IM - Xenos Auxilia

[simison]

Celebrating the extremely recent decision to allow Xenos on B&C, I am posting all my notes on the subject from Heresy30k and Facebook to here.

 

When Alex makes the Edict of Emancipation, only four xeno races respond and are allowed to apply themselves: Kinebrach, Jokaero, Kroot, and Eldar. The Kinebrach come from the Interex and are going to need a lot of work since we know very little about them. Jokaero and Kroot are fairly simple and will only need a little work to integrate into the BotL setting. The general fluff background for the Eldar mercs/auxilia is already in place at this point, just need to hammer down the details.  

 

The Edict of Emancipation, in addition to reversing the ban on xeno auxilia, contains a process for absorbing a potential xeno species into the Imperium proper. Translating the legalese, there are four stages of assimilation.

 

First stage, just the simple ability to fight in the Imperial war machine. Faithful military service removes that particular xeno species from the list of extermination on the Imperium's rolls for a time or unless the aforementioned race betrays the Imperium. This is where the Kroot and Jokaero fall under.

 

Second stage obviously entails more. In addition to above average fighting service, said race can pledge itself to be allied to the Imperium cause for the foreseeable future by agreeing to observe large portions of the Imperial law code, if not the whole thing. In return, the race is recognized as honorary but ultimately secondary citizens and can be given or acquire property/planetary rights within limits. This is where Eldrad's Eldar fall under.

 

Third stage is complete assimilation. The xeno race is seen as a full Imperial citizen as the race completely commits to the Imperium, militarily, socially, economically, and so on. This is where the Interex's Kinebrach falls under. 

 

The Kroot, who's primary occupation as mercs, were quick to take advantage of the thousands of potential contracts the Imperium offered in its war against Insurrectionists, caring not for prior campaigns between the Imperium and Kroot warbands. Although more than willing to offer their abilities as warriors for Terra, there was a distinct aversion to truly tie the species with Humanity, preferring the more professional relationship between the two races. The Warmaster was content with this state of affairs, given the Kroot's unusual eating habits led them to being viewed suspiciously by Humanity. As such, while the Kroot fought hard against the Traitors throughout the entire war, no lasting ties were established.

 

Without a developed language, the Jokaeros involvement in the Insurrection seemed more like happenstance than anything else, due to the erratic success of attempts to bribe them. Since no Jokaeros ever fought for the Traitors, the war ended with the species remaining off the extermination list.

 

The latter two races would prove to be far more controversial. 

 

The Kinebrach would become controversial for being the first and potentially last xeno species to become full Imperial citizens, thanks to negotiations conducted between the Warmaster and the Interex. Although simian in appearance, only abhumans such as the Ogryns and the Squats had been given the same respect and offer. For their part, the Kinebrach acted honorably and obeyed all laws of the Imperium by the time the Insurrection concluded. Despite a change in political power, none dare to reverse the Warmaster's decision, given the sheer amount of damage to be repaired and lost ground retaken in the Scouring.

 

Although they were never granted full citizenship by the Imperium, the Eldar proved to be the most controversial of the xenos for several reasons. Unlike the Kinebrach who committed to the Imperium as a race, Eldar corsairs and craftworlds would continue their on-going raids and warfare against both the Imperium and the Traitor Imperium, not including the depredations of the Dark Eldar. Additionally, unlike the Kinebrach who were already well-situated in Interex space, this new faction of Eldar explicitly traded their services for Imperial territory, an entire system for their use. Although the system had yet to be colonized, several critics declared this a great betrayal of the Great Crusade's ideals to establish a galaxy for Humanity. 

 

Although the Edict granted the Warmaster the extra firepower he needed to stop Icarion's first push towards Terra, it came at a high price. Although he was able to quell the internal voices of dissent, the Edict perhaps guaranteed the Insurrection would last longer, leading to the deaths of trillions more. When the three entire legions of the Warbringers, Steel Legion, and the Warriors of Peace defected from Icarion's cause, they rejected reunification with the Imperium. Although Alexandros was willing to offer a full pardon for his three wayward brothers and their sons, the three claimed that the Edict was a direct violation of the Emperor's will. As such, instead of joining the Imperium and permanently swinging the Insurrection in favor of the Loyalists, the three Primarchs established their own empire, dubbing it the Suzerainty. 

 

While I'm still figuring out a good name, more thoughts on the Imperium Eldar. Although it is Eldrad who initiates the alliance between Eldar and Man, he does not do so as an official representative of Ulthwé. It is a good few millennia before Eldrad becomes the Chief Farseer. Thus, while powerful and respected, he is in no position to persuade all of Ulthwé to join the Imperium. Furthermore, he has no intention of officially joining the Imperium himself, even as he makes the arrangement for other Eldar to do so. In the end, while Eldrad believes the Imperium/uncorrupted Humanity may be the greatest potential weapon against Chaos, his first priority is the preservation and survival of his race. If it came out that Eldrad had joined the Imperium, it would eliminate any chances of working with Biel-Tan, Iyanden, and a large majority of the Eldar race, which would view him as a traitor.

 

As such, Eldrad's involvement with the Imperium-Eldar alliance is kept secret by the few beings who know about it. Instead, the Craftworld that actually does formally join the Imperium is Il-Kaithe. A Craftworld that absolutely loathes Chaos, when the Insurrectionists begin to dip into Chaos worship, the Craftworld is more than willing to ally with the Imperium to put an end to the new Chaos worshippers. In return for their service, Alexandros gives them an entire system, one that neighbors Delos, to become their new home.

 

Some questions that need to be answered is what does the leadership structure of the Craftworld look like. Their codex entry makes an explicit point that they have some of the best Bonesingers of the entire Eldar race. Does that hint that the Bonesingers rule or merely a powerful faction within the Craftworld? How does that affect their military forces and ranks? Who does lead the Craftworld and is the 'face' of the Imperium Eldar? 

 

Looking at canon, the only thing from Il-Kaithe that has been established is their colours. 

 

This led to a brief yet energetic search through the internet for traditional Craftworld political structures. This was less straightforward than I imagined. Overall, I'm under the impression that most of the Craftworlds are led by a Seer Council with a couple of exceptions. Now, to my surprise, this doesn't immediately translate to Farseers. Although typical, especially in the case of Ulthwé, the Path of the Seer includes Farseers, Spiritseers, Warlocks, Wayseer, Wraithseer, White Seers, and Bonesingers. 

 

So, the Seer Council is essentially a council of experts leading the Craftworld that will defer to an Autarch/Autarchs whenever war comes to the Craftworld or it's necessary. So, as one person put it, the Craftworlds are technocracies, rule by experts. 

 

In the case of Il-Kaithe, I see the Bonesingers and the White Seers taking on additional importance given Il-Kaithe's on-going crusade against Chaos. For those of you who don't know (and I only learned about this tonight), a White Seer is an anti-Chaos Seer, who's job is to learn more about Chaos to kill it and guard the Black Library. Supposedly, they are immune to corruption. They are only mentioned in Gav Thorpe's Path of the Eldar series, which came out 5-7 years ago. As such, I think the role of the Black Library guardians has been firmly given to the Harlequins. However, I think they are an interesting concept since they do fill a role of the Craftworlds responding to the threat of Chaos. 

 

Bringing this back to Il-Kaithe, since the Eldar have Irish influences as far as I can tell, I'm going to say that they are led by a 9-member Seer Council (2 Farseers, 2 Spiritseers, 1 Warlock, 2 White Seers, 2 Bonesingers). Military command is divided equally into a trio of Autarchs. 

 

When Il-Kaithe forms the alliance with Alexandros, they send a 3-man delegation including a White Seer (to test Alex for Chaos influence), a Thought-talker (If it is a thing, then this would be the Eldar's telepath diplomat to ensure smooth negotiations), and one of the Autarchs.

 

After the alliance, that same Autarch becomes the permanent liaison between Il-Kaithe and the Imperium and commander of the Imperial Eldar. Names to come later.

 

As someone has pointed out to me, there seems to be a unified language convention when it comes to Eldar: Aeld-ari, Drukh-ari, and Ynn-ari.

So, I think the name we should go with Muniteari to keep it in line with the current canon convention.

[Sigismund229]

Seeing as "Xenos Auxiliaries" is a somewhat cumbersome name, perhaps we could name the Xenos Auxilia as a whole the Foederati? It's the term the Romans used for non-citizen soldiers from about the 3rd century onwards

[MikhalLeNoir]

Wow. That means harlequins from caerbannig as allies fir Gwal.....darn...thst changes everything

[Skalpynock]

That makes the Suzerainty old-B&C, does it?

[MikhalLeNoir]

Seems so^^. Thought they stand for advancement but now they are just outdated^^

[simison]

That makes the Suzerainty old-B&C, does it?

 

Truth be told, when I first came up with the idea of xenos allies and wasn't shot down, I imagined that the Suzerainty would become the canon 40k Imperium except with a bit more of a tech edge. Meanwhile our Imperium would become a grimdark version of the Interex, I suppose. 

 

This is why I want the Suzerainty to actually grow over the centuries and become a power equal to the Imperium. 

 

Also, it occurs to me that while Alex is able to keep the Loyalists Legions to stay loyal, the same can't be said of the Mechanicum. Mars may remain, but I imagine for several Forge Worlds, this is going to be the straw that breaks the camel's back. The Suzerainty would benefit from this split so long as they can secure these errant Forge Worlds from Chaos. 

[bluntblade]

Then again, Alex would also be able to tempt Forge Lords with juicy alien tech.

[Talonair]

Xenos tech is declared heresy by the Sixteen Universal Laws; 'The alien mechanism is a perversion of the True Path.' If Alex were to try using alien tech to sweeten the deal, it would in all likelyhood have the exact opposite affect, with entire forge worlds defecting to the new Suzerainty

[Chief Captain Redd]

Well considering Daer'dd reverse engineered a ton of xenostech for the Imperium we do have a precedent for it being okay by fringe forge worlds at least already.

 

It actually might give us a set up for a later major event where the Mechanicum ends up in it's own three way civil war, four if we include Dark Mechanicum; Because we could have the progressive Mechanicum made up of Demiurg, fringe forge worlds, the Three Fires, and any whom prescribed to the thoughts of Daer'dd. The Adeptus Mechanicus and anyone loyal to Mars/Omnisiah, and those who discard both and want to follow the Suzerainty.

[Talonair]

That could be fun. 'Ok, whew, we just about managed to defeat the Insurrection... Now let's get to rebuil- MARS NO WHAT ARE YOU DOING'

[MikhalLeNoir]

If the mechanicum has his own three way civil war....does it take place during the insurrection or later? If later....on which side would the imperium be? As three fire will aid the progessive, what does the iron bears think of it? I suppose they join them, right? But i see the major imperium aid the conservative mechanicum. So this might lead to another civil war....damn...that can you openend had a lot of killler bees inside^^

[Chief Captain Redd]

I'd say it'd take place some time after the Scouring; since the Insurrection would have everyone working under the banner of the lesser of two evils the "Prog.Mech" and Mechanicum could put aside any infighting.

But once rebuilding starts and the inclusion of Imperial Xenos with the use of Xenos tech and things like Bone Singers and Jokero, those I would imagine will be gladly accepted for some time. But, eventually the newly minted AdMech is going to get pissed and Mars will push back, maybe this starts with trying to reclaim Forge Worlds from the Suzerainty; and eventually pushing against the Prog.Mech.

 

And yeah, once the Three Fires are involved the Iron Bears will have no choice but to support them; which is when Terra and maybe Warmaster Hectarion have to step in.

This could be build up to the False Primarch stuff; as it could be opportunistic of the Suzerainty to strike then.

[Sigismund229]

"WHAT THE :CUSS DO YOU MEAN THEY'RE FIGHTING EACH OTHER? :CUSSING METAL BRAINED :CUSSHEAD PIECES OF :CUSS"

-Hectarion reacting to the news

[Talonair]

":CUSS: YOU I DO WHAT I WANT"
-Mortera on Hectarion's reaction

[Sigismund229]

In all seriousness, while Hec is nowhere near fond of xenos or anything related to them, he would probably demand that both sides cease hostilities and present their grievances for him to judge as Warmaster. If the Mechanicus didn't(I'm fairly sure the IB would) then his reaction would probably be to throw diplomacy out of the window and bring together the Crimson Lions and their successors to do a Prospero on the dissenting Mechanicus factions.

[Talonair]

I'm not sure the Warmaster has that level of authority is the thing, especially with the Emperor out of the picture. The Mechancium is not actually a part of the Imperium. It is a seperate empire with an alliance with the Imperium, as decreed in the Treaty of Olympus Mons. Plus, going Prospero on the Mechanicum worlds would not be an easy task, given their power, numbers and how widespread they are. Plus, the Imperium does sort of rely on the Mechancium for pretty much all of their technology, warships, armour, arms etc etc etc

 

This is, of course, all hypothetical, as it relies on Alex actually attempting to tempt powerful forge worlds with xeno tech

[simison]

It would depend on the forge lord. Alex wouldn't make a blanket offer since he knows that's a surefire way to alienate the more traditional elements. Instead he would try to determine where each forge lord stands and, if he thinks they're open to the idea, make a quiet offer. 

 

Apparently, Stygies VIII is obsessed with xeno tech and would dive right into that offer. 

 

Even then, to help ease Il-Kaithe's fears, only certain Aeldari tech would be offered. 

[Sigismund229]

I'm not sure the Warmaster has that level of authority is the thing, especially with the Emperor out of the picture. The Mechancium is not actually a part of the Imperium. It is a seperate empire with an alliance with the Imperium, as decreed in the Treaty of Olympus Mons. Plus, going Prospero on the Mechanicum worlds would not be an easy task, given their power, numbers and how widespread they are. Plus, the Imperium does sort of rely on the Mechancium for pretty much all of their technology, warships, armour, arms etc etc etc

 

This is, of course, all hypothetical, as it relies on Alex actually attempting to tempt powerful forge worlds with xeno tech

Trouble is, because the Imperium relies so heavily on the Mechanicum for support, the Warmaster can't afford to allow them to fight each other and reduce their capacity to fight alongside the Imperium as well as keeping its legions supplied with the gear they need. And while he may not have that power while it's a purely Mechanicum affair, I imagine the Iron Bears being dragged into it would make it something that concerned the wider Imperium, not just the Mechanicum. And going Prospero on every Mechanicum world would be more counterproductive than helpful, I was more thinking hit one or two of the more important non-Mars worlds and then say "Right, are you going to listen now that I've shown I'm serious?"

 

Although given Alex's ability for foresight, he'd probably foresee that trying to tempt forge worlds with xenos tech would lead to all hell breaking loose and discard the idea

[Talonair]

I'm not sure an Imperium recovering from the Insurrection could afford to toss aside two important Forge worlds like that. If the goal is to stop the Mechanicum attacking Astartes, then using Astartes to exterminate two forge worlds would not be productive, I don't think

[Chief Captain Redd]

I see this very much akin to a Vandire Schism type situation; ultimately Treaties are going to have to written after blood has been shed, because as stated before, the Imperium can't afford to lose too many Forge Worlds.

What if in the end; after blood has been shed, the "ProgMech" was absorbed into the Imperium proper? With the Mechanicum retaining Independence and end up with more influence by developing one of the Imperial Cult sects, and gaining more production rights for the Imperial Army and an expansion of their own military forces; where as the ProgMech loses military Independence save for Titans and Knights, but gains production rights for Imperial factions wanting to adapt more Xenos tech; like the Daughters of the Imperium, or various Astartes. And gain a seat amongst the Lords of Terra.

 

a win-win from desperation, but ultimately a loss since the two refuse to work together.

[Talonair]

That would also be directly in contravention of the Treaty of Olympus Mons, as the Emperor promised to respect the sovereignty of Mars and not to interfere with the internal structure of the Mechanicum. Plus the Mechanicum already has a seat on the High Lords in the form of the Fabricator-General. When the High Lords were simply the Council of Terra, the Fabricator-General was part of the Council, along with the Paternova of the Navis Mobilite, the Master of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, and Regent Malcador the Sigilite.

 

If Alex were to foresee this event, I think a better way of doing things would be this; Alex and several other diplomats/authority figures were to approach Mortera and other key Mechanicum leadership figures to discuss the use of Xenos tech and try to come up with a 'creative interpretation' of the Omnissiah's will. Mortera herself is not adverse to using frowned-upon or banned technology and knowledge, but in the wake of the Schism would need to demonstrate to the wider Mechanicum that she is very much NOT Kelbor-Hal and will adhere to the Universal Laws in order to keep her position as Fabricator-General of Mars.

 

And if we did want a Schism mk. 2 somewhere along the line, I did have one idea for how it would happen if the above happens. Some Xenos tech runs on the warp (Yu'Vath for instance), and a few fringe Forges, emboldened by the gradual acceptance of certain Xenos tech by the wider Mechanicum, decide to start dabbling in this tech, and through that become corrupted (natual warp corruption, infiltration by Dark Mech forces etc). Word gets out, and war erupts, with centralist mechanicum forces deciding to 1) Rid the galaxy of these newly emerged Dark Mech forces and 2) Cleanse other forges who were straying too far into the use of Xenos tech as a preventative measure

[simison]

So, I was reminded of early suggestions of 'wielding' Orks against Traitors, but I countered that the Warmaster wouldn't support these operations.

 

It occurred to me that not every Imperial commander would toe the line. Had an idea of a regiment commander or maybe a space marine commander hiring an Ork warband with Imperium weapons and throws them out Traitor redoubts/forces. This is completely unauthorized by Alexandros, and he ensures the Orks are exterminated and the Imperial commander is court-martialed.

 

In other words, it'd be an excuse to make an Ork army list with human weapons.

[Sigismund229]

Question regarding the xenos auxila, how integrated are they into the Imperial command structure do we reckon? Some, like the Interex, I imagine will be like slightly odd regiments of the Imperial Army. But the Eldar I can't really imagine taking orders from humans so would their relationship with the Imperium be more like an alliance than them becoming part of the Imperial war machine? 

[Chief Captain Redd]

I could see them respecting Transhuman elements, but I'd imagine Aspect Warriors commanding similar elements of the Imperial Army.

Plus they'd be widely used as another elite element, considering they can go toe to toe with Astartes in many regards.

[simison]

Craftworld [The Frozen Star] - Main Colors: Blue & White

 

Martial Philosophy - Begin a new Eldar Empire, learning from previous mistakes.

 

[More details to follow...]

 

(Farseer Go'uld)