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As we know, the Emperor's master plan and the original purpose of the Golden Throne was the construction of the Imperial Webway, a mechanism by which humanity could travel the stars without the risks of Warp travel and the dæmonic influence that contact with the Warp provides. However, this plan was aborted thanks to the Horus Heresy and the Imperial Webway was severely damaged or destroyed, so mankind is stuck with Warp travel and the inconsistencies and potential for corruption that come with it. Mankind appears to have no hope of solving this problem, since the Golden Throne-- the gateway to the Imperial Webway-- is now being used to maintain the life of the Emperor (and perhaps seal the gate to the dæmon-infested remnants of the Imperial Webway).

What, then, is the endgame for humanity? The Golden Throne is slowly decaying. The light of the Astronomican is ebbing. How can humanity prevail?

The answer lies with the Tau Empire. The Tau were originally found by Imperial vessels, which then mysteriously disappeared in a warp storm after reporting their findings, allowing the Tau to develop free from Imperial oversight. The Tau genome appears to have been synthetically modified in order to aid in this rapid growth. What was behind this warp storm? I contend that it was the Emperor himself! After all, the Emperor controls the Astronomican, by which all Imperial ships navigate. He could cause this beacon to falter or guide a ship astray, thus buying time to alter the Tau and let them flourish. Alternatively, the expedition itself might have been "repurposed" by the Emperor and sent to make the modifications directly, then designated "lost in the warp" to prevent the intervention from being discovered.

Regardless of what exact form this action took, it has clearly paid dividends-- the Tau have flourished into an intelligent species, and more importantly a species with access to the phased-warp drive. While in some respects more primitive than the true Warp drive and certainly slower, the phased-warp drive does not expose ships to the perils of the Warp. Thus, warp travel can be made safe without the use of the Webway, as the phased-warp drive can replace the Imperial Webway as the new means of interstellar travel. This all plays in to the original plan of the Emperor, the plan that motivated the Great Crusades-- the plan to abolish religion and establish a society free from supernatural influences and the perils of the Warp. With the technology and doctrine of the Tau, humanity has one last chance to redeem that hope.

The Tau, too, need the help of humanity if they are to survive. Despite their technological advancements, their empire is puny relative to the true powers of the galaxy, and is greatly threatened by Tyranid incursions and Ork raiders. But with the vast forces of humanity aiding them, the Tau Empire could be much stronger than its current state. I therefore call upon the humans of the Imperium to abandon their corrupt masters and join the Greater Good of the Tau Empire! It is, after all, what the Emperor wants of us-- a society free from the perils of warp travel and hence the influence of Chaotic powers.

Some point out that the Tau do not permit human converts to their Empire to continue in their worship of the Emperor, instead demanding loyalty to the Greater Good. While this has not been conclusively established one way or the other, my response to such claims is simple-- so it should be! The Emperor never wished to be worshiped, and indeed worship of the Emperor is what led to the Heresy in the first place. The "Greater Good" that the Tau Empire advocates-- the unity of intelligent beings for the benefit of all and mutual defense against the enemies of all sentient life-- is a far better goal than the worship of a man who not only never asked to be worshiped, but unambiguously crusaded against religion.


One last note-- some claim that the Tau were created by the Eldar, not the Emperor. There are two problems with this theory. First, it isn't clear why the Eldar would create the Tau. Second, the only strong evidence from this comes from the Xenology book, which is dubiously canon. However, if you consider this book canon, then yes, the Eldar were likely behind the creation of the Tau. That said, if you consider this book canon, then the Star Child is real, so the Emperor does not necessarily need a secondary master plan...

Well there is a conspiracy about the tau. Just too many lucky brakes to be chance. I don't think it's the Emperor's doing because it relies on him having a real physical world presence that I don't think he has. I think they where uplifted by the necros, or that they evolved from horus's pet fish.

That is actually a very good theory.
There is one problem that comes to mind, however : The emperor doesn't like xenos.

The Emperor, you have to understand, is the epitomy of human nationalism (specism?); he doesn't trust any xenos, and will only make treaties with them if the net gain is beneficial for humanity. He will not advocate incorporating the human race into an alien empire, whereafter they will have their identities removed and made into virtual drones serving "the greater good."

Also the thing about the Eldar making the tau is dumb; why would a psychic race create a race that has no connection to the warp? It just doesn't seem to be the eldar's style.
And I don't remember anything about a star child in Xenology, nor anything about the Eldar making the tau.

I think this is not gonna happen. As it has been said he hated xeno's to the point he had his legions wipe out any they could and he really can't interact with the universe at all.

I myself could see the Eldar helping to uplift them a bit. They play the long game and as the Tau do not have much a warp signature they make pretty fine weapons in the long game. After all the Eldar were created to be weapons as well.

CthuluIsSpy wrote:That is actually a very good theory.
There is one problem that comes to mind, however : The emperor doesn't like xenos.

True, but does the same go for Xenos that he may or may not have shaped? Regardless, when it comes to the Chaos Powers or Xenos, Xenos are the lesser of two evils, and the Emperor, despite all his power, doesn't exactly have a ton of options...

CthuluIsSpy wrote:The Emperor, you have to understand, is the epitomy of human nationalism (specism?); he doesn't trust any xenos, and will only make treaties with them if the net gain is beneficial for humanity.

A solution to the warp travel problem would absolutely be beneficial for humanity.

CthuluIsSpy wrote:He will not advocate incorporating the human race into an alien empire, whereafter they will have their identities removed and made into virtual drones serving "the greater good."

First off, I doubt such control mechanisms are in use, though there are certainly arguments to be made for such. That said, if humanity joins the Tau Empire in large enough numbers, the Tau will be unable to exert such direct methods of control, regardless of whether or not they exist-- after all, the Tau would be vastly outnumbered!

CthuluIsSpy wrote:And I don't remember anything about a star child in Xenology, nor anything about the Eldar making the tau.

In Xenology, the "history of the universe" tableau or engraving or whatever shows the Star Child as its final image, and other elements of the work heavily imply that the Eldar took a pheromonal control mechanism from another species and grafted it into Tau biology in order to create the Ethereal caste.

You have to answer how the emperor made the aun. Warpstorms are one thing, but he can't create a new race.

CthuluIsSpy wrote:The Emperor, you have to understand, is the epitomy of human nationalism (specism?); he doesn't trust any xenos, and will only make treaties with them if the net gain is beneficial for humanity. He will not advocate incorporating the human race into an alien empire, whereafter they will have their identities removed and made into virtual drones serving "the greater good."

CthulhuSpy makes a very good point.

Discussion about the will of the Emperor is spotty at best - especially given the number of revisions/re-edits/rewrites he has undergone at the hands of both GW and BL.

However one of the things that has stayed consistent throughout the years is his Apprehension toward the Xenos.

Appearances can be deceiving (especially true for the Emperor), so its left in question how radical he was in this apprehension.

Was he a raving lunatic like Hitler circa 1943 who would not stomach any deviation?

Or was he more suave about it...like Hitler circa 1930s (hint: Look how much of the propertied classes were able to get exemptions from the Nuremberg Laws during this era.).

Depending on your "flavor of Emperor" - you could be looking at Genocidal Madman OR a staunch Pragmatist who would have manuevered any sort of Xenos alliance in favor of his precious humans.

Also the thing about the Eldar making the tau is dumb; why would a psychic race create a race that has no connection to the warp? It just doesn't seem to be the eldar's style.

And I don't remember anything about a star child in Xenology, nor anything about the Eldar making the tau.

Ah, but they seem to have learned a bit too well from their Old One masters... Manipulate and standback in the shadows.

Xenology does have a very strong implicaton that the Eldar took the pherenmonal substances from the Qorl (sp?) and implanted something similar into the Ethereal caste - perhaps as a back up weapon against Chaos?

As for the Starchild business - there's a bit of a Cryptic tablet that points in that direction.

Xenology offers up the account that Some of the Old Ones = The Eldar Gods. How such a transmogrification came about is unknown - but a tablet that remains from the time period points to the surviving "1st Gen" Old Ones who correspond to the symbols used by Ceogorach, Khaine, Isha, and a Child/Fetus.

Some say this is Ynnead the God of the Dead to be Born. Others point to the Emperor given the status of his own birth.

And some make the highly heretical statement that Ynnead=StarChild...

This seems to make an alarming amount of sence however i have thought for a long while now that the tau were more the work of an aliance of races than just the eldar them selves as i want to imagine a "council" of the intelegant races in the galaxy deciding on the ultimate counter measure for chaos (this probably happening around the time of the crusade and was ended abruptly by the heresy).

I can imagine as they have some of the strong elements from all of the galaxys intelegant races as they have the intelegance and tecnical undying loyalty of the necrons, the strengh of will posessed by the eldar and the faith that only a human can posess. these are ultimatley the tools that will defeat chaos.

It also dawns on me that they are awefully similar to the lizard men in thier goals (even if unknown to them at this point) and thier caste system is similar if not a direct take from the lizard men where you are born to be a leader, a fighter, a trader, an engineer or a diplomat and it is verry difficult if not impossible to break these rules.

The reason why i think this is that the emperor must have had equivalants in the Eldar and Necron socity (possibly Ork aswell) who forsaw the eventual victory of chaos and realised that one of them alone could not defeat chaos so they decided to use all thier power to create the race that would ultimatley unite the galaxy and defeat chaos and prevent its return and after that act as a galactic peackeeper to prevent it from ever rising again.

However this leaves one problem, what could possibly have the power to create an entirely new race? this leaves only a few possibilities

1. the C'tan, with the backing of the Eldar, humanity and the Necrons the C'tan would have almost no choice but to spark the tau into existance in a relativley safe corner of the galaxy until they could grow to take thier place in the galaxy

2. Sacrafice, a being of great power would have to sacrafice themselves to create the power nescisary to make this happen (this may well could have been the emperor) however this would have some incredible psycic backlash. if this was the emperor it is more likley to be that he has sacraficed his entire physical being to create the spark but given that his psycic being is a little pre-occypied they have not flourished as well as thay wished

3. Genetic enhancement, as we all know the space marines are heavily geneticly enhanced, but would similar techiques allow an entirely new race to be created. I belive it to not be impossible as the Tau share a surprising amount of physical traits with successfull races across the galaxy and due to thier caste system they are specialised to the task they will take part in. Given that the average tau is the same size as the average human or eldar, they have hooves as they are a sturdier way or standing and are quicker to move with (i cant even explain the face, possibly something with protecting the brain) they also share some minor features simmilar to what i belive a necrotyr would have looked like and for thier size have a verry tough bone structure.

4. Fluke, the race may have been found and since they met the requirements for the master plan they were influenced to follow that path and then accelerated to achive that goal as quickly as possible and then for what ever reason the acceleration stopped or slowed down significantly. thus leaving them where they are today.

TBH this is what i think is the case and is reasonably well informed, there are probably a few holes in this theory but what people need to remember is that this is a theory and not to be taken too seriously.

Just want to point out that 6'000 years back the Tau had already evolved. and had not ethereal cast. So unless the Big E could have crafted them while on earth and on life support its a no go.

nomotog wrote:You have to answer how the emperor made the aun. Warpstorms are one thing, but he can't create a new race.

Hunterindarkness wrote:Just want to point out that 6'000 years back the Tau had already evolved. and had not ethereal cast. So unless the Big E could have crafted them while on earth and on life support its a no go.

The Tau certainly weren't created by the Emperor, but modified may be another story...

Fetterkey wrote:
What, then, is the endgame for humanity? The Golden Throne is slowly decaying. The light of the Astronomican is ebbing. How can humanity prevail?

The answer lies with the Tau Empire.

???

Why would a 1.000.000 worlds strong empire that lasted for 10.000 years wanted to join an empire with 114 worlds that lasted for <3.000 years?
That would be like USA asking to become part of Luxemburg because they cannot withstand economic and social crisis.

And like Ctuhulus said: Emperor hated alien for what they did to Mankidn during the Age of Strife, so this is a big no no....
But interesting theory nonetheless...

Fetterkey wrote:
The Tau certainly weren't created by the Emperor, but modified may be another story...

He has not been able to modify anything in the last 10'000 years. As the Tau were modified in the last 5'000 years or so, it puts him out of the running. If he had this power, he would have used it on Humans not some Xeno scum.

Fetterkey wrote:

nomotog wrote:You have to answer how the emperor made the aun. Warpstorms are one thing, but he can't create a new race.

Hunterindarkness wrote:Just want to point out that 6'000 years back the Tau had already evolved. and had not ethereal cast. So unless the Big E could have crafted them while on earth and on life support its a no go.

The Tau certainly weren't created by the Emperor, but modified may be another story...

'
How did he modify them? He would need to reach into the physical world to effect the tau unless you can think of another way for him to influence them?

Brother Coa wrote:

Fetterkey wrote:
What, then, is the endgame for humanity? The Golden Throne is slowly decaying. The light of the Astronomican is ebbing. How can humanity prevail?

The answer lies with the Tau Empire.

???

Why would a 1.000.000 worlds strong empire that lasted for 10.000 years wanted to join an empire with 114 worlds that lasted for <3.000 years?
That would be like USA asking to become part of Luxemburg because they cannot withstand economic and social crisis.

The point is not the strength of the Tau. The point is the technology of the Tau. Mankind benefits from the Tau's technology, the Tau benefit from mankind's martial prowess.

nomotog wrote:How did he modify them? He would need to reach into the physical world to effect the tau unless you can think of another way for him to influence them?

Hunterindarkness wrote:He has not been able to modify anything in the last 10'000 years.

But he can communicate with his servants, and has done so on multiple occasions. Perhaps the Explorators who found the Tau were repurposed to modify the Tau, and merely recorded as lost. Perhaps instead the Explorator teams were indeed misguided in the warp, and other agents were sent to accomplish the alterations. If the warp currents that blocked access to the Tau were created by the Emperor, he could presumably also guide a chosen few through.

Well here's a question related to the one asked by the OP.


What are the Tau (specifically the Ethereals) views on the God-Emperor?

I think they were a race that evolved and naturally got smarter and smarter as they worked together under the leadership of the Ethereals. Now where the Ethereals come from I have no clue. You could guess that they are cousins to the Eldar in some way or descended from the Old Ones. They are apparently an ancient race just by the nature of their fluff and how they interact with the Tau.

As far as how the Tau would view the Emperor the Fire Warriors would probably respect what he did as a Warrior but pity him for his foolishness in letting his men turn against him. The Ethereals...they would probably respect his ideals as far as how to build an empire although I don't think they would ever go to the extent of creating super enhanced Tau to fight for them.

@Fetterkey: The point is not the strength of the Tau. The point is the technology of the Tau. Mankind benefits from the Tau's technology, the Tau benefit from mankind's martial prowess.

Yes, but the xenos-hating imperium would much more likely invade then and steal their weapons and try to recreate or experiment on them instead of allying with them. And i'm pretty sure the imperium would'nt be above capturing a few tau and making them build weaponry..

Interesting theory, but right now it just sounds BS to me.

Yeah I am not buying the Tau were crafted by anyone in the IoM. If the Emp had the ability to do craft them he could have made humans as such. They are xeno's and he would have not used resources upon them as he was willing to use human ginny pigs.

Fetterkey wrote:
The point is not the strength of the Tau. The point is the technology of the Tau. Mankind benefits from the Tau's technology, the Tau benefit from mankind's martial prowess.

Then there is no point because Imperium is technologically more advanced then Tau Empire. Why would they want inferior technology?

There is no way on the God-Emperor's once-green earth that the Tau were influenced by the Imperium. As Brother Coa said "what would such a vast empire want with a small one?" The IoM crush and loot what they want, they don't bargain. By the time the IoM found the tau, Tech was on the decline. No one could reach the Tau for 6, 000 years.

Brother Coa wrote:

Fetterkey wrote:
The point is not the strength of the Tau. The point is the technology of the Tau. Mankind benefits from the Tau's technology, the Tau benefit from mankind's martial prowess.

Then there is no point because Imperium is technologically more advanced then Tau Empire. Why would they want inferior technology?

Hunterindarkness wrote:Yeah I am not buying the Tau were crafted by anyone in the IoM. If the Emp had the ability to do craft them he could have made humans as such. They are xeno's and he would have not used resources upon them as he was willing to use human ginny pigs.

The Emperor *did* craft superior elements humanity-- they were called the Space Marines. But once he was installed on the Throne, it would be very difficult for him to carry out a project like that within his own territories, especially since such a project would ironically be decreed a heresy by certain elements of the Inquisition. Similarly, the Adeptus Mechanicus hold too much of a stranglehold on Imperial technology for the Emperor to advocate new technological developments, as such are controlled by other factions. For the Emperor to embark in a new project, it would ironically have to be accomplished outside the Imperium proper.

Brother Coa wrote:Then there is no point because Imperium is technologically more advanced then Tau Empire. Why would they want inferior technology?

The Tau gravitic drive, despite being roughly 1/5 the speed of the Imperial warp drive, is superior in one key respect-- it is safe and consistent. More importantly, it works without the Astronomican, which is now fading...

The Crusader wrote:

Brother Coa wrote:

Fetterkey wrote:
The point is not the strength of the Tau. The point is the technology of the Tau. Mankind benefits from the Tau's technology, the Tau benefit from mankind's martial prowess.

Then there is no point because Imperium is technologically more advanced then Tau Empire. Why would they want inferior technology?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

Fetterkey wrote:
The Tau gravitic drive, despite being roughly 1/5 the speed of the Imperial warp drive, is superior in one key respect-- it is safe and consistent. More importantly, it works without the Astronomican, which is now fading...

Imperium have teleporters, superior FTL travel technology, better shields, it is more advanced in field of genetics and cybernetics, it has more advanced AI ( Machine Spirit ), it has more powerful weapons ( Nova Cannon )... The only reason why Tau seem more advanced is because their empire is puny adn they can have same level of technology everywhere and their every trooper can have top of the line gun. While Imperium is spread across entire galaxy and the most advanced technology can be found only on most important worlds ( Mars ), whiel others have to be satisfied with 20'th or pre 20'th century technology.

And as we saw so far fluff can change dramatically, so even if Astronomicon is fading now that may change in the future fluff... That again have nothing to do with technological advancement of the Imeprium and Tau...

Well, you certainly have an imagination Fetterkey!

And to be honest you can be free to make this kind of story, it can never be 'disproved' as:
- the 40k universe will always be stuck at a quarter to midnight, on the cusp of the doom of mankind, and this will not change.
- the whole ethos of 40k is that all of our best qualities have gone down the toilet, and there is no hope. There is no hero arriving at the last moment to save the galaxy, he might have done but he got stabbed in the back by his mates!

The Emperor does not fraternize with the Xenos.

Instead of asking the Eldar for their permission to use the Webway, he took its power for humanity.

Instead of accepting the temptations of the Chaos Gods, he threw their offers back in their corrupted faces, taking their power for his own.

Instead of uniting a galaxy teaming with alien species under one empire, he crushed all those who stood in the path of the Great Crusade.

The machinations of the Warp are a small price to pay to keep humanity pure.

That's what an insane fanatic would preach before incinerating any Citizen who uttered your claims.

Whilst I don't think the Imperium should join beneath the Greater Good, being just as manipulative as anything the Ecclesiarchy puts out, the time for man to stand alone is over. Chaos rises, new threats emerge, too great for anyone one civilization to face alone. Both would benefit from peaceful cooperation.

Not in a million years. The Emperor may have been willing to negotiate with xenos, but even if they 'joined' the Imperium, they'd be second-class citizens or Imperial Protectorates forbidden from space travel/space colonization. Humans always come first in the Emperor's eyes.

iproxtaco wrote:

Slow but surely, chaos is begin to grow.

I summed it up for ya.

This thread is unclean. We must purify it with fire!

GLORY TO THE EMPEROR!

AlmightyWalrus wrote: This thread is unclean. We must purify it with fire!

GLORY TO THE EMPEROR!

I've got a better idea - fire the OP out a bombardment cannon.

Hi, Chowderhead here, with some excellent news!

It was the Eldar who sped up the T'au. The Eldar. Not the silly God Emperor.

Chowderhead wrote:Hi, Chowderhead here, with some excellent news!

It was the Eldar who sped up the T'au. The Eldar. Not the silly God Emperor.

Source?

Doesn't really matter either way. The Emperor didn't do it, and if someone else did it, Tyranids will still nomnom the Tau. Or get chopped up real good by Orks.