It’s important to remember that the Warhammer Fantasy world is not Terra. Presumably, no alien race has ever set foot there except by invitation. So the Warhammer Fantasy game is not actually taking place in early human history, rather the opposite.

The answer to your question has to do with the evolution of the Warhammer game. At the moment, Games Workshop claims that there is no connection between the Warhammer Fantasy and Warhammer 40,000 universes, and that any similarities between the two are mere coincidences. It is true that the games have become more distinct and less alike with the recent editions. However, it was not always so. In the previous editions, during the Rogue Trader era I believe, the Warhammer Fantasy world was actually said to be located in the 40,000 universe, but remained cut off from the rest of the galaxy by huge and powerful warp storms that made interstellar communication and travel impossible. For some reason the birth of Slaanesh, which ended the Age of Strife on Terra, did not free this planet, and its inhabitants of humans, Eldar and Orks slowly lost their technological knowledge over the following ten thousand years, retaining only their faith and certain legends about the outside world. The rules reflected this by actually allowing for some 40,000 weapons and characters to be used in Warhammer Fantasy games as ancient relics or unfortunate visitors who got trapped in the warp storm and couldn’t leave the planet again.

Before this version, though, in the very old days, I’ve been told that the Warhammer Fantasy world was actually supposed to represent the last battleground between all the races, happening many thousand years after Warhammer 40,000, when the galaxy had been wiped clean of all life by the cataclysmic weapons of the Final War, except for this one planet where the post-apocalyptic descendents of the star-spanning empires fought over the last inhabitable world in the galaxy. Presumably their use of primitive weaponry is a reflection of the famous Einstein quote: “I know not with what weapons World War III will be fought, but World War IV will be fought with sticks and stones.�

Finally, it could also be that the Warhammer Fantasy world is just another world in the 40,000 universe, not cut off but undiscovered. Remember that certain Eldar factions, such as the Exodites, felt that the only way to truly protect themselves from Slaanesh and prevent another Fall was to go feral and live off the wild, so to speak. Most Exodites in the fluff have retained some technology, although not much, but it’s not impossible that the Elves in the Warhammer Fantasy world are actually Eldar Exodites who do possess the technological knowledge to create greater weapons than bows and arrows, but refuse to do so because they fear the consequences of possessing such great power again. As for the human’s level of technology, it’s been proven numerous times that they will quickly lose all technological knowledge if cut off from the rest of their race, as seen during the Age of Strife, and the Orks actually have the special feature that their level of technology reflects their opponents'. If he uses a bow, they do too. If he uses star ships and giant laser weapons, then they do too. It has got something to do with their creation, I believe, although that is an entirely different discussion.

Hope that helped to clear up the confusion!

~Grephaun.

 

I don't think there is any physical connection between the 40k and fantasy universes in the current fluff. There are some real differences between the two, not least the fact that, in Fantasy, Slannesh has been around for over 10,000 years (by the lizardman timeline.) Impossible, if the two worlds are connected. 40k Khaine is also the god of war, while Fantasy Khaine is the god of murder.. there are differences.

I suppose it's possible the two are supposed to be parallel universes of some kind, with certain reflections and effects on one another. In particular, the warp gates built by the fantasy old ones might be able to link to the 40k universe, and maybe they share the same concept of 'warp space'. There are also the strange techno-fantasy elements evident in some lizardman weapons and devices to back up an idea that there is some connection there. Then again, it could simply be that the old lizardman civilization built these weapons back when the old ones were around to guide them.

Personally, I'd go with the idea that 40k was originally constructed as 'fantasy in space' by GW, and gradually drifted away. Hence, a lot of the concepts from fantasy were not rewritten, but just jammed into 40k to create a stronger sense of coherency between the two games.

 

Thanks guys. I think, after your explainations, I would tend to believe that the Elves are Eldar Exodites.
"The rules reflected this by actually allowing for some 40,000 weapons and characters to be used in Warhammer Fantasy games as ancient relics."
The Eldar Exodites, for sure, would have access to relics, thought other races might not have as much. And maybe a combination between the Exodites and the warp storms ideas.

 

There is a huge problem with Elves=Exodites.

Elves in Warhammer do not fear Slaanesh at all, as a matter of fact they are probably closer to him than any other Chaos God. Their Gods are also alive and well indicating that the Fall never happened.

The whole story of Exodites is that they saw the Fall coming and left early. I would have huge issues with the idea of Exodites somehow forgetting the Fall but still remembering their Gods.

If you want to do Exodites with swords then go ahead but saying Elves are Exodites is clearly an oversight.

 

Thanks for the response. That is a good point.