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human
[WarHammer 40K] Are the Imperium of Man/Emperor actually supposed to be the good guys?

Warning: Lots of Heresy. Don't kill me please.

So I just started reading the Warhammer books and I'm trying to figure out the universe it's set in.

I started with the Horus Heresy and I've read the first 3.5 books. So my question is are these people supposed to be the good guys? Because the whole quest of the imperium is to eradicate religion and what not but they're all worshiping this god emperor instead of other deities. Is this supposed to show the hypocrisy of the Astartes/human order?

Though once in a while the characters will look at the mass murder with regret and be disgusted by the brutality, most of the time even the 'good' characters like Garviel Loken and Nathaniel Garro seem to have constant blood lust and blind fanaticism for the Emperor or their Primach.

Is this series more in the vein of Heinlein's Starship troopers, where the human protagonists are actually the fascists but the whole thing is wrapped in so much facetious propaganda that Poe's law kicks in and people can't even tell that they're falling for the same propaganda.

So what are your views on this?
gpt
There are no good guys in 40k. There are just not-horrible guys. The Eldar, the Tau and the Imperium are the 'Goodish Guys'. That's part of the overall vibe of the setting. You don't have a good option just a slightly less bad one.