Squats

The Squats (Homo sapiens rotundus) were short, stocky and physically very tough Abhumans who were adapted to the heavy gravity conditions that predominated on the worlds they had settled near the core of the Milky Way Galaxy. Of all the Abhuman types encountered by the Imperium, they most closely resembled baseline humans. Squats were the descendants of baseline humans who had colonised the worlds around the galactic core in the far distant past. These worlds are some of the oldest in the galaxy, formed when the laws of physics had not yet been fully stabilized.

The Squats' ancestors were human colonists who reached the heavy-gravity mineral-rich worlds around the galactic core, during the time of the initial expansion of humanity beyond Earth's own solar system in the Dark Age of Technology, long before the emergence of the Emperor of Mankind and the dawn of the Age of the Imperium. The colonisation came at the right time, as Earth's own mineral wealth had been depleted. The worlds at the galactic core were rich in rare and unique minerals, but in terms of the existence of life they were barren and unsuited for human colonisaton. These worlds are dark and bleak. Their gravity was intense, usually two or three times that of the Earth. Their atmospheres were either thin or non-existent. Even those planets with atmospheres were blasted by tremendous radiation storms produced by the massive black hole located in the galaxy's core.

These planets became mining worlds. The colonists were forced to become self-sufficient, providing their own underground hydroponically-grown food. Due to the hostile nature of these worlds' surfaces, the colonists formed underground societies. During the long isolation of the Age of Strife, the Squat race genetically adapted to their new homes, evolving to suit their environment, becoming far tougher, more resilient and physically shorter with a denser skeletomuscular system than baseline humanity. The Squats had true engineers who explored the frontiers of human science and technology without the constraints of religion and ritual, in contrast with the dogma-bound humans of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Some say the real history of the Squats begins in the Age of Strife when their worlds were cut off from Terra and the race first developed, but their actual origins begin much earlier during the Dark Age of Technology, or as the Squats call it, the Age of Founding. Squats are sometimes called "Space Dwarfs" or just "Dwarfs" in the Imperium because of their uncanny resemblance to those mythical creatures of Norse legend (and to the Dwarfs of the Warhammer Fantasy universe who are their true progenitors). In war, the Squats used squads of motorcycles supported by massive artillery barrages from outlandishly large super-heavy tracked vehicles such as the Land Train, Colossus, Leviathan, and Cyclops.

Squat History
The Squats' history is divided into 5 ages, each marked by a dramatic change in both galactic conditions and Squat society. These ages include the:

Age of Founding
The Age of Founding is equivalent to the Dark Age of Technology as described in Imperial records. This is not technically the first period of the Squats' history, as they had yet to evolve their current physical forms, but is the time of the founding of the mining colonies that would become the Squat homeworlds. Almost twenty thousand years ago interstellar transportation and communication between these planets and Terra was continuous, testament to the importance of these colonies to the human homeworld. Terra also kept the mining worlds well supplied with that which they could not produce for themselves in adequate amounts, primarily food. This period of contact lasted until the start of the Age of Strife.

Age of Isolation
The Age of Isolation corresponds with the earlier part of the Age of Strife - around eighteen thousand years ago. The galactic core was cut off from the rest of human space by the devastating Warp storms that marked the dawn of the Age of Strife. Many worlds were swallowed by the Warp and disappeared forever, while others were trapped in stasis and became lost. Most survived this terrible period, although they were separated from Earth and all contact was lost with the rest of the galaxy. During this time of isolation and danger the Squat worlds still in contact with each other began to organise for their mutual defence. It was at this time that the Squats began to refer to their worlds as the Homeworlds. The Homeworlds remained isolated for thousands of years and their inhabitants learned to survive in a universe that was becoming increasingly hostile. Those that survived grew and prospered. Settlements were enlarged and fortified into impregnable strongholds. They soon developed alternative technologies to make up for the lack of supplies from Earth. During this isolation the Squat Guilds were formed as politically and culturally important parts of Squat society, and the Squat colonies joined together in Leagues formed from complex trade and political agreements. The engineers produced by the Guilds were true engineers rather than the dogma-bound tech-priests of the Adeptus Mechanicus.

Age of Trade
The Age of Trade took place during a slight abatement of the Warp storms that marked the Age of Strife and led to the Squats encountering other intelligent races, including the Orks and Eldar. At the beginning of the Age of Trade, some Squat strongholds were attacked, but the aliens quickly realised that the Squats were determined and tenacious fighters, and that trade was a more practical arrangement. The Squats took full advantage of their tremendous mineral wealth, which they traded for weapons, foodstuffs and high-technology systems. To this day, Squat hydroponic plants, developed with Eldar help, are among the most efficient food sources in the Imperium. The Squats remained carefully neutral in the numerous conflicts between Eldar and Orks, maintaining trade links with both sides. There were inevitably small wars from time to time, but for the most part the Squats' complex structure of treaties and trade agreements maintained a stable peace.

Age of Wars
The Age of Trade lasted for nearly three millennia, but finally collapsed when an enormous Ork battle-fleet, under the command of the Warlord Grunhag the Flayer, attempted a full-scale invasion of the Squat Homeworlds. Losses on both sides were astronomical, with vicious tunnel-fights through the mine workings and bloody pitched battles in the Squats' underground settlements. The Squats appealed to their Eldar trading partners for help against the invading Orks, but none was received, resulting in the development of a deep animosity among the Squats towards their former trading partners. The Age of Wars, as it became known, is regarded by the Squats as the blackest chapter in their history, and the double betrayal by Orks and Eldar gave rise to a cultural enmity for both races which still persists. Many strongholds were wiped out by the Orks, and the traditional epic ballad known as The Fall of Imbach commemorates one such destruction. Even today expeditions are mounted from the Squat Homeworlds in search of lost strongholds, and these expeditions are often accompanied by Adeptus Mechanicus priests, eager to rediscover lost Squat technology.

Age of Rediscovery
The Age of Rediscovery was the most recent phase of Squat history, corresponding to the Great Crusade and the current Age of the Imperium for the rest of humanity. As the Imperium recovered from the Age of Strife and began to reunite the scattered worlds of humanity, the Squat Homeworlds were rediscovered and contact with the Imperium of Man was established. The Imperium found that a distinct culture had developed on the Squat Homeworlds, and that the Squats had moved outwards through the galaxy, extending their domains. Often they settled harsh planets similar to their own Homeworlds, but they also occupied more conventional worlds able to support normal human civilization.

Age of the Imperium
The Squat Homeworlds were almost unique in the Imperium - though they were a part of the Imperium of Man, they were not directly controlled by the Administratum. Instead, they are allowed a certain amount of autonomy, being ruled by their strongholds and Leagues just as they were before the Age of Rediscovery. The experiences of the previous millennia has left the Squats with a strong sense of cultural unity and a fiercely independent nature, and instead of rejoining the Imperium as subject worlds of the Emperor, the Homeworlds negotiated a series of treaties which enabled them to keep their local independence from Imperial government demands in return for military assistance to the Imperium and beneficial trading terms. The racial character of the Squats - hard-working, tenacious, honourable, and inimical to alien races - was almost perfect from the Imperial point of view, and the Imperium was content to allow them a great degree of self-government.

In exchange for this freedom the Homeworlds provide troops for the Imperium and trade exclusively with them. This has made them very wealthy. The Squats also allowed the Adeptus Mechanicus free access to their technology, there being several working STC systems and a higher proportion of working technology from the Dark Age of Technology than anywhere else in the galaxy. The Squats were also expected to follow Imperial policy in external affairs, which is not a problem as they are a very inward-looking and xenophobic society. The Squats do not follow the Imperial Cult, rather they worship their ancestors. When a Squat dies, they beleive that his spirit joins its ancestors. They make sure that their deeds in life give them credit in the afterlife. When the Squats fight alongside the Imperial Guard they often adopted the Emperor into their beliefs, as the guardian-spirit of their ancestors.

During combat, the Squats used squads of motorcycles supported by massive artillery barrages from juggernaut war machines such as the Land Train, Colossus, Cyclops and Leviathan (Transport). They also used an advanced form of Power Armour, called Heavy Exo-Armour.

Near-Extinction of the Squats
The Tyranids are not usually drawn to relatively barren planets like those that comprised the Squat Homeworlds; they were nonetheless consumed of what little life they possessed by a Tyranid Hive Fleet, most likely a splinter fleet of Hive Fleet Behemoth. The Squat race was essentially destroyed, and the few remaining Homeworlds were annexed outright by the Imperium of Man over the two centuries after the attacks. Only a few scattered and embittered remnants of Squats survive throughout the Imperium at the present time. This is the current stance on the canonicity of the Squats, though some continue to serve in the Regiments of the Imperial Guard and eagerly lend their aid to the destruction of Orks and Tyranids alike. Squats have been mentioned in several of the novels, including the series Dawn of War, the Inquisition Wars, and the Ravenor novels.

Grudges
The Squats carry grudges for millennia, and none so strongly as for the Orks, who betrayed the Squats on more than one occasion and inflicted many losses upon them in war. It appears that the Squats were almost entirely wiped out by the Tyranids, though presumably those who were in the interior of the Imperium of Man during the attacks remain alive and enraged, surely harboring a truly heroic grudge against the Tyranid Hive Mind. The Demiurg are a revitalization of the "Space Dwarf" concept. According to Jervis Johnson they will probably never be a major Warhammer 40,000 race, rather remaining in the background of both the tabletop game and the universe's fiction, largely because the Games Workshop designers regretted transferring the Squats over from Warhammer Fantasy and never felt that the Dwarf-like race really had a clear identity or fit very well in the Warhammer 40,000 universe as it developed over the decades. Despite this, certain miniature companies have been producing Space Dwarf models, and some players have even converted the rules of Warhammer 40,000 to allow them to play. However popular this trend has proven to be, the official ruling from Games Workshop is that only official Warhammer 40,000 races can be used in the tabletop game. Another solution is to field an Imperial Guard army made up of Squat models.

Other Information
It should also be noted that anyone who even mentioned the Squats on the Games Workshop message boards (which closed on Wednesday, 15th November, 2006) got permanently banned on the first offense with no warning.