Races of Warhammer 40,000

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This WFB or WH40K-related article or section describes an aspect of the series in a primarily in-universe style. Please rewrite this article to explain the fiction more clearly and provide non-fictional perspective.

The purpose of this article is to list and explain how the various races in the Warhammer 40,000 universe interact with each other. This is not meant to be a comprehensive history or description of each race, rather it is meant to be a comparative description of social and martial prowess in relation to each other. Another important aspect of this article is that it will ignore the balancing tools used by the game to make individual things fair, and will focus on the fictional universe created by Games Workshop in it's many publications.

Contents 1 The Adeptus Astartes 1.1 Societal Characteristics 1.2 Martial Characteristics 1.3 Specific Relations 1.3.1 Adeptus Sororitas 1.3.2 Chaos Marines 1.3.3 Dark Eldaar 1.3.4 Eldar 1.3.5 Guard 1.3.6 Inquisition 1.3.7 Orks 1.3.8 Necron 1.3.9 Tau 1.3.10 Tyranid 2 The Adeptus Arbites 3 The Chaos Space Marines 4 The Dark Eldar 5 The Eldar 6 The Imperial Guard 7 The Holy Inquisition 8 The Orks 9 The Necrontyr 10 The Tau Empire 11 The Tyranid 12 References

[edit] The Adeptus Astartes

The Adeptus Astartes, otherwise known as the Space Marines (Warhammer 40,000) are a group of genetically engineered super soldiers. They were created by the Emperor of Mankind to help forge the Imperium, and to protect it from outside threats. The group is broken up into many chapters which consist of approximately 1,000 members. Each chapter is independently run, and has it's own history and traditions. This leads to a variety of differences in attitude and philosophy between the chapters.

[edit] Societal Characteristics

The way that the Space Marine chapters are organized, it is hard to sum up their general societal motives. For the most part, Space Marines are fanatically loyal to the Emperor, and are very determined to defend the Imperium. However, a wide variety of opinions on how to accomplish goals have originated amongst the chapters, often leading to minor disputes, and trouble or outright refusal to work together.

[edit] Martial Characteristics

The Space Marines form a formitable fighting force. With extremely tough armour, made of ceramite, a material made of pressurized diamond dust, and genetic modifications to enhance survivability, one space marine is far superior to almost all other standard soldiers, as well as most elite troops. With an average kill ratio of 100 to 1 against humanoid targets, The space marines can take on a force much larger than theirs and expect to prevail. However, their limited numbers make it difficult to wage a full-scale war against an enemy without support of another force, such as the Imperial Guard or other chapters of Space Marines. In standard operation, the Space Marines depend on the Imperial Guard to form the battle lines, and hold most captured territory.

[edit] Specific Relations

[edit] Adeptus Sororitas

Space Marines will sometimes find themselves working side by side with the Sisters of Battle to defend a territory or to purge an enemy and retake a world. This happens most often at the request of the Inquisition, though sometimes circumstances end up causing this collaboration. Most Space Marine chapters tend not to get along well with the Sisters, due to the Sisters' puritanical outlook, and rigid leadership from the Eclisiarchy. In addition, the fighting styles of these two groups tend to clash, as the Space Marines tend to take a more strategic approach, where as the Sisters are more prone to rushing into battle.

In a one on one conflict between Space Marines and the Adeptus Sororitas, The Space Marines can be counted on to come out the victors, though the situations where these two forces would battle are rare. Space Marine superiority is largely due to the superior armour (though technically the same, the Astartes warriors have a link to their armour via "the black carapace") and survivability of the Marines, as well as having greater access to advanced weapons and vehicles.

[edit] Chaos Marines

[edit] Dark Eldaar

[edit] Eldar

[edit] Guard

[edit] Inquisition

[edit] Orks

[edit] Necron

[edit] Tau

[edit] Tyranid

[edit] The Adeptus Arbites

[edit] The Chaos Space Marines

[edit] The Dark Eldar

[edit] The Eldar

[edit] The Imperial Guard

[edit] The Holy Inquisition

[edit] The Orks

[edit] The Necrontyr

[edit] The Tau Empire

[edit] The Tyranid

[edit] References

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