Editing Warhammer 40,000 8th edition (section)

====[[T'au]]====
*Revised versions of the Tau alphabet and number system are given, along with several Tau words. 
*General descriptions of a Tau military force are described.
*The Tau have been working on a new prototype "slipstream drive" granting them advanced FTL travel that allows them to explore the Universe to the fullest. This allowed them to launch a Fourth Sphere Expansion ...which promptly vanished. Having found themselves stuck between the newly formed Great Rift, the scores of dead worlds left behind by Hive Fleet Gorgon, and the Sautekh dynasty, the ships of the Fourth Sphere activated all their slipstream drives at once. Unfortunately for them, this accidentally opened up a Warp rift that sucked in the entire fleet. Warp fuckery means that the entire Empire is able to witness the fleet's apparent doom, and the remaining attempts at expansion are halted by a combination of Ork attacks, the return of Hive Fleet Gorgon, and the Great Rift driving many of the gue'vesa insane. 
**A couple of years later, a drone is discovered floating through the Zone of Silence orbiting a wormhole that wasn't there before, which they dub the Startide Nexus. When its mainframe is analyzed, the Empire discovers that a large chunk of the Fourth Sphere has survived and settled in a region far to the north of the Empire called the Chalnath Expanse, which is apparently located on the other side of the Nexus. A Fifth Sphere expansion is prepared to re-establish contact with the new colonies.
*The Fourth Sphere survivors estimate that nearly 3/4 of their number were unable to return to realspace, and their description of unnatural beings and malicious sentiences that attacked them strongly suggest that they were assailed by Daemons while they were stuck in the Warp. The Startide Nexus was the result of them being flung back out of the Warp by...well, they don't know but they're pretty sure it's not friendly. Many of them can barely conceal their hostility towards the alien auxiliary forces accompanying their Fifth Sphere reinforcements.
**Their fate is revealed in full in ''War of Secrets''. Short version: Chaos happened. When the fleet was stuck in the Warp, daemons targeted the [[Nicassar]] first, then the [[Kroot]] and other allied aliens. The T'au would have been devoured too, were it not for a Warp entity suddenly appearing and cutting open a rift for the Tau to exit to realspace. Commander Surestrike, leader of the Fourth Sphere Expansion, concluded that said entity was a [[Chaos God|"God"]] created from the belief of psychic-capable races. Therefore, to preserve the integrity of the Greater Good, all alien races save for the Tau must be exterminated.
**The Ethereals and Shadowsun grow concerned upon receiving multiple reports of Fourth Sphere warriors engaging in unusual acts of brutality, such as slaughtering unarmed prisoners and going out of their way to maximize casualties among their non-Tau allies. Following one especially bloody Kroot uprising, all alien auxiliaries are removed from Fourth Sphere contingents.
*[[Shas'o Kais]] tagged along the Fourth Sphere Expansion, though out of respect and fear, he was put into cyrogenic stasis, only awakened when the most important missions called for. A bizarre malfunction in the stasis pod he was kept in allowed his mind to remain active when while in stasis, giving him ample opportunity to retrieve information about the enemies of the Empire and all but perfect his own skills as a one-Tau army. 
*At least one of the Tau colonization fleets from the Fourth Sphere is flung close to Baal. The Blood Angels make quick work of them.
*One group of Tau Earth Caste farmers on the planet Dhar'tan break protocol and begin making offerings to the "fertility god" the native tribes worship in the hopes of ending a drought. Unfortunately for them, the "fertility god" in question is Rotigus and the planet soon becomes a fetid swamp-world. This means Tau are capable of sorcery, if nothing else. Between that and the Fourth Sphere warriors being exposed to the Warp without the protection of a Gellar Field, it may be possible that we are seeing the first signs of Chaos corruption among the Tau.
*Tau scientists have attempted to make more XV02 suits after Longstrike demonstrated their effectiveness, but thus far all other test pilots were either incompatible with the neural framework or went brain-dead shortly afterwards.
*Aun'Va was in the process of uploading his memories and mind before his death, allowing the resulting AI to pass for him after the real one was slain. The Empire as a whole has not discovered the deception yet, but since the hologram has no ability to compel obedience like a true Ethereal it's only a matter of time before the truth slips out. Already one high-ranked commander has directly refused orders from "Aun'Va", joining the Farsight Enclaves soon afterwards.
*A massive force of Chaos Space Marines and the Death Guard have attacked the Startide Nexus in the hopes of invading the Tau Empire directly. The Tau, having no real experience with Chaos beyond relatively minor skirmishes until now, are getting some very nasty lessons about what the galaxy has in store for them, and are locked in several wars of attrition against multiple Chaos incursions from Nurglite and Tzeetchian warbands. Even [[Shadowsun]]'s desperate heroics surely cannot hold Nurgle's chosen Legion back for long.
**More accurately, there are at least four distinct clashes between Tau forces and Chaos. The first is during the Plague Wars, where the Tau seek to colonise the planet Kellik, unaware that the Death Guard have already landed, intending to turn the world into a fetid swamp. The Tau force lands too late to stop them, but conflict erupts anyway as Commander O'Kais refuses to abandon his mission.
** The second is the Battle of the Voridium Sceptre, where a force of the Thousand Sons led by Sorcerer Amenex Soulrend invade an earth caste laboratory complex to steal a relic made from Voridiun Crystals. They are only stopped before they can reach the central laboratories and the battle lines are drawn with the fight quickly becoming stalemated as the T'au defense refuses to fold.
** The third is the Burning Moon. The only definitive Tau victory, as hundreds if not thousands of Tau warriors sacrifice themselves in a holding action to contain a Khornate warband, before several pathfinder teams can discharge tectonic bombs that shatter the ground beneath the Khornate forces and drown them in lava. This action costs the Tau dearly in manpower, but is still counted as a victory. Let it sink in for a moment, the forces of Khorne, infamous throughout the galaxy for their melee skills, lose to a faction that’s practically allergic to melee. 
**The fourth is the aforementioned battle for Startide Nexus. While it seemed that it would all be over for the Tau, the Death Guard inexplicably broke off their attack and retreated into the Warp. The Tau have no idea why they didn't press their attack further to T'au itself, and they're scared shitless about the possibility of them returning to finish the job. 
* Farsight for some reason made a return trip to Arthas Moloch, the planet where he found the Dawn Blade. After meditating there for some time he then returned to the Enclaves and...that's all we've heard from him come 8th edition.
*The rising number of psychic phenomena and miracles associated with the Great Rift continue to baffle the Tau scientists, and in some cases Gue'vesa are moved enough to rejoin the Imperium.