Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

Just a random question that popped into my head. Do they purge ALL xeno life? Do the hate xeno plants? If so, what the hell do they eat out there without any local life-forms to feed off of?

Ive always thought of it as hate all the xeno unless theyre useful.

pm713 wrote:
Ive always thought of it as hate all the xeno unless theyre useful.

Me too, I agree with pm713.

Only intelligent life. After all the biospheres of most every planet in the Imperium other than Terra would be classified as alien. The space marines (for example) may hunt or cull the wildlife of their homeworlds, but they wouldn't exterminate them unless they were an active threat.

They hate all xenos they can't enslave, so I guess non sapients can be easily enslaved.

Given that the Grox seems to have more or less completely supplanted the Cow as the main meat animal of the Imperium I'd say they're pretty fine with alien animals that are useful.

It's more likely that the Imperium has an archaic view that humanity is the only true living and god-blessed (Emperor blessed) creature in the universe. Thus all other life is inferior.

Where that life has no functional use; is subservient or is simply so inconsequential that it has no effect its likely ignored. Where that life has the boldness to rise up and fight back it becomes one of two things;

1) If its mostly disorganised and unlikely to cause any actual real threat to the Imperium its use for training practice for troops (Catachan Devil)

2) If its organised and capable of mounting a serious threat it is to be exterminated.

The Imperium has no concept of alliances with Xenos - although in recent years it appears they are sort of getting abit easier with this outside of ramdom battles against insane odds.

I don't like Xenos at all but I think one day humans , eldar and tau could fight side by side against chaos

 Metaljunx wrote:
I don't like Xenos at all but I think one day humans , eldar and tau could fight side by side against chaos

That will be the day it rains happiness and everyone gets along in 40k, in other words never.

 Trondheim wrote:

 Metaljunx wrote:
I don't like Xenos at all but I think one day humans , eldar and tau could fight side by side against chaos

That will be the day it rains happiness and everyone gets along in 40k, in other words never.

You mean when krieg is coloured in rainbows and lush Forrest and gardens are tended by the life corps after there penence from the rebekion was done.

As mentioned before, it's more just the intelligent xenos that pose a perceived threat to the dominance of Imperial humanity in the galaxy. Many Imperial factions make use of xenos as beasts of burden and food. The example that sticks out in my mind the most is the Tallarn Desert Raiders' use of Mukaali as mounts and beasts of burden.

Yea, it's just the sapient ones. Grox, Mukaali, and for most, Jokaero, are just fine.

(IIRC, canonically the Imperium isn't completely sure if Jokaero are sapient or not so it's a bit debatable in-universe about that one. I could be wrong)

 ashcroft wrote:
Only intelligent life. After all the biospheres of most every planet in the Imperium other than Terra would be classified as alien. The space marines (for example) may hunt or cull the wildlife of their homeworlds, but they wouldn't exterminate them unless they were an active threat.

And even the intelligent life the IOM doesn't attempt to exterminate too much. I'd almost consider them full allies with Ultwe post the 13th Black Crusade. The IOM only seems to actively exterminate Xenos when they poke and prod them enough.

 Wyzilla wrote:

 ashcroft wrote:
Only intelligent life. After all the biospheres of most every planet in the Imperium other than Terra would be classified as alien. The space marines (for example) may hunt or cull the wildlife of their homeworlds, but they wouldn't exterminate them unless they were an active threat.

And even the intelligent life the IOM doesn't attempt to exterminate too much. I'd almost consider them full allies with Ultwe post the 13th Black Crusade. The IOM only seems to actively exterminate Xenos when they poke and prod them enough.

No, that's just the Imperium being practical and dealing with the current threat. Ulthewe is not currently the local problem, so no resources are put towards its destruction.

When your goal is to eradicate all Xenos, take out the ones that are currently biting you first.

According to the fluff, the Imperium actually stumbled across the ancestors of the Tau 6,000 years ago, but they were a primal/disorganized race, and so were pretty much ignored.

If the xenos isn't an immediate threat, it's probably the way that people treat animals today: are they useful? good pets? nesting on valuable resources?

I thought they were marked for extermination but a warp storm blocked them off before it could happen.

 Grey Templar wrote:

 Wyzilla wrote:

 ashcroft wrote:
Only intelligent life. After all the biospheres of most every planet in the Imperium other than Terra would be classified as alien. The space marines (for example) may hunt or cull the wildlife of their homeworlds, but they wouldn't exterminate them unless they were an active threat.

And even the intelligent life the IOM doesn't attempt to exterminate too much. I'd almost consider them full allies with Ultwe post the 13th Black Crusade. The IOM only seems to actively exterminate Xenos when they poke and prod them enough.

No, that's just the Imperium being practical and dealing with the current threat. Ulthewe is not currently the local problem, so no resources are put towards its destruction.

When your goal is to eradicate all Xenos, take out the ones that are currently biting you first.

Yet during the Great Crusade there was talk of allying with the Interex and IIRC, somebody was even talking about adding the Laer as a protectorate.

The Interex were human.

I don't believe the Laer were ever considered to be included in the Imperium.

 Wyzilla wrote:
Yet during the Great Crusade there was talk of allying with the Interex

That was all from Horus though, and at the time the idea that the IoM would ally with/annex a partly xenos society rather than just wipe it out was a controversial one that went against the absolute xenophobia that had been the official policy of the Imperium up to that point, as laid down by the Emperor himself. It's one of the tragedies of the Heresy that had he not been corrupted Horus's influence would have likely made the Imperium a more open minded society.

As for the Eldar they're precursors to the Tau in that they seem to slide up and down the 'good guy' rankings. In 3e they got a Tau Empire style makeover to emphasise their hostility to the IoM.

"Some of you call us your enemies. All races are our enemy in time. Some of you call us your allies. You are not allies, any more than a butcher’s knife is his ally. You are tools, nothing more. To be used and expended to protect our race, that is your fate."

... from the 3e Eldar codex.

 Grey Templar wrote:
The Interex were human.

I don't believe the Laer were ever considered to be included in the Imperium.

The Interex were as human as a modern horse is a pliohippus.

From Lexicanum. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Interex#.U2aB6FekSEE

The Interex were a highly advanced Human civilisation during the time of the Great Crusade.

he Interex maintained a close alliance with alien races such as the Kinebrach. They were encountered by the Luna Wolves during the Great Crusade. The technology of the Interex was in many ways more advanced than that of the Imperium's, but was not as strongly focused on the waging of war. Devoted to fighting chaos, (they referred to it as 'Kaos') they regarded the 63rd expedition sceptically, as they thought they might be tainted by it. They were in talks with Horus and his peers when a marine (First Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers) tainted by the powers of Chaos infiltrated the Hall of Devices, the Interex museum of artefacts and weapons, sabotaged the building to explode and stole a valuable and dangerous Kinebrach sword known as an Anathame. Fights broke out between Space Marines and Interex forces until Warmaster Horus was successfully evacuated off planet.

The stolen Anathame would be the weapon that would later mortally wound Horus.

It should be noted that the Interex warriors were quite a match for the Space Marines under Horus' Command.

As Horus halted his attacks on the Interex, and the Heresy began shortly after. The Interex are confirmed to have been destroyed in an Imperial campaign before the beginning of the war on the Auretian Technocracy.1

 Grey Templar wrote:
From Lexicanum. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Interex#.U2aB6FekSEE

The Interex were a highly advanced Human civilisation during the time of the Great Crusade.

he Interex maintained a close alliance with alien races such as the Kinebrach. They were encountered by the Luna Wolves during the Great Crusade. The technology of the Interex was in many ways more advanced than that of the Imperium's, but was not as strongly focused on the waging of war. Devoted to fighting chaos, (they referred to it as 'Kaos') they regarded the 63rd expedition sceptically, as they thought they might be tainted by it. They were in talks with Horus and his peers when a marine (First Chaplain Erebus of the Word Bearers) tainted by the powers of Chaos infiltrated the Hall of Devices, the Interex museum of artefacts and weapons, sabotaged the building to explode and stole a valuable and dangerous Kinebrach sword known as an Anathame. Fights broke out between Space Marines and Interex forces until Warmaster Horus was successfully evacuated off planet.

The stolen Anathame would be the weapon that would later mortally wound Horus.

It should be noted that the Interex warriors were quite a match for the Space Marines under Horus' Command.

As Horus halted his attacks on the Interex, and the Heresy began shortly after. The Interex are confirmed to have been destroyed in an Imperial campaign before the beginning of the war on the Auretian Technocracy.1

Yet in the same book they appeared in they had evolved past humanity, and were just as human as any mutant offshoot like Ogryns.

Nah, they weren't that significantly different. And even if they were they'd still be classified as human.

The IoM doesn't go about destroying all alien life on a planet jest because, but you know that could actually be a neat character trait if you wanted to head cannon it. Maybe after the IoM finds a planet they try destroying as much of the native life as they can and replacing it the standers they see as best. Basically trying to terraform each planet into another earth.

nomotog wrote:
The IoM doesn't go about destroying all alien life on a planet jest because, but you know that could actually be a neat character trait if you wanted to head cannon it. Maybe after the IoM finds a planet they try destroying as much of the native life as they can and replacing it the standers they see as best. Basically trying to terraform each planet into another earth.

Given that the Imperium uses Grox (Xenos lizard cows) for everything we use cattle for with the obvious exception of milk I'd say that'd be fluff breaking.

 Kain wrote:

nomotog wrote:
The IoM doesn't go about destroying all alien life on a planet jest because, but you know that could actually be a neat character trait if you wanted to head cannon it. Maybe after the IoM finds a planet they try destroying as much of the native life as they can and replacing it the standers they see as best. Basically trying to terraform each planet into another earth.

Given that the Imperium uses Grox (Xenos lizard cows) for everything we use cattle for with the obvious exception of milk I'd say that'd be fluff breaking.

Fluff braking an cool.

The Imperium as a governemnt finds anti-xenos sentiment useful as a unifying element (in the sense that having an enemy to blame all your problems on is always useful.) but whether or not people actually 'believe' the propoganda is, of course, a matter of opinion. You can find plenty of examples where that isn't the case, and of course throughout all the fluff over the years there have been tons of examples where the Imperium even has diplommatic exchanges and alliances with aliens (Tau, Eldar, etc.) ultimately it seems to be that the Imperium's 'policy' on aliens could be broken down as follows:

1.) Threats are to be exterminated if possible if they attack Imperial territory. Hostility met with hostility.

2.) If someone in the Imperium wants something that aliens have, the Imperium will take it. If this means war, then it means war. It can be planet, or resources, or precious technology or an artifact... whatever. It doesn't even have to be a sensible 'need'. If some idiot IG general wants a fancy statue on an Ork Held planet, he may just decide to decimate his army to get it (whether or not the Munitorum lets him get away with it is, of course, another story.)

3.) If there is a greater threat (EG tyranids) then the Imperium may actually make alliance with the aliens against that common threat. AGain Eldar and Tau here vs Tyranids are good examples.

4.) If the Imperium cannot wipe out a threat easily (lack of resources, for example) and other methods are not possible, they may try diplomatic solutions or cessation of hostilities. This is invariably a stopgap measure and will only last as long as it suits either the Imperium or the people they are diplomatizing with.

5.) If benefits other than cessation of hostilities can be gained from alliance, then that alliance will be had.

6.) If the aliens offer no threat or benefit to the Imperium, and there is no other need to mess with them, they probably will be left alone (the Imperium always has other pressing needs for its military and other resources.)

So basically, it comes down to 'whatever the Imperium wants in a given situation, and what benefits it best.' If hating the xenos works, then it hates the xenos. If alliance works, it allies with the xenos. And if they want to leave them alone, they leave them alone.

As far back as the Great Crusade, the belief has been that it is Mankind's manifest destiny to rule the stars unopposed. That belief has been repeated for ten thousand years by the Ecclesiarchy, until it has taken on the Biblical passage of God telling the Israelites to go into the land of Canaan, kill every man, woman and child, for He has given this land to them. For the Imperium, this land-grant simply encompasses the entire galaxy.

Of course, practicality sometimes must take the lead over religious fervor... but that situation is only going to last so long.

If we are considering BL novels, I think it is interesting to note thar because of the IoM's religious fervor; any annoying, inconvenient or hostile xeno flora and fauna is almost always cursed at for being xeno in nature. Yet, there really isn't a standard “Terran” ecosphere, is there? Wasn't Terra's ecosphere destroyed in the Age of Strife?

 Farseer Morlengal wrote:
If we are considering BL novels, I think it is interesting to note thar because of the IoM's religious fervor; any annoying, inconvenient or hostile xeno flora and fauna is almost always cursed at for being xeno in nature. Yet, there really isn't a standard “Terran” ecosphere, is there? Wasn't Terra's ecosphere destroyed in the Age of Strife?

I assumed that was just a generic derogatory term in the future.

Also, what the hell is with the orange orangutan type creatures they keep around (Jak-somethingoranother)? I mean, I assume they're sentient, they seem highly technologically advanced and such.