# Tau Physiology.



## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

http://www.blacklibrary.com/warhammer-40000/shadowsun.html

This book was released fairly recently, and on this page...
http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/wnt/blog.jsp?pid=8200064-gws

It says this.


> it is packed full of exciting information about the Tau race, from battlesuit technology and weapons to *Tau physiology* and emotions.



I'm just wondering if anyone who's read the book could give some of the important details about said physiology, specifically...
1. Is Shadowsun's Y-slit a trait of all female Tau, or is it unique to her?
2. What does the book mention about the physical differences between male and female Tau?
3. Mostly interested in the different appearances of the sexes, but other things such as "what is the nature of Tau hair" is also relevant.


Thanks to anyone who can help out.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Not sure if you've read Xenology but it has a few pages on Tau physiology as welll as other xenos races.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

I've heard that Xenology is pretty dumb, and shouldn't be considered canon in the slightest.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

That comment of a "y-slit" makes the childish part of me giggle.


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Winterous said:


> I've heard that Xenology is pretty dumb, and shouldn't be considered canon in the slightest.


Then whoever told you that is silly.

On topic: Haven't read the book so can't help you sorry.


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## Ddraig Cymry (Dec 30, 2012)

The y-slit (hehe) is usually a female trait. Males have a straight line.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Vaz said:


> That comment of a "y-slit" makes the childish part of me giggle.


Good 



Ddraig Cymry said:


> The y-slit (hehe) is usually a female trait. Males have a straight line.


Is that from the book?


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## Over Two Meters Tall! (Nov 1, 2010)

Winterous said:


> 3. Mostly interested in the different appearances of the sexes, but other things such as "what is the nature of Tau hair" is also relevant.


From the cover of the book, Shadowsun is obviously a redhead, a trait commonly associated with extremely hot specimens of the female gender for any species. I would expect her to be deadly with either a weapon or a cocktail dress.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

How can she be hot when she doesn't have a soul?


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## Blackwire (Sep 9, 2012)

Over Two Meters Tall! said:


> From the cover of the book, Shadowsun is obviously a redhead, a trait commonly associated with extremely hot specimens of the female gender for any species. I would expect her to be deadly with either a weapon or a cocktail dress.


Here's your ground-breakingly accurate explanation, unlike that silly _Xenology_ book. You won't get quality like that in there.


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## Over Two Meters Tall! (Nov 1, 2010)

Vaz said:


> How can she be hot when she doesn't have a soul?


Quite to the contrary, I've known several souless (anecdotally) redheads, and it seems to have little effect on their potentcy or relative body temperature.



Blackwire said:


> Here's your ground-breakingly accurate explanation, unlike that silly _Xenology_ book. You won't get quality like that in there.


You're absolutely right, I should perform a more rigorous scientific study and expand my sample size to ensure statistical validity in my observations. The fluff published by BL can be so lacking in depth and quality at times. :drinks:


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

But what about the fat gingers? What if she goes to church?


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## Mossy Toes (Jun 8, 2009)

Xenology is quite great*, actually, with quite a few groundbreaking revelations about the Tau, the Eldar pantheon, the Hrud, etc.

I haven't read the Shadowsun book, but having talked to somebody who has, it sounds like the physiological aspects of the book are as to the difference between castes. Not that I asked about physiology specifically, so take this with a grain of salt, but...

*ok, the Tyranid genetics segment is utterly laughable, but it's the exception rather than the rule.


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## Rems (Jun 20, 2011)

Doesn't xenology give the tau feet though? (They have hooves). Some of it is great, i like the eldar section but there's some dodgy stuff there too.


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## Battman (Nov 2, 2012)

Read xenology even if not cannon it is an interesting insite to some of the major and minor demos races, maybe look into that for your tau Physiology


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## Reaper45 (Jun 21, 2011)

Vaz said:


> How can she be hot when she doesn't have a soul?


So she's a blank what's the big deal?


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

How is xenology not cannon?

@rems: I'd argue having feet is a lot more realistic/less cheesy than hooves especially since it hints that the Eldar play/played a role in their development.

@reaper: the Tau are not blanks. They just have a very tiny warp presence.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Malus Darkblade said:


> @rems: I'd argue having feet is a lot more realistic/less cheesy than hooves especially since it hints that the Eldar play/played a role in their development.


Well it's simply counter to their established fluff, which is one reason why Xenology can't truly be considered canon.

Point is there's no clear answer about whether Tau females have Y or I; supposedly several novels state that humans would have a hard time telling the difference between Tau sexes, implying that they share the same slit.



Mossy Toes said:


> I haven't read the Shadowsun book, but having talked to somebody who has, it sounds like the physiological aspects of the book are as to the difference between castes. Not that I asked about physiology specifically, so take this with a grain of salt, but...


Well it's something at least, hopefully there's more.


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## Magpie_Oz (Jan 16, 2012)

Over Two Meters Tall! said:


> Quite to the contrary, I've known several souless (anecdotally) redheads, and it seems to have little effect on their potentcy or relative body temperature.


I can personally vouch for that.

On topic the book does not give any particular insights to Tau physiology. About the only things they confirm is:

A) Tau do engage in sexual reproduction with life partners.
B) The females give birth and rare the young.
C) A female being naked is some form of taboo. The other blokes all averted their eyes and formed a scum to block anyone's view while Shassa was getting around starkers at one point.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Again why do you say Xenology is not canon? It has the GW/BL stamp on it.

The WH40k IP is rife with inconsistencies which is somewhat understandable. 

Though I'd follow a book that focused *solely *on the physical attributes of various races than a novel which have been the source of contradictions and fluff inconsistencies.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Malus Darkblade said:


> Though I'd follow a book that focused *solely *on the physical attributes of various races than a novel which have been the source of contradictions and fluff inconsistencies.


Except that, while focusing on physiology, it COMPLETELY OVERLOOKED THE BLATANT HOOVES ON THE MODELS.
To me, that says it was written by an imbecile.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Then fix it for yourself and say "look, hooves", and point an arrow at the hooves. It only really means that it saves on shoe leather.

The rest of the information contained within is a lost more, well, informative, than stating the obvious, like an advanced algebraic formulae book explaining BODMAS.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Magpie_Oz said:


> I can personally vouch for that.
> 
> On topic the book does not give any particular insights to Tau physiology. About the only things the confirm is:
> 
> ...


Thanks for that.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Xenology did the Tau a favor then by ditching the hooves bit. They never were that popular to begin with and making them space horses/centaurs wasn't a good idea.

And you overlooked the part where I mentioned it is implied that the Eldar had a hand in the development of the Tau so I doubt the most graceful and aesthetically pleasing xenos race in WH40k would add hooves to their creations/subjects.

edit: From the latest Tau codex:

_All Tau are humanoid in shape, with two large *hoof-like* toes and blue-grey leathery skin, although the exact tone can vary, growing more blue based on a colony's proximity to the sun _.
Pg: 7


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Malus Darkblade said:


> Xenology did the Tau a favor then by ditching the hooves bit. They never were that popular to begin with and making them space horses wasn't a good idea.
> 
> And you overlooked the part where I mentioned it is implied that the Eldar had a hand in the development of the Tau so I doubt the most graceful and aesthetically pleasing xenos race in WH40k would add hooves to their creations.


They evolved on arid plains, hooves make sense for them.
Also how would hooves make people hate them? The hooves make them more interesting just by being there!

I don't think you can really claim to know what the Eldar would do when creating a race; I also don't think that hooves are necessarily lacking in grace.


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## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Xenology in the middle.

Everything else in Xenology matches the latest codex minus the hooves bit. I suppose GW decided to stick with the hooves.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Malus Darkblade said:


> Xenology in the middle.
> 
> Everything else in Xenology matches the latest codex minus the hooves bit. I suppose GW decided to stick with the hooves.


...So they didn't change the design at all, I don't see what your point is.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Winterous said:


> They evolved on arid plains, hooves make sense for them.


Explain that to the Air Caste.


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

Vaz said:


> Explain that to the Air Caste.


They evolved to being Tau on the arid plains, then they started going around to other places and evolved a little more.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

But didn't devolve their hooves into toes while they evolved longer thinner bodies and ultra quick reactions?


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## locustgate (Dec 6, 2009)

Vaz said:


> But didn't devolve their hooves into toes while they evolved longer thinner bodies and ultra quick reactions?


They evolved in high elevations. In Gaunt's Ghosts he mention how they seemed to have no problem climbing up steep inclines. Think about the air caste being kind of like mountain goats, that may have been able to glide, the membrane now is mostly vestigial. They have become longer and thinner because the average air caste member will almost never set foot...hoof?...on the ground and the spend most of their life on ships or space cities/stations, with low-zero gravity..


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## Winterous (Mar 30, 2009)

locustgate said:


> They evolved in high elevations. In Gaunt's Ghosts he mention how they seemed to have no problem climbing up steep inclines. Think about the air caste being kind of like mountain goats, that may have been able to glide, the membrane now is mostly vestigial. They have become longer and thinner because the average air caste member will almost never set foot...hoof?...on the ground and the spend most of their life on ships or space cities/stations, with low-zero gravity..


This.

And hooves are better for climbing rocky faces than toes, means you can get a really solid support from little cracks.


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