Who are the Tau?

For many years, Tau were one of the newest factions in Warhammer 40k, being introduced as a new faction in 3rd edition, back in 2001. With an emphasis on ranged weaponry, the Tau seem designed to be slightly incongruous with the established grimdark aesthetic of the 41st millennium. I first got into the faction way back in 8th edition, with possibly the worst reason for ever getting into a new army. The move from 7th to 8th editions meant a sweeping series of changes, and you really needed a codex for an army to be viable. Tau were getting their book before my Necrons and Dark Eldar, so I bought a 2000 point army and the book, and went from there! It quickly got out of control, as well, and I ended up with far too much plastic, so sold the whole thing off without really doing much with them. Silly, silly me.

I think it’s the fundamental look of them being so different that I really enjoy, if I’m honest. Tau have lots of sleek lines and a vaguely sort of plastic look to them, as opposed to harsh metallic armour that we get from the likes of the space marines. It wasn’t too long before I was once again buying into the Greater Good, and so far I’ve been able to keep myself under far more control than 2018.

But enough of this, let’s talk about the Tau as a faction!

As with so much 40k lore, the story is told from the point of view of the Imperium, who first encountered the Tau in the 35th millennium as a primitive species of hunter-gatherers. Deemed too insignificant to be a threat, when a Warp storm erupted around the Tau homeworld (also called Tau), the Imperium soon had their hands full with the Wars of Apostasy, which is a fascinating subject for another blog. The Tau were forgotten until an alien vessel was discovered six thousand years later in the Ultima Segmentum, its crew bearing an unsettling resemblance to the aliens encountered by the earlier exploratory fleet.

The fact the Tau could go from primitives to space-faring in 6000 years suddenly propelled them up the Imperium’s to-do list, and soon after the Damocles Crusade was launched.

The Tau were initially tribal, and conflicts arose between the plains-dwellers and the mountain-dwellers, but peace was forged by the mysterious Ethereal caste of Tau who convinced all of the disparate Tau to work together for the Greater Good. Once the species had consolidated in this manner, they rapidly gained space flight capability and began to expand out from their homeworld, assimilating several other races under their banner, including the Kroot. It was around this time, however, that they first encountered the Orks as a species resistant to their rhetoric. 

Subsequent “spheres of expansion” eventually brought them to the notice of the Inquisition, as several human colony worlds had fallen under the sway of the Greater Good – and when the Imperial Tithe isn’t being paid, they soon get to know about it back on Holy Terra! The Damocles Campaign was fought to a stalemate, although the aftermath of the war saw the first fractures in the Tau’s united front. Commander Farsight believed the Ethereals attempted to pull the Imperium into the war and smash them before they knew of the capabilities of the Tau, only for the plan to lead to a waste of Tau life. Farsight established an enclave outside of the influence of the Ethereals, and split from their leadership while remaining true to his own principles.

There’s more to come on Farsight later in the week, though!