7

In Warhammer 40k how many worlds in total are controlled by each of the IoM, Necrons, Tau, Orks, Chaos, Eldar, and minor races? Later dates preferred, but any would be useful.

Approximations, educated guesses, and common sense extrapolations based on relevant information would be useful where direct sources are not available.

Improve this question
6
  • First, what date are we talking? 001M41 would be vastly different than 999M41. Second, I don't think GW would give exact numbers on the controlled systems. Stuff like that tends to limit their ability to make up new stories.
    – LarissaGodzilla
    May 19, 2014 at 7:16
  • @LarissaGodzilla Good point, I'll clarify that estimates for later dates are preferred but any would be useful/appreciated. And yes, it's unlikely they would tie themselves down by giving out many hard numbers (I did find a source for ~1 million IoM worlds though), but there should be enough material out there to make some approximations, hopefully get an answer which fits reasonably well even if it's not exact.
    – plex
    May 19, 2014 at 10:33
  • 2
    It is stated somewhere that there is about one million Space Marines and that it represents in average one Marine per imperial world. Technically, craftworld Eldars and Harlequins don't rule planets. Dark Eldars neither (Comoragh is a part of the Eldar Web), though they may control some planets for their raids (no official reference as far as I know).
    – Taladris
    Jun 8, 2014 at 9:44
  • 2
    Tau empire is quite small and there may be a precise map in their Codex. Tyranids litteraly eat planets and don't bother to rule them. Most difficult is to estimate how much planets are "controlled" by the Orks. In particular, Orks act as parasites in many planets and it may be difficult to know who is really ruling the world (for example, in the world where the action of the spin-off game GorkaMorka takes place).
    – Taladris
    Jun 8, 2014 at 9:48
  • This question is unanswerable. As @Taladris explains above, no one can say how many worlds are controlled by orks or nids.
    – Daft
    Apr 9, 2015 at 13:02

2 Answers 2

Reset to default
3

Well... 1 million is used a lot to say how many worlds does the emperor rule. it is an estimation because nobody knows for sure. The war in W40k is constant and winning a crusade in one sector of the galaxy can bring many more worlds into "the fold" while at the same time loosing entire sectors to aliens, Exterminatus, Heretics...

Of the elder races ( Eldar, Necrontyr ) it is often said that they ruled the entire galaxy at the apex of their power. Again, no precise numbers... So I am afraid that you wont get your answer any time soon.

As for present day Eldar there used to be a map of all of their exodite worlds and their maiden worlds and the approximate placement of the remaining Craftworlds somewhere out there on the big scary web. It is something GW made so if you search for long enough you will probly find it.

EDIT 26.05-2014 ( wouldn't fit into comment )

@ete those are to date the most detailed maps of the races in the W40k universe. im guessing that there may be some newer ones in the different codex books. not sure tho. as I don't have anything after the 5th codex upgrades. And even those maps cant help you much... today they are like that, but you never know if there is going to be a 14th black crusade that is going to turn everything upside down again. Also after the 13th crusade many of the empire worlds around the eye got snatched up by chaos and various other predators. Loads of Space Marine homeworlds got destroyed either in that or when the Tyranid started advancing. so rough estimates is all you will ever get as the planets change hands on a daily basis. The galaxy is vast, and the war is eternal!

Improve this answer
5
  • Approximates are fine and expected. Did you mean either of these maps or was it something else you saw? wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/File:Eldar_planets.jpg warhammer40k.wikia.com/wiki/…
    – plex
    May 19, 2014 at 13:37
  • 4
    +1; the Imperium occasionally receives taxes from worlds they've forgotten even exist, much less remembering that they're part of the empire.
    – Brian S
    May 19, 2014 at 13:55
  • It should be easy to pin down the number of worlds the tau have and the tyrannids. Tau have ohave few, and tyrannids so few as they're always flyigg found on the hivefleet ships
    – AncientSwordRage ♦
    May 19, 2014 at 16:38
  • @ete Yes those are the maps. they exist for most races. on them you can see some of the worlds "claimed" by the races.
    – Cherubel
    May 26, 2014 at 6:58
  • @Cherubel Yea, I was using those as a source for my guesses. The issue is they either show only a tiny number of key planets (so massive underestimate), or don't help that much with numbers. I am planning to do a calc from ork numbers though, that may help.
    – plex
    May 26, 2014 at 10:49
-1

The orks would be as numerous as the uncountable trillions of humans were it not for the fact that they cull their own numbers through constant internecine warfare. The number of planets they control cannot be known or estimated with any accuracy. Maps of orkish "empires" and "wagggghs" are available.

Improve this answer

Your Answer

By clicking “Post Your Answer”, you agree to our terms of service and acknowledge that you have read and understand our privacy policy and code of conduct.

Not the answer you're looking for? Browse other questions tagged or ask your own question.