T’au Empire army rules, detachment abilities, stratagems and lore for Warhammer 40k, with links to the full unit datasheet table.
The T'au Empire (pronounced "TOW" as in "WOW"), also spelled Tau Empire in older Imperial records, is a rapidly expanding, multispecies xenos stellar empire situated within the Imperium of Man's Ultima Segmentum, near the Eastern Fringes of the Milky Way Galaxy. It lies within the reach of the Astronomican.
The T'au Empire was founded by the T'au caste called the Ethereals, who lead the T'au Empire in the name of and in accordance with the utilitarian philosophy they have named the "Greater Good" (Tau'va in the T'au Lexicon). A large and growing number of other intelligent, alien races have allied themselves with the T'au within the empire.
The empire has suffered many raids from the Orks, and also seems to lie in the path of several Tyranid splinter fleets of Hive Fleet Kraken.
The T'au (Imperial binomial classification: Tau tau), also spelled "Tau" in older Imperial records, are a young, humanoid and technologically-advanced intelligent species native to the Eastern Fringes of the Milky Way Galaxy. They are fighting to expand their small, but rapidly growing, interstellar empire and extend a philosophical concept they call the "Greater Good" to all the intelligent species of the galaxy.
The T'au claim to be a peaceful species when possible, asking if others will join their cause voluntarily instead of fighting against them. However, if their peaceful overtures are refused, the T'au may well decide to conquer a planet and add it to their growing stellar empire for the Greater Good, searing the flesh from the bones of anyone who stands against their benign intentions.
T'au society is divided into a number of castes, each responsible for managing a specific aspect of their civilisation. The T'au's central motivating ideal is that everyone in their empire, regardless of their species or culture of origin, will work for the collective betterment of everyone else, an almost mystical philosophy that is embodied in the Greater Good.
The T'au are the dominant species of the T'au Empire, an interstellar polity which is also composed of several other different intelligent species, including the Kroot of Pech, the insectoid Vespids of the world of Vespid, the nomadic psykers of the Nicassar and many others.
However, there are now several Human septs in the empire derived from conquered Imperial Humans or Humans who voluntarily joined the T'au Empire because they were impressed by the concept of the Greater Good. These people are known as Gue'vesa in the T'au Lexicon and they are considered amongst the most vile of Traitors and Heretics within the Imperium.
The T'au are a relatively young species (it has been only 6,000 Terran years since Imperial Inquisitors first noted that the T'au had only just mastered fire and the wheel), and they have evolved rapidly over the past few standard millennia. Unlike other intelligent, starfaring species, the T'au have made remarkable leaps in technology and now represent a real threat to Imperial domination in their region of the galaxy.
The exact date of the founding of the T'au Empire in the Imperial Calendar is unclear. However the way in which the T'au were united as a species is a well-known tale. What is known is that only 6,000 standard years ago, in the 35th Millennium, an Adeptus Mechanicus Explorator fleet discovered the T'au homeworld of T'au and determined that its population of intelligent xenos were a primitive people at the Stone Age level of development, having only just mastered fire. Since then, the T'au have developed very rapidly into a space-faring species.
Earlier in their history, during a period known as the Mont'au, the T'au were a culture built upon warring tribes. During this time, the T'au's legends tell of the first appearance of the Ethereals at the city of Fio'taun. The fortress city of Fio'taun was under assault by the T'au warriors from the plains. Though negotiation had been attempted, the fierce plains warriors would settle for nothing less than the annihilation of the city of Fio'taun.
For five long T'au years the inhabitants held off the savage assaults with their thick walls and plentiful cannons. However, disease and starvation began to take their toll. As the tide of the siege turned, two mysterious T'au appeared. One made his way into the camp of the plains T'au, exuding a quiet authority that no T'au was able to resist. Soon, the leader of the plains warriors was persuaded to parley with the settled T'au of Fio'taun. Similarly, the other mysterious T'au made his way deep into the fortress. Within a few short hours, the gates stood wide open, and T'au of both sides stood ready to talk.
The Ethereals spoke of the importance of peace and understanding between all T'au. They described a Greater Good that each T'au must strive towards. The besiegers and the besieged quickly agreed with the Ethereals and a truce was reached. Across the world of T'au, Ethereals emerged, each with the same quiet authority and message of harmony and cooperation. With the T'au united, they were able to rapidly develop their civilisation's technology, ultimately attaining spacefaring capabilities.
The T'au Empire soon expanded its borders through a series of so-called "Sphere Expansions." The T'au Empire has gone through five main phases of expansion as of the Era Indomitus in the 41st Millennium. These phases are marked by T'au military campaigns during which new worlds and star systems are colonised, conquered, or sometimes peacefully persuaded to accept the Greater Good through diplomacy and a manifest demonstration of the benefits provided by advanced T'au technology.
Apart from the star systems directly colonised and exploited by the T'au, which are known as "septs," the T'au Empire also includes the worlds and star systems belonging to the species of the Kroot, Vespid, and the Nicassar. It is currently unknown if the Leagues of Votann Prospect called the Demiurg by the T'au are full members of the empire, allies, or mere trading partners. The T'au Empire is composed of over twenty fully-developed septs and around one hundred settled worlds, but the exact number and most of their names are unknown to the Imperium.
A known splinter faction among the T'au are the Farsight Enclaves, founded beyond the Damocles Gulf by the T'au Commander Farsight against the orders of the Ethereals. More recently, some worlds and star systems of the Imperium have been conquered by the forces of the T'au, while a handful have seceded from the Imperium outright and pledged their allegiance to the T'au Empire and the Greater Good.
The Greater Good, or "Tau'va," is the central philosophy that unites all T'au. It teaches that every self-aware being is equal and plays an important part in T'au society. It tells its adherents to put away petty squabbles and unnecessary things to unite for the greater good of the rest of their species and of all other intelligent species in the galaxy.
The T'au have no desire to destroy another intelligent species' religion or culture -- though it may not mean that the T'au respect their right to live as they please. However, while many embrace this ideology, and even some Imperial worlds have willingly joined the T'au Empire, other species fiercely resist adhering to the Greater Good to pursue their own freedoms, much to the dismay of the T'au, who see these desires as selfish and unenlightened.
The T'au employ a caste-based social system that places the good of the many over the good of the few or the individual. In T'au culture, every person is viewed as an essential part of the whole society, though no individual is ever considered more important than the needs of the rest of society.
Social standing is judged primarily by a being's standing within a caste of the T'au, with the suffix 'la designating the lowest rank in the caste (shas'la: Fire Warrior, fio'la: Earth Worker, por'la: Water Bureaucrat) and the suffix 'o designating the highest (shas'o: Fire Commander, fio'o: Earth Planner, por'o: Water Ambassador). The five castes of the T'au are as follows:
Lore excerpt from Warhammer 40k Wiki on Fandom, available under CC BY-SA 3.0.
39 T’au Empire datasheets on the current roster, each with its points, model statistics, keywords and abilities.
24 T’au Empire datasheets that are no longer part of the current army roster. They are kept for reference and for players whose collections still contain the models.