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This will be like my previous thread about the Night Lords.

Most of the 40k factions are pretty f-ed up. The totalitarian Imperium, chaotic Forces of Chaos, selfish Eldar, sadistic Dark Eldar, crazy Orks, stone-cold Necrons and ravenous Tyranids.

Only the Tau have a significant measure of good in them. After all, they follow the "greater good". Some see the Tau as a beacon of hope, progress and enlightenment in 40k. Well, with this thread I hope to change that.

We can make the Tau sound as nasty, depressing and grimdark as the rest of 40k. So list all the negative qualities about the Tau.

With the release of the Farsight dex, GW is also moving the Tau Empire towards the "dark side".



Update: EmpNortonII has given me another idea. So I'm gonna add a 2nd objective to this thread:

Besides listing the negative qualities of the Tau as viewed from other factions, also list the Tau Empire's weaknesses.

Also list ways in which the Tau Empire causes its own Tau and allied xenos subjects to suffer. Especially its own Tau subjects.

The Ethereals, I get a Joseph Stalin vibe from them. Act all nice in the propaganda and then are completely ruthless

I mean, aside from them being literal space nazis?

Well they are just as willing to murder civilians on the scale of the Imperium and other factions as the Damocles anthology proved.

They may very well be hiding the truth of the galaxy from their subjects (That their goal of conquering it all is a naive fantasy and that the universe has no interest in friendship, but is more interested in killing them all and kicking dirt on the pyre.)

Sterilization camps and what not may be a truth if Dawn of War and the Death Watch RPG Campaign are to be believed.

When it comes down to it they are just as resource hungry and violent as the other factions.

When it comes to their non-tau Auxiliaries, they are more willing to risk them than a Tau life.

They are vulnerable to daemonic suggestion as the Damocles anthology has demonstrated.

Those who question the Tau doctrine or the Ethereals are known to disappear.

Let me know if I missed anything.

Brainwashing and mind-control technologies, conquest and torture of the conquered (sterilization and brainwashing count as torture), neuro-linquistic programming, devaluing of the individual, jingoistic "divine right" to rule, etc.

The Tau would be the 0% approval rating villain in any other work of Science Fiction. No one considers the Borg, Yuzong Vong, or Inner Party (1984) to be "good".

They're also just smug pricks, really. You know the type. They're the guy at the party that doesn't brag about his awesome and way-better-than-yours job by... not bragging about it. And, see, that invites people to ask questions, engage him on the subject, and, thus, it is like a passive-aggressive sort of bragging.

Those kinds of jerkbags? Those are the Tau, the smug prick bastards.

They're also just smug pricks, really. You know the type. They're the guy at the party that doesn't brag about his awesome and way-better-than-yours job by... not bragging about it. And, see, that invites people to ask questions, engage him on the subject, and, thus, it is like a passive-aggressive sort of bragging.

Those kinds of jerkbags? Those are the Tau, the smug prick bastards.

....I don't in fact know those kind of people.

But Tau really can be the most dangerous kind of evil. The evil that is really tempting on the surface, but you just kinda get this sense of foreboding. If you are a Tau (non ethereal) then it seems pretty sweet. "Greater Good", just join us we can save you from your selves etc. But I have the feeling that once you drink the kool-aid there is no turning back.

I think the kroot are just in too deep (or much more likely too stupid) to do anything else at this point. Vespids too (although they are set up with a really defined hireachy and there may be a Tau with a gun to the leaders head at all times). I think all the humans who joined up did so out of desperation, IoM left them flapping and the Tau showed up and promised to treat them as equals. Now they just use them as farm ahnds an cannon fodder (so no real change from the IoM)

The fact they have the whole total control aspect plus a enforced truth and tight information control just like impirium, desire for conquest, just like impirium.

In certain respects they are just like impirium.
And most other sci fi universe would call them a high rated evil faction.

...I don't in fact know those kind of people.

This should put you on notice that you might *be* that type of person. Best check to make sure that your friends are not all "omg, I want to work there/do what you do" etc and that you're not being a Smug Prick Bastard at parties.

If you are, I'm sure there's a program or a twelve-step or something to get involved in, maybe read about it in the paper.

This should put you on notice that you might *be* that type of person. Best check to make sure that your friends are not all "omg, I want to work there/do what you do" etc and that you're not being a Smug Prick Bastard at parties.

Ohh there is no way any of my friends want my job, Trust me.

Although idk that the Tau really just sit all smug like, they are pretty vocal that there is one right way, their way.

taurising wrote:

But Tau really can be the most dangerous kind of evil. The evil that is really tempting on the surface, but you just kinda get this sense of foreboding. If you are a Tau (non ethereal) then it seems pretty sweet. "Greater Good", just join us we can save you from your selves etc. But I have the feeling that once you drink the kool-aid there is no turning back.

It is more like the kool-aid tastes good, but then you realize that it is just liquid plastic and sunlight, all shiny and no substance, and when you tell the Ethereal that their kool-aid is kinda' off ,then he is, like: "Silly Gue'vesa, we know how to make kool-aid, so trust us, it is a good drink!"... Yeah, then, you realize that you have just enlisted for the single stupidest faction of the galaxy, who carry their brains in their butts yet think that they are the smartest bunch around.

Really, the Tau's worst is their fine combination of naivety, ignorance, and self-assurance... so they are pants-on-head slowed in comparison of everyone else. The look smart, they think that they are smart, but under the surface, they are dumber than a random snotling.

And yeah, these people are supposed to be the closest we can get for good guys !

 jhe90 wrote:
The fact they have the whole total control aspect plus a enforced truth and tight information control just like impirium, desire for conquest, just like impirium.

In certain respects they are just like impirium.

I've always imagined that there are some Ethereals that operate just like Inquisitors. Rolling in, throwing around unquestionable Ethereal Authority, rooting out 'those who fail to adequately consider the greater good' (Heresy by any other name). Sure there would be less executions and stake burning, and more 'disappearances' and 're-education' camps. But the whole exercise would be eerily similar.

One of the in-jokes of Brighthammer 40k is that the Tau are unchanged from regular 40k... and are so are the evil bad guys of the setting.

Tau method of control works on a small scale. But on a larger scale like they WANT to do, it will fail because the Ethereal always want to micromanage the population.

The first mistake was Farsight. And it looks like the second one is going to be Shadowsun.

Prior to stuff about death camps etc. coming out I always looked at the basic maths. The Tau will always be the dominant race in the Tau Empire - obviously - and population wise they are dwarfed by humanity, hence they will not simply absorb the Imperium because it would upset the balance, so something bad has to go down.

But look at it from perspective of a minor xeno race. We as humans see the Imperium as the best in a gakky situation because all other options lead to our death but remember the Imperium has been the number one source of death and horror for all other races for 10,000 years.

Really think about that number.

Entire civilisations have risen up and fallen knowing humans are inherently evil, god knows how many xeno races depict humans as their literal personification of the devil.

So if you're a space beetle from planet Xynextia, the Tau look like a really good deal. Sure you'll be a second class citizen, sure your soldiers will be used as cannon fodder but at least the Tau wont commit genocide just because you don't look like them.

I still hold that the Tau are the best deal you're going to get in the 40k universe its just that humans are the number 1 scourge of the galaxy so they are naturally going to be dealt with harshly because the Tau/Vespids/Kroot/Demiurg know how dangerous they are.

"Human rights" don't apply to Xenos, simply for the fact that they are not human, by definition, ergo, it is the manifest destiny of Mankind, as set down by the Emperor, to rule the stars unopposed.

You may ask what gives the Imperium the right to consign a billion, or a quintillion, lives to oblivion... those who truly understand will realize that it has no right to let them live.

Precisely the xenos themselves would ask that question - then see the Tau and go "can we join you guys?"

For humanity the Imperium is the only option, for everyone else the Tau are the only option. Except the Orks but they have got their own thing going on.

 Jape wrote:


For humanity the Imperium is the only option, for everyone else the Tau are the only option. Except the Orks but they have got their own thing going on.

If you live on a Forge World, the worst the Tau could do, even in the darkest of pro-Imperial dreams, isn't so bad as what humanity does to itself.

The Tau Empire is a better option for most humans than the Imperium is.

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 Jape wrote:


For humanity the Imperium is the only option, for everyone else the Tau are the only option. Except the Orks but they have got their own thing going on.

If you live on a Forge World, the worst the Tau could do, even in the darkest of pro-Imperial dreams, isn't so bad as what humanity does to itself.

The Tau Empire is a better option for most humans than the Imperium is.

You're forgetting the nature of humans. And the nature is fighting for dominiance. Always and everywhere. It's required to ensure the spread of our genes. That's our instinct that made us what we are now. Humans won't be able to live in constant peace with another dominiant species. So, if humans are not exterminated, they'd be the lower-tier and brain-washed-sterilized to suppress this instinct or they'll constantly try to rise to dominiance via war or politics. That's the human's ambition. In this regard, humanity is closer to orks with their thrive for war than to tau with their blind obidience and greater good.

What i mean is that tau won't be able to absorb human population without serious problems. They'll either have to take this human part away from humans by constant brainwasheng and maintaining low numbers of humans compared to total population or plain exterminating them.

Tau try to maintain some sort of equality via communism actually. It might work on a current small scale. But i doubt they'd be any better than imperium if they somehow manage to expand significantly enough.

 koooaei wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 Jape wrote:


For humanity the Imperium is the only option, for everyone else the Tau are the only option. Except the Orks but they have got their own thing going on.

If you live on a Forge World, the worst the Tau could do, even in the darkest of pro-Imperial dreams, isn't so bad as what humanity does to itself.

The Tau Empire is a better option for most humans than the Imperium is.

You're forgetting the nature of humans. And the nature is fighting for dominiance. Always and everywhere. It's required to ensure the spread of our genes. That's our instinct that made us what we are now. Humans won't be able to live in constant peace with another dominiant species. So, if humans are not exterminated, they'd be the lower-tier and brain-washed-sterilized to suppress this instinct or they'll constantly try to rise to dominiance via war or politics. That's the human's ambition. In this regard, humanity is closer to orks with their thrive for war than to tau with their blind obidience and greater good.

What i mean is that tau won't be able to absorb human population without serious problems. They'll either have to take this human part away from humans by constant brainwasheng and maintaining low numbers of humans compared to total population or plain exterminating them.

Tau try to maintain some sort of equality via communism actually. It might work on a current small scale. But i doubt they'd be any better than imperium if they somehow manage to expand significantly enough.

The Kroot aren't very communistic... and get along fine as part of the Empire.

For humans that join the Empire willingly, the Tau seem content to let them go about mostly as they have in the past, with some modifications.

 koooaei wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 Jape wrote:


For humanity the Imperium is the only option, for everyone else the Tau are the only option. Except the Orks but they have got their own thing going on.

If you live on a Forge World, the worst the Tau could do, even in the darkest of pro-Imperial dreams, isn't so bad as what humanity does to itself.

The Tau Empire is a better option for most humans than the Imperium is.

You're forgetting the nature of humans. And the nature is fighting for dominiance.

I'm human, and I don't fight for dominance. Pretty much 100% of everyone I have ever known is human, and very few of them have fought for dominance. Curious.

 EmpNortonII wrote:
...

Anywayz, what are tau negative qualities in your opinion?

 DanielBeaver wrote:
I mean, aside from them being literal space nazis?

They're not. They are racial supremacists, but the Nazis went just a little beyond that. The (almost) literal Space Nazis in 40K are the Imperium, with its genocidal ideology..

("almost" because part of Nazi ideology was continued improvement of the race by selective breeding, whereas the Imperium is genetically, um, conservative.)

Alcibiades wrote:

 koooaei wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 Jape wrote:


For humanity the Imperium is the only option, for everyone else the Tau are the only option. Except the Orks but they have got their own thing going on.

If you live on a Forge World, the worst the Tau could do, even in the darkest of pro-Imperial dreams, isn't so bad as what humanity does to itself.

The Tau Empire is a better option for most humans than the Imperium is.

You're forgetting the nature of humans. And the nature is fighting for dominiance.

I'm human, and I don't fight for dominance. Pretty much 100% of everyone I have ever known is human, and very few of them have fought for dominance. Curious.

So, you'll be absolutely happy if someone sterilized you for greater good?

 koooaei wrote:

Alcibiades wrote:

 koooaei wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 Jape wrote:


For humanity the Imperium is the only option, for everyone else the Tau are the only option. Except the Orks but they have got their own thing going on.

If you live on a Forge World, the worst the Tau could do, even in the darkest of pro-Imperial dreams, isn't so bad as what humanity does to itself.

The Tau Empire is a better option for most humans than the Imperium is.

You're forgetting the nature of humans. And the nature is fighting for dominiance.

I'm human, and I don't fight for dominance. Pretty much 100% of everyone I have ever known is human, and very few of them have fought for dominance. Curious.

So, you'll be absolutely happy if someone sterilized you for greater good?

No, but that's an unrelated issue. It's not because I want to Struggle for Dominance.

 koooaei wrote:

 EmpNortonII wrote:
...

Anywayz, what are tau negative qualities in your opinion?

They're naive. They often expect others to be as honorable and good as they are, and they repeatedly get screwed by it.

They also don't train for uncivilized combat. (read, melee)

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Alcibiades wrote:

 DanielBeaver wrote:
I mean, aside from them being literal space nazis?

They're not. They are racial supremacists, but the Nazis went just a little beyond that. The (almost) literal Space Nazis in 40K are the Imperium, with its genocidal ideology..

("almost" because part of Nazi ideology was continued improvement of the race by selective breeding, whereas the Imperium is genetically, um, conservative.)

Can you cite a source of the Tau treating aliens as expendable? Saying that they are literally better than other aliens, rather than merely more cultured ( and that this lack of culture can be fixed)?

Alcibiades wrote:

No, but that's an unrelated issue. It's not because I want to Struggle for Dominance.

Probably cause we're allready dominating. Domestic animals, any terrain to build and expand that you want, any plants to grow and eat. All's in our power. We are the dominant specie right now. Now imagine, you're bred and fed for 10 years and than butchered to get use of your flesh, skin and entrails. Would you be happy? Would you try to change anything?

 koooaei wrote:

Alcibiades wrote:

No, but that's an unrelated issue. It's not because I want to Struggle for Dominance.

Probably cause we're allready dominating. Domestic animals, any terrain to build and expand that you want, any plants to grow and eat. All's in our power. We are the dominant specie right now. Now imagine, you're bred and fed for 10 years and than butchered to get use of your flesh, skin and entrails. Would you be happy? Would you try to change anything?

If they did, the IoM would no longer be capable of producing tanks, titans, or warships.

 EmpNortonII wrote:

 Jape wrote:


For humanity the Imperium is the only option, for everyone else the Tau are the only option. Except the Orks but they have got their own thing going on.

If you live on a Forge World, the worst the Tau could do, even in the darkest of pro-Imperial dreams, isn't so bad as what humanity does to itself.

The Tau Empire is a better option for most humans than the Imperium is.

Sorry pal, but the purpose of this thread is to erode all hopeful ideals about the Tau and make them just about as dark and depressing as the other factions.

You did mention naivety and lack of melee, which is more of a weakness than a negative quality.

However, just as the Imperium's ridiculous bureaucracy leads to loads of human suffering, so does the Tau's naivete.


So now I'm gonna add a second objective to this thread, how does the Tau Empire create suffering for Taus?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

 Psienesis wrote:
"Human rights" don't apply to Xenos, simply for the fact that they are not human, by definition, ergo, it is the manifest destiny of Mankind, as set down by the Emperor, to rule the stars unopposed.

You may ask what gives the Imperium the right to consign a billion, or a quintillion, lives to oblivion... those who truly understand will realize that it has no right to let them live.

Eh, I think that applies to human worlds in the aftermath of a daemonic incursion.


When it comes to xenos, humans barely bat an eyelid when exterminating them. They barely put thought into it.

1. Ethereals have absolute control over other caste members. They are so brainwashed that they will willingly kill themselves if an ethereal tells them to.

2. "The Greater Good" is really just a nicer way of saying the lesser of two evils. For the Tau, the ends completely justify the means

3. They are very dogmatic. They will gladly exterminate anyone that does not think exactly like them

4. They despise those who question the system. Is it really fair for our entire lives to be planned on the account of the conditions surrounding our bir.. xBLAMx


Automatically Appended Next Post:
1. Ethereals have absolute control over other caste members. They are so brainwashed that they will willingly kill themselves if an ethereal tells them to.

2. "The Greater Good" is really just a nicer way of saying the lesser of two evils. For the Tau, the ends completely justify the means

3. They are very dogmatic. They will gladly exterminate anyone that does not think exactly like them

4. They despise those who question the system. Is it really fair for our entire lives to be planned on the account of the conditions surrounding our bir.. xBLAMx