Civilian Life

[Old_Paladin]

The fact is, that civilian life in the Imperium is just like civilian life in real life; it is infinitely varied.

You have different classes, different jobs and responsibilities and different cultures/life styles.
The average catachan and krieg citizens are going to be very different; even hive worlds like Necromunda and Ververhive are very different.

From slaves and gangers, to the low and middle class, to the high houses and noble houses; settlers, miners, survivalists: it all depends on the world you come from in the vast Imperium.

and don't forget the administratum workers; desk clerks make up a large amount of the working population.

[Duke]

True, most civilians are desk clerks... Again, nobody wants to hear about their lives... Who wants to see a 40k version of the office when there are astartes and planet eating hive minds out there?

Now that I think about it a 40k version of the office would be hilarious!

Duke

[Grailkeeper]

I imagine a 40k verison of the office would go soemthing like this

"that carnifex just ate the Canoness"

"thats what she said"

"that is what she said, we should probably run or something"


Not all of the imperium is bad, it would be quite nice to live in the ultramarine controlled section- a bit like a futuristic ancient rome. But thats as nice as it gets.

There are no civilians on cadia. Any ciivilians on cadia were born on the wrong planet.

[Just_Me]

Ian Watson talked about the universe of 40k being "psychotic"; it's hard to imagine living a nice, quiet, middle class suburban lifestyle in a psychotic universe.

...as opposed to the totally rational, logical, peaceful fluffy unicorn-verse we actually live in?

The thing is the Imperium is not home to billions of people, it is home to trillions, or even quadrillions of them, across millions of worlds. It is absurd to try to imagine a generalization that would cover all of this. The lifestyles of Imperial citizens could be anything from near slavery (or literal slavery), to middle class suburban, to savage stone age culture, to ANYTHING in between. In fact, the law of large numbers pretty much dictates that nearly any possible permutation of the human condition must exist within the Imperium somewhere. The fact is that the weird or super-intense grimdark ones just make more interesting subject matter than the population of Planet Mayberry, OK, so maybe that's going a bit far, but you see my point...

[BuFFo]

Civilians in 40k are no different than you or I.

Wake up, go to work, and sleep, while enjoying what time you have in existence.

Do 40k Civilians play a table top simulation game of ordinary humans on earth shopping?

Capitalism 2k- In the happy, bright past there is only consumption!

[Dr. Doctor]

I wonder if planets in the Imperium get news of whats going on in other sectors of the galaxy, like a Grimdark CNN or something to that extent.

[entendre_entendre]

Well, IIRC, news seems to get spread from system to system by traders, merchants, etc. so news is spread by those means at least. Although the veracity of a story re-told 14 times may not be entirely correct, so it's easier for the authorities to label these as merely rumour. I think one of the Cain novels mentioned this (Cain's Last Stand?) when Cain learned about the Thirteenth Black Crusade being real.

I don't think there is some "Aquila News" or something like that as an interstellar news agency (Although Duke may think different ), local (i.e. one planet)? Yes. Galactic? No.

[ChaosLord127]

I just read the review of Nemesis, and it says that it gives a good view on citizen life. If anyone has read that, can you please share what it says about civies?

[Just_Me]

I just read the review of Nemesis, and it says that it gives a good view on citizen life. If anyone has read that, can you please share what it says about civies?

Well, frankly it says about what the rest of the thread has been saying, that civilian life in the Imperium is pretty similar to civilian life in the here and now. It shows beat cops and harried detectives above them trying to solve day to day crimes, laborers at their work-a-day jobs punching in at shift start and punching out at end of shift, business execs who cheat on their spouses, merchants (at the local, planetary, and even interstellar level) fretting about the bottom line, and politicians trying to look good and climb the ladder, there are school teachers and clerks and bakers etc. Really the nuts and bolts of civilian life are the same as they are now and the same as they have been since about the industrial revolution, only the broad setting is changed.

[rarves]

I think it would be cool if GW did a run of civilian models and vehicles to go along with Cities of Death and all the cool terrain they've put out. Could create some interesting scenarios.