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A couple of related lore questions:

Is there any mentioning in the background of AdMech "people" defecting to the Tau empire? As the Tau by now have integrated a couple of human worlds I assume they should have stumbled about at least a couple of Skitariis and Tech priests. While they are of course indoctrinated in the cult of the Omnissiah, so where the defecting guardsmen with the imperial cult.
And if so: are those too called Gue'Vesa or do Tau have some other word for AdMech?


In a kind of related question: Is there something mentioned in the Tau background what they do about the Psykers born within their human population? As far as I know in the "training" in the Imperium is centralized with the black fleet collecting the psykers and a significant amount of them being killed one way or the other with the rest trained in a rather inhumane way. Do the Tau have a stance of "let the humans take care of the problem as they did before" and look the other way? Have they created an own program to adress the question? Or does one of their client races with psykers takes over the training process? Or do they just ignore it completely and let the human born psykers roam free and untrained on their worlds?

I'm not aware of any specifics called out in fluff. Client races and forced sterilization seem likely.

A few years back I was toying around with a story (from a dark heresy plot) of an alpha-class that had emerged on an entirely unprepared tau world and the efforts of an inquisitor from early tau scorn and disbelief through to the inevitable psychic hellscape.

the whole "forced sterilization" referred to one world in secondary source (DoW video game) if I recall...there are psyker races within the Empire, so the Tau must have some way of managing it. I imagine most client races, not being subject to imperial inefficiency and dogma, have their own ways to keep psykers stable and humans would probably be advised to borrow those methods.

AdMech's method of interacting with technology is incredibly inimical to the Tau's relatively sane ideas about science and tech. For the AdMech, they're part of an organization chosen by their god (the Omnissiah) and the Tau are demons. Peaceful contact is probably impossible.

Cronch wrote:
the whole "forced sterilization" referred to one world in secondary source (DoW video game) if I recall...there are psyker races within the Empire, so the Tau must have some way of managing it. I imagine most client races, not being subject to imperial inefficiency and dogma, have their own ways to keep psykers stable and humans would probably be advised to borrow those methods.

In regards to psykers I am more in the line that other species probably have ways to deal with unstable psykers but that it generally involves killing them. To me Chaos and the Daemons is a great threat that isn't as easily nullified as having some basic humane/Taumane concepts in effect. I would say the Imperium is certainly more brutal that it has to be in regards to psykers, which strenghtens Chaos, but its a not a problem restricted to the Imperium and given the grimdark nature I am not convinced humanity is the only species which has decided to use violence to halt Chaos incursions from unstable psykers.

This does not excuse the Imperiums actions, for they are responsible for their own actions, but I think the threat from Chaos should not be diminished.

Hecaton wrote:
AdMech's method of interacting with technology is incredibly inimical to the Tau's relatively sane ideas about science and tech. For the AdMech, they're part of an organization chosen by their god (the Omnissiah) and the Tau are demons. Peaceful contact is probably impossible.

Tech-priests defecting to the Tau Empire makes perfect sense for me. The tech-priests are used working in a strict hierarchy, they love tech and are supposed to repress emotions and such links to their human nature. I can totally see tech-priests taking that step since we already have the Dark Mechanicum which has taken the step over to Chaos.

I mean, technically there are tau pkyskers. You just have to make them a Tau/Genestealer Hybrid. That counts right?

That does make me wonder what would have happened if in the novel Deathwatch : Shadowbreaker what would have happened if they let their experiments reach the apex and a broodlord took form. A broodlord mixed with Tau DNA would be an interesting creature to say the least.

Gurkhal wrote:


Tech-priests defecting to the Tau Empire makes perfect sense for me. The tech-priests are used working in a strict hierarchy, they love tech and are supposed to repress emotions and such links to their human nature. I can totally see tech-priests taking that step since we already have the Dark Mechanicum which has taken the step over to Chaos.

The issue is that the AdMech's strict hierarchy puts them above all aliens, and calls for the death of all aliens. It also says that xeno tech is heresy. So while individual tech priests might go full xenarite and defect you'd never see them doing it en masse.

Fire Caste briefly features Ad Mech defectors, who have merged Tau and Imperial technologies.

One of the Iron Hands novels, with Stronos also heavily features an Admech subgroup which have become somehow tainted with Xenos tech. Gotten obsessed with almost insectoid/organic enhancements to their bodies.

Hecaton wrote:

Gurkhal wrote:


Tech-priests defecting to the Tau Empire makes perfect sense for me. The tech-priests are used working in a strict hierarchy, they love tech and are supposed to repress emotions and such links to their human nature. I can totally see tech-priests taking that step since we already have the Dark Mechanicum which has taken the step over to Chaos.

The issue is that the AdMech's strict hierarchy puts them above all aliens, and calls for the death of all aliens. It also says that xeno tech is heresy. So while individual tech priests might go full xenarite and defect you'd never see them doing it en masse.

I am not saying they do so in the numbers of the Dark Mechanicum. I am saying that there would be defectors due to pull, from the Tau's technophile attitude, to push from the rigid control of the AdMech.