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Sometimes, they're a Federation-type organization, with no need for money, diplomacy and an alliance with other species, the only truly good faction here.

Other times, the Tau are this Ultra-Left Communist faction, where the ruling Ethereal happily brainwash the rest of the Empire, the rights of the individual mean nothing and everyone's value is their efficiency, but at least here they're not xenophobic, just as the USSR wasn't racist.

Sometimes, it's the British Empire reborn, where the highly advanced Tau spread to preach their superior ideals, letting other races joining them but treating them as second-hand citizens inherently inferior to Tau, with talk of forced sterilization and not letting auxiliary species gain power.

While not everything about these three views is contrary, a lot of it is. Are other species in the empire valued for their efficiency just as a Tau would be, or are they seen as inferior? Is the Tau just another faction of Grimdark, or are they a potential candle of hope in the darkness of 40k?

Really, I'd like to ask what is the Tau Empire in the most recent lore and which of the three it's leaning towards, and secondly in your opinion, what should the Tau Empire be? Do you think they're better as a vaguely Asian Communist regime, an expanding, racist Empire, a bright Federation of good or something else?]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/704907/8951573.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/704907/8951573.page GMT
As for the different views of the Tau Empire? If you had no knowledge of the United States, would you think that the Guards of Guantanamo, the bayou boys, the Bostonian Brahmin, and the Amish all self identify as American?]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/704907/8951597.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/704907/8951597.page GMT
Fascism often plays upon the notion of nationalism, ideology, and racial superiority which are cornerstones of the Tau's Greater Good. The Tau are not above using military might to subjugate worlds or to eliminate those which do not conform to their ideology. The Tau's focus on minimizing waste and loses is why diplomacy is first attempted because a few years of negotiations or political manipulation is far less draining on the Empire's resources than launching a full force military invasion. A federation of equals would see a mix of races fighting together instead of non racially Tau allies being used in auxiliary reserves and using their own racial equipment, weapons, and armor instead of the tech that the Tau uses. Little is known of what the day to day life of a Tau is like but there is little evidence of dissent or political turmoil in the Tau population and even less (reliable) information is know of life for non Tau living in the Empire. What can be determined is that as the Tau Empire grows it is the Tau race that colonize new worlds and little is seen of the races that are conquered by the Tau.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/704907/8951598.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/704907/8951598.page GMT 40k lore (especially if it's from a codex) is presented through propaganda, half-truths, and biases. From the Tau's perspective, and the perspective of their loyal human followers, the Tau are the great saviors, uniting as many species as possible towards a brighter future. From the Imperium's broader perspective, the Tau are a terrible, brainwashing movement who turn unsuspecting humans away from the light of the God-Emperor. From the Kroot's perspective, they respect and appreciate having the Tau around, but understand that they, and human followers may be kept isolated from the rest of the Tau.

In addition, you're going to get variations and imbalances between all of those themes depending of the particular Sept in question. Each Sept is led by different Ethereals who may have different interpretations of the Greater Good, as well as having a different mix of Tau castes, and facing different problems, making some modus operandi more appropriate than others.

Like a great deal of things in 40k, the correct answer is, "It depends on the world."]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/704907/8951603.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/704907/8951603.page GMT
However, nowhere are crime and dissent statistics explored, so we have no real way of knowing how successful the Tau model of civilisation really is.

And I suspect this is the point of their inclusion. I've heard people call them 'not Grimdark enough' and 'too utopian' for the 40k universe, but for me it's the very lack of an apparent dark side that highlights the inherent dubiousness of less extreme real-world examples and generates genuine self-criticism in all who view it with reflexive, unfounded suspicion.

Is the success of the Tau really too good to be true, or are we simply so jaded and bitter that we can't accept a genuinely good thing? And, more to the point, does this incredulous response betray our own incurable unsuitability for inclusion in such a society?

It's this sort of moral intrigue that makes the 40k universe such a great thing.]]> http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/704907/8952150.page http://www.dakkadakka.com/dakkaforum/posts/preList/704907/8952150.page GMT