Commander Or'es'Ka

A Tau Willing to Scorch the Earth to Win.

A massive asshole, but a man willing to do anything to get shit done, Shas'o Or'es'Ka is the Tau equivalent of that asshole who brings 30 Deathstrikes to an Apocalypse game. The Tau commander of Dawn of War: Soulstorm, Or'es'Ka is known for openly espousing the use of WMDs to achieve an objective, something he purportedly learned from the Imperium of Man, and plans to use Kaurava to show off what this new strategy, differing from the Mont'ka and Kauyon tactics, can do.

Whereas his predecessor, Shas'o Kais, tends to give a surrender ultimatum before attacking, Or'es'Ka prefers to lead off by orbital striking a population center, then threatening that his forces will cheerfully pound their area until it resembles the results of a protracted cyclonic torpedo bombing if they fail to see the wisdom of the Greater Good. To further this objective, his forces created a massive orbital ion cannon on one of Kaurava's moons and use it to airstrike their enemies before every attack.

What a dick.

Service

Or'es'Ka led his forces from the moon of Nan'Yanoi, where he had built his system-wide Death Star analogue, and began using it to orbital strike the ever-living fuck out of the (likely fake) Gorgutz' Orks and the Space Marines under Indrick Boreale. He also went after the Kauravan Imperial Guard forces, dealing massive damage to all involved.

Given the widely-held assumption of an Imperial Guard victory in Soulstorm, Or'es'Ka ultimately was forced out of the Kaurava system by a very angry and very well-equipped Vance Motherfucking Stubbs. Stubbs used a Vindicare Assassin to kill the Ethereal Aun'Ro'Yr, which predictably threw the Tau forces into disarray and essentially guaranteed that Or'es'Ka's new tactic of nuking the shit out of anyone who pissed you off wouldn't have much of a chance to catch on with Tau high command.

While it's never stated directly either way, it is implied Or'es'Ka survived his defeat, and may yet return, but considering the emotional breakdown he had as opposed to Kais' cold neutrality, it's unlikely. Still, if he does return, lulz and Exterminatus are sure to follow.

Statistics

Or'es'Ka is a tough son of a bitch. He's not quite as durable as Shas'o Kais, as his shield generator provides the same HP boost as Kais' iridium armor, but provides a unilateral 33% defense bonus to ranged fire, unlike Kais' general 33% defense bonus. Or'es'Ka lacks the HP boost of Kais' helmet, as well. However, unlike Kais, Or'es'ka's damage output is substantially higher—his multi-tracker wargear instead gives his weapons a meaty damage bonus. The two are otherwise very similar; their ranged weapons have the exact same damage, ranges, and pre-upgrade firepower, both get jetpacks, both get stealth fields, and both get shield drones. However, unlike Kais, who gets battle drones, Or'es'ka gets marker drones that further boost his accuracy, functionally giving all of his weapons 100% hit rates, and ensuring he cannot miss with his cyclic ion blaster or missile pods, making him death incarnate for unprepared foes. So while he is much less survivable than Shas'o Kais, the sheer damage output he has more than makes up for this.