Post by Lilycat on Mar 13, 2017 9:19:26 GMT
Basically I'm going to be using this thread to flesh out ideas for the Tau force I've started working on, like a living draft. When I work on an army/project I like to set myself challenges, and this time it's falling upon having a detailed background for the force rather than some painting challenge.
As a note I actually researched into the Tau language a bit and Oi'nars literally means "Shiny Rock" lol.
Oi'nars Sept
Oi'nars is a small third sphere sept found to the south of Fal'shia centered around the planet Oi'nars, named for the shiny rocks found there. The heavy concentration of Earth Caste leads Oi'nars to mostly be a mining planet full of technological progress and combined with Ork and Eldar pirate raids the sept is mostly focused towards battle suit advancement. The Sept boasts a relatively small amount of Fire Caste for its size, mostly due to continued losses from pirate raids but also from defense against remnants of Hive Fleet Behemoth. As the raids have mostly focused on nearby Tash'var Sept a majority of this sept's military history is focused on dealing with the few remnants left from Behemoth destroyed a mere 200 years before settlement on Oi'nars; fortunate as if they had settled earlier the planet would be nothing but a barren rock.
Shas'O Oi'nars Kais Oi'yanoi, Commander Goldensun
Its forces originally went into battle proudly in the golden colour of the rock their sept is named for, abandoning the usual camouflage used by the Tau. This lent well to the tactics Shas'O Oi'nars Kais Oi'yanoi, Commander Goldensun used as he commanded quick combined strikes, stunning the enemy as the sunlight shines off their armour, before quickly retreating to patiently wait for the next strike. Conveniently enough combined with energy shielding experiments this has led a lot of the raiding Orks to believe that energy based weapons will just bounce off of the Oi'nars' golden armour. Unfortunately these tactics proved fatal in a prolonged conflict with the Tyrannic threat to the east. The threat was ultimately removed for good, but at the sacrificed of Goldensun and a fair few of his elite warriors; leaving the forces of Oi'nars in short supply of Shas'vre.
Shortly after Goldensun's daughter, Shas'O Oi'nars Kunas Commander [think of english name], was given command after serving on her father's bodyguard and being one of the few survivors of the Tyrannic threat. Promptly the shining gold became the sept colour whilst the overall colour scheme of the forces became a dark magenta and grey; a dark surprisingly stealthy scheme that was quite the opposite of the arrogance of the former. Sept markings are rarely used currently, to promote stealth, but those who have performed well enough have had their names added to their suits in the shining sept colours to inspire those around them.
Exploratory Fleet Goldensun
Shortly after Commander [name] took over the Ethereals of Oi'nars declared that in honour of Commander Goldensun an exploratory fleet, that they had been in talks about prior to his demise, should be named after him and swiftly launched. The premise of the fleet would be to travel west along the galactic south to further explore the galaxy while avoiding the Imperial resistance the Tau had faced at Damocles Gulf. The force would uphold the Oi'nars tradition of being entirely suit mounted, with the occasional experimental modification here and there; in part to test out the effectivity of a fully mounted force while trying to demonstrate how outdated tanks and foot infantry could be in a more fluid battlefield. Remaining mindful of the Farsight incident; the Ethereals devised what they thought would be a more foolproof way of ensuring such an uprising couldn't repeat itself given the expected distance the fleet would reach from the rest of the Tau Empire. Their answer was simply music, the females of the Ethereal caste would sing and perform for the fleet's population, even through communication networks to ensure not one of the caste would step foot onto a battlefield in anything but the more dire of circumstances, to maintain morale while the males would handle the actual running of everything.
Notable fleet members
Glassknife, squad leader of the XV8 team the Glassknives. 4 members strong each equipped with dual cyclic ion blasters.
Training
Unlike other septs, those of Oi'nars completely forgo any active duty as Firewarriors. Instead they are trained more strictly as being few in number they need to rely heavily on individual skills. Each begins their training in pretty much the same method as the Firewarriors of other septs, however they are never given a pulse rifle as it's bulk makes it unsuitable as a backup weapon should a suit become inoperable and require it's pilot to hold their position until they can be extracted. As such they are trained in the use of pulse carbines and pistols exclusively.
During this intensive training some may be selected for showing more guile, these will likely be placed into stealth teams and from then on trained in a different manner or be noted as possible future commanders. After this training they enter the reserve force who act as guards on the fleet's ships, the more elite of which get to employ the XV46 Vanguard armour for antiboarding and boarding activities, until they are needed to replace losses in the main force.
Given the smaller number of Fire Caste members in the sept, members of the Earth Caste have been needed to also join the army. They are given the XV88s exclusively, able to walk and still fire while a Fire Caste member would have needed to readjust their aim after stopping. Due to this it's incredibly rare to see a XV88 with a rail rifle as the Earth Caste rely on their ability to run the software of the suits better; meaning they can't achieve the accuracy that a Firewarrior would with the rail rifle, but with the high yield missiles they're able to compensate and allow the XV88 to fire without even breaking stride.
As a note I actually researched into the Tau language a bit and Oi'nars literally means "Shiny Rock" lol.
Oi'nars Sept
Oi'nars is a small third sphere sept found to the south of Fal'shia centered around the planet Oi'nars, named for the shiny rocks found there. The heavy concentration of Earth Caste leads Oi'nars to mostly be a mining planet full of technological progress and combined with Ork and Eldar pirate raids the sept is mostly focused towards battle suit advancement. The Sept boasts a relatively small amount of Fire Caste for its size, mostly due to continued losses from pirate raids but also from defense against remnants of Hive Fleet Behemoth. As the raids have mostly focused on nearby Tash'var Sept a majority of this sept's military history is focused on dealing with the few remnants left from Behemoth destroyed a mere 200 years before settlement on Oi'nars; fortunate as if they had settled earlier the planet would be nothing but a barren rock.
Shas'O Oi'nars Kais Oi'yanoi, Commander Goldensun
Its forces originally went into battle proudly in the golden colour of the rock their sept is named for, abandoning the usual camouflage used by the Tau. This lent well to the tactics Shas'O Oi'nars Kais Oi'yanoi, Commander Goldensun used as he commanded quick combined strikes, stunning the enemy as the sunlight shines off their armour, before quickly retreating to patiently wait for the next strike. Conveniently enough combined with energy shielding experiments this has led a lot of the raiding Orks to believe that energy based weapons will just bounce off of the Oi'nars' golden armour. Unfortunately these tactics proved fatal in a prolonged conflict with the Tyrannic threat to the east. The threat was ultimately removed for good, but at the sacrificed of Goldensun and a fair few of his elite warriors; leaving the forces of Oi'nars in short supply of Shas'vre.
Shortly after Goldensun's daughter, Shas'O Oi'nars Kunas Commander [think of english name], was given command after serving on her father's bodyguard and being one of the few survivors of the Tyrannic threat. Promptly the shining gold became the sept colour whilst the overall colour scheme of the forces became a dark magenta and grey; a dark surprisingly stealthy scheme that was quite the opposite of the arrogance of the former. Sept markings are rarely used currently, to promote stealth, but those who have performed well enough have had their names added to their suits in the shining sept colours to inspire those around them.
Exploratory Fleet Goldensun
Shortly after Commander [name] took over the Ethereals of Oi'nars declared that in honour of Commander Goldensun an exploratory fleet, that they had been in talks about prior to his demise, should be named after him and swiftly launched. The premise of the fleet would be to travel west along the galactic south to further explore the galaxy while avoiding the Imperial resistance the Tau had faced at Damocles Gulf. The force would uphold the Oi'nars tradition of being entirely suit mounted, with the occasional experimental modification here and there; in part to test out the effectivity of a fully mounted force while trying to demonstrate how outdated tanks and foot infantry could be in a more fluid battlefield. Remaining mindful of the Farsight incident; the Ethereals devised what they thought would be a more foolproof way of ensuring such an uprising couldn't repeat itself given the expected distance the fleet would reach from the rest of the Tau Empire. Their answer was simply music, the females of the Ethereal caste would sing and perform for the fleet's population, even through communication networks to ensure not one of the caste would step foot onto a battlefield in anything but the more dire of circumstances, to maintain morale while the males would handle the actual running of everything.
Notable fleet members
Glassknife, squad leader of the XV8 team the Glassknives. 4 members strong each equipped with dual cyclic ion blasters.
Training
Unlike other septs, those of Oi'nars completely forgo any active duty as Firewarriors. Instead they are trained more strictly as being few in number they need to rely heavily on individual skills. Each begins their training in pretty much the same method as the Firewarriors of other septs, however they are never given a pulse rifle as it's bulk makes it unsuitable as a backup weapon should a suit become inoperable and require it's pilot to hold their position until they can be extracted. As such they are trained in the use of pulse carbines and pistols exclusively.
During this intensive training some may be selected for showing more guile, these will likely be placed into stealth teams and from then on trained in a different manner or be noted as possible future commanders. After this training they enter the reserve force who act as guards on the fleet's ships, the more elite of which get to employ the XV46 Vanguard armour for antiboarding and boarding activities, until they are needed to replace losses in the main force.
Given the smaller number of Fire Caste members in the sept, members of the Earth Caste have been needed to also join the army. They are given the XV88s exclusively, able to walk and still fire while a Fire Caste member would have needed to readjust their aim after stopping. Due to this it's incredibly rare to see a XV88 with a rail rifle as the Earth Caste rely on their ability to run the software of the suits better; meaning they can't achieve the accuracy that a Firewarrior would with the rail rifle, but with the high yield missiles they're able to compensate and allow the XV88 to fire without even breaking stride.