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[Loud Whispers]

Probably one of the more surprising things is that the Imperium allows abhumans to exist at all. You'd think they wouldn't be able to rationalize mutants with the whole "purge the mutant" thing. From what I've gathered, to gain acceptance in the Imperium mutants must be:
[1.] In significant number with shared traits
[2.] The mutations which differentiate them from humanity must be stable, as rapid mutation is a clear sign of chaos
[3.] Ideally, the mutations be useful or benign, like Ogryn strength of Cadians having violet eyes
I recall a short story where an Imperial dood rocks on a planet of centaurs, and gets caught between the native centaurs and another native faction that worshiped chaos. The imperial helps them kill the chaos tribe off, and in a nice twist of empathy, marks the planet as being a strain of humans and not xenos - with the clear intent of saving the planet's inhabitants from any likely future Imperial purginations. Which shows that the Imperium is willing to leave human mutants alone, but will not suffer xenos, yet will suffer xenos if they believe them to be humans

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Even Vacuum Disorder Seaman typically hate xenos as much as the Imperium. Chaos is mostly human because they killed everything else that worships the Ruinous Powers. The xenophobia runs strong, except amongst Alienhunters who are too smart for their own good.

[pisskop]

Word?

I never thought about why chaos is so heavily human when not daemon warpgunk.

I guess that makes sense ...  but?

I mean there should be plenty of minor races that could worship chaos, but they are minor i.e. not really represented in the books or lore where if they have no specific reason to be present humans work fine.  I mean, they blend in better, chaos is kind of homegrown, and their tendency to become sacrifices means they dont live to see other battlefields.

I just figured they had their own chaos worlds or something.  Orks dont chaos well, eldar are terrified of it, dark eldar dont need it, tau dont even know it exists, and nids are metaphorical chaos made material.

Many other races were murderated anyway.  Maybe some lore about other races doing chaosy stuff would be nice, but then humans wouldnt be special snowflakes.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

The thing is, the most powerful faction of Chaos is CSM, and CSM are from the Legions. And the Legions spent pretty much all their time purging aliens.

[Kot]

Yeah, an awful lot of minor Chaos worshipping Xenos and most major ones got wiped out by the Great Crusade (which is also a major plot point for some, like the whole Blade of Laer thing) or assorted purginations. What is left got sidelined by the CSM.

[Grim Portent]

There are a number of minor xenos races who serve chaos, but usually in a more mercenary fashion. Prior to the Heresy there were few if any large chaos organisations and post-Heresy the Legions still hold to similar principles as they did during the Great Crusade and dislike xenos.

The Word Bearer's in particular still hold to the core principle of the Crusade, which is that it is the manifest destiny of humanity is to rule the galaxy. They just want to do it in the name of Chaos rather than rationality and imperialism. Their ultimate goal is the annhilation or enslavement of all xenos. Some Black Legion members hold the same ideal, most of the rest of the Legions are instead devoted to the new goal of the Long War to varying degrees.

Known Chaos aligned xenos include the Loxatl (mercenary), some Kroot (actually corrupt), the Yu'Vath (extinct), the Laer (extinct), some Scythians (mercenary) and the Sslyth (who worship Slaanesh specifically.) There's more, but minor xenos rarely get described in detail, the Sslyth and Loxatl got lucky really and they have about a page worth of information each.

[MetalSlimeHunt]

Don't forget the Rak'Gol, though they're so crazy they arguably don't have free will and may not even worship Chaos.

[nenjin]

Too bad my Rogue Trader campaign lost steam before I got to show them the Rak'Gol. Was really looking forward to three meter tall, multi-armed murder lizards wielding power and plasma weaponry.

[scriver]

Is Rak'Gol the Space Lizardmen the same way those shady fuxkers that was retconned away were Space Skaven?

[Trekkin]

Is Rak'Gol the Space Lizardmen the same way those shady fuxkers that was retconned away were Space Skaven?

You may be thinking of the Zoats, a required part of First Edition Tyranid armies; also, if by Space Skaven you mean the Hrud, I don't think they were ever retconned away. The Squats were, but were Space Dwarves (and are now kind of back, albeit loosely, in the form of the Demiurg.)

The Rak'Gol seem more like Xenomorphs than Lizardmen.

[Kot]

The Rak'Gol seem more like Xenomorphs than Lizardmen.

Xenomorphs with guns, chainsaws and armour.

[Mech#4]

Oh yeah, the Demiurg are pretty much dwarfs. They have large mining ships and live in clans. They actually have a presence in the Battlefleet Gothic: Armada game as a support ship for the Tau fleet.
Reading, apparently there's references with the Demiurg being similar to a race from Homeworld called the Bentusi. The Tau name for the Demiurg being the Bentu'sin.

Hrud got developed a bit more from being space Skaven. They're weird, lanky creatures that look like they're made out of spines.

It's interesting the number of minor races in Warhammer 40,000 and fantasy that are barely mentioned but still exist around the place.

[Trekkin]

It's interesting the number of minor races in Warhammer 40,000 and fantasy that are barely mentioned but still exist around the place.

Most of those races are pretty interesting themselves. The Hrud have weird powers over entropy, the Demiurg are among the most technologically advanced races in the setting that weren't given their stuff by either the Old Ones or the C'tan, and even the Rak'Gol are kind of Ork Lite in their inexplicably adept use of primitive bionics. Then there are the goofy things like the psychic nomad polar bears (the Nicassar) and the four-dimensional shards of a dead god that have turned into space barnacles (the Umbra) and even the mind-control bugs whose pheromone glands the Eldar looted to make the Tau Ethereals (the Q'Orl) are a fun kind of weird.

Alas, with no miniatures, we are unlikely ever to have much canon about them.

[Kot]

Rak'Gol are kind of Ork Lite in their inexplicably adept use of primitive bionics.

The other way around, I'd say. Orks are made for fighting, but Rak'Gol are made for slaughter. They are the logical conclusion of "what if Tyranids were technologically advanced". All in all, the rare survivors of Rak'Gol attacks are often completly mindbroken. Orks might be brutal, but Rak'Gol are brutal, cruel and much worse, and their technology blurs the line between mind, flesh and machine to a level that's hard to achieve even by Mechanicus. While what Orks do can be described as surgery, crude, but always, Rak'Gol don't even do that, they simply weld scavenged mechanisms right into flesh of their wounded using dark warp magic. Their heresy is so severe that the Machine Spirits remember, and they remember so well that they share those memories with the rest, and Imperial Ships start breaking down at the mere mention of Rak'Gol. Comparing them to Tyranids isin't even that accurate either, for Tyranids simply feast, while Rak'Gol are actively malign, and are damn good at killing people in horrible ways, even by Warhammer 40k standards, which is an achievment.

[Mech#4]

It's interesting the number of minor races in Warhammer 40,000 and fantasy that are barely mentioned but still exist around the place.

Most of those races are pretty interesting themselves. The Hrud have weird powers over entropy, the Demiurg are among the most technologically advanced races in the setting that weren't given their stuff by either the Old Ones or the C'tan, and even the Rak'Gol are kind of Ork Lite in their inexplicably adept use of primitive bionics. Then there are the goofy things like the psychic nomad polar bears (the Nicassar) and the four-dimensional shards of a dead god that have turned into space barnacles (the Umbra) and even the mind-control bugs whose pheromone glands the Eldar looted to make the Tau Ethereals (the Q'Orl) are a fun kind of weird.

Alas, with no miniatures, we are unlikely ever to have much canon about them.

Yah, the Nicassar also have a ship in the Tau fleet. The Nicassar Dhow. Speaking of Tau, there's their over member races the Kroot and Vespid.
Don't the Q'Orl have an empire on the western side of the Imperium, quite close to Terra?

There's also the Jokaero. Super technologically competent orangutans who make multi lascannon/melta/plasma/whatever weapons the size of rings. I think the Jokaero are actually available as part of a bodyguard in one of the rulebooks.