T’au Occupation Force

The T’au Empire is just as militaristic and expansionist as the Imperium of Mankind. However, It is more open to coopting other species, subjugating them through deception, bargaining or straight up conquest. The tend to be open to cultural differences, as long as they get the job done and loyally serve The Greater Good .

The Empire’s dominant species, the T’au, are divided in castes under strict control of the ruling Ethereal class. T’au that cross caste boundaries, such as a Water Caste member taking up an Earth Caste activity such as sculpture as a hobby, risk being branded Vash’ya, a mark of disgrace and censure that can not be erased. Those so named are taken away, ostensibly for attunement to the sacred tenets of the Tau’va. Such individuals rarely are seen again, and those that are seem but a shadow of their old self. Selective breeding and eugenic practices, including state appointed breeding partners, have further enshrined this divide.

Non T’au are most likely to come into contact with members from either the Fire or Water Caste.

The Fire Caste serves as warriors, soldiers, bodyguards and enforcers of the Greater Good. They have been bred to be the strongest and most aggressive Tau, and weak strains are quickly weeded out. Fire Warriors, as soldiers of the Fire Caste are known, spend their entire lifetime either in battle or preparing for it, constantly honing their tactics and working to improve their skills. They are guided by the Code of Fire, with it’s central tenants of honor, obedience, duty, and self-sacrifice .

Members of the Water Caste serve as traders, merchants, public servants, bureaucrats, administrators, diplomats, spies, interrogators and ambassadors. Like water, Water Caste bureaucrats fluidly move between the different Castes and the alien races incorporated within the Empire to make sure the cogs of the machine stay well lubricated and keep running smoothly. Members of the Water Caste havea gift for linguistics and are able to learn alien languages with ease, showing a remarkable ability to emulate and pick up subtlest of communication features. In the absence of an Ethereal, they are to serve as local commanders, surrounded by a handpicked retinue.

Besides the Fire and Warrior Castes the T’au race consists of the Earth and Air Caste, as well as the Ethereals.

The Earth Caste serve as artisans, engineers, builders and scientists. They are responsible for the weapons, armor, battle suits and fortifications employed by the T’au Fire Caste. They are pragmatic and stoic, but possess a sense of harmony that extends to the design of their creations. The slender and fragile Air Caste serve as merchant and military pilots, rarely setting foot on a planet’s soil and rarely seen by T’au client races, aside from the other side of a holopict-screen.

Lastly, the Caste of Ethereals is one shrouded in mystery and reverence. They function as supreme leaders in both political and spiritual matters and seem to exert an almost instinctual authority of other T’au.

Due to the T’au’s limited population numbers compared compared to the size of their empire, their presence on annexed planets is relatively rare. Since it is not feasible to station a Fire Warrior on the corner of every Hive block, they prefer to rule from afar through the use of drones, auxiliaries and coopting existing power structures.

The T’au Edification Corps, an organisation of T’au political officers, serves a similar purpose to Imperium’s Commissars and Inquisition, maintaining the loyalty of the Fire Caste to the Ethereal leadership, and being on the lookout for other dissidents elements in the greater T’au Empire.

The Kayon’Eshh, or Silent Hunters, on the other hand, are a secret division within the Tau Military who perform covert missions and black -ops in fields such as reconnaissance, assassination, sabotage and infiltration. They work behind the front-lines, and often far from actual war-zones, seeking out those who threaten the Greater Good.