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Centaur

2023-02-26T06:47:31Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D: /* Warhammer: Age of Sigmar */

[[File:Elmore Lyra.jpg|thumb|right|400px|Female Centaurs: attractive but anatomically frustrating]]
The '''Centaurs''' are a race of mythical creatures from Greek [[mythology]], best known for being a literal mix of man and horse - they have a human's upper torso (that is, the body from the top of the hips up to the top of the head) replacing the head. They're also noted for being horny bastards and massive drunks. Centaurs were one of the less important monsters of their myths, with only a handful of references. Even so, they did get a constellation, and appear in various fantasy settings throughout the world now.

=Who ''were'' they?=
In their creation myth, the centaurs were descended from a mythical culture called the Lapiths, via their douchebag king Ixion. In short, Ixion was an asshole who murdered his father-in-law by burning the dude alive - [[Heresy|a ''huge'' no-no for the Greeks]]. Somehow, Zeus decided to be a super-chill guy, and not only forgave Ixion, but actually brought the asshole to Olympus to have dinner with the gods. Did Ixion realize just how lucky he was? Nope; asshole started eyeing Zeus's wife/sister, Hera. Zeus got suspicious, so he made a double for Hera out of clouds, called Nephele, and had her take Hera's place serving Ixion some dinner. Ixion promptly attacked and raped Nephele, for which Zeus smote his ass with a lightning bolt, then tied his spirit to a burning wheel and sent it spinning endlessly through the "sky" of Tartarus. Nephele got pregnant and her kids were fucking half-horse somehow.

Ironically, one of the Centaur myths describes their interactions with the Lapiths. The Lapiths invited the Centaurs to one of their weddings, and then things went haywire very, very fast. Though the Centaurs had been benevolent beforehand, the copious amounts of wine being served got them all drunk, which meant they turned on a plate during the wedding, trying to rape the women and kill the men of the Lapiths. This ended up as one huge brawl, ending with a Lapith victory. This was the Greek way of saying [[Humanity Fuck Yeah|"Hey, nature? You suck."]]

Chiron, a great healer and teacher of heroes in Greek myth, was a rare case of a friendly centaur. The constellation Sagittarius is rendered in Chiron's image. Consequently, the prefix "sagittar-" is commonly used to denote centaurs, blissfully ignorant of the fact that "sagittarius" translates to "archer" (Chiron's favorite way of killing shit) in ''Latin'', not "centaur".

A centaur by the name of Nessus was also responsible for slaying Hercules (original Greek name Heracles). Nessus tried to kidnap Hercules's wife Diania to rape her at his leisure, and Hercules shot him with one of his poisoned arrows that was dipped in the Hydra's blood for it. As he was dying, he told Hercules' wife to secretly soak a cloak in his blood, promising that if Hercules' eye started to wander, all she'd have to do is make him wear it and he'd fall back in love with her, failing to mentioned that his blood was now poisoned by the arrow. She believed him, but the gory cape drove Hercules mad with pain, as the cloak burned his skin to the bone. He simply burned himself alive on a funeral pyre that he built in order to find relief.

If you want to know about the real world origin of the Centaur, well, consider where Greece is. Go too much farther north and your hit the Ukrainian and Russian Steppe, where the horse was first domesticated and where nomadic tribesmen practically learned to ride before they could walk. It's believed that the early Greeks saw either early horsemen or the first horsemen at a distance and could not understand that they were looking at a human ON an animal (a distinction that the Spanish report the Aztec had trouble grasping), and instead saw a horse with the top half of a man. And thus the Centaurs were born.

=Biology=
Centaurs are a fascinating example of a complete [[/d/|can of worms]] when looked at from a scientific standpoint, mainly because the way the Centaur is structured consists of two torsos (removing the horse torso would make it a [[Satyr]], removing the human torso would make it a horse-themed [[Sphinx]]).

In theory, a centaur has two different sets of ribcages. Depending on how the setting has the internal anatomy work, a centaur could have two pairs of lungs, two hearts, an extra stomach and possible extra intestine leading to the horse stomachs, two livers, two sets of kidneys, and most anatomy exclusive to both dedicated carnivores and to dedicated herbivores. If this version of Centaur actually existed, it would possibly be the most unspecialized and least energy-efficient creature in the setting. More often however, the human half is explained to have large lungs and a large heart while the rest of the anatomy is contained within the horse half. This presents the problem of having a ridiculously long esophagus which has an elevated risk of choking while the Heimlich Maneuver would have greatly reduced ability to save the Centaur's life, although as long as food manages to make it past the human half the rest of the esophagus would not require more than a drink of water to alleviate discomfort.

They do not need to wipe their own asses, because their horse anus wipes itself through layers of sphincters. Any additional cleaning for social reasons however would require a sponge or towel on a stick. Likewise, putting garments on the horse half for reasons of modesty would be extremely difficult unless it's something like a horse blanket you can almost drape over the body.

Human babies are born completely helpless and unable to do much of anything by themselves other than emit noise. Horse babies immediately run once the birth awl is cleaned off by the mother. In theory, this means centaur babies run around and play while the human half flops around helplessly. More likely is that centaur babies would have both halves as developed as that of a regular horse since the horse womb's larger opening gives more time for the head to grow. (Head growth is not the only reason for helpless human infants, however. Human brains must take time to grow their connections while interacting with their environment, for which they need a massively extended period of maturation. Horses, like most animals, do not need to be young for long as they do not need to learn in this manner. Humans actually mature ''ungodly'' slow for creatures of our size in general, in fact. There would always be a mismatch in development unless the horse part could be held back to the pace of the human part.)

<gallery>
Horse Ass.png
Centaur Babies.png
Centaur Anatomy.jpg
Centaur Muscles.jpg
Centaur Wut.png
</gallery>

=Dungeons & Dragons=
[[File:Elmore 3e Centaur.jpg|300px|thumb|right|Centaurs can be very pretty from the waist up.]]
Centaurs and other "tauric" creatures have appeared throughout the editions and settings of [[Dungeons & Dragons]], from the half-lion [[wemic]]s of [[Forgotten Realms]] to the [[Drider]]s that have become so iconically linked with the [[Drow]].

Flavor-wise, centaurs are pretty much identical to the standard [[Elf|Wood Elf]]; they are a "sylvan" (read: [[fey]]-lite) race who inhabit the deep woods and unspoiled meadows of the world, existing as nomadic hunter-gatherers with a deep respect for nature, always striving to live in balance with their environment and to replace what they take. Their population is kept small due to their massive caloric intake, which gives them a reputation as drunkards due to how much liquor they can consume in a sitting. They are generally disinterested in the [[demihuman]] races, save elves and forest [[gnome]]s, and are more likely to keep company with other sylvan races, such as [[dryad]]s and [[satyr]]s.

This portrayal is pretty consistent, having begun all the way back in [[Mystara]] and remaining throughout most settings. But, this is different in the [[Nentir Vale]] setting; here, they are considered a type of [[fey]] (rather than their traditional monstrous humanoid) and a warlike tribal people who inhabit the steppes, plains and prairies of the [[Feywild]], although they may also be found in the mortal world, particularly in close proximity to elven lands. [[World Axis]] centaurs maintain permanent settlements, and do not suffer trespassers lightly. An emotional and rugged people, they swear allegiance to [[Kord]] and [[Melora]], rather than the gentler and more refined [[Corellon]]; they are renowned for the wild parties they throw to celebrate battles, hunts and births, which are full of boasting, sport and drink, and do not fear death. They have even been known to hire their services out as mercenaries to [[eladrin]], elves or any other race willing to meet their price. They are still dedicated to protecting the unspoiled wilderness, though, and if anything are more assertive about it.

Centaur are rarely used as Player Character races due to the difficulties of a Centaur performing non-running feats of agility, but those players who do use them find that they are both quite powerful and also have the perk of not having to buy a mount. In fact, centaurs have been playable in most editions of the game, having appeared in: "Tall Tales of the Wee Folk" for Basic D&D; "[[Complete Book Series|The Complete Book of Humanoids]]" for Advanced D&D; and the [[Monster Manual]] 1, [[Races of X|Races of the Wild]], the [[Dragonlance]] campaign setting book, Races of [[Krynn]] and Races of [[Faerun]] splatbooks for 3rd edition. Absent in 4th edition, they made a return in the 2018 May issue of [[Unearthed Arcana]] for 5th edition before being made official in the Guildmaster's Guide to Ravnica.

==PC Stats==
===BD&D===
::Ability Score Minimums/Maximums: Requires 9 [[Strength]] and 5 [[Constitution]]. All other scores have a base minimum of 3. All scores have a maximum of 18.
::Prime Ability Requisite: Strength. A centaur PC gains +5% EXP if their Str is 13+, and +10% if their Str is 16+.
::Natural Armor Class: AC 8 at level -1, AC 7 from level 0.
::Centaurs can achieve 8th level in both the [[Shaman]] sub-class and the [[Wizard|Wokani/Wicca]] sub-class. To become a shaman requires Int 13+ and Wis 10+, whilst to become a wicca requires Int 13+ and Wis 13+. In both classes, progressing requires Int 15+ and Wis 13+. A centaur can choose to progress in both the Shaman and Wokani/Wicca class by way of the [[Multiclassing|dual-classing]] mechanic; stopping their advancing in one and beginning advancing in the other.
::A centaur can strike with its hooves, inflicting 1d6 damage per hoof.
::A centaur wielding a lance can inflict double damage by charging, as if a mounted [[fighter]], but cannot use its hooves in the same round in which it does so.
::Centaurs require a special combination of human armor and horse barding to protect themselves.
::Centaurs may use magic items permitted to [[Fighter]]s.
::Centaurs make Saving Throws as per a [[Fighter]] of the same level.

Centaur Racial Level Advancement Table
::Level -1: -4,000 EXP, 2d8 Hit Dice
::Level 0: 0 EXP, 4d8 Hit Dice
::Level 1: 4,000
::Level 2: 12,000 EXP, 5d8 Hit Dice
::Level 3: 28,000 EXP, 6d8 Hit Dice
::Level 4: 60,000 EXP
::Level 5: 124,000 EXP, 7d8 Hit Dice
::Level 6: 250,000 EXP, 8d8 Hit Dice
::Level 7: 500,000 EXP
::Level 8: 800,000 EXP, 9d8 Hit Dice
::Level 9: 1,100,000 EXP, 10d8 Hit Dice
::Level 10: 1,400,000 EXP, 10d8+2 Hit Dice

Subsequent levels cost +300,000 EXP and grant +2 HP.

===AD&D===
[[File:centaur MM 2e.png|thumb|250px]]
::Ability Score Minimum/Maximum: Strength 11/18, Dexterity 3/16, Constitution 11/18, Intelligence 3/16, Wisdom 4/18, Charisma 3/18
::Ability Score Adjustments: +1 Constitution, +1 Wisdom, -2 Dexterity
::Class & Level Limits: [[Fighter]] 12, [[Ranger]] 10, [[Mage]] 12, [[Druid]] 14, [[Shaman]] 7, [[Bard]] 12
::+4 hit points at 1st level
:::Available [[Kits]]: Tribal Defender, Pit Fighter, Sellsword, Wild Protector, Hedge Wizard, Humanoid Scholar, Outlaw Mage, Shaman, Oracle, Wandering Mystic, Humanoid Bard (mandatory for Centaur Bards)
:::[[Multiclassing]] Options: Fighter/Mage, Fighter/Thief, Ranger/Shaman
:::Thieving Skill Adjustments: -10% Move Silently, -5% to Hide in Shadows and Read Languages
::Natural Armor Class: 5
::Can make 3 melee attacks per round; once with weapon, twice with a forehoof (hooves do 1d6 damage).
::Centaurs armed with lances can Charge for double damage, but cannot attack with their hooves in that same round.
::Centaurs take damage as Large creatures.
::Centaurs have difficulty negotiating underground settings.
::Weapon Proficiencies: Composite Long Bow, Medium Horse Lance, Great Club
::Nonweapon Proficiencies: Animal Lore, Agriculture, Animal Noise, Armorer, Artistic Ability, Bowyer/Fletcher, Brewing, Drinking, Eating, Fishing, Hunting, Leatherworking, Natural Fighting, Running, Set Snares, Survival (Forests), Tracking, Weaving, Winemaking

{{D&D2e-Races}}

===3e D&D===
[[File:centaur RoF.jpg|thumb|250px]]
Amazingly, despite appearing in multiple different splatbooks for both 3.0 and 3.5, the Centaur maintained a singular set of stats across all of them.

::+8 Strength, +4 Dexterity, +4 Constitution, –2 Intelligence, +2 Wisdom.
::Large size: –1 penalty to Armor Class, –1 penalty on attack rolls, –4 penalty on Hide checks, +4 bonus on grapple checks, lifting and carrying limits double those of Medium characters.
::Space/Reach: 10 feet/5 feet.
::A centaur’s base land speed is 50 feet.
::Darkvision out to 60 feet.
::Racial Hit Dice: A centaur begins with four levels of monstrous humanoid, which provide 4d8 Hit Dice; a base attack bonus of +4; and base saving throw bonuses of Fort +1, Ref +4, and Will +4.
::Racial Skills: A centaur’s monstrous humanoid levels give him skill points equal to 7 × (2 + Int modifier). His class skills are Listen, Move Silently, Spot, and Survival.
::Racial Feats: A centaur’s monstrous humanoid levels give him two feats.
::+3 natural armor bonus.
::Automatic Languages: Sylvan, Elven. Bonus Languages: Common, Gnome, Halfling.
::Favored Class: Ranger. Centaur rangers often choose magical beasts or some variety of humanoid as their favored enemy.
::Level adjustment +2.

===Pathfinder===
Like virtually all OGL monsters, the only changes to centaur in [[Pathfinder]] were system wide changes (Monstrous Humanoid HD is now D10 and 4 + int skill points).

Advanced Race Guide gave a [https://www.d20pfsrd.com/races/other-races/more-races/monstrous-races-21-30-rp/centaur/ centaur as an example of its race creation system]. Since they decided to keep the absurdly high stat adjustments it's power level is, by the book's own admission, unusable by player characters in normal campaign.

Dreamscarred Press included Centaur as one of the monster classes they published. It's pretty much just 4 levels that give you all the stuff in the 3.5 example (except the level adjustment) with the PF RHD changes.

===5e D&D===
[[File:centaur 5e.jpg|thumb]]
How to pull off a 5e centaur PC race was something that was debated on /tg/ every now and then; how should you handle the size issue? What effects should having a horse for legs have on getting around? Well, WoTC came up with surprisingly elegant solutions when they debuted a centaur in the [[Unearthed Arcana]] for May 2018. They even took the time to address the most unbalancing aspect of being a centaur in 3e, which was that your racial type not being standard Humanoid made you immune to a lot of common spells, a somewhat flawed design idea that was brought back for 5e.

Unfortunately, because the design team persistently overvalues both natural weapons and Powerful Build, they're also a bit... bland. Not bad, per se, but uninspired. And because no positive effects target monstrosities but not humanoids, it's strictly a bad thing, though even ''that'' will barely come up, they don't even count as mounted for feats or the Cavalier archetype. That said, because of the ability to inflict what's effectively a crit on demand the amount of damage they can do, in theory, on a charge is almost stupidly high. At level one with 17 strength, with an average roll of 7 of a 2d6 weapon and +3 mod becomes 17 damage, enough to one shot a lot of things at level one or 1/6 of an ogre and an ''actual'' crit stacks with this to become out-and-out devastating. In an ideal situation of +5 mod, 12 damage,+5 magic bonus and a crit: your looking at '''58''' damage. While that is strictly speaking unlikely, there are rerolls for all those rolls, (champion crit extension, and great weapon fighting style rerolls of 1's and 2's) so it is far from impossible. All in all: Centaurs may be a one trick pony, but it can be one hell of a trick.

::Abilities: +2 Strength, +1 Wisdom
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 40 feet
::Vision: Normal
::Charge: You can make a charge attack by moving at least 20 feet towards a target and then hitting it with a melee attack in the same turn. If you hit with this charge attack, roll your weapon's damage dice twice and add the results together to determine how much damage you have inflicted. Once you have made a charge attack, you must complete a short rest or a long rest before you can make one again.
::Hooves: You possess hooves, which are a natural weapon that you have proficiency in. A hoof attack inflicts 1d6 + Str modifier Bludgeoning damage.
::Equine Build: You count as one size category larger to determine your capacity to carry, push and drag. However, when climbing, each foot of movement costs you +4 extra movement instead of the normal +1 foot. You can allow a creature of Medium or smaller size to ride on your back, but you still act independently when you have a rider.
::Survivor: You have Proficiency in the Survival skill.
::Hybrid Nature: You count as being both a Humanoid and a Monstrosity in terms of Creature Type, and thus can be affected by any game effect that specifically targets either of your types.

They made a surprise reappearance in the Guildmaster's Guide to [[Ravnica]], acquiring an official writeup that was similar to, yet different from, the version presented in [[Unearthed Arcana]]:

::Ability Scores: Str +2; Wis +1
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 40 ft.
::Age. Centaurs mature and age at about the same rate as humans.
::Alignment. Centaurs are inclined toward neutrality. Those who join the Selesnya are more often neutral good, while those who join the Gruul are typically chaotic neutral.
::Size. Centaurs stand between 6 and 7 feet tall, with their equine bodies reaching about 4 feet at the withers. Your size is Medium.
::Fey. Your creature type is fey, rather than humanoid.
::Charge. If you move at least 30 feet straight toward a target and then hit it with a melee weapon attack on the same turn, you can immediately follow that attack with a bonus action, making one attack against the target with your hooves.
::Hooves. Your hooves are natural melee weapons, which you can use to make unarmed strikes. If you hit with them, you deal bludgeoning damage equal to 1d4 + your Strength modifier, instead of the bludgeoning damage normal for an unarmed strike.
::Equine Build. You count as one size larger when determining your carrying capacity and the weight you can push or drag. In addition, any climb that requires hands and feet is especially difficult for you because of your equine legs. When you make such a climb, each foot of movement costs you 4 extra feet, instead of the normal 1 extra foot.
::Survivor. You have proficiency in one of the following skills of your choice: Animal Handling, Medicine, Nature, or Survival.
::Languages. You can speak, read, and write Common and Sylvan. Sylvan is widely spoken in the Selesnya Conclave, for it is rich in vocabulary to describe natural phenomena and spiritual forces.

You will note that this version of the centaur is far weaker. Charge is now basically pathetic and only grants you an additional 1d4 on a hit, even if it's no longer a short rest ability. ''Mordekainen's Monsters of the Multiverse'' would rewrite rules for many races following the paradigm introduced by ''Tasha's Cauldron of Everything'', and Centaurs would emerge largely unchanged except for their hooves being restored to 1d6 damage, making a bit less pathetic.

If the official 5e centaur stats don't tickle your fancy, you could always try out the ones from the [[Midgard]] Heroes Handbook, which present their own take on the concept.
::Ability Score Increase: +2 Strength, +1 Wisdom
::Size: Large - but see Humanoid Torso
::Speed: 40 feet
::Type: Monstrosity
::Natural Attacks: You can make a single attack with your hooves, which you are considered Proficient in and which deal 2d6 Bludgeoning damage.
::Centaur Weapon Training: You have Proficiency with the Pike and the Longbow.
::Pike Charge: If you move at least 30 feet straight toward a target it and then hit it with a Pike attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 3 (1d6) piercing damage, which increases to 6 (2d6) at level 6 and 9 (3d6) at level 11. You can only make one Pike Charge per turn, and can only make a number of Pike Charges per day eqal to your Constitution modifier (minimum of 1). You recover all uses of this ability when you complete a Long Rest.
::Humanoid Torso: Though you take up space as if you were a Large creature, you are still considered a Medium creature for purposes of weapons and armor.
::Quadruped: You have Disadvantage on Stealth checks and also suffer problems when dealing with architecture designed for humanoids, such as ladders and manholes.
::Self-Sufficient: You have Proficiency in the Medicine skill.

[[Odyssey of the Dragonlords]] offers yet another alternative for the 5e centaur PC. Centaurs of Thylea are characterized as a proud race of nomadic warriors; hunter-gatherers with an emphasis on the ''hunter'' part, they are once of the major civilizations created by the titans, and whilst they're not at open war with the Mytrosians, they have never forgotten or forgiven the Dragonlords for how they fucked over their people during the First War, and they will happily trample the shit out of anyone stupid enough to try and build permanent settlements on their land. Whilst their egos are infamous - Thylean centaurs view themselves as the supreme race and are notorious for their vanity when it comes to their looks - and it's common knowledge that they become dangerous, belligerent and boorish when drunk, they're also renowned for their loyalty. Make a centaur friend, and they'll be your friend for life, and you can't find a truer adventuring companion.
::Ability Score Increase: +2 Strength, +1 Wisdom
::Size: Medium
::Speed: 40 feet
::Vision: Normal
::Charge: If you move 30 feet straight toward a target and then hit them with a melee attack on the same turn, the target takes an extra 1d6 damage from the first attack.
::Mountable: As a bonus action on your turn, you may allow a single willing ally within 5 feet of you to hitch a brief ride on your back. They are carried on your back until the end of your turn, at which point they must disembark within 5 feet of you. While being carried, your rider is not considered to be mounted and they are not vulnerable to attacks of opportunity. Your rider must be a bipedal creature of your size or smaller.
::Quadrapedal Stride: Climbing and manuevering in tight spaces count as difficult terrain for you.

[[Ptolus]]'s version of the centaur meanwhile, is more customizable, like the [[Catfolk#Litorian|Litorian]].
::Ability Score Increase: +2 to one ablity of your choice, +1 to one ablity of your choice
::Size: Large
::Speed: 50 feet
::Hooves: You can make an unarmed attack with your hooves dealing 2d6 bludgeoning damage.
::Athletic Hunter: You have proficiency in two skills of your choice.
::Languages: You can speak and read Aram and one other appropriate language.
{{D&D5e-Races}}

==Variants and Centaur-kin==
The centaur body plan is ripe for derivatives, since one could conceivably combine any bipedal species with any quadrupedal species in this manner.

*'''[[Chevall]]''': Can shapeshift between a regular horse and a centaur. They see it as their duty to protect horses from harm.
<gallery>
chevall MC Mystara.jpg
</gallery>

*'''Desert Centaur''': A more swarthy and oriental breed of centaur from [[Al-Qadim]].
<gallery>
Desert centaur MC Al-Qadim.png
Desert centaur Cities of Bone.png
</gallery>

*'''Sea Centaur''': A cross between a centaur and a mermaid, or a human and a [[hippocampus]], maybe? It has a human torso, the front half-torso of a horse (with legs ending in flippers), and the rest is all fish. It appeared in [[Dragon Magazine]] #116.
<gallery>
Sea centaur Dragon 116.png
</gallery>

*'''[[Wemic]]''': Lion centaurs that originally had human upper-halfs, but later got a more [[furry]] redesign.
<gallery>
Wemic Monster card.jpg
Wemic 1e.png
Wemic MM 2e.png
Wemic Portraits.png
Wemic Ritual.png
MoF Wemic.png
RoF Wemic.jpg
</gallery>

*'''Hybsil''': 3 foot tall [[sprite]]-deer centaurs.
<gallery>
hybsil monster card.jpg
hybsil RoZK.jpg
hybsil MCAV3.jpg
</gallery>

*'''[[Bariaur]]''': goat or sheep centaurs native to [[Ysgard]]. Made a playable race by [[Planescape]].
<gallery>
Bariaur MC8.jpg
Free league member.jpg
Wooly cupgrass Uncaged.jpg
Bariaur (PlaHB).jpg
Expansionist Dragon 339.png
</gallery>

*'''Zebranaur''': Dark-skinned zebra centaurs for your Africa-themed setting.
<gallery>
zebranaur MCAV2.jpg
</gallery>

*'''Dorvesh''': dwarf-donkey centaurs.
<gallery>
dorvesh MCAV2.jpg
</gallery>

*'''Gnoat''': gnome-goat centaurs.
<gallery>
gnoat MCAV2.jpg
</gallery>

*'''Ha'pony''': halfling-pony centaurs. The name is a pun on ''ha'penny''.
<gallery>
ha'pony MCAV2.jpg
</gallery>

==Gallery==
<gallery>
centaur 1e.jpg|1e
centaur REF3.png
Talbot Rogues Gallery.jpg
Centaur monster card.jpg
centaur MCV1.jpg|2e
Centaur mummy MCAV2.jpg|Centaur [[Mummy]]
half-fey centaur 3e FF.jpg|3e [[Half-Fey]] Centaur
centaur 4e.jpg|4e
Centaur B1.png|Pathfinder
Centaur ARG.png
</gallery>

=[[Warhammer Fantasy]]=
The "proto-Hammer" version of Warhammer Fantasy featured Centaurs as a [[Chaos]]-aligned race closely linked to [[Beastmen]] in the [[Realms of Chaos]]: The Lost and the Damned for 3rd edition. They were dropped in 5th edition, for some reason, but eventually returned in 6th edition after having been reworked into the [[Centigor]]s, and may be returning in the latest edition of Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay as among the [[Half-Orc]]s and [[Hobgoblin]]s in the Eastern Steppes.

The [[Chaos Dwarves]] have the [[Bull Centaur]], the result of a Chaos Dwarf given a mighty blessing by their dark god [[Hashut]], the bull Chaos God. They are still Chaos Dwarfs with their usual appearances of big, mean, muscular, curly beard and horns on their head, only that their bottom-half has been replaced by that of a bull's. This transformation replaces the their short leg and thus nullified their slow moving weakness while retaining their trademark endurance, strength and high leadership.

If that's not enough then things get bigger with [[Dragon Ogres]], because regular centaur isn't awesome enough. [[Dragon Ogres]] have the upper part of an Ogre and their lower parts are four dragon-like legs. These [[Dragon Ogres]] made a pact with the Chaos Gods that they would serve them, in exchange for immortality (at the cost of having no female Dragon Ogres to fuck, or possibly having females but all being sterile; it's hard to say from the fluff). They are one of the oldest creatures in the Old World, and are supercharged when struck by lightning. The oldest and largest [[Dragon Ogres]] are Shaggoths.

Lastly there's the [[Zoat]]s. A hermit-like, scaly, four-legged creature who has power over nature with their lore of life spell. Their size were so similar to a small dragon ogres that CA was able to put it in [[Total War: WARHAMMER]] as a reskinned Dragon Ogres.

=[[Warhammer: Age of Sigmar]]=
In the Age of Sigmar universe, centauroids are - or at least used to be - one of the races inhabiting the realm of [[Ghur]]. The character [[Kragnos]] is a member of the Drogrukh species of massive centauroids, who became a god through sheer bloodymindedness, ultimately making such a nuisance of himself that the forces of Order sealed him away. He recently broke out, and is very pissed to discover that the remaining Drogrukh were wiped out whilst he was gone. There are also normal-sized, still alive Non-Chaos Centaurs amongst the Kurnothi, along with Non-Chaos Fauns, and Chaos Centaurs with 4 arms amongst the Slaves to Darkness.

=[[Warhammer 40K]]=
Though the Centaur in and of itself hasn't been discovered as of yet in the dark millennium (it is perfectly possible that they exist somewhere in the galaxy, mind you - there is [[Abhuman|''weirder'' shit]] out there), the [[Interex]] had a heavy infantry platform which had the shape and appearance of the Centaurs of myth. The human soldier was fit into the front of a mechanical, horselike body (where the head would've been on a real horse), so only the upper body was visible. They even went so far as giving the soldiers laser-crossbows.

Though most would argue that this was freaking [[awesome]], they were exterminated by the Imperium, and as far as we know, the Mechanicum haven't kept anything from the [[Interex]]... But who knows, maybe the next Imperial Guard Supplement will include cyborg horse-human hybrids (of course you can make these anyway and just proxy them as rough riders on the table top). You can't know with [[Games Workshop|GW]] these days.

A centaur body is one of the common Chaos mutations, though given the nature of Chaos you may end up with a snake tail, a giant bloodhound body, or a fucking spider torso instead of your legs, and that's if you get lucky - some poor Nurglite sod may get a snail or maggot body instead of his legs, or even a twisted mess of tentacles that have the mind of their own and immediately start raping all asses in proximity, including their own.

Additionally, an [[Imperial Guard]] short story (''Children of the Emperor'') from the [[Into the Maelstrom]] anthology features a guardsman stranded on a lost, feral world with super-high gravity, populated by [[abhuman]]s whose ancestors gave themselves centaur bodies and super-enhanced muscles to cope with high gravity and abundance of deadly predators. He gets involved with a struggle between the Emperor-worshipping locals and a [[Khorne|Khornate]] heresy, but the best he can do is to report to the Imperium when he escapes that the planet is feral, too dangerous & resource poor to colonize, and houses only some unimportant alien species, thus preventing the loyalists from being slaughtered as [[mutant]]s by more Puritanical Imperials.

Also we have the [[Zoats]], a <strike>now-abandoned</strike> (They're back now, fuckers!) race of reptilian taurs that were originally envoys and propagandists for the Tyranids, before they fully embraced the Horde of Alien Locusts thing.

=[[Warcraft]]=
Warcraft features many types of Centaur as well as centaur-like creatures. The earliest Centaur are descendants to the demigod Cenarius (half-Night elf half Stag), his sons are called Keepers of the grove, they have the upper part of a night elf with antlers on their heads, one of their hands is wood like, and they have the lower parts of a stag. The female versions of them are Dryads who are female night elf and half doe.

They also have regular Centaurs who are a bastard race born from a Keeper of the grove and (the rather ugly) spirit of Earth, they thank their father for creating them by killing him. They have the traditional Centaur look, with a nomadic Mongol-like culture mostly built on harassing the cow-like Tauren.

The Burning Legion has Annihilan which are massive demons that have an upper part of a demon and a lower part of a four legged dragon. They serve as among the Legions commanders and wield enormous weapons that can smash armies in one swing.

=Centaur [[Monstergirls]]=
{{monstergirls}}
Centaurs invite ceaseless argument over whether they count as [[monstergirls]] or as [[furry]]. On the one hand, they do have human-like heads and not muzzles (though Japanese hentai seems to like portraying them with horse ears instead of human ears, and this has become more common in western art too). On the other hand, they have horse-junk at their business end (except, again, for some Japanese hentai, where they have human pussies at the front of their horse bodies instead or in addition to mare-cunts at their ass-end), which makes them in many ways ''more'' like [[Chakat|bestiality than regular furries]].

Not helping things is that both sides of the divide have embraced them. In fact, centaurs are so popular that the idea of replacing the horse with other critters that sound cool or sexy is rather popular; lions, wolves, tigers, [[drider|spiders]]... heck, [[lamia]]s can be described as "centaurs that are half-snake instead of half-horse". The idea is so popular that a whole new word (arguably descended from the furries), "tauric", has popped up as a shorthand for it.

[[/d/]] alternatively loves them (because they're an excuse for pictures of huge buff guys with huge horse cocks, [[monstergirls]] with huge-ass tits, or monstergirls [[dickgirl|with huge-ass tits AND huge horse cocks]]) and loathes them (because of the aforementioned furry/bestiality connotations).

Surprisingly, despite the fact that centaurs are iconic creatures from western "Classical Mythology", the vast majority of centaur MG depictions have come from Japan. This may be because, unlike westerners, Japanese smutfans don't really make so much of a distinction between [[furry]] and [[monstergirl]], and so they don't get bothered by the whole "you're fucking a horse's hiney" thing since they pass the [[Harkness Test]].

Perhaps because of the strong association between the cavalry and the [[samurai]] caste - or because Japanese dig soft, sweet chicks to an almost disturbing degree - almost all known Japanese centaur MGs have been tsunderes or yamato nadeshikos, i.e. either sweet-girls who act like bitches because they don't wanna admit their feelings, or very sweet and demure girls with a steely core. A more mythology-accurate centaur MG would be a total ladette - a she-jock who loves to fight, hunt, drink and fuck like there's no tomorrow and aggressively chases after good-looking guys. Sort of a bro with the body of a super-model who's fine with letting you grope her titties and cunt (wherever it is), or kills you on a whim.

Additionally there are several factors of horse anatomy one should keep in mind when discussing sex with centaurs:
*The above-discussed reason why horses don't need to wipe their asses after taking a dump would doubtlessly affect anal sex in some way, for better or worse.
*Giving Centaurs rear horse junk would be likely to complicate masturbation.
*Given the thing male horses are so infamous for worldwide, a centauress(?) that has horse junk would be likely to find human men ''quite'' underwhelming.
*On that note, getting any meaningful length of a horse penis inside a human frequently kills real-life zoophiles due to organ rupture, and deepthroat would probably require you to dislocate your jaw and find some acid-proof horse condoms.
*Like with [[minotaur|minotaurs]], there's also the issue of whether a centauress would have human boobs or a horse udder when you think about it. There are many more lulzy ways to interpret this than the minotaur offers, however, such as centaur women with two perfectly human and hairless boobs dangling from the fucking ''horse'' torso like a ballsack (you could even nickname these body parts the breasticles or chesticles).

==[[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]]==
[[File:MGE Centaur.jpg|thumb|250px|right|There may be a reason why the MGE centaur looks like a half-horse half-[[elf]]...]]
In the [[Monster Girl Encyclopedia]], centaurs are a race of tsundere nomadic archers. They do still love booze, though, and have a tendency to lose control and become horny drunks who'll rape men... of course, being tsunderes, they'll bitch at the ''men'' to "take responsibility" after they sober up, which is as tired a cliche in hentai as "OMG it's so big" is in western porn. For many years, constant arguments frequently sprung up about where the genitals are. The author decided to split the difference by decreeing they have two sets of genitals, one on each end. All this served to do was re-draw the battle lines so as to be fought over whether this succeeded in solving the problem or is the stupidest thing in the history of ever.
{{clear}}

==[[Life With Monstergirls]]==
Centaur have a long and noble history as knights and paladins, and most of their race still carry themselves with dignity. Female Centaur often adopt knightly demeanor and customs. Their females are only fertile during certain periods of the year (like real horses), and must use this time to produce offspring. Their sex drive is greatly reduced (although not non-existent) outside of this period, which also like with real horses is called estrus.
Centaurs have long had a history where the sexually selected traits for males were general raw strength and bravado. This unfortunately resulted in most modern Centaur men being unattractive fratboys. Recently, their culture is shifting towards effeminate and polite men being attractive, and this means that Centaur women are beginning to more and more desire human men. The product of a human/Centaur union is a full-blooded Centaur (no word on the results of a horse-centaur union), but the practice is still highly taboo. Instead Centaurs have been relying on human men as "teasers", a role that yet still exists in real life horse breeding (although in real life the role is thankfully filled by other horses). The human man more or less arouses a female who is in estrus until she can bear to reproduce with her husband.
<gallery>
Image:Centaur Breeding.jpg|Centaur sexual habits in Daily Life with Monstergirl
</gallery>

=See Also=
*[[Dungeons & Dragons 3rd Edition races]]

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Dungeons & Dragons Races]][[Category:Monsters]][[Category:Greek Mythology]]

Crocogar

2023-02-26T05:56:55Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D: Created page with "A Crocogar is a "mighty reptilian beast" which lives (or probably, LIVED, after Nagash's little oopsie-poopsie) in the waterways of Nehekhara such as the Mortis River. The..."

A Crocogar is a "mighty reptilian beast" which lives (or probably, LIVED, after [[Nagash]]'s little oopsie-poopsie) in the waterways of Nehekhara such as the Mortis River. The Crocogar Legion gained their name by slaying one.

Judging by the name and location, we're probably based off of Nile Crocodiles, but the "gar" in their name might imply they were a hybrid creature, half-crocodile and half-gar? Unless it was a reference to the species of crocodilian "gharial".

[[Category: Warhammer Fantasy]]
[[Category: Fauna]]

Rippy-fish

2023-02-26T05:45:06Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D:

Rippy-fish are creatures from the planet Lost Hope in Warhammer 40,000.

They are aquatic fish, rarely more 30cm in length and resembling the piranha of old Terra. Unlike their Terran variant, Rippy-fish could live in salt and fresh water and are immune to pollution, extremes of temperatures and poisons. Hundreds or even thousands of such a creatures roam the shallow waters of many planets posing a treat to every individual or vehicle that wants to cross water.

Don't confuse them with Ripperfish, which are more like killer Space Barracuda from Fenris instead of the Rippy-fish's Space Piranha schtick.

[[Category: Fauna]]
[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

Ripperfish

2023-02-26T05:44:01Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D:

Not to be confused with a [[Rippy-fish]] from the planet Lost Hope, a Ripperfish is an aquatic carnivorous fish similar to a barracuda but much larger in size that can flense the flesh from a man's bones in mere seconds, native to planet [[Fenris]] in Warhammer 40,000.

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

Ripperfish

2023-02-26T05:43:43Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D: Created page with "Not to be confused with a Rippy-Fish from the planet Lost Hope, a Ripperfish is an aquatic carnivorous fish similar to a barracuda but much larger in size that can flense..."

Not to be confused with a [[Rippy-Fish]] from the planet Lost Hope, a Ripperfish is an aquatic carnivorous fish similar to a barracuda but much larger in size that can flense the flesh from a man's bones in mere seconds, native to planet [[Fenris]] in Warhammer 40,000.

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]

Rippy-fish

2023-02-26T05:40:43Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D: memey-named space pirahna

Killian's Bane

2023-02-26T05:36:27Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D:

[[Image: Killian's_Bane.png]]
"Sure, I'll guide you there. You go find it, and I'll be sure to let your House know how you died. You also pay up front before we leave."
BEASTMASTER AVON TEARL

The Killian's Bane is one of the most fearsome predators of the scattered wetlands of the infamous Death World of Burnscour in the Koronus Expanse. It was simply known as the Burnscour Wyrm, one of many dangers of the planet, until Rogue Trader Augustus Killian made the species legendary across the Expanse. Most of these snakelike creatures are at least ten metres in length, although there have been reports of ones much longer including the truly monstrous specimen Killian encountered.

Each recorded specimen is massive in size and covered with protective scales that are proof against the caustic rains which seem to pour nonstop across Burnscour. The scales along the creature's back are rougher and thicker, with many sporting short chitin spikes.

History
The creature gained its now infamous name many standard years ago, when Rogue Trader Augustus Killian, the beast hunter famed across the Calixis Sector and into the depths of the Expanse, took his leave on Burnscour to show off his prowess to a gathering of the sector's nobility shimmering behind protective power fields. He claimed to possess a new archeotech discovery to unveil, though exactly what it was he would not say other than it would result in a spectacular display.

Killian confidently strode to the nearby water's edge, wielding only his family's heirloom Power Sabre. He then produced an oddly shaped crystalline object, which shown with a blue-white light as he waved it over his head to the crowd's delight. Vid-captures recovered later show faces quickly turning to terror as a wyrm larger than ever seen before rose out of the swamp and far above the trees. For a long, dreadful moment, nothing moved except for the swamp water dripping onto the stunned trader, then it fell to take Killian between jaws now stretched wide enough to swallow a lander.

Theories vary if the mysterious device had somehow summoned the beast from the depths, or was designed to help him vanquish it, or perhaps protect him somehow. He was simply gone in a moment as the beast dove back into its dank home, the massive tail carelessly shattering the power field generators and plasteel tents surrounding the panicked crowd. Some insisted that Killian glowed an unearthly metallic sheen in the brief moment before he was engulfed, but this was never substantiated in the vid-captures.

House Killian was suddenly ruined in a single day, losing not only their master but also the ancient and invaluable Warrant of Trade he had always famously carried in a small stasis cylinder on his wide sash as a point of pride. Many explorers have since also lost their lives attempting to find the creature, knowing that inside is not only what could be a priceless device but also an actual Warrant, which would allow them to establish their own dynasty.

The tale spread through Port Wander's many taverns and from there into the Calixis Sector, and soon the notoriety made it a creature in high demand for the illicit fighting pits and beast arenas across the region. Seeing their favourite gladiators eaten alive, and then betting if they can escape before perishing, is often the highlight of many such affairs.

Horror of the Swamps
The creature's dorsal spikes are often covered with clumps of moss and other vegetation, giving the serpent a more shaggy appearance than other scaled creatures possess. Tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus' Xenos Biologis have observed specimens deliberately diving through thick flora to drag away clumps. These plants provide a natural disguise, enough to help them stalk their prey and fool most of the larger arboreal predators. The mouth is perhaps the beast's most distinctive feature, as the jaws are only connected to the rest of the creature's skeleton with long, elastic bands of sinew and muscle. This allows the beast to open its maw extraordinarily wide, letting it swallow even the oversized creatures of Burnscour. Those it cannot swallow, it bites apart with rows of powerful fangs, each strike able to tear away huge swathes of flesh.

The Bane is amphibious, preferring areas with calm water, though some have been sighted along deep rivers. It can breathe underwater for extended durations, but maintains most of its life either floating across swamp lakes or slithering along the ground. Beastmasters from the sector have tracked some Banes several kilometres from wetlands either stalking prey or moving to new habitats, indicating that they can survive out of the water for long periods as well. For a primarily water-based creature, it can move with surprising speed across dry land and is fast enough to run down many beasts. Most Banes are relatively sedentary, however, calmly gliding along the stagnant waterways with occasional dives to search for prey swimming beneath them.

A Bane normally attacks in a swift motion, ideally attempting to engulf the quarry in a single stroke. The attack is terrifying, as the Bane can rear up to a towering height as part of its lunge. If near water, it also endeavours to swallow as much liquid as possible at the same time. This accomplishes two things, helping drown its victim but also allowing the Bane to settle rapidly to the bottom of the swamp, safely obscured from other predators. If on land, or attacking aquatic life, the Bane's powerful musculature steps in to help crush the life from its prey. Once subdued sufficiently, the Bane regurgitates the remains to rip them into more digestible chunks and then swallows them again. Luckily for those creatures sharing its habitat, a Bane feeds relatively infrequently, and a single large meal lasts it for many solar days.

Banes reproduce by releasing huge swarms of tiny offspring mere centimetres in length into the swamp, where most are quickly eaten by other predators. Even these miniature Banes are dangerous though, as if they are not killed when consumed, they continue growing and eventually bore their way out via their masticating serrated teeth. These small progeny often attach onto larger creatures, leaching off blood and flesh until large enough to drop off and eat on their own.

[[Category: Warhammer 40,000]]
[[Category: Megafauna]]

Slenderman

2023-02-26T05:35:08Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D:

[[Image:Slender-man-chloe-fowler-1.png|thumb|right|]]
[[Image:SlendermanNew2.JPG|thumb|right|]]
Slenderman is an infamous monster originating from internet urban legends, more specifically originating from a contest from SomethingAwful. He is a F
faceless, pale entity in a business suit with long limbs and the ability to spawn deadly black tentacles from his back, along with brainwashing his victims and teleporting. A similar creature was "The Fisherman", another creature created for the same contest by the same creator of Slenderman, which never achieved the same level of infamy.

== Slender man==
'''Race:''' Nightshade

'''Class:''' Sorcerer level 16

He is most commonly described as very tall and thin with unnaturally long, tentacle-like arms (or merely tentacles), which he can extend to intimidate or capture prey. In most stories his face is white and featureless, but occasionally his face appears differently to anyone who sees it. He appears to be wearing a dark suit and tie. The Slender Man is often associated with the forest and/or abandoned locations and has the ability to teleport. Proximity to the Slender Man is often said to trigger a "Slender sickness"; a rapid onset of paranoia, nightmares and delusions accompanied by nosebleeds.

Whether he absorbs, kills, or merely takes his victims to an undisclosed location or dimension is also unknown as there are never any bodies or evidence left behind in his wake to deduce a definite conclusion.

His face is pale and slightly ghostly, and almost appears to have been wrapped in a type of gauze or cloth. his facial features are also an object of debate, and many people believe that his face looks different to each person, if it is seen at all.

He sometimes is portrayed wears a hat, which is sometimes a bowler, a fedora, or sometimes a tophat. He may also be seen wearing a long flowing necktie or scarf, which is either red or grey.

He often keeps his long, pale hands crossed politely behind his back or hanging loosely at his sides. His suit is black, sometimes portrayed as pinstripe in artwork, a common misconception thanks to the very similar Jack Skellington from Nightmare Before Christmas. He has long coattails which he lets flow proudly. He wears long dress shoes, which are always shined a perfect, gleaming black.

'''Nightshade Abilities'''

'''All nightshades''' have the following special abilities.

'''Aversion to Daylight (Ex):''' Nightshades are creatures of utter
darkness and loathe all light. If exposed to natural daylight (not
merely a daylight spell), they take a –4 penalty on all attack rolls,
saving throws, and skill checks.

'''Desecrating Aura (Su):''' All nightshades give off a 20-footradius
emanation of utter desecration, imbuing their surroundings
with negative energy. This ability works much like a desecrate
spell, except that the nightshade’s evil is so great that it is treated as
the shrine of an evil power. All undead within 20 feet of the
nightshade (including the creature itself ) gain a +2 profane
bonus on attack rolls, damage rolls, and saving throws, and
+2 hit points per HD. (The nightshade Hit Dice, attack, and
save entries given here include these profane
bonuses.) Charisma checks made to turn
undead within this area take a –6
penalty.

A nightshade’s desecrating aura
cannot be dispelled except by a
dispel evil spell or similar
effect. If the effect is dispelled,
the nightshade
can resume it as a free
action on its next
turn. Its desecrating
aura is suppressed if a
nightshade enters a
consecrated or hallowed
area, but the nightshade’s
presence
also suppresses the
consecrated or hallowed
effect for as
long as it remains in
the area.

'''Medium Undead (Extraplanar)'''

'''Hit Dice:''' 21d12+42 (178 hp)

'''Initiative:''' +10

'''Speed:''' 40 ft (8 squares)

'''Armor Class:''' 32 (–2 size, +2 Dex, +22 natural), touch 10,
flat-footed 30

'''Base Attack/Grapple:''' +10/+34

'''Attack:''' Slam +24 melee (2d6+16)

'''Full Attack:''' 2 slams +24 melee (2d6+16)

'''Space/Reach:''' 15 ft./15 ft.

'''Special Attacks:'''desecrating aura, evil gaze,

'''spells known:''' all Necromancy spells as sorcerer

'''spell-like abilities''', Blink (same as blink dog)

'''Special Qualities:''' Aversion to daylight, damage
reduction 15/silver and magic, darkvision 60 ft.,
immunity to cold, spell resistance 29, telepathy
100 ft., undead traits

'''Saves:''' Fort +11, Ref +11, Will +19

'''Abilities:''' Str 38, Dex 14, Con —, Int 20, Wis
20, Cha 18

'''Skills:''' Concentration +28, Diplomacy +6, Hide
+18*, Knowledge (arcana) +29, Listen +29,
Move Silently +26, Search +29, Sense Motive
+29, Spellcraft +31, Spot +29, Survival +5 (+7
following tracks)

'''Feats:''' Cleave, Combat Expertise, Combat
Reflexes, Great Fortitude, Improved
Disarm, Improved Initiative, Power
Attack, Quicken Spell-Like Ability
(unholy blight)

'''Class:''' Sorcerer level 16

'''Environment:''' Plane of Shadow

'''Alignment:''' Always chaotic evil

'''Crush Item (Su):''' Slenderman can destroy any
weapon or item of Large size or smaller (even magic ones, but
not artifacts) by picking it up and crushing it between its
hands. Slenderman must make a successful disarm attempt to
grab an item held by an opponent. The item is entitled to a DC 34
Fortitude save to resist destruction. The save DC is Strength-based.

'''Evil Gaze (Su):''' Fear, 30 feet. A creature that meets the Slenderman’s
gaze must succeed on a DC 24 Will save or be paralyzed
with fear for 1d8 rounds. Whether or not the save is successful,
that creature cannot be affected again by the same nightshade’s
gaze for 24 hours. This is a mind-affecting fear effect. The save DC
is Charisma-based.

'''Spells known as sorcerer:''' Slenderman can cast any Necromancy spells as a 16 level sorcerer

'''Spell-Like Abilities:''' At will—contagion (DC 18), deeper darkness,
detect magic, greater dispel magic, haste, see invisibility, and unholy
blight (DC 18); 3/day—confusion (DC 18), hold monster (DC 19),
invisibility; 1/day—cone of cold (DC 19), finger of death (DC 21), plane
shift (DC 21). Caster level 21st. The save DCs are Charisma-based.

'''Skills:''' *When hiding in a dark area, Slenderman gains a +18
racial bonus on Hide checks.

[[Category:Dungeons & Dragons]][[Category:Monsters]][[Category:Homebrew Rules]]

Abhuman

2023-02-26T05:17:45Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D: /* Ice Troll */

[[File:Sharkabs.jpg|300px|thumb|right|They call them "Ab"humans for a reason.]]

'''Abhuman''' (from ''ab-'', "of, from, away from," ''human'') is a term used in the [[Imperium of Man]] to refer to a stable-breeding subspecies of [[humanity]]. Although their physiology and mentality would be so different that they should technically be classified as a whole different species altogether. Officially, they are not considered [[mutant]]s by virtue of their breed stability, but they are generally not treated the same way as "normal" humans. Civilian abhumans are almost always an underclass on other worlds, and when [[Imperial Guard]] regiments are raised from abhuman worlds as part of the Imperial Tithe they tend to be broken up into individual companies, platoons, or squads that are then attached to other regiments as auxiliary troops. Though, this is usually because most abhumans that qualify for Guard service are either [[ogryn|too stupid]], [[Beastmen (40k)|too undisciplined]], [[ratling|too specialized]], or [[Felinid|aren't numerous enough]] to maintain their own independent regiments. The Imperium recognises at least 70 different strains of permitted abhuman, with more than half of these being extinct in the modern day.

So far as is known, none of the abhuman strains below are compatible with [[Space Marine]] implants, while all are compatible with the Psyker gene. Space Marines themselves are considered dubiously human in some circles, but since they don't breed, their inhumanity is the result of postnatal modifications, and they're all 8 foot tall killing machines that carry automatic armor-piercing grenade launchers, they don't count as abhumans. [[Heresy|Or else]]. Of course we don’t even know if Astartes are genetically dissimilar from normal humans beyond the Progenoid adding and tweaking genes to allow for the other implants to be accepted. The other implants just change how the body behaves in a certain way. So, they might genetically not be notably dissimilar enough to be anything other than homo sapiens sapiens. [[Adeptus Custodes|The Custodes]] however...

== Origins ==
Humanity's characteristics are influenced by the conditions in which it grew up, including gravity, climate, and diet. If a population were isolated in a different environment for a long enough time, their distant descendants would be adapted to those new conditions.

During the [[Dark Age of Technology]], humanity spread to the stars, first with slower-than-light colony ships, and then with [[Warp]] drives after the discovery of the [[Navigator]]s. Some of their destination planets were very different from Earth, and when humanity entered the [[Age of Strife]] with the collapse of the old government, the inhabitants of these worlds were cut off from other colonies (it is known that Gene Wars were fought between various governments made up of people that couldn't really be considered human anymore during the Age of Strife); when contact was restored during the [[Great Crusade]] (or even later), their gene pools had diverged so far from the baseline that they could almost be classified as separate species. The Imperium spared them, though, because while they were clearly not pure humans, they were useful and no more prone to mutation than any other human. As humanity had ready access to genetic engineering in that era, it can be difficult to distinguish natural evolution from artificial enhancement in many cases, as Games Workshop does not usually reveal the necessary details.

The Horus Heresy novels mentioned that even during the high point of abhuman tolerance, formerly human populations have been purged due to achieving certain (high) levels of genetic "deviancy". The natives of Davin were shaggy creatures that were close to it, though Chaos may have had a hand in that, unbeknown to the Imperials.

Abhumans can be loosely categorized by the nature of their origin.

==Definitely Artificial==

These abhumans are definitively known to have been manufactured at some point. In the case of the Afriel Strain and Gland War Veterans, though, their actual status as true abhumans is a bit iffy, as it's unclear just how many of their augmented traits (if any) are genetically transferrable, and their populations are closer to (dwindling) engineered batches rather than self-sustaining breeds.

=== [[Squat|The Kin]] ===
''Homo sapiens rotundus''

The Kin, or Squats as they are called in Necromunda, grew up on high-gravity mineral-rich worlds near the core of the galaxy and became adapted to be short, robustly built, and adept miners. If this sounds familiar, it's because they were intentionally designed to be the space-equivalent of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|Dwarfs]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]].

They were introduced in the [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|First Edition]] of [[Warhammer 40,000]] as a separate army to the various Imperial forces (being fiercely independent), and were mentioned sparingly thereafter until they were written out of the background (hence the term "squatted"), but the [[Warhammer 40,000 6th edition|Sixth Edition]] rulebook has written them back in again and in Necromunda [[Squats#2022: Squats are back on the menu|they actually have models]]. And in [[Warhammer 40,000 9th edition|Ninth Edition]] finally made a [[Leagues of Votann|triumphant return]].

They are morphologically very similar to Ratlings but have the inferior eyesight one would expect of a race adapted to low-light and/or interior conditions (where nothing to be looked at is ever very far away), as well as the increased [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|musculature]] and robustness to be expected of an environment harsher than Terra. Where Squats seem to be more adapted to hunting and gathering, Ratlings are more adapted to farming.

And in the new Votann lore we learn that they originated from cloning, with their ancestors using "cloneskeins" to modify their bodies, leading to their current body, and even neutering their psychic presence to avoid Chaos, making them almost invisible to them like the Tau. And, unlike the greater Imperium, their society is centered around the [[Votann]], AI supercomputers which they get their name from. And are kept secret for [[Adeptus Mechanicus|obvious reasons]].

=== [[Afriel Strain]]s ===
''Homo sapiens maledictis''

Afriel Strains were the byproduct of the Imperium trying to create the [[Mary Sue|'Ultimate Human']] via a shadowy experimental process which used genetic material from a number of the Imperium's greatest heroes to, [[Fabius Bile|in effect, make clones of them.]] While this may sound [[Awesome]] in theory, the Strains themselves...[[Lamenters|seem to suffer a severe case of bad luck.]] The amount of genetic tempering has effectively made the Afriel Strain a new sub-species of human. Whether they are allowed to do their [[/d/|'business']] and see whether the genes can pass on is unknown.

Despite this, the Afriel Strain project is still approved by the Imperium, by and large, and is still undergoing improvements to fix the...issue.

=== [[Gland War Veteran]]s ===
''Homo sapiens auctus glandulae''

Similar to the Afriel Strains, Gland War Veterans were humans that underwent severe genetic tempering to effectively combat and out-adapt the [[Tyranids]]. The term 'Gland War Veterans' is sometimes shortened to Glandies or Gland Warriors; they were made by the [[Mechanicus]] of the [[Magos|Biologis Magi]] in order to create a new human sub-species to effectively kill Tyranids without needing to waste more human lives. Woah, wait..not waste human lives? Yeah, the Tyranids are such a huge threat that against them, human life (literally cheaper than actual currency) is so valuable the Mechboys are willing to throw serious resources into preserving as many soldiers as possible in combat.

While still in its experimental phase, the [[Techpriest|Tech Priests]] in charge are already looking forward in making more of them and further improving on their combat effectiveness. In case you were wondering, these guys are EXTREMELY effective. No information on their sanity.

=== [[Navigator]]s ===
''Homo navigo''

Navigators are a three-eyed, specialized group of psykers that helps guide Imperial Ships through the Warp (in fact, they were developed to enable Warp travel); although essentially vital for the Imperium's survival, some radical groups in the Imperium declare them to be heretical mutants. These guys are so different from the mainstream human, that they are actually classified as another species of the Human genus, and not a human subspecies, hence their scientific name. They also get their own house in the Houses of Terra within the Terran Administratum, which provides a large modicum of independent political clout within the Imperium and prevents them from being sacrificed to the Golden Throne.

Navigators are never any other kind of psyker (including being a [[Blank]]).

==Probably Natural==

These abhumans are extremely adapted for one specific world (with two big exceptions), which is how evolution works; one would expect the [[Dark Age of Technology]] to be capable of far more versatile adaptations. Typically, the only details we are given about them is their planet of origin.

=== [[Felinid]]s ===
''Homo sapiens hirsutus''

Thanks to 6th Edition, Imperial [[catgirl|catgirls]] are canon! They're found only on the planet [[Carlos McConnell]] and we know absolutely nothing about them whatsoever... which is quite disappointing, really. Judging by the Latin name, they are likely [[furry|furries]].

Affirmed to be of the Neko variety in Liber Xenologis. Thank the Emperor....

=== [[Perpetual]]s ===
''Homo [[Mary_Sue|superior]]''

A human that cannot die and is functionally immortal. If you believe [[Erda]]'s words, a Perpetual is a new species of Human, with the Emperor wishing to accelerate the evolution of standard Humanity into beings similar to Homo Superior and personally sought out every Perpetual on Earth for this task. Seeing as how she is a Master Geneticist, she may land some credibility. Perpetuals can also be Psykers, which is the only explicit confirmation of Abhuman psyker (excepting Navigators, though they are extreme specialists who were artificially engineered).

In fairness, this might not be abhuman so much as a more evolved human, as opposed to a side grade specialist.

=== [[Psyker#Imperium|Psyker]]s ===

''Homo sapiens psychicus'' (Presumed)

The most common strain of 'natural' abhumans are the Psykers. Considered a new fleeting species of Humanity that is yet too weak to fully shield itself from the [[Chaos|horrible gribblies of the]] [[Warp]]. Psykers are both despised ''and'' useful abhumans of the Imperium of Man, which no doubt creates some existential crisis and massive insecurity issues among these Psykers. Due to their (relative) abundance, Psykers have found many roles inside the Imperium when they are picked up from a roaming [[League of Blackships|Blackship]] from either the [[Inquisition]] or the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]]. This may include [[Astropath|Astropaths]] to guide the [[Imperial Navy]], [[Psyker Battle Squad|Sanctioned Psykers]] to be used and utilized in the [[Imperial Guard]], protecting the knowledge of a [[Space Marine]] Chapter as a [[Librarian|Librarian]], serve in [[Inquisition]] forces and even becoming a [[Inquisitor]] [[Gregor Eisenhorn|themselves.]] Those who got the short end of the stick becomes the [[Emprah|Emprah's]] [[Meatbread|psychic chow]] that is used to maintain the [[Astronomican]], though its probably the best an unstable psyker can hope for as they will be treated well, keep control and not be eaten by daemons upon death.

There's also a particularly rare form of psyker known as a [[blank]] which is essentially a Psyker in reverse, resisting or nullifying [[Warp]] energies.

=== [[Troth]]s ===
''Homo sapiens verdantus''

Only found on the world of [[Verdant]]; no other details known other than some claiming that they may be [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|plant people.]]

=== [[Neandor]]s ===
''Homo sapiens hyannothus''

Only found on the world of [[Hyannoth IV]]; no other details known other than their names, which may be a blatant reference to the extinct Neanderthals and thus, are basically space cavemen.

=== [[Scalies]] ===
''Homo sauromimus'' (Presumed)

Scalies are what happens when you mix an Ogryn with a Crocodile and launch the abomination down the deepest toilet hole. They often populate the underhive of Hive Worlds and are frequent bodyguards of [[Scavvies]] which are just poor hobos. They are so genetically unstable that their vox boxes have essentially twisted beyond proper human speech, only communicating via grunts or growls. Seriously, they are so far from the norm that they barely register as human, let alone a separate genetic caste.

They are like Killer Croc from Batman. Each of them can regenerate their limbs like a reptile if it is chopped off. They aren't fielded by the Imperial Guard due to their inability to effectively communicate and somewhat heretical mutations.

While they are found on many, distinct planets, they are only found in Hives, all of whom probably produce very similar waste, which the Scalies live in; combined with their ''lack'' of "stability" (i.e. having Scalies from different planets reliably breed true), they are what one would expect of natural evolution in an artificially similar environment.

=== [[Sub]]s ===
''Homo sapiens deformum''

Ghouls from [[Fallout]]. Intensely fuck ugly individuals born from the rankest shit possible. Similar to Beastmen in terms of persecution, but for some reason, their fuck ugliness is still somehow [[Wat|more stable than their furry counterpart.]]

=== [[Shadowkith]] ===
''Homo sapiens purpurapellis'' (Presumed)

Purple cannibals from the world of Grace in the Koronus Expanse. [[Meme|Probably behind the slaughter]].

==Probably Artificial==

These abhumans are adapted for a wide variety of worlds, and, critically, were found on multiple, distinct worlds; as evolution has an astronomically poor chance of producing results like this, odds are far better that the native population, in order to deal with problems brought about by the [[Age of Strife]], genetically tampered with themselves to survive, explaining why populations on similar but distant worlds would arrive at identical (or very similar) solutions.

=== [[Caryatid]]s ===
''Homo sapiens caeruleum''

Bizarre looking [[Wat|flying blue babies]] that may or may not be the original inspiration for the [[Cherubim]]. Often viewed by [[Necromunda|Necromundans]] in the same way as rabbit's feet. While classified under the genus and species of Homo sapiens, we aren't too sure whether it is an Abhuman or a Xenos.

=== [[Longshank]]s ===
''Homo sapiens longatus''

Longshanks are adapted for very low or zero gravity, such as would be expected on a damaged [[Imperial Navy|voidship]]. In appearance, the Longshanks are [[Indrick Boreale|bald]] with very pronounced eyes and have unnaturally long legs, when compared with baseline humans. May be an entire race of gingers if their name is any indication. Recently reappeared in the canon to be taken captive by Orks and then summarily executed by their [[Black Templar]] rescuers after assuming they were mutants. Later being chastised by their commanding officer over the incident and forbidden from harming any more of the prisoners. Its unknown if the offending marines faced any punishment.

=== [[Nightsider]]s ===
''Homo sapiens tenebris''

Nightsiders are abhumans adapted to live in the dark; not much else is known about them. They may have any of the adaptations one might expect in a low-light environment, such as [[Anime|overly large eyes]] to gather as much light as possible or vestigial eyes that have given up on sight altogether, and/or enhanced alternative senses to cope, such as sonar. As almost all dark environments are also cold, odds are very good they have some solution for this as well although this could be anything from thick, [[Nurgle|insulating fat]] and/or hair to having natural access to the Psyker discipline of Pyromancy, similar to how Navigators are stable psykers.

=== [[Ogryn]] ===
''Homo sapiens gigantus'' [[File:40k_ogryn.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Ogryn]]

Ogryn are transparently based on the archetypal fantasy [[ogre]]: big, strong, and dumb. They are useful as [[Imperial Guard]] shock troops because they are big enough to wreck the enemy and dumb enough to charge on command. They are resolutely loyal to their immediate superior officer, but this also makes it extremely easy to turn them to serving Chaos, as they will perform any command given to them if their commanders are persuasive enough, though their childlike faith in the God Emperor makes outright corrupting them harder.

Ogryn hail from high gravity worlds, where their large size is a major limiting factor (smaller creatures are much, much better at lifting more weight relative to their own, and everything is heavier on a high-gravity planet, including an organism's own body). As even a relatively small amount of time to genetically drift would realistically cause them to [[Ratling|shrink]] due to extreme selection for minimizing height, as well as get smarter (due to the same pressures that made stock humans get smarter in a hurry), the implication is that someone or [[Games Workshop|something]] (such as the Guard population or planetary AI) has been inducing their large size and low intelligence [[grimdark|to help keep them contained]]. Their adaptations make them naturally suitable for cold, low-gravity worlds, although their low intelligence makes them unlikely to thrive in any environment where they are responsible for feeding, sheltering, and/or clothing themselves.

=== [[Pelager]]s ===
''Homo sapiens oceanus''

Abhumans adapted for Ocean Worlds; possibly an attempt to bring back the [[Saharduin]], like the Demiurg are an attempt to bring back the [[Squats]]. Are described as basically being Aquatic Ogryn.

=== [[Ratling]]s ===
''Homo sapiens minimus''

Ratlings used to be space [[halfling]]s, but the latest edition miniatures give them hairy bare feet, making them look more like space [[Hobbits]] (though both archetypes have a fair amount of overlap). They are also noted kleptomaniacs, so they've got some space [[Kender]] in them, too. Their good eyesight and small size make them useful as snipers, but they are otherwise useless in a fight and their personal characteristics make them less than endearing to [[Imperial Guard]] leadership, though the Guardsmen themselves usually don't mind. Many Guardsmen are perfectly fine with trading with Ratlings for some [[Dakka|special equipment]] or extra rations, and they're well-known as the sorts of field cooks that can make three old rats, a handful of sawdust, and a stolen muddy boot taste downright '''edible'''. Also, they tend to [[Slaanesh|shag like bunnies]].

Taken together, their adaptations make them excellent at surviving on hot, high-gravity worlds with scarce access to food, particularly a damaged [[Imperial Navy|voidship]], where they would also be adapted to tight living quarters.

==Unknown==
=== [[Beastmen (40k)|Beastmen]] ===
''Homo sapiens variatus''

Beastmen are on their way to being declared [[Mutant#Warhammer_40,000|mutant]]s; as it is, the [[Adeptus Arbites]] has basically declared them an underclass, preventing them from traveling to most planets and excluding them from the [[Imperial Guard]] unless they're willing to be cannon fodder--something which many of them view as their chance to atone for the [[Grimdark|crime of being born as mutants]]. This will probably be for the best, since their [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] counterparts are one of the major parts of the armies of [[Chaos]], but one wonders if the 40K beastmen would be less likely to fall to Chaos if the Imperium made them feel just a little welcome.

All Beastmen which have not been mutated by Chaos are morphologically similar, having a basic human body type modified to have the head and lower legs of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammal from Earth]; one can assume they also possess internal changes, such as a 4-chambered stomach. However, they exhibit widespread diversity within that category, leading to their common consideration of being [[mutant]]s. As these adaptations "merely" adapt the organism to being better at running, jumping, and being able to digest cellulose while sacrificing proficiency at climbing but Beastmen are found on many worlds throughout the Imperium, they would seem to be artificial if not for the fact that one would expect far better of the [[Dark Age of Technology]] than, for example, needing to include horns in order to accomplish digesting grass. Their most likely origin is being artificial but not for the standard reason (like Ogryn seem to be), in particular due to possible interference by nonhumans, such as [[Chaos]] or [[Dark Eldar]], both of whom are notorious for genetically tampering with human populations for their [[Troll|own ends]].

=== [[Centaur]]s ===
Occupying the deep gray end of canon, the short story ''Children of the Emperor'' from the anthology '''Into the Malestrom''' features a guardsman stranded on a lost, feral world with super-high gravity, populated by abhumans whose ancestors gave themselves centaur bodies and super-enhanced muscles to cope with high gravity and abundance of deadly predators. He gets involved with a struggle between the Emperor-worshipping locals and a [[Khorne|Khornate]] [[heresy]], but the best he can do is to report to the Imperium when he escapes that the planet is feral, too dangerous & resource poor to colonize, and houses only some unimportant alien species, thus preventing the loyalists from being slaughtered as mutants by more Puritanical Imperials.

===Fenrisian Ice Fiend===
Twice as tall as a Space Marine and with acid for blood, these beings are said to be smaller relatives of Ice Trolls on Fenris. If Ice Trolls are either degenerated mutant populations like Trolls in Warhammer Fabtasy or genetically engineered from human stock, then that would mean, if they're related to the Ice Trolls, that Ice Fiends are also Abhumans, technically. Of course, being feral giant killing machines with acid blood which are described as being like a Yeti Berserker probably means the Administratum won't sanction them.

===Giants===
It is said that, much like how Trolls exist on Fenris, so do Giants. These creatures were once lead by Ur-Bolg, before Throth Half-head of the Space Wolves decapitated him. If they look the same as Giants in Warhammer Fantasy, odds are they're a type of Abhuman, probably genetically engineered in Fenris' ancient past as a Viking LARP group's wet dream. Since they were in direct conflict with the Space Wolves, they probably aren't in good graces with the Imperium, and as such probably won't be sanctioned anytime soon. Plus, the Imperium isn't known to care about the welfare of its Abhuman populations beyond coordinating sending them to some backwater warzone to die in battle to atone for their "genetic imperfections", so as useful as Giants would be as monsters for Fenrisian armies, the problem would arise from having to find FOOD for these huge beings as they're transported from planet to planet, along with how to put them down quickly and efficiently if they go rogue. A Commissar's boltgun won't be as effective against a literal giant. Unpleasant, but not instantly fatal like with a fleeing coward guardsman.

===Stiltlimbs===
This race of abhumans is noted as first appearing in the Age of Strife. Other than that, very little is known of them.

===Tohruk===
Debased and brutal cousins of the Ogryn, who have enacted a dark Pact with the Night Lords Chaos Space Marines.

===Ice Troll===
Native to Fenris as well. If they're like the origin of the Trolls in Warhammer Fantasy, then they're a Warp-Twisted Mutant population that eventually stabilized into a race of regenerating, Ogryn-sized beasts with the intelligence of a mentally-challenged gorilla. Otherwise, they could possibly be genetically engineered, possibly from human stock, like maybe the Fenrisian Giant? Much like the Fenrisian Giant and Ice Fiend, the Ice Trolls, despite being intelligent enough to have had multiple warlord "kings" pop up in the background lore to promptly be killed by Space Wolf characters to make them look cooler, probably means they reject Imperial Authority, and as such won't be given Sanctioning.

===Amphi===
This race of Abhumans from the world of Lampra are known to have shape-shifting abilities. This makes them yet another shape-shifting species in Warhammer 40K like the Simulacra, the Lacrymole, or those members of the Assassinorum who utiliize Polymorphine.

===Drepanes===
These abhumans from the world of Azetium IV are noted as having heads similar to sickles. What this means is unknown. A more deadly version of the Coneheads? Sickle-like beaks?

===Lazul===
A race of blue-skinned abhumans from the planet Garganus Prime. Other than that, little is known of them. The blue-man group in space? An entire race of Cad Banes? Slutty exotic harems for Pleasure Worlds like the Asari, Twi'lek, or Orion? Who knows.

===Thrix===
Apparently these abhumans have "lethal plumage". Maybe some sort of birdman abhuman with poison-exuding or razor sharp feathers?

===[[Katana|Katara]]===
The Katara were a species of Abhumans encountered during the Great Crusade.

An insular and honor-bound civilization that had evolved in the Kenuit System during the Age of Strife, they were tall, sunken-eyed, and extremely thin but graceful. Their cities spread beneath the ground of their moons and planets in vast networks of tunnels, and while technologically sophisticated they only used their skill to build cities, ships, and weaponry. [[Weeaboo|Ritual wars and duels were one of the primary aspects of their culture, primarily used to settle social discourse from art and philosophy to war and politics.]]

During the Great Crusade, the Katarans were encountered by the Emperor's Children and after several skirmishes ultimately chose to have their fate decided by a duel between their champion Hamaya and the Astartes commander Abdemon. [[Japan|After Abdemon emerged victorious, the honorable Katarans committed mass suicide rather than serve as a permanently oppressed underclass to the Imperium's purebred humans on their own homeworlds.]] Of course, given what Abhumans or even just regular humans of the Imperium have to put up with every day in the present, [[Grimdark|some might even say that the Katarans made the logical choice.]]

Not the least bit related to that chick from [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]].

== DIY Abhumans ==
Rather surprisingly (considering how much creative freedom 40K typically offers), options for making your own abhuman breeds are actually quite limited, almost to the point of hardly being allowed at all. To recap, in the Imperium there are only 73 officially recognized abhuman breeds. 46 of those are declared extinct, and 12 more are believed extinct due to lack of contact. Only 15 abhuman breeds are officially alive and active in the Imperium of 40K, and 12 of those are named: Navigators, Beastmen, Ogryn, Ratlings, Squats, Nightsiders, Troths, Longshanks, Pelagers, Felinids, Scalies, and Neandors. That leaves ''only 3'' officially open slots for DIY abhumans.

Now, you could quibble on which breeds belong where on the list, or even if some should or shouldn't be on it all, and how many free slots there actually are, but the end result still leaves little to no wiggle room for converters and fan-fluff writers that want to make their own thing while sticking to the lore.

Then again, you could always just say "fuck it" and go ahead with a fan-creation, regardless of the official numbers, on the assumption that the [[Games Workshop|Administratum]] just got their paperwork wrong. [[Squats|It's not like that hasn't happened before]].

{{Imperium}}
{{Important Species in 40k}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]

Abhuman

2023-02-26T05:16:10Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D: /* Giants */

[[File:Sharkabs.jpg|300px|thumb|right|They call them "Ab"humans for a reason.]]

'''Abhuman''' (from ''ab-'', "of, from, away from," ''human'') is a term used in the [[Imperium of Man]] to refer to a stable-breeding subspecies of [[humanity]]. Although their physiology and mentality would be so different that they should technically be classified as a whole different species altogether. Officially, they are not considered [[mutant]]s by virtue of their breed stability, but they are generally not treated the same way as "normal" humans. Civilian abhumans are almost always an underclass on other worlds, and when [[Imperial Guard]] regiments are raised from abhuman worlds as part of the Imperial Tithe they tend to be broken up into individual companies, platoons, or squads that are then attached to other regiments as auxiliary troops. Though, this is usually because most abhumans that qualify for Guard service are either [[ogryn|too stupid]], [[Beastmen (40k)|too undisciplined]], [[ratling|too specialized]], or [[Felinid|aren't numerous enough]] to maintain their own independent regiments. The Imperium recognises at least 70 different strains of permitted abhuman, with more than half of these being extinct in the modern day.

So far as is known, none of the abhuman strains below are compatible with [[Space Marine]] implants, while all are compatible with the Psyker gene. Space Marines themselves are considered dubiously human in some circles, but since they don't breed, their inhumanity is the result of postnatal modifications, and they're all 8 foot tall killing machines that carry automatic armor-piercing grenade launchers, they don't count as abhumans. [[Heresy|Or else]]. Of course we don’t even know if Astartes are genetically dissimilar from normal humans beyond the Progenoid adding and tweaking genes to allow for the other implants to be accepted. The other implants just change how the body behaves in a certain way. So, they might genetically not be notably dissimilar enough to be anything other than homo sapiens sapiens. [[Adeptus Custodes|The Custodes]] however...

== Origins ==
Humanity's characteristics are influenced by the conditions in which it grew up, including gravity, climate, and diet. If a population were isolated in a different environment for a long enough time, their distant descendants would be adapted to those new conditions.

During the [[Dark Age of Technology]], humanity spread to the stars, first with slower-than-light colony ships, and then with [[Warp]] drives after the discovery of the [[Navigator]]s. Some of their destination planets were very different from Earth, and when humanity entered the [[Age of Strife]] with the collapse of the old government, the inhabitants of these worlds were cut off from other colonies (it is known that Gene Wars were fought between various governments made up of people that couldn't really be considered human anymore during the Age of Strife); when contact was restored during the [[Great Crusade]] (or even later), their gene pools had diverged so far from the baseline that they could almost be classified as separate species. The Imperium spared them, though, because while they were clearly not pure humans, they were useful and no more prone to mutation than any other human. As humanity had ready access to genetic engineering in that era, it can be difficult to distinguish natural evolution from artificial enhancement in many cases, as Games Workshop does not usually reveal the necessary details.

The Horus Heresy novels mentioned that even during the high point of abhuman tolerance, formerly human populations have been purged due to achieving certain (high) levels of genetic "deviancy". The natives of Davin were shaggy creatures that were close to it, though Chaos may have had a hand in that, unbeknown to the Imperials.

Abhumans can be loosely categorized by the nature of their origin.

==Definitely Artificial==

These abhumans are definitively known to have been manufactured at some point. In the case of the Afriel Strain and Gland War Veterans, though, their actual status as true abhumans is a bit iffy, as it's unclear just how many of their augmented traits (if any) are genetically transferrable, and their populations are closer to (dwindling) engineered batches rather than self-sustaining breeds.

=== [[Squat|The Kin]] ===
''Homo sapiens rotundus''

The Kin, or Squats as they are called in Necromunda, grew up on high-gravity mineral-rich worlds near the core of the galaxy and became adapted to be short, robustly built, and adept miners. If this sounds familiar, it's because they were intentionally designed to be the space-equivalent of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|Dwarfs]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]].

They were introduced in the [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|First Edition]] of [[Warhammer 40,000]] as a separate army to the various Imperial forces (being fiercely independent), and were mentioned sparingly thereafter until they were written out of the background (hence the term "squatted"), but the [[Warhammer 40,000 6th edition|Sixth Edition]] rulebook has written them back in again and in Necromunda [[Squats#2022: Squats are back on the menu|they actually have models]]. And in [[Warhammer 40,000 9th edition|Ninth Edition]] finally made a [[Leagues of Votann|triumphant return]].

They are morphologically very similar to Ratlings but have the inferior eyesight one would expect of a race adapted to low-light and/or interior conditions (where nothing to be looked at is ever very far away), as well as the increased [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|musculature]] and robustness to be expected of an environment harsher than Terra. Where Squats seem to be more adapted to hunting and gathering, Ratlings are more adapted to farming.

And in the new Votann lore we learn that they originated from cloning, with their ancestors using "cloneskeins" to modify their bodies, leading to their current body, and even neutering their psychic presence to avoid Chaos, making them almost invisible to them like the Tau. And, unlike the greater Imperium, their society is centered around the [[Votann]], AI supercomputers which they get their name from. And are kept secret for [[Adeptus Mechanicus|obvious reasons]].

=== [[Afriel Strain]]s ===
''Homo sapiens maledictis''

Afriel Strains were the byproduct of the Imperium trying to create the [[Mary Sue|'Ultimate Human']] via a shadowy experimental process which used genetic material from a number of the Imperium's greatest heroes to, [[Fabius Bile|in effect, make clones of them.]] While this may sound [[Awesome]] in theory, the Strains themselves...[[Lamenters|seem to suffer a severe case of bad luck.]] The amount of genetic tempering has effectively made the Afriel Strain a new sub-species of human. Whether they are allowed to do their [[/d/|'business']] and see whether the genes can pass on is unknown.

Despite this, the Afriel Strain project is still approved by the Imperium, by and large, and is still undergoing improvements to fix the...issue.

=== [[Gland War Veteran]]s ===
''Homo sapiens auctus glandulae''

Similar to the Afriel Strains, Gland War Veterans were humans that underwent severe genetic tempering to effectively combat and out-adapt the [[Tyranids]]. The term 'Gland War Veterans' is sometimes shortened to Glandies or Gland Warriors; they were made by the [[Mechanicus]] of the [[Magos|Biologis Magi]] in order to create a new human sub-species to effectively kill Tyranids without needing to waste more human lives. Woah, wait..not waste human lives? Yeah, the Tyranids are such a huge threat that against them, human life (literally cheaper than actual currency) is so valuable the Mechboys are willing to throw serious resources into preserving as many soldiers as possible in combat.

While still in its experimental phase, the [[Techpriest|Tech Priests]] in charge are already looking forward in making more of them and further improving on their combat effectiveness. In case you were wondering, these guys are EXTREMELY effective. No information on their sanity.

=== [[Navigator]]s ===
''Homo navigo''

Navigators are a three-eyed, specialized group of psykers that helps guide Imperial Ships through the Warp (in fact, they were developed to enable Warp travel); although essentially vital for the Imperium's survival, some radical groups in the Imperium declare them to be heretical mutants. These guys are so different from the mainstream human, that they are actually classified as another species of the Human genus, and not a human subspecies, hence their scientific name. They also get their own house in the Houses of Terra within the Terran Administratum, which provides a large modicum of independent political clout within the Imperium and prevents them from being sacrificed to the Golden Throne.

Navigators are never any other kind of psyker (including being a [[Blank]]).

==Probably Natural==

These abhumans are extremely adapted for one specific world (with two big exceptions), which is how evolution works; one would expect the [[Dark Age of Technology]] to be capable of far more versatile adaptations. Typically, the only details we are given about them is their planet of origin.

=== [[Felinid]]s ===
''Homo sapiens hirsutus''

Thanks to 6th Edition, Imperial [[catgirl|catgirls]] are canon! They're found only on the planet [[Carlos McConnell]] and we know absolutely nothing about them whatsoever... which is quite disappointing, really. Judging by the Latin name, they are likely [[furry|furries]].

Affirmed to be of the Neko variety in Liber Xenologis. Thank the Emperor....

=== [[Perpetual]]s ===
''Homo [[Mary_Sue|superior]]''

A human that cannot die and is functionally immortal. If you believe [[Erda]]'s words, a Perpetual is a new species of Human, with the Emperor wishing to accelerate the evolution of standard Humanity into beings similar to Homo Superior and personally sought out every Perpetual on Earth for this task. Seeing as how she is a Master Geneticist, she may land some credibility. Perpetuals can also be Psykers, which is the only explicit confirmation of Abhuman psyker (excepting Navigators, though they are extreme specialists who were artificially engineered).

In fairness, this might not be abhuman so much as a more evolved human, as opposed to a side grade specialist.

=== [[Psyker#Imperium|Psyker]]s ===

''Homo sapiens psychicus'' (Presumed)

The most common strain of 'natural' abhumans are the Psykers. Considered a new fleeting species of Humanity that is yet too weak to fully shield itself from the [[Chaos|horrible gribblies of the]] [[Warp]]. Psykers are both despised ''and'' useful abhumans of the Imperium of Man, which no doubt creates some existential crisis and massive insecurity issues among these Psykers. Due to their (relative) abundance, Psykers have found many roles inside the Imperium when they are picked up from a roaming [[League of Blackships|Blackship]] from either the [[Inquisition]] or the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]]. This may include [[Astropath|Astropaths]] to guide the [[Imperial Navy]], [[Psyker Battle Squad|Sanctioned Psykers]] to be used and utilized in the [[Imperial Guard]], protecting the knowledge of a [[Space Marine]] Chapter as a [[Librarian|Librarian]], serve in [[Inquisition]] forces and even becoming a [[Inquisitor]] [[Gregor Eisenhorn|themselves.]] Those who got the short end of the stick becomes the [[Emprah|Emprah's]] [[Meatbread|psychic chow]] that is used to maintain the [[Astronomican]], though its probably the best an unstable psyker can hope for as they will be treated well, keep control and not be eaten by daemons upon death.

There's also a particularly rare form of psyker known as a [[blank]] which is essentially a Psyker in reverse, resisting or nullifying [[Warp]] energies.

=== [[Troth]]s ===
''Homo sapiens verdantus''

Only found on the world of [[Verdant]]; no other details known other than some claiming that they may be [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|plant people.]]

=== [[Neandor]]s ===
''Homo sapiens hyannothus''

Only found on the world of [[Hyannoth IV]]; no other details known other than their names, which may be a blatant reference to the extinct Neanderthals and thus, are basically space cavemen.

=== [[Scalies]] ===
''Homo sauromimus'' (Presumed)

Scalies are what happens when you mix an Ogryn with a Crocodile and launch the abomination down the deepest toilet hole. They often populate the underhive of Hive Worlds and are frequent bodyguards of [[Scavvies]] which are just poor hobos. They are so genetically unstable that their vox boxes have essentially twisted beyond proper human speech, only communicating via grunts or growls. Seriously, they are so far from the norm that they barely register as human, let alone a separate genetic caste.

They are like Killer Croc from Batman. Each of them can regenerate their limbs like a reptile if it is chopped off. They aren't fielded by the Imperial Guard due to their inability to effectively communicate and somewhat heretical mutations.

While they are found on many, distinct planets, they are only found in Hives, all of whom probably produce very similar waste, which the Scalies live in; combined with their ''lack'' of "stability" (i.e. having Scalies from different planets reliably breed true), they are what one would expect of natural evolution in an artificially similar environment.

=== [[Sub]]s ===
''Homo sapiens deformum''

Ghouls from [[Fallout]]. Intensely fuck ugly individuals born from the rankest shit possible. Similar to Beastmen in terms of persecution, but for some reason, their fuck ugliness is still somehow [[Wat|more stable than their furry counterpart.]]

=== [[Shadowkith]] ===
''Homo sapiens purpurapellis'' (Presumed)

Purple cannibals from the world of Grace in the Koronus Expanse. [[Meme|Probably behind the slaughter]].

==Probably Artificial==

These abhumans are adapted for a wide variety of worlds, and, critically, were found on multiple, distinct worlds; as evolution has an astronomically poor chance of producing results like this, odds are far better that the native population, in order to deal with problems brought about by the [[Age of Strife]], genetically tampered with themselves to survive, explaining why populations on similar but distant worlds would arrive at identical (or very similar) solutions.

=== [[Caryatid]]s ===
''Homo sapiens caeruleum''

Bizarre looking [[Wat|flying blue babies]] that may or may not be the original inspiration for the [[Cherubim]]. Often viewed by [[Necromunda|Necromundans]] in the same way as rabbit's feet. While classified under the genus and species of Homo sapiens, we aren't too sure whether it is an Abhuman or a Xenos.

=== [[Longshank]]s ===
''Homo sapiens longatus''

Longshanks are adapted for very low or zero gravity, such as would be expected on a damaged [[Imperial Navy|voidship]]. In appearance, the Longshanks are [[Indrick Boreale|bald]] with very pronounced eyes and have unnaturally long legs, when compared with baseline humans. May be an entire race of gingers if their name is any indication. Recently reappeared in the canon to be taken captive by Orks and then summarily executed by their [[Black Templar]] rescuers after assuming they were mutants. Later being chastised by their commanding officer over the incident and forbidden from harming any more of the prisoners. Its unknown if the offending marines faced any punishment.

=== [[Nightsider]]s ===
''Homo sapiens tenebris''

Nightsiders are abhumans adapted to live in the dark; not much else is known about them. They may have any of the adaptations one might expect in a low-light environment, such as [[Anime|overly large eyes]] to gather as much light as possible or vestigial eyes that have given up on sight altogether, and/or enhanced alternative senses to cope, such as sonar. As almost all dark environments are also cold, odds are very good they have some solution for this as well although this could be anything from thick, [[Nurgle|insulating fat]] and/or hair to having natural access to the Psyker discipline of Pyromancy, similar to how Navigators are stable psykers.

=== [[Ogryn]] ===
''Homo sapiens gigantus'' [[File:40k_ogryn.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Ogryn]]

Ogryn are transparently based on the archetypal fantasy [[ogre]]: big, strong, and dumb. They are useful as [[Imperial Guard]] shock troops because they are big enough to wreck the enemy and dumb enough to charge on command. They are resolutely loyal to their immediate superior officer, but this also makes it extremely easy to turn them to serving Chaos, as they will perform any command given to them if their commanders are persuasive enough, though their childlike faith in the God Emperor makes outright corrupting them harder.

Ogryn hail from high gravity worlds, where their large size is a major limiting factor (smaller creatures are much, much better at lifting more weight relative to their own, and everything is heavier on a high-gravity planet, including an organism's own body). As even a relatively small amount of time to genetically drift would realistically cause them to [[Ratling|shrink]] due to extreme selection for minimizing height, as well as get smarter (due to the same pressures that made stock humans get smarter in a hurry), the implication is that someone or [[Games Workshop|something]] (such as the Guard population or planetary AI) has been inducing their large size and low intelligence [[grimdark|to help keep them contained]]. Their adaptations make them naturally suitable for cold, low-gravity worlds, although their low intelligence makes them unlikely to thrive in any environment where they are responsible for feeding, sheltering, and/or clothing themselves.

=== [[Pelager]]s ===
''Homo sapiens oceanus''

Abhumans adapted for Ocean Worlds; possibly an attempt to bring back the [[Saharduin]], like the Demiurg are an attempt to bring back the [[Squats]]. Are described as basically being Aquatic Ogryn.

=== [[Ratling]]s ===
''Homo sapiens minimus''

Ratlings used to be space [[halfling]]s, but the latest edition miniatures give them hairy bare feet, making them look more like space [[Hobbits]] (though both archetypes have a fair amount of overlap). They are also noted kleptomaniacs, so they've got some space [[Kender]] in them, too. Their good eyesight and small size make them useful as snipers, but they are otherwise useless in a fight and their personal characteristics make them less than endearing to [[Imperial Guard]] leadership, though the Guardsmen themselves usually don't mind. Many Guardsmen are perfectly fine with trading with Ratlings for some [[Dakka|special equipment]] or extra rations, and they're well-known as the sorts of field cooks that can make three old rats, a handful of sawdust, and a stolen muddy boot taste downright '''edible'''. Also, they tend to [[Slaanesh|shag like bunnies]].

Taken together, their adaptations make them excellent at surviving on hot, high-gravity worlds with scarce access to food, particularly a damaged [[Imperial Navy|voidship]], where they would also be adapted to tight living quarters.

==Unknown==
=== [[Beastmen (40k)|Beastmen]] ===
''Homo sapiens variatus''

Beastmen are on their way to being declared [[Mutant#Warhammer_40,000|mutant]]s; as it is, the [[Adeptus Arbites]] has basically declared them an underclass, preventing them from traveling to most planets and excluding them from the [[Imperial Guard]] unless they're willing to be cannon fodder--something which many of them view as their chance to atone for the [[Grimdark|crime of being born as mutants]]. This will probably be for the best, since their [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] counterparts are one of the major parts of the armies of [[Chaos]], but one wonders if the 40K beastmen would be less likely to fall to Chaos if the Imperium made them feel just a little welcome.

All Beastmen which have not been mutated by Chaos are morphologically similar, having a basic human body type modified to have the head and lower legs of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammal from Earth]; one can assume they also possess internal changes, such as a 4-chambered stomach. However, they exhibit widespread diversity within that category, leading to their common consideration of being [[mutant]]s. As these adaptations "merely" adapt the organism to being better at running, jumping, and being able to digest cellulose while sacrificing proficiency at climbing but Beastmen are found on many worlds throughout the Imperium, they would seem to be artificial if not for the fact that one would expect far better of the [[Dark Age of Technology]] than, for example, needing to include horns in order to accomplish digesting grass. Their most likely origin is being artificial but not for the standard reason (like Ogryn seem to be), in particular due to possible interference by nonhumans, such as [[Chaos]] or [[Dark Eldar]], both of whom are notorious for genetically tampering with human populations for their [[Troll|own ends]].

=== [[Centaur]]s ===
Occupying the deep gray end of canon, the short story ''Children of the Emperor'' from the anthology '''Into the Malestrom''' features a guardsman stranded on a lost, feral world with super-high gravity, populated by abhumans whose ancestors gave themselves centaur bodies and super-enhanced muscles to cope with high gravity and abundance of deadly predators. He gets involved with a struggle between the Emperor-worshipping locals and a [[Khorne|Khornate]] [[heresy]], but the best he can do is to report to the Imperium when he escapes that the planet is feral, too dangerous & resource poor to colonize, and houses only some unimportant alien species, thus preventing the loyalists from being slaughtered as mutants by more Puritanical Imperials.

===Fenrisian Ice Fiend===
Twice as tall as a Space Marine and with acid for blood, these beings are said to be smaller relatives of Ice Trolls on Fenris. If Ice Trolls are either degenerated mutant populations like Trolls in Warhammer Fabtasy or genetically engineered from human stock, then that would mean, if they're related to the Ice Trolls, that Ice Fiends are also Abhumans, technically. Of course, being feral giant killing machines with acid blood which are described as being like a Yeti Berserker probably means the Administratum won't sanction them.

===Giants===
It is said that, much like how Trolls exist on Fenris, so do Giants. These creatures were once lead by Ur-Bolg, before Throth Half-head of the Space Wolves decapitated him. If they look the same as Giants in Warhammer Fantasy, odds are they're a type of Abhuman, probably genetically engineered in Fenris' ancient past as a Viking LARP group's wet dream. Since they were in direct conflict with the Space Wolves, they probably aren't in good graces with the Imperium, and as such probably won't be sanctioned anytime soon. Plus, the Imperium isn't known to care about the welfare of its Abhuman populations beyond coordinating sending them to some backwater warzone to die in battle to atone for their "genetic imperfections", so as useful as Giants would be as monsters for Fenrisian armies, the problem would arise from having to find FOOD for these huge beings as they're transported from planet to planet, along with how to put them down quickly and efficiently if they go rogue. A Commissar's boltgun won't be as effective against a literal giant. Unpleasant, but not instantly fatal like with a fleeing coward guardsman.

===Stiltlimbs===
This race of abhumans is noted as first appearing in the Age of Strife. Other than that, very little is known of them.

===Tohruk===
Debased and brutal cousins of the Ogryn, who have enacted a dark Pact with the Night Lords Chaos Space Marines.

===Ice Troll===
Native to Fenris as well. If they're like the origin of the Trolls in Warhammer Fantasy, then they're a Warp-Twisted Mutant population that eventually stabilized into a race of regenerating, Ogryn-sized beasts with the intelligence of a mentally-challenged gorilla. Otherwise, they could possibly be genetically engineered, possibly from human stock, like maybe the Fenrisian Giant?

===Amphi===
This race of Abhumans from the world of Lampra are known to have shape-shifting abilities. This makes them yet another shape-shifting species in Warhammer 40K like the Simulacra, the Lacrymole, or those members of the Assassinorum who utiliize Polymorphine.

===Drepanes===
These abhumans from the world of Azetium IV are noted as having heads similar to sickles. What this means is unknown. A more deadly version of the Coneheads? Sickle-like beaks?

===Lazul===
A race of blue-skinned abhumans from the planet Garganus Prime. Other than that, little is known of them. The blue-man group in space? An entire race of Cad Banes? Slutty exotic harems for Pleasure Worlds like the Asari, Twi'lek, or Orion? Who knows.

===Thrix===
Apparently these abhumans have "lethal plumage". Maybe some sort of birdman abhuman with poison-exuding or razor sharp feathers?

===[[Katana|Katara]]===
The Katara were a species of Abhumans encountered during the Great Crusade.

An insular and honor-bound civilization that had evolved in the Kenuit System during the Age of Strife, they were tall, sunken-eyed, and extremely thin but graceful. Their cities spread beneath the ground of their moons and planets in vast networks of tunnels, and while technologically sophisticated they only used their skill to build cities, ships, and weaponry. [[Weeaboo|Ritual wars and duels were one of the primary aspects of their culture, primarily used to settle social discourse from art and philosophy to war and politics.]]

During the Great Crusade, the Katarans were encountered by the Emperor's Children and after several skirmishes ultimately chose to have their fate decided by a duel between their champion Hamaya and the Astartes commander Abdemon. [[Japan|After Abdemon emerged victorious, the honorable Katarans committed mass suicide rather than serve as a permanently oppressed underclass to the Imperium's purebred humans on their own homeworlds.]] Of course, given what Abhumans or even just regular humans of the Imperium have to put up with every day in the present, [[Grimdark|some might even say that the Katarans made the logical choice.]]

Not the least bit related to that chick from [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]].

== DIY Abhumans ==
Rather surprisingly (considering how much creative freedom 40K typically offers), options for making your own abhuman breeds are actually quite limited, almost to the point of hardly being allowed at all. To recap, in the Imperium there are only 73 officially recognized abhuman breeds. 46 of those are declared extinct, and 12 more are believed extinct due to lack of contact. Only 15 abhuman breeds are officially alive and active in the Imperium of 40K, and 12 of those are named: Navigators, Beastmen, Ogryn, Ratlings, Squats, Nightsiders, Troths, Longshanks, Pelagers, Felinids, Scalies, and Neandors. That leaves ''only 3'' officially open slots for DIY abhumans.

Now, you could quibble on which breeds belong where on the list, or even if some should or shouldn't be on it all, and how many free slots there actually are, but the end result still leaves little to no wiggle room for converters and fan-fluff writers that want to make their own thing while sticking to the lore.

Then again, you could always just say "fuck it" and go ahead with a fan-creation, regardless of the official numbers, on the assumption that the [[Games Workshop|Administratum]] just got their paperwork wrong. [[Squats|It's not like that hasn't happened before]].

{{Imperium}}
{{Important Species in 40k}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]

Abhuman

2023-02-26T05:15:23Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D: /* Giants */

[[File:Sharkabs.jpg|300px|thumb|right|They call them "Ab"humans for a reason.]]

'''Abhuman''' (from ''ab-'', "of, from, away from," ''human'') is a term used in the [[Imperium of Man]] to refer to a stable-breeding subspecies of [[humanity]]. Although their physiology and mentality would be so different that they should technically be classified as a whole different species altogether. Officially, they are not considered [[mutant]]s by virtue of their breed stability, but they are generally not treated the same way as "normal" humans. Civilian abhumans are almost always an underclass on other worlds, and when [[Imperial Guard]] regiments are raised from abhuman worlds as part of the Imperial Tithe they tend to be broken up into individual companies, platoons, or squads that are then attached to other regiments as auxiliary troops. Though, this is usually because most abhumans that qualify for Guard service are either [[ogryn|too stupid]], [[Beastmen (40k)|too undisciplined]], [[ratling|too specialized]], or [[Felinid|aren't numerous enough]] to maintain their own independent regiments. The Imperium recognises at least 70 different strains of permitted abhuman, with more than half of these being extinct in the modern day.

So far as is known, none of the abhuman strains below are compatible with [[Space Marine]] implants, while all are compatible with the Psyker gene. Space Marines themselves are considered dubiously human in some circles, but since they don't breed, their inhumanity is the result of postnatal modifications, and they're all 8 foot tall killing machines that carry automatic armor-piercing grenade launchers, they don't count as abhumans. [[Heresy|Or else]]. Of course we don’t even know if Astartes are genetically dissimilar from normal humans beyond the Progenoid adding and tweaking genes to allow for the other implants to be accepted. The other implants just change how the body behaves in a certain way. So, they might genetically not be notably dissimilar enough to be anything other than homo sapiens sapiens. [[Adeptus Custodes|The Custodes]] however...

== Origins ==
Humanity's characteristics are influenced by the conditions in which it grew up, including gravity, climate, and diet. If a population were isolated in a different environment for a long enough time, their distant descendants would be adapted to those new conditions.

During the [[Dark Age of Technology]], humanity spread to the stars, first with slower-than-light colony ships, and then with [[Warp]] drives after the discovery of the [[Navigator]]s. Some of their destination planets were very different from Earth, and when humanity entered the [[Age of Strife]] with the collapse of the old government, the inhabitants of these worlds were cut off from other colonies (it is known that Gene Wars were fought between various governments made up of people that couldn't really be considered human anymore during the Age of Strife); when contact was restored during the [[Great Crusade]] (or even later), their gene pools had diverged so far from the baseline that they could almost be classified as separate species. The Imperium spared them, though, because while they were clearly not pure humans, they were useful and no more prone to mutation than any other human. As humanity had ready access to genetic engineering in that era, it can be difficult to distinguish natural evolution from artificial enhancement in many cases, as Games Workshop does not usually reveal the necessary details.

The Horus Heresy novels mentioned that even during the high point of abhuman tolerance, formerly human populations have been purged due to achieving certain (high) levels of genetic "deviancy". The natives of Davin were shaggy creatures that were close to it, though Chaos may have had a hand in that, unbeknown to the Imperials.

Abhumans can be loosely categorized by the nature of their origin.

==Definitely Artificial==

These abhumans are definitively known to have been manufactured at some point. In the case of the Afriel Strain and Gland War Veterans, though, their actual status as true abhumans is a bit iffy, as it's unclear just how many of their augmented traits (if any) are genetically transferrable, and their populations are closer to (dwindling) engineered batches rather than self-sustaining breeds.

=== [[Squat|The Kin]] ===
''Homo sapiens rotundus''

The Kin, or Squats as they are called in Necromunda, grew up on high-gravity mineral-rich worlds near the core of the galaxy and became adapted to be short, robustly built, and adept miners. If this sounds familiar, it's because they were intentionally designed to be the space-equivalent of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|Dwarfs]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]].

They were introduced in the [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|First Edition]] of [[Warhammer 40,000]] as a separate army to the various Imperial forces (being fiercely independent), and were mentioned sparingly thereafter until they were written out of the background (hence the term "squatted"), but the [[Warhammer 40,000 6th edition|Sixth Edition]] rulebook has written them back in again and in Necromunda [[Squats#2022: Squats are back on the menu|they actually have models]]. And in [[Warhammer 40,000 9th edition|Ninth Edition]] finally made a [[Leagues of Votann|triumphant return]].

They are morphologically very similar to Ratlings but have the inferior eyesight one would expect of a race adapted to low-light and/or interior conditions (where nothing to be looked at is ever very far away), as well as the increased [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|musculature]] and robustness to be expected of an environment harsher than Terra. Where Squats seem to be more adapted to hunting and gathering, Ratlings are more adapted to farming.

And in the new Votann lore we learn that they originated from cloning, with their ancestors using "cloneskeins" to modify their bodies, leading to their current body, and even neutering their psychic presence to avoid Chaos, making them almost invisible to them like the Tau. And, unlike the greater Imperium, their society is centered around the [[Votann]], AI supercomputers which they get their name from. And are kept secret for [[Adeptus Mechanicus|obvious reasons]].

=== [[Afriel Strain]]s ===
''Homo sapiens maledictis''

Afriel Strains were the byproduct of the Imperium trying to create the [[Mary Sue|'Ultimate Human']] via a shadowy experimental process which used genetic material from a number of the Imperium's greatest heroes to, [[Fabius Bile|in effect, make clones of them.]] While this may sound [[Awesome]] in theory, the Strains themselves...[[Lamenters|seem to suffer a severe case of bad luck.]] The amount of genetic tempering has effectively made the Afriel Strain a new sub-species of human. Whether they are allowed to do their [[/d/|'business']] and see whether the genes can pass on is unknown.

Despite this, the Afriel Strain project is still approved by the Imperium, by and large, and is still undergoing improvements to fix the...issue.

=== [[Gland War Veteran]]s ===
''Homo sapiens auctus glandulae''

Similar to the Afriel Strains, Gland War Veterans were humans that underwent severe genetic tempering to effectively combat and out-adapt the [[Tyranids]]. The term 'Gland War Veterans' is sometimes shortened to Glandies or Gland Warriors; they were made by the [[Mechanicus]] of the [[Magos|Biologis Magi]] in order to create a new human sub-species to effectively kill Tyranids without needing to waste more human lives. Woah, wait..not waste human lives? Yeah, the Tyranids are such a huge threat that against them, human life (literally cheaper than actual currency) is so valuable the Mechboys are willing to throw serious resources into preserving as many soldiers as possible in combat.

While still in its experimental phase, the [[Techpriest|Tech Priests]] in charge are already looking forward in making more of them and further improving on their combat effectiveness. In case you were wondering, these guys are EXTREMELY effective. No information on their sanity.

=== [[Navigator]]s ===
''Homo navigo''

Navigators are a three-eyed, specialized group of psykers that helps guide Imperial Ships through the Warp (in fact, they were developed to enable Warp travel); although essentially vital for the Imperium's survival, some radical groups in the Imperium declare them to be heretical mutants. These guys are so different from the mainstream human, that they are actually classified as another species of the Human genus, and not a human subspecies, hence their scientific name. They also get their own house in the Houses of Terra within the Terran Administratum, which provides a large modicum of independent political clout within the Imperium and prevents them from being sacrificed to the Golden Throne.

Navigators are never any other kind of psyker (including being a [[Blank]]).

==Probably Natural==

These abhumans are extremely adapted for one specific world (with two big exceptions), which is how evolution works; one would expect the [[Dark Age of Technology]] to be capable of far more versatile adaptations. Typically, the only details we are given about them is their planet of origin.

=== [[Felinid]]s ===
''Homo sapiens hirsutus''

Thanks to 6th Edition, Imperial [[catgirl|catgirls]] are canon! They're found only on the planet [[Carlos McConnell]] and we know absolutely nothing about them whatsoever... which is quite disappointing, really. Judging by the Latin name, they are likely [[furry|furries]].

Affirmed to be of the Neko variety in Liber Xenologis. Thank the Emperor....

=== [[Perpetual]]s ===
''Homo [[Mary_Sue|superior]]''

A human that cannot die and is functionally immortal. If you believe [[Erda]]'s words, a Perpetual is a new species of Human, with the Emperor wishing to accelerate the evolution of standard Humanity into beings similar to Homo Superior and personally sought out every Perpetual on Earth for this task. Seeing as how she is a Master Geneticist, she may land some credibility. Perpetuals can also be Psykers, which is the only explicit confirmation of Abhuman psyker (excepting Navigators, though they are extreme specialists who were artificially engineered).

In fairness, this might not be abhuman so much as a more evolved human, as opposed to a side grade specialist.

=== [[Psyker#Imperium|Psyker]]s ===

''Homo sapiens psychicus'' (Presumed)

The most common strain of 'natural' abhumans are the Psykers. Considered a new fleeting species of Humanity that is yet too weak to fully shield itself from the [[Chaos|horrible gribblies of the]] [[Warp]]. Psykers are both despised ''and'' useful abhumans of the Imperium of Man, which no doubt creates some existential crisis and massive insecurity issues among these Psykers. Due to their (relative) abundance, Psykers have found many roles inside the Imperium when they are picked up from a roaming [[League of Blackships|Blackship]] from either the [[Inquisition]] or the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]]. This may include [[Astropath|Astropaths]] to guide the [[Imperial Navy]], [[Psyker Battle Squad|Sanctioned Psykers]] to be used and utilized in the [[Imperial Guard]], protecting the knowledge of a [[Space Marine]] Chapter as a [[Librarian|Librarian]], serve in [[Inquisition]] forces and even becoming a [[Inquisitor]] [[Gregor Eisenhorn|themselves.]] Those who got the short end of the stick becomes the [[Emprah|Emprah's]] [[Meatbread|psychic chow]] that is used to maintain the [[Astronomican]], though its probably the best an unstable psyker can hope for as they will be treated well, keep control and not be eaten by daemons upon death.

There's also a particularly rare form of psyker known as a [[blank]] which is essentially a Psyker in reverse, resisting or nullifying [[Warp]] energies.

=== [[Troth]]s ===
''Homo sapiens verdantus''

Only found on the world of [[Verdant]]; no other details known other than some claiming that they may be [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|plant people.]]

=== [[Neandor]]s ===
''Homo sapiens hyannothus''

Only found on the world of [[Hyannoth IV]]; no other details known other than their names, which may be a blatant reference to the extinct Neanderthals and thus, are basically space cavemen.

=== [[Scalies]] ===
''Homo sauromimus'' (Presumed)

Scalies are what happens when you mix an Ogryn with a Crocodile and launch the abomination down the deepest toilet hole. They often populate the underhive of Hive Worlds and are frequent bodyguards of [[Scavvies]] which are just poor hobos. They are so genetically unstable that their vox boxes have essentially twisted beyond proper human speech, only communicating via grunts or growls. Seriously, they are so far from the norm that they barely register as human, let alone a separate genetic caste.

They are like Killer Croc from Batman. Each of them can regenerate their limbs like a reptile if it is chopped off. They aren't fielded by the Imperial Guard due to their inability to effectively communicate and somewhat heretical mutations.

While they are found on many, distinct planets, they are only found in Hives, all of whom probably produce very similar waste, which the Scalies live in; combined with their ''lack'' of "stability" (i.e. having Scalies from different planets reliably breed true), they are what one would expect of natural evolution in an artificially similar environment.

=== [[Sub]]s ===
''Homo sapiens deformum''

Ghouls from [[Fallout]]. Intensely fuck ugly individuals born from the rankest shit possible. Similar to Beastmen in terms of persecution, but for some reason, their fuck ugliness is still somehow [[Wat|more stable than their furry counterpart.]]

=== [[Shadowkith]] ===
''Homo sapiens purpurapellis'' (Presumed)

Purple cannibals from the world of Grace in the Koronus Expanse. [[Meme|Probably behind the slaughter]].

==Probably Artificial==

These abhumans are adapted for a wide variety of worlds, and, critically, were found on multiple, distinct worlds; as evolution has an astronomically poor chance of producing results like this, odds are far better that the native population, in order to deal with problems brought about by the [[Age of Strife]], genetically tampered with themselves to survive, explaining why populations on similar but distant worlds would arrive at identical (or very similar) solutions.

=== [[Caryatid]]s ===
''Homo sapiens caeruleum''

Bizarre looking [[Wat|flying blue babies]] that may or may not be the original inspiration for the [[Cherubim]]. Often viewed by [[Necromunda|Necromundans]] in the same way as rabbit's feet. While classified under the genus and species of Homo sapiens, we aren't too sure whether it is an Abhuman or a Xenos.

=== [[Longshank]]s ===
''Homo sapiens longatus''

Longshanks are adapted for very low or zero gravity, such as would be expected on a damaged [[Imperial Navy|voidship]]. In appearance, the Longshanks are [[Indrick Boreale|bald]] with very pronounced eyes and have unnaturally long legs, when compared with baseline humans. May be an entire race of gingers if their name is any indication. Recently reappeared in the canon to be taken captive by Orks and then summarily executed by their [[Black Templar]] rescuers after assuming they were mutants. Later being chastised by their commanding officer over the incident and forbidden from harming any more of the prisoners. Its unknown if the offending marines faced any punishment.

=== [[Nightsider]]s ===
''Homo sapiens tenebris''

Nightsiders are abhumans adapted to live in the dark; not much else is known about them. They may have any of the adaptations one might expect in a low-light environment, such as [[Anime|overly large eyes]] to gather as much light as possible or vestigial eyes that have given up on sight altogether, and/or enhanced alternative senses to cope, such as sonar. As almost all dark environments are also cold, odds are very good they have some solution for this as well although this could be anything from thick, [[Nurgle|insulating fat]] and/or hair to having natural access to the Psyker discipline of Pyromancy, similar to how Navigators are stable psykers.

=== [[Ogryn]] ===
''Homo sapiens gigantus'' [[File:40k_ogryn.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Ogryn]]

Ogryn are transparently based on the archetypal fantasy [[ogre]]: big, strong, and dumb. They are useful as [[Imperial Guard]] shock troops because they are big enough to wreck the enemy and dumb enough to charge on command. They are resolutely loyal to their immediate superior officer, but this also makes it extremely easy to turn them to serving Chaos, as they will perform any command given to them if their commanders are persuasive enough, though their childlike faith in the God Emperor makes outright corrupting them harder.

Ogryn hail from high gravity worlds, where their large size is a major limiting factor (smaller creatures are much, much better at lifting more weight relative to their own, and everything is heavier on a high-gravity planet, including an organism's own body). As even a relatively small amount of time to genetically drift would realistically cause them to [[Ratling|shrink]] due to extreme selection for minimizing height, as well as get smarter (due to the same pressures that made stock humans get smarter in a hurry), the implication is that someone or [[Games Workshop|something]] (such as the Guard population or planetary AI) has been inducing their large size and low intelligence [[grimdark|to help keep them contained]]. Their adaptations make them naturally suitable for cold, low-gravity worlds, although their low intelligence makes them unlikely to thrive in any environment where they are responsible for feeding, sheltering, and/or clothing themselves.

=== [[Pelager]]s ===
''Homo sapiens oceanus''

Abhumans adapted for Ocean Worlds; possibly an attempt to bring back the [[Saharduin]], like the Demiurg are an attempt to bring back the [[Squats]]. Are described as basically being Aquatic Ogryn.

=== [[Ratling]]s ===
''Homo sapiens minimus''

Ratlings used to be space [[halfling]]s, but the latest edition miniatures give them hairy bare feet, making them look more like space [[Hobbits]] (though both archetypes have a fair amount of overlap). They are also noted kleptomaniacs, so they've got some space [[Kender]] in them, too. Their good eyesight and small size make them useful as snipers, but they are otherwise useless in a fight and their personal characteristics make them less than endearing to [[Imperial Guard]] leadership, though the Guardsmen themselves usually don't mind. Many Guardsmen are perfectly fine with trading with Ratlings for some [[Dakka|special equipment]] or extra rations, and they're well-known as the sorts of field cooks that can make three old rats, a handful of sawdust, and a stolen muddy boot taste downright '''edible'''. Also, they tend to [[Slaanesh|shag like bunnies]].

Taken together, their adaptations make them excellent at surviving on hot, high-gravity worlds with scarce access to food, particularly a damaged [[Imperial Navy|voidship]], where they would also be adapted to tight living quarters.

==Unknown==
=== [[Beastmen (40k)|Beastmen]] ===
''Homo sapiens variatus''

Beastmen are on their way to being declared [[Mutant#Warhammer_40,000|mutant]]s; as it is, the [[Adeptus Arbites]] has basically declared them an underclass, preventing them from traveling to most planets and excluding them from the [[Imperial Guard]] unless they're willing to be cannon fodder--something which many of them view as their chance to atone for the [[Grimdark|crime of being born as mutants]]. This will probably be for the best, since their [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] counterparts are one of the major parts of the armies of [[Chaos]], but one wonders if the 40K beastmen would be less likely to fall to Chaos if the Imperium made them feel just a little welcome.

All Beastmen which have not been mutated by Chaos are morphologically similar, having a basic human body type modified to have the head and lower legs of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammal from Earth]; one can assume they also possess internal changes, such as a 4-chambered stomach. However, they exhibit widespread diversity within that category, leading to their common consideration of being [[mutant]]s. As these adaptations "merely" adapt the organism to being better at running, jumping, and being able to digest cellulose while sacrificing proficiency at climbing but Beastmen are found on many worlds throughout the Imperium, they would seem to be artificial if not for the fact that one would expect far better of the [[Dark Age of Technology]] than, for example, needing to include horns in order to accomplish digesting grass. Their most likely origin is being artificial but not for the standard reason (like Ogryn seem to be), in particular due to possible interference by nonhumans, such as [[Chaos]] or [[Dark Eldar]], both of whom are notorious for genetically tampering with human populations for their [[Troll|own ends]].

=== [[Centaur]]s ===
Occupying the deep gray end of canon, the short story ''Children of the Emperor'' from the anthology '''Into the Malestrom''' features a guardsman stranded on a lost, feral world with super-high gravity, populated by abhumans whose ancestors gave themselves centaur bodies and super-enhanced muscles to cope with high gravity and abundance of deadly predators. He gets involved with a struggle between the Emperor-worshipping locals and a [[Khorne|Khornate]] [[heresy]], but the best he can do is to report to the Imperium when he escapes that the planet is feral, too dangerous & resource poor to colonize, and houses only some unimportant alien species, thus preventing the loyalists from being slaughtered as mutants by more Puritanical Imperials.

===Fenrisian Ice Fiend===
Twice as tall as a Space Marine and with acid for blood, these beings are said to be smaller relatives of Ice Trolls on Fenris. If Ice Trolls are either degenerated mutant populations like Trolls in Warhammer Fabtasy or genetically engineered from human stock, then that would mean, if they're related to the Ice Trolls, that Ice Fiends are also Abhumans, technically. Of course, being feral giant killing machines with acid blood which are described as being like a Yeti Berserker probably means the Administratum won't sanction them.

===Giants===
It is said that, much like how Trolls exist on Fenris, so do Giants. These creatures were once lead by Ur-Bolg, before Throth Half-head of the Space Wolves decapitated him. If they look the same as Giants in Warhammer Fantasy, odds are they're a type of Abhuman, probably genetically engineered in Fenris' ancient past as a Viking LARP group's wet dream. Since they were in direct conflict with the Space Wolves, they probably aren't in good graces with the Imperium, and as such probably won't be sanctioned anytime soon. Plus, the Imperium isn't known to care about the welfare of its Abhuman populations beyond coordinating sending them to some backwater warzone to die in battle to atone for their "genetic imperfections", so as useful as Giants would be as monsters for Fenrisian armies, the problem would arise from having to find FOOD for these huge beings as they're transported from planet to planet, along with how to put them down quickly and efficiently if they go rogue.

===Stiltlimbs===
This race of abhumans is noted as first appearing in the Age of Strife. Other than that, very little is known of them.

===Tohruk===
Debased and brutal cousins of the Ogryn, who have enacted a dark Pact with the Night Lords Chaos Space Marines.

===Ice Troll===
Native to Fenris as well. If they're like the origin of the Trolls in Warhammer Fantasy, then they're a Warp-Twisted Mutant population that eventually stabilized into a race of regenerating, Ogryn-sized beasts with the intelligence of a mentally-challenged gorilla. Otherwise, they could possibly be genetically engineered, possibly from human stock, like maybe the Fenrisian Giant?

===Amphi===
This race of Abhumans from the world of Lampra are known to have shape-shifting abilities. This makes them yet another shape-shifting species in Warhammer 40K like the Simulacra, the Lacrymole, or those members of the Assassinorum who utiliize Polymorphine.

===Drepanes===
These abhumans from the world of Azetium IV are noted as having heads similar to sickles. What this means is unknown. A more deadly version of the Coneheads? Sickle-like beaks?

===Lazul===
A race of blue-skinned abhumans from the planet Garganus Prime. Other than that, little is known of them. The blue-man group in space? An entire race of Cad Banes? Slutty exotic harems for Pleasure Worlds like the Asari, Twi'lek, or Orion? Who knows.

===Thrix===
Apparently these abhumans have "lethal plumage". Maybe some sort of birdman abhuman with poison-exuding or razor sharp feathers?

===[[Katana|Katara]]===
The Katara were a species of Abhumans encountered during the Great Crusade.

An insular and honor-bound civilization that had evolved in the Kenuit System during the Age of Strife, they were tall, sunken-eyed, and extremely thin but graceful. Their cities spread beneath the ground of their moons and planets in vast networks of tunnels, and while technologically sophisticated they only used their skill to build cities, ships, and weaponry. [[Weeaboo|Ritual wars and duels were one of the primary aspects of their culture, primarily used to settle social discourse from art and philosophy to war and politics.]]

During the Great Crusade, the Katarans were encountered by the Emperor's Children and after several skirmishes ultimately chose to have their fate decided by a duel between their champion Hamaya and the Astartes commander Abdemon. [[Japan|After Abdemon emerged victorious, the honorable Katarans committed mass suicide rather than serve as a permanently oppressed underclass to the Imperium's purebred humans on their own homeworlds.]] Of course, given what Abhumans or even just regular humans of the Imperium have to put up with every day in the present, [[Grimdark|some might even say that the Katarans made the logical choice.]]

Not the least bit related to that chick from [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]].

== DIY Abhumans ==
Rather surprisingly (considering how much creative freedom 40K typically offers), options for making your own abhuman breeds are actually quite limited, almost to the point of hardly being allowed at all. To recap, in the Imperium there are only 73 officially recognized abhuman breeds. 46 of those are declared extinct, and 12 more are believed extinct due to lack of contact. Only 15 abhuman breeds are officially alive and active in the Imperium of 40K, and 12 of those are named: Navigators, Beastmen, Ogryn, Ratlings, Squats, Nightsiders, Troths, Longshanks, Pelagers, Felinids, Scalies, and Neandors. That leaves ''only 3'' officially open slots for DIY abhumans.

Now, you could quibble on which breeds belong where on the list, or even if some should or shouldn't be on it all, and how many free slots there actually are, but the end result still leaves little to no wiggle room for converters and fan-fluff writers that want to make their own thing while sticking to the lore.

Then again, you could always just say "fuck it" and go ahead with a fan-creation, regardless of the official numbers, on the assumption that the [[Games Workshop|Administratum]] just got their paperwork wrong. [[Squats|It's not like that hasn't happened before]].

{{Imperium}}
{{Important Species in 40k}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]

Abhuman

2023-02-26T05:12:13Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D: Fenrisian Ice Fiends?

[[File:Sharkabs.jpg|300px|thumb|right|They call them "Ab"humans for a reason.]]

'''Abhuman''' (from ''ab-'', "of, from, away from," ''human'') is a term used in the [[Imperium of Man]] to refer to a stable-breeding subspecies of [[humanity]]. Although their physiology and mentality would be so different that they should technically be classified as a whole different species altogether. Officially, they are not considered [[mutant]]s by virtue of their breed stability, but they are generally not treated the same way as "normal" humans. Civilian abhumans are almost always an underclass on other worlds, and when [[Imperial Guard]] regiments are raised from abhuman worlds as part of the Imperial Tithe they tend to be broken up into individual companies, platoons, or squads that are then attached to other regiments as auxiliary troops. Though, this is usually because most abhumans that qualify for Guard service are either [[ogryn|too stupid]], [[Beastmen (40k)|too undisciplined]], [[ratling|too specialized]], or [[Felinid|aren't numerous enough]] to maintain their own independent regiments. The Imperium recognises at least 70 different strains of permitted abhuman, with more than half of these being extinct in the modern day.

So far as is known, none of the abhuman strains below are compatible with [[Space Marine]] implants, while all are compatible with the Psyker gene. Space Marines themselves are considered dubiously human in some circles, but since they don't breed, their inhumanity is the result of postnatal modifications, and they're all 8 foot tall killing machines that carry automatic armor-piercing grenade launchers, they don't count as abhumans. [[Heresy|Or else]]. Of course we don’t even know if Astartes are genetically dissimilar from normal humans beyond the Progenoid adding and tweaking genes to allow for the other implants to be accepted. The other implants just change how the body behaves in a certain way. So, they might genetically not be notably dissimilar enough to be anything other than homo sapiens sapiens. [[Adeptus Custodes|The Custodes]] however...

== Origins ==
Humanity's characteristics are influenced by the conditions in which it grew up, including gravity, climate, and diet. If a population were isolated in a different environment for a long enough time, their distant descendants would be adapted to those new conditions.

During the [[Dark Age of Technology]], humanity spread to the stars, first with slower-than-light colony ships, and then with [[Warp]] drives after the discovery of the [[Navigator]]s. Some of their destination planets were very different from Earth, and when humanity entered the [[Age of Strife]] with the collapse of the old government, the inhabitants of these worlds were cut off from other colonies (it is known that Gene Wars were fought between various governments made up of people that couldn't really be considered human anymore during the Age of Strife); when contact was restored during the [[Great Crusade]] (or even later), their gene pools had diverged so far from the baseline that they could almost be classified as separate species. The Imperium spared them, though, because while they were clearly not pure humans, they were useful and no more prone to mutation than any other human. As humanity had ready access to genetic engineering in that era, it can be difficult to distinguish natural evolution from artificial enhancement in many cases, as Games Workshop does not usually reveal the necessary details.

The Horus Heresy novels mentioned that even during the high point of abhuman tolerance, formerly human populations have been purged due to achieving certain (high) levels of genetic "deviancy". The natives of Davin were shaggy creatures that were close to it, though Chaos may have had a hand in that, unbeknown to the Imperials.

Abhumans can be loosely categorized by the nature of their origin.

==Definitely Artificial==

These abhumans are definitively known to have been manufactured at some point. In the case of the Afriel Strain and Gland War Veterans, though, their actual status as true abhumans is a bit iffy, as it's unclear just how many of their augmented traits (if any) are genetically transferrable, and their populations are closer to (dwindling) engineered batches rather than self-sustaining breeds.

=== [[Squat|The Kin]] ===
''Homo sapiens rotundus''

The Kin, or Squats as they are called in Necromunda, grew up on high-gravity mineral-rich worlds near the core of the galaxy and became adapted to be short, robustly built, and adept miners. If this sounds familiar, it's because they were intentionally designed to be the space-equivalent of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|Dwarfs]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]].

They were introduced in the [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|First Edition]] of [[Warhammer 40,000]] as a separate army to the various Imperial forces (being fiercely independent), and were mentioned sparingly thereafter until they were written out of the background (hence the term "squatted"), but the [[Warhammer 40,000 6th edition|Sixth Edition]] rulebook has written them back in again and in Necromunda [[Squats#2022: Squats are back on the menu|they actually have models]]. And in [[Warhammer 40,000 9th edition|Ninth Edition]] finally made a [[Leagues of Votann|triumphant return]].

They are morphologically very similar to Ratlings but have the inferior eyesight one would expect of a race adapted to low-light and/or interior conditions (where nothing to be looked at is ever very far away), as well as the increased [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|musculature]] and robustness to be expected of an environment harsher than Terra. Where Squats seem to be more adapted to hunting and gathering, Ratlings are more adapted to farming.

And in the new Votann lore we learn that they originated from cloning, with their ancestors using "cloneskeins" to modify their bodies, leading to their current body, and even neutering their psychic presence to avoid Chaos, making them almost invisible to them like the Tau. And, unlike the greater Imperium, their society is centered around the [[Votann]], AI supercomputers which they get their name from. And are kept secret for [[Adeptus Mechanicus|obvious reasons]].

=== [[Afriel Strain]]s ===
''Homo sapiens maledictis''

Afriel Strains were the byproduct of the Imperium trying to create the [[Mary Sue|'Ultimate Human']] via a shadowy experimental process which used genetic material from a number of the Imperium's greatest heroes to, [[Fabius Bile|in effect, make clones of them.]] While this may sound [[Awesome]] in theory, the Strains themselves...[[Lamenters|seem to suffer a severe case of bad luck.]] The amount of genetic tempering has effectively made the Afriel Strain a new sub-species of human. Whether they are allowed to do their [[/d/|'business']] and see whether the genes can pass on is unknown.

Despite this, the Afriel Strain project is still approved by the Imperium, by and large, and is still undergoing improvements to fix the...issue.

=== [[Gland War Veteran]]s ===
''Homo sapiens auctus glandulae''

Similar to the Afriel Strains, Gland War Veterans were humans that underwent severe genetic tempering to effectively combat and out-adapt the [[Tyranids]]. The term 'Gland War Veterans' is sometimes shortened to Glandies or Gland Warriors; they were made by the [[Mechanicus]] of the [[Magos|Biologis Magi]] in order to create a new human sub-species to effectively kill Tyranids without needing to waste more human lives. Woah, wait..not waste human lives? Yeah, the Tyranids are such a huge threat that against them, human life (literally cheaper than actual currency) is so valuable the Mechboys are willing to throw serious resources into preserving as many soldiers as possible in combat.

While still in its experimental phase, the [[Techpriest|Tech Priests]] in charge are already looking forward in making more of them and further improving on their combat effectiveness. In case you were wondering, these guys are EXTREMELY effective. No information on their sanity.

=== [[Navigator]]s ===
''Homo navigo''

Navigators are a three-eyed, specialized group of psykers that helps guide Imperial Ships through the Warp (in fact, they were developed to enable Warp travel); although essentially vital for the Imperium's survival, some radical groups in the Imperium declare them to be heretical mutants. These guys are so different from the mainstream human, that they are actually classified as another species of the Human genus, and not a human subspecies, hence their scientific name. They also get their own house in the Houses of Terra within the Terran Administratum, which provides a large modicum of independent political clout within the Imperium and prevents them from being sacrificed to the Golden Throne.

Navigators are never any other kind of psyker (including being a [[Blank]]).

==Probably Natural==

These abhumans are extremely adapted for one specific world (with two big exceptions), which is how evolution works; one would expect the [[Dark Age of Technology]] to be capable of far more versatile adaptations. Typically, the only details we are given about them is their planet of origin.

=== [[Felinid]]s ===
''Homo sapiens hirsutus''

Thanks to 6th Edition, Imperial [[catgirl|catgirls]] are canon! They're found only on the planet [[Carlos McConnell]] and we know absolutely nothing about them whatsoever... which is quite disappointing, really. Judging by the Latin name, they are likely [[furry|furries]].

Affirmed to be of the Neko variety in Liber Xenologis. Thank the Emperor....

=== [[Perpetual]]s ===
''Homo [[Mary_Sue|superior]]''

A human that cannot die and is functionally immortal. If you believe [[Erda]]'s words, a Perpetual is a new species of Human, with the Emperor wishing to accelerate the evolution of standard Humanity into beings similar to Homo Superior and personally sought out every Perpetual on Earth for this task. Seeing as how she is a Master Geneticist, she may land some credibility. Perpetuals can also be Psykers, which is the only explicit confirmation of Abhuman psyker (excepting Navigators, though they are extreme specialists who were artificially engineered).

In fairness, this might not be abhuman so much as a more evolved human, as opposed to a side grade specialist.

=== [[Psyker#Imperium|Psyker]]s ===

''Homo sapiens psychicus'' (Presumed)

The most common strain of 'natural' abhumans are the Psykers. Considered a new fleeting species of Humanity that is yet too weak to fully shield itself from the [[Chaos|horrible gribblies of the]] [[Warp]]. Psykers are both despised ''and'' useful abhumans of the Imperium of Man, which no doubt creates some existential crisis and massive insecurity issues among these Psykers. Due to their (relative) abundance, Psykers have found many roles inside the Imperium when they are picked up from a roaming [[League of Blackships|Blackship]] from either the [[Inquisition]] or the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]]. This may include [[Astropath|Astropaths]] to guide the [[Imperial Navy]], [[Psyker Battle Squad|Sanctioned Psykers]] to be used and utilized in the [[Imperial Guard]], protecting the knowledge of a [[Space Marine]] Chapter as a [[Librarian|Librarian]], serve in [[Inquisition]] forces and even becoming a [[Inquisitor]] [[Gregor Eisenhorn|themselves.]] Those who got the short end of the stick becomes the [[Emprah|Emprah's]] [[Meatbread|psychic chow]] that is used to maintain the [[Astronomican]], though its probably the best an unstable psyker can hope for as they will be treated well, keep control and not be eaten by daemons upon death.

There's also a particularly rare form of psyker known as a [[blank]] which is essentially a Psyker in reverse, resisting or nullifying [[Warp]] energies.

=== [[Troth]]s ===
''Homo sapiens verdantus''

Only found on the world of [[Verdant]]; no other details known other than some claiming that they may be [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|plant people.]]

=== [[Neandor]]s ===
''Homo sapiens hyannothus''

Only found on the world of [[Hyannoth IV]]; no other details known other than their names, which may be a blatant reference to the extinct Neanderthals and thus, are basically space cavemen.

=== [[Scalies]] ===
''Homo sauromimus'' (Presumed)

Scalies are what happens when you mix an Ogryn with a Crocodile and launch the abomination down the deepest toilet hole. They often populate the underhive of Hive Worlds and are frequent bodyguards of [[Scavvies]] which are just poor hobos. They are so genetically unstable that their vox boxes have essentially twisted beyond proper human speech, only communicating via grunts or growls. Seriously, they are so far from the norm that they barely register as human, let alone a separate genetic caste.

They are like Killer Croc from Batman. Each of them can regenerate their limbs like a reptile if it is chopped off. They aren't fielded by the Imperial Guard due to their inability to effectively communicate and somewhat heretical mutations.

While they are found on many, distinct planets, they are only found in Hives, all of whom probably produce very similar waste, which the Scalies live in; combined with their ''lack'' of "stability" (i.e. having Scalies from different planets reliably breed true), they are what one would expect of natural evolution in an artificially similar environment.

=== [[Sub]]s ===
''Homo sapiens deformum''

Ghouls from [[Fallout]]. Intensely fuck ugly individuals born from the rankest shit possible. Similar to Beastmen in terms of persecution, but for some reason, their fuck ugliness is still somehow [[Wat|more stable than their furry counterpart.]]

=== [[Shadowkith]] ===
''Homo sapiens purpurapellis'' (Presumed)

Purple cannibals from the world of Grace in the Koronus Expanse. [[Meme|Probably behind the slaughter]].

==Probably Artificial==

These abhumans are adapted for a wide variety of worlds, and, critically, were found on multiple, distinct worlds; as evolution has an astronomically poor chance of producing results like this, odds are far better that the native population, in order to deal with problems brought about by the [[Age of Strife]], genetically tampered with themselves to survive, explaining why populations on similar but distant worlds would arrive at identical (or very similar) solutions.

=== [[Caryatid]]s ===
''Homo sapiens caeruleum''

Bizarre looking [[Wat|flying blue babies]] that may or may not be the original inspiration for the [[Cherubim]]. Often viewed by [[Necromunda|Necromundans]] in the same way as rabbit's feet. While classified under the genus and species of Homo sapiens, we aren't too sure whether it is an Abhuman or a Xenos.

=== [[Longshank]]s ===
''Homo sapiens longatus''

Longshanks are adapted for very low or zero gravity, such as would be expected on a damaged [[Imperial Navy|voidship]]. In appearance, the Longshanks are [[Indrick Boreale|bald]] with very pronounced eyes and have unnaturally long legs, when compared with baseline humans. May be an entire race of gingers if their name is any indication. Recently reappeared in the canon to be taken captive by Orks and then summarily executed by their [[Black Templar]] rescuers after assuming they were mutants. Later being chastised by their commanding officer over the incident and forbidden from harming any more of the prisoners. Its unknown if the offending marines faced any punishment.

=== [[Nightsider]]s ===
''Homo sapiens tenebris''

Nightsiders are abhumans adapted to live in the dark; not much else is known about them. They may have any of the adaptations one might expect in a low-light environment, such as [[Anime|overly large eyes]] to gather as much light as possible or vestigial eyes that have given up on sight altogether, and/or enhanced alternative senses to cope, such as sonar. As almost all dark environments are also cold, odds are very good they have some solution for this as well although this could be anything from thick, [[Nurgle|insulating fat]] and/or hair to having natural access to the Psyker discipline of Pyromancy, similar to how Navigators are stable psykers.

=== [[Ogryn]] ===
''Homo sapiens gigantus'' [[File:40k_ogryn.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Ogryn]]

Ogryn are transparently based on the archetypal fantasy [[ogre]]: big, strong, and dumb. They are useful as [[Imperial Guard]] shock troops because they are big enough to wreck the enemy and dumb enough to charge on command. They are resolutely loyal to their immediate superior officer, but this also makes it extremely easy to turn them to serving Chaos, as they will perform any command given to them if their commanders are persuasive enough, though their childlike faith in the God Emperor makes outright corrupting them harder.

Ogryn hail from high gravity worlds, where their large size is a major limiting factor (smaller creatures are much, much better at lifting more weight relative to their own, and everything is heavier on a high-gravity planet, including an organism's own body). As even a relatively small amount of time to genetically drift would realistically cause them to [[Ratling|shrink]] due to extreme selection for minimizing height, as well as get smarter (due to the same pressures that made stock humans get smarter in a hurry), the implication is that someone or [[Games Workshop|something]] (such as the Guard population or planetary AI) has been inducing their large size and low intelligence [[grimdark|to help keep them contained]]. Their adaptations make them naturally suitable for cold, low-gravity worlds, although their low intelligence makes them unlikely to thrive in any environment where they are responsible for feeding, sheltering, and/or clothing themselves.

=== [[Pelager]]s ===
''Homo sapiens oceanus''

Abhumans adapted for Ocean Worlds; possibly an attempt to bring back the [[Saharduin]], like the Demiurg are an attempt to bring back the [[Squats]]. Are described as basically being Aquatic Ogryn.

=== [[Ratling]]s ===
''Homo sapiens minimus''

Ratlings used to be space [[halfling]]s, but the latest edition miniatures give them hairy bare feet, making them look more like space [[Hobbits]] (though both archetypes have a fair amount of overlap). They are also noted kleptomaniacs, so they've got some space [[Kender]] in them, too. Their good eyesight and small size make them useful as snipers, but they are otherwise useless in a fight and their personal characteristics make them less than endearing to [[Imperial Guard]] leadership, though the Guardsmen themselves usually don't mind. Many Guardsmen are perfectly fine with trading with Ratlings for some [[Dakka|special equipment]] or extra rations, and they're well-known as the sorts of field cooks that can make three old rats, a handful of sawdust, and a stolen muddy boot taste downright '''edible'''. Also, they tend to [[Slaanesh|shag like bunnies]].

Taken together, their adaptations make them excellent at surviving on hot, high-gravity worlds with scarce access to food, particularly a damaged [[Imperial Navy|voidship]], where they would also be adapted to tight living quarters.

==Unknown==
=== [[Beastmen (40k)|Beastmen]] ===
''Homo sapiens variatus''

Beastmen are on their way to being declared [[Mutant#Warhammer_40,000|mutant]]s; as it is, the [[Adeptus Arbites]] has basically declared them an underclass, preventing them from traveling to most planets and excluding them from the [[Imperial Guard]] unless they're willing to be cannon fodder--something which many of them view as their chance to atone for the [[Grimdark|crime of being born as mutants]]. This will probably be for the best, since their [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] counterparts are one of the major parts of the armies of [[Chaos]], but one wonders if the 40K beastmen would be less likely to fall to Chaos if the Imperium made them feel just a little welcome.

All Beastmen which have not been mutated by Chaos are morphologically similar, having a basic human body type modified to have the head and lower legs of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammal from Earth]; one can assume they also possess internal changes, such as a 4-chambered stomach. However, they exhibit widespread diversity within that category, leading to their common consideration of being [[mutant]]s. As these adaptations "merely" adapt the organism to being better at running, jumping, and being able to digest cellulose while sacrificing proficiency at climbing but Beastmen are found on many worlds throughout the Imperium, they would seem to be artificial if not for the fact that one would expect far better of the [[Dark Age of Technology]] than, for example, needing to include horns in order to accomplish digesting grass. Their most likely origin is being artificial but not for the standard reason (like Ogryn seem to be), in particular due to possible interference by nonhumans, such as [[Chaos]] or [[Dark Eldar]], both of whom are notorious for genetically tampering with human populations for their [[Troll|own ends]].

=== [[Centaur]]s ===
Occupying the deep gray end of canon, the short story ''Children of the Emperor'' from the anthology '''Into the Malestrom''' features a guardsman stranded on a lost, feral world with super-high gravity, populated by abhumans whose ancestors gave themselves centaur bodies and super-enhanced muscles to cope with high gravity and abundance of deadly predators. He gets involved with a struggle between the Emperor-worshipping locals and a [[Khorne|Khornate]] [[heresy]], but the best he can do is to report to the Imperium when he escapes that the planet is feral, too dangerous & resource poor to colonize, and houses only some unimportant alien species, thus preventing the loyalists from being slaughtered as mutants by more Puritanical Imperials.

===Fenrisian Ice Fiend===
Twice as tall as a Space Marine and with acid for blood, these beings are said to be smaller relatives of Ice Trolls on Fenris. If Ice Trolls are either degenerated mutant populations like Trolls in Warhammer Fabtasy or genetically engineered from human stock, then that would mean, if they're related to the Ice Trolls, that Ice Fiends are also Abhumans, technically. Of course, being feral giant killing machines with acid blood which are described as being like a Yeti Berserker probably means the Administratum won't sanction them.

===Giants===
It is said that, much like how Trolls exist on Fenris, so do Giants. These creatures were once lead by Ur-Bolg, before Throth Half-head of the Space Wolves decapitated him. If they look the same as Giants in Warhammer Fantasy, odds are they're a type of Abhuman, probably genetically engineered in Fenris' ancient past as a Viking LARP group's wet dream.

===Stiltlimbs===
This race of abhumans is noted as first appearing in the Age of Strife. Other than that, very little is known of them.

===Tohruk===
Debased and brutal cousins of the Ogryn, who have enacted a dark Pact with the Night Lords Chaos Space Marines.

===Ice Troll===
Native to Fenris as well. If they're like the origin of the Trolls in Warhammer Fantasy, then they're a Warp-Twisted Mutant population that eventually stabilized into a race of regenerating, Ogryn-sized beasts with the intelligence of a mentally-challenged gorilla. Otherwise, they could possibly be genetically engineered, possibly from human stock, like maybe the Fenrisian Giant?

===Amphi===
This race of Abhumans from the world of Lampra are known to have shape-shifting abilities. This makes them yet another shape-shifting species in Warhammer 40K like the Simulacra, the Lacrymole, or those members of the Assassinorum who utiliize Polymorphine.

===Drepanes===
These abhumans from the world of Azetium IV are noted as having heads similar to sickles. What this means is unknown. A more deadly version of the Coneheads? Sickle-like beaks?

===Lazul===
A race of blue-skinned abhumans from the planet Garganus Prime. Other than that, little is known of them. The blue-man group in space? An entire race of Cad Banes? Slutty exotic harems for Pleasure Worlds like the Asari, Twi'lek, or Orion? Who knows.

===Thrix===
Apparently these abhumans have "lethal plumage". Maybe some sort of birdman abhuman with poison-exuding or razor sharp feathers?

===[[Katana|Katara]]===
The Katara were a species of Abhumans encountered during the Great Crusade.

An insular and honor-bound civilization that had evolved in the Kenuit System during the Age of Strife, they were tall, sunken-eyed, and extremely thin but graceful. Their cities spread beneath the ground of their moons and planets in vast networks of tunnels, and while technologically sophisticated they only used their skill to build cities, ships, and weaponry. [[Weeaboo|Ritual wars and duels were one of the primary aspects of their culture, primarily used to settle social discourse from art and philosophy to war and politics.]]

During the Great Crusade, the Katarans were encountered by the Emperor's Children and after several skirmishes ultimately chose to have their fate decided by a duel between their champion Hamaya and the Astartes commander Abdemon. [[Japan|After Abdemon emerged victorious, the honorable Katarans committed mass suicide rather than serve as a permanently oppressed underclass to the Imperium's purebred humans on their own homeworlds.]] Of course, given what Abhumans or even just regular humans of the Imperium have to put up with every day in the present, [[Grimdark|some might even say that the Katarans made the logical choice.]]

Not the least bit related to that chick from [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]].

== DIY Abhumans ==
Rather surprisingly (considering how much creative freedom 40K typically offers), options for making your own abhuman breeds are actually quite limited, almost to the point of hardly being allowed at all. To recap, in the Imperium there are only 73 officially recognized abhuman breeds. 46 of those are declared extinct, and 12 more are believed extinct due to lack of contact. Only 15 abhuman breeds are officially alive and active in the Imperium of 40K, and 12 of those are named: Navigators, Beastmen, Ogryn, Ratlings, Squats, Nightsiders, Troths, Longshanks, Pelagers, Felinids, Scalies, and Neandors. That leaves ''only 3'' officially open slots for DIY abhumans.

Now, you could quibble on which breeds belong where on the list, or even if some should or shouldn't be on it all, and how many free slots there actually are, but the end result still leaves little to no wiggle room for converters and fan-fluff writers that want to make their own thing while sticking to the lore.

Then again, you could always just say "fuck it" and go ahead with a fan-creation, regardless of the official numbers, on the assumption that the [[Games Workshop|Administratum]] just got their paperwork wrong. [[Squats|It's not like that hasn't happened before]].

{{Imperium}}
{{Important Species in 40k}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]

Abhuman

2023-02-26T05:08:48Z

2601:18C:8F00:FB0:3508:869F:EC94:3E7D: /* Unknown */

[[File:Sharkabs.jpg|300px|thumb|right|They call them "Ab"humans for a reason.]]

'''Abhuman''' (from ''ab-'', "of, from, away from," ''human'') is a term used in the [[Imperium of Man]] to refer to a stable-breeding subspecies of [[humanity]]. Although their physiology and mentality would be so different that they should technically be classified as a whole different species altogether. Officially, they are not considered [[mutant]]s by virtue of their breed stability, but they are generally not treated the same way as "normal" humans. Civilian abhumans are almost always an underclass on other worlds, and when [[Imperial Guard]] regiments are raised from abhuman worlds as part of the Imperial Tithe they tend to be broken up into individual companies, platoons, or squads that are then attached to other regiments as auxiliary troops. Though, this is usually because most abhumans that qualify for Guard service are either [[ogryn|too stupid]], [[Beastmen (40k)|too undisciplined]], [[ratling|too specialized]], or [[Felinid|aren't numerous enough]] to maintain their own independent regiments. The Imperium recognises at least 70 different strains of permitted abhuman, with more than half of these being extinct in the modern day.

So far as is known, none of the abhuman strains below are compatible with [[Space Marine]] implants, while all are compatible with the Psyker gene. Space Marines themselves are considered dubiously human in some circles, but since they don't breed, their inhumanity is the result of postnatal modifications, and they're all 8 foot tall killing machines that carry automatic armor-piercing grenade launchers, they don't count as abhumans. [[Heresy|Or else]]. Of course we don’t even know if Astartes are genetically dissimilar from normal humans beyond the Progenoid adding and tweaking genes to allow for the other implants to be accepted. The other implants just change how the body behaves in a certain way. So, they might genetically not be notably dissimilar enough to be anything other than homo sapiens sapiens. [[Adeptus Custodes|The Custodes]] however...

== Origins ==
Humanity's characteristics are influenced by the conditions in which it grew up, including gravity, climate, and diet. If a population were isolated in a different environment for a long enough time, their distant descendants would be adapted to those new conditions.

During the [[Dark Age of Technology]], humanity spread to the stars, first with slower-than-light colony ships, and then with [[Warp]] drives after the discovery of the [[Navigator]]s. Some of their destination planets were very different from Earth, and when humanity entered the [[Age of Strife]] with the collapse of the old government, the inhabitants of these worlds were cut off from other colonies (it is known that Gene Wars were fought between various governments made up of people that couldn't really be considered human anymore during the Age of Strife); when contact was restored during the [[Great Crusade]] (or even later), their gene pools had diverged so far from the baseline that they could almost be classified as separate species. The Imperium spared them, though, because while they were clearly not pure humans, they were useful and no more prone to mutation than any other human. As humanity had ready access to genetic engineering in that era, it can be difficult to distinguish natural evolution from artificial enhancement in many cases, as Games Workshop does not usually reveal the necessary details.

The Horus Heresy novels mentioned that even during the high point of abhuman tolerance, formerly human populations have been purged due to achieving certain (high) levels of genetic "deviancy". The natives of Davin were shaggy creatures that were close to it, though Chaos may have had a hand in that, unbeknown to the Imperials.

Abhumans can be loosely categorized by the nature of their origin.

==Definitely Artificial==

These abhumans are definitively known to have been manufactured at some point. In the case of the Afriel Strain and Gland War Veterans, though, their actual status as true abhumans is a bit iffy, as it's unclear just how many of their augmented traits (if any) are genetically transferrable, and their populations are closer to (dwindling) engineered batches rather than self-sustaining breeds.

=== [[Squat|The Kin]] ===
''Homo sapiens rotundus''

The Kin, or Squats as they are called in Necromunda, grew up on high-gravity mineral-rich worlds near the core of the galaxy and became adapted to be short, robustly built, and adept miners. If this sounds familiar, it's because they were intentionally designed to be the space-equivalent of [[Dwarfs (Warhammer Fantasy Battle)|Dwarfs]] from [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]].

They were introduced in the [[Rogue Trader (Sourcebook)|First Edition]] of [[Warhammer 40,000]] as a separate army to the various Imperial forces (being fiercely independent), and were mentioned sparingly thereafter until they were written out of the background (hence the term "squatted"), but the [[Warhammer 40,000 6th edition|Sixth Edition]] rulebook has written them back in again and in Necromunda [[Squats#2022: Squats are back on the menu|they actually have models]]. And in [[Warhammer 40,000 9th edition|Ninth Edition]] finally made a [[Leagues of Votann|triumphant return]].

They are morphologically very similar to Ratlings but have the inferior eyesight one would expect of a race adapted to low-light and/or interior conditions (where nothing to be looked at is ever very far away), as well as the increased [[Catachan Jungle Fighters|musculature]] and robustness to be expected of an environment harsher than Terra. Where Squats seem to be more adapted to hunting and gathering, Ratlings are more adapted to farming.

And in the new Votann lore we learn that they originated from cloning, with their ancestors using "cloneskeins" to modify their bodies, leading to their current body, and even neutering their psychic presence to avoid Chaos, making them almost invisible to them like the Tau. And, unlike the greater Imperium, their society is centered around the [[Votann]], AI supercomputers which they get their name from. And are kept secret for [[Adeptus Mechanicus|obvious reasons]].

=== [[Afriel Strain]]s ===
''Homo sapiens maledictis''

Afriel Strains were the byproduct of the Imperium trying to create the [[Mary Sue|'Ultimate Human']] via a shadowy experimental process which used genetic material from a number of the Imperium's greatest heroes to, [[Fabius Bile|in effect, make clones of them.]] While this may sound [[Awesome]] in theory, the Strains themselves...[[Lamenters|seem to suffer a severe case of bad luck.]] The amount of genetic tempering has effectively made the Afriel Strain a new sub-species of human. Whether they are allowed to do their [[/d/|'business']] and see whether the genes can pass on is unknown.

Despite this, the Afriel Strain project is still approved by the Imperium, by and large, and is still undergoing improvements to fix the...issue.

=== [[Gland War Veteran]]s ===
''Homo sapiens auctus glandulae''

Similar to the Afriel Strains, Gland War Veterans were humans that underwent severe genetic tempering to effectively combat and out-adapt the [[Tyranids]]. The term 'Gland War Veterans' is sometimes shortened to Glandies or Gland Warriors; they were made by the [[Mechanicus]] of the [[Magos|Biologis Magi]] in order to create a new human sub-species to effectively kill Tyranids without needing to waste more human lives. Woah, wait..not waste human lives? Yeah, the Tyranids are such a huge threat that against them, human life (literally cheaper than actual currency) is so valuable the Mechboys are willing to throw serious resources into preserving as many soldiers as possible in combat.

While still in its experimental phase, the [[Techpriest|Tech Priests]] in charge are already looking forward in making more of them and further improving on their combat effectiveness. In case you were wondering, these guys are EXTREMELY effective. No information on their sanity.

=== [[Navigator]]s ===
''Homo navigo''

Navigators are a three-eyed, specialized group of psykers that helps guide Imperial Ships through the Warp (in fact, they were developed to enable Warp travel); although essentially vital for the Imperium's survival, some radical groups in the Imperium declare them to be heretical mutants. These guys are so different from the mainstream human, that they are actually classified as another species of the Human genus, and not a human subspecies, hence their scientific name. They also get their own house in the Houses of Terra within the Terran Administratum, which provides a large modicum of independent political clout within the Imperium and prevents them from being sacrificed to the Golden Throne.

Navigators are never any other kind of psyker (including being a [[Blank]]).

==Probably Natural==

These abhumans are extremely adapted for one specific world (with two big exceptions), which is how evolution works; one would expect the [[Dark Age of Technology]] to be capable of far more versatile adaptations. Typically, the only details we are given about them is their planet of origin.

=== [[Felinid]]s ===
''Homo sapiens hirsutus''

Thanks to 6th Edition, Imperial [[catgirl|catgirls]] are canon! They're found only on the planet [[Carlos McConnell]] and we know absolutely nothing about them whatsoever... which is quite disappointing, really. Judging by the Latin name, they are likely [[furry|furries]].

Affirmed to be of the Neko variety in Liber Xenologis. Thank the Emperor....

=== [[Perpetual]]s ===
''Homo [[Mary_Sue|superior]]''

A human that cannot die and is functionally immortal. If you believe [[Erda]]'s words, a Perpetual is a new species of Human, with the Emperor wishing to accelerate the evolution of standard Humanity into beings similar to Homo Superior and personally sought out every Perpetual on Earth for this task. Seeing as how she is a Master Geneticist, she may land some credibility. Perpetuals can also be Psykers, which is the only explicit confirmation of Abhuman psyker (excepting Navigators, though they are extreme specialists who were artificially engineered).

In fairness, this might not be abhuman so much as a more evolved human, as opposed to a side grade specialist.

=== [[Psyker#Imperium|Psyker]]s ===

''Homo sapiens psychicus'' (Presumed)

The most common strain of 'natural' abhumans are the Psykers. Considered a new fleeting species of Humanity that is yet too weak to fully shield itself from the [[Chaos|horrible gribblies of the]] [[Warp]]. Psykers are both despised ''and'' useful abhumans of the Imperium of Man, which no doubt creates some existential crisis and massive insecurity issues among these Psykers. Due to their (relative) abundance, Psykers have found many roles inside the Imperium when they are picked up from a roaming [[League of Blackships|Blackship]] from either the [[Inquisition]] or the [[Adeptus Astra Telepathica]]. This may include [[Astropath|Astropaths]] to guide the [[Imperial Navy]], [[Psyker Battle Squad|Sanctioned Psykers]] to be used and utilized in the [[Imperial Guard]], protecting the knowledge of a [[Space Marine]] Chapter as a [[Librarian|Librarian]], serve in [[Inquisition]] forces and even becoming a [[Inquisitor]] [[Gregor Eisenhorn|themselves.]] Those who got the short end of the stick becomes the [[Emprah|Emprah's]] [[Meatbread|psychic chow]] that is used to maintain the [[Astronomican]], though its probably the best an unstable psyker can hope for as they will be treated well, keep control and not be eaten by daemons upon death.

There's also a particularly rare form of psyker known as a [[blank]] which is essentially a Psyker in reverse, resisting or nullifying [[Warp]] energies.

=== [[Troth]]s ===
''Homo sapiens verdantus''

Only found on the world of [[Verdant]]; no other details known other than some claiming that they may be [[Wood Elves (Warhammer Fantasy)|plant people.]]

=== [[Neandor]]s ===
''Homo sapiens hyannothus''

Only found on the world of [[Hyannoth IV]]; no other details known other than their names, which may be a blatant reference to the extinct Neanderthals and thus, are basically space cavemen.

=== [[Scalies]] ===
''Homo sauromimus'' (Presumed)

Scalies are what happens when you mix an Ogryn with a Crocodile and launch the abomination down the deepest toilet hole. They often populate the underhive of Hive Worlds and are frequent bodyguards of [[Scavvies]] which are just poor hobos. They are so genetically unstable that their vox boxes have essentially twisted beyond proper human speech, only communicating via grunts or growls. Seriously, they are so far from the norm that they barely register as human, let alone a separate genetic caste.

They are like Killer Croc from Batman. Each of them can regenerate their limbs like a reptile if it is chopped off. They aren't fielded by the Imperial Guard due to their inability to effectively communicate and somewhat heretical mutations.

While they are found on many, distinct planets, they are only found in Hives, all of whom probably produce very similar waste, which the Scalies live in; combined with their ''lack'' of "stability" (i.e. having Scalies from different planets reliably breed true), they are what one would expect of natural evolution in an artificially similar environment.

=== [[Sub]]s ===
''Homo sapiens deformum''

Ghouls from [[Fallout]]. Intensely fuck ugly individuals born from the rankest shit possible. Similar to Beastmen in terms of persecution, but for some reason, their fuck ugliness is still somehow [[Wat|more stable than their furry counterpart.]]

=== [[Shadowkith]] ===
''Homo sapiens purpurapellis'' (Presumed)

Purple cannibals from the world of Grace in the Koronus Expanse. [[Meme|Probably behind the slaughter]].

==Probably Artificial==

These abhumans are adapted for a wide variety of worlds, and, critically, were found on multiple, distinct worlds; as evolution has an astronomically poor chance of producing results like this, odds are far better that the native population, in order to deal with problems brought about by the [[Age of Strife]], genetically tampered with themselves to survive, explaining why populations on similar but distant worlds would arrive at identical (or very similar) solutions.

=== [[Caryatid]]s ===
''Homo sapiens caeruleum''

Bizarre looking [[Wat|flying blue babies]] that may or may not be the original inspiration for the [[Cherubim]]. Often viewed by [[Necromunda|Necromundans]] in the same way as rabbit's feet. While classified under the genus and species of Homo sapiens, we aren't too sure whether it is an Abhuman or a Xenos.

=== [[Longshank]]s ===
''Homo sapiens longatus''

Longshanks are adapted for very low or zero gravity, such as would be expected on a damaged [[Imperial Navy|voidship]]. In appearance, the Longshanks are [[Indrick Boreale|bald]] with very pronounced eyes and have unnaturally long legs, when compared with baseline humans. May be an entire race of gingers if their name is any indication. Recently reappeared in the canon to be taken captive by Orks and then summarily executed by their [[Black Templar]] rescuers after assuming they were mutants. Later being chastised by their commanding officer over the incident and forbidden from harming any more of the prisoners. Its unknown if the offending marines faced any punishment.

=== [[Nightsider]]s ===
''Homo sapiens tenebris''

Nightsiders are abhumans adapted to live in the dark; not much else is known about them. They may have any of the adaptations one might expect in a low-light environment, such as [[Anime|overly large eyes]] to gather as much light as possible or vestigial eyes that have given up on sight altogether, and/or enhanced alternative senses to cope, such as sonar. As almost all dark environments are also cold, odds are very good they have some solution for this as well although this could be anything from thick, [[Nurgle|insulating fat]] and/or hair to having natural access to the Psyker discipline of Pyromancy, similar to how Navigators are stable psykers.

=== [[Ogryn]] ===
''Homo sapiens gigantus'' [[File:40k_ogryn.jpg|144px|thumb|right|Ogryn]]

Ogryn are transparently based on the archetypal fantasy [[ogre]]: big, strong, and dumb. They are useful as [[Imperial Guard]] shock troops because they are big enough to wreck the enemy and dumb enough to charge on command. They are resolutely loyal to their immediate superior officer, but this also makes it extremely easy to turn them to serving Chaos, as they will perform any command given to them if their commanders are persuasive enough, though their childlike faith in the God Emperor makes outright corrupting them harder.

Ogryn hail from high gravity worlds, where their large size is a major limiting factor (smaller creatures are much, much better at lifting more weight relative to their own, and everything is heavier on a high-gravity planet, including an organism's own body). As even a relatively small amount of time to genetically drift would realistically cause them to [[Ratling|shrink]] due to extreme selection for minimizing height, as well as get smarter (due to the same pressures that made stock humans get smarter in a hurry), the implication is that someone or [[Games Workshop|something]] (such as the Guard population or planetary AI) has been inducing their large size and low intelligence [[grimdark|to help keep them contained]]. Their adaptations make them naturally suitable for cold, low-gravity worlds, although their low intelligence makes them unlikely to thrive in any environment where they are responsible for feeding, sheltering, and/or clothing themselves.

=== [[Pelager]]s ===
''Homo sapiens oceanus''

Abhumans adapted for Ocean Worlds; possibly an attempt to bring back the [[Saharduin]], like the Demiurg are an attempt to bring back the [[Squats]]. Are described as basically being Aquatic Ogryn.

=== [[Ratling]]s ===
''Homo sapiens minimus''

Ratlings used to be space [[halfling]]s, but the latest edition miniatures give them hairy bare feet, making them look more like space [[Hobbits]] (though both archetypes have a fair amount of overlap). They are also noted kleptomaniacs, so they've got some space [[Kender]] in them, too. Their good eyesight and small size make them useful as snipers, but they are otherwise useless in a fight and their personal characteristics make them less than endearing to [[Imperial Guard]] leadership, though the Guardsmen themselves usually don't mind. Many Guardsmen are perfectly fine with trading with Ratlings for some [[Dakka|special equipment]] or extra rations, and they're well-known as the sorts of field cooks that can make three old rats, a handful of sawdust, and a stolen muddy boot taste downright '''edible'''. Also, they tend to [[Slaanesh|shag like bunnies]].

Taken together, their adaptations make them excellent at surviving on hot, high-gravity worlds with scarce access to food, particularly a damaged [[Imperial Navy|voidship]], where they would also be adapted to tight living quarters.

==Unknown==
=== [[Beastmen (40k)|Beastmen]] ===
''Homo sapiens variatus''

Beastmen are on their way to being declared [[Mutant#Warhammer_40,000|mutant]]s; as it is, the [[Adeptus Arbites]] has basically declared them an underclass, preventing them from traveling to most planets and excluding them from the [[Imperial Guard]] unless they're willing to be cannon fodder--something which many of them view as their chance to atone for the [[Grimdark|crime of being born as mutants]]. This will probably be for the best, since their [[Warhammer Fantasy Battle]] counterparts are one of the major parts of the armies of [[Chaos]], but one wonders if the 40K beastmen would be less likely to fall to Chaos if the Imperium made them feel just a little welcome.

All Beastmen which have not been mutated by Chaos are morphologically similar, having a basic human body type modified to have the head and lower legs of a [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Bovidae cloven-hoofed, ruminant mammal from Earth]; one can assume they also possess internal changes, such as a 4-chambered stomach. However, they exhibit widespread diversity within that category, leading to their common consideration of being [[mutant]]s. As these adaptations "merely" adapt the organism to being better at running, jumping, and being able to digest cellulose while sacrificing proficiency at climbing but Beastmen are found on many worlds throughout the Imperium, they would seem to be artificial if not for the fact that one would expect far better of the [[Dark Age of Technology]] than, for example, needing to include horns in order to accomplish digesting grass. Their most likely origin is being artificial but not for the standard reason (like Ogryn seem to be), in particular due to possible interference by nonhumans, such as [[Chaos]] or [[Dark Eldar]], both of whom are notorious for genetically tampering with human populations for their [[Troll|own ends]].

=== [[Centaur]]s ===
Occupying the deep gray end of canon, the short story ''Children of the Emperor'' from the anthology '''Into the Malestrom''' features a guardsman stranded on a lost, feral world with super-high gravity, populated by abhumans whose ancestors gave themselves centaur bodies and super-enhanced muscles to cope with high gravity and abundance of deadly predators. He gets involved with a struggle between the Emperor-worshipping locals and a [[Khorne|Khornate]] [[heresy]], but the best he can do is to report to the Imperium when he escapes that the planet is feral, too dangerous & resource poor to colonize, and houses only some unimportant alien species, thus preventing the loyalists from being slaughtered as mutants by more Puritanical Imperials.

===Giants===
It is said that, much like how Trolls exist on Fenris, so do Giants. These creatures were once lead by Ur-Bolg, before Throth Half-head of the Space Wolves decapitated him. If they look the same as Giants in Warhammer Fantasy, odds are they're a type of Abhuman, probably genetically engineered in Fenris' ancient past as a Viking LARP group's wet dream.

===Stiltlimbs===
This race of abhumans is noted as first appearing in the Age of Strife. Other than that, very little is known of them.

===Tohruk===
Debased and brutal cousins of the Ogryn, who have enacted a dark Pact with the Night Lords Chaos Space Marines.

===Ice Troll===
Native to Fenris as well. If they're like the origin of the Trolls in Warhammer Fantasy, then they're a Warp-Twisted Mutant population that eventually stabilized into a race of regenerating, Ogryn-sized beasts with the intelligence of a mentally-challenged gorilla. Otherwise, they could possibly be genetically engineered, possibly from human stock, like maybe the Fenrisian Giant?

===Amphi===
This race of Abhumans from the world of Lampra are known to have shape-shifting abilities. This makes them yet another shape-shifting species in Warhammer 40K like the Simulacra, the Lacrymole, or those members of the Assassinorum who utiliize Polymorphine.

===Drepanes===
These abhumans from the world of Azetium IV are noted as having heads similar to sickles. What this means is unknown. A more deadly version of the Coneheads? Sickle-like beaks?

===Lazul===
A race of blue-skinned abhumans from the planet Garganus Prime. Other than that, little is known of them. The blue-man group in space? An entire race of Cad Banes? Slutty exotic harems for Pleasure Worlds like the Asari, Twi'lek, or Orion? Who knows.

===Thrix===
Apparently these abhumans have "lethal plumage". Maybe some sort of birdman abhuman with poison-exuding or razor sharp feathers?

===[[Katana|Katara]]===
The Katara were a species of Abhumans encountered during the Great Crusade.

An insular and honor-bound civilization that had evolved in the Kenuit System during the Age of Strife, they were tall, sunken-eyed, and extremely thin but graceful. Their cities spread beneath the ground of their moons and planets in vast networks of tunnels, and while technologically sophisticated they only used their skill to build cities, ships, and weaponry. [[Weeaboo|Ritual wars and duels were one of the primary aspects of their culture, primarily used to settle social discourse from art and philosophy to war and politics.]]

During the Great Crusade, the Katarans were encountered by the Emperor's Children and after several skirmishes ultimately chose to have their fate decided by a duel between their champion Hamaya and the Astartes commander Abdemon. [[Japan|After Abdemon emerged victorious, the honorable Katarans committed mass suicide rather than serve as a permanently oppressed underclass to the Imperium's purebred humans on their own homeworlds.]] Of course, given what Abhumans or even just regular humans of the Imperium have to put up with every day in the present, [[Grimdark|some might even say that the Katarans made the logical choice.]]

Not the least bit related to that chick from [[Avatar: The Last Airbender]].

== DIY Abhumans ==
Rather surprisingly (considering how much creative freedom 40K typically offers), options for making your own abhuman breeds are actually quite limited, almost to the point of hardly being allowed at all. To recap, in the Imperium there are only 73 officially recognized abhuman breeds. 46 of those are declared extinct, and 12 more are believed extinct due to lack of contact. Only 15 abhuman breeds are officially alive and active in the Imperium of 40K, and 12 of those are named: Navigators, Beastmen, Ogryn, Ratlings, Squats, Nightsiders, Troths, Longshanks, Pelagers, Felinids, Scalies, and Neandors. That leaves ''only 3'' officially open slots for DIY abhumans.

Now, you could quibble on which breeds belong where on the list, or even if some should or shouldn't be on it all, and how many free slots there actually are, but the end result still leaves little to no wiggle room for converters and fan-fluff writers that want to make their own thing while sticking to the lore.

Then again, you could always just say "fuck it" and go ahead with a fan-creation, regardless of the official numbers, on the assumption that the [[Games Workshop|Administratum]] just got their paperwork wrong. [[Squats|It's not like that hasn't happened before]].

{{Imperium}}
{{Important Species in 40k}}
[[Category:Warhammer 40,000]][[Category:Imperial]]