The Gigantic Universe of Warhammer 40k Xenos – Part 3

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A bunch of Tau from various castes to discuss important matters.

Now that we have mostly finished the overview of the Craftworld Eldar and the Necrons in the, “War in Heaven,” we will discuss the other sect of the Eldar called the Dark Eldar. Those who did not escape on the craftworlds, were still in the webway, but not eaten by the Chaos God Slaanesh. We will also discuss the Tau who are a race of aliens, who wish to propagate their ideas of the “Greater Good.”

As stated in the previous issue, the Eldar race has fallen from grace substantially, and after the craftworld Eldar took their leave, what was left was a stinking mass of hedonism, depravity, and other things of that nature. Over several hundred years, they became more and more depraved, with more and more needed to stimulate their own desires. Due to this, the warp works, the 4th chaos god Slaanesh, was born killing off trillions. The only ones who survived were those in the craftworlds, and those on the far reaches of the webway (A pocket dimension that the Eldar use to travel, much safer than warp travel). However, those in the webway were still not part of the craftworlds and still keep parts of the hedonistic paths of the Eldar. This demographic of the Eldar are called the Dark Eldar. Unlike their craftworld counterparts who have spirit stones to stop their souls from going to Slaanesh, the Dark Eldar do not have such protections and must rely on a dark and demented way to stay alive… sadism. The pain of others satisfy them and through various technologies this pleasure from inflicting pain on others extend their lifespan so that Slaanesh can’t get them.

A Dark Eldar raid on a planet.

Lets say you are an imperial subject and are taken as a slave back to their city in the far reaches of the webway called Commorragh. It is there that the real pain and torture can begin. They will torture you endlessly and keep you awake and alive to feel it. They will flay you alive, wait for your skin to regrow and do it again and with a myriad of other torture methods. All the while, your screams of pain will cause an uproar of applause and laughter. Some torture methods would be too savage to speak of in this article. They will do this for around 20+ years until you are no longer satisfying to them. It is then that they contort you into a trophy, like some furniture, a hat, or a piece of art. During your time in eternity, as a trophy, you will still be alive and in a lot of pain, never dying. Yea, these are some MESSED UP PEOPLE that you don’t want to get captured by.

A bunch of Tau fire warriors fighting over something with Kroot auxiliaries.

Now onto a brighter note, we shall go onto the Tau. The Tau are a naive race of blue people from the eastern fringe of the galaxy. They were a primitive species of people not too long ago and now have advanced substantially, even surpassing the imperium in technology (not power). They are united by the Ethereals at the top, while the other castes are below them in their guidance. There are several castes that they can be born into fire, air, earth, or water.

Fire caste- act as the main troops of the Tau empire and are the main fighting force.

Air- act as the pilots, and crew, for star ships.

Water- act as messengers and diplomats.

Earth- act as builders for the Tau.

The Tau have a lot of east Asian influence and inspiration (primarily gundam). They have giant battle suits with rail guns, fusion blasters, and ion blasters. Their marksmen and shooting is unparalleled, and their ranged weaponry are also very powerful and can even put a dent into space marine power armor. However, their scrawny weak bodies make it so they are terrible in melee. Their melee is straight garbage, no dedicated melee weapons, no swords, no power axes, just pew pew shooting. If you close range with them, you basically won. They also have shorter lifespans, only around 40 years natural life expectancy.

What really sets them apart is that they believe in something called, “The Greater Good,” which is the belief that all sentient beings should strive to ensure the greatest good for the greatest number of beings in the galaxy. They try to integrate other species to their cause and accept them into the greater good. They share everything that they have and try to do the best for all in their society, no matter where they come from or who they are.

You’re probably thinking to yourself right now, “Wait, this does not seem evil, not really grimdark warhammer.” You would be right. In the community, they are seen as the goody goody, the outliers of the 40k universe, blind to the truth of the galaxy. Not having been exposed to the horrors of the entire galaxy, they are not seen as “evil” like literally everyone else. You see, the Tau get a lot of hate, because they don’t fit to well into the dark depressing setting of Warhammer 40k. They lack the really cool, dark, depressing, and unique things that everyone else has that gives them character. They seem like the cliche good guys that every other universe has. There is also the tabletop problem, but that is a story for another day.

Come back for part 4 where we talk about chaos and its gods.