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First of all, this isn't one of those "can tau have psykers?" threads.

No, what I wonder is, seeing as tau are unable to develop psychic powers but still seem to be vulnerable to psychic attacks that have a physical effect, such as pyromancy powers, etc, what would happen if a human psyker tried to read the mind of a tau, or communicate telepathically with one? Does the tau "lack of warp presence" simply mean powers are unavailable to them without protecting them from those of outsiders, or would a human telepath finding reading a tau mind like hitting a brick wall?

Would a human be able to comprehend an alien mind? There might be a translation problem.

Given the setting, probably not, but I'm wondering if they could get in there in the first place.

 Mr Nobody wrote:
Would a human be able to comprehend an alien mind? There might be a translation problem.

But just a small one. Translate two words and youre done..


greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.Egreater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.

 1hadhq wrote:

 Mr Nobody wrote:
Would a human be able to comprehend an alien mind? There might be a translation problem.

But just a small one. Translate two words and youre done..


greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.Egreater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.

This and we all are going to die once they get with hands reach of us.

 Fezman wrote:
First of all, this isn't one of those "can tau have psykers?" threads.

No, what I wonder is, seeing as tau are unable to develop psychic powers but still seem to be vulnerable to psychic attacks that have a physical effect, such as pyromancy powers, etc, what would happen if a human psyker tried to read the mind of a tau, or communicate telepathically with one? Does the tau "lack of warp presence" simply mean powers are unavailable to them without protecting them from those of outsiders, or would a human telepath finding reading a tau mind like hitting a brick wall?

iirc, Eliphas in Dark Crusade ran into that problem when trying to communicate telepathically with the Tau commander Osha'whatshisface. No matter what Eliphas said all the Tau guy could 'hear' was some kind of slight buzzing noise, he kept thinking it was an issue with his comm systems. So either Eliphas was just a crap telepath or Tau really don't pick up telepathic messages.

Or it was just DoW having another fluff derp. Khorne loving Librarians anyone?

More like the DoW series having a fluff derp. The Tau aren't blanks/Untouchables, they just have a low psychic signature, which is going to bite them in the ass later on down the line.

It may also be that Eliphas is a crap telepath, to boot.

I think, personally, that they would find it incredibly simple.

I personally am of the opinion that the Tau have been subject to so much brainwashing (chemical, social, electronic, genetic, surgical, and indeed possibly pheremonal) that they do not what we would really call sentient. Just very sophisticated, meaty automatons.

That's my own personal take on the situation, given the information that we have. It isn't canon by any stretch of the imagination.

It makes sense to me that organs with a similar function but completely different infrastructure (the brains of independently evolved sentients) would be incapable of telepathic communication. It would be like trying to read a vinyl LP with a CD player. However, I think there have been cases of Eldar using telepathy on humans, so unless you endorse the idea of humans being another Old One experiment that theory goes kaput.

I think I might use that if my Deathwatch game ever gets off the ground, though. You can communicate in full sentences with humans, and you can get simple concepts across to abhumans, but try your telepathy on xenos scum and all you get is a headache.

I think rather than telepathy it would be more like Diana Troy from Star Trek... "Empathic"?

So reading an Orks mind would be more like looking at a wall of graffiti. The general idea is all over the place.

An Eldar mind would be like a maze but organized. Basically you see the mind at work but it just confuses you... on purpose.

A Tau would probably give off basic emotions. Tau are very similar to humans. If they have ambition and drive they most certainly have emotion.

I think the lack of warp signature could be like reading very small text that keeps moving. You could work at it but the Exterminatus would be issued before you could demand a surrender.

The older Tau codex shows an Imperial Fist and an Inquisitor taking a tour of some sort of Tau city or maybe training ground.

If comunications had developed that far between the two races I'm sure all space marine chapters would be given access to that knowlege for use on the battle feild.

 1hadhq wrote:

 Mr Nobody wrote:
Would a human be able to comprehend an alien mind? There might be a translation problem.

But just a small one. Translate two words and youre done..


greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.Egreater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.

You made a mistake half way through, Did you genuinely type all this out and not copy and paste? Haha. The complex mind of a space commie well illustrated here :p

Considering that Tigurius made telepathic contact with the Tyranid Hive Mind, got a reading of its "thoughts" (such as they were) and survived without his mind exploding indicates that cross-species telepathy is definitely possible.

 Psienesis wrote:
Considering that Tigurius made telepathic contact with the Tyranid Hive Mind, got a reading of its "thoughts" (such as they were) and survived without his mind exploding indicates that cross-species telepathy is definitely possible.

A Tau might be more difficult to actually communicate with telepathically, compared to a human, but a signifigantly capable telepath (Or one who just knows the Tau language, perhaps via ripping it from the Tau's mind lol) can make do.

I wrote a short story about something similar to this actually.

Rather than speak, though, the psyker delivered images and memories directly in to the unfortunate Tau's mind, driving him utterly insane with visions of daemons and the warp.

Images, sensations, etc would be easier to convey than words, I would think.

A psyker certainly could read the mind of a Tau. It would be more a communication of general feelings and emotions rather than direct words.

 Trondheim wrote:

 1hadhq wrote:

 Mr Nobody wrote:
Would a human be able to comprehend an alien mind? There might be a translation problem.

But just a small one. Translate two words and youre done..


greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.Egreater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.greater-good.

This and we all are going to get tickled once they get with hands reach of us.

This seemed more appropriate.

OK, by the sound of it there is an annoying lack of official fluff on the subject, but the general opinion seems to be that telepathic communication might be possible (and Tigurius shows that inter-species telepathy has happened). Seems like their lack of Warp presence just means they are immune, or very resistant to, Chaos corruption.

I wonder if any FFG stuff has touched on this?

 Fezman wrote:
OK, by the sound of it there is an annoying lack of official fluff on the subject, but the general opinion seems to be that telepathic communication might be possible (and Tigurius shows that inter-species telepathy has happened). Seems like their lack of Warp presence just means they are immune, or very resistant to, Chaos corruption.

I wonder if any FFG stuff has touched on this?

They are not immue to Chaos or mutation. See: WD article on making "bosses" for KillTeam senarios.

Tau are not Pariahs.

Also, Deathwatch at least does address this. Focus Power Tests on Telepathy to creatures without a common language, like aliens, take a -20 penalty.

 Psienesis wrote:
More like the DoW series having a fluff derp. The Tau aren't blanks/Untouchables, they just have a low psychic signature, which is going to bite them in the ass later on down the line.

It may also be that Eliphas is a crap telepath, to boot.

It's that the Tau have such a weak signature that Eliphas couldn't really get anything but a little whisper through, it's like trying to get a signal through to a crappy half rate receiver. When he tried to page the Necrons who have NO warp signature he didn't even get that through, essentially trying to transmit to something that doesn't have a receiver.

The first annoyed Eliphas because it meant he was blowing hot air that O'Kais couldn't even hear properly. The second absolutely terrified him because as a word bearer he's taught that all things are part of the warp and chaos, and the thought of something outside it made him crap himself before the Necrons stormed the Deimos plateau in the Necron campaign.