Gay ass tau civilian bullshit

earth caste services vehicles. mechanics work on them and get them working again, or if it's just not going to happen, it get recycled. they would have all sorts of advanced tools and diagnostics. most functions are handled digitally rather than mechanically.

Just think of any bright advanced future of earth setting, and insert blue skinned aliens, and that's the tau

>How do Tau do farming please?
Earth caste, its probably a mix of Hydroponics and vertical farming

>Also what caste do art?
Water caste are stated to be the caste that does Art

Just like a semiconductor fab, crops are probably modular and self contained and moved throughout the facility to go through various growth and fertilization stages. Levels within the farming complex have labs dedicated to modifying crops, developing new treatments, and a full time staff fork environmental mainenance. There would probably also be multiple complexes dedicated to various agricultural developments. Introduction and experimentation on new flora, a separate building for growing organic tissues of livestock. End result id imagine would be ration packs like they used to receive in ww2

Ok, last question for the night before I go to bed. What sort of manual labour would be done on a Tau planet. Either as a sort of punishment job for an ex guardsman whose been slacking off or just as a general job for someone who doesn't know much about Tau machinery

Tau are a meritocracy. Sometimes family or lineage gets you a little more privelaged amenities, but anyone from any caste can stand out from their peers and rise above

So menial labor depends on the caste you're born into, and usually the least talented, least skilled, or punished end up doing it

I'm off to bed now but I'll check the thread in the morning if anyone else has any helpful insights on gay ass Tau civilian life, especially for a POW being rehabilitated. Thanks for the contributions amigos!

>when you use Veeky Forums instead of Google to answer 2 word questions

Earth caste would do farming, since all farming is probably done with drones, which are maintained by the earth caste.

Art is probably done by members of all castes as a leisure activity, though it would probably appear in different forms depending on the caste in question.

>Art is probably done by members of all castes as a leisure activity, though it would probably appear in different forms depending on the caste in question.

Yeah, probably.

>Earth Caste: "Practical" art. Beautiful furniture, elaborate woven rugs, elegant pottery. Badass paint jobs on vehicles. Work songs, drinking songs. Beautiful buildings. Useful things, more beautiful than they strictly need to be.

Water caste: Media. They're in charge of communication, they do "art" art, propaganda, movies, documentaries that tell you how to feel about events. The fact that they mostly toe the party line doesn't mean none of them are true artists, though. They dedicate their lives to this stuff.

Fire caste: War stories. Haiku about being warriors. Beautiful weapons, paintings of battles. Poems filled with envy for the peaceful life they allow others to have, but also pride in their own courage and glory.

Air caste: stories, swapped via longwave from ship to ship. True stories, made-up stories, gossip, retellings of things grandpa used to say. Also decorating their ships and quarters.

Ethereal caste: statues of the Hypnotoad, glory unto him.

Oh, Air Caste probably do zero-g dance, too. Maybe symbolically reenacting famous migrations, spaceship disasters, or space battles.

DEPENDS ON THE PLANET

You could have anything from massive factory farms run by an army of drones and a handful of Earth Caste engineers, vertical farms, or even massive lakes dedicated to producing algae.

As for raising animals for protein, I have a feeling they use insects mostly. They are the most efficient way of producing protein at a large scale.

I can't imagine there's much hard labor they wouldn't rather use drones for.
Before punishment, they'd probably get a stern talking to from a Water Caste supervisor. If they felt the need to occupy him with work it'd probably be something that's not going to affect the community if he keeps fucking up, not too menial so his mind is occupied, and not difficult enough to cause any harm.

Because using manual labor is terribly inefficient when you have drones.

Tau are vegetarians, so most of their protein probably comes from legumes, pulses, nuts. Or, you know, the space equivalents. Could be some large scale cyanobacteria (spirulina) harvesting on ocean worlds.

Since they don't need work animals (except maybe on some SERIOUS backwaters backwaters), the only place you might see them is on worlds with obligate carnivore auxiliaries, or an omnivorous species they're still trying to convince to join the Empire.

Kroot are obligate carnivores, but they are more likely to go out and hunt for their own meat than grow it on a farm. Plus, they'll have to keep a stash of meat from sapients they've killed so they can retain their intelligence on a generational scale. Maybe the Tau help them lab-grow human/eldar/whatever meat.

Their subspecies (hound, krootox, knarloc) are probably raised just by the Kroot, except in cases where they're being used for scientific study by the Earth Caste, or Water Caste diplomats are being trained to work with Kroot.

Tau don't believe in punishment. If you're slacking on your job you get to go through re-education program to instill a proper attitude towards your work into your psyche. If you're actively working against the Greater Good and resist re-education you'd gonna end up in an isolation camp and put to manual labor as a form of therapy and a form of wasting your time so you won't have any to waste in escape attempt.

>Tau are vegetarians
WHAT?! I need a source, because that sounds like bullshit.

Actually the most effective way for producing peotein is soy farming. Or whatever the fuck Tau have for high-protein vegetables. With genetically-modified plants you can even have all the necesary amino-acids in that vegetables.

Well, they are technically omnivores, but are conditioned to prefer vegetarian food because it's cheaper to produce and healthier. Fire caste are the only ones that still eat meat, and only after the ritualistic hunts they do to build bonds in the squad.

>Tau are vegetarians

Pretty sure Fire Caste were explicitly hunters back on T'au, the other Castes maybe, but the Fire Caste are naturally inclined to consume proteins for all that muscle-mass. You still don't need animals in a setting with genemods and nutripaste, though.

Xenology says they avoid meat, and both Kill Team and some Last Chancer book backs this up with vegetarian descriptions of Tau meals.

Their 3E codex, however, mentions fishing colonies that were destroyed during the damocles crusade.

So there's plenty of angles you could take that. The Tau could be pescetarian, but not very often. Or the Fire Caste might eat more fish. Or it was harvested for another species.

>communism
>efficient

THE TAU ARE NOT COMMUNIST HOLY FUCK.

COMMUNISM IS A CLASSLESS AND GOVERNMENTLESS STATE. THE TAU HAVE AN IDEALIZED CASTE SYSTEM MUCH LIKE HINDUISM.

I'm fucking angry that people call Tau communists.

Would the Tau as a race truly, passionately hate another species, if we exclude Dark Eldar?

They're really not a fan of orks - the green fungal bastards throw a wrench into their ideas of an all-encompassing multi-species empire

Also if we're talking about tau food, has anyone got the pic of a couple of tau grunts with rations that look like burritos or wraps of some kind? I've seen it today

i don't think so as a race, but many may truly passionately hate some of them, depending on their run-ins.

farsight notoriously hates greenskins, and most of the empire is on the same page because they figured that orks are on the kill on sight list, as in there is no hope ever of them integrating into the greater good. they still hold out hope for humanity and eldar though.

Xenology is talking about an Ethereal specifically. Ethereal caste avoids meat. It's also of dubious canonicity, given that the Ethereal in question has toes rather than hooves.

Tau as a whole eat meat. Their quasi-religious leadership caste doesn't.

>Kill Team and some Last Chancer book backs this up with vegetarian descriptions of Tau meals.
The fuck page is that on? I own Kill Team and don't remember this.

While they've given up on bringing them into the Greater Good, they'll still hire mercs when it suits them.

That's just what google-fu told me and how someone else sourced it.

Just checked the thread today and I'm super happy I got some many replies! This will really help my writing.

Also It's sounding like the consensus is that they're omnivores like us? I'm going to assume they go off of basically a 2nd world diet.

Also the protagonist isn't really disobeying orders, he is just doesn't really give a shit about the job he's been assigned (I still haven't really decided what specifically it is) and feels ostracized and lonely. I'm taking it that the Tau wouldn't really punish him for that, more just try and help him fit in?

When it's done, Are you going to post it here or somewhere else?

Are the Tau even aware how much the rest of the galaxy is owned by the other races?

I haven't written in a long time so it's basically just a short exercise I'm giving myself to get back into it but i'll post what I got so far.

The ground shook as Harken absentmindedly fished bits of mud out of the receiver of his lasgun. The Tau had been pounding the imperials for two days and Harken had almost gotten used to the crackling hiss of their rocket artillery, followed by the fizzling thump of the munitions exploding. He flinched as a missile landed particularly nearby, briefly glancing up from his lasgun. He stood guard outside an officer’s dugout where, at this moment, the Major Generals, Commissars and Colonels were discussing his, and all his fellow soldiers fate.

If the commanders were to ask for the lowly private’s opinion, Harken would not be able to give them a positive answer. His mechanized division, along with two others, had been encircled while advancing towards the perimeter of some Emperor forsaken city. The Division was out of supplies and the divisions chimeras were left sitting uselessly behind the front without fuel as rations were shortened each day. The Tau were content to leave the three divisions as they were for the moment, which Harken was dutifully grateful for. The Imperial army was on the backfoot, and there was no chance of a push being made to save the encircled guard. Furthermore, the mechanized forces had twice already attempted breakouts, at great cost of men and equipment. The Imperials were too drained do anything but sit in their trenches and await the inevitable attack.

Finally managing to dislodge the persistent bit of mud from his gun he spat on it before polishing the weapon with the back of his sleeve. A satisfied grin crossed his face as he allowed himself to lean back against the wall of the trench. As he did he heard a commotion from inside the dugout. Twisting around to try and catch a glimpse what all the fuss was about he heard the report of a bolt pistol and then heavy silence. He snapped back to facing forward, back straight and feet together.

The only men inside belonged to regimental command and above or the Commissariat, which meant someone very high up just got shot. A peaked commissar hat poked out of the dugout entrance as a commissar ducked through the door before regarding Harken. The soldier tried his best to keep his eyes level and clear of any fear. The man motioned for the private to follow him inside, his expression stern and unreadable.

Inside the officers sat around a table. Some were slumped in their chairs, others whispered to each other. They all looked exhausted. A dim lantern hung from the wooden roof of the dugout and the light flickered as a missile impacted nearby. A chair was toppled and a man was slumped at an awkward angle on the ground. There was little left of his head and the blood-spattered piping of a Major General was on his shoulder. The commissar motioned for Harken to remove the body with a flick of his hand. Halting uncertainly for moment Harken grabbed the dead man by his ankles before unceremoniously dragging him towards the door. One of the officers glanced at Harken before leveling his gaze on the commissar.

“Look, you can shoot all of us if you want. But at some point, you’re going to have to face facts. We have no vehicles. We have no air support. Our food supplies are dwindling. We’ve got barely any anti-tank ammunition left and our infantry weapons will follow soon behind. We will surely be overrun in the next assault. We are doing no service to the Emperor by dying fruitlessly.”

The commissar coldly regarded the divisional commander.

“And what happens if we surrender. At best, we become slaves to the Tau empire and die beyond the Emperor’s light. Most likely we are executed at the hands of the xenos. And what if we somehow survive and return to our comrades? We are branded as traitors and executed. I do not know about you general, and frankly I don’t care. We are dying with some dignity and guns in our hands.”

this one?

Harken rolled his eyes. He made it out of the dugout into fresh air, breathing a sigh of relief. The body caught for a moment on the duckboard along the trench floor and the private grunted with exertion as he dislodged it. A soldier was headed down the trench and he raised an eyebrow at the sight of a rank and file soldier handling the body of a divisional commander. Harken motioned for the man to help and he grabbed the arms of the officer so they could lift him up.

“Things are getting pretty grim then.” The man said more as a statement, nodding towards the corpse.

“Bunch of bloody idiots in there.” Harken spat. It was at that moment an officer, a colonel judging by his epaulette, stepped out. Harken’s heart sunk, and he prayed to the god Emperor that the superior hadn’t heard what he said. The man glanced up at him as he lit a cigarette.

“Don’t worry soldier, I’m not going to punish you at this point. Not that it would do any good. I can’t say that I disagree.” He nodded to the body the two men carried. “I’d hazard he’d be in the same boat as well.” Harken nodded in response, his mouth a tight line, before heading off down the trench.
The surrounded Imperials didn’t have to wait long for the Tau attack. Rumour was passed down from someone in the communications battalion, or what was left of it, that they had been offered surrender multiple times and each time refused. The attack commenced with a bombardment as the Tau pounded the Imperial trenches with missile artillery and ground attack aircraft. It was the middle of the day and Harken pressed himself against the wall of the trench he crouched in as the world above exploded in flashes of high tech ordinance and debris. As soon as the barrage stopped he began sprinting towards the frontline. He had been some ways back in a communications trench and already there was the report of firing las guns and pulse rifles.

i imagine the air caste likes music. Earth caste makes sculpures and architecture.

Water Caste paints.

A section of the trench had been blown out from a direct hit and Harken barely glanced at a mangled corpse that lay amongst the mud and splintered wood. Rounding a corner Harken slowed down as he encountered a group of men huddled up, the lead one peaking around a corner further ahead. They were from a different platoon, and Harken didn’t recognize any of them. One of them was frantically fiddling with a vox caster.

“Where’s second platoon?” Harken asked, having to speak up over the intensifying sounds of combat.

“Most of them were at the front. Sounds like they’ve been over run.”

“Already?”

“Text book mechanized assault with those grav tanks of theirs. Couldn’t have done it better ourselves.” The man responded, a humourless grin on his face. A loud mechanical purring became audible over the sounds of combat and the men ducked as a grav tank passed over the trench.

“We need to advance.” The man at the front called down the line. Harken figured he was an NCO of some sort.

“We’ll get cut to bits!” The vox operator responded.

“You got any better ideas?” Another man asked.

“There’s a bunker just a little way ahead. We take position there and hold until further orders.” Said the lieutenant.

“What further orders. I can’t get a response from platoon command!” The vox operator quipped. Panic was obvious in his voice. The lieutenant ignored him.

“Let’s move lads.” He rounded the corner and was immediately sent sprawling backwards as pulse rounds impacted with his chest. He howled in pain, scrambling at the foot of the trench. One man grabbed the screaming officer under his armpits and pulled him backwards while the next man began hurling grenades. There was a series of explosions before the men took off around the corner. Harken was the last in line, and he ran after them, leaving the now silent lieutenant in the mud.

The Tau had fallen back to avoid the grenades and the Imperials made it to the next corner. The lead soldier readied his weapon, catching his breath before peeking around the corner. His head was vaporized and he slumped to the ground. The next soldier up swore, pulling his comrade behind the edge of the trench. He readied himself before ducking out, spraying a quick burst of lasfire and ducking back.

“This is fucking ridiculous.” The vox operator hissed. The four remaining men, including Harken, glared at him. Of course, it was ridiculous but what alternative did they have. The man dropped the vox caster on the ground. “I’m surrendering.”

He tossed his lasgun around the corner before slowly sticking his hands out. There was no response. He glanced back at his comrades, who stared at him impassively, before he stepped out into the trench, hands above his head. “I surrender!” He yelled, before hesitantly walking out of sight. The remaining guardsmen glanced uncertainly at each other.

“Doesn’t seem like such a bad idea to me.” One muttered. They all nodded in agreement.

They made it around the bend in the trench and walked face first into a line of levelled pulse guns. They were roughly forced to their knees and made to put their hands against the back of their heads. “So why didn’t we do this days ago?” One of the soldiers muttered. Harken shook his head in agreement.

>end

That's all I got for now. Next part is where he begins integrating into a Tau village, meets a qt tau girl and the fug

At best only the ethereals and farsight knows.

And now you know why farsight left.

It's the great lie. Farsight found out that they were not the masters of the universe that the etheals lead them all to believe, and that there is an entire galaxy out there of unimaginable horrors that they could do little against. This perceived betrayal caused farsight to go bitter and fight against the ethereals.

The ethereals know that if the whole of the empire were to know the truth, there would be mass panic and much faith lose in their power.

Can you show us the story?

i'd be lying if i said no judge but maybe we could give some thoughts on it?

Space communism is efficient because of robotics and mind control.

Unlike hindus, Tau can move into any caste that they are suited to. Also, each caste is equally important in Tau society. Also, what we know of Tau economy suggests top down central control. Tau IS idealized communism.

>Id imagine they have a fully automated faeming complex similar to a semiconductor fab: clean and sanitized with drones fully automating the farming process. A few earth caste technicians minding the facility and a number involved in packaging and distribution of supplies
So:
youtube.com/watch?v=F11OSCNDYdg

>Tau can move into any caste that they are suited to.
That's completely wrong. Tau are born into their caste. They do not switch into other castes, they do not interbreed into other castes. This is most evident in their evolution and how each caste member looks different from those of other castes.

Bretty gud. I don't know if its accurate for a Commisar to be able to execute a Major General of the Imperial army or for a run of the mill Fire Caste to be able to instantly recognize what putting your hands above your head means to humans. Though I guess it's easily forgiven if it means Tau poon smut in the future.

Actually thats the gist of how fascism works, communism is ideally athiestic and removes caste altogether. Fascism keeps religion and class systems as well as private ownership, its just that under a fascist idealogy what grants a person's rights to ownership comes from sheer merit. In communism, there are no other castes.

Tau IS fascist.

...

What the fuck, I love the Tau now.

The Tau aren't fascist under any strict definition of fascism. You can't sum up the Tau government under a single term without either vastly oversimplifying or only partial correctness. The Imperium is similar in that, strictly speaking, it's not a theocracy.

'write what you know' or don't i guess whatever

>The State, controlled by a single group with a defined head, controls the means of production, heavily regiments society, completely controls every aspect of civilian life, and believes their people and culture are superior and that all others should comply with it or face eradication

How is that not a textbook example of fascism?

It's egalitarian, non-corporatist, progressive, futurist, lacks strict nationalism or a romanticized history, and non-populist.

>Not a theocracy
>The Inquisition controls literally everything

>It's egalitarian
It isn't
>non-corporatist
Cause there wasn't a capitalist civilization developing private corporations for the Ethereal to take control of. It was tribalism straight into fascism
>progressive
How is killing anyone who doesn't do exactly as they're told under very strict guidelines progressive?
>futurist
Okay
>lacks strict nationalism or a romanticized history
All the Castes are in total agreement that they were all horrible murderous barbarians before the Ethereal showed up and united them into the greatest force in the galaxy
>and non-populist.
The Ethereal clearly claim to have the best interests of the entire Tau race and the Greater Good at heart

I should have mentioned he's a commissar general or something. I felt like the whole surrendering but was a bit awkwardly done but I wasn't really sure how to go about it. Basically any story I've read the protagonists never surrender, they just get knocked unconscious or something which I think is a shitty cop out

I like getting stuff as accurate as possible. It makes me feel nice.

I would have just made the meeting a bunch of Colonels with a General getting phoned in in at the most. In the Imperial Guard Generals are the leaders of entire planetary campaigns, I don't see one getting caught in a foxhole of some random planet unless they're a Loyalist to the bone hard ass field commander.

>are stated to be

passive voice = no

instead cite source

There weren't actually any generals, just Major Generals. I was going off British Army ranks (which I think should be alright since there is no standardized ranking in the guard) with Major Generals being divisional commanders. Three divisions being encircled and crushed is a pretty significant loss in terms of contemporary pitched warfare but in terms of guard doctrine I don't think it would be that devastating of a blow. Just as an example I think about 39 divisions were encircled at Stalingrad.

>the receiver of his lasgum

pls go

It's a feudal state comprised of thousands of more or less independent polities linked by military, bureaucratic and ecclesioarchy hegemons and allied with a mostly independent theocratic trade guild and stratocratic military orders.

40k uses the term regiment in a way that would be analogous to division in the real world.

That's interesting, I never knew that. So a colonel has about the same power as a Major General would in real life?

don't believe everything you read on Veeky Forums

also, take some time to think about military rank in practical terms

Traditionally regiments didn't have set sizes and were more of a designation of unit origin or purpose. It's fitting with the fluff in 40k. However, in terms of operations and size most of them are divisions in that they are self-sustaining and capable of independent operations. Some of the fluff has regiments the size of army groups.

Good job so far

I'll be looking out for more

i got a 3000 word paper due day after tomorrow so probably won't be working on it until that's done but i'll post it once I'm done since a couple people gave a shit :^)

This. Tau do not switch caste. Each Tau caste is actually a demi- race of tau eugenically bred for their tasks

>Also what caste do art?

There was an old piece of fluff about a duo of Tau war correspondents filming a Tau victory right in the combat zone. I can't remember their caste, but I'm sure it wasn't Fire.

The point is the existence of war correspondents would suggest the Tau have a news industry, which suggests televised mass media, which suggests a film industry. I'd love to know what a movie directed by the Tau might look like.

Any chance you could find it? That sounds really interesting

"Coming this Kai'roota! It's the incredible story of the brave shas'saal that defied the odds and singlehandedly defeated a gue'la outpost in the name of the Greater Good!"

> How do Tau do farming please?
Earth caste supervising tons of drones.

> Also what caste do art?
Water caste.

Sadly not, it was on one of the old GW sites, the American or British as I recall.

This reminds of those weird-ass 'model' operas they used to set up in Mao's China. 'Taking Tiger Mountain by Strategy' and stuff like that.

Bump for the greater good

It'd probably be water, since they deal in propaganda.

>Tau have propaganda
>therefore Tau have mass media
>therefore Tau make movies

gue'kkake

Mass media and movies are propaganda. So he's right, tho.

I imagine Taus have a lot of variants of the ugly duckling story except with the emphasis being about how happy the swan is once he finds where he belongs in the organization of the water fowl and with a wise old !Ethereal representative animal giving it advice.

"And so the small Krootox found peace and happiness with the Grox and the hounds all by accepting the advice and guidence of the wise and old bird"

No, the Earth caste are farmers, merchants, laborers, etc. Water caste are diplomats and the like. Fire caste are the Tau we usually see on the tabletop, soldiers and crisis suit pilots. Water caste fly the ships and are actually incapable of living in normal gravity conditions, as they are incredibly tall and thin, growing up in zero g environments.

I think he meant that farming is done in vertical buildings, and that art is done by the water caste. Not that water caste does farming.

>Water caste fly the ships
Air caste.

Incredibly small quibble, largely for immersion sake; the Imperium doesn't have cigarettes, they have Lho sticks.