They're slowly turning the blueberries' lives grimdark too - the Commander Farsight storyline nicely expands on how moustache-twirlingly manipulative the Ethereals really are, not to mention the Pheromone Mind Control idea, which pops up quite frequently here and there. Come to think of it, a cosmic horror story would work even better with a Tau character present, to provide those reactions we learned to expect from XXI-century, technology-minded humans in other iterations.

They're slowly turning the blueberries' lives grimdark too - the Commander Farsight storyline nicely expands on how moustache-twirlingly manipulative the Ethereals really are, not to mention the Pheromone Mind Control idea, which pops up quite frequently here and there. Come to think of it, a cosmic horror story would work even better with a Tau character present, to provide those reactions we learned to expect from XXI-century, technology-minded humans in other iterations.

Yeah, don't forget the ending of theTau Campaigns in the Dawn of War Series and the recent re-writes of the Codexes. They have been subtly hinting that they have been wiping out some allied races with sterlization and disease. Not to mention being allies w/ Brain Parasites? That's a disaster waiting to happen-even if they are probably good for interrogations. Also, the Tau reacting to human tech was done in the Fire Warrior Shooter. The degree to how well however is debateable.

Edit: TBH, I missed the old Tau. They were the closest thing to a "good guy" faction in 40K, even if the look of the Army felt off compared to the others. Now it seems they are slowly sliding into "Grimderp" territory like the other factions. :-/

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=kecrE4VkI1E

I got the new codex! I have only skimmed across it, but there is mention of the Tau being a bunch of agressive tribes ( like avatar legend of Aang) beating each other up untill the ethereals one day showed up and went: "stop all this nonesense and lissen' to us!" and the Tau "inherting" the worlds of their first allies who all died of a plague the Tau were imune to. (aaand now I'm getting paranoid.)

I had fire warrior on the PS2, not bad but the game feels very odd in that you start with your trusty pulse rifle/carbine (? i forgot.) either of wich is better than any of the (non heavy-) weapons you pick up in the game. Or SHOULD be if this game was more accurate to teh TT game.

Wow, Brother Malachai, thanks for reminding me. I was never a big Tau player, but THAT VOICE ACTING is fantastic, whichever faction we talk about Technology-wise though I didn't mean Tau-Imperium relations (although that is interesting too - how do they react? I couldn't watch the video to the end, the narrator guy's voice and style just rubs me the wrong way). What I was trying to point out is that if someone wants to use Cthulhu Mythos or other cosmic horror elements in 40k RPG, I think it it pays off to bring in the Tau in some function or other, because that is the faction in 40k whose first reaction to a sanity-threatening event would be the closest to ours as participants of the game, so the players would be more drawn in.

And, while I can understand the opposite opinion, I personally don't really mind the Tau being dragged down from their noblebright pedestal into the grimdark mud. In 40k, nobody should have the moral high ground, dammit

Hey here's a thought maybe the Emperor is a Great Old One. Nyrathlotep perhaps (Black Pharoah style) it's not as if there's anything about him that's human except his say so.

But Nyarlathotep is always portrayed as effing up mankind for the lolz , while the emper- Never mind, I see what you mean!

Yeah the emperor is totaly Nyarlathotep. It would explain some of his more "odd" (read: "stupid!") descicions...

But Nyarlathotep enjoys trolling people too much to stay stationary for ten millenia - or do we finally realise where poor hapless Ollanus Pius ended up?

There is this fan story in wich Rogal Dorn finds the Emperor dead and Horus barley alive and out of his mind; So they slap him on the throne and say he's the Emperor. Acording to the story this is why the chaos marines say "false emperor". It's all a bit silly really.

They might be silly, but I still love compelling, well thought-out fan theories. Too bad one has to wade through a sea of excrement to find the few pearls worth looking at. There's just something oddly enticing in watching a completely unexpected picture reveal itself after some fan connects the dots in a totally surprising way. Imagine this "false Emperor" bit as a central tenet of an investigated cult in DH or the big revelation of a story arc in BC - it would massively set the atmosphere.

Also why Abbadon destroyed the clones of the warmaster (made by the emperor's children.)

Abaddon: "Stand aside fools! The sons of Horus have come to reclaim their sire!"

Fabius: "Ok ok! Sure! It's just that there are some complications."

Abbadon: "WAT?"

Fabius: "Well the corpse was real burned and the face was just a mess and ah-"

Abbadon: "OUT WITH IT!"

Fabius: "You best see for yourself."

Abbadon heads toward the cloning chamber.

Abbadon: "DA FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUQ!!!"

A minute later Abbadon comes back.

Abbadon: "Errrr Fabius? care to explain? Is that the..."

Fabius: " The Emperor. yes."

Abbadon: "HOW?"

Fabius: "I guess they got mixed up."

Abbadon: " Great ! That's just fan- tucking fastic! That's it BURN THE LOT! THE PROJECT IS OVER! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON THE IMPERIUM! I miss my daddy. RAAAAAAAGH!!!"

Wow, Brother Malachai, thanks for reminding me. I was never a big Tau player, but THAT VOICE ACTING is fantastic, whichever faction we talk about Technology-wise though I didn't mean Tau-Imperium relations (although that is interesting too - how do they react? I couldn't watch the video to the end, the narrator guy's voice and style just rubs me the wrong way). What I was trying to point out is that if someone wants to use Cthulhu Mythos or other cosmic horror elements in 40k RPG, I think it it pays off to bring in the Tau in some function or other, because that is the faction in 40k whose first reaction to a sanity-threatening event would be the closest to ours as participants of the game, so the players would be more drawn in.

And, while I can understand the opposite opinion, I personally don't really mind the Tau being dragged down from their noblebright pedestal into the grimdark mud. In 40k, nobody should have the moral high ground, dammit

The problem is...is it grimdark or grimderp? To me, it feels more along the lines of grimderp, wiping out complaint races that have willing joined "just because." The thing is, even in Gen1 Tau, they would've still been a villain in other settings (such as Star Trek) due to their expansionist policies (even if they were still tolerant of other races and cultures), but they were just the lesser evil in a dark setting w/ a lack of any true good guys or heroes. But now that is being removed as well because it's not "teh grimdarkz" or "edgy" enough. After all, we need those rare bright points from time to time to serve as a contrast for how f'ed up the 40K Universe is. If everything is "dark," how can we tell how "dark" it truly is w/o a contrast to compare it to? We need to proverbial "hope" to serve as the "first step on the road to disappointment" as the Dawn of War games would say.

Well I think we're supposed to compare it to our (modern) society. That was also billed as one of theTau's shticks back in the day: that they fought more like modern humans (marker lights, seeking missiles) than the Imperium (No sloped armor, etc.) did.

If everything is "dark," how can we tell how "dark" it truly is w/o a contrast to compare it to? We need to proverbial "hope" to serve as the "first step on the road to disappointment" as the Dawn of War games would say.

Because humanity is still humanity. You'll have shining heroes, people of principles, normal citizen that have hopes and dreams that they cling to, and monstrous Chaos Space Marines to quash them, traitors that make some ambiguous characters become good guys, etc.

In the end, even our Real World is nothing close of a good guy.

When did you last saw a powerful country stepping for another by pure generosity? When did you saw army of guys deciding to sacrifice themselves for the good of another?

Theses things happen, but they are exception rather than the norm.

Imperial culture is different, that's it. The majority of people over there are the same that we found a 1000 years ago and that we'll find in a 1000 years.

Also why Abbadon destroyed the clones of the warmaster (made by the emperor's children.)

Abaddon: "Stand aside fools! The sons of Horus have come to reclaim their sire!"

Fabius: "Ok ok! Sure! It's just that there are some complications."

Abbadon: "WAT?"

Fabius: "Well the corpse was real burned and the face was just a mess and ah-"

Abbadon: "OUT WITH IT!"

Fabius: "You best see for yourself."

Abbadon heads toward the cloning chamber.

Abbadon: "DA FUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUUQ!!!"

A minute later Abbadon comes back.

Abbadon: "Errrr Fabius? care to explain? Is that the..."

Fabius: " The Emperor. yes."

Abbadon: "HOW?"

Fabius: "I guess they got mixed up."

Abbadon: " Great ! That's just fan- tucking fastic! That's it BURN THE LOT! THE PROJECT IS OVER! I WILL HAVE MY REVENGE ON THE IMPERIUM! I miss my daddy. RAAAAAAAGH!!!"

You know, this sounds very much like Dude, Where's my Land Speeder?

Edit: Link gets broken when pasted for some reason. Got a new source.