So. Why dont the Hrud get more coverage?

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**Bobug**

As the title says really. I find the hrud a fantastic concept and it frustrates me that they aren't explored more. Even if theyll never be a playable race it would be great for them to to get the foreground in the fluff abit more. I mean, theyre more common than eldar, tau, and necrons! Poor unloved hrud

**jhe90**

Suppose they could least shell them out as a lesser xeno race as a online allied addition as a beginning.

Not a full codex but it would be a beginning I of a new race with a smaller model line to begin with

**Kain**

You'd think that a species that breaks space and time when gathered in large numbers would be much higher on the Imperium's "to exterminate" list.

**jhe90**

Kain wrote:
You'd think that a species that breaks space and time when gathered in large numbers would be much higher on the Imperium's "to exterminate" list.

I'd of thought that would put you quite high up, chaos gets top billing long with tyranoids but they should be a priority if you can cadualy warp the universe

**Mr. Burning**

Kain wrote:
You'd think that a species that breaks space and time when gathered in large numbers would easily become the next broken codex/ally/dataslate.

**Kain**

Mr. Burning wrote:
Kain wrote:
You'd think that a species that breaks space and time when gathered in large numbers would easily become the next broken codex/ally/dataslate.

Ah I walked into that one, didn't I?

**sing your life**

Hrud would be space Skaven [I find the other design horrible], which I guess GW wouldn't like because they want something unique for 40k instead of a WHFB race rehash.

Or something.

**Bobug**

Personally I prefer the "bendy" design, plus they could still wear the cloak & rags, just lose the tail

**Kain**

Bobug wrote:
Personally I prefer the "bendy" design, plus they could still wear the cloak & rags, just lose the tail

They in fact, usually wear cloaks and rags, the ~~Necron in disguise~~ Inquisitor just had the specimens stripped naked for study.

**TiamatRoar**

Kain wrote:
You'd think that a species that breaks space and time when gathered in large numbers would be much higher on the Imperium's "to exterminate" list.

I guess it might be because Hrud are really only a threat when they're migrating. Otherwise they're mostly just vermin (really really really dangerous vermin, but still...). They're also hell to root out because they're really good at hiding.

**throwoff**

GW are just holding them back on the 'maybe' pile along with the other races mentioned in the fluff.

Kroot where first mentioned in a tiny bottom of the page fluff item back in 3rd edition rulebook released in 98 but didn't get brought in with Tau till the back end of 2001

**Grey Templar**

Unfortunately, the Hrud's fluff is self-limiting.

They really are just sentient space rats who occasionally cause some trouble. They don't form anything resembling an army.

**Psienesis**

Because they are a tiny, tiny faction that could, with a modicum of effort, be completely annihilated in about a week.

**Grey Templar**

Psienesis wrote:
Because they are a tiny, tiny faction that could, with a modicum of effort, be completely annihilated in about a week.

No no no

Thats the Tau

**Psienesis**

There's more Tau than there are Hrud.

**TheCustomLime**

The Hrud aren't an army. They are moreover alien rabble that manages to remain a thorn in the Imperium's side. However, a supplement that introduces a bunch of minor Xenos in one book would be pretty good for them.

**Kain**

Psienesis wrote:
Because they are a tiny, tiny faction that could, with a modicum of effort, be completely annihilated in about a week.

Given that Ork Waaaghs and Space Marine chapters get crushed by Hrud migrations I think you're selling them a tad short.

In any case, GW can always bring out the retcon hammer.

**da001**

Psienesis wrote:
There's more Tau than there are Hrud.

Source?

The Hrud has been around since forever. They were considered a danger during the Great Crusade. And a Hrud migration is hard to manage. Oh, and they seem to be spread galaxy-wide.

I do not dislike the Tau, but they are a tiny little faction in a tiny little point near the Imperium. They are becoming a problem, but the Hrud have been a problem for 10000 years.

Automatically Appended Next Post:

TheCustomLime wrote:
The Hrud aren't an army. They are moreover alien rabble that manages to remain a thorn in the Imperium's side. However, a supplement that introduces a bunch of minor Xenos in one book would be pretty good for them.

They are not an army because they have no Codex? They have been attacking the Imperium... sure they have some form of army. And quite a big one.

There are some not-minor (spread through the galaxy, many encounters with the Imperium without a winner) xenos without a Codex. Hrud, Fra´al, Demiurg, Enslavers...

And then you have endless minor xeno species: Rak´Gol, Stryxis, Kroot, Hrenian, Scythian, Slaugth (slowly ascending to major, they featured in Alpharius´ background in FW´s Horus Heresy III), Loxatl, Nicassar, Piscean, Thyrrus, Enoulians, Nekulli, Q´Orl.... there are easily over a hundred of them.

If the game is supposed to bring the background to live, it should have far more armies.

I think when 3D printing become a reality and making and printing your own models become an easy task we will see the setting properly represented. Until then, we are getting a small glimpse of this universe.

**Pilau Rice**

They could be released along with other allies to Tau in a supplement I guess. Lexi says that the Last Chancers saw some fighting alongside the Tau, I guess some would be guns for hire like Scythians or Loxatl.

They're a fall back race for bigging up another. Want to show how tough something is supposed to be but they aren't quite super angry Necrons, let them fight the Hrud

The Hrud have always been around, they are very tough to shift and are like interplanetary skav ...er ... rats.

**KorPhaeron77**

I thought Enslavers had been retconned? As they were orginally the reason for the Necrons going into hibernation because they were killing off all of the C'tan's food/slave fodder (basically all mortals). With the new Necron fluff the Enslavers don't really have a place in history. Which is a shame, because although I do not have massive hate for the newcron fluff, I really liked the concept of the Enslaver Plague.

**Pilau Rice**

Enslavers are still there, they just get mentioned as warp spawned perils in the Necron Codex rather than flat out Enlavers. But it's the Old Ones that come a cropper rather than the C'tan.

Trazyn has one in his collection as well

**da001**

KorPhaeron77 wrote:
I thought Enslavers had been retconned? As they were orginally the reason for the Necrons going into hibernation because they were killing off all of the C'tan's food/slave fodder (basically all mortals). With the new Necron fluff the Enslavers don't really have a place in history. Which is a shame, because although I do not have massive hate for the newcron fluff, I really liked the concept of the Enslaver Plague.

I don´t think things are retconned when they go missing in a single Codex. The background is big and there are few Codexes/Codices, mostly talking about marines. Coming to think of it, if that were the case, most of the stuff I like would be missing.

In 2011, the Necron Codex turned "the Enslavers did it" into what Pilau Rice said, but Enslavers are still mentioned by name.

In 2011 too, a FFG background book for Deathwatch, completely authorized and supported by GW in all senses, featured the Enslavers as (perhaps) the main threat in the sector. And the danger a full Enslaver Plague represents goes far beyond most others. This is from pg 64: "Each of these portals was once a psyker, but their unguarded minds have allowed these threats to menace not only the Imperium but every living being in the galaxy, as they once did untold millennia ago. Even the merest threat of an Enslaver outbreak has brought numerous Deathwatch teams to a planet, ready to obliterate their danger."

Here is a biggger quote from the same page, about Enslavers infesting Space Hulks and hunting Genestealers to feed on them:

Spoiler:

While the presence of such Tyranid creatures in the Mortis Thule is somewhat to be expected, it is the existence of Enslavers on the space hulk that makes it even more hazardous. Most explorers do not encounter them, or at least never return having done so. Early Deathwatch squads only reported remains of the grotesque organic fl esh-arches that serve as their gateways into reality, but fresh ones have been sighted more recently. Each of these portals was once a psyker, but their unguarded minds have allowed these threats to menace not only the Imperium but every living being in the galaxy, as they once did untold millennia ago.

Even the merest threat of an Enslaver outbreak has brought numerous Deathwatch teams to a planet, ready to obliterate their danger. Entire hives have been razed rather than leave any possible Warp portals remaining, and forces sent to the Mortis Thule are on a constant vigil to destroy them on sight, no matter what their original mission might entail. The Mortis Thule contains many nascent psykers though, almost none with the necessary defences to ward off the dominating alien mentalities. It is the presence of the Genestealers which paradoxically provides such a rich feeding ground for this menace from times before humanity descended from trees.

All Genestealers share a psychic connection that allows them to function as an independent brood. This extends to their offspring; indeed Genestealers will actively seek out psykers as hosts to strengthen this link and their own Tyranid psychic powers. However, these psychically attuned offspring shine in the Warp as a near irresistible beacon to the Enslavers who follow the vessel as it dances between the Empyrean and real space. The broods have become themselves prey, as subjugated brethren have turned on their alien parents at the command of their new masters. Some Genestealers have sought the sanctuary of stasis tubes within heavily reinforced cargo vaults, their still-loyal children sealing the vault from the inside and committing suicide as a desperate measure against Enslaver-dominated forces. Ferocious battles between the horrific Tyranid predators and the ghastly Enslavers are nightmare tales of legend. The rending claws of the Genestealers rip through hordes of bound puppet-races to reach their enemies’ floating bulbous bodies. Tendrils writhe beneath Enslavers over the blood-soaked decks as they command their slaves to die for their protection.

They are rarely mentioned but still there, and still a big menace (one of the biggest). Ready to use by any novel or Codex writer.

**Scipio Africanus**

sing your life wrote:
Hrud would be space Skaven [I find the other design horrible], which I guess GW wouldn't like because they want something unique for 40k instead of a WHFB race rehash.

Or something.

They already tried squats. They don't need rats in space.

Besides, rats are perfectly represented by ratlings. Or something.

**wtnind**

Scipio Africanus wrote:

Besides, rats are perfectly represented by ratlings. Or something.

Like my old gaffer used to say "shoot em right between the eyes"
-Sam Gamgee, Ratling Hobbit

**Kain**

Scipio Africanus wrote:
sing your life wrote:
Hrud would be space Skaven [I find the other design horrible], which I guess GW wouldn't like because they want something unique for 40k instead of a WHFB race rehash.

Or something.

They already tried squats. They don't need rats in space.

Besides, rats are perfectly represented by ratlings. Or something.

Ratlings are the halflings from FB.

**Wilytank**

I don't know what you all smoke, but this is not a rat.

**Gashrog**

It comes down to motivation at the studio.

During 3rd edition they decided to do a minor race army, supposedly the studio voted on which one to do and Tau got the most votes so they did that, allegedly Rick Priestly was rooting for Kroot and when they got voted down he ordered they be included in the Tau codex.

This is how Squats died - the sales were fine, but nobody at the studio wanted to work on them (they didn't like what they'd done before and nobody could think of anything good to do with them).

Hrud aren't an army because nobody at the studio has said GUYS WE SHOULD DO AN ARMY OF THESE with a good enough presentation to sway the rest of the studio.

**Wilytank**

Gashrog wrote:

This is how Squats died - the sales were fine, but nobody at the studio wanted to work on them (they didn't like what they'd done before and nobody could think of anything good to do with them).

I keep saying this, but I believe the biggest mistake that lead to that was to name them "squats".

**squidhills**

Wilytank wrote:
I keep saying this, but I believe the biggest mistake that lead to that was to name them "squats".

It is a pretty dire name, but it was a holdover from 1st Edition, when they were just a subsection of humanity in the Imperium, rather than their own faction. Back then, "Squats" was a slightly derrogatory slang term, akin to "Ratlings" (for space Hobbits) or "Twists" (for Beastmen). Unfortunately, they didn't get re-named for 2nd Edition, even though they were their own faction then (with their own culture... and very unlikely to refer to themselves by whatever slang term the Imperium called them by).

**Psienesis**

Hrud: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Hrud#.U2KI_6LEGEo

When they congregate, they congregate in largish numbers for the location they're in... but not in teeming billions.

The Hrud are not mentioned to threaten entire Waaaghs!, just single Freeboota Klans (which is a few thousand Orks... that's hardly impressive).

A few quotes from the above article:

Lexicanum wrote: Physically, Hrud tend to be impossible to study as they wear ragged cloaks which they wear habitually and helps conceal their true form. This is namely a misshapen morass of decomposing filth though it is known that they have a female gender.[1b] They have been depicted as being a a crouched, diminutive creature swathed in rags, its face obscured by a hood, and possessing a rat-like tail.[4] It seems that the Hrud prefer darkness and are basically scavengers and tunnel-dwellers. They are found all over the galaxy, though never in large numbers. They are considered to be parasites, and when they are referred to it is usually as "infesting" a place. In addition the limbs of a Hrud have a bone structure similar to the human spine allowing the limbs to bend in any direction (hence the nickname "bendies"). They also exude various poisons from their skin. Their bodies liquefy rapidly upon death - conveniently making detailing the creature impossible.[1b]

During times of population growth, this species is known to undergo what they called a "peh-ha" which is a mass migration. Once the population of a tribe reaches as a particular level of saturation, the Hrud members begin to form a schism as they separate from one another. These individuals begin to stow aboard transports and Space Hulks in order to begin the formation of a new tribe at a distant site. Among the items they take is the amassed knowledge of the "Raheed" which is the "masstribe". Entire nomadic nations of such Hrud have flourished on the areas between decks on board Imperial vessels. According to the findings of Inquisitor Ryal Braez, the Hrud are known to take other species such as Humans into their tribes where they were given the role of a "zanhaad" that were a sort of slave-cum-pet.[1b] The secretive nature of the Hrud meant that many knew of their existence but little else was known about their civilization leading to them being considered an enigma to the Imperium.[1c]

... so their mass migrations have the ability to populate the janitor closets of a starship. Woo. Galaxy-ending threat right there!