Are There Space Marines in the Tau Empire?
In the grim darkness of the 41st millennium, the Tau Empire is a relatively new major power, having emerged onto the galactic stage over a century ago. For those familiar with the settings of Warhammer 40k, a natural question to ask is: Are Space Marines a part of the Tau Empire? The short answer is no, there are no Space Marines in the Tau Empire. However, there’s more to this answer than just a simple "yes" or "no." In this article, we’ll explore the reasons why Space Marines are not associated with the Tau Empire.
Historical Context
Before we dive into the specifics of the Tau and Space Marines, it’s essential to understand the backstory of the Warhammer 40k universe. Humanity, as a species, has undergone a series of catastrophic events, including interstellar wars, planetary wipeouts, and mutations induced by excessive exposure to Dark Age technology. The Age of Strife, followed by the Unification of Mankind, led to the establishment of the Imperium of Man, and the rise of the Imperial Guard.
The Loyalist Chapters and Founding Legions
Parallel to humanity’s struggles, the ancient Eldar emigrated from their home dimension, the Webway. They introduced humanity to a new type of warrior caste, known as the Imperium of Man, via the 20 loyal chapters of Space Marines, initially known as the First Founding Legions. Later, these Legions suffered a series of devastating purges and civil wars. The result was the gradual disintegration of the primordial chapters, and subsequent re-establishment of many new, loyalist chapter.
The Tau Arrival
About 100-150 years ago, humans from Earth, known as the Explorer Corps, initially made contact with theTau Empire, a newly united and advanced alien species living in the distant starsystem of Damocles’ Gulf. The Tau viewed humanity as a curiosity and a threat, considering they were capable of causing as much damage as the grim darkness had already done in the Imperium.
The Tau’s primary concern revolves around preserving their empire through the principle of Kauyon, the act of ensuring the preservation and growth of their own identity. Their society is defined by an intricate network of castes, each one serving a specific purpose or function, with the warcastes being responsible for the maintenance of their colonial expansion. The Tau understand the universe as a never-ending war, with conquest and growth being the perpetual goals of their empire. Conquest – the fundamental principle guiding every aspect of Tau society; the idea that they expand their influence and dominance only through combat and war-fighting, ensuring their superior technology, tactics, and organization lead to the desired outcome. Involvement with the Imperium.
In Confrontation with the Tau
Over the course of their encounter with humanity and the Imperium, events unfolded differently for each Loyalist Chapter and Founding Legion respectively. They were engaged through various missions, wars of conquest, and internal factions. Due to this extensive history and the differences resulting from distinct experiences and engagements, they have been left with vastly different philosophies and organizational structures.
Within the Loyalist legions and chapters, divisions have taken place as people have disagreed on various viewpoints, ideologies, and their roles. This Split would lead to fragmentation and separation, which means that over time, only a fraction of these 20 Loyalist Chapters remained connected to their original Legiones while others formed divergent lineages, branches, and sub-corporations within the Imperium.
On the other end, with the Explorer Corps’ interaction using the newly discovered technology introduced by Eldarian civilizations, this technological advancement served as the platform for building the Tau‘s new societies and technologies. These have been in constant motion under the Tau’s expansion throughout the vast expanse.
Are there any signs of contact between Space Marine Chapters and the Tau Imperium?
Given everything mentioned earlier, the space marines and Tau didn’t work together directly when they had their encounters – they mainly fought. To date, there has yet to be any recorded instance where a Loyalist chapter or a pre-existing legions and loyalist lineages from space marines have worked beside the Tau. They often clashed because of differences they had concerning their understanding.
**How do these space marines and the Loyalist Chapters respond?
Resilience among the Tau
For several reasons, the Tau believe that unity and coordination represent the highest possible form of authority. Since they understand War as their primary source to maintain unity, this conviction is their guiding principle during their colonization and the way they grow their Empire from the seeds of unity across the star systems they encompass. Unity is seen both as their strength and how they create their strength (Kauyon) against the enemy.
In all, since the foundings, the Imperium of Mankind, now known as the Holy Imperium, the world of man, was involved in several wars with human factions on Earth. Those wars created the environment around the grim darkness and dark age and the creation the Imperium of Man came about because of a specific set of circumstances, namely the primordial events where the various factions from Mankind found an opportunity to resolve their problems through conquest for the ultimate goal of protection and peace.
As humans, with the emergence onto the galaxy stage over two centuries ago, and when they are in touch again with human factions, for the purposes of unity their own.