History Characters / Warhammer40000TauEmpire

When the Fourth Sphere Expansion launched, the combined effects of thousands of experimental Slipstream Modules activating at once cast the entire fleet into the Warp and stranded it there. As daemons descended and feasted on the trapped armada, beginning with the more psychically-active auxiliaries, the T'au present witnessed a miracle: an immense many-armed entity reminiscent of an Ethereal. This apparition granted them passage from their doom, opening the wormhole known as the Startide Nexus in the process.

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* {{Fictionary}}: One of the better realized examples in the series. T'au words tend to be composed of smaller particle words combined to make up a more complex concept (much like many real world languages) with each particle [[PunctuationShaker separated by apostrophes]]. As many particles are reused between words, many patterns become evident when studying many of the words in the fluff, which can sometimes lead to understanding a few nuances on their use.
:::For example, the T'au word "Mont'ka" is given the translation "Killing blow" and refers to the strategy of concentrating force on a target's most critical places. Likewise, "Mont'au" is given the translation "The Terror" and refers to the period before the Ethereals brought the T'au'va, when T'au would slay one another. "Mont'yr" is translated as "Blooded", referring to one who has seen battle. The particle "Mont" is part of each of these words, and from that we can infer that it is a core part of T'au words with connotations of death and fear.

* ElementalMotifs: Despite the strong East Asian elements of their design, the Tau use the Classical theory of elements (water, air, earth, fire and ether):

** The Earth Caste are the builders and engineers of the Tau.
** The Ethereal Caste are the leaders of the Tau, possibly through MoreThanMindControl.

* SatanicArchetype: Heavily subverted. While he is believed to be such by the T'au and he wears red armor, Farsight's motives (protect the T'au from Chaos) are far more benevolent. Due to the ZeroApprovalGambit nature of his "betrayal", Farsight is closer to Dark Knight Trilogy Batman than to a true Satan figure. Funnily enough, Khorne tries to enforce a literal version of this by transforming Farsight into the first Chaos Tau in ''Arks of Omen'', following Angron's murder curse spreading across the stars. Unfortunately for Khorne, Farsight's will proves to be indomitable.

* StartMyOwn: Farsight's faction is more in keeping of a traditional [=40K=] army, and in some ways is a capsule of the original purely idealistic Tau.

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Since then, a succession of Commanders who have fought alongside Farsight have borne the name Brightsword with the current holder, Brightsword VII, being particularly eager to live up to the reputation his illustrious predecessors.Though unknown to the outside world, the dark secret of this lineage is that they are not each an individual Tau, but a clone of the original created by the Earth Caste scientist O'Vesa.

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* DoesNotLikeShoes: T'au feet end in hooves, which gives them less impetus than races like humans to wear shoes, so generally they go barehoofed, including their line Fire Warriors. Stealth Battlesuits do have covered feet, but that is only because they enclose everything, and Crisis Battlesuits sidestep the issue altogether (fetal-position-shaped cockpits with mechanical legs). The Kroot and Vespid have bird-like and insect-like feet respectively, and also go bareclawed, but that is an extension of [[FullFrontalAssault neither race wearing clothes beyond a few small items]].

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* MakeAnExampleOutofThem: Tries this with Farsight when the latter calls for aid against the Arks of Omen in exchange for his surrender. Aun'va responds personally, telling him he will die as a traitor and as a example to any who defy the Greater Good. Needless to say, Farsight made him eat those words.

As the highest-ranked member of the Etherial High Council, Ethereal Supreme Aun'va is effectively the ultimate leader of the entire T'au Empire. Revered by the T'au for his wisdom, Aun'va has been behind many of the Empire's greatest successes, from the destruction of the vicious Reek in the Si'coa System to masterminding the Third Sphere Expansion. Aun'va has spent more time leading the forces of the Fire Caste in battle than any previous Ethereal Supreme, something that almost proved disastrous when the Great Leader was slain by an Imperial Culexus Assassin during the battle for Mu'gulath Bay. In order to prevent panic spreading across the entire T'au Empire, the ancient Ethereal has been replaced by an advanced hologram and AI personality matrix that now serves as the figurehead of the High Council.

* BigGood: He is the ''Aun'o'', the Ethereal Supreme and leader of the T'au Empire, making him the eldest and wisest leader among all of them.

* Hallucinations: Believed to be an effect of the Dawn Blade, Farsight occasionally receives visions, which may or may not come to pass. Khorne tries to use this to trick Farsight into falling to Chaos, but instead Farsight is talked to his senses by a vision of Puretide, and rejects the Blood God.

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* BladeOnAStick: Ethereals sometimes wield an Honor Blade, a staff with a pair of {{Absurdly Sharp Blade}}s at either end. An Ethereal trained in its use is said to be able to [[ImplausibleFencingPowers spin the staff around so fast]] as to make the blades on the ends almost invisible. The Honor Blade is primarily used to settle disputes between Ethereals in [[{{Flynning}} stylized, bloodless duels]], where the sharpness of the blades is used to highlight an Ethereals' restraint and self-control, rather than intent to kill. However, when someone who has no regard for the Greater Good draws near an Ethereal, said restraint need not apply.

* BladeOnAStick: Aun'Shi uses the Ethereals' honour blade in combat, a pole with one blade on each end.

* BladeOnAStick: The Kroot use long rifles with a pair of [[SinisterScythe scythe-like]] [[BayonetYa bayonets]] at either end. The Kroot use these [[MixAndMatchWeapon both as a rifle, and as their primary melee weapon]], harkening back to their ancient bladed fighting staves before they adopted firearms. The weapon's great length, combined with the Kroot's own taut, whip-like muscles, allow it to strike with great force when swung in wide arcs.

* CloseRangeCombatant: Their biggest direct-combat strength, and the primary reason that the T'au employ them. However, they are [[AvertedTrope not]] [[CripplingOverspecialization so specialized]] in it to the point of being unable to do anything else, but on the other hand [[MasterOfNone they are only moderately good at it by the standards of other dedicated assault troops]]. They are relatively fragile due to [[FullFrontalAssault not wearing armor]], but they do use [[FragileSpeedster their speed and quick-contracting muscles]] to rain [[GlassCannon several hard-hitting blows]] with the many [[BayonetYa bayonets]] on their [[BladeOnAStick long Kroot rifles]].

* SchizoTech: [[CreativeSterility Not being particularly creative]], the Kroot had a very slow pace of technological advancement, and their technology was jumped ahead when the Orks invaded their homeworld and the Kroot [[CannibalismSuperpower absorbed]] their GeneticMemory of how to build more technologically advanced devices. Couple this with technology granted to the Kroot as payment for services rendered, and Kroot societies are free mixes of advanced technology with traditional Kroot tribal crafts. For a battlefield example, the iconic Kroot rifle is a breach-loading longarm that also functions as a double-ended BladeOnAStick, yet it fires very advanced munitions provided to the Kroot by the T'au to give it a deceptively high stopping-power per shot.

** Commander Farsight's personal Battlesuit has all of the above perks of the [=XV8=] ''and'' the power of the Dawn Blade, giving him the distinction of being the only T'au that can tear his enemies a new one in combat. It's also powerful enough that it allows him to cleave through tanks like a hot knife through butter.

* SatanicArchetype: Heavily subverted. While he is believed to be such by the T'au and he wears red armor, Farsight's motives (protect the T'au from Chaos) are far more benevolent. Due to the ZeroApprovalGambit nature of his "betrayal", Farsight is closer to Dark Knight Trilogy Batman than to a true Satan figure.
** Funnily enough, Khorne tries to enforce a literal version of this by transforming Farsight into the first Chaos Tau in ''Arks of Omen'', following Angron's murder curse spreading across the stars. Unfortunately for Khorne, Farsight's will proves to be indomitable.

* GentleGiant: Despite being powerful enough to fight GiantMecha hand-to-hand, Vorgh are peaceful begins when others aren't hostile towards them.

* MechVersusBeast: They're so large that their primary battlefield role is to wrestle down enemy armored walkers.

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* FounderOfTheKingdom: Created the Farsight Enclave, thanks to how loyal his forces were to him. They were unwilling to leave their leader behind in his self-imposed exile. This has actually evolved over the centuries into a small breakaway Empire, with its own list of Septs and a distinct society.

* StartMyOwn: Farsight's faction is more in keeping of a traditional [=40K=] army.