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I think the closest you will get to a 'good' army, is the Space Marines. Though they are part of an absolutely brutal and bloody regime, most of the chapters seem to care about the overall good of those under their protection. There's a lot of fluff showing the care and concern the Marines have for the average Imperial citizen. For the most part, they don't fight for love, or money, or land, they fight to protect the citizens of the Empire, knowing full well, that they will die in battle. However there are other chapters that couldn't care less about the citizens of the Empire.

As for absolute Evil, Evil is in the heart, so it's not so much a matter of what you do, but why it's being done. Dark Eldar are certainly evil, they thrive of pain, torture, and the suffering of others. Most of the followers of Chaos are absolutely evil as well, however I'm not fully convienced the gods of Chaos are. I see them more as forces of nature or aspects of life. Nurgle is disease and decay, he's like the anti Mother Nature, but it simply is what he is, same with Khorne, Tzeentch, and Slaanesh, they are simply aspects of life, like it or not.

As for most other armies, they fall into a more of a Grey area: Eldar are fighting for their very existence, this lead to desperation, and as such they must do what is necessary to survive. Is that Evil? I would say no, because it's not like they are trying to spread death and destruction, they are only acting in a way that will best reserve their lives. Orks and Tyranids are simply forces of nature, much like the gods of Chaos, they are no more evil than a swarm of locusts moving from crop field to crop field. Tau: Well that's a matter of opinion, some people like the idea of living for the greater good, and others do not. Tau see the species as a single entity and the individual is irrelivant, so ideas like freedom and liberty are irrelevant. I would define that as evil, but not absolute. The Necrons make me think of a race of grumpy old men, who woke up one day to find out theie SS checks had all been stolen, some unruley kids have trampled all over their lawn, and all their friends are dead and replaced with really bad robots pretending to be them. They got a raw deal and are really grumpy about it. They was their lawn back, the gnomes repaired, and their Social Security checks in the mail

Asterios wrote:

Ravingbantha wrote:
I think the closest you will get to a 'good' army, is the Space Marines. Though they are part of an absolutely brutal and bloody regime, most of the chapters seem to care about the overall good of those under their protection. There's a lot of fluff showing the care and concern the Marines have for the average Imperial citizen. For the most part, they don't fight for love, or money, or land, they fight to protect the citizens of the Empire, knowing full well, that they will die in battle. However there are other chapters that couldn't care less about the citizens of the Empire.

they fight for the citizens? even though they have wiped out entire planets of citizens because they knew about Chaos?, they also fought over land, but in their terms planets but still territory, the Astartes are the worse of the lot, they are unmoving and without mercy, if a planet is tainted they will wipe out the innocent along with the guilty.

Some chapter do act this way, but not all, which is what I said. There are several stories about Space Marines regretting having to make decisions like this. Th the Wrath of Magnus book, Logan Grimmnar was furious at his citizens being slaughtered, it also spoke to the sadness he felt at loosing so many people who entrusted their safety to them. He wasn't mad that he was loosing resources, or land, he was mad that he was loosing people. Not just marines, but regular citizens. And even when he had to make the call to destroy a planet, it upset him greatly. That is not evil.

Asterios wrote:

 ChaosDad wrote:
To me, the closest thing to "good" in the galaxy is the Tau, they tend to treat their conquered planets with some sense of decency, to form alliances and favour diplomacy over exterminatus...

On the other hand, there is something seriously fishy (horrible pun intended) about the whole etheral thing...

the term Greater Good should be your first clue.

The line of 'the greater good' has been used by tyrants and dictators all through history. Trampling on the rights on an individual, because it fits your desired goal for the collective is not even close to 'good'

 TheCustomLime wrote:
The way I see it the Imperium is Lawful Neutral and Chaos is (appropriately) Chaotic Evil. The Imperium isn't "good" by any stretch of the imagination but Chaos is most certainly evil.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Ynneadwraith wrote:
Even though they do unspeakable things, I don't see the Dark Eldar as truly evil either.

The Dark Eldar are in exactly the same boat as the Eldar. Their empire shattered, their souls inexorably drained away by an enemy they cannot hope to defeat. Their atrocities are driven by the self-same fear that drives the Craftworld Eldar to their Paths. It's another desperate coping mechanism, thinly thinly veiled by a 'we do it because we like it, not because we have to' attitude.

Their behaviours are just as much driven by survival as the Craftworlders. As far as our morality goes, they're evil. But in the context of the moral grey area that is 40k, they're not really any worse than the Imperium.

Oh, and if anyone thinks that the Craftworld Eldar are any less evil than their dark kin they've been tricked by the manipulations of that fickle race They're the people who threw the whole world of Armageddon (and all of the people who flocked to its defence) under the bus, just to save a paltry few of their own race.

They're cared solely with their own survival, and will sacrifice billions of innocent humans (or any other race) just to ensure they live to see the next day. The only reason they ally with the Imperium is because they often share the same enemies, and the fumbling Mon-Keigh are easily manipulated.

The enemy of my enemy is not my friend. The enemy of my enemy is my meatshield.

Yeah. The Eldar are collectively a bunch of idiots who brought down their own doom. And now they are too dumb to put aside their prejudices to ally with the biggest formal government in the galaxy just because they are "foolish mon'keigh",

They may be in the same boat, but they are not the same. The Dark Eldar are a dying race, but they choose to make others suffer for their amusement. That's a huge difference between the two.

 Dakka Wolf wrote:
Grey, very very dark grey.
Logan Grimnar - widely regarded as one of the greatest heroes in the Imperium makes a hobby out of destroying Inquisition vessels and beheading Inquisition delegates, for the crime of being Inquisition delegates.
Sounds like a fun fellow.

Considering the Inquisition has a habit of slaughtering people for looking wrong, or looking at the inquisition wrong, of spelling their name wrong, or saying the wrong thing, or... h you get the point. I'd say it's not such a bad thing.