#gue’vesa

[doolallymagpie]

Ough, Solar Auxilia gue’vesa…

[legofanguy1999]

I made a Warhammer 40k Gue’vesa oc out of boredom.

Thomas is a human whose lived in a human world that is part of the T’au Empire.

[taudad]

When your Gue’vesa ally starts praying to the T’au’va:

When the T’au’va manifests as a minor warp deity:

[scribbled-dream]

I’ve finished Elemental Council, the newest T’au book by Noah Van Nyugen—and I love the ending. Spoilers follow.

For those who aren’t familiar, the book follows a crack team of T’au specialists pulled together by Ethereal Yor’i, to create a council of specialists to deal with a Human rebellion on the newly conquered world of Cao Quo.

This revolt is led by the Space Marine Artamax, and complicated by further matters—A growing sect of T’au supremacists called the Syra, who consider humanity to be a blight upon the Empire.

Throughout the book, the question is asked: Are Humanity worthy of being in the T’au empire? Are they more than they seem, ignorant and brutal?

We see this through the viewpoints of several T’au, all of who come to slowly see their pity, indifference, hatred and guilt over humanity and the actions they’ve done in service to the Tau Empire against the Human rebels as flawed, and that they need to give Humanity the same chance they were given by Yor’i.

We see this clearly through Yor’i himself—he has a Gue’vesa bodyguard, one of exceedingly high status to be guarding the ranking Ethereal on the planet. Yor’i views his bodyguard, Jules, with gratitude, but acknowledges that he is not T’au. He will never be as close to them as the Ethereal is.

Jules, too, is a complicated man, serving the T’au as a former Scion, turned by another Ethereal who he formed a close friendship with. He knows his place in the Empire is distinct, and the other characters often look at his position with confusion or scorn—confused as to why an Ethereal would have a Human to guard his life.

They soon see why, as Jules dies against Artamax—giving his life for the Greater Good to save the Fireblade protagonist, who voices continual confusion at his devotion.

A Gue’vesa backtalking a Space Marine? An anomaly.

And yet, we see again. The Humans given a second chance by the T’au repeat this behavior, with the Gue’vesa Fleet Admiral Hillar, unsure of who to support between the rebels and the T’au. Hillar wants to support the rebels, and ideologically disagrees with Artamax’s methods, desiring peace.

Hillar defies Artamax, and dies for it. The young Earth Caste Engineer, Ke, initially confused by Human independence and defiance, and exceedingly desirous of peace, learns to empathize with the life she failed to save.

All of this leads us to the ending. The twist. The group takes a Kroot into their entourage, Ghodeh—who only wants to feast on the Marine, absorb his knowledge.

Through his scent, he finds that Yor’i is not who he seems, instead a Callidus Assasin in disguise. It is barely perceptible—unless one pays attention to Yor’i’s sharp twists in mood toward the Humans, and Jules in particular.

Yor’i is initially stoic and silent about his connection to Jules, but is found by the Fireblade Swordlight to be kind and understanding of Jules, vouching for him—after he dies, there is a stark shift in his behavior.

Yor’i goes from loyalty and kindness to Humanity, to hatred, indifference, and cold apathy.

And then, we learn the twist—it doesn’t make sense, because it’s not meant to. This is NOT Yor’i—rather, a foul thing wearing his skin, a Callidus skinwalker.

The real Yor’i is taken in by a Human family—and cared for, protected. This is the true nature of humanity—a kind one.

The Callidus is slain much like the Marine—by the lowest of the low—the Earth Caste engineer. And although Ghodeh does not get to taste the Marine’s sacred flesh, he learns to accept that he can control his hunger—out of respect.

Then, we come to the ending. The T’au garrison at Cao Quo is consumed by violence and fire, rioting fills the streets, falling into ignorance and fear just like the Imperium. This is where the average 40k fan would say it should end, because there can be no peace among the stars—

but the fic proves everyone wrong.

There can be peace. There can be unity, and empathy. It is hard to reach for, even harder to name—but it is THERE.

[n1nchawrites]

Quarter

“They are to be granted quarter!” Shir’var demanded, gesturing wildly to the blown out Imperial bunker which sat nestled within a trench swamped in mud, blood, and death. The war had been raging for months now, and Shoal, the Shas’ui and leader of their Fire Warrior strike team, shook his head,

“You do not know Gue’la as I know them, they will take a hand offered in peace and use it to pull you onto a concealed blade treachery.”

Shir’var blustered, shocked at his leader’s callous and jaded regard towards humanity, “Shas’ui, how can you say that? The T’au’va serves to unite us all, not divide us! The men and women in that bunker need to be shown that we are not as barbaric as the Imperium makes us out to be! Shas’el J’Kaara has that we are to spare those who throw down their arms, or have you forgotten your oath sworn on the Code of Fire?”

Shoal visibly twitched, “You watch your tone, youngling. I have faced the Gue’la, the horrors of the Startide Nexus are fresh in my mind - fetid, unyielding G’el… And before them, Mu’gulath Bay. Do you know how bloody that conflict was? Do you know the means through which the gue’la had torn into us? We won, but at a cost so dire it set us back immensely - the Fourth Sphere of Expansion had to be entirely reworked; the Gue would carve off their own arm if it meant that the T’au would fall into oblivion.” “And what of the Gue’vesa that seek to join and spread the T’au’va? How do they factor into this logic of yours?” “They are the anomaly in the set of empirical data before us. Nem’sha’shi’vre against the N’lan’vash.”

Kais’yon looked down into the trench, half-sunken corpses of rotting Imperial Gue’la bobbed in the stagnant waters of the furrow. She poked one with her pulse rifle, then turned them over to reveal their sunken, torn features. Their sex was indeterminate, at least to the eyes of the Fire Warrior: both out of a mixture of unfamiliarity with the species of the Gue, and because of the state of disrepair they were in; the boggy water had preserved their features fairly well, though there was little left to preserve in the first place - the majority of their features were scorched away by a lancing plasma burst from a T’au weapon,

“Looks like they haven’t even had the time to bury their dead - this kill isn’t fresh enough to be from the last engagement.” “These ones don’t bury their dead,” Another Fire Warrior - M’Lath’Kir’Quath - commented, “They put them around emplacements and heavy weapon positions. They take the heads, usually, seemingly as a show of respect. I’ve seen these Gue’la carry the skulls of their comrades on their belts.”

Everyone was silent for a moment, Kais’yon looked over at Shir’var,

“Do you want to spare these G’el?”

Shir’var was quiet. Now that it had been pointed out, he could see various clusters of bodies piled up against fortifications, their necks ending in rough stumps where their heads had been sawn or hacked off with dull equipment. He shuddered. Not even the Kroot’la’vesa had displayed such tasteless traditions: yes, they would devour the fallen, but that held a practical purpose alongside a cultural one; this was just wrong,

“I… The T’au’va states that we must embrace all that come to us seeking union or alms. I will not let a cultural difference get in the way of our Tam’ya’vash!”

Shoal sighed, “Enough! Shir’var, M’lath, take the bunker. Kais’yon, with me. We’ll hang back and make sure these two breach and secure the Gue’la without a problem, then retrace our steps to find Shi’Na’San’Tel’s body.” 

The T’au all nodded in agreement, with Shir’var and M’lath moving into position, opening the steel bulkhead door from behind cover as M’lath spoke out in fluent High Gothic, “Be not alarmed, for we come in peace. Rejoice, your message was intercepted by one of our communication specialists, and we have come to extract you.” Shir’var turned the corner, followed by M’lath. The interior of the bunker was lined with shelves carved into the ferrocrete, packed with skulls hollowed out and loaded with candles or incense sticks. The emplacement reeked of holy oils and gunpowder, and the source of these scents could be traced either to the skulls or the bowls skirting the points where the floor met the walls: they were filled with petals, oils and powders, and all of them were formed from the caps of the same repurposed skulls of the soldiers’ former brothers in arms.

Shir’var raised his pulse carbine instinctively, fighting to keep it lowered and minimise his presence as a threat. M’lath did not do the same, keeping his carbine raised as he scanned the room. There was a small huddle of haggard looking Gue’la in the corner, some of whom looked uncannily young, and could have been mistaken for children if the dirt and blood caking their faces had been wiped away.

Shir’var carefully approached the cluster of grizzled and shell-shocked deserters, extending a hand to the one nearest to him, who had initially recoiled out of fear. They murmured something, and he leaned in closer,

“Pardon?”

“For the Emperor,”

It was then that he saw the grenade in her hand.

There was a thunderous crack, followed by a deathly silence. Kais’yon was the first to react, sprinting inside of the bunker, only to be met with dust and the sound of bone cracking beneath her hooves. There were hundreds - maybe thousands - of fragments of skull littered throughout the shelter, crunching with every step. There was a red smear in the corner of the room, with smoking piles of gore exploding away from it. All that was left of Shir’var was his lower half. A leg twitched as it sent a nerve impulse to a spine which simply wasn’t there, and the sight twisted Kais’yon’s stomach into a dreadful knot of grief and horror. 

M’lath lay a few paces away from him. He was alive, but badly wounded; fragments of shrapnel and bone littered his form, and a gaping wound cracked through his nano-crystalline carapace. She moved to patch his wound and stabilise him with a concoction of chemical stimulants in her medkit, injecting them directly into his bloodstream with a syringe. 

Shoal followed closely behind, his gait faltering as he made his way into the chamber and saw the remains of Shir’var. He had hoped this wouldn’t happen, but knew deep down that it would: for after years of diligent service in the Fire Caste, he knew that this was the result of giving animals quarter.

[stainlesssteellocust]

What would a Tau psyker-caste be called?

Hear me out it’s a few centuries into the future, not going into details, Imperium is still around but fractured into various successor-states, some of which are ironically much more vital and less held back by Imperial baggage. And the Tau have made advances too.

They’ve spliced human genes into cloned Tau, selectively bred those Tau who reacted most sensitively to ‘mind science’ phenomena, they’ve studied the psy-enhancers used by the Votann. And they’ve got a result! It isn’t perfect, it’s still a work in progress, but that just means weird possible unit variations and all.

One consists of a unit that fights with their minds linked together, and combines their collective brainpower to manifest warp-powers on the field. They’re not individually powerful enough to create battle-useful effects yet, you see, but if there’s one thing you can say about the Tau is that they work together. On tabletop they’d start taking penalties to their psy-powers as the unit took casualties.

Next step up would be for those capable enough to fight independently, leader-models with psy-enhancer drones etc who can join units.

And for for the most powerful and skilled there would be a sort of battlesuit: The Tau tech isn’t as good as the Leagues yet (or even the Imperium with their psycannons and stuff) so they need to use a large chassis to get the full effect. I figure most of these psykers couldn’t get possessed or mutated, between their dim souls and the enhancers being built to shut down when things went wrong. But the suits could end up becoming daemon-engines, so they’re a risk to deploy.

Potentially also a Gue’vesa variant where the machines are mostly there to suppress their powers, but who can overclock to become monstrously strong, but only at great risk.

(I don’t think they do the good old “roll a dice for your power” thing any more but it would be fun if they did because they could have a power modelled after each caste including their own. Fire is a blast, water charms or demoralises enemies, air is a movement or teleportation thing, earth strengthens an ally’s defence. Ethereal inspires allies. Their own…helps units cooperate or has some predictive effect? Maybe? Gue’vesa version can choose another list but at added risk of warp bullshit. Some other Tau think their entire existence is between-caste nonsense, and some have started to understand what the Imperium means when they shriek about tech-heretics and forbidden knowledge)

These guys would have a lot of friction from the other Castes. They have to defend themselves in battle without stepping on Fire Caste toes. The technology has to be made, modified and improved with input from psykers, who end up knowing far more about the techs inner workings than the Earth Caste are happy with, psychic orders and guidance potentially messes with the Ethereals…

I figure they carry no guns, but command specialised drones, which they control with their powers instead of technology to practice and hone their skills. They never deploy or take action without full agreement from the other Castes, and direct Ethereal oversight.

By Tau standards, many are quite insane.

[ezri-is-real]

Gue’vesa cadre fireblade, for the greater good!

[stickyhunter]

Gue'vesa and the T'au Empire—rules for Imperium Maledictum

Want to play a human under the T'au or have a T'au Patron for that matter? Well hey I've got you covered!

Plain text version under the cut

T’au Faction

Gue’vesa

“Once got an ork square in his head with this pulse rifle, that’s how I became Gue’vesa’ui. Technology. It saves us all in the end.” —Shas’gue’vesa’ui Edyth Yorscht

The Gue’vesa are found in regions of the galaxy where words of the Emperor ring the most hollow, and where swathes of guardsmen were sent yet never brought home. To those souls, the T’au Empire, their leaders, and their technology, ensure safety and reliability. Gue’vesa are often descended from lost regiments of the Imperial Guard; deployed far too quickly, to establish beachheads that could never hold, left stranded in hostile territories, saved by the T’au. They may not feel much difference between governance of the Imperium and that of the T’au, yet the heavy thumb of anxiety lingers should the Imperium see their treachery in full.

For the most part, Gue’vesa are absorbed into the Fire Caste of the T’au, human helpers serving as yet more bodies that can be thrown at a problem - for some Gue’vesa it is a continuation of the Imperial Guard duty they once left behind. However, humans may receive a place amongst other castes, should their T’au masters recognise their skill in other fields: those born on forge worlds or trained to repair their vehicles in the Astra Militarum may be given a place in the Earth Caste, Administratum officers and regimental quartermasters find places among the Water Caste, and Imperial Naval crew may serve the Air Caste as envoys and ground crews, as the Kor rarely set foot on any planet.

Few, if any, are granted a duty serving the Aun—Celestial Caste—for such a role carries its own heavy burden of responsibility within the T’au Empire. Gue’vesa serving the Ethereals may have been zealots of a faith that long since failed them, now tasked with preaching the Greater Good that saved them, on orders of the Ethereal Supreme and the Ethereal High Council to all other Gue’vesa.

Despite millenia of holding xenocidal doctrine, the Imperium has its uses even for those who have strayed, for their lives are no less expendable than those of the loyal. Within the Imperium, the Gue’vesa may not interact with the Imperium’s authorities in the same way as others, being distrusted at minimum, though most often outright viewed as traitors, for any influence of or loyalty to Xenos is heretical. By contrast, some few souls may see the Gue’vesa in a more positive light, an indicator that the technology of the T’au can prove useful, or at the very least that uniting forces can thwart a worse threat.

How did you become a Gue’vesa? Were you born from those guardsmen, isolated and running out of supplies, found by the T’au? Did you seek your own freedom from the brutality of the Imperium? Maybe it started with the sight of a swift death held off by a fire warrior rather than an Imperial guardsman. How do you see the Imperium — do you hold it in any particular regard, based on your time with the T’au? What of those who are more removed from the Imperium than you, do you regard them with any more empathy than those under the Emperor's light do? Maybe you see camaraderie among humans and Xenos as a path forward, together as a united force, or it could be that even the thought of it hits you with the same unease that is usually sent your way. Regardless of your origin or thoughts on the Imperium, you trust that despite its galactic dominance, you have a duty to further the Greater Good, a duty that their antiquated faith in a dead god cannot dull.

Gue’vesa Benefits

You gain +5 Fellowship, +5 to either Toughness, Ballistic Skill, or Intelligence

You have 5 Advances to spend on Tech, Ranged, Intuition, Dexterity, Lore, and Discipline.

You gain the Greater Good Talent.

You gain +1 Influence with T’au Empire

You gain +1 Advance in Forbidden Knowledge - Linguistics (T’au) 

You gain a Knife, Survival Gear, an EMP Grenade, and a Pulse Pistol

You gain your choice of a Pulse Rifle, Pulse Blaster, or a Markerlight

Duty

You can choose one of the following duties to quickly create your character. Additionally, you have +1 Influence with the T’au, the Greater Good Talent, a Knife, Survival Gear, an EMP Grenade, and a Pulse Pistol.

Shas’gue’vesa (Fire Caste)

Your duty is to engage in ranged combat wielding T’au arms, a responsibility placed upon those trusted with weaponry akin to the Shas’saal—the T’au equivalent of cadets.

Characteristics: +5 Perception, +5 Ballistic Skill

Skill advances: Intuition (2), Reflexes (1), Ranged (2)

Equipment: A Markerlight and a Pulse Rifle

Fio’gue’vesa (Earth Caste)

Your duty is to ensure the running of machines, infrastructure, and the cultivation of food. Rough hands come with a pragmatic view on tasks and years spent maintaining technology.

Characteristics: +5 Intelligence, +5 Toughness

Skill advances: Logic (2), Tech (1), Fortitude (2)

Equipment: A Drone, a Drone Controller, and a Fusion Torch

Kor’gue’vesa (Air Caste)

Your duty is to deploy where the Kor T’au do not, being sent down onto planet surfaces as an envoy or ground crew for the T’au Navy.  

Characteristics: +5 Willpower, +5 Intelligence

Skill advances: Linguistics (2), Tech (1), Ranged (2)

Equipment: Dataslate and a Micro-Bead

Por’gue’vesa (Water Caste)

Your Duty is to flow and bind all living things via diplomacy, establishing trade routes, and accompanying others from the T’au Empire to secure a functioning society.

Characteristics: +5 Fellowship, +5 Willpower

Skill advances: Rapport (1), Linguistics (2), Discipline (2)

Equipment: Dataslate and a Writing Kit

Aun’gue’vesa (Celestial Caste)

Your Duty is to guide the others under the T’au Empire, a sovereignty among the ranks. T’au born Aun produce pheromones, giving them latent control over the other castes—while a Gue’vesa doesn’t have this, your true belief for the T’au Empire and all it stands for carries the same authority.

Characteristics: +5 Fellowship, +5 Intelligence

Skill advances: Linguistics (1), Lore (1), Logic (1), Rapport (2)

Equipment: Laud Hailer and a Micro-Bead

Talent — The Greater Good

Requirement: Can only be taken during character creation. You cannot have the Ignorance Is My Shield Talent.

The T’au Empire welcomes all species who don’t resist their expansion, for it serves the Greater Good. You gain +2 SL to any Test made to influence a member of the T’au Empire or +1 SL on Tests to influence Xenos.

T’au Technology

Gue’vesa are allowed a privilege few others are—access to pulse weapons created by the T’au. These weapons are not only deadly and reliable weapons, but a status of trust from the T’au Empire. Gue’vesa are to use what is given to them wisely and with care, for questions of their discipline and worthiness of service will be raised if they fail to do so.

Pulse Weapons

Examples: Pulse Pistol, Pulse Carbine

These weapons, while similar in some ways to the plasma weapons of the Imperium, are refined to the point of optimal functionality by the T’au. While usually seen in the hands of frontline Fire Warriors, they are often also entrusted to non-T’au auxiliaries, from Kroot to Gue’vesa.

Pulse weapons deal high damage and have the Penetrating Trait.

Grenades, Missiles, and Explosives

Weapon Trait—Haywire

When you use a weapon with the Haywire Trait to target a Zone within range and make a single Ballistics Skill (Ordnance or Thrown) Test, depending on whether the weapon is a Launcher or a thrown Grenade. There is a major disruption to all technology within the target Zone for the next Round, any Tech Tests suffer a -20 penalty.

All characters in the target Zone must make an opposed Reflexes (Dodge) Test versus the result of your Test. If you win the Opposed Test, the characters that fail become Deafened, any Augments they have Haywire for a number of Rounds equal to the difference in SL. This means that some characters in the target Zone may be affected more than others.

EMP Grenade

EMP Grenades are specifically designed to send out an electromagnetic pulse, disrupting or outright frying circuitry to a point of disuse.

EMP grenades make the target Zone go Haywire. If deployed successfully, any vulnerable electronics—dataslates, machinery, even augments—are momentarily disabled. This duration can be extended or shortened depending on the individual electronics, an eye augment may return to use before that of a console for example.

Weapon Modifications

Markerlight

A Markerlight is a laser used to pinpoint targets, giving its user an exact distance between the Markerlight and the target. Others (including the target) may notice an incredibly small blue dot, revealing the shooter’s presence should they know what this is.

While attached, a Markerlights user can make a Routine Ranged (+20) Test to mark the target for 1 round, any character making a ranged attack against the marked target gets +1 SL to the Ranged Attack Test. Targets can make an Opposed Dodge (Reflexes) Test to try and avoid the Markerlight.

Exotic*—All these items are Exotic within the Imperium. To obtain new versions of these items you must make contact with T’au Envoys.

Tools

T’au Drone

Much like the Servo-Skulls of the Imperium, T’au Drones (Kor’vesa in the T’au language) fill a similar role with one key difference: unlike Servo-Skulls, made with the minds of loyal adepts forever in service to the Emperor, T’au Drones exclusively make use of artificial intelligence rather than to pick apart the remains of those who’ve passed; a trait that inspires revulsion by Imperial doctrine that deems an use of so-called “abominable intelligence” as a grave heresy.

These disk-shaped drones carry equipment or technologies such as sensors. Drones can even wield T’au weaponry, though Gue’vesa are rarely equipped with weapon drones.

Additional Rules: A Drone hovers at roughly a foot above eye level and unless instructed otherwise keeps near its operator. Each Drone has a specific ability as described below:

Illuminator: The Drone has a plasma-fueled capacitor within itself that it can reveal and diffuse through thick glass. This acts as a glow globe or stablight (see Imperium Maledictum page 148).

Surveillance: The Drone is equipped with a singular video recorder, being used to subtlety record the movements of anyone or anything within the area, transmitting recordings to its operator’s Drone Controller.

Utility: The Drone has a mix of tools to aid in mechanical tasks, which acts as a combi-tool (see Imperium Maledictum page 146) for a character at Immediate range.

The quality of drones can vary the abilities of any implanted devices,or can have other effects such as it hovering erratically or drifting away from the character at times. Greater designs might anticipate their user’s needs, or be able to carry out more complex commands.

Drone Controller

A Drone Controller is an electronic device used to control the T’au Drone. These controllers are usually attached to the pauldrons or helms of T’au armour and battlesuits, but may be modified for handheld use.

Fusion Torch

A Fusion Torch is a T’au tool used with an intense beam created via nuclear fusion, making a short-ranged, high-powered cutting tool that not even the thickest metals can hold out on.

A Fusion Torch can be used in combination with Tech (Engineering) Tests to cut through solid objects such as bulkheads, vault doors, or walkways.

T’au and the Gue’vesa

“There’s much out there the T’au have faced. Many here would fear to face those threats. The Imperium still has much to learn.” —Hans Al'Scoth, Aun’gue’vesa’vres

The T’au Empire sits comfortably within the Ultima Segmentum, yet after a T’au Fortress Station bestowed the name T’olku El'Myam'thun—the Skystrider of the T’olku Sept—fell into a warp storm it was left dazed by stars it hadn’t glimpsed before. Clueless to the true workings of the warp, the station now lies in the Macharian Sector of Segmentum Pacificus far to the West of where it originally set off.

In the Macharian Sector

Having scanned the skies finding the pulsar stars that point thousands of light years to the east toward T’au—home—the T’au on the fortress station understood they were stranded. Bewildered by how they travelled such an extensive distance finding themselves within the Macharian Sector, their task now is to connect with the T’au Empire in some capacity, while also seeing this as a prime opportunity to invite more races into the Greater Good, and establish a T’au force within the western sections of the galaxy.

The Flow of Power

Within the T’au Empire the flow of power is simple: lower ranks answer to higher ones, answer to the highest rank, answer to the Ethereal Court, answer to the Ethereal Supreme. While the Ethereal council, who oversee all castes and aspects of expansion, is the governing body of the T’au; here in the Macharian sector the link to the highest part of the hierarchy, the elevated members of the council and the Aun’o, is severed. The Aun that were aboard the T’au Fortress Station maintain their leadership, unwavered by the uncertainty thrown upon all those onboard after such a leap through the warp.

Seat of Power

The Ethereal Supreme holds authority over the entirety of the T’au Empire, and fills a similar power role to that of the Emperor for the Imperium. This role, however, is passed down from one ruler to their protégé, for example Aun’Wei passing the role of Aun’o to Aun’Va. However here in the Macharian Sector the T’au answer to the highest ranking member of the Ethereal caste onboard the fortress station—Aun'Ui T'olku Vior'Vah, Prelate Farstone of the T'olku Sept. They do not act as a replacement for the Ethereal Supreme and Master of the Undying Spirit who resides within their home sector, but rather as a leader continuing the roles T’au have followed for millenia.

Whispers

Word from voidships far outside of the Macharian Sector have spoken of seeing more T’au Orbitals appearing within the region, maybe other T’au ships entered that same warp storm, being scattered much like those who found themselves here.

Patrons

As a Gue’vesa, your Patron is likely a servant of the T’au Empire, or, in a rare show of fragile trust between the T’au Empire and Imperium, you serve an Imperial Patron. 

T’au Patron

Your Patron is a member of the T’au Empire, seizing their chance in this new territory to establish a beachhead and secure alliances. Unknown to the everyday citizen of the Imperium, the T’au would appear to be just another Xenos threat, yet your Patron hopes with a helpful hand that Imperial systems will slowly come to see the higher truth of the Greater Good. The looming presence of the Imperium is ever in your Patron’s mind, forcing them into political engagements that are beyond complex.

Influence: Your Patron has +2 Influence with the T’au Empire.

Duty: Your Patron is either a Shas’o—A Fire Commander—or a Aun’saal—an Ethereal Lord.

Shas’o (Fire Commander)

Your Patron holds the highest rank within the T’au army, similar to that of a Commander. While many within the fire caste see this as the only way of leaving the T’au military aside from death, others seize it as an opportunity for control. Your Patron not only understands warfare, but has seen it up-close at a scale like few in the Fire Caste let alone the T'au Empire have been unfortunate enough to witness.

Free Boon: T’au Firepower

Your Patron is able to procure T’au weaponry with little interruption. You have Advantage on Availability Tests for T’au technology, T’au technology becomes 2 steps easier to obtain.

Aun’saal (Ethereal Lord)

Your Patron is a high-ranking T’au, a lord in their own right, and not one to mince words. Their word is law, and those words can prove inspirational. Your Patron is studious, knowing words can cut like a sword; and that negotiation is just as powerful as any gun.

Free Boon: Ethereal Caste

Your Patron’s rank within the T’au Empire allows them certain sway over all who are under them. Should it be needed, a message from your Patron can be shown to others who serve the T’au Empire. When you provide this message, you can choose to force anyone who is aware of the T’au to make a Hard (-20) Discipline (Composure) Test or capitulate to following any commands given to them. You may assume that anyone who shares a Faction with your Patron knows of their rank, while it is up to the GM who else is aware of it.

Anything marked with an * is listed below, all others listed are found within the Imperium Maledictum Core Book.

Boons

Auxilarist

Your Patron can call on a small squad of Kroot Mercenaries that can be found within the Macharian Sector. Once per mission, your Patron can put a number of Kroot Mercenaries (page 349) equal to the number of characters in the party under the party’s command for a day. The Kroot Mercenaries are under the control of the Gamemaster, and have been instructed to aid the party.

T’au Firepower

Your Patron is able to procure T’au weaponry with little interruption. You have Advantage on Availability Tests, T’au technology becomes 2 steps easier to obtain.

Fire Warrior Surplus

Your Patron is willing to equip you with surplus T’au Infantry supplies. You may start play with any one option from the list below. Additionally, you may spend a downtime Endeavour to claim an additional item.

A Pulse Pistol, a Pulse Rifle, or a Longshot Pulse Rifle.

3 EMP Grenades.

Any one piece of Xenos Mesh.

Either a Backpack, A Respirator, a set of Survival Gear, a Slip/Drop Harness, an Entrenching Tool, a Grapnel & Line, a Fusion Torch, or a Markerlight.

Water Caste Archive

Your Patron has collected strange and extensive knowledge of all who have joined the T’au and even those who have not. They are willing to give you access to this archive, potentially giving you information on your targets and enemies, and giving Advantage on Lore Tests.

Ethereal Caste

Your Patron’s rank within the T’au Empire allows them certain sway over all who are under them. Should it be needed, a message from your Patron can be shown to others who serve the T’au Empire. When you provide this message, you can choose to force anyone who is aware of the T’au to make a Hard (-20) Discipline (Composure) Test or capitulate to following any commands given to them. You may assume that anyone who shares a Faction with your Patron knows of their rank, while it is up to the GM who else is aware of it.

Rogue Travel

Rogue Traders: +1 Patron Influence

Your Patron has forged alliances with a Rogue Trader dynasty, and is able to arrange passage for you aboard one of their vessels. During each mission, you can undertake up to two voyages on the Rogue Traders’ vessel, including Interplanetary (Warp) travel, as well as hiding you from Imperial Authorities whilst aboard. Your accommodation and meals are of Standard Quality for a week, after which your Patron’s agreements do not cover the expense of further accommodation and rations.

Water Caste Envoy

Any one Faction: +1 Patron Influence

Once per adventure, your Patron gives you a direct line to a Por’el—a Water Caste Diplomat—granting you the right to an audience with a member of the Imperial nobility or high-ranking military on any world, with the Por’el joining you on mission, under orders of your patron to facilitate negotiation.

T’au Air Support

Your Patron can always secure you Good Quality Planetary travel on atmospheric craft. Additionally, once during a mission you can call in a focused air strike or close air support of either Imperium or T’au make, which can be resolved as three attacks of either Frag or Krak Missiles with a Ranged skill of 60. At the Gamemaster’s discretion at the exact nature of the air strike may change, for example a flyover from a Barracuda Class Fighter may consist of two attacks by Pulse Blasters and a single drop of an EMP Grenade and a Ranged skill of 60.

Liabilities

Redundant Observer

Your Patron wants to know exactly how you operate, and has entrusted a Drone to acquire that information. Your Patron deploys a Drone equipped with only a Video Recorder to document your exploits. These obsolete observers will occasionally hinder progress in missions by getting in the way, making noise, or otherwise bumbling around.

Background and Influence—T’au

If your Patron has positive Influence with the T’au they have likely worked alongside the T’au towards a common goal. They may have joined forces, organising a pushback on a Tyranid swarm, or perhaps some Gue’vesa aided the escape of your Patron from an oncoming Waaagh! of Orks, maybe the Patron themselves worked closely with the T’au.

If your Patron has negative Influence with the T’au they will likely have interfered with T’au plans, most likely through serving the imperium directly in conflict with the T’au, though may have had a more indirect effect such as preventing T’au technology being spread to the Gue’vesa within the sector, or maybe your Patron had some hand in warning a settlement the T’au originally targeted for the Greater Good.

Questions your players may inquire: Having a Gue’vesa character—or a T’au Patron for that matter—within a group raises more than a few questions. For example: “Why, in the Emperor’s name, would we ally with Xenos?” To which a number of reasons could be given or hidden from the players. Perhaps those further up the chain of command have allied with T’au within the sector to take out a common threat of Tyranids, Orks, or Drukhari. Maybe you are setting up a conflict with the T’au themselves later down the line; knowing your enemy always hits harder. Access to T’au technology may be another tempting reason to ally with them.

[farsight-the-char]

Tau Auxiliary detachment ideas: 

Expansionist Blades: The “Fancy Vanilla” detachment. Unlocks Hammerheads, represents the more aggressive Auxiliaries that work with Fire Caste efforts. 

Home Defence: The “rear guard”, who protect cities and their people for the Greater Good. Some stealth bonuses, representing guerrilla tactics, as well as other fun tricks. Unlocks Leman Russ Tanks (Gue’vesa). 

Privateers: Mobile objective-stealing mercs. Also gives you extra wargear/upgrades, representing pirate loot. 

Nature Power: Stealth and Psychics, representing the more “death world” of the Auxiliaries. Unlocks monster options (like Ambulls).

[rsquid2]

Any Kalrey Auxiliary species What about Common Factions that come to cause trouble

There’s no native auxiliaries, there is a significant gue’vesa population as well as a small vespid population

The main factions that cause trouble are the orcs, who just show up every now and then, and around once a planetary orbits the thousand sons, as it was tzeech chaos fuckery that made the ocean vanish, this also made rather frequent sandstorms that show up

[doolallymagpie]

A funky lil Krieg’vesa, hopefully the first of many

[voices-of-favor]

Now that my Kriegers are all dripped out and my marnine pile of shame is slowly shrinking with each intercessor I’m thinking Tau

A roight proper Tau Kill team, maybe add one or two Gue’vesa through kitbashing? If not a team, at least a couple models for a little display piece perhaps? Looking for tips on which Guard (or other) models would be the best base for one

[taudad]

Which T'au authors from Black Library would you recommend?

I only really know about Phil Kelley and everyone only mentiona him as a bad writer (even tho I am personally mostly enjoying my current reading of Farsight: Crisis of Faith)...

Thank you for asking! I’m only dipping my own toes into the Black Library myself, but I do have a few recommendations regardless

Despite aspects of Phil Kelley’s writing, I did actually really enjoy the Shadowsun book. You can see my post about it here: https://www.tumblr.com/taudad/745116246289334272/so-im-reading-shadowsun-by-phil-kelly-right-now

This other recommendation is pretty old, but it stuck with me from way back when. The second book of the Last Chancers series (Kill Team, I think was its name) by Gav Thorpe is from the perspective of a Guard Penal legion posing as Gue’vesas on a mission to infiltrate and assassinate a T’au commander and it was a real fun read, I’d highly recommend that one

For other books here’s a list I intend to work through myself from the T’au Reddit page: https://www.reddit.com/r/Tau40K/comments/12hq1mg/tau_reading_list/?rdt=33501

If you end up reading any of these please come back with your thoughts! I’m always looking to read more T’au myself

[thesixthchaosgod]

Quite curious to what we’ll see at the Kill Team event tomorrow! they probably kept Gallowfall information behind to fill up time during this event so that’s likely to get some screen time. and then the next season of Kill Team? too many rumors about the next box that i don’t know what to believe anymore so i’ll let myself be surprised tomorrow (rumors are welcome though héhé)

Kill Team has been adding some of the most awesome stuff to 40k so i’m always quite interested to see what’s next! (Gue’vesa Kill Team please?!) (Chaos Terminator upgrade sprue please?!)

[farsight-the-char]

New Tau short-story “Alter of Maws” review:

It was okay. Some interesting lore stuff.

Fire Caste squadron transporting Gue’La POWs get ambushed by some Nurgle (?) corrupted gunboat (as in, navel boat) at a River/Lake area.

Some interesting moments, Tau hearing spirits of Chaos. A Lady Ogryn Gue’Vesa who fights with a modified Burst Cannon (which is probably going to be a model I bet), other stuff. 

Oh, and one of the POWs accuses the Tau of sterilizing humans, which is pointed out to be false. Take that, Dawn of War fans.

[doolallymagpie]

once I’ve got the railgun printed, the whole beast painted, and the commander in it, I think I need a tank crew for this thing

wish I could find some good 40K-themed beefcake pinup decals, though (I could draw some, but the problem is coloring and digitizing them), this thing just feels like it needs a handsome fella in a skimpy uniform near the turret