pm713 wrote:The Imperium hasn't gone all out trying to exterminate the Orks because the leadership is aware that the task is beyond them and always has been.
The death to xenos isn't what I'd call propaganda more a half truth. The full statement would be more like "Death to the alien*"
*Unless they have use in which case keep them around.
Although I think actually the Imperium did calculate it could stop the Tyranids alone but it would empty the population of 2 segmentums.
I'm wondering, when they stated that they could defeat Tyranids, did they mean just the known fleets or the entire hive mind? Because the entirety of the Tyranid forces or possibly larger than the Milkey way itself.
Voss wrote:
ArcaneHorror wrote:The 'death to all xenos' thing has always struck me more as propaganda for the masses rather than a monolithic Imperial ideology, at least after the Emperor was put on the Golden Throne. With the rise of Chaos especially, I think that the elites of the Imperium know that many aliens can be low-key allies, or at least other targets. Then there's the Tyranids, who are the ultimate xenos since they come from outside the galaxy. Again, the Imperium knows that it can't hold off these enemies purely by themselves (this is possibly why the Imperium fights massive wars with orks but has not gone all out in trying to exterminate them, as the orks fight anyone they come across).
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In several books various imperial commanders/inquisitors/commissars admit (among themselves) that fighting in one place would mean moving troops and supplies from another place and losing an ongoing or new war. As absurdly big as the Imperium is, its also stretched thin.
Its why Tau in particular don't get many more full-scale crusades. Because doing so means that tyranid splinter fleets would gobble other worlds, permanently. Tau don't do permanent damage and try not to overextend, rarely going head to head against major imperial worlds. Dislodging them would be too much of a fight in the face of other threats.
Eldar are similar, since they tend to keep to themselves on their craftworlds. Destroying those would be a major undertaking with too high a price to justify.
Ork waaaghs, tyranid fleets, chaos incursions, those have to be stopped, so get priority.
I do agree that the big threats have kept smaller ones, like the Tau, from being overrun by the Imperium. I'm really disappointed that the story that
GW teased about the Tau fighting the Death Guard never came about, as such a war would have undoubtedly left the Tau brutalized and traumatized and having to radically upend their approach the galaxy at large.
About the idea of having an era of enlightenment, I think it might be an interesting idea if this occurred not in the Imperium but in the areas Chaos controls (Eye of Terror, Great Rift, Maelstrom, etc.). There would still be the madness and the violence, but imagine if organizations like the Dark Mechanicum really got their act together and started creating genuine technological marvels, as they don't have Mars looking over their shoulder. Maybe to solidify his hold over his territory, Abaddon could foster the growth of radical thinking and new ideas that, in some ways, could make life better for his own citizens. The Emperor's Children could work to foster art and culture (albeit of a very strange kind) and the Thousand Sons could engage in the spread of knowledge (albeit potentially very dangerous knowledge). Fabius Bile might be persuaded to do some work that actually further medical technology, though he would still engage in his Frankenstein activity as well. Also, since Chaos is very scattered, maybe more open and freer societies could develop, ones not tied down by Imperial dogma. Of course, a planet that got too independent could expect a visit from Skarbrand, but overall, with some clever manipulation on the parts of the lords of Chaos, both mortal and daemonic, Chaos could be made to look more appealing overall to average people, further hurting the Imperium's ability to maintain its hold on the galaxy.
