Katharon
03-21-2014, 07:36 AM
Author's note: So, here is my latest story/brain storm that has developed over the last few weeks. Part of the reason I've decided to write this story is because I recently began collecting a Tau Empire army, in particular a Farsight Enclaves army. I had also finally got around to reading the latest Commissar Cain book, which involved some of the first interaction between an Imperial and a gue'vesa -- or a human who has grown up under the Tau Empire and serves that empire's interests. I'm not sure how long the story will go, as it is constantly developing. Comments and critiques are welcome.
Bonds of Ta'lissera
Chapter One
If it were not for his teachers instruction, Vior Devrae would not know that the world he lived upon had once been anything other than the verdant and bright Ka’ley’ath. For four generators as human lives are measured, Vior’s family had lived and prospered in service to the Greater Good, serving as all gue’vesa of the former Imperial world of Downholm did to the betterment of the Tau Empire. Vior felt little affinity for such history. His elder sister had already left their planet, having passed the necessary tests to become a ku’ten vos’kla and thereby leave Ka’ley’ath to help integrate other humans into the Tau Empire and to show them the way of serving and prospering beneath the guidance of the Greater Good. If he was being honest with himself, Vior was a little jealous of his elder sister Au’lys. She was talented and smart, the reason that the Ethereal elders that oversaw their world and her Water Caste teachers had singled her out for service as a facilitator. She had gotten to leave! Vior spent a great deal of his free time in the evenings laying upon the roof of his family domicile and looking at the stars. How dearly he wished to see them himself.
However, Vior had his problems. He was not yet eleven years of age before he had already received his first name. Although he would always carry his family’s old Imperial name, he would eventually receive a Tau-derived name. His name meant, in simplest terms, “hot” but was also the meaning for being “quick to temper.” His Tau and Gue’vesa teachers in the children’s schools found him easily frustrated and angered when he encountered a problem that he could not solve easily. He had been caught and punished a number of times for getting into fights with other students or trying to initiate such conflicts. Each time he had been taken aside and admonished the same way: “This does not advance the Greater Good. You must learn to control your anger or it will disturb others and make it harder for both you and them to serve the Greater Good, Vior Davrae.”
He tried. He really did. Even Vior’s father had taken time away from the drone manufactory plants to spend it with Vior, trying to speak with him and teach him patience. “You have to understand my son,” said Davrae senior, “We are all part of something bigger. We all have to work together in harmony to make life better for all. If we try to break that harmony, if we let ourselves be selfish, then the Greater Good will never become the strength of the universe. Each time you feel your anger rising, stop what you are doing and count to ten. When you finish the count, ask yourself one question: does this serve the Greater Good?”
Vior loved his father. Love and strong family bonds were a very ingrained human trait. The Tau, when they had settled upon and absorbed Ka’ley’ath into the Empire, had not tried to change this habit. If anything, they encouraged it. Aun’El Kais, the Ethereal who had overseen the colony for two and a half centuries had decreed: “Let the gue’vesa love as they are want; for the Greater Good should be beloved by all. Love in service to the Greater Good is no less honorable than any member of the Tau castes could emulate.” So Vior had taken his father’s words to heart and tried his best.
Within four years, when Vior reached the age of fifteen by Imperial reckoning, or sixteen Tau’cyr, Vior had reformed himself. Though he did not have his elder sister’s natural talent for languages – he could understand but only barely speak the Tau language – he had earned the acknowledgement of his teachers at the training schools. He worked hard to make up for his former lack of respect and had made amends with all the other children he had hurt. Just in time, it seemed, for the Tau’kon’she Festival.
The city was named J’karra, which in Gothic Vior knew to mean ‘mirror.’ It was aptly named. Much had changed in the three centuries since the Imperium of Man had once ruled upon Ka’ley’ath. The proto-hive city that had been growing like a pustule upon the edge of a sickening ocean had been reformed. The concrete and metal towers had been replaced with stronger but warmer materials. The sharp angles had been removed; the smooth lines and contours that Tau architects favored replaced them. The sides of each skyscraper had been given a shining mirror-like mantle, which Vior had learned were used to harness the energy from the nearby star that warmed the system. The city always shined brightest at dawn and dusk.
The city was divided into various sectors, each devoted to different facet of life serving the Greater Good. The north sector was filled with the churning and syncopated clank of Earth Caste factories, their steam-stacks pumping our sheets of white vapor that harmlessly evaporated into the atmosphere. A magnetic tram line ran from that sector and along a circular circuit around the city. Workers from the Earth Caste habitat sector, both Tau and Gue’vesa, traveled to and fro along its length each day.
The west sector, along the ocean, was a reworked spaceport. Its length extended over the water by the crafting of piers so that should any vessel crash or suffer heavy damage, it could safely be plunged into the water and thus buffers any explosions from the Air Caste workers there.
The east sector held the habitat sector, where all castes and citizens of J’karra lived. More esteemed members of society, such as Aun’el Kais, lived in floating islands that used anti-gravitic motors to remain suspended above the habitat towers. Normal worker families lived within shared units with other families. Citizens that had come of age were allowed to live within dormitories that were reserved for members of their chosen profession. Vior always made a habit of walking past the Fire Warriors Barracks, trying to catch a glimpse of one of those honored warriors. It was also here in the habitat sector that the schools and nurseries of the planet were maintained.
At the center of the habitat sector was a government office, called the Hall of Harmony, that dealt with the management of all necessary aspects of life within the city; such as waste disposal, new construction requests, birth and death registry, marriage registry, and food distribution. It was also the place where, each year, the young people of the city were given their assigned places within a certain caste for their life. It was a special day that would decide the future course of Vior’s life and was a joyous festival for the entire city. Tau’kon’she was a festival that no one wanted to miss!
Worker drones hummed through the air, some of them varying white and blue streamers while others bore signs declaring the time of festival events and locations. Large crystal vases had been set out, lining the streets, and filled with lush flowers from the southern forest, vibrant colors of yellow and red. Water Caste merchants had stalls set upon at intersections, all ground traffic reduced to being on foot, selling new pieces of technology developed by the Earth Caste and food fresh from bakeries and farms that surrounded the city. Humans, Tau, Vespids, and Demiurg – all races intermixed together as the air became palpable with charged excitement.
Vior walked through the crowds, trying to make sure his clothes did not become wrinkled, with a spring in his step. He was almost his father’s height now, at two tor’lek tall – or two meters, and could easily see over the squat forms of Demiurg or the more willowy Tau. His clothing was formal and a clean white, a robe made from silk imported from a primary sept world. The white was representative of Vior’s place in society, a young person who had not yet been presented with his destiny. Many of his fellow Humans, wearing the green and brown of Earth Caste factory workers, smiled and cheered at him as he passed. Today, they knew, was a great day for him and the Greater Good.
“Water fowl pastries from the Fio’tan ocean-farms!”
“Try this good sir! No being from the Air Caste can go without a taste of gue’vesa puffy candy!”
“New comm paddocks! New hologram spectrums! Get them here!”
Vior smiled to himself as he took a small treat from a Tau vendor handing out small balls of fried battered fish stuck on a stick. They were a favorite of the Tau and Gue’vesa alike, and Vior felt that he could indulge a little – although he had to make sure that none of the root sauce on it fell upon his robe. Music echoed along the mirror streets, joyful and uplifting.
Just as he finished the last bite of his snack, Vior heard the clarion call of the main administration building sound. It was a signal to all aspirants such as him to gather at the Hall of Harmony. The ceremony would begin soon. Throwing his trash away into a collection bin, Vior began jogging through the crowd towards his destination, unable to run because it was too crowded. He couldn’t be late, not today. Not on the most important day of his life and the one he’d been looking forward to for four years!
A pair of Water Caste workers turned a corner and appeared in front of Vior; both of their Tau eyes widened in surprise at the oncoming, rushing form of Vior. Vior couldn’t stop his forward momentum, so he changed his vector. The change caused him to become wrong-footed and he fell forward and smacked into the back of another Tau walking along the road. Instead of both beings going down in a heap as Vior would have expected, Vior found himself bounced back in a rough lesson in the Laws of Gravity. His face hurt from the impact and he fell backwards, roughly landing on his backside.
What did I hit?! It felt like I hit the side of a Hammerhead tank.
Vior looked up from the ground and found the towering form of a Tau Fire Warrior, fully armored except for his helm, standing over him. A white and red sash was tied around his chest and hung to his knee, a sign of an honored warrior. The fierce face was dark blue, almost black, and had an angry scar that ran down from his forehead to his chin. One eye was opaque, obviously another injury. The other, healthy, eye glared down at Vior. However, for all these details, it was only one thing that caught and held Vior’s attention. Hanging at the warrior’s side was a white-sheath that held a gold-hilted blade. Only one type of Fire Warrior was allowed to carry that kind of ornamented blade.
Vior jumped to his feet and bowed profusely. He was mumbling, panicked. “H-H-Honored Shas’nel, I am so very sorry! A thousand pardons. I did not mean--.”
The Cadre Fireblade cut him off. Instead of replying in T’au, he spoke Gothic. His accent was harsh instead of the usual lyrical lisp that most Tau had when speaking the Gue’la tongue.
“What did you think you were doing, running through this busy crowd like a flee-bitten U’it?” the Shas’nel said. Vior winced and tried to contain his anger at the word. U’it was the name given to a small domesticated animal that was similar to Old Gue’la dogs. They were often seen as bothersome pests.
“It was not my intent to cause harm,” replied Vior, keeping his calm. “I am simply trying to reach the Hall of Harmony.”
“And does it serve the Greater Good to have an aspirant rushing through the streets, heedless of his elders? What if you had hit those two merchants? I myself am angered at your lack of respect.”
“No, Shas’nel, it does not serve the Greater Good,” said Vior, grinding his teeth and keeping his eyes averted. “But I did not want to be late.”
“Always with you Gue’la it is something,” muttered the Cadre Fireblade. Their conversation was gathering a small crowd of onlookers, curious to see what was happening. Vior looked up sharply, angered now beyond his usual control.
“I am Gue’vesa, Shas’nel,” said Vior. “I am not a barbarian.”
“You could have fooled me,” the Fireblade said, looking Vior up and down like a man might inspect a side of meat in the market place.
“I will serve the Greater Good as my father and his father did before me,” stated Vior, straightening to his full height and almost staring the Fireblade at the same eye-level. As a Fire Warrior, the Fireblade had been bred for war and all such Tau were born to bloodlines that bred tall and powerful warriors. This particular Fireblade was unusually tall, even by the standards of the Fire Caste.
The Fireblade stared hard into Vior’s eyes for a moment. After a few heartbeats, during which time Vior felt sure that he would be punished, the Shas’nel nodded.
“You may yet prove to be of use to the Greater Good, Gue’vesa,” said the Shas’nel. “You prove that you are not afraid of declaring your place and firm desire to be a part of that greater whole – even though I insulted you. That is good. Now, move along and do not be late to the ceremony.”
Without another word the Shas’nel turned and disappeared. Vior thanked his luck and moved on, careful to not run again as he had before. In the aftershock of his surprise at almost running over a few other citizens and at having an actual conversation with a Fire Warrior – a Shas’nel no less! – Vior made his way to the Hall of Harmony.
Bonds of Ta'lissera
Chapter One
If it were not for his teachers instruction, Vior Devrae would not know that the world he lived upon had once been anything other than the verdant and bright Ka’ley’ath. For four generators as human lives are measured, Vior’s family had lived and prospered in service to the Greater Good, serving as all gue’vesa of the former Imperial world of Downholm did to the betterment of the Tau Empire. Vior felt little affinity for such history. His elder sister had already left their planet, having passed the necessary tests to become a ku’ten vos’kla and thereby leave Ka’ley’ath to help integrate other humans into the Tau Empire and to show them the way of serving and prospering beneath the guidance of the Greater Good. If he was being honest with himself, Vior was a little jealous of his elder sister Au’lys. She was talented and smart, the reason that the Ethereal elders that oversaw their world and her Water Caste teachers had singled her out for service as a facilitator. She had gotten to leave! Vior spent a great deal of his free time in the evenings laying upon the roof of his family domicile and looking at the stars. How dearly he wished to see them himself.
However, Vior had his problems. He was not yet eleven years of age before he had already received his first name. Although he would always carry his family’s old Imperial name, he would eventually receive a Tau-derived name. His name meant, in simplest terms, “hot” but was also the meaning for being “quick to temper.” His Tau and Gue’vesa teachers in the children’s schools found him easily frustrated and angered when he encountered a problem that he could not solve easily. He had been caught and punished a number of times for getting into fights with other students or trying to initiate such conflicts. Each time he had been taken aside and admonished the same way: “This does not advance the Greater Good. You must learn to control your anger or it will disturb others and make it harder for both you and them to serve the Greater Good, Vior Davrae.”
He tried. He really did. Even Vior’s father had taken time away from the drone manufactory plants to spend it with Vior, trying to speak with him and teach him patience. “You have to understand my son,” said Davrae senior, “We are all part of something bigger. We all have to work together in harmony to make life better for all. If we try to break that harmony, if we let ourselves be selfish, then the Greater Good will never become the strength of the universe. Each time you feel your anger rising, stop what you are doing and count to ten. When you finish the count, ask yourself one question: does this serve the Greater Good?”
Vior loved his father. Love and strong family bonds were a very ingrained human trait. The Tau, when they had settled upon and absorbed Ka’ley’ath into the Empire, had not tried to change this habit. If anything, they encouraged it. Aun’El Kais, the Ethereal who had overseen the colony for two and a half centuries had decreed: “Let the gue’vesa love as they are want; for the Greater Good should be beloved by all. Love in service to the Greater Good is no less honorable than any member of the Tau castes could emulate.” So Vior had taken his father’s words to heart and tried his best.
Within four years, when Vior reached the age of fifteen by Imperial reckoning, or sixteen Tau’cyr, Vior had reformed himself. Though he did not have his elder sister’s natural talent for languages – he could understand but only barely speak the Tau language – he had earned the acknowledgement of his teachers at the training schools. He worked hard to make up for his former lack of respect and had made amends with all the other children he had hurt. Just in time, it seemed, for the Tau’kon’she Festival.
The city was named J’karra, which in Gothic Vior knew to mean ‘mirror.’ It was aptly named. Much had changed in the three centuries since the Imperium of Man had once ruled upon Ka’ley’ath. The proto-hive city that had been growing like a pustule upon the edge of a sickening ocean had been reformed. The concrete and metal towers had been replaced with stronger but warmer materials. The sharp angles had been removed; the smooth lines and contours that Tau architects favored replaced them. The sides of each skyscraper had been given a shining mirror-like mantle, which Vior had learned were used to harness the energy from the nearby star that warmed the system. The city always shined brightest at dawn and dusk.
The city was divided into various sectors, each devoted to different facet of life serving the Greater Good. The north sector was filled with the churning and syncopated clank of Earth Caste factories, their steam-stacks pumping our sheets of white vapor that harmlessly evaporated into the atmosphere. A magnetic tram line ran from that sector and along a circular circuit around the city. Workers from the Earth Caste habitat sector, both Tau and Gue’vesa, traveled to and fro along its length each day.
The west sector, along the ocean, was a reworked spaceport. Its length extended over the water by the crafting of piers so that should any vessel crash or suffer heavy damage, it could safely be plunged into the water and thus buffers any explosions from the Air Caste workers there.
The east sector held the habitat sector, where all castes and citizens of J’karra lived. More esteemed members of society, such as Aun’el Kais, lived in floating islands that used anti-gravitic motors to remain suspended above the habitat towers. Normal worker families lived within shared units with other families. Citizens that had come of age were allowed to live within dormitories that were reserved for members of their chosen profession. Vior always made a habit of walking past the Fire Warriors Barracks, trying to catch a glimpse of one of those honored warriors. It was also here in the habitat sector that the schools and nurseries of the planet were maintained.
At the center of the habitat sector was a government office, called the Hall of Harmony, that dealt with the management of all necessary aspects of life within the city; such as waste disposal, new construction requests, birth and death registry, marriage registry, and food distribution. It was also the place where, each year, the young people of the city were given their assigned places within a certain caste for their life. It was a special day that would decide the future course of Vior’s life and was a joyous festival for the entire city. Tau’kon’she was a festival that no one wanted to miss!
Worker drones hummed through the air, some of them varying white and blue streamers while others bore signs declaring the time of festival events and locations. Large crystal vases had been set out, lining the streets, and filled with lush flowers from the southern forest, vibrant colors of yellow and red. Water Caste merchants had stalls set upon at intersections, all ground traffic reduced to being on foot, selling new pieces of technology developed by the Earth Caste and food fresh from bakeries and farms that surrounded the city. Humans, Tau, Vespids, and Demiurg – all races intermixed together as the air became palpable with charged excitement.
Vior walked through the crowds, trying to make sure his clothes did not become wrinkled, with a spring in his step. He was almost his father’s height now, at two tor’lek tall – or two meters, and could easily see over the squat forms of Demiurg or the more willowy Tau. His clothing was formal and a clean white, a robe made from silk imported from a primary sept world. The white was representative of Vior’s place in society, a young person who had not yet been presented with his destiny. Many of his fellow Humans, wearing the green and brown of Earth Caste factory workers, smiled and cheered at him as he passed. Today, they knew, was a great day for him and the Greater Good.
“Water fowl pastries from the Fio’tan ocean-farms!”
“Try this good sir! No being from the Air Caste can go without a taste of gue’vesa puffy candy!”
“New comm paddocks! New hologram spectrums! Get them here!”
Vior smiled to himself as he took a small treat from a Tau vendor handing out small balls of fried battered fish stuck on a stick. They were a favorite of the Tau and Gue’vesa alike, and Vior felt that he could indulge a little – although he had to make sure that none of the root sauce on it fell upon his robe. Music echoed along the mirror streets, joyful and uplifting.
Just as he finished the last bite of his snack, Vior heard the clarion call of the main administration building sound. It was a signal to all aspirants such as him to gather at the Hall of Harmony. The ceremony would begin soon. Throwing his trash away into a collection bin, Vior began jogging through the crowd towards his destination, unable to run because it was too crowded. He couldn’t be late, not today. Not on the most important day of his life and the one he’d been looking forward to for four years!
A pair of Water Caste workers turned a corner and appeared in front of Vior; both of their Tau eyes widened in surprise at the oncoming, rushing form of Vior. Vior couldn’t stop his forward momentum, so he changed his vector. The change caused him to become wrong-footed and he fell forward and smacked into the back of another Tau walking along the road. Instead of both beings going down in a heap as Vior would have expected, Vior found himself bounced back in a rough lesson in the Laws of Gravity. His face hurt from the impact and he fell backwards, roughly landing on his backside.
What did I hit?! It felt like I hit the side of a Hammerhead tank.
Vior looked up from the ground and found the towering form of a Tau Fire Warrior, fully armored except for his helm, standing over him. A white and red sash was tied around his chest and hung to his knee, a sign of an honored warrior. The fierce face was dark blue, almost black, and had an angry scar that ran down from his forehead to his chin. One eye was opaque, obviously another injury. The other, healthy, eye glared down at Vior. However, for all these details, it was only one thing that caught and held Vior’s attention. Hanging at the warrior’s side was a white-sheath that held a gold-hilted blade. Only one type of Fire Warrior was allowed to carry that kind of ornamented blade.
Vior jumped to his feet and bowed profusely. He was mumbling, panicked. “H-H-Honored Shas’nel, I am so very sorry! A thousand pardons. I did not mean--.”
The Cadre Fireblade cut him off. Instead of replying in T’au, he spoke Gothic. His accent was harsh instead of the usual lyrical lisp that most Tau had when speaking the Gue’la tongue.
“What did you think you were doing, running through this busy crowd like a flee-bitten U’it?” the Shas’nel said. Vior winced and tried to contain his anger at the word. U’it was the name given to a small domesticated animal that was similar to Old Gue’la dogs. They were often seen as bothersome pests.
“It was not my intent to cause harm,” replied Vior, keeping his calm. “I am simply trying to reach the Hall of Harmony.”
“And does it serve the Greater Good to have an aspirant rushing through the streets, heedless of his elders? What if you had hit those two merchants? I myself am angered at your lack of respect.”
“No, Shas’nel, it does not serve the Greater Good,” said Vior, grinding his teeth and keeping his eyes averted. “But I did not want to be late.”
“Always with you Gue’la it is something,” muttered the Cadre Fireblade. Their conversation was gathering a small crowd of onlookers, curious to see what was happening. Vior looked up sharply, angered now beyond his usual control.
“I am Gue’vesa, Shas’nel,” said Vior. “I am not a barbarian.”
“You could have fooled me,” the Fireblade said, looking Vior up and down like a man might inspect a side of meat in the market place.
“I will serve the Greater Good as my father and his father did before me,” stated Vior, straightening to his full height and almost staring the Fireblade at the same eye-level. As a Fire Warrior, the Fireblade had been bred for war and all such Tau were born to bloodlines that bred tall and powerful warriors. This particular Fireblade was unusually tall, even by the standards of the Fire Caste.
The Fireblade stared hard into Vior’s eyes for a moment. After a few heartbeats, during which time Vior felt sure that he would be punished, the Shas’nel nodded.
“You may yet prove to be of use to the Greater Good, Gue’vesa,” said the Shas’nel. “You prove that you are not afraid of declaring your place and firm desire to be a part of that greater whole – even though I insulted you. That is good. Now, move along and do not be late to the ceremony.”
Without another word the Shas’nel turned and disappeared. Vior thanked his luck and moved on, careful to not run again as he had before. In the aftershock of his surprise at almost running over a few other citizens and at having an actual conversation with a Fire Warrior – a Shas’nel no less! – Vior made his way to the Hall of Harmony.