly aimed at killing everything Other in the galaxy, we could say that this goal is in fact not an uncommon one in the “grim darkness of the future [where] there is only war” (WH40K: cover). It is however their apparent indifference that makes these aliens especially eerie, as they do not even seem to act on purpose but just out of instinct; therefore, as gladly as one would want to, the Tyranids can despite all their remorselessness not be called ‘evil’ – because they are beyond the scope of morality just as they are beyond the scope of humanity. Referring to Hall (1997: 1), as “[r]epresentation through language is […] central to the process by which meaning is produced”, the Tyranids’ lack of speech could be used to explain their truly meaningless raid through the galaxy. Such depictions of aliens – which could be seen as the thing which most vividly sets them apart from subjects – are well-known, for example through the novel and film Starship Troopers, which again facilitates players’ access to the concept of the Tyranid faction. Another faction that could – their semi-lives in metal bodies – be perceived as rather inhuman is that of the Necrons. Similar to the Eldar, this faction also shows parallels to an old culture, namely that of ancient Egypt, which concurs with the fact that they pose one of the oldest civilization in the galaxy of Warhammer 40,000. Another thing that immediately catches the eye is the Necrons’ affinity to death which can be seen in their resemblance to human skeletons and therewith to the fantasy stereotype of the undead. They are thus set apart from players by the
Page 64 greatest divide – that of (near-)death. However, one of the main characteristics of the Necrons is their longing for a ‘proper’ life, a longing which again makes them appear very human; however, as it is typical for this war-ridden galaxy, the Necrons will use any violent means necessary to reach their goal. As the same thing can actually be said about every other faction as well, the quality of self-assertion can generally be said to be prevalent in the game, as well in the narrative, as also of course in the game itself where players try to beat each other. Finally, the Tau who again draw vivid parallels to real-world culture were introduced at a time (i.e. 2003) when Asian movies or movies set in Asia, such as Crouching Tiger, Hidden Dragon (2000), Romeo Must Die (2000) or The Last Samurai (2003) and manga films and TV series seemed highly popular in the West. This can be seen as a hint that Games Workshop intentionally decided to utilize this hype and create their version of an ‘Asianized’ culture in the grim darkness of the 41st millennium. This impression is reinforced as no other faction can be said to so coherently draw on one cultural point of reference , as could be seen in the Tau’s appearance, philosophy and the structure of their society. Similarly as to the Orks, we are here encountered with a very strong form of, and indeed a very coherent case of racializing. To sum up, one interesting tendency that is observable in these cultural references is that they reflect oppositions which are also present in the narrative. For example, the Imperium’s eurocentrism sets it apart from factions like the ‘Asianized’ Tau or the ‘Egyptianized’ Necrons, just as the Imperium’s resemblance of Christianity is strongly opposed by the satanic and heathen allusions in the forces of Chaos. Furthermore, the Eldar and Necrons both represent civilizations older than the Imperium, which can also be said about these factions’ cultural points of reference. However, a second observation that has to be mentioned right away is that the cultural allusions present in the factions are to a large extent incoherent (the only exception, to a greater or lesser extent, being the Tau) and estranged by the addition of other (e.g. science fiction or fantasy) elements. To once again use the Imperium as example, we are confronted with a society that is on the one hand extremely absolutist and exclusive in its religious and racial convictions, while on the other hand in is very pluralistic in its diversity of people of different appearance (including the abhumans). Thus it can be said that just like subjects’ identities are incomplete, the ‘identities’ of the factions are also inconclusive and thus allow for more space for individual interpretation on the players’ sides.
Page 65 7.4. Sex and gender in Warhammer 40,000 One very common view on the Other in our society is that through a ‘gendered’ lens. While, as Blakemore, Berenbaum and Liben (2009: 2) rightly claim, “[m]any people seem to think that all aspects of sex and gender are consistent […] qualities like these are much more complex than they seem on the surface.” Accordingly, an individual can never be proclaimed ‘purely’ male or female, as everyone unites both ‘male’ and ‘female’ traits and the concepts of masculinity and femininity are very culture-dependent (cf. ibid.). Nevertheless, sex and gender still persist as one major factor of identifying out self-concepts and, collaterally, constructing the Other. Just as in our everyday lives now, aspects of gender also play an important role in Warhammer 40,000. However, these roles and their relevance differ, in part substantially, from one faction to the other. Maintaining the order of previous sections, this section will therefore take a more precise look at sex and gender in Warhammer 40,000. As for the Imperium, in the IUP (8), the Imperial soldier is addressed with “he/she” in the introduction, and while the Imperial Guard does therefore seem to include both men and women, the latter seems to be the exception rather than the rule. After all, no depiction in CIG, IUP or WH40K shows a single female Imperial soldier which corresponds with the fact that women are not represented in Games Workshop’s Imperial Guard miniature range. Just the same applies to the forces of Space Marines, whose case however is even more radical as female Space Marines do not even theoretically exist in Warhammer 40,000, as in the case of Imperial soldiers. Obviously, the Adeptus Sororitas now forms a stark contrast to the male dominance in Imperial warfare. While male units in an army of the Sisters of Battle do in fact exist in the case of priests and so-called ‘crusaders’ and ‘arco-flagellants’, the latter two being members of priests’ entourage (cf. “Chapter Approved: Sisters of Battle I”: 96, 102), this faction is definitely dominated by women. It seems however noteworthy that the army of this sisterhood does contain members of the ‘other’ sex (who, in the case of priests, can in fact be regarded as leading figures); a conjuncture which both the Imperial Guard and the Space Marines lack. To sum up, one can say that the Imperium is very clearly primarily guarded by male soldiers, the Adeptus Sororitas constituting the only serious contrary instance. This ratio which also extends to the leadership ranks of the Imperium which, next to the immortal God-Emperor, consists nearly entirely of men. Finally, the constant use of the term ‘Mankind’ in Imperial discourse, apart from the typographic accentuation of the concept through capitalization, shows a very strong form of gendering.
Page 66 Having observed the apparent sexism of human society in the 41st millennium, let us now take a look at the Orks, who, as has already been hinted at, do pose a rather peculiar example of the entanglement of gender and sex. While Orks are constantly referred to as ‘he’, their procreation via spores suggests that they are, biologically, asexual. This conjuncture could therefore be interpreted as a blending of male gender despite the lack of sex. Blakemore, Berenbaum and Liben (2009: 7) quote the adjectives “strong, rugged and broad shouldered”, and “competent, confident, and independent” as typically male, while women are typically expected to be “dainty and graceful” and “warm, kind, and concerned about others’ feelings” (Blakemore, Berenbaum and Liben 2009: 7). These cited male stereotypes can definitely be recognized in the Orks’ descriptions as “[u]gly and violent” (CO: 4), “muscular and solid” (ibid.), or “see themselves as the toughest and most aggressive of all races”. Needless to mention that parallels to the above cited female stereotypes can hardly be drawn – a fact which leaves us with the conclusion that the Orks are, next to the Imperium, another faction which is dominated by male figures, male stereotypes and strong male gendering in language. Quite contrary to the rather fixed and – from an out-game viewpoint – traditional or even sexist gender roles and stereotypes in the Imperium and the Ork species, within Dark Eldar society, “[l]ittle distinction is drawn between the sexes, for an individual’s skill and cunning is far more important than physical traits such as height or gender” (CDE: 5). This also becomes apparent in the Dark Eldar miniature range where the boxes of the two probably most central units, the ‘Dark Eldar Kabalite Warriors’ and the ‘Dark Eldar Wyches’, contain a male and female torsos ratio of 6:4, resp. 4:6. While this equality of male and female Dark Eldar soldiers is not represented in all miniature boxes, it can still be said that this faction does in fact – apart from the Sisters of Battle – contain a much higher rate of women than all the others. While the same, to a greater or lesser extent, equality between the sexes could in fact also be expected within the Eldar faction, it is not explicitly mentioned in CE. Furthermore, the ‘Eldar Guardian Squad’ box – which can be regarded as similarly central to the Eldar army as the spoken of Dark Eldar boxes – contains only two female torsos. To summarize, the Dark Eldar can in fact be regarded as the faction where equality between the sexes seems to be by far the most accomplished. The subfactions of Chaos do again present a rather different approach to the gender issue. In the case of the Chaos Space Marines, these are, just as their Imperial counterparts, solely male. The Daemons of Chaos however pose quite a different example. In fact, most Daemons display animal- like appearances which do not allow for a certain assessment of their sexes. The only exceptions to
Page 67 this rule are the Daemons of Slaanesh, such as the’ Daemonettes’ (cf. CCSMiv: 62f.), which, as most of the others of Slaanesh’s Daemons, possess one female and one male breast, reflecting the mentioned hermaphrodite nature of their deity. Thereby, they do represent not one sex, but both. In any case, the Daemons of Chaos seem not to fulfill the requirements for unambiguous gender roles, be it through their seemingly sexless or transsexual appearances. Therefore, while the Chaos Space Marines represent very typically male gender stereotypes, it could be said that the Daemons of Chaos challenge the whole idea of gender roles. This is on the one hand accomplished through the negligence of sex, and, on the other, through a blending of masculinity and femininity. In the absence of sex, the bestial (non-Slaanesh) Daemons are comparable to the faction of the Tyranids. While, as has been mentioned, obviously female breeding creatures do exist in the forms of the Dominatrixes and Norn Queens, the largest part of the Tyranids consists of creatures which, from an outside look, cannot be determined as either male, female, or sexless. Regarding the similarities of the Tyranids and societal insects as ants and bees, it could be assumed that male and female creatures do exist, yet, as reliable information on that point is not provided in Codices or in the rulebook, this question has to remain unanswered. Moreover, as neither Dominatrixes nor Norn Queens are deployable units in Warhammer 40,000 games, Tyranid players are in fact, just as players of non-Slaanesh Chaos Daemon armies, left with a large mass of creatures of uncertain sex. The sixth faction, the Necrons pose another similarly mysterious case when it comes to sex. As they do possess artificial metal-bodies, it can be assumed that they are, in their current state, in fact sexless (after all, what could the function of sex be for robotic beings?). However, since they onc used to be the mortal species of the Necrontyr, it would be interesting to assess if these being were grouped in men and women or if maybe they, like the Orks, used asexual means of procreation. Once again however, for whatever reason, the game designers do not provide explicit information on this matter. Now coming to the final faction in this discussion, the Tau Empire, we are once again presented with an apparently unclear case of sexuality. However, the existence of both male and female sex is hinted at at two instances. Firstly, the first two Ethereals in Tau history are both referred to as ‘he’ (CTEiv: 5), which at least shows that some kind of male gender does exist. Yet this circumstance alone cannot be regarded as solid evidence, as the Orks showed us. The second, and much clearer, hint now is given when it is stated that “breeding between the castes is forbidden” (CTEiv: 8), which shows us that Tau seem to procreate in a sexual way, which prompts that the sexes do exist in their society. The question how these are connected to social implications, that is,
Page 68 if gendering does play a role for the Tau can however not be answered sufficiently on the basis of these two quotes. Accordingly, we are left ignorant to how the proposed sexes in Tau society are outwardly distinguishable. Recapitulating, the factions of Warhammer 40,000 do present quite a large variety of different approaches to the topic of gender, from the ‘traditional’ Imperium to the ‘progressive’ Dark Eldar, as well as a high degree of uncertainty on the issue of sex, and therefore of gender, in most of the other factions. While it can be said that this fact distinguishes the factions from each other, from an in-game viewpoint, other factors are indeed much more important in this respect. Above all, different approaches to sex and gender do not serve as an instrument for any race to actively differentiate themselves from others. While Imperial observations like “[t]he Dark Eldar Eldar see the other inhabitants of the galaxy as little more than cattle, livestock that can be brought to bay or slaughtered at any time” (CDE: 94) are common ways of portraying the Other, it would indeed be surprising if a comment like “these Dark Eldar. Don’t even respect the natural differentiation between the sexes” could be found in any Warhammer 40,000-related source. Therefore, it can be said that gender, if at all, serves merely as a basis for creating others within factions, as can most explicitly be observed in the Imperium. While gender now seems to be a minor issue within the narrative, it certainly is relevant on the level of players. After all, “[g]ender is one of the fundamental ways in which the social life of human beings is organized” (Blakemore, Berenbaum and Liben 2009: 1). Accordingly, it can be expected that the factions’ different approaches to gender do contribute substantially to the choices of armies that players make. To use an example, let us take a look at one faction where the role of gender is very explicit – the Sisters of Battle. At first, it can simply be said that this sets them apart from other armies in the game and that it also counters traditional conceptions of femininity in our society. While now some players will find this appealing, others will not, while again others might be indifferent to it. As we can now say that players will necessarily have some standpoint towards such faction- specific representations of gender, we can conclude that it is certainly one determinative aspect in the choice of players’ armies and their identification therewith. It is however striking that quite a number of factions – namely the Orks, Chaos Daemons, Tyranids, Necrons and Tau – feature a relationship to sex and/or gender that is not clearly defined. On the one hand, this allows for more interpretative freedom on the players’ side, but could, on the other hand, be interpreted as a hint that the creators of Warhammer 40,000 might in fact believe that gender-related questions are in fact of
Page 69 minor importance in a wargame. One further possible interpretation of this circumstance is that, by this insecurity towards sexual aspects, these beings are further alienated from humanity as the (fundamentally human) categories of gender are in fact not generalizable to some other species, which alone would provide quite an extreme form of Othering.
7.5. Changing it all Everything that has been discussed so far in the context of Warhammer 40,000 is based on the prescriptions made by Games Workshop and their game designers. However, players are, unlike in other game genres as computer games (unless they are indeed very competent programmers), free to apply to the original narrative or not. After all, it is them who ultimately assemble and paint their miniatures and thus “forge a narrative” (WH40K: xv) revolving around their armies, as Games Workshop explicitly invites them to. Although of course not many players will actually do that, they are still free to for example create a chapter of female Space Marines, a regiment of the Imperial Guard in pink camouflage or an Ork tribe wearing peace-emblems on bayadere shirts. Thus it can be said that the narrative provides a set of conventions which players will probably most of the time, but need not stick to.
Page 70 8. Conclusion
To conclude, before I shall briefly sum up the interim findings of the discussion in this thesis, I would like to mention that due to the vast range of Warhammer 40,000-related material and due to the extremely profound background of its narrative, naturally much had to be excluded here. I hope however to have been able to provide a concise introduction into the subject matter, as well as a clear discussion of the leading questions and I would be glad if more and deeper investigations into Warhammer 40,000, Warhammer, or other tabletop or roleplaying games would be taken. As to this thesis, I have shown in section 3 that each faction of Warhammer 40,000 displays a wide range of different cultural references. The fact that these are oftentimes contradictory (for example, the conglomeration of tribal, British, and German stereotypes in the Orks) and further estranged by the addition of science fiction and fantasy elements however does not allow for simple, straight forward allegorical interpretations. Players are thus enabled to creatively deal with their factions and forge their own stories around them. This brings us to the topic of suture, of which the immense amount of time players usually spend with their miniatures is a very central part. Beyond that, the texts of the Codices and the rulebook clearly show the bipartite nature of players’ identities (that is, an actual player’s identity as well as an in-game, faction-oriented identity), which is linked to two different ways of suturing players into various aspects of the Warhammer 40,000 discourse. Moreover, the the afore mentioned cultural references can also be interpreted as a suturing device as it facilitates players’ immersion into an unknown, yet in a way strangely known, world. Similarly, the significance of sex and gender in Warhammer 40,000’s factions can be seen as an interesting connecting factor for players, be it in the shape of traditional or progressive gender roles, or total uncertainties in that respect. On the whole, the discourse of Warhammer 40,000 is one in which the Other plays a very central role. It comes in the shapes of different kinds of species, cultures, hierarchies, gender roles, and in the game’s competitive nature and a clear definition of units’ abilities in their respective characteristic profiles. While this is indicative of a highly prescriptive discourse, Warhammer 40,000 is ultimately very open as it, one, provides a wide variety of different possibilities of interpretation, and two, allows players to change and adapt their armies, and thus create their own fictional versions of the universe of the 41st millennium. Through this openness, instead of encouraging xenophobia and hostility, Warhammer 40,000 enables players to playfully slip into a
Page 71 vast spectrum of different roles and, during the time of playful rivalry in a ‘battle’, shape their identities within a frame that can be as open or as prescriptive as one chooses.
Page 72 9. References
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