Humanity

Overview

"The greatest resource our Holy Imperium possesses is the fathomless multitudes of Humanity itself. No power is mightier and no force more dreadful when turned to a single purpose. By Human hands alone we have remade stars in our image. By this token the wise know that true power lies in the mastery of blood and bone, in the very meat of Mankind."
—Quastor General, Brantus Hurst, Departmento Munitorium Penitential Command

Humans (Homo sapiens), also known as Humanity, Humankind, Mankind, or Man, are the greatest intelligent species in the Milky Way Galaxy in the 41st Millennium A.D. and the rightful rulers of the galaxy under the benevolent rule of the God Emperor of Mankind.
Humans are bipedal mammals originally evolved from primate antecedents on the world of Terra who have proven to prefer highly stratified, hierarchical societies. Humanity is an aggressively violent, territorial and expansionist species that under the rule of the Emperor of Mankind has proven to possess little tolerance for other forms of intelligent life.
Humanity is unfortunately divided into a multitude of factions, either working for or against the overall interests of Mankind in its attempts to retain control over the galaxy and survive unscathed in an incredibly hostile universe. However, the vast majority of Humans live under the just and righteous rule of the theocratic, interstellar empire known as the Imperium of Mankind.

History

Ages of Humanity

According to Imperial historitors, Human history has progressed through several different distinct periods, which chronicle the species' rise to ultimate dominance over the Milky Way Galaxy and the current situation in which Humanity faces a number of extinction-level threats from Chaos and multiple, deadly xenos species. These periods include:

• Age of Terra
• Age of Technology
• Age of Strife
• Unification Wars
• Great Crusade
• Horus Heresy
• Age of the Imperium

Restoration of Humanity

By the time of the Unification Wars that established the Emperor of Mankind's rule over Terra, the Human homeworld's population had suffered through the horrors of the Age of Strife, a period punctuated by constant warfare and the use of weapons of mass destruction that had badly damaged the environment of Old Earth and destroyed an earlier Human interstellar civilisation that had once stretched across the galaxy.
Under the Emperor's glorious rule, Humanity would be restored, intellectually, spiritually and physically to the heights it had once known during the Age of Technology, and the shackles of darkness cast aside. The wars continued without relent until finally all of Old Earth's techno-barbarian factions, nations and fractured city-states pledged the Emperor fealty and at last Terra was unified for the first time in many millennia.
It was not enough merely to secure military victory, however -- the betterment and restoration of Humanity required more. So it was that even before victory on Terra had been achieved the Emperor and those learned souls He had gathered to Him started to experiment with genetics. This was done first and foremost to stabilise the population and to recreate the species of Mankind as it was before the radiation storms and generations of atomic, biological and alchemical weapons had wracked the planet. Secondly, the creation of genetically-augmented transhuman fighters that had begun with the Thunder Warriors who had fought in the Emperor's armies during the Unification Wars continued apace into newer, more powerful creations, ultimately leading to the genesis of what would later become known as the Space Marine Legions. But in truth, the Emperor's greatest work was nothing less than the purging of Mankind's own genome, and its restoration to a baseline of what could be considered truly "Human" as that term had been defined before the Age of Strife. When the Emperor's Great Crusade moved out into the broader galaxy to restore the unity of Humanity across the galaxy in the late 30th Millennium, many lost Human colony worlds would be discovered where the Human genome had drifted, resulting in unusual physical manifestations. In most cases, these were nothing more than microevolutionary adaptations to the local planetary environments, and resulted in unusual skin tones, eye and hair colours and otherwise meaningless cosmetic changes. However, certain populations were discovered whose genomes had shifted in radical directions from the Human baseline, either through environmentally-derived mutation, xenos alterations or self-imposed genetic engineering. In these cases, the Emperor was forced to make a choice as to whether these mutants still retained the essential quality of Humanity, or had moved beyond the pale, having been transformed into what was actually a new species of xenos. In certain cases, such as those of the so-called "Abhuman" strains such as the Squats, Ogryns and Ratlings, the Emperor judged them to be recognisably Human enough to be incorporated as valuable members of Imperial society. But in other cases during the Great Crusade, many populations failed to make the cut, and were judged to have become so alien that they needed to be treated as true xenos, with the Space Marine Legions deployed to carry out the resulting purge. The galaxy would belong to Humanity, but it would be the same Humanity that the Emperor had loved and served for most of His long life.

Physiology, Anatomy and Society

Humans are a bipedal, mammalian humanoid species that originated on the planet Terra (Old Earth). There is evidence that Human evolution was strongly influenced by the efforts of the ancient alien civilisation known only as the "Old Ones," who were the first known species to attain sentience in the Milky Way Galaxy. It was the Old Ones' common practice to spread life, particularly the seeds of intelligent life, on worlds wherever it might take root. As part of this purpose, the Old Ones were the creators of the early, tree-dwelling primate ancestors of Mankind on primordial Earth tens of millions of Terran years ago who eventually rose to full self-awareness and the development of their own culture. Later, Humanity rose to create an industrial and then space-faring civilisation at the very end of the 2nd Millennium. Humanity first colonised the galaxy during the Age of Technology. Almost nothing is known about Human civilisation in this time, as this information was lost in the utter chaos of the following Age of Strife. In the 41st Millennium the majority of Humans in the galaxy are now part of the Imperium of Man, although other Human civilisations are known to exist. Unfortunately, Humanity is a species that is relatively easy to corrupt to the service of Chaos. In fact, it is Mankind's dominance in the galaxy that has shaped the Warp and the form the Chaos Gods currently take, as they are ultimately no more than psychic manifestations in the Immaterium of the collective psyches of the intelligent species of the galaxy. Unlike the ancient Aeldari, Humanity has only just begun the evolutionary transition into a fully psychic species. As yet, very few Humans out of the entire population of trillions present in the galaxy develop the genetic mutation that allows them to become psykers, though this number is slowly increasing as the centuries pass. However, most Human psykers lack the mental discipline or inner strength to prevent themselves from becoming Daemonhosts or otherwise being manipulated by the dark entities of the Warp. Humans, known taxonomically as Homo sapiens (from the ancient language of the Roma which meant "wise man" or "knowing man"), are the only living species in the Homo genus of bipedal primates in Hominidae, the great ape family. Anatomically modern-appearing Humans originated on the world of Terra about 250,000 standard years ago, reaching full behavioural modernity only around 100,000 standard years before the 41st Millennium. Humans have a highly developed brain, capable of abstract reasoning, language, introspection, and problem-solving. This mental capability, combined with an erect, bipedal body carriage that frees the hands for manipulating objects, allowed Humans to make far greater use of tools than any other living species on Old Earth. Other higher-level thought processes of Humans, such as self-awareness, rationality, and sapience, are considered to be defining features of what constitutes a "person," though such features are shared with the other major intelligent xenos species of the galaxy like the Aeldari, the T'au, the Necrons, and the Orks (though some might question the latter). Like most higher primates originally native to Terra, Humans are social animals. However, Humans are uniquely adept at utilising systems of communication for self-expression, the exchange of ideas, and organisation. Humans create complex social structures composed of many cooperating and competing groups, from families to nation-states to interstellar empires. Social interactions between Humans have established an extremely wide variety of values, social norms, and rituals, which together form the basis of Human society. With Humans present across the galaxy and having adapted to every possible environment, they are currently the galaxy's dominant intelligent species. The current population of Humans in the Milky Way Galaxy in the 41st Millennium A.D. is unknown, but numbers in the many trillions, if not quadrillions. Humans are noted for their desire to understand and influence their environment, seeking to explain and manipulate phenomena through science, philosophy, mythology, and religion. This natural curiosity has led to the development of advanced tools and skills, which are passed down culturally, though cultural stagnation or even retrogression is possible, as the grim history of the Imperium over the last 10 millennia so readily demonstrates.

Human Civilisations

Imperium of Man

The vast overwealming majority of Humans exist within the Imperium of Man. The Imperial Cult preaches humanity's manifest destiny to conquer the entire galaxy, to the point where other intelligent alien species are seen as inferior, spiritually unclean and worthy of nothing but extinction or exploitation.

The Lost and the Damned

The next greatest concentration of Humans in the galaxy after the peoples of the Imperium exist as the Lost and the Damned of Chaos, and reside primarily, though not exclusively, within the Warp rift called the Eye of Terror. Not a coherent civilisation as such, they exist as part of a diverse and infinite collection of heretical vile warbands and hosts under the thrall of thrice damned traitorous so called "Champions of Chaos". (If such a vile heanous disgusting thing such as chaos can even posses someone to champion it). Due to the nature of time within the Warp, some of these Humans are the original Imperial subjects who sided with the Warmaster Horus during the Horus Heresy over ten thousand Terran years ago, though their number has been greatly supplemented by more recent traitorous Human scum who have dared to turn their backs on the God Emperor and sell their souls to the ruinous powers, were henously enslaved or captured as part of the many Chaos raids out of the Eye into Imperial space.

T'au Empire

Less xenophobic than the Imperium, though no less convinced that it should dominate the galaxy, the xenos T'au Empire has no qualms about letting other intelligent species join it. Instead they form a far more incideous threat, spreading lies and mistruths throught the galaxy, tricking fools into joining their "empire" before brain washing them into gross parodies of their former selves. Each one more slave to the Etherials who truly rule Tau Society through some unknown means yet to be disovered by Imperial Magos Biologists. Whilst blessedly few in number, some traitorous Human have done so and exist within this xenos empire where they are known as Gue'vesa. An abomination well documented which will be paid back in full when the time for the Xenocide of the Tau species comes to pass. These Humans, for the most part, are the descendants of Astra Militarum troops who were captured by duplicitous T'au during the Damocles Gulf Crusade and in other conflicts between the Imperium and the T'au Empire. Supposedly records exist of Imperial planets like the desert Mining World of Taros to want to secede from the Imperium to join the T'au Empire. Such records however are OBVIOUSLY entierally false and completely heretical. Anyone purporting such events to be true is clearly a heretic in dire need of execution.

Independent Civilisations

Other Human civilisations in the Milky Way Galaxy are thankfully extremely rare. This is mostly due to the fact that the Imperium of Man's automatic right to rule all of Humanity wherever Humans live in the galaxy, and it's ruthless enforcement of this divine mandate across the width and breath of the galaxy. Similarly, any lost Human colonies that are rediscovered from the Age of Technology are also incorporated into the Imperium whether they want to be or not. Despite this, a few independent Human civilisations have been known to exist in the furthest reaches of the galaxy. Such colonies tend not to last long before unity true and final finds them eventually.

Lost Colonies

When the Age of Strife descended on the galaxy and Warp travel and astropathic communication became impossible, the majority of Human colonies were cut off from Terra and forced to survive on their own. In some cases this meant that they devolved into considerably more primitive societies as the knowledge to create and maintain much advanced technology was lost. The Great Crusade reunited many thousands of lost Human colonies with the Imperium, yet every now and then changes in the flow of the Warp mean that new Human colonies are unexpectedly discovered. Whilst nobody can know for sure how many, there are almost certainly more colonies still cut off from the rest of Humanity, waiting to be discovered.

Rebellious Planets

The Imperium keeps a tight grip over its planets, yet every now and then a world does attempt to secede from the Imperium. This may be the result of the planetary governor believing they can get away with independence, or it may be the result of a revolution that deposes those in power. Many of these secessions are orchestrated by the depraved Ruinous Powers of Chaos, and the Humans that are part of these rebellions should be counted as the Lost and the Damned, though there are also occasions when a planet decides it wants to be independent of the Imperium through its own volition. Such cases are typically the result of some corrupt fool of a noble, and always end with rapid and bloody results. Regardless of the cause, these independent realms never last for long as they are swiftly and brutally brought to justice by the Imperium, even if it takes solar decades for the ponderous Administratum of the Imperium to get around to assigning the necessary military forces to suppress the rebellion. All of Humanity will experiance unity, in this life or the next.

Pirates

The only independent Human civilisation with any real sustainability outside the Imperium, some Humans evade the Imperium's clutches and live outside of its reach in bands of voidships subsiting through raids and piracy. Often allying themselves with the duplicitous Aeldari or other depraved xenos, these traitorous Humans are justly executed as Heretics or Traitors whenever they are caught by the Imperial authorities.

Psychic Potential

The genetic mutation which grants a Human being the ability to draw upon the psychic energy of the Immaterium has become increasingly common since the Neolithic Age. However, what is known is that Human psykers were only first mentioned in the historical record towards the end of the 22nd Millennium, making a sudden appearance on almost every Human-settled world within a relatively short span of time, not long before the onset of the Age of Strife. This change was the harbinger of Mankind's slow evolution into a fully psychic species much like the Aeldari, who will be more intelligent, more capable and ultimately more peaceful than Humanity is at present. Unfortunately, this process has been quite uneven and even the most powerful Human psykers still have minds that have not developed to the point that they can touch the Warp with the level of control wielded by the Aeldari Farseers.
As such, because of this lack of mental development and Mankind's own still deeply flawed, covetous nature, most Human psykers always run a substantial risk of being possessed by the Daemonic entities of the Warp and spreading the death and destruction of Chaos wherever they go. It is for this reason that the Emperor of Mankind largely banned the use of psychic powers throughout the Imperium of Man save in a few notable exceptions in 001.M31 at the Council of Nikaea during the Great Crusade.
Psykers, although justifiably feared throughout Humanity's history because of their extraordinary powers and the equally extraordinary dangers they sometimes unleashed on those around them, serve several vital roles within the Imperium today under the exceptions laid out by the Council of Nikaea some ten millennia ago.
Psykers are too dangerous to remain at liberty on the Imperium's myriad worlds; their minds are susceptible to Daemonic possession as their strong presences in the Warp can serve as gateways into the material universe for all kinds of Warp entities if they are weak or undisciplined with their powers. Uncontrolled, they can intentionally or unintentionally cause the destruction of entire worlds and have done so in the pre-Imperial past, such as during the terrible days of the Age of Strife.
Humans found to be bearing the psychic mutation, if they are not simply killed, are sent to Terra aboard the infamous Black Ships which endlessly traverse the Imperium. All Human psykers have an ordained role to play as loyal servants of the Imperium if they have the willpower to control their abilities and not become a danger to others. Their exact role depends on the psychic powers they manifest and their strength of character and will, though psykers who have some use for the Imperium are known as "Sanctioned Psykers" while individuals who manifest unusually strong psychic powers often become "Primaris Psykers," the most powerful Human psykers in existence.
Sanctioned Psykers serve within the Astra Militarum and as Librarians in the Space Marine Chapters, employing their powers in battle as well as for civil duties. Imperial Navigators use their psychic "third eye" to determine safe paths through the Immaterium for Imperial voidcraft using the faster-than-light Warp-Drive employed by all Imperial starships. Astropaths provide faster-than-light communication as their telepathy is not confined to the speed of light since their messages travel through the Warp much as starships use the Warp to make interstellar jumps.
Thousands of psykers who lack the mental discipline and willpower to safely serve the Imperium are sacrificed every standard year to sustain the Emperor's psychic presence in the Warp, and thousands more must constantly be drained by Him to power the Astronomican, which broadcasts a potent telepathic signal through the Warp which is used as a point of reference by starship Navigators. However, the Imperium of Man also ruthlessly executes countless less-fortunate psykers who are seen as mutants, Heretics, potential threats to their homeworlds, or gateways to the Daemons and corruption of Chaos.
Psykers first emerged amongst Mankind in the middle part of the long distant Age of Technology, a period of Human history about which all but nothing is remembered in the 41st Millennium. Since that time, ever-greater numbers of Humans have been born with the ability to wield psychic powers, and others still come into such powers later on in life. This phenomenon has been the subject of study, debate, superstition, prejudice, intolerance, and even open warfare throughout the ages, and all manner of meanings have been read into it.
Some claim that Humanity is undergoing the birth pangs of a new phase in its evolution, and can look forward to an age when the species transcends to an entirely different level of existence. Most interpretations are far less optimistic, however, and those with knowledge of such things point to the fate of the ancient Aeldari Empire as a warning of what doom awaits Mankind. Others still hold that this gradual and ever-increasing evolution is the doing of the Emperor Himself, who exists to shepherd the entire species into its new age. Those of a notably Puritan persuasion hold that for every psyker born, a thousand twisted mutants are spawned first, as if the process itself was abhorrent to the Emperor, to nature or to both.
Whatever the truth of the matter, it is evident that more and more Human psykers are being born or coming into their powers with every passing generation. The bleak holds of the Black Ships grow ever more bloated with those swept up in the psyker culls.
With this increase, the risk of Daemonic incursion and Enslaver plague in realspace grows worse, for should one powerful but uncontrolled psyker go undetected, the slavering denizens of the Warp might breach reality itself and come pouring in, bringing the doom of Humanity with them.

Psker Grades

One system employed by the Imperium to quantify the power of psykers uses different grades to incrementally rank the power of a psyker, ranked below from the most powerful to least powerful, bottom to top:

Psykers in the Imperium

Astropaths

Astropaths (short for "astro-telepath") serve throughout all the Imperium's many governmental divisions and make up a superluminal telepathic communication network designed to transmit and receive psychic messages through interstellar space.
New astropaths are chosen from the multitudes of psykers who are born across the Imperium every standard year as part of the Imperial Tithe and brought to Terra on the Black Ships due to their great power. Once chosen, astropaths receive psychic training by the Adeptus Astra Telepathica's teaching division which is known as the Scholastica Psykana, before they are "soul-bound" to the Emperor. This psychic ritual transfers some of the Emperor's vast power -- and more importantly, His mental control -- to the psyker, by psychically rewiring a portion of their brains.
Such an experience is quite physically traumatic for the psyker and not all survive or maintain their sanity. Even the survivors often suffer damage to their physical senses, especially their eyes, so that almost all astropaths are blind, their optical nerves burnt out during the soul-binding process.
Their increased psychic senses, however, tend to make up for this loss of sight and most astropaths have the uncanny ability to see everything just as well as a sighted person despite their lack of vision.
Being joined with the Emperor is necessary, as it greatly increases astropaths' already formidable powers, granting them full control over the ability for which they were chosen -- the transmission and reception of telepathic messages across hundreds of light-years of space.
Due to the draining nature of their job and the costs incurred by soul-binding, many astropaths are physically frail and can die quite young due to sheer mental exhaustion.

Astra Militarum

Some of the stronger and more mentally-disciplined psykers recruited into the Adeptus Astra Telepathica are trained to serve within the Astra Militarum as Sanctioned Psykers rather than as astropaths. These psykers may draw upon the power of the Warp, unleashing it upon their enemies as a weapon.
They are also called upon to advise high-ranking Astra Militarum officers, though with varying degrees of success. Their limited training and equipment leads them to be more vulnerable to the perils of the Warp than the much more powerful battle-psyker Librarians of the Space Marine Chapters.
Each time a Sanctioned Psyker utilises their power, they put themselves at considerable risk and are prone to have their minds destroyed in the process. Some psykers in rare cases have even literally exploded from overloading their bodies with Warp energy, taking out entire Imperial Guard squads nearby. That ever-present danger aside, they are still a potent force when deployed and used properly. On the battlefield, Sanctioned Psykers can advise an officer and guide their command, protect him from psychic attack, or fire bolts of lightning from their hands.
Despite their uses, Sanctioned Psykers are at best tolerated, and at worst loathed, by their companions. They are never allowed to stray far from the ever-watchful gaze of the regiment's commissar, who can and will execute the psyker at the slightest sign of Warp taint, "for the psyker's own good!" The fact that many Sanctioned Psykers meet their demise at the end of a commissar's Bolt Pistol has earned them the dubious nickname of "bolt-magnets" amongst the rank-and-file soldiers of the Astra Militarum.
If a Sanctioned Psyker manages to survive a term of service in the Astra Militarum, they will be returned to the care of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, who will then test the veteran psyker thoroughly for mental fortitude and psychic might. If the psyker survives those tests, they will be trained to become a Primaris Psyker, and taught how to harness the power of lesser psykers and make it subservient to their own. When they rejoin the Astra Militarum, the Primaris Psyker will be able to form a "circle" or "coven" with other Sanctioned Psykers.
With the power of the circle at their disposal, the Primaris Psyker's precognitive predictions will be more accurate, their protective wards and abjurations more potent and their psychic attacks more devastating. And yet, for all their might and utility to the Imperium, even a Primaris Psyker is not spared the suspicious gaze of the commissar, and they too may one day find themselves executed by a Bolt Pistol shot swiftly and surely delivered to the back of the head.

Space Marines

Psykers are employed by the Adeptus Astartes in the form of their Chapter Librarians. These individuals are chosen from among the most powerful psykers in the Imperium.
Librarians, as their name implies, are responsible for maintaining the records and histories of the Chapter they belong to, hence their name, and they can also use their talents to discern which psychic mutants are dangerous and which can be utilised by the Imperium as Sanctioned Psykers, astropaths, and even new Librarians.
Librarians, having much better equipment (a Psychic Hood, etc.), willpower, protection and training, as well as the transhuman physical and mental genetic enhancements of a Space Marine, are much less prone to falling prey to the perils of the Warp than other Imperial psykers and therefore do not undergo the soul-binding ritual.
On the battlefield, Librarians are fearsome opponents, able to unleash devastating psychic powers and psychically augment their own already formidable physical prowess. They are also skilled at defending themselves and their battle-brothers from psychic attack.

Imperial Inquisition

Though they are tasked with hunting down Rogue Psykers and collecting latent ones for training to aid the Imperium among many other duties, many members of the Inquisition are psykers themselves, Inquisitor Gideon Ravenor being an especially potent example.
Like so much about their organisation, one Inquisitor's psychic abilities can vary greatly from another's. Some are pyromancers who specialise in unleashing torrents of fire and other direct psychic weapons, while others, like Inquisitor Gregor Eisenhorn, are telepaths who specialise in powers that aid them in interrogations or to fool an enemy into stepping out from cover, dropping his weapon, or any number of other subtle "mind tricks."

Grey Knights

The elite Grey Knights Chapter of Space Marines that serves as the Chamber Militant of the Inquisition's Ordo Malleus, the Daemonhunters, is wholly made up of psykers: being a psyker is a condition for recruitment into the Chapter.
Due to the entire Chapter being composed of psykers, the rigorous process for becoming a Space Marine is made even more difficult, as all Grey Knight battle-brothers have no memory of their past and many fail before their gene-seed implantation can be complete.
However, the difficult selection process and memory-wiping techniques employed by the Grey Knights to rid their recruits of those common Human frailties that the Ruinous Powers can prey upon to corrupt an individual has proven extraordinarily successful. Not a single Grey Knight has ever turned to Chaos, despite their psychic abilities making them more vulnerable than standard Space Marines.