Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

==Aloh'Eur'ii==

A.k.a., the Tau colony world in Nemesor Zahndrekh's Gidrim Dynasty.

The Tau Empire and Aloh'Eur'ii have been intentionally kept unaware of each other by the Imperial Ambassador and her team for the simple reason that nobody would be happy if they found out. The Tau Empire would not gain anything from laying claim to them beyond mild expense re-uplifiting them. The Yokel-Tau would not survive as a culture and would not be happy under The Empire having grown in a completely different direction and the Nemensor wouldn't be happy if someone tried to take his least shit planet from him because of he offered a safe haven to a bunch of primitives and the primitives won't leave a planet they have invested so much time and effort into working.
What we do know:
* That they are the descendants of early colonists in one of the lost colony ships and as they have been separated from the Tau Empire since then they have not benefited from any new technological developments and are still using tech not too far advanced from 20th century Earth, bar recently imported toys.
*Their world was described as the more habitable of the two inhabitable worlds in the Nemesor's Estate but that's not a great achievement as the other one is very borderline.
* They have abandoned the caste system due to the limited gene-pool and have interbred to the point were they wouldn't easily fit into the modern caste system.
* The Nemensor occasionally visits them in an official capacity to remind them that he still exists and this is still actually his planet. They pay some minimal and mostly symbolic tribute as they don't have anything particularly valuable.
*They aren't aware of anything in the Tau Empire since the date they lost contact with it and the Tau Empire is totally unaware of their existence and considers the lost colony ship ancient history long since dead and buried.

Aloh'Eur'ii (which means "cold wind, bitter tears" in Tau) is an ancient Necrontyr world, and given how close it is to Zahndrekh's home it must have been at least sparsely populated as it does have an atmosphere, then it would have been a potential target for Old One and their servants to attack. Also Zahndrekh never set up his home there so that would imply that it was never a particularly nice place even before the Old Ones wrecked it and as the Necrontyr had a high discomfort threshold then it must have been really shit. Gidrim by contrast might have been pretty verdant before the War in Heaven broke it and the subsequent ~65,000,000 years of neglect.

And it is barely inhabitable for Tau who are native to a slightly arid but warm planet. To this end I'm going to suggest that the planet is shit because it looks like the arse end of Antarctica. It's cold and wet and for an added bonus the ozone layer is a bad joke. There is life on the surface, the flora caps out at a bit of hardy moss and the most exciting fauna is a beetle looking thing the size of a human thumbnail that moves very slowly and eats moss. There is also a bit of pink algae in the ice and a type of worm that very slowly corkscrews through the ice.

The sea is a little more interesting. There are crabs and snails and other invertebrate life but nothing as complex as a real fish. The local Tau eat mostly the kelp and seaweed and reserve snail and crab for special occasions. Thankfully the snail-like creatures grow big enough and have enough fiber material in them that their skin can be used for making clothing out of and they typically have enough fat and oil content that they can make fire from them with a bit of effort. One of the things Nemensor Zahndrekh donated to them out of charity was fresh, warm insulation cloth thus instantly gaining their trust.

The planet has no axial tilt or moon so there is no tide or seasons. One day is much like another; shit. The hydro system is minimal and most of the fresh water is holed up in ice caps at the unnecessarily large poles
The life forms on Aloh'Eur'ii seem to be derived from two prior existing ecosystems that have either evolved in total isolation from each other or many species have been imported from elsewhere after the initial terraforming work was done. Many of the lifeforms have genetic markers consistent with life found on other old Necrontyr worlds but the others show resemblance to Tarellians. It can be assumed that either the Necrontyr took and inhabited a former Old One colony or simple cross contamination occurred accidentally. After so many eons without record it's now impossible to know.

The Tau are better off now than they were. When Nemensor Zahndrekh found them they were still living in the disassembled remains of their original colony ship with a few outbuildings and extensions made of local stone, using technology they couldn't reproduce or replace, gradually dwindling away. Nemensor Zahndrekh did offer them far more than they would take, they had their pride and didn't know him yet. Indeed their ancestors set out from the homeworld before the Tau had made first contact so the notion of alien intelligence was still pretty world shaking.

As it stands now the Tau have the ability to replace most of the tech that they are using, very slowly and carefully. They have mines and a few workshops and processors. Their population is on the increase and they have several satellite settlements, each as bleak seeming as the original landing site. Sometimes they will wonder about the old homeworld their ancestors set out from but it is a distant event, many generations removed from living memory or relevance.

Of the Tau themselves they are physically distinct from the main branch Tau lines. They hail from a time when the differences between the castes was not yet as physically noticeable due to centuries of gentle eugenics. The original colony expedition contained mostly Earth Caste as the colony was supposed to be set up, become self sufficient quickly and wait several years at least for the next wave of settlers to arrive as this was in the early days of Tau interstellar travel. Nevertheless, there was a triumvirate of Ethereals, their Water Caste scribes and administrators, a few Air Caste messengers and pilots as well as a detachment of Fire Caste enforcers. The presence of the Fire Caste being in the event of social breakdown caused by extreme conditions on the intended target planet rather than as a deterrent to pirates or raiders, sapient aliens still being a theoretical possibility rather than an accepted part of life at this stage of Tau history.

In appearance the Tau of Aloh'Eur'ii mostly resemble Earth Caste with broader feet, more prominent cheekbones, a generally broader build and slightly stubbier fingers. It is unknown if this is a direct multi-generations long adaptation to the constant cold or if it is just a fortuitous result of the various breeds of that species mingling into a new form.

Society is built around resource conservation, thrift and sustainable long term planning using principles set out by the original triumvirate for the simple and inescapable reason that anything else would have gotten them all killed centuries ago. Life is short and hard which is a good way of describing the people that have had to adopt it. Although in some ways the comparison is not apt, life is also harsh and unforgiving which is an unfair comparison with the Tau of Aloh'Eur'ii as since the arrival of the Nemensor they have been very welcoming of outsiders, if nothing else it broke the sense of utter isolation they were feeling.

The capital "city" of Aloh'Eur'ii now that it is not alone as a settlement has been named Sho'aun'or'es as it can either mean the heat of a reactor or can be used to mean general sources of power. Either direct translation works as it is both the source of planetary authority and the city and especially the dwelling places are all huddled around the ancient colony ship's reactor for warmth.