SPACE MARINES Lore Primer! Warhammer 40k Faction Lore 

"The Space Marines are the heroes of the Imperium. And that should tell you a lot about the Imperium." - that is a great quote, I'm stealing that.

Your final line - ‘they are the heroes of the imperium which tells us everything about the imperium’. Perfect.

That image of Tyberos is most certainly the most fantastic depiction of how terrifying it would be to come face to face with a marine in a war zone - innocent or not, an enemy or not, there is bound to be a trauma induced by the sheer terror of an eight foot THING walking towards you, backlit by the flames of a burning city.

That ending summation was quite good!

"Chapters ... may appear glorious and inspiring or savage and primitive ... depending on where they come from and where the observer comes from." The last point about the observer's origins is important and little nuances like this are why I love the overviews on this channel!

I am really interested to see where they go with the story, given how Gulliman seems to think something has gone wrong with how brutal and removed the Space Marines are and how keeping worlds as savage wastelands just to breed warriors (when Ultramar never seems to struggle for worthy child soldiers) is inhumane. A lot to explore there.

this was really good. i had no idea astartes didn't worship the emporer as a general rule, or that they're not at the command of the imperium. i've been working on a homebrew chapter (The Obsidian Sceptres, an Iron Hands ultima founding successor) and i've now got a bunch of cool new ideas for how they operate and how they interact with their home world

The way you break down the intricate information into "bite-size" sections for 40K terms while leaving out very few key pieces all the while delivering it in a calm while passionate manner is in my humble oppinion second to none. Praise and props where its most certainly earned, thank you.

An absolutely perfect breakdown of everything, as usual

Bloody hell Ian.. I genuinely can't believe how great your content is. More please, always more.

One interesting thing I remember seeing is that even amongst those chapters that worship the Emperor as a god, most of them do not do this according to the Imperial Creed as spread by the Ecclesiarchy. Only a few chapters, such as the Fire Angels, follow the Imperial Creed itself.

"And I will call them my Angels of Death" a brilliant summary of Space Marines!

"Problems started to arise..." The degree of understatement is absurdly delicious.

Great summary. Nice to see the return of the Thousand Sons flannel. That ending summation was excellent. (Chef’s Kiss)

"Not like all factions, their story starts with the unification wars back on terra...." The matching sentence in the vid was slightly different, but we all heard this version in our heards, with Ian's voice ahah.

In all honesty, your lore videos are quickly becoming one of my favorite things on RU-vid. The presentation is absolutely top-notch. Would love to see your take on the Siege of Vraks

Dont forget kids Ian is a cop. He is an undercover Arbiter. He WILL get you to confess accidentally to heresy, all the while being buddy buddy with you.

Can we all just acknowledge for a moment how well written and delivered these videos are. I don't really care about Warhammer, but I wish I could communicate this well.

I really enjoy those videos you make about the 40k/30k lore. They are loaded with information and very easy to follow. :)

Always a few little gems of info that you share from the books I've not read. 🙌🏼

Love the sneaky inclusion of the Midwinter Minis space marine artwork!

Man your way of telling these stories can't be beat! What a sentence to end on, I think it's just good rethoric.

Yeah....1000 space marines.....*glares at the Black Templars*

Ian. I don't know if you ever intend on doing a video on the influences that went into creating 40k but if you do (and even if you don't because it's awesome) I'd suggest reading 2000ad's "Nemesis the Warlock" series as there are some HUGE ideas that 40k "echoed".

What an excellent video and thorough explanation of the space marines, love your videos I have learnt so much about the 40k universe via them 👌

I would say I have a somewhat ok grip on 40k lore and wouldn’t need these intro vids but I still watch them because they are so well put together

I found the graphic at 10:%7 fascinating. Would you consider making a video about the hierarchy/organization of the Imperium?

Ian, all your content is great, but this was especially fantastic. Thanks so much!

If I ever knew that the Thunder Warriors were divided into 20 Legions, then I forgot it. I really wish we knew more about them.

So so good Ian, thanks. Never really had an idea of what happened after the Horus Heresy. Incredible

You always manage to bring some new artwork and your own interpretation of the lore.

Again quality video, really enjoyable. Thanks, looking forward to the next one.

That was just a really good video. Solid lorewise and entertaining too.

I REALLY liked this video, well explained, gave me information in a way I didn't know

Would love to see lore videos on the rest of the factions too!

I love when the lore is presented like this, so concise and clear, easy to understand. Makes me feel like a Space Marine learning his history

Great overview! This is the kind of thing that you show to someone who isn't familiar with all of the lore, and they come away with a base understanding of the faction. Kudos.

Perfect, concise summary. Love your lore videos.

Very excited for the breakdown of the Ork command structure. Nice lengthy video.

Awesome video. Thank you for removing the propaganda sheen at the end of the video. Keep up the good work.

"The Astartes, named for the scientist that led the project" I'd just always assumed that "Adeptus Astartes" was sort of 41st Millennium cod-Latin for "Masters of the Stars"

People who commented earlier than video's release must have conducted some foul tzeentch magics. Gotta say - Heresy a small price to watch Ian's videos early!

I’m new to the hobby…. This is a brilliant introduction.

Another brilliant video was great to meet you Saturday !

Excellent video and explanation! Your channel is my go-to for Warhammer lore. Thank you!

This is going to be a great series. Thanks again for the summary, every one of these I learn something new - and I've been a warham for like (checks notes) holy crap I'm old

Shit, you said "hero of the Imperium" now I wanna see a Ciaphas Cain video.

Just read an article in which the authors interviewed you AribtorIan (they did Snipe n Wib as well). It dovetails nicely with the last line of this video. I've gotta say, it's very disappointing that the people who could learn the most from satire (40k, 2000AD The Punisher etc) are the most oblivious to it.

that last line is gold

One of the reasons I enjoy your videos is that you are probably the only youtuber that pronounces "Roboute" correctly.

Thanks for the video

Always enjoy these deep dives into the lore. Concise while still being very informative.

GREAT video Ian! You covered the massive universe incredibly well in 20 minutes. As always your art selection in particular is on point! 🤘💀🤘

Another great video, really liked the summation about once you dig into it, they are a great example of the contradiction of the Imperium.

That final reflexion about the Space Marines contradictions was truly beautiful and terrible.

This channel is solid! Good stuff.

A cracking final line! Very nice summary, thanks.

Another great video on 40k lore. Really good channel and plenty of good quality videos. I’m now humming the intro music without realising now! 😂

Now imagine all this came from a tiny metal blob on a plastic stand :-) Your summaries are truly amazing and saves me from ploughing through all that bloated GW stuff - not to mention all the money it saves me (and don't give me any 'GW IP' rant - most of the GW 'lore' is clearly copied directly from original and fictional myth, lore and historical references anyway). Great work - Thanks, Ian.

Well put at the end

That picture of Horus at 5:59 looks like he shit his pants. 😂😂

Another great video!

Didnt the ultra marines get pretty badly mauled by the Word Bearers during the Horus heresy? Not sure why I'm questioning Ian, he's definitely done more reading than me. Ha

This is a solid gold banger Ian

Would love to see a video like this on other factions, like the Orks or the Tau.

Nice to see the Post-Vetruvian Man in the wild.

This was great. I have always been most interested in the specialist officers of the Marine Chapters, and in particular the TechMarines. I have never really understood the exact relationship that they have with Mars. They go there to be trained and there is obviously a very close relationship, but it's not clear why or how this exists (between Mars and every individual Marine Chapter!), or what the Mechanicus get from it.

Would love to hear more about how the Primarchs were scattered, or has there been no more lore on that? I know it was always suggested that chaos was behind it, but how?! Also, I feel like I remember hints that maybe the emperor had done it himself as some sort of test for the primarchs. May well just be seditious talk.

Nice to see the inclusion of both Astartes and Erda.

The space marines don't predate the high lords. Their creation was under investigation by a high lord in Valdor: Birth of the Imperium.

Me, who has read a concerning number of Space Marine novels: Yeah, I'll watch this.

Great info thanks for making these videos !

Another great video Ian! Thank you very much!

As usual ian, you nailed it. Great vid, thank you.

I made a custom Chapter, which are descents of the Black Templars. My Chapter is called the Gray Hussars, the name mirroring the Prussian Life Hussars. The adopted their culture from a sacred tome from ancient Terra of the Teutonic Order. Because of that they all have German Aristocratic names and titles. They adapted their old Black Templars faith into a far more Roman Catholic version of the Imperial Cult with Chaplains conducting the Sacrifice of the Emperor against Horus the Arch Traitor and the members of the Chapter drink of the Emperor's Blood, wine in the place of blood, that was shed at the hands of Horus, one time the wine used did turn to actual blood and was recorded as a miracle. They guard the Saras Sector of Space as a Fleet Based Garrison Chapter and due to their massive mandate by the High Lord's of Terra, they have pushed the limit on Astartes far past it's limits.

His ANGELS! Don’t you forget it! We can overlook the occasional examples of excessive force. You can’t make an omelette without breaking a few spines....I mean EGGS, yeah that’s the ticket. 🤨

Excellent video, great work once again.

Really good video! Amazing work! One question: at 16:37 where you mentioned that the vast majority of space marines do not worship the emperor, where can one read more about this? It was really interesting to hear.

Personally when i think 40k, my first thought is their iconic zerg race.

Absolute home run mate!

9:10 Mr Nipples 😆 I think this one has had too much Slaanesh space dust...

Pst... 21 primarchs, plus the freaky proto primarch.

Lore & Retrospectives Playlist gang shout out! 🤣🤣 (I didn't even have to click through, btw, it was just visible at the bottom of the ru-vid.com channel page)

I hate when all the content creators I could listen to for hours decide to make short to the point videos, and then people I can't stand blabber on for ever without actually getting to the point. Arbitor Ian if you see this, I think I speak for many when I say, if you want to talk about a topic for more than 20 minutes I will still watch your content.

I love these videos. Thanks, Ian. 🙂

It's important to remember that unlike the thunder warriors, space marines are not meant to be just warriors. They were supposed to be administrators, diplomats, artists, scientists, builders, and some of them might still fulfill those roles. As for their relationship with humans, it's really no different from the knights of older, more civilized cultures. They were entrusted to protect ordinary people, but also think themselves above them with lifetime training separating them from the populace. As for being heroes, let's not forget that we consider our soldiers and policemen, who are often less educated, less moral and often far less disciplined as our heroes, which tell you a lot about our civilizations.

As always, good job!

This was really cool! Will you do a video on chaos marines and their organization or lack there of?

Fantastic summary.

That was really good!

1:22 where is that artwork from? would love to examine it, crazy seeing the split view of in armor and out

Very nice

hoping you'll make a video about the eldar or orks next.

Space Marines are a cool looking plastic table top units for a sci-fi war game.. the lore is basicly a retro fitted backstory that has had a lot of talented people write books about. If you think about it too much the lore is nuts. And funny that fans of Star Wars dream of being in that universe, a dream of being in the 40k universe would be a nightmare you would need thearapy to recover from.... lol.

great video, are we going to see something like this for all the factions (I hope so)

Now you just need to make the obligatory "Nicest nice guy marines/Most evil monster marines" list video

I didn't know that about dreadnoughts

Superb!

good video, me leaves comment and like, encourages fellow watchers to do so as well - fellow humie

so one marine can use his 2 Progenoid Glands to create 2 more marines? so during "optimal conditions or more peaceful times" the number of marines could double each "generation"?