Designing a tau focused space marine chapter

[Chapter Master Gideon Dann]

hi all,

i'm looking to design a renegade space marine chapter who have defected to the tau and their doctrine. as i have no experience in designing a chapter i would welcome advice on a name and any other help you can give. my basic idea is that for as yet undetermined reasons my chapter defected to the tau and their idea of the greater good. i am planning to paint them using the standard fire warrior colours. any advice or criticism would be greatly appreciated. this is my first attempt at designing a chapter.

[Codicier Lucion]

Mr Goto, is that you?

 

Right, in all seriousness though this isn't a good idea. Space Marines, even the youngest members of the youngest chapters, are fanatical warriors utterly loyal to the Emperor if not the Imperium in some cases. You'd have to create a very, very good reason why they do not find the idea of leaving the Imperium utterly abhorrent and why they would choose to forsake all oaths and thousands of years of loyalty to the Emperor.

[Commander Sasha]

DIY chapter creation

 

Good place to start!

[kiwitexansfan]

Mr Goto, is that you?

 

Right, in all seriousness though this isn't a good idea. Space Marines, even the youngest members of the youngest chapters, are fanatical warriors utterly loyal to the Emperor if not the Imperium in some cases. You'd have to create a very, very good reason why they do not find the idea of leaving the Imperium utterly abhorrent and why they would choose to forsake all oaths and thousands of years of loyalty to the Emperor.

 

 

Ahem, **cough** Horus Heresy **cough**.

 

Space Marines fall to chaos ALL the time, why could they not fall to some other cause?

 

As for not knowing why they are with the Tau, don't like that idea.

 

Take your thread with you down to Liber Astartes.

[Chapter Master Gideon Dann]

yes, i know this is a tricky route to take but i love a challenge

i'm thinking that this chapter focused mainly on the topic of protecting humanity before their conversion - possibly entering into conflict with the inquisition over this. for example if the inquisition try to perform exterminatus on a world this chapter believed they could save. that could be the initial push. the chapter could go on a crusade with the imperial guard into tau space. (giving me the chance to paint up some imperial guard as gueve'sa) however for an undetermined reason the tau gain the upper hand. the space marines see the conversion of the imperial guard and contrast it with the xenocidal actions of the empire. as tau citizens can still worship the emperor perhaps they need not turn from the emperor but only from the high lords of terra a la soul drinkers.

[Chapter Master Gideon Dann]

help me out here please

how do i move it?

[Sidewinder 3]

I sincerely don't think that this could happen...It is true that Space Marines have gone renegade, and have fallen to Chaos...but it is due to a different set of inner motivations. In all of this cases the SM were actually thinking (Horus in Primis) to better serve humanity declaring their loyalty to the Chaos Gods or in some cases to gain something for themselves or their inner circle. But the Imperium and SM in particular are Deeply Xenophobic; I do not think that the greater good could offer anything to them, which could push a whole chapter or even a few individual SM to defect to Tau

[Solid Zaku]

True, and even Chaos Space Marines retain their prior xenophobia. The Word Bearers in particular hate aliens as much as their loyal counterparts, arguing that they're racially unfit for the blessings of the Dark Gods.

[Whitefireinferno]

I like the Idea personally and could see Marines Defecting to the "Greater Good" why Because they have Been declared Renegade And well If they are not Chaos worshipping types This is a slightly better plan for them than being hunted By chaos for not being Chaos and Hunted By the Imperium for not being Imperial and the Greater Good being the only ones to out stretch a Hand. Because The Ultra have been all We won't kill you if you go and the like. With the Right working out you could Have a Reasonable background Heretical to the days but still better than Durr we fel to Kaos Kaos is good but we still use the Loyalist dex because we whinge about everything chaos.

[Marshal Wilhelm]

hi all,

i'm looking to design a renegade space marine chapter who have defected to the tau and their doctrine. as i have no experience in designing a chapter i would welcome advice on a name and any other help you can give. my basic idea is that for as yet undetermined reasons my chapter defected to the tau and their idea of the greater good. i am planning to paint them using the standard fire warrior colours. any advice or criticism would be greatly appreciated. this is my first attempt at designing a chapter.

 

Link: Advanced Tau Tactica

 

I love Tau. I too have thought about Tau Marines and had I oodles of dollars, or hadn't started with the Emperor's favourite Chapter already, I'd do Tau Marines too. You can swap Marine stuff for Tau stuff.

 

Plasma gun = plasma rifle

Flamer = flamer

Melta gun = fusion blaster

Storm shield = shield generator

Multi melta = 2 fusion blasters side by side

Heavy flamer = 2 flamers side by side

etc.

 

I have tried the pulse weapons in Marine hands, but they are too thin and don't look suitably heroic. Also, all the mêlée weapons would still have to be Imperial issue.

 

You could also use the Chaos Dex with Crisis Suits as Oblits :huh:

 

+++

 

You have to look at history. Why do people change centuries old beliefs? Something usually has to fail for the change to be embraced.

 

These are some thoughts I have had, feel free to copy, blend or discard them as you wish:

Parts of the Chapter have gone renegade, but instead of being soulless sell-outs who become the usual Chaos lackeys, they have been won over by the superior ideals that the Greater Good encapsulates. Instead of making their way to the Eye or to the Maelstrom, they've headed to the Tau Empire. They would have been from the South East of the Imperium, most likely.

 

The Chapter was fighting around the Tau 3rd phase areas, though not always against the Tau themselves. The Chapter Master has dealt with those who have betrayed the Imperium and joined the Tau. He was secretly impressed at how much those humans love the Greater Good, far more than he has seen in devotion to the Emperor [that wasn't a little odd]. His Chapter has been hammered when fighting a third party, such as Tyranids. The Tau of the area have fought alongside his Marines in defence of the territory and human citizens. With typical slowness, the Imperium has not sent forces in time to help him and it is only the seemingly altruistic Tau that have shed blood alongside him.

 

The Chapter Master has also seen the cruelness that the Inquisition visited on human citizens, both those that turned Tau'va and even of those who have always been devoted to the Emperor. Enough to turn the stomach of any lover of mankind, surely!

 

So in my mind, you'd never get a full 1000 Marines turning Tau'va, as to my mind it would only be the usual traitor warband [who'd gone Tau'va instead of Chaos] or the Chapter would have needed to take significant loses to warrant a crisis of faith. By never I mean, most reasonably plausible, imo anyway ^_^

 

Tau, whose technology is inferior to Imperial tech but they actually have the scientific method, would love to utilise the Marines, both as soldiers but also as living experiments. I am sure the Earth Caste have already dissected Astartes cadavers over the years, but to have some that are willing participants would be to splendid to miss.

 

Librarians would also be a wondrous thing for the Tau, though I would guess some of the mortals who have embraced the Tau'va were psykers too, though I think none would compare to the might of a Librarian.

 

I think you shouldn't have Chaplains, as they'd be the most faithful to the Emperor and would either have to be killed or left behind. Or they'd have lost their faith and would not be inspiring the brethren as they once had. Or you could have Chaplains, and they'd be zealous about the Aun [head Ethereal] and the Tau'va [the Greater Good]

 

Mr Goto, is that you?

 

Right, in all seriousness though this isn't a good idea. Space Marines, even the youngest members of the youngest chapters, are fanatical warriors utterly loyal to the Emperor if not the Imperium in some cases. You'd have to create a very, very good reason why they do not find the idea of leaving the Imperium utterly abhorrent and why they would choose to forsake all oaths and thousands of years of loyalty to the Emperor.

 

Chaos Marines....

[Ladislao]

I do not like the idea of tau supporting space marine...

 

chaos is chaos. it's like drinking... i mean, everyone can have dubt, and dubt about chaos is like... the first glass, it make you lover your guard... after some more, ( some speculation maybe about using chaos for good) you will not taste the bitterness, and you will drink more... and finaly you will wonder on why you are naked hugged to a dolphin puppet!

 

But you can change a bit the story... maybe a chapter declared rogue for some mistake, who will sometime work as mercernary for the tau ( but never against the empire) in exchange of weapons and supplyes?

[Commander Sasha]

If there was a chapter that believed that the Emperor would have been adaptable were he still alive, and that he would have seen the emergent Tau empire not as a threat, but as an ally, and that chapter had fallen out with modern Imperial doctrine of Exterminatus first, ask questions after, they could well justify aligning itself with the Tau, but only after having declared themselves as renegade.

 

I dislike the way that it is generally considered that any chapter that does not worship the bureaucracy that is the Imperium of the 41st century must automatically have fallen to Chaos; this is how the Imperium's mind works, but they are biased, and trying to fight a religious war; I like my independents!

 

A chapter that would side with the Tau would first have to place their love of humanity before their hatred of xenos, but I don't consider that too much to ask of "Humanity's Defenders".

 

My renegade chapter is non-chaos, but a chapter of marines that have become disillusioned with what the Imperium has become (hence 'The Broken Hearted'), and now operate as independent mercenaries, wandering guns for hire etc.

They are disciplined, honourable, and loyal to each other; they just don't worship the Emperor any more, and certainly wouldn't fight for the High Lords Of Terra.

 

This would certainly allow them to hire themselves out to the Tau if the price was right, and they believed it to be the right thing.

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

I can see it somewhat. It would take a good amount of explaining to do, but if they left the Imperium, they might see theTau as the best hope for humanity out there. Let's go down the line:

Chaos- Probably kill off most to all of humanity eventually if given the chance. No.

Dark Eldar- They view humans as animals and delight in torturing and killing them in new and more painful ways. Your joking, right?

Eldar- They could care less whether humanity lives or dies. It has no place in their world. Maybe a temporary alliance but not a longterm one.

Necrons- Creepy metal things seeking to exterminate all life? No, definitely not.

Orks- A warlike race only seeing eternal combat. Temporary but not permanent. More of a drive them toward the enemy type thing.

Tau- While not perfect, many races exist with them, many humans included. Their empire is actually quite similar to the Imperium except more tolerant, prettier, and a bit nicer to live under. Plus the tech rocks. Pretty high on the list.

Tyranids- Well, considering they're a nonsentient race seeking to eat stuff, I'd consider it pretty hard to make a deal with. No, its physically impossible.

 

Go for it. The models would look great at least. Det recently converted a bunch of Tau marines.

[Ecritter]

Space Marines and Tau have actually worked together ... so its not a stretch. Since I collect both, I support it.

[Espada Azul]

While farfetched, I do think it's possible, but older Chapters will probably too-set int heir ways to even consider defecting to a Xeno empire unless something catasthropic happens to them. With this in mind, your best bet is to have a Chapter from a more recent Founding like the 26th, THEN set circumstances up where the guiding voice they had that was supposed to keep them in the straight and narrow of the Imperial Creed (like the training cadre of Veterans-come-Command circle) is taken out... leaving them rife for influencing.

[shatter]

If the tau had geneseed technology, they'd be in deep poop.

 

They'd be promoted from 'You're next' to 'You're now'.

 

No one touches the Emperor's gifts to mankind and gets away with it.

 

So, I fully support the idea. Enjoy your next few breaths, dog!

[Aegnor]

Reckon it's a good idea, and not that difficult to come up with a reasonable explanation.

 

How about: a Marine chapter on the Eastern fringe stuck in the way of a 'Nid hive fleet tendril, cut off and facing annihilation. When their situation looks absolutely hopeless, the Tau come to their aid, on the basis that the Nids will move onto a Tau sept next if not stopped. Combined, they destroy the Tyranids, and in gratitude but also exhaustion, the Chapter Master thanks the Tau commander and does not attack them once the common threat is gone. The Tau tells them that they would be better in the Tau Empire.

 

Afterwards, they are persecuted by the Inquisition for consorting with xenos. The Chapter Master is taken by the =I= and tortured in an attempt to get him to admit disloyalty to the Emperor. He refuses to and his Marines break him free. In response the Inquisitor labels them renegade, and orders an exterminatus on the chapter homeworld. The Marines escape with what little they can take at short notice and eventually in desperation seek shelter with the Tau - their concern for the preservation of human life (albeit human life loyal to the Tau), courage and martial honor had impressed the Marines during the Tyranid invasion, and the Marines have no stomach to fight further against Imperium forces if avoidable.

 

The Tau help them supplement their wargear, given they've lost much of their gear during the chapter world evacuation, so there are distinctly Tau appearing elements of tech creeping into the Marines wargear.

[KhorneHunter57x]

If it is about using the Tau technology alongside the Space Marines, you might want to take a look at the Farsight Enclaves, as I think they would be a bit more accepting of a still-loyal-to-the-Emperor Marine force. Also, they would be more inclined to view the close-combat prowess of the Astartes in a positive light (unlike the Tau Empire's strong dislike of melee combat). That, and the Farsight forces hate Orks (perfect to go along with the xenophobia of Marines).

 

No one touches the Emperor's gifts to mankind and gets away with it.

Fabius Bile?

[Sigismund Himself]

The reason Astartes fall to Chaos is generally because of pride or arrogance. Since they are superhuman beings, this flaw is relatively easy to use. With Tau, you will need to consider a different reason for their fall or turning and also for it to be strong enough to overcome the entrenched xenophobia in your typical marine. Personally, I think it would be better to have a separate fall that leads to them being renegades and then they fight as mercenaries for the Tau out of necessity. But that's just me <_< I would also try to avoid make them too perfect. There's a lot of DIY chapters out there that fall because of the Imperium's faults. It doesn't work well too often, because it requires for them to ignore the fact that although there are flaws with the Imperium, it is keeping humanity alive and if they turn, fixing these flaws becomes impossible. Not to mention, the betrayal of oaths and dishonouring their geneseed etc. I would humbly suggest making the fall their fault and so an ethically grey chapter, as this fits better into the Grimdarkness of the universe much better than the shining white paragons.

 

The second obstacle you have to consider is how come they haven't been mentioned in the fluff before? Tau history is relatively well documented and the turning of a space marine chapter would be a huge blow against the Imperium. Can you imagine the Tau keeping quiet on turning the very angels and sons of the Emperor to their cause? There's also been conflicts where a force of Astartes would have been invaluable. Some solutions I can see is having them in extremely small numbers (<100 battle brothers) or using lesser known areas of the Tau fluff such as the Farsight enclaves or the Perdus Rift that has been mentioned as being under interdiction. Maybe make it a condition of their employment/payment that the Tau don't mention their existence to the Imperium, for fear that it will bring down the Imperium even harder upon them all as they try to make an example of the chapter.

 

Hope this helps and good luck with it.

[NightrawenII]

No one touches the Emperor's gifts to mankind and gets away with it.

Fabius Bile?

It is only matter of time.

 

To OP:

It is very far-fetched, IMHO. The Tau simply have nothing to offer in the Marines POV.

- The Chaos corrupts in the entirely different way, ie. appealing on the inner (dark) desires of humans. The Tau are just nice to everyone, which is not exactly the best way of dealing with the spiteful killing-machines, who hates you and everything you stand for.

- You need a very good reason for marines to work alongside *any* Xenos race. The thing is that the Tau are not just filthy Xenos, they are also enslaving the humans and thus denying the Humanity's right to rule the galaxy. *This* is very serious insult. And IMO, the Tau are no different than Chaos in this regard.

[soddinnutter]

What, besides Pride, motivates a loyalist Marine?

 

Duty.

 

They were created from His flesh and blood to protect His chosen people from extermination at the hands of Dark Gods and Xeno Scum.

 

The Imperium was also created to give Humanity (His chosen people) somewhere to call home, somewhere to shelter.

 

The Imperium has been getting worse and worse and worse, it now resembles an almost mirror image of the realms of the Dark Gods. Trillion of it's denizens treated like cattle and slaves and when they die must fill dishonored graves and when they live its just slightly preferable to death.

 

But what can you do? There is no alternative. If the Chapter was to try to carve out its own little Commonwealth then their Brother Chapters would descend upon them and the Imperial Guard would mop up what was left.

 

So they just plod on stoically doing their Duty, because they can do nothing else except offer their prayers.

 

And one day out upon the eastern fringe they come into contact with yet another wretched Xeno micro-empire. They have Human denizens just like the propaganda machine of the Imperial Military claims. No doubt that they are slaves, cannon fodder rabble and lobotomized drones, just like the Imperial preachers claim.

 

And so the Damocles Crusade begins. The Chapter take its first Human captive from the war. A traitor in Imperial Guard issue Camelioline and Flack. The Aquilla is scraped off and a xeno symbol denoting sept-world is in its place. on his hip is hung a Bonding Knife from Earth Caste blood-brothers ceremonies.

 

The Interrogation goes on for a week. With his last breath the poor wretch spits his broken teeth into the Chaplains eyes, his last words: 'For The Greater Good, For the Emperor'.

 

This goes on for years. every human they try to interrogate, rescue, pacify and re-integrate proves utterly resistant. The Librarians can find not trace of psionic grafting and the Apothecaries can find no drugs or evidence of neural stapling.

 

The Chapter does not get the message that they are to be redirected to the Galactic South to go Bug Stomping.

 

Everyone else does. The Chapter, without backup, gets stomped, beaten, stabbed and stomped all over again.

 

In the end the Chaplain who performed the original interrogation is the only one left in the command structure above the rank of Brother-Sergeant.

 

He brings the pitiful remnants of his Chapter, all 72 of them (not including himself, the 3 not likely to live to see the weekend or the 200 surviving Serfs), before the Ethereal. The Ethereal removes his chains and offers his hand in friendship to the warriors he has come to respect.

 

The Ethereal is ambitious. He is trying to get a Chapter to join the Empire because no one else has done so yet. Also if it's possible to do once they can do so again, he thinks.

 

The Chapter is given official membership to the Empire, it retains the same level of legal independence as a Sept, can recruit any from the Empire above the age of consent and can trade with only minimal tax.

 

The Chapter joins with the intention of rebuilding and leaving as quickly as possible. After a while they realise its not to bad. There are billions of humans in the Empire living, reasonably, peacefully alongside the xenos. None of the Xenos are trying to enslave, eat or suck the brains out of the humans. It's weird. And good. Most of the humans still worship the Emperor in some way, and the Ethereal Aren't bothered by this. Not even the Death Cultists. Provided they aren't any trouble and work for The Greater Good they can believe what they want.

 

The Chapter, still led by the Chaplain, decide to stay.

 

This is what the Emperor wanted for humanity. These humans are as much His people as any other.

 

Their job is now to bring the joy of The Greater Good to all of His people.

 

Just Ideas but that is how i would see it happening.

[Chapter Master Ignis Domus]

That's actually quite good reasoning. I could definitely see that happening.

[Terminatorinhell]

Well I made a group of renegade tau to work with my space marines..so why not :cuss

[Brother Martemis]

the solar drakes are a chapter descended from the gene seed of Vulcan himself, and have always had strong ties with the administratum and inquisition, until they joined a crusade to liberate worlds from the Tau and reclaim them in the name of the emperor.

 

during the first skirmishes with tau forces; the solar drakes were stunned to see a high number of guardsman siding with the tau as militia, but saw a glimmer of hope as the Gue'vesa started to turn on thier captors, in small groups to start with, who were easilly gunned down. but as the Emperors own Angels stood against the Tau; moreso did the guard. the inquisition (of whom, the battles had seen little of) were not sold on the forces of humanity 'seeing the light of the astronomican' again and ordered the Drakes to gun them down...

 

unknown moves had been made by the Drakes, who had managed to get scout forces into the Gue'vesa camps and started to arm thier repentant allies. and they refused the order of the ordos.

 

by the time the inquisition had evaluated thier position the planet of Frontera 3 was in open revolt, 'Gue'vesa' troops, reinforced by scouts and the marines of the solar drakes had taken key installation's, just in time to witness the inquisitioin ships assume a text book orbit of the planet and fire cyclonic torpedoes.

 

the thunderhawks of the solar drakes assumed 2 missions, shoot down the torpedoes, and evacuate all they could. being son's of Vulcan (or grandson's as the case may be) the humanitarian acts seen performed by these marines will forever be spoken of in hushed tones - but it was the battered, scarred and bloodstained chapter master and captain of the first company who teleported to the inquisition command ship.

 

what happened aboard His Righteous Blade will never be discussed outside of the Solar Drakes and the Inquisition, but the explosion of the battleship damaged the entire Inquisitorial fleet and it took 12 terran months for the fleet to be able to communicate its judgement on the Drakes - Excommunicate Traitoris -

 

The Drakes now operate out of the brudashi nebula, not seeking petty revenge, nor committing acts of piracy but protecting the worlds within 'thier' space, be they held by Tau, or Human

 

 

hows that? (fingers hurt now)

[soddinnutter]

Not really pro-tau. Sounds more tau/human indifferent.