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I know some of the tau's lesser races can sometimes make it into the fire warrior troop's ranks, and I was wondering if it was possible for them to go a bit further and become a fireblade. I need to make 18 cadre fireblades (converted of course) and I'm looking for some ways to make each HQ stand out a bit from the last one, and making one or two human or kroot might be a way to do so, but I wan to make sure it's lore friendly.

No. Tau are rigid in their hierarchys. Their "allies" are barely tolerate

 hotsauceman1 wrote:
No. Tau are rigid in their hierarchys. Their "allies" are barely tolerate

I thought I've seen information where tau had some lesser races in the fire warriors ranks, and in the codex it's shown that they're far more tolerant than "barely not killing everything".

I'd say just go for it. Rule of Cool beats actual fluff any day (within reason of course). I've got an acquaintance who is doing a Tau Foreign Legion army, using all kinds of alien races as counts-as Fire Warriors, Pathfinders, vehicle crew, etc. He's even posted some pics of his stuff in these forums, it's pretty cool!

I think there is some fluff for the idea of a human fire blade I think it was in the FW tau book (hope they update it soon)

Stat for human and tau are almost the same so the logic fits well

The real question is would they allow the non-Tau to command other Tau troops in a mixed species unit.

 troa wrote:
The real question is would they allow the non-Tau to command other Tau troops in a mixed species unit.

True, though I think if they would the highest up you'd find a guy in a command position is a fireblade. Any suits are probably tau only.

 Jaxler wrote:

 troa wrote:
The real question is would they allow the non-Tau to command other Tau troops in a mixed species unit.

True, though I think if they would the highest up you'd find a guy in a command position is a fireblade. Any suits are probably tau only.

Is there any fluff for a non tau using a battle suit? It might not work to to the interface is made for a tau brain.

For a non tau to use a suit, he will need a custom suit due to simple compatibility issues.

And tau tend to keep allied races fighting in thier own doctrines and just enhance the tech a bit, not give them all new doctrines.

A fireblade is close enough to IG officers for having the same structure of command reasonable, but humans in suits won't happen. (maybe enhanced sentinels)

Crisis suits are fully enclosed, aren't they? What would be the difference, modelling-wise, between a tau and a human suit?

None. There isn't even a visible difference for the Earth Caste guy or the AI in a suit.

A Fireblade-like character who wasn't a Tau would probably only be put in charge of non-Tau units, but if you need eighteen fireblades, you're probably going to want that kind of dfferentiation in the units they command too anyway.

Forge your own narrative, as long as you have a cool backstory and the model looks good go for it.

The Fire Caste is Tau-only. That means that a Cadre Fireblade is always a Fire Caste Tau, no exceptions possible.
Human auxiliaries to the Tau Empire would of course have human commanders of a similar role and rank though, so I guess you could use the Fireblade rules to represent one. He would not be in command of a group of Tau though, the Tau are racists.

There IS precendent for humans being allowed to use Fire Warrior armor, pulse carbines, and even battlesuits - just read the novel Damocles, it's all in there. Also, the other races are much more than "barely tolerated" in that novel, in fact, they're embraced and given a ton of responsibility, such as leading squads and protecting water caste members. I say go for it.

 Iron_Captain wrote:
The Fire Caste is Tau-only. That means that a Cadre Fireblade is always a Fire Caste Tau, no exceptions possible.
Human auxiliaries to the Tau Empire would of course have human commanders of a similar role and rank though, so I guess you could use the Fireblade rules to represent one. He would not be in command of a group of Tau though, the Tau are racists.

Gue'vesa are Fire Caste, no?

And there's a huge variety in the Tau Empire. Some Tau cadres could be horrible xenophobic, but others are more tolerant, perhaps because of a higher auxiliary:Tau ratio.
My own Cadre has this - a roughly 5:1 split of Tau to Gue'vesa, and my main Infantry are led by a Gue'vesa'El, due to the humans' increased tenacity and combat prowess over an unaltered Tau.

I will echo that non-Tau don't get battlesuits, in my opinion, but a Cadre Fireblade could be any race because of their lack of a suit.

Human in suits are possible (there was an Inquisitor who had one), but quite the exception. After all, a Crisis suit is to a Fire Warrior as a Space Marine is to a Guardsman - only the most exceptional Fire Warriors get the right to pilot one.

Humans as count-as Cadre Fireblades, if leading a non-Tau group, are completely possible.

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
The Fire Caste is Tau-only. That means that a Cadre Fireblade is always a Fire Caste Tau, no exceptions possible.
Human auxiliaries to the Tau Empire would of course have human commanders of a similar role and rank though, so I guess you could use the Fireblade rules to represent one. He would not be in command of a group of Tau though, the Tau are racists.

Gue'vesa are Fire Caste, no?

Absolutely not!
The Fire Caste is a specific subrace of the Tau. As a Caste, it is completely closed. You can't get in or out. The only way to become Fire Caste is to be born as Fire Caste. Gue'vesa are always employed as auxiliaries, altough some groups of Gue'vesa seem to be more trusted than others and thus get equipment and such similar to that of the Fire Caste. Afaik, the Tau keep the different races of their empire pretty much segregated. Human auxiliaries will have Human officers, just like the Kroot have their own leaders and the Fire Caste will of course always be commanded by Fire Caste officers. Of course, Fire Caste officers would outrank their auxiliary counterparts.

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
The Fire Caste is Tau-only. That means that a Cadre Fireblade is always a Fire Caste Tau, no exceptions possible.
Human auxiliaries to the Tau Empire would of course have human commanders of a similar role and rank though, so I guess you could use the Fireblade rules to represent one. He would not be in command of a group of Tau though, the Tau are racists.

Gue'vesa are Fire Caste, no?

Absolutely not!
The Fire Caste is a specific subrace of the Tau. As a Caste, it is completely closed. You can't get in or out. The only way to become Fire Caste is to be born as Fire Caste. Gue'vesa are always employed as auxiliaries, altough some groups of Gue'vesa seem to be more trusted than others and thus get equipment and such similar to that of the Fire Caste. Afaik, the Tau keep the different races of their empire pretty much segregated. Human auxiliaries will have Human officers, just like the Kroot have their own leaders and the Fire Caste will of course always be commanded by Fire Caste officers. Of course, Fire Caste officers would outrank their auxiliary counterparts.

What about humans born into the Empire? Would they not have the same opportunities?

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
The Fire Caste is Tau-only. That means that a Cadre Fireblade is always a Fire Caste Tau, no exceptions possible.
Human auxiliaries to the Tau Empire would of course have human commanders of a similar role and rank though, so I guess you could use the Fireblade rules to represent one. He would not be in command of a group of Tau though, the Tau are racists.

Gue'vesa are Fire Caste, no?

Absolutely not!
The Fire Caste is a specific subrace of the Tau. As a Caste, it is completely closed. You can't get in or out. The only way to become Fire Caste is to be born as Fire Caste. Gue'vesa are always employed as auxiliaries, altough some groups of Gue'vesa seem to be more trusted than others and thus get equipment and such similar to that of the Fire Caste. Afaik, the Tau keep the different races of their empire pretty much segregated. Human auxiliaries will have Human officers, just like the Kroot have their own leaders and the Fire Caste will of course always be commanded by Fire Caste officers. Of course, Fire Caste officers would outrank their auxiliary counterparts.

What about humans born into the Empire? Would they not have the same opportunities?

Nope. Tau are just as racist as the rest of the galaxy. They're just less killy with their racism.

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
The Fire Caste is Tau-only. That means that a Cadre Fireblade is always a Fire Caste Tau, no exceptions possible.
Human auxiliaries to the Tau Empire would of course have human commanders of a similar role and rank though, so I guess you could use the Fireblade rules to represent one. He would not be in command of a group of Tau though, the Tau are racists.

Gue'vesa are Fire Caste, no?

Absolutely not!
The Fire Caste is a specific subrace of the Tau. As a Caste, it is completely closed. You can't get in or out. The only way to become Fire Caste is to be born as Fire Caste. Gue'vesa are always employed as auxiliaries, altough some groups of Gue'vesa seem to be more trusted than others and thus get equipment and such similar to that of the Fire Caste. Afaik, the Tau keep the different races of their empire pretty much segregated. Human auxiliaries will have Human officers, just like the Kroot have their own leaders and the Fire Caste will of course always be commanded by Fire Caste officers. Of course, Fire Caste officers would outrank their auxiliary counterparts.

What about humans born into the Empire? Would they not have the same opportunities?

The problem with the Tau Caste system is that it is genetically determined (i.e. the Tau Castes are actually different subspecies of the Tau species) and thus a Human can never be part of any Tau Caste. The Tau Empire is pretty much segregated, so Humans would just stick to living in their own communities under their own leaders. There is nothing to suggest that a Human can't rise high in the Tau Empire, he or she could become a great military or civilian leader of their Human community or a respected scientist, engineer, advisor or whatever. If anything, the Tau Empire provides much more opportunities than the feudal Imperium of Man. But the Tau will of course always remain the ruling and leading race of the Empire.

Everyone is equal under the greater good. Some are just more equal then others.

 Sgt_Smudge wrote:

 Iron_Captain wrote:
The Fire Caste is Tau-only. That means that a Cadre Fireblade is always a Fire Caste Tau, no exceptions possible.
Human auxiliaries to the Tau Empire would of course have human commanders of a similar role and rank though, so I guess you could use the Fireblade rules to represent one. He would not be in command of a group of Tau though, the Tau are racists.

Gue'vesa are Fire Caste, no?

NOPE!

Gue'vesa are human helpers--it's in the name. They're not part of any Caste.

Right. The best way to look at the deeply integrated alien groups such as the Gue'vesa is as if they are extra "castes" beyond the tau five.
They'll work together, they'll even have combined forces and mixed units, but they are not the same caste.

 BoomWolf wrote:
Right. The best way to look at the deeply integrated alien groups such as the Gue'vesa is as if they are extra "castes" beyond the tau five.
They'll work together, they'll even have combined forces and mixed units, but they are not the same caste.

"Deeply integrated"...lol.

Gue'vesa are, in the main, as deeply integrated as a coat. They can be shed at any point in time with no ill effects.

 EnTyme wrote:

Nope. Tau are just as racist as the rest of the galaxy. They're just less killy with their racism.

This is entirely and 100% correct.

It is also the most misunderstood thing the fan base screws up when they think Tau are "good guys". They are not. No one is.

Isn't there some fluff maybe older that said they were sterilizing the human populations on worlds they took? So that the whole "Join the Tau Empire today" stuff was basically irony and a facade to present this ideological, forward-thinking spacefaring race in contrast to the brutal, oppressive, degenerate Imperium, but in reality they are not as openly cruel but still manipulative? Also with the old fluff strongly hinting the Ethereal caste were using some kind of mass mind control to get their way.

The sterilised Gue'vesa fluff was from Imperial propaganda in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade.

I'd say kroot or vespid are more likely but as above go with the rule of cool. A shaper could make for a cool fireblade and id suggest maybe doing a "puretide" fireblade if you have any like necron or mechanicus bits or a friend who does and make a tau look a little...servitor-y and explain it as experimental command bionics.

Also for differentiating maybe one or two of your fireblades has taken trophies from fallen foes so one might have a space marine shoulder pad but paint over the SM chapter badge with the tau sect. You could get some tiny cloth strips and tie one around a fireblades head and say he took it from a defeated catachan. Maybe one uses a tyranids razor claw as his bonding knife because he survived the hive fleet encounter.

I'd think a guy taking trophies would be pretty fluff safe because every soldier ever has done it at some point.

 Furyou Miko wrote:
The sterilised Gue'vesa fluff was from Imperial propaganda in Dawn of War: Dark Crusade.

So clearly the truth, because why would the Imperium lie?

The tau would never let another species get a position of authority like that because their allies are not fire caste. There could be a human in a similar position, but he would only command human auxiliary forces, not fire warriors.