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Do they ever have open conflict? Not like simulation but real fights where fish have died in the fighting.

Yes. Though less so lately, I believe.

Actually, I'm not sure there have been any actual canonical direct conflicts between them. Although the Ethereals may have denounced Farsight, they seem to have taken the path of forbidding any contact rather than trying to seek out to destroy him directly.

In the later Tau stuff there is a suggestion that Farsight Enclave sympathizers have smuggled newer equipment and suits out to Farsight, explaining how the Enclaves can still field some of the suits that were developed after Farsight left.

There is only war

The T'au are a bit odd in the lore because they are most fully defined in terms of structure and holdings. The T'au empire is limited by their inability to traverse the warp, and there are fewer corners were odd stuff happens. ther'es no "far flung craftworlds" or "lost founding chapter" to explain why goofy stuff is happening.

That said... the lore has, over 20 years, moved from vague hints that the ethereals might not be altruistic to pretty much outright saying that. As others have stated, the politics of the empire seem more fractious than it was earlier protrayed as well. I would guess there has been some low intensity or black bag type operations between the two.

 Polonius wrote:
The T'au are a bit odd in the lore because they are most fully defined in terms of structure and holdings. The T'au empire is limited by their inability to traverse the warp, and there are fewer corners were odd stuff happens. ther'es no "far flung craftworlds" or "lost founding chapter" to explain why goofy stuff is happening.

That said... the lore has, over 20 years, moved from vague hints that the ethereals might not be altruistic to pretty much outright saying that. As others have stated, the politics of the empire seem more fractious than it was earlier protrayed as well. I would guess there has been some low intensity or black bag type operations between the two.

It's not a matter of altruism or not. It's a matter of control and who gets to decide what the Greater Good is. The Ethereals view themselves as the best arbiters of what the Greater Good is, and this may be a genuinely held belief. They themselves may not know why they are so effective at swaying other Tau to their side and believe their own ideology about how they are so reasonable the other Tau just have to see the light. The Ethereals may also genuinely take the view just like Inquisitors of the Imperium that the masses cannot handle the truth, and therefore the truth of the warp and Chaos has to be concealed from them.

Farsight seems to view the Ethereals as unnecessary and that they have been deceiving and oppressing the Tau. Farsight's view seems to be that the other castes can decide and achieve the Greater Good themselves without the Ethereals ruling over them as a priest caste.

Wasn't it implied that Shadowsun was going to lead a covert team to capture Farsight at some point? Maybe will be a plot point in the new book coming out.

 Dekskull wrote:
Wasn't it implied that Shadowsun was going to lead a covert team to capture Farsight at some point? Maybe will be a plot point in the new book coming out.

I wouldn't bet on it.

Last we saw Snikrot, remember, he'd left Armageddon and died fighting over a worthless farmstead; but now he's left Armageddon again and is on space hulks for reasons. GW doesn't keep track of what their characters are doing, and doesn't particularly care.

 Dekskull wrote:
Wasn't it implied that Shadowsun was going to lead a covert team to capture Farsight at some point? Maybe will be a plot point in the new book coming out.

Pretty sure that was a plan from before Farsight used his stealth ship to swoop in and help out in Warzone: Damocles.

Yeah I read someplace that probes were sent by the Tau into the three or four planets that the Enclaves possess but the Enclaves destroyed them. I couldn’t find a concrete answer whether they have actually fought in a legit battle.