Could the Imperium accept [i]any[/i] aliens?

[Darksider]

So we all know that one of the Imperium's major tenants is RAR Kill the Aliens RAR, but are there any aliens they could actually coexist with?

I know they have something of a temporary truce with the Tau, and that some Imperial elements cooperated with the Eldar during the gothic war.

What if say, a group of Tau worlds such as the Farsight enclaves wanted to establish a permanent peace with or even join the Imperium? Is there any part of the Imperial structure that would accept them?

I know that certain imperials don't take the portion of the Creed that says "Destroy the Xenos" as seriously as others, as Gaunt was perfectly willing to ally with the Eldar against chaos forces.

[OmegaChief]

Tempory alliances are possible, and often taken as advantagous when dealing with worse enemies, like chaos.

That said they are always justified along the lines of "We will kill you eventually", purge the alien is a core fudamental belief that only the Emperor himself could change. Which means that know, any truces with aliens are ultimatly tempory and standing alliances with them are utterly unthinkable to the Imperium at large, this is afterall the soceity that would kill off all it's spykers if they wern't needed to keep it running.

[Zor]

There are those Orangutan guys who make the Fancy Pants weapons. Then again, its debatable if they are sapient or not.

Zor

[Bedlam]

The imperium can be rather pragmatic about this sort of thing.

There are quite a few alien worlds within the Imperiums 'borders' as long as the aliens dont make trouble the Imperium doesn't genocide them. They might want to but they have limited resources and far to many other problems to take care of.

[Chris OFarrell]

A major problem is that it would have to be a two way street. As much as the Imperium would have to play nice, so would the aliens.

The Eldar generally look down on humans as an occasionally useful tool at best, with VERY few of them ever considering us as any kind of worthy partner or ally, and those contacts are generally limited to the ranks of the Inquisition Xenos branch who actually understand the Eldar as just about no-one else does in the Imperium. They see in us the same traits that led to their own downfall, an empire in decline dying a very slow death.

The Tau of course are more then happy to work with the Imperium.

First comes the traders.

Then more traders.

Then the advisers.

Then people to tell you about this wonderful thing called 'The Greater Good'...

Then the military in case you don't accept said Greater Good...at least not at first. But all will in the end!

Unlike the Eldar, the Tau honestly think that their pathetic and tiny little Empire is destined to rule the Galaxy and that they are big players in it, and will insist on being treated as the BIG partner at all times, their egos are really that horrible...

[Aaron]

There are those Orangutan guys who make the Fancy Pants weapons. Then again, its debatable if they are sapient or not.

Zor

Jokaero?

[Juubi Karakuchi]

I think it depends on who's in charge at the time.

During the Great Crusade, the Imperium was willing to make the Laer a protectorate rather than go to the trouble of conquering and exterminating them. Unfortunately Fulgrim's pride was piqued, and some of us will know what that led to.

In Andy Hoare's 'Savage Scars', there is a split within the Damocles Crusade leadership about what to do with the Tau. The Inquisitor and the Cardinal want them exterminated, whereas the Rogue Trader wants to batter them into submission so that he can make bank trading their technology. The implication is that the Imperium will from time to time bring an alien race under their 'protection' if they consider it worthwhile. This appears to involve smashing said race's ability to make interstellar war, then driving them back to their homeworld (or a suitable planet), whereupon they are contained.

I would say with confidence that Warhammer 40000 is not Star Trek when it comes to nonhumans. 40k aliens are not bumpy-headed humans with whom meaningful communication is both possible and mutually beneficial. The nearest to that model are the Eldar, who equate humans with potatoes, and the Tau. Most aliens seem either to be every bit as xenophobic and violent as the Imperium, or else have motivations that the Imperium can't make sense of.

[Bladed_Crescent]

Just to second what's already been said: the Imperium doesn't have a problem with aliens per se, but with aliens that it deems useless, dangerous or potentially either of those things. Which is a very wide net indeed. For example - the Tau were originally slated to be exterminated so human colonists could move in, simply because their homeworld was nice and who wants a bunch of alien savages around mucking up the scenery? Not out of active malice but just because the Tau were "obviously" useless primitives. Then the warp storm hit and the 'seeding' fleet intended to prepare the world for colonization was destroyed.

By same token - as others have mentioned - there are alien worlds in the Imperium's territory, either in unclaimed 'wild space' between Imperial systems, or subsumed amongst human-held worlds, left alone basically by malicious apathy. "You're all filthy xenos scum but... eh... we'll kill you next year. Or maybe the year after. Have to check my schedule." And as the example of the Laer proves, there are actually alien combines that the Imperium would (I don't know of any that it actually has, though) welcome - at least in pre-Heresy days.

As well, both the Ecclesiarchy and Adeptus Administratum are known to pronounce alien races 'safe'. In one of the fluff descriptions about one of the Titan Legions assigned to the third war of Armageddon (I believe - they're Legio G-something, but damned if I can remember the name), it's pointed out that they're virulently anti-alien, so much so that they've genocided alien species that the Ecclesiarchy and Adeptus Administration specifically marked as 'don't kill' - in fact, on some battlefields they're considered a liability because of this, because they're so well-known for this xenocidal trait that any alien allies (actual or potential) the Imperium has in the same theater will, upon arrival of this Legion, go 'fuck you guys, we're going home'.

So, the long and short of it is that it a) depends on the Imperium's interests. As in the example of the Tau, the convenience of settling a new colony world overrides any silly notions of 'right to life' and b) depends who is in charge (as Juubi Karakuchi said) and what they think they can get away with. It's much easier to jusifty "yeah, we had to kill a planet of aliens for... um... being alien." than "yeah, they don't look like any threat at the moment, so we can let 'em live" to the higher-ups after all.

[Shroom Man 777]

The Inquisition has used Kroot mercenaries for operatives.

[Simon_Jester]

I think a lot of it is cost-benefit analysis, in the vein of "Rocks are NOT free, citizen!"

Picking fights with non-aggressive aliens that have enough capability to fight back, or who don't have anything worth the cost of maintaining a force to kill them with, is just not a smart move for an Imperium which is constantly engaged in desperate struggles to the death against several different opponents on a galactic scale. While the Imperium is often wasteful, they seldom if ever undertake entire campaigns knowing they won't pay for themselves in the long run- bearing in mind that the Imperium thinks in terms of centuries as often as not.

[wautd]

My memory is hazy but in the Ravenor books, weren't there also minor alien races that rogue traders were happy to trade with in some kind of trading outpost? Hell, wasn't it even run by aliens?
Then again, it was a rather swashbuckling kind of place in the galactic middle of nowhere so imperial law may not have reached so far.

[Aaron]

It was beyond Imperium space.

[Lord Relvenous]

My memory is hazy but in the Ravenor books, weren't there also minor alien races that rogue traders were happy to trade with in some kind of trading outpost? Hell, wasn't it even run by aliens?
Then again, it was a rather swashbuckling kind of place in the galactic middle of nowhere so imperial law may not have reached so far.

IIRC, the whole point of the place was that it was beyond Imperium control. Rogue Traders are definitely more than willing to trade with xenos if the money is there, but that says little about the Imperium at large.

Then again int he new Grey Knights codex it is stated that they have clandestine dealings with xenos races, so if they're doing it...

[Simon_Jester]

As a rule, the greatest deviations from Imperial dogma are found at the fringes. On the one hand, the territorial edge of the Imperium, where the state's writ runs lightly or not at all, hence the Rogue Traders. On the other hand, the metaphorical edge of the Imperium, which is where the Grey Knights stand.

Eleventh Century Remnant came up with a memorable description of the Grey Knights, from the viewpoint of an outsider referring to the entire 40k Milky Way, thinking of them as "the locals."

The average local is much more strongly permeated by the nonlocal force; they have a lien on them from the paranormal, they believe unreasonable and irrational things that we would instantly dismiss as utter bullshit, things that no civilisation which has managed to get as far as inventing steam power can seriously pretend to believe.

They think about as well as someone in our saturation state would if I heated their brain up to the point where the proteins start to denature, in fact...that's too close an analogy for comfort. Anyway, they exist on the far side of one phase change, one mental horizon distant.

On the far side of them, beyond their mental horizon, more or less completely saturated in the nonlocal, there are the actively psychic. These are the people who live the paranormal, and those daemon hunters are way, way out even by their standards. And yet, considering what they're doing out there beyond the frontiers of the sane, I can't really dislike them for it.

They're standing guard and running search-and-destroy far, far out beyond the mental territory of civilisation, utterly immersed in the reality of their enemies, holding the terminal outpost of what it means to be human here and now...

That's the frontier the Grey Knights are on. And it's hardly surprising that the Imperium tends to grant them a little leeway when it comes to things not critically related to their mission of fighting the demonic horrors of the Warp. Like dealing with aliens.

I think there's recognition among the Imperium's senior hierarchy that, by and large, xenos are less bad than heretics- a threat, yes, but ultimately one that can be contained and negotiated with to an extent that Chaos can never be. Remember: it was Chaos that nearly destroyed the Imperium; no alien species ever came anywhere near so close to accomplishing that.

[NecronLord]

the Tau honestly think that their pathetic and tiny little Empire is destined to rule the Galaxy and that they are big players in it, and will insist on being treated as the BIG partner at all times, their egos are really that horrible...

Given the vision of Eldrad Ulthran of the Tau one day exceeding the Eldar, possibly, perhaps, it may just be that their high-ups know something we don't on that score.

[Eternal_Freedom]

The Tau seem to work on much faster timescales than the rest of the galactic civilisations. IIRC my Tau Codex properly, they've gone from middle-ages level primitives to advanced, driven, expanding technological empire in abuot 4-6000 years. That is waaaaay faster than the Imperium or the Eldar or whomever.

If I was the Imperium I wouldn't worry about the Tau as they are now, I would worry about where they wil be in the 500 years it takes us to prepare a response.

[lordofchange13]

The Tau seem to work on much faster timescales than the rest of the galactic civilisations. IIRC my Tau Codex properly, they've gone from middle-ages level primitives to advanced, driven, expanding technological empire in abuot 4-6000 years. That is waaaaay faster than the Imperium or the Eldar or whomever.

If I was the Imperium I wouldn't worry about the Tau as they are now, I would worry about where they wil be in the 500 years it takes us to prepare a response.

But the Tau do not have Pykers, so there expansion is greatly limited. There FTL is vastly inferior to every other race,as well as military strength. Plus the Uber-Nid army will arrive before then.

[White Haven]

The point is that they're limited by their lack of Navigators and Astropaths now. The Necrons manage psykerless high-speed FTL just fine, so we know it's not impossible, and if the Tau continue applying their dastardly 'scientific method' heresies to things, who knows what they'll come up with.

[Connor MacLeod]

If we're talking about the greater masses of the Imperium most probably either don't know or care much about aliens, but probably would follow the propoganda/dogma they're taught (and there's LOTS of propoganda relating to how evil and inferior aliens are.) This isn't universal, since you get plenty of examples of isolated or fringe worlds who deal with the tau, Eldar, Orks, etc. They may or may not like it, but they'll deal with it. Nobility may deal with xenos stuff (tech or creatures) but probably not on equal terms.

Now, the bulk of that probably has no real impact on the greater scale of things. Which leaves the various organs of Imperial government. The Ministorum and Arbites are pretty straightforward - the Alien is bad. The Guard and Navy are more up in the air - we have examples of them fighting together (Shadow point), usually at the behest of an Inquisitor. The Astartes are somewhat up in the air, but generally they fall into the same category as the Priests and Arbitrators. The Inquisition and AdMech are the factions most likely to be varied in their approach to the alien. The AdMech are only going to deal with aliens insofar as it involves tech (although the more conservative elements will consider those Techpriests who deal in xenos tech to be radicals and heretics.) Although Necron tech holds a special fascination for them on a rather consistent basis.

Which brings us to the Inquisitors. The Inquisition is the faction most likely to have varied reasons in dealing with aliens, as well as having the authority to dictate/enforce such cooperation. Like the AdMech, the approach of the Inquisition to aliens is varied. More puritanical inquisitors will in all likelihood treat aliens the same way Space Marines or the Ecclesiarchy would, whilst the more radical (or simpyl pragmatic) Inquisitors will actually deal with aliens. The good ones will mainly confine themselves to gorups like the Eldar or Tau. The nastier ones may treat with Orks, Genestealers, or even necrons to suit their agendas (EG the Elucidium.) For the sake of the argument we can focus on the radicals.

If the Radicals had their way, yes the Imperium could tolerate aliens as long as they posed no danger or challenge to the Imperium and the general dominion of man. Some may even seek to learn from or associate with aliens like the Eldar (Inquisitors Horst and Czevak being good examples.). It is likely also that the Radical Inquisitors are the ones who handle the ambassadorial acitivites with Aliens (IIRC there was mention of Iyanden Craftowlrd having an ambassador to the Imperium, and the Imperium and Tau have traded ambassadors more than once, IIRC.)

In general, if the aliens do not try to conquer or kill humans, they will be ignored (at least until the Imperium wants something of them.) If they have something the Imperium wants (or they make moves on the Imperium) then the Imperium deals with them like they deal with any threat. And in the case of fanatics they might just do it for kicks, as part of their ethics, or whatever.

[lordofchange13]

The point is that they're limited by their lack of Navigators and Astropaths now. The Necrons manage psykerless high-speed FTL just fine, so we know it's not impossible, and if the Tau continue applying their dastardly 'scientific method' heresies to things, who knows what they'll come up with.

But didn't the necrons only achieve there Super-magic technology by making a pack with the C'tan. Plus the necrons tech could hold up to Old ones power, which is basically God power, so Tau tech has many 1000's of years. The Tyranids or Necrons will have killed every one before then. Also was the imperium has Xenophobic as it isnow when the Empire could still move?

[andrewgpaul]

The Tau already have a psychic client race - the Nicassar. Their powers seem to be restricted to telekinesis (in fact, that's how their ships are propelled), but it's not unreasonable that the Tau could encounter a race with a greater connection to the Warp, and utilise them for longer-range navigation.

At the moment, I'm not sure how much the Tau know or understand about the warp. Some sources have them being confused or overly skeptical about reports of warp space and chaos, which is possibly why they've not devoted much effort into researching it.

[Imperial Overlord]

There's a ton of circumstantial info that indicates that some Eldar had a hand in Tau development. It makes judging the Tau's capabilities, achievements, and future much harder when an advanced alien race is arranging things to its liking. Also, the Tau's set up of non-psyker race with Ethereals running the show makes it comparatively easy to puppeteer things via mind control.

[Cykeisme]

There's a ton of circumstantial info that indicates that some Eldar had a hand in Tau development.

I recall some material giving hints that the manipulation was done by what could be the last Old One in our galaxy who hasn't died or left yet.
That could also explain the warp storm that protected their early development.

If there was (is?) an Old One involved, I'd say it'll make judging their future development even harder.

You make a very, very good point there as well: the Ethereals do seem like a mechanism specifically developed to allow the Tau to be more easily controlled by some shadowy external masters, when the time comes. In fact, who is to say they aren't under such control now?

[Cykeisme]

I know that certain imperials don't take the portion of the Creed that says "Destroy the Xenos" as seriously as others, as Gaunt was perfectly willing to ally with the Eldar against chaos forces.

Aside from what has already been mentioned regarding the pragmatism of the Imperium to take the most efficient course of action when it's necessary (to 10,000 years of age you do not get by being stupid), I think the Imperium has a special view of the Eldar that doesn't apply to other races.

They've stood side-by-side enough times that, while the Imperial Creed still demands hatred of all xenos, many military leaders and planetary governors know it's not historically unheard of to work together (or at least call a truce) with the Eldar in the face of the most horrifying of threats, like daemonic Chaos outbreaks or Tyranid invasions.

Given the vision of Eldrad Ulthran of the Tau one day exceeding the Eldar, possibly, perhaps, it may just be that their high-ups know something we don't on that score.

Of course, by definition, the Tau could also exceed the Eldar if the Eldar decline even further..

[Shroom Man 777]

I think the Imperium-Eldar team ups are usually hushed over by the Inquisition and aren't known to the public, or even most of the military.