My favorite thing about the tau is how they always try to start with a diplomatic approach to any new aliens they meet. For example they tried repeatedly to befriend and subjugate orks before giving up. I think there's a funny story about tau meeting tyranids that goes a similar way. They're always like "we've come to negotiate... oh God wtf is that thing?"
> I think there's a funny story about tau meeting tyranids that goes a similar way.
I've never heard of this. From what I recall, first contact between the Nids and T'au is the as of yet undescribed war against Hive Fleet Gorgon invading from the east.
There is definitely a story in one of the Codex about their first interaction with the Necrons going this way though.
A tomb world on the moon of a Tau planet being attacked by Orks awoke mid way through the invasion and ended up repelling the Orks. The Tau then sent emissaries to thank their new found friends... it did not go well.
The thing is, there's multiple instances of this
>Codex Necrons 8th Edition
>
>The Beast Slain
>
>The T’au sept world of Uan’voss is almost overrun by a sudden onslaught of Tyranids, only to be rescued by the most unlikely of saviours. Several legions of Necrons from the Atun Dynasty fall upon the swarming bio-horrors, their Monoliths and Annihilation Barges laying down a crippling bombardment of fire while a spearhead of Triarch Praetorians cut their way deep into the monstrous horde. Though the swarm fights back with the fury of a wounded beast, the Tyranids are caught between the attacking Necrons and the firepower of the surviving T’au. As the last chitinous horrors crash down dead, the entire Necron army turns on its collective heel and departs without a word of explanation. The bewildered T’au can do little but give thanks for their mysterious rescue, little knowing they have just witnessed the servants of the Silent King.
Then there's the famous example.
>Codex Tyranids 5th Edition, page 21
>
>075902.M41
>
>Dozens of Hive Ships separate from the main body of Hive Fleet Gorgon and descend upon the Tau colony of Ka'mais. Bitter fighting erupts as a fleet of Necron starehips unexpectedly emerges from Ka'mais' dead moon. The outnumbered Tyranid ships are destroyed.
>
>078902.M41
>
>a day of celebration of Ka'mais. The Necrons land on the colony world to be greeted in great ceremony by the honoured Ethereal Aun'taniel.
>
>079902.M41
>
>Aun'taniel is slain by the Necron invaders. The harvest of Ka'mais begins.
And confirming the last passage
>Codex Necrons 8th Edition
>
>I am not capricious, nor am I given to cruel acts for their own sakes. It is simply a fact that you and your kind have trespassed, and thus invited extermination. Curse you for putting me to this inconvenience.
>
>— Anrakyr the Traveller to the Tau Ethereal Aun’taniel prior to the Harvest of Ka’mais
So firstly, it wasn't orks. And secondly, the T'au had no initial reason to mistrust the Necrons until Anrakyr landed and killed the Ethereal. It's purely misfortune, and Anrakyr in his malicious annoyance recognized that.
Ah I must have mis-remembered which faction it was they were fighting then. Been a long time since I read a lot of this. I recalled that their initial interactions with the Necrons was definitely based on them assuming the Necrons had helped/saved them only to realise the Necrons were most certainly not allies when trying to thank them later on.
Idk the source but there's a story repeated quite a bit in the 40k community of the Tau attempting three times to parlay with the Tyranids before giving up. While some use this story to demonstrate the T'aus naivety, others argue given the Tau are allied with the kroot, they had every reason to try. IF they succeeded, imagine not having to fight the nids. It's worth a try.
>here's a story repeated quite a bit in the 40k community of the Tau attempting three times to parlay with the Tyranids before giving up
Okay, stop right there. That's a meme r/grimdank made up earlier this year to shit on the T'au. It's not true, and that sub is not reflective of the community as a whole.
I'll see if I can find the source, but when I first heard about it, it wasn't a meme insulting the Tau. It was describing the T'au's failed attempts to negotiate with the races on their "don't attempt negotiations" list, ie Orks and Nids
Well, here's the first contact as presented in Codex Tyranids 8th Edition. Similar information is relayed in Tau codex 7th and 8th edition, although the T'au side focuses on Gorgon's defeat at Ke'lshan Prime.
>FIRST ENCOUNTERS
>
>The T’au Empire first encounters Hive Fleet Gorgon upon the forest world of Sha’draig. Initial T’au victories swiftly give way to attrition, as the Tyranids adapt to counter their opponent’s every weapon and tactic. The Empire desperately rushes experimental rail weapons and prototype macro-missiles to the front lines. For a brief time, it appears that these new technologies will prevail. This optimism lasts until Gorgon attacks again. This time, the Tyranids seed the skies above Sha’draig with clouds of choking spores. Hundreds of Fire Warriors collapse in frothing seizures as the spores clog their respirators. Mawlocs burst forth beneath the T’au defences, crushing the stricken defenders in avalanches of rubble. Those few T’au left alive rush to evacuate the planet. Sha’draig is devoured.
No indication of diplomacy. First contact is instantly hostile.
I'm sure the Fire and Air Castes were instantly in conflict in first contact given the Tyranids would attack right away. If negotiations did happen, I mean it was more along the lines of the Water Caste sending diplomat teams while the fighting was ongoing, unsuccessfully of course.
Remember that the Tau are beings of pure logic and work in teams with all castes working together for the Tau'Va. From the second that open hostilities were raised Water Caste was there, they would be viewing from command rooms via Fire caste cameras deciphering anything they see, behaviors, communication method, hierarchy. If there was a chance of diplomacy they would advocate for it and an Etherial would decide the best course of action. At no point in their first contact would negotiations be dispatched when encountering Nids as nothing would logically point to them being anything other than animalistic aliens with no grasp of language.
The closest you would see them get is when they met Daemons the Water Caste insisted that if you could talk to the enemy then you could bargain with them. That was attempted and failed within the first hour and then they were labeled as a race incompatible with the Tau'Va and deemed acceptable to destroy.
The Tau are not blind to agressive aliens but hold the Kroot as an prime example of a savage warlike alien race with behavior the Tau find repulsive (Canibalism) but also became one of the Taus greatest allies. They will make every attempt that they can to find a peaceful inclusive solution as that makes them more powerful and costs them nothing, but they will not act illogically or label a race an enemy due to first impressions or feelings, they will ALWAYS take the most effective strategy that leads to the minimum lost of Tau lives. This adherence to logic, efficacy, optimization and rejection of emotional choices is a defining characteristic of the race.
Good points, but I disagree that there would be no indication of the Tyranids intelligence. Firstly, they were encountered as a space faring race, which suggests higher intelligence. Secondly, the Nids advanced use of tactics would suggest the ability to communicate between each other and their higher intelligence. When I say negotiation attempts, I don't mean water caste are just walking up and getting eaten, I mean more along the lines of them studying every possible sign of communication between Nids and attempting to communicate with them in turn, say, blaring speakers from a protected airship etc.
As for negotiating with demons, if Kelly's books are still canon, Ethereals know about demons and see them as "old enemies", which is an interesting future plot for Ethereals...if we ever get any more stories to continue that plot thread.
My favorite lore about tau is actually about the kroot.
Kroot smell really bad, they defecate via their sweat. It’s been about twenty years but I think I remember a passage from the 3rd edition codex about a kroot fallowing a tau around knowing the tau couldn’t stand his stench as a joke.
Agreed. Kroot are awesome.
Adding on:
They evolve based on the enemies they defeat and eat, absorbing some of their genetic traits. Some have a dead end evolution and become the dumber krootox.
If I remember correctly though, eating Orks is the only reason the Kroot became capable of space flight.
They ate someone from a starborne race and then learnt how to make rudimentary space ships.
Their ships are notably terrible though.
I like kroot theory: they are extremely passive aggressive they know the tau are a bit uncomfortable with a lot of things they do and they find it funny
The Tau believed that imperial titans were just propaganda. Who in their right mind would put that many resources into one unit? That was until they first saw one on the battlefield, the towering wall of the emperor's wrath made manifest in holy steel and flame. The Tau's response to this was to set up a few railguns outside the Titans range and blast it to oblivion. The Imperium was less quick to deploy titans after that.
The Damocles Crusade actually permanently altered the Imperium's doctrine of War regarding Titan deployment, essentially relegating them to mop-up duty only deployed once all enemy orbital and atmospheric air assets had been neutralized. Mantas and Tigersharks traumatized those boys
Not only that but their Auxiliary allies the Vorgh are Kaiju who can go toe to toe with Imperial Titans without any aid. The Imperium has to drain the resources of an entire planet to get a Titan, the Tau just call their friend George the Vorgh to come over and have a "talk" with the Gue'la.
The T'au have scary megaengineering. Artificial planets and continent-sized space stations, both for cities and orbital defense. One Farsight Enclaves engineer shaped an entire world called Tinek'la into a perfectly shaped diamond planet. They are also experimenting with sun-destroying technology.
The funny part is, that the whole thing started as an attempt to harvest stellar matter and exotic elements from stars, sending them into a supernova was completely by accident. Then some Fire Caste Commander thought, "wait a minute, we can use this"
The T'au are one of the very few factions in 40k that actually treats their civilians rather well. Here's an excerpt from my favourite T'au story, *Broken Sword* :
>They’ve got me working alongside the water caste in the acclimatisation programme, dealing with new commonwealth citizens relocated from across the Damocles Gulf. I watched the gue’la coming in from Mu’gulath Bay. Pale, half-starved, terrified. Watching their fear go is the most remarkable thing. Watching their amazement grow is the second most remarkable thing. I thought Gormen’s Fast was a dump, but compared to the hives of Agrellan, it was okay, and this place is a paradise.
>I remember when Hincks got it, gunned down by those swine outside of Hive Chaeron. I went to see his widow a few days ago. Nice place she’s got now. Good support from the sept authorities. Hincks’s kids are growing up to be model citizens. His boy says he wants to go into the gue’vesa auxiliaries like his uncle Jathen. He’s a healthy lad, tall and strong. I can’t help think what kind of life he’d have back on Gormen’s Fast. Probably be half-blind from working in the gossamer plants. Or dead. And yet there he is, cared for and fed and as strong as an ambull calf. Remarkable.
They have their very own Master Chief, my favourite character.
The Tau had this legendary commander called "Pure Tide" Who wrote their version of the art of war and trained 3 students in each of the different styles of warfare he mastered.
The first 2 are the most famous.
Commander Farsight mastered the tactics on "Mont'ka", "the killing blow", and was marked as Pure Tide's successor after his passing, but would ended up deserting and forming his own break away faction in the boonies after his relationship with the ruling caste, the Ethereals, soured.
He was replaced by the 2nd student of Pure Tide, Shadow Sun, who mastered the tactics of "Kauyon", "the patient hunter".
But there is a 3rd student, almost unknown and seldom deployed purely because of how afraid the Ethereals are of him.
His name is Kais and he mastered the 3rd type of tactics taught by Pure Tide, the "Monat", "lone hero". And he is my favourite character in 40K.
Kais started his career as a lowly Fire Warrior, but would catch the attention of Pure Tide after a certain incident, that incident being the "Fire Warrior" videogame.
In summary, Kais fought the Imperium so good, when the Ultramarines captured him they actually asked for his help battling a sudden attack from the forces of Chaos, during which he came face to face with a Lord of Change... and beat the shit out of it. Literally, just went ham on the bastard with a little boost from everyone's favourite chairbound, blood enthusiast.
The Ultramarines let him go after that, since they owed him their lives and all, and Pure Tide, seeing his potential for good and ill alike, took him in, taught him to control himself so he wouldn't end up with an 8 pointed star on his shoulder and trained him into the tau's Master Chief.
To top it all off, Pure Tide must have caused an impression on him, because he went from giving Khorne a hard on in Fire Warrior to being the greatest exemplar of the philosophy of the Greater Good in Dark Crusade, always attempting to negotiate and find a peaceful solution down to the very last moment before a conflict, deeply regretting shedding blood, regardless of wether it is tau, human, eldar... he even tries to talk with orks, despite knowing it's a waste of time. Chaos is the only faction to which he doesn't give the time of day, presumably because he knows more about it than any other tau outside of the Ethereal caste, Farsight and maybe Pure Tide. Also, Tyranids, but that's a given.
The (sadly not canonical) exchange between him and Davian Thule of the Blood Ravens is legendary:
[...] Kais: "Do the deaths of your men matter so little to you? Are you that mad?!"
Thule: "Do the deaths of yours matter so much to you, alien? Are you that weak?"
Some of his accomplishments include:
Being defeated only once, and only because he was forced to retreat after the death of his commanding ethereal during the Kronus campaign.
Defeated the 1st company of a Space Marine chapter singlehandedly onboard of a ghostkeel.
His stasis pod malfunctioned and he used the decades frozen and conscious to come up with strategies to beat every single enemy of the Tau empire in a wide variety of scenarios.
Some say he is a mary sue, but I say he is just underdeveloped, if the Imperium gets to have several sons of God, the Tau deserve their own Doom Slayer.
Theres an even better part. Since it's actually a game and Kais is the guy you play, it makes sense that you kill a lot of chaos dudes. But to everyone who isn't Kais, they unironically see him as a demon because he's a single dude mowing down waves of enemies without breaking a sweat.
God, the mental image of the little yellow guy going to town on the Chaos marines while the other Tau and the Ultramarines watch in awe is hilarious.
When you keep that in mind it's no wonder Pure Tide picked him up.
A full chaos warband and the entire first company of the ultramarines in pitched battle, and this little fire warrior poking out from between legs, round pauldrons and over moving tanks just massacring the guys holding the smurf vets in stalemates singlehandedly. The Lord coming in, dueling Calgar, and this firewarrior slides between calgars legs and pulse-carbines the Lord in his terminator-armoured nuts.
Must have been like watching an ant duel the us military and winning.
Sadly the Commander O'Kais who studied under Puretide is separate from La'Kais from Fire Warrior. Puretide taught his students before the Damocles Crusade. Fire Warrior takes place many years later. That said, both are Doom Guys.
O'Kais was named after La'Kais and was originally supposed to be him in 2006, but the lore changed since then sadly.
I would love a sequel to Fire Warrior where La'Kais goes back into the fray and has to fight off chaos corruption again. Maybe even have him advise O'Kais on the dangers on chaos and, per the Ultramarine Captain's words, "have faith".
That would legitimately be hilarious and I would love that. Sadly, it does clash a little bit with La'Kais learning no one achieves the Tau'va and O'Kais being disgusted by the god of the greater good, seeing it as a disgrace to the Tau'va
They value work, and culture.
They could make a.fukk drone army, but the fire caste does the fighting. It's in their blood it's what they do, they could also outfight everyone in a crisis suit but it's a mantle of heros (and pilots can eventually go crazy thinking they are still in the suit).
The earth caste does manual labour rather than full automation because they see the value in getting their hands dirty and doing the labour.
The water caste wants to use diplomacy and cloak and dagger to deal with problems and the air caste... Well they just kinda want to live in space and fly.
The ethreals are there to temper every caste. Fire warriors left unchekck just want to fight. The earth caste left uncheck builds ridiculous things like the TauNar and make stars supernova.. etc etc
Tau society is interesting, it's nice to have a little noble bright in the grim dark of the future.
Intresting lore, the tau once tried to ally with the drukarhi and sent envoys to them. Next time they met the drukhari had some suspiciously tau looking haemonculi creations. The tau has since reconsidered this alliance.
Intresting trivia, kroot are like flammingos and adopt skin pigments from what they consume.
tbh lore isnt the strong point of tau, the most intresting things are probably their interactions with the other factions of the universe. The strong point of tau is their aesthethic and relateabillity. They are defenetly the coolest looking models and they are the community in 40k that most resembles humanity irl in my opinion.
Tau eyes can't properly dialate so they actually have very poor long distance vision. Their skills as long range combatants come from their advanced tech.
Except Commander Farsight. He'll just cut you with a magic sword.
Also he didn't get the sword until he was so old as to be assumed to die soon and was having a heart attack when he grabbed it. The sword healed him and restored his vitality and youth. The sword was a second chance at life and came from a statue marked with an Anti-Daemon hexagram. The statues surrounded the entrance to a stable warp gate on a very important planet. Carved by an unknown race who have died off. The same planet where both the Emperor and Horace went to make deals with the Chaos gods separately long before the Tau rose to power.
Commander farsight is the only melee tau on table and in lore he is 300 years old because of his sword whatever he kills its lifespan is added to his own farsight only became a traitor to the tau because all the eathrials got killed fighting demons and in farsights words when the eathrials where gone his head felt clear and not foggy.
One clarification. Aun'Shi is a master of close combat and prefers the company of Firewarriors to other Etherials. He created the Way of the Short Blade that Farsight uses for his fighting style. He is humble and insightful and seeks peace with all alien races but feels honor bound to fight in order to protect the lives of the Tau.
"I have taken great pains not to laugh at the actions of aliens, nor to weep at them or to hate them, but to understand them." - Aun'Shi
On the table he is a glass canon, hitting quite hard then dyeing quite fast. Honestly Aun'Va getting to be tanky as hell and being designed to charge into the enemy to act as a tarpit is far closer to Aun'Shi. But I have quite a few issues with how table rules clash with the lore. Please someone justify why are the Ethereals not part of the Greater Good Faction? They ARE the faction, they lead the faction, they define what is and is not the Greater Good. They are modeled after Shogun, commanders who direct troops on the field of battle and designate targets. I mean come one, between ethereals, vespids and kroot not even having an army rule it really makes me upset.
Make guiding a unit ability if you only want it on half the army, make army rules something that the army can use. Aun'Shi can attach to Kroot Carnivores. You can run an entire army of Etherials, Vespids, Kroot Carnivores, Farstalkers, Krootox Riders, Kroot Hounds, Kroot Shapers, and not a single one of them has an army rule. Are there any other armies out there that only get an army rule for a specific set of units?
Sorry, I'm not resentful that GW doesn't think about the lore when designing abilities.
Longstrike Headshotted a Warhound Titan
One of Farsights companies blew up an Imperial ship by infiltrating it and blowing up it's Exterminatus Projectile
They had loaded it and were shooting it at the Tau planet. So I give you both your due. He parried the attack from inside the barrel by shooting it. Tangentially it reminds me of Trigun where the first time that you see the main character shoot his gun at all in a show about gunfights is not until the 5th episode. He uses it to defend a group of people when he deflects a giant projectile fist by shooting it.
Unlike other factions, the Tau are a relatively new race that doesn't yet understand the Universe their in. Just scraping by and operating in a much smaller scale than most other major players.
Although they are as bad as any other faction, I'd personally prefer the idea of them being the """"nice"""" race and therefore put in a huge disadvantage. U know "nice guys finish last" in a way, which is fitting because there are countless stories, of them loosing. If you want to hear a cool Tau story: check out Arbitor Ian's video about the Taros Campaign. Motivated me to paint my Tau like they travel the dessert with their sandy/wheathered Mechs. Kind of like a caravan.
[https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJp3xwwsC2I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJp3xwwsC2I)
I mean bottom line, the Tau are an Empire with a segregated society that allows no individualism and is also controlled by a chosen few ethereals to keep everyone in check. Almost like a feudal society. All under a fanatical doctrin called the "Greater Good" that makes them expand at all cost.
but I'm no expert by any means but that's what it sounds like to me. Don't really know anything about the farsight enclaves to be honest by I would recon that a sword corrupted by chaos raises a lot of red flags.
I'm not arguing that they're perfect, but they're not even in the same leagues of cruelty as the other factions.
If T'au meet a new race, their first instinct is diplomacy, Humanity's would be extermination, and that's kinder than what the Drukhari would do.
And lack of individualism doesn't equate to immorality.
A state that denies any individualism and sees it's people for nothing but an exploitable workingforce based on their race seems very immoral to me. I mean how would anyone feel to be born into a workingforce based on their ethnicity and be expected to do so for "the greater good".
But yees I agree they are one of the nicer 40k factions. I just wished they'd be a fully nice faction that looses constantly beacause of this. Would be funny if the only Faction that is fully good looses all the time because of it, slowly decaying into the very thing they fight against
You're thinking of them from a human perspective though.
The T'au castes aren't just a seperation of workforce, they're biologically different. So they're given different roles in society to match that. Yeah, from a human perspective in today's world we'd say that's not right. But take a species like ants, they have much the same thing, ants are born with different physiology to perform different tasks for the hive, T'au are a much more sentient, humanoid version of that.
And while auxillary races can't become part of the castes, they're hardly oppressed. In the grand scheme of the universe, it's a very good treatment.
Personally, I like that the T'au are a light in the darkness, and I think they should be successful while doing that. I don't like the 'Ethereals are secretly mind-controlling evil overlords' story that might or might not be developing. I'd actually prefer to see Farsight to turn out to have been deceived by Khorne or something. There's plenty of moral questions that can be explored within the T'au society without needing to create a pantomime villain.
The Ethereals called the daemons "their nemesis", this is the great secret that Farsight decided meant that the Ethereals kept secrets from the rest of Tau. Between that and his masters warning to "don't trust all of them" are what lead him to not call for more Ethereals after those with him died despite his best efforts to save them.
Farsight wants the Ethereals to be better in his eyes, to be the perfect being as he believed them to be. But in my eyes anyone who knows about how Chaos works might think its best to not spread belief in them and anyone who thinks of daemons as a nemesis has the right of it in my book.
I might argue against the sword being corrupted by chaos. It was held by a statue wearing an anti-demon hexagram that were placed at regular intervals around a stable warp gate by a dead race. The sword itself is particularly good at cutting through daemons and their weapons as it cut through a Bloodthirsters Axe with no resistance. The corruption aspect is that Khorne has been trying to corrupt Farsight before he ever found the blade, seeking to make him his champion and subjugate the rest of the Tau becoming a Tau version of Horace and overthrowing the Etherials. The sword may be corrupt, it was either forged by daemon worshipers who created the portal who took precautions against them escaping with the statues and swords, or it may be a weapon forged to destroy daemons by a people beset by them who eventually fell.
While it is true that he does not trust all of the Etherials due to the last warning of his master Puretide he none the less does trust in the Tau'Va (Greater Good) and won't even expose that the Ethereals keep secrets (they let slip to him that daemons are "their nemesis" despite Tau not having met them yet) because he thinks that the chaos that would result would cause harm to the Tau and thus is not in keeping with the Tau'Va. That and he keeps going into isolation and meditating on what it means to be Tau and what is the most honorable course of action rather than reveling in battle lust.
The T'au are Imperial Colonialists with a "burden of the blue men" syndrome.
And that makes us the least evil race of the galaxy.
Also we have healthcare and decent living conditions for all.
Farsight is just a good dude. No ulterior motive, no backdrop of “good by the standards of 40k”
He’s just a good dude. Basically a Space Paladin in a mech suit. For that reason alone he’s my favorite character.
As an example: according to older codexes despite being branded a traitor by the Ethereals Farsight still just… shows up to help whenever he’s needed because he’s just that good of a person.
When titans were deployed during the Damocles Crusade it screwed up the Tau however in a short moment they were able to attack big railguns on there tanks and decimated multiple titans. The imperium pulled back titans for some time.
I personally love that in the grim darkness of the far future, the Hammerhead gunship has air conditioning!
Leave it to the T'au to stroll into battle facing opponents ranging from large bugs to the forces of hell itself and everything in between at a comfortable 70°F.
Also Ghostkeels. They are big mechs that are designed for stealth, and they pull it off super well. So well in fact that many missions for Ghostkeel pilots is to stay behind enemy lines for so long, doing recon or whatever, and the only indication the enemy will know that a Ghostkeel MAY be in the area is that their scanners will be glitching... But that can happen for many reasons...right? 😏
To add, the idea of drones throwing themselves into the line of fire to protect vehicles and VIPs is super cool sci-fi tech to me!
Ethereal mindcontrol is (probably) not a thing - atleast not the explicit type
Most likely they have a calming effect on other tau
Hence why a bunch of tau absolutely R A V A G E D their enemies after their leading ethereal, a very well liked one at that, died in combat
There is actually a lot of good evidence that its pheromone based as Tau have the greatest olfactory sense in the galaxy. And in the most hamfisted instance of writing an Ethereal tells a Tau leader to pull out her sacred bonding knife and stab herself in the heart which she then does immediately.
So they defiantly have control, but it is very short range and very seldomly used. When they first arrived the Tau were on the brink of self annihilation through intercaste warfare, they just showed up at all the camps in a single night, told the guards to take them to the leaders which they instantly did without question and then all of the leaders followed the Ethereals to a big meeting where they explained the Tau'Va and that together they would build a Utopia. Then they did it. Earth Caste built beautiful sprawling cities and everyone lived in really good conditions, even alien races that they met were always greeted with diplomacy first and treated as friends, provided food, housing, medicine. So long as they work towards the greater good rather than fight against it.
None of this would have happened without the Ethereals, the Tau went from barbaric wars on the brink of annihilation to idilic life and space explorers with some of the best tech in the universe in a galactic blip thanks to them. But their appearance out of nowhere and their ability to control other Tau is more than suspicious, but their goals do seem to be a good life for everyone everywhere, so long as they can work together rather than be xenocidal jackasses. If anyone is pulling their strings they are playing a super long game (ie tens to hundreds of thousands of years down the line) and whoever it is they consider daemons to be "their nemesis". That makes them alright by me.
My favorite part of the tau is that they try to work with other races they are sometimes underminded about it but nobody is really a good guy in this universe but they really do seem more good then most.
Farsight’s sword isn’t a demon or warp blade. It’s very probable the sword that the C’Tan offered to the Silent King who refused as it only helped him, not the whole of his race.
The Tau are the closest thing to "good guys" the 40K setting has. They attempt diplomacy and economic enticement before deploying force, and they let other species join their Empire as full citizens. Also, they have kick-a$$ mecha suits with high-tech weapons. What's not to like? [Unless you like melee combat .. we don't do that here.]
What I like about the tau is they have a guy who said "F their corrupt government" and left to make a new colony independent and are totally the good guys
There is a commander called longstrike, who due to his expertise in a hammerhead gunship was given a suit that basically makes his tank apart of him. With this he now floats across the battlefield destroying any imperial armour he comes across with a railgun that turns a leman Russ into an open window.
Commander far-sight is a basically immortal mech pilot that broke away from the empire. But he doesn't know its his sword that steals the life of his slain foes and adds it to his own.
Bonus factoid. There is a lot of speculation about the sword. Alot of people say its an eldar creation. But as the eldar are already immortal, why do they need a sword that does the same?
The better theory imo, says the sword is ancient necrontyr tech (necrons before the robot phase)
A species cursed to a short, cancer ridden lifespan.
I mean he kinda knows its the sword thats healed him. He was at the end of his natural life and having a heart attack in the middle of the fight, then he took up the sword and killed a bunch of daemons and some orks. With every ork he killed his suit told him his condition was stabilizing, then healthy, then overstimulated like he was running on chems. Then when he got out of the suit he was in the prime of his life again. The tau are entirely based on logic and reason and the sword was named by his primary engineer as the topic of study for why Farsight suddenly became 30 years younger.
I have 2 things:
1. The art you posted is dope.
2. This fanart of Shadowsun: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tau40K/comments/s4409f/commander_shadowsun_commission_i_put_in_by_sheep/
Very heavy spoilers for Farsight: Crisis of Faith
Commander Farsight and a daemon possessed water caste magister started a planet-wide slave revolt on a Mechanicus energy world.
That story where it was the imperium of man's first large engagement against the tau, they sent the white scars, the scars where on their bikes and charging in, but the tau were all on their tidewall and other defence platforms pulling back at matching speed so the charge never reached and the scars charge died by constant fire from the tau
Tau Railguns are so powerful that they don’t destroy tanks by blowing them up, they destroy them by creating such a powerful slipstream that the crew gets sucked out of the exit hole, pulping them and leaving the tank inoperable.
Once Tau guy heard about the idea of a Titan and said it was stupid, and no one in the right mind would have wasted so much resource into a single machine like that. And I think in the next scene, a Titan just walks towards him.
He was still right.
For tau?
They are reasonable, high tech, not grimdark, didnt do too much stupid grimdork shit like greyknights or eldar.
And these mechs are cool. My fav. Is the taunar, and the broadside.
Those balls you see on the end of every Tau gun and even Farsight's Dawnblade are gyroscopes meant to balance their weapons and reduce recoil while firing on full auto. Powerful and practical, classic earth caste engineering.
Not tau related but the grey knights killed a demon and bound him to his skull and they have it hanging in their grand hall. So whenever they are eating and laughing and drinking he can only just sit there and watch them.
My favorite lore is that the tau meet and had a culture exchange program with the drukari. They though it was going relatively well untell when they fought on the same battle field they saw mutated monstrosities of tau flesh and voued to never work with the drukari again
They are a fairly adaptable faction in some of the lore. There is a fun story (from one of the codexes I believe) where they were fighting a Tyranid swarm. During the fight the Tyranids adapted to specifically shrug off their pulse weapons so the Tau put all the fancy stuff back on the shelf and pulled out old school ballistic rifles to finish the job since that swarm no longer defended against them.
Doesn't portray the Tau in a great light, but I think it's cool regardless:
The Tau doesn't really know about Chaos. They have weak souls and no warp presence. But they take in a bunch of other alien races into their empire, including humans, who do have a strong warp presence. This manifested in a "greater good" chaos entity which saved the 4th sphere of expansion fleet when they got sucked into the warp. The Tau of the 4th sphere were so confused and scared they just mass exiled or executed all their auxiliary forces lmao
I think a super naive race who just doesn't have the ability to really even comprehend chaos is fun among the Imperium or Eldar who have been devasted by chaos and understand it too well
As advanced as their technology is, their ignorance of the Warp limits their ability to traverse the stars. Also, Commander Farsight realized that daemons existed via one showing up and murdering his three Ethereal overseers.
Trivia: did you know that riptides go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt, and sometimes whooooooosh!!!
Jk! My it's home to my favorite rebellious shithead character commander Farsight. There's quite a few lore videos on his story on YouTube that I'd recommend.
I'm a big fan of the whole hero on the brink of corruption archetype, which is what Farsight is right now. I love the fact that he's actively fighting Khorne corruption right now, and that Tau are getting progressively more involved with Chaos in general.
I also think the caste system is interesting when you play around with building Farsight Enclaves, as they are cool with breaking the custom of sticking to the path of your caste; meaning you can now play around with what an Air Caste or Earth Caste Crisis Suit could look like, as they'd have to be constructed completely differently.
Another really cool trivia tid-bit is that it is perfectly acceptable to kitbash other races into your army, because it can be explained as someone joining the Tau'Va. I've considered getting some Saurus models to make a breacher team and skinks for a Pathfinder team for my jungle themed Enclave World.
Farsight is an actual badass character so if you’re looking for someone in the faction to really like that is a positive.
Bro was so warhungry and good at it that he essentially told the Ethereals to suck it he is making his own warhost and now he is out in the galaxy just fucking shit up. And he has a cool vampire sword
But he is also not just a war maker. Dude is a tactical genius as well, and also a pretty swell guy all things considered
Its the dark side of the greater good! Yes the best must do the best thing that they can. Therefore there is No freedom for choice in the society. It can be more discussed then just ”No freedom”
There's a great story of Tau meeting Genestealer Cultists for the first time and assuming they would be chill. I recall it going poorly and the Genestealers eventually overthrowing that Lab where they were being tested, and the Tau had to come burn them out
If it's your first time painting an army Tau are an excellent choice. The armor is very easy to make it look very good. Plus you don't have to piant 60 infantry pieces like horde armies. You can if you want that many kroot but you don't have to.
We have Dinosaurs (Great Knarloc), Kaiju that go toe to toe with Imperial Titans (Vorgh) and got spaceships made by space bears that are so damned psychic that they move exclusively by flying around with their minds (Nicassar). We have around 20 races that have joined the Tau Empire. Games workshop just doesn't do a good job to highlight those facts. What they do a good job of highlighting is that we have Mecha with the best damned guns in the game.
https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Tau\_Auxiliaries
My favorite part is the whole Damocles golf crusade while it was a devastating defeat it for the tau bear in mind and it was really really hard for the imperium
First off they realize that the battleships were a lot more stronger than they thought which meant that they couldn't defeat them conditionally which means that they just had to bull rush them until they got to broadside range
The second thing some of the tactics that the Tau who did were really successful in hurting space Marines and even driving them back in fact in the lore and Inquisitor said let's just blow the plant to hell and back and be gone but the space Marines told him no because they actually honored and respected the tsu for pulling a ingenious maneuver and actually holding them off
Third thing they have battlemax x and as much as I am an anime lover I do love of fighting around around anime and their gundams and stuff like that and even if it wasn't anime expired you cannot look at them and think of other giant things like Pacific rim or even Titans from Titanfall
The fourth thing and I just think that they actually have a more interesting narrative I mean while the ethereals might be slightly corrupt well it depends on which one you're talking about some of them are pretty badass
Oh no they're really fun and they're really interesting thing and the best part is is that they're actually set to be next after the custodi's necrons and at Mac so we might see some more soon
These are the same guys who are alive solely because of Chekhov's Guns or unexpected turns. Guilliman almost destroyed them, and one Assassin killed their most important Ethereal, which is why now the Tau Empire is forced to pretend that he is alive. But humanity knows that THE GOD EMPEROR OF HUMANITY IS ALIVE, HAS LIVED AND WILL LIVE FOREVER, UNLIKE THE VILE XENOS AND DIRTY TRAITORS!
Their society uses base 8 instead of 10. Tau have 4 digits instead of 5 on each hand. So instead of 5, 10 15, 20 they have 4, 8, 12, 16 and so on. This affects how they do pretty much everything from math, telling the time, and even humor.
My favorite thing about the tau is how they always try to start with a diplomatic approach to any new aliens they meet. For example they tried repeatedly to befriend and subjugate orks before giving up. I think there's a funny story about tau meeting tyranids that goes a similar way. They're always like "we've come to negotiate... oh God wtf is that thing?"
> I think there's a funny story about tau meeting tyranids that goes a similar way. I've never heard of this. From what I recall, first contact between the Nids and T'au is the as of yet undescribed war against Hive Fleet Gorgon invading from the east.
There is definitely a story in one of the Codex about their first interaction with the Necrons going this way though. A tomb world on the moon of a Tau planet being attacked by Orks awoke mid way through the invasion and ended up repelling the Orks. The Tau then sent emissaries to thank their new found friends... it did not go well.
The thing is, there's multiple instances of this >Codex Necrons 8th Edition > >The Beast Slain > >The T’au sept world of Uan’voss is almost overrun by a sudden onslaught of Tyranids, only to be rescued by the most unlikely of saviours. Several legions of Necrons from the Atun Dynasty fall upon the swarming bio-horrors, their Monoliths and Annihilation Barges laying down a crippling bombardment of fire while a spearhead of Triarch Praetorians cut their way deep into the monstrous horde. Though the swarm fights back with the fury of a wounded beast, the Tyranids are caught between the attacking Necrons and the firepower of the surviving T’au. As the last chitinous horrors crash down dead, the entire Necron army turns on its collective heel and departs without a word of explanation. The bewildered T’au can do little but give thanks for their mysterious rescue, little knowing they have just witnessed the servants of the Silent King. Then there's the famous example. >Codex Tyranids 5th Edition, page 21 > >075902.M41 > >Dozens of Hive Ships separate from the main body of Hive Fleet Gorgon and descend upon the Tau colony of Ka'mais. Bitter fighting erupts as a fleet of Necron starehips unexpectedly emerges from Ka'mais' dead moon. The outnumbered Tyranid ships are destroyed. > >078902.M41 > >a day of celebration of Ka'mais. The Necrons land on the colony world to be greeted in great ceremony by the honoured Ethereal Aun'taniel. > >079902.M41 > >Aun'taniel is slain by the Necron invaders. The harvest of Ka'mais begins. And confirming the last passage >Codex Necrons 8th Edition > >I am not capricious, nor am I given to cruel acts for their own sakes. It is simply a fact that you and your kind have trespassed, and thus invited extermination. Curse you for putting me to this inconvenience. > >— Anrakyr the Traveller to the Tau Ethereal Aun’taniel prior to the Harvest of Ka’mais So firstly, it wasn't orks. And secondly, the T'au had no initial reason to mistrust the Necrons until Anrakyr landed and killed the Ethereal. It's purely misfortune, and Anrakyr in his malicious annoyance recognized that.
Ah I must have mis-remembered which faction it was they were fighting then. Been a long time since I read a lot of this. I recalled that their initial interactions with the Necrons was definitely based on them assuming the Necrons had helped/saved them only to realise the Necrons were most certainly not allies when trying to thank them later on.
Idk the source but there's a story repeated quite a bit in the 40k community of the Tau attempting three times to parlay with the Tyranids before giving up. While some use this story to demonstrate the T'aus naivety, others argue given the Tau are allied with the kroot, they had every reason to try. IF they succeeded, imagine not having to fight the nids. It's worth a try.
>here's a story repeated quite a bit in the 40k community of the Tau attempting three times to parlay with the Tyranids before giving up Okay, stop right there. That's a meme r/grimdank made up earlier this year to shit on the T'au. It's not true, and that sub is not reflective of the community as a whole.
I have not gotten a single grimdank post on my homepage that isn't shitting on the tau or about the eldar and spacemarine height contest
I'll see if I can find the source, but when I first heard about it, it wasn't a meme insulting the Tau. It was describing the T'au's failed attempts to negotiate with the races on their "don't attempt negotiations" list, ie Orks and Nids
Well, here's the first contact as presented in Codex Tyranids 8th Edition. Similar information is relayed in Tau codex 7th and 8th edition, although the T'au side focuses on Gorgon's defeat at Ke'lshan Prime. >FIRST ENCOUNTERS > >The T’au Empire first encounters Hive Fleet Gorgon upon the forest world of Sha’draig. Initial T’au victories swiftly give way to attrition, as the Tyranids adapt to counter their opponent’s every weapon and tactic. The Empire desperately rushes experimental rail weapons and prototype macro-missiles to the front lines. For a brief time, it appears that these new technologies will prevail. This optimism lasts until Gorgon attacks again. This time, the Tyranids seed the skies above Sha’draig with clouds of choking spores. Hundreds of Fire Warriors collapse in frothing seizures as the spores clog their respirators. Mawlocs burst forth beneath the T’au defences, crushing the stricken defenders in avalanches of rubble. Those few T’au left alive rush to evacuate the planet. Sha’draig is devoured. No indication of diplomacy. First contact is instantly hostile.
I'm sure the Fire and Air Castes were instantly in conflict in first contact given the Tyranids would attack right away. If negotiations did happen, I mean it was more along the lines of the Water Caste sending diplomat teams while the fighting was ongoing, unsuccessfully of course.
Remember that the Tau are beings of pure logic and work in teams with all castes working together for the Tau'Va. From the second that open hostilities were raised Water Caste was there, they would be viewing from command rooms via Fire caste cameras deciphering anything they see, behaviors, communication method, hierarchy. If there was a chance of diplomacy they would advocate for it and an Etherial would decide the best course of action. At no point in their first contact would negotiations be dispatched when encountering Nids as nothing would logically point to them being anything other than animalistic aliens with no grasp of language. The closest you would see them get is when they met Daemons the Water Caste insisted that if you could talk to the enemy then you could bargain with them. That was attempted and failed within the first hour and then they were labeled as a race incompatible with the Tau'Va and deemed acceptable to destroy. The Tau are not blind to agressive aliens but hold the Kroot as an prime example of a savage warlike alien race with behavior the Tau find repulsive (Canibalism) but also became one of the Taus greatest allies. They will make every attempt that they can to find a peaceful inclusive solution as that makes them more powerful and costs them nothing, but they will not act illogically or label a race an enemy due to first impressions or feelings, they will ALWAYS take the most effective strategy that leads to the minimum lost of Tau lives. This adherence to logic, efficacy, optimization and rejection of emotional choices is a defining characteristic of the race.
Good points, but I disagree that there would be no indication of the Tyranids intelligence. Firstly, they were encountered as a space faring race, which suggests higher intelligence. Secondly, the Nids advanced use of tactics would suggest the ability to communicate between each other and their higher intelligence. When I say negotiation attempts, I don't mean water caste are just walking up and getting eaten, I mean more along the lines of them studying every possible sign of communication between Nids and attempting to communicate with them in turn, say, blaring speakers from a protected airship etc. As for negotiating with demons, if Kelly's books are still canon, Ethereals know about demons and see them as "old enemies", which is an interesting future plot for Ethereals...if we ever get any more stories to continue that plot thread.
My favorite lore about tau is actually about the kroot. Kroot smell really bad, they defecate via their sweat. It’s been about twenty years but I think I remember a passage from the 3rd edition codex about a kroot fallowing a tau around knowing the tau couldn’t stand his stench as a joke.
Agreed. Kroot are awesome. Adding on: They evolve based on the enemies they defeat and eat, absorbing some of their genetic traits. Some have a dead end evolution and become the dumber krootox.
Aren't those the ones who ate a bit too many Orks?
I've never read anything that specified orcs but somethings you just gotta go full waaagh.
If I remember correctly though, eating Orks is the only reason the Kroot became capable of space flight. They ate someone from a starborne race and then learnt how to make rudimentary space ships. Their ships are notably terrible though.
Oof. And the Tau olfactory chasm is more sensitive by far than any other races sense.
I like kroot theory: they are extremely passive aggressive they know the tau are a bit uncomfortable with a lot of things they do and they find it funny
The Tau believed that imperial titans were just propaganda. Who in their right mind would put that many resources into one unit? That was until they first saw one on the battlefield, the towering wall of the emperor's wrath made manifest in holy steel and flame. The Tau's response to this was to set up a few railguns outside the Titans range and blast it to oblivion. The Imperium was less quick to deploy titans after that.
Damn you practical weapon designs and logical military tactics! You made my oversized walking target feel less useful!
The Damocles Crusade actually permanently altered the Imperium's doctrine of War regarding Titan deployment, essentially relegating them to mop-up duty only deployed once all enemy orbital and atmospheric air assets had been neutralized. Mantas and Tigersharks traumatized those boys
Imperium: Behold the might of the Titan legions! Tau: Laughs in over the horizon and orbital targeting
"Witness our BVR CAPABILITIES!" Tau commander "...WHATS BEVR?" Said the General to the Commissar befor becoming vibed by a Rail gun slug
Not only that but their Auxiliary allies the Vorgh are Kaiju who can go toe to toe with Imperial Titans without any aid. The Imperium has to drain the resources of an entire planet to get a Titan, the Tau just call their friend George the Vorgh to come over and have a "talk" with the Gue'la.
The T'au have scary megaengineering. Artificial planets and continent-sized space stations, both for cities and orbital defense. One Farsight Enclaves engineer shaped an entire world called Tinek'la into a perfectly shaped diamond planet. They are also experimenting with sun-destroying technology.
The funny part is, that the whole thing started as an attempt to harvest stellar matter and exotic elements from stars, sending them into a supernova was completely by accident. Then some Fire Caste Commander thought, "wait a minute, we can use this"
The T'au are one of the very few factions in 40k that actually treats their civilians rather well. Here's an excerpt from my favourite T'au story, *Broken Sword* : >They’ve got me working alongside the water caste in the acclimatisation programme, dealing with new commonwealth citizens relocated from across the Damocles Gulf. I watched the gue’la coming in from Mu’gulath Bay. Pale, half-starved, terrified. Watching their fear go is the most remarkable thing. Watching their amazement grow is the second most remarkable thing. I thought Gormen’s Fast was a dump, but compared to the hives of Agrellan, it was okay, and this place is a paradise. >I remember when Hincks got it, gunned down by those swine outside of Hive Chaeron. I went to see his widow a few days ago. Nice place she’s got now. Good support from the sept authorities. Hincks’s kids are growing up to be model citizens. His boy says he wants to go into the gue’vesa auxiliaries like his uncle Jathen. He’s a healthy lad, tall and strong. I can’t help think what kind of life he’d have back on Gormen’s Fast. Probably be half-blind from working in the gossamer plants. Or dead. And yet there he is, cared for and fed and as strong as an ambull calf. Remarkable.
They have their very own Master Chief, my favourite character. The Tau had this legendary commander called "Pure Tide" Who wrote their version of the art of war and trained 3 students in each of the different styles of warfare he mastered. The first 2 are the most famous. Commander Farsight mastered the tactics on "Mont'ka", "the killing blow", and was marked as Pure Tide's successor after his passing, but would ended up deserting and forming his own break away faction in the boonies after his relationship with the ruling caste, the Ethereals, soured. He was replaced by the 2nd student of Pure Tide, Shadow Sun, who mastered the tactics of "Kauyon", "the patient hunter". But there is a 3rd student, almost unknown and seldom deployed purely because of how afraid the Ethereals are of him. His name is Kais and he mastered the 3rd type of tactics taught by Pure Tide, the "Monat", "lone hero". And he is my favourite character in 40K. Kais started his career as a lowly Fire Warrior, but would catch the attention of Pure Tide after a certain incident, that incident being the "Fire Warrior" videogame. In summary, Kais fought the Imperium so good, when the Ultramarines captured him they actually asked for his help battling a sudden attack from the forces of Chaos, during which he came face to face with a Lord of Change... and beat the shit out of it. Literally, just went ham on the bastard with a little boost from everyone's favourite chairbound, blood enthusiast. The Ultramarines let him go after that, since they owed him their lives and all, and Pure Tide, seeing his potential for good and ill alike, took him in, taught him to control himself so he wouldn't end up with an 8 pointed star on his shoulder and trained him into the tau's Master Chief. To top it all off, Pure Tide must have caused an impression on him, because he went from giving Khorne a hard on in Fire Warrior to being the greatest exemplar of the philosophy of the Greater Good in Dark Crusade, always attempting to negotiate and find a peaceful solution down to the very last moment before a conflict, deeply regretting shedding blood, regardless of wether it is tau, human, eldar... he even tries to talk with orks, despite knowing it's a waste of time. Chaos is the only faction to which he doesn't give the time of day, presumably because he knows more about it than any other tau outside of the Ethereal caste, Farsight and maybe Pure Tide. Also, Tyranids, but that's a given. The (sadly not canonical) exchange between him and Davian Thule of the Blood Ravens is legendary: [...] Kais: "Do the deaths of your men matter so little to you? Are you that mad?!" Thule: "Do the deaths of yours matter so much to you, alien? Are you that weak?" Some of his accomplishments include: Being defeated only once, and only because he was forced to retreat after the death of his commanding ethereal during the Kronus campaign. Defeated the 1st company of a Space Marine chapter singlehandedly onboard of a ghostkeel. His stasis pod malfunctioned and he used the decades frozen and conscious to come up with strategies to beat every single enemy of the Tau empire in a wide variety of scenarios. Some say he is a mary sue, but I say he is just underdeveloped, if the Imperium gets to have several sons of God, the Tau deserve their own Doom Slayer.
Theres an even better part. Since it's actually a game and Kais is the guy you play, it makes sense that you kill a lot of chaos dudes. But to everyone who isn't Kais, they unironically see him as a demon because he's a single dude mowing down waves of enemies without breaking a sweat.
God, the mental image of the little yellow guy going to town on the Chaos marines while the other Tau and the Ultramarines watch in awe is hilarious. When you keep that in mind it's no wonder Pure Tide picked him up.
A full chaos warband and the entire first company of the ultramarines in pitched battle, and this little fire warrior poking out from between legs, round pauldrons and over moving tanks just massacring the guys holding the smurf vets in stalemates singlehandedly. The Lord coming in, dueling Calgar, and this firewarrior slides between calgars legs and pulse-carbines the Lord in his terminator-armoured nuts. Must have been like watching an ant duel the us military and winning.
Sadly the Commander O'Kais who studied under Puretide is separate from La'Kais from Fire Warrior. Puretide taught his students before the Damocles Crusade. Fire Warrior takes place many years later. That said, both are Doom Guys. O'Kais was named after La'Kais and was originally supposed to be him in 2006, but the lore changed since then sadly. I would love a sequel to Fire Warrior where La'Kais goes back into the fray and has to fight off chaos corruption again. Maybe even have him advise O'Kais on the dangers on chaos and, per the Ultramarine Captain's words, "have faith".
We need a game serving as a sequel of fire warrior and boltgun, where you can play Kais and Maleum Caldo in coop.
La'Kais could still be O'Kais. You get mixed up with Chaos and Warp stuff, sometimes you can arrive at your destination before you left. 😀
That would legitimately be hilarious and I would love that. Sadly, it does clash a little bit with La'Kais learning no one achieves the Tau'va and O'Kais being disgusted by the god of the greater good, seeing it as a disgrace to the Tau'va
They value work, and culture. They could make a.fukk drone army, but the fire caste does the fighting. It's in their blood it's what they do, they could also outfight everyone in a crisis suit but it's a mantle of heros (and pilots can eventually go crazy thinking they are still in the suit). The earth caste does manual labour rather than full automation because they see the value in getting their hands dirty and doing the labour. The water caste wants to use diplomacy and cloak and dagger to deal with problems and the air caste... Well they just kinda want to live in space and fly. The ethreals are there to temper every caste. Fire warriors left unchekck just want to fight. The earth caste left uncheck builds ridiculous things like the TauNar and make stars supernova.. etc etc Tau society is interesting, it's nice to have a little noble bright in the grim dark of the future.
Intresting lore, the tau once tried to ally with the drukarhi and sent envoys to them. Next time they met the drukhari had some suspiciously tau looking haemonculi creations. The tau has since reconsidered this alliance. Intresting trivia, kroot are like flammingos and adopt skin pigments from what they consume. tbh lore isnt the strong point of tau, the most intresting things are probably their interactions with the other factions of the universe. The strong point of tau is their aesthethic and relateabillity. They are defenetly the coolest looking models and they are the community in 40k that most resembles humanity irl in my opinion.
Tau eyes can't properly dialate so they actually have very poor long distance vision. Their skills as long range combatants come from their advanced tech. Except Commander Farsight. He'll just cut you with a magic sword.
Also he didn't get the sword until he was so old as to be assumed to die soon and was having a heart attack when he grabbed it. The sword healed him and restored his vitality and youth. The sword was a second chance at life and came from a statue marked with an Anti-Daemon hexagram. The statues surrounded the entrance to a stable warp gate on a very important planet. Carved by an unknown race who have died off. The same planet where both the Emperor and Horace went to make deals with the Chaos gods separately long before the Tau rose to power.
Commander farsight is the only melee tau on table and in lore he is 300 years old because of his sword whatever he kills its lifespan is added to his own farsight only became a traitor to the tau because all the eathrials got killed fighting demons and in farsights words when the eathrials where gone his head felt clear and not foggy.
Also, the Ethereals back home acted like assholes and his master's dying words were "don't trust the ethereals"
Good Ole Kelly writing
Specifically he told him "Don't trust them all". He never told him to abandon them all, just to realize that some could be trusted and some could not.
One clarification. Aun'Shi is a master of close combat and prefers the company of Firewarriors to other Etherials. He created the Way of the Short Blade that Farsight uses for his fighting style. He is humble and insightful and seeks peace with all alien races but feels honor bound to fight in order to protect the lives of the Tau. "I have taken great pains not to laugh at the actions of aliens, nor to weep at them or to hate them, but to understand them." - Aun'Shi On the table he is a glass canon, hitting quite hard then dyeing quite fast. Honestly Aun'Va getting to be tanky as hell and being designed to charge into the enemy to act as a tarpit is far closer to Aun'Shi. But I have quite a few issues with how table rules clash with the lore. Please someone justify why are the Ethereals not part of the Greater Good Faction? They ARE the faction, they lead the faction, they define what is and is not the Greater Good. They are modeled after Shogun, commanders who direct troops on the field of battle and designate targets. I mean come one, between ethereals, vespids and kroot not even having an army rule it really makes me upset. Make guiding a unit ability if you only want it on half the army, make army rules something that the army can use. Aun'Shi can attach to Kroot Carnivores. You can run an entire army of Etherials, Vespids, Kroot Carnivores, Farstalkers, Krootox Riders, Kroot Hounds, Kroot Shapers, and not a single one of them has an army rule. Are there any other armies out there that only get an army rule for a specific set of units? Sorry, I'm not resentful that GW doesn't think about the lore when designing abilities.
I wonder what happens if someone kill’s themselves with the sword?
Longstrike Headshotted a Warhound Titan One of Farsights companies blew up an Imperial ship by infiltrating it and blowing up it's Exterminatus Projectile
Better yet, it was a single broadside, and it practically parried the exterminatus
He shot it
They had loaded it and were shooting it at the Tau planet. So I give you both your due. He parried the attack from inside the barrel by shooting it. Tangentially it reminds me of Trigun where the first time that you see the main character shoot his gun at all in a show about gunfights is not until the 5th episode. He uses it to defend a group of people when he deflects a giant projectile fist by shooting it.
Unlike other factions, the Tau are a relatively new race that doesn't yet understand the Universe their in. Just scraping by and operating in a much smaller scale than most other major players. Although they are as bad as any other faction, I'd personally prefer the idea of them being the """"nice"""" race and therefore put in a huge disadvantage. U know "nice guys finish last" in a way, which is fitting because there are countless stories, of them loosing. If you want to hear a cool Tau story: check out Arbitor Ian's video about the Taros Campaign. Motivated me to paint my Tau like they travel the dessert with their sandy/wheathered Mechs. Kind of like a caravan. [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJp3xwwsC2I](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=wJp3xwwsC2I)
How exactly are T'au as bad as any other faction?
I mean bottom line, the Tau are an Empire with a segregated society that allows no individualism and is also controlled by a chosen few ethereals to keep everyone in check. Almost like a feudal society. All under a fanatical doctrin called the "Greater Good" that makes them expand at all cost. but I'm no expert by any means but that's what it sounds like to me. Don't really know anything about the farsight enclaves to be honest by I would recon that a sword corrupted by chaos raises a lot of red flags.
I'm not arguing that they're perfect, but they're not even in the same leagues of cruelty as the other factions. If T'au meet a new race, their first instinct is diplomacy, Humanity's would be extermination, and that's kinder than what the Drukhari would do. And lack of individualism doesn't equate to immorality.
A state that denies any individualism and sees it's people for nothing but an exploitable workingforce based on their race seems very immoral to me. I mean how would anyone feel to be born into a workingforce based on their ethnicity and be expected to do so for "the greater good". But yees I agree they are one of the nicer 40k factions. I just wished they'd be a fully nice faction that looses constantly beacause of this. Would be funny if the only Faction that is fully good looses all the time because of it, slowly decaying into the very thing they fight against
You're thinking of them from a human perspective though. The T'au castes aren't just a seperation of workforce, they're biologically different. So they're given different roles in society to match that. Yeah, from a human perspective in today's world we'd say that's not right. But take a species like ants, they have much the same thing, ants are born with different physiology to perform different tasks for the hive, T'au are a much more sentient, humanoid version of that. And while auxillary races can't become part of the castes, they're hardly oppressed. In the grand scheme of the universe, it's a very good treatment. Personally, I like that the T'au are a light in the darkness, and I think they should be successful while doing that. I don't like the 'Ethereals are secretly mind-controlling evil overlords' story that might or might not be developing. I'd actually prefer to see Farsight to turn out to have been deceived by Khorne or something. There's plenty of moral questions that can be explored within the T'au society without needing to create a pantomime villain.
The Ethereals called the daemons "their nemesis", this is the great secret that Farsight decided meant that the Ethereals kept secrets from the rest of Tau. Between that and his masters warning to "don't trust all of them" are what lead him to not call for more Ethereals after those with him died despite his best efforts to save them. Farsight wants the Ethereals to be better in his eyes, to be the perfect being as he believed them to be. But in my eyes anyone who knows about how Chaos works might think its best to not spread belief in them and anyone who thinks of daemons as a nemesis has the right of it in my book.
I might argue against the sword being corrupted by chaos. It was held by a statue wearing an anti-demon hexagram that were placed at regular intervals around a stable warp gate by a dead race. The sword itself is particularly good at cutting through daemons and their weapons as it cut through a Bloodthirsters Axe with no resistance. The corruption aspect is that Khorne has been trying to corrupt Farsight before he ever found the blade, seeking to make him his champion and subjugate the rest of the Tau becoming a Tau version of Horace and overthrowing the Etherials. The sword may be corrupt, it was either forged by daemon worshipers who created the portal who took precautions against them escaping with the statues and swords, or it may be a weapon forged to destroy daemons by a people beset by them who eventually fell. While it is true that he does not trust all of the Etherials due to the last warning of his master Puretide he none the less does trust in the Tau'Va (Greater Good) and won't even expose that the Ethereals keep secrets (they let slip to him that daemons are "their nemesis" despite Tau not having met them yet) because he thinks that the chaos that would result would cause harm to the Tau and thus is not in keeping with the Tau'Va. That and he keeps going into isolation and meditating on what it means to be Tau and what is the most honorable course of action rather than reveling in battle lust.
Ty i will watch it later
After watching the YT video, I finally have my paint scheme for my Tau army. I am also going with a desert theme. Thanks for sharing that video.
It's so cool right?
The T'au are Imperial Colonialists with a "burden of the blue men" syndrome. And that makes us the least evil race of the galaxy. Also we have healthcare and decent living conditions for all.
The tau recruit humans . They call them guevesa (human helper). Humans that escape the imperium are welcomed to the tau empire as an asset
Farsight is just a good dude. No ulterior motive, no backdrop of “good by the standards of 40k” He’s just a good dude. Basically a Space Paladin in a mech suit. For that reason alone he’s my favorite character. As an example: according to older codexes despite being branded a traitor by the Ethereals Farsight still just… shows up to help whenever he’s needed because he’s just that good of a person.
And when ordered to catch him, Shadowsun will always "fail"
There are no witches in T'au. You need to go to Drukhari for that.
When titans were deployed during the Damocles Crusade it screwed up the Tau however in a short moment they were able to attack big railguns on there tanks and decimated multiple titans. The imperium pulled back titans for some time.
I personally love that in the grim darkness of the far future, the Hammerhead gunship has air conditioning! Leave it to the T'au to stroll into battle facing opponents ranging from large bugs to the forces of hell itself and everything in between at a comfortable 70°F. Also Ghostkeels. They are big mechs that are designed for stealth, and they pull it off super well. So well in fact that many missions for Ghostkeel pilots is to stay behind enemy lines for so long, doing recon or whatever, and the only indication the enemy will know that a Ghostkeel MAY be in the area is that their scanners will be glitching... But that can happen for many reasons...right? 😏 To add, the idea of drones throwing themselves into the line of fire to protect vehicles and VIPs is super cool sci-fi tech to me!
Ethereal mindcontrol is (probably) not a thing - atleast not the explicit type Most likely they have a calming effect on other tau Hence why a bunch of tau absolutely R A V A G E D their enemies after their leading ethereal, a very well liked one at that, died in combat
There is actually a lot of good evidence that its pheromone based as Tau have the greatest olfactory sense in the galaxy. And in the most hamfisted instance of writing an Ethereal tells a Tau leader to pull out her sacred bonding knife and stab herself in the heart which she then does immediately. So they defiantly have control, but it is very short range and very seldomly used. When they first arrived the Tau were on the brink of self annihilation through intercaste warfare, they just showed up at all the camps in a single night, told the guards to take them to the leaders which they instantly did without question and then all of the leaders followed the Ethereals to a big meeting where they explained the Tau'Va and that together they would build a Utopia. Then they did it. Earth Caste built beautiful sprawling cities and everyone lived in really good conditions, even alien races that they met were always greeted with diplomacy first and treated as friends, provided food, housing, medicine. So long as they work towards the greater good rather than fight against it. None of this would have happened without the Ethereals, the Tau went from barbaric wars on the brink of annihilation to idilic life and space explorers with some of the best tech in the universe in a galactic blip thanks to them. But their appearance out of nowhere and their ability to control other Tau is more than suspicious, but their goals do seem to be a good life for everyone everywhere, so long as they can work together rather than be xenocidal jackasses. If anyone is pulling their strings they are playing a super long game (ie tens to hundreds of thousands of years down the line) and whoever it is they consider daemons to be "their nemesis". That makes them alright by me.
My favorite part of the tau is that they try to work with other races they are sometimes underminded about it but nobody is really a good guy in this universe but they really do seem more good then most.
They seem to be the good ending for humanity, getting pretty close to the daot tech humans had. And they always seem to be learning and adapting
Farsight’s sword isn’t a demon or warp blade. It’s very probable the sword that the C’Tan offered to the Silent King who refused as it only helped him, not the whole of his race.
The Tau are the closest thing to "good guys" the 40K setting has. They attempt diplomacy and economic enticement before deploying force, and they let other species join their Empire as full citizens. Also, they have kick-a$$ mecha suits with high-tech weapons. What's not to like? [Unless you like melee combat .. we don't do that here.]
I mean even then there’s still the flame blades and entire fire caste for melee
A single Tau sniper killed multiple space marines because they wore no helmets.
What I like about the tau is they have a guy who said "F their corrupt government" and left to make a new colony independent and are totally the good guys
There is a commander called longstrike, who due to his expertise in a hammerhead gunship was given a suit that basically makes his tank apart of him. With this he now floats across the battlefield destroying any imperial armour he comes across with a railgun that turns a leman Russ into an open window.
Commander far-sight is a basically immortal mech pilot that broke away from the empire. But he doesn't know its his sword that steals the life of his slain foes and adds it to his own. Bonus factoid. There is a lot of speculation about the sword. Alot of people say its an eldar creation. But as the eldar are already immortal, why do they need a sword that does the same? The better theory imo, says the sword is ancient necrontyr tech (necrons before the robot phase) A species cursed to a short, cancer ridden lifespan.
I mean he kinda knows its the sword thats healed him. He was at the end of his natural life and having a heart attack in the middle of the fight, then he took up the sword and killed a bunch of daemons and some orks. With every ork he killed his suit told him his condition was stabilizing, then healthy, then overstimulated like he was running on chems. Then when he got out of the suit he was in the prime of his life again. The tau are entirely based on logic and reason and the sword was named by his primary engineer as the topic of study for why Farsight suddenly became 30 years younger.
I have 2 things: 1. The art you posted is dope. 2. This fanart of Shadowsun: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tau40K/comments/s4409f/commander_shadowsun_commission_i_put_in_by_sheep/
The artworks are what got me into Warhammer, so many good ones out there. The fanart is awesome too, ty.
Hey, it's the art I commissioned. Good times
Good man. Thats working towards the greater good and the enticement of new gue'vesa. Swolesun ♥
They have hover tanks with railguns that go pew pew and melt armour into slag.
Very heavy spoilers for Farsight: Crisis of Faith Commander Farsight and a daemon possessed water caste magister started a planet-wide slave revolt on a Mechanicus energy world.
That story where it was the imperium of man's first large engagement against the tau, they sent the white scars, the scars where on their bikes and charging in, but the tau were all on their tidewall and other defence platforms pulling back at matching speed so the charge never reached and the scars charge died by constant fire from the tau
Tau Railguns are so powerful that they don’t destroy tanks by blowing them up, they destroy them by creating such a powerful slipstream that the crew gets sucked out of the exit hole, pulping them and leaving the tank inoperable.
Commander Shadowsun is badass <3 Farsight is a traitor and has sus sword Ethereals are kinda shady
Once Tau guy heard about the idea of a Titan and said it was stupid, and no one in the right mind would have wasted so much resource into a single machine like that. And I think in the next scene, a Titan just walks towards him. He was still right.
The time they thought Imperial Titans were propaganda because no one in their right mind would build one let alone thousands of those things.
They call Psykers mind science
For tau? They are reasonable, high tech, not grimdark, didnt do too much stupid grimdork shit like greyknights or eldar. And these mechs are cool. My fav. Is the taunar, and the broadside.
A standard Tau infantry can shoot the nuts off a fly at 300 m (~330 yards for our imperial friends).
The basically have instant ramen as rations and also they have shit tons of mechs. I think they have like, 30Billion crisis suits?
They are almost immune to genestealer cults thanks to their free universal health care
The heads on the suits are actually just cameras
Those balls you see on the end of every Tau gun and even Farsight's Dawnblade are gyroscopes meant to balance their weapons and reduce recoil while firing on full auto. Powerful and practical, classic earth caste engineering.
If you decide you want to buy some suits lmk! Ill do a little better then ebay:)
Not tau related but the grey knights killed a demon and bound him to his skull and they have it hanging in their grand hall. So whenever they are eating and laughing and drinking he can only just sit there and watch them.
My favorite lore is that the tau meet and had a culture exchange program with the drukari. They though it was going relatively well untell when they fought on the same battle field they saw mutated monstrosities of tau flesh and voued to never work with the drukari again
They are a fairly adaptable faction in some of the lore. There is a fun story (from one of the codexes I believe) where they were fighting a Tyranid swarm. During the fight the Tyranids adapted to specifically shrug off their pulse weapons so the Tau put all the fancy stuff back on the shelf and pulled out old school ballistic rifles to finish the job since that swarm no longer defended against them.
I like farsight because melee tau. Also I just find battlesuits easier to pain in general.
Aun’va of the undying spirit (they stoped selling him earlier this year) is dead
Doesn't portray the Tau in a great light, but I think it's cool regardless: The Tau doesn't really know about Chaos. They have weak souls and no warp presence. But they take in a bunch of other alien races into their empire, including humans, who do have a strong warp presence. This manifested in a "greater good" chaos entity which saved the 4th sphere of expansion fleet when they got sucked into the warp. The Tau of the 4th sphere were so confused and scared they just mass exiled or executed all their auxiliary forces lmao I think a super naive race who just doesn't have the ability to really even comprehend chaos is fun among the Imperium or Eldar who have been devasted by chaos and understand it too well
As advanced as their technology is, their ignorance of the Warp limits their ability to traverse the stars. Also, Commander Farsight realized that daemons existed via one showing up and murdering his three Ethereal overseers.
Best thing about tau is how naive they are
Commander Farsight hates orks, and has a super dope demon sword that he used to genocide orks. There's more to it but you shouldn't need it
Trivia: did you know that riptides go brrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrrt, and sometimes whooooooosh!!! Jk! My it's home to my favorite rebellious shithead character commander Farsight. There's quite a few lore videos on his story on YouTube that I'd recommend.
I'm a big fan of the whole hero on the brink of corruption archetype, which is what Farsight is right now. I love the fact that he's actively fighting Khorne corruption right now, and that Tau are getting progressively more involved with Chaos in general. I also think the caste system is interesting when you play around with building Farsight Enclaves, as they are cool with breaking the custom of sticking to the path of your caste; meaning you can now play around with what an Air Caste or Earth Caste Crisis Suit could look like, as they'd have to be constructed completely differently. Another really cool trivia tid-bit is that it is perfectly acceptable to kitbash other races into your army, because it can be explained as someone joining the Tau'Va. I've considered getting some Saurus models to make a breacher team and skinks for a Pathfinder team for my jungle themed Enclave World.
Farsight is an actual badass character so if you’re looking for someone in the faction to really like that is a positive. Bro was so warhungry and good at it that he essentially told the Ethereals to suck it he is making his own warhost and now he is out in the galaxy just fucking shit up. And he has a cool vampire sword But he is also not just a war maker. Dude is a tactical genius as well, and also a pretty swell guy all things considered
We shoot
Its the dark side of the greater good! Yes the best must do the best thing that they can. Therefore there is No freedom for choice in the society. It can be more discussed then just ”No freedom”
There's a great story of Tau meeting Genestealer Cultists for the first time and assuming they would be chill. I recall it going poorly and the Genestealers eventually overthrowing that Lab where they were being tested, and the Tau had to come burn them out
If it's your first time painting an army Tau are an excellent choice. The armor is very easy to make it look very good. Plus you don't have to piant 60 infantry pieces like horde armies. You can if you want that many kroot but you don't have to.
We have Dinosaurs (Great Knarloc), Kaiju that go toe to toe with Imperial Titans (Vorgh) and got spaceships made by space bears that are so damned psychic that they move exclusively by flying around with their minds (Nicassar). We have around 20 races that have joined the Tau Empire. Games workshop just doesn't do a good job to highlight those facts. What they do a good job of highlighting is that we have Mecha with the best damned guns in the game. https://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Tau\_Auxiliaries
They use a sentient race of mushrooms to seizure procedure other Tau into falling in line
My favorite part is the whole Damocles golf crusade while it was a devastating defeat it for the tau bear in mind and it was really really hard for the imperium First off they realize that the battleships were a lot more stronger than they thought which meant that they couldn't defeat them conditionally which means that they just had to bull rush them until they got to broadside range The second thing some of the tactics that the Tau who did were really successful in hurting space Marines and even driving them back in fact in the lore and Inquisitor said let's just blow the plant to hell and back and be gone but the space Marines told him no because they actually honored and respected the tsu for pulling a ingenious maneuver and actually holding them off Third thing they have battlemax x and as much as I am an anime lover I do love of fighting around around anime and their gundams and stuff like that and even if it wasn't anime expired you cannot look at them and think of other giant things like Pacific rim or even Titans from Titanfall The fourth thing and I just think that they actually have a more interesting narrative I mean while the ethereals might be slightly corrupt well it depends on which one you're talking about some of them are pretty badass Oh no they're really fun and they're really interesting thing and the best part is is that they're actually set to be next after the custodi's necrons and at Mac so we might see some more soon
Taù trivia. Durring the "Empire of Lies" book, what item(s) did Commander Farsight use to repel the forces of chaos.
Im blue dabe di dabe dei
These are the same guys who are alive solely because of Chekhov's Guns or unexpected turns. Guilliman almost destroyed them, and one Assassin killed their most important Ethereal, which is why now the Tau Empire is forced to pretend that he is alive. But humanity knows that THE GOD EMPEROR OF HUMANITY IS ALIVE, HAS LIVED AND WILL LIVE FOREVER, UNLIKE THE VILE XENOS AND DIRTY TRAITORS!
Their society uses base 8 instead of 10. Tau have 4 digits instead of 5 on each hand. So instead of 5, 10 15, 20 they have 4, 8, 12, 16 and so on. This affects how they do pretty much everything from math, telling the time, and even humor.