The world of Warhammer 40,000 is a pretty grim place. Grim and dark, in fact. Things are pretty horrible for the brave Imperial troops fighting back endless hordes of aliens, mutants, and heretics, but they’re no summer camp back on the home front either. Squalor, oppression, and violence are the norm, and if you’ve had enough of your miserable citizen’s lot, there’s only one thing for it.
It’s time to start a revolution.
Luckily, some well-spoken chaps with strangely compelling arguments* have given you a way to strike back, and all that’s left is to decide how you want to bring about this ‘Day of Ascension’ they’re talking about. It might seem like a big task, but we’ve done loads of research and come up with three stand-out options for the budding agitator.
1. Take over from the inside
If you’ve read the excellent Black Library novel Day of Ascension by Adrian Tchaikovsky, you’ll have a pretty good idea why a cult labour collective uprising in the depths of a forge world is a dangerous thing indeed. Not only is the planet rife with disaffected labourers and like-minded malcontents – thanks largely to the ruling class’s casual disregard for fleshy things – but the often selfish desires of the local Tech-Priests can be easily manipulated to your advantage.
Take the novel’s deuteragonist Genetor Triskellian, for example – at the first signs of trouble, he’s already thinking about how he can use the cult congregation to strike back against the masters who have wronged him. We won’t spoil how that goes for the world of Morod, but… well, there’s a reason we recommend every revolutionary-in-training gives the book a solid read.
2. Subvert the military
There’s nothing worse than launching your grand bid for freedom only to find your power-picks and mining lasers have to go up against battle tanks. Imagine how much easier it would be if you were the one in the tank, with legions of Brood Brothers leading the charge for the cult community.
It can be risky getting your foot in the door with the local defence forces, but once you do, you’ll have a grand old time making friends and getting your fellow soldiers involved. Squads of like-minded mutineers like the Brood Brothers seen in Kill Team: Termination can be extremely effective at convincing others to sign up for the revolution – with force if necessary – and give you a massive leg up once the powers that be start cracking down on your justified opposition.
Once the ball gets rolling, it’s difficult to stop. In fact, there are already dozens of success stories to follow – just look at what the people of Niades managed to do before some meddling Space Marines got involved. Truly inspiring stuff.
3. Play the long game
We get it – sometimes things go wrong, people get a little bit keen, and the planetary governor blows up your hive with nucleonic missiles. Luckily, our people are built of sterner stuff, and hundreds of years stuck at the bottom of a massive hole is just the kind of respite you need to get the gang back on their feet again.
Although the long days of darkness can do strange mutate-y things to people, we have no reason to believe they will hamper your ability to rise from the ashes and have another crack at liberation. On the contrary – if Hive Secundus is anything to go by, greedy elites looking for excitement will bring advanced technology to you.
We haven’t quite figured out how you convince others to join your much-needed repose, but all the (entirely unfounded) rumours floating around about ‘malformed monsters’ and ‘xenos horrors’ means your oppressors will stay far away while you work on it.
At least one of these options is sure to solve your workplace woes, and if you have any questions, the cult leaders personal betterment representatives will be happy to answer. We hear they’ve even enlisted a cerebral new colleague to help out when things get tricky, so your deliverance is assured!
* We’re not sure whose ‘genes’ they stole, but they must have been excellent salesmen.