Tau Respect Thread

Tau

WH40K wiki wrote: The Tau are an arguably benevolent race fighting for what they call the Greater Good. They claim to be a peaceful race when possible, asking if others will join their cause instead of fighting. However if their peaceful overtures are refused, the Tau may well decide to conquer the planet for the greater good, searing the flesh from the bones of anyone who stands against their benign expansions.

Tau society is divided into a number of castes, each responsible for a specific aspect of society. The Tau ideal is that everyone in the empire will work for the good of everyone.

The Tau are the central figures of the Tau Empire, which is composed of several species, primarily the Kroot of Pech, the Vespid of Vespid and the nomadic Nicassar, though there are now several human-Tau Septs. The Tau are a relatively young race (6000 years, Imperial Inquisitors first noted of the Tau when they were still experimenting with fire or the wheel), having evolved rapidly over the past few millennia. Not keeping with the trend of young races, the Tau have made remarkable leaps in technology.

The Tau’s physiology is closely tied to their society, with the Tau of each caste effectively being a subspecies of the Tau race. This was initially a result of adaptation and evolution to suit the environment each group of the proto-Tau species found themselves in, although interbreeding between castes was later forbidden by the Ethereals.

The Tau are humanoid in shape, although they have hoofed feet and four-digit hands (three fingers and one thumb). Their skin is grey-blue (although this can vary in pigmentation between worlds), rough in texture, leathery, and exudes almost no moisture. Their faces are flat, wide around the eyes, with an “I”-shaped slit running from the center of the forehead to where a human’s nose would be. Tau vision is considered slightly superior to humans - their visual spectrum extends a little more into the ultraviolet and infrared wavelengths. However their pupils do not dilate giving poorer depth perception and slower focusing reflexes than Humans. The olfactory organs are inside the mouth. Physical strength and size varies between castes, with the Fire Caste being both weaker and shorter than the average human.

Only two female Tau have ever been illustrated. The first, Commander Shadowsun, appeared to have a more human face than male Tau; being smoother and sleeker with larger eyes, a nose-like facial feature and a “Y” shaped facial slit. It is not known, however, whether Shadowsun is representative of all female Tau. The second, the subject of an imperial dissection, had the facial characteristics of a male Tau.

The Tau do not possess psykers (indeed, their minds barely register in the warp at all) and as a result have little knowledge of the Immaterium beyond its existence. This gives them some level of resistance to warp-based powers effecting the mind, but it offers little, if any, protection against physically-manifested offensive powers. They are largely unaware of the perils of the Immaterium and for this reason the Tau have conducted research into the Warp on Medusa V, however, the conclusion was reached that further research was unfeasible, and that “the Warp is no place for the Greater Good and is best left to those foolhardy races who cannot pull back from that terrible realm." Also with no other knowledge of the warp none of their starships can perform “Warp Dives” meaning that all worlds the Tau have colonized are relatively close to one another.

Ethereal Caste members also have a diamond shaped bony ridge on their head. It is believed by Imperial scholars that they exert a pheromone-based or latent psychic control over the other castes, but this is mere speculation, and no evidence of this has been found.

Tau Warriors are extremely weak in melee combat(thus being slaughtered by Chaos and Ork, melee oriented races), depending on Kroot Mercenaries to fight in close combat. Though due to sharp eyesight and patience, the Tau have proven themselves extremely accurate sharpshooters.

The Tau tend to look upon other races as backwards or misguided. Before the commencement of hostilities they almost always try to reason with their opponents and establish some kind of agreement. Noted exceptions to this are the Orks and Chaos, with whom the Tau have little to no diplomatic relation. This is due to the fact that the Tau see no way to reason with them, and do not want them in their empire.

The Tau employ a caste-based system that places the good of the many over the good of the few. In Tau society, every person is viewed as an essential part of the whole. Social standing is judged primarily by a beings standing within caste of the Tau, with 'La being the lowest (Shas’la: Fire Warrior, Fio’la: Earth Worker, Por’la: Water Bureaucrat) and 'O being the highest (Shas’O: Fire Commander, Fio’O: Earth Planner, Por’O: Water Ambassador). The castes are as follows:

Fire (Shas) — The Fire Caste compose the bulk of the military for the Tau Empire, and as such are the Tau most often used in the game. They average as tall as or slightly shorter than an average human, and are generally muscular. This comes from the fire caste’s origin on the plains of T’au, the Tau home world, where they survived as hunters and warriors. Tau from the world of Vior’la tend to have slightly greater muscle mass.
Earth (Fio) — The Earth Caste is composed not only of laborers and technicians, but also artisans, scientists and engineers. They are usually credited with the significant leaps in technology that the Tau enjoy. The members of the Earth Caste form the foundations upon which the Tau Empire is built. The inhabitants of this caste are generally short and stout of build.
Water (Por) — The Water Caste is primarily composed of merchants and diplomats. They are tasked with seeking and maintaining diplomatic relations with the other species of the Tau Empire, as well as maintaining the ease of communication and cooperation between the other castes. The Water Caste are generally taller and slimmer than other Tau, and favor diplomatic training and social grace over confrontation or combat. They are more capable in communicating with the languages of other races than most other Tau. From the time when the Tau discovered the Imperium, there are several accounts where Water Caste ambassadors were dispatched to Imperial worlds, and those worlds turning over to the Greater Good without a fight.
Air (Kor) — The Air Caste of the Tau function not only as messengers, but also as the bulk of the Tau Navy. The Tau of the Air Caste are even taller and more slender than the Water Caste, with long, skinny appendages and hollow bones. These traits are attributed to their lives lived mostly low to zero gravity ships and space stations. This is exacerbated by Air Caste reluctance, if not outright refusal to land on planets, as their skeletons have atrophied to the point where injury and broken bones are commonplace. In the past, before the time of the Mont’au, the Air Caste had membranes stretching between their limbs, which allowed them to glide on air currents. Tau pilots are recognized as superior to human pilots due to their better depth perception and fighter craft, though lack a normal Imperial pilot’s level of experience.
Ethereal (Aun) — The Ethereals are the leaders of the Tau. They resemble the Fire and Water Castes physically, but are marked by a diamond-shaped ridge of raised bone in the center of their foreheads. Their origins are unknown, and most Tau will never refuse a request by an Ethereal. They are sometimes also found on the battlefield, but whether as leaders or observers remains to be seen.

One of the conspiracy theories surrounding the Tau concerns the Ethereals control over other Tau, and how the Ethereals initially managed to unite a fractured, nomadic people constantly at war into a single whole force. The proposed causes of this range from the psychic (As displayed in the Tau novel Fire Warrior) to the biological, that the Ethereals diamond-shaped forehead ridge produces a set of pheromones that make Tau, and to a lesser extent other species, open to suggestion. This was introduced after people complained that the initial Tau codex described the Tau in too much of a positive light, and that they were too “good” for the 40k universe. This also led to the Vespid communion helms, which have a much clearer Orwellian feel that the Vespid are being directly manipulated thanks to the helmets that are supposedly for “communication purposes."

The Greater Good is the central philosophy that unites all Tau. It says that everyone one is equal and plays an important part of Tau society. It tells them to put away petty squabbles and unnecessary things to unite for the greater good of the rest of the race. As implied in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade, the Tau have no intention to destroy religion or culture. However, these enhancements are rarely wanted by the other races of the galaxy.

Tau warfare is carried out almost exclusively by the Fire Caste, with support from the Air Caste in the form of transport and air support. The Tau draw their tactics from their ancient methods of hunting. Each force is usually drawn from the same Sept, and is called a Hunter Cadre.

The Tau prefer to carefully plan their assaults, and tend to fight only after coordinating their troops and weapons for the mission at hand. The Tau prefer to fight offensively, concerned more with the quick destruction of the enemy than the taking and holding of ground. If a Tau base is attacked, the Tau will usually evacuate, dismantle all important technology, and return at a later time to retake it.

The two primary Tau tactics are the Mont’ka (Killing Blow) and Kauyon (Patient Hunter). The Mont’ka is a carefully planned attack designed to wipe out critical enemy defenses or units in a single well-placed strike. Once the strongest points of enemy resistance are crushed, the remainder of the force can generally be finished off easily. The Kauyon is essentially an ambush, where the enemy is drawn by use of a “lure” into a carefully prepared killing zone. The Mont’ka is generally known to utilize more mobilzed support and vehicles, whilst Kauyon relies more on advanced infantry tactics and quick attacks.

As Tau forces generally prefer ranged combat they always use auxiliaries like the Kroot for melee support. One Tactic is when a squad of Fire Warriors stands in front of the task force, making use of the superior range of their weapons to soften up enemy formations. A squad of Kroot Carnivores waits behind the Fire Warriors. When enemy units charge to engage the Tau in melee, the Carnivores leap in front of the Fire Warriors to give them time to retreat to a safe firing position.

The Tau, though extremely young compared with that of the Imperium, possess some of the strongest weapons in the galaxy.

The Pulse Rifle

This weapon being the most common amongst the fire warrior caste its range and firepower far surpasses that of the imperial’s standard Lasgun. The weapon works well with the Tau way of war as it allows extensive firing grounds to make the kill, making their hunter tactics extremely effective. It works by using an induction field to propel a particle, which reacts by breaking down to create a plasma pulse as it leaves the barrel.

Pulse Carbine

The carbine sacrifices range for portability and so it can have more power then a regular Tau weapon. The weapon works in the same way as its cousin but is a lot more effective when the prey gets too close as it is much easier to get working in tight situations, and the rate at which it can be used usually knocks the charging enemy off balance, forcing them to halt their advance, unless there is too much momentum behind the charge. The pulse carbine is also equipped with an underslung photon grenade launcher (see photon grenades below) for further firepower.

Pulse Pistol

Recently issued to Tau personnel as a hold-out weapon this is only normally used in desperate situations. Again this weapon works the same as its big brothers only on a smaller scale.

Rail Rifle

Where this version is a lot smaller to what is usually used in Tau warfare, the Rail types use electromagnetic linear accelerator technology to project a solid projectile at hypervelocity. So even in its smaller size this weapon can lay down some impressive firepower.

Kroot Rifle

A primitive slug-thrower relying on chemical propellant and the transfer of kinetic energy, after contact with the Tau the weapon has been adapted to fire a pulse round, this gives the weapon much more stopping power. The Kroot themselves have also adapted the weapon to suit them by adding staves at each end of the rifle for deadly effect in close combat.

Kroot Gun

A much larger version of the Kroot Rifle. Being that heavy it must be mounted on a Krootox and a Kroot that is dedicated to its use. Because of its size and calibre it was designed with heavily amoured troops and light vehicles in mind.

Vespid Neutron Blaster

This weapon as its name suggests is for the Vespid Stingwings. It is a hybrid of Vespid and Tau technology, as the Tau devolved the weapon specifically with the Stingwings in mind. As the Stingwings emit a certain frequency that they use for communication, this is used in the weapons trigger system so only the Stingwings may use it. Its ammunition is again specifically designed for the Stingwings as the crystal mounted upon each blaster is grown on Vespid (The planet) these emit a powerful neutron blast that is able to bypass all but the most well shielded armour.

Markerlights

This is commonly used in the Tau’s way of war as it allows for the utmost accuracy when targeting the enemy. It projects a simple beam upon a target, and it is used to guide other weapons to it. Normally this will be to guide the seeker missiles to a heavily fortified area, or even to take out the enemy from extremely long range. it is also commonly used in ambush tactics as it is used to mark up the enemy positions so that multiple targets may be destroyed simultaneously causing havoc within the enemy lines.

Photon Grenades

A defensive grenade that blinds and disorients attackers with multi-spectral light and a sonic burst. It is hardly used in offensive situations as Fire warriors do not normally charge enemies into combat and they are too complicated for Kroot hands therefore they are thrown at charging enemies so that the Fire warriors can dispatch them quickly.

EMP grenades

EMP grenades emit a brief electro-magnetic pulse that overloads circuitry, causing fires, meltdowns and other critical malfunctions, sometimes leading to large explosions.

Honour Blade

This is a long, broad-bladed spear mounted on a lightweight metallic shaft. The honour blade is used to settle disputes between Ethereal caste members in stylised bloodless duels. Ethereals often master this sword so well that it becomes almost invisible when wielded making its extremely hard to land a blow never mind defend yourself.

Bonding Knife

This is a ceremonial knife, not intended for combat, carried by the leader of the Fire caste warrior teams who have performed the Ta’lissera ritual and bonded as a group. Among Fire warrior squads it is considered a making of brotherhoods, they live, fight and die together.

Here is some basic information about the Tau.

“When in doubt, assume the person is undead and kill him."

Kroot

WH40K wrote: The Kroot are a species of humanoids who evolved from avian creatures. Kroot are tall aliens (a good half-meter taller than most humans), their avian ancestry giving them a bird-like beak and long quills protruding from their heads like hair. Smaller quills, possibly the evolutionary remnants of feathers, can be found scattered over their bodies.

A unique feature of the Kroot is that they evolve by selecting traits of their defeated foes to absorb by eating them. Due to this, the many Kroot warbands across the galaxy often look radically different. Kroot leaders are known as Shapers; they are generally the Kroot with the best ability for recognizing desirable traits in defeated foes and tell his Kindred (the word for a Kroot clan) what to eat to suit the task at hand. For instance, a Shaper who wants his Kroot to gain muscle mass will take on campaigns against Orks to acquire the right DNA, while extensive feeding on flying predators will allow the Kroot to grow wings. This eating of their foes ties in with the religious beliefs of the Kroot: they believe that when a warrior of any race dies, his warrior spirit should be kept, and the only way to do this is by eating his flesh. The Kroot practice this in their “burial” customs, in which the body of the deceased is consumed by the kindred.

Kroot who prey extensively on a particular species will begin to take the characteristics of that creature. In sentient species such as Orks and Humans, they may also take on cultural aspects of that race as well. Kroot who have fed on Dark Eldar, for example, soon begin to show signs of the cunning and intense cruelty the Dark Eldar are known for.

In the case of animals, this sometimes leads to evolutionary dead ends. A Kindred will find itself locked into an animalistic and unintelligent form, unable to evolve themselves any more. Species such as Tyranids who also absorb the DNA of their prey are particularly dangerous for Kroot to prey upon, as they may acquire too many undesirable Tyranid characteristics. The ecology of the Kroot home world of Pech includes many species of animal that are partially Kroot, the results of a kindred’s evolutionary missteps. The Kroot use these related creatures as laborers, pack animals, and even as weapons. The most common examples are the canine Kroot Hounds, the lumbering and powerful ape-like Krootox, the dromaeosaurid Knarloc riding beats, and the massive dinosaur-like Great Knarlocs. Another creature of note is the Kroothawk, an animal held sacred by the Kroot, possibly because it may be their evolutionary ancestor. There are other Kroot sub-species that are considered outcasts in Kroot society and are killed by Kroot if found.

In order to gather genetic material from all over the galaxy, the Kroot offer themselves as mercenaries, and sell their services to anyone willing to pay them. They travel the galaxy taking limited contracts from both major and minor races (most of which are too small to be included in the game), and are regularly employed by the Tau. While the contract with the Tau is supposed to be an exclusive one, the Kroot regularly send out their warspheres to continue their mercenary trade amongst the wider cosmos.

Outwardly, the Kroot seem to be a simple pre-industrial society, seemingly incapable of achieving (powered) flight, much less traveling through space. However, Tau observers on Pech have noted evidence that may point to an industrial base hidden on or even inside of some mountains. This may be explained by the Kroot feasting on the low-tech race that is the Orks. It’s probable that the Kroot deliberately keep their general level of technology low, using it only for weapons and interstellar travel, in order to keep their species strong.

The primary weapon deployed by the Kroot is a rifle whose design is derived from the fighting staffs used by their ancestors. This weapon is fitted with blades on the stock and the end of the barrel, which the Kroot make deadly use of in close combat. Originally a slug-thrower, the weapon was modified by the Tau to fire a charged particle similar to their own Pulse Rifles. This modification quickly became standard for all Kroot. The Kroot also employ the Kroot Gun which is too big and unwieldy for one Kroot to handle. So it has been mounted onto the back of Krootox. Another Rifle the Kroot has is the Kroot Hunting Rifle which is more of a sniper rifle then the standard Kroot Rifle.

In addition to the Kroot Rifle that the Tau helped the Kroot construct, the Kroot themselves have other weapons that they have gathered while performing as mercenaries for other races or scavenged on the battlefield. These weapons include Splinter Pistols, Bolt Pistols, Sluggas, Shuriken Pistols, Power Weapons, and Close Combat Weapons and their two handed cousins the Splinter Rifle, Storm Bolter Shoota, Shuriken Catapult, Flamer, Plasma Gun, and Melta Gun. Kroot may also have wargear which include frag grenades, krak grenades, melta bombs, auspex, and totems.

Vespid

WH40k wrote: Vespid are a unique race of insect-like aliens. They live on a gas giant called Vespid, three light years to the galactic south of the D’yanoi sept. Vespid live in “stalactites”, floating islands that are similar to Terran termite mounds. These islands float above the violet, storm-blasted planet with lighter-than-air gases, and deep on the planet’s hazardous surface, the Vespid females dive to collect the crystals to create the neutron blasters of the Stingwing forces. Upon first contact, the Vespid and the Ethereal Caste were unable to to communicate very extensively until the Earth Caste could create a device, now called the Communion Helm, that opened channels of communication for both races.

Vespid forces working with the Tau are organized into squads called Stingwings. Using their diamond-hard claws and neutron blasters to harass enemy heavy infantry, like Space Marines. The Stingwing commanders, called “Strain Leaders”, wear Communion Helms, gifted to them by the Ethereal caste, which allows them to keep in contact with both Shas’Ar’Tol command and the other members of the Strain.

The Vespid, like the Kroot, fight for the Greater Good alongside their Tau allies, which brings a sort of camaraderie to the Tau Empire’s forces that the Kroot do not share.

In the Tau language, they are called “Mal’kor”. This derives from the Tau words for 'insect,' “Mal," and 'air,' “Kor.“

“When in doubt, assume the person is undead and kill him."

XV8 Crisis battlesuit

WH40k wiki wrote: Those Fire Warrior who have proven themselves in battle earn the right to wear a battlesuit and bear the name of Shas’ui. They are experienced fighters who have fought the deadliest foes and triumphed. Their loyalty and skill is beyond question, and the best and bravest of them may be honored by being elevated to become a bodyguard to their Shas’o or Shas’el. Teams of Crisis Battlesuit warriors will have fought together for many years and, in many cases, will have performed the Ta’lissera ritual where the warriors swear oaths of communion and loyalty to one another, placing the welfare of the team ahead of their own personal desires.

A Bodyguard team of Fire Warriors in Crisis Battlesuit armor may accompany a Shas’o or a Shas’el Tau XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Commander. The Bodyguards will always be Shas’vre veterans, experienced and proven in battle. It is common for such Bodyguard teams to be predominantly made up of the Commander’s kin or long-term friends, and it is a great honor to be chosen for such duty. The Bodyguard embody the Tau philosophy of striving for the Greater Good at the expense of personal glory and these warriors are much respected by the rest of the army.

As Crisis Suits can be outfitted with a number of different weapons, code names for certain successful configurations have come into use by the Tau (and adopted by Tau players) to quickly describe the configuration of their Crisis teams.

“When in doubt, assume the person is undead and kill him."