Why Doesn't the Imperium Just Destroy The Tau Empire? | Warhammer 40k Lore

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The Imperium outclasses the Tau Empire is every single way and is more than capable of wiping them from the galaxy, so why don't they?
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[@majorkill]

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[@alpharius8336]

Finally speaking definitive truth

[@withlovefromlightindust591]

Hello Majorkill, Would you please make some lore videos on the Imperial Truth, the Imperial Creed, the Ecclesiarchy, and the High Lords of Terra? Pretty please? Thank you.

[@boycottwarhammer6016]

Now this is some heresy

[@BLOODKINGbro]

Tig bitty Tau propaganda 4tw!

[@JonJon-nt1wy]

@majorkill Did you go to newy high?

[@ragerancher]

"The enemy of my enemy is my friend" Or in 40k: The enemy of my enemy is also my enemy, just not maybe right now.

[@liepsan]

In the famous words of Commissar Cain; 'The enemy of my enemy is a problem for later.'

[@JoshuaAndres]

I will always advocate for the Tau, in my opinion their addition was a very good idea, to show how stereotypical sci-fi contrasts with 40k. And they do have that charm of not knowing what the hell is going on in the galaxy, and are slowly realizing how uncaring the universe is

[@apolloknight9521]

Basically they’re meant to be the “Normal” faction of 40k?

[@KnightsWithoutATable]

@@apolloknight9521 More of the children that get to go through all of the horror slowly and we get to see if they keep their sanity and purity through all of it. They could become the saviors of the galaxy or just another horrorfest to live in.

[@Mr._Idiot440]

​@@apolloknight9521A little bit yeah. Also one of their overall narrative themes from recent books shows a them going through the same beats as the Imperium prior to it's fall with the question being posed "Will they find a way to make their ideals come true or will they fall just as the imperium/eldar/necrons did?"

[@snowblind9551]

The Tau puts the Imperium in perspective. To the Tau, humans are an unfathomably ancient, unfathomably advanced, extremely malevolent, much more physically imposing and psychically-entuned empire, similar to how humans view the Eldar. An apocalyptic war to a Tau is a minor skirmish to a Space Marine, like how the Combine from Half-Life view Earth as a blip on their radar. It's basically a race reversal of the classic alien invasion trope.

[@carlsberg-gs6rl]

They act all high and mighty until the day they get a full dose of chaos.

[@TheWarmachine375]

The Tau are very lucky that they survived the Imperium to live and rebuild, and blue means luck according to the Orks.

[@jorgeserna8411]

Is there any color with a negative effect in Orks logic?

[@Cobra-mb2gx]

oomie colors @@jorgeserna8411

[@liamg9410]

​@jorgeserna8411 yellow could be negative depending what you happened to paint

[@matttan8066]

​@@jorgeserna8411blue skin and red armor from the farsight enclave are fast and lucky for orks

[@undercovertakodachi4301]

well this explains the blue berry boy scouts

[@transfan962]

Do a video on the chief librarian from each legion.

[@mikolajszczepanski945]

Day 1 of asking Majorkill for it

[@kastor6497]

As much as I also wanna know that I don't think there's any good stories about em so it'll probably be a short video or an actual short

[@williambibens4508]

Say please first

[@IsmaelSantos-xv9qf]

@@kastor6497 Nah, there's plenty of material, like the epic badassness of the Chief Librarian of the Black Templars. That guy has kicked so much ass yet so few know about him.

[@hydrahimself]

Why don't you ask nicely (say "please") for it? He isn't your pet is he?

[@EngineerOfVaul]

The Tau's effectiveness against the tyranids is so understated. They are probably the perfect counter to them. -Their speed of adaptation with tech actually matches up to the tyranids biological adaptation. You know why hive fleet gorgon's whole shtick is rapid evolution? Cause all their biggest battles happened against the tau, and they basically got forced into an arms race against the blue boys. -They don't use the warp for their ftl travels. Their gravitic drives/zfr accelerators don't depend on the warp at all to travel, neither do they need Navigators. This is a huge advantage in their case as the shadow in the warp does nothing to hinder their travel. -Their empire being smaller than the imperium is also an advantage, as they need to traverse a lot less ground to cover their defenses. Combined with their bureaucracy being a hell of a lot more streamlined than the imperium means they can coordinate defense efforts near instantly. -They also dont have any psykers, so their battle doctrines never really build themselves around psyker units, which again makes the shadow in the warp useless against them. -Their "bio weapons" are technological in nature, utilizing self replicating nanobots. This is something the tyranid can neither replicate nor build up resistances against. -Ion weapons. They use Ion weapons. There's no biomass to recover if its all fucking atomized. To me the Tau and the Tyranid are just two sides of the same coin. One's a rapidly advancing technocracy, and the other is a rapidly advancing bioweapon.

[@Jbertius]

While I'd personally argue that the Necrons are a better counter due to it being basically guaranteed that the Tyranids will lose more than they gain and Necrons not having any biomass of their own, while also having all the advantages the Tau has related to the warp, I still have to agree that the Tau are one of the best at fighting the Tyranids.

[@UnknownSquid]

It's actually a strangely rare thing in sci-fi writing that I really have to give 40k props for, regarding Tyranid adaptation. In the regard that frequently in fiction, any faction or species that is described to be "rapidly adaptable" is treated like adaptation just means gradually stacking on more and more passive "buffs" until the organism/tech is somehow godlike and perfect. When in reality that's simply not what adaptation means or how it works. And the Tyranids overall, actually follow this realistically. When the Tyranids adapt to a given weapon, that new adaptation can often mean sacrificing a previous adaptation, or comes with other trade offs. This was specifically described in how Tyranids were able to adapt to better withstand Tau or Imperial weaponry, but not both at the same time, which led to a temporary alliance. That when they bulk up their forces on stronger hides and armour growths, it does slow them down. There's no "best" Tyranid. Only the best tool for a given job. Which is awesome to see, given how many other fictional "assimilate and adapt" factions in fiction, such as the Borg from StarTrek, fail to properly reflect this key (and fun) dynamic most of the time.

[@drarsen33]

Until genestealer gets his hands on etherial...which might have already happened. Tau cannot disobey etherials and if genestealer cults use etherials of their own tau are screwed. Even worse if Hive fleet gets their hands on etherial DNA they will be able to produce their own organisms cable of in worse case controlling tau, in best case sow confusion and fuck with their minds.

[@OK-yy6qz]

​​@@Jbertius yeah the Necrons are basically the technological version of Tyranids not the Tau. But the Tau are up there as the worst possible matchups for the nids

[@Knightmare919]

Fun fact: The Damocles Crusade was very small compared to the greater side of things.

[@Alastair_]

Most Imperial crusades take several centuries to organise, the Democles was thrown together in about 10 years.. it was barely a blip on the radar of the Imperium.

[@JohnSmith-ik8nt]

​@@Alastair_that was a retcon and a shitty one at that

[@comradekenobi6908]

​@JohnSmith-ik8nt tbh there was also like _5 ships_ in total for the crusade too lmao

[@kingghidorah7286]

How big is an crusadw?

[@Gunnar001]

The Imperium would utterly stomp the Tau. They’re simply too busy fighting off galaxy scale threats from all sides.

[@DTylerFultzVA]

In short... -The Tau are hardy enough that, to eliminate them, you'd have to use time and resources that would be better used elsewhere -They are an asset against many of the Imperium's foes (albeit a begrudging one), so it's worth keeping them around for now -There are bigger problems the Imperium has to deal with and they can't waste their efforts on the Tau

[@apolloknight9521]

You’ve got that right.

[@MetalWar04]

And the most important thing, u can’t eliminate an entire faction from the tabletop think in the economy of gw

[@ekulerudamuru]

Most important is their mini sells, its all business lol

[@cybertramon0012]

And diplomacy between the Tau and the Imperium is both sides doing their best to not provoke things enough that the Imperium are willing to destroy the Tau and deal with the consequences later.

[@nanonano2595]

@@MetalWar04 real reason why anything can or cannot happen in 40k

[@brockwilkie6022]

I would add that Guilliman is estremely practical with this type of thing. As a result would definilty see them as an asset and has been shown to be willing to work with zenos.

[@Yesitsmyrealname]

Xenos

[@mcarlinod]

@@Yesitsmyrealname *Filthy xenos

[@cincau3243]

Considering Robert's wife is a Xeno, he probably would give the Tau a chance

[@nickkorkodylas5005]

@@cincau3243 *forehead soreness intensifies

[@TheWarmachine375]

6:25 As the Tau mechs are red, they go 3x faster when fighting the Orks who see their color.

[@kamiwriterleonardo6345]

And that's why the Farsight Enclaves are expert Ork fighters, they're so fast they literally dodge bullets, Armored Core style

[@Archon3960]

Lore-wise, it's only 1.5x faster. Yeah, "only" 1.5x faster. 😎

[@captaincoolbreeze9429]

@@kamiwriterleonardo6345 Well, Commander Farsight did write the book on how to fight Orks, or at least the Tau version of that book.

[@Volvith]

@@Archon3960 DA'S ONLY FER SMOL RED. BIGG RED BE FASTA BECOZZ DERE'S MO' RED N I'. *YOUS AV' NO UNDASTANDI' O' ORK MEKANIKS! YOUS' NEED A BE SHU'UP!!* E'Z OBVIUS DA I' DOSN WERK LOIK DAT! *_BLO'Y SMOOFSKIN MOITBAG TAYNY HOOMIE SMOLTHING..._* _n da kalls issel a big smort thinkie. izza blo'y joke swatti dis... stewpuhd hoomie..._ Oi like da bigg warmachine tho. E'z got a good thinking. E'z understand uz.

[@GroktadDrackonGibstomp]

@@Archon3960 Oim sorry, da's only fer smol red. Bigg red be fasta becozz dere's mo' red n i'. Yous av' no undastandi' o' ork mekaniks, n yous' neeta be no talkings. E'zz obvius da n i' dosn werk loik dat, ye's blo'y smoofskin moitbag tayny hoomie smolthing... _n da kalls issel a big smort thinkie. izza blo'y joke swatti dis... stewpuhd hoomie..._ ... Oi like da bigg warmachine tho. E'z got a good thinking. Me's not wanting to stomp a warmachine. E'z unnerstandin' da meka boyz thinkin' brains. E kan be loik pet. Me's likin.

[@TheWarmachine375]

2:21 "I, Cato Sicarius, am the best diplomat of Aggressive Negotiations with the Tau!" - TTS Cato Sicarius

[@XYZ-eo8um]

I remember that in the lore, when T'au killed the Chapter Master of some SM chapter (don't remember if that of Raven Guard, or some other), they gloated about killing the Emperor of Mankind himself. Just like in another narrated Battle Report T'au was fighting Slaanesh-oriented cultists, and when they killed their leader, they thought that they killed Slaanesh himself.

[@willshields4480]

Got a Black Library/Codex source for the second one?

[@XYZ-eo8um]

@@willshields4480 article in White Dwarf. Dunno which number, I've seen a screen shot.

[@rKhael53]

Lmao. So innocents, it's so cute.

[@aidenknightofaskr3705]

Are we still spouting the same meme with little to no context

[@brightroot5719]

Pretty sure it was Black Templar, which honestly is just impressive.

[@overlordminigun6346]

Simple, (pretty sure this exact thing is in the lore) because the Imperium faces more active threats on the daily, the amount of resources it would take to crush the Tau are much better spent elsewhere as since the Damocles Crusade the Tau have been pretty explicit not to F with the Imperium again. So the Imperium would be wasting a lot of resources on a threat that isn’t really there for not a lot of gain while leaving themselves exposed to attacks from whatever enemies the forces they used to crush the Tau were dealing with previously.

[@robertnelson9599]

The Damocles Gulf also lacks any important worlds, so the Imperium does not care that much about the worlds that defect.

[@gideonmele1556]

It’s exactly that; they’re more trouble than they’re worth. Overall they’re pretty harmless comparatively and they expand slowly due to lacking warp travel or an effective equivalent. Inquisitors and rogue traders can also use them since unlike most other xenos, they will actually talk and generally not backstab you immediately. With tau, you know what you’re dealing with and what they want is pretty tame There are bigger fish to fry than some devilfish

[@kasyfulahmadfadlillah9840]

Also if the Imperium try to do another crusade againts Tau Empire it will be harder than the last time because this time Tau are more prepered thus causing the Imperium to spend even more resources

[@Thevagrant79]

"Damocles Crusade the Tau have been pretty explicit not to F with the Imperium again." That's just blatantly untrue given that the Tau have continued to fuck with the imperium since then. After the Agrellan campaign, the Mechanicus had to set a portion of space on fire (Really) just to keep the Tau contained. What happened after that? The Tau built an accidental space bridge, discovered their own chaos entity, wiped out a death guard fleet(With the help of said warp entity most likely) and then had one of the Students of Puretide solo a Space Marine Chapter's command. They definitely still Fuck with the Imperium.

[@UnknownSquid]

Pretty much, but not entirely correct on the part about the Tau not screwing with the Imperium since. They've still had numerous conflicts, with the Tau even conquering several Imperial worlds and encroaching into their space since the Damocles Crusade. At the time of the crusade the Tau had only just begun their "2nd sphere of expansion". They're now on their fifth expansion, with the latest even being in what used to be Ultramar space (before the great rift cut it off). Ultimately the reason mostly stays the same though. The Tau are still far far less aggressive than any of the Imperium's other pressing concerns and world ending threats. The Tau have been relatively careful to exploit opportunities and "nibble" away at the imperium without doing enough to warrant a proper co-ordinated response. (Although they've definitely made lasting rivals and inspired a vendetta out of the Raven Guard at least.) It's like if you're currently fighting a bear, a beefcake chimp and an alligator, whilst wolves circle around it all, but there's also this one wasp that keeps stinging you. Sure, you'd REALLY love to get rid of that damn wasp if you could, but right now your hands are just too damned busy trying to stop those jaws from closing on you. So for now the most you can do is glare at it in frustration and hope it f***s off.

[@NP3GA]

Reminds me of the fable of the hunter and the weasel. A weshel was fighting with a snake. The hunter shot a weasel for it's pelt and ignored the snake. The result was that the snake killed the hunter's dog. In this case the hunter is Imperium, the dog is the future of Imperium, the snake is the dangers of the galaxy and the tau are the weasel

[@axcenomega]

I don’t believe that the tau would be the weasel I think the emperors web way project would be the weasel for 30k because the tau function pretty much the same as any of the usual dark age xenos races. While the emperors web way project would have actively assisted humanity against arguably most of its threats including its purpose against bypassing the dangers of warp travel which would assist against the orks, eldar, dark eldar, and later perhaps the tyranids since the webway would have made a lot more reliable method of galactic travel than what we have in 40k.

[@bindleberry]

That final description of a hog and porcupine is the most Australian thing I have heard since Steve Irwin saying crikey

[@victordavila9812]

Imagine you go to the kitchen and find your neighbour eating your food that would probably piss you off but now imaginé that at the same time you have angry crocodiles on your back yard a zombie army on your front yard killing parasites on your roof and a literal portal to hell in the middle of your living room .... That's the Imperium they simply have too much on their plate to worry about that annoying neighbour 😂

[@Mr._Idiot440]

Plus sometimes the neighbor helps fights those crocs and zombies

[@dbone6356]

Hahahaha a portal to hell literally in the middle of your living room 😆 🤣 😂 . Bro I can imagine all of these things happening in somebody's house.

[@gjc21ful]

I'd love to see a belisarius cawl Tau meet up novel that would be awesome, but also just the need for the Tau to get the big update on the state the galaxy post rift

[@trimeerious4349]

Getting a video about how each of the pre heresy primarchs would have reacted to being in Guillimans position as imperial regent would be pretty cool ngl

[@Battle-Brother-Ixaris]

Dear god, shut up with this comment!

[@nukekilla432]

One day man

[@comradesam3382]

KEEP GOING, HE WILL MAKE IT ONE DAY

[@JammesJack-td6gv]

Yeeeeeaaaaah

[@chestnut4860]

I love you man, WE ARE ROOTING FOR YOU.

[@TheWarmachine375]

1:46 Space Marine: "Time to squish you!" Tau: *squeaks* Space Marine: "What?" Tau: *squeaks repeatedly* Space Marine: "Oh my Man-Emperor! This is amazing!" Tau: "Why are you doing that?! That's my ribs crushing my lungs!"

[@primusstar5995]

Love tfs

[@BLOODKINGbro]

Squeaky toys for space wolves

[@KingofAwesomness14]

hahaha! That is both offensive and hilarious!

[@BloodDX2]

As a Tau player and fan; The Imperium could absolutely commit enough forces to eradicate the Tau Empire. They don't because it would be a case of mutually assured destruction. Would the Imperium win? Yes. Undeniably. Would they cripple themselves doing so? Also yes. The forces that would need to be dedicated to the task would pull critical resources from elsewhere and other, more pressing fronts; and the task itself no matter what would be a protracted, slow campaign. The Imperium is already beset on all sides by other factions; that would use a prolonged Tau/Imperial war to their advantage and overwhelm the Imperium on most if not all other fronts. The territory that the Imperium would claim/reclaim from the Tau would be a drop in the bucket compared to the amount of planets and sectors that would lost to other factions like the Tyranids, Orks & forces of Chaos. This has been made even more apparent with the great rift. For the Imperium to spend all of that focus on the Tau; they could almost guarantee that they'd be kissing most if not all of the Imperium Nihilus goodbye. Factor in then the amount of manpower, manufacturing capacity, resource generation, troop tithes, etc. that would all be lost and you'd likely get a domino effect of the Imperium just collapsing in under itself unable to sustain it's war machine with the severe losses suffered rather than the slow wax and waning that the Imperium does currently that is far more manageable for it. So again, could they wipe out the Tau? Sure. It's just not worth it for what they'd lose. The price of that victory is too high.

[@wanderhillen2435]

Impeccable choice of quotes MK! I saw the one from Siggy and went "damn Sigimund went HARD, shame it's only the second most metal quote in 40k". Imagine my happiness when Rylanor (the #1, now and always) was also there!

[@matijasostojic4288]

What if the emperor ruled mankind with the philosphophy of the greater good or what if the Tau were around as old as humanity (or maybe like 2000 or so years younger because of the rate at which they develop) and then the emp made a alliance with the tau. Maybe pre emperor humanity made a alliance with them and then the tau fell apart with humanity after the AI revolution than the emperor swoped in and fixed both or maybe just humanity and left the tau to die. That sounds like something fun to think about.

[@emca1597]

Your on to something, now I can't sleep thinking about it.

[@Robb1977]

30k was no place to be a peaceful--ish alien race. that just made you an easy target. the tau represent the exact kind of species the legions would have curb-stomped into oblivion.

[@matijasostojic4288]

@@Robb1977 Well i was also wondering what if the emperor humanity Meet the tau

[@LordCoffie]

Smells like heresy...

[@user-kf2oy8xb7s]

But that is the thing, if the Emperor lived all the human history why go autocrat regim? He doesn't understand that is not the best. That the elites will lost contact with the reality and make dumb decisions. Or turn corrupt?

[@FMirage2000C]

That was a great video Majorkill. Now, how about asking the opposite question : why the Imperium and the T’au (and the Eldas) don’t make an actual alliance ?

[@IsmaelSantos-xv9qf]

The Imperium at large is too xenophobic for that, and while inquisitors and other high rank people have deals with the tau, those are kept secret because the puritan inquisitors will purge them without a second thought. The Eldar suffer from the eldar diplomacy syndrome, the Tau don't take too well when Eldar do shit to save 1 or 2 eldar lives at the cost of millions of tau or tau allies. Best case scenario you get some reasonable primarch, like Guilliman, or better yet, The Khan, to negotiate a peace treaty/alliance in which both factions remain separate, back each other against other threats, while all expansion into each other's territory gets forbidden.

[@No_Iceee]

I believe he already had a video tackling it.

[@FMirage2000C]

@@No_Iceee ok i will search it

[@mr-xg4kn]

Because they hate each other

[@jedi098765]

The answer is simple; racism.

[@thorn9264]

The tau are the one faction that can be reasond with so not killing them is like keeping a nice tool around for later use

[@Permiton]

Imagine the reason why the Tau exists and powerful is because of the Emperor leading the squats to them and making them part of the emperors grand plan. A stretch but imagine.

[@brickwall9781]

I've really come to like the Tau. The idea that they're a reasonable, "generic" sci-fi civilization really plays well at being a straight-man in the crazy, crazy setting. Also a good perspective to view the Imperium thru a hostile eye, as that one 3D animated film showed

[@davidjack9522]

This is why I have adopted them. Love the sci fi look and the fact they're the good (ish) guys. I'm working towards kit bashing some guevesa too! If I were living in that universe I'd want to be in a human tau world!

[@Blackwatch8800]

Some people said that Tau occupy the place humans usually occupy in Sci Fi settings as a ‘rising power’ quickly achieving technological progress that took older empires millennia worth of effort. Add in constant alliances with other smaller species against a larger genocidal force that long dominated the stars. Unfortunately for them, that genocidal force are also the ‘main character’ faction.

[@rulerofeverything6294]

​@@Blackwatch8800 damn you GW for making the imperium the "good guys"

[@tysonwollas235]

I think you hit that nail right on the head. Where Imperials could wipe them out they are currently too busy putting out the bigger fires.

[@UnknownSquid]

This is my personal metaphor for it, similar to Majors Boar and Porcipine explanation. It's like if you're currently fighting a bear, a beefcake chimp and an alligator, whilst wolves circle around you, but there's also this one wasp that keeps stinging you. Sure, you'd REALLY love to get rid of that damn wasp if you could, but right now your hands are just too damned busy trying to stop those jaws from closing on you. The wasp hurts, sure, it's insulting and making the fight harder, definitely, but ultimately it's not going to kill you. And heck, it's even stung the chimp and the wolves a few times. So for now the most you can do is glare at it in frustration and tell it to f*** off. A lot of people forget or underestimate just how desperate the Imperium's situation is. They're literally fighting for survival, and have been slowly losing for a very long time already.

[@Rockcrusher22895]

The thumbnail artwork will always be amazing to showcase anything from the 40k universe be it epic, heroic, or even tragic. Seeing a Space Marine just tear out a Tau from the inside of a Battlesuit is truly something that I'm amazed has not been told and shown in other artworks or stories yet.

[@UnknownSquid]

It's amazing artwork as always, but I do have to raise an eye at the scale difference depicted in this one a bit. ^ ^; Like, Tau fire caste are still approximately the same height as a regular human, which makes that Marine almost the size of a Dreadnought. I mean just look at the size of that bolter, and imagine the Tau as a guardsman instead. It's a little hilarious, but I am nitpicking. Everything else is immaculate.

[@DD-um9yg]

When I first stumbled upon your page I was drunk and had a vague idea of Warhammer but you truly sparked my interest in it by explaining things in such a comical way and I'm just so thankful

[@DD-um9yg]

@@-majorkillYT do tell my friend

[@animeboy666]

That and Cain improved Tau-Imperial realations quite a bit which probably why Inquisition has all those deals with them, and even if Cain is "offically" dead wouldn't suprise me if that was just Amberley letting him actually retire while probably still dragging him into life threatening situations.

[@mr.mammuthusafricanavus8299]

LOL The first time I played Space Marines I rolled really bad and killed my plasma marine, when the Tau came out and they don't die to Plasma weapons overheating I was instantly sold :P

[@CheGuevara110100]

What game was this in

[@polyfission2776]

dude that was one of your best videos by far. Well spoken, great delivery, hilarious and informative. Kudos

[@tom47799]

A cool what if idea. What if garro found rylanor on isvan 3 when he was searching for loken. Dreadnought rylanor as a member of the knights of malcador in the horus heresy provably wouldn't change much but it would be an interesting scenario

[@himenolover69uwu]

Fulgrim would have left the heresy much sooner because rylanor would have broken fulgrim pride in the siege of terra

[@rickkcir2151]

@@himenolover69uwu LuL no, Rylanor gets bodied by Fulgrim every day of the week and twice on Sunday. The only reason he got a one up on snake boi is because GW gave him honor plot armor and had the thousand sons betray their primarch, legion, and chaos god because “Rylanor is just so cool”

[@jgblkshot8375]

​​@@rickkcir2151>didn't read the actual fucking story "thousand sons betray their primarch" Ah yes, Fulgrim, primarch of the *THOUSAND SONS*

[@rickkcir2151]

@@jgblkshot8375 Betrayed chaos, did an action that destroyed themselves. ie, they betrayed Magnus by sacrificing themselves for an enemy for absolutely no reason. Didn’t think I would need to spell that out, but here we are.

[@amongusgaming123]

@@rickkcir2151 The Thousand Sons are one of the legions least loyal to their Chaos God, and considering Abaddon erased every aspect of Horus from the Sons of Horus it cant really be that taboo to betray your primarch in the traitor legions

[@sasanahadian2859]

Superb video as always @majorkill. Could you make a video dedicated to the Navigators, the major houses, their politics, relation to the overall Imperium and factions, etc?

[@honestlordcommissarbrighte7921]

I keep having to remind myself that the Tau 4th Sphere Expansion is just floating around in the middle of Imperium Sanctus.

[@Pyre]

I know I don't get to act surprised by it by now, but Majorkill being the "haha funny cursewords" guy while also giving solid, in-depth astropolitical and military reasoning remains top-tier content.

[@dumnor]

I guess you can be buff, smart and wiseass at the same time. Too bad most people skip the middle descriptor.

[@moreplease998]

It's actually a sign of honesty when a person is comfortable with swearing and such as it typically is a case of someone just being emotionally expressive without trying to tailor their words. The bad guy stigma associated with swearing is so nonsensical Also, there's a funny meme regarding attitudes towards swearing in different countries that's appropriate here. An American, a Brit and an Australian are asked if they ever swear. The American gasps and says "No! Never!" The Brit shrugs and says "Meh, sometimes, when I'm surprised or something." The Australian looks deadly serious and says "It's the law that we swear with every other word."

[@windradyne8724]

Less "haha funny cursewords" and more Australian culture. People who don't curse are almost always untrustworhy c*nts.

[@TheMaxyms]

Yeah right ? Sometimes when I see the title of his new videos, I’m wondering if it will just be usual swearing and absurd humor, but yet Majorkill is also quite good at relating thoughtful and interesting facts and arguments, making his videos very interesting.

[@miming3679]

It's the reason why I enjoy his content more compared to other 40k lore KZbinrs

[@TheWarmachine375]

7:34 "This is no Zaku, boy! No Zaku!" - Ramba Ral

[@bioder2579]

Can you do a video about each Legion's equivalent of The Mournival?

[@honestlordcommissarbrighte7921]

I'll help you with this. There are none.

[@stevewarren9316]

@@honestlordcommissarbrighte7921Night a lords have the Kyroptera

[@Butonz1]

Some General: "My lord primarch, what of the Tau?" Guilliman: "The who?"

[@gothicalpha]

Imagine the imperuim not wiping out the tau and instead incorporating them, like a second Interex. Space marines with Tau tech.

[@skillfulwave6592]

Brother, there is a big difference between “The Greater Good” and “The Greater Good of Humanity”

[@moon-and-star]

Heresy

[@entrippyZ]

Too many monodominant marine chapters, and the whole AI thing,the mere suggestion would cause a huge civil war.

[@warherojango936]

The Mechanicus may not see eye to eye with the Tau.

[@Mr._Idiot440]

​@@warherojango936remember the forge world that, before farsight liberated it, forced tau prisoners of all kinds to make a horrifically grueling death march to a lava forge only for them to force them into said lava to "help regulate temperatures"?

[@rambosquirrel6943]

the problem has always been that 1 on 1 the imperium lose so they need to totally overwhelm the Tau but that would make them lose more systems (being undefended) than they would gain back from the Tau

[@doggg4977]

shoot depends on the units though right?

[@EASY7356]

That really really depends on the Unit and circumstances I don’t think a fire warrior would win against any normal guardsman in melee and a lot of Regiments a made of excellent marksman/snipers or scouts so they don’t have the edge in that regard and it’s similar with most more ridiculous Units except for titans the tau don’t really have a good counter to the bigger titans likewise the imperium doesn’t have that much of them Also their slow space travel would severely hinder them in a real war with the imperium it’s hard to react to your enemy if he can defeat your armies before you can reinforce them So yeah I don’t see your point that 1v1 the tau would win but also the imperium wouldn’t commiting to this becauseit would still cost to much resources the tau are no problem at all at the moment but in a few thousand years with a bigger empire and better ftl technology (if they manage to get that) they will become a big problem for the imperium but they will never be as dangerous as the nids, necrons or orks (should the Orks get stronger/more intelligent remember the war of the beast that was just one krork leading normal orks)

[@rambosquirrel6943]

@@EASY7356 it’s already in the lore that the mechanicus won’t deploy Titans against tau anymore unless they are super protected as they get ruined by the tau. Also they’ve already had forgeworld books showing a good imp vs Tau war and the tau just win until the marines come in or the imp guard deploy so many people or guns they overwhelm the tau positions. The lore version of the Tau plays nothing like the tabletop. The imperium has to force them into fights with either overwhelming numbers from all sides or surgical strikes with marines etc the whole Damocles gulf is a perfect example and the tau are only better now. The imperium pumped loads into and took back a single system. They realised it was costing too much resources and had bigger priorities

[@Dexter_Solid]

​@@EASY7356 no offense but hammerheads and tiger sharks annihilate titans, you sound like you get your lore from people's opinions. The agrellan conflict was one of the biggest proofs the empire would need SIGNIFICANTLY more firepower to handle the Tau, worse yet they advance on per battle basis, whereas if the imperium is losing, they dont adapt they just throw more bodies at the situation, when the costs rise too high they get pissy and just wipe out the planet. Anything new the Tau come up with (Riptides eg) the imperium are just like "oh this new battle suit takes 5 astartes to bring down instead of 3" so just being more meat. its how they do.

[@adrienwatson2179]

​@@Dexter_SolidAnyone who thinks otherwise hasnt read much lore. The Imperium os a literal meat grinder. Bodies are cheaper than tech, so lets jam their tank tracks with corpses. To beat pretty much anyone, the Imperium needs to have overwhelming odds in their favor. Luckily, they uave a near unlimited population lol

[@ItBeMeFyre]

Woke up early to this video, thanks for making my day get a good start majorkill

[@ToniFarious]

damn majorkill is going crazy with the uploads keep it up bud

[@2SSSR2]

New lore from Space Marine book says how Tau actually made a space jump to planetary sector very close to Baal (don't aske me how) and have started to rally up all Imperial worlds around it against the Blood Angels. Imagine the retribution they will suffer for that.

[@ToastedMap1e]

poor blood angels dont stand a chance

[@LegiamasC-OnTwitta]

It sounds like some angels are about to get obliterated

[@UnknownSquid]

You're talking about the Startide Nexus, which is a wormhole accidentally created as a result of Tau experimentation with new forms of FTL travel. It's in the Northern Ultima Segmentum, fairly close to Baal, yeah. The Tau have declared it as their "fifth sphere of expansion" and turned the place into a fortress. The Blood Angels already repelled Tau attempts to take a few of their worlds in the Red Scar itself, but it's pretty unlikely for the Tau to receive much co-ordinated large scale retribution though, because the space lies in the eastern portion of the Imperium Nihilus, cut off from Tera, overrun with both chaos and Tyranids, and generally in a total state of perpetual clusterfuck. To be honest it'd probably be in the Blood Angels best interests to just leave the Tau alone so long as they don't start trouble again, and hope they continue to fend off incoming chaos raids for them, (like they already did with the Death Guard).

[@UnknownSquid]

The second half of the video was on point, though I hate to say Major, the earlier portion covering the Damocles Crusade was pretty misleading and misses some really important details. *(( TL:DR VERSION.* The crusade failed embarrassingly badly, and was stopped almost immediately. The primary reason it flopped, is due to the conflict being engineered to bait it into a trap. It was technically the Imperium that was taken by surprise, not the Tau (sort of). It was also a significant factor in contributing to Farsight's later distrust of the Ethereals.)) You describe the crusade taking or cleansing "world after world", and imply it made significant ground into Tau space. After retaking their own worlds, the crusade in total touched only two Tau systems, and three inhabited Tau worlds. Sy'l'kell, a fringe agricultural colony of only 7m population, Viss'el, an even smaller bumfuck fishing world of less than a 1m populace, and finally Dal'yth, a cosmopolitan trade hub, the first actual Sept world the crusade encountered, and the last it would touch, retreating without being able to take it. Whilst the crusade certainly tested the early Tau forces of the era, it ultimately barely made the slightest dent into their empire. The crusade had lost a third of it's fleet by the time it entered ceasefire and non-pursuit negotiations and began evacuating it's forces from Dal'yth, which I also have to point out to people time and again, happened BEFORE the news of the Tyranids and the recall order arrived, not after. There's a much lesser known but key piece of lore regarding the Damocles Crusade however, that is rare to see mentioned. Anyone reading what I wrote above might wonder how the crusade could have gone quite so badly. How did the Imperium underestimate their foe THAT badly, and how did the Tau manage to bring enough forces to bear in time to repel it before it could make any relevant headway? Well in the Farsight books, it's strongly implied that the Damocles Crusade was actually carefully provoked and deliberately baited by the Ethereals. About how there had been an abnormal build up of forces concentrated around Dal'yth prior to the crusade, contrary to any motive the Tau military commanders themselves were made aware of. Meaning that when the crusade came in, the Tau were effectively ready for them, even if it still came as a shock to their military leadership. Farsight accuses the Ethereals of deliberately instigating the crusade whilst keeping military leadership in the dark, to ensure it could be stopped but not without losses, to use as propaganda for inspiring Tau resolve against the Imperium, and bolster further Tau militarisation. Which is exactly what happened. The Imperium was led into a trap against a faction that had previously shown almost no military capability, and the Tau defenders that "just so happened" to be in the right location at the time, were used as unwitting sacrifices "for the greater good" to paint a picture of a valiant pyrrhic defence against a terrible foe. Despite all the memes about the Tau being naive, the Etheral's routinely display nearly Eldar levels of manipulative fuckery, and they know a lot more than they let on. In the lead up to the Crusade, the Tau possessed control over two Imperial worlds. They had good intel about the nature of the Imperium, and the degree of response it would be likely to make. Meanwhile the Imperium had basically no idea what was on the other side of the Damocles Gulf before they crossed it. They had a vague idea of the small xeno empire on the other side, but had no prior reason to believe them to have any degree of competent forces, let alone that they'd be concentrated in advance (whilst left to wonder why). The Damocles Crusade lore was basically written out like a series of Sun'Tzu quotes. Feigning weakness, concealing your true strength, and exploiting the over confidence/eagerness of your enemy. Which is no surprise at all, given the early inspirations for the Tau as a faction. "If your opponent is of choleric temper, irritate him." "Pretend inferiority and encourage his arrogance." "He who is prudent and lies in wait for an enemy who is not, will be victorious." "The opportunity to secure ourselves against defeat lies in our own hands, but the opportunity of defeating the enemy is provided by the enemy himself." - Sun'Tzu The Ethereals KNEW they were outmatched, and would be totally overwhelmed in regular open warfare. So they engineered a conflict that gave them the means to defeat a greater foe, and turn the outcome into a lasting advantage.

[@KingZolem]

"Punch the fucking hog" is the best analogy for why the Tau are still around.

[@vontheunknown7982]

It doesn't help that the Tau made their own space Marines using ultraMarines armor and their weaponry

[@KomboAndy]

Improvise. Adapt. Overcum.

[@BLOODKINGbro]

​@@KomboAndyMasutāhando

[@skalgrimfellaxe5796]

"Space marines". They made simplistic simulacrums that were destroyed with ease by real space marines. They later gave up on trying to create space marines since they couldn't get it right.

[@Archon3960]

Yeah, if the Tau made full-on Space Marines, I'm pretty sure the Imperium would come down on them hard. Sure, they could resist, but the Tau could be crippled. And the Traitor Legions have yet to assail the Tau Empire. If the World Eaters or Iron Warriors gave it a crack, they could do lastkng damage to the Tau pretty easily. Chaos doesn't care for tech or laws of physics, so the Tau would not be prepared for them. They have no psykers, no anti-daemon measures and no reliable Warp drives. If anything, the Tau should be scared of Chaos more than the Imperium. 8/

[@Humuhumunukunukuapaa]

The armor and weapons were scavaged and the SM were slightly buff humans. They didnt create anything and gw has mentioned tau have little to no ability in bio engineering.

[@RA10H56]

I love the great artwork you throw up. So many talented people out there.

[@fionn2220]

In my opinion its not even just a matter of logistical difficulty or threat prioritization, with the great rift and generally the state of the galaxy as of m42 it is functionally impossible for Terra or Grand Inquisitors to gather an army big enough to throw at any one threat to the point of wiping it out. Let alone the idea of them somehow managing to get *every* imperial soldier from all across the milky way on board, the only reason Guilliman even sort of accomplished this is because Cawl randomly pulled nearly a million space marines out of the rainy day jar. The imperium technically having access to several hundred billion or even trillion soldiers cumulatively doesnt mean they can just use all of them at once.

[@ger5956]

As an Ultramarines fan/collector, the art used in this video was absolutely amazing, the artist(s) done some incredible work 😁❤️👍🏻

[@winterknight4307]

Getting a video about how each pre heresy primarch would have reacted to being in Guillimans position as imperial regent, pretty plz

[@AndyOdin22]

Solid hypothesis Majorkill, well done on this one dude.

[@RenegadeMaster137]

The sheer accuracy of that hog/porcupine analogy 😂

[@Suika_Ibuki_The_Drunk_Oni]

But that actually might be the biggest threat the tau represent. Everyone is too busy to deal with them, But if they keep advancing at the rate they currently are, in about Millenia, They might have already advanced to the point it is too late to just "Wipe them out"

[@kapistar1]

Excellent video Fulgrim. Thank you

[@sparkeykills1]

Really like to see a deep deep dive into the flayed ones, been reading through the twice dead king books and hoooollllyyyy shit there is some crazy shit going on within the necron empire, like shit that might just rise up and destroy them or absorb them and I'm not talking about the tryanids 😅

[@loganbaxter4685]

Summary: Big enough to be difficult to deal with, small enough to be ignored.

[@barks_3441]

Best thumb nail art ever, Awesome work

[@snakething87]

[Inquisitor looks at galactic map and sees the Tau empire is surrounded by Tyranids] “Yeah that will probably just work itself out.”

[@ulrichvonlichtenstain9378]

Video idea What would’ve Perturabo do with Imperial city defenses, if he had been put to build it over Dorn.

[@AlunDowdeswell]

A point a lot of people miss as well is that the tau don't wipe worlds out, which means they can be retaken without much damage. Nids, chaos and orks ruin planets/destroy them so it's more valuable to stop them as even if you take the worlds back, they might be barren wastelands

[@UnknownSquid]

True. Technically if you lose a world to the Tau, but are able to retake it a few decades later, you probably get back a far better world than you originally lost. xD (Although I imagine the Imperium would just mulch up most of the Tau tech and industry for scrap, not knowing how to use/maintain it nor tolerating the concept.)

[@bttlw4]

God DAMN Major, I haven’t seen a video in a minute cause of medical school, but HOLY SHIT you’re YOKED now. Keep up the good work, bud!!

[@Joseph-mw2rl]

It's like worrying about a mosquito in your house when the whole building is burning down

[@fishfossils8858]

Videos 3 Days in a row?!? Man, this weeks work week has been great.

[@donald2005]

Got that hoodie the second i saw it, now i got 2 almost identical majorkill hoodies

[@darkswords147]

0:32 Naw I was captivated by the army wiping Majorkill Arsenal of waaaagh

[@nicolaspetersen6847]

I imagine it’s some science experiment made by the mechanicum. I mean think about it, every time a human makes ai, it immediately decides it has to kill all life, tau make ai, it’s a cute lil drone that works hard. Mechanicum is probably jealous

[@tannermccartney3179]

I would like to see a tau interaction with the lion

[@isaiahknickerbocker6207]

That would be interesting to see, especially since the Dark Angels do really good against the Tau Going by the book War Of Secrets of course, every time the Tau and Dark Angels fought in that book, the Dark Angels dog walked them

[@MWH12085]

That might be a bit much for them....maybe Gulliman would go better.

[@isaiahknickerbocker6207]

@@MWH12085 oh yeah Papa G-man would go some much better for them

[@Mr._Idiot440]

​@@isaiahknickerbocker6207Are you not gonna mention Kais curb stomping multiple dark angel squads at a time by himself? Lol Also since they are a chapter that are more readily able to use dark age tech, I'd like to see the Tau's POV at difference in tech level.

[@isaiahknickerbocker6207]

@@Mr._Idiot440 those weren't Dark Angels, they were Angels of Absolution and successor Chapter, and he got his cheeks clapped pretty good, he didn't even kill them all, they killed themselves and destroyed his suit because his support wasn't paying attention to the skies above their small fortress He did good against infected Marines, he nearly got himself killed several times after he dealt with the ones corrupted by the Psy-Plague, and would've died in the blast if he wasn't a modified Tau, hell he only did good because he had that suit, without it he would've been killed the moment he got in close to the Terminators

[@withlovefromlightindust591]

Hello Majorkill, Would you please make some lore videos on the Imperial Truth, the Imperial Creed, the Ecclesiarchy, and the High Lords of Terra? Pretty please? Thank you.

[@johnfkennedy129]

Please more Tau Lore and videos !!

[@sendapez]

“Punch the fucking hog” should be on a Majorkill merch Tau shirt

[@PavelKahun]

"Will you punch a porcupine sitting in the corner or a hog that is wrecking havoc? Punch the f*cking hog" Classic Australian proverb, right there with : "Don't drink beer with kangaroos mate."

[@Scottoest]

I'd love to read the book where Guilliman encounters the Tau, just to see what his reaction is lol. Honestly I'd love a deeper dive into where Guilliman's head is at in the 41st millennium, period. Yeah he wants to save humanity, but he's seen now that his "father's" goal appears to be to become a powered up Warp God himself, and the Imperium is a backwards shithole of superstition, widespread injustice, squalor and misery. The Imperial Truth was a lie, and the average world in Ultramar is a hundred times better off than the average Imperial world anywhere else. It makes you wonder exactly what Guilliman believes in any more, beyond obviously wanting to marshal the immense forces of the Imperium to fight enemies that would obliterate humanity period.

[@mcgabrielrock]

ayo majorkill make a video explanning every type of space marines like librarians,mechanicous,chaplins and more

[@derschattenkaiser4187]

The actual question is why don't the necrons just blow up terra?

[@MetalFalcon99]

Man I fucking love how old the Humans tactics are like yeah lets use the shit Napoleon did

[@vlweb3d]

PUNCH THAT HOG !!! Just make sure to wear spiked gauntlet gloves because hogs have tusks.

[@guyperson7487]

Am I the only one who thinks a large-scale alliance with two of any large faction at this point would be actually interesting? Instead of just “not me=bad”

[@Mr._Idiot440]

It would be, but the issue narrative wise is that it'd probably signal the coming end of a franchise if that were to happen and I don't think GW wants to do that anytime soon.

[@guyperson7487]

@@Mr._Idiot440 I don’t think you have to end a setting to have an alliance

[@doomfistmain5515]

@@guyperson7487I thinks it’s more that every faction his relatively equal and 2 teaming up would destroy the rest

[@guyperson7487]

@@doomfistmain5515 not really tau. And everything in 40K is comically strong and could likely handle whoever because the writers said so

[@matteocdt5214]

So, much like the drukhari, they can't afford to muster enough forces to solve that problem for good without exposing themselves to greater threats

[@henrykkeszenowicz4664]

Basically, the Imperium doesn't catch a break from constant wars on every border, the Tau will take too many resources to destroy, and most importantly they're the only race in 40k for whom peace *IS* an option which the Imperium is forced to pick.

[@TheWarmachine375]

3:18 What a nice Space Marine giving that Tau a lift.

[@Raboon115]

By punch you mean get the .308 and Boom zip sissle some bacon.

[@matacoos1368]

A video on @trimeerious4349 idea about how the pre heresy primarchs would react to being in Gullimans situation as Imperial Regent would be cool.

[@dakoyamayes9774]

A vid about the roboute regencey would be lovely

[@user-tt8rl5yj3n]

4 videos in 4 days what a guy

[@RamArt9091]

The Tau Showing at Dante's backyard are about to learn a hard lesson about the Blood Angels, the Dark Angels, the Lion.

[@Andrewlang90]

I think the reason why the Imperium doesn’t try to wipe out the Tau is the same reason they haven’t tried to wipe out any other race. They would have to allocate most, if not all of their power to do it, leaving Terra and the rest of the imperium open for another race to invade them.

[@drarsen33]

Allocate all of its power? Size difference of Imperium and Tau is mindboggling. Entire Tau empire is size of realm of Ultramar, one tiny section of Imperium. Democles crusade almost took out Tau (at their smaller size to be honest) and its force was several times smaller than what Imperium used to attack Vrax, a single chaos occupied planet. Imperium wouldnt need 5% of its power to destroy the Tau but at the moment even 1% is too much to spare.

[@YoungClarke]

Its interesting to think about the Tau being the next species to take center stage in the galaxy. First it was the Old Ones, then the Eldari, and now humanity is in its slow stagnation and fall after its time in the spotlight. Like, the Tau's optimism and "good" intentions (relative word in the setting, I know) are a bit like how you'd imagine Humanity was at the start of their ascension.

[@legio-IV-Cataphract]

A video of the top ten community made wholesome moments would be great

[@hydrahimself]

Thumbnails are really nice nowadays, thanks.

[@omgcranberryisnumba1]

I’d love to see a marnius calgar updated lord vid

[@Night_Haunter]

Hey Majorkill can you do a video on the People who led the legions before their primarchs where found

[@freedomandguns3231]

As a new viewer I was not expecting a line from Settra at the end with a 40k vid lol

[@AppalachianWarhammer]

Hey Majorkill, potential future video idea for you! Not sure if you have listened or read the Warhammer Crime novels The Wraithbone Phoenix and Dredge Runner, but both novels star a pretty awesome duo comprised of a ratling former Astra Militarum sniper and an Ogryn former Astra Militarum Bone'ead. The Wraithbone Phonenix has an Elder artifact as the macguffin of the story which may .. or may not involve the Eldar at some point. But the characters are absolutely top notch, well voiced if you go on Audible and overall an absolute joy from start to finish. The damn Ogyryn ends up dumping a dresser full of piss on a group at one point! its fucking GOLD! Would be perfect for a fun, quick video and introduce these hilarious bastards to more warhammer 40k fans!

[@Alexander59059]

Tbf, the same could be said for every xeno faction except Dark eldar and Harlequins, and they’re only safe because the Imperium has no practical way of getting to them.

[@rKhael53]

It's not worth to hard-winning on one front if that means hard-losing on all others.

[@mulobokaSilumbu-bd1sf]

I was asking my self this question yesterday

[@NRAllen]

"Punch the hog" ... now THERE'S an idea for a t-shirt

[@aenarioncourts9516]

The ground hog and porcupine analogy hits perfectly

[@alexrynott7524]

That analogy at the end😂