Forum adverts like this one are shown to any user who is not logged in. Join us by filling out a tiny 3 field form and you will get your own, free, dakka user account which gives a good range of benefits to you: No adverts like this in the forums anymore. Times and dates in your local timezone. Full tracking of what you have read so you can skip to your first unread post, easily see what has changed since you last logged in, and easily see what is new at a glance. Email notifications for threads you want to watch closely. Being a part of the oldest wargaming community on the net. If you are already a member then feel free to login now.

For some reason I keep seeing people say that Tau live shorter lives than humans. A lot of people seem to estimate it about 40. I could understand that they don't live as long as rich or powerful humans who can live for many years (like space marines) but normal compared to current day lifespans. The only thing that would hint at this that I see is that tau "retain their youthful vigor" throughout their life. Can anyone give me information on if this information is real and if so were it is?

Thanks, Co'tor Shas.

50 is old for Tau.

EDIT: Besides I don't really think that they have that kind of tech.

 sing your life wrote:
50 is old for Tau.

So I've heard, but I want to know were the information is from. I have the current and previous tau codex, as well as the one from 3rd edition, and I can't find it in either.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
50 is old for Tau.

So I've heard, but I want to know were the information is from. I have the current and previous tau codex, as well as the one from 3rd edition, and I can't find it in either.

It's somewhere in the current Codex, I think. And otherwise, it should be in the Farsight Supplement, too.

I've seen that in the White Dwarf they talk about how farsight can't be one person, because the Tau only live for 'blahblah years or so'.

 thenoobbomb wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
50 is old for Tau.

So I've heard, but I want to know were the information is from. I have the current and previous tau codex, as well as the one from 3rd edition, and I can't find it in either.

It's somewhere in the current Codex, I think. And otherwise, it should be in the Farsight Supplement, too.

I've seen that in the White Dwarf they talk about how farsight can't be one person, because the Tau only live for 'blahblah years or so'.

Nothing in the new codex (it has surprising little non-battle fluff), I'll have to re-read the farsight supplement.

I'm not big on Tau lore, but going on what I do know, the reasoning for the Tau having such short lifespans likely has to do with them being a "fledgling race" in the universe. They don't even have the senses to detect the Warp, and that is something that both Eldar and Human have both come to understand on their ascension to the Universe.

That said, in WH50k, I could definitely see the Tau being the new power player. Getting comfortable with the Warp and finding their numbers culled by the Dark Gods, as every race before and after has had happened to them. +__+

They just need to spend some more time out there. Hell, they only just found the Eastern Fringe (faqchk?). lol

The Tau are near-blanks. They have no Navigator gene and cannot perceive the Warp. They have no Psykers or even the ability to be Psychic. They will not be culled by the Dark Gods, excepting by the mortal followers of the Ruinous Powers.

 Psienesis wrote:
The Tau are near-blanks. They have no Navigator gene and cannot perceive the Warp. They have no Psykers or even the ability to be Psychic. They will not be culled by the Dark Gods, excepting by the mortal followers of the Ruinous Powers.

So they won't evolve to possess a "Navigator gene" or some other means of perceiving the Warp?

And that is incorrect. The have already been "culled" by the Dark Gods in at least one instance I can site: It comes from the story of a Word Bearer (whose name I cannot remember) in the book, Treacheries of the Space Marines. The first story, "The Masters, Bidding" the Word Bearer representative tells the story of how they arrived on a planet that had been claimed from Khorne by the Tau. Half the planet ran rampant with uncontrolled psykers, who dominated an entire continent charred black and gouged by the hands of Gods, while the Tau stayed in the Northern Continent, usurping what humanity still remained and bringing them into the folds of the greater good. Under the guidance of the Word Bearers, the "Cultist" psykers running rampant are brought to heel and a full scale daemon incursion erupts on the planet for the Tau's arrogant flaunting of the Blood Tithe. And so they are led into ruin by the raw energies unleashed by the primal psykers of the planet, and it is returned to Chaos' embrace.

All are at Risk from the Warp. +__+ Even those who do not believe, for that was the fate of both the Imperium of Man and Eldar alike.

 thenoobbomb wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
50 is old for Tau.

So I've heard, but I want to know were the information is from. I have the current and previous tau codex, as well as the one from 3rd edition, and I can't find it in either.

It's somewhere in the current Codex, I think. And otherwise, it should be in the Farsight Supplement, too.

I've seen that in the White Dwarf they talk about how farsight can't be one person, because the Tau only live for 'blahblah years or so'.

5th edition rulebook, the section in the back describing the different races. p170 on the Tau:

"Most Tau are short lived compared to other races, with a lifespan of around forty years being the norm."

It goes on to say:

"The Tau mature quickly, infirmity comes suddenly and death soon after, so that none linger overlong at the end of a life fully lived."

All very utopian

It also mentions that certain individuals appear to have longer lifespans "as if their lifespans were linked to the manifest destiny of the race itself." The original Tau codex also notes that Farsight appears to have lived 300 years or so, far in excess of the normal Tau lifespan.

I was going to make a comment about Farisight being pretty old, but then I did some research. According to 40k Wiki it is due to his weapon which draws life force from its victims. The only thing I saw on there was "exceptional age for a tau."

Farsight has his weapon, I think.

Warhammer40k.wikia.com wrote:The Dawn Blade was found by Commander Farsight in the ruins of a pre-human xenos civilisation on the Tau Artefact World of Arthas Moloch. It flickers with unknown energy when he swings it, and cuts a swathe easily through most types of enemies and even armoured vehicles. Unknown to Farsight, its blade is forged from chronophagic alloys which can absorb life force and add a slain foe's remaining natural lifespan to that of its owner. This is the secret of Farsight's remarkable longevity for a Tau, though he is unaware of this effect and would be appalled if he knew the truth of the weapon's origin.

Not sure about the sources though, so it might all be outdated or something.


Automatically Appended Next Post:
Well darn, I was beaten to it!

TheRedWingArmada wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
The Tau are near-blanks. They have no Navigator gene and cannot perceive the Warp. They have no Psykers or even the ability to be Psychic. They will not be culled by the Dark Gods, excepting by the mortal followers of the Ruinous Powers.

So they won't evolve to possess a "Navigator gene" or some other means of perceiving the Warp?

And that is incorrect. The have already been "culled" by the Dark Gods in at least one instance I can site: It comes from the story of a Word Bearer (whose name I cannot remember) in the book, Treacheries of the Space Marines. The first story, "The Masters, Bidding" the Word Bearer representative tells the story of how they arrived on a planet that had been claimed from Khorne by the Tau. Half the planet ran rampant with uncontrolled psykers, who dominated an entire continent charred black and gouged by the hands of Gods, while the Tau stayed in the Northern Continent, usurping what humanity still remained and bringing them into the folds of the greater good. Under the guidance of the Word Bearers, the "Cultist" psykers running rampant are brought to heel and a full scale daemon incursion erupts on the planet for the Tau's arrogant flaunting of the Blood Tithe. And so they are led into ruin by the raw energies unleashed by the primal psykers of the planet, and it is returned to Chaos' embrace.

All are at Risk from the Warp. +__+ Even those who do not believe, for that was the fate of both the Imperium of Man and Eldar alike.

Again, the machinations of mortal servants of Chaos, further supplemented by manifest daemons that then go on to physically kill things.

There's the additional problem of this being a Black Library novel, in which Ethereals might be Psykers, Tau might have noses, Servitors might make jokes and crack wise to an Inquisitor, or daemons might overwhelm a Blank's natural abilities and change his perceptions of reality.

Aren't blanks pretty much completely soulless? I thought it was stated in studio materials that Tau souls were simply really dim, being akin to cookie crumbs, but still there. The major difference being a daemon couldn't eat a blank's soul because there's nothing there to eat, but if he got together like, a BILLION Tau souls or something, he might have juuuust enough cookie crumbs to make one cookie. Of course, getting that many Tau souls crammed together is probably not worth the effort, and when it comes to individual Tau souls... well, how easy is it for YOU to spot one single cookie crumb under most situations?

 Psienesis wrote:

TheRedWingArmada wrote:

 Psienesis wrote:
The Tau are near-blanks. They have no Navigator gene and cannot perceive the Warp. They have no Psykers or even the ability to be Psychic. They will not be culled by the Dark Gods, excepting by the mortal followers of the Ruinous Powers.

So they won't evolve to possess a "Navigator gene" or some other means of perceiving the Warp?

And that is incorrect. The have already been "culled" by the Dark Gods in at least one instance I can site: It comes from the story of a Word Bearer (whose name I cannot remember) in the book, Treacheries of the Space Marines. The first story, "The Masters, Bidding" the Word Bearer representative tells the story of how they arrived on a planet that had been claimed from Khorne by the Tau. Half the planet ran rampant with uncontrolled psykers, who dominated an entire continent charred black and gouged by the hands of Gods, while the Tau stayed in the Northern Continent, usurping what humanity still remained and bringing them into the folds of the greater good. Under the guidance of the Word Bearers, the "Cultist" psykers running rampant are brought to heel and a full scale daemon incursion erupts on the planet for the Tau's arrogant flaunting of the Blood Tithe. And so they are led into ruin by the raw energies unleashed by the primal psykers of the planet, and it is returned to Chaos' embrace.

All are at Risk from the Warp. +__+ Even those who do not believe, for that was the fate of both the Imperium of Man and Eldar alike.

Again, the machinations of mortal servants of Chaos, further supplemented by manifest daemons that then go on to physically kill things.

There's the additional problem of this being a Black Library novel, in which Ethereals might be Psykers, Tau might have noses, Servitors might make jokes and crack wise to an Inquisitor, or daemons might overwhelm a Blank's natural abilities and change his perceptions of reality.

That's ridiculous. The Tau don't have noses. XD

I know, right? But... well.... Black Library.

Isn't there is a timeline glitch involving Aun`shi? That Tau should not be alive as of the current codex I am almost certain. He fought orks back when Farsight was still with the Empire right?

This is what happens when you've internalized the fluff from 3 different codexes and reconciled them with each other in your head, you end up with weird chronology errors like this going on.

Well, they reconciled the Farsight (dawnblade) and Sunsword (cryogenic stasis) ones, at least.

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 thenoobbomb wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
50 is old for Tau.

So I've heard, but I want to know were the information is from. I have the current and previous tau codex, as well as the one from 3rd edition, and I can't find it in either.

It's somewhere in the current Codex, I think. And otherwise, it should be in the Farsight Supplement, too.

I've seen that in the White Dwarf they talk about how farsight can't be one person, because the Tau only live for 'blahblah years or so'.

Nothing in the new codex (it has surprising little non-battle fluff), I'll have to re-read the farsight supplement.

Page 58 of the farsighted supplement says

that whenever his dawn blade cuts a life short with it, the natural span that he stole from his victim is added to the wielder’s own. This has allowed O’Shovah to live for almost three centuries. Though he has his suspicions that it is the Dawn Blade that has prolonged his lifespan to such a degree, if Farsight ever found out the horrible truth, he would likely end his own life in ritual sucide.

Your welcome

 Gitsmasher wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 thenoobbomb wrote:

 Co'tor Shas wrote:

 sing your life wrote:
50 is old for Tau.

So I've heard, but I want to know were the information is from. I have the current and previous tau codex, as well as the one from 3rd edition, and I can't find it in either.

It's somewhere in the current Codex, I think. And otherwise, it should be in the Farsight Supplement, too.

I've seen that in the White Dwarf they talk about how farsight can't be one person, because the Tau only live for 'blahblah years or so'.

Nothing in the new codex (it has surprising little non-battle fluff), I'll have to re-read the farsight supplement.

Page 58 of the farsighted supplement says

that whenever his dawn blade cuts a life short with it, the natural span that he stole from his victim is added to the wielder’s own. This has allowed O’Shovah to live for almost three centuries. Though he has his suspicions that it is the Dawn Blade that has prolonged his lifespan to such a degree, if Farsight ever found out the horrible truth, he would likely end his own life in ritual sucide.

Your welcome

YEAH? Well they still don't have noses.

The fluff on the blade is new to me. I was always hoping that the Ethereals were somehow sapping life or culling the other Tau for their own reasons. Maybe Ethereals were passively siphoning the small psychic energy/life force to power their control of Tau society or as Tau aged the hold Ethereals had over them loosened and the old had to be culled. This would be the truth Farsight found and why he rebelled/lived a long life.

I had hoped anyway

Hope remains the first step on the road to disappointment.

How does the dawnblade know? Does it keep a tally on average life spans for all species in the galaxy? What if the person had to cross a lot of roads, or do the equivalent of cycling in London.

Also given the background, death in combat pretty much is "natural causes" in the 40k universe

Clarke's Law in full effect with that weapon.

As mentioned "normal" Tau have an average lifespan of about 40 terran years, this is part of the reason they have developed so quickly as their lifespan is even more precious than humans. However Etherials seem to live FAR longer than "normal" Tau, in the range of several hundred years, yet another thing about them which is very mysterious...

I think this is one of those things you have to read between the lines on.
Ethereals live a very long time.
Prominent/important/influential Tau somehow end up living much longer than other Tau.

The short Tau lifespan was clearly engineered by the Ethereals and is something they can adjust if they choose to.
Perhaps long ago they observed that beyond a certain age, the Tau were drawing upsetting correlations and questioning their leadership...

 Archonate wrote:
I think this is one of those things you have to read between the lines on.
Ethereals live a very long time.
Prominent/important/influential Tau somehow end up living much longer than other Tau.

The short Tau lifespan was clearly engineered by the Ethereals and is something they can adjust if they choose to.
Perhaps long ago they observed that beyond a certain age, the Tau were drawing upsetting correlations and questioning their leadership...

The greater good indeed.... +__+

It is that hypocrisy which will hand their species over to the Warp.

Recall that whilst they only have a lifespan of about 40 years, they have very short childhoods and old age. So their 'productive' lives are probably as long or longer than humans, and they are less of a burden (as children, and as seniors) than humans would be. Depending on how you look at it that can be an actual advantage, especially given the tau's mindset.

It's in the first Tau codex. I'm sure it is repeated in the second too.

Their short life spans aren't engineered, that is just the average lifespan of a Tau. Ethereals live longer due to mysterious circumstances and is part of their unknown origin.

The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long... and you have burned so very very brightly Roy Tau.

 Medium of Death wrote:
It's in the first Tau codex. I'm sure it is repeated in the second too.

Their short life spans aren't engineered, that is just the average lifespan of a Tau. Ethereals live longer due to mysterious circumstances and is part of their unknown origin.

The light that burns twice as bright, burns half as long... and you have burned so very very brightly Roy Tau.

But maybe they did engineered their race to be enslaved in such a way, and then engineered themselves to be "enslaved" with the burden of being the best and on top so that they could be blameless in the end while still achieving what they, or at least their previous incarnations had wanted. :O -que dramatic music-

I still think they are fish food in the universe though, no matter what GW says or how many times I get 50 shots to the face by 1x 3 man squad on the charge. I mean their best friends are bug people and dinosaur people. ;>>

Connor MacLeod wrote:
Recall that whilst they only have a lifespan of about 40 years, they have very short childhoods and old age. So their 'productive' lives are probably as long or longer than humans, and they are less of a burden (as children, and as seniors) than humans would be. Depending on how you look at it that can be an actual advantage, especially given the tau's mindset.

They maintain their "youthful vigor" throughout their life, and sleep the equivalent of a human sleeping 2.4-4.8 hours a day, so they are more productive over a shorter lifespan.