4th Sphere info

[Skaorn]

This is what Bell of Lost Souls posted out of their copy of the codex:

 

http://www.belloflostsouls.net/2018/03/tau-codex-reveals-fate-of-the-fourth-sphere.html

[Panzer]

lol

That's as cool as it is derpy.

What made them think blowing a hole into the dimension is a good idea?

What made them think having your whole sphere expansion fleet nearby when attempting it for the first time is a good idea?

What made them think broadcasting it through the whole Empire was a good idea?

 

Feels very heavy handed with a specific future narrative in mind. Still cool tho. :P

Just disappointing that it seems to be a fix pathway rather than a proper FTL method ... unless they're going to blast a few more holes into the dimension lol (in which case the name Startide NEXUS would certainly make sense).

 

Edit:

Also now we know how T'au can take part with whatever is happening in the northern part of the galaxy without having to rely on risky warpjumps through the great rift. Probably the main purpose of it.

Edited March 12, 2018 by sfPanzer

[Commander Dawnstar]

What made them think blowing a hole into the dimension is a good idea?

What made them think having your whole sphere expansion fleet nearby when attempting it for the first time is a good idea?

What made them think broadcasting it through the whole Empire was a good idea?

1. Nothing. This was seemingly just the result of too many ‘slipstream drives’ activated at the same time and in the same place.
2. For all we know this wasn't the first time they did this and it was simply the scale of the action that made everything go wrong. They could well push it as a classic case of that phenomenon where everyone knows something is probably going to go wrong but nobody feels capable of defying the party line and playing whistleblower.
3. Presumably that they expected things to go absolutely fine. Don't forget that we've previously seen the T'au go in for stupid press-ops like Aun'va deciding to stroll along the frontline at Aggrellan while Knights and Space Marines are still stomping around all for the sake of a few good pictures for the folks back home. This was supposed to be the start of a new age of hope.

Now don't get me wrong, I absolutely agree that this is GW writing a narrative to suit their ends rather than one that actually fits. The T'au certainly aren't above using unreliable or unstable tech out of necessity or when the situation calls for it, but the idea that they would stake the fate of an entire Sphere Expansion on something openly acknowledged as still in the prototype phase (much less make a massive public show of it) is a bit difficult to buy into. We were told that the Ghostkeel saw massive amounts of testing in secret before they were willing to sign off on it as ready, even being deployed before it was officially revealed to acquire battlefield data, but when developing warp engines they simply cross their fingers and hope for the best? Hopefully they'll at least tell us that there were successful small-scale tests for this tech before they went all-in on it and/or (*sigh*) that the Ethereals had it rushed into use before it was truly deemed safe and reliable.

 

Interesting to see that we now have confirmation that the Malk'la is non-fatal. I'd seen a fair bit of speculation before that it amounted to ritual suicide.

[Guest Triszin]

SO the 4th went full on facist and wiped out all allied auxillaries? wow...

 

okay....

[depthcharge12]

SO the 4th went full on facist and wiped out all allied auxillaries? wow...

 

okay....

Eh the fascists in our time period tended to help each other out when the going got rough. At least they didn’t desert their allies lol. Stalin on the other hand had the Holodomor against their Ukrainian satellite and thinned the ranks of their own leaders pre WWII, which is what this smacks of. Sounds like the Tau lost control of their situation and quickly applied metaphorical sledgehammer to metaphorical fly.

 

I’m totally against Chaos Tau, but making them face the music and become hardened to the horrors of the galaxy. I hope we get to see a genestealer incursion some day on a Tau planet :D Have it target a particular caste which causes caste cleansing and a caste rebellion, threatening the Mont’au and causing the ethereals to have their first exterminatus :devil:

[Guest Triszin]

 

SO the 4th went full on facist and wiped out all allied auxillaries? wow...

 

okay....

Eh the fascists in our time period tended to help each other out when the going got rough. At least they didn’t desert their allies lol. Stalin on the other hand had the Holodomor against their Ukrainian satellite and thinned the ranks of their own leaders pre WWII, which is what this smacks of. Sounds like the Tau lost control of their situation and quickly applied metaphorical sledgehammer to metaphorical fly.

 

I’m totally against Chaos Tau, but making them face the music and become hardened to the horrors of the galaxy. I hope we get to see a genestealer incursion some day on a Tau planet Have it target a particular caste which causes caste cleansing and a caste rebellion, threatening the Mont’au and causing the ethereals to have their first exterminatus

 

another thought I had, is What if the 4th's expansion ethereals got Possessed by Deamons, then ordered the Tau to kill all of its allies that know about the warp deamons/ might have some knowledge on how to prevent get rid of possession.

 

 

 

Also, that totally sounds like something Commander KAIS would order.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Triszin

[Commander Dawnstar]

I hope we get to see a genestealer incursion some day on a Tau planet Have it target a particular caste which causes caste cleansing and a caste rebellion, threatening the Mont’au and causing the ethereals to have their first exterminatus

 

Something in that ballpark has already happened on Ksi'm'yen:

 

At one point, a lone Genestealer from Hive Fleet Gorgon reached Ksi’m’yen. The creature was captured by the planet’s Earth caste scientists and subjected to extensive analysis, resulting in a lowly worker being implanted with a measure of germ-seed. The grotesque anatomies that sprung up in the laboratories were seen as curious rather than blasphemous by the Earth caste, for the Tau approach to alien life forms is founded on the concept of acceptance and tolerance. When the research divisions experienced a bloody schism twenty years later, the Fire caste was called in, only to find many subterranean research facilities overrun. Ksi’m’yen is consumed by war, and quarantined for almost ten years before the eccentric Ethereal Aun’ghol declared it productive and clean.

Edited March 12, 2018 by Commander Dawnstar

[Panzer]

 

SO the 4th went full on facist and wiped out all allied auxillaries? wow...

 

okay....

Eh the fascists in our time period tended to help each other out when the going got rough. At least they didn’t desert their allies lol. Stalin on the other hand had the Holodomor against their Ukrainian satellite and thinned the ranks of their own leaders pre WWII, which is what this smacks of. Sounds like the Tau lost control of their situation and quickly applied metaphorical sledgehammer to metaphorical fly.

 

I’m totally against Chaos Tau, but making them face the music and become hardened to the horrors of the galaxy. I hope we get to see a genestealer incursion some day on a Tau planet Have it target a particular caste which causes caste cleansing and a caste rebellion, threatening the Mont’au and causing the ethereals to have their first exterminatus

 

 

T'au already know about Genestealer and lost a world to them when they experimented with them. ;)

[depthcharge12]

 

 

I hope we get to see a genestealer incursion some day on a Tau planet Have it target a particular caste which causes caste cleansing and a caste rebellion, threatening the Mont’au and causing the ethereals to have their first exterminatus

Something in that ballpark has already happened on Ksi'm'yen:

 

At one point, a lone Genestealer from Hive Fleet Gorgon reached Ksi’m’yen. The creature was captured by the planet’s Earth caste scientists and subjected to extensive analysis, resulting in a lowly worker being implanted with a measure of germ-seed. The grotesque anatomies that sprung up in the laboratories were seen as curious rather than blasphemous by the Earth caste, for the Tau approach to alien life forms is founded on the concept of acceptance and tolerance. When the research divisions experienced a bloody schism twenty years later, the Fire caste was called in, only to find many subterranean research facilities overrun. Ksi’m’yen is consumed by war, and quarantined for almost ten years before the eccentric Ethereal Aun’ghol declared it productive and clean.

Yup. Sounds like Wayland-Yulani to me :D

[Guest Triszin]

I have to adjust the fluff i was writing for my 4th contingent, but I think i like it.

 

section of the 4th splits off, Tau that dont want to murder auxillaries assist them in escaping and flee the rest of the 4th's purging.

 

SO they are now on the Run from the 4th expansion main fleet in addition to the rest of the enemeis they have in unkown space.

 

they are now lost in space meets battlestar, with enemies of the tau and the 4th tau main fleet hunting them.

[Captain_Krash]

Very cool story progression showing that some Tau can be truly be evil and not so naïve and "good" all the time.

 

 

Krash

Edited March 12, 2018 by Captain_Krash

[Skaorn]

The whole thing left me feeling meh. I never got the impression that there has been anyone who actually really likes Tau on the writing staff. Most of the writing always strikes me as the Tau being the stupid teens on a slasher flicks. The whole idea that the Tau have no idea about the threats of the Warp seems kind of questionable considering they, at the very least, have had to acquire Earth ships from Imperial worlds joining the Tau to reverse engineer. Naivety is one thing but to me it seems like they lack genre savvy they're expected to have instead. Stupid Tau, the killer isn't dead even though you shot him six times...

 

I suppose the 4th Sphere didn't get wiped out by Blood Angels at least. I would have preferred more of a Kingdom of Prestor John outcome personally where the Tau get a garbled message on occasion but no one really knows where they are, what their status is, or even if they're still alive. I think it would be a different narrative from 40k since it would highlight A faction that doesn't know what's going on in the large galactic theater and that there are vast regions of space where a expansion fleet can setup. To me the mystery would be better than "We found them and need to slap them upside the head for becoming the Imperium but with jack hooves instead of boots".

[Sete]

No particular feelings about this. Still not like the thousands of super spaces marines in cryogenic for 10 millennia stupid. But yeah. Evil Tau. They could have been more subtle with it. Would fit them better. Feels like I'm playing stellaris with Commonwealth of Tau. Edited March 12, 2018 by Sete

[Panzer]

I really don't think the Primaris stuff is that bad, but this would go very offtopic now. :D

[Sete]

Let's agree to disagree. ;)

It's just a codex blurb, and until we have a proper novel describing the lore, I won't twist my knickers.

[Commander Dawnstar]

Unfortunately we're probably due another fifteen Phil Kelly books about Farsight's past before that sort of thing gets on the agenda.

[Skaorn]

Well Farsight is the only interesting Tau, he is the only one with a shward! And apparently is Sean Connery. I called it, it's canon.

[Panzer]

Unfortunately we're probably due another fifteen Phil Kelly books about Farsight's past before that sort of thing gets on the agenda.

 

Thinkin about the possibility of having more T'au novels written by Kelly makes me extremely sad...

[depthcharge12]

Consider yourselves lucky. We could have C S Goto writing back flipping stormsurges with multi lasers...

[Trevak Dal]

Very cool story progression showing that some Tau can be truly be evil and not so naïve and "good" all the time.

 

 

Krash

The Firecaste in general are gung ho, and very similar to the Imperium in their views on other races. That said, they reign in a lot of potential excesses with the Code of Fire, basically The Art of War crossed with several other philosophy and battle strategies.

 

Their natural state is as tribal as the humans and eldar (kill the things not us), the Code of Fire helps them integrate those tendencies For the Greater good.

[Shinespider]

More diversity among the Tau is a good development. But... we pretty much know the Sept rules now, right? Are any of them fourth sphere? If not, it seems like an absurd missed opportunity. 

[Panzer]

More diversity among the Tau is a good development. But... we pretty much know the Sept rules now, right? Are any of them fourth sphere? If not, it seems like an absurd missed opportunity. 

 

None of the are 4th Sphere. All of them are 1st and 2nd Sphere iirc.

It doesn't have to be a missed opportunity tho. It keeps open the option to add something more fleshed out than a mere Sept Tenet to the 4th Sphere specific later on.

[jeffersonian000]

4th and 5th Spheres are just DIY Septs, so you can pick and choose your tenets without worrying about Sept colors.

 

SJ

[Skaorn]

I was just watching a video with a guy who got an advanced copy of the codex and he went on about why the Tau started killing their auxiliary forces. Apparently the Tau were fine going through the Warp as they don't really register there. The others did not have it so lucky so the Tau had to kill a bunch of possessed and are now really twitchy about non-Tau.

[Sete]

Fair enough.