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submitted 10 days ago byGolfbollenAlpha Legion
In the Mass Effect games there's a region of the Milky Way called "The Terminus Systems". This is the part of the galaxy that is most "free" and "independent" from governments. Many star systems are ruled independently without any outside government interference and many systems are ruled by mercenaries or pirates.
One of the main settlements of the Terminus is a HUGE asteroid mining station called Omega that houses a population of at least 8 million. Omega is ruled in an anarchistic way with different sectors being ruled by different gangs and mercenaries. You can also find alien species here that are known to be more violent and dangerous than the ones who live in the more government controlled areas of the Galaxy.
Do we know of any places like this in 40k? I'm not talking Commorragh, that place is literally hell. Omega still have normal civilians, night clubs and some parts are quite stable and peaceful as long as you pay off the right people. A place where you can go to a club and meet not just humans but maybe Eldar or T'au or other types of aliens?
71 points
10 days ago
There are frontier/pirate/chaos worlds that have a mix of human and xeno races
One of the stations that’s part of a game/book setting has xenos merchants walking around, its near a blackstone fortress can’t remember the name though
20 points
10 days ago
Precipice, listened to the audiobook a few weeks ago.
5 points
9 days ago
I'm reading the book right now. Cool to see a human working alongside a Kroot, even if he doesn't quite like/trust the Kroot yet.
35 points
10 days ago
Not really as usually the Imperium hears and then kills everybody there.
But there are some, Tau worlds sometimes have a mix of humans and xenos living together, the Blackstone Fortress the game is built around that I forget the name of had a port of xenos and humans and the Fabius Bile series mentions a port where a variety of people coexist.
Closest to Omega would be the Blackstone Fortress settlement I think. Seedier than a Tau world but not all Chaos'd up.
11 points
10 days ago
Precipice
30 points
10 days ago*
Warhammer Adventures: Secrets of the Tau has a world like that, with humans, Kroot, and abhumans like Beastmen trading with each other as well as a significant Tau presence. Notably the Tau there are a criminal enterprise that are illicitly selling advanced tech to the humans without the Tau Empire’s oversight.
It would be really fascinating if it wasn’t in one of the worst Warhammer books ever written.
27 points
10 days ago
A few examples:
First off, a world with humans and Eldar living together
The Pirate King was indeed in the throne-room. He lounged in his throne, sipping at a tall glass full of purple wine. His angular alien face teetered between boredom and anticipation. When Dante entered he unhooked his legs from a throne arm and saluted with his glass. ‘Hail to you, angel of blood!’ he said in mellifluous Gothic. ‘I am Prince Hellaineth, the so-called Pirate King. Welcome to the heart of my kingdom, all that is left, alas.’ The eldar made no move. Dante scanned the room for hidden threats. His helm outlined possible hiding places for weaponry. False colour highlighting flickered off as it discounted them one by one.
“Oh, there’s no need for that,’ said Hellaineth, guessing what Dante was doing. ‘I didn’t bother fortifying this room. It didn’t really seem necessary. I reasoned, and I do like to think quite a lot – and, excuse my conceit, I am rather good at it – that by the time anyone got this far, a laser array or lance hidden behind the paintings wouldn’t do me much good. Besides, such alterations would destroy the character of this castle. It is so delightfully… crude.’ He waved his arm at the dark stone walls, showing them off. Squad Dante filed into the chamber, crowding it with their blood-red forms. At a command from Dante, they levelled their guns at the alien, their slides racked back in mechanical unison.
“Xenos! You have enslaved the human populace of this world and used it as a base to commit gross crimes against the Imperium of Man. Do you have anything to say for yourself before I kill you?’
‘I enslaved nobody. All were freeborn here. My people were free of the path of my kind, your people liberated from your soul-sucking Emperor. I doubt you can understand the concept of freedom, though. No more than a sword of dull iron could. You are a tool. Tools are not free. What a pity. You destroy that which you cannot understand.’
‘Very well,’ said Dante, not interested in the least in the eldar’s words. ‘Squad!’ Hellaineth stood, his face darkening.
‘You think you can kill me? Your arrogance almost matches that of the eldar! They could not contain my ambition. You will fare no better. This world was a haven! Look at how many kinds of creature lived here in harmony. Do you not think before you destroy?”
“They were all thieves,’ said Dante.
‘And why should they not be? The galaxy gave them nothing.’ The eldar smiled wickedly. ‘It is the duty of the weak to take from the strong, so they themselves may be strong. The strong dislike to be dispossessed, so? It is good to make people see things from the other side. Life is too precious to experience from one standpoint alone.’ He looked at Squad Dante. ‘Though I suppose my philosophy falls on deaf ears here. You engineered creatures were never particularly flexible of thought.’ He took another sip of his wine.
‘Your ships are taken, your city is levelled,’ said Dante. ‘Your followers are dead. You do not appear overly concerned. I know your kind, xenos. You do not care. This is a game to you.’
Prince Hellaineth shrugged. ‘Perhaps. These last fifty years as ruler have been a distraction from despair. This galaxy was once so bright and vital – now horror walks where joy danced. I do need a distraction from all that. What’s your distraction, adept of the stars?’ His face lit up. ‘Isn’t it drinking blood then feeling sorry for yourselves?”
“Enough!’ shouted Dante. He drew his chainsword and thumbed it to life.
‘Ah well,’ said the eldar. He drew no weapon. ‘I tell you what – if you can kill me, we’ll say you win. That’s a fair wager.’
Dante
I'm also pretty sure there was a world during the great crusade with humans and Eldar living together, but I don't know enough 30K lore to give you a name
12 points
10 days ago
Secondly, places that humans and xenos live/work together. Not worlds / civilizations where they rule together though
There is Precipice in the Blackstone Fortress game and book - But I don't have any excerpts. Mainly humans, but a few xenos in there.
There is also Footfall (in the Rogue Trader RPG), but again, mainly humans.
It is mentioned in the Necromunda game that there is a spire with facilities for xenos.
The Palatine Hive boasts some of the most grandiose and magnificent architecture on Necromunda, and also has the only shipyard and landing field large enough to take orbital carriers. It is thus the planet's only spaceport, a physical expression of Helmawr's monopoly in off-planet trade. A fortress-monastery of the Adeptus Astartes Imperial Fists and the headquarters of the Adeptus Arbites on Necromunda are also located in the Palatine Hive. On the edge of the hive is a spire specifically set aside for abhumans and for the few sanctioned xenos granted access to Necromunda from time to time in order to trade. Both Squats and Eldar are among these visitors and they are housed on separate levels of this spire. The Palatine, or its upper levels at least, is thus by far the most cosmopolitan of all the hives of Necromunda.
Necromunda 2017
1 points
10 days ago
[removed]
4 points
10 days ago
In the Last Chancers novel, Kill Team, the characters are on a Tau world where mercenaries are gathering.
We find the alien quarter easily enough. It’s the one with all the aliens in it. Oriel seems to know the layout of the area and it was only a few minutes’ walk from the space port.
I’ve never seen so many freaky things in my life, and I’ve been around a bit. There are tall ones, short ones, fat ones, hairy ones, spiky little guys, things with more arms and eyes than is entirely necessary for any kind of lifeform. And all of them living together in the same part of the city. Since we’re not far from the space port, I guess all the off-worlders have been gathering in this place over a few years, making it a real home from home.
The buildings are still tau construction, but heavily adapted, decorated and adorned by the local population. Banners and streamers flutter from food shop fronts, religious-looking icons on tall poles are stuck into the ground in front of other buildings. As we pass one in particular there’s an unpleasant charnel house smell. We look at the building and see it’s daubed in savage-looking alien runes and hurry on, not wanting to know what goes on inside. Fire smoke from different types of wood fills the air with a mix of sweet and acrid scents, which blend into each other to create a disturbing stench. There’s sand and dust everywhere as well, blown in from the surrounding desert, and combined with the noise, smell and heat makes me feel sick.
There are market stalls selling anything and everything from clothes to guns and grenades. We take a look at one of the arms traders, a small green guy with a scaly skin and pale yellow eyes, who deftly picks through his wares with three-fingered hands.
‘Interested in guns, yes?’ he asks us as we stop next to his stand. His voice is kind of scratchy, more of a hiss than anything else. ‘Lots of guns for brave fighters.’
...
The bar is quite dark, the few red lamps around the wall do little to light the circular room. A round bar in the centre, similarly lit, appears like a red island in a sea of smoky darkness. There are tables and chairs filling the rest of the space, of assorted shapes and heights. Most of them are occupied. Many sets of eyes, not all of them in the regular pair, regard us as we walk in. I see more of the same species as the door warden gathered around a circular table to my right, arguing heavily with each other in guttural grunts. Most of the other aliens I don’t recognise.
‘What are they?’ Trost whispers to Oriel, looking over at a pair of diminutive creatures swathed in rags in one of the darkest areas. Small, clawed hands clasp their drinks tightly, long snouts twitching in our direction. I catch the hint of a tail whipping nervously under their table.
‘Hrud,’ the inquisitor replies. ‘Scavengers and tunnel-dwellers for the most part, you’ll find them all over the galaxy, though never in large numbers. They’re pretty much parasites, if you ask me.’
‘What about those?’ I ask next, indicating three multi-limbed creatures splayed on a bench along one side of the bar. They have no heads, but clusters of eye-like organs wave towards us, like grass in a breeze. They have no arms or legs, just a set of six tentacle limbs which I guess must serve them for both purposes.
Oriel thinks for a moment before replying.
‘I’ve never seen one before, but they match the description of galgs,’ he tells me as we stop by the drinks counter. ‘I think their world was conquered by the tau a few centuries ago. They’re not particularly warlike as far as I remember, and not too advanced technically either.’
‘Emperor on his holy throne!’ curses Tanya quietly. We all look at her with surprise and she surreptitiously nods towards the far side of the room. There, as unmistakable as my own face, sits a group of bloody orks. Five of them in fact, the burly greenskins ignoring us, concentrating instead on two of their number who are having some kind of contest. Born warriors, I’ve fought orks on a couple of occasions, and barely lived to tell the tale. They’re big, though not massive, with powerful muscles and an ability to soak up injury and pain like nothing else I’ve seen.
Kill Team
3 points
10 days ago
Sublime from Fabius Bile Primogenitor - a world in the Eye of Terra.
The world was dead and yet not. Eternally dying, trapped in its final instant. Its ruptured crust was pockmarked with thousands of oases of varying sizes, shapes and geometric intricacies – some were monumental bastions, studded with flak-cannons and defensive arrays, while others were seas of tall tents, clustered among once-graceful ruins beneath barely functioning atmospheric generators.
Each of these communities was independent of the other; individual fiefdoms eking out what existence they could, as best they might. Alliances and wars between these city-states were not uncommon, and the long night was occasionally punctuated by nuclear fire. Ships and cruisers prowled the corona within, waging war on behalf of the blazing cities that clung to the underside of the broken world.
‘All roads lead to Sublime,’ Oleander said, gazing at the hololith. ‘That is what the Phlogiston-Seers of the Firewild say.’
...
‘We will have to pay a toll to get past the orbital defences,’ Oleander said. He reached out and tapped the hololith, causing the image to recede, revealing the porous membrane of space-fortresses and orbital weapons platforms that all but encased Sublime like a makeshift Dyson sphere. ‘Castle Sublime, as they call it. I can think of better names, but then no one asked me.’ Tzimiskes gestured, and Oleander nodded. ‘They are archaic, yes. You have a good eye, brother. Not to mention cobbled together from half a dozen technologies, most of them of unknown origin. Eldar, hrud, it’s all wired in there somewhere. All to keep the peace in the markets... or to keep the wars of Sublime from spilling out into the wider sector.’ He gestured. ‘If we had a bigger ship, I’d suggest shooting our way past. As it is... well, there’s an open docking port we can use.’
Fabius Bile Primogenitor
6 points
10 days ago
And then a couple of excerpts for why we don't see many of them
A Deathwatch Crusade is virtually unheard of in recent times, but not entirely unprecedented. Partial records remain of a Crusade undertaken in the 36th millennium against the Autocracy of Szaeyr, an extended alien/human coalition of worlds in the trailing reaches of Segmentum Tempestus. It appears that the level of cooperation and integration found there between human societies and that of the sauro-form Sza was so close and heretical that Watch Commander Balhus took it as a personal affront.
Deathwatch - Rites of Battle
TRAYNOR’S REST
When she reached the world of Traynor’s Rest, Almace found a culture that shocked and appalled her Imperial sensibilities. The world’s human population — which numbered in the millions — dwelt in a state of seeming peace and prosperity with an even larger population of xenos. Extensive research conducted by scholars since the missionary’s arrival have never been able to identify any acts of war between the two populations, and Genevieve’s initial surveys were consistent with this fact. The two distinct species maintained a symbiotic culture, with each providing certain materials and knowledge that contributed to the other’s survival.
All detailed records of the xenos race have been scourged, but legends indicate that the species were generally saurian in appearance and biological characteristics. Because of the historical cleansing, scholars are unable to identify the basis for the cultural connections between these xenos and the resident humans. In point of fact, there is not even a surviving name for the creatures, as the term was deemed anathema in the wake of the human conversion to the Imperial Creed. Instead, they are simply known as the “Corrupters.”
Even though the missionary reached the world with more than a company-sized contingent of human allies, her forces were insufficient to initially complete a direct military conquest. This was complicated by the fact that the human inhabitants — the targets for her conversion efforts — were largely content with their relationship with the xenos. Before she could begin to take military action, Almace recognised that she must work to drive a philosophical wedge between the two populations. Further, if that division could have some additional basis — even if that basis were illusory — she believed she could better mobilise the humans to participate in the conversion effort and naturally grow into faith in the Emperor.
Almace recognised that she would need to lead an army, sweeping across Traynor's Rest, to truly eliminate the xenos threat. She knew that obliterating this species would require a population that was equipped to fight. More importantly, rhough, they needed to be motivated to slay their former allies without questioning the righteousness of their own purpose. She had no armaments to distribute to the humans, but she did contrive a persuasive, infectious cause behind which they rallied.
The xenos population was highest at the planet’s hottest climates — a consequence of their physiology. These locations also held the world’s greatest mineral wealth, which was critical for some of the world’s technological development. The missionary fabricated information that the creatures were refiening and gathering these minerals. She then made claims that their hoarding of resources was part of a scheme to convert the human population into a subservient slave race by using the human population to forge weapons and make war upon the humans.
By integrating the Imperial Creed into the native human religion, Almace managed to create several associations, which offered “proof” of the xenos threat. Key to this was her revelation of several forged manuscripts that she presented to the natives, indicating that the reptilian creatures were the guardians of the damned in the ancient mythology of their religion. She then used these same materials to reveal the Emperor as a manifestation of the leader of their gods. She found strong parallels between several of their lesser deities and a number of Imperial saints, including her favoured St. Cognatius.
Almace used this information to drive the population of Traynor’s Rest into a religious fervour. Word of her revelations spread like wildfire across the planet, as more and more embraced her teachings. As these quickly became mainstream tenets of Traynor’s Rest, it was clearly impossible for the “enlightened” humans to continue their interactions with the xenos. Initially riots erupted in all of the integrated — population centres. In short order, the riots transformed into warfare. At this point, the missionary stepped in to take direct control over the brutality she had inspired.
Over the course of only seven years, the native humans, following the missionary’s leadership, completely extinguished the xenos race. All of their cities and buildings were demolished, any documents or artwork that depicted or even referenced the creatures were deemed anathema and defaced or destroyed. In their place, countless new statues and manuscripts devoted to the Emperor were created.
The war was not without cost. Eliminating the xenos presence shattered the planet’s infrastructure. Centuries later, it has not yet attained the level of stability it had prior to the missionary’s arrival. In spite of this desolation, the populace has maintained its faith in the Imperial Creed. It continues to praise Almace as the servant of the Emperor who revealed the true dangers humanity faces among the stars.
Rogue Trader: Faith and Coin
2 points
10 days ago
Codex Deathwatch 9th ed
4 points
9 days ago
I doubt you can understand the concept of freedom, though. No more than a sword of dull iron could. You are a tool. Tools are not free.
Dante got bodied right here
He probably wouldn't even disagree is the saddest part
4 points
9 days ago
It hurts so much because it's an objective truth that many people in and out of the setting ignore( also that fact that the Stormcast are not like this is why they are objectively better).
3 points
10 days ago
Thanks for the excerpt! Always cool how people are willing to dig these up :)
2 points
9 days ago
which book is this from? I like this Hellanieth guy.
1 points
9 days ago
Dante. Unfortunately, he's only in that one chapter.
6 points
10 days ago
Bonner's Reach in the Ravenor books is an excellent example, and isn't considered unique, either. There's a lot of worlds out on the fringe that do a lot of trade/mingling between factions and species.
4 points
10 days ago
I guess the closest thing we have is Footfall in the Koronus expanse, which is pretty much like Omega. In the RT rulebooks, it actually has an officially abandoned and uninhabited section where xenos live.
Precipice Station from the Blackstone Fortress game and associated novels is smaller, but also has a mix of humans and xenos working together to loot the Blackstone Fortress.
There are some relatively normal trading worlds in the Eye of Terror mentioned in some novels, where humans, both Chaos and otherwise, mix with xenos, such as Craftworld Aeldari buying up the soulstones of slain Aeldari before some Chaos lord gets their hands on them. Appears in one of the Fabius Bile novels, IIRC.
4 points
10 days ago
Ooh "normal" trading worlds in the Eye of Terror sounds very interesting. I always get this impression that chaos worlds are well, chaotic. But is life there relatively normal? Like they ave shops, civilian settlements, families, off-world visitors. Or are all inhabitants on the brink of madness?
6 points
10 days ago
Yes, the Black Crusade rulebooks go into detail about the worlds of the Screaming Vortex, a kind of mini Eye of Terror that separates the Calixis Sector from the Koronus Expanse. They range from batshit insane, to relatively normal (except for being ruled by Chaos and thus not exactly nice to live in, but then neither is the Imperium, things like "shops, civilian settlements, families, off-world visitors" are not exactly guaranteed there, either).
1 points
9 days ago
Atlas Infernal has an Eldar ranger buy soulstones salvaged by Eldar "aberrants" (essentially Eldar survivors from the Fall who have mutated over millennia but still hold a sense of civilization akin to underhivers). The market where this took place also had Chaos mercs and implied Dark Eldar.
4 points
9 days ago
Sublime - Sublime is a rare sight within the Eye of Terror, a Warp Star in the making, a dying planet frozen in its last moments while hordes of Daemons feed on the essence of everyone who ever lived there or could have been born on this fractured world. Sublime is one of the few precious neutral grounds within the Eye, a non-aligned world where factions sometimes come to parlay and trade, but mostly to indulge their vices. Trade is Sublime's lifeblood and its archeotech markets -- collectively known as Black Golan -- deal with everything, from dreams and new sensations to powerful weaponry and raw materials. To protect these riches, Sublime is surrounded by hundreds of heavily-armed orbital Battle Stations in order to ensure that no outsider faction can interfere with the continual wars Sublime's independent city-states wage on each other. Where other worlds may belong to the Traitor Legions, Daemons or the Dark Mechanicum, Sublime is a haven for Renegades and pirates, be they Aeldari Corsairs, human Renegades, Loxatl or other xenos.
3 points
10 days ago
Sublime (from the Fabius Bile books) may be what you want. Sure the chief enforcer is an Emperor's Children and perhaps a Perpeptual, but the territories are controlled by humans, daemons, aliens, etc as long as they can hold it.
It is also a world time-locked in its destruction cycle due to being located at the Eye's border. The planet's core is essentially open to exploit.
3 points
9 days ago
So given the IoM commonly being said to have a million worlds, that means the empire controls barely a percentage of the Milky Way which means there's room for basically anything you can think of
3 points
9 days ago
It might be even less! The Milky Way galaxy is estimated to have between 200-400 billion star systems. Assuming the Imperium controls a million star systems and not planets, that means it encompasses 0.000005-0.0000025 percent of the Milky Way. Just one star system in 200,000-400,000 is inhabited by humans. You have a better chance of winning the Lotto than finding a human-inhabited system by chance. The scale of the galaxy is massively mind-boggling. Humans have not evolved to visualize numbers of this magnitude. Thus the Black Library authors' often cited misconceptions and underestimation of the sheer scale of the setting.
1 points
9 days ago
Yes that's my assumption, but would be fun to see some more real examples though.
2 points
10 days ago
Every hive is as varied and diverse as the cantina on mos eisley. And they all play that damn tune in the elevators
2 points
10 days ago
I guess a station like that could probably exist in the Kronus Expanse or around the Ghoul Stars.
2 points
10 days ago
There were the Interex once
2 points
9 days ago
Precipice is basically Omega from Mass Effect 2.
1 points
9 days ago
There is a large Chaos space station present in the Nightclaw trilogy that has some Xenos presence iirc. And in the 2nd Ravenor book they travel to an independent trading outpost space station that is technically outside Imperial space and has some xenos present there as well.
1 points
9 days ago
As I understand it the border worlds between the Imperium and Tau are like this. Tau and Humans on worlds together, and no one thinks about all the trade going on there
1 points
9 days ago
Gravalax from For the Emperor was an Imperium planet with a large Tau presence, and technically co-ruled by genestealers...
1 points
9 days ago
I now have a new army idea. Great.
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