T'au Communique Regarding the Use of Auxillaries

[wammnebu]

^{Atillan Auxillaries, bearing the Sep't of Atilla}
Communique From Shas’Vre’T’au’Watana  M41

--Begin Communique--

From T'au Command To Commander Gu'Mo of Graia in The Ghoul Stars:

Greetings Commander, Under normal circumstances, this communique would be to congratulate you for your decisive progress in the Ghoul Stars. However, the purpose of this communique is not to celebrate your accomplishments but admonish you for behavior that has come to our attention.

We have received disturbing reports regarding your behavior with Auxillaries. The Director, in particular was greatly displeased with your shortsighted, and dangerous reforms to the force loaned to you on behalf of The Greater Good. Make no mistake, Commander, this action of yours is of a grave and scandalous matter, which is why I hope you receive this letter of warning and benevolence with the gratitude it deserves. The Great Director, in his wisdom and magnanimity, has looked upon your otherwise treacherous actions in light of your past loyalties and great achievements for The T’au’va.

We are more than aware that deviations are to be expected when in combat. The Great Leader said as much: “If a general who confuses a parade march for a battle march is deaf to the music of war.” This is of course true, but we would also remind you to think upon his wisdom when he also says. “The Successful general is one who acts as the conquered’s first diplomat and first Governor.” It is in this aspect, we find your behavior lacking, Commander. Battlefield innovations must be subordinate to the long term wisdom of governance. And creating Plasma Rifle divisions out of your Atillan auxiliaries is an ‘innovation’ whose possible repercussions are not worth the price of victory. For as the Great Leader says, "Victory at any Cost, is the most costly defeat."

You can not make your Gue'Vasan auxiliaries into Fire Warriors because The Gue'vasa is not equal to a T'au. The Mind of The Gue’va is one addled by desires outside of his control They cannot perceive the greater good as we can, because they are so beset by their immaterial passions. This sometimes manifests itself as what our Eldar allies call “Psyker energy,” but it appears in more subtle ways as well. This be seen by the frequent revolts and uprisings so many Gue’va undertake for various myopic reasons, or their sensitivity to superstitions brought about either from their own hallucinations or through the immateria. These natural tendencies the Gue’va have towards chaos must be limited, and if they cannot, then their capacity to derail the Greater Good must be instead.

We have spent considerable time, effort, and resources towards the cultivation of Atillan nation, guiding their cultural development towards one attuned to The Greater Good. They have gone from primitive tool working to star-faring warriors exclusively under our care and guidance, lacking many of the more problematic aspects suffered from the rest of their species. Nearly every aspect of their way of life has been guided by us, and there is not a tradition they have that has not been approved to bring about a higher purpose. The use of archery is one such tradition we’d prefer not be discarded out of inconvenience.

Primitive as it would seem, the Bow and Arrow is a proud tradition of the Atillan people, and one that takes years to refine and develop. The Atillan soldier is taken from their families at an early age, trained for use with the bow and to use it in all manners of conflict situations. The Atillan absorbs the traditions of their elders and the caste to hone their abilities. The Atillan mind is honed to think of all aspects of archery, focusing their mind and clearing it of potentially disruptive distractions. Duty to hierarchy, sacrifice, self-discipline, and obedience are necessary habits to instill in the Gue’va, in order to harmonize them with The Greater Good. Without them, they are little more than those Savage brutes polluting the Easternmost fringes of the galaxy.

Which brings us to the second aspect, Atillan weapons and requisitions are not to be treated as interchangeable. The Atillan bow is an excellent demonstration of Tau harmony. On its own, the Gue’va weapon is archaic, primitive, and useless; yet with the Supply of the Earth Caste, the Conduction of the Air Caste, and the Leadership of The Fire Caste, the Atillan transcends his primitive nature and becomes a formidable warrior. The Atillan bow is only as useful as the unique and specialty arrows that his leader sees fit to supply him. Without the benefits of the Tau`va, the Atillan returns to primitive helplessness the moment his quiver runs out. This is a harmonious relation that is to be encouraged of the Gue’va. The Plasma and Scoped Rifle’s are not his to understand, rather to be understood as the dominion of the superior race. We know you understand there unique capabilities on the battlefield. In particular, your exploits with the Atillan volleys against The Dragon have impressed many in the highest levels of military command. However this current action of arming Gue'vasa with T'au armaments could betray an imprudent trust of your Auxillaries. You understand their purpose tactically and strategically, so we ask you to understand it intuitively. The role of the Gue’vassa, and indeed all Auxilaries is to reflect Tau’va Harmony at all times; such discord and disharmony will have reverberations few will recognize, and fewer still can repair.

Perhaps it may not appear to be an issue for you, since your combatants are mostly among the unique problems of the Ghoul Stars, but that is no excuse for such behavior with Auxillaries. Encouraging familiarity with plasma weapons among the Gue’vasa opens them to influence and exchanges with more rebellious members of their species. The hordes of Gue’va are looking for any chance they can to lure our noble Gue’vasa away from higher pursuits. Their siren songs will only be made more potent if they can easily use Imperial weapons. In our hands the Atillan is a delicate tool of The Greater Good, with a rifle, they become a brutish mercenary, no different if they are fighting for us, or against us.

Your numerous and frequent requests for additional Fire warrior divisions have been noted. When coupled with the fact that you were foolish enough to report on your dangerous actions yourself, the Director has determined your crimes were of naiveté rather than treachery. The Ho'Sen Lar'Shi Khas'atah will be arriving near your current base of operations within 21 days. In his benevolence and wisdom, High Command has saw to it that 3 Divisions of Fire Warriors as well as additional Atillans will be on board for your command. Accompanying them will be Shas'ui Atilla U'lso. He has been instructed to release these divisions to you provided he is satisfied with your compliance with our requests. Additionally you will surrender all of your “modified” regiments to him for assessment and re-education. Please use your Atillan Auxillaries in more conventional manner. Do not worry about the dangers that you may put them into, that is what they are trained for. Furthermore, the Gue'va's mind does not seem capable of resting thought and thus it is best utilized when placed in dangerous situations. Should we have some assurance that you be more prudent in future, you will not be lacking in armaments and soldiers.

The powers that be are watching your career with great interest, and see much promise in your work. It is for this, that you have been gifted additional resources, a gentle warning, and an lesson. We anticipate you will take all three with open ear, and open mind. May you continue your work towards The Greater Good both on the battlefield and off. Take the great leader’s benevolence into your heart and remember that the greatest wrath is reserved for those first shown mercy.
 

--End Communique--

 

So this is a fragment of a larger project, for those of you more knowledgeable about the tau, I would love some advice and criticism. What should be elaborated on? What impression do you get of the Tau here? Should I go into more detail about the armaments? More detail in general? Criticism on art piece also welcome, its mostly there to give an impression of what these auxillaries look like. Should I do more stuff like this, or would I be better to write actual stories.

Edited June 4, 2020 by wammnebu

[Lucerne]

The art is a bit "simple colours"- maybe black and white would work better?

 

The passive aggressive patronizing authoritarianism of the Tau leadership basically saying "keep the humans as dependent cannon fodder and you won't be punished and you'll get your fire warriors" comes across. Maybe the threats could be more veiled or indirect?

[wammnebu]

The art is a bit "simple colours"- maybe black and white would work better?

 

The passive aggressive patronizing authoritarianism of the Tau leadership basically saying "keep the humans as dependent cannon fodder and you won't be punished and you'll get your fire warriors" comes across. Maybe the threats could be more veiled or indirect?

 

I was trying to show what colors I thought the uniforms would be, but honestly thats probably a better Idea. I should probably stick with Black and White till I'm a little more knowledgable about what i'm doing.

 

Is there a specific part did you think was too direct? Or in general is the Tau Command too Blunt? 

 

Also I have never heard that Gav Thorpe quote before, but that is fantastic, thank you for putting it on your signature!

Edited May 12, 2020 by wammnebu

[Lucerne]

 

The art is a bit "simple colours"- maybe black and white would work better?

 

The passive aggressive patronizing authoritarianism of the Tau leadership basically saying "keep the humans as dependent cannon fodder and you won't be punished and you'll get your fire warriors" comes across. Maybe the threats could be more veiled or indirect?

 

I was trying to show what colors I thought the uniforms would be, but honestly thats probably a better Idea. I should probably stick with Black and White till I'm a little more knowledgable about what i'm doing.

 

Is there a specific part did you think was too direct? Or in general is the Tau Command too Blunt? 

 

Also I have never heard that Gav Thorpe quote before, but that is fantastic, thank you for putting it on your signature!

 

Maybe darken the colours at least, they're a bit too...bright and contrasting.

 

"Please use your Atillan Auxillaries in more conventional manner. Do not worry about the dangers that you may put them into, that is what they are trained for...Should we have some assurance that you be more prudent in future, you will not be lacking in armaments and soldiers."

 

"remember that the greatest wrath is reserved for those first shown mercy."

 

Are both interesting implications but seem a bit blunt. If the intent was for Tau Command to be very, very to the point in the sense of "okay we can't be angry at you for winning but knock that off right now or else" then it works.

[wammnebu]

Are both interesting implications but seem a bit blunt. If the intent was for Tau Command to be very, very to the point in the sense of "okay we can't be angry at you for winning but knock that off right now or else" then it works.

 

So the intent I was trying to go for was, "The fact that we are giving you this warning means someone upstairs likes you (be it connections or exploits). That battle cruiser was coming to investigate anyways, and was it anyone else, this would be a surprise. Its going to come back to a reeducation camp with your misused auxiliaries. You need to decide right now if it's going with you too.You have such a promising career ahead of you commander, it really would be a shame to see it end in a ditch with a sack on your head."

 

 

The T'au Etherials in this universe are essentially a superset of the Fire Caste. It has gone back and forth between the Water Caste and The Fire Caste. The Great T'au Empire was founded by the Etherials, these were genocided in a revolt. They then spent nearly two millennium in "stagnant" leadership of the Water Caste. But that's ending now, because Glorious Leader Puretide has taken the mantle and has campaigns against the Imperium to win. So I am trying to think of ways to show that they are the tau, but they aren't completely like the Mainline T'au. Do you think this Universe's Tau would speak indirectly as well?

 

Also you've given me a great idea for fixing the picture, ill try to alter it around later this week!

Edited May 13, 2020 by wammnebu

[wammnebu]

So how about instead of This:

 

"Please use your Atillan Auxillaries in more conventional manner. Do not worry about the dangers that you may put them into, that is what they are trained for...Should we have some assurance that you be more prudent in future, you will not be lacking in armaments and soldiers"

 

I say this.

 

We empathize with your situation, however, you have been commended for your resourcefulness and extraordinary tactics in the past. But this carelessness has led to some concerns that you have been promoted too fast. Being a Commander is not simply a Veteran with more troops, He is a channel of the Tau'va and agent of The Greater Good. A Commander must think of the ripples his actions have. Thus we encourage you to act more prudently and cautiously with your auxiliaries. Do not worry about the dangers that you may put them into, that is what they are trained for. Worry instead about The Greater Good. We hope to see you blossom to your full potential, and therefore must look to see if we must feed or cut. If you continue to grow you will not be found wanting in supplies. 

[Suspicious Blue Mind]

^{Atillan Auxillaries, bearing the Sep't of Atilla}

Communique From Shas’Vre’T’au’Watana  M41

--Begin Communique--

From T'au Command To Commander Gu'Mo of Graia in The Ghoul Stars:

 

Greetings Commander, Under normal circumstances, this communique would be to congratulate you for your decisive progress in the Ghoul Stars. However, the purpose of this communique is not to celebrate your accomplishments but admonish you for behavior that has come to our attention.

 

We have received disturbing reports regarding your behavior with Auxillaries. The Director, in particular was greatly displeased with your shortsighted, and dangerous reforms to the force loaned to you on behalf of The Greater Good. Make no mistake, Commander, this action of yours is of a grave and scandalous matter, which is why I hope you receive this letter of warning and benevolence with the gratitude it deserves. The Great Director, in his wisdom and magnanimity, has looked upon your otherwise treacherous actions in light of your past loyalties and great achievements for The T’au’va.

 

We are more than aware that deviations are to be expected when in combat. The Great Leader said as much: “If a general who confuses a parade march for a battle march is deaf to the music of war.” This is of course true, but we would also remind you to think upon his wisdom when he also says. “The Successful general is one who acts as the conquered’s first diplomat and first Governor.” It is in this aspect, we find your behavior lacking, Commander. Battlefield innovations must be subordinate to the long term wisdom of governance. And creating Plasma Rifle divisions out of your Atillan auxiliaries is an ‘innovation’ whose possible repercussions are not worth the price of victory. For as the Great Leader says, "Victory at any Cost, is the most costly defeat."

 

You can not make your Gue'Vasan auxiliaries into Fire Warriors because The Gue'vasa is not equal to a T'au. The Mind of The Gue’va is one addled by desires outside of his control They cannot perceive the greater good as we can, because they are so beset by their immaterial passions. This sometimes manifests itself as what our Eldar allies call “Psyker energy,” but it appears in more subtle ways as well. This be seen by the frequent revolts and uprisings so many Gue’va undertake for various myopic reasons, or their sensitivity to superstitions brought about either from their own hallucinations or through the immateria. These natural tendencies the Gue’va have towards chaos must be limited, and if they cannot, then their capacity to derail the Greater Good must be instead.

 

We have spent considerable time, effort, and resources towards the cultivation of Atillan nation, guiding their cultural development towards one attuned to The Greater Good. They have gone from primitive tool working to star-faring warriors exclusively under our care and guidance, lacking many of the more problematic aspects suffered from the rest of their species. Nearly every aspect of their way of life has been guided by us, and there is not a tradition they have that has not been approved to bring about a higher purpose. The use of archery is one such tradition we’d prefer not be discarded out of inconvenience.

 

Primitive as it would seem, the Bow and Arrow is a proud tradition of the Atillan people, and one that takes years to refine and develop. The Atillan soldier is taken from their families at an early age, trained for use with the bow and to use it in all manners of conflict situations. The Atillan absorbs the traditions of their elders and the caste to hone their abilities. The Atillan mind is honed to think of all aspects of archery, focusing their mind and clearing it of potentially disruptive distractions. Duty to hierarchy, sacrifice, self-discipline, and obedience are necessary habits to instill in the Gue’va, in order to harmonize them with The Greater Good. Without them, they are little more than those Savage brutes polluting the Easternmost fringes of the galaxy.

 

Which brings us to the second aspect, Atillan weapons and requisitions are not to be treated as interchangeable. The Atillan bow is an excellent demonstration of Tau harmony. On its own, the Gue’va weapon is archaic, primitive, and useless; yet with the Supply of the Earth Caste, the Conduction of the Air Caste, and the Leadership of The Fire Caste, the Atillan transcends his primitive nature and becomes a formidable warrior. The Atillan bow is only as useful as the unique and specialty arrows that his leader sees fit to supply him. Without the benefits of the Tau`va, the Atillan returns to primitive helplessness the moment his quiver runs out. This is a harmonious relation that is to be encouraged of the Gue’va. The Plasma and Scoped Rifle’s are not his to understand, rather to be understood as the dominion of the superior race. We know you understand there unique capabilities on the battlefield. In particular, your exploits with the Atillan volleys against The Dragon have impressed many in the highest levels of military command. However this current action of arming Gue'vasa with T'au armaments could betray an imprudent trust of your Auxillaries. You understand their purpose tactically and strategically, so we ask you to understand it intuitively. The role of the Gue’vassa, and indeed all Auxilaries is to reflect Tau’va Harmony at all times; such discord and disharmony will have reverberations few will recognize, and fewer still can repair.

 

Perhaps it may not appear to be an issue for you, since your combatants are mostly among the unique problems of the Ghoul Stars, but that is no excuse for such behavior with Auxillaries. Encouraging familiarity with plasma weapons among the Gue’vasa opens them to influence and exchanges with more rebellious members of their species. The hordes of Gue’va are looking for any chance they can to lure our noble Gue’vasa away from higher pursuits. Their siren songs will only be made more potent if they can easily use Imperial weapons. In our hands the Atillan is a delicate tool of The Greater Good, with a rifle, they become a brutish mercenary, no different if they are fighting for us, or against us.

 

Your numerous and frequent requests for additional Fire warrior divisions have been noted. When coupled with the fact that you were foolish enough to report on your dangerous actions yourself, the Director has determined your crimes were of naiveté rather than treachery. The Ho'Sen Lar'Shi Khas'atah will be arriving near your current base of operations within 21 days. In his benevolence and wisdom, High Command has saw to it that 3 Divisions of Fire Warriors as well as additional Atillans will be on board for your command. Accompanying them will be Shas'ui Atilla U'lso. He has been instructed to release these divisions to you provided he is satisfied with your compliance with our requests. Additionally you will surrender all of your “modified” regiments to him for assessment and re-education. Please use your Atillan Auxillaries in more conventional manner. Do not worry about the dangers that you may put them into, that is what they are trained for. Furthermore, the Gue'va's mind does not seem capable of resting thought and thus it is best utilized when placed in dangerous situations. Should we have some assurance that you be more prudent in future, you will not be lacking in armaments and soldiers.

 

The powers that be are watching your career with great interest, and see much promise in your work. It is for this, that you have been gifted additional resources, a gentle warning, and an lesson. We anticipate you will take all three with open ear, and open mind. May you continue your work towards The Greater Good both on the battlefield and off. Take the great leader’s benevolence into your heart and remember that the greatest wrath is reserved for those first shown mercy.

 

--End Communique--

 

So this is a fragment of a larger project, for those of you more knowledgeable about the tau, I would love some advice and criticism. What should be elaborated on? What impression do you get of the Tau here? Should I go into more detail about the armaments? More detail in general? Criticism on art piece also welcome, its mostly there to give an impression of what these auxillaries look like. Should I do more stuff like this, or would I be better to write actual stories.

 

First off a really nice start! You have some very interesting story ideas, that I'm looking forward to seeing you develop further.

 

Now technical stuff:

1. English doesn't use so much capitalization.  Only proper nouns and at words at the beginning of a sentence.

    

   On its own, the Gue’va weapon is archaic, primitive, and useless; yet with the Supply of the Earth Caste, the Conduction of the Air Caste, and the Leadership of The Fire Caste, the Atillan transcends his primitive nature and becomes a formidable warrior.

    

   Would read:  "...yet with the supply of the earth caste, the conduct of the air caste, and the leadership of the fire caste, the Atillan transcends his primitive nature and becomes a formidable warrior."

    

2. Spelling Tau words:

   Gue'la  - "Lesser being"

   Gue'vesa - "Lesser friend"

    

   Example: "We don't calls these humans Gue'la anymore. Since they joined the T'au Empire, we now call them Gue'vesa."

    

   Have a resource for you: The Expanded Tau Lexicon 2020ver. 1.2 Contains every canonical Tau word know to man, plus a lot of new words to flesh out the language. There's now even a word for the colour "blue". The Lexicon can also be found here on the Advanced Tau Tactica  I'm the guy that maintains the lexicon, and so you can PM with any questions and I'll even do translations for you. There's enough words now  that you can even write dialogue in Tau'sia (Tau language).

The Story

 

What is the POV (point of view) of the story?

Who is speaking?

Who is being spoken too?

 

What is the POV of the story? Is from the POV of the Imperium, and so the Tau the villains? Because then it's just a propaganda piece like In Harmony Restored by Andy Clark or Triumph of the Will by filmmaker Leni Riefenstahl. (Or anything about the Tau written by Phil Kelly). And so it doesn't matter - evil Tau oppressors can be as cartoony or as silly as you want. 

 

However if the POV is from the Tau then you really need to step up your game.

1. Who is the Great Leader? Is it Aun'Va or Kim il-Sung?  Aun'Va is the head of the Ethereal Council and is referred to as the "Undying Spirit".
2. Terms

   T'au high command would be Shas'ar'tol T'au

   A fire caste regiment is called a Contingent or Tio've

   A fire caste division is called a Commune / Strike Group or Kavaal

3. Any firewarrior commanding three communes would be at least a shas'o commander.
4. Any commander of a contingent would at least be a shas'el sub-commander.

Other resources: Go on eBay and pick up a copy of either the first or second Tau codices. Codex Tau and Tau Empire. They have lore and information no longer included in the newer codices. Full stories and even background material on crisis battlesuits load outs.  And that other forum A.T.T.

(Okay, so I just outed myself as a filthy xenos lover, but didn't Suspicious Blue Mind tip you off?) 

 

 

The T'au Etherials in this universe are essentially a superset of the Fire Caste. It has gone back and forth between the Water Caste and The Fire Caste. The Great T'au Empire was founded by the Etherials, these were genocided in a revolt. They then spent nearly two millennium in "stagnant" leadership of the Water Caste. But that's ending now, because Glorious Leader Puretide has taken the mantle and has campaigns against the Imperium to win. So I am trying to think of ways to show that they are the tau, but they aren't completely like the Mainline T'au. Do you think this Universe's Tau would speak indirectly as well?

Don't know what's going on here? It's been like two thousand and five hundred years (2,500) approximately since the arrival of the Ethereals on T'au. You may want to adjust your timeline there. You must be the first person to ever call Commander Puretide "Glorious Leader"! Most don't even know who he is! So this is set during the time of Puretide? That would be great idea, as I am working on a Puretide story myself.

 

Shas'O'Qan'tel is his name is Tau'sia.

 

 

 

Suspicious Blue Mind

PS Just remember when your dealing with the Gue'la: "M'lthe'gue'la P'eurk'tugrii'ea"

 

PPS I think the Atillans would find the Farsight Enclaves more to their liking. Here's the last known photo of Shas'O'Shovah

 

PPPS If you're really into Central Asia and Mongolia, go to YouTube and do search of "Children of Genghis Khan" playlist. I have 440 songs from Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Tuva, the region of Altai, and other Siberian peoples. There's traditional music, pop music, and even rap. I'm  really into M-Pop (Mongolian Pop Music).

 

 

"You in the T'au Empire have the Tau'va and the guidance of the Ethereals. However, we in the Enclaves have the Tau'va and the wisdom of the ancestors."

[wammnebu]

 

First off a really nice start! You have some very interesting story ideas, that I'm looking forward to seeing you develop further.

 

Thanks a lot, I really appreciate all of your feedback, ill be honest, I dont know much about The T'au so I essentially wrote a lot first, and did research later. So any and all screw ups on T'au lore is really welcome. 

 

 

 

English doesn't use so much capitalization.  Only proper nouns and at words at the beginning of a sentence.

I appreciate it, I'm terrible at proof reading my own work, and my pinky really likes to hit that shift button. Ill make the changes.

 

 

 

Have a resource for you: The Expanded Tau Lexicon 2020ver. 1.2 Contains every canonical Tau word know to man, plus a lot of new words to flesh out the language. There's now even a word for the colour "blue". The Lexicon can also be found here on the Advanced Tau Tactica  I'm the guy that maintains the lexicon, and so you can PM with any questions and I'll even do translations for you. There's enough words now  that you can even write dialogue in Tau'sia (Tau language).

These are really awesome. Super impressive. And put a pin in that translations, i actually might take you might take you up on that! I have a weird hypothetical for you. More on that later.

 

 

However if the POV is from the Tau then you really need to step up your game.

1. Who is the Great Leader? Is it Aun'Va or Kim il-Sung?  Aun'Va is the head of the Ethereal Council and is referred to as the "Undying Spirit".
2. Terms

   T'au high command would be Shas'ar'tol T'au

   A fire caste regiment is called a Contingent or Tio've

   A fire caste division is called a Commune / Strike Group or Kavaal

3. Any firewarrior commanding three communes would be at least a shas'o commander.
4. Any commander of a contingent would at least be a shas'el sub-commander.

Ah, yeah, this was the type of info i was trying to find. I tried to ask someone on FB, and their answer was "just go buy the codex." This is super helpful.

 

This prompts a few questions:

1. So if T'au High Command is called Shas'ar'tol, is that referring to the High Command as an entity? If so would there be a proper term for a member of said High Command? 
2. So Shas'O should be the Term for both the Commander being written to "Gu'Mo." What about the old veteran who may or may not be relieving him of command,  Ul'so, would he be a Commander as well, or something higher? Is there an honorific term for a commander with significant clout?
3. So given what you said about T'au ranking terms then to you what would being given an additional Two Kavaals signify? I'm trying to demonstrate that this is a relatively large campaign. One where a promising General is running out of resources to finish his goals. What the High Command is sending him is good, but not enough, its going to be hard to resist trying to get away with repurposing his auxillaries again, but now he knows that the Tau High Command is watching him. Meanwhile T'au High Command thinks this campaign is important enough to spare some extra troops for a struggling commander, but its not that important. Much bigger projects. 

 

Ok, so here are the complicated parts.

 

 

 

Who is the Great Leader? Is it Aun'Va or Kim il-Sung?  Aun'Va is the head of the Ethereal Council and is referred to as the "Undying Spirit".

Don't know what's going on here? It's been like two thousand and five hundred years (2,500) approximately since the arrival of the Ethereals on T'au. You may want to adjust your timeline there. You must be the first person to ever call Commander Puretide "Glorious Leader"! Most don't even know who he is! So this is set during the time of Puretide? That would be great idea, as I am working on a Puretide story myself.

 

 

So, if the fact that Graia and Attila being Tau worlds wasn't an indication, this doesn't take place in the Main Timeline. I mentioned the project on B&S before, but for the most part it exist only in world-building notes on my 1d4chan page, and Google Drive. I'm trying to work on actually fleshing the universe out, but the Tau have been something of a blind spot. I dont have as many details for them, but Im trying to fix that.

 

To give a superbrief summary: The Hersey wars are starting to wind down by the 39th Millenium. Sort of like the Eternal War of Byzantine-Persian History, where the massive conflict ends with The Eastern Roman Empire Victorious but both major empires completely exhausted and broken. The consequence is that The more conventional civilizations (The Eldar, The T'au, The Orks) are all taking advantage of a weakened Chaos and distracted, exhausted Imperium. So these are all much larger threats.

 

In the case of Kim-Il Sung? Maybe? I actually was thinking it was a little closer to a mishmash of Napoleon Bonaparte (Outsider General who hijacks an egalitarian movement for greater ambition), Ho Chi Minh, and Jean Pierre Boyar. The Tau get their start much earlier in this universe, are supported more lavishly by the Eldar (who are deliberately trying to build the Tau into a counter to the Imperium), and the Necrons (who see the Tau as one of the few races not tampered by The Great Ones and their missing piece for final victory. The Imperium does see the Tau as a genuine threat, but they already have enough of those. So its a little closer to interactions between the Federation vs Romulans in TNG.

 

I want the Tau to be clearly much more Militarist and expansionist. Commander Puretide is still the Military Genius he is in the Main Timeline but instead of being a brilliant commander. He is THE brilliant commander who reorganizes The Tau Empire and begins a new era of expansion. Great Leader is kind of a placeholder, I want to give him a Title that reflects his new role in Tau Civilization as its supreme leader/great reformer. Undying Spirit is too soft, it is Puretide who will drag The Tau to greatness, and he is not afraid to clean house with a plasma rifle.

 

Honestly if you have some ideas and suggestions for making the Tau here more interesting in this universe, i would love any and all help you can give. 

 

 

 

PPS I think the Atillans would find the Farsight Enclaves more to their liking. Here's the last known photo of Shas'O'Shovah

 

Well you dont get to choose your conquerors. Fortunately for them, the Tau Empire is probably closer to the Main Timeline Farsight Enclaves. It actually might be fair to say that Farsight/Aun'va switch places. The Main tau empire is a vast Timocracy, dominated by Fire Caste ideas. Meanwhile there are little enclaves of the older ways of life in the Cerulean Socii (Ethereal Space Taiwan) and Pre-Spacefaring Tau (WuNi Enclaves).

 

 

 

PPPS If you're really into Central Asia and Mongolia, go to YouTube and do search of "Children of Genghis Khan" playlist. I have 440 songs from Mongolia, Kyrgyzstan, Uzbekistan, Kazakhstan, Tajikistan, Tuva, the region of Altai, and other Siberian peoples. There's traditional music, pop music, and even rap. I'm  really into M-Pop (Mongolian Pop Music).

We are on a similar wavelength here. I actually know Uzbek and Uyghur so I was planning on using those as a basis for Atillan (they should probably be closer to Kazakh or Kalmyk, but im already spending enough time on this). This leads into one of the major questions I wanted to ask you about regarding the Tau language. So similar to how the Soviets "gave" the Central Asian Turkic cultures a Cyrillic alphabet, they essentially modified certain letters to reflect sounds that don't exist in Russian. This is particularly important because turkic languages place a heavy emphasis on vowels. So if I wanted to give "Attillan" (Which is just going to be me butchering Uzbek to make it sound more Kazakh) a "Tau" alphabet, how should i alter it. Should I use dipthongs and consonant clusters, should i use modified Tau letters (sort of like how Kazakh and Uzbek Cyrillic use ғ for the the ɣ sound), or use a symbol to designate that its an altered letter. (sort of like how Uzbek does it now with that same sound being represented by g').

 

Once again your responses and links were really helpful!!

Edited May 14, 2020 by wammnebu

[wammnebu]

The art is a bit "simple colours"- maybe black and white would work better?

 

The passive aggressive patronizing authoritarianism of the Tau leadership basically saying "keep the humans as dependent cannon fodder and you won't be punished and you'll get your fire warriors" comes across. Maybe the threats could be more veiled or indirect?

is this better?

Edited May 26, 2020 by wammnebu

[wammnebu]

So I fixed the old photo, does that look better?