HIVE CITIES: Reality or Fiction?

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A NOLLISTUDIO/NOLLIMEDIA Production

00:00 INTRO
01:44 ARCOLOGY
05:10 METABOLISM
08:43 PARASITIC ARCHITECTURE
12:38 THE TRAGEDY OF THE COMMONS AND CONCLUSIONS

#hivecity #architecture #warhammer40k #cyberpunk

This video examines Hive Cities, massive structures from the Warhammer 40K universe, symbolizing extreme class divides and survival struggles. It contrasts these with real-world concepts like arcologies and Parasitic Architecture, questioning humanity's survival instincts and the potential impact of AI on future societal structures.

[DamiLeeArch]

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[robertgronewold]

Another bit of lore about the Hive Cities of Warhammer 40K is that most of them were originally stable and functional archologies built during the 'Dark Age of Technology', or the time period over 10, 000 years before when there was an abundance of more advanced technology. The humans of the Imperium of Man lost the ability to create or even understand the technology, and so the Hive Cities just started to degrade and fester, killing the very planets that they were meant to originally safeguard.

[phoenixtangent]

Funny that you mention AI at the end of the video. If you dive deeper into the lore of warhammer 40k, hive cities are the way they are BECAUSE of a massive intergalactic war that started because AI created by humanity rebelled against humanity. Hive cities were supposed to be utopias but the intergalactic AI war ended what they were supposed to be.

[Spudtron]

A particular danger in these hellholes are 'Hivequakes', which are what happens when a deep section finally deteriorates to the point that it collapses under the weight of everything above it. The resulting cascade can kill thousands or even millions, and still barely make the news if they don't damage anything actually deemed important.

[Gizimpy]

Warhammer does social commentary in the most head-on, brutal, and often hilarious ways possible. "What if we depicted a system of hierarchical economic exploitation, that demands the ever increasing consumption of obviously limited resources, which will lead to its own inevitable demise, as a literal thing?" Also yes, the idea that humans are always only a few steps away from barbarism is an essential element of 40k in many ways. Others have suggested good 40k topics, but a Titan might be fun to cover; it's basically a walking building.

[nuclearsimian]

Something you might be interested in, is that Hive Cities were originally meant to be idyllic paradises, they weren't hellish wastes when they were at their peak, they could fully sustain a total massive population in the tens of billions, but since then, the entire society that used to know how to maintain them has fallen from grace, and fallen into total ruin, the architecture and engineering knowledge to build one is totally lost and cannot be reverse engineered. They're toxic hellholes now because the few people that figured out how to run certain systems are doing just as much damage to everything and everyone around them.

[bloodrave]

Hive Cities are also military fortresses as well, their outer walls are armed to the teeth and the Hive City itself is perfect for a defender.

[barney]

When I watched your video about Kowloon Walled City, my first impression was: that's the closest thing to an actual Hive City. The boundaries, the limited resources, the society and environment evolving together, new buildings popping of on top of eachother... Thanks to the Emperor, we don't have to worry about genestealer cults, right? :D

[Sherudons]

The thing about recycling being sinister in 40k is because it is, you don't bury the dead, you recycle them into paste that's eaten, nothing is wasted, the populations are usually kept in check due to tithes to either the guard, the navy or mechanicus.

So while it is a miserable squalor it never truely reaches critical mass where they boil out of the ground... unless chaos.

[Okada_Caelun]

A brief backstory of lore for those watching this video who are not familiar with Warhammer 40k:
Humanity at one point expanded across the stars and were doing well. Their technology was great, perhaps on par or even surpassing Star Trek even. Then it all came crashing down. AI uprisings and wars against aliens devastated humanity, while increasing numbers of Warp Storms (phenomena that prevent FTL travel) cut off worlds from vital supply routes. In some cases, worlds were isolated for so long as to fully revert to mideveal or even caveman ways of life. Tremendous amounts of knowledge were lost forever. So ended the "Dark Age of Technology." So began the "Age of Strife" It was the year 25, 000.

Those living on Mars, dependent on temperamental machinery to survive, started to literally worship machines hoping to convince them to function. They also developed a mindset that "If it deserves to exist, it was already invented." Essentially, invention is heresy, and "new tech" must be recovered from Dark Age archaeological finds.

When the Imperium was founded on Earth, the Emperor made allies of the Martians rather than fight a war with them. Thus, with these "Tech-Priests" in charge of all technology, a now bitter and jaded humanity spread forth to reclaim the galaxy.
This was in the year 30, 000. The modern setting of 40k is set in the year 41, 000. I'm skipping over the demon invasions and space orcs to keep this tirade short and relevant to the video.

40k is an inherently dark setting, to a famously ridiculously degree. Hive Cities are a common enough sight, in come cases you even get Hive Worlds (where the entire planet's surface is covered by a Hive City). This is a setting where trillions die on a daily basis fighting wars for the sake of survival humanity is losing. A couple million dead in a single city isn't a tragedy, so hilariously absurd is the scale of the setting. If anything, the ruthless dregs from the Underhives are often spoken highly of, since the setting is always looking for born survivors to become "heroic" warriors.

[drchops]

Never in my life have I *ever* been interested or entertained by architecture, but the presentation and storytelling skills of this channel are incredible. I'm hooked!

[brushdogart]

For a setting that was simply made to hold up a table-top war-gaming system, Warhammer 40k has some pretty impressive lore. Despite the absurdly horrific nature of much of the setting, the development of the various cultures are surprisingly believable and you can understand the sacrifices they are willing to make for safety.

[TheIFerreiraoliveira]

3:50 wait until she finds out about corpse starch...

[MehnixIsThatGuy]

There are also "Hive Sprawls" which are Hive cities spread over entire continents. Basically like how towns in reality merge into cities but over thousands of years. Tertium from the 40k Darktide game is one such example.

[headoverheels]

Never in a million years did I ever think Warhammer was going to be subject of an architectural analysis. 🤣 That was a trip to watch. Kudos!

[SienAppelsien]

This reminds me of a structure in a series that I always loved. The boat city in suisei no gargantia. In that anime, humans have left earth because the whole planet flooded, but some 'ancient' civilisations stayed behind to live on boats. They fish up old building materials and add houses on top like its a parasite. It got a few boats connected to each other and the buildings are massive. It really is done beautifully in that series

[vicentedacosta]

Brazil has a lot of proto-hive cities in the form of Favelas. The chaos, the need for simply surviving is basically the same but in a much smaller scale. Loved the video

[poultrybird]

As a Warhammer 40k nerd, who also has interests in architecture this video was great

[ArcAngelAlice]

0:29 As a long time 40k fan this is the best analogy of a Hive City that I’ve heard!

[theomen]

I love it when non-warhammer people look at the 40k universe, it's fun to get an outsider's perspective. It's funny that you brought up AI at the end, in 40k humanity is in a state of technological and societal decline which was brought about by a war with AI that humanity barely survived.