Editing Tau (section)

=="Naive Weeaboo Space Communists"==
[[Image:Tau Weeaboo.png|thumb|right|Cue hotblooded music by [https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-r6xYnFDoV0 JAM Project].]]
The Tau's naiveté might seem at odds with the GRIMDARK-ness of the setting (and to a degree, a lot of it is), but the thing is, Games Workshop specifically plays this straight FOR the [[grimdark]] and ''knows'' that the seeming futility of the Tau's optimism only further accentuates the general hellishness of the rest of the galaxy - and dear [[Emperor|god]] do they play this up for maximum effect. In the 41st millennium, the Tau come across as ''more'' than a little naïve to the other races; the Imperium sees any contact with aliens as heretical and will shoot them with [[bolter]] rounds as soon as they look at them; the [[Ork]]s just want to kick the shit out of things; and the [[Eldar]] see the Tau as a race in its infancy, just staggering out of its borders for the first time and wandering into a pond full of [[Saharduin|sh]][[Dark Eldar|ar]][[Chaos|ks]] (most Eldar philosophers admit their own race has failed, the humans are failing, and add that the Tau are in for a rude awakening). If the sharks arrayed against the Tau think of them at all, it is surely as dinner.

In older fluff [a single book that was so off the rails it said Tau had toes and no nasal slits], the Tau were implied to have been secretly uplifted by the Eldar through the creation and subtle control of the Etherals (especially the mind-influencing pheromone secreting gland at the base of Ethereals’ spines) and guiding them through reverse-engineering Imperial technology from the ruined colony ships. Eventually the Eldar abandoned them because the Tau never accomplished anything notable on their own due to a crippling lack of creativity (<s>a big red flag of bullshit, since the Tau are nothing if not creative needing the Eldar to reverse-engineer Imperial colony ships for you and teach you everything is ''NOT'' "creative", it is the opposite, pay attention before opening your mouth. What part of "uplifted" do you not understand?</s> Which honestly means very little as and Eldar's concept of "creative" is so far above ours that by saying that "They aren't creative" might just mean they can't do super space magic). This older fluff also said that humans must be in physical contact with an Ethereal or perhaps subjected to heavy doses of the pheromone in other ways to be sufficiently affected but other aliens are affected merely by being in the vicinity of an Ethereal. <s>In the current fluff, the Eldar backstory and Ethereals-controlling-other-races theory seem to have been cast aside as nonsense and are no longer canon.</s> The Farsight Enclaves exist literally because of this mind-influence, they are in rebellion against the ethereals due to learning of this. And nothing has removed the backstory of the Tau. In fact, lore regarding those bug aliens near Terra only increases the strength of this lore, in addition to study of ethereal biology.

The Tau's generally-optimistic fluff, combined with their highly advanced technology, distinctly "Eastern" combat doctrine (that is often reminiscent of Sun Tzu's "''Art of War''"), use of [[Mecha|battlesuits]] (just [[Imperial Knight|like]] [[Dreadnought|the]] [[Titan (Warhammer 40,000)|Imperium]]), [[Hammerhead Gunship|heavy firepower]] which rivals that of the Imperial Guard, and one of the [[Fish of Fury|most broken tactics in tabletop 40K until it was finally fixed an edition later]] has conspired to make them very much hated (and by that we mean a source of butthurt) by a reasonable-sized population of the [[/tg/|40K fan populace]]. /Tg/ has rightly dubbed the Tau [[Weeaboo]] (as much due to their Asian-ness as anything else) as a result.

[[Image:Tau fire warriors.jpg|490px|thumb|left|The [[Greater Good]]: translatable as [[Deal with it|"If you want to make an omelet, you gotta break some eggs."]]]]

And again in a case of much cultural confusion, the Tau are often considered [[Communism|communists]] (despite being a rigorous, hierarchical, near-eugenicist class society that would have Marx's spirit resurrect himself to commit suicide) due to their central philosophy of casting aside the self in favour of the Greater Good. This is partly because it's a nearly twenty year old meme by this point and memes that old are very stubborn about dying... and partly because we're a bunch of ignorant fucks. If anything the Tau more resemble the class system of Plato's ''Republic'' crossed with the caste system of India and [[Star_Trek#The_Federation|Star Trek's Federation]], and a little bit of facism as well (because they're the only ones in the entire galaxy who bother to try diplomacy with xenos rather than [[Exterminatus|exterminate]] them (partly because all but a few alien species are horrific space monsters that only a complete idiot would try to negotiate with)).

Even then, the Tau has more in common with the Imperium than the noblebright space hippie Feds; they adhere to a highly strict doctrine of eugenics, as [[Love Can Bloom|all forms of love, sex or breeding between different castes]] are, translated from Tau lexicon into Gothic, '''[[HERESY]]'''. The Tau also have an explicit merchant caste as well as a single unified currency (something the Imperium of Man only has in theory, [[Imperial Truth|much like everything else]]) along with a system of standardised wage labour which makes them actually more Capitalist than the still stuck in Feudal Economics Imperium. Contrast to the Craftworld Eldar whose society of post-scarcity voluntary labour actually is fully Communist, albeit there are still nobles entitled to bigger houses.

The Tau treat their member species with an unusual amount of autonomy and respect while also keeping them as second-class citizens with no say in the Tau government. There is no restriction on religion or cultural uniqueness so far as it doesn't interfere with the greater good: Humans may still worship the Emperor, Nicassar can continue exploring the universe and Kroot can continue to ingest the dead; so it's a pretty broad stroke of acceptability.

What is terrifying and an excellent twist on the Tau is that member races and the individual is kept from 'choice'. So if you suck, like you're just bad at everything, you're not going to be offed or turned into corpse starch. You are simply given a 1 bedroom apartment, universal healthcare, and a broom. And that's it. You don't get to be a hero, you don't get to rise above your worth, and this is all decided by an alien society. If you dare step outside of these boundaries, then you're given a couple chances. First you're sent to reeducation. Do it again and you might get some beneficial brain washing... and so on. But death? Certainly not, because what purpose would that serve? Unless they deem you a lost cause.

To double the weebiness but to greatly decrease the communism connection, the Tau are remarkably similar to war-time era Imperial Japan. Not in terms of military doctrine but in terms of its geopolitics. Like Imperial Japan they're a young power situated in the east, relatively far from most of their possible rivals' centres of power. Like Imperial Japan they have a seemingly nice enough doctrine in terms of rhetoric; "Greater Good" and "Co-Prosperity Sphere"; but in practice what it means is that they want to replace the old empires in the region with their own. Like Imperial Japan they're at a significant disadvantage in terms of production power compared to their most serious rivals in the region, and hope to compensate for that by tactical superiority and winning big decisive battles to topple the old powers.

To further solidify the connections to Japan in the early 20th century, the Tau Empire even borrows some terminology, such as [[Spheres of Expansion|"spheres" of expansion]], a firm belief that despite their grotesque material inferiority to their primary enemies, the power of their ideals and their superior willpower shall overcome their enemies all, and a dogged insistence on picking fights it probably can't win. Imperial Japan knew that America alone had nearly twelve times the industrial power, with Britain having thrice Japan's military-industrial might, France just about matching theirs, and the Soviets having four times that: even China, despite being a wartorn barely functional shithole, could be a quagmire for it.

But Japan didn't give a shit because they thought that they were so awesome they could somehow get all these people to surrender through a combination of being better at war than their soft, mewling enemies and that they simply believed in their destiny to rule the waves more than anyone else did. Much like how the Tau are fully aware that the Imperium, the Orks, the Necrons, and the Tyranids could all squash them flat in a stand up fight, but believe this is immaterial because their belief in the Greater Good shall overcome all and that they have mastered the ways of war while their foes are mired in ignorance. Although, the lore mostly depicts the Tau, including their leadership, as utterly unaware of anywhere remotely near how horribly outmatched the Tau really are. It says a lot about the major factions that the Tau have glimpsed only a tiny fraction of their enemies' power, believe that is the whole of said power, and believe they are tremendously outmatched but will be victorious due to Manifest Destiny. Ignorant of the true power they face.

What is for sure though is that whatever part of the political spectrum they'd fall on (probably wherever you'd put Imperial Japan during world war two), the Tau government is mainly oligarchical, with the vast majority of political power concentrated in the Ethereal caste.

This is further driven home by the fact there is a Tau splinter faction led by one of their two best generals alive, Commander [[Farsight]] of the Farsight Enclaves, whose government is a non-caste society devoid of ethereals, making it a meritocratic semi-democracy. The problem is, depending on who you ask Farsight may be either a hero in self-imposed exile or a single-minded military dictator, much the way Optimus Prime is sometimes depicted. Farsight's government is [[RAGE|NOT recognized by the Tau Empire]], who have finally gotten around to dispatching a fleet to silence them. We still have yet to see the outcome of this fleet dispatch, though (in all likelihood, no force was ever sent, because Tau don't kill each other and because Farsight is useful enough where he is, even if he's in rebellion).

Of course, the Farsight Enclaves are a fan favorite, mostly because on the table top he was one of the only ways to make an all battle suit army but we digress. The books he's featured in portray Farsight more as a guy that is incredibly depressed about his own mistakes and thinks that the Tau Empire is oppressive and needs to stop being brainwashed.

However, the new codex has HEAVILY downplayed Tau naiveté, bringing back the original codex mention that the Ethereals have officially declared some species "[[Exterminatus|lost causes]]" and that the [[Greater Good]] demands they be killed to the last.

*[[Orks]] were the first of the big players of 40k to get this treatment. They pretty much were the only serious competition Tau had before they discovered the Imperium, and it only took them a few weeks of study to realize the fact that Orks are beyond reason or sanity. They do still employ them as mercenaries in small numbers, and the Water Caste considers the Orks one of their biggest failures.

*[[Tyranids]] unsurprisingly ended up on "shoot on sight" list pretty much after the first contact. Unlike the Orks, the Tau have experienced the full and unadulterated rape train that is a Hive Fleet in the form of Gorgon which took a bite out of their Empire (lost something like 10% of it) as well as an ally species called the Ulumeathic League who might be completely wiped out.

*[[Eldar]] briefly were on the list too, owning this to the first contact being made by the Drukhari, and not just any, but [[Urien Rakarth]] himself. Eventually the Craftword Eldar intervened, and the Tau realized that not all space-elves are insane rapists. Although the Tau ended up accidentally destroying a Maiden World, likely making permanent enemies of Saim Hann in the process, they also had some positive dealings with Lugganath to finish off Hive Fleet Gorgon. Interestingly, the Dark Eldar were supposed to be the original nemesis of the Tau when they were originally released.

*[[Space Marines]] were introduced to the Tau during the Damocles wars. Marines represent an interesting case to the Tau because while it's possible to reason and even negotiate with them, Water caste psychoanalysts have determined that Astartes aren't ''people'' but merely ''weapons'' and as such have no place in Tau'Va.

To sum it up, the Tau Empire is still an expansionist empire prone to using military force, but far better than almost every other polity in the setting, as it permits others to exist with rather lenient standards, and isn't dedicated to the purposeful extinction of all other life in the galaxy. It should be noted that the Water Caste has turned more worlds to join the Empire than the Fire Caste. Technically, the Imperium does have protectorate species as well, but very few because most aliens are batshit insane, flat-out evil, or space monsters. Of which, almost all have been exterminated by the Imperium, which is probably why the Tau are so ignorant of what xenos are generally like. Talk about irony.

Additionally, you don't have to join the Empire to benefit from trade agreements and non-aggression pacts. For example, the <s>Demiurge</s> Leagues of Votann traded ion-tech for refuge from the ever xenophobic Imperium (or maybe for profit if the old fluff is being retconed), but did NOT join the Empire in any meaning of the word.

Regardless of who you are, if you join the Tau Empire they will genuinely try and do their best to take care of you because they think, in their hubris, that they know best. Provided you join or “join” their Greater Good under their leadership. Everyone else is killed. Presumably because death is better than not being dictated to by the Tau.

Also, as a result of surviving attacks from the major factions in the galaxy yet being blissfully unaware that those were merely tiny brushes or stragglers of vastly larger forces, the Tau believe they have proven they can truly hold their own in the galaxy against all the major players. As of Eighth Edition they were corrected quite painfully due to the opening of the Great Rift and the loss of most of their Fourth Sphere Expansion forces to a Warp rift, and following a massive Chaos invasion they have been forced to face the possibility that their empire might have bitten off more than it can chew.