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They are not going to farm humans, since there are no stay at home kroot. All kroot are hunters, they will hunt the strongest creature they can hunt and eat the corpses in front of their comrades.

Surely, if anything is evil, it is leaving a PERFECTLY GOOD body, full of tasty genes there to rot.

Amirite!?

Hey Furyou, is there anywhere that explicitly mentions that Kroot don't consume their own dead? AFAIK they strayed away from chaos, tyranids, living metal, and Tau. The first three for mutations/enslavement to some exterior force, and the last one as a sign of respect and also to avoid issues with the Tau. I had assumed that eating their own kind wasn't an issue, and it also ties in with a sign of respect that that Kroot fought and died well. Besides, it's not like that Kroot had unwanted DNA if the Shaper was guiding it right, so there isn't any real consequence that way, because it'd just reinforce what they already had.

If kroot are evil for eating everything, wouldn't that make pigs evil???

Well, pigs may actually be evil.

Remember that scene from the second Silence Of The Lambs movie... Ugh... *shudders*

Ha the real question would be aren't we evil ?

It isn't just eating anything it is eating anything while being being able to make moral choices. Kroot are sentient creatures able to negotiate a good deal out of a rogue trader they aren't piggies just eating anything they see ; )

If we go deeper into this we would end up in a discussion you might not want to open unless you enjoy to discuss the ethics of eating and or enslaving other species.

Thankfully humans never enslave other species we just free from their continued existance.

It's like a favour to them and to us. It's a win win.

Yeah, this could very quickly turn into an ethical discussion about predator-prey relationships.

 Agent_Tremolo wrote:
Well, pigs may actually be evil.

Remember that scene from the second Silence Of The Lambs movie... Ugh... *shudders*

I had forgotten about that.... gave me the creeps, especially with the victim being so helpless. And now I'm thinking about it
Back in a mo, gonna watch some cute pig videos so that I can accept them back into my life again.

Many Space Marine chapters still have a functioning adaptation that allows them to eat a sentient's brain to gain limited knowledge from it. Just saying. That's something that was created by the best minds of humanity for that specific purpose.

 Tainted wrote:
As far as the Imperium are concerned all xenos are evil, although in regards to the Kroot I think they might just be jealous because the Tau got to the birdmen first..

Do the Imperium use any xenos as mercenaries? They may ally with Eldar occasionally but surely the Inquisition would come down hard on anybody paying and feeding/housing xenos

JustALittleOrkish wrote:
Do the Imperium use any xenos as mercenaries? They may ally with Eldar occasionally but surely the Inquisition would come down hard on anybody paying and feeding/housing xenos

Not if you have the pay grade to deal with xenos. Rogue Traders, Imperial Governors and other powerful figures (like said Inquisitors) can make use of xenos if needed as long as they keep it reasonably quiet. They'll get in trouble if the Inquisition thinks they value the aliens more than humans or Emperor forbid swear themself into alien service!

 oldzoggy wrote:
Ha the real question would be aren't we evil ?

It isn't just eating anything it is eating anything while being being able to make moral choices. Kroot are sentient creatures able to negotiate a good deal out of a rogue trader they aren't piggies just eating anything they see ; )

If we go deeper into this we would end up in a discussion you might not want to open unless you enjoy to discuss the ethics of eating and or enslaving other species.

Are there any known examples of kroot farming their food? If not, then kroot may be more just than us. We pen creatures into cages to prevent excess movement burning precious calories and feed them protein mixtures and chemicals to get them to grow at a maximum rate, then kill them just as their growth begins to slow. In contrast, kroot allow their prey to be free ranged before they meet a swift end in combat. Maybe it is us that should be learning from the kroot.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Oh goddesses, I just realised that this is the is the poster that declared that craftworld eldar are humanity's greatest threats and that all of the imperium should drop everything to hunt them down. He is at it again, this time with kroot.

 oldzoggy wrote:
Kroot mercenaries are used by humans. Their calculated IoM thread lv is relative low for a warlike intelligent Xenos species.
But they are stuff of nightmares if you ask me. These things are the GWs grim dark version of "The predator" and they come in units : |

You just gave me an excellent idea for a villain in my Dark heresy 2.0 campaign. Thanks. A smart kroot who uses more advanced tech to hunt down prey and has an invisibility suit courtesy of the Tau.

Unless the Kroot homeworld is absolutely teeming with biodiversity, capable of supporting the Kroot population from Day 1 onward, they would have had to have either engaged in agriculture, or have been maintaining a static population (1 birth = 1 death, no more, no less) and eating their own dead since they evolved into a sapient species.

As to whether or not they are evil? Good and Evil are moral distinctions that depend on one's POV. In 40K, there are no good guys.

DorianGray wrote:
Thankfully humans never enslave other species we just free from their continued existance.

It's like a favour to them and to us. It's a win win.

Yeah, not like humans breed and grow animals in cages for the entire purpose of eating them or testing things on them is it?

We even enslave our own species. If Kroot are evil, we must be worse.

 Gamgee wrote:

 oldzoggy wrote:
Kroot mercenaries are used by humans. Their calculated IoM thread lv is relative low for a warlike intelligent Xenos species.
But they are stuff of nightmares if you ask me. These things are the GWs grim dark version of "The predator" and they come in units : |

You just gave me an excellent idea for a villain in my Dark heresy 2.0 campaign. Thanks. A smart kroot who uses more advanced tech to hunt down prey and has an invisibility suit courtesy of the Tau.

We Hired a kroot mercenary group in our rouge trader party for a while the boss was a nightmare with insane stealth checks and a power fist.
No need for tau tech their own abilities + stuff they can get their hands on as mercenaries is more then enough. Just look up the rules for them in Into the storm and be shocked how nasty the rules for these things are.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
One of their rules gives them this ability

.. may make Concealment and Silent Move
Tests as a Free Action and may do so even while being observed.

I am Kroot, You are Kroot we all are Kroot! Kroot not evil!

The official line of the Imperium is that yes, all xenos life should be purged. Obviously there are some grey areas as the Imperium uses non-terran species as farm crops and herd animals (one of the staples of human civilization, for example, is the Grox - think a 50/50 mix of Anklyosaurus and Water-Buffalo).

Sentient Xenos Species, yes.

Yes, the Imperium would ideally like to destroy all Xenos sentient species. However, there are levels of priority - the Kroot fail all three tests for special priority in their extermination:

1) Can they be bargained with (like the Tau or Blood Axe orks) - Yes - indeed after the Tau, humans are their primary customers.

2) Are they a major power who need to be dealt with or they'll overthrown and destroy the Imperium (like the Tyranids or Necrons) - No - they have neither the numbers nor resources.

3) Would wiping them out be a fairly trivial activity? No. Pech is within the Tau sphere of influence and the Imperium can't afford to divert the firepower from facing the Tyranid Hive Fleets to break through and destroy it.


Ultimately....yes, the kroot eat the dead. They eat meat anyway, for sustenance, but if they come across someone with a useful genetic trait, they can absorb it - hence their hunter/mercenary society.

That said, the galaxy's no.1 cannibals are Humans. A lot of human society - not least the Imperial Guard - is sustained by a foodstuff called Corpse Starch.

This can be easily settled.

Define Evil.

This must be some obscure definition of the word "easy" I wasn't previously aware of!

The Kroot aren't a threat really. They're a warrior race that happens to eat other creatures to gain their abilities, but they're not very numerous and certainly not organized to the point where they could be a major galactic threat.

Are they evil? No more than any of the other things out there, and frankly they're fairly tame comparatively.


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 Psienesis wrote:
Unless the Kroot homeworld is absolutely teeming with biodiversity, capable of supporting the Kroot population from Day 1 onward, they would have had to have either engaged in agriculture, or have been maintaining a static population (1 birth = 1 death, no more, no less) and eating their own dead since they evolved into a sapient species.

This isn't necessarily the case. Though from what we have seen of Pech it is indeed a lush planet.

You could still have a fairly large population(spread out over a large area) subsisting entirely on hunting without hurting the environment.

I like this ecosystem approach it doesn't have anyting to do with the question if they are evil but meh.

The fun thing is that all populations should reach an equilibrium if they are not disturbed long enough. -> This would be kind of a static population. Not really if you zoom in but planet wide static enough.

The other fun thing about this is that there recently have been some discoveries that might turn the whole tropic lv food piramid theory out of the window. (I could not find the articles just now but they are there. ) There are some rare places in the ocean that are quite undisturbed by men. Some of these have the strange combination of extremely productive prey (small fish) and extremely energy efficient and competitive predators (sharks). Resulting in an unusual large biomass at the top of the food chain.

I like to imagine pech this way, also I really wish that I could find that article again :\

They could be a genuine threat if, you know...

The Tyranids weren't actually in the process of eating everything
Chaos wasn't trying to corrupt everything
Necrons weren't trying to reconquer everything
Orks weren't trying to krump everything
Dark Eldar weren't trying to torture everything
Eldar weren't trying to screw over everything
Tau weren't trying to greater good everything

And the Imperium was a collective of hippies who protested violence.

THEN the kroot could be a genuine threat. But even then there are other species that would still pose a larger threat like the Hrud, Q'orl, Slaugth... Hell, right now the Hrud are the largest threat you never - barely - heard of in the 40k universe.

No they are not evil in regards to the 40k universe but eventually the ability to change, adapt and evolve as they eat something may be a threat in the future. As for hunting them down; I am all for the birdfaced monsters starring in a mass genocide/xenocide (hopefully passing away as painfully as possible) or at the very least being shipped off to Commorragh for a 'culture exchange'.

That story of the Eldar ranger being eaten alive angered me more than it should

I gotta say, I love that story. A group of kroot, a largeish group by the sound of it, snuck up on rangers.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I gotta say, I love that story. A group of kroot, a largeish group by the sound of it, snuck up on rangers.

There was a story in the SM omnibus where a single kroot killed 2-3 marines then ate their gene seed and became a Kroot-startes.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I gotta say, I love that story. A group of kroot, a largeish group by the sound of it, snuck up on rangers.

All of my hate to that story and that species...

I'll also go on a limb and say that any sentient species that can think and reason that eats another sentient species whilst they are alive are evil...

 Torus wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I gotta say, I love that story. A group of kroot, a largeish group by the sound of it, snuck up on rangers.

All of my hate to that story and that species...

I'll also go on a limb and say that any sentient species that can think and reason that eats another sentient species whilst they are alive are evil...

SM can eat things and learn about them...

 Tactical_Spam wrote:

 Torus wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
I gotta say, I love that story. A group of kroot, a largeish group by the sound of it, snuck up on rangers.

All of my hate to that story and that species...

I'll also go on a limb and say that any sentient species that can think and reason that eats another sentient species whilst they are alive are evil...

SM can eat things and learn about them...

never heard of them (SM) consuming something whilst its still alive and screaming

Why is that evil though? They're still going to die either way, and having your chest exploded by a bolt shell, or cut own by a chainsaw is going to be just as bad. It's like calling bears evil.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:
Why is that evil though? They're still going to die either way, and having your chest exploded by a bolt shell, or cut own by a chainsaw is going to be just as bad. It's like calling bears evil.

IIRC she was pinned down after watching the rest of her team murdered and then gorged on by multiple kroot. the last thing she saw was kroot feasting on her heart*... at least most things would do the good grace of killing you first

* I did read this some time ago so please forgive me if I've mis-remembered it

In the story where that lone kroot killed the astartes, a librarian said that he could feel nothing but malice in the Kroot's mind. (The kroot also had eaten several eldar, including a Far-seer)