# Tau and Goodness: Gospel Truth or Propaganda?



## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

There seem to be a solid core of Tau fans who rabidly believe that Tau are genuinely 100% good and the only actually good, happy, unified race in 40k.

There's also a few who believe they're the unwitting puppets of the sinister etherial caste (Aun), and that the Aun are up to no good.

And there's people like me that believe they're just as dark and multifasceted as any other 40k race, they just have better PR. They may not be worse than the Imperium, but they;re not much better in my book.

Frankly, I think giving them a dark side makes them interesting, but there are a lot of fanboys out there who think the only people who believe in a tau darkside are "Tau haters". I certainly don;t hate them. I play them quite a bit. I just think they;re unscrupulous little blue commies who'll do whatever it takes to see their manifest destniy fulfuilled. They;re just smart enough to put a good spin on it and treat their citizens well to keep them happy.

Don;t get me wrong of all the races in 40k to be conquered and oppressed by, I;d rather it be the Tau. You;re nust not going to convince me they;re any more the good guys than anyone else


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

Id reckon the Tau (Space communists) have a dark side to them. What with forcing cultures to join or the whole potential Ethereal caste controlling the lot of them.

But who knows? I like how in the Last Chancers novels, the author kind of works in a bit of a darkside to the Tau due to the Tau government working in a deal with the Imperium to have one of their (Tau) commanders assasinated by the Last Chancers.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Really? Which book was that in, and more detail, if you can. I'm in a debate on another board over whether or not it's unthinkable for tau to kill other tau


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

Galahad said:


> Really? Which book was that in, and more detail, if you can. I'm in a debate on another board over whether or not it's unthinkable for tau to kill other tau


Hmm, I cant remember which book it specificly was in (I read it in an omnibus of all the last chancer novels).

But what it boiled down to was a Tau military commander was being more agressive than the Tau government liked, and the government said while the commander believed he was acting in the greater good, he wasnt. So they had his assasinated by "Rogue humans" because to them, although its killing another Tau its for what they believe to ultimately be the greater good. Even if it means killing another Tau.


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## jigplums (Dec 15, 2006)

its a conspiracy....leaflet drop campaign


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## uberschveinen (Dec 29, 2006)

Siegfried said:


> Hmm, I cant remember which book it specificly was in (I read it in an omnibus of all the last chancer novels).
> 
> But what it boiled down to was a Tau military commander was being more agressive than the Tau government liked, and the government said while the commander believed he was acting in the greater good, he wasnt. So they had his assasinated by "Rogue humans" because to them, although its killing another Tau its for what they believe to ultimately be the greater good. Even if it means killing another Tau.


That explanation sounds all nice and pleasant until you think about it for half a second.


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## Jeridian (Jan 4, 2007)

Are you kidding, Tau are one of the most hideous races out there!

They have Hypocrisy with a capital H.

All are equal under the Tau Empire....except Tau are above other races, and Ethereal's are above Tau.

We all come together to discuss and seek ways to achieve the Greater Good....by following the dictatoral law of the Ethereals.

We mean you know harm...join our Empire as second class citizens (like Kroot) or as slaves (like Vespid).

Tyranids, Necrons, Orks- these creatures are basic in their aims, they seek to destroy you since they are engineered to do so.

The Tau seek to corrupt you, to make you a willing slave- and then to expend your life to protect theirs.


They just have a very good PR staff.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

A little google fu told me the book is called Kill Team by Gav Thorpe

Myaelf, I'm fond of the line in the codex that says they drag other worlds to the negotiation table under threat of annihilation, and if they refuse to join they pretty much nuke your planet to a glowing cinder from orbit.

Yeah, good indeed


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

T'is a shame the Damocles gulf crusade didnt wipe the Tau from the cosmos. But oh well ^_^. The Imperium will eventually give them what they deserve. (Although it will never happen fluff-wise in the official game of course, Id just reckon the Imperium would eventually prevail)


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

The Tau are interesting. They're "good" insofar as they're not depraved psychopaths, which is just about the only qualifier for being one of the "good" armies in 40k, since everyone is pretty universally evil in some way, shape, or form.

The Tau are a funky mix of Stalinism and the caste system. Marxist doctrine is supposed to eliminate the class struggle, but the very nature of Tau society perpetuates them. That the Tau consider themselves above "lesser" races, even though they're not dumb enough to put it like that, shows something about them. Theoretically, a Fire Warrior and a human auxiliary are equal in standing. But they're not-- the Tau warrior is considered the human's superior.


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

The Son of Horus said:


> The Tau are interesting. They're "good" insofar as they're not depraved psychopaths, which is just about the only qualifier for being one of the "good" armies in 40k, since everyone is pretty universally evil in some way, shape, or form.
> 
> The Tau are a funky mix of Stalinism and the caste system. Marxist doctrine is supposed to eliminate the class struggle, but the very nature of Tau society perpetuates them. That the Tau consider themselves above "lesser" races, even though they're not dumb enough to put it like that, shows something about them. Theoretically, a Fire Warrior and a human auxiliary are equal in standing. But they're not-- the Tau warrior is considered the human's superior.


Yeah. Everybodys equal, but some people are more equal than others in the cause for the greater good? *le smirk*


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## Anphicar (Dec 31, 2006)

They are organized.

Clean. Neat.

They look to ally with other creatures and people. 

They are not scared psychos that must dissolve everything that looks different.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

That is what makes people define them as 'good', the fact that they are at least willing to accept you into their society and culture. They never said it would be as an equal though :evil:


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

Id still cast my lot with the Imperium.


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## Warboss Dakka (Jan 1, 2007)

People often see the ugliest part of the Imperium and accept it as the norm. I've always had the impression that there are thousands of beautiful agri-worlds that are near utopian. What's more, it seems like there are actually a vast and varrying array of cultures in the imperium and as long as those worlds obey general Imperial law, they are not interfered with. Each of those worlds can even have various forms of government, as long as those governments bow to Terra. Certainly the imperium is not bursting with Liberty, but the Tau can hardly claim their ways are any better. They both have essentially the same system of government and economy. At least in the imperium you know where you stand, with the Tau they will very politely smile and shoot you in the face "For the Greater Good".


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## Deadshane (Dec 29, 2006)

The Tau are Xenos scum plain and simple and must be purged from existance.

All posters on this thread with any veiws otherwise have been noted by the Inquisition and will be investigated, i.e. exterminated.


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## Cilionelle (Dec 24, 2006)

Seems to me that the Imperium is (more so) guilty of the same things. Yeah, the Tau will shoot you if you don't come over to their POV, but at least you get the choice! No way that the SMurfs are going to let you live if you are Tau, (Dark/Craftworld/Exodite/Harlequin) Eldar, Ork, Necron, etc. They have no qualms about nuking their own planets "for the Emperor" (translates roughly as "for the Greater Good", if you ask me).

Let's see: the Tau don't feed 10,000 souls a day to their supreme commander. They have advanced technology that they share with their populace. They offer (at least the ghost of) a choice to those who oppose them. They only kill their own kind when they have to (and only for reasons that are actually quite reasonable - since when has the Imperium assassinated someone for being too _warlike_ - um, never!

All in all, I'd be a convert to the Greater Good.

Fortunately, I side with the Eldar in their struggle against the Great Foes of Chaos. And to Deadshane, bring on the Inquisition - you are so much less than you believe...


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Yeah, Cilionelle, you have a point.

However, nobody ever tried to say the Imperium was the only force of good in the galaxy. Not with a straight face.

And most certainly, nobody ever claimed the Tau were more evil than the imperium.

Meanwhile there's Tau fanboys who'll eat you alive for suggesting Tau are anythign less than walking saints of virtue.

Like I said, of all the races to be conquered and enslaved by, it'd rather be the Tau...but given the choice of telling them go go away without getting killed for it, I;d rather keep my personal freedom. 

The Tau aren't good. They're smart, which makes them fairly tolerant of outsiders, as long as those outsiders are on their side, but that doesn't stop them from being brutal, ruthless little blue bastards.

The Tau are just Eldar with lower standards and more ambition. They may look enlightened and wise to your face, but get in their way and the'll cut you down.


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

Deadshane said:


> The Tau are Xenos scum plain and simple and must be purged from existance.
> 
> All posters on this thread with any veiws otherwise have been noted by the Inquisition and will be investigated, i.e. exterminated.


Amen to that ^_^.

Long live the Imperium.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Siegfried said:


> Deadshane said:
> 
> 
> > The Tau are Xenos scum plain and simple and must be purged from existance.
> ...


Calls upon the Broadsides to fire at the Markerlights targetting these two heathens. For the Greater Good!


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

The Wraithlord said:


> Siegfried said:
> 
> 
> > Deadshane said:
> ...


Until the Imperium attacks En masse and the Imperium cleanses the Tau worlds with a Divine Exterminatus <3.


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## uberschveinen (Dec 29, 2006)

Yeah, but they don't really have the resources to wipe them out at the moment. Given that any new (cchronologically) event of 40K is frozen for the foreseeable future, they'll probably live a while. Or until they pis of a large and autonomous organisation with more than the resources to obliterate them. Black Templars, I'm looking at you.


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## Cilionelle (Dec 24, 2006)

And all the while the Eldar will observe these _children_ and attempt to shield them somewhat from the full force of the enemies arrayed against them...


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## Jeridian (Jan 4, 2007)

> Given that GW is a business and Tau are second only to Marines in selling power, they'll probably live a while.


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

Of course they'll live because of the game and such.

But I meant purely speculative fluff-wise ^_^. 

Once the Imperium takes care of the Tyranids (God knows how many Hive fleets there are) theyd be able to bring the full might of the Imperium against the Tau Empire .

Just imagine the entirety of the Black Templars leading the charge <3.


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## Jeridian (Jan 4, 2007)

If we're going on fluff.

The Tyranids eat everything. If the Tyranid Codex is to be believed, there a thousands of Hive Fleets out there, the current 3-4 are only the scouts, the tip of an iceberg that has reached the galaxy.

The Tau are directly in their route towards the galactic core.

Assuming the Nid's are somehow defeated. The Necrons have literally god-like power. They can destroy suns, slaughter millions on a whim.

The Tau are an example of one of the many tiny alien empires that are allowed to exist throughout the Imperium, simply because the Imperium doesn't have the means or the will to exterminate them whilst there are 'bigger fish to fry'.
It's just that GW chose this empire to expand upon, perhaps because it has an oddly anime fetish that GW hasn't tried to make money on before it.


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

Yeah, if its true about the Tyranids, then everybody's doomed right?

I mean thousands of Hive fleets, thats trillions of Tyranids. *Shudder*

The Emperor's got to get off his half-dead butt and start whipping the Imperium back into shape. ><


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

But heres a good way to put it.

"The galaxy is the Emperor's, and anyone or anything who challenges that claim is an enemy who must be destroyed."-High Marshal Helbrecht of the Black Templars


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## uberschveinen (Dec 29, 2006)

He'll get off his 'half-dead butt' when it becomes fully dead, and he goes all ascendy, which he hasn't been able to since being trapped in a dead body. That's when the real fight begins, to take the four Chaos gods, defeat them, and fuse them into a whole and healthy psyche, thus repairing the psyche of all mankind. With that out of the way, humanity should be able to rebuild faster than it takes losses. Then, having experienced this growth phase, they will be able to destroy the Hive Fleets that attack human worlds, and ignore those that consume the aliens, which will be one hell of a fight, and last millenia. Then, around this time, the C'tan should all be released, and the Necron forces will attack, and unless something really amazing happens, the Imperium will die. However, I fully expect something amazing to happen.


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## Warboss Dakka (Jan 1, 2007)

Cilionelle said:


> Seems to me that the Imperium is (more so) guilty of the same things. Yeah, the Tau will shoot you if you don't come over to their POV, but at least you get the choice! No way that the SMurfs are going to let you live if you are Tau, (Dark/Craftworld/Exodite/Harlequin) Eldar, Ork, Necron, etc. They have no qualms about nuking their own planets "for the Emperor" (translates roughly as "for the Greater Good", if you ask me).
> 
> Let's see: the Tau don't feed 10,000 souls a day to their supreme commander. They have advanced technology that they share with their populace. They offer (at least the ghost of) a choice to those who oppose them. They only kill their own kind when they have to (and only for reasons that are actually quite reasonable - since when has the Imperium assassinated someone for being too _warlike_ - um, never!
> 
> ...


The Tau don't feed 10,000 souls a day to their dead emporer, but they will certainly exterminate 10,000 unarmed civilians rather than let them escape or sterilize populations a humans who have been "re-educated" to slowly exterminate the population. What really seperates the Tau from the Imperium? The Imperium will call you a heretic and shoot you in the face. The Tau will call you a friend and shoot you in the back.

As to when the last time the Imperium assassinated someone for being too warlike, read up on the Age of Apostacy and how the Sisters of Battle came to be.

The only thing that should scare the imperium more than the Tyranids or the C'Tan is the Orks ever forming under one Warboss. If that happens (unlikely) it's game over for everyone.


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## Cilionelle (Dec 24, 2006)

And where are your sources for this great revelation re: the Tau? 10,000 civilians? When? Where? (It's probably just Imperial propaganda anyways!)

And when was the Age of Apostasy? Quite a while back, no doubt...


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## Jeridian (Jan 4, 2007)

> And when was the Age of Apostasy? Quite a while back, no doubt...


We're arguing over who assassinated the most warlike of their species?
In a grim future of only war- killing your warlike leaders is not big and its not clever- :lol:


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

Warboss Dakka said:


> Cilionelle said:
> 
> 
> > Seems to me that the Imperium is (more so) guilty of the same things. Yeah, the Tau will shoot you if you don't come over to their POV, but at least you get the choice! No way that the SMurfs are going to let you live if you are Tau, (Dark/Craftworld/Exodite/Harlequin) Eldar, Ork, Necron, etc. They have no qualms about nuking their own planets "for the Emperor" (translates roughly as "for the Greater Good", if you ask me).
> ...


But thankfully, theres little chance of the Orks working together on that scale ^^. And even if it did happen, I doubt it would last for long.


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## Warboss Dakka (Jan 1, 2007)

The Tau happily cleansed Kronus of any civilians who resisted re-education and waged a sterilization campaign against those they did re-educate. Genocide "For the Greater Good"? I'm not arguing that the Imperium is any less vicious than anyone, but that the Tau are just as bad as the Imperium. In some ways they are bad for the same reasons, in some ways they are bad for differing reasons, but in the end both are guilty of the same atrocities. 

What I like about 40k is that it is not a question of Good or Evil. What makes the fluff so fantastic is that the motivations are far more believeable than a simple Good VS Evil, pick the Good Guys fight. 40k deals with a question that is far more human than good or evil, it deals with Law and Chaos. Even in developing the question of law and chaos though, they don't let you off the hook by providing a pretty, easy solution to the question.

To Jeridian- I don't imagine anyone can really argue that ending the Age of Apostacy was a bad thing for the Imperium. Having a warlike leader is fine but not when he spends his time making war against his own Empire.

To Siegfried- Indeed, and it's a lucky thing too. If anyone will do it, it's Warboss Thraka.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

what book was this sterilization campaign mentioned in?


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## Warboss Dakka (Jan 1, 2007)

Galahad said:


> what book was this sterilization campaign mentioned in?


It's a part of the Tau campaign victory in Dark Crusade. They set up gender segregated "re-education" camps and sterilize the humans until there is only a 5% birthrate. It's not the bloody affair of exterminating them with bolter fire, but it's just as sinister (if not moreso) in my book.


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

Wait, what do you mean exactly by sterlizing those who were re-educated until there was only a 5% birth rate?

Like err "Destroying" their ability to reproduce until only 5% of them can breed?

Id rather take a bolter shot to the head than suffer that fate.

And isnt Thraka being persued by Commisar Yarrick and a Black Templar Crusade fleet?


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## Jeridian (Jan 4, 2007)

> What I like about 40k is that it is not a question of Good or Evil. What makes the fluff so fantastic is that the motivations are far more believeable than a simple Good VS Evil, pick the Good Guys fight. 40k deals with a question that is far more human than good or evil, it deals with Law and Chaos. Even in developing the question of law and chaos though, they don't let you off the hook by providing a pretty, easy solution to the question.


My sentiments exactly.

Sadly there are plenty of people who truly believe in 'real life' that there are clear cut 'goodies' and 'baddies'. It always makes me cringe when a thread like 'So who are the goodies and baddies?' shows up, or someone insists their brainwashed ruthless engineered killing machines are nice people who help old ladies across the road.


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## Warboss Dakka (Jan 1, 2007)

Siegfried said:


> Wait, what do you mean exactly by sterlizing those who were re-educated until there was only a 5% birth rate?
> 
> Like err "Destroying" their ability to reproduce until only 5% of them can breed?
> 
> ...


They did not state what exactly a 5% birthrate meant, but I assume it means an average of 1 child in 20 women over their lifetime, which is far below the 2.1 to 1 standard generally required to stabalize a population.

The humans who resisted the re-education were simply exterminated.

Thraka is being pursued by Yarrick and the Black Templars, but he'll be back to raise another Waaaaggghh! and smash some more 'umie worlds.


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

They probbly didn;t even know they were being sterilized. It could have been a chemical. I doubt there was a Tau at the head of a big line holding two bricks and saying "Drop 'em, pinky"


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## The Son of Horus (Dec 30, 2006)

Do you really need TWO bricks, when you only need one for scrotum crushing goodness? :?


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

Well, if you could get them to lay it out on a hard surface you could use one, but two is more portable. Just think of it as clapping out chalkboard erasers ;-)


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## Siegfried (Jan 4, 2007)

*shudder* An agnonizing prospect either way.


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## The Wraithlord (Jan 1, 2007)

Damn, that thought just has me cringing. Ouch.


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## CommanderDuskstorm (Jan 31, 2008)

I figure the Tau are the only good race. Think about it, what other race would be willing to let other races live, even if they are "slaves". Would you consider them more good if they just outright destroyed every other race they came across like all the other races?
The way I see it you can only have good if it has evil to oppose it, and considering Tau are the least evil, that makes them the good guys.


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## Metal_Ead (Jan 30, 2008)

The tau dont kill all aliens they meet because they don't want to pi$$ off anyone too much as they have a little pinprick of an empire and dont want to be public enemy numba one.


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## foulacy (Nov 24, 2007)

nazis the lot of em


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## Moschaboy (Jan 5, 2007)

> I figure the Tau are the only good race. Think about it, what other race would be willing to let other races live, even if they are "slaves". Would you consider them more good if they just outright destroyed every other race they came across like all the other races?
> The way I see it you can only have good if it has evil to oppose it, and considering Tau are the least evil, that makes them the good guys.


then i presume chaos is good, cause they let pretty much everything live, as long as it's mutated enough and doesn't piss anyone off. i think the chaos guys don't really care which race that chaos spawn came from. be it a tau, eldar or ork or a fusion of all of them.


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## Silb (Jan 28, 2008)

Moschaboy said:


> then i presume chaos is good, cause they let pretty much everything live, as long as it's mutated enough and doesn't piss anyone off. i think the chaos guys don't really care which race that chaos spawn came from. be it a tau, eldar or ork or a fusion of all of them.


:laugh: So true. Also, don't the forces of Chaos offer you a chance to join them before killing you (assuming that you have some combat training, mutation, or usefulness to them)? 


On an evil scale from 1 to 10, I'd give the imperium a 5.5 and the Tau somewhere between a 4 and a 7. In some ways the Tau are much less evil than the imperium while in other ways they are just as, if not more, sinister.


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## Metal_Ead (Jan 30, 2008)

I would say that the Old Ones would be the only life respecting race, forget Tau. Their fluff makes 'em sound like the caring parents of the upstart races. However they could be extinct, perhaps because of their nice-guy veiw. I like to think that there is some "Yoda-like" Old One still alive on some "Daggobah-like" planet.


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## cccp (Dec 15, 2006)

they arent a 'good' race by amy means. in the fluff, the imperium is portrayed as the 'good' race, fighting against chaos for the human people etc. while the tau tend not to ignore technology and sacrifice their own people the way the imperium do, they are still a bad race as they feel the need to kill people who will not submit to tau rule. 

yeah, the point about the etherials is a good one. for all we know they are a puppet race for maybe, chaos, or necrons etc?


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## CommanderDuskstorm (Jan 31, 2008)

I like how everybody is calling Tau evil based on speculation, calling them a puppet race, or assuming they only let humans and other races join them as slaves, the way I see it they're the only race that allows other races to join as they are, no mutations etc. And as for them sacrificing their own people in war, every race does that, if they didn't they'd be wiped from the eastern fringe. Their life mantra says it all, "FOR THE GREATER GOOD!!!!!!!!)


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## Fluff'Ead (Aug 22, 2007)

cccp said:


> yeah, the point about the etherials is a good one. for all we know they are a puppet race for maybe, chaos, or necrons etc?


I think it was hinted in "Xenology" that the Eldar created the Ethreal Caste in order to utilise the Tau's warp immunity against Chaos.
Dunno if the source is still up to date.


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## Elchimpster (Jan 31, 2007)

Space Commies is really the best descriptor IMO. I mean...seriously, the Soviet Union didn't believe itself to be the Evil Empire, the Chinese don't, nor do the North Koreans. Communism is seen as the road to equality and freedom from the evils of the west.

Take that perspective and apply it to the Tau.

You will join for the greater good because it is in your best interests...and they will wipe you out to prove it. They are still people in a way...so they are fallible just like humanity is with communism. I think the idea is that it looks all nice on paper, but reality isn't like that, same applies here. One person's personal freedoms , no matter how high up he is (ala Kill Team) can jeopardize the greater good, and in order to maintain solidarity, he's got to be eliminated.

I don't think the Tau are any more "Good" than any other race. Granted the human race is pretty much a horrific fascist state, Tau are IMO only slightly "cleaner" than the humans.


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## kharnthebetrayer (Nov 26, 2007)

CommanderDuskstorm said:


> I like how everybody is calling Tau evil based on speculation, calling them a puppet race, Their life mantra says it all, "FOR THE GREATER GOOD!!!!!!!!)


I couldn't disagree more. The Tau are "For the Greater Good" which doesn't apply to humans or any other race. The Tau allow almost 0 freedom. Not freedom in the sense that your not a slave, but the freedom to succeed, make a name for yourself, or change your lot in life. The Imperium is BY FAR the best army in the game, moral wise. The Imperium allows Aliens as long as they summit to the Emporer, just like in the Tau Empire. However, for the majority of Imperial citzens, their is a chance to change your lot in life. If you are poor, you can become rich; if you are rich, you can become poor; if you are ordinary, you can become a hero. In the Tau Empire, your lot in life is decided. There is no option for what you can do or become. To me, that is one of the worst fates possible for anyone. I would rather die for the Imperium by my choice, than be sterilized, or assigned a role "for the Greater Good." 

If everyone sacrifices their freedom of choice, is that really a good thing. Not only do I hate communism and socialism, but I despise the Tau Empire for no other reason than their oppresive and truly evil society. The argument that the Tau is the best because they give aliens a choice to join their society is ridiculous. The Imperium has some Xenos that are allowed to live within the Imperium in self ruled towns.

Also, comparing "For the Emperor" to "For the Greater Good" is completly ridiculous. One is proclaiming your faith to a single individual who embodies the power of knowledge and free choice. Tau have faith in the collective group which represents communism and an "assembly line" live. By that, I mean that the members of the community are assigned a job that is a part of the whole which is reapeted over and over again untill the person dies. There is no advancement.


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## Fluff'Ead (Aug 22, 2007)

kharnthebetrayer said:


> The Imperium is BY FAR the best army in the game, moral wise.


D:



> The Imperium allows Aliens as long as they summit to the Emporer, just like in the Tau Empire.


_"Beastman bad. Bad Beastman. Dirty. Emperor no like. Beastman love Emperor. Give blood to Emperor. Give beads to Emperor. Say sorry."
_Nonhumans = expendable 


> However, for the majority of Imperial citzens, their is a chance to change your lot in life. If you are poor, you can become rich; if you are rich, you can become poor; if you are ordinary, you can become a hero.


_"To be a man in such times is to be one amongst untold billions. It is to live in the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable. *Forget* the power of technology, science and *common humanity*. *Forget the promise of progress and understanding*, for there is no peace amongst the stars, only an eternity of carnage and slaughter and the laughter of thirsting gods."_


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## uberschveinen (Dec 29, 2006)

The Tau are basically the ultimate group-minded society. The balance between the interests of individuals and interests of the group is simply nonexistent. The group is totally monodominant. You have no individual freedoms, rights, or priveleges whatsoever, unless it profits the group better to allow you some choice, and it doesn't. Ever. Since we are discussing the matter in terms of human morality, the base ideology of the Tau is anathema to us, as we are a race that values and demands freedoms for individuals to a greater extent than for the group. A human society practising the Tau's values would be considered an abomination, regardless of their actions.

Also, they aren't one nice and easy philosophy, least of all communism. They have communist elements in their hypercentralisation of control. They contain more aspects of fascism, in their views that the interests of individuals are totally suborinate to interests of the state, their insistence of total censorship and extreme use of propaganda, and their use of terror to enforce these ideals on the populace. They are a despotic aristocracy, with an elite class ruling, and possessing absolute power. They have aspects of a hive, with castes representing utterly impenetrable walls to one's future determined by one's birth, and have specialised this to the point of a hive by the use of unknown means, almost certainly eugenics, to the point where the differences are genetic. They are also evangelistic in the extreme, regarding their own ideals as utterly superior to any other, and will go to any lengths neccesary to impose them on others 'for their own good', and are backed up in this regard by extreme imperialism among their government.

This we know of them, almost purely through an intelligent analysis of their own propaganda. From that we can deduce a great deal of their intents, but veyr little of their actions. But given their intents, there can be little doubt that their actions are focused around a single goal: taking every single sentient being in the galaxy under the total domination of their society. They will save you from your dangerous freedoms if they have to slaughter every last one of you to do it.


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## Rockbird (Dec 24, 2007)

Indeed.

A point i saw made on TvTropes struck me as kindof funny: The Tau are seen as the young, idealistic and understanding race in 40K. They may be far from perfect, but given the alternatives... yeah. In mostly ANY other setting, they would be the bad guys, period. Actually, ALL 40K races would be bad guys in other settings... 

@Kharnthebetrayer
I'm not going to debate politics with you apart from stating that socialism =/= always bad. That said, the Tau are far from nice, but i don't really get people saying stuff like "The Imperium of Man will call you a heretic and shoot you in the face, the Tau Empire will call you an ally and shoot you in the back". It's simply not true. If you want it to be true, it would look something like: "The Imperium of Man will call you a heretic and shoot you in the face, the Tau Empire will call you an ally and *maybe* shoot you in the back *if you misbehave*." Not _that_ much better maybe, but in 40K that still makes them one of the most understanding and accepting races.

Oh, and: The Cake-Emperor is a lie.


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## Actarus (Jan 17, 2008)

Any races are thinking that they are better than the others... Even in the sames races.... Does a ultramarine thinking himself equal to a spaces wolf...? No... It is just that the Tau Empire are sure that they have the real solution to save the world...They have a vision (etheral) of the universe and have the power to shape it. Just like Staline, Hitler... or any dictator....until someone stand up and tell them to shut the hell up...


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## Gore Hunter (Nov 5, 2007)

I dislike Tau because a cause like that is ridiculous "For The Greater Good"... oh and the Greater Good is what exactly.
I mean Is it just cover up or are they secretly Chaos Cultists or is it a Purging thing what does it mean?
(No offense to any Tau Players)


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## Morgal (Sep 26, 2007)

The greater good of the ethrials, who's aims and origins are unknown.


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## cccp (Dec 15, 2006)

exactly....no one knows what the greater good is, or even who's greater good it is.


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## chrisman 007 (Jan 3, 2008)

The thing is, we have an ethereal caste too. It's called the government.


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## CommanderDuskstorm (Jan 31, 2008)

"FOR THE GREATER GOOD!!!" isn't that hard to figure out, it means the Tau will fight for whats best for the Tau and their allies, and whats best? Living. The Ethereals may be an unknown but until they do something that doesn't benefit the Tau people they should get the benefit of the doubt. They took the Tau from a feral race of bickering tribes and molded them into THE fastest growing race in the 40K universe. And as for all the political talk, you may say that communism or facism or socialism are evil, but what about north american democracy? You need a home to vote, so the people that democracy craps on don't get a say. And what about the Emperium? An imperial citizen may be able to become a well known hero, but what about the average man, or the homeless man? What kind of race lets the poor and homeless die? You may call the Tau evil, but at least they take care of their own, even the allies that aren't Tau. If the Tau can save the lives of Tau and aliens alike, why can't the emperium? At least "FOR THE GREATER GOOD" benefits everybody, what good is "FOR THE EMPEROR"?


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## Silb (Jan 28, 2008)

Honestly, even if the imperium started slaughtering everyone on every planet and started changing their battlecry from "For the Emperor!" to "Skulls for the golden throne," they would still be the only race that could be considered "good guys." Why? Because they are the imperium of *MAN*. Are we freaky humanoids with hooves? NO!!! We are HUMANS!!!! 40k was made by HUMANS!!! True, the humans in 40k are corrupt and slaughter people just for being born on a planet that the Alpha Legion decided to infiltrate or for having a freakishly mutated arm, but they are still our species and still save many of their own people by slaughtering other ones. For example, failing to conduct an exterminatus on a chaos corrupted planet could cause an army of cultists to take over the planet and cut a path of destruction across the galaxy, killing the entire populations of many planets. On the other hand, an exterminatus would kill the entire population of only 1 planet. The Tau don't have to slaughter the entire populations of planets because they are immune to the corruption of Chaos. The ethereals probably would destroy an entire planet if failure to destroy it would cause half of the planet's population to threaten "the greater good."


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## Captain Galus (Jan 2, 2008)

the tau are sentient beings who live under communism...by that very definition they are utterly flawed and bound for destruction; the only race in the 40k universe that would be able to sustain any form of communism are the tyranids

yay capitalism!!


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## Galahad (Dec 21, 2006)

What's with the massive threadomancy? This thread started and ended more than a year ago


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