Editing Warhammer 40,000: Fire Warrior (section)

== The Novelization ==

Believe it or not, they made a book about this game. Written by Simon Spurrier, it is a lot less [[Derp|goofy]] than the game, though that alone is not saying much. It still struggles a bit in the sections where it cannot avoid some of the more egregious crap that happens in the game, but it balances those out with several moments of [[awesome]] too.

It goes into a lot of Tau philosophy and psychology, often switching perspectives between characters both to give a wider view of the conflict and to bring their views of the situation into contrast. Lots of pointless characters get introduced to give the narrative weight and get the reader empathizing, and many of those characters are killed off a paragraph or so after their introduction and exposition of their back stories and aspirations just to underscore how fucking [[Grimdark#Grimderp|Grimderp]] the setting is.

It is also interesting in that it gives snippets of Ethereal perspectives that both impart the evidence of them [[Grimdark|being on blatant power trips, using pheromone conditioning, and displaying their absurdly derp levels of ignorance towards the dangers of Chaos]] counterbalanced by their [[Noblebright|genuine desire to bring prosperity to the Tau race, foster order and cooperation between the castes, making a cursory attempt to get along with the rest of the galaxy, and wrecking the shit out of the races that are a threat to everyone]]. Though one could dispute the last statement since the fluffy Tau, at the time of ''Fire Warrior'', were kind of trying to give three-fingered handshakes to factions like the [[Dark Eldar]] and [[Ork|Orks]].  At least they were smart enough to yank said hands back from the [[Tyranid|Nids]] before they were bitten off, because the mere thought of them jetting some Por'El diplomats to a Hive Fleet just epitomizes [[Fail|failure]].

There is lot of semi-poetic description going on, with characters observing to themselves the vagaries of the universe they inhabit. For example, this is an excerpt from a scene in which Kais comes on the remains of some Fire Warriors and Imperial Navy Armsmen in the wake of a Chaos attack:
* "Here a tau arm lay, knuckles clenched, beside a de-limbed human corpse. There was a symbolism here, perhaps. A sense of unity, a sense of physical sameness. Given a talented enough Por'Ui journalist, this scene might mean something. `In death, we're all the same'..."

Heavy shit right there. [[Khorne]] cares not from where the blood flows, red or blue is all the same to him, no matter what side of the conflict you are fighting on.  In this universe, everyone ends up butchered meat, no matter which species they are.  

Speaking of Chaos, the book does justify a lot of why Kais is kicking Imperial ass left and right. You know the big bad of the piece is a [[Tzeentch|Changer of Ways]] [[Rage|of Chaos Undivided]], right? Did you really think that a lone Fire Warrior doing improbably well would ''not'' be a case of [[Just As Planned]]? Or that Khorne himself is not also capable of pulling off a different plan of his own? The Tau are as a whole resistant to Chaos, but not completely immune. When they find one Tau with enough [[rage]] to get Khorne's attention, even despite the weak warp connection, that starts the [[Chaos Gods]] thinking about trying a few experiments.

This is probably the only time you will hear a tau yelling Khorne's favorite line... which would certainly explain the cover art quite nicely.

The end also has the main character's commander talk about the Nature of the [[Greater Good]] in a Galaxy like 40k has.  More or less the Tau ideals are impossible to truly reach, but what's really important is trying to reach them. In other words "the grim darkness of the forty-first millennium is grimdark enough as is, so let's not add to it if we can help it."