Tau Empire - stories & authors worth reading

[Kelborn]

Hello brothers,

 

I'm looking for some good stories of the Tau Empire for doing some research and general interest.

 

As for now, I've read the Space Marine Battles: Damocles (which was overall ok having two good and two ...let's say...not so good stories) and McNeils Courage & Honor, which was bolter porn-ish, imho.

 

I remember that Peter Fehervari seemed to be a good pick and found this list on Amazon (can't purchase via BL due to the lack of a credit card):

 

https://www.amazon.de/s/ref=nb_sb_noss?__mk_de_DE=%C3%85M%C3%85%C5%BD%C3%95%C3%91&url=search-alias%3Daps&field-keywords=peter+fehervari

 

Did someone read this omnibus? The Tau Empire (Legends of the Dark Millennium)?

 

https://www.amazon.de/Empire-Legends-Dark-Millennium-English-ebook/dp/B01N5FP33X/ref=sr_1_2?ie=UTF8&qid=1514358953&sr=8-2&keywords=peter+fehervari

 

In other words, which author / story would you recommend?

 

Thanks in advance!

 

Kelborn

Edited December 27, 2017 by Kelborn

[Marshal Rohr]

The story in the 3rd Edition Codex about the imperial delegation is a true classic.

[Calas Typhon]

I think the only Tau knowledge I have is from playing Fire Warrior on the PS2 and creating killzones from halfway across the map with Tau infantry on Dawn of War. 

 

I would also be interested in information on this topic.

Edited December 27, 2017 by Warsmith Kroeger

[Commander Dawnstar]

Fehervari is almost certainly the author who's taken the best shot at the Tau for GW, but at the same time his works aren't strictly Tau-centric. Fire Caste, for example, is predominantly an Imperial Guard story in which the Tau are the rarely-seen antagonists. It still handles them very well and takes them in an interesting direction, but it isn't something you should go into expecting a Tau story first and foremost. With the exceptions of his short stories and the recent The Greater Evil, I'd say he's an author who prefers to flesh out the Tau from an outsider's perspective rather than writing for them directly.

 

----

 

GW's Tau fiction is really a bit all over the place in terms of quality and how well it treats the characters and concepts. There's a big pushback against just about anything written by Phill Kelly around here (and not without good reason) and there are more than a few other things that I'm not terribly fond of too. It doesn't help that a lot of their material feels like it's been retconned/superseded or hits that classic issue of things being developed by the Black Library that are then totally contradicted or ignored by main line GW. I'd argue that at the very least Aun'shi, Hunter's Snare and Shadowsun: The Last of Kiru's Line feel like they don't really mesh with where the universe seems to have gone after their release.

 

My personal recommendations would be anything by Fehervari (with the aforementioned warning about Fire Caste), the original Fire Warrior (as dated and a bit mad as it gets), and then ... I honestly really don't know. Phil Kelly's stuff is ... okay but it's full of ideas and portrayals that have frequently gone down badly with the Tau playerbase, you seem to have already read Broken Sword in the Damocles collection, and nothing else that I've read has really leapt out at me as must-read. If you'd like another name, Kill Team, the Last Chancers novella, is quite interesting as one of those early pieces that tried to flesh out Tau culture and how alien it can seem to humans. It's pretty interesting for that.

 

---

 

I can't really speak for the omnibus because I haven't read several of the pieces in it. What I will say of it is that A Sanctuary of Wyrms and Out Caste (two of the Fehervari pieces in it) both feature a character from Fire Caste, which naturally isn't included in the collection

Edited December 27, 2017 by Commander Dawnstar

[Kelborn]

Thanks for your replies!

 

And special thanks to you Dawnstar.

 

Think that I'll go with the Omnibus and see if I'll like Fehervaris style and go on with his stuff.

 

Phil Kelly... One can't oversee that he loves them. Seems like he wrote most of their stuff, including Farsight and so on. Maybe, I'll give him a second chance if he's got some interesting ideas, etc. Though I fear some fanfiction / fanboy stuff. :P

[Knight of the Raven]

Phil Kelly... One can't oversee that he loves them.

Loving a faction and being actually competent at writing it are two entirely different things, and that's without taking the horrors of extra-biased fanfiction into account, like you worry about, or the extremely subjective "you know what would be the amazeballsiest coolnessitude to have ever awesominatored?"

 

And then there are people like me, who translate "I love this faction/character" as "murdering the hell out of them is awesome~"

[Karthak]

 

Phil Kelly... One can't oversee that he loves them. Seems like he wrote most of their stuff, including Farsight and so on. Maybe, I'll give him a second chance if he's got some interesting ideas, etc. Though I fear some fanfiction / fanboy stuff.

I love the Tau too, but I would like to see them earn their victories over the Imperium; when Kelly writes them, it feels like he gives the Imperials a lobotomy.

 

Though that might just be me.

[Brother Dougal]

Y’know back when the Damocles anthology first came out, I read Guy Haley’s story, and thought it was so perfect I wanted him to be in charge of all Tau stuff afterwards. Then I read his Ork short trilogy, and his Iyanden series, and I wanted him to write aliens all the time, forever and ever. Give us a Necron story, nobody’s done Necrons! Sigh, but sadly, Guy was too good, and he ended up getting tapped into the ever-popular Space Marines. The big moneymaker. Farewell, sweet xenos dreams. TnT

 

As far as authors for the Tau go, I rate Kelly first, Fehervari second, everyone else third. I get that Kelly isn’t perfect, having read all his Tau stuff myself, including the Farsight Codex. However, in this case I’ll follow the ancient Terran saying about beggars and choosing. If Fehervari was willing to write an entire trilogy about the Tau from their perspective, that’d be great. But there doesn’t seem to be any sign of that happening. Phil has, though. He’s given me more stories to chew on than anyone else. And honestly, they’re not half-bad. So I’ll read them, and re-read them, and work his ideas into my own stories. I owe him that much at least. In a desert of Space Marines, he was my xenos oasis. :P

[Jareddm]

Sigh, but sadly, Guy was too good, and he ended up getting tapped into the ever-popular Space Marines. The big moneymaker. Farewell, sweet xenos dreams. TnT

Do not lose faith brother! Haley is regularly stated to be one of the fastest authors in BL's stable. It is said he writes twice as fast as Chris Wraight, and five times as fast as ADB. If anyone would be able to squeeze in a xenos novel, it would be him. Edited January 2, 2018 by Jareddm

[Moonreaper666]

 

Sigh, but sadly, Guy was too good, and he ended up getting tapped into the ever-popular Space Marines. The big moneymaker. Farewell, sweet xenos dreams. TnT

Do not lose faith brother! Haley is regularly stated to be one of the fastest authors in BL's stable. It is said he writes twice as fast as Chris Wraight, and five times as fast as ADB. If anyone would be able to squeeze in a xenos novel, it would be him.

How the hell do they write novels that fast!?!

[R_F_D]

Haley's background is journalism so he's used to writing to very tight deadlines. 

[Marshal Rohr]

Haley's background is journalism so he's used to writing to very tight deadlines.

Suddenly his dialogue issues have context.

[Brother Dougal]

Even if he can’t do another xenos novel (I’d kill for a good Necron book, it’s the last faction I think that hasn’t gotten a true starring role outside of shorts) I’ll still take anything from Phil Kelly. I know he’s not the most well-regarded writer in the community, but anybody who actually likes the tau faction enough to write a trilogy about them is a-okay in my book.

 

Say... I should start another topic about a necron novel.

[Triszin]

gonna echo commander dawnstar

A Sanctuary of Wyrms

 

is really fantastic quick read. I wish for more lore like this, written in a similar style. Nothing about it is stupid decisions, its about exploring the unknown, mentally and physically for tau.

[Kelborn]

So I bought the Omnibus and it starts with Kelly's Farsight, which Covers the Akunasha war.

 

Until now, it's solid. Found nothing bad/ horrific/ over the top.

It gives a very good insight on how the Tau society works and how they interact with wach other.

 

Currently seems to b the right pick for studying Tau if you want to write about them by yourself. Which I'm intending to do. ;)

 

It's good to read something different than Marines, Chaos or "regulär" stuff. :)

[Brother Dougal]

Over on Advanced Tau Tactica they hate the novel, and Phil Kelly, with a vengeance. I used to visit the site, and they had almost nothing but complaints for how it went against older editions of Tau lore. Phil added some new things to the mix (like Tau sign-language augmenting their vocal language) but I myself thought this just added to Tau culture with a bit of flavor.

 

They like the Tau a lot over there, which I think has made them a bit overprotective.

 

If the choice is between a change in how a product looks or acts, and a complete lack of said product, which would you choose?

[Kelborn]

I started to Read about Tau with sixth edition / when DoW Dark Crusade came out.

 

So I cannot say that mich regarding older Tau fluff.

 

As for now, I enjoy Farsight and imho, it adds very well to how I envisioned them. It has some interesting ideas.

 

His part in the Damocles omnibus featured a too almighty Tau army. Here, it is more balanced.