[Elliott]

This goes out to everyone, not just the fluff writers:

- How do you write Tau, or like Tau to be written? What makes them unique, and stops them from being "humans with blue skin"?
- How do you write combat sequences, or like them to be written?

[nicholasakira]

When I wrote about Tau in my story (Imperial Guard: Stormtrooper) I tried to make them seem like a very oriental type of people, but also very modest and polite. A bit like monks, if you will. They held high respect for their superiors. The ethereal in the story was always observing the world and using flawless logic to determine his course (albeit, was too late to realize that two humans had murdered his guards and donned their uniforms).
One unique thing about the Tau, for me, was their extraordinary unfamiliarity with all that is savage. I never could make myself write about a tau dropping a profanity or sexual innuendo. And they referred to one another by their designation within the caste, not by name, unless they were having a casual chat.

Combat sequences? It varies from person to person. I try to be more gritty and as anti-heroic as I can (I recall a scene in 'Imperial Guard: COMMISSAR' where a dying guardsman cries out for his mother). Bright blood spraying out of freshly cut wounds, dirt flying through the air, and a ton of fear, the works. If you want to see examples of combat, just read people's stories (preferably mine) and that will get you to understand the process better.

[Colonel Marksman]

It all depends where you want to focus on the action.

If you want to get a close look at the Tau viewpoint, you will see a cleaner type of race, unlike anything else, but not as haughty or classy like the Eldar. The hard thing about the Tau is their general set of morals and their unity. This is why characters like Farsight make things more interesting. In essence, this is what makes them unique to the other races. Their emotions seem to be more dead than others, and their morals are rarely challenged.

The Eldar race doesn't have morals like the Tau. They are just old and wise (like all Elven races). However, Eldar emotions will actually run more deeply than humans, and they even have emotions that cannot really be explained by humanity in a few simple words. One of the more notable emotions is that of warlike, an emotion in itself for the Eldar.

Thus so, the Tau are the hardest to make characters, and in turn, it's hard to make an interesting or gripping story. (To those of you who may say otherwise, I assure you that the author of a good Tau story is always going to be exceptional.)


The core of the story are the characters. The core of the characters is the care. This care is a strong passion for something, something he/she/it will die for. It is usually an inanimate object, but can also be (in a romance) another character, a weakness (as in some kid's movies), a strength, or an ideal or belief (like a religion). The story begins when the care is threatened. A monk's religion is challenged. The lover is rejected. Money is sucked into debt. etc.

Character development is simply the adding of different cares, compounding them, and revealing smaller ones (such as thirst or need for love). This is what makes characters (and their stories) realistic. We as human beings understand the position of such characters, and can believe their actions. Thus, cares can create humor, tragedy, and happiness.


There are two obvious cares given for the Tau race:
1. Ethereal (another character)
2. The Greater Good (a goal/ideal)

It's hard for us to picture a Tau rigorously foaming at the mouth over the Greater Good, because they are so well mannered and proper. Creating that balance is fairly difficult, and worse, these two cares are clichéd, redundant, and predictable. That's why so many Tau player-writers come up with their own commanders as opposed to already well-known characters; they can put more creativity and add a bit of variety.


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I'm not sure what you're asking in the second question.

[Elliott]

Thank you both for the replies!

nicholasakira: I've found that the tau I write are too human, and I think the root of the problem is their tendency to use profanity. So, thank you for your insight!

Colonel Marksman: I... politely disagree with much of what you have to say. I think you left out a very strong motivation for tau: their teammates. The camaraderie the tau have for their battle brothers can be very strong, and very interesting to write about. I don't know why you ignored it.

[Colonel Marksman]

Originally Posted by Elliott

I... politely disagree with much of what you have to say. I think you left out a very strong motivation for tau: their teammates. The camaraderie the tau have for their battle brothers can be very strong, and very interesting to write about. I don't know why you ignored it.

I haven't read any of the books on Tau, but while that is a good motivation, it's never as strongly portrayed as the other two main points. They were by no means exclusive, just the most popular.