So you want to get into the lore community huh? A new player, maybe your an old veteran who has taken the plunge into 10th Edition!
To be fair I was interested in always writing an FAQ, and I took an idea from one of our discord members and decided to expand it a bit more. As I also felt similarly that having a central FAQ of where to get information would be helpful to new, old, or returning 40k Lore Keepers.
#So how do I get into 40k's lore?#
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Warhammer Community News Page - Your major one stop place for free news and lore drops. A major event happening in 40k? It will be on the community site. Then will often showcase what books are coming out tied to that event. GW is very good at tying new events with Black Library Books.
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This World, we will often be posting excerpts or summaries or discussions. Or the old Subreddit of 40klore. The Discord will also have some discussions on topics but not summaries.
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Random Forums such as Dakka Dakka, Bolter and Chainsword. Or wikis, Lexicanum is a far more reliable source and your first stop for just a general introduction and a great place to find direct sources to read. Find an event that interest you? Look up that book and try to get at it at a local library!
- And its where most people get their information. Lexicanum is always stringent about where lore comes from and has to be directly paraphrased. Lexicanum is a wikipedia after all its not the sole place to get your lore! Its a tip toe into the lore depths of 40k.
- Youtubers: Luetin09 (General 40k), 40k Theories, Oculus Imperia, Arbitor Ian (Summaries of Events), Wolf Lord Rho, Fluffenhammer, Snipe and Wib (General 40k and Hobby), and 2+ Tough (Age of Sigmar more than 40k).
- If you want a layman's terms and introduction but not a very in-depth 40k lore look at : Adeptus Podcastus is a pretty good place to get it, but they often get lore wrong more than they get right. But if you want to get introduced to a topic the Podcast is the easiest to learn a small part about it. Avoid book reviews, read them yourself.
- Books / PDFs you can find these books on kindle for relatively cheap or at Local Libraries or Bargain Bins. 40k Books are inexplicably expensive on Amazon for physical copies, its advisable to avoid it. There are some recommendation lists for 40k books. Typically people recommend the Eisenhorn, Ciaphas Cain, or Tanith First and Only as your introduction to 40k.
- If you don't gel with either of these three I'd highly recommend one of my favorites The Infinite and the Divine a Necron book. Essentially a buddy cop story about space robots who hate each other. Some other books are also pretty good for lore per a faction its often denoted by Space Marine Battles or the book cover. But its advisable to avoid codexes if you don't want to get into the hobby and spend on codexes which are usually 50+ $ USD. Black Library books can be picked up basically anywhere. Or on digital or on a bundle as PDFs.
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Other Users! Many of us are more than willing to discuss 40k, and love it. Often times we want to ensure that we are discussing it in a way that people can easily find sources on it. Not everyone has a library of old white dwarfs or the Black books of forgeworld to rely on but there are some of us that do and are more than willing to quote paragraphs to help with searches or just a general understanding of events.
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Warhammer Codexes and Rulebooks are usually the last place I would go directly unless you want to spend 50-60 USD per book. Unforunately to people who read just the lore its advisable to just avoid or ask someone who does. Thankfully White Dwarf's (GW's offical magazine) is often full of lore excerpts but its better to first check with people if they do.
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Discussion threads, got a question just leave one about a particular place and lore tidbit you want to learn about. Like what happened in the Badab War? How were the cursed foundings made? What is the Eldar Paths? Or How advanced are the Tau as a species? Or How do the Chaos Space Marines not have land speeder?
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Author Blogs. Yes the authors of warhammer 40k often have quite a bit of knowledge on the subject of it and often answer questions about the universe. But they too rely on Lexicanum or their own interest in 40k.
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This video by Arbitor Ian is a pretty good catch up for 40k 10th Edition. https://youtu.be/CTzzPbUcCa0