Corpse-starch: What the lore actually says, and its place in the setting, part I - The Lore
So, let’s see what the lore actually says.
Part 2: The lore
To start, it is important to note that nowhere in the lore does it ever say that corpse-starch is the only, or the majority, of the food provided to the masses of the Imperium. We see plenty of examples across all forms of 40k media of other types of food, from the produce of agri-worlds such as vegetables, fungi and meat which are exported to other planets, to world’s that can provide much of their own food from local sources like the aforementioned as well as things like fish. There is the wide use of grox as a source of meat, alongside all manner of other familiar and alien animals, as well as the cultivation of algae, which is a common practice on Hiveworlds. There are also mass-produced foodstuffs which use can use some of the previously mentioned ingredients, but where the range of ingredients used isn’t always clear, such as Soylens Viridians and Slab (more on this in a subsequent post).
This use of corpse-starch to supplement other food sources is nicely outlined here:
All worlds within the sector are expected to produce a certain level of goods, or occasionally services, from which their tithes are drawn. Each hive world typically has anywhere from one to four agri worlds dedicated to ensuring its populace has enough food, which is then supplemented by various stable substances produced on-world such as corpse starch, nutrient paste, various fungi, and crop algae.
Imperium Maledictum Rulebook, p. 256.
But corpse-starch, which is explicitly made from humans, is a well-established feature of the lore. It is, however, presented as being supplementary to the other types of food, not as a replacement for them - though in specific places, and at specific times, it is used quite heavily. And the central focus has been Hiveworlds.
Fittingly, the first mention the concept (well, there is actually an even earlier appearance in a very strange place indeed, covered in another post) appeared in the original material for Necromunda, back when it was the hiveworld setting for a game called Controntation:
While there are many decaying foodstuffs down in the bunkers, only a certain type degenerates into the spook lode: the vestigial remains of the oldest kind of synthdiet made on Necromunda. The decayed synthdiet deposits are now nothing more than a lurid green powder, having been acted on by mutant fungi for thousands of years. It contained a high proportion of recycled human protein and it is this human essence which is likely to account for its dramatic effects on the human psyche.
White Dwarf 130 (October 1990), p. 130.
And this concept was used in Ian Waton's Inquisitor. Corpse collectors were sorting fresh human meat for recycling. Rotten meat and all cadavers of genestealer kin were destined for furnaces.
...
If their staple diet still consisted of hydroponically grown vegetables, these were deliciously spiced and sauced - a far more piquant diet than the recycled synthfood that was the lot of the majority of most populations on crowded worlds.
Inquisitor, p. 15 and p. 40.
So, no use of the phrase "corpse-starch", but the implication is very clearly here that humans are being recycled for food.
The book also has numerous other references to cannibalism, from the Callidus Assassin Meh'Lindi chowing down on somebody, to the Imperial Fist Lex salivating at the thought of munching on somebody's brain, to mention of gangs of starvelings roaming hives looking for fresh corpses to eat.
It was not until 1995 that the term 'corpse-starch' itself was first used:
"The hivers, as the population is called, live in dark, cramped and polluted conditions, never seeing the sun from the day they are born to the day they die. The air they breathe is recycled from above and grows ever more bitter and poisonous as it filters downwards. Even the water is distilled from the discharge of the upper hive and their food is factory produced chemical nutrient, algae-based or spun from corpse starch. Conditions are crowded and insanitary, and, as the hive deepens, the darker and the less habitable the environment becomes."
Necromunda Sourcebook (1995), p. 8.
"The constantly recycled air, water and food of the hive have an inevitable effect on its inhabitants. Pollutants and toxins build up in the bio-system causing genetic instability and mutation. The effects of this are worse further down the hive where toxins are more concentrated."
Necromunda Sourcebook (1995), p. 20.
So, the idea that recycling all resources, including humans to be reconstituted into corpse-starch, is there, as is perhaps an implication that its use is more prevalent deeper down in the Hives.
The original Necromunda game was accompanied by a wide range of supplementary materials which were published in White Dwarf, and the magazines Gang War, the Necromunda Magazine and Fanatic, which have very helpfully been compiled online (many thanks to those who did the work!). From these, we learn things like:
"Spook is extracted from certain decayed synthidiet deposits or ‘raw Spook’. The decayed synthidiet was dumped many thousands of years ago and stashes are sometimes discovered in the Underhive or ash wastes by Scavvies and Ratskins. The original synthidiet was probably recycled from the bodies of dead hivers in times of food shortages and so may act as a medium for carrying race-memories locked in chemical form or DNA. Over the millennia the decaying synthidiet was acted upon by the mutant fungi spores that made up an important component of it, turning the stuff into a potent and dangerous powdery green scum. This is drunk in a frothing liquid form by those foolish enough to use it. A tiny glass phial contains a standard dose."
Necromunda Compilation 2, p. 21.
So, here are seemingly big enough stockpiles of corpse-starch to leach into enough fungi to serve as the basis for a substantial drugs trade. Though, this extract does suggest the bodies may have originally been used during a time of food shortages.
Of course, Necromunda was relaunched in 2017. And corpse-starch now plays a much more prominent role in the game and its accompanying lore. Indeed, there is now a whole playable faction centred on it, in the form of the Corpse Grinders Cult, as well as fleshed out lore and playable models for the Corpse Guild. And this new lore makes it clear that corpse-starch production is a regularly part of the operation of Hives on Necromunda, as a way to dispose of corpses and as a necessary, constant part of the food supply:
"The Corpse Guild regulates the trade and production of corpse-starch. This is one of the most important roles of all the Great Guilds, as millions of people are born and die each day on Necromunda. Without the orderly disposal of corpses, plague and disease would run rampant. Without the food source that these corpses provide when rendered down in the great corpse grinder plants that dominate entire sectors in every hive, the populace would starve. The Corpse Guild gathers up thousands of dead each cycle, filling their mortuary caravans with piled bodies, or rendering them down in mobile grinding automata."
Necromunda: Book of Peril, p. 8.
"Without the recycled flesh of the dead provided by the Corpse Guild, and processed by the Corpse Grinders, Necromunda would starve to death in a matter of weeks."
Necromunda: Book of Peril, p. 27.
"Recycled meat is vital to the existence of Necromunda, and the Merchants Guild is continually acquiring fresh sources for the Corpse Grinders. Pale Consorts and Bone Scriveners are corpse prospectors, continually scouring the hives looking for new and plentiful veins of dead meat to be turned into the next batch of corpse-starch rations."
Necromunda: Book of Peril, p. 36.
"A cannibal sickness lurks at the heart of Necromunda, like a festering wound that will never heal. It is the great cycle of existence that rules over all who serve the Imperial House, the denizens of the hives either feeding on their predecessors, or feeding the living with their own dead flesh. Corpse Grinder Cults are a by-product of this brutal necessity, charged with the grim task of recycling their fellow hivers into corpse-starch."
Necromunda: Book of Ruin, p. 14.
We also get another bit of lore about another drug which is the product of corpse-starch supplies:
While there are many decaying foodstuffs down in the ancient bunkers, only a certain type degenerates into a ghast lode: the vestigial remains of the oldest kind of artificial reconstituted diet made on Necromunda. The decayed nutrient deposits are now nothing more than a lurid green powder, having been acted on by mutant fungi for thousands of years. Being based on corpse starch, these deposits contain a high proportion of recycled human protein and it is this human essence which is likely to account for its dramatic effects on the human psyche.
Necromunda Rulebook (2017), p. 15.
Aside from the game source/rulebooks and magazines, more descriptions are provided accompanying the game models:
"Food in the underhive rarely holds any joy. Most meals consist of corpse-starch or nutri-slime, supplemented with synth-fats and vitamin shots."
https://www.warhammer.com/en-GB/shop/necromunda-slopper-and-scabber-2022
"Recycled meat is vital to the continued survival of Necromunda, and the Merchant Guild is continually acquiring fresh sources for the Corpse Grinders. Pale Consorts and Bone Scriveners are corpse prospectors, ever scouring the hives looking for new and plentiful veins of dead meat to be turned into the next batch of corpse-starch rations."
https://www.warhammer.com/en-GB/shop/necromunda-corpse-harvesting-party-2023
"Sick of fighting to survive in the claustrophobic confines of the underhive? Want to roam free from busybody Enforcers? Done with a diet of corpse starch and recycled water?"
https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/3DqiyxSD/necromunda-ash-wastes-revealed-in-full-at-adepticon/
"Unless you’re one of the hoity-toity noble folk in the upper hive, your average Necromunda lunch probably consists of recycled meat. Corpse Harvesting Parties are representatives of the Mercator Pallidus, the Corpse Guild, and as hangers-on they’re entirely happy to join your gangs for a quick supply run."
https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/6xrbjxd6/sunday-preview-your-emperor-needs-you-join-the-astra-militarum/
"Fighting an endless gang war over the underhive and across the ash wastes is guaranteed to work up an appetite. There’s no way the members of House Goliath can maintain that much mass without constant doses of protein – and the occasional pre-packaged sandwich from a Promethium Refuelling Station just won’t cut it.
That’s why everyone on Necromunda absolutely loves heaped servings of delicious corpse-starch – at least, according to the corpse-starch marketing board. This morbid ambrosia doesn’t grow on trees,* and that’s where the Corpse Guild makes its bacon. Er, figuratively speaking.
Known officially as the Mercator Pallidus, the guild dispatches its Corpse Harvesting Parties to collect the raw… materials… required to supply each hive’s corpse grinder plants.
Led by the Pale Consorts and their Bone Scrivener attendants, these parties act as prospectors of dead meat, hunting rich seams of “freshly” disposed bodies ripe for recycling. When war rages between rival gangs, these graveyard gatherers are on the scene to harvest a fresh corpse-crop."
https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-gb/articles/fpS2tmXC/stock-up-on-relatively-fresh-meat-in-necromunda-with-a-corpse-harvesting-party/
As a final note about Necromunda, it seems clear that knowledge about corpse-starch and how it is made is pretty common (what with guild members appearing to nab bodies..), but the Guild does try to keep it as secret as they can:
"It is better that the masses do not know the truth behind what they consume for many find their sanity overwhelmed by the necessity of our great work. That is what the Corpse Grinders are; weak-willed fools who have seen the truth and seek now comfort in the arms of heretics.” Quirinos, Mercator Pallidus
Necromunda: Book of Ruin, p. 14.
And we get this nice scene from a novel:
‘Good evening, Lord Insulae,’ Sorrow replied, as his guest took a seat opposite. A waiter had already arrived, menu poised, but Lord Insulae dismissed him, pouring himself a glass of the Golden Tokay. Sorrow watched the liquid spill into the glass and tried to calculate how many credits it cost him. Insulae did not bother to appreciate the bouquet or colour, slugging back a large mouthful.
‘Not bad,’ he conceded, setting his glass down.
‘Can I tempt you with anything else?’ Sorrow said. ‘An entree perhaps? Or the rest of my main?’
‘You know I’d rather go hungry than eat this filth,’ Insulae replied with a meaningful look. Sorrow shrugged and took another bite of hetelfish. His appetite was quite spoiled, but he made sure to give every appearance of enjoying the dish. Insulae stared at him with barely concealed disgust.
‘I cannot believe you would eat here,’ he said. ‘A member of the Mercator Pallidus dining on food imported from off-world. You set a poor example for our trade.’
‘With whom?’ Sorrow replied, gesturing to his fellow diners. ‘You think these people sup on anything other than imported food? That they would debase themselves with our simulated wares packed full of corpse-starch?’
‘I see Lord Occiden,’ Insulae replied, nodding to a barrel-chested nobleman who appeared to be in fits of laughter, his voice inaudible beyond the confines of his table. ‘He is a loyal customer.’
‘Yes, but Lord Occiden is a living advertisement of the dangers of interbreeding,’ Sorrow replied. ‘It is said his appetites extend beyond the reconstituted flesh of the dead. The turnover of servants is alarmingly high.’
‘All great men have their eccentricities,’ Insulae said. ‘My point remains that it sets a bad example when a Corpse-Guilder is seen stuffing his craw with imported filth. What is that anyway?’
‘Hetelfish.’
‘Fish?’ Insulae said, gagging slightly. ‘People eat those? Disgusting.’
‘It’s imperative we sample different flavours so I can take that knowledge back to our own kitchens. Have you tried my synthetic grox steak? It is the rage in Hive City.’
‘I have and I do not care for it. You can barely taste the corpse-starch.’
‘That is somewhat the point,’ Sorrow replied. ‘The more affluent workers like the illusion that their evening repast is not, in fact, mashed up human remains and hive fungi ground into a grey paste.’
‘Some people don’t accept the world for what it is. That is not my problem,’ Insulae replied with a shrug. ‘It must be expensive eating here.’
Fire Made Flesh.
Which implies that many people do indeed know the truth of what corpse-starch is made from, but some of them prefer not to dwell on it.
Now, the existence of systematized use of corpse-starch on Necromunda is often written-off as the quirk of just that one world, and not representative of the wider Imperium. And it is definitely the case that not all worlds, and even not all hiveworlds use it. But I think it is important to appreciate that Necromunda is presented to us as an exemplar of a hiveworld, to give us a window into what they and – or can be – like. The way the original Necromunda Sourcebook and the 2017 Rulebook contextualise Necromunda as an example of a hiveworld suggests this quite strongly. Yes, it is one world, with its own unique attributes – which have only become more noteworthy with the new edition. Most hiveworlds won’t be home to a functioning STC, or be a recruiting world for a First Founding Chapter. But Necromunda does have many features which are shown to be common to lots of other, if not most other, hiveworlds: the hive spires themselves, the Underhive and the Upperhive, intense social stratification, endemic gang warfare, extreme pollution and environmental degradation etc. Now, to be clear: neither edition of the game states that corpse-starch is common to hiveworlds, but the I think the sense of how it is framed suggests it likely is, or could be.
Other sources have been more explicit in showcasing corpse-starch to be common to Hiveworlds.
The RPG Dark Heresy provides descriptions of hiveworlds – not a specific hiveworld, but hiveworlds in general:
"For most people, life in the hives is tough. Conditions are squalid and unsanitary. The very air breathed by the countless hivers is recycled from the spire above and pumped through the rest, growing ever more bitter and poisonous the further down it filters. Even the water is distilled from the discharge of the upper hive, and food is factory produced, sometimes algae-based or spun from corpse starch."
Dark Heresy Rulebook 1st ed., p. 16.
"Nearly everything is recycled and reused. The air the hive worlder breathes, the water he drinks, and the food he eats has all passed through the bodies of countless others, endlessly restored to be consumed once again. When a hiver dies, his duty to the hive and house is not done, and most hives reconstitute their dead."
Dark Heresy Rulebook 2nd ed., p. 39.
And we get this note about mass produced food across the Imperium:
"Most food in the Imperium is packaged, processed and usually completely unrecognisable as anything edible. The quality of ration packs varies widely, from simple and poor fare such as corpse starch (CS) rations and cultured algae up to flavoured strips of grox meat and finest nutrislurry."
Dark Heresy Rulebook 1st ed., p. 149.
We also get this mention of corpse starch in a character attribute:
"Iron Stomach Food is often scarce on feral worlds and those born on such worlds learn to set aside their revulsion and eat whatever they must to survive. Benefit: You gain a +10 bonus to Carouse Skill Tests made to resist the effects of ingested toxins, poison or tainted foods. This bonus applies to Tests made to consume unusual or unpleasant meals—rotting meat, Grox testes, corpse starch rations, to name a few—as well as Tests made to resist throwing up."
Dark Heresy Rulebook 1st ed., p. 15.
And industrialised corpse-starch production has featured on other worlds in the lore.
It features very memorable in the story Nightbleed. I don't have the space to add the quote here, but you can find it in this post: https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/12jkqx6/corpsestarch_is_still_full_of_souls/
We also have the example of the world Daedalon, featured in the newer Wrath & Glory RPG. The opening to one of the expansion packs notes:
"This adventure includes a lot of corpses, graverobbing, and the harvesting of dead bodies — all normal fare for Warhammer 40,000, but content that might make members of your group uncomfortable."
Wrath & Glory: The Graveyard Shift, p. 2.
We are told:
"Daedalon’s industry largely focuses on the construction and maintenance of graves, but many are also employed in the crucial refining of corpse starch to supplement the Gilead System’s dwindling food supplies.
…
The adventure begins in the dark confines of the cargo hold of the Memento Mori, a general purpose spacefaring cargo ship. The cargo is corpses — Imperial citizen’s remains — being delivered to the Priory of the Sacred Form, a facility that processes cadavers to make edible corpse starch."
Wrath and Glory: The Graveyard Shift, p. 4.
Note here how this isn’t just confined to one planet either: corpses are being delivered to Daedalon for processing.
More, which again plays into the idea that corpse-starch is linked to social class, and the lower-down the spectrum you are the more likely you will eat it or be made into it:
"A gargantuan annex of Barastyr Cathedral, the Priory of the Sacred Form, is a corpse starch processing facility. It is equal parts church and factory, and one of the largest employers of labour in the city.
The priests of the Cathedral are duty bound to bless all of the corpses brought to Barastyr. Those that can afford burial are delivered to their tombs. Those that can’t are declared no longer Human; their souls departed to be with the Emperor, their bodies now meat to feed His people.
The remainder of the vast facility is more akin to a production line where thousands work tirelessly to transmute dead bodies into mealy, tasteless food. The bones are extracted for building supplies, or fenced as ‘holy relics’ on the Memento Square with the belongings of the departed. The skulls are sent to the Servo-Skull Manufactorum."
Wrath and Glory: The Graveyard Shift, p. 6.
And on the notion of corpse-starch being exported, there is this:
Though many of their charters allow activities that might be considered treasonous (such as dealing with xenos races), there are plenty of zealous Imperial agents who have attempted to hold them accountable nonetheless. One notable instance was when the Rogue Trader Vorix Malcord was arrested in Port Wander for treason, because his grandfather had traded shipments of corpse-starch with the Stryxis.
Rogue Trader: Hostile Acquisitions, p. 8.
So, it seems while selling or transferring corpse-starch to other imperial humans is fine, trading it with Xenos is not - even for a Rogue Trader...
Oh, and an added bonus: In the Rogue Trader CRPG, as part of a colonization project, you can issue the Decree On Diligence, for which we are offered this description:
"Issuing this decree will significantly tighten production quotas, dooming laggards to being processed into corpse starch, which will encourage the most diligent servants."
We also have this notion about the Ad Mech's use of - or role in producing - corpse-starch:
They alone maintain the mechanisms that make life in the Imperium possible, from its vast voidships to the great banks of rendering vats that turn Human remains into sustaining corpse starch.
Imperium Maledictum Rulebook, p. 58.
With a specific example provided here:
And an interesting note about how the dead are handled on the forgeworld Avarchus in the Gilead system:
The Tech Crypt is the resting place for revered Mechanicus Priests. The most unique augmetics of revered Tech-Priests are preserved for study and worship, kept in perfect working order long after the connected flesh is recycled for corpse starch. In some rare cases, where removal would damage the precious augmetics, biological matter is maintained by apprentice Genetors. By design, few realise how far beneath street level the complex descends, and the stasis-coffin was stored on the lowest level
Wrath & Glory: Litanies of the Lost, p. 75.
Now, that’s Hiveworlds (and forgeworlds, and some frontier colonies and kinds forms of world), but what about the other place where corpse-starch is often thought to be used at least somewhat regularly, the Guard?
When trying to assess its use by the Guard and other Imperial organizations, it’s tricky as mentions get sprinkled throughout lots of different bits of lore and I am sure I have probably missed some. I do think it builds up a picture if look at the mentions, but they are scattered widely.
And we do get an overview statement which clearly states corpse-starch is used by at least some regiments:
"Corpse-Starch
This tasteless grey paste is a synthetic food source made from rendered human corpses. Found on some hive worlds scattered across the Imperium and the unluckier Astra Militarum regiments, it serves the dual purpose of disposing of the innumerable dead and providing the survivors with sustenance. The production process carefully supervised and highly intensive, resulting in a uniform meal completely divorced from whatever — or whoever — may have gone into its creation. Many Poor quality meals are nothing but corpse starch."
Imperium Maledictum Rulebook, p. 157.
Corpse-starch is not mentioned (at least by name) in many of the famous Guard novel series, such as Ciaphas Cain or Gaunt’s Ghost – though more on this on a reply below. I also check various books like Helsreach and Baneblade/Shadowsword and could find no mention of it. Food isn’t mentioned much in these books, and when it is there is just talk of dried rations and the like, with no sense of what ingredients they contain. They could very well be corpse-starch, or contain it, but this isn’t stated, so we can’t include them.
We can note, though, how often the Regimental Standard and latterly the Regimental Gourmand articles on Warhammer-Community (Warcom) feature corpse-starch. These provide a humorous look at the lore, sure, but they do still offer background lore, they follow in a rich tradition of humorous 40k lore, and I think the fact that GW are choosing to emphasise this on their main public announcement website is telling about how they want the setting to be understood.
For a recent example, see its use as an ingredient in a Ratling recipe to cook some Vespid (so, two types of corpse, I guess): https://www.warhammer-community.com/en-us/articles/6bx7g87l/the-regimental-gourmand-battlefield-cooking-for-the-ratling-on-the-go/
And some other examples, starting with a nice look at the Ventrillian Nobles, who are noted to not have to eat corpse-starch rations – but who will very kindly supply their less socially-esteemed reinforcements with the food they are used to…:
"Following 88% regimental depletion due to excessive valour in your last campaign, your unit is being incorporated into the Ventrillian Nobles. We are sure many of you have heard of the luxuries available to Ventrillian Regiments*, but worry not – in order to help you while you adjust, you won’t have to worry about being distracted by any of them.*
*Namely, rations that aren’t corpse-starch, indoor dormitories, squires and manservants to assist you with menial tasks and so on."
https://web.archive.org/web/20190317223657/https://regimental-standard.com/2018/04/11/welcome-to-the-ventrillian-ignobles/
We also have:
"Exciting times, Guardsmen! Are you enjoying the recent increase in increased psychic phenomena as much as we are? All across the galaxy, foul witches are revealing their vile abilities, making them much easier to identify and execute.* Meanwhile, brave-hearted martyrs are responsible for all manner of miracles!**
** This has fortuitously also resulted in a bumper tithe of corpse-starch across the galaxy. Lucky you!*
*** This has, also, contributed to the above-average tithe of corpse-starch, depending on the severity of any given miracle.*"
https://web.archive.org/web/20210725061903/https://regimental-standard.com/2020/01/08/unlock-your-prosperity/
"We seen an image of corpse-starch ration, and the phrase: “Corpse-starch is the Emperor’s blessing upon the empty bellies of his loyal servants” which is also translated into binary for communicating with the Ad Mech…"
https://web.archive.org/web/20210725064322/https://regimental-standard.com/2021/04/21/introducing-the-guardsman-to-skitarius-phrasebook/
"On Ancient Terra, it was a tradition at this time of year for officers to serve their troops a feast as recognition of a year’s good work. Of course, your Commissar is far too busy for such frivolities, so you’ll have to open your own corpse starch."
https://web.archive.org/web/20210803035718/https://regimental-standard.com/2020/12/16/happy-sanguinalia/
"As you know, the Feast of the Primarch’s Rebirth is approaching – a time of year where we celebrate the return of the Avenging Son to the fold. You will also be aware that it is traditional to celebrate this time in the time-honoured fashion – with fasting, ruthless self-flagellation, and marathon litany sessions.
Unfortunately, the litanies, flagellation whips and corpse-starch crackers normally used during fasting have all been eaten by the Tyranids."
https://web.archive.org/web/20210803042105/https://regimental-standard.com/2020/04/08/the-great-egg-hunt/
"Sanguinala is approaching – and you know what that means. Soon, there will be a time of feasting,*
** Suspended until normal supply of corpse-starch is resumed”*"
https://web.archive.org/web/20210418045043/https://regimental-standard.com/2019/12/04/secret-commissar/
And a daily schedule for a Guard regiment notes: 2300-0000 Compline, Meal (Where Time/Corpse-starch, here: https://web.archive.org/web/20210507185331/https://regimental-standard.com/2019/11/20/new-schedule-with-extra-praying/
And this, which definitely has catfood being repurposed as military provisions in a crisis, but which also seemingly corpse-starch which is being kept secret:
"A new selection of quick snacks for the Guardsman on the go replace your traditional oat loaf bars. Despite scandalous rumours you may have heard, these are not simply repackages of food destined for domesticated felines, and are in fact carefully balanced micro-meals providing all the goodness you need for a meal in a few juicy mouthfuls. They are available in two delicious flavours – fish and rodent.
Breakfast, lunch and dinner are served. Each one is carefully balanced for optimised nutrition at each point in the day***, and all are – of course – delicious. The exact contents are a Munitorum trade secret, but rest assured your meal will be the envy of even high-class diners in the upper palace spires of a hive city."
https://web.archive.org/web/20200707094454/https://regimental-standard.com/2016/06/15/your-new-diet-plan/
We also have mention of corpse-starch in the computer game Darktide. One of the infractions that the characters in Darktide can be noted as having been guilty of is having been overheard saying his corpse-starch ration tasted weird. There is also in-game dialogue which make reference to corpse-starch. In one, a character can quip: “Cannibalism in a shiny shrink-wrapped packet. Delectable.”
In another exchange, we get thus:
“At every glance he looks like he’s measuring me up for something.”
“Or weighing you… after all, I’m hearing that he has a lucrative sideline In corpse starch. Just think, one day I could be the best meal you’ve had.”
Though the first character does respond: “I’d rather starve!”
If you select a Guardsman character in Dark Heresy, one of your starting items is a corpse-starch ration. Dark Heresy Rulebook 1st ed., p. 26.
And in a table for trinkets a character might own in Wrath & Glory, we see:
22 A canteen of rotgut brewed from corpse starches and thruster coolant.
Wrath & Glory Core Rulebook, p. 328.
More general, other references to corpse-starch appear in the RPGs too.
In Imperium Maledictum, a distinguishing feature of a player character can be:
You smell faintly of corpse starch.
Imperium Maledictum Rulebook, p. 84.
While a poor set of provisions for a character is noted to be:
Runoff water, corpse-starch, acynadi paste
Imperium Maledictum Rulebook, p. 156.
And a note on environmental features:
Features are objects and environmental details that you can interact with, such as doors, cogitators, containers, vats of corpse-starch, tables to flip for cover, and so on.
Imperium Maledictum Rulebook, p. 205.
And remember, it is made clear that corpse-starch is made from people in both RPG books.
So, the use of corpse-starch in the Guard features in the lore, but is less clearly described than it is for Hiveworlds. It doesn’t seem to be used ubiquitously, as many novels make it clear that the Guardsmen they feature are eating other things. In many cases, the exact nature of what the Guard are eating is not detailed. And in other cases, it seems clear that at least some Guard regiments do get provided with corpse-starch rations. I think the intention is that is many cases these are indeed made from corpses, but in some it could well be the case that unappetising food is just being given that nickname (much has been the case with real-life military rations, and likely due to pervasive rumours about real corpse-starch).
Part 3: Thoughts on the place of corpse-starch in the lore
So, there we are. Corpse-starch explicitly made from human corpses definitely features in the lore, in a wide range of mediums. It is never the only or main food source (outside of emergencies), but it is industrially produced, and is part of normal food provision. It appears to be common on Hiveworlds, where it is a larger part of the diet the further down the Hive you are. And there are planets which are heavily focused on processing human remains, including to make corpse-starch, and there can be interplanetary trade in the shipping of corpses for this purpose. There can be attempts to keep the true nature of corpse-starch hidden, but in other places it seems more openly known. It is seemingly used in the Guard too, but how pervasively is hard to gauge, and it could very well be the case that many Guardsman are eating it without knowing, while others joke that they are eating it and call rations made from other ingredients corpse-starch to show their displeasure with the taste.
Regardless, while no way near being the main food source of the Imperium, if it is used on many hive worlds (for large sections of the population on those worlds) and for at least some of the Guard/sometimes by the Guard, that means it is being produced in very large numbers and that at least billions upon billions, likely many trillions, of people are having as at least part of their diet.
A few final thoughts:
It is interesting that corpse-starch has become more well established in the lore in recent years, despite having been there since at least 1995. There is a lot of talk about GW having toned down the humour and satire in 40k, and even the darkness and evil of the Imperium. Yet here we have an example of those very things being more consistently and explicitly showcased in a tabletop game and one of its factions, novels, RPGs, computer games, and GW’s online output like Warcom.
It is also interesting that GW regularly promote the idea in their public-facing freely accessible materials on Warcom and in their advertising on their shop website – which I think suggests they want people to think of corpse-starch as being a pretty regular part of the Imperium. Not necessarily ubiquitous, but not some extremely rare, niche thing either.
And given the nature of 40k, that makes total sense.
Because corpse-starch serves to highlight core themes about the Imperium. You know… that’s it’s grimdark… and brutal, and grinds up its populace as an expendable resource – sometime, quite literally. Your life is to be used in service of the Emperor, and even in death can you still serve – or be served. 40k has always featured plenty of hyperbolic, over-the-top stuff which doesn’t make logical sense if you think too deeply about it, and corpse-starch is just part of this – though the actual lore makes it clear it is just a supplement to other food sources, to offer some suspension of disbelief.
And, finally: because GW has never been shy of *ahem* taking inspiration from elsewhere. The obvious reference point here is Soylent Green. And, given the nature of 40k, why wouldn’t they steal the idea? And of course it would actually be made from humans.
GW may also have been inspired in this case, as so often, by 2000AD, where Judge Dredd featured Resyk Centres, which are often thought by fans to be make Munce from processed human remains to feed the masses of the Megacities.* And given Necromunda took a lot of inspiration from Judge Dredd in its worldbuilding, it is perhaps no surprise that the concept first appeared in Confrontation and that the term corpse-starch itself seemingly appeared in the first edition of Necromunda.
*And a final meandering aside, because why the hell not?
It appears, from what I can gather after a quick look, that some fans have made a bit of a leap of logic and presumed that because the wagons which collect corpses for Resyk are referred to "meat wagons", this meant that the corpses would literally be made into food. But the name itself isn't enough to support such a claim, as it could easily just be a grim nickname and not related to what ultimately happens to the corpses. Many other people then repeated the notion that they are made into food, however, and it has become popularly believed.
It is the case that human bodies are rendered down to be used in industry, it just isn't stated that food production is one of the uses:
Here the eleven million citizens who die each year find a last resting place...sort of...
Once through the plush synthi-velv curtains, mechanical arms remove the corpses and place them on the conveyor belt...
They are then joined by others from smaller Resyk terminals dotted all over the city, as they flow smoothly into the recycling plant...
Here, over a thousand corpses per hour are dissected and broken down into 107 useful constituents. In the post-nuclear world, nothing can be wasted - and the valuable chemicals contained in the human body are vital to the city's hungry industries..
The Resyk workers have a proud boast: "We use everything but the soul!"
From 'The Fink' part 4 (Prog 196)
I wonder when this became a popular (yet seemingly unsupported) notion that bodies were used for food, though? Was it via online discussions, or did it arise earlier? Was it already a popular misconception back in 1990 with the use of recycled humans in Confrontation?
It is also interesting that the old Stallone Judge Dredd movie came out the same year as the first edition Necromunda, and that film does perhaps imply (though definitely not state) that corpses might be turned into food, given we have an automated food delivery robot repeatedly announcing: "Eat recycled food. It is good for the environment, and okay for you." Followed soon after by Dredd calling for some dead bodies to be recycled after a shootout... Regardless of the intent, a lot of people seem to commonly make such a connection and presume that the corpses are being recycled into food in the film - and, thus, some people seem to think this must be the case in the comics too.
So, did a popular misunderstanding about 2000AD influence the introduction of corpse-starch into 40k? It's impossible to tell, unless we ask Rick Priestley I guess.
Originally posted here: https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/1hukj3w/corpsestarch_what_the_lore_actually_says_and_its/
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