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Is it at all possible that as the galaxy falls into even more choas than usual because of ..... recent events is it all possible for the Tau to get some eldar to join them. maybe they save some exodite world from a ork raid or something like that? mostly asking this so I have a justifiable excuse to run eldar in my tau army in a narrative game. not to mention its a fun question the think about.

It's an ego question more than anything else; I don't think you'd find any Eldar subjecting themselves to the Tau for any reason. Take any contempt they feel for humans as "younger" and "more primitive", magnify it for the Tau being younger still, then add in disdain from a very long-lived race to a very short-lived one and from a highly psychic race to a psychically underdeveloped one?

If you want to explain a Tau/Eldar narrative alliance the easiest angle to go for is the straightforward Craftworlder alliance of prophecy; the Farseer figures that this particular Tau commander will be in a position to thwart some kind of great doom years down the line, so someone further down the chain of command has to swallow their ego and cooperate with the Tau to manipulate this guy's career path, or something of that sort.

 AnomanderRake wrote:
It's an ego question more than anything else; I don't think you'd find any Eldar subjecting themselves to the Tau for any reason. Take any contempt they feel for humans as "younger" and "more primitive", magnify it for the Tau being younger still, then add in disdain from a very long-lived race to a very short-lived one and from a highly psychic race to a psychically underdeveloped one?

If you want to explain a Tau/Eldar narrative alliance the easiest angle to go for is the straightforward Craftworlder alliance of prophecy; the Farseer figures that this particular Tau commander will be in a position to thwart some kind of great doom years down the line, so someone further down the chain of command has to swallow their ego and cooperate with the Tau to manipulate this guy's career path, or something of that sort.

yes but are there feelings of disdain really that much greater than the imperiums indocrtinated hatred for all things "xeno"? cause that hasnt stopped many worlds from joining the tau. also arnt exodite worlds and Corsairs (the two groups of eldar most likely to join the tau in my opinion) generally presented as atleast somewhat less supremiciest than craftworlders (even if only a tad)

While almost impossible that some eldar will accept t'au dominance, cooperation and alliances are way more likely.


In the first codices (or was it some old WD?) it was stated that eldar held t'au in high regards. Well, at least way more than they hold humanity.


Also, there was some speculation in the old lore that eldar had some involvement in tau evolution. This part though I think has totally been retconned.

chimera0205 wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
It's an ego question more than anything else; I don't think you'd find any Eldar subjecting themselves to the Tau for any reason. Take any contempt they feel for humans as "younger" and "more primitive", magnify it for the Tau being younger still, then add in disdain from a very long-lived race to a very short-lived one and from a highly psychic race to a psychically underdeveloped one?

If you want to explain a Tau/Eldar narrative alliance the easiest angle to go for is the straightforward Craftworlder alliance of prophecy; the Farseer figures that this particular Tau commander will be in a position to thwart some kind of great doom years down the line, so someone further down the chain of command has to swallow their ego and cooperate with the Tau to manipulate this guy's career path, or something of that sort.

yes but are there feelings of disdain really that much greater than the imperiums indocrtinated hatred for all things "xeno"? cause that hasnt stopped many worlds from joining the tau. also arnt exodite worlds and Corsairs (the two groups of eldar most likely to join the tau in my opinion) generally presented as atleast somewhat less supremiciest than craftworlders (even if only a tad)

The indoctrinated hatred of all things "xeno" can be disproven by evidence; "here are these xenos who say they won't kill us if we sign onto their shiny happy Greater Good pact, maybe they're not all such s***heads." The general Eldar contempt is more like saying to a human "you should sign on to this army run by monkeys", there isn't any way of disproving the fact that the Tau are fundamentally inferior along a lot of axes the Eldar value.

As for Corsairs the last thing a band of pirates whose major guiding ideal is the freedom to do what they feel like is going to do is make any kind of commitment that'd abridge that freedom; less sure about Exodites given the lack of lore on the subject. But in either case I don't think "less supremacist" is enough to make them treat a group of people that are incapable of civilized speech (i.e. blanks who can't access their psychic communication methods) as anything other than inferior.

chimera0205 wrote:

 AnomanderRake wrote:
It's an ego question more than anything else; I don't think you'd find any Eldar subjecting themselves to the Tau for any reason. Take any contempt they feel for humans as "younger" and "more primitive", magnify it for the Tau being younger still, then add in disdain from a very long-lived race to a very short-lived one and from a highly psychic race to a psychically underdeveloped one?

If you want to explain a Tau/Eldar narrative alliance the easiest angle to go for is the straightforward Craftworlder alliance of prophecy; the Farseer figures that this particular Tau commander will be in a position to thwart some kind of great doom years down the line, so someone further down the chain of command has to swallow their ego and cooperate with the Tau to manipulate this guy's career path, or something of that sort.

yes but are there feelings of disdain really that much greater than the imperiums indocrtinated hatred for all things "xeno"? cause that hasnt stopped many worlds from joining the tau. also arnt exodite worlds and Corsairs (the two groups of eldar most likely to join the tau in my opinion) generally presented as atleast somewhat less supremiciest than craftworlders (even if only a tad)

The imperium's indoctrination is due to centuries of humanity being preyed upon by alien races. The Tau are the only alien race that doesn't want to Murder Death Kill humanity on sight and are willing to form long term deals with them, which throws a lot of imperials off guard and make them think "hold on, these blue gits seem ok. Maybe we can do business with them"
The imperium's xenophobia is a logical defense mechanism. It is not stupid.

The Eldar on the otherhand, are a bunch of arrogant gits who think their farts are more important than anything else in the galaxy. They consider the life of a single Eldar to be greater than a thousand non-Eldars. They are not going to join the ideology of another race, especially a short lived race with weak warp signatures and who are adept with hard science, which would probably give them War in Heaven flashbacks.

Besides, the Tau already had dealings with members of the Eldar race. Look up the Tau and Dark Eldar's cultural exchange

The exodites' only ambition seem to stay and live simple lives on their worlds. I really doubt they'd leave their planet to join the army.

One thing that might be plausible is an exodite world that is a sort of tau protectorate. If that planet was attacked by something, the eldar and the tau could fight side by side to defend it.

Short term? Yes.

Long term, absolutely not.
It's both out of character for the eldar and violates one of the primary themes of the setting: No peace, only War.

chimera0205 wrote:
yes but are there feelings of disdain really that much greater than the imperiums indocrtinated hatred for all things "xeno"? cause that hasnt stopped many worlds from joining the tau

Remember that it sucks to be a member of the Imperium. Even simple technologies the Tau take for granted are denied the vast majority of human populations. Joining the Tau Empire means eating better, living longer, and your work becomes easier.

The Tau can't improve the standard of living of Eldar much. Exodites are self sufficient minimalists and Craftworlders have everything they need except for numbers, and arrogance will prevent any permanent alliances. Remember the Tau are still very much small fish, they own a few dozen systems at best.

Seraf wrote:
In the first codices (or was it some old WD?) it was stated that eldar held t'au in high regards. Well, at least way more than they hold humanity.

I think Eldrad specifically had high hopes for the Tau but Eldrad is something of a radical and may not reflect the general view of other Craftworlders, never mind other Eldar factions.

Tau and Eldar are generally on good terms with Eldrad even seeing them as the heir apparent to the galaxy in the 3rd ed codex. Later codexes have them not being openly hostile to one another except in cases of the Tau inadvertently desecrating Maiden Worlds and the Eldar having to make them face the consequences.

 Grimtuff wrote:
Tau and Eldar are generally on good terms with Eldrad even seeing them as the heir apparent to the galaxy in the 3rd ed codex. Later codexes have them not being openly hostile to one another except in cases of the Tau inadvertently desecrating Maiden Worlds and the Eldar having to make them face the consequences.

Well that's annoying to read. And I thought marines were mary sues.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:
Tau and Eldar are generally on good terms with Eldrad even seeing them as the heir apparent to the galaxy in the 3rd ed codex. Later codexes have them not being openly hostile to one another except in cases of the Tau inadvertently desecrating Maiden Worlds and the Eldar having to make them face the consequences.

Well that's annoying to read. And I thought marines were mary sues.

It's been in there since their first codex.

"I have followed the myriad potential futures of the Tau with great interest. Though barely even striplings compared to us, I feel a strange protectiveness towards them. In time I believe they will exceed even our greatest feats and master the darkness within their souls"- Eldrad Ulthran

Snippets from later codexes describe their relationship as "strained".

 Grimtuff wrote:

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

 Grimtuff wrote:
Tau and Eldar are generally on good terms with Eldrad even seeing them as the heir apparent to the galaxy in the 3rd ed codex. Later codexes have them not being openly hostile to one another except in cases of the Tau inadvertently desecrating Maiden Worlds and the Eldar having to make them face the consequences.

Well that's annoying to read. And I thought marines were mary sues.

It's been in there since their first codex.

"I have followed the myriad potential futures of the Tau with great interest. Though barely even striplings compared to us, I feel a strange protectiveness towards them. In time I believe they will exceed even our greatest feats and master the darkness within their souls"- Eldrad Ulthran

Snippets from later codexes describe their relationship as "strained".

Oh, if its strained its ok then.
Before you made it sound like the Eldar, a race known for their arrogance and belief that they own the galaxy, would look at the Tau and go "yeah, these guys, which only came into existence like a thousand years ago? They are the best. The deserve to inherit the galaxy". Which is...dumb.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:

Before you made it sound like the Eldar, a race known for their arrogance and belief that they own the galaxy, would look at the Tau and go "yeah, these guys, which only came into existence like a thousand years ago? They are the best. The deserve to inherit the galaxy". Which is...dumb.

But Eldrad literally said that in the quote above. Whether the rest of his race feels the same way in unknown but it's his personal belief that ultimately the Tau are the ones to rule that galaxy just like the Eldar did.

Which again, is fine. Its just one characters opinion, and it could go either way. It would be interesting if they went the path of the necrontyr instead, turning Eldrad's prediction on its head.

chimera0205 wrote:
yes but are there feelings of disdain really that much greater than the imperiums indocrtinated hatred for all things "xeno"? cause that hasnt stopped many worlds from joining the tau. also arnt exodite worlds and Corsairs (the two groups of eldar most likely to join the tau in my opinion) generally presented as atleast somewhat less supremiciest than craftworlders (even if only a tad)

The Tau also have better technology than the Imperium for the most part (warp engines excluded). That goes a long way toward convincing many Imperial citizens to join the Tau, especially far-flung outer edge worlds that may not have been in contact with the Imperium for years.

Apart from the exodites, most eldar live on craftworlds and are extremely clannish and insular. I don't think that, in combination with the eldar's psychic abilities (which the Tau still don't think are real), and the Eldar's arrogance toward the "younger races" predispose them to join the Tau.

 CthuluIsSpy wrote:
The imperium's indoctrination is due to centuries of humanity being preyed upon by alien races. The Tau are the only alien race that doesn't want to Murder Death Kill humanity on sight and are willing to form long term deals with them, which throws a lot of imperials off guard and make them think "hold on, these blue gits seem ok. Maybe we can do business with them"
The imperium's xenophobia is a logical defense mechanism. It is not stupid.

The Eldar on the otherhand, are a bunch of arrogant gits who think their farts are more important than anything else in the galaxy. They consider the life of a single Eldar to be greater than a thousand non-Eldars. They are not going to join the ideology of another race, especially a short lived race with weak warp signatures and who are adept with hard science, which would probably give them War in Heaven flashbacks.

Besides, the Tau already had dealings with members of the Eldar race. Look up the Tau and Dark Eldar's cultural exchange

Also this. ^

I always thought the T’au seemed more like reborn Necrontyr rather than anything the Eldar might find common cause with; the whole short lifespans, good with technology, no psychic potential thing...

Eldar might occasionally work with other species, but they would never formally join an alien empire and most definitely would not subject themselves to any sort of alien leadership.

Eldar are incredibly stubborn and arrogant (the typical high elf tropes at work) who view themselves above all other races. The goal of an Eldar empire are basically gone and the race is focused on survival more than anything else. The Eldar come out to play when they foresee some vision where they need to act to prevent some future loss of Eldar life or if one of their maiden worlds is threatened. For the most part the Eldar don't really care much about the little events going on in the universe and for the most part the Tau are in relative terms a small player in the universe except for in the the tiny pocket of space that their Empire resides.

The Tau on the other hand are busy building their relatively tiny empire, colonizing worlds, and using diplomacy to avoid getting rolled over by the neighbors in the process of doing the first two tasks. The amount of times they would come across the Eldar would be quite few and far between as the actions of the Tau have little to do with the big picture stuff the Eldar care about.

I could see short term cooperation between the Tau and Eldar such as the Eldar are trying to achieve some big picture objective and manipulate the Tau into doing a task for them. I could also see the Tau helping some stranded Eldar who got attacked but there is next to 0% chance that any Eldar would willingly join the Tau empire.The only Eldar that would long term reside in the Tau empire would be diplomats or spies.

I keep waiting to read that the Eldar word for Tau is Dol'fin...

Eldar would never actually join the T'au Empire. But that's not what you're looking for.

Eldar would likely join forces with the T'au Empire. Or work with them. For a variety of reasons.

For instance, you might have a Farseer leading a handful of CWE units due to some prophecy - which necessitates fighting shoulder-to-shoulder with the T'au. This should be common.

The Eldar would not see themselves as inferior to the T'au. Accepting the T'au's commands would be problematic. But a force - with it's own structure - joining a T'au force, or coming to the aid of the T'au - even as a standing arrangement - wouldn't be a problem. The Eldar do what they do for their reasons - it could be deals made, it could be some prophecy, or it could simply be a common enemy. The Eldar would rather fight beside the T'au than fight alone.

Also, remember that, of the three most likely architects of the T'au race, two are Eldar (Harlequins, Craftworlders, and Tzeench). The T'au are the 'Incorruptable Swarm'. According to some theories, the Eldar endgame (whether it was Cegorath, Eldrad, or someone else) is for the T'au to conquer the galaxy. Perhaps the Eldar live, perhaps not - but Slanesh would lose (T'au are barely perceptible in the Warp). To that end, Eldar are invested in T'au expansion.

It is canon that Eldrad - a radical, but probably the most-listened-to Eldar in history - has said T'au are key to the future. So Eldar would have reason to assist T'au for that alone.

The two races aren't likely after the same resources or space, so they're not as naturally at conflict as other races. And both are regularly threatened by factions that *are* direct threats to both parties.

Eldar will never see T'au as equals. But assets don't need to be equals to be useful. My car is not my equal. I work with it every day to get to and from work.

There are so many fluff-justifications for Eldar to work with T'au, you can do it easliy. I'd suggest avoiding puttting Eldar directly within the T'au command structure. I'd also suggest having some Eldar in charge (a Seer or Autarch of some kind), though.