The Covenant (Halo) vs The Grand Imperium of Man (Warhammer 40k)

[ChaosLord29]

A lot got posted while I was offline, but I have a few points I'd like to make which I think are pretty telling in the Imperium's favor.


Number 1:
To address the issue of how many Space Marines there are and how relevant they are in galactic conflict, it would seem to me to be self-evident that they are relevant on a galactic scale, given the number of times Space Marines have done what no normal soldiers could have done in order to avert galactic calamities. For references, please see the last 5,000 years of Imperial History.

Every Space Marine is a hero of a dozen battles, has fought in hundreds more, and is a xenocidal zealot to put even the most fanatical Brute or Elite to shame. That the Space Marines have heroes and commanders amongst their ranks who are placed on a pedestal above even these gods among insects speak volumes. Master Chief is the whole reason the Covenant were defeated. Sure, her got really, really lucky and had Cortana backing him up, but the running theme in the Halo series is that maybe it wasn't so much a question of luck with John, but of fate.

Now consider that there are Space Marine heroes out their like Marneus Calagar, Captain Darnath Lysander, Captain Aurellius (a Grey Knight), and perhaps dozens of others, it really doesn't seem fair to say that maybe the Covenant are just the opportunity some Space Marine out their needs to heroically sacrifice himself in an action which decimates a whole Covenant fleet or brings about the death of the High Council.

As for the numbers of the Space Marines, each Space Marine Chapter totals somewhere between 1,000 and 10,000 Space Marines (numbers fluctuate wildly depending on the chapter in question), but not much greater than that since once a Chapter gets that large, it's host is separated and a new Chapter founded (to prevent another Heresy situation). Their were originally 36 Chapters at the time of the Second Founding. Since then, that number has spiraled into the hundreds, so at any given time I'd say their are between hundreds of thousands and a million or so Space Marines.

Number 2:
It was brought up that if the Imperium has the might to truly crush any of it's foes, it would do so, and that if the Covenant can establish themselves as a threat, they can remain as such as the Imperium will not be able to muster the necessary power at any one time in order to defeat them.

First of all, I would not consider that a sufficient Threshold to consider the Covenant 'victorious' and I don't think the Prophets would either. We're talking about a culture of religious fanatics at least as xenocidal as the Imperium itself. If you think the Covenant will settle for a dominion a couple of subsectors big when their are still humans ready to wage war against them, you're wrong.

Next, I would like to point out that there are specific reasons for each other faction that prevent their annihilation at the hands of any other faction (reasons not shared by the Covenant), and secondly, the Imperium has more or less built its history on the piecemeal annihilation of smaller alien cultures and species, and that several of these races are referenced as extinct or 'prior threats' in the 2nd, 3rd, 4th and 5th edition rule books. Some of these were pre-heresey, and other have since been eliminated right into the present 41st milleniun.

The point however remains that the other factions in 40k have specific reasons the Imperium of Man cannot just muster a force large enough to exterminate them and then do so:

1. Chaos Legions- Aside from the fact that there are literally an inexhaustible number of Daemons inhabiting the Warp, the Chaos Space Marines hide in the Eye of Terror and launch period raids and crusades into Imperial Space. They also draw cultist and heretic humans from the Imperium itself.
2. Eldar- Both Craftworld and Dark Eldar use the Webway to remain hidden and never commit to large scale engagements or campaigns which would endanger the survival of their species.
3. Necron- The homeworlds of the Necron are unknown to the Empire, and they similarly make us of the webway (like the Eldar). Furthermore, the Necrons are the only truly immortal species as any Necrons who are beyond repair in the battlefield teleport back to their tombworld for full reconstruction. As far as we know, their could only be a few million Necrons in the entire Galaxy, but because you need a Blackstone Fortress to truly kill them, they remain an omnipresent threat.
4. Tau- Do not openly court hostilities with the Imperials and in fact actively sue for peace and engage in what are at least tenuous diplomatic negotiations with the IoM. These are the best analogue, I think, for the Covenant, since they are a relatively small threat which the Imperium has knowledge of, but has not mustered the resources yet to 'deal' with, largely since they are distracted by the local Ork Waaagh! and the nearby vicinity of Hivefleet Behemoth, which are both radically more pressing matters in that region of space than a largely peaceable socialist 'empire'.

You'll notice that Tyranids and Orks are not themselves on that list, and that is because they have are of a rather unique situation, in that the Imperium has in fact annihilated both factions piecemeal on several occasions (several of which in greater numbers boasted by the Covenant).

Why do they continue to be a major faction then? Because they come back. The orcs are sort of like the flood in that just a couple of ork spores (yes they reproduce like fungus) can take root on a world and grow into a fully fledged Waaaagh! in a matter of months (and they don't even have to infect sentient life to do it!). The Tyranids are similar in that they are the masters of recycling losses and can regurgitate both allied and enemy biomatter into a whole new Hivefleet if given any sort of quarter. It should also be noted that they are an extra galactic invader, and that while Hivefleet Leviathan (which consisted of billions of Tyranid ships and troops) was crushed, Hive Fleet Behemoth has proved a much more insidious foe.

The Covenant are both like the Tau in that they are a relatively small faction (with superior FTL technology I might add), but they are in no way peaceful and are exceedingly likely to begin a crusade into Imperial Space that will earn them top marks in the Ordo Xenos's **** list. Moreover, unlike the Orks or the Tyranids, they cannot recoup losses by mass reproduction, or consumption of planets natural resources. They train soldiers and build ships and weapons at a rate which would seem not drastically faster than the Imperium. In other words, they are at a severe disadvantage logistically, and are just crazy enough to get themselves killed and quickly.

Before you answer ask any more questions Soras, I'd like to direct your attention to this post I had earlier, which believe overwhelmingly demonstrates why the Covenant could never cut it as a major player in the 40k universe.