Xenos

"Beware the alien, the heretic, and the mutant."

-- Thought for the Day.

"Collective fear stimulates herd instinct, and tends to produce ferocity toward those who are not regarded as members of the herd."

-- Bertrand Russell, Unpopular Essays.

Xenos is a Greek word which means "stranger" or "alien." "Xenophobia," or "fear of the strange," comes from this root. 4chan's "Paranormal" board is named /x/ after it.

Warhammer 40,000

In Warhammer 40,000, the Imperium of Man uses "xenos" as a catch-all term for any non-human life forms. For example, the Ordo Xenos is the branch of the Inquisition which deals with aliens, and they have whole litanies about what happens to Xenos they get their hands on, like "Mark of the Xenos" (also the name of a Deathwatch supplement).

Please note that "Xenos" is the plural AND singular spelling of the noun and adjective. This practise of using the unified form of this term for both singular and plural is inconsistent with the actual declension of 'xenos', which takes Greek inflections to reflect case and number as a noun, and case, number, and gender as an adjective. The technical plural form of 'xenos' in the nominative is 'xenoi' and accusative as 'xenon.' "xeno-" is a prefix used to denote the xenos origin of something, and Xeno is a character from Tau Quest whose name derives from "xeno-abomination".

If a scenario like that of Alien Nation or Men in Black happened in which extraterrestrials come to Earth in search of citizenship, the word Xenos would quickly become listed as Hate Speech due to the actions of /tg/.

Xenos in the Galaxy

The Xenos factions of the Galaxy tend to only exist in large concentrations on the outer edges of the Galaxy. Presumably this is at least in part because the Imperium has already eradicated all Xenos which existed elsewhere in large numbers. Within the Galaxy itself, barring the Orks, the Xenos make up the smallest percentage of the Galactic population, even combined being far outnumbered by the amount of humans on both the Imperial and Chaos sides. Overall Xenos factions also tend to be the weakest factions in the setting, leaving them mostly playing a minor role compared to that of the Imperium or Forces of Chaos.

As a result Xenos are mostly frontier and minority threats, rarely endangering the Imperium as a whole, and usually only striking at its extremities. Even the largest Xenos Empires are rather tiny when compared to even small Imperium domains and, thus, they tend not to present any kind of existential threat. A noticeable exception to this was, however, the Waaagh!!! by the Orkish Beast Warlords. However, the context of this must also be understood, as at the time of the Beast Waaagh!!! the Imperium was weaker than it had been for centuries, fractured and slow to respond, and also held back from deploying many of its strongest weapons against the Orks. Further the Orks themselves were still defeated, despite their enormous advantage, and in a rather short galactic time span the Imperium not only recovered from the invasion, but actually grew stronger than it had been before the invasion.

Xenos, as a result, more typically are akin to raiders, pirates or barbarian tribes, threatening the outskirts and poorly defended areas of the Imperium, but with little ability to actually confront the major military arms of the Imperium. Indeed the Xenos, as a whole, have mostly been only driven further and further out of the Galaxy since the launching of the Great Crusade.

However, as of late some exceptions have begun to emerge; the Tau Empire is a small and inconsequential state, but one that has been expanding rather than shrinking in contravention of normal Xenos style. The Necron Dynasties, though haphazard and patchwork, similarly have been emerging instead of shrinking, and the Tyranid Hive Fleets, though rarely making much headway into the Galaxy, do represent a threat who's scope and scale is difficult to catalogue or understand due to its emergence from beyond the Milky Way Galaxy.

Xenos Factions

• Orks - The most numerous Xenos species native to the galaxy, or at least most numerous until such a time as the Necron are all awakened as some fluff has implied the Necron are just as numerous if all are awakened. Orks are actually a bio-engineered warrior race, or at the very least a degraded version of a bio-engineered warrior race, known as the Krork. Orks live for conflict and battle, their entire society and civilization revolving around it, and as a result are perpetually in conflict or, otherwise, seeking a conflict. This behaviour has also left the Orks disunited as a species, with Orks being prone to battling each other as much as other species. Orks tend to be the minor Barbarian tribes of Galaxy, rarely posing significant danger, but forming a constant minor irritant to larger and more powerful Galactic states.
• Craftworld Eldar - The largest surviving percentage of the ancient Eldar species live, predominantly, within enormous ships known as Craftworlds. Like all Eldar, they are survivours of the calamitous event known as The Fall, which destroyed the old Eldar Empire. Those who live on the Craftworlds attempt to control and direct their emotions and psychic power in order to prevent it corrupting them like it did their ancestors, and thus have a highly regimented social system known as the Paths. For the most part, Craftworld Eldar are refugees and pirates possessing incredibly limited power and usually desperately attempting to find ways to survive due to how easily destroyed they are.
• Dark Eldar - Another subset of the Eldar species, Dark Eldar represent a portion of the population which has refused to give up on the cruel and barbaric lifestyle which caused The Fall in the first place. Instead, they have moved into the alternate dimension known as the Webway and mostly exist within the enormous Port City of Commorragh. Dark Eldar must feed on the pain and suffering of others to stave off their souls being consumed by She Who Thirsts, and as a result have developed a society and culture predicated on the capture and torture of others in increasingly inventive manners. Dark Eldar are among the most notorious corsairs and raiders of the Galaxy, although they have little capacity for open confrontation against any significant force, depending heavily on speed and mobility to strike only at soft targets and withdrawing in the face of actual resistance.
• Exodites - The original Eldar exodus, the first to notice the decay of their old Empire and leave it, were the Exodites, effectively Eldar Hippies of a sort who decided to renounce advanced technology in the belief that it had fostered decadence and spiritual corruption. Instead, they live lives in tune with the nature of their Worlds, attempting to eke out peaceful existences there. They are highly vulnerable to attack, with almost no power to defend themselves, and thus are heavily dependant on the Craftworld Eldar to defend them from harm. Sadly, the Craftworld Eldar are usually incapable of doing so and the amount of Exodites are, as a result, a continuously and rapidly dwindling spark.
• Harlequins - One of the smallest off the Eldar groups, the Harlequins are Eldar who worship the sole intact and surviving Eldar God: Cegorach. Masters of moving through the Webway, Harlequins are mostly devoted to attempting to find ways to defeat the Chaos Gods. They serve as negotiators between the different branches of the Eldar society, helping to forge alliances between the different groups in the name of a greater cause at times.
• Necrons - Among the oldest species of Xenos in the galaxy, Necron are a largely mechanical species of ancient Xenos who are beginning to awaken throughout the Galaxy. Due to a process in the distant past most Necron have become little more than mindless robots, with only their leaders displaying true self-awareness or intelligence. The Necron are an ancient and powerful species, who's numbers are bolstered by the consistently increasing number of their worlds which are reactivating.
• Tyranid - A Xenos race not native to the Milky Way Galaxy, the Tyranid are a voracious species of Xenos linked through a gestalt intelligence known as the Hive Mind which directs the species. The Tyranid are largely a predatory species, seeking to consume as much biological matter as possible in order to make use of it for themselves. Thus far their forays into the galaxy have usually been blunted before they made significant headway, but due to the nature of their existence as a species outside the Milky Way Galaxy, it is difficult to know the extent of the Tyranid at current.
• Genestealer Cult - One of the most nefarious weapons deployed by the Tyranid are the Genestealer Cults. These cults, born from the intermingling of Genestealers with other beings, can emerge on numerous worlds and work to undermine the defenses of said planet due to a mistaken worship of the Tyranid as saviours, in turn making it far easier for the Tyranid swarm to consume.
• Tau Empire - A recently emerging faction within the Galaxy, the Tau Empire is an expansionistic state which seeks to incorporate other Xenos into it where possible. Adept at technological advancement and well-known for their ideological commitment to the Greater Good, or Tau'va, the Empire is at current still an inconsequential and meaningless state with little power, and although rapidly improving, their technology is still less advanced than most other faction's technology.

Xenos Roles

Within the galaxy of Warhammer 40,000 Xenos are the least important and influential of the three main factions. Whilst the Imperium are the Protagonists of the setting and Chaos the primary Angtagonists, Xenos tend to fill a spectrum of lesser roles in between these two poles. Broadly speaking Xenos can be divided into three broad categories concerning their Role in the narrative;

The NPC:

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 NPC Xenos also often plays 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, rather minor, threat who is then replaced by a more severe Chaos threat later.

Examples incude:
* Orks 
* Tyranids

The Ally:

This type of Xenos usually poses little to no actual threat to the protagonist, although expect the story to usuall 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 permanent vassal Xenos faction.

Examples include:
* Tau
* Eldar
* Necron

The Uprising:

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 NPC Xenos, and are very much just hand-waved away the same way Cult Uprisings tend to be.

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.

Examples incude:
* Genestealer Cult 

Xenos and Chaos

As a whole the Chaos Gods seem to have little interest in Xenos, with the sole exception of Slaanesh's desire to devour the Eldar, and rarely have numerous or influential followers or servants from any Xenos faction. During the Great Crusade there were a number of Xenos who worshipped Chaos, but these were rather quickly and effortlessly annihilated by the Imperium. By the 41st Millenium there are no known large or significant concentrations or factions of Xenos serving Chaos.

Further most Xenos souls seem unappealing to the Chaos Gods, with Tzeentch, Nurgle and Khorne tending to only have interest in, or expend significant effort to acquire, the souls of humans. Although Slaanesh does desire Eldar souls to consume, he/she/it does only desire human followers, and only lavishes power and rewards on those of its followers who are humans.

However, this disinterest in Xenos actually makes quite a bit of sense when one keeps in mind that the Chaos Gods desire strong souls to feed on. Humans have, consistently, shown that they are more powerful and influential then even all the Xenos of the Galaxy combined, and continously achieve feats far beyond anything any Xenos ever manages. Furthermore the Warp and souls in general manifest as psychic energy. Humans have produced all the most powerful Psykers in the history of the Galaxy and, thus, it once again makes sense that compared to humans Xenos simply do hold any significant allure or interest to the Chaos Gods.

There are still examples of Chaos affiliated Xenos in recent Fluff. A Genestealer Cult corrupted by Nurgle, as well as Eldar worshipping Slaanesh. These are never large or substantial groups, but their existence does provide evidence of the possibiliy of Chaos corruption.

See Also

• Rak'gol
• Tau
• Hrud
• Saharduin
• Slaugth
• Orks
• Eldar
• Dark Eldar
• Tyranids
• Necron
• Kroot
• Vespid
• Q'Orl
• Alienhunters
• Monstergirls, which is what happens when xenos meet Rule 34.
• Skaven, apparently.
• Nicassar
• Old Ones
• Demiurg

External Links

• Ultimate Lesser Xenos List