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What do people think happened to those soldiers in the warp?

What did you think of the lore :O

The newest Tau Codex draws the dotted lines and practically tells us. The Fourth Sphere Tau went through a warp rift and when found, had an intense distrust, verging on paranoia, towards non-Tau and only grudgingly let auxiliaries on board when directly ordered to by Ethereals. Even then, they kept their guns trained on them.

Basically: Bad things (i.e. daemonic) stuff happened to the auxiliaries accompanying the Tau 4th Sphere expansion fleet but not the Tau themselves since the Tau have only a dim warp presence. The Tau saw all the bad stuff and probably suffered a lot of casualties from daemonic manifestations and/or possessed auxiliaries, so now they distrust all other species except for Tau.

Yeah but there's so much more to it that that, like they saw some real gak in the warp, man.

Do you think they'll defect, much like the Farsight Enclaves? I was curious about the humans that have been taken back to T'au to be assimilated, I feel like it's almost asking for trouble without them even realising.

As my Tau friend said: I think it's silly. They lose the whole 4th Expansion and immediately make another one.

I like more Tau + Warp but that's it.

pm713 wrote:
As my Tau friend said: I think it's silly. They lose the whole 4th Expansion and immediately make another one.

I like more Tau + Warp but that's it.

I think the Ethereal Caste had their hands tied on this one. The Tau have never suffered such a massive loss in such a short space of time. They had to show that they could carry right on, even if launching the next wave that quickly left worlds weaker than they should have been. It would be a matter of proving that they aren’t going to get slowed down by a random cosmic disaster. From our point of view, it shows that for all their dynamism the Tau really are a tiny empire and large events could squash them with ease.

Patriarch Phyrx wrote:

pm713 wrote:
As my Tau friend said: I think it's silly. They lose the whole 4th Expansion and immediately make another one.

I like more Tau + Warp but that's it.

I think the Ethereal Caste had their hands tied on this one. The Tau have never suffered such a massive loss in such a short space of time. They had to show that they could carry right on, even if launching the next wave that quickly left worlds weaker than they should have been. It would be a matter of proving that they aren’t going to get slowed down by a random cosmic disaster. From our point of view, it shows that for all their dynamism the Tau really are a tiny empire and large events could squash them with ease.

The Ethereals had also scrubbed the incident and redacted the histories so the average Tau did not realize that it had been a disaster.

I don't have the tau dex, just reading off of Lexicanum:

However, the Fourth Sphere was not entirely destroyed. Cast into a nightmarish dimension, 3/4ths of the fleet was destroyed by alien creatures not yet fully understood by the Tau. Saved from oblivion by a nightmarish entity within the Warp, the survivors eventually emerged Chalnath Expanse deep within the Imperium of Man.

Does it say in the dex what the "Nightmarish entity within the Warp" was that saved the last members of the 4th sphere expansion?

 mrhappyface wrote:
I don't have the tau dex, just reading off of Lexicanum:

However, the Fourth Sphere was not entirely destroyed. Cast into a nightmarish dimension, 3/4ths of the fleet was destroyed by alien creatures not yet fully understood by the Tau. Saved from oblivion by a nightmarish entity within the Warp, the survivors eventually emerged Chalnath Expanse deep within the Imperium of Man.

Does it say in the dex what the "Nightmarish entity within the Warp" was that saved the last members of the 4th sphere expansion?

proably leaving it up for our imagination. I'm gonna guess Tzeetch. or worse... nurgle.. PLAGUE CRISIS SUITS.

BrianDavion wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:
I don't have the tau dex, just reading off of Lexicanum:

However, the Fourth Sphere was not entirely destroyed. Cast into a nightmarish dimension, 3/4ths of the fleet was destroyed by alien creatures not yet fully understood by the Tau. Saved from oblivion by a nightmarish entity within the Warp, the survivors eventually emerged Chalnath Expanse deep within the Imperium of Man.

Does it say in the dex what the "Nightmarish entity within the Warp" was that saved the last members of the 4th sphere expansion?

proably leaving it up for our imagination. I'm gonna guess Tzeetch. or worse... nurgle.. PLAGUE CRISIS SUITS.

Codex: Chaos Tau, when?

 mrhappyface wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:
I don't have the tau dex, just reading off of Lexicanum:

However, the Fourth Sphere was not entirely destroyed. Cast into a nightmarish dimension, 3/4ths of the fleet was destroyed by alien creatures not yet fully understood by the Tau. Saved from oblivion by a nightmarish entity within the Warp, the survivors eventually emerged Chalnath Expanse deep within the Imperium of Man.

Does it say in the dex what the "Nightmarish entity within the Warp" was that saved the last members of the 4th sphere expansion?

proably leaving it up for our imagination. I'm gonna guess Tzeetch. or worse... nurgle.. PLAGUE CRISIS SUITS.

Codex: Chaos Tau, when?

I reckon it was the Eldar laughing god, seems odd that Chaos would rescue them, or possibly Tzeentch, cause who the hell knows what he's doing anyway

That's quite interesting, what does the codex says exactly about this event ?

 ExarchCain wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:
I don't have the tau dex, just reading off of Lexicanum:

However, the Fourth Sphere was not entirely destroyed. Cast into a nightmarish dimension, 3/4ths of the fleet was destroyed by alien creatures not yet fully understood by the Tau. Saved from oblivion by a nightmarish entity within the Warp, the survivors eventually emerged Chalnath Expanse deep within the Imperium of Man.

Does it say in the dex what the "Nightmarish entity within the Warp" was that saved the last members of the 4th sphere expansion?

proably leaving it up for our imagination. I'm gonna guess Tzeetch. or worse... nurgle.. PLAGUE CRISIS SUITS.

Codex: Chaos Tau, when?

I reckon it was the Eldar laughing god, seems odd that Chaos would rescue them, or possibly Tzeentch, cause who the hell knows what he's doing anyway

The Eldar god's have no power in the warp and even if they did, the laughing god is hiding in the webway.

 mrhappyface wrote:

 ExarchCain wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:

BrianDavion wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:
I don't have the tau dex, just reading off of Lexicanum:

However, the Fourth Sphere was not entirely destroyed. Cast into a nightmarish dimension, 3/4ths of the fleet was destroyed by alien creatures not yet fully understood by the Tau. Saved from oblivion by a nightmarish entity within the Warp, the survivors eventually emerged Chalnath Expanse deep within the Imperium of Man.

Does it say in the dex what the "Nightmarish entity within the Warp" was that saved the last members of the 4th sphere expansion?

proably leaving it up for our imagination. I'm gonna guess Tzeetch. or worse... nurgle.. PLAGUE CRISIS SUITS.

Codex: Chaos Tau, when?

I reckon it was the Eldar laughing god, seems odd that Chaos would rescue them, or possibly Tzeentch, cause who the hell knows what he's doing anyway

The Eldar god's have no power in the warp and even if they did, the laughing god is hiding in the webway.

There's no reason they wouldn't have power in the Warp. They certainly aren't dominant but they could still be strong and even if Cegorach lives in the Webway he can always take a broken tunnel to the Warp. Personally I like the idea of Cegorach saving the Tau for some purpose and he certainly qualifies as nightmarish when you aren't Eldar.

pm713 wrote:

There's no reason they wouldn't have power in the Warp. They certainly aren't dominant but they could still be strong and even if Cegorach lives in the Webway he can always take a broken tunnel to the Warp. Personally I like the idea of Cegorach saving the Tau for some purpose and he certainly qualifies as nightmarish when you aren't Eldar.

If Cegorach entered the warp, wouldn't Slaanesh be aware of this? He ran away to the webway specifically because, if he had stayed in the warp, Slaanesh would have consumed him.

It was the Emprah, of course

 mrhappyface wrote:

pm713 wrote:

There's no reason they wouldn't have power in the Warp. They certainly aren't dominant but they could still be strong and even if Cegorach lives in the Webway he can always take a broken tunnel to the Warp. Personally I like the idea of Cegorach saving the Tau for some purpose and he certainly qualifies as nightmarish when you aren't Eldar.

If Cegorach entered the warp, wouldn't Slaanesh be aware of this? He ran away to the webway specifically because, if he had stayed in the warp, Slaanesh would have consumed him.

Cegorach protects Solitaires from being eaten by Slaanesh when they die. He clearly can intervene in these things.

pm713 wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:

pm713 wrote:

There's no reason they wouldn't have power in the Warp. They certainly aren't dominant but they could still be strong and even if Cegorach lives in the Webway he can always take a broken tunnel to the Warp. Personally I like the idea of Cegorach saving the Tau for some purpose and he certainly qualifies as nightmarish when you aren't Eldar.

If Cegorach entered the warp, wouldn't Slaanesh be aware of this? He ran away to the webway specifically because, if he had stayed in the warp, Slaanesh would have consumed him.

Cegorach protects Solitaires from being eaten by Slaanesh when they die. He clearly can intervene in these things.

Plus there is now Ynnead floating around somewhere. They may have the ability to interfere in the Warp too.

The Eldar have a vested interest in the Tau, as seen in Xenology, so an Eldar god helping has a degree of sense.

The codex says that the Tau tore a big hole in space, but it stabalized it into a quasi-webway. They cryo anything that doesn't -have- to be awake in transit and they are pouring people onto what I think is a Blood Angel's sector, where the remainder of the 4th sphere is chilling.

As to what they saw, I mean it's the warp. The Tau themselves were entirely unaffected though (so no chaos Tau), it's just the aux forces. As to defections, I mean all the Tau need to consider defecting is to loose proximity to an ethereal for a bit. We have a story in the Codex about a commander defecting when the ethereals nearby were all wiped out by a tank shell.

 Haighus wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:

pm713 wrote:

There's no reason they wouldn't have power in the Warp. They certainly aren't dominant but they could still be strong and even if Cegorach lives in the Webway he can always take a broken tunnel to the Warp. Personally I like the idea of Cegorach saving the Tau for some purpose and he certainly qualifies as nightmarish when you aren't Eldar.

If Cegorach entered the warp, wouldn't Slaanesh be aware of this? He ran away to the webway specifically because, if he had stayed in the warp, Slaanesh would have consumed him.

Cegorach protects Solitaires from being eaten by Slaanesh when they die. He clearly can intervene in these things.

Plus there is now Ynnead floating around somewhere. They may have the ability to interfere in the Warp too.

The Eldar have a vested interest in the Tau, as seen in Xenology, so an Eldar god helping has a degree of sense.

Would an Eldar god be "nightmarish" ?

Cegorath certainly *would* have power in the Warp. He *is* a Warp god, afterall. It's just that he may get devoured quickly - unless he's learned how to evade Slanesh for a short jaunt or something.

A Warp power or entity created the Tau, with the most likely culprits:
1. Harlequins
2. Craftworlders
3. Tzeech

The 'nightmarish' entity would probably be their creator. My money is on Cegorath protecting his 'Incorruptable Swarm', even if he had to risk himself.

The dark god of humor would be a bit scary for members of his own race. Imagine running into any non-Human god of humor. It would probably be nightmarish even if it were the Gnomish or Kender god of humor.

 godardc wrote:


Would an Eldar god be "nightmarish" ?

If these are some of their followers, or aspects...

To an alien species, I'd say yes.

 godardc wrote:

 Haighus wrote:

pm713 wrote:

 mrhappyface wrote:

pm713 wrote:

There's no reason they wouldn't have power in the Warp. They certainly aren't dominant but they could still be strong and even if Cegorach lives in the Webway he can always take a broken tunnel to the Warp. Personally I like the idea of Cegorach saving the Tau for some purpose and he certainly qualifies as nightmarish when you aren't Eldar.

If Cegorach entered the warp, wouldn't Slaanesh be aware of this? He ran away to the webway specifically because, if he had stayed in the warp, Slaanesh would have consumed him.

Cegorach protects Solitaires from being eaten by Slaanesh when they die. He clearly can intervene in these things.

Plus there is now Ynnead floating around somewhere. They may have the ability to interfere in the Warp too.

The Eldar have a vested interest in the Tau, as seen in Xenology, so an Eldar god helping has a degree of sense.

Would an Eldar god be "nightmarish" ?

well both Avatars are fairly unpleasant reflections of their respective gods, and Cegorach most likely has an eye of the beholder malarky going on they all qualify as Nightmarish

Ash87 wrote:

As to what they saw, I mean it's the warp. The Tau themselves were entirely unaffected though (so no chaos Tau), it's just the aux forces. As to defections, I mean all the Tau need to consider defecting is to loose proximity to an ethereal for a bit. We have a story in the Codex about a commander defecting when the ethereals nearby were all wiped out by a tank shell.

If I recall correctly it wasn't stated that the Tau were unaffected (and in fact their increasingly brutal methods suggest that they were affected in some way even if it's some variant of PTSD).

 Haighus wrote:

 godardc wrote:


Would an Eldar god be "nightmarish" ?

Spoiler:

If these are some of their followers, or aspects...

To an alien species, I'd say yes.

Only me that think they look like <removed>?

I wouldn't be surprised if their escape was a plot by some Chaos entity. Their goals are inscrutable, and they may have reason to deposit a Chunk O' Tau in the middle of the Imperium.

 Lorek wrote:
I wouldn't be surprised if their escape was a plot by some Chaos entity. Their goals are inscrutable, and they may have reason to deposit a Chunk O' Tau in the middle of the Imperium.

even if simply to distract the IoM from their own shinnagens.

Ash87 wrote:
The codex says that the Tau tore a big hole in space, but it stabalized it into a quasi-webway. They cryo anything that doesn't -have- to be awake in transit and they are pouring people onto what I think is a Blood Angel's sector, where the remainder of the 4th sphere is chilling.

As to what they saw, I mean it's the warp. The Tau themselves were entirely unaffected though (so no chaos Tau), it's just the aux forces. As to defections, I mean all the Tau need to consider defecting is to loose proximity to an ethereal for a bit. We have a story in the Codex about a commander defecting when the ethereals nearby were all wiped out by a tank shell.

I'm not so sure of that, In the new lore, Even when the ethereal's arrived on the other side of the startide nexus where the rest of the 4th fleet had ended up, they didn't show much of the usual t'au behaviour in the presence of an ethereal, they're referenced as being rather jaded to it, in fact and largely unresponsive with reference to the commander of the expansion fleet. it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out that most of the 4th sphere members who ended up returning to T'au space got fed up of it and ended up defecting to the Farsight enclaves anyway.

Tristanleo wrote:

Ash87 wrote:
The codex says that the Tau tore a big hole in space, but it stabalized it into a quasi-webway. They cryo anything that doesn't -have- to be awake in transit and they are pouring people onto what I think is a Blood Angel's sector, where the remainder of the 4th sphere is chilling.

As to what they saw, I mean it's the warp. The Tau themselves were entirely unaffected though (so no chaos Tau), it's just the aux forces. As to defections, I mean all the Tau need to consider defecting is to loose proximity to an ethereal for a bit. We have a story in the Codex about a commander defecting when the ethereals nearby were all wiped out by a tank shell.

I'm not so sure of that, In the new lore, Even when the ethereal's arrived on the other side of the startide nexus where the rest of the 4th fleet had ended up, they didn't show much of the usual t'au behaviour in the presence of an ethereal, they're referenced as being rather jaded to it, in fact and largely unresponsive with reference to the commander of the expansion fleet. it wouldn't surprise me if it turned out that most of the 4th sphere members who ended up returning to T'au space got fed up of it and ended up defecting to the Farsight enclaves anyway.

Not quite. The Ethereals still manage to get them to very grudgingly allow auxiliaries into their presence, albeit with guns trained on them. So the power of the Ethereals is still intact. However they seem disillusioned of their Greater Good propaganda, so it is only the Ethereals with their special powers that break deadlocks and keep things in check...just like Farsight.

There are not enough Ethereals to directly influence every single Tau across their empire, so for the most part it is their Greater Good ideology from birth that keeps them going. The Ethereals' direct influence seems to be the final safety net. With them, a grumbling disillusioned veteran might grumble but still ultimately obey orders and not break away (Farsight anyone?). Take away the Ethereal though and then there is nothing holding them back from that step.

That seems to be what is referenced in the latest Tau timeline. A commander is basically told to go sacrifice themselves by (fake) Aun'va despite protesting that it was a bad course of action, and is surprised when there is none of the urge to accept and obey that normally accompanies an Ethereal's command (since there is no real Ethereal giving the command but the commander does not know that). The commander refuses the order and ends up defecting to the Farsight Enclaves.