Hola, y'all, got another question from my current BC group. One of them was looking at the Fear and Loathing Tau spread, and asked about playing an Earth Caste in the warband we're gearing up to play.

My question is as such: How could, if at all, a Tau join a Chaos Warband?

Originally we were supposed to be an Imperium aligned party, but the party has shifted to being full on chaos.

Maybe as a slave. Tau's loathe chaos as a concept and culturally resistant against it. give him/her a explosive collar and a remote for it to another pc and an ownership sign. maybe a branding on the Tau's flesh in the shape of the warband icon?

Maybe as a slave. Tau's loathe chaos as a concept and culturally resistant against it. give him/her a explosive collar and a remote for it to another pc and an ownership sign. maybe a branding on the Tau's flesh in the shape of the warband icon?

Giving a player the ability to insta kill another player? How can that possibly go wrong!

Hmmm in Only War we play penal legionaries. Having our explosive collars means we have to play by the rules of the commissar's no chickening out only advance (war).

If you play with serious players (acting like grown ups no offends) things like these wont be a problem in my opinion. Besides we talking about Black Crusade. I mean come on it is supposed to be played out edgy.... Every thing is possible even a Tau servant. But it has its prize. As I see it this is the only option to include a character as far chaos as possible. Majority of the warriors also slaves in chaos.

I would argue it is entirely possible to put him in. The thing that seems to get missed is that Black Crusade isn't specifically all about the Chaos Gods and the general concept as far as I understand it is that every member of the warband have turned their back on the Imperium in some way, shape or form. It doesn't have to be just a game of corrupted and mutated but can also be a game concerning renegades, traitors or just those who don't care for either side. Either they have been cast out of their chapters, fled due to the heresy, outspoken critics of the Emperor etc so integration of xenos into the ranks of a warband is an entirely plausible act as the xenos, especially the Tau, believe that the Imperium is a great threat. While certain Chaos assets may find it distasteful there is that old saying about "the enemy of my enemy...".

Tau technology is, and no beating around the bush, superior to the Imperiums current level of technology. By that I mean if the Imperium of Man and the Tau Empire were on exactly the same size as each other then I would say quite assuredly that the Tau would win. Case in point, standard infantry weapon the pulse rifle versus las guns or bolters and don't even get me started on railguns. Tau adapt and work on their tech to further it while the Imperium hide from theirs and try to scavenge it back. It is therefore plausible given the tech strength that the warband may seek to utilise xenos technology in further blasphemy against the Emperor and Imperium by utilising the weapons of the empire enemies so Tau weapons, vehicles, perhaps take it a stage further and look at Necron, Orks, genetically modified Tyranids...and so how better to gain access to the weapons and technology of the enemy than to recruit a specialist in their ways? IIRC Earth Caste are their builders, engineers and scientists and unlike a Tech Priest, these guys probably know how to actually use, fix and make their own tech rather than rely on outdated rights!

There are Tau who have defected from the Greater Good and many will probably jump at the chance to explore new horizons so it seems entirely possible for the two groups to have mutual benefit in the exchange. How you choose to build them in depends on your individual campaign so I cannot of course recommend how to blend them in but it is possible. Would they trust them? Who knows...not for me to say but I would definitly say there is reason for the warband to bring them in.

Unusual but doable a few ways. Tau have a decent amount of non violent contact with humans compared to most xenos races. Maybe this tau has wanderlust and is traveling the stars to spread word of the greater good and learn from others, maybe they've turned their back on the rest of the blue brethren and have gone merc, maybe they're slaves, or just straight up worshipers of chaos. They're resistant sure, but so are Sisters of Battle, people still like referencing corrupted ones right. If it has its own soul, it can get into some trouble.

It really depends on how chaotic they are, and how much they are contrary to Tau ethics. The Greater Good is a powerful force among the Tau, and in several stories, stereotypical chaos behaviour has been described as abhorrent to Tau and against everything they stand for. If the group is a more subtle one, or sees chaos as means to an end, however, the Tau may fit in quite well. There's also to consider if he knew them before and has some personal loyalty to them. Earth caste is a good choice as well. They deal with problems more constructively. Fire Caste plus chaos would be PvP on sight, usually.

If the party is total chaos mode, things get trickier. You could make him a slave, but that would kill the player's agency. An alternative is putting a chip in his head that distorts his perception, and erases certain concepts (mind cleansing, after all, is a thing, but if you erase ALL of it, you lose all that delicious Tau tech and work ethic...). With the right choices, you may get a mildly quirky, still Tau Tau that is uniquely twisted to fit into a chaos warband.