Editing Spheres of Expansion (section)

=== Third Sphere - Sneaking back in ===
Having well-learned that going after the Neighbors without a plan was a BAD FUCKING IDEA under any circumstances, having still kept a good portion of the Septs they'd set up together, and now a fully realized understanding of what their neighbors were capable of and the tactics necessary to defeat them, The T'au decided it was once again time to go stretch their behooved legs across the galaxy, and this time, they'd come prepared. Long held zones of exclusion were entered by fleet after fleet, purging rebels, orcs, and Hrud wherever they could in order to set up new Septs. Further, their decision to use Water Caste ambassadors to undermine imperial authority on the otherside of the Damocles Gulf paid dividends in getting the humans on their side of the Gulf to give up and annex themselves without much fighting, ensuring that finally, they had a stranglehold on it.

Emboldened, Shadowsun dove deep into the imperium, using strategies and counterstrategies that seriously caught the worlds of the Emperor off-guard. And it all came to a head at Mu'Gulath Bay, where the Tau were dropped into the Imperium's style of Warfare: Bitter, grind-y, all out warfare they simply could not comprehend. Finally, the Assassinorum got involved and headshot'd a lot of Tau leadership, and all seemed lost right up until a [[Farsight| certain Pariah and his goons showed up and won the day,]] but not the war. The Humans blew Mu'Gulath bay sky-high, and set the entire Damocles Gulf on fire just to make sure this wouldn't happen again. It was those actions that brought the third sphere to a screeching halt, but had ensured that the edges of the Damocles Gulf would remain at least partly T'au-controlled for the time being.