Editing Slaugth (Hektor Heresy) (section)

===The Tau Fiasco===

Several centuries later, the Tau Plutocracy was bar none the largest and most prosperous Xenos empire of the Eastern Fringe. The young civilisation managed to make lightning fast technological progress, not least of all thanks to Slaugth Intendants constantly planting new concepts and ideas into the heads of their scientists and engineers. With their trademark ruthlessness, they subjugated numerous worlds in the galactic East. Although they preferred taking over other civilisations by ruining their economies with unfair competition and then getting them into debt bondage, they were also not above using brute force where perfidy failed. Once they had subjugated an alien civilisation, they destroyed the remains of its industry by aggressive takeovers in order to turn it into one more market for their goods. The resource rich planets the Tau managed to get their hands on got even harsher treatment: they were brutally exploited until pollution rendered them unfit for habitation. Uniquely for a stellar empire, their state was run like a joint stock company, with any affluent Tau able to purchase the Imperial stock and vote in the council of directors to determine the Plutocracy's strategic course. This was, of course, merely a spectacle, for only the Ethereals had enough money to purchase the government stock, and all of them were obedient puppets of the Slaugth anyway. Unbeknownst to the Principals, this was about to change.

For you see, the Ethereals grew too fond of their new wealth and power and became less than willing to risk it all in a suicidal fight with the mighty Imperium of Man. While they were originally created to be but passive pawns to the Slaugth, centuries of life on T'au, far away from their creators, made them more independent than Principal Txont expected them to be. Ironcially, they were eventually seduced by the same ideology they were instructed to seduce the people of T'au with. After generations of loyal service to the maggot men, they finally broke and succumbed to the irresistable beckoning of the Golden Calf. The Ethereals decided to break off the leash and become the true masters of their rapidly expanding empire, but this was much easier said than done. On their own, they stood no chance against the worms that walk, their reality-shattering sorceries and hordes of biomechanoids. The Tau needed a very powerful ally if they wanted to challenge their race's secret overlords. And so they began to search for allies in the dark corners of the Galaxy, covering their true intentions with an expedition to find rare resources. Fairly confident in the loyalty of the Ethereals, their Slaugth masters didn't object to it.

It became a big surprise for the Principals when the Tau squadron dispatched to search for resources in the south eastern outskirts  of the Galaxy was accompanied by a much larger fleet on its return. Never, not in a million years have the Slaugth seen anything quite like the monstrous ships escorting the Tau. Their brutalist, crudely functional designs almost appeared to be made ugly on purpose; they were little more than clusters of colossal featureless boxes made from a concrete-like material and painted in a garish shade of yellow that any race with retina-based vision would find painful to look at. Such starships could only be built by a race completely bereft of a sense of beauty, one that not only lacked good taste, but couldn't even being to conceptualise what good taste is. Before the Slaugth could react to the arrival of these unexpected guests, they received a message from the Ethereals aboard the Tau explorator ships. The Tau offered their masters a choice - to welcome their new friends at the Vermidromes or to face a war with them. The maggot men reluctantly agreed to have a talk with the new allies of the Tau, whose name turned out to be Vespid.

The masters of the yellow ships turned out to be similar to their creations - unsightly, monstrous humanoids combining the ugliest features of crustaceans, chiropterans and insects. They behaved in the Vermidrome like if they owned the place, scratching the interiors with the numerous spikes of their chitinous armour and leaving stains on everything they touched with their dirty hands. The Vespid could even pass for bipedal animals, were it not for the heavy arms they carried, which were as brutal and hard-featured as their spaceships. Although the Slaugth were aghast with the complete lack of manners their uninvited guests displayed, they agreed to their demands of meeting the Board of Principals. Disregarding any diplomatic courtesy, the apparent leader of the Vespid plainly ordered the Slaugth lords to leave their Tau allies alone and immediately withdraw all Intendants from T'au. Otherwise, he threatened to exterminate all Slaugth, and, from what little the Principals had seen of the Vespid, they suspected the insectoids were incapable of lying or bluffing.

And so, with thousands of Vespid strangelet projectors aimed at the last cities of their race, the Slaugth had no choice but to abandon the Tau project. The Intendants were told to return to the Vermidromes, and the Ethereals were formally given complete freedom to rule their race as they see fit. With their ingenious plan foiled by their own rebellious creations, the Board of Principals descended into raving fury not seen since the War of Sword and Tentacle. But an ancient and devious race such as theirs could never allow emotions to cloud their judgement. The Slaugth were used to looking for opportunities even in the direst of circumstances, and so they quickly came up with a plan to turn this horrible fiasco to their advantage. Instead of one slave race to pit against the Imperium, they would now get two!