This time I'm goign to do a bit of backpedalling, to an earlier source, and one that may look familiar. I actually covered this in a fairly incomplete fashion much earlier and the stuff can be found
here, but I decided to cover it again because I could do a better job of it. Will I do thsi with other books? I dunno. I have alot of stuff to cover and it may be some time before I ever get back to it. Mainly I'm doing it because a.) I didnt realize I'd already done it when I was trasncribing it, so much of the material was alreay put down, and b.) I did a lousy job last time and I'm doing better now (I've actually been getting more detailed in analysiss later. I may need to make a point of recovering some of my earlier analysis like Execution Hour for this reason) c.) I made some outright stupid errors.
Anyhow, on with the stuff.
Page 3
Quote:
War is the universal state of Man; peace is onyl a brief time of preparation for further fighting. Alien races strike at the Imperium's frontier systems. Rebellion and treachery are commonplace on millions of colonised worlds.
This source again implies more worlds than just the "million" world figure often quoted. Whether this means single or double or even triple digit millions (or billions, as some sourcse suggest) is unknown. I think we can safely say though that there are more than just the million worlds, even if they are "lesser" ones.
Page 4
Quote:
It was at this time that psykers- humans capable of using psionic powers such as telekinesis and telepathy - first arose in the midst of humaity.
..
For more than five thousand years warfare tore humanity aparrt.
Five thousand years of psychic activity and its catastrophic effects
Page 4
Quote:
Terraformed worlds reverted to their natural condition and as they did so, humanity suffered. Through chance and depleted gene-pools, some colonies underwent a forced evolution, producing new sucecssor species: the stocky Squats, the powerful Ogryns and the Beastmen.
Apparently human terraforming either wasn't stable in some cases or most cases or it somehow backfired. Or maybe the magical warp just perverted and disrupted it. I think we can attribute the "forced evolution" to magic warp effects, unless we attirbuted some (like the squats perhaps) to genetic engineering. In any case the "Terraformed worlds reverting" isnt an unusual concept, some 40K novels cover this concept fairly common, and its quite possible many of the Deathworlds (or at least the more intelligent/virulent ones) arose from this.
Page 4
Quote:
Although only modest in size, the galaxy contains around four hundred thousand million stars. Of these, only a fraction are orbited by planets which are habitable or within human tolerances. And of these few, still fewer have been investigated and settled by humanity. This 'few' hoewver, numbers millions of worlds and systems; the exact number is unknown.
It is simply impossible to count the systems where humanity or one of its sub-species can be found. New worlds are constantly being discovered and added to the Imperium but, even so, no end is in sight.
the 40K galaxy has 400 billion stars (this puts it on the scope of the SW galaxy), although its possible they are only estimating the number, since they dont know for sure how many human-habitable planets there are (or otherwise habitable). It also does indicate what we've kinda known - the scale/size of the Imperium fluctuates- new worlds are added, colonised, and others are lost to warp storms, destrroyed, conquered, etc.
Page 4
Quote:
By doing so [warp drive], a spacecraft can move hundreds or thousands of light years in only a few hours. And the power to move such distances is also a power that wins battles and maintains empires: a troop-carrying space barge can make the same jounery with equal ease.
This is an interesting quote because it suggests very high FTL speeds possible (for the Imperium) - hundreds of thousands ot millions of times c. Still no better than (or even a bit slower) than SW hyperdrive, but it does give us an indicator of the "higher end" capability. What is also intresting is that this is implied to apply to troop transports and possibly long range civilian cargo (and thus warships could possibly be faster. The Spacee MArines and Inquisition and ARbites are dobutless faster.)
Page 4
Quote:
Warp space is a spearate and complex universe that exists besides our own reality. For every point in realspace there is a corresponding location in Warp Space. The two universes are intimately connected but by no means follow the same laws. Simply because two locations are separated by tens of light years in reality the same does not hold true for the common points in warp space, which effectively might be only a few miles apart.
An interesting implication. That the possible difference in distance scales could be massive - tens of light ytears translates easilly to hundreds of trillions of kilometers. Considering known Starship accels for 40K (hundreds or thousands of gees easily) this suggests it could be, in theory, possible to cover colossal distances in relatively short periods of time - thousands or tens of thousands of light years an hour. Note, however, this completely ignores the time effects between realspace and the warp, and it assumes a very calm warp (which for obvious reasons is unlikely for the most part.) Hell, even then its by no means meant to be taken as a "average" or even an upper limit. IT may be purely theoretical, rare, or a freak occurance. (Considering its possible to arrive at a location before you left in the warp, - this would pretty much rank right up there.)
(ts more likely these "speeds" would correspond to waht the Eldar can pull off in the webway.
Page 4
Quote:
Maintained by the Emperor's will, the Astronomican shines across reality and warp space. It gives Navigators an accurate fix on Terra, enabling them to steer spacecraft safely through the currents of warp space.
The Astronomican, as described in many soures, basically tells Navigators were Terra is in the Warp, and provides them a stable, fixed point to allow for even reasonably accurate plotting to figure out what points in the warp may correspond to given points in real space.
Page 4
Quote:
In warp spacec, however, nothing is ever straightforward. It is a universe fillwed with cross-currents, eddies, and whirlpools of power. Warp storms can flare up in seconds, blocking travel through huge reaches of the warp. These storms can last for millenia or be gone in seconds, but while they exist travel to some parts of the real universe is impossible through the affected areas of the warp.
The dangers and problems of warp travel, and why it is so deadly and unpredictable. Of course, since starships can "sail" or be pushed along by the Warp as well as use their own engines , it is possible to be beneficial too (if uncontrolled.)
Page 5
Quote:
Titans are immense fighting machines, mechanical warriors up to 100 feet tall.
The "old" Titan sizes, which have been retconned in almost any source save a Graham McNeill novel. I only mention it for posterity's sake.
Page 5
Quote:
Titans are powered by comparatively old-fashioned plasma reactors. Although rarely used in the Imperium since the Dark Age of TEchnology, nothing else can provide the power needed by a Titan. The Titan's Void shield generators alone require such huge amounts of energy that nothing else will suffice. Even the tight operating margins of a Titan's plasma reactor - and the consequences of a melt-down or runaway reaction - are a small price to pay for the energy needed.
Curiously, this seems to be an older convention which may not apply in "modern" 40K, but is interesting nonetheless. Plasma reactors were considered "old fashioned" but powerful (if dangerous) in comparison to other forms of power (not stated, but possibly fusion and natimatter would be included. We can safely include fusion because fusion reactors are known to exist and they don't explode like plasma reactors. Antimatter is known in 40K, but rarely mentioned. Its possible it is considered too inefficient to rely on as a power source.
Page 5
Quote:
The Void Shields are the Titan's main line of defense. A shield absorbs damage until its Void Shield Generator becomes overloaded. Cut offs prevent the Generator burning out when this happens, but the shield still collapses. However, once the excess power has been drained off, the Generator can be restarted, raising the Void Shield once more. Where possible, Titans carry a sufficient number of generators so that, in theory, some of its shields will be operable at all times. In practice this may not always be the case, and once a Titan has lost its shields it is vulnerable. In emergencies the Princeps can override the VSG cut-offs, pushing the Shields to their limits. If it works, this risky tactic can defeat almost any tactic. If it fails (as is most likely) the Princeps will reduce his titans defenses to pools of useless, molten slag.
Description of titan void shields. Generally they seem to behave as absorption/retransmission deviecs, as I've noted before. They absorb power until overloaded, when they switch off and bleed off the excess energy. And as noted they seem to incorporate multiple void shield generators, either to cover multiple arcs, or provide multiple layers - given the bit about "some shields operable at all times" redundancy seems likely, but it is possible void shields can be fairly localized.
Also interesting to note is that some void shields seem to have a "safety margin" perhaps for emergency purposes, but in emergencies the shields can be pushed to that limit if needed.
It is not known what percentage of the capability represens the safety margin and normal operating, but logic tells us it probably isn't greater than "regular" operating capacity.
Page 5
Quote:
The plasma generators also provide power for many of the weapons; power transmission via hydroplastics coupled to actuators.
..
A titan's limbs are moved by electrically motivated fibre bundles which function very much like muscles.
Description of titan motive power and power transmission systems. Note to transmit the level of power Titans are known to possess (easily in the gigawatt to terawatt range) I would imagine those power trnasfer elements are quite robust (example of superior Imperial materials science, probably.)
Page 5
Quote:
Battle Titans and Emperor Titans are among the most numerous, but there are lesser types, such as the dreaded Psi-titans and the fast, lightly-armed scout titans.
The much loved Psy-titans, though it seems they are less powerful than an Emperor (minus the psychic stuff, of course.)
Page 5
Quote:
Battle Titans stand between 40 and 80 feet tall. Each Battle Titan is protected by up to six Void Shield Generators and armed with a variety of weapons.
...
Emperor Titans are taller - some 70 to 100 feet tall - and considerably bulkier.
More Titan sizes, again included purely for posterity.
Page 5
Quote:
For longer than there has been an Imperium there have been Warlord Class Battle Titans, their design history stretches back ot the Final War period. It is popular with all the Military Orders of the Collegia Titanica and millions have been built to the design over the millenia
"millions" of Warlord Battle Titans have been built over "millenia". This tells us that hundreds or thousands could be built a year, but it doesnt tell us how many places would be building them or how many millenia. Still, it is an interesting indicator of titan construction rates.
FAQ
Search
Register
Login
