luca scaccia65
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gu4AyUWBr18
- Location
- italy
so what does everyone here think of the lamenters?
Let's Read: Warhammer 40,000 Codexes and Star Wars RPG Sourcebooks (Dark Eldar Reviewer)
- Thread starter RiverDelta
- Start date
- Mature
IC: they have a flag in the hall of started that used to be in the flag collection for the hall of destroyed started chapters that I had to dust as punishment when I was younger. Better than the metric shot ton of super menacing chapter names but no astartes standard measures up to the beauty of a Custodian Vexilla made and maintained by the Mercury Wall Artisan Communities.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
[all OOC, to be clear, I don't have an IC as of this time]
Everything else about the orks' story is LESS plausible than that. At the same time, the orks don't obviously represent a higher order of bio-engineering skill than the Space Marines do, because while the orks have capabilities Space Marines don't, a lot of these capabilities seem to be granted by the fact that whoever made them felt free to just completely abandon any pretense of the limitations of humanoid biology.
First, remember that the author's calling Asdrubal Vect "just a man." Her standard for what constitutes Just A Dude is a little miscalibrated. Posit that the Emperor is some kind of mad scientist of psychic research who got into the habit of consuming energy fields larger than his head and ascended to something like unto godhood through the power of massed human and nonhuman sacrifices, for instance, and it all fits together tolerably well.
Throw away a million men here and a million men there and it starts to add up. Not because your depraved generals give a shit about the deaths but because you physically cannot ship enough warm bodies to the front lines fast enough. Your spaceships can only go so fast and can only carry so many people before the crew asphyxiates, or before the sanitary conditions in the cargo bays you're using for barracks get so bad that even the Nurglite daemons you pass in the Warp are wincing and offering you packages of sanitary wipes.
So you put your expendable mooks in some armor so that it at least takes a while for them to get expended. This problem basically exists in real life and is why human wave attacks have generally just failed horribly ever since the Battle of Omdurman. Modern artillery, even more than modern machine guns, means you just cannot mass unprotected bodies in the open and run them at the enemy defenses without everyone getting mulched.
Tyranids don't care because they will literally just eat up their own mulched dead and the soil they died in and use it to make half again as many biggaunts and stronggaunts and weirdgaunts as they used to have deadgaunts. Also because a lot of their bioforms can take a bazooka to the face and it just gives them a badass scar.
Orks don't care because they can survive being decapitated and having their head sewn back on with a rusty needle, and also because dying and exploding in a cloud of spores is how they reproduce anyway. Talk about your amor mortis.
Everyone else, including Imperial Guards, needs some armor to keep the lightest droplets of the steel rain off. Even if the armor is far too weak to stop such "ordinary" 40k weapons as a giant-ass anti-material doom laser or a fully automatic rocket-powered grenade launcher.
Because creating orks is a stupid idea? Because they will omnidirectionally facepunch everyone including their creators with wild, lunatic abandon? Honestly, the most plausible thing about the orks, bioengineered mega-chavs that they are, is that whoever created them is either long dead, probably at the orks' own hands, or seriously regretting their life choices.
Everything else about the orks' story is LESS plausible than that. At the same time, the orks don't obviously represent a higher order of bio-engineering skill than the Space Marines do, because while the orks have capabilities Space Marines don't, a lot of these capabilities seem to be granted by the fact that whoever made them felt free to just completely abandon any pretense of the limitations of humanoid biology.
I mean, it's not a huge surprise, but it's also not a huge stupid. In and of itself, it just merges two chunks of backstory into one.
I can sort of see it in a way.
First, remember that the author's calling Asdrubal Vect "just a man." Her standard for what constitutes Just A Dude is a little miscalibrated. Posit that the Emperor is some kind of mad scientist of psychic research who got into the habit of consuming energy fields larger than his head and ascended to something like unto godhood through the power of massed human and nonhuman sacrifices, for instance, and it all fits together tolerably well.
Nobody else does either! We're all just superficially faking it in different ways!
Well, somebody else said that the idea is that flak armor is basically there so you don't get immediately splattered just by shrapnel flying off of whatever was hit by a real weapon. This is actually not all that unrealistic; with science fictional weapons being thrown around, anything made out of unmodified human meat and not protected by some kind of armor or shenanigans might very well have such a low life expectancy in intense combat that even by Imperium of Man standards it's just a waste of time.
Throw away a million men here and a million men there and it starts to add up. Not because your depraved generals give a shit about the deaths but because you physically cannot ship enough warm bodies to the front lines fast enough. Your spaceships can only go so fast and can only carry so many people before the crew asphyxiates, or before the sanitary conditions in the cargo bays you're using for barracks get so bad that even the Nurglite daemons you pass in the Warp are wincing and offering you packages of sanitary wipes.
So you put your expendable mooks in some armor so that it at least takes a while for them to get expended. This problem basically exists in real life and is why human wave attacks have generally just failed horribly ever since the Battle of Omdurman. Modern artillery, even more than modern machine guns, means you just cannot mass unprotected bodies in the open and run them at the enemy defenses without everyone getting mulched.
Tyranids don't care because they will literally just eat up their own mulched dead and the soil they died in and use it to make half again as many biggaunts and stronggaunts and weirdgaunts as they used to have deadgaunts. Also because a lot of their bioforms can take a bazooka to the face and it just gives them a badass scar.
Orks don't care because they can survive being decapitated and having their head sewn back on with a rusty needle, and also because dying and exploding in a cloud of spores is how they reproduce anyway. Talk about your amor mortis.
Everyone else, including Imperial Guards, needs some armor to keep the lightest droplets of the steel rain off. Even if the armor is far too weak to stop such "ordinary" 40k weapons as a giant-ass anti-material doom laser or a fully automatic rocket-powered grenade launcher.
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IC: As someone who's Clan came from Jupiter don't get me started on those fucking waste of resources flak armour the Munitorum uses.Originally Flak armour was only meant for third rate PDF's, groups who were acting as occupation forces and skirmisher variety infantry.The mainly used combat Armour was of the Void Armour type seen below on a basic Solar Auxilla with a Kallibrax V-I pattern lasgun(think a hellgun in levels of damage),Solar Auxilla with a blastgun and a Auxilla Veletaris with a Volkite Charger(standard for a Veletaris Tercio but by the time of the Late Great Crusade Era Auxilla Heavy weapons teams were phasing them out in favour of easier to produce and less finnicky plasma weapons,bolters,meltas and flamers)
As you can see this armour is fully void sealed (and since this was first used by the Saturnyne Ordos these baby's have multiple redundancies so even if it gets hit and has cracks it can self repair itslef to a extent) and it can survive much more than Flak armour with it also capable of high resistance to small arms fire like lasguns and in very rare cases boltgun rounds.
Now you may be wondering what kind of incompetence caused this armor to get lost/destroyed.The answer is the Siege happened.You see most of the armour and core of the Auxilla came from the Jovian Void Clans,Saturnyne Ordos and volunteers from Terra (If you go through a Auxilla tour you get either Rejuvenat treatments with another tour or you get to move with your entire family from the wastelands of Terra to a nice settlement on a Paradise World or a good paying administrative job on a civilized world) all of whom got brutally murdered before the Traitors even reached Terra because they needed to crack the orbital defenses and in order to bypass most of the defenses they needed mass human sacrifices with some major desecration of cultural artifacts like the Comet War memorial/Shrine(I've heard it was something stupid like Haileys Comet but we remembered it as a war memorial for everyone both Imperial and Non Imperial who died in the Unification War).This meant most of the facilitie were lost and a good chunk of Auxilla died on what used to be the Dwarf Planet Pluto after it got invaded but before it exploded into tiny pieces.Whatevr was left died in the Siege of Terra.
- Location
- Mid-Atlantic
The idea that the mysterious null/blank/pariahs no one ever gets a good look at are actually anti-psychic supersoldiers made out of the one alien race known to be Not Psychic is... honestly not that bad. It's creative, it just seems weird when dropped in alongside a lot of other bombshells because the effects add up.
Also, I'm absolutely sure the Thunder Warriors faked a moon landing. The only question is which one!
You did manage to telegraph that pretty hard in the posts right before that one.
- Pronouns
- They/Their
I heard it once said that an Honorable Astertes is like a Wolf, working with the Group to bring down much greater Foes. Whereas each Custodes is like a Lion, Fiercely capable, but not intended to work together.
I don't know what either of those things *are*, but it does sound awesome.
Eh, you don't really see a lot of them around anymore, Emps and the Primarchs got most of them way back when.
Nowadays it's mostly just artifacts and weapons.
Very true on the wolf part. As someone who's been to the Terran Mammal Preservation Eco Dome (Beautiful place and thanks to our ancestral service we get to see it for free while Terran nobility plots and causes the occasional Tourist War just to have a limited Tour of around a day) itwould be a great insult to compare them to Lions in behavior. I would compare them to Falcons who can hunt together but prefer to experience the thrill of the hunt without interference from their peers.Sisters of Silence I would compare to gun dogs like the poodle in that can be around the Transhuman Dread early Custodians had (the early one terrify me. My upbringing as desensitized me to much but the first companions haunt my nightmares they are not beasts,men or gods.They are what can be approximated to deamon in the sense they are inhuman things that hunt and kill without remorse or emotion, nothing remains from wat the were and they find the younger ones weak and useless for even attempting to ape humanity) while the Lucifer Blacks are like the "traditional" type of hunting hound that tracks and inures the prey the Custodians hunt.
IC: @RiverDelta is it true that Commorogh has to deal with a giant warp gate in the middle of it that sometimes releases Slaaneshi Deamons that have to be repelled or is that propaganda? If it's true than do you have any specific techniques to prevent random deamons from spawning in weird areas because it's the third time the Heresy era Magrail I take to get back home from my workshop/school every morning has had to activate the plasma cannons(Rogal Dorn wass very thorough in fortifying things) to kill a deamon that managed to escape the underground tunnels, randomely teleports to Lions Gate or randomly makes the tourists batshit insane the holy pilgrims slightly more hostile than usual and it looks like the Black Ships are hitting a "dry spell"(for the psykers in attendance I know what happens to psykers who get fed to the Golden Throne,my family lives 1 Gate away from the Golden Throne itself) so I really want to know if you have some original ideas we could do.
Codex: T'au Empire, Part 1
- Location
- Back in the 90s (In a very famous TV show)
- Pronouns
- She/Her/Ve/Ver
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OOC: Well, this T'au update has gotten much longer than it should have been, so hopefully it'll be worth it. The idea here is a return to form. I'm pretty proud of this update, and the dialogue gives us new perspectives that I think should be really fun. It's definitely jokier, but I feel as though that breaks up the "Everything is propaganda" lens from Ynathe in previous updates.
IC: Well, Sister Vandire spanked me a few times in a manner she assures me was entirely platonic, so hopefully this time I won't make so many errors in reporting the facts. I do not think she realizes that spanking is a reward rather than a punishment for me—if a pedestrian one. I will have to tell her. I'm sure her response will be most amusing. Oh, and this is the Ninth Edition Codex for the T'au Empire.
Where have you been all my life? After the absolutely defamatory Drukhari codex and the codswallop about the Custodes (I think it's possible that the Sisters of Silence are just mutated T'au), such a sensitive and culturally respectful opening was not at all what I expected.
...Why are the Imperium so respectful to the T'au in this book? I am frankly jealous. Why should my noble and ancient people be called "arrogant" and "cruel" when the (admittedly seemingly-respectable) T'au get such flattery? Am I not important? Does my blade not strike as true as the suns are bright?
If one really wants to know my opinion on the T'au, it's that they're...fine. They're a well-organized nation based on mostly good principles that is both well-run and lacking in a history of unnecessary brutality. I can't say I truly adore them, as I find their society regimented and conformist. I also find their self-righteousness to be infuriating, and truthfully in my eyes the Imperium and the T'au are two sides of the same coin. I also could stand to know more about them.
(From the Pen of Sister Vandire: What are you talking about? The Tau are materialist, while the Imperium is spiritualist. The Tau are small and centralized, while the Imperium is massive and decentralized. The Tau focus on cutting-edge technology, while the Imperium prefers old and reliable technology. How are the Tau and the Imperium in any way alike? Is this some stupid dig at His empire?)
You're both boring.
My, I wonder why the Imperium would be trying to invent a new enemy to fight now that Chaos has proven itself to be manageable at worst and potentially beneficial for many at best.
(Sister Vandire: It might be that there are genuine tensions between the two states over things like ideology and resources. The Imperium's recognization of civilian humans living under the Tau as "hostages" is also a point of contention. I'd say that "hostages" is more or less accurate, though.)
Why must you be so obedient?
(Sister Vandire: Isn't that what you're for?)
My dear, I am a stone dominant.
(Sister Vandire: I do recall, unfortunately, you moaning something like "Oh, by the Emperor!")
Oh, damnations, Unnamed Author, please just kiss a Fire Warrior already!
(Sister Vandire: ...The effusive praise for the Tau is beginning to get way too grating. This sounds like they're trying to sell war materiel. Or, I suppose, they're trying to sell models.)
By Ynnead, if they were trying to sell models, what was the reason for the clear bigotry towards the Drukhari?
(Sister Vandire: I don't think most Imperials like Drukhari as a general rule.)
Yes, and that is surely to their great detriment!
Very true. This author speaks well of their warmongering and imperial ambitions!
(Sister Vandire: This is propaganda. The Tau make a point of working through soft power first. It's why there are many "mixed" planets where Imperial citizens and human citizens of the Tau mingle in relative peace. They're under the notice of the Administratum, of course, but the idea that the Tau are obsessed with spreading their ideals by the sword is an oversimplification. They are in some ways less belligerent than the blessed Imperium.)
That is not particularly hard to be, given that the Imperium of Man is a brutal, xenophobic, autocratic war-state bent on complete galactic conquest.
(Sister Vandire: Many Imperial worlds are the most tolerant places you'll ever find They pay their tithes and the Militarum keeps them safe. I was born on Justinia, raised to defend Mankind by the other nuns. I was not raised to extinguish the Xeno. There are other worlds that taught other things, but the Imperium is vast and it resists being simplified.)
Explain why your primary weapon is for setting people on fire.
(Sister Vandire: Baptismal water cleanses most sins, and flamers burn the most stubborn remainder away.)
(Sister Vandire: What absolute crap. The Tau are an irritant. They fight well, and I respect their conduct and their arms, but they're not a galactic threat and they never will be.)
...Well, they're innovating, and innovating faster than anyone. The history of war is innovation leading to success, is it not?
(Sister Vandire: Nothing can beat the Emperor.)
What about superior firepower?
(Sister Vandire: They worship a secular, false god. We worship the Most Holy. Through our faith, we will triumph should they make the mistake of facing us.)
Like you tried to squash them in the cradle?
(Sister Vandire: That wouldn't have been what I'd've preferred.)
(Sister Vandire: Technology is a danger as much as it is a tool. We learned that in the Dark Age of Technology, it seems the Tau didn't learn it after their's.)
(Sister Vandire: Oh, the False Prophets.)
I...do not know what to think of the Ethereals. I hope to learn more as I read.
I have always found the Greater Good and the Tau caste system to be...restrictive and conformist, uncomfortably so. It all reminds me of a hive more than a nation. I don't like it. I understand some in T'au space are happy, but it seems like a restrictive kind of happiness.
(Sister Vandire: It is the worship of a false, secular god figure.)
Natch.
Please just find a T'au partner and stop bothering us with your insipid simpering!
(Sister Vandire: No comment.)
Oh, you would be aroused by a well-muscled T'au embracing you with talk of the "Greater Good".
(Sister Vandire: No comment!)
I've done my research, and this is mere stereotyping. The Greater Good is not so simplistic, and this is largely a similar stereotype to ancient Terran ones of Asian Terrans. It's not a good idea to fetishize those one is attracted to.
(Sister Vandire: Returning to the actual review, the quoted bit is more or less the standard Imperial narrative on the Tau, that they're sort of a mindless blob. It's not really the case, of course. The Greater Good is less about the needs of the empire and more about the needs of the Tau itself as a species as well as their maintaining of a privileged position meant to guide other sophonts. This overlaps heavily with the "T'au Empire", but it isn't exactly the same.)
(Sister Vandire: The Tau are still best understood as individuals in a conformist society, rather than as some faceless horde.)
Hubris, vanity, and selfishness are the point of life, my dear! What's the point of anything if one isn't having fun? What dull, castrated lives the T'au must lead.
(Sister Vandire: It is, in some sense, admirable. Their faith is false, but it's strong.)
The more I read this, the more unsettlingly perfect it gets. Are the T'au really so...orderly?
(Sister Vandire: Yeah. That's about it.)
Where is the pain, the joy, the experimentation and the tragedy? Where is the beautiful horror? Where is the life?
(Sister Vandire: Probably dismissed as inefficient and a hindrance for the Greater Good by their government.)
What a profoundly artless society.
...By Ynnead, this is nightmarishly oppressive. What a sterile society.
...Felicity, the T'au are evil. They are profoundly evil. They are the death of individuality and art. Where the Imperium breaks bodies, the T'au break souls. This is a waking nightmare.
(Sister Vandire: Isn't there something sort of admirable about submitting to a higher calling?)
A righteous Drukhari's true loyalties are to herself, and she is good to others because she respects their selves as equals as precious as her own.
(Sister Vandire: The right idea, sure, but the wrong message.)
There is no one Light, no one Truth! There is only perception and the relationships between ideas and people! Reality is a prism, not a spotlight!
(Sister Vandire: What are you talking about?)
The T'au Empire is wrong. Something is very wrong here.
...Don't you see? The T'au would force the entire galaxy to serve them and their masters! They are a threat to freedom and autonomy themselves, as bad as the Imperium but more unsettling. At least the Imperium simply kills you!
(Sister Vandire: ...Is...Is this how you normally respond to a functioning, organized society? Are you so obsessed with Drukhari superiority that a society that isn't full of scheming and politics is somehow a threat to...free will?)
What kind of slave willingly finds a new master?
(Sister Vandire: Gue'vesa are often fed, clothed, and armed better than their counterparts in the Imperial Guard. Unfortunately, for the desperate, treason is commonplace.)
Is the author mad? "Peaceful relocation"? "Not cruel"? "Educated in the glory"? This is colonialism, vicious colonialism, and even by the author's own implication we are told that the T'au intend to do this to every civilization they meet! "Colonization begins at once", as well, is obvious doublespeak. I know not whether the T'au are victims of the Ethereals or mad conquerers in their own right, but they are scoundrels either way!
(Sister Vandire: Colonialism, forced relocation, and reeducation are just how societies work. There's nothing inherently wrong with them. That said, reeducation in the name of a false divinity is a problem.)
You're a coward.
(Sister Vandire: Somehow, I'm not that offended by you saying it.)
Fight them to the last! Burn their "perfect" cities to cinders, reveal the evil of their Greater Good in exquisite agony! Let their cruel soldiers be charred and displayed as the abominable creatures they are!
(Sister Vandire: ...You sound like your own stereotype of a Space Marine.)
What else am I supposed to say? The T'au are utterly intent on making life boring and the individual worthless. That is the greatest set of sins I can imagine!
(Sister Vandire: I guess I just expected better of you.)
Well, I expected better of the T'au, too, but if this Codex is accurate they are utter scum!
(Sister Vandire: Is the Codex accurate? Did you check?)
Let me check my sources.
(Sister Vandire: Sure.)
...Alright, I've looked into it, and it seems as though this Codex is vastly exaggerating the T'au jackboot. In reality, while they've engaged in several repressive "police actions", they are willing to seek the Greater Good without necessarily subjugating other species and evidence that the Ethereals have created a maniacally expansionist caste dictatorship seem to be exaggerated. I apologize to the T'au for my cultural insensitivity.
(Sister Vandire: They would likely find your gladiatrix career to be wasteful and harmful, though.)
So they are judgmental?
(Sister Vandire: Yeah.)
I have no idea what to think about the T'au. It is deeply infuriating. I find it utterly perplexing how they are regarded either as monstrous tyrants or unblemishe saviors. See here:
How accurate is this Codex?
(Sister Vandire: Why should I know? I've never dealt much with the Tau.)
Blast it. I know a T'au Earth Caste member, one who works as a doctor. She wouldn't say anything about the inner workings of the T'au military, but I suppose I can call in a favor or two.
(Vior Or'es: Hi! Ynathe is my friend! Who's this?)
(Sister Vandire: Are you...more enthusiastic than most Earth Caste members?)
(Vior Or'es: Very much so! However, like those of my caste I tend to speak very literally, so please do not use any complex metaphors or analogies. They will not translate well!)
You're very...direct, hm?
(Vior Or'es: Of course! Directness is the most efficient form of communication!)
(Sister Vandire: Well, how do you know this xenos?)
(Vior Or'es: I am Succubus Ynathe's personal doctor!)
(Sister Vandire: "She owes me a favor"?)
Fine, maybe I wanted to pretend that I had a more prestigious personal doctor I could brag about, but out on a raid she sort of clung to me. So, well, now she's here.
(Sister Vandire: Just...clung to you?)
(Vior Or'es: Yes, I am very busy! I was in need of work to do, and Succubus Ynathe gave me work!)
(Sister Vandire: And the Greater Good?)
(Vior Or'es: I am certain that Succubus Ynathe will come to it!)
Please do not expect that to happen.
(Vior Or'es: It'll happen eventually!)
It will not.
(Vior Or'es: I must warn you, it will be very busy for a while, so I may not be able to commentate on subsequent documents after this hateful and bigoted Codex!)
You've read it, then?
(Vior Or'es: Yes, it is deeply hateful in its implication that the T'au Empire is anything but a perfectly ideal society with no problems or questionable implications whatsoever!)
Well, fantastic, I suppose none of us know anything about the Tau?
(Sister Vandire: I think if we read this Codex and put all of our perspectives together, we may get an accurate view of the Tau.)
...Alternatively, none of us will understand anything about them and we'll all be incorrect in different ways.
(Sister Vandire: Pretty much. I'll pray that that doesn't happen.)
Well, that sounds entirely healthy. Is this all true?
(Vior Or'es: Yes, this is completely authentic!)
What a nightmarish abomination against individuality.
(Vior Or'es: ...No T'au starves. No T'au bleeds without good cause. No T'au has to worry about being abandoned, or afraid, or unloved. The Ethereals love us, they genuinely love us.)
They love you as objects.
(Vior Or'es: Being a person is hard. A Drukhari or Terran has to worry about dying unloved, about organizing themself, about finding meaning in life. We don't have to worry about any of that! From our creation to our annihilation, we're given love, direction, and meaning! That's what the Greater Good means, the Greater Good of everyone, a society based on worship of beings incapable of doing unjustified harm, beings that genuinely know what's best for everyone and can find a place for anyone! Why would anyone want a flawed, miserable individual life when someone can map out for you a fulfilling one?)
This is the most unsettling thing I've ever heard.
(Sister Vandire: No, she makes a good point. I can see how someone could find that comforting.)
(Vior Or'es: We have a saying in the T'au Empire: 'The river is great, for it is guided by the banks and the slope. Meanwhile, the pond is stagnant, for it has no reason to move.' We know what we need to accomplish, and we know where our life will begin and end. So we rush forward, faster and faster.)
I thought you Earth Caste members were bad with metaphor.
(Vior Or'es: That is a well-known idiom, and it was explained to me by a Water Caste member.)
And you are sure that this extreme collectivism isn't exaggeration or propaganda?
(Vior Or'es: No, this is a remarkably accurate document so far!)
What a bewildering Weltanschauung.
(Vior Or'es: Do you use long words to exert your superiority?)
"Exert"? That's a pretentious word.
(Vior Or'es: I use long words because my thoughts are very specific. Why do you use long words?)
I was educated by some of the finest tutors in the Dark City.
(Sister Vandire: Wait, are you trying to sound smarter than us?)
Not smarter, simply more aristocratic.
(Vior Or'es: "Aristocratic" means 'fancier'?)
(Sister Vandire: Yeah.)
(Vior Or'es: Well, it's never good to look down on others. Everyone is important.)
Perhaps I should get an "elegant" and "swift-witted" Water Caste member in my household.
(Vior Or'es: Oh, no, I would not recommend that!)
How come?
(Vior Or'es: Water Caste T'au are highly intelligent and good at persuasion! You are somewhat dumb, and as such would be vulnerable to manipulation for the T'au'v—Actually, no, you should find one! They would be very helpful and not at all able to persuade you to embrace the T'au'va!)
...You're describing me as "dumb", with that awful attempt at misdirection?
(Vior Or'es: I am bad at persuasion. You are unable to distinguish a Drukhari noble from an Adeptus Custodes. This is a very important difference!)
Bleh.
(Sister Vandire: You know what? I like this xenos.)
Don't you start.
I suppose that in a sense, we're all dumb. The T'au are too dumb to understand how the Warp works, and I am too dumb to find better sources.
(Vior Or'es: Yes, that is a completely accurate understanding! Truly, there is no end to the dumbness in the universe!)
(Sister Vandire: What do you think "dumbness" is?)
(Vior Or'es: Idiocy, ignorance, or stupidity? Oh, I believe I see the issue! 'Dumbness' does not have an insulting connotation among the T'au! To be accused of it is simply to be accused of being a flawed sophont, as we all are under the Ethereal Caste! There is no shame in a personality's imperfection.)
Weeded out?
(Vior Or'es: Yes. This is typically voluntary. A T'au whose genetics are detrimental to the caste would never willingly breed, and often will seek out sterilization. In rare cases, a rebellious T'au may be sentenced to sterilization, but this is extraordinarily uncommon! We all simply want to help the Empire.)
...This sounds like a cult.
(Sister Vandire: This seems fairly reasonable.)
Aren't you in a cult?
(Sister Vandire: The Sisters of Battle were the result of the fall of a cult, the Emperor's Brides.)
(Vior Or'es: Yes, and there were many cult-like structures among the primitive T'au before the Ethereals saved us from ourselves! It isn't a cult if the leader of the organization is entirely beneficial!)
...Think for yourselves!
(Sister Vandire: You might actually understand if the highest entity in your life wasn't Asdrubael Vect.)
Lord Vect is—Oh, why bother?
Wouldn't you rather be treated as adults? Besides, how is patching up my arena wounds serving the Greater Good?
(Vior Or'es: No. I do not want to live a life of terror and anarchy in the name of some abstract concept of freedom. Oh, and that is a good question! The answer is that I am providing an example of the Greater Good within Commorragh, one that other sophonts may follow!)
Great, secular missionaries. Absolutely irreplaceable.
(Vior Or'es: This is only somewhat true! The Ethereals are known for their kindness and wisdom, and they are only rarely ruthless! They are beings defined by their compassion, from leading great armies in the defense of the Tau'va to petting small household animals and giving great boons to whoever they come across!)
My personal theory is pheromonal control.
(Sister Vandire: Can't they just believe in something?)
That or hypnosis.
I'm sorry, I just find this whole society unsettling!
Bullshit.
(Sister Vandire: Horseshit.)
(Vior Or'es: Kev'atal manure.)
IC: Well, Sister Vandire spanked me a few times in a manner she assures me was entirely platonic, so hopefully this time I won't make so many errors in reporting the facts. I do not think she realizes that spanking is a reward rather than a punishment for me—if a pedestrian one. I will have to tell her. I'm sure her response will be most amusing. Oh, and this is the Ninth Edition Codex for the T'au Empire.
Where have you been all my life? After the absolutely defamatory Drukhari codex and the codswallop about the Custodes (I think it's possible that the Sisters of Silence are just mutated T'au), such a sensitive and culturally respectful opening was not at all what I expected.
...Why are the Imperium so respectful to the T'au in this book? I am frankly jealous. Why should my noble and ancient people be called "arrogant" and "cruel" when the (admittedly seemingly-respectable) T'au get such flattery? Am I not important? Does my blade not strike as true as the suns are bright?
If one really wants to know my opinion on the T'au, it's that they're...fine. They're a well-organized nation based on mostly good principles that is both well-run and lacking in a history of unnecessary brutality. I can't say I truly adore them, as I find their society regimented and conformist. I also find their self-righteousness to be infuriating, and truthfully in my eyes the Imperium and the T'au are two sides of the same coin. I also could stand to know more about them.
(From the Pen of Sister Vandire: What are you talking about? The Tau are materialist, while the Imperium is spiritualist. The Tau are small and centralized, while the Imperium is massive and decentralized. The Tau focus on cutting-edge technology, while the Imperium prefers old and reliable technology. How are the Tau and the Imperium in any way alike? Is this some stupid dig at His empire?)
You're both boring.
My, I wonder why the Imperium would be trying to invent a new enemy to fight now that Chaos has proven itself to be manageable at worst and potentially beneficial for many at best.
(Sister Vandire: It might be that there are genuine tensions between the two states over things like ideology and resources. The Imperium's recognization of civilian humans living under the Tau as "hostages" is also a point of contention. I'd say that "hostages" is more or less accurate, though.)
Why must you be so obedient?
(Sister Vandire: Isn't that what you're for?)
My dear, I am a stone dominant.
(Sister Vandire: I do recall, unfortunately, you moaning something like "Oh, by the Emperor!")
Oh, damnations, Unnamed Author, please just kiss a Fire Warrior already!
(Sister Vandire: ...The effusive praise for the Tau is beginning to get way too grating. This sounds like they're trying to sell war materiel. Or, I suppose, they're trying to sell models.)
By Ynnead, if they were trying to sell models, what was the reason for the clear bigotry towards the Drukhari?
(Sister Vandire: I don't think most Imperials like Drukhari as a general rule.)
Yes, and that is surely to their great detriment!
Very true. This author speaks well of their warmongering and imperial ambitions!
(Sister Vandire: This is propaganda. The Tau make a point of working through soft power first. It's why there are many "mixed" planets where Imperial citizens and human citizens of the Tau mingle in relative peace. They're under the notice of the Administratum, of course, but the idea that the Tau are obsessed with spreading their ideals by the sword is an oversimplification. They are in some ways less belligerent than the blessed Imperium.)
That is not particularly hard to be, given that the Imperium of Man is a brutal, xenophobic, autocratic war-state bent on complete galactic conquest.
(Sister Vandire: Many Imperial worlds are the most tolerant places you'll ever find They pay their tithes and the Militarum keeps them safe. I was born on Justinia, raised to defend Mankind by the other nuns. I was not raised to extinguish the Xeno. There are other worlds that taught other things, but the Imperium is vast and it resists being simplified.)
Explain why your primary weapon is for setting people on fire.
(Sister Vandire: Baptismal water cleanses most sins, and flamers burn the most stubborn remainder away.)
(Sister Vandire: What absolute crap. The Tau are an irritant. They fight well, and I respect their conduct and their arms, but they're not a galactic threat and they never will be.)
...Well, they're innovating, and innovating faster than anyone. The history of war is innovation leading to success, is it not?
(Sister Vandire: Nothing can beat the Emperor.)
What about superior firepower?
(Sister Vandire: They worship a secular, false god. We worship the Most Holy. Through our faith, we will triumph should they make the mistake of facing us.)
Like you tried to squash them in the cradle?
(Sister Vandire: That wouldn't have been what I'd've preferred.)
(Sister Vandire: Technology is a danger as much as it is a tool. We learned that in the Dark Age of Technology, it seems the Tau didn't learn it after their's.)
(Sister Vandire: Oh, the False Prophets.)
I...do not know what to think of the Ethereals. I hope to learn more as I read.
I have always found the Greater Good and the Tau caste system to be...restrictive and conformist, uncomfortably so. It all reminds me of a hive more than a nation. I don't like it. I understand some in T'au space are happy, but it seems like a restrictive kind of happiness.
(Sister Vandire: It is the worship of a false, secular god figure.)
Natch.
Please just find a T'au partner and stop bothering us with your insipid simpering!
(Sister Vandire: No comment.)
Oh, you would be aroused by a well-muscled T'au embracing you with talk of the "Greater Good".
(Sister Vandire: No comment!)
I've done my research, and this is mere stereotyping. The Greater Good is not so simplistic, and this is largely a similar stereotype to ancient Terran ones of Asian Terrans. It's not a good idea to fetishize those one is attracted to.
(Sister Vandire: Returning to the actual review, the quoted bit is more or less the standard Imperial narrative on the Tau, that they're sort of a mindless blob. It's not really the case, of course. The Greater Good is less about the needs of the empire and more about the needs of the Tau itself as a species as well as their maintaining of a privileged position meant to guide other sophonts. This overlaps heavily with the "T'au Empire", but it isn't exactly the same.)
(Sister Vandire: The Tau are still best understood as individuals in a conformist society, rather than as some faceless horde.)
Hubris, vanity, and selfishness are the point of life, my dear! What's the point of anything if one isn't having fun? What dull, castrated lives the T'au must lead.
(Sister Vandire: It is, in some sense, admirable. Their faith is false, but it's strong.)
The more I read this, the more unsettlingly perfect it gets. Are the T'au really so...orderly?
(Sister Vandire: Yeah. That's about it.)
Where is the pain, the joy, the experimentation and the tragedy? Where is the beautiful horror? Where is the life?
(Sister Vandire: Probably dismissed as inefficient and a hindrance for the Greater Good by their government.)
What a profoundly artless society.
...By Ynnead, this is nightmarishly oppressive. What a sterile society.
...Felicity, the T'au are evil. They are profoundly evil. They are the death of individuality and art. Where the Imperium breaks bodies, the T'au break souls. This is a waking nightmare.
(Sister Vandire: Isn't there something sort of admirable about submitting to a higher calling?)
A righteous Drukhari's true loyalties are to herself, and she is good to others because she respects their selves as equals as precious as her own.
(Sister Vandire: The right idea, sure, but the wrong message.)
There is no one Light, no one Truth! There is only perception and the relationships between ideas and people! Reality is a prism, not a spotlight!
(Sister Vandire: What are you talking about?)
The T'au Empire is wrong. Something is very wrong here.
...Don't you see? The T'au would force the entire galaxy to serve them and their masters! They are a threat to freedom and autonomy themselves, as bad as the Imperium but more unsettling. At least the Imperium simply kills you!
(Sister Vandire: ...Is...Is this how you normally respond to a functioning, organized society? Are you so obsessed with Drukhari superiority that a society that isn't full of scheming and politics is somehow a threat to...free will?)
What kind of slave willingly finds a new master?
(Sister Vandire: Gue'vesa are often fed, clothed, and armed better than their counterparts in the Imperial Guard. Unfortunately, for the desperate, treason is commonplace.)
Is the author mad? "Peaceful relocation"? "Not cruel"? "Educated in the glory"? This is colonialism, vicious colonialism, and even by the author's own implication we are told that the T'au intend to do this to every civilization they meet! "Colonization begins at once", as well, is obvious doublespeak. I know not whether the T'au are victims of the Ethereals or mad conquerers in their own right, but they are scoundrels either way!
(Sister Vandire: Colonialism, forced relocation, and reeducation are just how societies work. There's nothing inherently wrong with them. That said, reeducation in the name of a false divinity is a problem.)
You're a coward.
(Sister Vandire: Somehow, I'm not that offended by you saying it.)
Fight them to the last! Burn their "perfect" cities to cinders, reveal the evil of their Greater Good in exquisite agony! Let their cruel soldiers be charred and displayed as the abominable creatures they are!
(Sister Vandire: ...You sound like your own stereotype of a Space Marine.)
What else am I supposed to say? The T'au are utterly intent on making life boring and the individual worthless. That is the greatest set of sins I can imagine!
(Sister Vandire: I guess I just expected better of you.)
Well, I expected better of the T'au, too, but if this Codex is accurate they are utter scum!
(Sister Vandire: Is the Codex accurate? Did you check?)
Let me check my sources.
(Sister Vandire: Sure.)
...Alright, I've looked into it, and it seems as though this Codex is vastly exaggerating the T'au jackboot. In reality, while they've engaged in several repressive "police actions", they are willing to seek the Greater Good without necessarily subjugating other species and evidence that the Ethereals have created a maniacally expansionist caste dictatorship seem to be exaggerated. I apologize to the T'au for my cultural insensitivity.
(Sister Vandire: They would likely find your gladiatrix career to be wasteful and harmful, though.)
So they are judgmental?
(Sister Vandire: Yeah.)
I have no idea what to think about the T'au. It is deeply infuriating. I find it utterly perplexing how they are regarded either as monstrous tyrants or unblemishe saviors. See here:
How accurate is this Codex?
(Sister Vandire: Why should I know? I've never dealt much with the Tau.)
Blast it. I know a T'au Earth Caste member, one who works as a doctor. She wouldn't say anything about the inner workings of the T'au military, but I suppose I can call in a favor or two.
(Vior Or'es: Hi! Ynathe is my friend! Who's this?)
(Sister Vandire: Are you...more enthusiastic than most Earth Caste members?)
(Vior Or'es: Very much so! However, like those of my caste I tend to speak very literally, so please do not use any complex metaphors or analogies. They will not translate well!)
You're very...direct, hm?
(Vior Or'es: Of course! Directness is the most efficient form of communication!)
(Sister Vandire: Well, how do you know this xenos?)
(Vior Or'es: I am Succubus Ynathe's personal doctor!)
(Sister Vandire: "She owes me a favor"?)
Fine, maybe I wanted to pretend that I had a more prestigious personal doctor I could brag about, but out on a raid she sort of clung to me. So, well, now she's here.
(Sister Vandire: Just...clung to you?)
(Vior Or'es: Yes, I am very busy! I was in need of work to do, and Succubus Ynathe gave me work!)
(Sister Vandire: And the Greater Good?)
(Vior Or'es: I am certain that Succubus Ynathe will come to it!)
Please do not expect that to happen.
(Vior Or'es: It'll happen eventually!)
It will not.
(Vior Or'es: I must warn you, it will be very busy for a while, so I may not be able to commentate on subsequent documents after this hateful and bigoted Codex!)
You've read it, then?
(Vior Or'es: Yes, it is deeply hateful in its implication that the T'au Empire is anything but a perfectly ideal society with no problems or questionable implications whatsoever!)
Well, fantastic, I suppose none of us know anything about the Tau?
(Sister Vandire: I think if we read this Codex and put all of our perspectives together, we may get an accurate view of the Tau.)
...Alternatively, none of us will understand anything about them and we'll all be incorrect in different ways.
(Sister Vandire: Pretty much. I'll pray that that doesn't happen.)
Well, that sounds entirely healthy. Is this all true?
(Vior Or'es: Yes, this is completely authentic!)
What a nightmarish abomination against individuality.
(Vior Or'es: ...No T'au starves. No T'au bleeds without good cause. No T'au has to worry about being abandoned, or afraid, or unloved. The Ethereals love us, they genuinely love us.)
They love you as objects.
(Vior Or'es: Being a person is hard. A Drukhari or Terran has to worry about dying unloved, about organizing themself, about finding meaning in life. We don't have to worry about any of that! From our creation to our annihilation, we're given love, direction, and meaning! That's what the Greater Good means, the Greater Good of everyone, a society based on worship of beings incapable of doing unjustified harm, beings that genuinely know what's best for everyone and can find a place for anyone! Why would anyone want a flawed, miserable individual life when someone can map out for you a fulfilling one?)
This is the most unsettling thing I've ever heard.
(Sister Vandire: No, she makes a good point. I can see how someone could find that comforting.)
(Vior Or'es: We have a saying in the T'au Empire: 'The river is great, for it is guided by the banks and the slope. Meanwhile, the pond is stagnant, for it has no reason to move.' We know what we need to accomplish, and we know where our life will begin and end. So we rush forward, faster and faster.)
I thought you Earth Caste members were bad with metaphor.
(Vior Or'es: That is a well-known idiom, and it was explained to me by a Water Caste member.)
And you are sure that this extreme collectivism isn't exaggeration or propaganda?
(Vior Or'es: No, this is a remarkably accurate document so far!)
What a bewildering Weltanschauung.
(Vior Or'es: Do you use long words to exert your superiority?)
"Exert"? That's a pretentious word.
(Vior Or'es: I use long words because my thoughts are very specific. Why do you use long words?)
I was educated by some of the finest tutors in the Dark City.
(Sister Vandire: Wait, are you trying to sound smarter than us?)
Not smarter, simply more aristocratic.
(Vior Or'es: "Aristocratic" means 'fancier'?)
(Sister Vandire: Yeah.)
(Vior Or'es: Well, it's never good to look down on others. Everyone is important.)
Perhaps I should get an "elegant" and "swift-witted" Water Caste member in my household.
(Vior Or'es: Oh, no, I would not recommend that!)
How come?
(Vior Or'es: Water Caste T'au are highly intelligent and good at persuasion! You are somewhat dumb, and as such would be vulnerable to manipulation for the T'au'v—Actually, no, you should find one! They would be very helpful and not at all able to persuade you to embrace the T'au'va!)
...You're describing me as "dumb", with that awful attempt at misdirection?
(Vior Or'es: I am bad at persuasion. You are unable to distinguish a Drukhari noble from an Adeptus Custodes. This is a very important difference!)
Bleh.
(Sister Vandire: You know what? I like this xenos.)
Don't you start.
I suppose that in a sense, we're all dumb. The T'au are too dumb to understand how the Warp works, and I am too dumb to find better sources.
(Vior Or'es: Yes, that is a completely accurate understanding! Truly, there is no end to the dumbness in the universe!)
(Sister Vandire: What do you think "dumbness" is?)
(Vior Or'es: Idiocy, ignorance, or stupidity? Oh, I believe I see the issue! 'Dumbness' does not have an insulting connotation among the T'au! To be accused of it is simply to be accused of being a flawed sophont, as we all are under the Ethereal Caste! There is no shame in a personality's imperfection.)
Weeded out?
(Vior Or'es: Yes. This is typically voluntary. A T'au whose genetics are detrimental to the caste would never willingly breed, and often will seek out sterilization. In rare cases, a rebellious T'au may be sentenced to sterilization, but this is extraordinarily uncommon! We all simply want to help the Empire.)
...This sounds like a cult.
(Sister Vandire: This seems fairly reasonable.)
Aren't you in a cult?
(Sister Vandire: The Sisters of Battle were the result of the fall of a cult, the Emperor's Brides.)
(Vior Or'es: Yes, and there were many cult-like structures among the primitive T'au before the Ethereals saved us from ourselves! It isn't a cult if the leader of the organization is entirely beneficial!)
...Think for yourselves!
(Sister Vandire: You might actually understand if the highest entity in your life wasn't Asdrubael Vect.)
Lord Vect is—Oh, why bother?
Wouldn't you rather be treated as adults? Besides, how is patching up my arena wounds serving the Greater Good?
(Vior Or'es: No. I do not want to live a life of terror and anarchy in the name of some abstract concept of freedom. Oh, and that is a good question! The answer is that I am providing an example of the Greater Good within Commorragh, one that other sophonts may follow!)
Great, secular missionaries. Absolutely irreplaceable.
(Vior Or'es: This is only somewhat true! The Ethereals are known for their kindness and wisdom, and they are only rarely ruthless! They are beings defined by their compassion, from leading great armies in the defense of the Tau'va to petting small household animals and giving great boons to whoever they come across!)
My personal theory is pheromonal control.
(Sister Vandire: Can't they just believe in something?)
That or hypnosis.
I'm sorry, I just find this whole society unsettling!
Bullshit.
(Sister Vandire: Horseshit.)
(Vior Or'es: Kev'atal manure.)
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OOC: Annnd the culture clash/blue-and-orange morality strikes again! This time from two sides!
OOC: Isn't it life, really? Everyone experiences reality in a unique, subjective way and only by combining insight can we approach the truth, like in that parable about blind men and an elephant.
OOC: Sweet fate, my sides hurt!
- Location
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[looks at close combat performance]
Sister Vandire: "Too bad you'll never know, as there is no such thing as a T'au who lifts."
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khan2012
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OOC: absolute genius, I love it.
IC Edit: also muscular tau 100% exist, even if you're not melee fighters being a soldier still requires strength and fitness. Pathfinders especially, given they have to operate without support and live off the land more often.
IC: The kind who wants to survive. The Imperium left us to die on T'Ros. We would have spent the entirety of our lives destitute in horrendous conditions, with no choice or opportunity to do anything else. The Tau give us choice, and they do respect our traditions in some ways. There actually is art in the Tau Empire! It's almost exclusively made by non-T'au, but it's there and thriving. So long as we work for the greater good, the Tau recognize the importance of spiritual fulfillment for human beings - we genuinely contribute less to the Greater Good without our art to nourish us- and allow us to create our own art. The art scene on T'ros is actually incredibly vibrant, now that we're free of imperial repression and mandated worship to the Emperor. You should visit sometime- it doesn't celebrate pain like your society, but I'm sure there's something to catch your interest. All in all, yes I'm happy to be part of the Greater Good. It's kept my belly full and my family alive, which is more than the Imperium could goddamn say.
IC Edit: also muscular tau 100% exist, even if you're not melee fighters being a soldier still requires strength and fitness. Pathfinders especially, given they have to operate without support and live off the land more often.
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OOC: Thank you! As usual, mind if I ask what you enjoyed about the update?
IC: I suppose, but it seems like a lateral move, does it not? You're going from one (mostly) joyless conformist empire to another (mostly) joyless conformist empire.
Oh, and do the T'au not repress you as the Imperials do?
khan2012
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OOC: the comedy was great, I loved the conflicting narratives kind of emphasizing the chaos of 40k's galaxy (pun not intended).
IC: No, no they do not. Aside from providing for us materially far better than the Imperium, the Tau recognize humankind is at its most efficient, and most able to innovate and contribute to the Greater Good, when it's allowed to be more free. It's cold simple logic rather than anything ideologically motivated but it still lets us live much freer lives than we had in the Imperium.
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OOC: TYTY, I'm glad the comedy worked well! Oh, and yeah, the idea is that this galaxy is better than the Only War one, but that there are many varied perspectives.
IC: ...Are you like Vior Or'es, then, willing to take regimentation, compassion, order, safety, and structure at the expense of individualism? Or are the Gue'vesa given a longer leash than the T'au?
khan2012
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IC: The Gue'vesa are given a longer leash than the T'au yes, because we work better with one. There are instances of T'au who work better independently as well- I'll be curious to see what you make of the Farsight Enclaves once you get to them. The Tau are all about efficiency in serving the Greater Good, and they're willing to bend if you can prove you're more efficient doing things differently. Proving that efficiency was a challenge, but we have done so on T'ros and on many other worlds. The same has happened in cases I'm less comfortable with as well - I don't think the Kroot's ……culinary preferences will ever sit well with me, but the T'au allow it because it works better. It's the same thing with allowing human expression.
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What do you think of the Ethereals? As the humans say, are they all that their egg has cracked up being?
khan2012
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I haven't met enough to really say, to be honest. My world is pretty far out on the frontier relatively speaking, and we do not get many ethereals visiting often. I have seen and met a few briefly when they come by the garrison to give speeches and the like, and they seem like competent leaders. A bit boring and humorless, but they know what they're doing. I do think any ideas of mind control or pheromones is complete and utter bullshit, however.
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So, what, you think they just happen to be persuasive and good at leading, so people listen to them? Also, what do you think of the Secret Aur'Va Replacement Conspiracy nonsense?
khan2012
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I think yes. I think they're trained and raised to be persuasive and good at leading from birth, and that level of training can go a long way. Nurture over nature and all that. That replacement theory is also absolutely goddamn nonsense, designed to tell the imperium "the tau aren't any better than us, they worship a dead being on a throne but even worse because this supposedly dead Aun'va doesn't do anything!" It's absolutely made up.
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It was very strange. A lot of the propaganda in this Codex was understated, even kind of complimentary. Did some editor force in the replacement theory just because it wasn't "sacred" enough?
khan2012
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Honestly, that's about my guess too. It absolutely reads like editorial meddling.
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Do you ever wonder who writes these?
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Sister Vandire:
Why would you worship fallible, mortal beings when you could be worshipping a god? I know that your specific part of the Imperium was repressive, but that doesn't apply to all of it. It's a really decentralized structure. There's a lot of places in the Imperium where you would probably be freer and happier than in the T'au Empire. Oh, and be careful, I know they seem reasonable at first, but the more they draw you in, the more they'll expect you to conform.
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IC:
Had a Tau try to rip out my throat 'cause I managed to nail one of the Ethereal Commanders. They were acting almost *feral* once they went down, and Tau Units across the entire front became significantly more aggressive, to the point that several groups attempted to charge Guard lines.
That's almost Standard Doctrine, as far as I'm aware, since the Guard only really has an advantage from an entrenched position. Force the Tau to come to us, and take them out, typically by either killing Ethereals or by holding critical positions on the Front.
As for the rest of it, well, Tau might be willing to give you more slack, but why would I trade a leash for a Gilded Cage, I'm serving a Master either way, but at least the Imperium is honest in its stupidity.
Also, Re: Tau Aligned Minor Xenos:
Kroot are... bizzare, almost as bad as Fighting Orks, but at least they'll actually die if you shoot them enough times.
Vespids are just strange, they're typically Glass Cannons and any Defensive Network with halfway decent AA is going to make them largely ineffective. The fact that they're only ever being led by a Big One with what looks like a Neural Interface strapped to it is bizzare, but then again, Tau. Basically eerything they do is strange.
Tau Psyker Auxs are, well, I shoot them first because Psyker Bulkshit, but any Proper Battle Psyker is able to handle them decently enough. I still suggest directing fire towards them just in case. I've seen one Pop once, it's... not fun.
The Crab Xenos are... well, they exist? I've killed enough of them to say that, like, they're not really a Big Deal beyond the fact that the Tau use them to maintain a bunch of their gear, especially anything that won't Bounce by their standards (because no Tau tech actually Bounces,) so they're generally Rear-line units. Just don't get Swarmed by them and you'll be fine. (Seriously, despite their diminutive size compared to Humans, they don't fuck around in Mass.)
Space Xenos, never encountered them, heard some horror stories about them from the Aeronautica Pilots, honestly sound like they're just Less Dangerous Dark Elf Mandrakes, which I *guess* they're useful, but like, why wouldn't the Tau just send drones? It just sounds plain callous to have Allies be exploring super dangerous parts of Space by themselves.
Nah, I've fought Tau enough times to know that something like that wouldn't work. Your average Tau's too... *consistent* in their Cultish-behavior, almost like the Guardsmen from Krieg.
Had a Tau try to rip out my throat 'cause I managed to nail one of the Ethereal Commanders. They were acting almost *feral* once they went down, and Tau Units across the entire front became significantly more aggressive, to the point that several groups attempted to charge Guard lines.
That's almost Standard Doctrine, as far as I'm aware, since the Guard only really has an advantage from an entrenched position. Force the Tau to come to us, and take them out, typically by either killing Ethereals or by holding critical positions on the Front.
As for the rest of it, well, Tau might be willing to give you more slack, but why would I trade a leash for a Gilded Cage, I'm serving a Master either way, but at least the Imperium is honest in its stupidity.
Also, Re: Tau Aligned Minor Xenos:
Kroot are... bizzare, almost as bad as Fighting Orks, but at least they'll actually die if you shoot them enough times.
Vespids are just strange, they're typically Glass Cannons and any Defensive Network with halfway decent AA is going to make them largely ineffective. The fact that they're only ever being led by a Big One with what looks like a Neural Interface strapped to it is bizzare, but then again, Tau. Basically eerything they do is strange.
Tau Psyker Auxs are, well, I shoot them first because Psyker Bulkshit, but any Proper Battle Psyker is able to handle them decently enough. I still suggest directing fire towards them just in case. I've seen one Pop once, it's... not fun.
The Crab Xenos are... well, they exist? I've killed enough of them to say that, like, they're not really a Big Deal beyond the fact that the Tau use them to maintain a bunch of their gear, especially anything that won't Bounce by their standards (because no Tau tech actually Bounces,) so they're generally Rear-line units. Just don't get Swarmed by them and you'll be fine. (Seriously, despite their diminutive size compared to Humans, they don't fuck around in Mass.)
Space Xenos, never encountered them, heard some horror stories about them from the Aeronautica Pilots, honestly sound like they're just Less Dangerous Dark Elf Mandrakes, which I *guess* they're useful, but like, why wouldn't the Tau just send drones? It just sounds plain callous to have Allies be exploring super dangerous parts of Space by themselves.
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