Editing Spheres of Expansion (section)

=== The First Sphere - The Greater Good's first real test ===
The very first and greatest expansion of the Tau, where all the biggest Septs that you may be marginally aware of come from, and the first sign that the Tau were on their way to becoming bigger players on the galactic stage. The seeds were planted as the lead planet of T'au began to experience overcrowding as the technology they had repurposed and built exploded out, and eventually the Ethereals at the time decided it was time that this Empire made their way into the stars, and called for the Earth and Air caste to start building colonization vessels, and turn their messengers into pilots. The progress was slow, as the Tau scanned their local star system and set up orbital stations, scouting probes, and extensive testing to ensure every planet they wanted to go visit wasn't going to rip them apart like their homeworld used to. It took well over a millennia to complete, but by the end, they had millions of their species across eight, tightly compacted worlds, all interconnected and working towards building the rest of the empire.

Of course, no gravy train lasts forever, and eventually the first Sphere's expansion came to an end due to two things: Lack of FTL travel...and Orks. Lots of Orks. The Tau, new to this whole "the entire Galaxy is trying to kill you" thing, took a considerable toll from their first interactions with the Green tide, and spent untold resources keeping their rowdy green neighbors from plundering every pulse rifle they could ever want. Further, while they had plenty of increasingly powerful and high tech shit to keep the bad alien at bay, their ability to traverse the stars were tapped, and even as the Ethereals tried pushing harder and harder, the reality that they faced was that they'd gone from a world bursting with blue communists to an empire stretched thinner than excuses for the plot armor their race had. Things looked like they were going to be stuck in their own stellar neighborhood for the forseeable future...right up until they met some Kroots getting attacked by Orks from orbit. They naturally showed up and pew-pew-pew'd their assailants, and met their new beakie friends. They liked the Kroots for their absolutely absurd numbers and fierceness in combat, and the Kroots liked hanging out with the Blue guys who could bullseye predators from a kilometer off. They decided to become best buds, and the Tau and Kroots helped kick the Orks out of each other's star systems (for the most part), and rope them off into fighting each other when they couldn't. Things began to even out for the Tau, as their discipline grew, their numbers grew, and the empire was finally beginning to look like an empire. A minuscule one, but an empire nonetheless.

And then the Fal'shia Sept suddenly had a massive breakthrough. And it was off to the races again.