The world of Warhammer 40,000 is always portrayed as dark, dirty, and utterly deadly – “grimdark” indeed. What may seem like a meme to many, because they only know the shining heroes of the Space Marines, is bitter reality for the people in the Imperium. Anatoly Shestov, the Executive Producer of Dark Heresy, gives an insight into life and survival in the Imperium.
No race in the galaxy has it easy – except Orks perhaps because they just want to fight constantly, and there is certainly enough war in Warhammer. For everyone else, times are anything but rosy.
Looking at the big picture, the Aeldari and humans probably have it the worst:
- Aeldari, or Eldar, the space elves of Warhammer 40,000, are practically extinct and are just waiting for their demise.
- Humans, on the other hand, live in a world that sees them not as individuals but as resources. Literally: after their death, they are simply processed into food.
It’s actually hard to imagine how dark it is in the Imperium of Man. That’s why I spoke with someone who has dealt with it extensively: Anatoly Shestov.
Anatoly is the Executive Producer of Dark Heresy, the new role-playing game set in the world of Warhammer 40,000. In a one-and-a-half-hour conversation, we talked about all sorts of topics related to Warhammer – including the cities of the Imperium and what makes them so deadly.
Underhives are perhaps the deadliest place in the whole Imperium
In Dark Heresy, you play as an Inquisitor who must fight through the depths of an Underhive and uncover various cases. Accordingly, a lot of research and consultation with Games Workshop has gone into ensuring the portrayal is as accurate as possible.
For clarification: an Underhive is the lowest area of the already dangerous cities of the Imperium. Toxic waste, crumbling ruins of old factories, and gangs that would kill for boots with soles thicker than two millimeters await there.
There is no drinking water, hardly any edible food, and not even air that you can breathe easily. No daylight, no ventilation – just pure, raw survival at any cost. And that cost is often high.
Survival lasts “maybe a few hours, and that’s the optimistic estimate”
In the middle of the conversation, I simply asked Anatoly if he would dare to survive in such a deadly urban jungle of an Underhive – assuming he had equipment, weapons, and so on. His answer was surprisingly resolute:
I personally? Maybe a few hours, at most. And that’s already the really optimistic estimate. It’s not about weapons or anything. It’s about the ability to survive in a technological jungle.
You know those brave travelers and expeditions in deserts and jungles. They had weapons. They even had local guides, plenty of supplies. But they died from diarrhea, from mosquitoes, and various other things because they didn’t know how to behave in such situations.
In my imagination, the Underhive is just as dangerous. Even more so. So it’s not about whether you have a weapon or not. You need someone to teach you how you aren’t dead at this moment. That’s basically what every portrayal of society in an Underhive looks like.
Anatoly Shestov, Executive Producer of Dark Heresy at Owlcat
And that’s only the societal aspect. If you look at how people actually interact with each other, the situation looks even wilder.
Technological jungle and Wild West at the same time
On a human level, Anatoly explains further, the Underhive is more like the Wild West. A place where anyone could be dead by morning has no potential for rules and laws.
It’s all about trust: “I won’t lie to you, and you won’t lie to me in return. That’s how we survive the next 30 years together.” But if everyone knew tomorrow was the last day on Earth, everything would spiral out of control, and that’s exactly how it is in the Underhive.
This is the third part of the great lore interview with Anatoly Shestov. Originally, I planned to make only three parts out of it, but… there will be a few more because we really dived deep into the lore. If you missed them, here are the previous parts:
- In the first part, Anatoly explains to me why Warhammer is so dark and why it can never get better.
- In the second part, we talk about the Inquisition and what makes it so dangerous.
The next parts will be published in the coming weeks here on MeinMMO. A little sneak peek: It will still be about evil Space Marines, fanatical women, and maybe even aliens with a very special diet plan.
Warhammer is more than just lore and the world – it’s actually something entirely different: a game with plastic figures. Very expensive plastic figures… However, getting into the hobby doesn’t have to involve a mortgage: With these 3 options, you can try Warhammer without having to sell your kidney.
There are small groups of people sticking together, forming gangs or cults, and that’s almost everywhere in society. As an individual, you can’t survive at all. And that’s exactly what the Imperium wants.
“The entire structure is designed so that you shouldn’t think”
When asked what exactly makes life in an Underhive so deadly and dangerous, Anatoly gives me a whole explanation for the Imperium as a whole. That you must not live but function there is not a result of war, but the driving force behind it:
It’s a war economy in most territories, in most locations, and on most planets and cities [of the Imperium]. You are not supposed to go to work and then have leisure time or retire or go on vacation. No.
The entire structure is built around the idea that you shouldn’t think. Work is just one of the means to achieve that. Even for those who are capable, it is so.
And now imagine what happens to people who have no talent for anything. Those who can be replaced. Those who were not randomly in the right place at the right time. What happens to them? They end up in the deepest depths of society. The metaphor in Warhammer for this is the Underhive. […]
People try to survive in this technological jungle without hope for success. In every hive, every macro-pole, on every city-planet, it depends on something else. It could be temperature, ecology, toxic waste, or simply the absence of water and food.
Anatoly Shestov, Executive Producer of Dark Heresy at Owlcat
And that’s only the societal aspect. If you look at how people actually interact with each other, the situation looks even wilder.
Technological jungle and Wild West at the same time
On a human level, Anatoly explains further, the Underhive is more like the Wild West. A place where anyone could be dead by morning has no potential for rules and laws.
It’s all about trust: “I won’t lie to you, and you won’t lie to me in return. That’s how we survive the next 30 years together.” But if everyone knew tomorrow was the last day on Earth, everything would spiral out of control, and that’s exactly how it is in the Underhive.
This is the third part of the great lore interview with Anatoly Shestov. Originally, I planned to make only three parts out of it, but… there will be a few more because we really dived deep into the lore. If you missed them, here are the previous parts:
- In the first part, Anatoly explains to me why Warhammer is so dark and why it can never get better.
- In the second part, we talk about the Inquisition and what makes it so dangerous.
The next parts will be published in the coming weeks here on MeinMMO. A little sneak peek: It will still be about evil Space Marines, fanatical women, and maybe even aliens with a very special diet plan.
Warhammer is more than just lore and the world – it’s actually something entirely different: a game with plastic figures. Very expensive plastic figures… However, getting into the hobby doesn’t have to involve a mortgage: With these 3 options, you can try Warhammer without having to sell your kidney.
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