Most "Evil" 40k Faction?

[Angry SisterOfBattle Nerd]

I don't know. Do the (dark) eldar eat meat ?

[LordLucan]

"Death is my Meat, terror my Wine."

-A dark Eldar quote from the old codex.

EDIT: According to the new DE codex, the dark Eldar feed their slaves with corpses they've fished out of the river Khaides. So they recycle at least...

[El_Machinae]

The Harlequins are neither linked to the Dark Eldar nor to the Craftworld Eldar. They just travel.

What I mean is that they're still Eldar, they just don't partake of the same hedonism or even the same requirements. DE eat pain to save their souls, just like we eat meat to get protein. Like the DE, we cause way, way more suffering than we need to, and we do so mainly for our own pleasure. The vegetarian and the Harlequins both have alternative mechanisms for protecting their souls (or getting protein).

The Rulers of the Haemonculi are, and they basically run the show and have set up the entire soul-stripping apparatus which runs commorragh. Also, many of the Archons and Kabals in power used to be nobles and noble houses in the Old Empire. We have several examples of them in Path of the Renegade. Three of the main noble houses' rulers did get offed during vect's coup, but there are plenty left I'd say. They changed their noble hosues to kabals to play along with the new Kabalite system, but they remain unrepentant.

Not many of them lasted until M41 I'd wager, but remember that many of the most infamous and montrous actions of these past pleasure cultists are idolised by the current Dark Eldar.

Yeah, I agree.

[A.T.]

Like the DE, we cause way, way more suffering than we need to, and we do so mainly for our own pleasure.

DE tend to represent the more deliberate and sadistic end of 'more suffering than needed' - much like the difference between someone who eats meat, and someone who enjoys cock fighting and deer coursing.

[El_Machinae]

However, they also need suffering in a way that we do not.

[Angry SisterOfBattle Nerd]

The vegetarian and the Harlequins both have alternative mechanisms for protecting their souls (or getting protein).

I do that ?
Cool.

[BrainFireBob]

1) The Angry Marines
2) The Imperium. 10000 years of stagnation and rotting strong!

[Disturbed Frog]

I Don't know about the "most evil race" but the most evil character / entity would have to be the hive mind. he/she/it values its life above everything everywhere there ever was is and will be by using its tools to consume all.
Dark elder torture, Chaos corrupt, Imperium Conquers and Orks Krush but the hive mind evaporates all life for the sake of its own....

[LordLucan]

Disturbed Frog: The Imperium would quite happily exterminate all other alien life if it meant humanity would survive indefinitely. Also, the enslavers exterminated a significant portion of the galactic population in order to propagate themselves. Also, I believe the Void Dragon was described once as 'Oblivion itself'. Also the Purge geniunely wish to extemrinate all life int he galaxy, in the name of their god.

The Tyranids are not the only evil, omnicidal faction in the setting. Just because the Tyranids seem to be better at genociding entire civilisations doesn't mean they are more evil than other faction who purposefully exterminate entire species.

Plus, we do not know the ultimate motive of the hive mind; it seems like it doesn't even notice us individually. it's consciousness is vast and spans more than a galaxy. We do not know its mind. I don't think we can conclusively say the Tyranids are the most evil in intent. The case could be made that the destruction they wrought is evil certainly, but that's all we know. A locust swarm or the ebola virus have evil effects upon us, but they are not sapient in the same way. Or maybe the hive mind is more like an animal mind on a vast scale, in which case, how can it be considered evil if it consumes its food in order to grow larger? that's the basis of every living organism.

Let's say we are to the hive mind as a cell from a blade of grass in a field is when compared to a cow or a goat; if the goat consumes every single blade of grass in one area, then moves on to another area and consumes all that grass, is the goat being malicious?

I don't thinkt he hive mind is some machiavellian villain, revelling in its consumption of the galaxy; it'd be like us going 'ha ha, foolish bacteria living on a potato plant! see how we, humans, shall deprive you of your homes and flesh to further our species! mwah ha ha!' every time we eat chips.* We don't do taht, we don't even think about plant cells, because who would? The hive mind is the total consciousness of the hyper-organism that is the tyranids, not some queen. Such a vast entity likely doesn't even notice that the planets it eats have little lice crawling on them who don't want to be eaten. We are smaller than bacteria, comparatively, to the hive mind's vast form.


*(Yes, I do suggest everyone now go out and taunt the chips at your local eating establishment. Do it!)

[dark messenger]

I can see why so many replies here refer to the DE and how genuinely evil they are... the depths of their cruelty and madness can make you wince just to read about it! But I went with Demons coz if it wasn't for them and their ilk in the warp, there is a chance that Horus and his boys would've remained Chaos free (albeit kinda rebellious)
That can only really have led to the Imperium conquering the galaxy and presenting a united front to whatever horrors the darkness could throw at humanity, surely?
That's a good thing right?

Not that the Imperium is completely without fault. Much of what they set out to achieve at the start of the crusade was ultimately doomed to failure through ignorance/secrecy.

[Demonizer]

I'd argue that the Dark Eldar are no more evil than the Orks, they just have more imagination.

[Stormtrooper Clark]

I'd argue the Dark Eldar do it to survive. Evil to be sure, but considering most of Chaos are in it 4 teh evulz or their own personal power (obviously most Dark Eldar are as well, but at least they have something of an excuse) it kind of JUST elevates them past them on the evil margin in my view. Barely.

[Jack of Blades]

I measure evil by the amount something enjoys inflicting harm in whatever way on another sentient creature. That's why a farmer breeding cattle isn't evil. But the farmer who keeps the cattle in the most horrible conditions, inflicts the most torturous pains he can on them, traumatises their psyches on purpose and enjoys very slowly killing them as the rest of the cattle watch and wait in line for the same fate - that guy is evil. They both kill cattle, the difference is not what they do but why and how they do it. That killing and eating cattle sustains them is merely an excuse for the evil farmer, a way to receive sympathy.

If it wasn't obvious enough in the analogy then I was comparing something with the Dark Eldar. The Dark Eldar aren't evil because they have to be, they're evil because inflicting misery on others is what they enjoy the most. Sure, unless they become like the ''good'' Eldar they actually have to be evil to survive - but to keep using my farmer analogy, whether the second farmer is evil or not doesn't depend on whether he needs to be evil or not. It's because he enjoys the pain and misery of others that he is evil. A good person that had to torture others to survive would treat it as a curse, not as a blessing.

There are forces in other factions that are as evil as the Dark Eldar, like the Emperor's Children (ie. what they did during the Siege of Terra contra even the other traitor legions). But there is no entire faction as the game defines them which is on par with the Dark Eldar.

Imo if you think that the Dark Eldar aren't as evil or even less evil than something else in the 40k galaxy you've not thought about it enough (it actually confuses me how some people think stuff like Daemons or the Hive Mind are the most evil). They really are the ultimate evil.

[El_Machinae]

Well, I'm more sure of the DE level of evilness, because of how aware they are of the suffering they cause. While certain demons benefit from causing suffering, I cannot know how much they 'understand' the suffering they're causing. Evil requires a level of empathy (i.e., the ability to understand the emotions of another) that orks don't really have and I don't know if demons have.

[Horus38]

Dark Eldar. While every other faction may be driven by some kind of justification for it (Orks just love to fight, nothing personal. IoM is fighting to survive. Tau ditto etc..) the Commorites are doing it primarily for lulz, even if said lulz is the means by which they don't get et by Slaanesh.

This. In fact the old Dark Eldar codex specifically talks about Dark Eldar being evil just for the sake of being evil, comparing them to the chaos space marines - who are evil but actually have a goal/purpose.

[Mikial]

I voted CSM, but having thought about it I would change my vote to Dark Eldar if I could. CSM at least have a purpose. I'm sure some will disagree with me, but DE really have no guiding principle in their culture whatsoever except for "do as much harm as you can just for the fun of it."

[Tyrelli]

I would Say Noise Marine Cults some of the (old) fluff had them down as truly nasty, And they do it simply for the love of it, and then try and up the experiance next time !