T'au Empire


The T'au Empire is a fictional alien empire that appears in the setting of Warhammer 40,000. Warhammer 40,000 is a miniature wargame, and the Tau are one of the playable armies in the game.
In the fictional setting of Warhammer 40,000, the Tau Empire is a relatively small interstellar empire located on the fringe of the Imperium of Man. The Tau seek to conquer and subjugate all other intelligent species under an ideology they call "the Greater Good".

''Warhammer 40,000'' game mechanics (as of 8th Edition)

The Tau are oriented towards ranged warfare and generally die quickly in close quarters. They have some of the most powerful ranged weaponry in the game in terms of both range and stopping power. They heavily use the Overwatch special rule, which allows them to shoot back at their enemies when charged with relatively devastating power.
The Tau do not have any psykers nor units that specialise in countering psykers, which makes them somewhat more vulnerable to psychic attacks. There are, however, optional rules in the Open Play format for including psyker auxiliaries from other races.
Most Tau vehicles are classified as flyers, skimmers, or jet pack infantry, meaning they can move swiftly over difficult terrain.
The Tau are the only army in the game that routinely incorporates aliens from other species. Kroot warriors provide melee support, while the insectoid Vespids serve as jump infantry.

Real-world history and development

began developing what eventually became the Tau in the early 1990s. Initially, he conceived them as the counterpart to the Lizardmen faction from Warhammer Fantasy, in the same way the Eldar are the counterpart of the High Elves, and he called them "the Shishell". Like the Lizardmen, the Shishell had a caste-based society. The Shishell had five castes: Earth, Air, Fire, Water, and Spirit. The race was ruled by a caste of psykers. In 1999, Thorpe revisited his Shishell concept when Games Workshop asked him to develop a new army. The caste system became part of the new Tau race. The Spirit caste was renamed "Ethereal", and the Ethereals became non-psychic so as to differentiate them from the Eldar Seer councils.
Whereas most of the races in Warhammer 40,000 are based on Tolkien fantasy races, the culture and technology of the Tau were heavily inspired by Japanese science-fiction. This idea was proposed by Jes Goodwin, who is a sculptor at Games Workshop, as a way to attract new players who weren't interested by the overall fantasy-in-space theme of the other Warhammer 40,000 races.
The Kroot were originally conceived as a separate army in themselves, but were eventually merged with the Tau.
According to Andy Chambers, the chief designer at the time, the Tau were intended "to be altruistic and idealistic, believing heartily in unification as the way forward." Graham McNeill was responsible for much of the background material produced for the Tau, developing what Andy Chambers described as "their proud, quiet but determined character to the point where they actually became a rather likeable, if slightly naive addition to the cosmos."
This development was eventually seen as too disparate from the traditional dystopic atmosphere of the rest of the setting. The Tau were eventually modified to display the same altruistic overtones, but with a heavier Orwellian tone that implies that the Tau engage in mind-control and population replacement on worlds within their domain.
With the release of 8th Edition the Tau were rebranded as the T'au Empire.

Model design

Tau miniatures were designed to display the high-tech science fiction and robotic concepts that had resulted in the choosing of the Tau as the new army-race. The reflection of the Tau's high-technology status was reflected by the lack of cabling and links modelled onto the weapons; instead it was decided that these components were internally integrated. The Tau Infantry models, according to sculptor Jes Goodwin, were designed to have subtle influences taken from Chinese foot soldiers. The Battlesuits and vehicles drew from science fiction exo-suits, and were designed to slightly resemble a faster and more lightweight version of the Space Marine Dreadnought. While the Tau vehicles are 'skimmers', the design brief specified that the Tau Tanks have an impression of being heavier and more solid than the Eldar Grav-tanks while nowhere near as solid as some of the more heavily armed vehicles deployed by the Orks or the Chaos Space Marines.
The primary weapon for Fire Warrior teams are the Pulse Rifles, and the Pulse Carbine, a smaller, shorter-ranged version of the Pulse Rifle that is equipped with an underslung "photon grenade" launcher that can pin down enemy infantry. Both of these weapons function by firing particles that break down into plasma pulses as they are fired. Notably, the Tau are at an extreme disadvantage when it comes to close combat, as their standard infantry lacks any melee weapons.
The Rail Gun is the most iconic, and feared, of Tau weapons, which can be found on the Hammerhead tank. The rail gun has extreme range and is immensely powerful, being one of the best weapons in the standard Warhammer 40,000 game; its effect upon an Imperial tank is described as two neat holes in both sides, the crew sucked out through one of them as the projectile exited, their remains scattered across two dozen meters.

Influence of the Eye of Terror campaign

Since the setting of the Eye of Terror Worldwide Campaign was on the opposite side of the galaxy from the Tau Empire, and published materials had previously established that the Tau have limited faster-than-light capability, a separate 'mini-campaign' was held specifically for Tau players. Codex: Tau Empire was the first publication to incorporate the impact of this game event on the 40k universe. In the new background material published with the Codex, it is explained that Imperial forces were drawn away from Tau space to defend against Abaddon's Thirteenth Black Crusade. This left a power vacuum that prompted the Tau to initiate their Third Sphere Expansion.
In the campaign, registered games involving the Tau contributed to the expansion or contraction of Tau-controlled space. Over eight weeks of gaming, the Tau Empire grew by nearly a third due to victories.
The Tau were the fourth army to receive a Codex updated for Fourth Edition rules. Additional rules for the Tau appear in a Forge World Imperial Armour rules supplement.

In-universe fictional history

Biology

The T'au evolved as hunter-gatherers in the arid plains and desert environments of their homeworld, T'au, though they eventually spread to all ecological regions of the planet. As a result, they have tough, leathery blue-grey skin, which exudes no moisture. With an average height of 5'5", they have a humanoid body plan, though unlike humans they possess digitigrade legs which end in cloven hooves. The T'au have flat, nose-less faces, with their olfactory organs located inside of their mouths to preserve moisture. On the battlefield, the T'au typically wear all-concealing battlesuits which give them an even more alien or robotic appearance, but a T'au soldier that takes his helmet off for a closer look will reveal that their cranial arrangement isn't that much different from a human's. The different T'au castes have slightly different body proportions between themselves.
The T'au possess no psykers, and are said to register as little more than a "blip" in the Warp. T'au ships have no navigators and only realised the existence of the warp after contact with the Imperium. Instead the T'au make use of a form of Hyperdrive, a slower type of FTL travel and in turn drastically slowing the spread of the T'au across interstellar space. Their inaccessibility to the warp has also denied them the combat abilities of psykers on the battlefield, with the somewhat dubious benefit that they have very few encounters with the forces of Chaos. Indeed, there has never been a recorded instance of a T'au being tainted by Chaos in any form.. Their negligible signature in the Warp is also one of the main reasons that the Imperium of Man's psykers ignored the T'au for thousands of years, when they were seen as primitive hunter-gatherers confined to their own insignificant planet. Thus, the Imperium was taken by surprise when the T'au started building their small but vigorous interstellar empire, driven not by psyker adepts but by advances in technology, which the Imperium utterly shuns.

Caste-system

T'au society is divided into five castes. They are named after the elements of nature, which reflect the characteristics of each caste.
The culture of all T'au castes is influenced by terminology and mindsets related to a hunting context. For example, the two primary military tactics are called the "Mont'ka" and the alternative strategy known as the "Kauyon".
As the T'au expanded to other ecological regions of their homeworld, the cultural lifestyle of each group differentiated based on their surroundings. Those who moved from the plains to the fertile river valleys developed agriculture, metallurgy, and ultimately built the first true cities. With the rise of cities along major rivers came a rise in trade between cities, leading to another group of T'au becoming a culture of merchants plying their way along the major river networks. The T'au who moved to the mountain regions became very slender, and even grew membranes between their limbs which allowed them to glide on updrafts. These became a society of fast raiders, and later, messengers between cities. Those who remained in the arid plains became fierce and skilled hunters, larger and stronger than other T'au. The ancestors of the Fire Caste, these plains-T'au became fierce nomadic raiders and hunters. Each of the groups fought the others, with plains-T'au raiding the cities of the builder-T'au, and rival builder-T'au cities attacking each other.
According to T'au legend, during the siege of the ancient builder-T'au city of Fio'taun by plains-T'au warrior-nomads, a fifth and mysterious T'au caste suddenly appeared in their midst, the Ethereals, who mediated an end to the dispute. The Ethereals preached the philosophy of the "Greater Good" and began the process of unifying the other four groups under them. The Ethereals formally established the caste system between the five groups of T'au, locking each in place within T'au society. The Ethereals forbid interbreeding, meaning that members of each caste are forbidden to change caste. A side-effect of this is that each caste has been a separate breeding population for several thousand years, each almost forming its own sub-species, leading to notable disparate physical appearances between the castes.
The T'au castes are:
Ranks within Caste:
RankFire Caste Air Caste Water Caste Earth Caste Ethereal Caste
'SaalCadet––––
'LaWarriorMessengerBureaucratWorkerPrince
'UiVeteranCarrierEnvoySeniorPrelate
'VreHeroPilotMagisterOverseerKing
'ElKnightCaptainDiplomatEngineerHoly
'OCommanderAdmiralAmbassadorPlannerEthereal

Auxiliaries

As well as the five castes of the T'au, multiple alien species are incorporated into the T'au Empire; the most significant of these being the Kroot and Vespid although many other races, including the space-faring Nicassar and the Demiurg mining fleets are members. In addition, human auxiliaries are sometimes seen to be aiding the T'au as well.
The T'au Empire's practice of tolerating and incorporating other races stands in stark contrast with essentially all other major races in the galaxy, which exterminate other races completely rather than conquer and subjugate them. Reports vary on the exact conditions of the alien races working for the T'au themselves, ranging from that they are full allies within the Empire, to that they are mercenary armies hired out by the T'au to aid in the umbrella of protection the T'au military provides their region of space, to reports that these "auxiliaries" are glorified slaves. Still, the fact that the T'au want to co-exist with other races on any level, even if they are subjugated, makes them far more tolerant than other races, particularly the xenophobic Imperium of Man. Most reports generally indicate that the human auxiliaries serving the T'au Empire are relatively well-treated, with many serving the T'au voluntarily.
As the only significant human population in the galaxy which is not part of the Imperium, this has led to a great deal of both embarrassment and general bewilderment in Imperial officials, who have difficulty comprehending that many planetary-sized populations of humans would truly rather side with the T'au than the brutal and harsh Imperium. Refusing to believe that the Gue'vesa were willingly won over to the T'au Empire through what was honestly better treatment than they had under the Imperium, many Imperial officials continue to insist that other races must only serve under the T'au due to some form of mind control over their "allied" races.
Thus, in contrast to the forces of the Imperium of Man, a T'au army encountered on the battlefield may feature a wide menagerie of different alien races, working together for the Greater Good

Major allies

The Kroot were designed to have the physique of a Maasai warrior or a professional level basketball player. The 'inverted raptor' jaw was one of the elements quickly established, but care had to be taken not to emulate the jaw structure of the Orks. The idea that the Kroot evolved from birds came later, but conformed to the model design. The sensor quills were originally to be dreadlocks, but were changed late in the design process. The Kroot miniatures were almost exclusively sculpted by Brian Nelson.

Minor allies

The uniting philosophy of the T'au race is called "The Greater Good", which stresses communal living and cooperation, a convivial attitude to aliens, and self-sacrifice for the good of the whole. Most T'au sincerely believe they are on a noble mission to bring peace, justice, and progress to the rest of the galaxy.
While on the surface the T'au may seem like wonderful altruists, especially when compared to the extremely brutal Imperium of Man, the fiction shows many sinister undertones. The T'au can be ruthless with alien cultures who don't fit into their utopian society. Cultures which resist assimilation into the T'au Empire are subjugated by force. The Vespids, due to their insectoid mentality, could not relate to the T'au in any way until the T'au implanted "communication helms" into their brains, which then transformed them into compliant and model citizens. Whilst many assimilated humans do enjoy more liberties and comforts than they did under Imperium rule, those who stubbornly resist are sometimes interred in re-education camps or subjected to sterilisation programs. Meanwhile, others may be subject to intense brainwashing from other psychic client races hired by the T'au with failure sometimes resulting in death.
The ruling Ethereal caste uses some form of mind control, possibly pheromone-based, to control the other T'au castes. Literally, their every command is obeyed without question, their every decision seen as wise. The origins and ultimate motives of these mysterious beings are unknown.

Politics

When the T'au first started expanding to other star systems, they thought they were the only technologically advanced race in existence, and that it would be effortless to expand their reach throughout the rest of the galaxy. In 742.M41, they came into contact with the Imperium of Man, which launched the so-called "Damocles Crusade" to conquer the upstart T'au Empire. The war lasted for three years, between 742.M41 and 745.M41, before ending in stalemate - each side agreed to a truce due to the sudden appearance of the first Tyranid invasion of the galaxy, Hive Fleet Behemoth, which threatened them both. The Imperium's forces were rapidly withdrawn from the aborted Damocles Crusade to fight in the First Tyrannic War, and in such a fast panic that many Imperial Guard regiments were abandoned inside of the T'au Empire's territory, many of whom were absorbed into the ranks of the T'au military as auxiliaries. Each side learned new lessons from the Damocles Crusade: the Imperium of Man was forced to realise that the T'au were a new major race on the galactic scene, capable of standing up to the limited resources the Imperium was able to throw at them, due to most of its armies being spread thin across the galaxy fighting Chaos, Orks, and Tyranids. Meanwhile, the T'au had a rude awakening that the galaxy was not empty and theirs for the taking, but mostly controlled by the Imperium of Man, which even with its attentions divided between multiple alien threats controlled vast military resources. In the 250 years between the Damocles Crusade and the 13th Black Crusade, the T'au have been slowly but steadily expanding their sphere of influence, retrenching in the face of powerful alien races.
As a civilised technological race which does not inherently embrace warfare, the T'au are one of the few races that the Imperium of Man might be considered to have "diplomatic relations" with on any level. Unlike every other alien race, the T'au do not wish the destruction of humanity, and their reach is very short due to their limited interstellar capabilities. Though the Imperium ultimately wishes to destroy all alien races, it considers the T'au a low priority and has occasionally agreed to suspend hostilities to deal with more pressing threats. Imperial and T'au troops have often fought side by side against the Necrons and Tyranids as with the Eldar, and the Imperium could essentially be said to have been allies with the T'au. Thus after many thousands of years, the Imperium of Man is slowly beginning to rediscover the concept of "international diplomacy", in which the Imperium, the Eldar, and the T'au would each prefer to conquer all of the others, but each also realises that they cannot spare the resources for the full undertaking. Most commonly, it is simply a situation where when faced with a far more belligerent common foe that cannot be reasoned with, alliances are often in the best interests of both parties.
Due to the T'au Empire's location in the Milky Way Galaxy's Eastern Fringe, combined with their lack of psykers, they have had relatively little contact with the forces of Chaos, which are concentrated around the Eye of Terror in the galaxy's north-west, or the Maelstrom at the centre of the galaxy. The Imperium of Man has for the most part not prioritised military conflict with the T'au, which does occur but at a relatively low level. Contact with the Eldar is sporadic, and relations vary from one craftworld to the next. The biggest threats to the T'au Empire come from the Ork hordes, which control vast swathes of the Eastern Fringe, as well as the incursion of the Tyranid Hive Fleets, which tend to enter the galaxy through the Eastern Fringe. Thus the T'au two biggest military threats are alien races which possess military doctrines diametrically opposed to those of the T'au. Both the Orks and Tyranids flavor devastating close-quarters combat, while eschewing ranged combat.

Farsight Enclaves

While the T'au are relatively unified thanks to the T'au's subconscious urge to obey the Ethereals' with only rivalries between military commanders being the worst form of friction, there does exist a separatist faction called the Farsight Enclaves. Led by the renowned Commander Farsight, an expedition from the T'au homeworld was sent east towards the frontier between the Imperium and the T'au Empire to establish future colonies. Unfortunately, the expedition was eventually cut off from contact with the rest of the T'au, no less thanks to Farsight's unusual sense of independence. After an encounter with Daemons on Arthas Moloch led to massive casualties and the death of the Ethereal observers attached to the expedition, Commander Farsight was horrified that they kept the existence of Daemons a secret from the T'au military. He also began questioning past decisions that he previously thought were necessary sacrifices but now seemed to be influenced by the Ethereals. Horrified of having seditious thoughts and having no wish to disrupt the unity back in the T'au Empire, Farsight and his expedition exiled themselves to the Eastern Fringes and formed the Farsight Enclaves as an independent faction while the Ethereals have painted him as a dangerous renegade who must be avoided by the ordinary citizenship. In the 6th and 7th Edition of the game, the Farsight Enclaves were given Codex Supplements.

Computer games