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chaos0xomega wrote:
Anyway, my only real statement to you is... why? You do realize that the concept of chaos ________ (where the _______ is anything you want to convert to chaos) is so boring, unoriginal and overdone as to actually illicit groans from veteran gamers and fluffbuffs, right? It's like... would like a side of chaos with your chaos?

Although it does actually fit Chaos perfectly (background-wise, at least). One of the main threats of Chaos is that it can get its tendrils into almost anything. The Tau have a Warp presence so they're not immune as a species. Therefore it only requires a dedicated source of corruption (an interested Daemon, a Daemon weapon, or cultists trying to spread the word of Chaos) to influence Tau and turn them away from the governance of the Tau Empire (the Greater Good wouldn't have to be shunned, either - a Chaos-aligned Psyker could theoretically trick Tau into embracing, say, a Daemon as a potent ally. There's no reason they'd refuse to consort with Daemons that are offering the hand of friendship, afterall).

So yeah, Chaos Tau is staying true to the concept of Chaos.

chaos0xomega wrote:Only one Tau has been known to be corrupted/possesed, Kais, the character from Firewarrior. As it turns out though, even though he was possessed he was still very much in pretty good overall control of himself, and definitely wasn't psycho flying rodent gak-crazy evil like a possessed human usually is.

Actually, the novel Fire Warrior makes it clear that he is not possessed.
1.) The Daemon doesn't even try to corrupt the ethereal, because ... not a chance in hell.
2.) The Daemon searches for the "one in a million" Tau that has the slightest chance to be corrupted because of his extraordinarily strong emotions for a Tau.
3.) The Daemon manipulates Kais with telepathic voices. He then tries to corrupt the totally exhausted Tau Fire Warrior with all four Chaos Gods in a row ... and fails utterly, being "killed" after this by Kais. Kais is left broken, but uncorrupted.
4.) So no single case of a Chaos Tau is known. Not to speak of a complete army of Chaos Tau.
5.) The controversial book Xenology suggests the fact that Eldar might have created the ethereals to make the Tau immune to Chaos.

So while it is possible to attach greenstuff tentacles and spikes to every model, Chaos tau are unfluffy and ... LAME.

Coolyo294 wrote:Why not make a Chaos GK army while you're at it?

You mean: Female Chaos Grey Knights with swastikas ... in PINK!

CpatTom wrote:

nomotog wrote:

CpatTom wrote:

Rented Tritium wrote:I kind of want to paint chaos tau now. You know they'd like, arrange their spikes and skulls meticulously as to not interfere with weapon operation.

C'mon, they'd still be Tau.

Spaez Muhreens were all, "Lets glue as much gak to ourselves as we can, cause it looks kewl". So Chaos Mureens were all like, "I'm so metal, screw those other doods, I'ma glue these spikes and skullz all over cause its rad".

Chas Tau would probably still wear camo-type patterns. They would act like most everybody else in 40k and just be in it for the Worser Evil.

Farsight dosen't wear camo anymore. I imagine that a tau who is suffering from chaos taint wouldn't really be too pragmatic. And you know the reason you make chaos tau, is to play around with new styles of paint and spikes.

Where did the idea of Farsight not using camo come from?

I actually can't think of where. I checked the codex and though his armor is painted red and silver, but I think he was fighting in a painted desert where red armor makes sense. I think it's something that I picked up well looking at different farsight conversions. http://www.advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6309&p=78062&hilit=farsight+army+cape#p78062


Automatically Appended Next Post:

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:

chaos0xomega wrote:
Anyway, my only real statement to you is... why? You do realize that the concept of chaos ________ (where the _______ is anything you want to convert to chaos) is so boring, unoriginal and overdone as to actually illicit groans from veteran gamers and fluffbuffs, right? It's like... would like a side of chaos with your chaos?

Although it does actually fit Chaos perfectly (background-wise, at least). One of the main threats of Chaos is that it can get its tendrils into almost anything. The Tau have a Warp presence so they're not immune as a species. Therefore it only requires a dedicated source of corruption (an interested Daemon, a Daemon weapon, or cultists trying to spread the word of Chaos) to influence Tau and turn them away from the governance of the Tau Empire (the Greater Good wouldn't have to be shunned, either - a Chaos-aligned Psyker could theoretically trick Tau into embracing, say, a Daemon as a potent ally. There's no reason they'd refuse to consort with Daemons that are offering the hand of friendship, afterall).

So yeah, Chaos Tau is staying true to the concept of Chaos.

What would happen if a chaos demon just walked up with a peace treaty?

LOL! Umm there used to be a story on the GW site IIRC about Tau capturing a bunch of Slaaneshi CSM. They learned that they served Slaanesh, and they kept asking the marines to bring them to Slaanesh so he could be brought to the Greater Good or destroyed if he refused. They kept killing marines one by one because they refused to join the Greater Good, finally one of the marines makes the claim that he is Slaanesh (figuratively speaking), and he is killed as well when he refuses to join the Tau. The Tau then make the claim that they have accomplished what the other races could not by killing Slaanesh lol

Given that the Tau have introduced an entirely new paradigm to the 40K universe, that of a collective of sentient beings working towards the greater good of their society, in the face of totalitarian regimes and religious intolerance, I would posit that the Tau are yet another wild card played by Tzeentch, the Lord of Change, in the Great Game... and the Tau have absolutely no concept of their role in the Architect of Fate's grand design.

Psienesis wrote:Given that the Tau have introduced an entirely new paradigm to the 40K universe, that of a collective of sentient beings working towards the greater good of their society, in the face of totalitarian regimes and religious intolerance, I would posit that the Tau are yet another wild card played by Tzeentch, the Lord of Change, in the Great Game... and the Tau have absolutely no concept of their role in the Architect of Fate's grand design.

I can just see some lesser demon pitching the idea and Tzeentch is all like "That's so crazy it JUST MIGHT WORK"

nomotog wrote:

CpatTom wrote:

Where did the idea of Farsight not using camo come from?

I actually can't think of where. I checked the codex and though his armor is painted red and silver, but I think he was fighting in a painted desert where red armor makes sense. I think it's something that I picked up well looking at different farsight conversions. http://www.advancedtautactica.com/viewtopic.php?f=6&t=6309&p=78062&hilit=farsight+army+cape#p78062

Yeah yeah, he could not use camo, just the tactics he uses, and the tactics the Tau uses led me to assume he would.

What tactics dose he use. I can never reamer if he is the killing blow or the patent hunter. Patent hunter he would need camo, but killing blow not so much.

He's known for quick close ambush tactics. Most notably against orks. Tall desert corridors and such.

Because the Tau are barely recognizable in the Warp, wouldn't the effect of Chaos be weaker in Tau than in other Warp-heavy species.

BTW just to chime on my comment age's ago someone going Dark Eldar arent chaos Eldar technically they are because they have given to evil stirring's and are connected to the warp aka they are a evil version of Eldar basically thats what chaos is

Malroke wrote:BTW just to chime on my comment age's ago someone going Dark Eldar arent chaos Eldar technically they are because they have given to evil stirring's and are connected to the warp aka they are a evil version of Eldar basically thats what chaos is

They don't do the bidding of the Chaos gods, their souls go to slaanesh when they die.

Malroke wrote:BTW just to chime on my comment age's ago someone going Dark Eldar arent chaos Eldar technically they are because they have given to evil stirring's and are connected to the warp aka they are a evil version of Eldar basically thats what chaos is

Completely incorrect. Dark Eldar are evil. They are connected to the Warp much in the same way other sentient species are. However, they are not in service to or mutated by any Warp entities. They have no psykers at all, and psykers are not permitted to exist in Commorragh because they would attract the attention of Daemons, which they absolutely do not want. IIRC, their souls are slowly being consumed by Slaanesh, so to avoid this terrible fate, they consume the souls of others. They certainly live in fear of Chaos, but they do not actively serve or worship the Chaos Gods. Their entire schtick is "We don't want to get eaten by Chaos, and to this end, we will do anything and everything we can."

Rented Tritium wrote:They couldn't be tainted in the traditional manner because of no warp contact.

However, what if the theories about ethereals controlling the other races are true? You could have sort of a piggy back where a human or an eldar or something manages to reproduce or jack-into the tau mind control. Once a chaos tainted individual gains some sort of technological mind control over an ethereal, they just issue orders for chaos.

Now you have quasi-chaos tau.

A good writer could do it and it would be an awesome book.

Except the pheromone thing isn't canon. It is speculation from an imperial point of view, as they cannot themselves imagine giving such absolute obedience as a species. The altogether different mindset of the tau, however, is what makes them truly alien.

Yeah I have always been dubious to a pheromone based Ethereal control, since how would that work when combat units that are in the field or stationed in bases and such where a ethereal's presence is a rare occurance, since they are suppose to be pretty uncommon, unless these pheromones only need to be exposed once to each Tau and instant forever greater good...just doe's not wash.

Otherwise every unit of any size would require its own Ethereal to keep the exposure and the adhereance to its effects, many times it is mentioned that there are one or at most a few Ethereals present on a Tau occupied world unless its a major sept one, Taros Campaign had only one for over 9000 fire warriors, and his death merely enraged them after a breif span of mourning and indesicion.

So Pheromones seem a bit of a stretch, My theory is they are incredibly charismatic, in their actions, words, posture, even dress, and through the centuries of Tau under Ethereal guidance, the Tau have become indoctrinated into beleiving that the Ethereals do know what is best ( Also a solid track record does not hurt.), when seperated from this guidance wether its in person or through televised or other recordings and dispatches, The Tau may start to slip from the path (especially if they already have some deep hurt or misgivings such as Farsight experianced.) And due to his position and Ethereal given athority he was in turn able to influance the troops under him.

Just my theory of course.

chaos0xomega wrote:LOL! Umm there used to be a story on the GW site IIRC about Tau capturing a bunch of Slaaneshi CSM. They learned that they served Slaanesh, and they kept asking the marines to bring them to Slaanesh so he could be brought to the Greater Good or destroyed if he refused. They kept killing marines one by one because they refused to join the Greater Good, finally one of the marines makes the claim that he is Slaanesh (figuratively speaking), and he is killed as well when he refuses to join the Tau. The Tau then make the claim that they have accomplished what the other races could not by killing Slaanesh lol

You got the story wrong. A tau Shas'O remembers how he and his cadre once fought strange corrupted humans on the world of Kel'shan. Those humans, lead by a powerful individual ( a chaos champion ),
constantly refered to someone they called Slaanesh so the tau forces merely concluded that Slaanesh is the leader of these strange humans.
When the chaos cultists were finaly slain the tau, not knowing that Slaanesh is a chaos god, thought that they killed Slaanesh.

nomotog wrote:
What would happen if a chaos demon just walked up with a peace treaty?

To the Tau? They'd probably talk and negotiate. It's what they do with xeno races, so why would they view Daemons any differently? Especially since any Daemon that did it (likely Tzeentchian in my opinion, or maybe even from Nurgle) isn't that likely to be in the form of a nightmarish creature, but one that the Tau would find less inherently terrifying.

SomeRandomEvilGuy wrote:

nomotog wrote:
What would happen if a chaos demon just walked up with a peace treaty?

To the Tau? They'd probably talk and negotiate. It's what they do with xeno races, so why would they view Daemons any differently? Especially since any Daemon that did it (likely Tzeentchian in my opinion, or maybe even from Nurgle) isn't that likely to be in the form of a nightmarish creature, but one that the Tau would find less inherently terrifying.

A tau demon alliance. That would be neat. Maybe have it part of a apoc game.

Thats an alliance that is sealed with blood, pun 100% intended.

Tau obviously can fall to chaos, it happened in the Fire Warrior novel.

The problem is, Kais was an exception, in that he had doubts, fears, etc. that could be preyed upon. Tau (at least those under a ethereal) do not suffer those sorts of failings the way humans do, so their resistance to warp corruption is considerably greater. and as we saw in Fire Warrior no daemonic influence can match up to the control an ethereal has over a tau (even Kais.)


Let's also not forget that there are differnet kinds of corruption or possession. simply being tainted by proximity to chaos can happen to anything, even inanimate objects, and no measure of "greater good" is going to save a tau from that. Their minimal warp signatures, however, make them virtually impossible for a daemon to detect and use as a gateway into the material realm (what people usually think of when they think of possession.) I suspect you could also make a tau into some sort of daemonhost.

Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:Yeah I have always been dubious to a pheromone based Ethereal control, since how would that work when combat units that are in the field or stationed in bases and such where a ethereal's presence is a rare occurance, since they are suppose to be pretty uncommon, unless these pheromones only need to be exposed once to each Tau and instant forever greater good...just doe's not wash.

Otherwise every unit of any size would require its own Ethereal to keep the exposure and the adhereance to its effects, many times it is mentioned that there are one or at most a few Ethereals present on a Tau occupied world unless its a major sept one, Taros Campaign had only one for over 9000 fire warriors, and his death merely enraged them after a breif span of mourning and indesicion.

So Pheromones seem a bit of a stretch, My theory is they are incredibly charismatic, in their actions, words, posture, even dress, and through the centuries of Tau under Ethereal guidance, the Tau have become indoctrinated into beleiving that the Ethereals do know what is best ( Also a solid track record does not hurt.), when seperated from this guidance wether its in person or through televised or other recordings and dispatches, The Tau may start to slip from the path (especially if they already have some deep hurt or misgivings such as Farsight experianced.) And due to his position and Ethereal given athority he was in turn able to influance the troops under him.

Just my theory of course.

I agree almost entirely.

They are EXACTLY, in my mind, like the Iterators from the Horus Heresy books, who propagandize entire worlds into the Imperium, though less propaganda and more being sane in an insane galaxy.

Connor MacLeod wrote:Tau obviously can fall to chaos, it happened in the Fire Warrior novel.

Erm, no. See my explanation above.

im2randomghgh wrote:

Soo'Vah'Cha wrote:Yeah I have always been dubious to a pheromone based Ethereal control, since how would that work when combat units that are in the field or stationed in bases and such where a ethereal's presence is a rare occurance, since they are suppose to be pretty uncommon, unless these pheromones only need to be exposed once to each Tau and instant forever greater good...just doe's not wash.

Otherwise every unit of any size would require its own Ethereal to keep the exposure and the adhereance to its effects, many times it is mentioned that there are one or at most a few Ethereals present on a Tau occupied world unless its a major sept one, Taros Campaign had only one for over 9000 fire warriors, and his death merely enraged them after a breif span of mourning and indesicion.

So Pheromones seem a bit of a stretch, My theory is they are incredibly charismatic, in their actions, words, posture, even dress, and through the centuries of Tau under Ethereal guidance, the Tau have become indoctrinated into beleiving that the Ethereals do know what is best ( Also a solid track record does not hurt.), when seperated from this guidance wether its in person or through televised or other recordings and dispatches, The Tau may start to slip from the path (especially if they already have some deep hurt or misgivings such as Farsight experianced.) And due to his position and Ethereal given athority he was in turn able to influance the troops under him.

Just my theory of course.

I agree almost entirely.

They are EXACTLY, in my mind, like the Iterators from the Horus Heresy books, who propagandize entire worlds into the Imperium, though less propaganda and more being sane in an insane galaxy.

Its probably a combination of all these different factors, which isn't as fun, but it is the most likely.

The pheromones can't work, Tau vehicles are sealed environments, the pheromone can't affect Tau within the sealed environments unless every vehicle crew contained an Ethereal, and they don't.

The chemical Pheromone Etheral effect could have a significant half life for the tau, and coupled with charisma, could continue to influence a Tau longer than simply being in their presence.

Farsight didn't forget the Greater Good in one day. It took an extended campaign against a brutal foe for him to lose his way.

CpatTom wrote:The chemical Pheromone Etheral effect could have a significant half life for the tau, and coupled with charisma, could continue to influence a Tau longer than simply being in their presence.

Farsight didn't forget the Greater Good in one day. It took an extended campaign against a brutal foe for him to lose his way.

He was already a *different* tau though, as are many from Vior'la.

I believe it is entirely charisma, wisdom and instinctive loyalty that keeps the tau together.

Actually, if you read how humans react to the presence of a Primarch, it is exactly the same as Tau react to ethereals. So obviously the Primarchs wear the same perfume as ethereals.

Ethereals are younger than Primarchs, they stole the perfume.

And now we know where one of the missing Primarchs went, obviously to T'au where he taught the secrets of mind control pheromones to the Ethereals in hopes of pacifying the Tau and forging a new ally for the Imperium!

This is some serious science right here.

Panopticon wrote:Ethereals are younger than Primarchs, they stole the perfume.

And now we know where one of the missing Primarchs went, obviously to T'au where he taught the secrets of mind control pheromones to the Ethereals in hopes of pacifying the Tau and forging a new ally for the Imperium!

This is some serious science right here.

:O

Aun'Va is just a really, really ugly primarch! It all makes perfect sense!

So is farsight!

if Mat Ward writes the next Codex, you can bet that the Tau are decended from a lost priarch. :(