Editing Setting:Brighthammer 40,000/1st edition (section)

== Xenos ==
Most of the races of ''Brighthammer'' are identical to their normal ''Warhammer 40k'' counterparts, except that wherever possible they are generally bright, noble, and generally nicer. This does not mean they are pushovers, however; the technological and warfaring capabilities of these races are equal to regular 40k, if less used. 

If anything, ironically, the lack of constant warfare and the general prevalence of good sense, reason, and rationality means that the races of ''Brighthammer'' are, if anything, even ''tougher'' than their normal ''Warhammer 40k'' counterparts; they know how to make their technology rather than assuming it's some ancient ritual, they've had years of peace in which to build up their forces, and are not being constantly drained of fighting-capable soldiers by endless warfare. The only thing normal ''Warhammer 40k'' has on the races of ''Brighthammer 40k'' are the numbers of experienced soldiers and sheer vile ruthlessness- but also unlike ''Warhammer 40k'', these races would be more likely to pull their shit together if threatened, while those of ''Warhammer'' would still be infighting (depending on the threat, of course).
=== Eldar ===

The Eldar are divided into two groups. The Eldar were originally an incredibly advanced society that succeeded in ascending and creating a warp god; the god of love, Slaanesh. Those that wished to remain behind to instruct other races on how to grow, change, and ascend to godhood. These are the Bright Eldar. A second faction consists of those who were too impure to rise to godhood. These chaotic Eldar are lead by Eldrad, and his schemes and machinations are a constant source of strife for everyone.

Watching over the third faction of Eldar who stayed behind is the God of Guardians of Peace Kaela Mensha Khaine. Khaine's spirit resides in his various avatar statues that are scattered across the cosmos on the Craftworld vessels of the remaining Eldar

'''Avatars of Kaela Mensha Khaine'''

Legend has it that when Slaanesh, the great order God of Love and Compassion was born, Kaela Mensha Khaine was the one who stood guard over the event to keep him safe from harm and to champion his cause throughout the heavens.

When most of the Eldar ascended upon Slaanesh's birth in "The storm of great enlightenment" (Now called "The Eye of Harmony" by the empire due to the peaceful radiance filling this region of space) Khaine chose to scatter his divine essence among those who remained behind and safeguard their existence till they too joined their brothers and sisters in Order.

On each craftworld vessel you will find a room dedicated to the worship of Khaine and his sheltering hand. In each such hall stands a single bright white and gold statue of Kaine, his upraised arm holding "The Song of Hope", a great sword that is said to be the first of the 99 swords of Vaul.

===Slaaneshi Eldar===

While the god of Love and Compassion's influence all of the Eldar, some feel that they are too good for Slaanesh's Love and Compassion, living the city of Carnal Pleasures known as Commoragh, they bring Human and Tau over where wine, exotic Eldar dancers and song were only the tip of the iceberg. Mental carnal fantasies satiated the minds of psykers seeking forbidden knowledge or a good bloody argument or debate or things that the human body cannot imagine. About the only thing that is truly considered taboo among Slaaneshi Eldar is murder; with the punishment being eternal banishment. Few beings have ever left the city and its hedonistic ways of living.

===Exodite Eldar===

To settle the seeds of discontent amongst those who would follow neither Eldrad or the promises of godhood, they have wandered the galaxy to find a race capable of manipulating and dominating over. The Exodite Eldar find themselves affable to the evil Tau as they planted several Ethereal members to control the Tau society to a unified movement of evil. However the most peaceful world of Biel-Tan still wishes to bring them back to the ways of the god of love and peace.

===Peace Children===
Some of the best-looking things to come out of the Human/Eldar alliance besides spacecraft are Half-Eldar or 'Peace Children'. Lynn Mínwen, the daughter of Drazhar and Celestian Miriya, is a particularly famous idol singer (while her mom is the lead guitar in the Sisters of Rock band "Emperor's Goatee"). Her music is so inspiring that it has ended wars throughout the galaxy. Her chief nemesis is Nfol, the vile spawn of the Wych Taldeer and LIVII.

===Orks===
Orks while are brutish-looking aliens with green skin, hulking forms, and a crude, guttural language.  This belies their gentle and reclusive nature – like gorillas of Terra, Orks are physically-powerful but gentle, and mainly wish to live in peace.  Lacking the sheer numbers of humanity, Orks are scattered across the galaxy on pristine, wild worlds, which they are willing to fiercely defend against unwanted interlopers such as human renegades or Exodite Eldar.  This has resulted in occasional clashes with Imperial colonists, though once both sides calm down and start talking a peaceful resolution doesn’t take long.  

Best described as “noble savages,” the Orks' society initially appears anachronistic and primitive, as Orks prefer to dwell in small villages rather than the gleaming spires of a human Hive World.  However, Orks are capable of constructing crude-looking but deceptively advanced functional technology or “tek” that allows them to thrive on even the harshest of worlds, an ability that is partially suspected to be linked to the Orks’ inherent connection with Order.

However in reality it was later discovered that a smaller subspecies known somewhat affectionately by the Orks as "Snotlings". It is thru these Snotlings that Ork society exists at all. The Snotlings cultivate a rare type of fungus heavy in protein and various alien nutrients that rapidly develop Ork neural capacity at a near alarming rate.

In reality it is the Snotlings who are the primary political force of Ork society, they are the secret guiding hand over all Ork technological, organizational and military structure. And while Orks are the public face of their species in actuality they are only a noble warrior caste bred for the extremities of war and the occasional harshness of the outer galaxy.

And while the Snotlings produce this fungus primarily for themselves, they also realize that times and political and social structures may change, so it also is given to another slightly less advanced subspecies known as "Grotz". Termed by other Orks as "Brainboyz" they essentialy exist as middle management between the Ork and Snotling "culturz" providing services such as civic and social management to more direct command over entire Ork platoons acting as the direct hand/voice of Snotling authority.

Life in an Ork settlement is simple and harmonious, as the burly Orks spend their time hunting or protecting a smaller subspecies, the Grotz or “Brainboyz,” who are physically weak but quite intelligent and run Orkish society as benevolent leaders.  

Occasionally, if an Ork settlement grows too large or the population just feels the need for a change of view, a "''Waaagh!''" will be launched, a combination of a militarized mass migration and a journey of self-discovery that sends the Orks out to find a new world to colonize. Typically Orks migrate to planetary regions termed by the Imperium as "Death Systems" places that would be suicidal for any avarage Human colony to go. 

However for Orks the more dangerous and rugged the better.  These expeditions are as much about the Orks proving their toughness and self worth as they are relocations, and Orks will frequently choose worlds deemed uninhabitable by humans, from icy moons orbiting gas giants to minuscule planetoids with caustic atmospheres to planets rife with the most dangerous sentient and non sentient xenos species imaginable.

These ''Waaaghs'' sometimes lead the Orks into Imperial space and therefore conflict with the Imperial Navy, though a few warning shots are usually enough to cause the Orks to turn around after sending a transmission amounting to “sorry boss, we’s gonna go build fings somewhere else den.”  

If a ''Waaagh!'' lands on an inhabited world by accident, the result is more of a blessing than a curse, as the miners of Hephaestus IV found when they were unexpectedly rescued from a cave-in by Orkish workers.  The Orks’ protective natures quickly extend to their “’oomie” neighbors and they will treat their new friends as honorary members of the tribe, gladly sharing food or resources and even defending them from external threats.

A planet inhabited by Orks will never lack for militia, mechanics, gourmet chefs or brewers, and indeed Ork fungus-beer and gourmet Juicy Squig with fine Ork sauces is some of the prime exports of some worlds (both xenos and imperial). Also many foodies from quadrants all around the imperium come from parsecs around to sample various forms of delicacies from the finest Gretchin gourmets around.

For their part, the Orks have little they want from humanity besides peace and respect…although the human game of chess has become extremely popular with the aliens, to the extent that the past five galactic champions have been Orks.  Additionally, some Orks are fascinated with humanity’s musical instruments, resulting in the birth of “Goff Rock” and several Orkish musical groups currently on tour throughout the Imperium.

=== Tau ===
An automated Imperial survey probe discovered the Tau roughly six thousand years ago, and found a race of plains-dwelling aliens who had just mastered fire and lived in simple, hunter-gatherer societies.  An expedition was sent to offer the xenos the Imperium's friendship, but a sudden and unexplained interstellar storm of immense power enveloped the sector, cutting it off from the rest of the galaxy.  These storms have recently abated, and a follow-up survey has shocked the Imperium - in only six millennia, the Tau had been transformed from a peaceful but primitive civilization to a fascist, expansionist, star-spanning empire possessing advanced technology and insatiable bloodlust, making them one of the greatest threats facing the galaxy.

Somehow, the Exodite Eldar had come across the young Tau and proceeded to manipulate and mold the Tau into creatures more like themselves.  For centuries the Exodites set various petty Tau kingdoms and city-states against each other, plunging their world into chaos which nearly wiped out the race.  But then the Exodites capriciously changed their minds, and decided to unite the Tau under one order.  Using blasphemous bio-engineering, the Exodites bred a subspecies of Tau that possessed the pheromone glands of an insectoid alien race, granting them absolute control over other Tau.  These "Ethereals" became the Exodites' mouthpieces in Tau society, and with the help of Eldar technology quickly built a brutal world government before spreading into nearby star systems.

'''Tau Society''' 

Tau society is strictly divided into a caste system, supposedly a society of equals, in reality a strict hierarchy.  The '''Earth Caste''' are the lowliest Tau, slaving away in terrible conditions to keep the empire supplied with the wargear and supplies that fuel its aggressive expansion.  The luckiest of the Earth Caste get to work on miserable farms and live in hopeless drudgery; the unlucky ones are sent to hellish factories, where maimed workers are thrown out in the streets to die.

The '''Water Caste''' are derided as conniving and untrustworthy schemers, merchants and diplomats who cheat and swindle those they come across.  They mostly prey on too-trusting human societies bordering the Tau Empire, selling malfunctioning and downright dangerous equipment for outrageous prices, then laughing when their customers are killed or crippled after their purchases blow up in their faces.  Worse, the Water Caste also attempts to convince human worlds to renounce the Emperor’s benevolent rule for the empty promises of Tau society, bringing in new worlds of unwitting slaves for the Tau Empire.  For this reason, the Imperium has forbidden its citizens from dealing with the Tau, and dispatched Special Agents to borderworlds in order to protect people from these charlatans.

The Tau’s '''Air Caste''' are haughty and cowardly, preferring to rain destruction from far above their enemies rather than engage in a fair fight.  They provide pilots and crews for the Tau’s navies and build the starships that allow the empire to expand, but the rest of the Tau view them with distrust at best.  The Air Caste are notorious for launching unprovoked and unannounced orbital bombardments on defenseless worlds, laying waste to entire continents for the perverse glee they find in destroying a helpless foe.

The '''Fire Caste''' are near the top of the Tau’s social hierarchy.  These short-tempered and burly creatures are ostensibly the defenders of the empire, but in reality serve as the backbone of the Tau police state.  They spend much of their lives training for combat in vicious live-fire exercises that frequently result in deaths, or else spend their free time bullying the other subraces of Tau.  In combat they howl with barely-contained bloodlust, and are known for using prisoners-of-war as target practice, if they bother to take prisoners at all.

But all Tau live in constant terror of the '''Ethereal Caste''', so-named because they appear to be both everywhere and nowhere, an intangible and all-encompassing presence in Tau society.  These Tau devote their lives to preserving the order of the Tau Empire, by operating extensive surveillance networks that keep every Tau watching what they say, even when they think they’re alone.  If an Ethereal suspects a Tau of treason – or is simply feeling bored – they will order that Tau to kill himself, an order that is instantly obeyed.  A paranoid and suspicious group, the Ethereals have a grim, dark view of the universe, and believe that the Tau are surrounded by hostile aliens and beset from within by treacherous segments of their population.  They hold that there are no good actions possible in such a galaxy, and instead take the “Lesser Evil” needed for survival.  This Imperium has noted with considerable alarm that this philosophy has begun to spread through parts of its own population, driving cynics and nihilists to commit atrocities that they claim are justified by the grim(noble), dark(bright) world they live in. (Lulz, contradiction.)

'''Imperial Policy'''

For now, the Imperium has reluctantly steeled itself for war with the Tau, and has prepared its worlds on the Eastern Fringe for wave after wave of frothing Fire Warriors.  But the Emperor holds out hope that the Tau can be redeemed – indeed, one Fire Caste commander has seen the Ethereals for the manipulative tyrants they truly are and has revolted, taking a few Tau colonies with him.  This commander, named “Farsight” by his adoring troops, has opened diplomatic ties with the Imperium, and has been promised support for the inevitable counter-attack from his misguided kin.

=== Necrontyr ===

The story of the Necrontyr is also that of the terrible Great Old Ones from a time before the rise of Humanity. Once, before the birth of the Gods of Order, the Warp was not the peaceful, structured paradise it is today. Instead, it was the plaything of the Great Old Ones, abominable, xenophobic creatures hell-bent on the destruction of all life apart from themselves. The peaceful Necrontyr, which had been blessed with immortality by the life-giving rays of their sun, were one of the first races to fall afoul of their attention. The first skirmishes between the Necrontyr and the Great Old Ones went poorly for the Necrontyr, unused to war as they were, were quickly pushed back to their home world.

While desperate to find some means of defending themselves against the Great Old Ones, the Necrontyr scientists realized on comparing data with the returning refugees that the calm, unchanging surface of their own star was unusual within the galaxy. On investigating, they discovered that the reason for this was that their system had been chosen as the stewardship of one of the great shepherds of life, the C'tan that would later become known as the Daybringer. Upon explaining to the Daybringer the horrors that were being visited upon the galaxy by the Great Old Ones, the Daybringer quickly rallied its fellows to the aid of the Necrontyr.

Driven into disarray by the counterattack of the C'tan and the resurgent Necrontyr, the desperate Great Old Ones turned from genocide to genetic slavery, engineering warrior slaves from the biospheres of countless worlds, including the ancestors of the Eldar and the Orks, and granted these thralls the ability to use the Warp as weapons against their foes, resulting in the deaths of nearly all of the C'tan over the course of the war. However, despite the attempts of the wicked Great Old Ones tried to twist these races into their image they proved more open to the ideals of peace and brotherhood championed by the Necrontyr, and one by one they turned on their oppressors, and with them, the Warp also began to change, robbing the Great Old Ones of much of their power as the warp entities that would later grow become the Gods of Order and their servants began to refuse to be responsible for the destruction that the Great Old Ones called on them to wreak.

In the end, however, the threat of the Great Old Ones had to be ended permanently, and to spare the other races from having to bear the guilt of this deed, the Necrontyr and C'tan took the burden upon themselves of removing the Great Old Ones from the galaxy. Wracked with remorse at having destroyed another sapient species, regardless of the necessity of the deed to the peace of the galaxy, the Necrontyr and C'tan sealed themselves in meditation within monasteries beneath the surfaces of worlds spread across the galaxy, awaiting a time when they might be able to redeem themselves of the crime they were forced to commit.

=== Tyranids ===
Hailing from a remote world perhaps not even located in the Milky Way Galaxy, the Tyranids were first encountered on the Imperial world of Tyran, thus earning their namesake.  The Imperium's initial contact with the Tyranids was relatively peaceful, though Imperial diplomats were somewhat unnerved by the aliens' bizarre appearance and oddly-designed ships, and communication proved difficult even with the aid of a psyker translator.  The Tyranids seemed to sense this unease and very politely requested to take DNA samples from the lifeforms of Tyran in order to further their research.  After some negotiation, the humans agreed, and the Tyranids promptly left, seeming to disappear from the galaxy without a trace. 

Nearly 200 years later, the Tyranids returned in the form of a "Genesis Fleet," a large convoy of living starships that seeded barren worlds with bizarre and beautiful forms of life.  Wherever this Genesis Fleet went, dozens of meticulously crafted biospheres were left behind, each largely hospitable to humanoids and full of fascinating wildlife and ecosystems.  The Tyranids left a trail of "Eden Worlds" behind it, each more exotic and fascinating than the last, until the Genesis Fleet finally met with Imperial diplomats once again.  Taking new human-like forms, the Tyranids' diplomats explained that they were a race of bioengineers and terraformers seeking to study the life-forms of the universe and use their genetic data to create the perfect planet, and that the Eden Worlds were attempts that didn't quite meet their exacting specification.  After additional negotiation, the Tyranids were granted the right to populate select desolate worlds on the outskirts of Imperial territory however they saw fit. 

While most prefer to travel with the Genesis Fleet, a few Tyranids have settled in the Imperium, taking forms more familiar to humanity by mixing its DNA with their own.  These Tyranids find great success in serving as botanists, naturalists, or ecologists, but some make use of their race's mastery of the double helix.  These so-called "Gene Merchants" collect genetic data from plants, animals, and citizens, using their bio-wizardry to cure diseases and maintain the balance of local ecosystems, making them natural allies of the Agrarium of Mars.  Some Gene Merchants have reportedly ensconced themselves in Space Hulks, cultivating gardens and aviaries while fighting off space pirates and hostile aliens as they try to modify the derelict spaceships to provide aid to stranded or wayward travelers.

Sadly, the time of the Tyranids may be ending.  The Genesis Fleet will soon complete its journey across the galaxy, and unless some incredible new life-form is added to their genetic banks, the aliens will likely begin the long, silent voyage to another galaxy as they continue their never-ending quest to build the perfect world.  The Tyranids will leave behind hundreds of miraculous Eden Worlds as their legacy and gift to this galaxy, as well as those of their race that have chosen to live among humanity.