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how would the imperium refer to someone who is against the emperor but isn't a heretic or traitor, like tau for example?

If you are against the Emperor, you will be a heretic and traitor in the Imperium's eyes.

no but those terms are used to describe corrupted guard or space marines

Unenlightened.

Tau? They would be Xenos Scum.

cheiflibrarian wrote:no but those terms are used to describe corrupted guard or space marines

Edit, sorry, misunderstood the question!

Yes, they would indeed be Xenos.

Castiel wrote:If you are against the Emperor, you will be a heretic and traitor in the Imperium's eyes.

This.

/thread

A heretic. Or a traitor.

I can't think of any particular in-universe example of such usage but one might expect the term 'heathens' to be used to describe humans who were unaware of the Imperium and the Emperor, since, strictly speaking, 'traitor' or 'heretic' would correctly apply only to those who had abandoned the Imperium or the Imperial cult.

All Xenos don't even register on the scale, the only thing they are good for is being destroyed to assure mankinds supremacy.

If you are not for the Emperor then you must be against him... And you know what happens next...They will brand you a heretic or traitor and just cleanse you. The imperium is very unforgiving.

There are 3 classifications of those who people the Imperium doesn't like:

-Heretic: Those that defy the Emperor and his message. This extends to defying Imperial authority and religion in general.
-Xenos: Alien scum that all need to be put to the flame. This is what the Tau fall into. Xenos by their very nature are heretical.
-Mutants: Deviations of humanity's pureness and wreak of corruption kill them all. Some Mutants however like Ratlings and Ogryns are tolerable, and one should also tolerate the presence of a psyker as long as you're told to by the authorities.

Xenos that do not directly threaten the imperium, ie especially non-spacefaring, are assessed and either ignored or slaved. I think it was in Ravenor a 'neanderthal' level race was mentioned as a slave labour species. Jokaero are coveted and their species protected by the Inquisition it's self. There is a lot of evidence in the fluff that not every race is treated with the genocidal hatred we see in the game (since the game is about the wars...) and that it's down to things like threat, competition with mankind's 'manifest destiny', envy or other strong reaction to get the imperium to get into wiping out a species.

They'd be heretics and xenos scum.

Xenos, Xeno scum, aliens.

Harriticus wrote:There are 3 classifications of those who people the Imperium doesn't like:

-Heretic: Those that defy the Emperor and his message. This extends to defying Imperial authority and religion in general.
-Xenos: Alien scum that all need to be put to the flame. This is what the Tau fall into. Xenos by their very nature are heretical.
-Mutants: Deviations of humanity's pureness and wreak of corruption kill them all. Some Mutants however like Ratlings and Ogryns are tolerable, and one should also tolerate the presence of a psyker as long as you're told to by the authorities.

Then there are witches which can fall into a variety of the above. For example Eldar can be seen as filthy heretical xeno witches, who's mere existence can only be purified in holy promethium.

Rebel scum, Heretic, and traitor.


Now, a lost human faction that was still under the old night would simply be called lost. Assuming they weren't hostile, they would probably be treated with a fair amount of respect. All attempts to integrate them would be made of course, but they wouldn't be called heretics or traitors. They are just lost children that have been found again.

The Ad Mech would begin trading technology, seeing what the foundlings have at their disposal and if they have any STCs being used, The Ecclesiarchy would send out missionary expeditions, and the Munitorum would begin arranging military and supply pacts.

To be honest, the Ecclesiarchy is the biggest binding agent. The Imperium is far from a truly united political entity. its more of a loose confederation bound by religion that has a Totalitarian mega government. Any smaller political entities can operate quite comfortably within the system as long as they pay the tithes and follow the relativly simple overarching laws of the Imperium as a whole(Worship the Emperor, pay the tithe, don't follow chaos in any way, shape, or form, and remember that the Inquisition has eyes everywhere)

An independent culture might consider themselves just to be allies to the Imperium and sharing a common religion, but in the wording of the Alliance they are actually just a smaller state in the larger whole.

Xeno

Grey Templar wrote:Now, a lost human faction that was still under the old night would simply be called lost. Assuming they weren't hostile, they would probably be treated with a fair amount of respect. All attempts to integrate them would be made of course, but they wouldn't be called heretics or traitors. They are just lost children that have been found again.

This. Any sort of classification would simply depend on how they react to the Missionaries and how much the Orders Sabine were able to steer the local culture into ways conforming with the Imperial perspective. At this point, they would become either loyalists or heretics. As the divinity of the Emperor is without question, there can be no in-between.

There is a difference between a heretic and a traitor, though. As the saying goes, "heretics can be shown the errors of their ways and absolved through death. For traitors there is no forgiveness, only an eternity of damnation."

As for any alien species ... "xenos" covers it all, it is a recurrent theme in various Imperial curses, after all. Though "heretical" and "witch" is at times applied for particularly blasphemous (in the eyes of the IoM) practices, or alien psykers, respectively. For example, Tau propaganda can be heretical, whilst Eldar Farseers are all witches. At least that's how I've read it. It is distorting the original meaning of the term somewhat, but hey, it's the Imperium.

So it comes down to this:
Aliens who don't worship the emprah: xenos. The Imperium dont expect aliens to worship him so dont label them heretics.
Humans who have turned away from the emprah: Traitors. BURN THEM WITH FIRE.
Humans who disagree with what the imperial cult says about the emprah: Heretics. ALSO BURN THEM WITH FIRE.
Humans who come from civilisations that did not have the emprah before: barbarians, pagans, heathens, all kindsa crap.

Xenos is alien.

Essentially, if you're not with us, you're against us. That's just how the Imperium rolls.

Target practice

[/thread}

BlapBlapBlap wrote:Xenos is alien.

squats? ogryn? ratlings? all alien, but are referred to as abhumans.

orkoidSTD wrote:

BlapBlapBlap wrote:Xenos is alien.

squats? ogryn? ratlings? all alien, but are referred to as abhumans.

Because they're evolutionary offshoots of humanity.

If they don't oppose the Emporer but don't worship him either, they're heathens. If they used to worship the Emporer but have turned away from him for any reason, they're traitors and heretics. If they've never heard of him they're unenlightened. If they're xenos they're the superdevil.

orkoidSTD wrote:

BlapBlapBlap wrote:Xenos is alien.

squats? ogryn? ratlings? all alien, but are referred to as abhumans.

None of those are aliens. They are all base-line human beings, but have lived in an environment that's caused radical physical and mental dymorphism. That is to say, they're a mutant off-breed of humans, but unlike "true mutants", they can breed true, and pass their specific genetic traits on to their offspring. Two Ogryns will have an Ogryn baby. Two Ratlings will have a Ratling baby. Two Squats... well, there aren't two Squats left anywhere, so that's a wash. I suppose that it is theoretically possible for any of these three AbHuman races to breed with a baseline human.

AbHuman stands for "Aberrant Human" or "Abnormal Human".

True mutants, like the ones with tentacles and wings or beaks for faces or whatever, do not pass these traits on to their offspring, if they somehow manage to have any.

Thamor wrote:Tau? They would be Xenos Scum.

I was about to say the same, exact thing until I read your post... Theif.

Coolyo294 wrote:

orkoidSTD wrote:

BlapBlapBlap wrote:Xenos is alien.

squats? ogryn? ratlings? all alien, but are referred to as abhumans.

Because they're evolutionary offshoots of humanity.

but still aliens.

Psienesis wrote:

orkoidSTD wrote:

BlapBlapBlap wrote:Xenos is alien.

squats? ogryn? ratlings? all alien, but are referred to as abhumans.

None of those are aliens. They are all base-line human beings, but have lived in an environment that's caused radical physical and mental dymorphism. That is to say, they're a mutant off-breed of humans, but unlike "true mutants", they can breed true, and pass their specific genetic traits on to their offspring. Two Ogryns will have an Ogryn baby. Two Ratlings will have a Ratling baby. Two Squats... well, there aren't two Squats left anywhere, so that's a wash. I suppose that it is theoretically possible for any of these three AbHuman races to breed with a baseline human.

AbHuman stands for "Aberrant Human" or "Abnormal Human".

True mutants, like the ones with tentacles and wings or beaks for faces or whatever, do not pass these traits on to their offspring, if they somehow manage to have any.

but this makes them a different species. and they come from different worlds. so technically they are aliens

The Imperium loves the ones that simply never heard of the Emperor, as these cultures tend to produce prime stock for Astartes chapters, once converted.