Altair Enclave

Summary

The Taudar are an artificial xeno race in the Imperium Asunder setting, a fan remake of the warhammer 40 000 history.

The Taudar are the result of the Ethereals undying will to see their people survive, and unify the galaxy under The Greater Good, the doctrine of their God of Order. Realizing their race was about to end, despite their pheromone mind control, they made in secret a pact with the Dark Eldar leaders of Commorragh, even attracting the attention of the great Asdrubael Vect himself. The Ethereals were to supply the Dark Eldar with their Craftworld brethren, and in return, a new warrior race would be made for them, an unholy union of Tau and Eldar. The experiments were eventually a success, but by then, the Tau Empire had alreay fallen, and all of the Ethereals were dead and gone, along with their God of Order. Being too interested in observing the effectiveness of this new warrior breed, the Dark Eldar scientists released the Eldar-Tau crossbreed into the Galaxy, on the farthest Eastern fringe, so no-one would know but them. Opportunities of pain and pleasure would be plenty, but if this new race failed in their purpose, the defeat of the Ethereals and their plan would be even sweeter. Unfortunately, the new Taudar seemed to do rather well, and through mass-cloning, established a functioning society at an alarming rate, naming it the Taudar Enclave.

Timeline History

• The Tau Empire rises in Ultima Segmentum.

• A secret pact is made between Dark Eldar Asdrubael Vect and the Ethereals in Commorragh.

• The Tau Empire falls in Ultima Segmentum.

• The first Eldar-Tau crossbreed is successfully created.

• The Eldar-Tau crossbreeds are released into the Eastern Fringe as part of an observational experiment.

• The Taudar Enclave is founded, in secret, beyond the Eastern Fringe.

• The Taudar Enclave finds several dormant Necron Tomb Worlds (Fringeworlds)

• The Taudar Enclave studies and learns many of the secrets behind Necron technology.

• The Taudar Enclave discovers superluminal warp-independent travel, allowing them to visit and explore other galaxies

• The Taudar Enclave encounters The Great Devourer and is locked in a perpetual war with Tyranid Hive Fleets.

• Current Day

Taudar Physiology

The Taudar, or Taldari, as they call themselves, are grey-blue skinned bipedal creatures, with no orificies except their golden eyes, but can breathe through their pores in most atmospheres and even under water. They do not eat like other races, but instead extract nutritions from whatever organic material touches their skin (even molecules in the air), including sunlight, and so possess a particularly advanced form of photosynthesis. They have two, two-digit digitigrade legs and manipulate objects with two, four digit hands, two of which are opposable, like thumbs. They stand about 7 feet tall, weigh in about 200 pounds, and are a hermaphroditic mono-sex species with an expected lifespan of about 300 Earth years. In addition, they are all psychic blanks, and have nearly the best eyesight among all the main races in the Galaxy.

Taudar Technology

The Taudar technology is a mix of Tau, (Dark) Eldar and even Necron technology. By a stroke of luck, they managed to find several dormant, and malfunctioning, Necron Tomb Worlds on the Eastern Fringe of the Galaxy. Not deemed too important, these Tomb Worlds were considered Fringeworlds by the Necrons themselves, and so while they had much valuable Necron technology in terms of workers and production, there was little directly related to military exploits, and so were laregely undefended Tomb Worlds, possibly entirely forgotten about. The Taudar, being a freak of nature, are natural psychic blanks (they possess something akin to the Pariah gene) and while they are perfectly capable of understanding psychic-based technology, cannot use it effectively themselves. As such, they are mostly influenced by their Tau heritage, which was given to them in the form of Data Banks by the Dark Eldar scientists upon release into the Easter Fringe, but have vast knowledge of (Dark) Eldar and Necron technology, using whatever tidbits seem appropriate.

Taudar Society

The Taudar society is heavily influenced by their backstory. They are perfectly aware of what they are, a mass-cloned unholy breeding experiment, but enjoy many benefits of this as well, such as not having to deal with any cultural divisions based on sex, skincolor, status etc., because they are all largely the same. They have no deities to speak of, and did not follow any race-wide doctrines like the Greater Good/Imperial Truth etc., were not united by any particular common purpose, but simply stood together because they were alone, and the only one of their kind... Until they met The Great Devourer.

In the initial formings of their society, there was no sense of purpose, no direction, no reason for their existence, since the Tau Empire had already fallen. All that mattered was survival, and even barely, because their genetic superiority made this an easy task almost anywhere in the universe, based on environmental factors alone. However, having finished studying the Data Banks and learning part of the history of the Universe (from the Eldar point of view), at least partly, since the Dark Eldar scientists were unwilling to disclose it all, decided that the number one threat to them would be the forces of Chaos, and the cruel gods of the Warp. However, not long after, they discovered they were also psychic blanks, and so were largely guarded against the perils of the Warp as well. Feeling reasonably safe, they thus decided to devote themselves to esoteric and scientific fields. Perhaps it was their artificially constructed tendency to be warriors which influenced them to assess all known threats first, before deciding to build any culture worth speaking of.

Skipping agricultural developments entirely, and not having to worry about supply lines, the Taudar made technological advancements at an incredible pace, and expanded rapidly beyond the Eastern fringe, looking to see what lay beyond the Galaxy.

Beyond the Galaxy

With such a free spirited society, an anbundance of independent thinkers, and no industry of war to feed, (and an incredible head-start), it was not long until the Taudar discovered a way of superluminal space travel, which did not rely on warp jumps. It was more by luck than anything of course, since it would never have been possible without free access to the unguarded Necron Tomb Worlds in their vicinity. Many of the Taudar then caught the idea to go beyond the Galaxy, to explore different worlds entirely, unknown to most.

There they found many beautiful star constellations and planets, in other galaxies, and inbetween, learned the secrets of the cosmic web binding the galaxies together: dark energy and dark matter. However, one thing worried them somewhat. There were almost no other intelligent creatures anywhere. In fact, most planets were cold and dead, even though evidence of past civilizations could be found. In particular, on many planets, even in different galaxies entirely, there was mention of a race of creatures known as the Seeders, or the Old Ones. Putting it all together, it became apparent to them that their Dark Eldar progenitors had left the most important part of the Universe's history out, when they filled the Data Banks with information.

The Great Devourer

Unfortunately, the Taudars re-discovery of the oldest race in the Universe, their scientific and esoteric explorations, were all interrupted by the discovery of the The Great Devourer. The Hive Fleets turned hostile immediately, recognizing the valuable genetic information of the Taudar. Unprepared, the Taudar quickly retreated to their homeworlds in the Eastern Fringe to gather their people, elect a military leader, a Taudar named Tassadar, and kickstarted the industry of war to defend themselves.

Ever since, they haven been locked in perpetual war with the Great Devourer, with only a few having escaped into distant galaxies. These were cursed as deviants, whom had fallen under the belief that the Old Ones had made the Tyranids as a way of collecting genetic material for re-seeding. The old individualist "society" of the Taudar crumbled and was replaced by The Rule of War. For all their technological advancements, the Taudar were too few and too unprepared to fight off the Hive Fleets immediately. Because of this, they were locked in a galactic trench war, using their Eastern Fringe homeworlds as a base of operations.