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Tau are pretty good as far as I'm concerned. Do your job, keep your head down, and generally stay out of trouble. Your reward? A decent standard of living among people who actually care if you live or die (in as much as they won't throw your life away for no reason like pretty much everybody else in 40k).

Heck, the fact they actually ask you to join them before shooting at you puts them head and shoulders above most other factions out there.

 dementedwombat wrote:
Tau are pretty good as far as I'm concerned. Do your job, keep your head down, and generally stay out of trouble. Your reward? A decent standard of living among people who actually care if you live or die (in as much as they won't throw your life away for no reason like pretty much everybody else in 40k).

Heck, the fact they actually ask you to join them before shooting at you puts them head and shoulders above most other factions out there.

So live as a submissive or die standing? I'll take my chances

changemod wrote:
I make my Dynasty almost entirely benevolent because it amuses me to have morally outraged nine foot robot skeletons waking up to a galaxy of stupid petty violence.

Same here - Mine is a dynasty that was ruled by a ruthless Phaeron, who wanted conquest and obedience from his subjects, who rebelled to his brutal rule constantly. During the War in Heaven, he immidiatly sides with the Deciever, and was therefor given transfers into Necron bodies who where a lot easier on the minds of the upper-class. When they then turned on the C'tan and took power, this Phaeron was kinda bugged - He had everything now. And he had nothing, for the galaxy was in ruins. When the dynasty awakened from their sleep in the current age, the Phaeron woke up to a functioning Crown World with completely obedient underlings... And for the first time, and with the help of the superior transaction to metal, compared to other Lords, he felt a massive amount of guilt and regret. What is a Lord, when there are no peasants to direct and rule over? The peasants will always be peasants non the same, but a Lord dpends on his underlings to give him problems that he must help them with, and stop them from tearing themself apart. So now, his goal is to get the conciousness of his underlings back, with the help of his court, and hopefully before he is intercepted by some other Overlord

Insane? Check. Metal? Check. Want to do extreme things to further their casue? Check.

My Necrons have the same goal as ever. Figure out what the heck's going on in the galaxy now then start fights and test their kung fu.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
Why all the hate for Tyranids? Tyranids are not evil, they are animals.
They act only according to their instinct, there is nothing moral or immoral about it at all.

This also goes for the Orks.
To the Orks, fighting and slaughtering is morally good, while not doing so is horribly evil.

And it goes for the Dark Eldar to some extent as well. They need to horribly torture other people in order to survive.
Their souls are slowly being eaten away by Slaanesh. If they do not rejuvenate their souls by drawing the essence out of others, they will die.

The Necrons, Eldar and Imperium are more evil than Orks or Tyranids, because they have willingly made the concious choice to be genocidal supremacist jerks.
Orks and Tyranids just are the way they are without the ability to change.

I disagree with this pretty strongly. Just because they are obligated one way or another does not make their actions moral. Dark Eldar in particular are extremely selfish - they will consciously, joyously cause others to suffer in order to extend their lives a bit longer (and it's basically fruitless because they're doomed in the end either way). The "good" thing for them to do would be to just sacrifice themselves and accept that they're doomed, allowing the younger races a chance to flourish.

Orks are similar, they think that causing death and suffering is fun and don't really care about the consequences of their actions from others' perspectives.

 calamarialldayerrday wrote:
I do think that Chaos Marines are one of the few good guys in 40k. They originated as conscientious objectors to the genocidal, unforgiving, and colonial ways of the Imperium. The Imperium are flat out evil. Even before the false god emperor fell, he was still a complete jerk. He led crusades across the galaxy, uniting everyone under his rule. What gave him the right to rule the galaxy? Manifest destiny? He was a very powerful being, but only one of many. Power does not grant one the right to rule. Plus, how many trillions had to die in order for his subjugation to become complete? Since then, the Imperium has only gotten worse.

Chaos Marines found themselves in this Empire and chose to leave. Once they had left, they weren't left in peace, they were hunted with the intent of extinction, and so, they turned to the only source of power they could. It was a matter of survival. Without the Imperial supply chain, they needed to look elsewhere, and the Chaos Gods fulfilled their needs. They allowed them to fight for their own right to exist. But, it was too late as they soon found that they owed too much of a debt to the Gods. They have since been repaying that debt, knowing they can only pay interest, but it's enough to keep the loan sharks off their backs. It's a classical tragedy.

This is very much wishful thinking and twisted interpretation IMHO...

 Iron_Captain wrote:
Why all the hate for Tyranids? Tyranids are not evil, they are animals.
They act only according to their instinct, there is nothing moral or immoral about it at all.

This also goes for the Orks.
To the Orks, fighting and slaughtering is morally good, while not doing so is horribly evil.

And it goes for the Dark Eldar to some extent as well. They need to horribly torture other people in order to survive.
Their souls are slowly being eaten away by Slaanesh. If they do not rejuvenate their souls by drawing the essence out of others, they will die.

The Necrons, Eldar and Imperium are more evil than Orks or Tyranids, because they have willingly made the concious choice to be genocidal supremacist jerks.
Orks and Tyranids just are the way they are without the ability to change.

The you talking about???

Good or Bad is highly dependant on perspective.

Necrons could be describe as a tragic race decieved and misled by false gods into giving up their mortal bodies, who's homes and tombs have been sacked by raiders whilst they slept, their empires invaded and desecrated, hunted by ruthless foes and just wanting to reclaim their organic bodies.

Or an ancient evil awakening beneath the feet of the younger races, arrogant to all around them and in a single minded pursuit of their own selfish ambitions.

It really comes down to which race you view them as.

In all honesty, I don't see them as evil. I'm one of those apparently few people that enjoy their new fluff for some reason, and I think they did what was needed to survive, though got screwed by the C'Tan. I actually admire the Last Silent King.

"Oh hey, these Eldar guys are trying to kill us, but we just finished a war with the Old Ones, man. We've done enough damage to the galaxy, so we'll let it heal for awhile, and come back at another time. Everyone, go to sleep! As for me, Imma leave this galaxy because I feel bad."

They are not good or evil... they are just grumpy.

"Darn kids. GET OFF MY LAWN!!"

They were jealous of the long lifespans of the Old Ones, made a deal with the C'tan and traded their souls for immortality (so to speak), and got facestomped by the Old Ones and Eldar. Went into stasis crypts and now are awoken by the silly humans.

So, take your pick -- the tragically betrayed, or the ancient evil, or both. Me? I say they fall into the "evil" camp, insofar as there are good and evil camps in 40k.

I think the side of "good" has Imperium, Eldar, Tau. Which might seem like less factions, but heck, Imperium gets more new plastic than tyranids can bio-absorb every year

But if you consider good to be anti-chaos (who are pitched as the big bad in the setting) then Necrons are good (no chaos necrons)

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I see things that make me think they are good guys, but then I see evidence that makes me think they are bad guys. I'm confused.

Bad guys with a good sob story.

pinecone77 wrote:

 KaptinBadrukk wrote:
I see things that make me think they are good guys, but then I see evidence that makes me think they are bad guys. I'm confused.

Bad guys with a good sob story.

Hahaha.

Well, not all anti chaos are 'good'. Since 40k was originally conceptualized as WHFB Space Edition, you have space humans, elves and dwarves versus Orcs and chaos. Necron are... Space undead? Kind of like the eternal damned.

The whole concept of "Good Guys" is entirely dependent upon your point of view ... and really only exists in hollywood movies, video games and one dimensional books.

I'm glad GW has given us a universe with a far more nuanced vision. If it was straight up Imperials are "good", everyone else is "bad" then I seriously doubt 40k would have the following it does.

For many people the concept of "might makes right" is rather appealing, and in many cases pretty closely upheld by real world history.