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To be honest, its always been my opinion that the morality of each army is so strongly tied to each races' beliefs that there truly are no "good guys & bad guys". What is evil to one race may not seem so to another (Orks are a perfect example of this).

For instance, the Imperium (the alleged "good guys" of the 40K setting) are far from what modern society would call "good". Genocidal, paranoid, quick to anger, arrogant, these are not the makings of a just society.

Most would immediately see Chaos as the "bad guys" of the 40K setting, but are they really? What is the difference between murdering a world in the name of Khorne versus murdering a world in the name of the Emperor? Most mortal Chaos forces sole motivation is to destroy the oppressive regime of the Imperium and install what they believe would be a true and free society. Had Horus won the war, the outlook would be completely different. History is written by the victors as they say.

If anything, its the Xenos races that are the proverbial good guys. The Craftword Eldar are striving to make amends for their past sins, the Orks are just living their lives the only way they know how, and have no "evil" motivations. The Tau are building their own empire their way, for the "Greater Good". The Tyranids are only going on base instinct, and really, they are just looking for food. The Necrons are just trying to restore what was once theirs to begin with.

Of course, the psuedo-exceptions are the Dark Eldar. If there was ever a race that was created to epitomize the "Grim Dark" of 40K, its these guys. Their whole society exists on the suffering of others, and they do this willingly without a hint of remorse and full of selfish motivation.

Tau are actually extremely dark. Second, there needs to be something different from everything else.

They are .....idiots! Tau were fighting against, I think it was chaos, when suddenly the necrons arrive and kill the enemy.
Tau prepare a giant feast for the necrons to honour them for their help. 15 minutes later no more tau

 The Observer wrote:
They are .....idiots! Tau were fighting against, I think it was chaos, when suddenly the necrons arrive and kill the enemy.
Tau prepare a giant feast for the necrons to honour them for their help. 15 minutes later no more tau

Was this in canon? Not fanfiction? I may run a fanfiction encyclopedia, but I still stick by the wisdom of keeping the two separate.

I really can't imagine that being true.

Firewarrior A: Hey, those guys helped us out.
Firewarror B: Those guys?
Firewarrior A: Yeah, lets go hug them to say thanks.
Firewarrior B: Those guys? The ones over there? With the guns? That are really good at murdering?
Firewarrior A: I'm seeing a lot of sass back but not enough hugging.

 Inquisitor Ehrenstein wrote:

 The Observer wrote:
They are .....idiots! Tau were fighting against, I think it was chaos, when suddenly the necrons arrive and kill the enemy.
Tau prepare a giant feast for the necrons to honour them for their help. 15 minutes later no more tau

Was this in canon? Not fanfiction? I may run a fanfiction encyclopedia, but I still stick by the wisdom of keeping the two separate.

I want to say it was Tyranids, and from the Necron codex, where the Tau after the battle were like, 'ah, you have joined us against the common foe. Let us extend our hand in friendship-' and then there was much gauss flaying.

^ This was it. I couldn't really remember if it was nids or chaos they were fighting and I was just to lazy to fetch my codex.

 GreyHamster wrote:
They're also fascists that offer you a choice, join them peacefully or join them by force.

And the only reason they offer peace is because they know ultimately, they will have to fight for the planet when the Imperium comes looking for it.

If they can manipulate the populace into switching sides with lies about The Greater Good, then they only have to fight for the planet once, instead of twice.

People should not mistake the Tau for "good guys", because they aren't. The average Tau may believe in The Greater Good, but the average Guardsman believes in the right of the Imperium too. /shrug.


The Tau as "good guys" is a common misconception. It's not really how they are.

 Bookwrack wrote:

I want to say it was Tyranids, and from the Necron codex, where the Tau after the battle were like, 'ah, you have joined us against the common foe. Let us extend our hand in friendship-' and then there was much gauss flaying.

Oh, and don't forget their little adventure with the Dark Eldar too! That story was maybe the best in the DE codex .

The Tau are not good. They are reasonable.

Good means they won't shoot you, even if you don't join them.

Reasonable just means they will ask before shooting you.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
The Tau are not good. They are reasonable.

That already makes them a whole lot "better" than most other factions in WH40K. They're actually willing to negotiate and give you a choice instead of wiping you out on principle. Planets in the expansion sphere are invited to join, not conquered immediately. Opposing forces encountered are given a chance to withdraw. And the Tau keep their deals, at least so far as anyone living can tell us.

They're not good but they're often a hell of a lot nicer than anyone else you might meet.

Eh, I would also put Necrons as being reasonable.
Its just that they see everyone as vermin

The Tau remind me of the Aschen from Stargate:

They are "nice", but they have a plan for the future and you are not in it - sorry about that...........

ASCHEN
An advanced human species, at least a hundred years ahead of Earth in technological development. The Aschen have, by human standards, little to no personality. They are extremely intelligent, practical, and perceptive, but generally have no sense of humor.

The Aschen are founders of the Aschen Confederation, an alliance of races of which little is known. This makes sense, however, as any race incorporated into the alliance is slowly erased from the face of the galaxy. The Confederation seems to be a collection of races that the Aschen have conquered, or are in the process of gradually conquering. The Aschen utilize a genetic weapon that gradually reduces a target species' ability to reproduce, dropping the birthrate over a period of several years and effectively eliminating the race over a long period of time without their knowledge until the number of the population suitable to the Aschen's goals is reached. After a society is sufficiently reduced, the Aschen have terraformed victim planets, burying the previous civilization beneath. This is done to create a world suitable for farming, to meet the requirements of the Aschen populace.

Yeah...but the Aschen aren't as dickish.
I think the Aschen are more the Interex, really.

 AtoMaki wrote:

 Bookwrack wrote:

I want to say it was Tyranids, and from the Necron codex, where the Tau after the battle were like, 'ah, you have joined us against the common foe. Let us extend our hand in friendship-' and then there was much gauss flaying.

Oh, and don't forget their little adventure with the Dark Eldar too! That story was maybe the best in the DE codex .

I loved that story. The one where the DE punked the tau in to giving. them 77 tau to turn into eternaly suffering flesh monsters!

No. In the context of the setting, they're in for a rude awakening one day, and that will make their history even more tragic in hindsight.

 Admiral Valerian wrote:
No. In the context of the setting, they're in for a rude awakening one day, and that will make their history even more tragic in hindsight.

Their Empire has already persisted for roughly 300 years. There will be no rude awakening because they have already seen some of the worst that the galaxy has to offer.
People mention how the Tau got duped by the Dark Eldar and the Necrons and call the naive. But unlike the Imperium of Man which can rely on a million worlds, the Tau gain more from actively seeking
out allies than from battling everyone who looks a bit strange. So far this strategy has worked well.

 KingDeath wrote:

 Admiral Valerian wrote:
No. In the context of the setting, they're in for a rude awakening one day, and that will make their history even more tragic in hindsight.

Their Empire has already persisted for roughly 300 years. There will be no rude awakening because they have already seen some of the worst that the galaxy has to offer.
People mention how the Tau got duped by the Dark Eldar and the Necrons and call the naive. But unlike the Imperium of Man which can rely on a million worlds, the Tau gain more from actively seeking
out allies than from battling everyone who looks a bit strange. So far this strategy has worked well.

Has it really? The War of Dakka, the Farsight Enclaves, Dark Eldar predations, Tyranid Splinter Fleets...these are but mere preludes to the storm that the Imperium and the Eldar constantly face.

If they're evil because they're willing to use violence to get things that they want, then there is no such thing as a good nation. Hell, the United States must be evil, since it went to war to prevent the South from seceding. Using violence to ensure the well-being of your society does not = evil. It's how you orchestrate that violence that defines its morality. In the Tau's case, they use violence only as an absolute last resort, and even when they do go to war, they go out of their way to avoid collateral damage. They don't engage in genocide, they don't bombard planetary populations into dust.

The only grimdark things about them is that you're stuck in the Caste you're born into, and the nonsensical hypothesis regarding the Ethereals controlling them with pheremones. Beyond that, they're hardly evil or grimdark. They're Space Communists.

 Admiral Valerian wrote:

 KingDeath wrote:

 Admiral Valerian wrote:
No. In the context of the setting, they're in for a rude awakening one day, and that will make their history even more tragic in hindsight.

Their Empire has already persisted for roughly 300 years. There will be no rude awakening because they have already seen some of the worst that the galaxy has to offer.
People mention how the Tau got duped by the Dark Eldar and the Necrons and call the naive. But unlike the Imperium of Man which can rely on a million worlds, the Tau gain more from actively seeking
out allies than from battling everyone who looks a bit strange. So far this strategy has worked well.

Has it really? The War of Dakka, the Farsight Enclaves, Dark Eldar predations, Tyranid Splinter Fleets...these are but mere preludes to the storm that the Imperium and the Eldar constantly face.

He has a point. The Eldar have been round for a few million yrs, and the IOM has been around for 15,000 yrs. The tau as a species have only been around for 5000 yrs, and have only been united for 500 yrs.

Has it really? The War of Dakka, the Farsight Enclaves, Dark Eldar predations, Tyranid Splinter Fleets...

Of course to Tau are gunna be naieve, being the youngest race in 40k by about 54,000 yrs. Look how the eldar messed up (The Fall), and they are millions of year older than the tau, and their mistake was about a gillion times bigger.

BlaxicanX wrote:
If

The nonsensical hypothesis regarding the Ethereals controlling them with pheremones. Beyond that, they're hardly evil or grimdark. They're Space Communists.

you mean the one thats referenced in the Tau Codex page 9.......

The Tau are def no worse than the other factions - they are arguably far lessevil than the others - although as noted - Orks / Tryanids are not Evil - what they do often is.

however thre are things I feel yet to be revelaed and as they more and more come into contact with the darker elements of the 40K universe its likely they will change and evolve - probably not for the best.

The Tau are not ggod they are smart. They realize they are outnumbered and outgunned so any help they can get is useful. I really feel fluffwise that the Tau represent the fledgling empire the Necrons, Eldar, and Imperium once were.

Also evil is subjective in 40k it really depends upon your point of view.

If they were not hyper organised under a single system they would not be sufficiently powerful to be relevant

 Loricatus Aurora wrote:
If they were not hyper organised under a single system they would not be sufficiently powerful to be relevant

Technically, the same could be said about the Humans and every other faction.

 Loricatus Aurora wrote:
If they were not hyper organised under a single system they would not be sufficiently powerful to be relevant

Right now, at least. Skip forward (yeah right, as if GW would ever advance the plot) a few hundred/thousand years as Tau technology continues to develop while everyone else is static or decaying, and a single gun drone (now with god-level AI) conquers the remains of the Imperium out of sheer boredom.

And that's the whole purpose of the Tau in the setting: they represent the countless younger empires that constantly threaten to rise up and claim domination over the galaxy.

 Peregrine wrote:

 Loricatus Aurora wrote:
If they were not hyper organised under a single system they would not be sufficiently powerful to be relevant

Right now, at least. Skip forward (yeah right, as if GW would ever advance the plot) a few hundred/thousand years as Tau technology continues to develop while everyone else is static or decaying, and a single gun drone (now with god-level AI) conquers the remains of the Imperium out of sheer boredom.

Assuming said AI doesn't go the way of the Men of Iron...

In all seriousness, the Tau are definitely not communists, or fascists. They are much more like a tribal society.

One of the main principles of communism is that everyone is equal. This is so far from the truth with the Tau, there is a strict social hierarchy, with the 'O at the top, then the 'El etc...

Also, they do not have a single central organisation. The entire "empire" is a collection of autonomous septs, no way governed by a single entity. the closest the Tau have is Aun'va, the space pope, who merely advises and guides the different castes and septs. Even then, the different castes are largely independent of each-other in organisation. They work together for the greater good, but are free to make their own decisions. This is entirely different from the rigid central control typical of communist and fascist regimes.

This also translates to the cadre level, as the cadres are essentially sub-tribes. Overall, the cadres are relatively free to make their on decisions, merely being guided by the etherials. As long as what they are doing is for the greater good, they can pursue their own goals.

Additionally, there has been virtually no fluff regarding freedoms given to the average Tau. It is entirely possible that they have quite free lives. They can choose partners (as long as they are the same cast ). Even the humans brought into the empire are quite free. They are still allowed to worship the emperor as a god, as long as they recognise the greater good. Even the fact that etherials control the Tau through pheremones is largely up in the air. The point is, knowbody knows how the Tau are controlled, if they are at all. perhaps they just believe in the greater good.

Rant Over

Principals does not equal practice.

Chinese are learning this despite best efforts at controlling info flow. Princelings crashing their Italian supercars while other regions revolt over local officials turned developers force farmers off their land.

Im also sure everyone was not equal during Stalin's purges or under the subsequent Soviet Union.

Best protections anyone has is free press, open democracy that debates anything, including politically incorrect subjects, rule of law, independent judiciary and separation of power. Not perfect but best we have.

Counter-rant over.

 Loricatus Aurora wrote:
Principals does not equal practice.

Chinese are learning this despite best efforts at controlling info flow. Princelings crashing their Italian supercars while other regions revolt over local officials turned developers force farmers off their land.

Im also sure everyone was not equal during Stalin's purges or under the subsequent Soviet Union.

Best protections anyone has is free press, open democracy that debates anything, including politically incorrect subjects, rule of law, independent judiciary and separation of power. Not perfect but best we have.

Counter-rant over.

Well, yeah, but the tau are aliens, and may differ. They probably think, and thus act, in an entirely different manner on the marco scale.

 Loricatus Aurora wrote:
Principals does not equal practice.

Chinese are learning this despite best efforts at controlling info flow. Princelings crashing their Italian supercars while other regions revolt over local officials turned developers force farmers off their land.

Im also sure everyone was not equal during Stalin's purges or under the subsequent Soviet Union.

Best protections anyone has is free press, open democracy that debates anything, including politically incorrect subjects, rule of law, independent judiciary and separation of power. Not perfect but best we have.

Counter-rant over.

Yes, but Soviet Russia and China were both created with the intention to adhere to the ideals of communism, the Tau never had such ideals. They are miles away from the "theoretical" communist state, and they are also nothing like the communist states we have had. People just hear "for the greater good" and decide to label the Tau as commies.