Are the Tau being controlled? (WH40K)

[Stravo]

I finished reading the Tau Codex and found some curious little nuggets. Whereas some people are fascinated by the technology and such I just love the fluff and the story ideas it creates in your head.

The origins of the Tau section claims that after an Imperium survey team discovered the Tau homeworld some 6,000 years prior to 41k they catalogued a primitive stone age species living on the plains of the planet that were the Tau ancestors. A colony ship was dispatched but on the way the fleet was wrecked by a powerful warp storm that then continued to rage unchecked for 6,000 years essentially cutting off that sector of space from the rest of the galaxy.

In essence this warp storm cropped up at just the right time and lasted long enough to allow the Tau to get to a tech level where they could defend themselves and even be a threat to some of the older races.

Curious that such a phenomenon worked so specifically for the Tau. Almost as if this warp storm had been created to protect the Tau.

Also at some point in early Tau history the species was almost on the verge of self annhilation. Whole tribes warred across continents without let up for millennia. Then there were odd signs, half glimpsed figures in the mountains and great storms. After this all occurs the first Ethereals appear. Ethereals are an extremely small minority of Tau that seem to have phermonal control over the rest of the Tau and adhere to a philosophy that emphasizes cooperation and curiously enough can then be used to justify (and in fact encourage) Tau expansion in the form of the Greater Good.

Who are these Ethereals, where do they come from and how odd that they spontaneously appear with abilities AND a philosophy that forges the Tau into a weapon against other races? It's almost as if these Ethereals were somehow...manufactured.

Finally there is a report to Earth concerning evolution and the almost unprecendented rapidity of the ascent of the Tau from stone age primitives to advanced space farers.

Interesting, Almost as if the Tau were coaxed into their state, Protected from without from the warp storm and manipulated from within by genetic engineering and a shepherd race. It reminds me of the Old Ones I've read about in some of the Necron fluff. Anyone have similar thoughts or more importantly know more than I do about these developments? The ethereals especially strike me as a real sign that there are some outside forces at work here and may explain some of the "luck" that Tau haters compain about in regards to their sucessess.

[Serafina]

Well, this is something where we can only speculate.

There are several candidates that have been named - Chaos, the GEoM, a C'tan, the Eldar and the Old Ones.
You can rule out most of them simply because they really have no motive to do it. But we know that the Old Ones had both the technology to do it and did it regulary.

To be specific, the Old Ones created numerous races to act as servants. Unlike most of these people, they were smart enough not to get rebelled against, and they created numerous races at that.
That included the early ancestory of Eldar, Orks, Hrud and presumably humans.

So there are two possiblities for the Tau:
A couple of Old Ones somehow survived their supposed extinction by the Necrons and are now trying to get a foothold in the galaxy once again.
Or they left some kind of device behind that is now doing all that on it's own (kinda like a 2001 monolith, only supercharged).

However, there is one huge counter argument: The absence of warp-related abilities.
The Old Ones were masters of the warp, supposedly controlling warp gods. That made them superior to the Necrons (who needed the C'tan to beat them).
The Tau diverge radically from any of their previous designs. Even if they wanted to focus on technology, some kind of orc-like make-belief would have been usefull.

It's of course still possible - either they radically altered their desing approach, or that the device that did it is broken.
But as i said, right now it's only idle speculation and conjecture.

[Srelex]

Wasn't it implied in one of the books that the Ethereals are connected to the Eldar?

[Serafina]

Wasn't it implied in one of the books that the Ethereals are connected to the Eldar?

Not to my knowledge.

Unless you mean one of those idle speculations by some Magos or something - which really are just that, speculations.
The Eldar lack resouces to do such a thing (they might have the tech, but even that is not sure - maintaining a stable warp storm for thousands of years?). All that for apparently no gain?
Besides, the Tau lack anything in common with the Eldar - both technologcially as with psy-powers.

[Samuel]

I finished reading the Tau Codex and found some curious little nuggets. Whereas some people are fascinated by the technology and such I just love the fluff and the story ideas it creates in your head.

These are translation helmets

In essence this warp storm cropped up at just the right time and lasted long enough to allow the Tau to get to a tech level where they could defend themselves and even be a threat to some of the older races.

It isn't like warpstorms are uncommon. This is lucky for the Tau, but eventually some alien race on the fringe would be the beneficiary of a warp storm protecting them from the Imperium... a "divine wind" if you will

Also at some point in early Tau history the species was almost on the verge of self annhilation. Whole tribes warred across continents without let up for millennia. Then there were odd signs, half glimpsed figures in the mountains and great storms. After this all occurs the first Ethereals appear. Ethereals are an extremely small minority of Tau that seem to have phermonal control over the rest of the Tau and adhere to a philosophy that emphasizes cooperation and curiously enough can then be used to justify (and in fact encourage) Tau expansion in the form of the Greater Good.

Or the entire story could have been made up to justify the Tau caste system and control the Ethereals have over the rest of society. Or the Ethereals could have found a crashed spaceship and used technology recovered from it to play God and boost Tau tech advancement. Or members of the Tau water caste could have seperated out from the main group after they had developed a disturbing ability to influence others and later used their powers to seize control and rewrite their history.

Note that "the Greater Good" makes a large amount of pragmatic sense- everyone has a part and it is the Ethereals to lead and yours to fulfill your duties. Instead of infighting, the fire caste expends its energy on external enemies. There is no need to assume any more sinister agenda than the desire for power behind its usage.

Finally there is a report to Earth concerning evolution and the almost unprecendented rapidity of the ascent of the Tau from stone age primitives to advanced space farers.

The Tau had access to Ork, Kroot and Imperial technology. While their speed into space is impressive, afterwards they can piggyback off of others innovations.

The ethereals especially strike me as a real sign that there are some outside forces at work here and may explain some of the "luck" that Tau haters compain about in regards to their sucessess.

If the Imperium thought that there were backers of the Tau that could cause warp storms, they would apply a bit more force than they currently are using. As in exterminate them all with a massive crusade for being pawns of Chaos.

[andrewgpaul]

Xenology implies, in a roundabout way, that the Eldar may have had something to do with the development of the Ethereals. It's all very vague; one entry is about an insectoid race, and mentions that they have legends about tall space warriors in sleek flying machines who came one night and stole away one of the hive-queens, and also mentions that said hive-queens use pheromones to control their hives. The Tau Ethereal entry subsequently mentions that Ethereals appear to have a special organ which bears resemblances to the pheromone emitter in the insectoid race, and which isn't found in non-Ethereals. Take from that what you wish - it's the speculation of an individual who is being manipulated by a Necron Lord, and who may or may not be correct. It's entirely up to you as to whether you wish to believe if these speculations are correct - GW aren't likely to clarify matters one way or another.

There's also the speculation as to what exactly Commander Farsight's magic axe actually is - a Chaos weapon, and Eldar artefact, or a piece of Necrontyr technology? It certainly looks like it could be Eldar in origin ...

[Imperial Overlord]

In Xenology it is revealed that the Tau are controlled by the Ethereals via pheromones and furthermore that the pheromone emitters on Ethereals are an almost exact copy of those found on a species on the other side of the galaxy. The history of said species also contains the interesting tidbit of having one of their queens (they're bugs of course) captured by the Eldar. It doesn't outright say that a group of the Eldar are manipulating the Tau, but it does take you by the hand and show you to the trail of the breadcrumbs pointing in that direction.

And I'm beaten to the punch.

[NecronLord]

There are several candidates that have been named - Chaos, the GEoM, a C'tan, the Eldar and the Old Ones.
To be specific, the Old Ones created numerous races to act as servants. Unlike most of these people, they were smart enough not to get rebelled against, and they created numerous races at that.

Only the God Emperor has had a rebellion against him. The Old Ones' regime is completely unknown, and whether or not any of their slaves resisted is unknown. Suffice to say, if WFB evidence is admitted as canonical (and the thinking is the same anyway) recent revalations make the Old Ones as grim-dark as anyone else. The first thing they did on arriving on the Old World was the near-total genocide of several sapient species who they considered unfit to live by use of their lizardman.

So there are two possiblities for the Tau:
A couple of Old Ones somehow survived their supposed extinction by the Necrons and are now trying to get a foothold in the galaxy once again.

The Old One Qah is known to have survived and roamed the galaxy implementing things. He was a god of the Hrud, who was pulled apart by Slanessh when it was born but may still exist in a form. The story is spread throughout the superb 'Xenology.'

However, there is one huge counter argument: The absence of warp-related abilities.
The Old Ones were masters of the warp, supposedly controlling warp gods.

Woah woah woah. The relationship between Old Ones and warp gods is entirely unknown. For all we know, the first warp gods bitch-slapped them and told them to sit in a corner and then directed the war. Certainly we know of no success that the Old Ones had against the C'tan without Warp Gods, who seem to operate at all levels, from designing the only C'tan killing weapon we know of, and even being credited with a kill in Xenology (the Eldar Goddess Lileath, supposedly 'becalmed' a fifth C'tan called the Siren - what that means we don't know, of course)

We only have the Eldar perspective on the war, and the introduction of Nightbringer (novel) as well as some Hrud bits in Xenology. No source even implies that the Old Ones controlled warp gods, though Qah is considered a god by the Hrud despite explicitly being an Old One, so there may be no or little difference. (Apotheosis to godhood is supposedly possible, after all)

The best candidate for Tau mentors is the Eldar, in any case. There's a description of colourful dancing figures before the Ethereals first appeared in, IIRC, Index Xenos Tau.

[NecronLord]

The Eldar lack resouces to do such a thing (they might have the tech, but even that is not sure - maintaining a stable warp storm for thousands of years?). All that for apparently no gain?

Maintaining a stable warp storm for years isn't that hard, various chaos invasion forces have managed such things. Especially given that the Eldar involved were most likely the Harlequins, who have an active warp god.

Besides, the Tau lack anything in common with the Eldar - both technologcially as with psy-powers.

Err. The Eldar do understand proper technology too. It's not all fairy dust and warp shit.

[Imperial Overlord]

The Tau's lack of psychic abilities is really convenient for Eldar manipulators. It means their wimpy warp souls aren't going to attract much attention from warp gods that might mess with your plans and you can control the entire empire by just mind fucking your Ethereal "disciples".

[Serafina]

Hm, the Tau taking advantage of the already-existing Tau makes most the most sense of all thes szenarios.

So it would have worked somewhat like this:
The Tau start their rapid development (for an unknown reason, perhaps just a flunk of nature - or after given some help by the Eldar). This coincidences with severe warpstorms preventing them from the IoM.
The Tau see this via their Preniscience and decide to intervene for a yet unknown purpose. All this requires is giving them some help starting their technological progress and eventually creating the Etherals (presumably by pasting capabilities from that hive queen into the Tau - maybe from the air caste).

Maintaining a stable warp storm for years isn't that hard, various chaos invasion forces have managed such things. Especially given that the Eldar involved were most likely the Harlequins, who have an active warp god.

Well, okay, that might be a possiblity. It doesn't explain why they do it more often, but it's a possiblity.

Err. The Eldar do understand proper technology too. It's not all fairy dust and warp shit.

Yes. I meant that Tau and Eldar technology seems to be quite different, most notably Tau not using psionic technology.
Of course, it makes much more sense if the Eldar did not create and merely guided the Tau. More so if they just kicked off their technological development.

[Imperial Overlord]

With the Ethereals under control, it's pretty easy for the Eldar to shape a materialistic, science and technology orientated society. Add in telepathic "inspiration" at the appropriate moments (why wait for Newton when you can make your own by dumping the right thoughts into someone's head) and Tau development will take off like a rocket. Which it did.

[Kuroji]

I thought that Xenology had been declared non-canon by a source somewhere, considering that it gave the Tau normal feet instead of hooves.

In any event, it's entirely possible with the Tau species being split into four groups that there was simply a fifth group somewhere that somehow mutated into the Ethereals naturally. Barring that, it's entirely possible that some outside group went tinkering with them out of boredom. If not that, then perhaps being surrounded by a warp storm gave rise to an opportunistic mutation thanks to the randomness of chaos itself?

Considering how the Imperium operates, though, it's entirely possible that they were more akin to bronze age technology, which would mean that they advanced pretty much at human-standard speed and then suddenly found all kinds of fun things to reverse engineer and bootstrap their tech base, and called it a day.

[NecronLord]

I thought that Xenology had been declared non-canon by a source somewhere, considering that it gave the Tau normal feet instead of hooves.

There is no reliable standard of canon in 40K. The position taken by GW has long been 'even the contradictions are canon, except that squats are dead' And no, the plan at the time was that Ethereals which is what Darvus was cutting up, would have human feet in 5th edition. This was canned, but fully in line with studio material at that time. In universe, it can simply be explained by some kind of genetic experimentation on that particular ethereal. Perhaps the Necron Lord got bored one day and had her feet swapped for a human's.

Or maybe she was half human.

[adam_grif]

I can't comment on the canonical status of the Tau being manipulated by outsiders, but if it turns out that the C'tan or Chaos Gods are doing this for shits and giggles I'm going to be quite disappointed. Isn't the fact that they have no real hope of making a dent in the shithole of a galaxy grimdark enough?

Stupid question, of course it's not.

[NecronLord]

I can't comment on the canonical status of the Tau being manipulated by outsiders, but if it turns out that the C'tan or Chaos Gods are doing this for shits and giggles I'm going to be quite disappointed. Isn't the fact that they have no real hope of making a dent in the shithole of a galaxy grimdark enough?

Stupid question, of course it's not.

The theories mentioned on the old GW website were that one or the other of those may be behind the O'Shova faction. The other theory is that he's actually loyal to the ethereals, but operating in deep cover of a sort.

In other words, chaos and (probably) C'tan can be discounted as fosters of the Tau empire proper, but are possibly involved with O'Shova's group of traitors.

[Darksider]

Or maybe she was half human.

I thought human/alien hybrids in 40K came out as tortured, twisted, and perverted versions of their parent races that could only survive for a few minutes of writhing agony. You know, GRIMDARK and all that.


Or did GW go and make this canon while I wasn't looking?

[andrewgpaul]

I don't think human-alien hybrids (well, except for genestealers) fit GW's vision these days, but in the beginning, the Ultramarine's chief Librarian was a half-eldar.

[Kuroji]

Or maybe she was half human.

I thought human/alien hybrids in 40K came out as tortured, twisted, and perverted versions of their parent races that could only survive for a few minutes of writhing agony. You know, GRIMDARK and all that.


Or did GW go and make this canon while I wasn't looking?

In the grim darkness of the far future, THAT'S DOUBLE HERESY!

In all honesty I wouldn't put it past them to put something like that in a book somewhere, though. It'd sell and it's bound to happen sooner or later if it hasn't already.

[Night_stalker]

Remember Warrior Coven? They implied that a Inquisitor MIGHT've had a kid with a Eldar, though he could just have been regressing to a old fairy tale told to him as a kid. Hard to tell due to the author: CS Goto.

[Connor MacLeod]

Remember Warrior Coven? They implied that a Inquisitor MIGHT've had a kid with a Eldar, though he could just have been regressing to a old fairy tale told to him as a kid. Hard to tell due to the author: CS Goto.

That could very well either be Goto "going his own path" or referencing really early fluff. Some authors do do that (Goto is one of them, although he does it in his own peculiar manner. Example being introducing plasma grenades and Mantis Warriors into Warrior Brood.) The idea of "half-Eldar, half human" hybrids was something originating with first edition - someone in fact mentioned that recently as I recall, maybe it was andrew in another thread.

Given Xenology and more recent fluff, its almost certainly a myth. Eldar and human are just too different genetically for that to work out. You'd have better luck breeding a human with a squat or an Ogryn.

Edit: One possible explanation is that the myth arose from some human being (possibly a psyker or Illuminati-type) who was saved or raised/trained by Eldar and thus mimicked their attitudes and qualities (imperfectly). I believe one example that could corroborate wthat would be Zephro Carnelian from the Inquisition War novels.

[Connor MacLeod]

As far as the Tau? who knows? The Eldar could have done it - they certainly operate on those timescales and they regard lesser beings as vermin and will happily exploit or mainpulate them to benefit the Eldar race (They do it frequently with humans and Orks, after all.) They could have arranged for the tau to get ahold of a warp drive, and it would explain some of the apparent similarties in their tech and combat styles (Tau always struck me as being a "Eldar Lite" when it came to military forces, anyhow.) I could totally see some Eldar Farseer thousands of years in the past seeing that they need some sort of tool race to avert some future catastrophe, then go about engineering the development of the tau just to have them fucked over as a whole race to save one Eldar from chopping his foot off or something. I mean, look at Armageddon.

Also, as I recall the area around tau space is kind of fucked up in the warp sense (oddities with warp travel and astrotelepathy, IIRC the Rogue Trader novels correctly), which is something the Eldar definitely could pull off.

The Necrons.. maybe. We know they've fucked around genetically with at least humans (Pariahs) but to my knowledge not in recent times, but their technologies and approaches are a little too dissimilar, and one can't really envision any actual reason doing this, even though they're as capable of. The 'Crons themselves would more likely have enslaved the race and turned them into undead robots like themselves. That's what they do with humans (esp Pariahs) as I recall.

The C'tan? The only one who possibly might have bothered that we know of (meaning that it could be an unknown one that somehow still exists and simply hasn't been mentioned) would be the Deceiver, as his MO is to give advanced technologies and stuff to a lesser race, and as noted he's capable of pulling this off. However, usually there is some indication that the Deceiver was behind this, or the presence of Necrons around that I recall, and thus far neither seems indicated for the Tau that I am aware. As amusing as it is to think that the Deceiver may be setting the Tau up to be fucked in the future purely for his own amusement, this also seems less likely than the Eldar. I'd label it the second possibility.

As for others... GEoM could maybe, but I again see no point or reason to him doing that, much less with a Xenos race. Old Ones as NL pointed out, we know nothing about aside from the fact they fought the 'Crons and had a hand in developing psychically attuned races in the past (which if anything would argue against them having a hand in the Tau - again no point.) Chaos is perhaps the least likely in my mind, given the Tau love order, have no knowledge or understanding of Chaos, and contribute virtually nothing to any one of the Chaos gods. The last one is, IMHO, the killer - the Chaos Gods only do things to satisfy their own desires or ends, or increase their own power. Tzeentch might fuck over a race like the Deceiver would, but there'd be more magic and mutation. So that seems *extremely* unlikely.

Barring the inclusion of some new and previously unknown player (new C'Tan, some new ancient race, whatever.) I'd say the best canidate are the Eldar.