Warhammer 40k: The Case of Good Guy Tau

Today we look at Games Workshop's weirdest attempt to adjust their dark military science-fantasy setting: the Tau. This essay doesn't exactly tie into my last Warhammer 40k essay. More of a tangent. I do have a direct follow up to Is Warhammer Satire in progress.  

The Tau were introduced in 2001, to a sharply divided reaction from the game's fan base. There are four main criticisms of the faction, which tend to bleed into each other. 

First off, Tau crisis suits were crazy strong when they were first introduced. They had a shoot-move-shoot ability that was obnoxiously difficult to play against. This has since been fixed, but it made a lasting impression on the player base. As I mentioned, the various criticisms against the Tau frequently get mixed up.

Second, they looked and played very different from very other faction. Tau are very technology focused, with no trace of the mysticism that the other factions have. Tau are the lone atheists, in a universe full of gods and demons. 

This technology focus affected how they played on the tabletop. Warhammer battles tend to play out like Napoleonic era. A few volleys of fire, followed by a decisive bayonet charge. Tau don't fight like that, preferring to keep their distance.

Third, the Asian influence. With the Imperium being so very European, it makes sense to look eastward for new influences. A lot of Tau haters call Tau battle suits anime-inspired. I don't see it, personally. Japan didn't invent the idea of a military robot suit.

A more credible criticism is that descriptions of the Tau people parallel stereotypes of Communist China. Tau are described as emotionally reserved and intellectual. They strongly believe in putting the group above the individual. They have no religion, in a setting where various gods are objectively real. It's not hard to see the similarities.

I think it would be less offensive if it were more like actual Chinese culture, rather than lazily repurposing surface details and stereotypes. If Tau culture included philosophical debates between Space Confucians and Space Daoists, it would only make the faction richer. But then, I'm not Chinese.

Fourth, and most important, the Tau are nice. Shocking, right? The Tau way of life, called the Tau'va or the Greater Good, has room for every species in the galaxy. The Tau Empire is a multi-species civilization, and that's reflected in the game. The army launched with squads of Kroot available. Five years later, the Vespid joined the fray. There are a dozen other Tau-aligned species that have been mentioned in the lore that never got miniatures. Including humans who have escaped the Imperium.  

They aren't some sort of utopia -- they've got a caste system after all -- but they aren't much more evil than the average NATO member. Practically saintly by 40k standards. A far cry from the genocidal Imperium. Even the other non-human factions of the game are far more xenophobic than the Tau.

Naturally, the reactionary part of the fandom exploded with Tau hate. Just by surviving in the same galaxy, they disprove the "only way" argument that justifies the Imperium. 

But do they really? The main theme of the Tau story is that they are a new player on the galactic scene. They are only just discovering the horrors of the 40k world. There's an implication that Tau idealism will not survive contact with the worst things the galaxy has to offer. They'll either lose those ideals to survive, or get crushed by the horrors of the galaxy.

There's a subtle thread of historical cycles running through the setting. New empires arise, full of noble ideas, they grow large and powerful, then they start to weaken, and become more and more cruel in an effort to hang onto power.

The Tau are the only faction at the beginning of this cycle. The Imperium grew out of the remains of an earlier, galaxy-spanning, human civilization. The so-called Dark Age of Technology. Before that, the galaxy was dominated by the High Eldar, now long past their prime and resigned to being a dying race. Before that, the Necrons, who are now making a long shot play for a second chance. Before that, there was an empire only remembered as the "Old Ones," who created several of the galaxy's sapient species. 

Could GW have done the Tau better? Could they have mitigated the fan backlash? Tau optimism is a jarring addition to such a bleak setting. GW could have emphasized the Tau's naivety. That doesn't sell miniatures, though. 

Is there a way the Tau's existence could undercut the Imperium without undercutting the setting's bleakness? 

What if the Tau rejected humans? Of all the species in the galaxy, humanity is the only one that can't live by the Greater Good. Humans are too selfish and violent to live harmoniously. The Imperium isn't awful because the galaxy is terrible, but because humanity is uniquely terrible. 

 Now that's as grim and dark as it gets.