Might be some confusion there. In warhammer fantasy, the empire is very much supposed to be the HRE: a bunch of squabbling states that are only nominally subservient to the central authority of the emperor. The Imperium of Man in 40k on the other hand is just fascism. Love to have two settings that use similar names, definitely not confusing, thank u james workshop.
yeah top result on google is "it's an allegory for germany" (the empire)
a little further down I found this: https://br.ifunny.co/video/warhammer-is-an-allegory-it-s-a-commentary-on-fascism-yd0RLTL29
Might be some confusion there. In warhammer fantasy, the empire is very much supposed to be the HRE: a bunch of squabbling states that are only nominally subservient to the central authority of the emperor. The Imperium of Man in 40k on the other hand is just fascism. Love to have two settings that use similar names, definitely not confusing, thank u james workshop.
Yeah they literally copied Mussolini artworks and replaced him with the god-emperor.