What's the story with Tau?

[Doombringer]

Hi everyone only just got into this malarky (maybe a year) but..

the Tau are a young race only a few melenia old, when first discovered by the imperium the planet was scedualed to be virus bombed but the planet was covered in warp storms and forgotten. the Tau meanwhile went about business evolving to 'gunpowder' stage and started blowing each other up. the the Etherials appeared told 'em to stop and pritty much the year intersteller space travel the storms dissappeared.

what happened?

[Kaelorr]

Sorry to burst your bubble, but we haven't the slightest idea what really happened; the current confines of the Tau empire were engulfed in a bigass warp storm.

[Cailet]

Pretty much what you said, the Imperium got bored and forgot about them until the Tau met them via warp travel at which point the Imperium launched the Damocles Crusade (and had their asses kicked).

[Goallie11]

They first found the Tau and they were primitive, having just invented fire. They scheduled them to be exterminated but before they could do that a massive warpstorm surrounded the Tau world. When the storm is over, 6000 years later the emperium comes back and finds a highly advanced race that they eventually discover are the Tau. They're astonished by this extremely rapid evolution and since they're xenos they go to war with them.

P.s. Cailet, the Tau don't have warp travel. They have almost no warp present so they can't travel in it.

[Espi0n]

What Cailet said. The tau were evolving from a primitive stage wen they met the imperium, unfortunately furthur contact could not be made due to a warp storm engulfing the planet. the tau grew under the guidance of the ethereals and learned to work together which greatly speeded up their research and technology output. by the time the storm finished the had developed space travel and began to carve an empire, their weak bodies were nt suited fr close combat, so they allied with the kroot. after the tau empire got big enough to be realised(sp.) by the imperium they said " we're gonna sort you out boy, get of our turf" so they ahd to g abck and claim theor worlds for the imperium, but the tau think they have settled it already for the greater good.

leads to damocles leads to imperium realising the tau guns are more than pea shooters

now they are amajor (playable) race in warhammer 40k.

wooosh. that was sum fast typing. now yyou know the basic story of the tau.

[Kaelorr]

They do have warp travel, but they can only make short jumps since they can't use the Astronomican or any other psychic compass or protection.

[Bryn]

People speculate that the old one's intervied and stoped the tau from destroing them selves because they are there new race to combat the chaos legions because they have no cycick powers and so can't be corupted.

[Espi0n]

very nice point there bryn. speculation though

[karl99]

People speculate that the old one's intervied and stoped the tau from destroing them selves because they are there new race to combat the chaos legions because they have no cycick powers and so can't be corupted.

Except of course the not so subtle hints that the Fire Warriors of the Farsight Enclave are slowly being corrupted by Khorne. Who of all the chaos gods relies the least on psychic potential to corrupt his followers, indeed Khorne loathes psychic powers.

A qoute from the Tau codex
"He reckoned that without the guidance of the Aun they were in danger of regressing to barbarism, 'The Terror' he called it, like before the Aun came, when each caste was set against the others and would fight to dominate each other instead of working together for the greater good. I said that in a set-up like I couldn't see as how it could be anything other than the Fire caste in charge, and he said if Farsight had wanted it that he would have made it like that. Well Por'ui seemed really upset at the idea of the Fire Warriors running the show, and kept saying as how they'd want nothing but war all the time."

[MetalMilitia]

Pretty much what you said, the Imperium got bored and forgot about them until the Tau met them via warp travel at which point the Imperium launched the Damocles Crusade (and had their asses kicked).

I woudlnt say the Imperium got their asses kicked, considering they were doing alright for a while, and the massive scale difference of the empires, the Imperium could take the tau out if it werent for all the other threats, but of course when the 'nids came they were the lesser of two evils and thus the treaty, not getting beat.

[orkdom]

tau may not be corruptable by chaos, but it has made them really stupid and ignorant about the whole idea of deamons. in an old WD article, when the tau codex came out, they did a collection of stories and fiction about specific battles and or everyday things in tau life. in a story about a tau battleforces encounter with the emperor's children csm legion, they capture a scout and interrogate him. he goes insane and starts ranting about how his lord slaanesh will consume them all. later, after the tau win a hard-fought battle with the csm's, and the chaos lord is killed, the tau commander writes that this "lord slaanesh", although at first sight entrancing, was shot down and killed by a broadside battlesuit... :slow:

[Triceron]

Hmm, considering the quickness the Tau were able to develop all this technology and weaponry, and with meeting all these new races, wouldn't this mean they would actually be growing in technology in the near future exponentially? Meaning that in next edition, they should actually have a lot more tech to accomodate for their growth.

[Farseer]

I heard the Imperium solely pulled out merely just because the Tyranids came. The Imperium thought it was best to let the Tau delay the Tyranid advance.

Anyway do you know there are many humans who fight for the Tau? They were prisoners of war but now loyal to the greater good.

[|AXiN|]

Yeah, Tau are supposed to be the second most technologically advance race the Imperium have encountered, kind of on par with the Eldar, but still far, far behind the Necrons. Damn Necrons. The Imperium is highly suspicious of the Ethereals, and would love to dessect a few hundred of them to find out how they control the Tau, but somehow the Tau don't seem to fond of this idea. And yeah, the Tau have no real understanding of the Warp, either what it is or what inhabits it. Chaos completely confuses them. It is possible that they don't really know the difference between Chaos and Imperial marines, in the same what the the Imperium doesn't distinguish between Dark Eldar and Craftworld Eldar.

[Yuryu]

Lol, I didn't know the Empire was THAT xenophobic.

Does the Tau's influence now reach beyond their homeworld or are the only battles they fight down there? And how is their relationship with the Eldar? Seeing that they are both technically highly advanced races on the good (read: not completely evil ars kicking demon worshipping... well you get the idea) side.

[|AXiN|]

Well, aside from the fact that the Eldar aren't good at all, just supremely obsessed with themselves, afaik the Eldar and the Tau have had very little contact. And by supremely obsessed with themselves, I mean as in in the past they have annihilated worlds with thousands or even milliions of humans so that in ten thousand years ten Eldar don't die.

And as for the Imperiums, think of a mix of the worst aspects of Hitler's Germany, Stalin's USSR, and Medieval Europe and you're about there. The only reason that they tend to be classed as good is that the other major group of humans are much, much more evil.

[Richtofen]

Well Eldred did let one slip in Codex Tau that there is a very bright future for the Tau.

Tau DO have warp travel, it is just that for safety reasons they can't go far because they have no navigators and so will get lost.

'The Terror' basically refers to the time when the Air and Fire were at war with Earth and Water (I think). The fire caste loved to fight, the Air caste were a winged offshoot, the Earth caste were stocky and developed gunpowder and the water caste were very good with other people. Then the ethereals came along and said 'what are you dudes doing? That's not right' and the other Tau listened to them. Tau technology, when compared to Eldar is strange, because (apart from necrons) tau have achieved a pinacle of physical science, while the Eldar's technology is more psychic in nature.

The Tau are THE good race in 40k. Their policy to the Imperium (will only fight if no other choice can be found) should be used by the Imperium itself. The Imperium clearly has no really good long term plans. I'm fairly certain that if the Imperium, Kroot, Tau, Demiurg and a host of other species joined forces they could drive chaos back, wipe out the orks and tyranids but in the Imperium, old ways don't die.

[Inquisitor Mau]

^You can in one way say the Tau are what humanity were before the Age of Strife (but I think humanity had even more advanced technology back then).

About the Tau being the good guys. I would'n call them good since they give a race the choise to join their empire or they will join anyway with their cities burning or being in no position to say anything.

There ARE no good guys in 40k, just diffrent shades of gray...

[Captain Zog]

Sure Eldrad said it, but he could be wrong, i mean he was wrong about the Blackstone Fortress and lost his soul cos of it

[Majestyk]

bah, the tau are being manipulated by the ethereals, who are creations of the Deciever. They scorn the Farsight enclaves because they don't realise what's happening to them. Commander O'Shova knew they were being used, and got out while he still could.

[NightBringer]

the tau are not particuarly xenophobic as a race, it varies fomr planet to planet... and as for their relationship with the eldar... they are the only exception to the eldars view of the other races being barbaric... they are basically friends in terms of relationship between races... and humans on the outer fringes of the empire aren't all POW's... ommander farsight gave the survivers a choice of joining the empire and working for the greater good, or being POW's

ummm, the deciever is a C'tan, who wants to eat all the races and enslave the survivors, i doubt he would stop a race fomr killing themselves out.

and the tau, like you said are what humanity was like before the age of strife, they work for the greater good of their own species and encourage other races to join their policy, but when races refuse they will only then see them as a threat to thei survival.

[Majestyk]

The Tau are willing to sacrafice anything and anyone for the "greater good". in the chapter approved about rail rifles for pathfinder squads, there's a bit of fluff where a firwarrior is killed using one because of the fault in the target lock system, but they decide to use the weapon anyway, because it will advance the "greater good". they even tested it KNOWING that the warrior had a good chance of dying.
i don't call the "good" by any stretch of the imagination.
just because they're better than the Imperium of Man doesn't make them "good".

[NightBringer]

well, i wouldn't say any force in the universe is 'good' bu the TT game is based mostly around humanity so in terms of the game humanity is the good guys... but if u look at it from other races perspectives... they are far from good by any means, if u want to define 'good' then none of the races are

[Majestyk]

exactly, which is really an important and valid point about real life. can there really be simply black and white in wartime? and if all you've ever known is war, and all the galaxy has known is war for thousands upon thousands of years, the line between good and evil has to blur....

[orkdom]

I'm fairly certain that if the Imperium, Kroot, Tau, Demiurg and a host of other species joined forces they could drive chaos back, wipe out the orks and tyranids but in the Imperium, old ways don't die.
dude, not even all the races in the universe could kill off the orks, they own it--
read:
http://www.criticalhit.co.uk/w40krp/WD118_Ork_Race.shtml

[Majestyk]

yeah, if all the orks could actually agree on something and work together, they'd own the universe.

[Grogsnot]

The C'Tan have nothing to do with the Tau or Ethereals. Please stop with the C'Tan conspiracy theories...

And yes, nothing can destroy the Orks completely. Their reproduction method ensures that they are next to impossible to uproot.

[Majestyk]

deny it all you want. I'm telling you its the truth.

[NightBringer]

the C'tan have only jsut re-emerged form their long sleep, they may not have even encountered the tau yet... seeing as they dont have much of a confrontational attitude as other races

[Bryn]

HEY listen to Majestic he works for games-workshop he has acsess to things you can only imagine.

[NightBringer]

that dosn't mean anything!, i've spoken to people who work for GW about stuff that i knew but they had no idea was real etc

[Grogsnot]

I often know more about what is going on with GW games than GW employees. Unless he is an actual GW game designer, then what he has to say is based on the same knowledge as me.

[KingKupo]

( Okay, the whole theorys about ethereals, deceivers and farsight are just SPECULATION! Fluff can prove things but has the tendency of changing every edition or army released so unless you have a official article you're just speculating)

Well, then let's get back on track.

The Tau were encountered by imperials but were forgetten when warp storms engulfed their world(s). many years later they were rediscovered as a very advanced civilization, that in some way surpasses the Eldar as their tech mostly are used in conjunction with psychic powers(altough my knowledge is rather limited in this area so any confirmations would be nice).

The damocles crusade had the goal of purging these worlds from the Tau, however a Tyranid hivefleet endangered the empirium so the forces were diverted to halting the hivefleet. in the hasty retreat many imperial forces were left behind. These were aproached by commander Farsight(more about him later. He offered them a place into the Tau empire or as prisoners of war, many saw no choice being stranded on these Xenos inhabited worlds so they accepted and became the inhabitants of frontier worlds of the Tau empire.

The Tau might be young, but they have withstood tyranids, orks and humans succesfully and they continue to expand, making treatys with other races or destroying them if they prove hostile.

About AUN(Ethereals): The Aun came when the Tau were blowing eachother's brains out and talked them into stopping and working together for a greater good. The way the Tau follow their orders tough suggests they could have some sort of pheromonic or psychic control over them.

About GEU'VESA(human helpers or human auxiliarys): These were the men and women left behind after the Damocles crusade. They are a respected part of Tau society, filling the gap between the fire warriors and kroot. They are not as effective in close qaurters as Kroot but are capable of using more sophisticated Tau weaponry. They live mostly in the Tau frontier colonys, and are a large part of the population of the new found ones during the 13th black crusade. their rules can be found here (http://uk.games-workshop.com/40kuniverse/warhammer40k/chapter_approved/chap_tau_auxiliaries.htm)

About commander FARSIGHT: Commander Farsight is a hero of the Tau Greater good or at least he was. he repeled The ork invasions that threatened the Tau and even followed them to their lairs, destroying all life on them by means of orbital bombardment. he deviated from the Tau philosophy of using ranged combat to the excepetion of nearly everything.

Farsight cut himself off from the tau main empire after a expedition on Arthas moloch, where the ethereal died to some unkown cause(either by Farsight himself or some unknown attacker). he returned with a mysterious artefact called the dawn blade and crossed the space of the damocles gulf to found the farsight enclaves. The tau there live as mercenarys.

about the DAWN BLADE: Some theorys have been said concerning this blade.
the common theory says it's a chaos artefact that influenced(Not possessed) Farsight. Another one i heard was that it was one of the 100 magical swords the eldar gods used against nurgle. The blade was lost tough and the attack failed, destroying the rest except Khaine's. Nevertheless this all just a guess derived from fluff.

[Cmdr_Adeon]

Regarding Tau technology. They are not really more technologically more advanced than the imperium, in fact they are probably a bit behind them in some areas, but unlike the Imperium they understand their technology fully. The Imperium does not really understand most of the technology it uses, it just replicates old designs, and advances are pretty much limited to switching components around (i.e fitting a different gun on a tank).

[Flame Boy]

I think it would be misleading to say the Tau are the 2nd, 3rd or nth most advanced race the Imperium has uncovered. There are fluff suggestions of humans discovered during the great crusade with hyper-advanced weaponry that were annhiliated with brute force in huge campaigns. This weaponry could make most of the Tau War Machine obsolete for all we know. That is just humans. The Eldar do have a great deal of phychic technology, but even without that, they arguably have a greater deal of understanding of laser weapons than the Imperium (The Fire Prism being an interesting example, being a compact weapon considering it's impressive firepower. An Eldar Titan-grade laser weapon could perhaps be deadly, but the Eldar don't seem to like blowing weapon designs up beyond certain limits (hence I've never seen an Eldar with a Multi-Melta. I would imagine they would mock this weapon in the same way the Adeptus Mechanicus gather in vast halls to scoff at the 'Eavy Shootas of the orks for their crude design).

Add to that the Necrons and their war with the old ones and their creations.... Who knows what the most advanced race is. Perhjaps even the tyranids? They use no "technolofy", but they don't even need it, unlike other races...

[KingKupo]

well basically Necrons are the most advanced technological race. Just take a look at their teleporters.

The Empire is actually not the slightest bit advanced. They have the mindset of humans of the medieval era and their technology comes from ancient blueprints. I hardly would call them advanced more like parrots repeating the same sentence over and over.(their tech really would be more efficient if they simply put a 'on' button on it instead of chanting for an hour)

The Tau are far more advanced in a way that they have insight in how machines work and probably a higher grade of science(Ie. they know an engine stopping is because it's out of gass instead of the human theory about 'the machine spirit has not been served his daily coffee so he's in a grumpy mood').

Eldar tech can be impressive, but mostly relys on supernatural things.

the advanced humans that exist probably will never collide with the tau because of the empire's stupidity

Tyranids: we're talking about technological, not genetic or biological(or whatever's the right name for it).

[SPOON!]

Who knows what the most advanced race is. Perhjaps even the tyranids? They use no "technolofy", but they don't even need it, unlike other races...

Any race is as 'advanced' as the other as they can all stand up to each other and win. 'Technologicly' however it has to be the Necrons and Eldar, they have technolagy the Tau only dream of at the moment but Necrons and Eldar have reached their pinical whereas Tau invent new stuff; weapons, or otherwise every day. we have no idea when their apex of tech will hit... but it ain't soon :)

[CenturionCajun]

Well, according to the game Fire Warrior the Imperium and the Tau joined forces when a large force of Word Bearers Chaos Marines attacked them both. Before this though the Imperium had annihilated all of the Tau on two worlds but got bogged down on the third.

[Abaddon]

There was a plot to Fire Warrior :argh:

I thought the Tau could be corrupted by Chaos? i'm sure when Demonhunters came out there was a mission where you could have a demon prince in a Tau force, if my memory is correct it was mentioned in one issue of WD and there was a photo of a keeper of secrets at the head of a tau army(i think), of course i could be wrong.

[KingKupo]

That would be one of those deamonhunters conflicts. Basically when fighting deamonhunters in certain scenerios the enemy gets a free greater deamon wich pops out his highest point character as soon as he is wounded.

[Kaelorr]

The Necrontyr were the most advanced race the galaxy had ever seen, but their lives were short and painful due to the horrible cancers provided by their sun. They engaged in a long, fruitless war with the Old Ones and eventually found the star gods- the C'Tan. The C'Tan gave the Necrontyr immortality but robbed the sentience from all but the Lords. This war happened before there was ever life on earth. The Necrons and C'Tan defeated the Old Ones, but encountered a plague of Enslavers and went into stasis until the galaxy calmed. For more, check the Necron codex.

[NjalStormcall]

*displays Gue’vesa on a holo-screen*

Humans..working for Xenos. I can only imagine the shame that our righteous Guardsman must feel when he sees another human garbed in the strange armors of the demons, wielding the very weapons that end life, and yet with the eyes and face of an ordinary man.

Let this be a warning to you! Never weaken your resolve! Even the most meek appearance may hide a heretic who traffics with the Xenos!

[NightBringer]

Njal, enough of the RP please... esp if it in the name of the false emporer :P

persides, i'd gladly become a gue' vesa, at least i wouldn't be punished for speaking my own mind :P

[NjalStormcall]

Just occurred to me. In the eyes of the Imperial troops, Gue’vesa must be traitors of the highest degree, to say the least. Indeed - they would be absolute perfect justification for an atmosphere of paranoia and fear, and why they need to cling to the Imperium for safety. I figure most Imperials cannot distinguish "xeno" from "demon", after all.

And yes, in a lovely display of hypocrisy, Imperials themselves don't seem to have many regrets paying off Blood Axe Orcs to attack other Orc clans.

[NightBringer]

yes gue' vesa is the ta name for "human helper"

but to an imperial soldier, be he sm or ig, its simply traitor, heretic etc, which is why on TT ig and sm always hit and wound gue' vesa on 3+

i'd love to see some kind of etheral bodyguard unit introduced, hooded or equiped with the steath suits holo fields, as a retinue or command squad for them

[NjalStormcall]

Well, on the variant Hatred rule - Chaos humans are also heretics. But I imagine that your average Imperial has a combination of hate, fear, and awe when they see /real/ demons and their servitors. Gue' vesa get the full extent of the Imperial's hate and bias, without being able to strike immediate awe and horror.

[Albrek]

you have no idea how painful it is reading this as a Tau player, especially one who is big on fluff ;) ;)

First off, no the Tau do NOT have Warp technology, NO NO NO NO :P first off to even notice Warp anything, you have to have some extent of psychic ability, Tau have zero, zip, nada.. NO not even the ethereals, or the air caste, or any of them. Proof? ever wonder why the Tau empire is so miniscule? no warp drives on thier spaceships (not sure if they call it a warp drive, not big on BG style fluff) so ner ner ner :P lol

From memory ( i really should double check this but i cant find my codex atm) O'Shovah didnt have the Dawn Blade when he battled the Orks (i think a few people have been saying he didm, im pretty sure thats wrong), O'Shovah was a hero from that campaign, but he ended up in a lot of close combat (to keep it simple) and hence became a slight bit more proficient at it, the Dawn Blade was found later by Farsight, sometime after he was shunned for his "barbarianism", and for the life of me i cant remember any ethereal with him at the time, though i may be wrong.

Alot of people are speculating the Dawn Blade is cursed, I doubt it, its more likely to be one of those aforementioned Eldar swords. Generally my reasons for thinking that is there is no proof that the sword has brought any evil to Farsight and the Farsight Enclave, except in the eyes of 'pure' Tau they are as barbaric as Kroot


I'd also like to take this chance to point out how difficult it can be playing a Farsight Enclave army on TT lolol, although it was ultra uber when i had a Firewarrior Shas'ui, get assaulted by a vindicare assasin, then proceed to ko it with a single pistol whip, and be unharmed by the explosion, goo Ork Fighter :P

[TheWatcher]

Actually, Tau DO have warp drives, called 'Ether drives' I beleive. But they're only able to make "short 'hops'" because they don't have the Navigator Gene (Codex: Tau, bottom of page 6).

Edit: Okay, just read the codex again a little closer.

It says he went to the "edge of the empire to recolonise some lost outposts, one of them an 'artefact world'." Which is where the Ethereal died and he decided to go it alone. Its on Arthas-Moloch he got the Dawn Blade, which is also an artifact world. Put two and two together to get four :) After this he ran into another ork invasion, which could be the Arkunasha War mentioned, but either way he still fought against Orks with the Blade.

On a related note, anybody notice Arthas-Moloch is a dead world? I'm thinking...Necron-related, anybody? Or possiby its one of the 100 weapons forged by the Old Ones for the Eldar to use against the Necrons...

[NightBringer]

your last comment is justifiable... speculative but feasable, seeing as the necrons are in stasis all over the galaxy mostly on dead worlds

[Chasjs]

Talking about artifact worlds (Q-15).
Their is one near the minour sept of N'dras
The Tau from that world went to the artifact world. They brought something back with them. No one other than the people who live their know what happened, and they won't talk about it!!!!! Not many people on the planet at the time suvived. If you want to find out more visit this map on the GW site. http://uk.games-workshop.com/40kuniverse/warhammer40k/tau/teaser/Tau_galaxy.htm. This is the only place I know where you can find out about the artifact worlds.

I collect Tau aswell. I hate people giving the Tau stick just because not much is known about them, they are very different and they are pretty new.

[Ordinary_Story]

That's a pretty cool link Chasjs. I especially like it's interactive nature.

And I must be out of the loop because I was never aware of a Ork invasion of Tau space. :dunce:

[Chaos Lord]

the only reason kroot are with the tau is because they helped free a large amount of kroot from several ork enclaves, of corse the orks are going to try and invade espesialy after being beaten by a race that hates to fight!

[evildooer]

OK!!! i have noticed some things not mentioned above. firstly, the tau do not require large lengths of warp travel, because their empire is a small sphere of close stars. The kroot are mercinaries used by the tau, and are only 1 of the many races that have been accepted by the tau. the tau are the closest thing to "good" in the whole universe, they have very noble attitudes to things, including, as the codex sez, even the lowliest worker is treated as well as anyone else, due to the fact that he is achknowleged to be helping for the greater good. when they left their lil empire and first contacted the humans, they did so in the best possible light, they were nice, and were not prepared for war... the humans are very very xenophobic, and so shot first, asked questions later. when the democles crusade started, they took many fringe worlds very easily, as they were barely defended. however once they got to the stronger parts of tau space, yes they DID get their buttz kicked. with the coming of the tyranids, they found an excuse to make peace, and got out of there before they were crushed.

Oh also, the human auxilaries they have taken in, came freely, if they had refused, they would have been systematically annhialated, not becase the tau enjoy killing, but because it is necessary... if u have an empire, and there is an enemy, you dont just pretend he isnt there, you deal with him. also, this raises an interesting question... if the tau have humans with them, is it possible for them to be corrupted by chaos in that way... imagine humans getting into powerfull positions then joining chaos...

[KingKupo]

Humans don't really get into high places in Tau society i guess, as they are ruled by the Aun. They are used mostly as troops in the tau army and are pioneers for the Tau who settle at frontier worlds. Despite being friendly and respecting the humans as part of their military, they still think of them as a primitive race who they should tutor in their ways, Wich is not surprising.

Imagine you've just encountered another race and come unarmed in peace with them and then they suddenly shoot at you. I suppose you get the impression they are a primitive race(wich they actually are, judging by their whole machine-god belief).

The Tau actually originally sent drones that relayed a message to the populace that they came in peace. If they had to fight they would alter the message to not resist them and they will spare them. so yeah they are the good race.

as for deamonic activity, they still got the ordo malleus and perhaps the eldar to stop any chaos worshippers, It's not un ordinary for them to go other planets to stop deamonic infestation.

Altough...

Many people rebel from the empire because of the poor lifestyle and harsh regime. The tau pretty much let them earn their own crust and don't execute people for thinking different than them, as long as they serve the greater good.

[NightBringer]

i suspect that because of the taus seemingly close diplomatic relationship with the eldar, that they know full well what chaos is and how much of a threat it is to the other species. But as they have Absolutly no psychic abilities and barely even register in the warp, that they are not affected by the whispers of chaos... the impirium is just so xenophobic, that they use

@oh they are corrupted by chaos@ as their excuse to attack the tau worlds when they are meeting with the eldar etc

(much like bush and blair using weapons of mass destruction as their excuse to finally get rid of saddam husane from iraq).

as for the humans on the frontiers worlds, they were given the choice of joining us and being equal etc but working for the greater good of our empire (which would technically be theirs aswell if they accept) or yeah be removed by force. but they would never reach any influencial place in the empire and to expand on my first point, i think the ehterals would watch them closely for signs of corruption by chaos

[Majestyk]

The stuff i said about farsight WAS speculation, but i heard the thing about the deciever from my manager, who heard it from the lips of a gamer designer at games day. so HE might have been lying to me...(damn his black heart if he was), but i don't think so....
but hey, originally they were going to have the demiurg get their own codex, and they changed that plan. so even what games designers tell you might change. all i know is what i hear, and for now, i'll take it as the truth.
for what its worth, i hope to god the thing about the deciever isn't true. i kinda wanted the Tau to be thier own race, not puppets of some greater being like so many other races/armies.

[NightBringer]

i think the demiurg just having minitures is good enough, giving em their own codex is slightly ott, if they do that then they might aswell have jsut changed the fluff and brought back the squat (demiurg are very similar in appearance). its similar to why the kroot dont have their own codex, but u can feild a kroot army, there are special rules u can dl for them.

as for the deciever thing, it would be interesting, but if hes doing anything to them its probably jsut trying to mess with their minds... and not doing a good job of it lol

[Majestyk]

yeah, the kroot list is nuts. 8 point snipers.....yikes.....

am i the only one who thinks the demiurg ships look like Star Destroyers?

[NightBringer]

lol yeah excpe they are facing backwards

[Paranoia833]

The Tau are THE good race in 40k. Their policy to the Imperium (will only fight if no other choice can be found) should be used by the Imperium itself. The Imperium clearly has no really good long term plans. I'm fairly certain that if the Imperium, Kroot, Tau, Demiurg and a host of other species joined forces they could drive chaos back, wipe out the orks and tyranids but in the Imperium, old ways don't die.

Except that the Tau do kind of incarcerate anyone who disagrees with the greater good, and declare war on any smaller civilisation that doesn't join their empire.

[NightBringer]

no they dont declare war, they jsut move them out of the way of their destiny, c'mon they give them a chance unlike the impiium who jsut invade and "cleanse". and they dont encarasarate them, they either join, or get moved by force! simple as that. personally i'd join coz u may not be a tau but ur still given equal rights in the empire (except militarily of course)

[Paranoia833]

First off, no the Tau do NOT have Warp technology, NO NO NO NO :P first off to even notice Warp anything, you have to have some extent of psychic ability, Tau have zero, zip, nada.. NO not even the ethereals, or the air caste, or any of them. Proof? ever wonder why the Tau empire is so miniscule? no warp drives on thier spaceships (not sure if they call it a warp drive, not big on BG style fluff) so ner ner ner


Read 'Kill Team'. Tau have some warp technology, in that they can skim between natural warp rifts, although they have no idea what the warp really is.

[NightBringer]

its called an ether drive and it allows tau ships to make short "jumps" into and out of warp space

[SPOON!]

Thats why the Empire is so small at the mo

[TheWatcher]

Didn't I say that like a page earlier?

[SPOON!]

Sorry I kinda skim read alota posts until someone catches my eye

[orkdom]

the C'tan have only jsut re-emerged form their long sleep, they may not have even encountered the tau yet... seeing as they dont have much of a confrontational attitude as other races

actually, the tau were apparently created by the old ones, the arch-rivals (and long-dead) of the c'tan, so that would merit a very serious effort from the c'tan to either wipe them out, or, if possible, control their actions to keep them under wraps and actually instead be of use to the c'tan in the long run...(hence the ethereal/deciever "conspiracy theory")

[NightBringer]

hmmmm. that would explain the huge warpstorms, the deciever could have conjoured them up (being a god like thing being able to control the material world).

But then they could be a new young race spawned by the old ones whos evelution was set in suspention until the C'tan reawakened, and was triggered to speed up. that would explain their rapis evolution. Also, although the old ones are long dead, thats no to say they dont still have some kind of power (they were one of the first races int he universe and lived almost immortal lives, and could control time and space themselves (to a degree)). So they could have made the warp storms to protect their new race form danger.

The tau have no psychic ability, and the etherals lead them for the greater good and like the slann old WFB, they could be working towards finishing the old ones great works, and the whole essence of "the greater good" is to save the galaxy from the C'tan, also because of teir lack of presence in the warp... revert the warp to the calm it was before the war in heaven and get rid of chaos too!.

man, what a mouthful

[Imperial marine]

the Tau remind me of japanese cartoon robots in a way anyway the tau have diplomacy

[GreatSamaman]

I'm stickying this thread so I can lock down subsequent repeat threads, and prevent new people from being lost and repeating the same fluff/tt questions :D

EDIT: Added the thread to table of content post

[wert]

Just passing by, thought I'de correct a few things about the Tau fluff.

1. TAU IN SPACE
The Tau ARE capable of a limited form of warp travel. Early in there isolation, they discovered a crashed alien space craft equipped with a warp drive. They couldn’t make long warp jumps because they lacked any kind of navigator gene. This doesn’t mean they cant enter the warp, it means that cant navigate while in the warp. To get around this Tau ships "warp dive". They enter the warp then pop out after a few light years to make course corrections, then enter the warp again. They skim the surface of the warp, making short leaps, but making alot of them in rapid sucsession. The fastest Tau ships can travel at about 1/3rd of average warp speed, but are more reliable because they never fully enter the warp for long and thus have a degree of immunity to getting stuck in warp storms and spat out at a random point in space and time. Tau warp technology could be described as "slow but steady" compared to the total randomness that other races suffer when they make long warp jumps.
The Tau's escort ships are not like the escorts of other races, as Tau warp engines are huge due to all the extra safety features they have to build in to make up for being naturally out of tune with the warp. Instead of having independent warp engines like Imperial escorts, the smaller Tau ships are pretty much latched onto the larger Tau ships. The larger ships use some kind of shielding to allow there drives to tug the smaller ships along behind them. There are Tau escorts capable or warp dives, but there engines take forever to recharge, so there not permanently attached to Tau fleets, instead there scattered threw out the empire and temporarily join a Tau fleet if they are fighting within there area of patrol, but never follow it out of there local area.
The Tau have problems communicating over the vastness of space, as they lack telepaths. In order to communicate, they have special messenger boats, aliened in a long chain. 1 makes a warp dive to within range of the next boat in the chain, transfers the message to that boat, then the 2nd boat make a dive to the position on the 3rd boat and so on.
The Tau use auxiliary forces in space as well as using them as ground troops. The most notable addition to the fleet are the Nicassar, who where the first race to join the Tau empire. The Nicassar are poorly suited to ground combat, but they provide escorts for the Tau. The Tau also use kroot war sheers (Think death star constructed by killer turkeys).

2. THE DAMOCLES CRUSADE
It was pretty much a draw, the Imperial fleet wiped out 2 Tau backwater outposts, but when they hit a major Tau world they found that the Tau where not the pushovers they thought they where going to be. It all started to go pear shaped when the Imperial fleet was ambushed approaching the world, loosing 18 ships wile destroying 11 Tau ships, 3 orbital defence platforms and a kroot wars peer. Even thou the Imperial fleet won, they where unable to fight another fleet action after that, and hoped they would be able to speedily eradicate the Tau world before a 2nd Tau fleet turned up. Unluckily for them, the ground war was a stalemate. The Imperial fleet had to withdraw in the end because:
1. There fleet had suffered a sever pounding, and if another Tau fleet showed up anytime soon, they would be destroyed
2. The ground war vs. the Tau wasn’t going to well, and they would not be able to take the world easily.
3. The Tyranids where coming, and there’s nothing like an intergalactic horde of killing machines to put your priorities in perspective.
The Imperium pulled out, after cleansing 2 backwater Agri-worlds. There fleet took a lot of losses doing this, but they where never technically defeated, the having Imperium pulled out before the Tau could deliver the killing blow and the Tau suffered no major damage from the crusade, so technically it was pretty much a draw.

3. SIZES AND MAKEUP OF THE TAU EMPIRE
The Tau Empire encompasses 100+ worlds (not including the farsight enclaves). Not all these worlds are Tau worlds, there are many Kroot and Human worlds, as well as an assortment of worlds owned by races that have colonised only a handful of systems. The Tau empire is also more compact than the Imperium because Tau warp technology is slower, meaning they wont try to go to far when there’s a perfectly good star system next door, but also because it is more reliable, and Tau fleets don’t find themselves deposited in a random star system as often as other races.
The Tau absorb any race they can, and that race pretty much continues on as it had done before the Tau had taken over. The Tau try to be very open minded, and even thou a races habits may disgust them, they don’t seem to attempt to impose there way of doing things onto a race, hoping that some "tauism" will rub off onto a contoured race. The Tau even allows Humans to continue to worship the emperor if they wish.

4. TAU TECHNOLOGY
Tau technology is the 2nd most advanced physics based technology. The Eldar use a totally different base for there technology than the Tau, and they can’t really be compared. Tau technology is rooted firmly in the use of physics and chemistry, whereas Eldar tech is based around the warp. The Eldar technology is really more magic that tech.
In practical term, the Tau are more advanced than the Imperium, even if the Imperium has some crazy ass tech, they don’t no how it works, most of it has a tendency to blow up and it’s really rare (maybe because it keeps blowing up). The Tau understands what they use, and thus can mass produce it and gain an edge over the Imperium.

5. RUMORS ABOUT THE TAU
People will say "I KNOW this or that about the Tau", but they are lying, the following rumours have NOT been confirmed by GW:
The Tau where created by the Ctan.
The Tau are a creations of chaos
The Etherals are being manipulated by something of someone
The Eldar or any other race actively aided the Tau in there technological advancement
The Tau are space-smurfs
The Tau are another crazy experiment of the Old Ones
The Tau are up to something evil
The Tau aren’t up to something evil

6. A BRIEF OVERVIEW OF TAU HISTORY
The Tau where savages 6,000 years ago, and where at war with themselves. The air cast and fire cast where at war with the earth cast, with the water cast trying to mediate a ceasefire. Cue 1000s of years of pointless bloodshed. Etherals show up OUT OF NOWARE, sell the Tau the idea of the Greater Good. Cue rapid technological and evolutionary development. A few thousand years later, the Tau have expanded to the stage they are at now, and the imperial guardsman finally has something he can beat down in close combat. That’s about all that’s been confirmed.

[Fang]

Eldar tech is based just as much on physics and chemistry as Tau imperial and so forth tech is... they just incorporate alot more psychic elements into it than anyone else... and considering that in 40k the warp is a physical property of the universe and that psychic powers are a physical property of the eldar... then using psychic powers to power your stuff is still based on physics...

[ObsceneName]

The warp is only a physical property in one spot. The eye of terror.

Theirs no proof that the tau were created by the old ones or the c'tan or even the deciever. The etherals just share the diamond mark with him. The tau's orgins are a mystery just like the Tyranids.(Which shall consume the Tau and rest of the space chumps.

[theshadowduke]

Tau warp travel isnt warp travel at all.

They skim along the top of the warp, and drop out every few dozen lightyears to check their orientation and fix their course. They travel at about 1/5 imperial speeds, but rarely get lost.

Their skiming along the top of the warp is done for 2 reasons, 1) they cannot enter the warp like humans, eldar, or orks and 2) it is much, much safer that way. When you think of tau travel, think skipping a rock across a pond, and thats about what its like.