A fairly p*rny fire warrior (Patreon)

Hey all,

And as promised here's the character sketch that was replaced yesterday by a bonus RQR, and again we are visiting the WH40K universe.

We've seen this one in the alien girl series already, but since I decided not to do any double-ups there I wasn't going to show off the rest, because the T'au are a tad more versatile than just being limited to one flavour of blueberry., as we'll find out.

In 40K the T'au are a newer, fledgling race just starting on their journey of playing along in the big game of murder chess that is their galactic playground. One most other major races would only consider a tiny blip on their radar and not much at all to think about. For example, the imperium of man absolutely could waltz over their entire tiny space empire and utterly eradicate it easily, but at this point they kinda don't want to as it would cost them more than it is worth, there are far greater problems they already have to deal with. Similarly, if it turned out that the T'au have been living on borrowed time and the few systems of planets they have control over are major hidden Necron tomb worlds they would not last very long either. Or if they caught the brunt of a major Tyranid fleet their chances of getting through that would be slim to none.

But so since they are still minor enough to not be considered a proper threat they've been able to get on by. Too small and therefore too much trouble to get rid of, just big and prosperous enough to grow their little empire in their corner of the galaxy, and juuuuust about lucky enough to not have been a victim of one of the many major threats the galaxy has to offer... yet. Hopefully by the time it is their turn to face their doom, they'll be ready for it. They've had a few test run ins with smaller hive fleet tendrils and what the empire would consider minor border world skirmishes, and other assorted clashes with the other big players already so fingers crossed they'll make it.

The T'au as such represent the more minor factions, by being the most major of the minor factions. Though they are expanding at a rapid rate. This is further compounded by the fact that the T'au are one of the few inclusive, not-quite-as-xenophobis-as-everyone-else-is-yet factions, they have a myriad of other alien races that have allied with them. Making the T'au the closest thing to a "good guys" faction this galaxy of insanity has to offer. Though they way they get other races to join them has a rather "join us or die" kinda vibe to it.

Due to these things, their cleaner scifi look, and their not totally insane approach to warfare many 40K fans find they do not entirely fit the setting, and posit that anyone who likes the T'au is just a weeb. This dislike often takes a bit of a jokesy tone though, and it has become sort of an in-joke in the franchise to pointlessly hate on the poor blueberries. I for one like them plenty, I just wish they'd do more with the alien races they've supposedly allied with and expand on them a bit beyond a few Kroot auxiliary units and a single kit of Vespids. Though in the old battlefleet gothic game there were some ships of theirs that belonged to the Demiurg and Nicassar, two largely forgotten races that have only vaguely been described.

Now on to the different varieties of T'au.

You see, the T'au live by a very rigid caste-system. Everyone has their place, and everyone has their role. Their people split into five such distinct castes. The Earth caste, the Fire caste, the Water caste, the Air caste, and finally the rare Ethereal caste, who are the leaders of the entire faction.

That fine lass up there? Fire caste, the fire caste are the soldiers of the T'au race, commonly called fire warriors, and are exclusively sent out for warfare, if you're on the ground and fighting T'au, you're shooting at the Fire caste, with very rare exception. This is excluding the myriad of Alien allies they have of course.

Now I hear you I hear you, what part of her could possibly be considered warrior? She's not even wearing anything suitable for warfare unlike the Imperial guardswoman from last week. Well, that's because the Tau like to use battlesuits, robotic suits of power armour that more often than not are too large to be considered a suit but are still called as such for mysterious reasons. Like the largest variety is like 15 meters tall or something, and most smaller ones also just simply have a cockpit you sit in. So it's not so much a suit as it is a mech they pilot. only the smallest varieties of stealth suits are actually worn like one. But hey, that's what they're called. So that's what she is, a battlesuit pilot, in a skintight bodysuit to play up them weeb vibes. The uh... exposed skin helps with.... interfacing... with the suit... yeah.

Let's go with that.

SoCarter out.