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Yes you read the title correctly. Why do people consider the Tau to be good guys. I simply find them to be another wave of Imperialists with delusions of grandeur. A sad fact of the warhammer 40k universe is that their is no one in that cursed galaxy that wants to live in peace with any one else. As they are either daemon worshiping aliens, aliens who enslave people or who consider humans or any sentient being to be food.

Is it because the Tau are not Xenophobic? If it is I shake my head and cry for why modern humans are so politically correct or sensitive? Almost everyone in 40k are either xenophobic, insular or peaceful to outsiders but are not interested in talking or trading with them. Examples are Rak'ghoul in the rpg books and the Hrud who were said to want everyone dead so they can rule the galaxy. How about the Thyrrus who make war because they want to give their gods a nice tv show to watch.

Is it because the Tau want to bring peace to the galaxy? If it is I . The tau are not the only ones who want to bring peace to the galaxy. The Imperium wants to bring peace to the galaxy by killing all aliens and humans who don't worship the Emperor so that when the human race is safe from all threats then peace will reign. The Eldar want to bring peace to the galaxy with the restoration of the Eldar empire using the bones of everyone who stands in their way as the foundation or from some implications they're god Ynnead, or whatever its called, will kill everyone. The Necrons for sure will bring peace to the galaxy. The peace of full scale extinction; when everyone's dead their is no more war because their will be no more disagreements.

So can anybody tell me why people gush over the Tau and think they are good guys?

ps: I don't consider Tau to be Evil just a lesser form of evil just like the Imperium and Eldar.

They aren't the good guys.
They are merely the nicer guys...
There are many implications of some pretty nasty stuff going on behind the scenes.

Sterilization, reeducation camps... they're not the saints of the galaxy.

1.) They're not genocidal (this is a big deal in the 41st Millennium, even the Imperium/Eldar engage in Xenocide/genocide)

2.) They promote a progressive ideology. The Greater Good works, is harmonious, and overall seems to be the best system to live under.

3.) The Tau "bringing peace to the galaxy" would be by far the least bloody road taken.

The Tau do have their share of repression, but it's all pretty minor compared to everybody else.

In our society, they'd be the bad guys, but in 40k, they look pretty nice.

As long as you don't change your mind, they won't sterlize or "reeducate" you.

because thay are more good then choas

dagsta2 wrote:because thay are more good then choas

Everythings more good than chaos.

I don't think many people feel that the Tau are "good guys". As with the above posters, I believe most people merely think the Tau are "better" in some ways compared to the other races, and rightly so.

First, the Tau are very open minded when compared to the rest of the galaxy. Look at the Imperium for example, who feels that the extermination of every possible threat to its existence "necessary". What is even worse, is that the "every possible threat" part includes all sentient life that is not human, and half the time, even humans fall under that category. While the Imperial doctrine is well founded in most cases, there have probably been countless times when the IoM would exterminate a species simply because said species was not human. At least when the Tau decides to commit genocide, it is often because the targeted race will not conform to their beliefs. In 40k terms, this is very open minded.

Second, the Tau may trample all over freedom of thought, but at least they do it for a decent (or supposed, depending on your view of the Ethereals) purpose, which is unity and (semi) equality. In all the other major races' vision of the ideal, it is only they who are left standing when the storm passes. At least the Tau allows for co-existence with other species, even if they do not tolerate any dissent.

Still, with that being said, I freaking love the Imperium of Man and everything it stands for in this insane, over the top universe. Not very often in science fiction do you see humanity taking their baser instincts to such extreme levels. For the IoM, it is not enough that they win- all others must not only fail, but be totally obliterated and wiped out from existence. For the eternal dominance of all Mankind!

I don't mean to sound vain when I say this, but I am petty muchly the cookie monster of Tau. Where the Cookie Monster knows his cookies, I know my Tau.



I feel that the only appropriate way to respond to this, is only to say how the Tau are jerks...to put it nicely. Tau are not shining saints, but in the universe of a giant dick measuring contest of damnation, the Tau more along the lines go about one inch to the IoM's immense thirty feet of death.

For the Tau, there has been only one recorded mention if extermination of species, this was on Nimbosa where a Shas'o who had gone bad ordered his forces to begin eradicating all human life on the planet on Nimbosa. When this autoricty reached the ears of Tau'n and the Ethreals, the general was tried and exiled from the Tau empire and the greater good.

Re-education camps? Yes, this is true, it's everywhere, reeducation into the greater good.

Sterilization? Come on, please. Before you giants of 40k intellectual property begin to spout out nonsense from Dawn of War, please understand that nothing in those games is Canon, except everything that the Blood Angels did (you know, space marines, Games workshops poster boys). There has been no recorded sterilization or anything, the stuff you see in DoW is nothing it's not even Canon.

Anyway, with luff. Avrik.

They're "the Greatest Good Guys" :p But honestly The seem to be one of the few who are willing to negotiate with other races peacefully and get along with other races peacefully. They are the only race that employs other minor and major races, kroot vespid and even humans. I am not saying they are all peace and love, nobody is peace and love in the 40k universe.lol You cant be peace and love if you want to survive. But where as other races want to unite the galaxy by destroying all the rest and being the only race in existence or enslaving the rest, the Tau are the only ones that are willing to do that and/or use diplomacy to bring them into the caste system. They are willing to take whichever route is strategically or logically better for society as a whole. (the greater good society) Im not saying they are saints and willing to do this with everyone, I mean chaos is...well chaos and orks are...well orks. They would never conform to a type of society that that is based around the greater good-aka being FORCED to work for everyone rather than yourself. Yes you can say they Tau's flaw is that it is forcing you to work for the betterment of society rather than asking you or giving you the option. But people might just see them as less ruthless and bloddthirsty b.c well they are less ruthless and bloodthirsty lol Also in America most would not like their system b/c the whole basis for America is that you have the choice to contribute to bettering society, but you dont have to! its strongly encouraged, but you are by no means forced to do so, like in the Tau world system. Do yo understand what I am gettin at? Basically that the Tau are perhaps a little misguided but they are not chaotic like the other races...oh ya and USA numba 1!!!

Because they want to bring peace without killing everyone.

Moving topic to 40K Discussions.

They think they're good because they have been 're-educated' by to think for the Greater Good!

Avrik_Shasla wrote:Sterilization? Come on, please. Before you giants of 40k intellectual property begin to spout out nonsense from Dawn of War, please understand that nothing in those games is Canon, except everything that the Blood Angels did (you know, space marines, Games workshops poster boys). There has been no recorded sterilization or anything, the stuff you see in DoW is nothing it's not even Canon.

Anyway, with luff. Avrik.

It's Blood Ravens, not Blood Angels. Also, each game does have a canon ending that fits in with the overall 40k canon just fine; it's obviously impossible to fit all 7 Dark Crusade endings in the same canon, after all. GW has full say over what goes into those games, and honestly that's pretty much all you need to know about how canonical it is. The project director of Soulstorm posts at another forum I frequent, and he mentioned that every single line of dialog had to be run by GW to be approved for the game. If that's not indication of canon, I don't know what is.

They're not the "Good" guys, they're the "Least Bad" guys. And even then I wouldn't much want to live under them.

Heresy.

Only the Emperor is good.

Because the designers intended them as such:

Original designer notes wrote:In contrast to other races, we wanted the Tau to be altruistic and idealistic, believing heartily in unification as the way forward. This meant that they would happily incorporate other races into their empire without subjugating them, instead enticing them in with the benefits of mutual protection, trade and technology.

The are not good guys, if you think they are good guy then how about ill put a helmet on your head and mined cotnrol you, how about if you will not except my cause I will wipe out your entire race.

They are not the go guys, they are just a bit nicer then the other races.

bob the heretic wrote:The are not good guys, if you think they are good guy then how about ill put a helmet on your head and mined cotnrol you, how about if you will not except my cause I will wipe out your entire race.

They are not the go guys, they are just a bit nicer then the other races.

I am kind of wondering about that. Are the translating helms mind control? It seems to imply that, but they could just be translation helms.

Also what races have they wiped out? I can't think of any mentioned in the codex.

Whipee, another one of these threads. Let the Tau hate roll....

They're not the good guys, they've just got the best PR.

Their professed values tend to agree with typically western ideals (mostly equality and not being genocidal maniacs), which is why people tend to like them. Everything behind the "Iron Curtain" is kept quiet.

People used to think the Soviet Union was a good thing too.

What always makes me shake my head in dispair about threads like these, is that canon/fluff is used to argue the various points. Yet no-one wants to listen to the authors of these various pieces, ie GW Designers state categorically that Tau are designed to be the good guys.

Kroothawk, everyone's talking, but no-one's listening.

Cheers

Andrew

The Tau are just the least bad.

They are also, IMO, the least barbaric. They only fight to expand their territory, and strive for peace. Whereas most of the other races fight just to fight, or hate everyone else and want to exterminate the other races, the Tau simply want to get along with everyone else. Though I'm sure they got all kinds of shifty stuff going on...

AndrewC wrote:GW Designers state categorically that Tau are designed to be the good guys.

Citation needed.

AndrewC wrote: GW Designers state categorically that Tau are designed to be the good guys.

[Citation Needed]

But I really doubt it. WH40K is all about the Black and Gray Morality. As soon as something starts to look un-grimdark, it gets hammered by GW back into the grimdarkness. Frankly The Tau are one of the lesser evils, but will in a heartbeat kill you for the greater good. I see them almost as a USSR with a sci-fi/anime facelift. Then again i dont view the IoM as evil. They just do what they have to do to survive. In 40k there are no good guys. If i had to rate from Less Evil to evil it would be IoM/Eldar/Tau ->Orks/Nids -> Necrons -> Choas

agnosto wrote:Whipee, another one of these threads. Let the Tau hate roll....

Tau have relatively little hate compared to some armies i could mention...

People call them "Anime" and "Communist" too, and they are neither.

They are simply the least evil of the races.

That is saying something a fascist race that will annihilate you from existence unless you accept there ideology, are the good guys.

They do what they have to do to survive. Their leaders know they are a small race in the grand scheme of things. As such they need more resources so they are expanding, and incorporating other races into the "greater good".

It is something like "Convert now or fall for ever".

When they become strong enough, you will see them show their true goals.

The tau have the least bad qualities as compared to the other races. That's all there is too it.

Of note, joining the tau empire as an imperial citizen, the quality of life improves greatly for the imperial.

The Tau are more subtly bad than the others.

That doesn't make them good.