"Who are the baddies?"

Yes

You know what they say about Warhammer Lore:
"The 40k isn't just the year, its the amount of hours needed to understand what's going on"

Also about the Markiplier thing; Mark is actually a bit of a fan of 40k, and expressed his support for Astartes in the past. His latest project In Space With Markiplier Part 2 even includes a tiny easter egg that references warhammer.

Destiny has pulled a lot of inspiration from WH40K, and 40K pulls a lot of inspiration from all of sci-fi.  Hell, the new Glaive weapon class in Witch Queen is clearly inspired by the Custodes Guardian Spears.

Already seen it in comments but adding, Brickys every 40k faction explained is great, I never tire of watching new people to 40k enjoy it. Highly suggested.

The things 'pumping' on the outside of the orb on the Astartes strike cruiser are actually krak charges (designed to blow holes in heavy armour on tanks). It's so dangerous that the Captain is taking zero chances. And yes, any psyker at risk of being possessed by Warp entities, even if they're Inquisitors, are terminated with EXTREME and IMMEDIATE prejudice by the Astartes.

The Corvus design helmet (the pointy nose one) is used primarily by Assault marines, who use jetpacks to quickly jump into action and surprise the enemy with a face full of chainswords. The white helmet denotes Veteran status, and the other white helmet has a laurel on it, which generally signifies that that is the Captain of a space marine company.

Fun fact: a space marine's combat knife is the size of most people's medieval longswords.

"It is the 41st Millennium. For more than a hundred centuries the Emperor of Mankind has sat immobile on the Golden Throne of Earth. He is the master of mankind by the will of the gods and master of a million worlds by the might of His inexhaustible armies. He is a rotting carcass writhing invisibly with power from the Dark Age of Technology. He is the Carrion Lord of the vast Imperium of Man for whom a thousand souls are sacrificed every day so that He may never truly die.

Yet even in His deathless state, the Emperor continues His eternal vigilance. Mighty battlefleets cross the daemon-infested miasma of the Warp, the only route between distant stars, their way lit by the Astronomican, the psychic manifestation of the Emperor's will. Vast armies give battle in His name on uncounted worlds. Greatest amongst His soldiers are the Adeptus Astartes, the Space Marines, bio-engineered super-warriors. Their comrades in arms are legion: the Imperial Guard and countless planetary defence forces, the ever-vigilant Inquisition and the Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus to name only a few. But for all their multitudes, they are barely enough to hold off the ever-present threat to humanity from aliens, heretics, mutants -- and far, far worse.

To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruelest and most bloody regime imaginable. These are the tales of those times. Forget the power of technology and science, for so much has been forgotten, never to be relearned. Forget the promise of progress and understanding, for in the grim dark future there is only war. There is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter, and the laughter of thirsting gods."

You guys need to watch Bricky's videos to 'every Warhammer 40k faction explained' as he gives a summary of what they are and Templin institute 40k videos are really good as they feel more immersive to the universe.

I've been into Warhammer since 6th grade and still love reading all the huge amounts of lore in the rule and supplementary books etc, and Astartes is one of the best displays of a good 40K aesthetic. Over the years there has been a lot of cheese in media built for this franchise, both in fan-vids and more-so in official media or their video game license handouts. I feel like Astartes sets the bar for the direction in which the franchise should move. The creator has an incredible grasp on portraying a sliver of the lore with minimal dialogue and screen-time while still making it feel huge. The portrayal of Chaos, the efficiency of the Space Marines in their movements, the subtle religious elements, Astropaths, etc; it's just all so  perfect.
I really hope that GW tightens their grip a bit on where they hand out the franchise for games, while still allowing fan-creators to flourish (which this statement is currently the opposite). Less mobile games, more lax allowance on fan creators on their passion projects. Astartes has made it very clear which has a better vision for the franchise.
That said, I have noticed a movement in their official products, there are a lot of nods to Astartes in their latest content. While still not hitting the mark, their CGI trailors for new rule-books (similar to how D&D has been doing), and newer games like the X-Com-like Chaos Gate:Daemon Hunters, are starting to feel less cheesy and more finesse, it's starting to come together a bit.

Long story short, here is what happened and why in Astartes:

All the grey armoured warriors were Astartes, which are genetically engineered super soldiers with minds and bodies many times more powerful than the "baseline" humans who saw them stomping. They are called Space Marines, and are from the Adeptus Astartes Chapter "Retributors." (The creator of the animation made this chapter up for the videos, they dont exist in the lore)

This detatchement has been sent, probably ordered by the Inquisition, to destroy the orb artefacts we see in the video. A squad was sent on a breaching pod to enter the ship, which they did by flying at it and cutting into the hull with lazers, kill any they encounter, and render the warp artefacts inert or destroyed.

On their way to the orbs, the squad encounters a pair of psykers. These psykers are powerful beings who possess a connection to "The Warp." It is a dimension connected but also separate to our own. There creatures which are created and fueled by the power of mortal souls and powerful emotion seek to corrupt or destroy mortals and their dimension (mostly just because).

The masks you see their pair of psykers are called Psychic Hoods. They allow psykers to channel their powers much more controlably, as some psykers, if they are not extremely powerful, or attempt to channel forces more powerful than they are, can go mad, become focal points for rifts into the warp, or even become demon possessed.

Inspite of what you might think, the pair of psykers we see are not particularly powerful ones. The most powerful psykers, called Alphas, can be capable of destroying cities or star ships. This is probably one of the reasons they wear the hoods, to give them a boost in power and control. Also, the hoods allow another person a measure of control over the wearer.

The Astartes squad kill them in short order, and proceed into a vault in the enemy ship, which is likely psychically shielded, to find the orbs.

When the astartes "stab" the orb, we see a connection has been made with it, which allows the Inquisitor back on the Astartes ship to essentially listen in on the psychic communication between the orbs.

This was clearly not a good idea. After the unintelligible conversation the Inquisitor hears between the orbs, we hear two things for certain. First, "the astartes deny our touch" referring to the orb when it began its psychic assault of the astartes squad, and second, "take the alpha."

"Take the alpha" referring to the inquisitor listening to their conversation. This inqisitor is an alpha level psyker, which is a being of devastating psychic power. The inquisitor is immediately corrupted by the power of the warp wielded by the orb artefacts, and we see him receiving visions, chanting heresy, and finally succumbing to madness. The two astartes officers, likely a captain and a sergeant, immediately kill the inquisitor, as leaving an Alpha Level Psyker who is warp possessed alive is a threat to all the galaxy (not an exaggeration.)

Before the Inquisitor falls to madness, based on what he heard from the orbs, we hear him shout to the Astartes officers "GET THEM OUT OF THERE."

Immediately we go back to our hero Astartes squad and see why. They orb "takes" them. Dragging them within the confines of the orb. We dont really know where they go when we see them tethered inside the orb. Whether the Astartes are in the warp, or a psychic vision, some other place... who knows. What we do see is that our hero Astartes are then teleported (through the warp - which is why he throws up blood) to a death planet.

And that is basically what the story of Astartes is.

"Who are the baddies?"



good question

Not only fanmade, but made by one guy. Idea, Animation and Sounds. One of the best if not the single most greatest peace of Scifi Animation on this platform.

I'm fairly new to it myself, but from what I've gathered, this is a home-brew SM Chapter sent to recover the second orb protected by the troopers and psychic overlords on Ship B. Back on the homeship (Ship A) the red jacket and one of the white SM's belong to the religious order of the Imperium and they sent him in to investigate the orbs within the Warp. The orbs failed to convert the Astartes on Ship B, so they plot to take over the psyker on Ship A, multiplying his power and taking over the ships. The psyker warns the two standing by to get the others out of Ship B, and that he is going to get possessed, so he can be killed and stopped the force entering real space. He does, and gets beaten and shot to death, killing one orb consciousness. The Psykers soul enters the warp (the big shadow) to distract the second orb, which let's the SM's captured on Ship B to escape the Warp and zap back into real space (but scattered, where he is by himself in the desert court).

"Who are the baddies??"

...This is 40k.  EVERYONE is the baddies.  LITERALLY EVERY SINGLE FACTION.  ALL AT ONCE.

Yes, this guy was about to do something sick like mass Daemon invasion, and they stopped him. Immediately.

The thanks to Markiplier was because the creator of Astartes has his channel stolen and sold between the fourth and fifth episodes, severl big YouTubers, including Mark, helped spread the news, and assisted in the return of the channel.

How to deal with a possessed 101.

The Adeptus Astartes (aka Space Marines) are quite literally superhuman. Designed by hand by the Emperor himself, they stand about 7-8 feet tall, weigh about 300 kilos, have greatly enhance strength, endurance, reflexes, and senses, and have modified organs that allow them to digest and breathe toxins if necessary, a hardened bone carapace instead of a rib cage, etc.

Add to that another 700 kilos of ceramite power armour and a boltgun that shoots small rocket-propelled mass-reactive grenades (meaning they explode when surrounded by mass, such as a body ) , and imagine all of that charging at you at 50 mph.

Anyone that stands up to THAT is either insane or extremely powerful themselves, which is why we LOVE Warhammer, because sometimes it's both :P

"Thats unfortunate hey" pretty much sums up the entirety of 40k