The Races

...of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40K universe

by Dave McAwesome

There are a bunch of races in the Warhammer 40,000 universe. Think of it as Tolkien in space. So instead of Orcs you have Space Orcs. Instead of Elves, you have Space Elves. It's quite sophisticated, is it not?

Humans

Yay, Space Monkeys! *cough* Er, I mean, yay us. The Imperium is the human empire that stretches across most of the known galaxy. It is defended by the millennia-old God-Emperor, the masses of Imperial Guardsmen (the standard soldier) and the super elite Space Marines (Adeptus Astartes). Humanity is beset on all sides by a multitude of aliens.

Chaos

Hard to explain in a short blurb. The warp is the chaotic space through which interstellar travel is possible. The four gods of chaos reside in the warp. They represent the most base qualities of sentient beings. Some sentient beings, especially humans, are corrupted by the powers of chaos and wreak havoc amongst real space from their strongholds in the warp. Got it? No? I'm moving on anyway.

Eldar

Yay, space elves! The Eldar are an ancient race who deteriorated into decadence and decay. The 'death' of their race gave birth to a god of Chaos. The few Eldar left are weary of humans and fear they will suffer the same fate.

Dark Eldar

Eldar who have embraced Chaos. Silly really.

Orks

Just like Tolkien Orcs, these are Space Orcs! Except they've dropped the 'c' for a 'k.' One thing to remember about Space Orks: not terribly good spellers. They are the cockroaches of the galaxy, spreading as fast as they can while nibbling on your Space Doritos crumbs. They are little more than barbarians...with exceptionally powerful guns.

Tau

A relatively small empire, these Robotech-inspired socialists wage war in the name of a greater good.

Tyranid

In pulp sci-fi terms, they’re bugs. Mass mind, bio-engineered creatures sporting biological weapons grown out of their limbs. If Orks are cockroaches, Tyranids are termites.

Necron

God I hate this race. They're basically Space Undead. The 40K universe didn't used to have these. They've been retconned in. I think they're lame, personally. These ancient warriors feast on the living for their gods and yadda yadda yadda phooey.