Editing Nobledark Imperium Notes (section)

== Tarellian Confederacy ==

Anon's Note: "I started getting some of these ideas when someone in an old thread asked if there were [[lizardmen]] in 40k. Given that in Lizardmen culture is heavily inspired by several Native American cultures, and the Tarellians are essentially their 40k counterparts (the Tarellians are often called Dog Soldiers, for god’s sake), I thought we could build on that angle. Originally, I was thinking that like in Warhammer Fantasy, the Tarellians have some sort of connection to the Old Ones. Either distant descendants who have developed sentience again All Tomorrows style or another species the Old Ones had a hand in like the Eldar or Orks, only native to the Old Ones’ homeworld. The Tarellians know nothing about the accomplishments of their ancestors or their lost technology, much like it was once thought the modern descendants of the Mississippian Mound Builders were not aware that their ancestors had built the mounds they lived around (though in reality the truth is a bit different). Of course, this being 40k, “loss of technology” means being reduced from being a near god-like species to merely a star-faring one. However, because we’ve established the Old Ones are distinctly amphibian and/or semi-aquatic, I don’t think this would work. I think it also ties too many species to the War in Heaven, rather than having new species arise post-War in Heaven."

When the Tarellians spread out from their homeworld, they developed a number of highly divergent cultures on the planets they lived on. Tarellians also range wildly in body size based on planet, Tau-sized to slightly taller than a baseline human. Even during their most unified periods, Tarellian culture and social norms could vary wildly depending on the planet. Hence the Tarellian Confederacy, instead of the Tarellian Republic or the Tarellian Empire. Nevertheless, there are enough cultural similarities between them that the Tarellan cultures see themselves as distinctly Tarellian, much like the different Greek or Mesoamerican city-states saw themselves as a distinct cultural unit.

Of course, it’s entirely possible that there are many different groups of lizardmen out there in the galaxy, of which the Tarellians are but the best known because they developed the most extensive interstellar network. The Imperium, lacking imagination, might refer to the species as a whole as Tarellians even though the term only really applies to the Tarellian Neo-Confederacy.

Tarellians, like almost every other spacefaring species, were hit hard by the birth of Slaanesh and the Age of Strife. What was previously a unified empire devolved into a series of isolated worlds following warp storms preventing easy travel between planets. Many planets that depended on imports of food or tools from other planets outright starved as a result of this isolation. This catastrophe led the Tarellians to develop a survivalist mentality as they rebuilt their civilization. If a world couldn't sustain itself in the event of another Age of Strife, it wasn't worth settling. The same is true politically, hence why the Tarellians developed a confederacy (where each world could survive on its own if needed) as opposed to a more unified government following reunification. That said, the Tarellian definition of unsustainable is much broader than that of humans or Eldar, given the Tarellians' ability to survive in harsh desert environments.

Like some groups of Native Americans (Comanche, Sioux), Tarellians are well known for their mobility in war, able to march hundreds of miles from base camp in order to strike. The difference is that the Native American tribes did this through the use of horses. The Tarellians do this on foot. Tarellians originally evolved in an arid environment where they had to keep pace over shifting sand dunes and the uneven terrains of arroyos in extreme heat. Marching through a relative flat environment in balmy weather is a literal walk in the park for them. The Tarellians don’t really have riding cavalry, though they do domesticate heavier draft animals.

The other thing Tarellians are well known for is tracking ability. Tarellians are some of the best trackers in the Imperium. In contrast to humans, Eldar, Tau, and many of the other races of the Imperium, whose sense of smell is rather lacking, the Tarellian sense of smell is amazing, like some dinosaurs. Their eyesight is also pretty good, being adapted to track movement and capable of seeing in a slightly higher range of colors than humans. Their sense of hearing is about average, though.

Tarellians are sometimes referred to as dog soldiers because between their dinosaur-like snout and the soft frills at the back of their head, they kind of look a bit dog-ish. Tarellian are capable of flaring out like the frills of a frilled lizard and serve as emotional indicators, like facial expressions in humans.

Tarellians are mostly organized into hunter packs of a dozen or so individuals led by a commanding officer. The hunter packs can function autonomously (and are the “unit” of Tarellian infantry), but the commanding officer is part of a pack of about a dozen individuals commanded by a higher-ranking officer, and so on. I was thinking that they mostly used disruptor weapons based on old weather control technology like in the /tg/ homebrewed fluff. This organization is also similar to how Tarellian social hierarchy works. Each officer has a measure of land on their world and civilians to man it. Higher officers have a measure of land and jurisdiction over lower officers and some limited say in what they do with their land. They have no real clear cut distinction between civilian and military.

Anon: I’m not entirely sure why the Tarellians dislike the Imperium so much. In canon I get it because the Imperium virus-bombed their worlds, but here they come off as distinctly anti-authoritarian, even compared to people like the Tau. Maybe I’m reading too much into the already written Tarellian fluff, and there are plenty of Tarellians who are decent people and like individual humans and Eldar but just resent the Imperium trying to order them around as opposed to treating them like a member state. People just think the Tarellians are grumpy because that’s a stereotype. I do like the idea that the Tarellians get along well with the Tau because they respect the Tau’s resistance to joining the Imperium.

Other Anon: Due to their pack-like structure, they don't react well to outsiders having even theoretical dominance over them, hence their dislike of the Imperium.

''“Have you ever seen a Tarellian force move? I mean really, honestly move? The Tarellians are a desert-adapted species, who before they developed sedentary civilization had to be able to move kilometers each day, over poorly solidified sandy substrate, in extreme heat. Anything below 40 degrees Celsius is downright balmy to them.''<br>
''In battle, on your average civilized planet, a sufficiently motivated Tarellian force is capable of travelling over a hundred kilometers a day. On foot. You want to know why the Tarellian Confederacy never seemed to have much in the way of mounted cavalry? This is why. That’s the reason the Imperium lost the first few battles in the Tarellian war. We’d never seen infantry move so fast without air support before. One moment you’re fine and the next that force you thought was tied up on the opposite front is right in your face ripping into your flanks.''<br>
''That brings us to the second point, tracking. The Tarellians are some of the best trackers in the galaxy. Their sense of smell is better than any human, Eldar, or almost any of the other races in the Imperium. Their sight is adapted to follow a running target. The Arbites and the Vanus may be some of the galaxy’s best trackers if your target’s in a Hive World, but if they try to hide in the wilderness there are few better hunter-killers than a Tarellian hunter pack.''<br>
''So for God’s sake, don’t piss off the Tarellians to the point they come after you. Because they’ll chase you to the end of the galaxy.”''<br>
- General Hazan, informing an inexperienced young lieutenant why it’s a good idea to be nice to the Tarellians, circa M38.

'''Tikal'''
The leader of Tikal wears a feathered headdress similar to that [https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Montezuma%27s_headdress supposedly worn by the tlatoani of the Aztecs]. There is an actual reason for this beyond Tikal generally being Mesoamerican and Lizardmen-themed (though Tarellians in general draw more from northern Native American peoples like the Ancestral Puebloans, Commanche, Iroquois, and Cahokian Moundbuilders mixed with survivalists). Tarellians have frills and dewlaps like frilled lizards that indicate emotional state. Aggression and dominance for Tarellians is indicated by having the frill extended out as far as possible. Therefore, wearing a headdress like that is a constant signal of authority and who is in charge in the room.

Something that should be noted is that prior to the Age of Strife the Tarellians were not a confederacy, but a more centralized form of government. They really got screwed over during the Age of Strife as many of their worlds were dependent on imports of food and other goods to survive, and with warp travel being nearly impossible many of their planets starve to death. It didn't help that they already preferred planets whose ability to produce food was already very limited. When they started traveling the stars again after the end of the Age of Strife, they wanted to make sure something like their world starving never happened again, hence their survivalist tendencies and obsession with self sufficiency (and the fact they formed a confederacy where each world is nominally independent). They see the fact that Tau and humans set up outposts and mining operations on worlds that cannot sustain agriculture as highly foolish, as they feel another episode of mass Warp storms is all but inevitable.