Greater Good

Space: the final frontier.

These are the voyages of the starship Tau’s Future Glory. Its mission: to seek out new life and new civilizations and unify them with noblebright—and the occasional plasma blast—for the Greater Good of all, and to boldly go into a grimdark galaxy where no Weeaboo Space Communist has gone before.

And thus begins the adventures of the 40k galaxy’s version of the Star Trek Federation, brought to you by unflagging belief in the Greater Good! Cake for all!

But Seriously, Folks

For reals though, this is the background on it:

The Greater Good is the central, guiding philosophical doctrine of the Tau Empire and its diverse citizens. Essentially, it involves taking the course of action that is best for the majority of people, and dictates that everyone and everything has its place in the system; as such, the system will look after you, and you after it. (Real-life humans have thought of this too; it's called utilitarianism). It goes a lot deeper than that for the Tau, who believe it is their duty to bring the enlightening message of the Greater Good to everyone in the galaxy, and subsequently join them under the rule of the Tau Empire in order to work together for a better future for all.

It was the Ethereals who first brought the message of the Greater Good to the other Tau on their homeworld during the age of civil war and barbarism that the Tau now refer to as the Mont'au, or "The Terror." The Ethereals preached a message of peaceful cooperation between the four major Tau tribes, and explained that each tribe's skills should be harnessed for the benefit of all Tau to secure a brighter future. In this way, the Ethereals united the Tau as a single-minded people, and over the next few millennia, the Tau got their shit together in record time for a sapient species, much like fa/tg/uys might were it not for the insurmountable levels of skub and rage produced by the internet on a daily basis. There was a massive growth in technology, science and knowledge, and the Tau became a spacefaring race very rapidly compared to others. They contacted several less advanced races and won them over with their ideals, and these became the first non-Tau members of what would become the Tau Empire.

Since approaching the space controlled by the Imperium, however, the Tau have been somewhat disabused of the notion that most of the galaxy's denizens are interested in anything but killing them, since every other major race they have encountered either rejects their overtures for unity with a bolt pistol or straightaway tries to fight or nom them.

Cue galaxy-wide lulz.

As mentioned above, the idea of a greater good is not really all that new in the real world. It has existed in modern society for a while, although not in the form of an official guiding doctrine, and instead as more of a general rule of thumb to do your best by society as a whole and to not be selfish. To create in full the Tau idea of the Greater Good you will need: communism; Marxism; utilitarianism; liberal trade policies; naïveté; enough politics to make your head spin; xenophilia; the power of friendship and working together; and of course guns, lots and lots of guns, just in case 'persuading' someone to adopt the Greater Good fails. The resulting mixture resembles none of the ingredients (and would make Karl Marx chew his own beard off) but gives you a sense of the different bits and pieces Games Workshop added into its big concept cauldron to concoct the Tau Empire's Greater Good.

This is what happens when you bring philosophy to a thunder hammer fight.

In the first edition Tau Codex the idea of the Greater Good was pretty clean if vague, a noble goal to unite the galaxy. The book "Fire Warrior", though, which was published at this time, goes into it at great length, including what it means and what happens when a Tau has his or her eyes open to what kind of galaxy they live in (in a mature, non-grimdark way too). By the first Tau Empire book, though, there is some gritty realism, with stories of people resisting the Greater Good, and in the current situation there are clear cases where the Greater Good will be meaningless (Orks, Tyranids, etc.).

In the wider galaxy, if you don't like the Greater Good, you hate it. In this way it is kind of like Marmite. The Imperium hates it because it is a challenge to their authority and they are afraid that nervous, weak-willed (read: rational) humans will see it as an appealing alternative to what the Imperium offers, and they can't have that. Chaos hates it because it is the antithesis to what each of the four ruinous powers stand for: selflessness and discipline over indulgence (Slaanesh); peace over war (Khorne); growth and progress over decay (Nurgle); and structured order over change and randomness (Tzeentch). In short, the concept of the Greater Good is in direct opposition to the powers of Chaos, and exactly why Chaos has not launched a Black Crusade against the Tau Empire so far is unclear. Necrons and Eldar dislike the Greater Good simply because they consider it to be the starry-eyed drivel of a young species (although the Eldar have a soft spot for the Tau), and the Orks and Tyranids couldn't care less, obviously. They will fight (and eat) anyone.

So all in all, pretty hard times being a missionary for the Greater Good in the 41st millennium.

Accusations of epic trolling on GW's part

When the Tau first came out, it was believed all this Greater Good lovey-dovey business was an epic example of trolling on GW's part against their franchise and the fan base, what with the 40k galaxy being completely grimdark previously. The presence of a race that was (shock-horror) normal by most sci-fi standards confused some and enraged others. GW declared they wanted a new, dynamic race for their setting. Fans thought they went a bit too far in this regard and had created something that clashed thematically with the setting it was in.

As of the most recent codex and fluff updates, however, the Tau and the Greater Good have been made more 'realistic' in the context of the 40k galaxy. The Ethereals have declared certain races "lost causes" which are beyond the capability of the Greater Good to help them (the Orks and the Tyranids, though this declaration should have been made upon one glimpse of those assholes). And as of the most recent expansion phase in the Empire, the Tau have at times abandoned the slow but steady option of diplomacy in favour of just annexing worlds and forcing the Greater Good onto anyone there via military might. Considering this is more in line with the Imperium's way of doing things, we shall have to see how that goes. Other grimdark things done to and in the name of the Greater Good can be found in the next section.

Is it all really sunshine and lollipops?

The codexes and fluff hinted from the start that all was not what it seemed in the Tau Empire, and with the recent updates, especially the Farsight Enclaves supplement, the Ethereals have been portrayed as subtly evil space tyrants ruling an empire through clever mind control tricks which the Tau population is unaware of. Basically, the books hint that the Ethereals, a strange breed of Tau who appeared out of nowhere, use some form of mind control or pheromone to influence other Tau to listen to what they say and to obey orders without question. It is further hinted that this has had a diminished effect on even non-Tau. It is in this way they sell the Greater Good. It is the sort of thing the people in 1984 would love to be able to do and would make their work load much easier.

There has been no solid confirmation on the origin or power of the Hypnotau, and like a lot of potentially cool plot points, it has been left underdeveloped in order to drag out the plot. Thanks GW. Of course, Xenology really, really heavily implies that the Eldar stole some other alien race's mind-control pheromones and integrated them into Tau biology.

That said, it's also heavily implied that the Ethereals' pheromones effect the Ethereals themselves as well. They fully believe in everything they preach (as opposed to 1984's leaders, who are just doing it for the lulz). In the novel Fire Warrior, an Ethereal actually resists falling to goddamn daemonic possession not because of any psychic resistance or relic but because his faith in the Greater Good gives him total balance and control over his mind, meaning no emotional flaws for a daemon to exploit.

However, one thing that people seem to forget is that even if pheromones and the like really are controlling the Tau, it is very unlikely for those same pheromones to afflict the Empire's member races in the same way, so there still has to be a solid message there for other races to latch onto. So whether or not there's mind control amongst the Tau themselves, the Greater Good is still a legitimate philosophy that is proving itself to be quite effective at uniting disparate civilizations.

Reasons to accept the Greater Good

• The Tau Empire is open to diplomacy and talking things through. Even if they are primarily focused on getting what they want (like every sensible person is), they will still listen to what you want as well and potentially allow room for it. The Imperium does diplomacy too, but merely as a pretense until they can get enough guns there. If they have enough guns already then diplomacy sounds like BLAM!
• Faptau and/or Schlicktau will teach you how to masturbate like a professional.
• Railguns.
• Battlesuits.
• You will be allowed to worship who you want, as long as it doesn't conflict with the Greater Good. Thinking about it, if they weren't xenos, the Tau and the Emperor would have gotten along quite well.
• You will not be blown up in a dickish preemptive orbital strike by Commander Or'es'Ka.
• It advocates what is best for everyone and states that everyone can contribute to it in their own way, which we must agree is a better sell than Imperial zealots screaming that you owe the Emperor your life, so get busy dying for him, and no complaining or we'll make you die for him RIGHT FUCKING NOW!!!
• Machines are seen simply as machines, not as holy relics with souls that need to be fawned over with ridiculous rituals, and so a lot of things are automated. You don't have to do a tenth of the awful, soul-sucking menial labour that occurs in every corner of the Imperium. This automatically makes the Tau a thousand times more practical and sensible.

Reasons not to accept the Greater Good

• You will be a walking target for life for HERESY, and hence BLAMMING, in the Imperium for even thinking about xenos in a positive light. (Just a reminder: the Inquisition is not afraid to blow up an entire planet just to kill you. If not, there will always be someone waiting for you.)
• You are probably being compelled by pheromones and mind control to be a good person, which is to say your noblebright is the result of grimdark.
• You will be horrified at how barbaric and violent the rest of the galaxy is, so make sure you cover your eyes when you're outside the Empire.
• You will be compared to Jehovah's Witnesses because your message is just irritating to anyone who is not already ONE OF US…
• You will be compared to communists by most people despite the fact that the Tau Empire only resembles such sociopolitical ideals in the most dubious of ways.
• Inter-caste breeding is strictly prohibited in the Tau Empire, so if you meet a stunning Water Caste babe and you're a member of the Air Caste, you're unfortunately gonna have to go all Romeo and Juliet on that shit.
• You have to accept that you won't be in charge of your own destiny. But then, no one really is in the 40k galaxy…:'(
• Although it may seem all nice and happy, be careful. Big Brother is always watching you...

What is important to remember is this!

Despite all the jeers about naiveté, subtle mind control and Big Brother watching you, the Tau Empire and its philosophy of the Greater Good is still the nicest option to go with in the 40k universe, especially if you're one of those rare neckbeards who actually realizes that grimderp and sadness doesn't always equal coolness and profundity. So what if your leaders control the population like a club of puppet masters? At least you can trust these people not to throw you and your family into a meat grinder suicide war or to crush all the individuality and freedom out of you while saying it is for your own good. Some have said "give it ten thousand more years and the Tau Empire will be just like the Imperium" (don't forget the current Imperium is a lot more backwards and oppressive than the Emperor intended). But really, will it? The Tau are quite different from humans, so their response will be quite different as well. Until then, the Greater Good remains one of the few doctrines of the 40k universe that makes sense, and despite all the grimdark made of it recently, it is still so noblebright it can blind Night Lords a lightyear away.