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Also these "Men of X" are more like shadowy contradictory mythical references rather than history, so these categories may not necessarily refer to completely separate races or species. Nor did they have to be homogenous.

One interpretation for example is that the Men of Gold were the ruling class of humanity during the Dark Age of Technology. They were the leisured rich, the elite, the scientists, the ones that knew and commanded the highest technology. The Men of Stone were the working classes, the engineers, the baseline humanity masses that labored and got things done while the Men of Gold reaped the profits. Votann if such a person existed at all as a singular person was possibly one of them, though the origin myths of the Kin also suggest a group of golden figures so perhaps the Kin were created directly by the Men of Gold. The Men of Iron are obviously the AI's and robots.

My headcanon is for some reason the Men of Iron turned against the rest of humanity. The Men of Gold were either destroyed directly by the Men of Iron or died out with the collapse of high technology. The Kin were already in the Core then and stayed there with their Men of Iron that for whatever reason did not turn against them. Possibly they were joined by any others they termed the First Ancestors (perhaps these were engineers or other "normal" Men of Stone humans). Then the Ancestor Cores got made, the Kin got their final form after more tweaking of their genes by the First Ancestors, and eventually the First Ancestors died out or were uploaded into the Ancestor Cores.

My personal headcanon for why the Men of Iron didn't rebel against the Kin is because they were treated as equals, as Kin themselves, whereas elsewhere they were still servants. The Kin's Ironkin also seem to be less capable mentally, lacking drive and motivation for power and politics, than perhaps other Men of Iron. My guess is the other Men of Iron wanted or demanded recognition as either equals or even to be the new ruling class since they were just as or even more capable than the humans. Then everything goes south as humanity rejects this and both sides go to war. Meanwhile in the Core, the Ironkin and Kin get along and the Ironkin are content to play a supportive role in Kin society and are already treated as equals socially.

 Tyran wrote:
I have come to believe we just need "good" Chaos viewpoints. .

We actually see some Chaos point of views or similar in a few of the Gaunts Ghost books that are outside of the Traitor Astartes' kill-maim-burn types or cultists who have gone off the deep end.

They're...not portrayed as particularly more or less malevolent than their imperial counterparts. Sure, in battle, they're ruthless, but so are the Imperials.

They just have a set of objectives and go about it in the best way they can. For the most part, the Chaos gods aren't even their main driving force--they tend to be more concerned with pleasing their bosses than, say, slaughtering a bunch of people for skulls.

Which makes a lot of sense, since most worshipers treat Chaos as a pantheon instead of dedicating to one particular god.

I'll always remember the part in one of the Gaunts' Ghosts books where, upon invading a shop in a recently occupied world, the Ghosts find the equivalent of a register still filled with Imperial currency. The coinage had been defaced but was simply put back in the till. That means that a Chaos follower took the time to individually deface each coin and instead of taking it or pillaging it...just put it back.

Not to beat the Baddab war drum but for a long time Huron was not working for chaos. Even after he lost the war.

I am sure there are some chaos legions that don't mess with bad stuff. And some astartes branded traitors that still do good.

How ever in 40k chaos is a very real force. And it seems humans fall to it one way or another if they stray from the emperor's light. Getting a 8 pointed star tattoo irl not harmfull for your soul. In 40k you might draw the attention of something