Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
Imperial Aquila
(Seal of the Emperor and the Imperium of Man) |
|
| Real world | |
|---|---|
| Series | Warhammer 40,000 |
| Creator | Games Workshop |
| Genre | Science fantasy |
| Fictional | |
| Motto | The Emperor protects |
| Form of government | Theocratic Oligarchy |
| Head of state | |
| Established | M30 (30th millennium) |
| Governing body | Council of the High Lords of Terra |
| Official language | High Gothic (Hieratic language) Low Gothic (Common language) |
| Capital | Holy Terra (Earth) |
| Territory | All space within 50,000 light year radius from Terra |
| Population (groups) | Humans, mutant species of human descent |
| Population (size) | Unknown |
The Imperium of Man or Imperium of Mankind is a galactic empire in the fictional universe of Warhammer 40,000. It is a theocratic, industrial, militaristic, and totalitarian regime that rules over almost all of humanity and spans more than a million inhabited worlds.
The "Imperium" is one of the original factions in the fictional background of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop miniatures wargame; the game was initially published in 1987 by Games Workshop, and continues to be actively developed. The game system's setting is a dystopian far future fictional universe that is extensively described in numerous rulebooks, tie-ins, and other official sources.
Notwithstanding backstory development by Games Workshop and affiliates (such as the publishing imprint Black Library) that spans several decades, the core depiction of the Imperium – as an totalitarian, strife-torn galactic empire on the brink of catastrophe – changed little; a major reason is the publisher's decision to "freeze" the narrative setting to the universe's late–41st millennium (or late–M41). As of 2013[update], this setting had been utilised by the majority of related material; however, for several years prior and continuing, the publisher has also been promoting a parallel narrative thread for the fictional universe, which is taking place during the founding and early times of the Imperium.
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