8th Edition and Shadowsun (fluff thoughts)

[Commander Dawnstar]

As we probably all know by now, 8th Edition seems to have pushed the timeline along by something a little over a century. While most factions are relatively unconcerned by a shunt like this, their characters being all but functionally immortal, the Tau are one of the few who stand out for having named characters who are eminently mortal. Obviously Farsight gets something of a pass on this thanks to the Dawn Blade, but it stands to reason that Shadowsun should be long dead by the time of the Plague Wars in Ultramar. Certainly GW could cheat and have her put back in stasis again, however strange a choice that would seem with all the chaos in the wake of Warzone: Damocles and the Gathering Storm, but really it feels as though the Empire in 8th Edition should have moved on a long way from her time as the posterchild of the Greater Good. Someone else should be leading the Fifth Sphere Expansion.

 

One possibility is that they'll take a note from the AoS faction books, phase out Shadowsun and make the XV22 Stealth Suit a new Commander option rather than the property of a single named character. It's something we saw happen to a number of characters like Tetto'eko and Crom the Conqueror, who went from having unique rules in the holding-pattern rulebooks to generic characters in the full army books. Something like that would certainly provide a small way of keeping her legacy alive despite Shadowsun herself being long gone.

 

So what do you guys think? Will GW have some hand-wave explanation for Shadowsun still being alive and kicking in the new Edition, or will she be a victim of the march of time?

[Brother Navaer Solaq]

I think she should be  a victim of the march of time. Too bad Khan will be robbed of his revenge.

[Bryan Blaire]

Considering the time line difficulties GW purposefully introduced, it doesn't seem we can say for certain that Shadowsun should be dead. Stories may have been playing out slightly out of sync and so she could be perfectly healthy but 30 years older, or may have been traveling at relativistic near light speed this whole time and have aged almost nothing. T'au may have also uncovered rejuvenat treatments, or perhaps she got lost with the 4th Sphere expansion and just recently returned to real space.

 

Whether you consider any of these hand-waving or just functions of the setting are totally personal.

Edited June 20, 2017 by Bryan Blaire

[Commander Dawnstar]

I suppose that's true. I still haven't really got my head around the messy timeline business.

[Hfran Morkai]

I'd love the XV22 suit to be opened up to generic commanders, with a couple of weapons options.

[depthcharge12]

I wish there was some sort of character generator (oooh ideas mods! Tau forum character paint/fluff challenge) in the Codex other than just weapons/wargear...

[Cap'm Heckus]

She might not be dead. They brought her out of stasis/cold sleep after they found out Farsight was still alive. She had been his student hundreds of years prior. It's easy to say they just put her back in until now.

[Hfran Morkai]

I wish there was some sort of character generator (oooh ideas mods! Tau forum character paint/fluff challenge) in the Codex other than just weapons/wargear...

Yeah I'd love it. I want to collect a Tau Army based around infiltration so lots of Stealth Teams and Pathfinders so Shadowsun's kit is perfect for this but I'd rather my own character rather than counts as, even if they didn't get as many special rules as she used to (would be nice being able to select systems and weapons from a limited list though).

Edited June 22, 2017 by Mikal Wolfheart