Origins
The "Imperium" is one of the original factions in the fictional background of the Warhammer 40,000 tabletop miniatures wargame; the game was initially published in 1987 by Games Workshop, and continued to be actively developed as of 2012. The game system's setting is a dystopian far future fictional universe that is extensively described in numerous rulebooks, tie-ins, and other official sources.
Notwithstanding backstory development by Games Workshop and affiliates (such as the publishing imprint Black Library) that spans several decades, the core depiction of the Imperium – as an authoritarian, strife-torn galactic empire on the brink of catastrophe – changed little; a major reason is the publisher's decision to "freeze" the narrative setting to the late-41st millennium AD in the universe timeline. As of 2012 this setting had been utilised by the majority of related material; however, for several years prior and continuing, the publisher has also been promoting a parallel narrative thread for the fictional universe, which is taking place during the founding and early times of the Imperium.
The fictional empire is variously called "Imperium," "Imperium of Man," or "Imperium of Mankind" in official publisher sources; in the 2010s, the gender-neutral "Imperium of Humankind" appeared in same.
Read more about this topic: Imperium (Warhammer 40,000)
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