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.

I'want to start a combined Tau and Eldar army but I want it to work as a permanent military force or at least semi-permanent, rather then a temporary alliance. Therefore I would like your help to justify why the Eldar have chosen to follow the command of my force commander, namely commander Farsight. At the moment I'm looking at either a small craftworld exchanging a symbolical military force for the protection of the craftworld, or my allies would be the last remnants of craftworld Malan'tai who feel that they were left for dead by their race and have therefore chosen to strenghten the Tau race as they believe them to be the hope of the galaxy. So would any of these work, in that case which one, or can you come up with a better solution. My Eldar forces would be mostly tanks and wraiths if that helps.

If Eldar and Tau were meant to stay together , they would share a codex.
The ally mechanic exists to expand your "permanent" forces....

Just remember : Eldar are long lived people. Tau short lived.
Tau wouldn't recognize an alliance as temporary if it lasts ( Tau ) - generations,
to an Eldar this is only a few steps on his/her path.


Farsight however is kept alive longer than any other "not frozen fish" by his blade. To him it may be a temporary affair.
So basically only the common Tau may think its permanent.

The issue I could see is: Eldar are pretty mobile, Tau are stuck in their corner.
At best the Eldar would hide in the enclave and offer their services whilst there. At their terms. Can you trust an Eldar?

The reason Eldar do everything, to save themselves at a later date. The Farseers decide that helping the Tau for a while Will save the Craftworld in 200 years etc.

What if they were Exodite Eldar and the Tau colonised their world? Or maybe the survivors of a destroyed Craftworld made their way to a sept world and they worked out an alliance with the Tau to stay alive?

That way there is always the chance that hundreds of years down the line the Eldar will decide to go their own way.

1hadhq may have hit on something above. The Eldar are capricious and self-serving, but patient - they may have foreseen that Farsight's continued existence is crucial to an event that may be hundreds or even thousands of years away.
So it's not too much of a stretch to call it that they assassinated the Ethereals to free him to be manipulated by them instead... and that they continue to manipulate but also protect him. Heck, they may even have steered the Dawn Blade into his hands while hiding its true nature from him, all to ensure his longevity.

I like the idea that the timespan the Eldar agree to assist is so long from the Tau perspective that they take it as basically permanent, but the Eldar are like "yeah, I guess this'll work for a while." One thing though: there is no way that the Eldar are ever going to assimilate the philosophy of the Greater Good. They won't necessarily be impolite about it, but Eldar are firmly convinced they are the greatest and most perfect beings to ever exist, and they would never surrender their independence. They could probably accept taking battlefield orders from a non-Eldar, but as far as they're concerned no non-Eldar has the right to rule them.

Some Eldar yoofs could drop by and stay their for thier gap-century. You could have a few rangers there, and an HQ to overseer the gap-century guys, maybe Illic.

What's deadly serious to Tau is the sort of thing Eldar yoofs could do in their equivalent of a gap year while they're away from the craftworld.

 Fezman wrote:
What if they were Exodite Eldar and the Tau colonised their world? Or maybe the survivors of a destroyed Craftworld made their way to a sept world and they worked out an alliance with the Tau to stay alive?

That way there is always the chance that hundreds of years down the line the Eldar will decide to go their own way.

Colonized their world option: A larger Eldar craftworld, not unlikely Biel-Tan or Alaitoc, would make it's way there and then purge the closest light year or three of Tau life forms. Rule 1 of Eldar colonies; big brother protects the Exodites from pollution of other races and with "pollution" I mean other civilizations.
Survivors option: These survivors would abandon all commitments as soon as there is a living craftworld in range. Eldar on the path suffer greatly from the distractions that other races would bring on them from simple lack of comprehension. Additionally, the Eldar needs an infinity circuit for more than their spiritual needs. In fact, I should think these Eldar would both be capable and prefer to make their way to seek *temporary* refuge among the Dark Eldar long enough until a trader can take them to another craftworld. After all, Craftworld Eldar have a lot to offer Dark Eldar in return for temporary sanctuary even though friction is to be expected.

A temporary alliance could be in place for a few decades for reasons unknown by the Tau. The Eldar could come from a extremely damaged craftworld which has been forced to land on a planet to seek to mask it's presence while repairing or waiting for another craftworld to get in range. The Tau would be kept from getting knowledge of this craftworld and should they get it the Eldar will probably turn on them because it's secret is more valuable than Tau lives. Until a time when the Eldar's infinity circuit can be saved by one mean or another, the Eldar will happily use the Tau enclave as a meat shield, providing assistance as necessary rather than freely.

Remember when building a 40k background story like this, especially when it comes to Craftworld Eldar, to bring a very large bucket of cynicism.

Also, Eldar would get on better with Fire Castes as they are both violent and predisposed to cruelty.

Though they are also traders, and wouldn't mind trading with water castes for novelty items.