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 Peregrine wrote:

 Loricatus Aurora wrote:
If they were not hyper organised under a single system they would not be sufficiently powerful to be relevant

Right now, at least. Skip forward (yeah right, as if GW would ever advance the plot) a few hundred/thousand years as Tau technology continues to develop while everyone else is static or decaying, and a single gun drone (now with god-level AI) conquers the remains of the Imperium out of sheer boredom.

And that's the whole purpose of the Tau in the setting: they represent the countless younger empires that constantly threaten to rise up and claim domination over the galaxy.

The problem is, when you fast forward that far, the Tau homeworlds are lifeless rocks that were eaten by Tyranids, lol.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
The Tau are definitely not communist. They're a totalitarian oligarchy. There definitely strong fascist cues too, but not enough to identify the, strictly as fascists. But they come close.

There's only a very superficial resemblance to communism.

Its very hard to answer the question because we need to agree on what good is.

Do Tau get a chance to express dissatisfaction via political means, or are the vested interests secure short of revolution?

Is so, are the vested interests 'taking care' of the broader Tau community, in a sort of benevolent dictator fashion?

Can Tau 'engage' their lifes fully?
Do they form strong bonds?
Do they seek deep and prolonged pleasures, or excess?
Are they responsible, do they deal with hard truths and respect balance?

To me these sorts of things determine whether they are 'good' or not.

 Veteran Sergeant wrote:
The problem is, when you fast forward that far, the Tau homeworlds are lifeless rocks that were eaten by Tyranids, lol.

Hive fleet Gorgon tired that, and was ground to a halt. something about the tau coming up with new weapon systems to counter the tyranid defensive evolution in a similar rate.

And that's way before the taros war, where the Tau unvailed new powerful weapon systems, from the 81, 84, 88 and 89 battlesuits, to new hammerhead setups, new targeting systems (tetra) and new 25 suits (may be the same as 15 in game rules, but in fluff they are far more effective.)

At the current state, a small tyrnid fleet such as gorgon would be quickly disposed off. only a major one can threat them, and even that only if it happens soon. Tau technological advancement race is higher then the humans had during the emperor's days.

 BoomWolf wrote:

Hive fleet Gorgon tired that, and was ground to a halt. something about the tau coming up with new weapon systems to counter the tyranid defensive evolution in a similar rate.

Untrue. Gorgon was pretty cool with OMNOMNOMNOMing the Tau until the Necrons and the IG showed up and saved the blue guys.

I like the Tau, their like the reverse foil that makes the 40K universe that much more grimmer and darker.
Course their still a brutal regime by RL standards, but compared to other races, their the f@cking tooth fairy who saves the whales.

The tau are not out of place and they are most certainly not brainwashed or anything like that. they are simply a race who sees a problem and is trying to fix it through a uniting cause. and the brainwashing, loo at the combat rules for the tau. if an ethereal is brought and dies, would it not make sense for all tau to disband not grieve? ya they do give you an option. option being join or die, which like stated earlier, is also in imperial history.

Its more of a mix of panic and rage then a grieve response....

They ARE bound to ethereals, but in a natural way, just like bee drones are tied to the bee queen.

Nothing suspicius goes there, they are just naturally fixed to care for the ethereals just as humans are naturally fixed to care for their children.

Nothing Suspicious to see, move along now - its all fine and in the name of the Greater Good

The Codex and other source material implies a level of control but never flat out states it.................helps keeps forums alive neh?

AtoMaki wrote:

 BoomWolf wrote:

Hive fleet Gorgon tired that, and was ground to a halt. something about the tau coming up with new weapon systems to counter the tyranid defensive evolution in a similar rate.

Untrue. Gorgon was pretty cool with OMNOMNOMNOMing the Tau until the Necrons and the IG showed up and saved the blue guys.

in 760902.M41 an Imperial fleet emerged from the Warp and immediately besieged Ke'lshan, unaware that their warp journey had taken one hundred and fifty years and the Damocles Crusade they were dispatched to fight in had already come to an end. Castellan Crask's Cadian XVIIIth were deployed to begin the invasion. Valroth and his fleet were diverted to engage the newly arrived Imperial fleet. In 785902.M41 Gorgon descended upon Kel'shan and joined the already underway battle. Now faced with a common enemy, Crask and Valroth agreed to a truce and together their fleets turned on Gorgon, destroying close to all of its bio-ships. Gorgon, unique for its ability to rapidly evolve its bioforms, was unable to adapt quickly enough to the disparate nature of the Tau and Imperial Guard forces combined, and from 011903.M41-490903.M41 the Tyranids were purged from the surface of Ke'lshan. At the Battle of Worldspine Ridge in 500903.M41 the last Dominatrix and Hive Tyrant were slain and Hive Fleet Gorgon came to an end. The truce between the Imperium and the Tau also ended shortly after.

Known for its evolutionary speed, Gorgon would have beaten down any single race. Tau shut down Gorgon because some IG contigent arrived late to the Damocles party. To be fair, any single race would have lost to Gorgon. For example, had Gorgon attacked first instead of Behemoth, Ultramarines would have gone the way of Scythes of the Emperor as their bolter rounds would have become increasingly ineffective and Earth itself would have been attacked.

Mr Morden wrote:Nothing Suspicious to see, move along now - its all fine and in the name of the Greater Good

The Codex and other source material implies a level of control but never flat out states it.................helps keeps forums alive neh?

These passages are written from the perspective of the imperium. It never flat out states it because it's an imperial theory based on nothing but the fact that the imperium can't fathom such a level of devotion to be voluntary. "They MUST be exerting some form of mind control! How else could they be so loyal?! It's not fair!!!"

not always - its the Tau Codex after all - the bit about controlling the Vespid seems to be from with the Empire - certainly its doubtful the Imperium know anything about it.........

To me it seems that the Etherials have some form of control - however its not clear that this is a bad thing for the Tau- although again we have no idea of what the Greater Good would look like in its ultimate form..... The Farsight situation also seems to be interesting in its implications

Again I look towards the Ashan from Stargate for inspiration as to how the Tau will deal with those races that will not accept their place even when conquered.

Anyway as they expand and encounter races with whom there is simply no comprimise that can be made, it would/ will be intersting to see how they evolve. Previously it was all races can have a place - now they understand that the Orks and the Tryanids can not and must simply be exterminated or at best sealed off somehow. The Dark Eldar have noticed and began "playing" with them....and if the Eldar see them as good thing - its just as likely the Necrons may see them as a pawn of their ancient enemy.

I think the Tau are a great addition to the 40K universe and like the ambiguaity of them

Why do Canadian cities have so much less street violence than their US counterparts?
Obviously pheromones emitted by Canadian politicians that mind control the population! Culture? Nonsense!

 BoomWolf wrote:
Its more of a mix of panic and rage then a grieve response....

They ARE bound to ethereals, but in a natural way, just like bee drones are tied to the bee queen.

Nothing suspicius goes there, they are just naturally fixed to care for the ethereals just as humans are naturally fixed to care for their children.

That more sums up what i was trying to say. any bonding they have is a natural one. the tau unity story even seems to point to this. the tribes are fighting each other then a mystical tau comes along and ends the war near instantly. almost like a pre-made safety measure to stop them from killing themselves and having them recognize a central authority. sort of like our current recognition of mutually assured destruction. we dont kill each other because we have a big grey cloud looming over us. they had no way to reign it in and where going to kill themselves off until suddenly something came along that made them not want to. it doesnt have to be bad either, they could be inspired by the good just like we can be.