Editing Warhammer 40,000 (section)

==Playable Races & Factions==

===The Imperium of Man===

Most of the setting revolves around the Imperium of Man, which is logical given that it is a fuckhueg empire that gets invaded all the time/point of view for 90% of the lore. Basically evil for the sake of humanity's survival but at least tries to be good when it's safe to do so. The Imperial military is likewise massive and sprawling, with both general-purpose and more specialized armies at its disposal. Each faction will usually fight on its own, working together for specific operations or in large warzones where lots of resources are needed. Sometimes however, being a theocratic dictatorship/monarchy, worlds rebel or regiments turn traitor, forcing Imperial armies to fight one another.

If you want to really mix things up, it's possible to mix-and-match different organizations via the "Imperium" Keyword, allowing you to draw units together as you see fit.

'''[[Space Marines]]/Adeptus Astartes:''' Space Knights with futuristic power armor and [[Bolter|weapons]]. Will seriously fuck your shit up, but are often associated with noob players, because they are the army that GW markets the most, and most starter packs have them. Considered a noob army because they are '''extremely''' easy to play. Their only real disadvantage is that their armies are usually pretty mediocre and low in model count, so they can't afford to lose many. Other than that, they are pretty much the standard by which all other armies are measured to and have no major weaknesses. Once upon a time, weren't quite as hung up on the [[Emprah]], and more [[Beakie|informal]].

Or such is the rhetoric many would like to believe. In reality, Space Marines are the most popular faction and thus they enjoy frequent model and codex updates and releases, to the point of making plenty of other players sick to their stomachs from the sheer pauldron overload. Aside from being the best supported army, getting not one, but multiple updates each edition while the majority of other armies languish and find themselves gridlocked into one or two working gimmicks, the varying flavors of Space Marine produce some of the strongest and most versatile armies in the game. Unlike most armies, which are designed around a notion of specialization, '''which is not always executed well by the codex writers in practice''', Space Marines are treated as experts of all trades, which means they have the broadest variety of strategies at their disposal, which is even included crunch-wise. They can generally give specialist races a run for their money in whatever tactic the specialist army was supposed to be good at - this is made possible by having a good selection of support to make up for the inherent holes in a specialized army. Their popularity, however, is their main weakness; as most armies have become tailored to counter the marines and come out on top.

In short, Space Marines are among the few armies designed to be fairly formless in composition, which is ideal for making a flexible army. After someone's been in the game for a while, Marines can get a little bland from overexposure, but Games Workshop focuses on them very exclusively because they love money, and the business side of the company doesn't really seem to understand and be a part of the game side of things. That is, the Space Marines are the best selling army because they're the most flexible, easiest to build, and the most likely to win with if you're a noob. Rather than balancing the game to even out other races, GW business prefers to maintain the status quo and sell mainly Space Marines. Space Marines account for something near half the playable factions in the game.

Space Marines were divided into Legions during [[Great Crusade|their golden era]], but were later broken up into "Chapters", with about 1,000 Marines each, so that [[Horus Heresy|no one can run off with half the military might of the Imperium again and do whatever they want]].

[[File:Enforcer.jpg|300px|right|thumb|Grimdark female [[Adeptus Arbites|space cop]].]]

The remnants of the original Legions are called First Founding Chapters, and all other Chapters hail from them in some way or another:
*[[Ultramarines]]: The cool Joe Everyman of the Marines, these dudes focus a lot on honor and [[Tau|adaptable strategy]], though they tend to adhere to [[Codex Astartes|dogma]] a bit too much. Still are the laughing-stock of the Marines because of the [[Matt Ward|Mattard]]. Their Primarch is [[Roboute Guilliman]], known for being a great administrator and tactician, writing the [[Codex Astartes]] and ''maybe'' having a bit [[Imperium Secundus|too much ambition]] for his own good. Despite coming across as generic at times, they have a cool Roman theme to them when done properly. Currently the story revolves around Guilliman [[gets_shit_done | getting shit done]].
*[[Dark Angels]]: Wearers of badass robes ''on top of power armour'', they shit plasma out on anyone even remotely looking like [[Chaos Space Marines|traitors]]. They also keep tremendous amounts of secrets, especially the knowledge of <s>the [[Fallen Angels]]</s> THE COLONEL'S [[meme|SECRET BLEND]] OF HERBS AND SPICES! Their Primarch is [[Lion El'Johnson]], a secretive and moody but honorable and clearly noble knight... He's also still alive.
*[[Iron Hands]]: Cyborgs above and beyond the standard augmentations that Astartes receive, mostly due to their close alliance with the Adeptus Mechanicus. The Iron Hands generally believe that "flesh is weak" and continually replace their meat with cybernetics throughout their careers. Instead of a single [[Chapter Master]] to lead them, they have a Clan Council consisting of senior captains from each clan-company. Their Primarch was [[Ferrus Manus]], who told them NOT to replace their entire bodies with mechanics. But he is dead now, so who cares about what he said, right? But being the target of the Emperor's Children's obsessions, they've started to reconsider some of their doctrines.
*[[Blood Angels]]: Vampire Jebuses, cursed beyond cursed (blessed by [[Khorne]]), but somehow completely loyal. If you're not inflicted with the Red Thirst, which drives you to drink your enemy's blood, you'll inevitably succumb to the Black Rage, making you a raging lunatic believing you are about to kill [[Horus Lupercal]]. Their Primarch was [[Sanguinius]], a pretty and angelic paragon of hope, who symbolized all that is good in humanity [[Awesome|Who also liked to solo Bloodthirsters]].
*[[Imperial Fists]]: Subjects to porn-memes and siege specialists who WILL ram it up your hole if you ever try to conquer a place they're protecting. The Chapter who tries to uphold the morals and learnings of the Great Crusade the most, keeping off all enemies of the Imperium, in the hope that the Emperor will eventually come back and save the Imperium. In the meantime, they'll do self-harm to express their guilt of [[Rogal Dorn|not having saved the Emps]], stoically defending the morals of the past and, of course, hold the fucking line. Their Primarch was [[Rogal Dorn]], who was Abe Lincoln in space, whose integrity and insistence on speaking his mind hurt his ability to get along with his brothers, but made him one of the most (and possibly THE most) reliable Primarch.
*[[White Scars]]: Ecstasy-abusing mongol bikers, specialized in Blitzkrieg. You won't know the White Scars are hunting you until you wake up covered in tire treads and everyone around you has been slaughtered in a drive-by of epic proportions. Though they appear savage, they are actually quite cultured. While constantly compared to the Space Wolves for their savage origins, they detest the comparison as they'd rather take up more cultured pursuits than revel in their own barbarism. They're also commonly loners, especially after their best bros, the [[Thousand Sons]] [[Grimdark|were betrayed, classified as traitors, almost wiped out by Space Wolves and later went insane]]. They have a professional rivalry with the Raven Guard over their extremely incompatible battle doctrine. Their Primarch is [[Jaghatai Khan]], a noble but savage man who lived for the charge, and weirdly one of the least problematic Primarchs. Likes to wear high-heels.
*[[Raven Guard]]: Goddamn sneaky bastards, able to cut the throat of a Warboss from behind and retreat before anyone notices they were there - [[Power Armor|power armoured]] and without camo, no less. They like [[Jump Pack]]s and [[Beakie]]s too. Because of their meticulous planning of operations for maximum efficiency, they don't play well with the White Scars. Their Primarch is [[Corvus Corax]], a poetic shadow warrior who saved civilians and gave them the power they deserved.
*[[Salamanders]]: Despite their terrifying appearance (coal-black skin with bright red eyes), they are probably the bro-est of bro tier among the Astartes. They live with their people instead of hiding away in a fortress-monastery, and maintain a tradition of craftsmanship. They tend to get fucked over all the time because of this, partly because they took [[Drop Site Massacre|heavy losses]] during the Horus Heresy and couldn't break the Legion up, and partly because they often take on incredibly dangerous missions for the well-being of the people in their protection. Their Primarch is [[Vulkan]], a smith and general cool (HA!) guy, who ended up becoming (temporarily) insane from not dying. Maybe he's dead now. Or not. [[Perpetual|It's complicated]].
*[[Space Wolves]]: SPESS VIKINGS! They ride [[wat|giant wolves into battle]], drink fuckloads of intestine-burning mjöd, made from cooling fluid and Khorne's own piss, and are the only loyal marines [[PROMOTIONS|whose genitals actually work]]. Some of the proudest and most stubborn of the Marines, they went from Emperor's executioners to humanity's protectors and take a real dim view of [[Inquisition|certain organizations]] wiping out populations for dubious reasons. This is hilarious considering [[Burning of Prospero|some of their past actions]]. Their Primarch is [[Leman Russ]] who could be abrasive but was a great warrior and master of playing the dumb barbarian while getting shit done. Needless to say, they're a [[Skub|controversial]] Chapter in-universe and out.

Other Chapters were founded later, to react to a threat or to enforce a region of space. Here are some of the more notable:

*[[Black Templars]]: The most badass, crazy, xeno-fucking maniacs ever to roam the galaxy. They use their neophytes as meat shields and are only interested in seeing the color of your guts. They are always on crusades, which is just fine as the term "collateral damage" is the same as "everyday chores" to them. Of all the successor chapters, these guys show up the most in the fluff, so if there's only one you need to remember, it's these guys.
*[[Blood Ravens]]: A fucked over Chapter from the [[Dawn of War]] vidya games and, if you came here after playing those games, this might be the only damn Chapter you know of. Known for literally stealing equipment from other Chapters both loyal and treacherous as well as being almost universally disliked for it. They are a very independent Chapter, bent on making up for their mistakes in the past... Which is a lot, really. Widely believed to be the loyalist remnants of the Thousand Sons Legion, due to [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=u4m8HH5zy7w|a fuckton of evidence].
*[[Flesh Tearers]]: A Chapter of loyalist [[Berserker]]s, bat-shit mad motherfuckers. Mostly known for eating their enemies after ripping them apart to get to the juice inside them. Who'd put raspberry juice inside other beings, anyway?
*[[Lamenters]]: Like the Flesh Tearers, the Lamenters are a Blood Angel Successor Chapter. Unlike the Flesh Tearers, the Lamenters are yellow and SUBJECT TO THE WORST FUCKING LUCK IN THE HISTORY OF THE IMPERIUM! Seriously these guys have been lost in the warp, left to die by other chapters on many occasions, tricked to be on the wrong side of a civil war, the list goes on and on. Yet despite all of this they keep Surviving and keep fighting for humanity. Oh, their chapter words are "We Die for those we Cherish", their battlecry is '''“For Those We Cherish, We Die in Glory!”'''. If that isn't cause for some manly tears, I don't know what is
*[[Legion of the Damned]]: Spooky Scary Skeletons that are also on fire. Always. These loyalists got trapped in the Warp and are suffering from various horrible mutations, but they press on and continue to provide support for their beleaguered Battle-Brothers. They like to pop out from the Warp just in the nick of time to save an allied force from sure destruction.

'''[[Deathwatch]]:''' If the Space Marines are akin to modern day marines, the Deathwatch are akin to Delta Force. The Deathwatch recruits from the best xenos-killers of any loyalist Chapter in the Imperium, organizing them into small Kill-teams with combined-arms tactics, as opposed to large homogenized armies. Their armor is all black, save for their right pauldron, which retains their original chapter's icon, and their left pauldron, containing the insignia of the Deathwatch. If you want to play an all-veteran Space Marine army with access to cool new toys, Deathwatch is for you.

'''[[Grey Knights]]:''' The Grey Knights are Space Marines version 1.5, who are all psykers. As the resident holy space paladins, they hunt daemons and Chaos worshippers every day and holiday, and are basically the [[Mary Sue|most powerful chapter]] of all. Expensive as hell, but freakin' badass in their own right. Got totally super-broken-ubercharged by [[Matthew Ward|Matt Ward's]] 5th Edition codex, which was soon fixed in 6th Ed, with 7th leaving them just on the lower end of mid-tier. Nonetheless, they are still great; an elite force that really, REALLY hates daemons and loves alpha striking. Previously had access to Inquisition troops, but can still ally with them, which is more in-line with current fluff anyway. If you ever wanted to field Daemon-killing [[Terminator|Termies]] as Troops, here you go.

'''[[Sisters of Battle]]:''' The "Nuns with guns", these badass ladies in power armor have the levels of strength and devotion to the Emprah matched by the levels of sexual frustration (or so ''you wish''). Known for their love for fire, faith, fire, martyrdom, fire, fire, and fire, they will make your heart(s) melt. Because it's already steaming from a Melta shot. [[-4_Str|-4str]], but -4 points as well, compared to the Marines. Playing them will make other players feel pity, envy (for not having as big balls as you) and fear (because not a single noob or average player would be confident in playing them).

'''[[Adeptus Custodes]]:''' Take everything that makes a Space Marine, and amplify it to eleven. These guys are the personal bodyguards of the Emperor himself, so you know they're some bad motherfuckers, as the average Custodes is about as killy as a Space Marine Captain and as ded 'ard as an Ork warboss. On top of that, every single one is equipped with master-crafted weaponry and armor that only works specifically on them. Now, as badass as these guys were during the Great Crusade and Horus Heresy, you barely hear a peep from them post-Heresy as they're too busy making sure no would-be assassins try to attack the now decaying body of the Emperor; letting their guard down even for a moment could mean the destruction of Terra itself, and the collapse of the Imperium itself. As of the back half of 7th Edition and throughout 8th, they've actually come back out to wreck shit once again, with them domaining tournaments in 9th.

'''[[Imperial Guard]]/Astra Militarum:''' Human regulars, so numerous it's impossible for Imperial bureaucratic elements to count them all. Where the Space Marines have been compared to the surgical scalpel of the Imperium, the Imperial Guard are considered the giant fucking sledgehammer of mankind. They got themselves some sweet tanks and the non-Cadian infantry models are fucking amazing (especially Steel Legion and Death Korps of Krieg). They go into battle with nothing but a glorified flashlight/laser pointer, 21st century flak jackets, and standard-issue BALLS OF STEEL, and are expected to go toe to toe with [[Daemons]], [[Chaos Space Marines]], and [[Necrons|who knows]] [[Tyranids|what else]], and they fucking DO IT because that's what's required of them. Unfortunately, surviving this isn't a part of the job, so their gear is a bit lousy, but, you know, they've at least got tanks and Titans.

'''[[Adeptus Mechanicus]]:''' You know those times when starting your car seems like it takes a bizarre ritual to get it to cooperate? You know it's silly, but you still do it? The Adeptus Mechanicus have formalized that. The AdMech (calling it that in their presence is probably not a good idea) has monopoly on the creation and maintenance of advanced technology in the Imperium. Their red-robed Tech-Priests burn incense and pray over anything more sophisticated than an inclined plane to make it work. Obviously, they have the most advanced tech in the Imperium, but they've also lost and forgotten most of the original blueprints from the Age of Technology and thus you can imagine them being totally hung up on reverse-engineering what specimens of lost tech they still have. Because of their hard-on for undiscovered technology, they tend to poke around newly-discovered Necron tombs like they own the place and will literally go to '''any lengths''' to come into possession of a Standard Template Construct-patterns. The tech-priests themselves are organized under the "Cult Mechanicus" faction, supplemented by the [[Skitarii]] tech guard and the robots of the [[Legio Cybernetica]], as well as access to virtually every vehicle the Imperium uses plus some special toys of their own. In fact, the AdMech are responsible for constructing and maintaining the [[Titan]]s, the biggest and deadliest land vehicles the Imperium possesses.

'''[[Inquisition]]:''' Sometimes you have to get your hands dirty to keep an empire as big as the Imperium of Man stable. Enter the Inquisition, a clandestine group of goons in black robes and big [[hat]]s sent to investigate Heresy and sedition (which is also heresy) in all corners of the Imperium. They come with their own retinue of henchmen, but can also requisition the services of other branches of the Imperium, whether its the shadowy agents of the [[Officio Assassinorum]], the chambers militant of the Ordos Majoris (Grey Knights, Sisters of Battle, & Deathwatch) or entire armies of Guardsmen/Space Marines. However, if the shit really hits the fan, they have the authority to declare [[Exterminatus]] and wipe out the planet. Of course, they don't have this option on tabletop, that'd be OP - instead they just get garden variety orbital bombardments.

'''[[Imperial Knight|Imperial Knights]]:''' One-man manned mini-Titans. Each Knight battlesuit is associated with a noble house or the Adeptus Mechanicus, in many ways quite similar to real-world knights. Available in 10 flavours: Errant, Paladin, Lancer, Warden, Gallant, Crusader, Castigator, Acheron, Magaera and Stryx. They can bring to the field rapid-fire battle cannons, thermal cannons, ion shields, reaper chainsaws, Thunderstrike Gauntlets and ''motherfucking heavy stubbers'' ''(Hilarious, since heavy stubbers, being equal to the modern .50 cal machine gun (though of course radically more powerful), are tiny in comparison the rest of the Knights' Arsenal)''. Very expensive in both points (three suits can fill an entire detachment) and money, but the Errant, Paladin, Warden, Gallant and Crusader are cheap compared to the Lancer, Castigator and Acheron, which are from Forge World and consequently will require you to re-mortgage your house.

[[File:Golden Crusade.jpg|800px|center|thumb|Back in the day conquering a galaxy in the name of humanity meant something...]]

===Chaos===
[[Image:1227181112539.jpg|thumb|Chaos Space Marines have a tendency to be hilariously evil, capriciously twisted and more SPIKEY!]]
Coming from the depths of the [[Warp]], Chaos is a force formed from the passions and emotions of all living things. Which, due to [[grimdark|the nature of the setting]], means that all things Chaos-related are either completely malevolent, batshit insane, or both. The Four Gods of Chaos, [[Khorne]], [[Nurgle]], [[Tzeentch]], and [[Slaanesh]], each have their own goals and followings, and are just as likely to fight each other as outside enemies. Chaos' ultimate goal is to make the galaxy as anarchic and destructive as the Warp, and its primary enemy is the "Anathema" - The God-Emperor of Mankind, the single most pernicious foe of the Chaos Gods. Chaos hates the Imperium of Man with a passion, but will also seek to corrupt and destroy Xenos wherever possible.

'''[[Chaos Space Marines]]:''' Evil Space Marines who got fucking tired of the above-mentioned shit and went all nuts and balls out, for the glory of [[Chaos]]! This resulted them becoming way more badass than their holier-than-thou brethren. Years ago, 'Chaos Space Marines' and 'Chaos Daemons' used to be one and the same, sharing the same codex. Then some [[Gav Thorpe|FUCKHEAD]] at the GW office wanted to simultaneously fuck over every Chaos army that used daemons and release another codex, just for Daemons, effectively making it impossible to field a legit CSM/Daemon army. This has been fixed in 8th edition; while technically separate codexes, both share the CHAOS Keyword and can now work in tandem as advertised.

Most of the forces abide within the Traitor Legions - Legions like those the loyal Marines used to have, just that these guys never broke them up in the first place, so they tend to have numbers on their side. Unfortunately, every single Chaos Marine thinks he should rule the lot, and as such, backstabbing is a part of business and results in 'Chaos warbands' which actually consist of pretty few Chaos Marines, but a huge number of cultists. That is of course not represented in their codex, because it seems that after the 4th edition, nobody at GW knows hows to write a fluffy Chaos codex anymore.
*[[World Eaters]]: Bloodthirsty [[Khorne|Khornate]] berserkers, living only to ram a chainaxe up everyone's rectum. Literally. No philosophy, no goal, just pure slaughter, except for [[Kharn|that guy who's always fun to be around]]. Not that that makes them bad guys, as exemplified in [[Kharn the Betrayer]], but actually a great bunch of guys. Their Primarch is [[Angron]], a man so insane and angry, it cannot be written with words. He is also a Daemon Primarch. Oh yeah.
*[[Death Guard]]: Swollen, stinky blobs of rotten flesh, infected with every STD/STI [[Nurgle]] has ever imagined. They are a happy bunch, who don't hesitate showing the lovely embrace of death, painlessness and immortality to the unenlightened citizens of the Imperium. Their Daemon Primarch is [[Mortarion]], a sour and fully depressed fella, who is a literal personification of death (like being bone-slim, shrouded, scythe-wielding shadowy wraith).
*[[Emperor's Children]]: Where the Death Guard are tough as fuck, these maniacs are just high as fuck. Slaaneshi hedonists, ''possibly even more'' fucked up than the [[Dark Eldar]]. Where the Deldar rape and torture to live longer lives, these guys do it just for the kicks! As they serve the god of sex, drugs, and rock & roll, their signature weapon is [[Sonic Weaponry|literally a boombox gun]]. Their Primarch is [[Fulgrim]], the prettiest and most kawaii of all the Primarchs, but was also very much yandere, so he mochi mochi'ed the Chaos Gods desu and became a four-armed snake.
*[[Thousand Sons]]: Traitors by accident, intellectual, knowledge-hungry, MOTHERFUCKING POWERFUL psykers. A lot of the Legion is pissed off dust encased in power armor. Trust a Chaos player, [[Rubric Marines|it's complicated]], so go read the HH book Thousand Sons. Their Primarch is [[Magnus the Red]], a redhead with one eye and the second most powerful psyker in the galaxy, after big E himself. He discovered the ploy being made against the Imperium by Lorgar and Horus and ended up accidentally knocking over his father's [[Miniatures|side hobby]], which he got just a little mad about. He even has a model now!
*[[Word Bearers]]: Religious zealots going so far as to carve psalms on the bodies of the dead and on themselves. Rather than devoting themselves to a single chaos god like those above, these folks [[Chaos Undivided|praise Chaos itself and see the gods as a pantheon to be worshiped equally]]. Arch-heretics, these fellas were the first to get their [[Heresy]] on. Whereas the other legions may only pay lip service to the Dark Gods in pursuit of their own agendas, some outright despising them, the Word Bearers are scarily religious about Chaos. As in, not only should Chaos be appeased with prayer and rituals, but it is the only universal truth, a way of life, a flawless and only true ideology. Their Primarch is [[Lorgar]], ''the'' original Heretic who spends his current days by hiding in the Eye of Terror, regretting setting the Heresy off, and getting his arse kicked by his brother Corvus Corax.
*[[Alpha Legion]]: The most secretive, free-of-dogma, open-minded Marines who always thought one step ahead. These days... Em... well... your brain would melt. Their Primarch is (or was) [[Alpharius]], or maybe it was [[Omegon]], or maybe neither... [[Wat|Just... yeah.]] May or may not be secret loyalists, or maybe they're the pawns of the [[The Cabal|Xenos Illuminati]]. It's complicated, just like any relationship.
*[[Iron Warriors]]: Another legion of Chaos Undivided. Builders and siege-specialists like the Imperial Fists, who they hate with a special, burning passion only reserved for [[Weeaboo|tsunderes]]. Also humongous trolls and amazing mathematicians in one bunch. Their Primarch is [[Perturabo]], a giant dickhead of metal and hatred. He was always jealous of [[Rogal Dorn]] for being such a goddamn father's good boy and getting way much praise, while himself not being appreciated nearly enough for all the hard work he did for the Imperium that he eventually betrayed. Duh, who wouldn't at this point? Well, anyone reasonable since the only reason he and his Legion were in that position and treated poorly was because they chose to accept shit jobs instead of learning to say "No". They weren't ordered to do these things, they chose to accept when asked by others.
*[[Black Legion]]: Formerly known as the Sons of Horus, these guys have been fighting the rotting Imperium for so goddamn long it's almost becoming Saturday morning comic-book villainy. These guys are wholly committed to the destruction of the Imperium more than any other legion. <s>They were about to destroy all opposition on Cadia, the only planet holding back the Chaos forces spilling from the Eye of Terror... Before the plot froze. [[Advancing the Storyline|Goddamnit]]!</s> <b>[[Cadia|WHOOPS]]</b> They recruit from all Traitor Legions, as long as they pledge themselves fully to the Black Legion and spray their armour black. They are the most massive Traitor Legion, but fight with the others way too often in the attempts to gain more recruits by trying to spread their influence. Their Primarch was [[Horus Lupercal]], the favorite son of the Emperor that was completely annihilated by the said Emperor. He was actually a pretty polite guy. [[Grimdark|How sad]].
*[[Night Lords]]: Really freaky grimdark batmen in [[power armour]], turned super-villain. Think of Owlman and a few other alternate universe Bat-men, then ratchet the violence factor up past 11, and you comic fans out there would get the idea. They like flaying, killing messily, and fear and sabotage tactics, but for some reason their color scheme are lighting strikes over red and blue armour. It's as stupid as it sounds. [[Derp|They even wear small wings on their helmets]]. Their Primarch was [[Konrad Curze]], the grimdark Batman who skinned people and drank their blood. <s>A righteous and lawful man</s> THAT ONE GUY WHO LIVED LONG ENOUGH TO BECOME THE VILLAIN AND HATE HIMSELF FOR IT. He wanted to apply these morals upon everyone else with the only tool he knew how to use: Terror.

Over the many, war-filled and chaotic years of fighting to keep the [[Imperium]] alive, some Chapters or Companies of Marines simply snap. These take a darker route in pursuit of something-or-other, which will most often make them to a point-of-no-return and in the end completely fall to Chaos. A couple of examples:

*[[Red Corsairs]]: Formerly the [[Astral Claws]], they decided that they wanted to carve out their own empire and started the [[Badab War]], one of the biggest post-Heresy rebellion the Imperium ever faced. They've since turned to a life of piracy, and have adopted the Black Legion's recruiting tactics of accepting traitors from any other legion or chapter. And despite being much younger than the Black Legion, the Corsairs' numbers could easily rival them.
*[[Crimson Slaughter]]: Fanatically adherent to the laws of the Imperium, turned these bloodcrazed murderers by a series of [[Not as Planned|unfortunate events]]. Now they go everywhere, killing anyone standing in their way to stave away the voices in their heads. In fact, they are so effective at their killing that their existence can't be hidden by the Imperial authorities (Arguably this could mean they leave too many witnesses for even the most zealous Inquisitor to deal with so maybe not so effective).
*[[The Scourged]]: Take a Chapter assisting the Inquisition in their daily investigations, an insane need to know everything there is to know about the motives of others and one seriously bored-out-of-its-bird-skull ([[Lord of Change]]), and you get the Scourged. Formerly the Seekers of Truth, these maniacs now go around and try to rid themselves from the curse of knowing all truths ever conceived by any living creature, while trying to uncover '''THE LIES''' to the Imperium. With force, if necessary.
*<s>[[The Fallen]]: During the Heresy, the Dark Angels who stayed behind on Caliban got caught up in some shady shit, resulting in most, if not all, of them falling to Chaos. The Dark Angels want to keep their existence a secret and will go to great lengths to capture them.</s> NONEXISTENT HERETICS WHO DO NOT EXIST BECAUSE THE DARK ANGELS LOYALTY IS BEYOND REPROACH.

'''[[Daemon|Chaos Daemon]]s:''' Abominations emanating from the warp, daemons seek only to invade the material universe and wreak havoc upon it. Most daemons are aligned with a particular chaos god, and are oftentimes either summoned deliberately by cultists, take possession of an unfortunate psyker, or brought into battle by allied Chaos Space Marines. Daemons can also possess technology, becoming [[Daemon Engine]]s, which supplement Chaos forces lacking the same logistic support as their Imperial counterparts. All champions of Chaos one day wish to [[daemon prince|become daemons themselves]], granting them immortality and incredible power.
*[[Khorne|Khornate]] daemons desire combat above all else. They are some of the most deadly enemies on the battlefield for their sheer tenacity and capacity for violence. They will even turn on their own allies if there aren't enough enemies to slaughter.
*[[Nurgle|Nurglite]] daemons are rotting heaps of filth, spreading plagues and decay wherever they go. Despite this, they are far from frail; Nurglites are extremely durable and hard to kill, and their myriad plagues range from turning you into goop in an instant, to turning you into a [[Plague Zombie]]. But it's all cool, that's just how Papa Nurgle shows his love.
*[[Tzeentch|Tzeentchian]] daemons are tricky bastards, who love to use magic to screw with the material realm. These guys are the epitome of "be careful what you wish for", as they will always find a way to fuck you over, thanks to their [[just as planned|plans within plans]].
*[[Slaanesh]]i daemons are some of the most hardcore hedonists in existence, rivaled only by the Dark Eldar. Their obsession with pleasure and pain is often used to torment victims before breaking their minds, tempting them with promises of unearthly delights and experiences. Or just raping them for eternity, because why the fuck not.
*A few varieties of unaligned daemons exist, such as [[fury|Furies]], [[Chaos Beast]]s, and [[chaos spawn|they whose name we won't speak]].

'''[[Lost and the Damned|Renegades & Cultists]]:''' Non-space marine humans who serve the dark gods, for various reasons and motivations. Cultists can be from [[Nurgle|Underhive gangs living in deplorable conditions]], [[Slaanesh|decadent nobles who take their own hedonistic tendencies too far]], [[Tzeentch|intellectuals who stumble upon forbidden knowledge]], or [[Khorne|renegade regiments who got sick of being someone else's lackies]]. Cultists are often used as meatshields or expendable pawns by Chaos Space Marines, but former Guardsmen, colloquially known as the [[Lost and the Damned]], are often a more significant threat, especially in large enough numbers. Supplementing them are [[mutant]]s, [[Rogue Psyker]]s, even [[Beastmen]]. Much like their loyalist Guardsmen counterparts, individually they're quite weak, but the Lost and the Damned possess the numbers and vehicles to make up for it - plus some Daemon Engines and Chaos Space Marines to boot. Those who survive purging or their own sociopathic leaders will typically end up insane, [[Chaos Spawn|or worse]], but rarely they may earn the favor of the Chaos Gods.

'''[[Daemon Knights|Renegade Knights]]:''' While fewer in number than their loyalist counterparts, Knights can be corrupted to chaos too. Daemon Knights are particularly dangerous, as they're essentially massive Daemon Engines with all the advantages that comes with it. The Imperial Knights view their existence as a stain upon the Knight Houses' honor, and will relentlessly pursue them wherever they go.

===Xenos===
The various alien species inhabiting the Milky Way galaxy are not friendly to mankind. Those that were not destroyed during the Great Crusade were usually the most dangerous and expansive alien empires in the Galaxy. While Xenos generally do not like the Imperium in kind, they also hate Chaos, and will also war with one another.

====Eldar====
*'''Craftworld [[Eldar]]:'''
**Space elves. The members of the race that went "Well shit, guys, we just partied so hard that we accidentally made a God of sex and cocaine, so maybe we should re-think our lives", and then fucked off to giant [[Craftworld|worldships]] and tried as hard as possible to forget that time they made dildos out of bees. Much like college graduates coming face to face with their Facebook page when applying for jobs, Slaanesh is always there to remind them that their souls are forfeit and belong to him/her/it. And no, the worldships are NOT as cool as you think they are, they're even '''cooler'''. They're darting around doing unfathomable stuff, trolling [[Imperium|the man]], and taking names. You'd think they'd at least be on civil terms with the Imperium, considering they share many of the same enemies and goals (namely, stop all the other genocidal races from turning the galaxy into a [[Chaos|collective seizure]] / [[Orks|the world's most deadly playground]] / [[Necrons|a lifeless wasteland]] / [[Tyranids|lunch]] / [[Dark Eldar|all of the above]]), but Eldar seem to have [[Eldrad|dickishness]] written into their DNA. They sometimes help, sometimes don't, and as such, the Imperium are uncertain on how to deal with them - they have been there to defeat some big old Daemon, and sometimes have killed entire armies, so it's kind of a toss-up. [[Inquisition|Better just kill them and then ask questions, right?]]
*'''[[Harlequin]]s:'''
**Space elves who like to cosplay as psychotic clowns. They are seemingly random space elves who leave the other factions and join up with this mysterious cult that serves the trickster god [[Cegorach]]. They act as intermediaries between the other space elf factions, and then like to put on dramatic performances retelling ancient space elf mythologies- which includes using hallucinogenic gasses/psychic powers on their audiences. They also defend the great space elf [[Webway|interstellar highway network]] against daemons and other intruders- mainly because they have a [[Black Library#In Warhammer 40,000|big fancypants library]] hidden in there.
*'''[[Dark Eldar]]:'''
**The space dark elves that, after spawning the God of "Let's make some new orifices to fuck" decided that they'd rather be humongous soul eating douchebags than get a grip on their metaphysical coke habit. These elves will raid, mutilate, rape, and torture the crap out of anyone even half-alive, and not necessarily in any specific order. Significantly less civilized than the Craftworld Eldar, they'll do what ever the fuck they want, mostly because it actually prolongs their life-span. They live in the Webway and invade real space once in a while from their evil, dark city of Commorragh to get some fresh slaves and to strike terror in the enemy. They are one of the few factions who will always actively target civilians for no other reason than because they're helpless.
*'''[[Eldar#Eldar_Corsairs|Eldar Corsairs]]:'''
**These Eldar have abandoned the strict and regimented lifestyle of the Craftworlds to engage in acts of piracy and adventure. While not as extremely hedonistic as the Dark Eldar, their lifestyle is still quite hazardous as they have no protections against Slaanesh's pull on their souls. Many Eldar still find this path worth the risk, often going to great lengths to amass wealth and get their jollies off before eventually getting bored and returning home, or else going full monty and joining the Commorrites. This army has no formal models but can be represented by a mix of Eldar and Dark Eldar figures.
*'''[[Warhammer 40,000/Tactics/Ynnari(7E)|Ynnari]]:'''
**The combined forces of all Eldar factions under the leadership of the newborn Eldar god of death, [[Ynnead]]. These spess elves come from very many different walks of life but have one purpose: to fuck [[Slaanesh]]'s shit up. Currently the friendliest Eldar faction towards the Imperium (alongside Harlequins I guess, seeing as they perform their circus tricks on plenty of human worlds as well as Eldar ones. Oh, and maybe 8th ed Ulthwe too).
*'''[[Exodites]]:'''
**Space Wood Elves. Focused on maintaining Eldar planets called Maiden Worlds that survived the fall and never became inhabited by another space faring species. They ride fucking dinosaurs. No official models as of early 9th Edition.

====Orks====
'''[[Ork|Orks]]:''' Oh, fuck yeah. When it comes to xenos, none are more kickass than Orks. Bellowing hordes of greenskins with ramshackle [[Dakka|DAKKA]] AND [[Choppa|CHOPPA]], who are MAID FER FIGHTIN' 'N' WINNIN'. The most numerous and successful race in the galaxy, Orks live for fighting and nothing else, as they worship and love every moment of it. They introduced randomness to the table, but if you're playing Orks and expecting efficiency, you are doing it oh-so-wrong. Out of all the other factions, Orks are easily the least serious. As a rule Ork players reflect this by also being a bit odd and a bit loud, but the general consensus is that the bonkers character of the army tends not to attract hyper-competitive assholes; thus, most Ork players are decent chaps to play against. In short, Orks are silly, stupid and don't give two fucks about anything. [[wikipedia:magical thinking|Magical thinking]] is an actual game mechanic for them. Oh, and they're literally sentient fungi.

====Necrons====
'''[[Necron|Necrons]]:''' Robots who have recently awakened from an eons-long slumber, intent on reclaiming their ancient empires. Well, what's their actual intention is a subject of [[skub]]. Millions of years ago, the entire Necrontyr species gave up their bodies (unwillingly) to the [[C'tan]], becoming soulless and encased in living metal so they could have a chance in fighting the [[Old_Ones_(Warhammer)|Old Ones]]. On the one hand, this war ended up fucking over the galaxy by leading to the creation of Chaos as we know it. GG, guys. On the other hand, their [[Cadian Pylons|anti-warp technology]] helped delay and contain Chaos up until the 41st millenium. They have some of the toughest basic units, t̶̶h̶̶e̶̶i̶̶r̶̶ ̶b̶̶a̶̶s̶̶i̶̶c̶̶ ̶i̶̶n̶̶f̶̶a̶̶n̶̶t̶̶r̶̶y̶̶ ̶w̶̶e̶̶a̶̶p̶̶o̶̶n̶̶s̶̶ ̶c̶̶a̶̶n̶̶ ̶s̶̶h̶̶r̶̶e̶̶d̶̶ ̶t̶̶a̶̶n̶̶k̶̶s̶̶(Not since, 7th, unfortunently) , and they don't stay down when you destroy them. Their technology doesn't even obey the laws of physics, although they still make use of FTL-travel. Since they have no Warp presence, the Tyranids instinctively avoid their Tomb Worlds and daemons have no souls to claim when killing them. The C'tan, meanwhile, have been broken into pieces to be used as Necron weapons, though they are slowly reforming to wreak vengeance upon the galaxy.

====Tyranids====
[[Image:Carnifex_and_Gaunts_Victorious.jpg|right|thumb|300px|The ORIGINAL Zerg Rush. Holy shit, that's awesome.]]
*'''[[Tyranid|Tyranids]]:'''
**If it's not Orks, it better fucking be Tyranids who are the biggest threat to the galaxy as a whole. Hordes of scuttling space locusts that look like the kind of things that give the Xenomorph from ''Alien'' nightmares. Look as these motherfuckers: every single one of their models (except for those artillery guys with a scrotum about as large as the rest of their body) is fucking badass to the core (their most basic troop is a dinosaur/solider-ant with a gun that shoots flesh-eating beetles). They are faster than Eldar. They assimilate new features into their DNA from fallen foes, such as the Space Marine's black carapace. They're immune to virtually any toxin, and they can even [[Genestealers|infect other races to be their willing accomplices]]. Their only known motive is to devour all life in this galaxy, all the way to the cellular level... and that's all that we know, because reasoning with them has been so far unsuccessful, due to excessive OMNOMNOMNOMMING.
***The Tyranids are probably the most dicked over nation in the lore recently, as basically every single accomplishment the Tyranids have made in the lore have been recently undone and ruined, such as their destructions of worlds being retconned into them only eating the surface allowing the Imperium to terraform them. Also, their codexes are *full* of loss after loss after loss for the Tyranids with them not winning once.
*'''[[Genestealer Cult]]s:'''
**Whenever the Tyranids wish to invade a planet or system, they typically send out genestealers ahead, with the intention of infecting the populace to make them more compliant. A genestealer that successfully creates a cult will surround itself with fanatical hybrid and/or brainwashed worshippers who view the Tyranids as their star gods, and will steal weapons and disable planetary defenses in preparation of the invasion. Many will join the local PDF unit to hijack and steal any weapons and vehicles they can, giving them access to a staggering amount of Guardsman wargear for when the time to revolt comes. These creepy [[Cthulhu]] cultists give Chaos worshippers a run for the money on most batshit-insane nutters in the Imperium, and that's saying something.
**The effects of this on non-human worlds were rarely explored until recently. As follows:
*** Unlike humanity, Tau civilisation enforces a very strict breeding doctrine upon its citizens, A.K.A. you can only have the smex when your boss tells you to and getting with partners from different castes is forbidden (hopefully the infected aren't the ones in charge of implementing the breeding doctrines...). And since successful genestealer cults require multiple generations of offspring, the Tau would very likely catch on to an infestation far quicker than an Imperial world. However, the Tau once allowed themselves to be infected by Genestealers and formed a Genestealer cult as an experiment. This went as well as making the Xenomorphs from the Alien films controllable bioweapons, and while the Fire Caste had to purge the cult, some escaped and may have even been able to make or infect an Ethereal.
***The [[Hrud]] are actually being targeted by the genestealer cults to great effect. However, the Hrud lack a formal military and tend to cohabitate with other species, so the infiltration is not immediately apparent.
***The Eldar are susceptible to this as well, with similar results to humans. But Eldar can easily detect this and stamp it out, so the only examples come from Eldar willingly engaging with genestealers. We have recently seen the effects on an isolated craftworld that was infected by genestealers; they willingly allowed genestealers to infect them in an attempt to avoid having their souls consumed by Slaanesh, since this Craftworld was so old it predated the invention of the Infinity Circuit and therefore didn't have one. There were also Dark Eldar social elites who captured Genestealer hybrids, then developed a fad where they commissioned the Haemonculi to amputate and graft Genestealer parts onto their bodies (I'm not making this up), with similar results to Craftworlders and humans (they also developed a telepathic bond and an obsession with Tyranids...). Kitbash to your heart's content.
***It's been known for awhile that genestealer infections [[Genestealer#Non-human_Hybrids|interact particularly unusually with orks.]]

====Tau====
*'''[[Tau Empire]]:'''
**The weeaboo space Communists. East Asian-inspired high-tech faction with awesome hardware and a willingness ''not'' to slaughter other races just on principle. Though largely confined to a backwater corner of the galaxy, they are expanding alarmingly rapidly on their own "Great Crusade". While not too threatening to the Imperium, it's hard to do anything major against them as it would be WAY too costly for the Imperium. They die miserably in melee, unless they send their hordes of [[Kroot|mercenaries]] and [[Gue'vesa|meatshields]] in front of them, but that doesn't matter because they blow up everything from a distance with hundreds of [[Pulse rifle|different]] [[Melta|ranged]] [[Railgun|superweapons]] [[Plasma Gun|without missing]] [[Missile Launcher|breakfast]]. No psykers, no warp presence, just like the Necrons. At this point in time, the Imperium isn't really trying to fight them, as the [[Damocles Crusade|last time that happened]] they basically just stalled. Think of how a little blue squirrel is holding up a guardsman's combat boot and you'd be close. In fact, the two factions even help each other from time to time, though you wouldn't call them allies; they just have less reasons to fight against each other than together against those other [[Tyranids|more]] [[Chaos|threatening]] [[Orks|guys]]. While on the surface their setting is an optimistic one, [[skub|depending on who you ask]], they're actually an Orwellian tyranny that forcibly sterilizes dissenters and have propaganda on par with North Korea. They additionally keep Chaos a secret from their populace, much like the Imperium does, and are themselves mind-controlled by [[Nagi|literal brain worms]]. The sole dissenter in this shitshow is a badass Tau Commander known as [[Farsight]], who gets his own mini-faction and iconography.

====Leagues of Votann====
'''[[Leagues of Votann|Leagues of Votann]]:''' Despite technically being a human sub species (abhumans), the Leagues classified as xenos due the Imperium fanatical stupidity, and amazing achievements in ignorance. What doesn't help with this is the fact that they don't really bother to explain themselves (nor do they want to in order to keep a lower profile. They have also not only retain much of their tech database, but have also actively been innovating and developing their tech for thousands of years, which has helped hide their shared stc ancestry with the Imperium's tech. As a result, the imperium is quite fucking confused on what the hell these short humanoids are.

Anyways, these guys are fucking space dwarves, but in a more modern sense. They don't just go diggy diggy fucking hole, they chuck entire worlds into giant grinder, and then proceed to churn out manufactured products from said grinded up worlds in mass. Their favorite places to dwell in are essentially fortified arcologies, space stations, and live in factories. Oh, and they have robots instead of golems (which they are complete broes with).
They also beat out both the Tau and the Imperium in terms of advancement, so have fun with that.