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I'm writing a short story based on a game that I had this weekend, and am introducing the Commander of the Tau Forces. I have his name, though not his title.

I've called him Da’Raya Vahush, Commander of the........."

Commander of what though...? I know of 3 expansions that they've had, though afaik that dates back something like 10 (real life) years, so no doubt this is outdated. Off the back of that, I can't see this guy as being the head honcho of an expansion, so what would an equivalent title be for a Lieutenant in the Tau race?

I've googled all this stuff but can't find anything obvious jumping out at me.

Prompt replies appreciated, as the creative juices are flowing and I don't want to lose my stride!

Umm... wouldn't the 40K background forum be a better place for this question?

You know, I got really excited when I saw this thread had received post. Gutted.

Didn't realise we had one - that's how often I use it.

Mods - please move to 40k background

They are now in 3'rd expansion, but it was rather unsuccessful as they only annexed several planets and defeated the Imperials at Taros while lost in Zeist and Necromunda where the main part of their invading army was.

I think that you can even put him as 4'th phase without any problem as 3'rd is pretty much over.

The tau already have a leading general person-Shadowsun.

Cool, that'll do nicely.

Glad I checked as I'd originally penned him as Commander of the 17th! Lol.

Is there a Tau dictionary anywhere out there? I'm trying to come up with a better name for him - I found this site that helps me with how their names are structured, though not english to Tau translations


Automatically Appended Next Post:
@ Blood Lance - I don't want him to be the leader of the entire thing, just a lieutenant. The first part of his name is Shas’El Sha’draig (which translates as a Knight of the Fire Caste from the Sha'draig Sept)

You will want to look at http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Main_Page#.T7ApW8XAUvE and take a look here http://www.advancedtautactica.com/

Amazing - thanks Nom; google had taken me too deep in to Lexicanum and I'd missed that page.

I now have his title and full name:

Shas’El Sha’draig Or’es M’yen Fio’shas

Translation:

Powerful and unforeseen warrior Knight of the Fire Caste from the Sha'draig Sept.

Red = Knight (title)
Orange = Sha'draig (specific sept, chosen for it's link to the Hivefleet Gorgon invasion, and a smaller -shakier - link to a short story in the DE codex)
Blue = Powerful (name)
Violet = Unforeseen (name)
White = Warrior (name)

Thanks for the help dudes

Caste, Rank, World, then given or earned names. For instance the unit commander of my oldest and most celebrated units of Firewarriors is:
Shas'Ui Sacea Kovash Shi
(Firewarrior, rank2, from Sacea, "The Difficult Victory")
And my etherial is:
Aun'ui Fal'shia Shi'va (AKA Aun Shiva)
(Etherial, rank 2, from Fal'shia, "The good fight.")

IIRC the Third Sphere Expansion is the last expansion in the 41st millenium. It takes advantage of the Imperial Worlds and taken territory left undefended after the Damocles Gulf Crusade in response to Abaddons 13th Black Crusade. All the forces who WERE about to WTFPWN the tau got pulled away for something more important.

So for your story decide if this is meant to be set in the future in relation to current fluff or if you mean for your character to be a subordinate of the Shas'o or Kor'o in charge of the Third Sphere expansion.

Yeah, I think I've got that right:

Shas - caste
El - rank
Sha-draig - world
Or'es - given name
M'yen - given name
Fio-shas - given name

Not a short name, but then I didn't come up with the system lol

He's part of the current timeline (the supposed 4th expansion) so I have some freedom to dictate what's happening and why.

Or at least I do until GW says something different's happening lol

Most tau go by their nick name. Like shadowsun or farsight.

I found this too. http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Tau_Lexicon#.T7Ayk8XAUvE

I'll just be referring to him as Shas'El or Or'es in the story - I couldn't find anything to create a short enough nickname that wasn't as basic as "Warrior" etc to use.

Nagashek wrote:IIRC the Third Sphere Expansion is the last expansion in the 41st millenium. It takes advantage of the Imperial Worlds and taken territory left undefended after the Damocles Gulf Crusade in response to Abaddons 13th Black Crusade. All the forces who WERE about to WTFPWN the tau got pulled away for something more important.

Not quite. The Third Sphere Expansion was lead by Commander Shadowsun, and did indeed see little resistence due to the 13th Black Crusade. However, the Damocles Gulf Crusade was much earlier, it was the Second Sphere Expansion that followed in the wake of the Imperium's retreat after their abortive campaign, due in part to the emergent threat of Hive Fleet Behemoth. Additionally, the IoM wasn't about to "WTFPWN" the Tau in that conflict. They were engaged in a bitter stalemate that, without any further resources or reinforcements, the Imperial Forces were being ground down into submission as the Tau began to swing more and more of it's might at them. It would have taken more than a considerable amount of Ultima Segmentum's military attention to have wiped out the Tau, and that's without factoring in the 'Nids arrival on the scene.

Anfauglir wrote:

Nagashek wrote:IIRC the Third Sphere Expansion is the last expansion in the 41st millenium. It takes advantage of the Imperial Worlds and taken territory left undefended after the Damocles Gulf Crusade in response to Abaddons 13th Black Crusade. All the forces who WERE about to WTFPWN the tau got pulled away for something more important.

Not quite. The Third Sphere Expansion was lead by Commander Shadowsun, and did indeed see little resistence due to the 13th Black Crusade. However, the Damocles Gulf Crusade was much earlier, it was the Second Sphere Expansion that followed in the wake of the Imperium's retreat after their abortive campaign, due in part to the emergent threat of Hive Fleet Behemoth. Additionally, the IoM wasn't about to "WTFPWN" the Tau in that conflict. They were engaged in a bitter stalemate that, without any further resources or reinforcements, the Imperial Forces were being ground down into submission as the Tau began to swing more and more of it's might at them. It would have taken more than a considerable amount of Ultima Segmentum's military attention to have wiped out the Tau, and that's without factoring in the 'Nids arrival on the scene.

Thanks, I'll doublecheck my fluff then.

Also, the familiar name for a Tau still includes their rank. So instead of "Shas'el Or'es" it would be "El'Or'es." It's why Farsight is known as "O'Shova."