Editing Xenos (section)

==Xenos Roles==
Within the galaxy of Warhammer 40,000 Xenos are the least important and influential of the three main factions, rarely managing anything of note on their own other than catastrophic defeats at the hands of Space Marines. Whilst the Imperium are the Protagonists of the setting and Chaos the primary Antagonists, Xenos tend to fill a spectrum of lesser roles in between these two poles, usually only being important in the way they assist or impede these two larger factions. Part of this is also due to the fact that Xenos inhabit less of the Galaxy than anyone else, with the vast majority of the material galaxy being controlled by the Imperium and the majority of the [[Warp]] being controlled by the forces of Chaos, leaving Xenos as distinctly the weakest of the three factions. Overall it also means that the Human race, comprising both the majority of the Imperium and Chaos, is far stronger than all other Xenos, as even the combined Xenos races don't compare favourably to either human-dominated faction. Which is dumb, because the whole universe shouldn't focus exclusively on the Imperium, but we digress. Broadly speaking Xenos can be divided into three broad categories concerning their Role in the narrative of 40k;

===The Chaff===
These are the Xenos who tend to exist as a largely faceless horde of mooks who are gunned or chopped down in droves, usually with little dramatic tension, and more as a way to demonstrate how badass or awesome the protagonist is. These Xenos tend to play the role of a lesser antagonist, not as dangerous as Chaos, and having little true power, but an antagonist nonetheless. These are the antagonists against whom it is most common for the protagonist to win bloodless victories or overwhelming victories, to demonstrate the difference in strength between the protagonist and these lesser antagonists. Similarly the Chaff Xenos also often play the role of demonstrating how powerful Chaos is, without allowing Chaos to actually beat the Imperium, by either losing or being supplanted by Chaos at a point in a story line, to make clear the true threat was Chaos all along. Orks in particular are adept at this tactic of being an initial, and rather minor threat, who is then replaced by a more severe Chaos threat later.

Chaff are characterised by the fact that, no matter what, they will almost always lose the war in the end, regardless of all circumstances, and there will rarely be any long term negative consequences of battles with them. They will also usually be vastly inferior to the protagonists, being killed in one-on-one duels and such to showcase the superior fighting abilities of their foes. Ork Warbosses and Eldar Avatars of Khaine are two of the most commonly used examples of this, often dying to establish some or other protagonist as a [[badass]].

Although Orks and Tyranid tend to be the most commonly used Chaff, as of late the Craftworld Eldar have seemingly become quite prone to being Chaff too, with battles such as the attack on Yme-Loc, the Battle of Orar's Sepulchre and more usually having the ancient and elitist soldiery of these factions gunned down in enormous numbers and absolutely powerless to do anything.

'''Examples incude:'''
* [[Orks]]
* [[Kroot]]
* [[Tyranids]]
* [[Craftworld Eldar]]

===The Ally===
This type of Xenos usually poses little to no actual threat to the protagonist, although expect the story to usually start with the protagonist battling them to showcase the protagonist's superiority. The Ally is almost always in possession of some critical knowledge or device, usually relating to a Chaos Threat, which the Ally will prove impotent to handle on its own, instead resorting usually to giving the protagonist the role of actually ending the threat, often after trying and failing themselves. Although a betrayal is not always necessary, and more than enough of these alliances will not have a betrayal occur, expect at times a final twist in which the protagonist also kills the Ally before they can backstab them.

Although in general these alliances tend to be momentary and not have longer lasting ramifications, it should be noted that the recent plot development of the [[Ynnari]] subfaction of Eldar seems to have seen the Imperium gain a possible permanent vassal Xenos faction (or at the very least "Oh my fucking God there are four different apocalypses going on I will take anyone I won't need to shoot at this point.").

'''Examples include:'''
* [[Tau Empire]]
* [[Craftworld Eldar]]
* [[Harlequins]]
* [[Ynnari]]
* [[Necron]]
* In one single case in a short story [[Orks]]

===Once-offs===
These are Xenos who fall into the same category as the oft-mentioned 'there was a Cult Uprising' fluff extracts in 40k. These are characterised by tending to be nothing more than a mention of their existence, before a quick mention that they are now all dead, usually due to some Space Marine force attacking. These Xenos tend to not even have an illusion of threat, such as Chaff Xenos, and are very much just hand-waved away the same way Cult Uprisings tend to be, being very quickly destroyed and without any significant impact.

Due to the very nature of their existence there are few examples of these types of Xenos, seeing as they tend to simply exist as a single name mentioned to have already been destroyed. Two common examples which are frequently reused, however, are the Genestealer Cults and [[Exodites]]. Exodites, in particular, are usually only brought up in a story to describe how they die awfully.

'''Examples incude:'''
* [[Genestealer Cult]] 
* [[Exodites]]

Separate to these well-defined roles, all Xenos play the part of the 'Worf Effect' role, dying or losing so as to establish their opponent's power. Whether it is to Chaos or the Imperium, Xenos will frequently only appear to be bested in some or other manner, usually to solidfy how powerful a particular character or faction of the Imperium or Chaos is. This category is very much often occupied by specific Xenos characters too, and tied to certain events, and can be found most frequently in Black Library novels, in which almost any Xenos antagonist introduced will be built up as a threat but, almost, inevitably be either dead or running by the end of the story.