I was curious about what the board inhabitants thought about the prevalence of literacy in the 40k universe?

My friend an i have gotten into a friendly argument about it, he insisting that the average citizen is in fact able to read an write, and myself insisting that that is not true.

We've kind of argued to a standstill.

So if you could throw in your opinions (with any supporting evidence of said opinion) it would greatly appreciated.

trouble is I think it comes down to the good old "depends on the world" line, most average imperial worlds will probably have a basic education system but will only teach to read and write low gothic, more feral or feudal worlds will definatly not be that literate especially the peasntry/lower classes.

Perhaps we'll say then a hive world?

And then for sake of argument, an imperial world.

Malachai said:

Hive world? Ya, most are illiterate. Really, just imagine the biggest damned city you have ever been to or lived in, then take the worst and poorest section of that city and multiply it by 1,000,000. That's a hive city. Very few will have a good education, the rest will be those few educated fella's whipping-boys. If there's a sign for something in the mid to low hive, it's probably in the form of a symbol of picture and not a proper word for the sake of expediency.

Imperial world? Ya, most everyone knows how to read. It is, after all, a basic skill for such. Folks on such worlds usually aren't as expendable as folks on a hive world and with less pressure form bulging populations, they stand a better chance of getting the time resources to be taught at least the basics. Granted, someone who mans a combine on an agri-world might not be the most literate fella, but they would have had more of a chance of learning a few things then the lowly factory worker or ganger of the hive world.

That's all roughly speaking of course, but in the Imperium, unless your position necessitates you being able to read, then why should you be able to?

Malachai said:

Considering that the world in Warhammer 40.000 doesn't have a standard public school system aside from the Schola Progenium (which only takes in orphans whose parents have died in the service of the Imperium and not for the common children whose the parents are still alive ), most citizens are going to be illiterate.

In game mechanics terms the ability to read and write is symbolized by the Literacy skill. If you have it, you can read and write, if you have it as a basic skill you can read and write although with some difficulties (like frequent spelling and grammatical errors when writing, or having to slowly spell long and complicated written words whilst reading).

If you don't have the Literacy skill, then you can't read or write.

The reason why only certain home world choices and career paths grant Literacy from the start is because most of the jobs that normal citizens have doesn't require reading or writing abilities at all. You don't need to be able to read when you're just assembling components at an assembly line in a cavernous manufactorium, you don't need to be able to read in order to use a pick-axe chipping away pieces of rock and ore in a mine etc. etc.

So I'd say that your friend have the wrong idea regarding this topic...

@Varnias

Considering th at the world in Warhammer 40.000 doesn't have a standard public school system aside from the Schola Progenium (which only takes in orphans whose parents have died in the service of the Imperium and not for the common children whose the parents are still alive ), most citizens are going to be illiterate.

The Imperium doesn't have a standard public school system. The worlds making up the Imperium may or may not have one.

@Malachai

Perhaps we'll say then a hive world?

And then for sake of argument, an imperial world.

"A" hive world is still a category of worlds made up by thousands of individual worlds whose only communality is an extremely high population density in certain regions. I could easily imagine a hive world (say, one of the worlds chiefly maintained by the Administratum for record-keeping of other domains) where reading and writing takes an equal place to gunplay in Gunmetal City - or an Imperial world where writing is almost outlawed because it provides knowledge, which, as we know, tempts pious citizens towards free thinking and thus Chaos.

Hah now that's a thought.

I do remember reading about a data administratum world in the Tactica Imperialis, i never imagined it on the scale of a hive world.

All in all these are some very good thoughts guys, and i thank you for the information you have present thus far.

I take the Shadowrun approach that most of the population is "semi-literate". By our standards, probably 90% of the population qualifies as "illiterate", but still can function pretty well.

Instead of reading text, the majority of the Imperium communicates through iconography, symbolism, and other abstract methods that do not require written language. This, combined with knowing say 200 written words in the Imperial tongue, will get you through everything a normal drone would need through his or her life.

There's some thematic elements to support this. First, this is a world where there is real, tangible weight behind the written word. Vox scribers, high and low imperial gothic, and prayer strips that you affix to yourself. Written words carry tangible, real power and weight in the setting. The Imperium finds the written word to be immensely powerful, and yet at the same time immensely dangerous. It censors so much knowledge that to me it strikes me as being expected that the Imperium would *want* it's citizens to be illiterate unless absolutely necessary.

Second, there is a lot of historical justification for playing a largely illiterate population. In European history, the ability to read and write literally set you in a different social class from the rest of the population. It made you Someone, instead of a nobody. Historically it was even tightly controlled by the Church. After all, the word "clerk" evolved from "cleric". I get the same feeling in the W40k setting as I do from feudal Europe.

Even then, when you look at early Christianity, iconography was, and still continues to be prevalent. The reason for this is that as Rome became the Holy Roman Empire, it became necessary to spread the story of Jesus and the faith to widely varying cultures and languages. The solution was iconography. Someone who spoke Arabic and someone who spoke Greek could look at the same icon, and having been taught the faith, have the same understanding, instead of having to translate the story into two languages and then ensure that the two individuals could read. It allowed one to be faithful without having to have a priest there constantly to impart the stories and lessons of the text.

I can only imagine how much worse the problem is with the Imperium. There may be a "common" language, but in my game not even everyone speaks imperial gothic, as it's very, very hard to teach every inhabitant on a billion worlds how to speak the same language. Even then, missionaries from the Church would spread out near the forefront of Imperial expansion in millennia past, and they would be faced with the same problem as the Roman Christians were. I imagine their solution would be iconography and symbolism as well. It is a universal language that can be designed to be almost universally understood regardless of background or knowledge.

I run it in my game that someone who can read and write is special. Above the teeming masses. The IG, for example, promises that every enlistee will be able to read and write by the time they leave the service. Most never survive long enough to become very literate, but those who do leave not only with the prestige of service, but the prestige of literacy. It makes for an alluring reason to join up, as even after IG service, literacy denotes that you are a "gentleman", and not merely a drone. It might mean the difference between a life of hard manual labor and the life of a white collar intellectual.