Forhekset
09-04-2009, 03:43 AM
I was writing this well before Xenology came into existance and the idea that the Aun's control the Tau using a pheronome. In my take I had that the Aun's organ had some kind of latent psychic function where it would be used in the exact same way, but just that it was psychic in origin (all the better to fall to Chaos with). I understand they apparently have little to no presence in the warp, even though I think that's silly but oh well, my ideas predate that point as well.
I know it's far fetched and I'm not even sure I would finish this, and I know it's not considered a good idea to put words in the mouths of and use established characters for your own fluff but I did so anyway cause I thought it fit so well into established lore that it was a good idea.. I'm talking about Commander Farsight, as what my idea includes is possibly a reason for why he ran off on his own, but the main focus is on N'dras and its populace and leaders.
Anyway, for my idea of Chaos Tau I had it that N'dras would be the logical place to create a schism, seeing as there seems to be something wrong going on there according to its descriptions in the Codexs, and that the Tau's philosophy of life is very ripe for attack. I think it's best conveyed in this dialogue I wrote between Farsight and his friend of same rank from N'dras, O''lynu'Korst'la (which roughly means "Steadfast Reaper", or so my research tells me). In their fall to chaos they will champion their idea of Mont'au'Monat, which is of course The Terror which every Tau fears, but to them also means The Freedom of One, as in the sense of individualism and freedom lacking in Tau society. Anyway heres the scene...
"In defiance of the Tau'va, you would throw down our vows of Tel'rissa? Those most honourable of oaths, taken that day before thousands of our Shas brothers in the greatest battledome of Vior'la, nay, the entire empire?" Commander Farsight glowered across the war torn earth at his comrade Korst'la. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Korst'la only smiled.
"You still do not understand, do you, Shovah? In serving the Tau'va we submit ourselves to the singular idea that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... but in that, we drive ourselves to oblivion! If every one of us is working so hard for the Greater Good, who is left to enjoy it? Who is left to use that power? We fight so hard and we die with a pure heart, knowing that our courage serves a greater purpose. I ask you, what is that purpose? The Tau'va crushes the spirit of our individualism. I could of done anything with my time in this world, but I was made a soldier. We were not given a choice! Divine providence? I say it is folly."
As if moved by an unseen force, Shovah sneered and raised his hand to strike Korst'la for his heresy. But he did not.
"Ha! See? You move to silence me, but is it your hand that would strike me down? The hand of the Aun drives us all to our destruction. The empire is not a conscious entity. It does not feel pain, nor sorrow, nor pleasure!" Korst'la stepped forward to meet Shovah's glare. "But we do, and we slave for it. We slave for an ideal of unity that feels nothing."
Shovah grunted and spun on his heel in disgust. Lies! But why did it make so much sense?
"You know what I say to be true. How many soldiers did you lose today? Who will mourn their loss?"
Hundreds. The battle was long and brutal. Thousands dead. And the Aun! The Aun was lost! He understood what his friend was saying, but still he felt the pang of failure deep within himself. Korst'la approached and placed his hand on Shovah's shoulder in a sign of genuine empathy.
"It is not wrong to want something more. Something for yourself."
Shovah sighed deeply, his shoulders slumped in defeat "Even if I believed in what you say, what course of action is their to be taken? I cannot fathom a world without the empire."
"That is for you to decide, and you alone. If you chose this path, there is no one to control you, no one to tell you what to do. You will be free." Korst'la gave a dark smile, as if relishing the thought.
Shovah considered the idea for a moment. What did he truely want? He'd never even thought about it before. "What will you do?" Shovah asked finally.
"I will return to N'dras with Aun'Da'Suam, and together we shall carve out our own empire, built on our own tenets of Mont'au'Monat." Shovah glanced sharply at Korst'la, the very mention of Mont'au sending chills down his spine. Korst'la merely laughed.
The basic stream of the plot would be something along the lines of some Chaos artifact would be discovered in the N'dras system, and thanks to Tau's almost complete ignorance as to the warp and it's corrupting effect, they would start to research it and it would plant the seed of doubt in the leaders minds. I havn't named that character but the leading Aun would start to propegate the beginning of this new theory, and it would be fairly innocent to begin with and not so radical as to shatter the currently established doctrines and not garner that much attention. He would believe he is doing the right thing. Alas, his underling, Aun'Da'Suam (Dark Flame), would be conspiring on a much darker path, the Chaos artifact or whatever preying on his sense of ambition and what have you, as it does.
Then there is an incident on Arthas Moloch where a small cadre of Tau go missing (labeled as an Artifact world by the Tau, something is obviously up on that planet) and due to the politcal unrest rumoured to be happening on N'dras the T'au Aun overlords send a contingent from N'dras to investigate (I think it's nearby, I can't remember?) along with some from Vior'la (Farsight included), just to get them more involved and less dormant to stir up whatever troubles are going on at home, and with Farsight in tow he can act as the beacon of Tau that they all look up to. Something to that effect, anyway. Da'suam proposes they head the Aun leadership on this mission, as an act of good will to smooth things over with T'au, and he and his superior lead the detachment. Da'suam has set this whole thing up and will be his shot for total control.
I actually can't remember what I had planned to come next, but somehow the leading Aun (head of N'dras) is killed or assassinated (Da'suams doing), and the ensuring battle (with whoever) is fueled by alot of intense emotion due to his loss, and Da'suam weilds this in such a way as to corrupt the troops and their leaders (Korst'la already being onboard and Da'suam's right hand). Anyway, by the end of all this, O'Shovah takes his army and runs off just like in the fluff, with his new sword (I havn't decided how to incorporate that), having lost the Aun in which 'controls' the Tau and keeps them in line and having his friends convince him he should, and the N'dras guys go back home and and with Da'suam now in charge, things get really bad really quickly. We now have Chaos Tau.
Or so my story goes.
In the end it can't really be done since they decided the Tau Aun's organ uses pheramones and not subconscious psyker stuff, but oh well. It began as a means to an end to somehow explain Chaos Tau, but in the end I really like the idea because of the dialogue there, and how the Freedom of One is actually a reasonable thing to consider. Free from the Aun's influence, would not at least some Tau feel resentful to their all for one lifestyle? I think it's a really interesting way to break down the rock solid idealism of the Tau culture, and that's what it's all about for me now.
It's also fun to see what sort of army you might end up with, with the Fire Warriors falling to the worship of any of the Chaos gods, and the reasoning behind that transition, what with Slaanesh tempting them with the fruits of defiance of the Tau'va, and the kind of activities they could get into, and being so stricken by an Aun's death that they go into a brutal frenzy.
Anyway, what do you think? I know it's sort of a stupid idea but I enjoyed writing it out. It could just as easily be used as an excuse for renegade Tau and not falling to Chaos, which is alot more reasonable.
I know it's far fetched and I'm not even sure I would finish this, and I know it's not considered a good idea to put words in the mouths of and use established characters for your own fluff but I did so anyway cause I thought it fit so well into established lore that it was a good idea.. I'm talking about Commander Farsight, as what my idea includes is possibly a reason for why he ran off on his own, but the main focus is on N'dras and its populace and leaders.
Anyway, for my idea of Chaos Tau I had it that N'dras would be the logical place to create a schism, seeing as there seems to be something wrong going on there according to its descriptions in the Codexs, and that the Tau's philosophy of life is very ripe for attack. I think it's best conveyed in this dialogue I wrote between Farsight and his friend of same rank from N'dras, O''lynu'Korst'la (which roughly means "Steadfast Reaper", or so my research tells me). In their fall to chaos they will champion their idea of Mont'au'Monat, which is of course The Terror which every Tau fears, but to them also means The Freedom of One, as in the sense of individualism and freedom lacking in Tau society. Anyway heres the scene...
"In defiance of the Tau'va, you would throw down our vows of Tel'rissa? Those most honourable of oaths, taken that day before thousands of our Shas brothers in the greatest battledome of Vior'la, nay, the entire empire?" Commander Farsight glowered across the war torn earth at his comrade Korst'la. He couldn't believe what he was hearing. Korst'la only smiled.
"You still do not understand, do you, Shovah? In serving the Tau'va we submit ourselves to the singular idea that the needs of the many outweigh the needs of the few... but in that, we drive ourselves to oblivion! If every one of us is working so hard for the Greater Good, who is left to enjoy it? Who is left to use that power? We fight so hard and we die with a pure heart, knowing that our courage serves a greater purpose. I ask you, what is that purpose? The Tau'va crushes the spirit of our individualism. I could of done anything with my time in this world, but I was made a soldier. We were not given a choice! Divine providence? I say it is folly."
As if moved by an unseen force, Shovah sneered and raised his hand to strike Korst'la for his heresy. But he did not.
"Ha! See? You move to silence me, but is it your hand that would strike me down? The hand of the Aun drives us all to our destruction. The empire is not a conscious entity. It does not feel pain, nor sorrow, nor pleasure!" Korst'la stepped forward to meet Shovah's glare. "But we do, and we slave for it. We slave for an ideal of unity that feels nothing."
Shovah grunted and spun on his heel in disgust. Lies! But why did it make so much sense?
"You know what I say to be true. How many soldiers did you lose today? Who will mourn their loss?"
Hundreds. The battle was long and brutal. Thousands dead. And the Aun! The Aun was lost! He understood what his friend was saying, but still he felt the pang of failure deep within himself. Korst'la approached and placed his hand on Shovah's shoulder in a sign of genuine empathy.
"It is not wrong to want something more. Something for yourself."
Shovah sighed deeply, his shoulders slumped in defeat "Even if I believed in what you say, what course of action is their to be taken? I cannot fathom a world without the empire."
"That is for you to decide, and you alone. If you chose this path, there is no one to control you, no one to tell you what to do. You will be free." Korst'la gave a dark smile, as if relishing the thought.
Shovah considered the idea for a moment. What did he truely want? He'd never even thought about it before. "What will you do?" Shovah asked finally.
"I will return to N'dras with Aun'Da'Suam, and together we shall carve out our own empire, built on our own tenets of Mont'au'Monat." Shovah glanced sharply at Korst'la, the very mention of Mont'au sending chills down his spine. Korst'la merely laughed.
The basic stream of the plot would be something along the lines of some Chaos artifact would be discovered in the N'dras system, and thanks to Tau's almost complete ignorance as to the warp and it's corrupting effect, they would start to research it and it would plant the seed of doubt in the leaders minds. I havn't named that character but the leading Aun would start to propegate the beginning of this new theory, and it would be fairly innocent to begin with and not so radical as to shatter the currently established doctrines and not garner that much attention. He would believe he is doing the right thing. Alas, his underling, Aun'Da'Suam (Dark Flame), would be conspiring on a much darker path, the Chaos artifact or whatever preying on his sense of ambition and what have you, as it does.
Then there is an incident on Arthas Moloch where a small cadre of Tau go missing (labeled as an Artifact world by the Tau, something is obviously up on that planet) and due to the politcal unrest rumoured to be happening on N'dras the T'au Aun overlords send a contingent from N'dras to investigate (I think it's nearby, I can't remember?) along with some from Vior'la (Farsight included), just to get them more involved and less dormant to stir up whatever troubles are going on at home, and with Farsight in tow he can act as the beacon of Tau that they all look up to. Something to that effect, anyway. Da'suam proposes they head the Aun leadership on this mission, as an act of good will to smooth things over with T'au, and he and his superior lead the detachment. Da'suam has set this whole thing up and will be his shot for total control.
I actually can't remember what I had planned to come next, but somehow the leading Aun (head of N'dras) is killed or assassinated (Da'suams doing), and the ensuring battle (with whoever) is fueled by alot of intense emotion due to his loss, and Da'suam weilds this in such a way as to corrupt the troops and their leaders (Korst'la already being onboard and Da'suam's right hand). Anyway, by the end of all this, O'Shovah takes his army and runs off just like in the fluff, with his new sword (I havn't decided how to incorporate that), having lost the Aun in which 'controls' the Tau and keeps them in line and having his friends convince him he should, and the N'dras guys go back home and and with Da'suam now in charge, things get really bad really quickly. We now have Chaos Tau.
Or so my story goes.
In the end it can't really be done since they decided the Tau Aun's organ uses pheramones and not subconscious psyker stuff, but oh well. It began as a means to an end to somehow explain Chaos Tau, but in the end I really like the idea because of the dialogue there, and how the Freedom of One is actually a reasonable thing to consider. Free from the Aun's influence, would not at least some Tau feel resentful to their all for one lifestyle? I think it's a really interesting way to break down the rock solid idealism of the Tau culture, and that's what it's all about for me now.
It's also fun to see what sort of army you might end up with, with the Fire Warriors falling to the worship of any of the Chaos gods, and the reasoning behind that transition, what with Slaanesh tempting them with the fruits of defiance of the Tau'va, and the kind of activities they could get into, and being so stricken by an Aun's death that they go into a brutal frenzy.
Anyway, what do you think? I know it's sort of a stupid idea but I enjoyed writing it out. It could just as easily be used as an excuse for renegade Tau and not falling to Chaos, which is alot more reasonable.