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"Third Party" = Xenos Races mentioned in Fluff or Fiction that aren't Eldar, Orks, Tau, Tyranids etc.

So simple question - Are there "third party" races left in the Known or Fringes of the Galaxy that are technologically advanced and also maintain a certain level of control of a quadrant of space?

Because usually we get told about an Ancient Race that either died out due to the Great Crusade or just died out before human beings ever got to that corner of space.... Or died out because well.. Hivefleets

The only group i've been able to find that seem to fit the bill are the Xenarchs - a race mentioned in both Dark Heresy and in Codex Black Templars. They apparently have some sort of Empire situated in the Galactic North that no one has actually found yet. And they do have technological insights that, at least in what we've seen, surpass what AdMech can normally cook up.

Any 40K scholar out there care to toss another group onto this pile?

Hrud.

Hrud are probably the most important and are one of the largest threats. Large Hrud migrations have swept entire chapters away.

Slaught are a cool race that is made up of lots of little worms like the Hunters in Halo.

Cythor Fiends are basically Vampires, shape shifting bat creatures that blend into human society, they originate from the Ghoul Stars.

 EmpNortonII wrote:
Hrud.

Well, the Hrud definitely fit the bill on having advanced technology that the other "main stream" Xenos races and the Imperium can't quite produce...

But the thing I can't for the life of me remember is if they have territory.

They seem a bit...scattered...

They do live in colonies underground IIRC. Another one you're interested in might be the Rak'gol. They are like sentient tyranids aesthetically, and raid planers and whatnot.

The Demuirg

Squats live on!!

Provided the Tau with the basic starting point of their tech

TheWanderer wrote:
The Demuirg

No Eisenhorn spoilers but I was under the impression that the Demuirg wheren't around anymore.

The Jokaerro (SPACE MONKIES!), known for not having a language of their own and no apparent form of comunications but insane technological potential.

There's also a few abhumans, like the four legged centaur-ish humans. Last i checked was sometime around M40, they inhabited a single world but had recently got acess to space travel.

As a footnote Inquisitor Kryptman is said to have discovered over 40 new sentinet xeno races. He then exterminated every single one of them with the exception of the tyranids which is currently his extermination WIP.

The Ghoul Stars are home to all manner of terrible things. It is the farthest region from the Astronomicon that is still within the Galaxy. What is interesting is that the creatures and celestial events are so odd that they are described as paranormal...think about that for a moment. How strange does something have to be in order to be described as paranormal in a setting where daemons materialized out of a parallel dimension regularly? Anyways, in the 34th millenium some race of Xenos constructed a myriad of "nightmare engines" and overran a section of imperial space. It was so destructive and frightening that a whole space marine chapter (death specters) have been stationed in imperial territory nearby to keep a constant vigil over the Ghoul Stars ever since.

Nerak wrote:

TheWanderer wrote:
The Demuirg

No Eisenhorn spoilers but I was under the impression that the Demuirg wheren't around anymore.

I have devoured much of the eisenhorn work and I don't recall any suggestion that the Demuirg are gone?

GrapeApe wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:
Hrud.

Well, the Hrud definitely fit the bill on having advanced technology that the other "main stream" Xenos races and the Imperium can't quite produce...

But the thing I can't for the life of me remember is if they have territory.

They seem a bit...scattered...

That's because the Hrud's entropy field is a natural effect; its something their bodies produce, not a piece of tech. That's why it cannot be reproduced or stolen.
They are also nomads, who don't stay in one place for long. Which is what makes them so dangerous, because one minute your world is fine, next minute its falling apart because several thousand Hrud just arrived.

TheWanderer wrote:

Nerak wrote:

TheWanderer wrote:
The Demuirg

No Eisenhorn spoilers but I was under the impression that the Demuirg wheren't around anymore.

I have devoured much of the eisenhorn work and I don't recall any suggestion that the Demuirg are gone?

No demiurg in Eisenhorn at all.

Probably thinking of Saruthi.

The Loxatl are fleshed out a bit in the Gaunts Ghosts series.

The Slaugth not only have their own little region of space, they have infiltrated a portion of the Imperium and have a large collective of humans working for them under the guise (I think) of a large interstellar corporation.

 King Pariah wrote:
The Slaugth not only have their own little region of space, they have infiltrated a portion of the Imperium and have a large collective of humans working for them under the guise (I think) of a large interstellar corporation.

Indeed they are particulary active in the Calexis sector if the Dark heresy books are anything to go by, and the name of that syndicate is the Amarantian syndicate. Although one could create some other similar orginatizon with a bit of thinking

 Grumblewartz wrote:
The Ghoul Stars are home to all manner of terrible things. It is the farthest region from the Astronomicon that is still within the Galaxy. What is interesting is that the creatures and celestial events are so odd that they are described as paranormal...think about that for a moment. How strange does something have to be in order to be described as paranormal in a setting where daemons materialized out of a parallel dimension regularly? Anyways, in the 34th millenium some race of Xenos constructed a myriad of "nightmare engines" and overran a section of imperial space. It was so destructive and frightening that a whole space marine chapter (death specters) have been stationed in imperial territory nearby to keep a constant vigil over the Ghoul Stars ever since.

There be the area of space marked here be monsters.
Monsters, xenos, pirates and such.

Elishorn had a few including a race with a dead deamon king. The odd ones who manipulated reality and messed with the death watch, among others.

 Grumblewartz wrote:
The Ghoul Stars are home to all manner of terrible things. It is the farthest region from the Astronomicon that is still within the Galaxy. What is interesting is that the creatures and celestial events are so odd that they are described as paranormal...think about that for a moment. How strange does something have to be in order to be described as paranormal in a setting where daemons materialized out of a parallel dimension regularly? Anyways, in the 34th millenium some race of Xenos constructed a myriad of "nightmare engines" and overran a section of imperial space. It was so destructive and frightening that a whole space marine chapter (death specters) have been stationed in imperial territory nearby to keep a constant vigil over the Ghoul Stars ever since.

See this is exactly the kind of fluff I love.

Enslavers are pretty terrifying. Extradimensional xenos of unknown origin that burst into our reality through psykers and turn planetary populations into mindless slaves. Plus they look like creepy alien jellyfish.

 Furyou Miko wrote:

TheWanderer wrote:

Nerak wrote:

TheWanderer wrote:
The Demuirg

No Eisenhorn spoilers but I was under the impression that the Demuirg wheren't around anymore.

I have devoured much of the eisenhorn work and I don't recall any suggestion that the Demuirg are gone?

No demiurg in Eisenhorn at all.

Probably thinking of Saruthi.

You're right, got the names mixed up. My bad.

The only other race that really is active on a galactic scale and can occassionally be a threat to the Imperium is the Hrud. They do not have much territory due to being nomadic though.
Other races, such as the Slaugth, Rak'gol or Demiurg are usually rather small. That is the only way a Xenos species can survive in a galaxy dominated by the Imperium. Either they are so large or hard to exterminate that the Imperium doesn't bother with it, like the Orks, Eldar or Hrud, or they are so small that they manage to stay off the Imperium's radar.
Species that fall in between, such as the Tau, usually get hit by Hammer of the Emperor fairly quickly.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
The only other race that really is active on a galactic scale and can occassionally be a threat to the Imperium is the Hrud. They do not have much territory due to being nomadic though.
Other races, such as the Slaugth, Rak'gol or Demiurg are usually rather small. That is the only way a Xenos species can survive in a galaxy dominated by the Imperium. Either they are so large or hard to exterminate that the Imperium doesn't bother with it, like the Orks, Eldar or Hrud, or they are so small that they manage to stay off the Imperium's radar.
Species that fall in between, such as the Tau, usually get hit by Hammer of the Emperor fairly quickly.

... there are more Ork worlds than Imperial worlds, as it so happens.

The thing to remember is that the Imperium *claims* most of the galaxy, but actually populates less than 1/10th of 1% of its space. The Imperium claims to have 1 million worlds... there are 100 billion stars in the Milky Way galaxy. Even if every Imperial world circled a star by itself... that's still a laughably tiny amount of the total size of the galaxy held by its (arguably) largest player. Even within a given Sector, there are vast tracts of space where Mankind has never gone, because there are no stable Warp Routes leading to those areas. These areas may contain vast, advanced Xeno Empires who have also never made contact with the Imperium, for the very same (or perhaps different entirely) reason.

 Grumblewartz wrote:
The Ghoul Stars are home to all manner of terrible things. It is the farthest region from the Astronomicon that is still within the Galaxy. What is interesting is that the creatures and celestial events are so odd that they are described as paranormal...think about that for a moment. How strange does something have to be in order to be described as paranormal in a setting where daemons materialized out of a parallel dimension regularly? Anyways, in the 34th millenium some race of Xenos constructed a myriad of "nightmare engines" and overran a section of imperial space. It was so destructive and frightening that a whole space marine chapter (death specters) have been stationed in imperial territory nearby to keep a constant vigil over the Ghoul Stars ever since.

I never actually put much thought into it saying "paranormal" in the setting they are in.... That is friggin weird. Maybe it's where fantasy and 40k universes clash

 Iron_Captain wrote:
The only other race that really is active on a galactic scale and can occassionally be a threat to the Imperium is the Hrud. They do not have much territory due to being nomadic though.
Other races, such as the Slaugth, Rak'gol or Demiurg are usually rather small. That is the only way a Xenos species can survive in a galaxy dominated by the Imperium. Either they are so large or hard to exterminate that the Imperium doesn't bother with it, like the Orks, Eldar or Hrud, or they are so small that they manage to stay off the Imperium's radar.
Species that fall in between, such as the Tau, usually get hit by Hammer of the Emperor fairly quickly.

much depends on the power of its plot armour.....