The world of Warhammer 40,000 is known for its extreme racism – or more accurately: speciesism – that is inherent in almost every race in the universe. Anyone who is different is killed. One faction is particularly good at annihilating all “others”: the Imperium.
Humans, Orks, Tyranids and Co. – all the major races from Warhammer 40,000 are likely known to most fans, even if they are new to the lore. These are all the factions fighting for supremacy in the galaxy.
However, new races are continually being discovered. Just recently, a few “Viking-space-dwarves”, the conglomerates of Votann, have expanded the universe, even though they have existed for a long time. They have just been “rediscovered.”
A user now asks on Reddit whether there are actually many more species, or if the Imperium of Man with its strict doctrine simply destroys everything it finds.
The answer is, as is often the case with Warhammer, multifaceted, and veterans’ comments explain that both are true.
Survival of the Fittest in the 41st Millennium
Fundamentally, it is true that the Imperium destroys everything in its path that is not human, at least if the Xenos cannot hide or defend themselves quickly enough. The corresponding world does not even have to be valuable.
The imperial doctrine now requires that everything foreign be destroyed. Originally, this was a kind of protective mechanism, especially against the dangerous Chaos: What one does not know precisely could well be a trick of the chaos gods, and in many cases, this is true. One is thus only safe when directly removing all that is different.
By the way, this also applies, especially to mutants – unless they are particularly important or useful.
Thus, the Imperium destroys everything it encounters and that happens to be unlucky enough to exist on secure warp routes. But: The Imperium only controls a tiny fraction of the galaxy. Most of it is still unexplored.
The probability that there are still species here that no one knows about is high. Some users even suggest that it would be quite entertaining if there were just more major players the size of the Imperium that simply have not been discovered yet.
What happens if Xenos are not eliminated quickly enough?
A good example of what can happen if a Xenos population is not exterminated upon first contact is the star empire of the T’au. They were fortunate enough to be cut off from contact with the Imperium for several thousand years due to a warp storm.
During that time, they developed from the Stone Age to the space age and have become such a powerful force that they can no longer be easily annihilated. Currently, the T’au do not pose a significant threat, but their technological development is rapidly progressing.
The T’au are now even influential enough to win humans over to their side and their beliefs. They appear friendly, but are just as indoctrinated internally as the Imperium: Anyone who does not follow the Greater Good will be annihilated.
Not Every Alien Race is Doomed to Perish
The xenophobic attitude is not only present in the Imperium, although it has the sharpest expression among humans. Other species sometimes simply pursue different interests:
- Tyranids only want to eat, they exterminate to obtain biomass.
- Orks live to fight. They feel no hatred toward the other per se; they just enjoy beating each other up.
- Drukhari avoid killing whenever possible, because they feed on the sufferings of others and this is best accomplished when the target suffers for a long time.
However, this does not mean that every foreign Xenos culture is immediately exterminated or enslaved if it cannot defend itself. The imperial doctrine does prescribe this, but there are a few humans who are explicitly allowed to oppose it: Free Traders.
Free Traders are supposed to expand the borders of the Imperium and have full command outside these borders. In some cases, this leads to Free Traders engaging in trade with aliens, sometimes even coexisting – at least temporarily.
As long as a Free Trader is outside imperial borders, they will not be penalized for such trade, especially if they can present it as necessary. These nobles can even go further and deal with things that would cause others to have the Inquisition on their backs: A handful of humans are allowed in Warhammer 40,000 to do what would be heresy for anyone else.
