# Why aren't there ASIAN marines? ASIAN guards? ASIAN anything in 40k?!



## vacantghost (Feb 16, 2008)

Hey guys,
this isn't a racial rant i was just curious as i've noticed arabs, russians all that in 40k but i just cant seem to identify any asian oriented characters apart from the khan. enlighten me please )


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Yea White scars are depicted sometimes as mongolians.

But i dont know maybe cause GW is British?


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## Col. Schafer (Apr 15, 2008)

Wait... You cant find any _apart from the khan_ I think you answered you own question. 

Also, I always saw the catachans as a mix or korean and american viet nam style troops, so some of them are asian in my mind.

Pluss, the tau, technological, giant robots... need I go farther?


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## NecronCowboy (Jan 8, 2009)

The Eldar are the Asians in 40K.


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## Col. Schafer (Apr 15, 2008)

Oh... didnt even think of them, but now I do think about it that also makes sence.


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## NoiseMarine (Jun 8, 2008)

Eldar are the Elves of 40k 

Tau are probably the most asian army, I mean look at the style.


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## vacantghost (Feb 16, 2008)

i see your point guys but i mean, why arent isnt there an army that is "asian" like a cantonese, japanese, taiwanese, chinese oriented guard? what happened to the asians on earth? it's an interesting question if i can say so myself, lovely contributions so far, lets hear more!


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## solkan (Apr 24, 2008)

So what features do you feel are missing from the Space Marines or the Imperial Guard to make them "asian"?


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## MarzM (Jan 26, 2007)

There are no ethnic minority's in 40k because GW once made 1 model that was ethnic and got referred to as racist for using a stereotype!

On the other hand, Salamanders are meant to be Black!

(a date with Jez if you can name the model!(it's not that old a model))


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## vacantghost (Feb 16, 2008)

Point taken MarzM. Well, at the beginning of this thread i stated that this wasnt supposed to begin a racial debate and all that and to clarify it again i mean in no way to insult or assault verbally people from other races, im perfectly fine. But i would just like to hear what peoples thoughts are if GW did decide to start an army based on a race and or if why GW left out races? Valhallans = Russians, Tallarn = Arabians, DKOK = Germans, Orks = Brits??


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## JokerGod (Jan 21, 2009)

There are actually a LOT of Asians in the 40K world. You just can't see them because there smart and wear a helmet.


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## KhainiteAssassin (Mar 18, 2009)

if your talking fluff wise. orks are brits? elves are definitly the asians, if Orks are brits.


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## Haekmo (Mar 1, 2009)

Play warhammer fantasy if you want a more human diverse range... eg kislev = more russian. but somewhere in the future gw will bring out a Nippon army list (havnt got my whfb map, think its called nippon), pretty sure it will probly be samurri's ect..


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Right, let's get this straight, if you're asking why there are no "Asians" made by a British company, you probably shouldn't be using American terminology.

"Asian" in Britain means Indian, Pakistani (not "Paki" thank you Mr Bush), Sinhalese, Bengali; or from any of their diasporas; as in "British Asian", like Cornershop or Slumdog Millionaire.

There are very few Koreans in Britain; we call them Koreans. We call Chinese people "Chinese" and Vietnamese people "Vietnamese" and Japanese people "Japanese". We don't have a 'lump them all together ethnic name' for people from Eastern Asia; we've never needed one, it was one of the few areas of the world that Britain didn't get round to conquering, so not many people from there came here after all the nastiness of oppression and occupation was over. We are however remarkably lazy and therefore tend to assume that every person who looks like they're from Eastern Asia is Chinese.

Anyway... the White Scars are based on the Mongols. That's a better hit-rate than most ethnic groups. Ther are no Inuit Marines, no Zulu marines, no Bantu Marines, no Japanese Marines, no Berber Marines, no Malay Marines... just lots of 'white' ones - and the Salamanders cuurently aren't Black, they're _black_. Not African, just burned by radiation and a polluted atmosphere. In other words, under the black, they're as white as the next genetically-engineered uber-warrior. The ethnic cleansing of future space contines...

And everyone knows that the Elves - sorry "Eldar" - are Irish.

:ethnically homogenised cyclops:


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## Trandoshanjake (Jul 22, 2008)

Well, the guard do drown the enemy in bodies, it seems a lot like the Chinese military to me, hehe.


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## Lord of Rebirth (Jun 7, 2008)

There are a lot of nationalist gaps in Imp Guard armies. Also though it's simple enough to paint a different skin tone and there you go where as using stereotypical aspects to define a nation/race is not nice. 

The Cadians don't actually wear amrour all that like -any- nation though the name suggests they are Canadian and they color scheme and such are somewhat similar to Canadian and American forces and other groups like the UN. Catachans are basically just buff dudes in basic clothes with guns. You could paint them as if they were wearing blue denim pants and tye dye vests and call them hippies if you want.

If they have mixed in some of the background of a few of the major Asian nations/cultures into any army it's the Tau and they are quite an interesting army already where as look at what Canada got? Some Guardsmen dorks?


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## Haekmo (Mar 1, 2009)

Red Orc said:


> And everyone knows that the Elves - sorry "Eldar" - are Irish.:


Lol and harlquins are pykies


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## NecronCowboy (Jan 8, 2009)

NoiseMarine said:


> Eldar are the Elves of 40k
> 
> Tau are probably the most asian army, I mean look at the style.


Eldar have martial arts, their guns shoot ninja stars, they float around on Mongolian treasure ships, can't get much more Asian than the Eldar in 40K.


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## Gul Torgo (Mar 31, 2008)

It would make sense, to my thinking, for the Astartes to be pretty homogenous, since they are all based on a primarch who were all based on the Emperor. 

Of course this doesn't explain why they are almost all white because the Emperor was born in Turkey. Oh well.


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

Turkish people are white.

They're just kinda dark white.

However that wouldn't make Space Marines white anyway, they're not clones of the Emperor.

The use of shurikens however doesn't stop the Eldar being Irish. Their entire language and culture is a kind of Celtic-futurist amalgam. 

What are "Mongolian Treasure Ships"? Where can I get one?

:baffled cyclops:


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## Shugotenshi47 (Mar 2, 2008)

well I'm playing a Japanese IG force and I have a friend who is making an Inquisition strike force from a Chinese based world if that counts for anything. I've seen samurai SM chapters before and there are also the Tau which I despise but they are there. So basically there are Asian guard just not a named famous regiment or at least yet.


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## Wraithian (Jul 23, 2008)

Damn, man, I just want Mexicans in 40K. I want my marines outnumbering orks 4 to 1, showing up with 5 tac squads piled into a rhino (chopped, lowered, and with spinners). I dunno, though. If any of my family is any indication, Mexican Marines leadership would be horrible. "Oh cabrone, ese! He's chooting back, man! Less get outta here, man! I choot heem, choo drive!"

God, I'd love that... Sombreros... Big mustaches... Though, a Latina sisters of battle army would be sexy... 

I say this because, well, I'm mexican. And it's funny. :biggrin:

All in all, I think there's just enough ethnic diversity to keep things interesting, not too little to pull the race card out, and not too many for people to think that they are openly *trying* to promote ethnic diversity. It's a game about things killing other things. If you want to see whites killing asians, vice versa, or other ethnic group killing another, just watch CNN. :wink:


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## njfed (Jan 28, 2008)

Wraithian said:


> Damn, man, I just want Mexicans in 40K. I want my marines outnumbering orks 4 to 1, showing up with 5 tac squads piled into a rhino (chopped, lowered, and with spinners). I dunno, though. If any of my family is any indication, Mexican Marines leadership would be horrible. "Oh cabrone, ese! He's chooting back, man! Less get outta here, man! I choot heem, choo drive!"


Oh the pain! I can't breathe.

Yes, my family is from Mexico. I was contemplating a red, white and green IG force in the Mexican army garb from the early 1800s. The low rider rhinos never crossed my mind. Your post made my night.

Badges, we don't need no stink'in badges.


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## Vrykolas2k (Jun 10, 2008)

NoiseMarine said:


> Eldar are the Elves of 40k
> 
> Tau are probably the most asian army, I mean look at the style.





Ya, they are reminiscent of Chi-Coms.


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Jokergod cracks me up. 

It might be nice to see a few troops or models with Asian influence but with the huge influx of Anime popularity right now I would rather hope GW wouldn't fall prey to that market.


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## Blue Liger (Apr 25, 2008)

It all depends on how you paint them, the models have just been made to a standard white caucasion male or female in some cases is all, GW is UK based it came from there, you can't expect them to say no I want the IG to be Eskimo, the way they made them was the obvious and most legitimate choice.

I'm not saying it would be cool to have different cultures reperesented in say the IG but production and model wise it will bump up the cost and GW already do that enough thanks bumping up one army in cost these days means all the other armies have to go up no matter how old the models and rules are.


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## gwmaniac (Sep 1, 2008)

Well, the Imperial Guard Attilan Rough Riders are asian, they've got a hunnic tone to them. And the White Scars are no doubt Asian. And I've always considered the Valhallans to be more Asian than Russian, the Vostroyans are the russians.


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## JokerGod (Jan 21, 2009)

On another note the one thing that sorta annoys me is that every one forgets one thing. THIS IS THE FUTURE!

Lets face it, even today the "racial" gaps are fading away, more people are having children of different races. Did any one ever stop to think "Hey, you know, isn't it posabule that there is only one "race" of human because by that time people stop being over sensitive pricks and all the groups just melded together?"


Note~This is not a shot at any one, just a blank statement about people in general. I just get annoyed by the closed minded thinking that everything will stay the same and never change.


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## Treewizard648 (Feb 4, 2009)

There are, ever hear of the Harakoni warhawk Imperial guard?


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

There aren't any Asians or Mexicans or anything in 40k because it's based on Western (LoTR-esque) Fantasy, sci-fi-ized. The Asian market was tapped when they released the Tau, though-- 40k sold horribly in Japan until they coughed up the Tau, and then sales spiked once there was a mecha army.


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## Whizzwang (Dec 31, 2008)

MarzM said:


> On the other hand, Salamanders are meant to be Black!


should point out that Salamanders are (from old fluff) "as black as the night sky" so black as in chaos black, the background colcour of this board etc etc.


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

JokerGod said:


> On another note the one thing that sorta annoys me is that every one forgets one thing. THIS IS THE FUTURE!
> 
> Lets face it, even today the "racial" gaps are fading away, more people are having children of different races. Did any one ever stop to think "Hey, you know, isn't it posabule that there is only one "race" of human because by that time people stop being over sensitive pricks and all the groups just melded together?"
> 
> ...


On the contrary, it is not close minded at all. What is the shame in hoping that some people will still stay proud of their heritage? Imagine if there was no more Italian restaurants with Leonardo serving you authentic pasta. Imagine if going to Chinatown was a thing of the past, or seeing a Mexican Mariachi was unheard of... 

I for one hope that many people retain both their heritage and bloodlines. 40k may not reflect this, but we should celebrate our differences, not hope we all one day can be the same.


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## slaaneshy (Feb 20, 2008)

Perhaps during all the wars in the 40k universe and the history of earth, they just got wiped out?


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## Black Crusader (Mar 17, 2008)

How do 1 billion chinese get wiped out.:biggrin: White scars with all their referances to the "Great Khan" are obviously Mongolians.


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## slaaneshy (Feb 20, 2008)

Black Crusader said:


> How do 1 billion chinese get wiped out.:biggrin:
> 
> Nukes!!!!


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## Nikeffo (Mar 26, 2009)

gwmaniac said:


> Well, the Imperial Guard Attilan Rough Riders are asian, they've got a hunnic tone to them. And the White Scars are no doubt Asian. And I've always considered the Valhallans to be more Asian than Russian, the Vostroyans are the russians.


Valhallans.... Valhalla is the seat of the norse gods; Odin, Thor, Loki, Frei etc. Nothing asian about Valhalla. I would say they are based on the norse, the Vikings, the mightiest warriors in history.... Well, in the top 10 anyways 

But back to the no asians, I think, as mentioned in a different post here, that the human race is more like one now, with mixing of the different coulours, attributes etc. The few that stands out is newly discovered worlds/tribes or isolated planets, like Fenris.

Nikeffo


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## Rahmiel (Jan 3, 2009)

Well considering that the gamers have free reign to devise any background fluff they want the sky is the limit. If you want more Asian, Irish, Russian (always need more Russian), African, Mexican, Norse, Ishkabiblebiblibopin (Made up), then do it! Who's gonna stop you. It is most likely that GW just made the ranges the way they are because they wanted a base set of models that the players could adapt to however they wanted.


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## VictorLazarus (Mar 5, 2009)

You could argue that the Tau (being somewhat anime themed) have an asian influence.

I always thought it was strange that guard teams I see in magazines etc are not multi raced being as its the future we should technically all be one kinda mix of all race maybe lol.

For my men I tend to paint about 5 in 10 dwarf flesh, then 2 elf flesh (pale) then 2 bestel brown (african) then 1 or so bronzed flesh. (asian - though this paint is no longer sold its hard to find) I think this is a fair mix being as my guard all come from one world that might have a european racial mix.

I paint all my space marines dwarf flesh though because I'm guessing the gene seed makes them like their founder?

MVL.


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## JokerGod (Jan 21, 2009)

Arcane said:


> On the contrary, it is not close minded at all. What is the shame in hoping that some people will still stay proud of their heritage? Imagine if there was no more Italian restaurants with Leonardo serving you authentic pasta. Imagine if going to Chinatown was a thing of the past, or seeing a Mexican Mariachi was unheard of...
> 
> I for one hope that many people retain both their heritage and bloodlines. 40k may not reflect this, but we should celebrate our differences, not hope we all one day can be the same.


There is a difference between being proud of your heritage and having authentic foods and expecting people to still have the racial differences in a few million years.


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## Captain Galus (Jan 2, 2008)

vacantghost said:


> i see your point guys but i mean, why arent isnt there an army that is "asian" like a cantonese, japanese, taiwanese, chinese oriented guard? what happened to the asians on earth? it's an interesting question if i can say so myself, lovely contributions so far, lets hear more!


No rules say you can't do that, but most people into "Asian" styled-armies play Tau or Eldar. To be honest, Eldar aren't all that "Asian," but they do have small, vertically-elongated eyes, so I guess that counts.


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## Pauly55 (Sep 16, 2008)

JokerGod said:


> There is a difference between being proud of your heritage and having authentic foods and expecting people to still have the racial differences in a few million years.


Jokergod has it right. 

There was a Time magazine cover story about racial blending a few years back. There was a picture of a person who had been creating by making a weighted average of the races present on earth. By the time man would have be crusading through the stars, there would be no separate races.

But this is referring to the races we know today. Evolutionary theory says that when a population is separated for a long time, (say on another planet) they will start to evolve away. 

In 40k, it is unrealistic to have recognizable earth races. What you might have would be "Martians" as a race rather than Africans, or Asians.


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## Red Orc (Jun 14, 2007)

But... what might be quite possible is that you will have human groups that look very similar to groups we currently have; not just because of convergent evolution, but because of original differences in biology.

We don't really know when humanity's first expansion to the stars was (will be) do we? It's quite possible that it's in the relatively near future, while "racial" groups are still distinct on Eart, say within the next few hundred years. After all, 500 years or so of prety much worldwide contact has left us with still fairly distinct-looking populations. That won't completely change in the next couple of hundred, I wouldn't have thought.

Let's say that a load of people (say, 3 million each) from West Africa colonise Titan in the next few hundred years, while some people from Eastern Asia colonise the Asteroid Belt and North Europeans colonise Venus. Just as some initial variables to work with. 

While the populations on Earth mix more and more, these populations change less markedly, because they're not getting so much genetic material from 'outside' the original (several million strong) groups. They'll begin to develop and evolve in different ways to be sure, but how rapidly? In what directions? OK, these could be the "Titanians" "Belters" and "Venusians" that you're implying Pauly, but... I'm postulating more 'original' Earth-based input.

So; we have fairly mixed afro-eurasian people on Earth, by lets say 4,000AD, but still more marked African, European and Asian people in the offworld colonies. Fast forward another couple of thousand years. Mankind has spread beyond our Solar System. Large numbers of the descendents of the three original colonising groups have headed of into the wild black yonder. Some are mixing with other genetic groups, to create new sub-ethnicities of the general afro-eurasian population. Some are not, and still have significantly higher 'African', 'Asian' or 'European' DNA.

The 'African' DNA group is particularly concentrated in one sector of the Galaxy, say, around the system that will later be known as Nocturne. The 'Asian' DNA is found particularly in populations in the vicinity of Chogoris. The 'European' populations travelled to the Eastern Rim and particularly colonised the worlds round Ultramar.

There they stayed, while the Dark Age of technology loomed, isolated from each other until the great Crusade brought them all back under the umbrella of a united humanity. But explaining nevertheless why White Scars are 'Mongolian' and Slamanders are 'African' (they asre, look at all the illustrations from 4th Ed) and Ultras are 'European'.

I realise it's just a made-up explanation, but it is at least _slightly_ plausible.

Or it could be that GW's artists are just drawing on what they know, and what they know, mostly, is being white.

:either or cyclops:


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## Pauly55 (Sep 16, 2008)

a lot of that depends on when mankind left terra in the 40k universe. If we are here another 2 thousand years or so before taking to the stars, you will have little to no racial differences.


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

Well, I for one personally hope that never happens. The mega-liberal Politically Correct police seem to think that it is racist to be proud of your race and enjoy the color of your skin, and more, hope that your children's children can share in that heritage. Hopefully there will be colonization of other planets and people will continue their unique cultural and racial heritage there, where it can remain distinct. 

/dodges tomatoes.


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## JokerGod (Jan 21, 2009)

Arcane said:


> Well, I for one personally hope that never happens. The mega-liberal Politically Correct police seem to think that it is racist to be proud of your race and enjoy the color of your skin, and more, hope that your children's children can share in that heritage. Hopefully there will be colonization of other planets and people will continue their unique cultural and racial heritage there, where it can remain distinct.
> 
> /dodges tomatoes.


Thats not entirely true, I know plenty of Italian people that don't have the stereotypical black greasy hair and big nose that are still very proud to have Italian blood. And I know plenty of black people that don't look like the stereotypical black person that are still proud of there heritage.

And there is racial differences in 40K, you have the Valhallans that have light hair and pail skin other groups don't have. So it is there, its just not there the way we see it today. And the races we see today wont exist in a few hundred years, the last places to be "unchanged" are Asia an Africa, Asia simply because they have locked them selves away for so long and are just not starting to open up more, and Africa because it is so far behind the rest of the world in technology, and even then parts are starting to have less and less differences in its population, but every last one of them, weather they are half or a 5th of there race are still proud and happy to be who they are and still hold on to there family traditions, that wont go away.


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## Arcane (Feb 17, 2009)

JokerGod said:


> Thats not entirely true, I know plenty of Italian people that don't have the stereotypical black greasy hair and big nose that are still very proud to have Italian blood. And I know plenty of black people that don't look like the stereotypical black person that are still proud of there heritage.
> 
> And there is racial differences in 40K, you have the Valhallans that have light hair and pail skin other groups don't have. So it is there, its just not there the way we see it today. And the races we see today wont exist in a few hundred years, the last places to be "unchanged" are Asia an Africa, Asia simply because they have locked them selves away for so long and are just not starting to open up more, and Africa because it is so far behind the rest of the world in technology, and even then parts are starting to have less and less differences in its population, but every last one of them, weather they are half or a 5th of there race are still proud and happy to be who they are and still hold on to there family traditions, that wont go away.


But do you know any Italian people who are pure Italian and have blond hair and blue eyes? Do you know any pure black people who have white skin? It's not about being stereotypical, but being a race at all. A person who is half a race might be proud, but what about when they are an 8th, a 16th, a 32nd?

Dominant traits rule that eventually, certain characteristics will disappear. People with red hair and blue eyes will be no longer born in the next generation, or will appear only rarely in recessive cases. Personally, I will mourn the loss of the beautiful combination, just as much as I would if there were no more Black haired, brown eyed. 

I think GW didn't put as much thought into the racial progression as people are thinking. It seems much more likely that they just made what they thought was cool while staying away from actual racial/cultural groups to avoid offending anyone. Perhaps you are reading into it too much.


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