With the recent release of Warhammer 40,000: Darktide, players have been immersed in the grim darkness of the far future. As you create your character, one of the most important choices is which Imperial world to select as your home planet. This impacts the backstory, motivations, and perspective your agents bring to the Inquisition.
While mainly affecting roleplay, exploring the different homeworld options provides insights into the sprawling Imperium of Man. From devout Shrine Worlds to deadly Industrial planets, each offers a unique lens into the culture, technology, and dangers inhabiting this fictional universe.
This guide will analyze all the homeworld selections available in Darktide, explaining their lore and benefits for enriched roleplaying.
Overview of Homeworlds in Warhammer 40k
Also known as Imperial Worlds, homeworlds represent the different types of planets that make up the Imperium of Man. They fulfill a range of functions, from producing weapons and food to worshipping the God-Emperor. The Imperium relies on these worlds to sustain its vast population and fuel its eternal war efforts.
During character creation, Darktide players can choose from eight different homeworlds:
- Crucis (Shrine World)
- Messelina Gloriana (Small Shrine World)
- Rocyria (Small Agri World)
- Branx Magna (Industrial World)
- Incron (Ocean World)
- Cadia (Site of Necron Tombs)
- Mornax (Mining World)
- Pavane (Unclassified World)
Below, we will explore each planet in more detail.
Crucis – Shrine World
Roleplaying Elements: Extreme religious devotion, fighting heresy, protecting holy relics
Crucis represents the Shrine Worlds of the Imperium, planets dedicated entirely to worship of the God-Emperor of Mankind. These worlds are filled with temples, churches, monuments, and artifacts considered sacred. Everything revolves around the state religion known as the Imperial Creed.
Life on a Shrine World fosters an environment of intense religious passion bordering on fanaticism. Your character likely grew up steeped in dogma about the Emperor’s divinity. You understand firsthand how the Ecclesiarchy (Imperial church) wields immense influence over imperial citizens.
From a young age, you learned to detect the smallest hints of heresy or blasphemy against the Imperial Creed. As a citizen of Crucis, you‘ll stand ever-ready to root out unbelievers and defend holy sites with your life.
Messelina Gloriana – Small Shrine World
Similar to Crucis in culture and religion, Messelina Gloriana is a smaller Shrine World covered in dense forests. Your upbringing occurred surrounded by towering trees intermixed with chapels and monuments to the Emperor. The natural beauty may have given you slight perspective beyond just religious duty.
Otherwise, the heavy ecclesiastical culture remains identical to Crucis. Your vigilance against heresy persists but perhaps with a touch more nuance from exposure to a different environment.
Rocyria – Small Agri World
Roleplaying Elements: Rural life, hard labor, producing food for the Imperium
Agri Worlds serve as the breadbasket planets of the Imperium, using extensive agriculture to feed trillions of imperial citizens. Rocyria focuses on crops, livestock, fishing, and other food output to sustain nearby worlds.
Growing up on this rural planet, you spent your days assisting with grueling farm work, learning to operate machinery, understanding soil chemistries, and gauging crop health. You have an appreciation for the daily toil it takes to put food on the table for the wider Imperium.
The isolated countryside may have kept you ignorant of wider galactic conflicts and politics. But when the Inquisition calls, you answer out of duty drilled into you since birth.
Branx Magna – Industrial World
Roleplaying Elements: Manufacturing weapons, technology, importance of productivity
Industrial Worlds are planets devoted to mining raw materials and manufacturing military equipment for the Imperial war machine. Branx Magna produces prodigious amounts of weapons, armor, starships, and machinery for the Imperium’s endless conflicts.
Since childhood, you labored in dangerous production lines, smelting ores or assembling components with rigid precision. Supervisors and efficiency experts tracked your every move, quick to punish any drop in output.
You spent long weeks confined inside factory compounds dedicated to weapons output. This gave you extensive firsthand knowledge of imperial armaments and an appreciation for reliable gear.
Incron – Ocean World
Roleplaying Elements: Living underwater, maritime skills, familiarity with ships/naval hierarchy
Ocean Worlds are almost completely covered by water, including Incron. Your childhood occurred in submarine habitats hovering above rich kelp forests or hydrothermal vents. You hunted aquatic lifeforms for sustenance and understood naval patrol patterns.
This homeworld imparts extensive firsthand experience with underwater construction techniques, sealife characteristics, and maritime vessels from personal subs to enormous imperial battleships. You accept naval ranking structures and chain of command as second nature.
While isolated from planetary conflicts, defending humanity still constitutes your sworn duty. You set aside oceanic research or commercial shipping once the Inquisition calls for aid.
Cadia – Site of Necron Tombs
Roleplaying Elements: Witnessing Necrons firsthand, skills fighting these xenos, knowledge of tomb defenses
Cadia stands unique as a world where the Imperium successfully defeated a Chaos invasion of Necron tomb complexes. These underground mausoleums contain dormant Necrons, bio-transferred beings with advanced weaponry awaiting activation.
You directly participated in battles against Chaos Cultists and the undying Necron legions they awakened. Fighting alongside Imperial Guard regiments, you braved lethal beams from gauss flayers to help reseal the tombs.
This baptism by fire gave you invaluable experience combating two of humanity‘s greatest threats: the forces of Chaos and the undying Necron xenos. You understand the urgency of banishing both before they overwhelm imperial defenses through attrition and soul-destroying sorceries.
Mornax – Mining World
Roleplaying Elements: Familiarity with minerals, explosives, indentured labor, low social status
Mining Worlds fuel the Imperial war machine through endless mineral extraction using indentured servants and convicts. Mornax is no different, scarring the land to feed imperial smelters with precious ores.
As an indentured servant, your life revolved around descending into hazardous mineshafts filled with toxic gases, explosives, and the risk of cave-ins. You operated loud, dangerous excavation machinery or blasting charges for endless hours extracting precious ores.
Upper hive overseers treated you as expendable and readily sent noncompliant workers to penal legions. You bear physical and emotional scars from a lifetime of risky, unforgiving underground labor.
Pavane – Unclassified World
Roleplaying Elements: Idyllic world, natural beauty, sheltered upbringing
An outlier amongst Imperial Worlds, Pavane boasts sprawling jungles, lush farmlands, and vibrant culture. Its inhabitants enjoy isolated paradise, mostly untouched by wider galactic warfare and politics.
You spent an idyllic childhood enjoying nature’s splendor and the fruits of simple agrarian life. With limited exposure to technology, your understanding of wider Imperium affairs remains narrow until answering the Inquisition’s summons.
This innocent backdrop makes you idealistically devoted to defending your small slice of paradise from the terrors threatening humanity. You embark on your mission with equal parts courage and naivety.
Conclusion
Warhammer 40k: Darktide’s homeworld selection allows players to enrich roleplaying characters with unique backgrounds tied to the Warhammer 40k universe. While mainly influencing a character’s personality and knowledge, each offers some minor gameplay advantages against certain enemies.
Planetary environments shape perspective, so select a homeworld complementary to your desired playing style. A zealous imperial priest plays differently than an indentured miner or marshborn hunter.
Immerse yourself while purging the endless horrors plaguing humanity in Warhammer 40k: Darktide! May the Emperor guide your hand against the encroaching darkness.
