Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Necrontyr and Old Ones are probably about the same age. Eldar and Orks were created by the Old Ones to fight the Necrons. Noone knows about Tyranids, but they probably are pretty old to get across the void between galaxies. Humans came after, then Tau.

liam0404 wrote:So lets set aside fantasy for the moment, from oldest to youngest, what is the age of the current races in the 40k universe? This doesn't have to be restricted to playable races.

The Old Ones and C'tan are probably roughly the same age. The C'tan weren't really anything before the necrotyr gave them shells though. They had too much power and no way to control it. They were basically just floating blobs that ate suns

Tau are probably the youngest.

oops, mellisia ninja'd me. Ah well, we have the same information anyway The warp was also created by the Old One's, and by that same card, they created the chaos Gods!

Ahhh cool. This is why these threads are great, you find out a ton of stuff that's buried under mountains of fluff!

liam0404 wrote:Ahhh cool. This is why these threads are great, you find out a ton of stuff that's buried under mountains of fluff!

Like dinosaurs being older than almost everything

BluntmanDC wrote:Well apart from the location seeing as Terra is in the centre of the galaxy, while Earth is on one of the outlieing arms.

What a load or nonsense.

Earth is Terra, Terra is Earth. Terra is located on the Orion arm, in the exact same spot as Earth, not in the centre of the galaxy.

Terra is Earth and that is why Eastern Fringe is so underexplored by humans, because the Astronomican does not project that far.

Your point about the Tyranids is also nonsense. There is no actual north or south on the galaxy but an artifical north/south has been asigned so to all intents and purposes Earth/Terra is on the western side of the galaxy, the opposite side from the Tyranids.

Terra is the center of the Imperium, but hardly the center of the galaxy. However since we only get the perspective from the Imperium's side, it does seem like the center of the galaxy.

Also, it's entirely possible that the Chaos Gods are the same in both universes, who says they cant transcend the multiverse just to cause some havoc? On the business side, Chaos Gods are a fundimental part of Fantasy and 40k, being an important catalyst in both lores. This was all and good when Fantasy was hinted to be a world in 40k, but when the two separated they couldnt just kick the gods out of one universe, that would require so much retcon that they'd have to completely re-write the fluff.

Also, many Imperial worlds are still feral worlds, just barely out of the caveman age, so Slaanesh would still make sense in Fantasy.

And by strict definition, the Old Ones are the oldest race, with the Necrontyr being a close second along with the C'tan. Tau is easily the youngest, being so young that the imperium was almost able to completely wipe the race off the galactic map relatively recently.

Terra may be the centre of the IoM, but it is still far from the centre of the Galaxy. It's STILL located in the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the milky way galaxy.

Terra is definitely Earth, given that the Emperors palace involved flattening the Himalayas....mentioned MANY times

I like to think of them as two universes linked by the warp. So you can have common warp gods, common births (the birth of slaanesh precipitated by Eldar creating a god in the Old World, for example) and simple divergence at an earlier time leading to the creation of the same / similar races in both universes.

The DE codex (new) has a great time line on the Fall and exactly when everything occured, and the lifting of the warp storms that followed.

Melissia wrote:Necrontyr and Old Ones are probably about the same age. Eldar and Orks were created by the Old Ones to fight the Necrons. Noone knows about Tyranids, but they probably are pretty old to get across the void between galaxies. Humans came after, then Tau.

I believe the C'tan were actually older ( I specifically remember reading that they were born just after the creation of the universe! Will check back however) it's just that they were unable to take physical form until they discovered worship tasted better than star juice and convinced the Necrontyr to build them bodies made of living metal.




++EDIT++ So they could live amongst them and be revered as Gods, and in return the assisted in the war with the Old ones

chromedog wrote:Terra may be the centre of the IoM, but it is still far from the centre of the Galaxy. It's STILL located in the unfashionable end of the western spiral arm of the milky way galaxy.

sorry i ment closer to the centre, it is still on our spiral arm but Earth would rather be between the old squat worlds and dyson spere (closer to the squas)

Gogsnik wrote:
Your point about the Tyranids is also nonsense. There is no actual north or south on the galaxy but an artifical north/south has been asigned so to all intents and purposes Earth/Terra is on the western side of the galaxy, the opposite side from the Tyranids.

it doesn't matter about north and south (and the fact that most art presents the galaxy and solar systems as flat planes) seeing as nids attack worlds not empty space and if you check out the star map (http://www.joachim-adomeit.de/wh40k/spacemap/map.html) Terra would be directly in the path of hivefleet laviathan.

The c'tan are repoten to be the oldest being 'native' to our galaxy, but as Melissia said the tyranids are probably as old/older than the old ones due to the vast distances they have traveled.


With the Chaos gods, they are created by emotions and as the races present in fantasy and 40k are relatively similar there will be the same types of emotions present in their warps (it doesn't have to be the same warp). Although having the same names make the idea abit loose, unless the names are made up by the gods themselves.

My understanding is similar to most others, that 40k and fantasy were once linked, but have since been severed. Although the two could still be linked and make sense, as per Kanluwen's explanations.

My take on the oldness of races (from memory):

1. Star Vampires -> later C'Tan
2. Old Ones
2. Necrontyr -> later Necrons
4. Slaan (Old Slaan)
5. Eldar -> later Craftworld, Dark, etc.
5. Jokaero
5. Krork -> Ork
8. Mankind
9. Tau

Tyranids are extra-galactic so their age is unknown.

BluntmanDC wrote:it doesn't matter about north and south (and the fact that most art presents the galaxy and solar systems as flat planes) seeing as nids attack worlds not empty space and if you check out the star map Terra would be directly in the path of hivefleet laviathan.

...

Yeah, directly in the path, except for the five thousand light years in between.

That still doesn't get away from your assertion that Terra is somewhere it isn't.

Terra = Earth, for the last time.

Saying otherwise ignores that they state as much about 50 times in the Horus heresy novels, that MARS is still next to Terra and you have the Jupiter and Saturn shipyards.

Terra. Is. Earth. They have not moved it, it isnta different planet, it IS EARTH.

nosferatu1001 wrote:Terra = Earth, for the last time.

Saying otherwise ignores that they state as much about 50 times in the Horus heresy novels, that MARS is still next to Terra and you have the Jupiter and Saturn shipyards.

Terra. Is. Earth. They have not moved it, it isnta different planet, it IS EARTH.

Have to agree - this is mentioned SEVERAL times.

isnt the daemons and demons the same? i mean if kairios fateweaver, skulltaker and all that are in both codicies then i think they are in the same universe.