For the Emperor
"My armor is contempt, my shield is disgust, my sword is hatred. In the name of the Emperor, let none survive."
The Imperium of Man in the Warhammer 40,000 universe is overtly a fascist death cult, and its cult of personality surrounding its vegetative dictator and Imperial identity exemplify it clearly using elements of real life fascism. Its billions of citizens are bound by cultish worship of its God-Emperor of Mankind, a towering ten foot tall hero of its past in a billowing red cape, glimmering gilded plate, and a massive flaming sword. Despite this machismo, the Emperor is by all means a vegetable, hooked up to life support that can only be sustained with a daily sacrifice of a thousand souls. Being set in the 41st millennium, racism based on skin or bloodline would be a bit out of style, perhaps passé. Progress has been made, now only non humans, or xenos are the ones we put into camps and slaughter. The allegory replaces traditional race with species, with completely integrated militaries but still believing anything that is not human deserves to be destroyed for their filth and inferiority. The Imperium is built on prejudice, religious zeal, xenophobia of cosmically literal proportions, and the expansion of human dominion. This dominion is paved with the bones of billions of dead humans and aliens alike, and the soil is drowned in their blood.
Imperial heraldry, including the Emperor's appearance itself, is directly lifted from that of the Roman Empire, the original inspiration for what became fascism in the early 20th century. The Emperor wears a golden laurel wreath in place of a helmet (as aesthetics are more important to fascists than practicality in most instances), and his armor and cape are not just red and gold, but also smothered with a golden eagle, each wing spread across the horizon evenly.
This eagle is commonplace as a fascist symbol. The Aquila (increasing its Roman association, with the Latin word for "eagle") is found in Nazi German iconography, as is it conspicuously in similar positions on many United States seals. Even the word fascism originates from the Latin Fasces, a symbol consisting of an axe bound by a bundle of sticks, dating back to the Roman Empire.
The Imperium is named almost entirely in Latin-inspired words. It's language is Gothic, Germanic in name but gibberish Latin in practice. The majority of its military is made up of untold billions of common human foot soldiers, which swarm through firepower only gained in numbers. They die in droves daily, but the Astra Militarum is the first and final defense against alien threats in the universe. The Adepta Sororitas are an army of women loyal to the Ecclesiarchy, the state church which holds the Emperor as divine and declares all heretics worthy of execution. The Adeptus Astartes, the subject of this piece more commonly known as space marines, are an army of genetically modified super soldiers towering in imposing power armor. They face an exaggerated rebranding of the Spartan Agoge, born to grow into a perfect soldier. Impossibly strong, seven feet tall, with a set of hearts and three lungs, designed for perfect combat and indoctrinated to perfect loyalty, all with the purpose of dying for the Emperor.
The Astartes were originally 20 legions commanded by primarchs, sons of the Emperor created from his DNA. Each Legion was created from the genes of their primarch. The Ultramarines were lifted from Greco-Roman aesthetics, with the Omega character on each shoulder and crests upon some helmets, similar to a Roman centurion or a Greek Hoplite. The Black Templars and the Dark Angels are lifted from the monastic orders of the crusades, and the knights of Medieval Europe. Both wear surcoats over their armor, and the Black Templar sigil is an iron cross, which has a long history in the German military as a medal to be respected. Since the Nazis, though, its a suspicious thing to tattoo on yourself or wear proudly, as it should be. The black armor and the black-on-white cross is inspired by the Knights Hospitaller, or of the Hospital, and the connection between the crusaders who blindly killed Muslims, foreigners, and each other and white supremacist appropriation has already been explored in other pieces.
Despite all this connection to fascism, turned up to nineteen to fit the absurdly grotesque and bloody, "grimdark" universe of Warhammer 40,000, many of the tabletop game's fans seem to be lost on the intentional irony. They're not taken in by the repulsion of all the blood and the obscene and insane scale of death each faction commits on the battlefield and elsewhere daily. Instead they, by supposed "irony" of ill-intentioned memes are taken into truly believing in the glory of the Emperor. They instead, upon seeing LGBT people, or people of color securing legal protections, will cry heresy and for the purging of the degenerate xenos of our world. Instead of applying the evils of the Imperium to the fascists in front of their eyes, they apply a glorious and conquering race of mankind to the untempered evil within themselves. The horror of this universe, as laid out in the tagline:
"To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods." is not captivating for its over-the-top reflection of militaristic zealotry, it becomes captivating to an offset mind for its display of primal glory. This disconnect, as well as the composition of the piece literally coming to me in a sleep deprived vision, was the inspiration for this piece.
This piece depicts a Black Templar, one of the most zealous chapters of the Astartes there is. Instead of other pieces where the appropriated historical caricature is seen toppling the fascism it has been made to serve, the fascist here is the subject. This marine, believing himself to be a servant of righteousness and the Emperor's divine power since his creation, covered in the blood of thousands of his victims, removes his helmet to reveal a truly dead man. A mere skull and empty shell smothered in blood and dirt that can only scream to the heavens for the pain he has caused the universe.
Imperial heraldry, including the Emperor's appearance itself, is directly lifted from that of the Roman Empire, the original inspiration for what became fascism in the early 20th century. The Emperor wears a golden laurel wreath in place of a helmet (as aesthetics are more important to fascists than practicality in most instances), and his armor and cape are not just red and gold, but also smothered with a golden eagle, each wing spread across the horizon evenly.
This eagle is commonplace as a fascist symbol. The Aquila (increasing its Roman association, with the Latin word for "eagle") is found in Nazi German iconography, as is it conspicuously in similar positions on many United States seals. Even the word fascism originates from the Latin Fasces, a symbol consisting of an axe bound by a bundle of sticks, dating back to the Roman Empire.
The Imperium is named almost entirely in Latin-inspired words. It's language is Gothic, Germanic in name but gibberish Latin in practice. The majority of its military is made up of untold billions of common human foot soldiers, which swarm through firepower only gained in numbers. They die in droves daily, but the Astra Militarum is the first and final defense against alien threats in the universe. The Adepta Sororitas are an army of women loyal to the Ecclesiarchy, the state church which holds the Emperor as divine and declares all heretics worthy of execution. The Adeptus Astartes, the subject of this piece more commonly known as space marines, are an army of genetically modified super soldiers towering in imposing power armor. They face an exaggerated rebranding of the Spartan Agoge, born to grow into a perfect soldier. Impossibly strong, seven feet tall, with a set of hearts and three lungs, designed for perfect combat and indoctrinated to perfect loyalty, all with the purpose of dying for the Emperor.
The Astartes were originally 20 legions commanded by primarchs, sons of the Emperor created from his DNA. Each Legion was created from the genes of their primarch. The Ultramarines were lifted from Greco-Roman aesthetics, with the Omega character on each shoulder and crests upon some helmets, similar to a Roman centurion or a Greek Hoplite. The Black Templars and the Dark Angels are lifted from the monastic orders of the crusades, and the knights of Medieval Europe. Both wear surcoats over their armor, and the Black Templar sigil is an iron cross, which has a long history in the German military as a medal to be respected. Since the Nazis, though, its a suspicious thing to tattoo on yourself or wear proudly, as it should be. The black armor and the black-on-white cross is inspired by the Knights Hospitaller, or of the Hospital, and the connection between the crusaders who blindly killed Muslims, foreigners, and each other and white supremacist appropriation has already been explored in other pieces.
Despite all this connection to fascism, turned up to nineteen to fit the absurdly grotesque and bloody, "grimdark" universe of Warhammer 40,000, many of the tabletop game's fans seem to be lost on the intentional irony. They're not taken in by the repulsion of all the blood and the obscene and insane scale of death each faction commits on the battlefield and elsewhere daily. Instead they, by supposed "irony" of ill-intentioned memes are taken into truly believing in the glory of the Emperor. They instead, upon seeing LGBT people, or people of color securing legal protections, will cry heresy and for the purging of the degenerate xenos of our world. Instead of applying the evils of the Imperium to the fascists in front of their eyes, they apply a glorious and conquering race of mankind to the untempered evil within themselves. The horror of this universe, as laid out in the tagline:
"To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods." is not captivating for its over-the-top reflection of militaristic zealotry, it becomes captivating to an offset mind for its display of primal glory. This disconnect, as well as the composition of the piece literally coming to me in a sleep deprived vision, was the inspiration for this piece.
This piece depicts a Black Templar, one of the most zealous chapters of the Astartes there is. Instead of other pieces where the appropriated historical caricature is seen toppling the fascism it has been made to serve, the fascist here is the subject. This marine, believing himself to be a servant of righteousness and the Emperor's divine power since his creation, covered in the blood of thousands of his victims, removes his helmet to reveal a truly dead man. A mere skull and empty shell smothered in blood and dirt that can only scream to the heavens for the pain he has caused the universe.