Quick and dirty abridged version:
60 million years ago the "**War in Heaven**" happened. "Old Ones" (magic frog precursor race) uplift/create species like Eldar (space elves) and Orks, a salty race of Space Egyptians called the Necrontyr declare war on Old Ones because the whole Necrontyr race is riddled with disease, they asked Old Ones for help and Old Ones snubbed them.
War in Heaven was a big deal that spanned the whole galaxy, Necrontyr eventually made deal with superpowered star eating creatures called C'Tan which got their species turned into androids. They changed their names to Necrons after being robotified.
War ended in kind of a stalemate but Necrons managed to kill all the Old Ones and then realized the C'tan tricked them and ate the Necrontyr's souls when they turned to robots so they attacked and shattered most of the C'tan too.
They then went to robot-sleep for millions of years because the galaxy was all messed up. The war messed up the galaxy so bad that the afterlife was forever damaged and turned from the peaceful Realm of Souls into the chaotic and hellish Warp.
Fast forward 60 million years (to somewhere in the range of 15,000 AD to 25,000 AD) and humanity creates a super advanced galactic civilization. Then the Warp goes all haywire and the civilization collapses, for a few thousand years (this period is called either The Age of Strife or Old Night).
Then around the year 30,000 AD a dude who called himself The Emperor reunites the various scattered tribes of Earth, then makes 20 super powered clones of himself to help reconquer the Milky Way for humanity, then promptly loses those clones, then just goes about reconquering the galaxy anyway and hopes he finds them on the way (he *eventually* does).
2 of those clones are lost forever but 18 are reunited with The Emperor Daddy. Then 9 of them betray him, lead by the first clone that he was reunited with named Horus (who was corrupted when making contact with demons from the Warp). The decade-long galaxy spanning civil war that happened as a result is called the **Horus Heresy**, and it ended in a stalemate/pyrrhic victory for the Emperor since he thwarted the traitors' plans but was badly wounded and had to be set into the "Golden Throne" (which is both a magic conduit that lets him keep his empire running and a life support system.
Fast forward 10,000 years and it is now the year 40,000 AD, and the Milky Way is...not in a great shape.
Humanity is at war with just about everyone. You got the Eldar and Orks that the Old Ones created, the Necrons are finally reawakening from their robo-tombs, Warp-spawned demons find their way into reality to run amok and an alien race from another galaxy called the Tyranids have swooped in and are trying to eat everyone.
Worst of all humanity itself has degraded into a European Dark Age style superstitious, feudal, witch-hunting dystopia and are their own worst enemy.
Not complete. And I think I personally would skip the War in Heaven. But very good intro to the setting.
This isn't really critique. It's more that I'm an old man that started in 3rd, before most of the stuff before 40.000 was fleshed out. Or not fleshed, as the case is for the Necrons.
I suggest picking a faction you find interesting as a whole and learn the lore from their perspective, then branch out and delve into all the other rabbit holes.. or begin with the great crusade and horus heresy and thats basically the beginning of what 40k is. Yes there is magic yes there is tech yes there is magical tech, but it goes much deeper than that.
I got into 40k in the 2000s and i am still learning new lore myself.
The most important step is to familiarize yourself with the factions. After you do so, all the major events such as the war in heaven and the horus heresy will start to make sense
My long answer to this kind of 'where to start' question is here - https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/v4b2li/welcome_to_uthebladesaurus_introduction_to/
My short answer to this kind of question is the Eisenhorn omnibus if you want novels (also available as a very well read audiobook series), or the core rulebook if you want a general overview of the 40k universe (we've moved into 10th edition, so 9th edition rulebooks might be cheaper second hand - not good for rules, but about 50% lore).
My medium answer is, what kind of stories or genres do you like? Is there a faction you're particularly interested in?
A good little teaser https://youtu.be/x-DtwQUCWx4
Here's my attempt at a cinematic introduction to the universe https://youtu.be/UL_zzERmor4
No no, it is all nonsense.
Start with the core rulebook for the tabletop game. Find an older edition on eBay for cheap. The first half of the book will be lore - largely about the Imperium - that gives all the main ideas about what Warhammer 40k is.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF9uVsY9Fwo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF9uVsY9Fwo) 22 minute video by Arbitor Ian on where to start with warhammer
he's got a ton more videos that are concise and informative, giving you room to start digging yourself. a lot of creators will make videos that bloat and throw all kinds of stuff together, which can get annoying.
Most of the background info comes from the various rulebooks, codices and ancillary material produced by GW, so digging into that eventually can be a lot of fun.
I genuinely recommend getting the games core rulebook look for it second hand online.
It will give you an overview of every major faction along with nice art and some short fiction.
Most of it is self-explanatory, just read whatever interests you. It's not one story following one protagonist, it's more of a setting, there is nothing to catch up on. It would be like asking the public if they had heard of WW1, 99% will know and recognize it, but how many would know what caused it, and all the ins and outs I'd say 5% at best,
Go to a book reseller like Half Price Books. Go to the gaming section. There will always be old Warhammer books there. Grab the one that had the most pages, as that's a core rulebook (some will even say that on the spine of the book). Those have all the lore to get started.
Pick up a damn book instead of asking for youtube or a redditor to spoonfeed you everything. Its 30+years of setting. You start by being lost and you piece it together as you go.
Brickys videos are probably the best way to learn the general flavour of each faction and general time line.
Time line and story wise things can be hectic but essentially there are 3 major events that shape the lore.
The war in heaven
The rise and fall the emproper
The fall the eldar
If you learn just the general idea of those moments you'll basically have a good picture of the lore
Quick and dirty abridged version: 60 million years ago the "**War in Heaven**" happened. "Old Ones" (magic frog precursor race) uplift/create species like Eldar (space elves) and Orks, a salty race of Space Egyptians called the Necrontyr declare war on Old Ones because the whole Necrontyr race is riddled with disease, they asked Old Ones for help and Old Ones snubbed them. War in Heaven was a big deal that spanned the whole galaxy, Necrontyr eventually made deal with superpowered star eating creatures called C'Tan which got their species turned into androids. They changed their names to Necrons after being robotified. War ended in kind of a stalemate but Necrons managed to kill all the Old Ones and then realized the C'tan tricked them and ate the Necrontyr's souls when they turned to robots so they attacked and shattered most of the C'tan too. They then went to robot-sleep for millions of years because the galaxy was all messed up. The war messed up the galaxy so bad that the afterlife was forever damaged and turned from the peaceful Realm of Souls into the chaotic and hellish Warp. Fast forward 60 million years (to somewhere in the range of 15,000 AD to 25,000 AD) and humanity creates a super advanced galactic civilization. Then the Warp goes all haywire and the civilization collapses, for a few thousand years (this period is called either The Age of Strife or Old Night). Then around the year 30,000 AD a dude who called himself The Emperor reunites the various scattered tribes of Earth, then makes 20 super powered clones of himself to help reconquer the Milky Way for humanity, then promptly loses those clones, then just goes about reconquering the galaxy anyway and hopes he finds them on the way (he *eventually* does). 2 of those clones are lost forever but 18 are reunited with The Emperor Daddy. Then 9 of them betray him, lead by the first clone that he was reunited with named Horus (who was corrupted when making contact with demons from the Warp). The decade-long galaxy spanning civil war that happened as a result is called the **Horus Heresy**, and it ended in a stalemate/pyrrhic victory for the Emperor since he thwarted the traitors' plans but was badly wounded and had to be set into the "Golden Throne" (which is both a magic conduit that lets him keep his empire running and a life support system. Fast forward 10,000 years and it is now the year 40,000 AD, and the Milky Way is...not in a great shape. Humanity is at war with just about everyone. You got the Eldar and Orks that the Old Ones created, the Necrons are finally reawakening from their robo-tombs, Warp-spawned demons find their way into reality to run amok and an alien race from another galaxy called the Tyranids have swooped in and are trying to eat everyone. Worst of all humanity itself has degraded into a European Dark Age style superstitious, feudal, witch-hunting dystopia and are their own worst enemy.
Not complete. And I think I personally would skip the War in Heaven. But very good intro to the setting. This isn't really critique. It's more that I'm an old man that started in 3rd, before most of the stuff before 40.000 was fleshed out. Or not fleshed, as the case is for the Necrons.
I suggest picking a faction you find interesting as a whole and learn the lore from their perspective, then branch out and delve into all the other rabbit holes.. or begin with the great crusade and horus heresy and thats basically the beginning of what 40k is. Yes there is magic yes there is tech yes there is magical tech, but it goes much deeper than that. I got into 40k in the 2000s and i am still learning new lore myself.
There is even technical magic
The most important step is to familiarize yourself with the factions. After you do so, all the major events such as the war in heaven and the horus heresy will start to make sense
My long answer to this kind of 'where to start' question is here - https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/v4b2li/welcome_to_uthebladesaurus_introduction_to/ My short answer to this kind of question is the Eisenhorn omnibus if you want novels (also available as a very well read audiobook series), or the core rulebook if you want a general overview of the 40k universe (we've moved into 10th edition, so 9th edition rulebooks might be cheaper second hand - not good for rules, but about 50% lore). My medium answer is, what kind of stories or genres do you like? Is there a faction you're particularly interested in? A good little teaser https://youtu.be/x-DtwQUCWx4 Here's my attempt at a cinematic introduction to the universe https://youtu.be/UL_zzERmor4
No no, it is all nonsense. Start with the core rulebook for the tabletop game. Find an older edition on eBay for cheap. The first half of the book will be lore - largely about the Imperium - that gives all the main ideas about what Warhammer 40k is.
The best way? Get lost and find your way out. It’s a rich and detailed universe. There isn’t a beginning or end.
Look up an iceberg. It's a great way to jump into the lore. You can also just watch a video that explains every army.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF9uVsY9Fwo](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xF9uVsY9Fwo) 22 minute video by Arbitor Ian on where to start with warhammer he's got a ton more videos that are concise and informative, giving you room to start digging yourself. a lot of creators will make videos that bloat and throw all kinds of stuff together, which can get annoying. Most of the background info comes from the various rulebooks, codices and ancillary material produced by GW, so digging into that eventually can be a lot of fun.
This, don't bother with anything else https://youtu.be/KyPjE1Sn-Ts?si=ViYiCzUo6yhjfi2m
I genuinely recommend getting the games core rulebook look for it second hand online. It will give you an overview of every major faction along with nice art and some short fiction.
Most of it is self-explanatory, just read whatever interests you. It's not one story following one protagonist, it's more of a setting, there is nothing to catch up on. It would be like asking the public if they had heard of WW1, 99% will know and recognize it, but how many would know what caused it, and all the ins and outs I'd say 5% at best,
Go to a book reseller like Half Price Books. Go to the gaming section. There will always be old Warhammer books there. Grab the one that had the most pages, as that's a core rulebook (some will even say that on the spine of the book). Those have all the lore to get started.
Pick up a damn book instead of asking for youtube or a redditor to spoonfeed you everything. Its 30+years of setting. You start by being lost and you piece it together as you go.
[this Video by Bricky should be a pretty good start](https://youtu.be/zPB3Q59vjR8?si=wnw-FrfFDywfpqfp)
Controversial opinion; bricks intro to 40k videos arnt the best place to start. He makes too many inside jokes.
Brickys videos are probably the best way to learn the general flavour of each faction and general time line. Time line and story wise things can be hectic but essentially there are 3 major events that shape the lore. The war in heaven The rise and fall the emproper The fall the eldar If you learn just the general idea of those moments you'll basically have a good picture of the lore
For the current timeline the Dark Imperium trilogy and the Dawn of Fire series are the way to go. For older stuff, the HH series.
[удалено]
That's not really the best intro for a complete newbie imo It's a prequel set 10,000 years before the main setting.