Warhammer 40K How Would You Go About Creating a Warhammer (40K) Universe?

[Husky_Khan]

Inspired by this post in part.

40K is going to be very, very hard to do justice.

It's so massively over The TOP! That means any attempt to make a TV show will be mostly special effects. That'll be hard to invoke emotion with.

Honestly? If I was doing something in 40k, I'd be looking at Ciaphas Cain and other, less excessive possibles, rather than Space Marines and Primarchs and the like.

Once I'd done an Inquistor series, and Commissar series, then I'd look at a political drama, with the High Lords of Terra or something.

Any pure war show's not going to keep peoples attention easily, and a lot of 40k's going to be in that mold.

(Although, now I'm thinking about it, faction specific mock-umentaries could be brilliant.)

Say you both had the inclination to do your best job as the overall Producer of this new Media Franchise and the backing of some fat wealthy studio and the IP owners so that you can enact said vision for a Warhammer (Cinematic) Universe.

And trying to keep it in the vague realm of practicality, perhaps by approaching it by stages (or phases) and the like.

 

[Simonbob]

Say you both had the inclination to do your best job as the overall Producer of this new Media Franchise and the backing of some fat wealthy studio and the IP owners so that you can enact said vision for a Warhammer (Cinematic) Universe.

And trying to keep it in the vague realm of practicality, perhaps by approaching it by stages (or phases) and the like.

Honestly? The first thing I'd do is rule out doing anything with Primachs, or the Emperor, or other's at the very top.


The first series I'd look to? Either Cain, or something Inquisadorial. Perhaps Adeptus Arbites.

Pretty much CSI Imperium, would be a serious option, or Ciaphas Cain, as a chariter study in war sort of thing. 40k's total universe is massive, but a bunch of it is beyond casual viewers, and some of it is near impossible to show properly. There's been massive problems with the portrail of the Emperor and his Sons in the Horus Heresy books, leading to people thinking much worse of those in them. And that comes back more to the lack of ability to show them right, more than the story elements. They're literally beyond humanity. So, don't touch them.


So, always thinking about something that average people can grasp. So, Imp Guard. So, Craftworld politics. So, the dark comedy of the Orkish rugby team trying to join a human league, and the mess that comes from it.


I'd seriously consider a mockumentry series, done in either Steve Irwin or David Attenborough style, for major factions. "And, here we have the mighty dangerous Dark Eldar, known for their sadism and toxins. I'm gonna put a glove on, and poke them in the bum!"


All of this is compounded by the depth of the 40K universe. You have to introduce elements in ways that feel natural, and fit in the series in question. When you're doing Ciaphas Cain, you can have Tech Priests, or Imp Faith Priests in it, and give some basic details while the main focus of the Ep can be something else. But, it's always got to be about the people as indivduals, and how they deal with the greater worlds. The Adepus Abites trying to solve a murder, and the forensics being done by a tech priest? Having the "Cop" having to translate from "I have prayed on the multi-scammer, and the Holy Technology has revealed the DNA of those present. One of them is varient beyond Holy Human limits, and this one is techno-aceptable."



That's off the top of my head. Fantasitcal setting, humans within it.

 

[Husky_Khan]

So... the other reason that motivated me to making this thread is I saw the Academy Award winning sci-fi action film, 1998's Soldier starring Kurt Russell. What it lacked in overall high quality, it made up for in lack of dialogue. It's actually a pretty decent film which tries to condense a lot of stuff into a 90 minute movie with almost just as many spoken words of dialogue from the main character, the story being of someone being raised from birth to become as perfect a soldier as can be made. There's a plot that goes on from there but that's besides the point. Want to learn about it, here's an analysis of the film from GoodBadFlicks which is a fair way of describing that film.

Spoiler: Soldier Clips

I think it's apparent where I'm taking this though.

Space Marines are the center of the Warhammer universe and taking in what Simonbob said about a story being all action, by following this character journey, it could actually help alleviate that.

In Soldier the first years of life, right up through adulthood and dozens of campaigns is played through perfectly in a montage of scenes. These scenes introduce the character. A montage of scenes in this case however would introduce not just the character, but the Universe of 40K. One of the first scenes of the montage would likely be of some Traitor holding a Woman hostage and the Guardsmen lasgunning them down with only the slightest of hesitation. Instead of just fighting randos on random worlds, it'll show a montage of PDF/Guardsmen fighting Orks and Tyranids and Rebels. You can also introduce things like seeing Drop Pods coming down, daemons, a brief display of Psyker power, interrupting a Chaos ritual, and of course seeing Space Marines etc. But there'd be other scenes where the Guardsmen are engaged in camaraderie and prayer and the like.

But lore followers will know that Adults typically can't become Space Marines. Instead the Space Marines find in the Guardsmen camp a Juvenile who was orphaned in one of the conflicts and taken in by the regiment. Sharp eyed viewers might notice on a replay that the Mom that was gunned down might've been holding a bundle or maybe pulled away from a manger or something. And then later you see a growing lad in the background, like as a child being carried in the background (assuming he was a refugee being rescued perhaps), and then an older kid running along side them cheering during a march through a town, then maybe when older you see an older lad assisting with religious rituals or cooking or even cleaning weapons or something before a final blink and you'll miss it scene of a literal child soldier blazing away with a weapon in the middle of the same final battle of the introduction that the Space Marines show up in. Having him holding a fallen flag in the other hand for bonus points.

Being raised amongst a bunch of the finest soldiers in the galaxy already, they'll select him to become an Aspirant and probably go through some other interesting trials with other aspirants. The Blood Angels and Dark Angels have some fairly grimdark rituals for Aspirant selection which could actually "introduce" the actual character whose already pretty hard from being raised on War. Have him squaring off with Aspirants that are from feral worlds and Hive Gangers etc. With that kind of basis established you can then go into the Neophyte stage and the gruesome surgery and hypnotherapy that takes place as a wonderful climax for the first episode of some $200 million dollar streaming TV series.

Needless to say... the series would be about a Space Marine.

So... perhaps much like how The Mandalorian (re)introduced a lot of people into the inevitable Meh that became DisneyPlus Wars, we can have a first season of this show introduce a Space Marine as a completely original creation in an established setting. After the first episode, it can deal with his time as a Neophyte and eventually a Scout.

The real challenge of the story would be the passage of time, since your typical Scout Marine spends decades as a Neophyte, but if he wasn't going to be exceptional, we wouldn't be following him in a TV Series. So he'd likely become a Battle Brother or standard Space Marine within a human lifetime, because one of the longer storylines would be his upbringing in the Imperial Guard... and perhaps more spookily... the circumstances of how he was found. You can go zany with the circumstances of why he and his family were in the midst of some Chaos Uprising or something and sprinkle in other Chaos nonsense as well and some inter-Imperium Deuterantagonist along with also trying to find some primary external antagonists.

Maybe the initial external antagonist can be an enemy of his particular Company or Chapter (Something Chaos Space Marine would probably be best for the setting), but later on a more focused antagonist can arise for his specific Company that he is a member of that can carry over. Ideally it'd be the opposite of a Space Marine... or a similar foil. Honestly some sort of rivalry with an Eldar would be nice as a long term Deuterantagonist. Eldar aren't necessarily evil but their manipulations, if well written, combined with general xenophobia, could make for a great long term Grey character that flutters into their lives. I'd actually avoid Tau... they're too specific and localized. A novel idea would be an Ork of some sort being a parasocial antagonist. Initially one would feel that would be secondary... but if it's written in an interesting manner without Flanderizing/Overly Meme'ing the Orks... it could be a pretty neat concept.

The main drawback of this I feel would be the idea of having "two beginnings" but I think it could be handled well enough. I loathe voiceover narrations for openings, I'd want to keep text crawls to a minimum and I want something similar to how Lord of the Ring films established the world but without the narration, but focused on the characters.

 

[Simonbob]

Initially one would feel that would be secondary... but if it's written in an interesting manner without Flanderizing/Overly Meme'ing the Orks... it could be a pretty neat concept.

You could well have the ork growing as the boy does, and by the time the boy's a Marine, the Ork could well be the same size.

Gretchen when his mom dies, small ork when he's recruted, etc. Might not work, without more details about Orks, but it could. Orks are a major threat, after all.

 

[Husky_Khan]

You could well have the ork growing as the boy does, and by the time the boy's a Marine, the Ork could well be the same size.

Gretchen when his mom dies, small ork when he's recruted, etc. Might not work, without more details about Orks, but it could. Orks are a major threat, after all.

Well as a small Ladz when he sees the little Oomie blasting away before the Orks break when the Space Marines show up. And then it can go from there since Orks that live longer and survive more warrin tend to grow bigger and 'arder. And with the decades passing of time, the Ork would probably grow into a formidable being indeed if he's still alive. And unlike the Yarrick relationship, Space Marines don't really age out all that easily.

Plus it'd be nice for the Ork to view said Marine as his primary antagonist as opposed to the inverse which would be more incidental. You could even explore later themes and potential quandries and conundrums of "Is your presence bringing the Orks here?" later in the series if the Ork finds out where this particular Veteran Marine is. And if the Marine intentionally broadcasts it for some reason... maybe not on some Imperial World but if he's engaged in some long campaign against Nids or Necrons or Chaos or something and the Ork comes a krumpin... well we never had an Investigation on Orkoid Corruption in recent centuries AFAIK.

Other fun ideas include being captured by some Necron Overlord or Eldar Pirate perhaps and the two hopefully don't have a too cringey Bad Cop-Worse Cop dynamic going on during their escape.

 

[Simonbob]

Other fun ideas include being captured by some Necron Overlord or Eldar Pirate perhaps and the two hopefully don't have a too cringey Bad Cop-Worse Cop dynamic going on during their escape.

Orks and SM Vs Tyranids, told through flashbacks during the Inqisadorial invesigation? Or, just straight out battle scenes, with both saying "I'd like to kill that humie/ork, but the X comes first."






Another idea, you could do a "Raised to be a Commissar" movie, with the ending being him taking over a new IG unit, and sheperding them through a difficult battle" story. They're raised in a dedicated school for that poisition.

A Admiral trying to get a new ship class introduced, with all the politics in that.


There's a lot in 40k.

 

[Husky_Khan]

Orks and SM Vs Tyranids, told through flashbacks during the Inqisadorial invesigation? Or, just straight out battle scenes, with both saying "I'd like to kill that humie/ork, but the X comes first."

Some episodes taking front as a flashback would be a neat concept certainly. And would help illustrate the divide between the Space Marines, the Inquisition and the rest of the Imperium and how special the former two actually are as well.

Either Cain, or something Inquisadorial. Perhaps Adeptus Arbites.

Pretty much CSI Imperium, would be a serious option, or Ciaphas Cain, as a chariter study in war sort of thing. 40k's total universe is massive, but a bunch of it is beyond casual viewers, and some of it is near impossible to show properly. There's been massive problems with the portrail of the Emperor and his Sons in the Horus Heresy books, leading to people thinking much worse of those in them. And that comes back more to the lack of ability to show them right, more than the story elements. They're literally beyond humanity. So, don't touch them.

So, always thinking about something that average people can grasp. So, Imp Guard. So, Craftworld politics. So, the dark comedy of the Orkish rugby team trying to join a human league, and the mess that comes from it.

Another idea, you could do a "Raised to be a Commissar" movie, with the ending being him taking over a new IG unit, and sheperding them through a difficult battle" story. They're raised in a dedicated school for that poisition.

A Admiral trying to get a new ship class introduced, with all the politics in that.

There's a lot in 40k.

I think a Schola Progenium story would work out pretty well since they both deal with students from many backgrounds and also can end up anywhere including as Commissars, Arbiters, Sisters or part of the Inquisition.

Like you I'd definitely avoid anything Primarchy and God-Emphrahish as well. And I'd like to keep most stories in the 40K though probably avoid anything Fall of Cadia related. I'd even hazard adapting a story like Ciaphas Cain until you really get the original stuff down, then maybe one can try and adapt actually widely known stories. Plus I never read the Cain stuff and never really have a plan to either so I can't comment regardless.

But Arbiters are fun since Hive Worlds especially are very ripe for all sorts of storytelling. Commissars because you can do a military story, or because Commissars can operate as independent Agents as well for whatever the Imperium needs. A Commissar could even become part of an Inquisitors Band (of Adventurers) because honestly, while Rogue Traders are neat as well, following around an Inquisitor would really get another POV introduction of the Imperium and the Warhammer 40K verse, especially if they are of a more radical bend (there'll be plenty of more faithful or Puritan types in the Inquisition and elsewhere anyhow). The other advantage of Inquisition storylines thought would be getting those alien POV's more as well.

I feel like Eldar politics would be a big story. It's ambitious and while the scale would be big for the series, it might not be for the audience unless its told really well. Which is why having the Aeldari swirling around on the periphery of stories might be better early on. An Eldar of some sort would make a nice foil for an Inquisitor and something out of the mainstream as well.

A Admiral trying to get a new ship class introduced, with all the politics in that.

There's a lot in 40k.

The Admiral thing would be interesting. Dealing with the Ad Mech, Imperial Navy, Navigator houses, various other Imperium Ministries and the Governor where the Shipyard is. Ken Follett, a historical novelist, once wrote a thick historical novel about the construction of a large Cathedral over the decades in medieval England against the backdrop of 'The Anarchy.' Putting a 40K twist on that would be a really interesting story to tell and one rather attainable I feel as well.

 

[ATP]

Inspired by this post in part.



Say you both had the inclination to do your best job as the overall Producer of this new Media Franchise and the backing of some fat wealthy studio and the IP owners so that you can enact said vision for a Warhammer (Cinematic) Universe.

And trying to keep it in the vague realm of practicality, perhaps by approaching it by stages (or phases) and the like.

Easy peasy:
1.All factions must fight in melee,you could not win using ranged weapons,at best get a draw.
2.In the end,even victor is fucked.

Keep those two rules,and you have ideal WH40.