Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 Guide – Your Essential Support Document

Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is a spectacular game, and a huge part of what makes it so incredible is the Warhammer 40K universe in which it takes place. The rich lore oozes from every inch of each corridor, Tyranid, and Chainsaw.

But some of it can go right over your head, and it’s super annoying when you need to pause the game every 5 minutes to look up something a character said.

Table of contents

• Do you need to play Warhammer 40K: Space Marine before Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2?
• Everything you need to know about the Warhammer 40K universe while playing Space Marine 2
  • What is The Imperium?
  • What is a Space Marine?
  • Who is The Emperor?
  • What is the Omnissiah?
  • What is a Magos?
  • What is a Xenos?
  • What are the Tyranids?
  • What is Chaos?
  • What are Chaos Space Marines?
  • Who are the Thousand Suns?
  • What is The Deathwatch?
  • What is the Adeptus Mechanics?
  • What is a Primaris Space Marine?
  • What is the Treaty of Mars?
  • Who is Leandros?
• If you like Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 should you play the tabletop game?

Do you need to play Warhammer 40K: Space Marine before Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2?

No, you don’t need to play Warhammer 40K: Space Marine before jumping into the sequel. Developer Saber Interactive has said as much, and as someone who has already finished the game, I can tell you that all you need to get through it is this list of terms.

Of course, you’re going to miss out on some story references if you haven’t played the first game. They don’t ruin anything, though, and getting into Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 is something you need to do as soon as possible because it’s just so good.

Everything you need to know about the Warhammer 40K universe while playing Space Marine 2

It can take years to read every Warhammer 40K book, figure out who all the armies are, and get your head around the timeline of the universe. Luckily, you don’t need to do that. In this article, I’ve outlined all the major lore points that stuck out to me as things you need to know if you’re going to get the most out of the setting. Not everyone has time to digest all the lore explainers out there, so I’ve listed each point I think you need to know in order of when they crop up. Enjoy.

What is The Imperium?

The Imperium is humanity’s territory in the galaxy 40,000 years into the future. It’s not a single chunk amid all the other splodges of color belonging to the Xenos (other factions) as you might see on a standard war table. Instead, think of the Milky Way split up into habitable areas and non-habitable areas. The Imperium controls some of those habitable areas, but because there are lightyears worth of space to control, war breaks out everywhere.

What is a Space Marine?

A Space Marine is a genetically altered human being, usually one who is a good couple of hundred years old. They were created using Gene-Seed, which is a type of superhuman mutation combined with a series of operations that leads to a soldier who is larger than life and able to dominate on the battlefield.

Who is The Emperor?

The Emperor is a Psyker, a human with psychic powers, who was born millennia ago and led humanity into a golden age. He is the greatest Psyker to ever live, but after he was betrayed by his son Horus during The Horus Heresy, he received a mortal wound that almost killed him.

In the time of Warhammer 40K, The Emperor survives only because he’s strapped into a colossal chair called The Golden Throne. This device is as big as a city and requires daily Psyker sacrifices to run, but it keeps The Emperor alive, though only in a vegetative state.

Humans believe The Emperor is still aware of the universe in his near-death coma, using his power to help guide humanity out of the darkness and into the light once more.

What is the Omnissiah?

The Omnissiah is the machine god worshipped by the Adeptus Mechanicus, the tech priest of Mars. It’s the god of all knowledge and is the main reason the Adeptus Mechanicus continue to dig for new technology and understanding wherever they can find it.

What is a Magos?

A Magos is a high-ranking member of the Adeptus Mechanicus who is said to be close to the Omnissiah. They sit somewhere between a sorcerer and a priest, knowing everything related to technology, including forbidden information, and seem to have great power because of it.

Make no mistake, though. The power of a Magos comes from the technology they’ve uncovered and mastered. They have no mystical powers, only abilities rooted in the technology they’ve studied for centuries.

They’re mostly machines, undergoing operations throughout their lifetime to remove what they call “fleshy parts” so that they can be more efficient and pure like the Omnissiah.

What is a Xenos?

Xenos is the name given to extraterrestrial life in the Warhammer 40K universe. It’s interchangeable with what we’d call aliens, though Xenos is generally used to describe one of the non-human sentient species in this universe.

What are the Tyranids?

The Tyranids are a race of aliens that invaded or fled to the Milky Way galaxy, no one is sure if they’re running away from something or coming to overthrow yet another massive stellar body.

Their armies are entirely biological. They invade with colossal ships that drop spores on a world and melt organic matter into a fleshy pulp that’s then sucked up by the Hive Ships before they move on to the next world.

The great thing about being a Tyranid is that you’re recycled into the biomass if you’re killed. The race also evolves on the fly, so dispersing a toxin that targets the entire species is useless because it becomes useless after a single generation of new Tyranids is born.

The species is so evolutionarily advanced that it can even evolve to adapt to the types of weapons used against it. Lean too hard on flamethrowers, they become flame-resistant. Use a specific round to blow them apart efficiently, and pretty soon that round will be useless.

What is Chaos?

Chaos is the manifestation of human emotions that exist in the Warp. This is a space between worlds that most races travel through in Warhammer 40K. Inside the Warp, entities akin to gods are formed from specific emotions and desires, and their armies form the forces of Chaos.

What are Chaos Space Marines?

Chaos Space Marines are Space Marines who have succumbed to the desires that embody a particular Chaos god and now serve them. There are loads of Chapters dedicated to major and minor gods, but all Chaos Space Marines are considered traitors because they’ve turned their back on the Emperor.

Who are the Thousand Suns?

The Thousand Suns is the Chaos Space Marine Chapter you face in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2. They serve Tzeentch, a Chaos god of sorcery and intrigue. As a result, they have what can only be described as magic by our level of understanding. However, their magic uses Warp energy.

What is The Deathwatch?

The Deathwatch is a Chapter of Space Marines used by the Inquisition. Their sole purpose is to be the real firepower when the Adeptus Mechanicus goes too far, or the Inquisition needs veterans to step in and protect humanity from the most dire of situations.

This is why Titus descends to tackle the Tyranid invasion first, because it reached a critical point and he, as an expendable member of a Chapter ultimately serving the Inquisition, was sent in on what could have been a one-way mission to detonate a viral bomb that could slow the Tyranids down.

What is the Adeptus Mechanics?

The Adeptus Mechanicus is the name given to the Tech Priests and others in The Imperium who are obsessed with technology and worship the machine god. They have a tenuous relationship with the rest of The Imperium, but their work gets results, most of the time.

What is a Primaris Space Marine?

A Primaris is a more powerful version of a Space Marine. These guys have undergone more surgery with more Gene-Seed, and are way more resilient in battle and against corruption as a result. They’re taller, faster, stronger, and generally better warriors all around. But they take even longer to make, so each one is treasured and usually lives a long time because they’re in positions of command and damn hard to kill.

What is the Treaty of Mars?

The Treaty of Mars entitles the Adeptus Mechanicus to do whatever it wants in the pursuit of truth and knowledge. Even if this seems heretical to Space Marines, such as uncovering ancient Tomb Worlds and keeping them a secret to experiment with their technology.

This is a constant source of frustration for Space Marine Chapters and often leads to many issues that The Imperium steps in to sort out and really shouldn’t have happened in the first place.

Who is Leandros?

Leandros is a character from Warhammer 40K: Space Marine. His reveal in the sequel may be confusing, so I wanted to explain why you should care who he is.

Essentially, he looked up to Titus in the first game. He also accused Titus of heresy after the events of that game and is a big part of why Titus had to serve in the Deathwatch.

In the second game, Leandros watches Titus at all times because he has risen to be a high-ranking member of The Imperium’s religion. This was always going to be his path, but, as you’ll see at the end of the game, he isn’t completely convinced Titus is 100% free of corruption or incorruptible.

If you like Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2 should you play the tabletop game?

If you really love the universe you see and experience in Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2, then you’ll adore the tabletop game. Of course, the tabletop game is extremely different, much slower, and requires you to paint armies of miniatures to battle with.

But the shared universe this game inhabits is a vast one. The only way you can get more of it is by experiencing it alongside other players who have spent hundreds of hours reading about it, playing battles out inside of it, and hanging out together. Head to your local game store to find a few people to play with because many are usually happy to share their pre-painted armies.

The truth is that this game is only going to get better as we see more and more of the content from its roadmap release. Now is the best time to immerse yourself in the universe, because it’s not going anywhere.

Before you go

Thanks so much for reading this, admittedly rather large explainer guide for Warhammer 40K: Space Marine 2. We cover all sorts of games, but if you’re looking for something else meaty to sink your teeth into, check out our Core Keeper walkthrough to see if it’s a fit for you.

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About the Author

Laura Gray

Administrator

Laura Gray, known as Ezra when not putting pen to paper, is a D&D enthusiast with a love of all things written. They are a collector of fantasy and sci-fi novels, a lover of cooking weird food, and a player of farming sims and Pokémon games. When not engrossed in a re-read of Anne McCaffrey or a deep dive into the Adventure Zone: Balance, they can be found sniffing the cats and napping in half-finished crochet projects.

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