So, in the beginning, I did a lot of hand-wringing about what a hive actually looks like. I had a generalized idea of what a hive where it was based on basically an up-sloping Judge Dredd mega-city. I was told this was wrong so I had to start again. Now, and I will repeat this all the time because it bears repeating, there is no strict orthodoxy to follow when it comes to Warhammer 40,000. There are multitudes of contradictions in the lore when it comes to things like civilian life, geography, quality of life, etc. Thus, your version of a hive is not going to be wrong if it is open to the air, ultra wide or ultra tall, built underground, built into a mountain like the dwarves in Warhammer Fantasy, a massive constricting arcology, etc. However, for my series of campaigns, I would like to give some information that would assuage people like me who over think this kind of stuff.
The hive that my campaigns are primarily set in is Desoleum Primus from Dark Heresy Second Edition's lore section. The hive in my campaigns does not have to be Desoleum Primus or use the lore from the core rulebook to perfectly make sense. I use that lore because it was the most convenient at the time when I was starting out GMing. You may also see I have assigned roles to certain people or organizations from the core rulebook lore they do not have. To be honest, especially since I started playing in Desoleum as a new GM, I do not put a lot of emphasis on the oath system presented in the book. That is not to say one cannot bring that aspect of Desoleum's lore to the fore, but that in order to facilitate writing the oath system is going usually be more for flavor than as a restrictive presence. The restrictive presence of class, station, location, culture, and upbringing are always around.
The point is that my perception of a hive is colored by images of the internal build of a hive being built tall such as in these images. The first full-colored one is an official piece of art found in a module for Dark Heresy 2E. Once again, there is no orthodoxy. If you wanted a hive built wide rather than tall, such as 1E's hive Tarsus, then make it as such. For my series of campaigns, I perceive the hive being tall. Change that how you see fit.The hive is covered. Great big metal and rockcrete walls enclose most of the city. The exceptions to this enclosure are hive-ways, ports, outer gates, and portions of the upper hive where the upper class can gaze at the clouds and the sky above the smog and pollution. The common hivers are not likely to see the sun. Even if they could see the sky, the smoky layer caused by hive industry would obstruct their view.
The hive is made up of a wide base whose underpinnings make up the underhive. The hive's foundation was on top of a mountain. The structure of the hive has far outgrown the width and height of the mountain it was built on. If you are going by 2E's lore more strictly, the spine grew out of the center of this mountain. Moving up, the width of the hive narrows. The Main-Hive is the majority of the hive and creates the bulk between the underhive and the Noble spires. Conditions and wealth generally improve moving up. The further up one goes the smaller foot traffic becomes and the greater autocarriage traffic is. The great noble spires and their foundations are found closer to the last fifth of the top. Imperial adept organization headquarters will be found near the upper hive.The hive is divided into sections. Each section is like a city in its own right. Imagine dozens of Manhattans stacked on top of each other. The sections contain life support systems, local government organizations, residential buildings, commercial buildings, and all that is needed to have a functioning city within this mountain of cities. The roof on most of the sections is high enough that hover aircraft could reasonably fit inside. Air travel is not free or uncontested. Gates controlled by local planetary government forces guard the inner hive airways and require special permissions and licenses to use. Image great metal mouths that open near the top of the sections. On the top of these sections are grand sol-lights, giant tech fixtures that are meant to simulate a progressing Terran day and night.
Sections will differ from each other in terms of specialization. Some sections are built to be based around a certain type of industry such as butchery or weapons building. Some are meant to be purely residential and require the common hiver to travel to their work. Some will be built around a certain organization or institution such as a merchant's guild. The sections may be built wide and resemble walled off Imperial/Civil world cities and some will be built tall where vertical transportation and less orthodox ways of travel are needed to traverse them.
Travel for the common man is going to rely mainly on walking, mass-lifts, and magrails. Mass-lifts are great wide elevators that raise or lower hivers. Magrails are essentially subway systems. For the more fortunate such as overseers for manufactorums or those in the patronage of the relatively generous, they may find themselves able to afford personal vehicles or use a taxi system. Rising up in the hive merchants, lower gentry, and noblemen have personal vehicles of varying degrees of ostentatiousness and functionality.The common sectors will differ from each other in wealth and quality of life rising up from the base of the hive. However, common fixtures will be rockcrete or synth built pre-fab structures, neon lamps, narrow or wide travel spaces, and a lack of ways to view the outside. To base this in a relatable analog, try to imagine the ways Soviet cities and their pre-fabricated buildings were along with crowded cities of the modern variety like Shanghai while also having the layout of a place like Victorian London or early-to-mid century New York City.
Going up to the spires, there are separate sections and common areas where gentry, merchants, and less pretentious nobles may venture out. These are generally extremely well kept and luxurious. They contain a lot of greenery and beautiful aesthetics. These sections also contain prestigious commercial luxury establishments. They may contain great windows or viewports to the sky outside.
A big question I have asked myself and what I imagine some will ask is, "if the layout of a hive means something to you, why don't you create a map for the hive to simplify things like how Forgotten Realms in DnD has a whole map full of history you could just point to?" Believe me, I have tried. I have tried a simplified map that was basically squares stacked on squares with specific markings. I have even gone the lazy route of trying to find a pre-made map online that was very detailed but left the inside sections blank and I attempted to fill them up. I am not creating a specific detailed map and instead allowing a foundation to be built via description that can be used to further adventure narratives for a few reasons. For one, I tried to make those maps because I player complained they did not understand how stuff worked because they were used to a Forgotten Realms style of setting where everything is detailed. So I tried to make a map like Faerun has. They then did not even use the map I created. This same player is also the reason the "So You are Now an Imperial Citizen!" roleplay guide was created and no one has ever actually used that either. So I am saying I am biased toward a concrete map due to my disappointing experiences. For two, hive cities are complex, labyrinthine, huge places that creating a 2D map even in the style of the very helpful ones above just doesn't feel right to me. Not that the maps you see are wasted effort, they are actually very useful. Notice though that they are offering generalized regions rather than hyper-precise details, however. For three, the lack of a highly detailed map is actually a narrative strength. Rather than forcing an orthodoxy where a map has to exist and be followed to the letter like the Sword Coast (what a fuckin' weak name) in Faerun, one can just make their own adventures and not have to worry about the precise where. When I made "Who's Got the Vibe", would it have really mattered that the bar full of dead gangers was in district Wurmstrung or sector Lantus? What do those names even mean? What actually matters to create context is the general idea of where they are. If a thing with nobles is involved it matters if it happened up-hive where they would normally be found or down-hive where many would not step foot in. Even if one was to make a mystery-based module where exacting details are important, a pre-existing reference that chains one's creations does not really need to exist in order to make a really fun adventure. What matters is conveyance between a GM and their players.
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