Has anyone ever noticed how we got a *rainbow coded* "Priesthood of Terra" I mean, you got the... •RED - Tech Priests, Adeptus Mechanicus •YELLOW (with RED sash) - The Chosen, Adeptus Astronomica •GREEN, Acolytes & Adepts, Adeptus Astra Telepathica •BLUE - Adepts, Adeptus Astronomica •BROWN &/or BROWN - Adepts, Adeptus Administratum The grimmdark future stans Pride lol. The Imperium is inclusive of who they soul-sacrifice to the corpse of the half-dead Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind! We're ALL Human after all, Right? 😃👉🏽👉🏽 ✊🏽🏳️🌈💀 Could you make a video (or even just a short) covering this, I cannot UNthink it. 😅😂
@@orraklbenedict1832 Dude, the rainbow is all the colours. By your logic, any thing that uses colours is secretly proPride. By the way, you missed Orange and Purple you Pritt Stick
As a Civil Servant, a 35 minute video about the governance and organisation structure of the Imperium fills me with a weird combination of dread, loathing and satisfaction.
Join the Indonesian civil service then. You become an automatic reservist and the military will "train" you every 2 or 3 years by bringing you to the shooting range where you get to shoot old surplus AK 47s or M14.
What!? You have applied the forbidden Firstonian doctrine to your dates! HE'S A FIRSTONIAN! A CHRONOLOGICAL HERETIC! BURN HIM! (The new official Bornian Imperial reckoning is between 1.8 days to seven years and three months)
Point about the planetary governors is a good one. It’s important not to think of it as a giant space country. Instead of viewing the map as its borders, imagine the map as showing “these planet governments pay taxes to Terra” I would reckon the imperium, probably would not intervene if a local government was overthrown by a rebellion, as long as the new government pays the tithe.
Maybe it's 'cause I'm a lawyer, but I just love Imperium bureaucracy. One of my favorites aspects of the inefficiency of the Administratum, and the gargantuan size of the Imperium is the fact that nobody knows for sure how to keep track of time, just showing how the most ordinary of things can become a giant mess in this chaotic universe.
lol, same for me as a law bachelor, reading about the governance of the imperium itself for the first time also makes me realize that life in the imperium is very much depends on what planet you came from, from each planet in the imperium, imperium at large only requires you to pay your designated tithe and stay loyal, they don't give af about how you govern your own planet, imperium is so vast that conducting centralize rule from Terra is impossible, hell Imperium can't even enforce common currency throughout it's realm you can either be born in a civilized planet where there is rule of law,your life is valued, your administratum cares about you and your life is overall good, or you can be born on a knight world or feudal world, where your life would be simple but pretty fulfilling, or you can be born in a soul grinder that is lower class of hive world or daily struggle for survival in a feral world, all are possible
I am a public servant / policy advisor and I love it as well, its strangely relatable sometimes. "I am sorry, we closed your request for administrative reasons because of the following: your request took too long to process. Please submit it again."
I write some fluff recently that focused on the weird time hijinks (both new and old). I think the new chronology is one of my favourite bits of worldbuilding. It's an implicit admission by Bobbie G that the Imperium isn't in control, and won't be any time soon. Not only that, but it's an admission of such to the people (admin, ship's captains, navigators) who are the most invested in the illusion of said control.
Everyone in this comment chain is a part of the problem that contributes to the inefficiency and downfall of nations and doesn't consider themselves as a bad person. I know I'm a shitty citizen, but god damn ya'll.
Fun story we were told when I was still working for Games Workshop: Apparently during the writing for one of the editions (4th or 5th, I am not sure which one) the had a similar chart in the studio to work out how the Imperium... well, worked. And one day a high-ranking manager, supposedly the CEO at the time, walked in and started staring at the chart for several minutes. Being management, he did know a thing or two about organization. And when asked what he thought he replied "Doesn't work." Upon further inquiry he elaborated. "I mean, it looks like it would work, and it probably will work for a while, but eventually the entire system will collapse." Which to his surprise made everyone quite happy and there was a general "We got it right!" mood, which made the manager shake his head and leave. Don't know if that story is actually true. I have no proof. But it gave us all a good laugh :)
And then current GW management took over, saw said chart screwed up in the waste paper basket, and thought 'oh look, the solution for how to organise our rules development and codex writing teams'
I mean, this implies there's an objective way of looking at an organisation and identifying it'll fail. Not only is management not an exact science like that, we're to believe that this once in a generation manager, this Lissan al'Gaib with the power of perfect prescience, works for GW?!
I work with organisational development for large corporations. ArbitorIan have a better grasp of the Imperium's power structure than a lot of my clients have of their own organisation.
to be fair I think you can fairly safely say Guilliman wields supreme authority over both the High Lords and the Inquisition in practice, given that he’s a primarch, revered as a living saint, commands basically the single largest force of space marines in existence right now and has a very big flamey sword.
@@jordanetherington1922 I mean, guillimans words are Bassically the words of the emperor right now. Considering even the custodian guard is now taking orders from hi after dreams from the emperor. He practically has the authority of the emperor just not the same respect as him
He has both a sword given to him by an oily mechanical turtle and a mandate from the masses after being ressurected by some watery tart. Thats as much authority as any man could get before god say they can rule. Then that happened too.
@@jordanetherington1922sure, many inquisitors understand their role that way, but were the inquisition writ large to try and defy Guilliman it would probably not go well for them, even if Guilliman’s position is delicate enough that he has to be careful about what rulings he makes
It's the difference between efficient and effective... it's not very efficient, but despite that it is effective... sort of, I mean the Imperium is still standing after 10 millennia despite being beset on all sides so it clearly can get stuff done. If only by throwing a few million bodies at every problem.
It seems nice of the Imperium to send out Black Ships to give all those eager psykers a ride to school. Such a great support system, definitely the Imperium at its best.
The Imperium has legions of bureucrats trying to figure out how the hell the Imperium is run and for the past 10,000 years they still don't have an answer
There's a flaw in that system in that it will only propel the Imperium to fight even harder to destroy enemies who, for some reason, stopped fighting. War is the fuel that runs the Imperium and there will be war whether the mutant, the alien or the heretic wants to fight or not. LOL
Yeah I had a similar thought along the lines of "the necrons are the smartest and most technologically advanced race and isn't INHERENTLY murder crazy. They should team up with the imperium and shit stomp everyone else." Then someone pointed out how necrons also have the biggest superiority complex in the galaxy second probably only to fulgrim. Also they hate anyone that's not them typically.
In Rogue Trader the RPG you got to play imperial nobility and deal with this nonsense. At least one player will be a rogue trader, an imperial noble. The players learn that while they start out in command of an imperial cruiser and just go upwards, they also deal with people on that level. You can be there at the start of colonization and set up the stupid treaties people will follow for millennia to come. As a holder of a Warrant, you also have obligations and limits tied to it. Like supplying ships to the defence of a stellar cluster, to settle and maintain worlds in a general area etc.
Imperial Bureaucracy lore is my comfy place. It's like that fable about the want of a nail leading to the loss of a war. A stroke of a pen by accident and your frozen death world doesn't get any warm blankets this year because they're accidentally sent to a tropical pleasure world instead
"Some overworked office drone forgot to carry the 2 for the thousandth time today, now our hive world needs to stretch three days' food to three years."
I love the one horror story about the administratum girl who purposely messed with supplying worlds and battlefields killing millions as no one would stop her cause they’re too busy trying to run their part of the Imperium (and that she finally felt power over others once in her life) . And as the book progresses to its final part, when the girl is being saved by an imperial ship we learn that the Imperial crew will actually choose to cannibalize her because someone messed up their resupply of foodstuffs. It’s a bit karmic as although it could’ve been of her own doing, it also likely represents that within the vast administratum some other bloke could’ve been acting the same as her or genuinely messed up which led to her own death.
@@OldManRogers If by nothing you mean everything lol. In the year 41,999 countless trillions live and billions die each. Stalin couldn't even kill a billion people and Gengis never even made it to the americas. No the comparison your looking to is perhaps coloumbus who caused an apocolypse in the americas through plauge.
There are apparently Munitorum storage worlds out there, with enough tanks and other equipment to get a small crusade off the ground that have just been there in stasis for centuries, because the paperwork got lost and nobody has come to requisition it.
For anyone who has ever dealt with middle management, HR and external contractors, imagine that cranked up to 11. Then double it. Then add an Ork Wagh.
It's basically today's bureaucracy- paid to do something and jealously guarding that something and eternally trying to expand their remit. "Yes Minister" captures it all.
After getting over the initial awe of power armor and space tanks, this was the stuff that really made me delve deeper into Warhammer 40k. I just love how batshit it is. One thing that wasn't mentioned but that's kinda cool are the successive layers of administration, such as the Lord Sectors or the Segmentum Fortresses (which are really more like interstellar DMV's or harbors rather than what the name implies.)
Another great video, I think the Imperium of Man gives so much 'scaffold' for people to build stories and campaigns around with all the opportunities for back-stabbing, score-settling and general incompetence.
One of my favorite bits of lore in 40k is that the administratum is so unbelievably fractured that they don't even know what year it is. I'm pretty sure the current lore is that it's some time in the very early 42nd millennium, like 41,005 or something.
As always, Ian has you covered on that in his video on how to tell the dates and time in the Imperium. th-cam.com/video/9YJAf2w4M3Y/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-91o4z_u6oGizoSo
They know roughly what year it is on Terra, with only a few blank eras and weirdo drift. What happens when communication can only go through the mind-symbolism of telepaths and the warp is nonsense.
I think if you managed to find your way all through the beurocracy, you would find Alpharius sitting in a small room with a computer controlling it all.
Ian, another excellent, succinct and digestible effort from you. Thanks mate. You keep the interest in 40k fresh and do so much for the hobby; I hope GW appreciates just how good you are. Love your work.
I fully endorse the idea that Guilliman likely had no real conversation with the Emperor, and just took charge because.. Well, he's an actual *Primarch.* Who would have the balls to actually call him out on it, or challenge his authority? Likely nobody who would not actually support him taking charge from the bureaucrats anyway, like the Custodes.
@@chromasus9983 I like how it's never entirely clear what happens inside the Palace. Maybe a handful of people except the inner household of maybe 100-300 have been inside and they all come out a little changed.
It's been said before but it's worth saying again and again: Thanks for these videos! They're brilliantly put together, extremely informative, and your genius at picking apart and highlighting the satire and (lower case 'c') chaos of 40K is outstanding. Bravo!
I have been looking for an answer to this question for too long, which is "who is really in charge" and your video really helped me understand much about the imperial bureaucracy. I've always thought that Lord Roboute Guilliman is in charge since he is a pro match, but there are lots of conflicting theories online about how the inquisition are above all but it is now clear to me that Guilliman is in fact the Regent of Terra and his authority is almost absolute. But one other question arises, can Guilliman command the Custodes?
SORT OF! TECHNICALLY! MAYBE? It's just like everything else. Right now he sort of can because they've agreed to be part of the crusade but also they could decide not to and they'd have a case for that too
Love this sh*t. I've long thought you could do an awesome game about running the Imperium at a macro level - managing tithes, launching crusades, fielding reports from Inquisitors, making sure the AdMech are talking to the Navy etc. One suspects it could only work as a computer game, but I'd love to see it - get on it, Relic Entertainment.
Great video! Thank you very much. I'd love to see more of the politics and struggles within the Imperium, those "petty disagreements" which stagnate the Imperial complex.
Now these are the kind of lore videos we need. watching the 9th video about Sanguinius and his legion is nice and all but rarely do we get stuff like this.
I see the relationship between the inquisition and Adeptus Astartes being like the one between the Supreme Court U.S, and President Jackson. Adeptus Astartes: You made your ruling, now inforce it. We control rhe Military.
I will watch this again and again until I understand everything you said. THIS HAS TO BE THE BEST VIDEO ON THIS SUBJECT THAT I'VE SEEN!! Ok...gotta watch again.
Just came across this and the High Lord vid. Bit of a curiosity question if any one knows any detail, with the Dark Angels now having their Primarch back now in addition to Gullieman. Does Lion El' Johnson hold as much power to Roboute?
He has no official position. He's a random guy wandering around Imperium Nihilus but with no connection or formal position in the government of the imperium.
I do look forward to the moment when the Inquisition decides to fuck around with Guilliman, probably after they find out about the Imperium Secundus somehow. Because then they are going to find out so hard why Bobby G is the man.
I highly doubt the inquisition will care about that. Imperium Secundus was a short lived idea 10,000 years ago during the heresy and was abandoned. I mean the Inquisition wasn't even a thing back then.
Guilliman doesn't want another civil war so he will bow down to the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition. This is also why he is so worried about anyone finding about Imperium Secundus. The majority of the Imperium finding out that Guilliman denies the divinity of the Emperor and all of a sudden he is the enemy of the Imperium. Despite being the supposed man, he is still not the man enough to go against the religion of the people.
10:20 that’s such an amazing workaround and insanely funny, interpreting the law to the literal letter. Hey, they said we can’t have armed men, but we won’t a military force, what do we do? Simple, We eilll make them all woman, that way we obey orders and have our military.
Quick question(perhaps arbitrary): at 22:28 you said Oficio Prefectum but it says on the charr Oficio Prefectus. Which one is it? (ftm I'm sticking with Prefectum)
my favorite 40k horror story is that woman who basically killed millions of people because she deliberately sabotaged logistical paperwork of food and munitions for multiple worlds. just goes to show the nightmare of the imperium's bureaucracy
40k and especially the Imperium is basically Dune fan fiction: constant inter imperial conflicts, Navigators/Guild Navigators, God Emperor, refractor fields, galactic holy wars, the fact everyone carries swords and a lot more
The reason why 40k is the BEST sci-fi setting is because EVERY other great sci-fi franchise is in it. Star wars, star trek, Stargate, starship troopers, Alien, Terminator and on and on. Something you really love is already in there. ...it's easily the BEST. 🏆
''Well, ACTUALLY'' Haha but seriously, you said that the Inquisition was founded by Malcador AFTER the Heresy, but Malcador died at the end of the Siege of Terra. Although he did put down the base of the organisation that did became the Inquisition, it could be argued that its not exact. That being said, thanks for the video: as usual, your stuff is awesome!
I mean when it took 10 damn years just to change Ciaphas Cain's status from KIA to active (this happened many times of course) of course the inefficiency of the administratum is far too easy to see
The only this i might not totally agree on your chart, perhaps a little change via the Adeptus Custodes a Line from the emperor to them, who els do they really answer to.
Then add on top of that for the Astartes you have some of the OG Chapters that can say fuck you and return to Legion strength when they say so (some arguably never disbanded) and another Primarch running around, to say little of the soft power they hold by simple reverence.
The thing I like to think about occasionally is how budgeting works 😂. Like the inquisition seems to have unlimited funds and absolutely no oversight. Which seems unlikely on the face of it, albeit I suppose the Gestapo etc worked on similar principles. I also like to think about the economics of the Astartes chapters. Again, this idea they are entirely self supporting and beholden to no-one feels like a recipe for trouble. Plus the economics of transporting Terra's food from other worlds! 😮 Yes, I'm fun at parties...😅
I thought the administratum was the one in charge of the day to day in the imperium while the high lords were just like a senate. Bear in mind it's highly corrupted, inefficient and bureaucratic.
He would Bassically wield similar authority to guilliman, tho he would probably let guilliman still have his fancy titles since he is the better man to lead the imperium to war but yeah. Personally I believe the lion and big G are directly under the emperor and above all else
@@Alexgamer-wx1hs I still love the story at the council just after they have won the Horus Heresy and the Emperor has been put in the Golden throne where Guilliman lays out his codex Astartes and states that the legions must be broken into chapters and someone accuses him of wanting to take the Imperium for himself and Guilliman says: 'The Ultramarines currently make up 3/5 of all Space Marines. ...If I wanted the Imperium I would take it!'
Roughly. Head of state: Our Glorious Golden Emperor Of Mankind Head of Government: The spiritual Liege Roboute Gullimen. Legislature: Senatorum Imperialis.
I've come to conclude that the high lord in charge of the Imperial Millitary and Guilliman take joint responsibility over the armed forces, while the rest is left to the high lords, while both leave the Inquisition alone, it seems everyone involved is happy with this arrangement as it only proved to be an improvement over before him showing up again.
"One of the more sinister organizations"
Do you have any idea how little that narrows it down?
Has anyone ever noticed how we got a *rainbow coded* "Priesthood of Terra"
I mean, you got the...
•RED - Tech Priests, Adeptus Mechanicus
•YELLOW (with RED sash) - The Chosen, Adeptus Astronomica
•GREEN, Acolytes & Adepts, Adeptus Astra Telepathica
•BLUE - Adepts, Adeptus Astronomica
•BROWN &/or BROWN - Adepts, Adeptus Administratum
The grimmdark future stans Pride lol.
The Imperium is inclusive of who they soul-sacrifice to the corpse of the half-dead Immortal God-Emperor of Mankind!
We're ALL Human after all, Right?
😃👉🏽👉🏽
✊🏽🏳️🌈💀
Could you make a video (or even just a short) covering this, I cannot UNthink it. 😅😂
@@orraklbenedict1832if you can fire a lasgun the Guard don’t care who you are 😄
@@orraklbenedict1832oh fucking lgtv just cant accet that not everything rainbow meant supporting them
@@orraklbenedict1832 Dude, the rainbow is all the colours. By your logic, any thing that uses colours is secretly proPride. By the way, you missed Orange and Purple you Pritt Stick
Does this mean there is more then one Ordos Sinister?
As a Civil Servant, a 35 minute video about the governance and organisation structure of the Imperium fills me with a weird combination of dread, loathing and satisfaction.
Any envy for not having a militarized and fanatically deranged wing of your department?
Only a little bit... @@Elizabeth-Coleman
Join the Indonesian civil service then. You become an automatic reservist and the military will "train" you every 2 or 3 years by bringing you to the shooting range where you get to shoot old surplus AK 47s or M14.
@@rakaisjwara9856with Komcad already exist, i doubt they still conduct that training
Every high lord to themself: "these people are insane. Thank the emperor I'm in charge"
One standard Imperial weekend? According to the dating system that could be anywhere between
- calculates -
2 days to seven years
What!? You have applied the forbidden Firstonian doctrine to your dates! HE'S A FIRSTONIAN! A CHRONOLOGICAL HERETIC! BURN HIM!
(The new official Bornian Imperial reckoning is between 1.8 days to seven years and three months)
😂😂😂
Unfortunately, Ian was becalmed in the Warp for 1000 years while only a single weekend passed in the material realm 😂
Point about the planetary governors is a good one. It’s important not to think of it as a giant space country. Instead of viewing the map as its borders, imagine the map as showing “these planet governments pay taxes to Terra”
I would reckon the imperium, probably would not intervene if a local government was overthrown by a rebellion, as long as the new government pays the tithe.
Oops meant to comment not reply
Maybe it's 'cause I'm a lawyer, but I just love Imperium bureaucracy. One of my favorites aspects of the inefficiency of the Administratum, and the gargantuan size of the Imperium is the fact that nobody knows for sure how to keep track of time, just showing how the most ordinary of things can become a giant mess in this chaotic universe.
lol, same for me as a law bachelor, reading about the governance of the imperium itself for the first time also makes me realize that life in the imperium is very much depends on what planet you came from, from each planet in the imperium, imperium at large only requires you to pay your designated tithe and stay loyal, they don't give af about how you govern your own planet, imperium is so vast that conducting centralize rule from Terra is impossible, hell Imperium can't even enforce common currency throughout it's realm
you can either be born in a civilized planet where there is rule of law,your life is valued, your administratum cares about you and your life is overall good, or you can be born on a knight world or feudal world, where your life would be simple but pretty fulfilling, or you can be born in a soul grinder that is lower class of hive world or daily struggle for survival in a feral world, all are possible
I am a public servant / policy advisor and I love it as well, its strangely relatable sometimes.
"I am sorry, we closed your request for administrative reasons because of the following: your request took too long to process. Please submit it again."
For example, we have no idea the day of the Emperor's Feast Day or Sanguinala (Christmas day 40k)
I write some fluff recently that focused on the weird time hijinks (both new and old). I think the new chronology is one of my favourite bits of worldbuilding.
It's an implicit admission by Bobbie G that the Imperium isn't in control, and won't be any time soon. Not only that, but it's an admission of such to the people (admin, ship's captains, navigators) who are the most invested in the illusion of said control.
Everyone in this comment chain is a part of the problem that contributes to the inefficiency and downfall of nations and doesn't consider themselves as a bad person. I know I'm a shitty citizen, but god damn ya'll.
Fun story we were told when I was still working for Games Workshop: Apparently during the writing for one of the editions (4th or 5th, I am not sure which one) the had a similar chart in the studio to work out how the Imperium... well, worked. And one day a high-ranking manager, supposedly the CEO at the time, walked in and started staring at the chart for several minutes. Being management, he did know a thing or two about organization. And when asked what he thought he replied "Doesn't work." Upon further inquiry he elaborated. "I mean, it looks like it would work, and it probably will work for a while, but eventually the entire system will collapse." Which to his surprise made everyone quite happy and there was a general "We got it right!" mood, which made the manager shake his head and leave.
Don't know if that story is actually true. I have no proof. But it gave us all a good laugh :)
That's hilarious, and I choose to believe it. XD
I believe it, given the guys in charge at the time and game designers at the time, it seems like the sort of interaction they'd have
And then current GW management took over, saw said chart screwed up in the waste paper basket, and thought 'oh look, the solution for how to organise our rules development and codex writing teams'
I mean, this implies there's an objective way of looking at an organisation and identifying it'll fail. Not only is management not an exact science like that, we're to believe that this once in a generation manager, this Lissan al'Gaib with the power of perfect prescience, works for GW?!
@@Deimos2k5 No, this implies that this Gw manager was using his own personal experience and assumptions to make a comment about the chart.
I work with organisational development for large corporations. ArbitorIan have a better grasp of the Imperium's power structure than a lot of my clients have of their own organisation.
to be fair I think you can fairly safely say Guilliman wields supreme authority over both the High Lords and the Inquisition in practice, given that he’s a primarch, revered as a living saint, commands basically the single largest force of space marines in existence right now and has a very big flamey sword.
There's a Dawn of Fire book where an Inquisitor actually straight up tells Guilliman that he only answers to the Emperor
@@jordanetherington1922 I mean, guillimans words are Bassically the words of the emperor right now. Considering even the custodian guard is now taking orders from hi after dreams from the emperor. He practically has the authority of the emperor just not the same respect as him
@@Alexgamer-wx1hs He'll believe that when the Emperor says so
He has both a sword given to him by an oily mechanical turtle and a mandate from the masses after being ressurected by some watery tart. Thats as much authority as any man could get before god say they can rule.
Then that happened too.
@@jordanetherington1922sure, many inquisitors understand their role that way, but were the inquisition writ large to try and defy Guilliman it would probably not go well for them, even if Guilliman’s position is delicate enough that he has to be careful about what rulings he makes
The question, "How does it all work?" is an oxymoron. That implies it works lol
I think there is a slight but important difference between working extremely poorly and not working at all 😄
Friends don let friend ask "How" for ANYTHING whatsoever, works in 40K.
i mean, they're still there, so it does work
It's the difference between efficient and effective... it's not very efficient, but despite that it is effective... sort of, I mean the Imperium is still standing after 10 millennia despite being beset on all sides so it clearly can get stuff done. If only by throwing a few million bodies at every problem.
Given the Imperium has lasted longer than any other known human civilisation, saying it 'doesn't work' is frankly ridiculous.
I've rarely clicked on a video thumbnail so quickly, gimme that sweet administrative lore
He's not going to dm you bro
It seems nice of the Imperium to send out Black Ships to give all those eager psykers a ride to school. Such a great support system, definitely the Imperium at its best.
Your government aid at its best.
The Imperium has legions of bureucrats trying to figure out how the hell the Imperium is run and for the past 10,000 years they still don't have an answer
The Imperium is just that one South Park episode where they play as cops.
"We're in charge here!"
"Not anymore you're not"
“Aw, snap.”
Ah yes, When a planetary scale doomsday caused Trillion killed is caused by Bureaucratic failure, But only count 0.0001% of All Imperium
If the enemies of the Imperium really want to pull it all down they should stop fighting for a few hundred years. The whole thing would fall apart
There's a flaw in that system in that it will only propel the Imperium to fight even harder to destroy enemies who, for some reason, stopped fighting. War is the fuel that runs the Imperium and there will be war whether the mutant, the alien or the heretic wants to fight or not. LOL
Yeah I had a similar thought along the lines of "the necrons are the smartest and most technologically advanced race and isn't INHERENTLY murder crazy. They should team up with the imperium and shit stomp everyone else." Then someone pointed out how necrons also have the biggest superiority complex in the galaxy second probably only to fulgrim. Also they hate anyone that's not them typically.
Sadly this strategy will no longer work now that Robbie G has returned. Hence why so many want to kill him aside from the Eldar and the Tau
@@TullaryxA real-life integral part of fascism, just shows what a nicely done satire 40k is
" *just* *like* *in* *real* *life* it's a colossal edifice that has lost sight of why it actually exists"
Drink a shot every time something on the Imperium is based on "ancient oaths and treaties".
You need a space marine liver to survive this challenge.
In Rogue Trader the RPG you got to play imperial nobility and deal with this nonsense. At least one player will be a rogue trader, an imperial noble. The players learn that while they start out in command of an imperial cruiser and just go upwards, they also deal with people on that level. You can be there at the start of colonization and set up the stupid treaties people will follow for millennia to come. As a holder of a Warrant, you also have obligations and limits tied to it. Like supplying ships to the defence of a stellar cluster, to settle and maintain worlds in a general area etc.
Imperial Bureaucracy lore is my comfy place. It's like that fable about the want of a nail leading to the loss of a war. A stroke of a pen by accident and your frozen death world doesn't get any warm blankets this year because they're accidentally sent to a tropical pleasure world instead
"Some overworked office drone forgot to carry the 2 for the thousandth time today, now our hive world needs to stretch three days' food to three years."
I love the one horror story about the administratum girl who purposely messed with supplying worlds and battlefields killing millions as no one would stop her cause they’re too busy trying to run their part of the Imperium (and that she finally felt power over others once in her life) . And as the book progresses to its final part, when the girl is being saved by an imperial ship we learn that the Imperial crew will actually choose to cannibalize her because someone messed up their resupply of foodstuffs. It’s a bit karmic as although it could’ve been of her own doing, it also likely represents that within the vast administratum some other bloke could’ve been acting the same as her or genuinely messed up which led to her own death.
@@brian2888 One evil bureaucrat has nothing on Ghengis Khan or Stalin lol
@@OldManRogers If by nothing you mean everything lol. In the year 41,999 countless trillions live and billions die each. Stalin couldn't even kill a billion people and Gengis never even made it to the americas. No the comparison your looking to is perhaps coloumbus who caused an apocolypse in the americas through plauge.
There are apparently Munitorum storage worlds out there, with enough tanks and other equipment to get a small crusade off the ground that have just been there in stasis for centuries, because the paperwork got lost and nobody has come to requisition it.
For anyone who has ever dealt with middle management, HR and external contractors, imagine that cranked up to 11. Then double it.
Then add an Ork Wagh.
@@_DeadEnd_ Ah, I see you've met Jerry from accountign as well...
Always add an Ork Waagh. Adds flavour.
And then make all of them fight each other
The script for this episode is impressively tight considering how sprawling and tangential the subject can be. Well done!
It's basically today's bureaucracy- paid to do something and jealously guarding that something and eternally trying to expand their remit. "Yes Minister" captures it all.
"How does it work"
That's the thing. The Imperium doesnt work, it just lumber's on by sheer inertia.
Todd Howard: It just works!
Introducing the new Lord Guilliman, Robute... uh... Guilliman
Rowboat Girlyman is a G.
"..but *actually* they are their own seperate entity" :D
The imperium has the ultimate checks and balances: no one likes each other and has even less trust for each other
After getting over the initial awe of power armor and space tanks, this was the stuff that really made me delve deeper into Warhammer 40k. I just love how batshit it is. One thing that wasn't mentioned but that's kinda cool are the successive layers of administration, such as the Lord Sectors or the Segmentum Fortresses (which are really more like interstellar DMV's or harbors rather than what the name implies.)
The 'meta' aspect of your videos puts you head and shoulders above other lore yootoobers. You know when to take it seriously, and when not to.
“I’ve been scrivening for a standard imperial weekend” is stuck an honest and relatable statement. I love it so much
Another great video, I think the Imperium of Man gives so much 'scaffold' for people to build stories and campaigns around with all the opportunities for back-stabbing, score-settling and general incompetence.
Keeping an organisation chart accurate for even a mid-sized government department is hard enough.
Sly Marbo is running the Imperium.
Obviously.
His edicts are just various forms of "AAAAAAAHHH!", though.
One of my favorite bits of lore in 40k is that the administratum is so unbelievably fractured that they don't even know what year it is. I'm pretty sure the current lore is that it's some time in the very early 42nd millennium, like 41,005 or something.
It's the best way to acknowledge that it is impossible to have the whole galaxy under one timezone.
As always, Ian has you covered on that in his video on how to tell the dates and time in the Imperium.
th-cam.com/video/9YJAf2w4M3Y/w-d-xo.htmlsi=-91o4z_u6oGizoSo
Also the Warp changes time perception.
@@glandhound nothing a galactic scale daylight saving time couldn’t fix
They know roughly what year it is on Terra, with only a few blank eras and weirdo drift. What happens when communication can only go through the mind-symbolism of telepaths and the warp is nonsense.
I think if you managed to find your way all through the beurocracy, you would find Alpharius sitting in a small room with a computer controlling it all.
Brilliant, thanks Arbitor Ian, I learned a lot of stuff from that!
This is a lot of work. Well done Ian in collating it.
As a Political Science major, I should totally do an essay on comparing the Imperial bureaucracy and trying to find parallels with modern governments.
This was one of the best lore videos I've ever seen to help me wrap my head around warhammer lore. You're the man!
Ian, you are leagues better than any other 40k lore TH-camr out there. Keep up the amazing work!
Ian, another excellent, succinct and digestible effort from you. Thanks mate. You keep the interest in 40k fresh and do so much for the hobby; I hope GW appreciates just how good you are. Love your work.
Guilliman is Terra's boss. Since, you know, Emperor "told him".
He's da biggest, so he's da boss
Except that he still has to keep quiet about that whole Imperial Truth thing... must not piss off the Ecclesiarchy.
I fully endorse the idea that Guilliman likely had no real conversation with the Emperor, and just took charge because.. Well, he's an actual *Primarch.* Who would have the balls to actually call him out on it, or challenge his authority? Likely nobody who would not actually support him taking charge from the bureaucrats anyway, like the Custodes.
@@chromasus9983 I like how it's never entirely clear what happens inside the Palace. Maybe a handful of people except the inner household of maybe 100-300 have been inside and they all come out a little changed.
It's been said before but it's worth saying again and again: Thanks for these videos! They're brilliantly put together, extremely informative, and your genius at picking apart and highlighting the satire and (lower case 'c') chaos of 40K is outstanding.
Bravo!
I have been looking for an answer to this question for too long, which is "who is really in charge" and your video really helped me understand much about the imperial bureaucracy. I've always thought that Lord Roboute Guilliman is in charge since he is a pro match, but there are lots of conflicting theories online about how the inquisition are above all but it is now clear to me that Guilliman is in fact the Regent of Terra and his authority is almost absolute. But one other question arises, can Guilliman command the Custodes?
SORT OF! TECHNICALLY! MAYBE?
It's just like everything else. Right now he sort of can because they've agreed to be part of the crusade but also they could decide not to and they'd have a case for that too
@niftypunk7120
Roboute Guilliman is in fact taller and has a flaming sword therefore he is above them.
If the Emporer ever does get his arse off the Golden throne he’s going to be really confused
These ones don't move that much but, to be fair, it's all happening in a very small area
One of the best TH-cam Channels for all things Warhammer, delivers once again. Thank you Ian, the job's a good un'.
Reminds me of the very real structural crises of the Holy Roman Empire and Shogunate Japan.
Love this sh*t. I've long thought you could do an awesome game about running the Imperium at a macro level - managing tithes, launching crusades, fielding reports from Inquisitors, making sure the AdMech are talking to the Navy etc. One suspects it could only work as a computer game, but I'd love to see it - get on it, Relic Entertainment.
Great video! Thank you very much. I'd love to see more of the politics and struggles within the Imperium, those "petty disagreements" which stagnate the Imperial complex.
Now these are the kind of lore videos we need. watching the 9th video about Sanguinius and his legion is nice and all but rarely do we get stuff like this.
Living the fact that a fellow British person busts out the org chart. Brilliant
You are one of the few 40k youtubers who consistently demonstrate that they TRULY get it.
Some people argue that the Tyranids are 40ks version of Skaven, but I disagee. I think the Imperium is 40K's version of Skaven.
I see the relationship between the inquisition and Adeptus Astartes being like the one between the Supreme Court U.S, and President Jackson.
Adeptus Astartes: You made your ruling, now inforce it. We control rhe Military.
"Who is driving? Oh my God! Bear is driving! How can that BE?!"
Finally, someone tells me the difference between Ministorum, Munitorum and Administratum
I will watch this again and again until I understand everything you said. THIS HAS TO BE THE BEST VIDEO ON THIS SUBJECT THAT I'VE SEEN!! Ok...gotta watch again.
24:18 was not expecting to see Commissar Robbie Rotten 🙂
This was excellent! I forwarded this video to some friends who want to write 40K fanfics
I only write 30K Slash Fiction.
Wow, it really sounds like modern day government! Wait a minute, I think I understand 40K now.
This is a real good ep Ian once again! Sums up the infinite context of the imperium and really shows how its all so massive and interesting xoxoxo
Love your lore videos.
Just came across this and the High Lord vid. Bit of a curiosity question if any one knows any detail, with the Dark Angels now having their Primarch back now in addition to Gullieman. Does Lion El' Johnson hold as much power to Roboute?
He has no official position. He's a random guy wandering around Imperium Nihilus but with no connection or formal position in the government of the imperium.
My favorite part of Necropolis was when Gaunt went to court and said in lament terms “your fucking laws don’t matter.”
I do look forward to the moment when the Inquisition decides to fuck around with Guilliman, probably after they find out about the Imperium Secundus somehow. Because then they are going to find out so hard why Bobby G is the man.
I highly doubt the inquisition will care about that. Imperium Secundus was a short lived idea 10,000 years ago during the heresy and was abandoned. I mean the Inquisition wasn't even a thing back then.
@@quigonlynn1 So you haven't read the Dark Imperium trilogy yet, have you?
@@toniviskari417 Yes but now the lion also stalks the galaxy again. And will back his brother
Guilliman doesn't want another civil war so he will bow down to the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition. This is also why he is so worried about anyone finding about Imperium Secundus. The majority of the Imperium finding out that Guilliman denies the divinity of the Emperor and all of a sudden he is the enemy of the Imperium. Despite being the supposed man, he is still not the man enough to go against the religion of the people.
@@fuzzyhair321 After he scolds him for coming up with the Codex Astartes and the breaking up of the Legions.
Great video. Impressively easy to follow summary of a massively complex topic.
"Hi gang..." *stress leaves my body*
I was under the impression that in the 41st millenium the Astronomicon consumes nearly 10,000 psykers a day...
Really enjoyed this. Thank you.
The Imperium is organised..... theoretically
I was wondering if you ever took a breath during that whole process. 😂well done and thanks for breaking it down for us!
10:20 that’s such an amazing workaround and insanely funny, interpreting the law to the literal letter. Hey, they said we can’t have armed men, but we won’t a military force, what do we do? Simple, We eilll make them all woman, that way we obey orders and have our military.
Quick question(perhaps arbitrary): at 22:28 you said Oficio Prefectum but it says on the charr Oficio Prefectus. Which one is it? (ftm I'm sticking with Prefectum)
Op-Ed: The Imperium is controlled by a Shiba Inu in a control room.
The infamous Doge Vandire exerts his influence in all quarters of the Imperium
🏆
my favorite 40k horror story is that woman who basically killed millions of people because she deliberately sabotaged logistical paperwork of food and munitions for multiple worlds. just goes to show the nightmare of the imperium's bureaucracy
Even if this is titled as a deep dive into who's in charge it works as an excellent introduction to the Imperium
In the Grim darkness of the far future, there's still Tax... damn you Guilliman
This was a REALLY good breakdown. Thank you for the info!
Wait.. There is a Bene Gesserit Style Sororitas Order? I love it!
40k's biggest influencer is Dune.
40k and especially the Imperium is basically Dune fan fiction: constant inter imperial conflicts, Navigators/Guild Navigators, God Emperor, refractor fields, galactic holy wars, the fact everyone carries swords and a lot more
The reason why 40k is the BEST sci-fi setting is because EVERY other great sci-fi franchise is in it. Star wars, star trek, Stargate, starship troopers, Alien, Terminator and on and on. Something you really love is already in there. ...it's easily the BEST. 🏆
@@Yurt_enthusiast7 dune is kinda shit though.
@@velstadtvonausterlitz2338 thanks for the input
''Well, ACTUALLY'' Haha but seriously, you said that the Inquisition was founded by Malcador AFTER the Heresy, but Malcador died at the end of the Siege of Terra. Although he did put down the base of the organisation that did became the Inquisition, it could be argued that its not exact. That being said, thanks for the video: as usual, your stuff is awesome!
Bloody well done, Ian!
I mean when it took 10 damn years just to change Ciaphas Cain's status from KIA to active (this happened many times of course) of course the inefficiency of the administratum is far too easy to see
praise be spaceking !! hahaha figure head had me in stiches
I'm very disappointed there wasn't a Electric 6 "Dance Commander " reference in here.
The only this i might not totally agree on your chart, perhaps a little change via the Adeptus Custodes a Line from the emperor to them, who els do they really answer to.
"Who's in charge?"
Wait... someone is?!
Dang, one of the only bits ya skipped over was the Tempestus, I was curious why they're separate from the Guard as a whole.
Good deal, Ted! I already picked up the Alt cover from my work, but I'd love to gift the standard to my Niece.
So the power structure of the Imperium mirrors the administrative structure of GW itself? Only a lot more efficient?
What is gw
Absolutely love this lore videos, thanks!
I feel like I'm the only one left who isn't "frequently a member of the high lords of terra"
Awesome video, thanks for making it.
Great video & great work!
Then add on top of that for the Astartes you have some of the OG Chapters that can say fuck you and return to Legion strength when they say so (some arguably never disbanded) and another Primarch running around, to say little of the soft power they hold by simple reverence.
bold of you to assume that weekends still exist in the grim darkness of the 41st millenium
The thing I like to think about occasionally is how budgeting works 😂. Like the inquisition seems to have unlimited funds and absolutely no oversight. Which seems unlikely on the face of it, albeit I suppose the Gestapo etc worked on similar principles. I also like to think about the economics of the Astartes chapters. Again, this idea they are entirely self supporting and beholden to no-one feels like a recipe for trouble. Plus the economics of transporting Terra's food from other worlds! 😮 Yes, I'm fun at parties...😅
I thought the administratum was the one in charge of the day to day in the imperium while the high lords were just like a senate. Bear in mind it's highly corrupted, inefficient and bureaucratic.
What would happen if Lion el'Jonson wanted to weigh in? ... Surely no one other than Guilliman would be able to contest his opinions?
He would Bassically wield similar authority to guilliman, tho he would probably let guilliman still have his fancy titles since he is the better man to lead the imperium to war but yeah. Personally I believe the lion and big G are directly under the emperor and above all else
@@Alexgamer-wx1hs I still love the story at the council just after they have won the Horus Heresy and the Emperor has been put in the Golden throne where Guilliman lays out his codex Astartes and states that the legions must be broken into chapters and someone accuses him of wanting to take the Imperium for himself and Guilliman says: 'The Ultramarines currently make up 3/5 of all Space Marines. ...If I wanted the Imperium I would take it!'
Nah! No one would want to be inside Rouboute's shoe. It's vital but extra boring job, a man who loves action wouldn't want it.
Where does the Ordo Sinister fit into this? Do we have confirmation of them operating in M41?
Roughly.
Head of state: Our Glorious Golden Emperor Of Mankind
Head of Government: The spiritual Liege Roboute Gullimen.
Legislature: Senatorum Imperialis.
Good stuff dude. TH-cam algorithm brought me here:)
I've come to conclude that the high lord in charge of the Imperial Millitary and Guilliman take joint responsibility over the armed forces, while the rest is left to the high lords, while both leave the Inquisition alone, it seems everyone involved is happy with this arrangement as it only proved to be an improvement over before him showing up again.
Just give the Emperor a text-to-speech device to smooth things out.