Tau-Supported NGOs?

[Whiskey144]

So, this is something that just struck me one today:

Do the Tau make use of "Non-Governmental Organizations"? That it to say, do the Tau fund and/or supply pro-Tau groups in Imperial territory to sow unrest, or perhaps to act as a pro-Tau insurgency, thus occupying the planet's garrison, making it unready to fight a Tau invasion force, as well as providing on-site assistance for the Tau?

Part of what I'm looking for is whether or not the Tau have done this in the past, or whether it would be plausible and also sensible for them to do so (obviously if the first is true so is the second....I think).

[Srelex]

Uh...sort of, I think. In the first Ciaphas Cain book, you had pro-Tau citizens (albeit on a world where the Tau had already established a presence) who seemed to have the support of their military there.

Other than that, I'm not sure how they could establish such groups that you mention without actually making contact with them, something that may be difficult at this point. Remember that most Imperial citizens will probably be fed propaganda when it comes to them beforehand.

[Stofsk]

THAT's what you think an NGO is?

[Whiskey144]

Uh...sort of, I think. In the first Ciaphas Cain book, you had pro-Tau citizens (albeit on a world where the Tau had already established a presence) who seemed to have the support of their military there.

Having a physical Tau presence in-situ is suitable, so long as the majority of the insurgency is conducted by pro-Tau humans. I'd even accept Tau military support in the major activities of such an insurgency.

Other than that, I'm not sure how they could establish such groups that you mention without actually making contact with them, something that may be difficult at this point. Remember that most Imperial citizens will probably be fed propaganda when it comes to them beforehand.

You have a point......but there are always worlds on the borders of Tau territory that are...receptive (HERESY!) to Tau overtures. If the leadership succumbed, and subsequently formed a small group of humans who would be loyal to the Tau as well..............and then said leadership gets killed off by Imperial retribution, well, you still have to deal with the pro-Tau insurgency.

And any Tau agents who've been deployed to offer assistance.

THAT's what you think an NGO is?

No. I just thought that the term was a relatively loose fit for what I was trying to describe, and couldn't think of anything else for such a description.

That said..........such a group might be described as such. I dunno, the term is an inherently loose descriptor.

[Stofsk]

To me it sounds like you're describing black ops infiltration teams or fifth columnist insurgents.

An NGO has a completely different connotation. When I think of the term NGO I think of shit like Greenpeace, or the Red Cross.

[Whiskey144]

An NGO has a completely different connotation. When I think of the term NGO I think of shit like Greenpeace, or the Red Cross.

Perhaps a better phrasing would have been "Tau-supported/-sympathetic insurgent groups", then. Either way, though, I think the question, and more importantly, the concept, is an interesting one.

Certainly, a Tau-supported, and sympathetic, insurgency on an Imperial-held world would make for a somewhat, interesting, story, I suppose.

[PhilosopherOfSorts]

I thought you meant a company like Blackwater.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Yes, this can happen, but likely only in border areas far from direct Imperial influence. If the Ecclesiarchy, Administratum, Inquisition, Arbites, or a thousand other Imperial institutions have much presence on the world in question, Tau-sponsored unrest is unlikely to get very far. That said, worlds without high levels of the above groups aren't uncommon.

Hell, it's a great plot line for a Dark Heresy adventure/campaign. I'm running a Tau-centered Deathwatch meet next week and I might have to steal some of this.

[Ahriman238]

The Tau trade with nearby Imperial worlds, exchanging both goods and ideas. That's actually what started the Damocles Crusade, when the Ecclesiarchy thought that the region was becoming too Tau-friendly.

That said, there are sometimes "xenoist" groups within the Imperium, who believe some xenos culture is superior to the IMperial version, and they are frequently Tau-oriented, as the Tau spread heretical egalitarian ideals.

A Ciaphus Cain short story had a Xenoist group hijack a ship Cain was on and assasinate the planetary govenor. However the leader was just a thief using the others as gullible muscle. Cain mentioned that it is a problem that sometimes crops up in worlds close to the Tau.

[Whiskey144]

Hell, it's a great plot line for a Dark Heresy adventure/campaign. I'm running a Tau-centered Deathwatch meet next week and I might have to steal some of this.

Feel free.

The Tau trade with nearby Imperial worlds, exchanging both goods and ideas. That's actually what started the Damocles Crusade, when the Ecclesiarchy thought that the region was becoming too Tau-friendly.

That said, there are sometimes "xenoist" groups within the Imperium, who believe some xenos culture is superior to the IMperial version, and they are frequently Tau-oriented, as the Tau spread heretical egalitarian ideals.

*facepalm at self* I should have remembered something of a similar nature from the Dark Heresy novels from the Black Library, WRT pro-xeno groups.

But yeah, this is excellent. And now that you mention it, such activities also prompted the Taros Campaign, though in a more indirect fashion.

[Ahriman238]

Hell, it's a great plot line for a Dark Heresy adventure/campaign. I'm running a Tau-centered Deathwatch meet next week and I might have to steal some of this.

Should be easy. Just remember that to their human dupes "The Greater Good" more-or-less means equality and democracy, with a few touches of traditional communist rhetoric. Then you can have terrorists wearing blue-face or highly placed spies in local governments answering to the Tau... the sky's the limit.