Is there only war?

[Theocracity]

i think the best plan would be to go along the route as the dispoarax fleet. which was a massive fleet of truly ancient ships from the dark age of technology and before along with aliens ships of equal antiquity. they spend their days running and hiding from anyone and everyone. of course they survived because they kept moving. think battlestar galactica with some 40k thrown in.

I like the concept - your phrasing seems to say that it's something in 40K fluff but I've never heard of it specifically - but even then I don't think you'd get the enlightened, open society we're looking for. Post-Heresy Imperial ships are already home to insular cults, weird behavior, grody decks abandoned to decay and mutation, and other delightful aspects. You can hand-wave away a few problems with Dark Age technology, but 10,000+ years of living on the same ship or two would likely create a crew of horrifically inbred techno-freaks paranoid of anything that could damage their home or upset their bizarre ecosystem. And even Dark Age tech couldn't recycle resources forever, so they'd likely need to raid planets for food, water, oxygen, and fresh genetic material.

All of which is a great hook for 40K, but not a good sign for an enlightened democracy.

Incidentally, I'm of the impression that BSG deals with a lot of the harsh logic that informs the Imperium, in terms of authoritarianism and the realities of survival in a fundamentally hostile galaxy. I think BSG is a bit more nuanced though.

[Hadrun]

Break it down Orwell style!
War is Peace.
Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.

Un-ending war is the equivalent of un-ending peace, stagnation. So there's peace in the Grimdark!
the Inquisition (Big Brother) ~ making sure Freedom is as close to slavery as possible.
Ignorance is Strength! "The Imperial Truth" Not knowing that deamons/chaos gods exist is a hell of alot better than knowing!

[Scribe of Khorne]

Yep peace is an option, right up until they encounter Nids, Orks, DE, CSM, Daemons, or the Imperium given sufficient interest or time. There are too many factions in the game that simply cannot coexist with no realistic road to peace. Nids just want to eat, Orks just want to fight, DE/CSM/Daemons just want to kill you or worse, so you either need to be on the move always, or so overpowering that those are not realistic threats, which really is a bit much to believe in 40K for me.

[blackcherry]

There was a confederacy of worlds on the outskirts of the milky way at one point. Nids ate them though.

[Sai-Lauren]

IMO, most of the Imperium would be in a kind of a home front/cold-war mentality - there's always the possibility of an attack, invasion, insurrection or espionage, but for the most part, any actual fighting is a long way way and happening to other people, and if only those (insert your choice of phrase here ) enemies would drop dead right now, everyone could have jam tomorrow, because that's what's been promised.

[Theocracity]

Break it down Orwell style!
War is Peace.
Freedom is Slavery.
Ignorance is Strength.

Un-ending war is the equivalent of un-ending peace, stagnation. So there's peace in the Grimdark!
the Inquisition (Big Brother) ~ making sure Freedom is as close to slavery as possible.
Ignorance is Strength! "The Imperial Truth" Not knowing that deamons/chaos gods exist is a hell of alot better than knowing!

Heh. My friends and I recently had a conversation that compared the Imperium to the Alpha Complex of the classic RPG Paranoia. We concluded that, for the average Hive-dweller, the two would be relatively indistinguishable - with the notable difference that Friend Computer, unlike the Emperor, at least has the decency to talk to you directly .

[MyNameDidntFit]

The only way I see it happening would be a multi-cultural Craftworld*--floating about, practically invisible, with the resources to grow everything it needs.



*Or Craftworld-like ship/station/etc.

[FashaTheDog]

You can always base the whole concept on a 60s/70s hippy commune.

Going to the toliets would be epically Grimdark.

Wrong kind of grimdark .

If you were to come up with something like this, you might want to start with it's eventual destruction in your head and work backwards to it's founding, be it a lone hidden system or a utopia fleet. Figure that something in the fun-loving 41st millennium will eventually find it and kill/conquer/corrupt/bestow other unspeakable horror to it and work backwards to how it was in it's prime and if there was a decay or a sudden cataclysm that brought it low. From there figure how it became what it was during it's apex and work backwards to the founding to fill in the entire time line. You do not need to have all of the specifics, just vague ideas. It will probably help you flesh it out in a better fashion than if you went in the other direction, even if the destruction has yet to happen according to the official time line, like say sometime in M42. After all, starting with death and destruction is only fitting as 40K is not exactly a setting conducive to lasting hope and love as those are merely temporary delusions that lead only to disappointment and hatred.

[Formerly Wu]

If you were to come up with something like this, you might want to start with it's eventual destruction in your head and work backwards to it's founding, be it a lone hidden system or a utopia fleet. Figure that something in the fun-loving 41st millennium will eventually find it and kill/conquer/corrupt/bestow other unspeakable horror to it and work backwards to how it was in it's prime and if there was a decay or a sudden cataclysm that brought it low. From there figure how it became what it was during it's apex and work backwards to the founding to fill in the entire time line. You do not need to have all of the specifics, just vague ideas. It will probably help you flesh it out in a better fashion than if you went in the other direction, even if the destruction has yet to happen according to the official time line, like say sometime in M42.

The best part is, setting it far enough back in the timeline, and you can still use it after its destruction. The mysterious ancient civilization, brought low by time or fate, is such a common setting for 40k stories (especially Inquisition stories) that it's almost a cliche.

I make a habit of setting my stories at least a few hundred years back in the past. It gives perspective to put your characters and events in a "historical" context. We have a whole 10,000 years to work with, after all.

[carlisimo]

If you want it to be large, it has to be past the effective range of the Astronomicon, which leaves plenty of space. I could see a federation of like-minded groups of humans and/or xenos with a mutual defense pact against orks, dark eldar, and now tyranids and necrons.

[gutsmaka]

ultramar for the most part (ignoring the hive fleet and demon prince)

[Spider-pope]

In the universe of Warhammer 40k, the rythm of explosions, the choir of screaming shells and the agonising cries of the wounded all contribute to Warhammer's malevolent orchestra. For in the grim darkness of the far-future, there is only war....Or is there? My question is, if a minority of many races should grow weary of the perpetuous conflicts, is there a location / have there been any known locations where a variety of races have co-existed together? For I wish to write about a settlement akin to Mass effect's Omega system. Where on the fringes of the galaxy lies a settlement, a settlement where races who have long grown weary of war have retreated to.

So gentlemen, is there peace among the stars?

The second book of Dan Abnett's Ravenor trilogy features a very Omega like space station. Multiple races are free to trade with each other - although the "peace" is heavily enforced rather than a spirit of mutual cooperation.

Such locations are likely scattered all over the galaxy. It's impossible for the Imperium to police the entire galaxy constantly, so there is plenty of wiggle room to fit in a confederation of Xenos-loving filth into the setting. The only advice i would give is don't make it too Star Trek. An Eldar may work alongside a human to achieve a mutual goal, but he's still going to think said human is barbarian scum, no matter how war weary they may have become.

[FashaTheDog]

If you want it to be large, it has to be past the effective range of the Astronomicon, which leaves plenty of space.

HERESY! There is nothing past His Most Holy Light of the Astronomicon. Only traitors, heretics, and the foolish xenos would believe and spread such blatant lies.

[chriscrowing]

It's not really come up, on account of 40k being a game about war. I mean "In the Grim Darkness of the Far Future there is Mostly War, but with some peaceful bits" isn't nearly as snappy...

Think on it this way, the Imperium RELIGIOUSLY cannot peacefully co-exist with aliens (this is driven home in the HH books), Orks can't peacefully co-exist with each other, Tyranids and Necrons view all other races as food, the Chaos gods thrive on war and the chaos that comes along with it, Dark Eldar are by their nature not pleasant neighbours....

That leaves the Eldar - who would probably be quite happy with some peace aside from the fact they need everyone else to be on a war footing and amenable to being manouvered into the way of Ork Waagh's and Tyranid hive fleets in order for their denuded and scattered populace to survive.

It also leaves the Tau, who's credo is perfectly willing to accept alliances (even admitting a race who eat their foes into their little socialist union) but given that they are surrounded by a hostile Imperium, a few Ork empires, are in the path of the Nid advance and surely the Eldar are gonna be wanting those Maiden worlds they evolved on back eventually...

Your best bet for peaceful cohabitation would be an area where human settlers out of touch with the Imperium had settled in near an Eldar Exodite colony, perhaps with the Tau as new arrivals. That could work...

[Mikial]

The truth is, there is a valid reason why the Imperium is so completely totalitarian and draconian . . . if they weren't humans would be either wiped out by xenos or subsumed into Chaos. So following that train of logic, peace is dangerous. It lulls people into a false sense of security and well being where they believe the universe is basically good and there's room for everybody. The next step after that is slavery or destruction by some slavering monster or effete sadomasochistic eldar.

No, brothers and sisters, there may be tiny points of renegades on the odd space station or pirate planet where people coexist for a common goal of anarchy and profit, but in the REAL 41st Millennium, there can be only war! Otherwise, who would need the Imperium?

[FashaTheDog]

The truth is, there is a valid reason why the Imperium is so completely totalitarian and draconian . . . if they weren't humans would be either wiped out by xenos or subsumed into Chaos. So following that train of logic, peace is dangerous. It lulls people into a false sense of security and well being where they believe the universe is basically good and there's room for everybody. The next step after that is slavery or destruction by some slavering monster or effete sadomasochistic eldar.

Also, genocide is far more palatable to the public when it's the official Imperial pastime .

[Kisanis]

I would say 2 good options for this on a larger scale:

1. a well managed imperial world that has managed to stay under the radar
2. An Eldar world as mentioned where humans and other sentients are allowed to stay and peacefully coexist.

[War Angel]

I've wondered about the typical Imperial citizen. Like what about the baker working in his shop? There must be some worlds that at one time or another have peace.

[Superkid]

Well, I'm not familiar with lots of Black Library stuff and such, but seeing as the Carcharodons (Space Sharks) chapter works mostly in the darkness underneath the milky way, but still can somehow recruit new members, implies that there are human settlements outside the imperium that are stable enough to give recruits to space marine chapters. I would assume that, since the Carcharodons have been gone out of the big picture of the Imperium for awhile, maybe they'd be more reasonable when it came to certain xenos? I remember the FW badab war books talking about how their cause was mysterious and such, so for all we know they could be out in the darkness of space focusing on some chaos or alien thing while having stable enough human societies to provide them with recruits. I know sometimes one squad of space marines can wipe out a planet, but it seems like it'd be a bad plan to go all genocide on some alien guys, whilst having none of the expendable imperial guard to provide an anvil for the hammer, so to speak.

unless i'm entirely wrong on this,
tldr; i could see, fairly easily, there being a civilization somewhere where xenos of some sort and humans could exist, with a space marine level police force, outside the bounds of the imperium.

[Menthak]

I actually think that, in all irony, that the priate gangs would be the best place to find refuge in diversity. While no means peaceful, the concept of multi-cultural cooperation is non-existent outside of this third party realm.

The Tau have some sort of coalition system, though with the Tau themselves as the head (and openly viewing races like the kroot as expendable in conflict), and old night empires such as the interex seemed to have something similar. Beyond that though it's you and your species against everything else in the verse' that can, and is, actively trying to kill you.

Where does it say that Tau view the kroot as expendable? it states in the codex that the Tau combat doctrine doesn't see the advantage of expendable troops.