# The Tau: The old ones 2nd version of humanity



## The Meddler (Sep 25, 2010)

First off, if anyone came up with this idea before me, sorry, I only read most of the way down the first page to see if anyone had thought of this before me.

So, I think that humanity was the old ones first attempt at controlling the galaxy. They created the perfect leader (a.k.a. the big E) and manipulated the human race over the centuries to make them the perfect conquerers. At first, everything went well. The Great Crusade spread across the galaxy, worlds fell like wheat, and the emperor was sent back to Terra to try and build the Imperial webway to negate the need for the warp. Then, the HH happened. Suddenly, their pawn was a zombie, Chaos had corrupted much of the Imperium, and what was left grew stagnated and introverted. The old ones needed a new race for galaxy-wide domination.

The old ones had learnt 3 things from the HH. One, they needed back-up leaders, so so the whole thing wouldn't go to hell if one guy died. Two, they needed a race immune to Chaos, which had shown itself able of getting _anywhere. _Three, their 2nd chance needed to be able to adapt and change to a greater degree. So, on discovering a bacwater planet in the Eastern Fringe, they got to work on Humanity Version 2. Of course, the developing race needed to be protected from the xenophobic Imperium.

When the Adeptus Mechanicus vessel _Land's Vision _discovered the world of T'au, the old ones acted. They created massive warpstorms around the system, destroying the Imperial colony ships and allowing the old ones to work in peace. They may have even engineered Goge Vandire's Reign of Blood to distract the Imperium and other races.

Using their otherworldly sciences, they accelerated the nascent Tau's evolution, and directed different populations down certain paths, forming the basis for the castes. Once the old ones deemed the Tau ready, they then put into place a plan to install their pawns, the Ethereals, as leaders of the Tau. They started a war. Once everything looked desperate, the Ethereals showed up. As the Tau had been designed to follow the Ethereals, they submitted pretty quickly. Then, the old ones had the Tau look to the stars...

The old ones improved on their earlier design, having multiple leaders who the Tau would protect to their last breath. As the Tau barely register the Warp at all, they can't be corrupted by Chaos, at least not directly. While this means that they can't use the warp to travel vast distances, due to the lack of the Navigator gene, the old ones negated this somewhat, terraforming many worlds close to T'au to make them able to support life, allowing the T'au to build up a strong powerbase quickly. The Tau's adaptability means they will be less likely to fall into the stagnation of the 41st millenium Imperium, and also means that they are more willing to incorporate alien races into their society, who can help the Tau grow stronger. Of cause, the old ones needed something to bring the species together besides the Ethereals. To this end, they created the doctrine of the Greater Good. Having seen the power of religion over countless millenia, they knew that it would be the perfect tool to bind the Tau together into an unstoppable force.

So what do you think? Did I miss anything? Also, I'm still not sure _why_ the old ones would do all this (possibly to fight the C'Tan), or even if it was the old ones responsible for all this. The only other race I can think of that is capable of this is the Eldar, and the old ones created them. All thoughts welcome.


----------



## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

The Old Ones did this? That sounds like a flaw to me, for as far as I know those guys are dead?


----------



## aboytervigon (Jul 6, 2010)

Yeah, they were dead long before the tau were amoebas.


----------



## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Reposting from your other thread since this one will probably not get deleted.

---

Nice theory but some issues.

The Old Ones died/went extinct long before the Emperor was even born and way before the Horus Heresy.

The Necrons meddled with humanity, inserting the Pariah gene into their gene pool to perhaps combat the Old Ones and their psyker creations during their war seeing as how they weren't exactly buddies.

It's been shown that the Eldar are meddling with the Tau for reasons unexplained but it has been thought their lack of experience with the warp is perhaps one reason.

Interesting points though.

A good place to start on the complex WH40k universe is the Lexicanum (in b4 bandwagon lexicanum haters). Here is a direct link to the Old ones: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Old_Ones


----------



## The Meddler (Sep 25, 2010)

"The Enslaver Plague became the final blow for the reign of the Old Ones *who scattered *and forever broke their power." from Lexicanum.

It might not be the old ones who did this. I just saw the comparisons between humanity and the Tau and wondered if there was anything to it. Also, where does it say that the Eldar meddled with the Tau?


----------



## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

That quote refers to the Old Ones scattering as in breaking apart and eventually watching their empire and works dwindle away into nothing.

If anything, there are more similarities between humans and eldar than with the Tau.

There is a book called xenology I think which makes some comments about how most of the races bear striking similarities to one another physically IE. two limbs, a head, etc. which is a nod to the Old Ones involvement (though humans are not included in this as they have supposedly not been influenced by the Old Ones whatsoever). 

It also mentions how the Eldar have potentially been involved with making the Tau leaders (I forget their name) being capable of controlling the rest of the population with pheromones with an organ implanted inside their heads.


----------



## cegorach (Nov 29, 2010)

I felt like now would be a good time to ask this question. 
What makes the Tau leaders immune to chaotic corrption? I know the lesser beings are controlled by the higher ups but what stops the higher ups from being persuaded?

Don't say its because they havent had much contact because they dont go through the warp, just sort of bounce off it. I heard that somewhere (might be false) but they still come into contact with chaos, unless the tau have never had a single encounter with a chaos force ever. Which is as near to impossible as you can get.


----------



## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

They are not immune to corruption but rather they are simply overlooked given how little of a presence their _collective _race has in the Warp.

I am sure a few Chaos sorcerers converted them for shits and giggles only to abandon them because they realized they had standards.


----------



## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

In Fire Warrior that Imperial Governor... Severus? He had captured that Ethereal, tried to corrupt the fuck, but found that they were immune to Chaos, so he simply killed it, proceeded to get killed, gave birth to a Greater Daemon, got the whole planet nuked from orbit.


----------



## Rems (Jun 20, 2011)

As others have pointed out the issue is that the Old One's are long gone. The War in Heaven happened sixty million years ago. After which the old one's were finished. The necron codex tells us that the few that survived degenerated (suggesting fantasy lizardmen would be appropriate stand ins). Lizardmen are not going to be tampering with anyone's genes are they. 

The eldar are a more plausible theory. They would have the capabilities to do create the ethereals (which xenology hints at) and provide other help like that warp drive the tau just so happened to find on their moon in their early days of space travel. Additionally its likely that the eldar would see the benefit of a non psychic race after their own rather traumatic experiences. Having an incorruptible tool would be very useful.


----------



## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

@Rems: do you truly believe they are incorruptible? I mean machines can be corrupted.


----------



## aboytervigon (Jul 6, 2010)

Corrupting a tau fire warrior is like corrupting a termagant, it probably can and does happen but the fact that there being controlled by another being makes the fact that there corrupted worthless.


----------



## Rems (Jun 20, 2011)

@Malus, the evidence so far would seem to agree. Other than farsight who went bat shit crazy after losing his etheral i can't think of any tau who have defected or refused an etheral's order. Nor can i think of any etherals who have been turned or have defected. Therefore so far they do in fact seem incorruptable. (Especially from Chaos due to their almost non existant warp presance and lack of psychers).


----------



## Tzeen Qhayshek (May 4, 2010)

In a realm of fluff that will never see (because it would defeat the purpose of the game), when the Tau inevitable replace Humanity as the galactic rules, then Chaos will pay attention to them too. As it has been said. With such few numbers, Chaos ignores their _collective_ presence because it is so small.


----------



## Rems (Jun 20, 2011)

But it's more than just their low numbers that causes Chaos to overlook them. They individually have a very small warp signature. Human souls in the warp are like candles, with psychers burning the brightest. Eldar would be like a bonfire but Tau are like a firefly. 

Also i don't see Tau ever replacing Humanity as the galactic rulers. There's a tiny amount of them (comparatively), their technology is worse and they have no means of establishing or more importantly securing and maintaining a galactic empire.


----------



## The Meddler (Sep 25, 2010)

Rems said:


> But it's more than just their low numbers that causes Chaos to overlook them. They individually have a very small warp signature. Human souls in the warp are like candles, with psychers burning the brightest. Eldar would be like a bonfire but Tau are like a firefly.
> 
> Also i don't see Tau ever replacing Humanity as the galactic rulers. There's a tiny amount of them (comparatively), their technology is worse and they have no means of establishing or more importantly securing and maintaining a galactic empire.


How is their technology worse? They have better weaponry, and they're willing to adapt. Also, they would be able to use the greater good as a tool to keep order, since history has shown that religion can be a powerful tool.


----------



## Samules (Oct 13, 2010)

Technology... worse? I don't think so. They have stable plasma weaponry, granted their more high power weapons are still unstable but pulse and burst weapons are better than bolt and las weaponry (except the lascannon but they have railguns instead)

And also as the lexicanum says "not one Tau has ever fallen to chaos".

Although it is yet unknown whether this is because chaos doesn't care because they are a minor race or because they are immune.


----------



## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Imperial technology is more advanced than Tau tech. That is a matter of fact.


----------



## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

The Tau equip their troops with more advanced weaponry because they don't have a trillion soldiers and so can afford to do so. 

So this probably gives the impression that the Tau are more advanced than the Imperium when it is not necessarily true.


----------



## SoulGazer (Jun 14, 2009)

It was also thought that Blanks were immune to the Warp. However, in _Ravenor Rogue_ a Blank was "burned out" by being near a powerful psyker for a long time and became vulnerable to the warp. It's possible the same thing can happen to the Tau, but no one has really tried it due to how much time and energy it would take.

Also, they're on the other side of the galaxy from the Eye, so maybe that contributes to their continued resistance to Chaos.


----------



## Samules (Oct 13, 2010)

Doelago said:


> Imperial technology is more advanced than Tau tech. That is a matter of fact.


Erm.. How? And don't say it's because humans have a few titans or any other tech lost during the heresy.



Malus Darkblade said:


> The Tau equip their troops with more advanced weaponry because they don't have a trillion soldiers and so can afford to do so.
> 
> So this probably gives the impression that the Tau are more advanced than the Imperium when it is not necessarily true.


Yes but the tau also don't have a billion production facilities, mines, refineries ect. They work just like the imperium but with smaller scale and better tech.


----------



## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Samules said:


> Erm.. How? And don't say it's because humans have a few titans or any other tech lost during the heresy.


I throw you a Baron Spikey! 




Baron Spikey said:


> I'd actually place the Imperium at the same level or more advanced than the Tau- the Imperium's advancements in biology (specifically Juvenat treatments and Astartes) have no counter part in Tau society.
> Plus of course Warp Drives, Geller Fields etc
> 
> Yeah, I'd say that the Imperium is still slightly more advanced than the Tau Empire, maybe not one to one but certainly in overall technological prowess.


----------



## Samules (Oct 13, 2010)

Doelago said:


> I throw you a Baron Spikey!


Sure but there is no reason to work on augmentation. Why augment you can strap into a battlesuit and rock and roll? The ratio of battlesuits to fire warriors is probably about the same as Space marines to guardsmen so it makes more sense to work on battlesuits.

Also the Tau have no psykers which if I remember navigator fluff correctly is a necessity to deep warp jumps unless you use the webway.


----------



## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

You say Battlesuit? I throw you Tactical Dreadnought armor and laugh in your face.


----------



## Samules (Oct 13, 2010)

You say tactical dreadnaught armor? I say iridium armor, shield generator plasma rifle fusion blaster and 2 gun drones and laugh in YOUR face!:laugh:


----------



## Chompy Bits (Jun 13, 2010)

Doelago said:


> You say Battlesuit? I throw you Tactical Dreadnought armor and laugh in your face.


Terminators aren't nearly as agile as battlesuits.

But then again, I'm still of the opinion that the only reason the Tau are still around is because no one takes them seriously or consider them worth the effort to exterminate. It's been mentioned in a number of sources that the Imperium considers the Tau a minor threat in comparison to things like Chaos or the Nids.


----------



## Barnster (Feb 11, 2010)

Overall total tau tech is worse than the availible tech in the imperium, but the imperium is a slum, most things are mass produced by the million, and technology which is more advanced such as warp drives are incredably rare and revered by a decaying imperium. Teleport arrays, life extension tech, etc etc 

Tau still haven't developed strong plasma technology, the only reason they have it stabilised is that they have reduced its power. And as far as warp jumps why haven't tau built a computer to help?

If your the best in the imperium you have access to better technology, if your the worst in the tau empire you have access to greater technology than the equivilant member in the imperium

If the Damocles gulf showed anything is that the relative tau tech is insufficient to stand up to the might of the imperium


----------



## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Samules said:


> You say tactical dreadnaught armor? I say iridium armor, shield generator plasma rifle fusion blaster and 2 gun drones and laugh in YOUR face!:laugh:


Then I drop you onto the bottom of an ocean and see who lasts longer, my Space Marine in his (from you POV) outdated and inferior armor Terminator armor, our your fancy piece of plastic?


----------



## Samules (Oct 13, 2010)

Barnster said:


> If the Damocles gulf showed anything is that the relative tau tech is insufficient to stand up to the might of the imperium


No one ever claimed that the tau empire could stand up to the imperium except in a battle of even numbers. Imperials simply have more bodies to throw at the problem then the tau have shots in their guns. Though it would be quite a costly war for the imperium.


----------



## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

I got "abused" for stating on the forums before that I believe the Old Gods made the Tau to get rid of chaos and to rid the land of Necrons.


----------



## Rems (Jun 20, 2011)

Ok so you want examples of better Imperial tech, lets look at some examples.

Lasguns- powerful weapons capable of blowing and arm of an ork. While not as powerful as pulse rifles they have an infinite ammo supply- the powerpacks are rechargeable through sunlight, fire or recharging stations. Not to mention it's incredibly easy to produce. This is massive logistical advantage, tactically and strategically. 

Power armour- the tau have nothing comparable to this or tactical dreadnought armour., Sure there's battlesuits but their larger and bulkier, not to mention have less secondary functions. Power armour is vacuum sealed, acts as a secondary skin and dispenses drugs while monitoring the body. 

Spaceships- Imperial ships are far, far superior to Tau. Not just in terms of armament and shielding but their warp drives and navigators. The Tau most powerful ships was designed to be a match for a Lunar (which it isnt), the most common Imperial cruiser.

Other things the Tau lack; titans (which are still produced, albeit slowly), void shield technology, truly large scale weaponry such as the ordinanti or exterminatus. That's just off the top of my head. 

Even in areas the Tau excel the Imperium can match or beat them. Plasma technology- the Imperium's is more powerful, anti grav, the Imperium's got that too, ai; still covered. 

But wait you say all those things are rare and not widely available. Yes that's true, that is the Imperium problem, logistics and distrubtion rather than it's tech level. Where the Imperium the size of the tau empire you'd see your average guardsman running round in carapace with hellguns, there would be whole battalions of blades and titans. They would be able to concentrate their resources and production much like the tau are able to now. As they expand (though their limited in that lacking effective warp travel and communication) their going to find it harder and harder to supply their expanding military and have to resort to easier to produce weaponry etc.


----------



## Samules (Oct 13, 2010)

Hmmm you win.

Though still in an even numbers battle between average soldiers the tau win, no question. But still give the tau another millenia they will surpass the imperium technelogically in every way (possibly with the exception of warp travel) if they survive the half dozen galactic threats.


----------



## Rems (Jun 20, 2011)

I'm not sure about that, the Damocles Crusade was fairly even as far as numbers go and the Imperium did pretty well. Besides there won't often be a conflict where they have even numbers, that would just be poor planning on the Imperium's part. 

I'm not so sure if the Tau will continue to advance at such a fast pace. Humanity too advanced massively during the Golden and Dark Age of Technology and then look what happened. I predict either stagnation/ slowing down of advancement or an internal societal implosion.


----------



## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

There's a massive difference, Tau have developed this technology in a fraction of the time the Imperium has. It doesn't matter what level they are at, what matters is how far they can go and the Tau will definitely progress further than the Imperium will atm.


----------



## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Apart from if they get nuked from the galactic map?


----------



## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

At the current time unless the Imperium throw every man and woman at the Tau they won't be able to nuke them, how many Chapters of Marines and Imperial Guard did they use in the Damocles Crusade and they barely reached anything of an importance before grinding to a halt.

By the time the Imperium gets around to launching any substantial crusade again, the Tau will probably of found a way to stop things like being nuked anyway.


----------



## Samules (Oct 13, 2010)

Rems said:


> I'm not sure about that, the Damocles Crusade was fairly even as far as numbers go and the Imperium did pretty well. Besides there won't often be a conflict where they have even numbers, that would just be poor planning on the Imperium's part.
> 
> I'm not so sure if the Tau will continue to advance at such a fast pace. Humanity too advanced massively during the Golden and Dark Age of Technology and then look what happened. I predict either stagnation/ slowing down of advancement or an internal societal implosion.


The Imperium lost Damocles. The imperials goal was to wipe out the tau powerbase, they failed. The tau goal was to stop the imperials in their tracks, they succeeded. Due to all the threats the imperium can't pull together enough manpower to wipe out the tau. And the war was quite costly for the imperials too.

Humanity however required a massive civil war to lose its tech and stagnate. The Ethereals command nearly unbreakable loyalty and they don't have the threat of psyker corruption. Even their major traitor, O'Shova is still loyal to the tau race, just not the ethereals.


----------



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

Dunno why there are three exact threads on this... But i'll repost my post in this one:



The Meddler said:


> First off, if anyone came up with this idea before me, sorry, I only read most of the way down the first page to see if anyone had thought of this before me.


I don't recall a thread like this, but try using the search function or check out the FAQ rather than just scrolling down the first page. 



The Meddler said:


> So, I think that humanity was the old ones first attempt at controlling the galaxy.


The main issue I have with that is that the Old Ones nurtured countless young races, not just humanity. And humanity played no part whatsoever in the War in Heaven or any other major event concerning the Old Ones. Many races and civilisations have been dominant in the galaxy since the Old Ones, humanity was just the latest race to do so. Also, the Old Ones did pretty much control the galaxy for a long period of time. So humanity was not their first attempt to control the galaxy. 



The Meddler said:


> They created the perfect leader (a.k.a. the big E) and manipulated the human race over the centuries to make them the perfect conquerers.


The Emperor was hardly the perfect leader, half his empire rebelled... And humanity are far from the perfect conquerors.



The Meddler said:


> At first, everything went well. The Great Crusade spread across the galaxy, worlds fell like wheat, and the emperor was sent back to Terra to try and build the Imperial webway to negate the need for the warp. Then, the HH happened. Suddenly, their pawn was a zombie, Chaos had corrupted much of the Imperium, and what was left grew stagnated and introverted. The old ones needed a new race for galaxy-wide domination.


Roughly sixty million years seperates the fall of the Old Ones and the Emperor's Great Crusade, it would be very strange indeed if the Old Ones had any direct involvement in the Great Crusade. Also, how would humanity dominating the galaxy benefit the Old Ones?



The Meddler said:


> The old ones had learnt 3 things from the HH. One, they needed back-up leaders, so so the whole thing wouldn't go to hell if one guy died. Two, they needed a race immune to Chaos, which had shown itself able of getting _anywhere. _Three, their 2nd chance needed to be able to adapt and change to a greater degree. So, on discovering a bacwater planet in the Eastern Fringe, they got to work on Humanity Version 2. Of course, the developing race needed to be protected from the xenophobic Imperium.


Your making the Old Ones sound very stupid.  Even if any still exist, are you saying its taken them sixty million years to realise these very basic things? The Old Ones indirectly aided the growth of Chaos during the War in Heaven, why would they have supported and sponsored humanity knowing full-well the weakness they bore to Chaos? And for the record, Tau are not immune to Chaos. 



The Meddler said:


> So what do you think? Did I miss anything? Also, I'm still not sure _why_ the old ones would do all this (possibly to fight the C'Tan), or even if it was the old ones responsible for all this. The only other race I can think of that is capable of this is the Eldar, and the old ones created them. All thoughts welcome.


I honestly don't think this theory slots in neatly at all i'm afraid. Another major snag I can see is the probability of the plan actually succeeding, the chances that the Tau Empire will expand much further and become a major force in the galaxy? Near zero.

Also, the general consensus is that the Imperium has progressed further technologically than the Tau Empire as it stands.


----------



## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Words_of_Truth said:


> how many Chapters of Marines and Imperial Guard did they use in the Damocles Crusade and they barely reached anything of an importance before grinding to a halt.
> .


They only pulled back because of the Tyranids, who inadvertently saved the Tau from being wiped out.


----------



## Samules (Oct 13, 2010)

Malus Darkblade said:


> They only pulled back because of the Tyranids, who inadvertently saved the Tau from being wiped out.


Wiped out? The crusade had been brought to a standstill by the tau military as soon as it reached something more than an outpost. It would have taken a long drawn out war to beat the tau.


----------



## Doelago (Nov 29, 2009)

Samules said:


> Wiped out? The crusade had been brought to a standstill by the tau military as soon as it reached something more than an outpost. It would have taken a long drawn out war to beat the tau.


Exterminatus is the solution for everything.


----------



## Malus Darkblade (Jan 8, 2010)

Samules said:


> Wiped out? The crusade had been brought to a standstill by the tau military as soon as it reached something more than an outpost. It would have taken a long drawn out war to beat the tau.


They reached a stalemate yes but that was because no reinforcements were coming in on the Imperium's side.

Then came the Tyranids which forced the hand of the Imperium.

The Imperium could easily have dug themselves in until further reinforcements arrived and continue their punishing assault on the Tau worlds, their progress prior to the stalemate an indication of what the Imperium can do with equal numbers.


----------



## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

They reached stalemate when Tau began using their version of titans.


----------



## Rems (Jun 20, 2011)

@Words of Truth. 

They would hardly need to throw every man and woman at the Tau. A large proportion of the Ultima Segmentum's military perhaps but nothing close to the Imperium whole military potential. The tau have what, less than 100 worlds? That's a fraction of the Imperium's military potential. 

The force they did use in Damoncles wasn't that large. A small fleet, a few hundred marines and however many guard regiments. They didn't know the extent of the Tau's strength and underestimated them and paid for it. You can bet the next one will be a whole lot larger. As it was they reached a first sphere sept world before having to pull out. 

They didn't reach stalemate just because the Tau started using manta's. They reached it because it's a long, slow process to conquer a planet, fighting on the enemy's turf. It's damned hard to take planets. Hell the Tau have never taken a fully garrisoned and Imperial controlled world. The Imperium needed more men and ships etc and could have dug in waiting for them, but the Tyranids arrived. 

@Samules Long drawn out wars are something which the Imperium excels at. Had Hive Fleet Behemoth not arrived the Imperium would have been free to keep pouring men, tanks and ships into the crusade. All they really needed to achieve was orbital supremacy which they have the power to do. 

Neither side really won Damocles. The Tau survived yes, but it wasn't their efforts which caused the Imperium to withdraw. The Imperium on the other hand failed in it's ultimate objectives but again was not comprehensibly beaten by the Tau. 

When it comes to to it though, if the Imperium decides the Tau's world's are not worth the bother of conquering they will extermiantus them, one at a time. There is no stopping exterminatus and no recovery. All it takes is a single ship and the Imperium holds the advantage in space warfare.


----------



## Words_of_Truth (Sep 20, 2007)

It wasn't just because of the Mantas I agree but it was heralded by their arrival. I don't think you give the Imperium Forces the credit they deserve, their was Iron Hands, Scythes of the Emperor, Ultramarines, Black Templars and White Scars. That's three progenitor chapters and arguably the most successful successor in the form of the Black Templars. Each having some of the best tacticians in each field of warfare.

Either way it reached a stalemate with them barely reaching any worlds of importance. My belief is that by the time the Imperium could really get enough forces together to sort them out, not only would the Tau of expanded substantially but also technologically. If they are getting help from the Demiurg then they will have access to a lot of technology that would strengthen them even more so. 

I don't think they'd be able to carry out exterminatus on any of their worlds, they simply wouldn't get near or due to technology or tactics.


----------



## Rems (Jun 20, 2011)

Yes but it wasn't the entirety of those chapters. Chapters never (except in the direst of circumstances) fight as whole chapters. So yes there would have only been a few hundred marines as i suggested rather than thousands. 

They did reach worlds of importance, Dal'yth is a primary Sept world. This was where stalemate set in as the Crusade force couldn't overcome the concentration of Tau who were free to mass their military to meet this threat. However the tau in turn could not repulse the Imperium. 

The Imperium can get a large enough force together now to defeat the Tau, however there are more pressing concerns. The Tau are very limited in their future expansion. They're already having difficulties in timely communication with the outlying worlds, that's only going to get worse and they won't be able to respond to far flung threats effectively. 

It wouldn't be that hard to perform an exterminatus. The Imperium has a significant advantage in space warfare. Hell if it came down to it they could just throw ships on suicide runs and one would get through and that's all you need. They have enough ships for it. Though given their naval superiority they wouldn't need to. Ork ships are better than Tau ships, that say's a lot.


----------

