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Does anyone know how long Tau lifespans are supposed to be?

Because I have heard it mentioned several times that they live considerably shorter lives than any regular human.

I believe its about 30-40 years for your average tau, not sure about ethreals though.

Thanks. Ya.

all Tau lifespans, including those of ethereals, are (naturally speaking) about 30-40 years. There was a blurb on GW's website describing that Aun'Va was in his 40's, "an old age for a Tau."

Space Pope is very ancient.

The fluff is far from clear. There are hints that it is naturally shorter than average human, but there is nothing which flat out puts a number on it. If we take human lifespan as the traditional 70 years, we might suppose Tau lifespan to be 40.

Lifespan is only one variable, of course.

We also don't know about Tau physical and mental maturation rate, sleeping patterns, physiological aging, and birth rate.

If Tau physically and mentally mature in 10 years, only sleep four hours a day, and don't become physically decrepit until very old, they would have a longer useful and active lifespan than humans do in 70 years.

Space Pope commented that his people burn briefly but brightly, so perhaps this sort of intensive lifespan is what happens with Tau. OTOH he might only have been commenting about the expected lifespan of Fire Warriors, who suffer frequent losses in battle.

Kilkrazy wrote:Space Pope is very ancient.

The fluff is far from clear. There are hints that it is naturally shorter than average human, but there is nothing which flat out puts a number on it. If we take human lifespan as the traditional 70 years, we might suppose Tau lifespan to be 40.

Lifespan is only one variable, of course.

We also don't know about Tau physical and mental maturation rate, sleeping patterns, physiological aging, and birth rate.

If Tau physically and mentally mature in 10 years, only sleep four hours a day, and don't become physically decrepit until very old, they would have a longer useful and active lifespan than humans do in 70 years.

Space Pope commented that his people burn briefly but brightly, so perhaps this sort of intensive lifespan is what happens with Tau. OTOH he might only have been commenting about the expected lifespan of Fire Warriors, who suffer frequent losses in battle.

In the Dex it says they sleep 1-2 decs per rotaa (1.5-3 hours of sleep per 15 hours)

Doesn't it depend on their cast?

jelisi wrote:Doesn't it depend on their cast?

There's nothing that says that. I don't see why it should, particularly.


Automatically Appended Next Post:

im2randomghgh wrote:

Kilkrazy wrote:Space Pope is very ancient.

The fluff is far from clear. There are hints that it is naturally shorter than average human, but there is nothing which flat out puts a number on it. If we take human lifespan as the traditional 70 years, we might suppose Tau lifespan to be 40.

Lifespan is only one variable, of course.

We also don't know about Tau physical and mental maturation rate, sleeping patterns, physiological aging, and birth rate.

If Tau physically and mentally mature in 10 years, only sleep four hours a day, and don't become physically decrepit until very old, they would have a longer useful and active lifespan than humans do in 70 years.

Space Pope commented that his people burn briefly but brightly, so perhaps this sort of intensive lifespan is what happens with Tau. OTOH he might only have been commenting about the expected lifespan of Fire Warriors, who suffer frequent losses in battle.

In the Dex it says they sleep 1-2 decs per rotaa (1.5-3 hours of sleep per 15 hours)

That is the equivalent of a human sleeping an average 3.6 hours a day.

Kilkrazy wrote:

jelisi wrote:Doesn't it depend on their cast?

There's nothing that says that. I don't see why it should, particularly.

It could be because the fire cast is stronger than any other cast for example.

What does stronger mean?

Human men are stronger than women, yet have shorter lifespans.

The major problem with looking at Tau fluff is that the sources are sparse.

We have the two codexes, the novel Fire Warrior, the Imperial Armour book, and some scenes in some of the IG books.

There is a line in the ending movie of the computer game Dawn Of War, and apparently there is a line in one of the Rogue Trader sourcebooks.

The Tau also get mentioned in some other codexes such as the Tyranids, and there is a page in Xenology. The last thing is the original designer's notes.

Even the codexes give very little information about Tau society and physiology. A lot of the info is covered from the Imperial viewpoint.

How much years do Commander Farsigh have?
I think that he is older given the Dawn Blade he is carrying...

About 300.

There is a suspicion of a "Dread Pirate Roberts" situation going on there.

Kilkrazy wrote:

jelisi wrote:Doesn't it depend on their cast?

There's nothing that says that. I don't see why it should, particularly.

The caste of a tau isn't just a job though, it confers unique physical traits. This could lead to each caste having its own life expectancy.

Brother Coa wrote:How much years do Commander Farsigh have?
I think that he is older given the Dawn Blade he is carrying...

There is also the suspicion of the dawn blade extending his life-span...

Their life span usually ends during their first contact with orks.

gpfunk wrote:Their life span usually ends during their first contact with orks.

Or with Imperial Bolter