Hot Take: Fear And Loathing In Battletech

 Did... did I do the algorithm click-bait right? Is this how you click-bait algorithms? 

OK, so I guess we're doing this now. And just when I thought I had been doing so good at keeping positive on here. 

So lately there's been a lot of talk within a certain science fiction tabletop game's fanbase, who are currently very disgruntled and angry with the company that makes it (which I'm having a hard time with managing my schadenfreude about. I mean seriously people, what did you expect?). They are, it seems, proposing a mass boycott of this one science fiction tabletop game, and to migrate over to a certain other science fiction tabletop game that once was almost as popular, but has since fallen into decline (we'll get to that later, maybe. If there's time after lunch). 

And by 'lately' I of course mean that this whole drama seems to have largely wrapped up weeks ago, because I live under a rock on a cold dark planetoid orbiting a Black Hole approximately 42 billion light years away from the Earth, so if the electromagnetic image wave-forms of this whole debacle are only just now reaching me then I can only assume everyone involved has since largely moved on with their lives. 

Which naturally means this is the perfect time to cash in on the trendy thing! 

Except that's not really what this post is going to be about. Well, I mean it sort of is, but only in a very tangential way. See I'm doing that thing again where I talk around a thing for a little bit before cutting into the main thrust of the post. So no, what this post is really going to be about is a story, a story that has been festering and corroding for some time now, and it seems like as good a time as any to finally vent it out into the depths of the internet to be forgotten so I can get back to moving on with my life. 

This is the story of a sad little nocturnal parrot and his long journey to find a Tabletop home. It is largely still ongoing, for said nocturnal parrot has not really had much success anywhere. And it's also probably going to get lengthy and symbolic and maybe even a little trippy (no Tricia Helfer though, sadly - there wasn't enough in the budget to hire her), so I dunno maybe go to the bathroom or get a snack or something before strapping in. 

Alright then, let us begin. 

Once Upon A Time, a long time ago in a Living Room far far away, I had sat down like many 7-8 year olds in the Pre-Internet era to watch Saturday Morning Cartoons (historians debate whether the show in question was actually on Saturday mornings or Sunday mornings, but regardless it was a weekend morning cartoon show of some description). In late-90s/early 2000s Aotearoa these particular weekend cartoons were packaged within a larger children's show called Squirt, which was glorious and centred around the misadventures of a human presenter, a CGI fish and a CGI penguin as they roamed the universe in a CGI spaceship doing kid's show stuff. 

This was a common format for weekend kid's TV in late 90's/Early 2000s Aotearoa, and it's important here because they also included a few features around the cartoons. 

One morning one of these features included a review of a bundle of videogames. They all centred around a common theme of giant piloted robot walkers, so naturally as a ravenous consumer of all things science fiction and explosions (I was around 7-8 years old, remember) that got my attention. But the commentary about them went straight over my head, because what I IMMEDIATELY fixed on was the visuals - the pre-rendered trailer footage they ran the commentary over, which gave a glimpse into a world of giant heavy metal stomping machines blasting the tar out of each other. 

Naturally this mysterious video game world rocketed up to the top of my things to obsess over in the way that children do, and hovered there for a good few weeks or so (which is a long time by 7-8 year old standards). It was a shame then, that in my excitement I completely failed to pick up on what these video games were called. It was something like Mach-fighter or Mechwarrior or something... 

So without any further context to go on, that world of stompy robot action eventually faded from memory... until about a year or so later. This time I was sitting in a waiting room for a Doctor's Appointment, because I got sick a lot as a kid. But we had been referred to a different Doctor from the one I usually went to. This is important, because it meant I was now sitting in a waiting room where the range of old magazines on offer was LEGIT. What was arrayed in front of me to pass the time? Was it outdated tabloids? Home decor magazines? Oh no friends, what was splayed out on the side coffee-desk of this waiting room was nothing less than an array of PC gaming magazines. 

Fuck. Yeah. 

I only got to leaf through one, but it was enough. Because nestled in there, in between the reviews of Star Wars Galactic Battlegrounds and pieces on Tiberian Sun multiplayer and Mechcommander 2 coverage (wait what? Never mind now, we'll be back for you!), there was a computer game advert that would change everything. I no longer remember the title it was advertising, though in hindsight I can narrow it down to either Mechwarrior 3, Mechwarrior 4, or Mechcommander 2 (or an expansion pack for one of those). But what I do remember was the centrepiece of the ad. It was an image for a giant piloted robot, but one dramatically different from any I had ever seen before. Up until now all the giant stompy robots I had seen were essentially some flavour of 'human man, but made out of metal. Add face to taste'. They looked something like this: 

Alas the world will never know my awesome plans for a live-action Stars and STRIPE

Or this: 

Good 'Ol Mechanismo strikes again

Or very occasionally this: 

Though we never actually got Macross or Robotech over here

The only exceptions to this rule were the AT-ATs and AT-STs from Star Wars, the aforementioned video game trailer footage, and an obscure RTS computer game called Robo-Rumble that was the first video game I ever played. 

My fondness for reverse-joint legs and shoulder guns started early

But this new stompy robot that I beheld in this PC Gaming magazine ad, this one turned all that on its head. Unlike all those others there was nothing even remotely humanoid about it. Like the AT-STs it had reverse-jointed legs, ending in wicked-looking three toed feet. But where the AT-STs had this big awkward head-like box on top of their legs, this thing had a sleek cockpit with glazing like the TU-4, my favourite piston-engine bomber. There were no weird humanoid arms with silly oversized novelty hands on this thing, just a pair of out-rigger like appendages that had more in common with a Krokodil's wings than any ape's limbs, each one tipped with a gun-turret like pod holding an arsenal of energy weapons - one was firing a stream of colour in the image. And the whole thing was topped off with a pair of massive shoulder-mounted missile launchers. 

I didn't know it then, but I had just had my first sighting of a Timber Wolf. 

It's hard to properly convey just how much impact this chance event had on my formative self, but to use a historical analogy it would have been roughly equivalent to the launch of HMS Dreadnought in 1906 - sure, there had been metal boats with guns on them before, but never like this. It completely changed the entire way I thought about giant stompy robots. From then on, when I thought 'Giant Stompy Robot', my first mental image was that thing. From then on, when I scribbled out crude drawings of Giant Stompy Robots, they were in that style. 

After that this mysterious giant stompy robot I had spotted became something of a White Whale for my childhood self. Every time it had begun to fade from memory, I would suddenly come across another depiction of it - a screencap here, another advert over there. Yet no matter how hard I tried I could never seem to find any additional information on it - what was it, who made it, what was the story behind it? Sometimes there would be a modest blurb about the computer game it was appearing in, but those almost invariably left me with more questions rather than any answers. Thus, this giant robot next door remained an enigma to me until well into my teens. 

That was when I finally got Mechcommander 2 to work. 

I had gotten a copy of Mechcommander 2 for Christmas one year when I was a kid - I think I must have been around 8 or so, it was either just before or just after I had (re)discovered 40k. I was really excited about it at the time, not least because I recognised it as one of the components of that giant robot video game bundle I had seen on Squirt so long ago (I had since spotted the box at a video game store and inspected it), but my aspirations were quickly dashed when it turned out to be a little-bit too resource intensive for the household PC at the time, and refused to run at all on the PC that succeeded it. 

But when I was around 14 or so I suddenly remembered it and, on a whim, tried installing it on the trusty old hand-me-down laptop I had been given, and it worked like a charm. The game itself was great fun, and I enjoyed it for a good couple of years before the disk lost its mind and refused to run. But the really important breakthrough here was that game featured this little mini-encyclopedia bible thing as well that talked about all of the different game units. And it was there, at long last, that I finally began to learn about that awesome looking giant robot I kept seeing pop up. Granted, it wasn't a great overview - not least because they gave it the wrong name - but it was enough to start making serious google headway, and it was enough to point me to Sarna.net. 

It was at Sarna.net that I finally learnt the machine I had been seeing was called a Timber Wolf, and that it was a 75-ton ass-kicking machine built by some group called Clan Wolf. This Clan Wolf intrigued me and I tried to research them a little more, but following that rabbit hole again ultimately left me with more questions than answers as most of the information went over my head. It did however point me to some of the other hardware fielded by this 'Clan Wolf', most notably the Jagatai space fighter and the Mars and Huitzilopotchli tanks, and so after discovering the Iron Wind metals catalogue I decided they had enough cool looking models attached to the name to warrant a possible tabletop army project at some point in the future. 

But eventually the setting they were all native to reared its ugly head. It turned out that all these cool things inhabited a world where a rigid centrally-dictated metaplot ruled with an iron fist, a world filled with massive piles of in-universe quantitative information that left nothing to chance, with every last Timber Wolf being accounted for. Such structure for a tabletop universe was and remains utterly anathema to me. I guess it's not a problem for the type of Historical-style tabletop gamers that were clearly the target audience here, but as discussed before such creative straight-jackets are something I just cannot accept. No, the truth is I didn't really want to build a Clan Wolf tabletop army, I wanted to build a tabletop army for my own Clan, my own invention with my own backstory and identity, and one that also made liberal use of the Timber Wolf. But there was very clearly just no room for that, in either the game's background fluff or the player base, so after several years of desperately trying and failing to like any of the existing game factions I finally gave up and washed my hands of the whole thing. The fact that I was by now mired in University work was a factor too. 

For years afterwards the world of the Timber Wolf barely even crossed my mind, until one day just a couple of years ago. I had stopped in at the local second-hand bookstore to check for any 40k or Warhammer material that had been traded in there - I've had some pretty amazing finds there in the past. There weren't any army books or codexes or rulebooks there though. What I found instead was this: 

If ever there was a real-life Helm Memory Core, this was it

That wasn't even the entire pile either - there was a bunch of RPG gamebooks there too that I ultimately passed on since I didn't think they'd prove relevant to my needs. I was initially hesitant to adopt any of them, having been burned before by that setting, but their price wasn't terribly unreasonable so I decided that if they were still there by June I'd take it as a sign from the universe to give the franchise a second chance. Sure enough they stayed there for a good couple of months, so come May I dropped a few hints to the people around me and arranged for them to come in as a birthday present that year. They were later followed by a few others I had missed in amongst the RPG books. 

And it was through them that I finally discovered Battletech. 

I immediately fell in love with the setting of Battletech, the war-torn future of 3025, where the remnants of humanity's once-great space empire now exist on the fringes of the universe following a cataclysmic civil war, the survivors having fled the pan-galactic nuclear firestorms and reorganised themselves into a civilisation of warrior Clans that feud among themselves with genetically engineered warriors commanding giant robotic fighting machines armed to the teeth, getting into adventures and fighting each other within a careful framework of limited tabletop-friendly warfare strictly regulated with a rigid code of honour. 

What an amazing space for a table-top game! A cool, fun pulpy science-fantasy setting with a fresh twist of not having any extraterrestrial alien game factions, just groups of human heroes and villains getting into adventures in the unknown expanses of the Kerensky Cluster for prizes and glory. With cool looking giant stompy robots and spaceships and powered armour and stuff. Sounds like a lot of fun to me. After all these decades, everything had finally clicked to me. It all made perfect sense. All of it. The history of the exodus to the Pentagon Worlds, the outsourcing of all armed conflict to a specific group of genetically engineered fighters that would never leave any grieving loved ones behind when their luck finally ran out (it helps there are a lot of times where I wish I had just been grown out of a gene-tank and sprung out into the world fully formed with abundant resources at my fingertips). The drive to use restraint and avoid collateral damage wherever possible. 

Even the tenets of Zellbrigen combat all added up to me. For a long time one of my favourite factions in Warhammer has been Bretonnia, the faction of honourable chivalrous knights backed up by faithful if humble retainers and supporting troops, loaded down with the best weapons and armour available, practicing a strict form of honourable fighting and getting into all kinds of exciting adventures. And now here was the chance to have Bretonnians in space, with giant stompy robots instead of horses, and laser cannons instead of swords and lances. AWESOME!!

And that was even before I fully discovered the sheer amazing meta-coolness and relatability of the Jade Falcon clan, an entire civilisation of bitter disgruntled tabletop grognards. Just like me! Such a shame they don't really do Timber Wolves though. 

I was totally pumped to give this whole Battletech thing a go, building up my own Cluster to conquer the galaxy for myself - sure I might run into some problems with that stupid metaplot nonsense down the line, but it looked like the Battletech community was so fractured along era lines that I could probably just play around in this cool open-ended 3025 setting and ignore anything afterwards without anyone making too much of a fuss about it. 

If you're particularly familiar with the intricacies of the Battletech player-base, you may have been able to guess where this is going about a couple of paragraphs ago. It turns out that divisions of era are one thing, divisions of tech base are another altogether. 

There's a special kind of prejudice that I've observed in tabletop circles over the years. It includes and is deeply connected with Gatekeeping, but the two things do not entirely overlap - a lot of what goes on with this phenomenon is a kind of Gatekeeping, but not all Gatekeeping that goes on in tabletop circles is the same as this. There's plenty of the other regular toxic-fan Gatekeeping that can be found in depressing quantities throughout most nerd circles (above a given population level at least), which is directed at targets not always in alignment with what I'm describing. What separates the two, I think in part at least, is that this special kind of prejudice I'm describing is altogether far more ridiculously petty than even 'vanilla' Gatekeeping, yet - from firsthand experience at least - hurts much the same. 

What's particularly frustrating about this kind of prejudice is that it seems to have slipped under the radar of public discourse. This is pretty understandable, since Tabletop Games are a tiny niche within the already niche world of traditional 'nerd pursuits', and Tabletop Miniatures games moreso as they live under the shadow of D&D dominated Tabletop RPGs in the wider pop culture eye. The aforementioned pettiness doesn't exactly help either. The problem here is that this means that this particular phenomenon is actually talked about and addressed so little that it doesn't really have a specific name, when it really probably should. 

So for now let's call it 'The Meg Faction', so named after the character Meg in the cartoon sitcom Family Guy. If you are at all familiar with either American TV from the last 20 years or internet meme culture for the last 10 years, I probably shouldn't have to explain much about the concept of Meg. For everyone else out there (both of you!), Meg Griffin is a main character on the show. She was first voiced by Lacey Chabert (who is otherwise probably best known as either Eliza Thornberry or Gretchen from Mean Girls), but today is better known as being voiced by Mila Kunis. In the show Meg is the nominally teenage daughter of the protagonist family, and for much of the series' run she has been singled out by the showrunners as a lightning rod for all kinds of venomous vitriol. 

I think my favourite lowlight of this was when during one episode one of the other main characters, upon the reveal that the episode's plot was going to focus on Meg, immediately halted the story to address the audience with the line "Yes, that's right. This is going to be a Meg episode" before expressing his understanding if the audience wishes to leave now. Seriously? I'm interested in a Meg episode, she doesn't get a lot of screen-time normally so I want to see where this one goes. You can probably tell by now that I'm one of those people who never found this particular aspect of Family Guy's humour funny. 

Anyway. The Meg Faction. As I was saying I've noticed this weird pattern of factional prejudice in a lot of the tabletop games I follow. In all the tabletop games I look at, there always seems to be one game faction that's singled out as a target for wildly disproportionate levels of shade from the bulk of the player-base. It becomes normalised to hurl vitriol at the faction, in much the same way that it's become normalised on Family Guy to hurl vitriol at Meg. 

In Warhammer 40,000, the Meg Faction is the Tau. We'll talk more about that in a future post. In Battletech? There are around 20 or so Meg Factions, and together they comprise the Clans. 

It's telling, for instance, that while each of the 20 or so Clans in Battletech is in fact a distinct faction in its own right, in my observations most Battletech fans lump them into one generic category - it's always 'The Clans' in discourse, despite it never being 'The Successor Houses' when talking about the major groups of the other part of Battletech's setting. There's a lot of these other weird double-standards around the Clans with a lot of the player-base too. 

Consider one of the core premises of the game: a universe where the fate of whole worlds (or similar high stakes) is often decided by one pivotal confrontation of a small handful of mechs. This is something I've seen lauded as fun and cool in the game's Succession Wars setting. Except when the Clans are doing it, they're silly and ridiculous because it makes no sense to just send in a tiny handful of mechs to decide the fate of something so high-stakes. 

Similarly, having regulation in-universe to mitigate collateral damage during the many armed conflicts that take place. It's a laudable and pragmatic thing to do. Except when the Clans do it, at which point it suddenly becomes a threat to a lot of peoples' suspension of disbelief. 

Or how about the concept of Mechwarriors themselves? Long, proud distinguished lines of skilled and cunning warriors, uniquely able to expertly pilot the setting's titular giant mechs, often ending up forming hereditary positions within the space militaries they serve. I've often seen it lauded as a cool concept and fun aspect of some of the more space-feudal elements of the game universe... except when the Clans do it. 

There's a bunch of other examples, but this post is already turning into an epic and I'm sure you get the idea. Point is, when you get right down to the nuts and bolts of it, when you sieve it through the finest sieve, there is very little if any difference between the world of the Succession Wars and the world of the Clans, outside of semantics and cosmetic surface details. So why is it that the one is lauded as a gold standard for the game, and the other is dragged through the mud? 

And dragged through the mud the Clans are, by much of the player-base. I recall one post in a facebook group - now lost to the mists of time no doubt - from a (presumably) newcomer asking for recommendations on what Clan to start out with in Battletech. The wording was pretty specific that they were interested in the Clans. You would think, given the nature of the question, that the post might have received comments giving some insightful overviews on how the various Clans differ from each other in outlook and preferred combat doctrine, maybe a few notes on what their different colour schemes were like. Instead, the vast overwhelming majority of the comments consisted of various permutations of the following 3 themes: 

1. "Pick an Inner Sphere House instead" 

2. "Go Merc instead" 

3. "Oh no not another Furry/Nazi/Incest Freak" 

Yikes. Guys, the poster was clearly interested in starting with the Clans. That they were the main entry point of choice was pretty evident from how the question was worded. Yet a good nine tenths - at a conservative estimate - of the Battletech fans responding still insisted on proselytising parts of the game setting that were clearly not asked for. The rest of the social media discourse I encountered wasn't much better. Whenever the Clans did get mentioned, it was almost always as a collective, and almost always to say something mean-spirited about them. Incest allegations and Furry accusations were popular. Allegations that the players who enjoyed the Clans were either horrible people or not true Battletech fans were not far behind. The other times were largely to sling stale Tex memes at people who enjoyed the Clans. 

Ah yes, Tex. The star of the BlackPantsLegion Youtube channel. Recently involved in some unpleasant controversy around a certain unpleasant 40k commentator, as I am led to understand. Tex is in many ways symptomatic of a lot of the problems the Battletech fanbase has (and I should add that it is far from without its good points - there are reasonable and decent Battletech fans out there, and I was even able to observe a couple in the wild - but that does not mean that the fanbase is without its problems or above reproach). Not because of the whole ArchWarhammer debacle mind - I'll leave that whole drama for those more educated on the matter to assess. 

No, the thing is... Tex is just sort of, well... Basic. 

Don't get me wrong, the videos have their merits. There's clearly a lot of effort put in to giving them high production values, and while it seems there's very little information within them that can't be found on Sarna.net, I'm sure there are a lot of young whippersnappers out there who appreciate it being collated into a digestible video essay format, so it's providing something good that way. No, the problems stem up more in the framing. For one, there's a very visible anti-Clan bias that permeates a lot of the content - most notably the feature on the Clans themselves, which lavishes enormous amounts of run-time going over the exodus of the SLDF in meticulous detail, only to spend a fraction of the run-time glossing over the Clans in their 3025-3055 'modern' states. But more than that... in the videos I've watched the conclusions drawn to the information presented are all takes and angles that were old 10 years ago. I know that because I found them combing through archives of forgotten Battletech discourse from 10 years ago, and they had already passed into Popular Consensus even then. 

And this wouldn't be a problem - after all it's pretty clear that the BlackPants folks just happen to agree with those angles, and that's fine - except that they seem to be the only conclusions that circulate through most of the Battletech fanbase, and is compounded by many fans religiously pointing everyone they can to those videos for their primer. I've observed a kind of creative sterility at work among a lot of the Battletech fanbase, which seems in my eyes to be in rather dire need of some fresh new thoughts and takes on things. Heck I'd be happy enough to supply a few myself, if it weren't for the fact that I lack the resources (recording and editing equipment for youtube videos, and a large online platform otherwise) to do it, and I'm almost certain I'd get immediately buried under an avalanche of commenters relentlessly pontificating on how I'm not a true fan and don't know what I'm talking about, or how I'm a horrible person, or how I'm out to destroy the thing they love. 

Because the thing is, my first tentative contact with the Battletech player-base wasn't welcoming. I didn't feel accepted by them. In fact, my first tentative forays into the Battletech player-base also ended up being the first time I felt genuinely AFRAID of online interaction. It was the first time I felt genuinely SCARED to write something online. It was the first time I felt actual, real, genuine honest to god Maisie-Williams-In-Cyberbully FEAR when talking tabletop stuff online. Even at the nadir of my feelings around the course Warhammer and 40k have taken, even during the release around the 8th edition Wood Elf book, I'd never felt fear of posting online before. Which is why it took several months for me to finally deduce why it was that I started hesitating around clicking refresh buttons, and why I was getting a weird knot inside whenever I saw online notifications, and why my general productivity was taking a particularly noticeable downward slump despite no obvious real-life cause. 

Posting all this up is in part at least an attempt to face that fear. I'd be lying if I said I wasn't even now a little worried about what might become of it. 

"But Millitant!" you say, "So far you've only looked at the social media and youtube discourse! Obviously you're going to be in for a bad time if that's your only exposure to a fanbase, everyone knows social media and youtube are both festering pits of toxic depravity! Surely there must be better, more open discourse out there!" Well that's true. There is much more to any fanbase than the pit of Chaos that bubbles up to the surface on social media and youtube. So let's look at the official forum for this game system. 

There's a discussion thread on the Battletech forum titled Does Anyone Else Dislike The Clans. It was wisely locked down by the forum Moderators a little over a year ago, but it's a fairly good microcosm of the sentiment expressed throughout a lot of forums talking about Battletech whenever the Clans come up. The first thing to note is that it's a lot more, well, civil than the social media comments - there's far less crude insults thrown around - but a lot of the underlying attitudes remain. I've been silently looking through the Battletech forum for a little over 2 or 3 years now, and the impression I've been left with is still that, as someone who enjoys the Clan side of Battletech exclusively over the other parts of its setting, I am not welcome there. That I, as an enthusiast of all things Battletech and Clan, do not belong. 

The rationalisations are a lot more developed though. They can be largely broken down into four categories: 

- The Clans do not fit the setting 

- The Clans are silly make no sense as a concept 

- The only purpose of the Clans there should ever be is faceless guilt-free NPC bad guys to beat 

- The Clans are overpowered in the game rules, which breaks the game 

Well gee Carl, maybe I think the Successor Houses are pretty silly and make no sense as a concept. I dunno Steve, maybe the only purpose the Inner Sphere should have is to be a faceless NPC to conquer that's only good for yielding Isorla and Bondsmen. Maybe I think all those gritty down-to-earth Mercenaries don't fit my larger-than-life pulpy Space Fantasy setting, Carol. What if all that BV-cheap, spammable Inner Sphere tech is overpowered and breaks down my nice fast-playing Clan games, Shannon? 

Yeah, I don't buy it either. I don't buy it because I see most of these same sentiments levelled at the Tau in Warhammer 40,000 too, almost word-for-word sometimes. If I had a dollar for every time I heard someone say the Tau don't belong in 40k, I'd be able to afford multiple Forgeworld 40k-scale Manta models. With change left over. This can't be a coincidence. After almost a decade of observing the patterns at play here, I'm convinced there's something deeper at work. Something very deep and dark and ugly, nestled somewhere at the heart of tabletop fandoms, perhaps even at the heart of traditional nerd circles themselves. Not unlike Derry in It. 

The Fanbase's not right, is it? 

There's a website called Whitemetalgames that featured an article titled Why Do Tau Players Get So Much Shade Thrown At Them. It's a very good read, and I strongly recommend it if you're more interested about the phenomenon of Meg Factions in tabletop gaming, particularly in the context of 40k. Among the many true words spoken in the article is this little gem of a passage: 

'And when I read or hear about people deciding to wash their hands of the hobby completely… sell off the minis and the armies that they spent all that time and resource on… then it’s very much NOT okay. That’s literally toxic fandom gatekeeping others out of the community and the pastime. And without new people and new ideas, the pastime and the hobby is a doomed one. “Oh yeah. I heard of that game. Unless you play a certain faction, you get a bunch of crap. No thanks.”' 

Well, a little under a year ago I reached the stage of washing my hands of Battletech (again). Not completely mind - I still value that pile of game-books as an academic collection, and I'll likely still paint up a Timber Wolf model or 5 just as a promise to my childhood self. But at this stage I don't see much more Battletech in my future. I've pretty much abandoned my plans to grow a scene of it in my local FLGS, and my plans to build an entire Cluster's worth of models to game with have been slashed to a token Star of Timber Wolves at most.  

And the truth is, I'd still like to come back one day, look over the forums and other online discussion space, and see a whole flourishing community of other Clan enthusiasts out in the sun, talking about cunning applications of Zellbrigen and the latest exciting adventures of their Novas, and whole waves of people waxing lyrical about just how awesome and iconic of Battletech the Timber Wolf is. I'd love to look over there one day and see the part of the franchise I love the most openly treated as an equal and integral component to the Inner Sphere side of things. I'd love to see just as many people enjoying 3025 Political Century games as there are enjoying Succession War settings. I'd love to see room for my cool fun ultra-violent Space Bretonnians. 

But I'm no longer holding my breath for it. 

The great tragedy of Meg Factions is that they're often a case of cutting off the nose to spite the face, because often these designated Meg Factions can be gateways that introduce the franchise to a whole new audience and thus grow the player-base quite a lot, which is a win-win for both the players themselves (more people to play games with and talk about the franchise with) and the companies producing the tabletop games (more customers buying their product). The Tau for instance, can and do introduce 40k to a whole range of people who might have otherwise given the setting and franchise a hard pass - I know this because I am one of those people. 

Which brings us back to the recent talk among disgruntled 40k fans about jumping ship to Battletech. See, from the point of view of capitalising on this sentiment and using it to grow the Battletech player-base, now is the perfect time to embrace the Clans and elevate them in both the franchise and the fanbase. Why? Because, from the point of view of attracting 40k fans, you could not ask for a better gateway to Battletech than the Clans. 

Think about it. Think about 40k - larger than life, revels in being over-the-top, hard on the Space Fantasy end of things, dripping with overdramatic pathos yet also at its heart a heavy-metal powered vehicle for power fantasies involving blasting bad guys to kingdom come with an arsenal of sci-fi death. Just like the Clans! 

Consider the Space Marines, the flagship of the 40k franchise. A force of genetically altered superhuman warriors, governed by stern codes of honour, armed to the teeth with weapons and equipment that are the bleeding edge of human technological achievement in the setting, roaming the stars getting into adventures. Consider that the archetypal 40k player probably has that as their central point of reference. When one of these 40k players comes over to your Battletech discourse, expresses interest and says that in 40k they started with and played a lot of Space Marines? You'd have to be crazy not to point them towards the Clans! It would be a slam dunk to steer them in the direction of the Clans. 

But hey, what do I know. I only studied Communications and Marketing at University. 

Which is why, a couple of days ago, I was so saddened when I came across a youtube video titled 40k Fans Are Coming Over To Battletech! Should We Be Worried? I was a little disappointed that, over the entire 24 minutes of the video's run-time, not only were the Clans not mentioned once, but that instead the commentary specifically warned that "There's no fantasy aspect really in Battletech", and that "If you like being a non-human with like its own weird wacky culture, you're not gonna find that in Battletech", and "If you're looking for the science fantasy aspect, if you're looking for those sorts of things like the Primarchs and all this other heavy metal type of stuff then you're probably not gonna find that here", and then suggesting the closest point of reference to a 40k-style character as Victor Davion of the Federated Commonwealth. 

In the immortal words of housewives and mothers everywhere, if I take a look and find something closer than that to 40k and its weird wacky science fantasy cultures.... 

But as disappointing as that was, it wasn't the thing that really finally drove me to write this thesis novel. No, what did that was the comment section below the video. Yes yes, I know reading youtube comment sections is like reading the mind of the talking cat in Rick And Morty, but look that video was 24 minutes long and my wifi is ass (I live under a rock remember), so I had to pass the time while it loaded somehow and the comment section was fairly short. Here are the ones that stuck out at me: 

"I'm giving you a fair warning this mass Exodus will bite your community ass in the long run. The parasites and vipers that are taking down 40k will come for Battletech. How Tex's community treated him is evidence that these people already inside.

Gatekeep the shit out any of us 40k guys and make sure we know and adopt battletech for battletech. Don't let any of the new people try to change your community.

Good luck to you and the wider battletech community. You people are going to need it."

As well as: 

 "Yes, gatekeep very very carefully as there are a lot of wokists that will come with them and will seek to make battletech something its not, just as they have been trying to do to 40k for years now.

Other than that be welcoming"

And then there was: 

 "As both a WH and a BT fan, my advice is: KEEP YOUR GUARD UP.

Yes, embracing the new fans is good and all, but watch out for those trying to change things to be "more inclusive". I hate to admit he is right, but when Arch advocated for gatekeeping, by now even i recognize he was right..."

Emphasis mine. 

I know that youtube comments should under no circumstances be taken as representative of a given fanbase, but dear god I wish these ones represent a tiny impotent lunatic fringe of the 40k and Battletech fanbases.  If my 24ish years of being into traditional nerd pursuits has taught me anything, it's that Gatekeeping is never the answer. It's part of the problem. It's the whole reason why a lot of people find us off-putting and why the fanbases for these things stay small. 

Look, I get it. There's a lot of tabletop stuff I'm really passionate about that I hold as a Sacred Cow. I was so dismayed by the 8th Edition Wood Elf book for Warhammer that I practically denounced modern GW overnight. I love Battlefleet Gothic so much that I cringe with dread every time there's mention that GW might be making a different game with that name. Even now, what I really wish I could do more than ever when it comes to tabletop games, is play some games of Early 4th edition Warhammer 40,000, with all the right codexes (that would be the 3.5 ones, for those playing at home), on a table full of cool-looking homemade terrain made from odds and ends with some Jungle Trees and Gothic Ruins scattered around and two armies of period-authentic early 2000s 40k models. 

But the thing is, I also have no real serious expectations that these games I play will ever return to the mainstream ubiquity they once had. I've largely resigned myself to the fact that I'm going to be left with a tiny niche of a tiny niche forever when it comes to the tabletop games I'm into. As much as I'd love to one day wake up and discover that there are hundreds of thousands of people out there who are just as passionate about Battlefleet Gothic, 3.5/Early 4th edition 40k, 6/7th edition Warhammer and all things early 2000s GW, I'm fully aware that the chances of that happening are negligible at best. 

Battletech though? That has a real shot at growing its fanbase. There's a real chance to gain some wider appeal and build that franchise up more. And I'm glad to see people excited about that. But you have to remember that you just can't grow any fanbase, for anything, without making at least a few compromises. Change, for better or worse, is the inevitable cost of that growth. For me, those compromises typically take the form these days of being fairly flexible about what models gaming opponents bring to my 3.5/Early 4th edition 40k outings, or my Warhammer and Battlefleet Gothic ones, and biting my tongue whenever I see online discourse around Gloriana battleships and Battlefleet Heresy and post-2008 GW fiction. I have to do these things if I want to have any chance of keeping the games I love in peoples' minds. 

For Battletech? Well, a good start for those compromises would be giving the Clans and their enthusiasts a bigger place in the sun. Because like it or not, the Clans are one of the better - or at least more underrated - gateways to the franchise. It's no co-incidence, for example, that the introduction of the Clans in 1991ish resulted in the apex of Battletech's popularity and success (for now at least), nor is it a co-incidence that Mechwarrior 2 was the computer game that launched Battletech's setting into mainstream video game discourse. As much as many crusty old Battledroids Warhorses might be loathe to admit it, the truth is if it weren't for the Clans Battletech almost certainly would not have survived to the present day (not least because that whole Harmony Gold business would have been even more of a problem for FASA, since there'd be less of their own original robot designs populating the setting). 

People often talk about what killed Battletech. About why it failed to find the same success that Warhammer and especially 40k did. After my experiences with the Battletech fanbase, I can't help but wonder just how much of that maybe, just maybe, might have been a self-inflicted wound. But there's a big chance now for Battletech to grow, and that means there's a big chance to fanbase to learn from their past mistakes. And if they do that, I might just revisit those plans to build a full Cluster of my own. 

So that about covers it, I think. At long last we have reached the end of the tale. I wish there are some important things that can be taken away buried in my raw emotional venting. I don't really wish to scare anyone off Battletech, or to rain on the parade of these disgruntled 40k fans, merely to release my own experiences out into the ether to provide, perhaps, a different perspective on these things, a vision from the Other Side. And to explain why, for the moment at least, I probably won't be among those jumping ship. No, instead I feel more and more compelled to press on through the cold empty void of today's Tabletop Industry and continue my search for the shining lost 13th Colony of 3.5/Early 4th edition Warhammer 40,000 (even if it's without the help of Tricia Helfer in a sharp red dress). 

But whatever else, one thing is for certain - the Timber Wolf is one hell of a badass giant robot.

FUCK. YEAH.

 

On Metaplots, And Why They Must Die

ALRIGHT THAT'S IT!! 


I was going to try and continue being nice for a bit longer. I wanted to try and stay positive. I wanted to just focus on models and fun backstory, but my hand has been forced. They leave me no choice. So buckle up ladies and gentlemen, because for the remainder of this post it's going to be another wave of nothing but furious venom-filled scathing ranting from an angry tabletop hobbyist. Because there's something that's been going on in the tabletop industry for a while now, a repulsive loathsome cancer that eats away at my enjoyment year by year, month by month, and quite recently it's been kicked into overdrive in the once-great land of GW. All this week I've been bombarded with glowing praise from the official statements about it, how amazing it is, how fantastic it will be, how much of a great leap forward it is.

And honestly, I'VE HAD IT UP TO HERE WITH IT!


In case you don't follow GW (and are probably better off for it), the latest big release for them have been a return of the glorious Juan Diaz early 2000s era Daemonette models that I've always loved. But the release they're really hyping up is a continuation of their new line of campaign supplements, this one called 'Wrath of Magnus'. It's accompanied by the usual swarm of garish soulless empty plastic abominations I never asked for or wanted that accompany a GW release nowdays, but the real problem, the real thing that has me literally so angry that I'm struggling to type coherently, is the book itself, and the thing that it represents the latest in a long line of. The book, you see, is a continuation of that horrifying plague known as the metaplot.

And it's destroying my enjoyment and interest in this hobby.

For those of you who don't know (and I was like that once), a metaplot is a single unifying story arc that links together across several different independent works and impacts on all of them. In other words, you have creative works X, Y and Z, each of which cover a different aspect of the same setting or internal universe. A metaplot will be a continuing narrative across all of them, with events from work X having an impact on work Y, which in turn provides revelations that affect work Z. It's most commonly associated with tabletop RPGs and wargames, where the independent works in question are sourcebooks and gamebooks for the tabletop game's fictional setting, and it became very popular in the 1990s after White Wolf achieved some success with their famous World of Darkness RPG series, starting with Vampire: The Masquerade. These RPGs were designed from the start with a central metaplot, and when they started making considerable amounts of money (by tabletop game standards at least) other manufacturers decided they wanted a piece of the action and started coming up with metaplots of their own. Today it's very common to find them in both RPGs and wargames covering fictional settings (such as Dystopian Wars, modern GW games and perhaps most famously Battletech).

Now, so far this probably sounds perfectly well and good, after all that's basically what happens in every traditional media from books to TV shows. And that's true. It's only when it's taken out of its native environment of traditional media that the metaplot becomes such a destructive invasive disease. The astronomical problem here, you see, is that tabletop games are in many ways very different to traditional media, as an audience interacts with them in very different ways.

Traditional media like books, TV shows, movies etc. is meant to be enjoyed passively. You sit down, read the book or watch the movie or TV show, and when you reach the end that's it, the story's finished. It's over. Oh sure some people theorise and discuss things and write their own stuff about it, but that's not really what the core intent is. You don't watch Star Wars to decide what you'd do if you were in charge of the Rebellion or that it really should have been Captain Phasma that stayed on to become the big badass antagonist for the new films, you watch it to watch the story of Star Wars (and then if you get really, really invested in it you can take things from there). At the heart of it, a creator is telling you a story, and you can take it or leave it.

Tabletop games, however, are a whole other thing entirely. Instead of passively consuming them, tabletop games require you, the audience, the player, the hobbyist, to enjoy them actively. You don't just sit there while a story unfolds in front of you, you actually get in there and actively engage with the setting (even if only on the absolute minimal level required). Because tabletop games require you to create something for them. Whether it's characters in an RPG or armies in a wargame, you are required to contribute something. YOU create the characters, YOU build the army, and you, yes YOU are in control of them. You effectively create your own small part of that setting, with which you can then interact with the rest of the universe. This is easily one of the greatest joys to be had in the tabletop hobby, and I'm always very disturbed and upset when I see few people pursuing it.

Unfortunately, this starts to crash and burn if the contributors are denied a sufficient amount of agency over what happens to their creations, and that's exactly what metaplots do. Because official top-down 'storyline advancing' metaplots don't affect just one part of the setting, they affect all of it, including the parts you created. Thus, an advancing metaplot forces new background material on your characters, armies and stories regardless of whether you actually wanted it or not. And because it's official and top down, there is no real way it can be effectively denied. If you don't want or agree with the new background, there is no way for your characters or army to stop it because its set in stone from on high by people who in all likelihood will never even hear about your own creations.

There's a quote on TVtropes in the examples listed under the 'Creator's Pet' trope amongst the examples found in Tabletop Wargames:

"That's the other thing: [White Wolf] hires people who want to tell stories. But, the only characters they have to tell stories about are the NPCs. So, they tell stories about the NPCs. 
Gods, I wanted to smack some of my fellow writers upside the head on some Vampire projects when they burbled on about the cool things they'd have Hardestadt do, or whoever. What were the *PCs* supposed to do?" - Dean Shomshak

Shomshak was talking about the World of Darkness and its metaplot, but the same principle applies to any tabletop game. Even the most compelling core background element of a tabletop setting is technically only ever supposed to be a backdrop for what the players are doing. As a result, if you make it all about the central metaplot and 'advancing the storyline', then I, the hobbyist and consumer of your product, can only be left saying "OK. Great. What's my army/fleet/characters supposed to do."

Let's look at some examples under the microscope shall we? Perhaps the biggest illustration of why this whole metaplot thing just does not work is the infamous 'End Times' series by GW (henceforth referred to as the ET series like it is almost everywhere else on this blog, for it does not deserve to be recognised by its full name). The ET series, as has been discussed on here before, was a series of narrative campaign books GW published for Warhammer Fantasy, and they ended up literally destroying the setting. Kislev, Bretonnia, Tilea, Estallia and several other factions were supposedly wiped out off-hand in single paragraphs, the Elves were thrown together in a fit of what certainly felt like blatant Dark Elf pandering and the forces of evil generally rampage across the entire Warhammer World. And if you wanted to stop any of this from happening? Y'know, like fantasy heroes are supposed to do? Well too bad! Instead you get to sit on the sidelines while the official named characters do everything because apparently they're the only ones that matter and the only ones allowed to have any interaction with the setting.

OK. Great. What are my armies and characters supposed to do?

A more recent GW example comes from the last two Warzone Damocles books, in which Aun'va supposedly died and the Damocles Gulf was allegedly set on fire. Ignoring the glaring contradictions of basic laws of physics that are horrendous even by 40k's standards. you really shouldn't be making those kinds of big sweeping changes in a way that leaves the hobbyists no room around them. I have a very sizeable Tau fleet (just over 2,500 pts by my estimate), some of which I've documented on this very blog. The backstory behind them has them around the Damocles Gulf right at the point when that event supposedly happens, and also has them fighting against the Imperium (mostly). And yet now it doesn't matter how many games of Battlefleet Gothic I play or how well I play them or how many Adeptus Mechanicus fleets I defeat or how many victory points I defeat them by, the Damocles Gulf is still always going to be ignited in GW's crazy made-up world. Which wouldn't be a problem if that world was the piece of silly fanfiction I'm making it out to be here, but it's the official company line, which means the bulk of the community will likely end up swallowing it. So according to GW, the Tau can't stop the Damocles Gulf from being blown up, no matter how many Exterminatus! scenarios I win against Imperial fleets. None of the official named characters did anything about it, so it happens, and that's that.

OK. Great. What are my fleets and characters supposed to do?

Also, what are my armies and characters supposed to do? I do play 40k too (well in theory at least).

And it's not just my armies. The new book GW's just released has a whole bunch of stuff happening between the Dark Angels, Space Wolves and Thousand Sons, and if you want to try and stop any of that? Too bad, as it has been written, so shall it be.

OK. Great. What are the armies and characters of the Space Wolves, Dark Angels and Thousand Sons players supposed to do?

GW isn't the only manufacturer that's guilty of this either. For a long time I flirted with getting into Dystopian Wars, a 15mm steampunk wargame produced by Spartan Games. But when I went to check up on where it was at I was put right off ever wanting to start into it, because any remaining models in the range that I do like would be thoroughly eclipsed by 'progressing storyline' that's taken the setting beyond it's starting point. Oh, you wanted to conquer the carribean or invade Russia (though you probably don't know much about world conquest if you did the latter)? Well fuck you! We've written about the official events in these fancy new books! Go and slavishly devote yourself to just passively eating up whatever we spoon feed you, your creations don't matter to us*! Heck, the enormous metaplot in Battletech is the single biggest factor AGAINST me getting into that system.

And that's another problem, developers just don't stop at one addition, they keep driving the metaplot until everywhere is covered. So it doesn't matter that your army and its related background happens thousands of light-years away from the events in a given GW campaign book, or a continent away from the latest Dystopian Wars metaplot antics, because that won't keep you safe forever. All it takes is one campaign book, one new piece of background material, one 'advancement to the storyline' to render all your carefully thought-out background effectively null and void in the wider community. And frankly, if that's what's going to happen, then why should I even bother with building my own army in the first place? And if the answer to that is 'you shouldn't' then what's the point of the tabletop hobby, and why should I care about it?

This isn't a new problem, but it wasn't this bad before. GW's global Eye of Terror global campaign promised big shakeups to the status quo, and while glorious it was almost certainly a mistake. But it at least allowed hobbyists to have some level of agency over the changes by allowing them to interact with the process - if you don't want side X to win at location Y, then you'd just have to win enough games and report those wins in to stop them there (well that's the basic concept at least. The actual system was somewhat more complicated). With these new campaign books? None of that. The things happen, rocks fall, everyone dies, and there's nothing you can do about it. And at the risk of sounding like an 80s action film character, I didn't sign on for that.

And it's a trivially easy thing to fix. All manufacturers would have to do is write in a little 1-page introduction piece at the start of every campaign book that clearly and explicitly states that all the background material contained within is just a hypothetical 'What if?' scenario and is only one potential outcome out of many, and encourages players to come up with whatever outcome suits them the best, and reinforce that message in every official statement about the campaign books, and there'd be no problem because then everyone would be free to decide for themselves whether to include the new background or not. And if they want to do a massive global campaign event, then they just have to think smaller. One planet, one city, one thing that's inconsequential in the grander scheme of things. Things like the Medusa V campaign or Imperial Armour Volume III: The Taros Campaign are the right idea, because even if you don't agree with the outcome it's just one small place that you can avoid. The Tau conquered Taros? That's OK, your army is light-years away engaged in its own equally important conflict, and who knows maybe it'll go there someday to try and retake it. Maybe it will, maybe it won't but it's up to you. And that's the important part that's missing at the moment. If it is there, then I don't think it's being rammed down the community's throat nearly enough.

All official background in a tabletop game is ever meant to do is be a starting point, something to give your games and characters and armies context. It should never be a prime mover - that's the job of YOU, the player and hobbyist.

All the official background should ever do is set the stage and provide some props and costumes. It should then be up to you to cast some actors, write a script and perform it. And the sooner manufacturers remember that, the better.

Right then. I fell better now that I've gotten that out of my system. My apologies you had to see me in that state, but I just couldn't take it any longer. I'll try and talk about something more positive next time, although for now I will state again just how delighted I am to see the 2000s era Juan Diaz Daemonette models come back, if only briefly.


*That may not be the intention they have, but it certainly feels like that to me.

More Battlefleet Gothic

Oh my goody god I totally forgot to update this! It's been left frozen in time while the rest of the world has developed around it, like Ripley in Aliens. So, where to start...

First Games Workshop started releasing the End of Times series. It was a bold, ambitious new attempt to revitalise their Warhammer Fantasy setting, and everyone loved it....

... except me. I myself want nothing to do with it. Where everyone else seems to adore it, and where it's brought them back into Warhammer Fantasy, or drawn them to start it, I've had the exact opposite reaction - I don't like it one bit, and it's all but destroyed my enthusiasm for Warhammer Fantasy. You see, when I first started up Warhammer Fantasy, so many moons ago (well ok just under two years), I began to create the background for my Wood Elf army and it's allies and enemies with the assumption that the official parts of the Warhammer setting would remain largely static. Sure, some things would be changed or retconed, but the overall setting, including the point of time that was it's present would remain largely the same. And that's how I liked it. Because it left me with the freedom to take that setting anywhere I wanted. And I did - I created an entire miniature world within a world, a rich extensive backstory filled with characters and factions and events.. and it's own future end-state. And, in short, that end-state is fundamentally incompatible with the End Times series. So now all my background, which I greatly prefer to the official material from the End Times, has now had it's validity seriously compromised. And no, I'm not going to change mine, partially because I'm a stubborn old soul, but mostly because it's largely complete in my head, background is extremely important to me, and, like I said before, I like my background more than the latest official one.

I think a lot of my frustration with it is from the End Times series' popularity - if there were more like-minded individuals out there who rejected the End Times backstory and were happy to go on as if it never existed, then I'd probably feel a lot better about it, but as it stands it seems to me that in an rare occurrence the silent majority and the vocal minority are in unanimous total agreement that the End Times background material is the best thing since coca-cola, which leaves me all by myself in my background vision, with no-one to share it with (which isn't too bad, it was after all written for me first and for others second, but it's still nice to share it with others and have them like it), and leaving me feeling kind of alone in a crowd.

I think I might now know how fans of the Old World of Darkness felt when White Wolf rolled out the Time of Judgement and the New World of Darkness.

Anyway, this post isn't really about ranting and bellowing out to the heavens in outrage. Because (again, in what seems like the total opposite of the general trend in the Warhammer/40k community at the moment) while my interest in Fantasy is almost dead, my interest in Warhammer 40,000 has skyrocketed, and I've been very busy with my beloved Battlefleet Gothic. Since last posting, I've finished up my squadron of Tau Castellan class escorts, Lacuna Squadron.

And more recently an Emissary class starship, the Sharon Den Adel.

And I wrote up some background on Tau Orbitals and my fleet's flagship. Enjoy!

Vessels of the Kor'vattra 

Part 8: Orbitals 

For almost all of its history, the cornerstone of the Tau Empire's space capability has been its Orbitals. Indeed, some argue that the network of Orbitals that honeycombs the Tau Empire are the true backbone of the Tau fleet and indeed even the empire itself more than any starship. The tried and true SX-8 modular Orbital station remains the most common of these and, despite being an aging design and no longer as well known as newer forms of orbital stations and platforms, continues to be a vital link in Tau supply chains and communications relays. Much like the Kor'vattra series capital ships that are of the same vintage, the SX-8 owes much of its success to the versatility and simplicity of its modular design. The Orbital core and ancillary modules are easily transported via a Gal'leath or Il'fannor class starship, and can be quickly set up in a variety of configurations, ranging from habitat stations to defence platforms to docking hubs and anything in between. Indeed, SX-8 Orbitals can be found across the Tau Empire fulfilling almost any role imaginable, including defence stations, habitats, manufacturing plants, trading posts, communications centres, engineering bays, dockyards, medical aid-stations, science and research facilities, observation posts, command centres, starbases and much more besides. The modular nature of the SX-8 also enables them to be quickly and easily dismantled, either for redeployment to a new location, or to withdraw the orbital in the face of an imminent overwhelming attack.

As well as providing all the main command, communication and sensor facilities and systems for the Orbital, along with the Orbital's primary power-plant and habitation for all its core staff, the core module for an SX-8 Orbital array also incorporates a standard long range deep-space communications suite, featuring all the communications systems, computer networks, communications transponders and transmission broadcast relay antennae needed to relay messages across the Tau Empire, forwarding them onto other stations, ships or even Sept Worlds as required, although dedicated communications stations will often have additional communications equipment. The SX-8 Orbital system is also fully capable of operations in both deep-space and planetary orbit. An SX-8's habitat modules, while somewhat Spartan compared to those in an Air Caste orbital city or Fortress Station, are nonetheless comfortable enough and can hold an astonishingly large number of inhabitants, and SX-8 Orbitals outfitted as habitat stations house a considerably large portion of the Tau Empire's citizens, especially the Air Caste. Indeed, those citizens that are Orbital based are more likely to live on an SX-8 than the more well known Orbital Cities, which are usually only built around the most established and developed Sept Worlds and are thus comparatively rare.

Without the need for forward thrust, an Orbital does not need to power immense fusion drives like those commonly found on starships, and so instead the extra energy can be used to improve the performance of the various systems and equipment on the Orbital, especially any weaponry or defence systems, where the additional energy can be used to give extra-drive to auto-loaders and rapidly charge capacitors, allowing railcannon turrets on an Orbital to achieve a massive rate of fire, firing far faster than those mounted on a starship, which lets Orbitals lay down a vicious hail of fire far greater than what would be thought possible of their comparatively few anti-ship weapons. Such barrages surprised Imperial fleets on numerous occasions during the Damocles Gulf Crusade, most notably during the famous ambush over Pra'yen where Orbital fire crippled a number of Imperial capital ships and destroyed numerous escorts. SX-8 Orbital arrays are still able to deliver more firepower than newer purpose-built Security Orbitals, with their multiple hardpoints allowing for a larger number of weaponry, though even the most heavily armed SX-8 Orbital possesses a far lighter armament than that of the massive Ta'Shiro Fortress Stations. SX-8 Orbitals also often feature more extensive hanger bays than Orbital Cities, being able to hold, deploy and support naval fighter and interceptor wings as well as Manta strike wings.

Finally, the SX-8 modular Orbital station system is also used as the basis for the majority of the deep-space Waystations that can be found liberally scattered across the Tau Empire. Arguably even more important than full-scale Orbitals, Waystations are small outpost stations, usually consisting of little more than a core module and a single defensive security module, positioned in deep space between Septs and colonies, and perform essential functions for passing ships, including repair, resupply, medical treatment and acting as a cargo delivery and transfer point, as well as relaying long-distance communications between Septs. Much like the crews of Kir'qath class starships, the small, tight-knit group of staff manning a lonely Waystation is an endearing and iconic image in the Tau Empire, and has given rise to a number of Tau media products, including a popular text publication series and an unrelated but equally popular video broadcast series.

Though older and less glamorous than newer designs such as the Air Caste Security Orbitals, Orbital Cities and Fortress Stations, the reliable SX-8 modular Orbital station remains at the heart of the Tau Empire's space-based infrastructure, and like the Kor'vattra vessels that are its close relatives, it will continue to serve alongside its newer counterparts for many Tau'cyr yet. 

Common Orbital Configurations 

Class 1 Orbital: habitat stations consisting of a core module and four habitat modules. These are the most common Tau Orbitals, providing additional living space for the citizens of the Tau Empire.

Class 2 Orbital: an orbital or deep space defence platform consisting of a core module and four security modules with gunnery weapons systems, either railcannons or ion cannons in any combination. Later examples of these Orbitals are often highly automated, featuring only a small detachment of Shipboard Security Firewarriors and a skeleton crew needed to oversee, monitor and direct the various drone controlled systems onboard.

Class 3 Orbital: a general purpose Orbital consisting of a core module, at least one habitat module, at least one security module, and at least one capital-scale docking port including a grav-hook. This configuration lacks some of the advanced systems and extensive docking facilities of the Class 4 Orbital, but is more economical to produce and maintain, and as such is a widespread configuration, especially on fringes and backwaters of the Tau Empire where resources are not quite as plentiful as other areas.

Class 4 Orbital: a general purpose Orbital consisting of a core module, one security module with gunnery weapons systems, one manufacturing and research module, one capital-scale docking port including a grav-hook and one docking facility and launch bay for small craft. This is considered the standard Orbital configuration template, able to fulfil a wide range of roles, and many can be found throughout Tau space.

Class 5 Orbital: a heavy-duty port for capital and escort ships, consisting of a core module and four capital-scale docking ports including grav-hooks. These are commonly found in orbit around Tau Sept worlds and colonies to facilitate the transfer of cargo and personnel between starships and the planet surface, but can also be found in deep space where they act as resupply points for starships, as well as cargo transfer points. These can also be used as trading posts.

Class 6 Orbital: a starbase for small craft up to Manta class, consisting of a core module and four docking facilities and launch bays for small craft. These are most common in orbit above Sept Worlds and colonies to accommodate small craft assets and facilitate the transfer of cargo between starships and the planet surface using small transport craft. They are less common in deep space, as it is unusual for small craft to travel that far independently of a larger carrier ship. These can also be used as trading posts.

Class 7 Orbital: a production site consisting of a core module and a combination of habitat modules and manufacturing and research modules, often including a docking port and grav-hook or docking facility and launch bay. These are industrial and scientific stations, often acting as manufacturing plants, research laboratories or even shipyards, and can be found in equal numbers around worlds and in deep space. This class also includes dedicated Orbital medical centres and aid stations.

Class 8 Orbital: a messenger station consisting of a core module and advanced communications centres and facilities or observation and surveillance equipment and long-range sensor arrays. These Orbitals are used to relay communications across Tau space, to observe distant locations or as an early warning station against enemy invasion. 

Kor'vattra Fleet K-42 

T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh ('Serenity') 

Ship name: T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh

Gue'la Imperial designation: Serenity

Class: Il'fannor (Merchant)

Configuration: Kel'shan standard

Mission role: Flagship

Serial designation code: T356K448446O42

Sept of origin: T'au

Notable deployments:

- Exploration of the O'leath asteroid belt

- Discovery of artefact world Y-19

- Evacuation of Du'vr'Da colony

- First contact with Caityrakan protectorate (NOTE: contact lost with this species at later date. Current status of allied power unknown)

- Transport of first trade shipment to Gue'la world Monarch's Haven

- Fleet engagement in defence against Gue'la Imperial aggression around the Vash'Tor Sound. 2 confirmed kills on enemy shipping, 1 unconfirmed

- Guidammerg relief operation (Cross-reference: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, K-42, Relief of Guidammerg)

- Ufa'Li'Sun'yi incident (Cross-reference: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, K-42, Ufa'Li'Sun'yi disaster, Ufa'Li'Sun'yi reconstruction program)

- Escort of convoy V-03 (Cross-reference: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, K-42, V-03 incident, Y'he, Y'he Vanguard Swarm, Y'he activity, Zone of Silence, Eldar, Eldar pirate activity)

- Fleet action in Thespa system. 7 confirmed kills on enemy shipping, 20 unconfrimed (Cross-reference: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, K-42, Battle of Thespa, Thespa system, Grand Thespian Armada, Mont'au Gue'la, Mont'au Gue'la activity, Marc Baeth, Eldar, Eldar pirate activity)

- Re-enforcement of Fio'da (Cross-reference: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, K-42, Necron, Necron activity, Tomb World)

- First ATT Station incursion (Cross-reference: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, K-42, Shas'O'T'au Kais'ka'Eoro Da'Anuk, 42nd T'au Guards Cadre/Hunter Cadre Kais'Da'Anuk, ATT, Mont'au Gue'la, Mont'au entity, Etheric anomaly, Tzchael, Change incident, Embrace Change)

- Edge Expedition

- Defence of Tan'is. 3 confirmed kills on enemy shipping, 1 unconfirmed (Cross-reference: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, K-42, Gue'la, Gue'la fleet activity, Gue'la fleet actions, Destruction of Tan'is)

- Fleet action around Celestial Moon. 2 confirmed kills on enemy shipping, 3 unconfirmed (Cross-reference: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, K-42, Gue'la, Gue'la fleet activity, Gue'la Fleet actions, Battle of Celestial Moon, V-47)

- Second ATT Station incursion (Cross-reference: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, K-42, Shas'O'T'au Kais'ka'Eoro Da'Anuk, 42nd T'au Guards Cadre/Hunter Cadre Kais'Da'Anuk, ATT, Gue'la, Gue'la terror activity, Gue'la Inquisition, Jotunheim, Jotunheim raid, Vanaheimr, Taleghan, The Emperor Calls Turn Not Away Lest Ye Be Judged)

First Commander: Kor'el'T'au B'Kyse

Current Commander: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh

Crew: 6,000 Kor, 3,000 Fio, 200 Por, 1 Aun (attached to fleet), 6 Shipboard Security Cadres, numerous assorted Kor'vessa

Powerplant: Hybrid Fusion/Nova system (4 Fusion reactors, 2 Nova reactors)

Propulsion: Standard Fusion Drive/Gravitic Field hybrid system

Defences: Class 2 multi-tier close-in point defence grid, including 4 mass drivers. Class 1 gravitic shield

Armament: Three light railcannon batteries (Total armament composition: 18 heavy railcannons in 6 2-railcannon turrets, 2 single railcannon turrets and 2 2-railcannon casemates in prow)

Docking Capacity: 2 Gravitic Hooks

Compliment: 2 Kass'l (Orca) class gunships

Status: Active in Warzone 

Overview: 

The first ship Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh was given command over upon his promotion to Kor'el, the Merchant class starship T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, more commonly known by it's reporting name of Serenity, may at first seem an unusual choice for the flagship of a fleet. While many other flagships are often extremely large capital ships such as grand cruisers or battleships, and Tau flagships are frequently lavishly equipped with numerous additional command systems and experimental equipment, the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh has neither of these qualities - aside from the re-enforced hull structure common to later model Merchants, it is a completely standard Il'fannor.

Despite this, the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh has had an illustrious history in numerous guises under a long line of captains. In it's first mission after launching from the T'au shipyards the vessel pioneered the exploration of the O'leath belt, almost single-handedly charting the vast expanse of asteroids over the course of several years, an achievement that earned it's first commander their namesake. The ship also played a major role in the evacuation of Du'vr'Da after the colony was threatened by dangerous celestial phenomena, saving the lives of countless thousands of colonists. The T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh was the first ship to make contact with a number of alien powers, and was instrumental in a number of significant trading exchanges. She served as the secret refuge for Aun'El'T'au Li’Sun’yi when the Ethereal was targeted by Imperial agents, and it was fire support from her railcannons that broke the back of the Ork horde assaulting D'Upt, turning the battle there from an almost certain defeat into a decisive victory.

But it has been in recent times that the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh has made her largest mark on history, participating in a rapid string of major actions and being instrumental in numerous major victories. Twice now the ship has commanded Kor'vattra fleet K-42 in the defence of one of the Tau Empire's most prestigious military academies and science and engineering facilities, the famous ATT orbital, during significant attacks on it, each time relaying important information and delivering support to the Fire Caste hunter cadres fighting against incredible odds, and overseeing evacuation operations and re-enforcement delivery, and both times have ended in victories for the Tau forces. Even now it acts as the nerve centre for K-42 as it fights in the defence of Tau space against an enormous Imperial offensive. Indeed, as K-42 is at present the only combat-effective fleet in the immediate region it is located in, the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh effectively acts as the command centre for the defence of an entire sector.

The general consensus among analysts is that the key to the success of the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, in recent times at least, is two-fold. In part it is due to the very nature of the ship's lack of modification, as it's standard systems are, typical of all Kor'vattra vessels, extremely reliable, and without the experimental or customised equipment commonly mounted on other flagships, there is no risk of such comparatively exotic additions failing when needed most - the command and communication systems onboard the vessel are much less likely to malfunction, and it's targeting systems rarely deviate too far off target. The simplicity and familiarity of the ship's systems also allows them to be quickly and easily repaired in the event of damage. The vessel's greatest strength, however, is undoubtedly that of the personnel that man it, and it's commander Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh himself. Kais is an exceptionally gifted admiral, known for his creative thinking, and his crew are extremely close to each other and the ship, each fully aware of his or her fellow crew-members' abilities and limitations, as well as those of the ship itself - indeed a number of them have occasionally boasted that they know the ship better than the Fio that built it. It was this combination that enabled the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh to evade and thoroughly outwit the fleets opposing it in naval wargame exercises, and after these feats earned Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh command of the ship the skills and tactics learned during them were tested to the limit in a baptism of fire when, during it's first mission with Kais commanding it, the vessel and it's two escorts were cut off from the rest of the Tau fleet and left stranded in hostile territory pursued by Task Force Vandal of the Imperial Navy. Over several grueling months Kais and his crew led the Imperial fleet on a cat-and-mouse chase across an enormous tract of space before finally slipping past the Gue'la and making their way back to Tau territory. This would be followed by a long string of cunning ploys and masterful gambits, ranging from successfully running the immense Ork blockade of Nars'Yanoi and delivering vital re-enforcements and supplies to the embattled Tau forces on the surface to the destruction of the heavy cruiser Crucius Imperator by luring it into a black hole.

As an interesting note, upon it's initial construction the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh possessed a small but critical defect that somehow managed to evade quality control. While usually the viewports of any starship are made to be extremely durable, with immense amounts of re-enforcement and armouring to ensure they will not easily rupture and thus form a hull breach, the central main viewport of the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh was somehow left much thinner and fragile than usual, enough so that it could be broken through with concentrated fire from high-powered heavy weapons. This fault was quickly discovered early on in the ship's service, but was never rectified, and nearly all of the Kor that served aboard the vessel feared at one point or another that it would spell their doom. As it transpired, the faulty viewport ultimately proved to be the salvation of the ship and it's crew during the first incursion of the ATT orbital station. During the conflict a large host of Mont'au creatures materialised on the bridge of the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, but the Shipboard Security units stationed on the bridge at the time were able to concentrate their weaponry onto the weakened viewport, breaking it and flushing the entire Mont'au force into space with the resulting decompression while a quick evacuation of the bridge beforehand and the sealed environments of Fire Caste combat armour and battlesuits issued to Shipboard Security cadres resulted in no Tau losses (although the bridge was left out of action for some time afterwards). In the aftermath of the battle the viewport was repaired and brought up to standard strength.

Whether eluding pursuit in a high-stakes mission or directing an engagement at the heart of an entire battlefleet, Serenity, the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh is a testament to the age old truth that it is not a vessel's power or equipment that makes it a worthy flagship - it's the crew commanding it that does. 

Crew Profiles: Key personnel 

Captain: Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh

"Unidentified Gue'la vessel, this is Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh commanding Kor'vattra fleet K-42. You are in direct violation of Tau space during a time of war, and are hereby ordered to stand down and surrender your ship. Lower your shielding, power down your weapons and main drives and prepare to be boarded for inspection. Failure to comply to these terms or resistance to inspection will force us to open fire on your ship."

- Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh contacting the Imperial cruiser Terra Unbound, prior to it's engagement and destruction

Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh has had plenty of experience with the darker, malevolent side of the galaxy over his lifetime. Much of his early life was spent as a Kor'la serving aboard the T'au'Gal'leath'Savon'Taal'Fann, an Explorer class starship assigned as a hospital ship in support of Fire Caste campaigns on numerous worlds, giving the young Kais a brutal introduction to the horrors of total galactic war - severed limbs, mutilating scars, gruesome infections and casualties torn and mangled beyond almost all recognition screaming for aid, loved ones, the Tau'va or just in sheer pain were but a few of the sights he witnessed making his rounds on the ship. Eventually the T'au'Gal'leath'Savon'Taal'Fann was boarded and stormed by Ork pirates and Kais got a glimpse of but one of the sources for such misery as he and the rest of the vessel's crew desperately fled the invaders in a frantic race to the escape pods that resulted in just over half the ship's crew reaching safety. Later as a Kor'ui he spent a hellish Kai'rotaa stranded in the ruined derelict of the T'au'Il'fannor'Ko'Eoro'Cea'Cha after it was stormed by Chaos-aligned humans, never quite being sure that his nightmarish tormentors had left, until a Tau salvage team rescued him. Later Kais served on a ship that formed part of an evacuation convoy for a colony recently consumed by the Tyranids, and he and the rest of the crew were constantly accompanied by the bloodcurdling sounds that spilled out over communications channels from those ships unfortunate enough to be caught by the pursuing splinter fleet. Perhaps the two most crushing blows of all dealt to him, however, were the death of the Ethereal Aun'vre'T'au Ko'Ta under his watch when their ship was boarded, and the loss of his beloved companion Kor'vre'T'au Or'Ro, who was swept away by pirates later identified as Dark Eldar and never seen again.

It is perhaps surprising then that despite all this, Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh remains as bright and idealistic as the Tau that first expanded into the stars, and indeed has been described as "A relic of the First Sphere" by his peers. Where recent history has led many Tau, particularly amongst the Fire Caste, to adopt a mindset that might perhaps be described as 'cynical', Kais remains as optimistic as ever about the future and the Tau'va, and genuinely believes in the best of both the universe in general and the various species and powers that reside within it, remaining staunchly so even in the face of a galaxy seemingly determined to break him. While many critics might consider this to be naivety, it cannot be questioned that such a positive influence has proved beneficial to the Kor of K-42, who are reported to be well-motivated and highly diligent as a result. Kais is also known to be somewhat eccentric by Tau standards and is often prone to sentimental or romantic feelings. This has never been considered extreme enough to warrant corrective action however, and he is still fully able to contribute to the Tau Empire in a productive manner, which has meant that he has always been accepted but never been especially popular with the Kor'ar'tol. It is believed by many that this is a key reason for his assignment to the command of K-42 rather than a more prominent Kor'O'vesh posting.

It should be noted, however, that with the recent appearance of Dark Eldar raiders in the regions near K-42, Many of Kais's closest peers and friends have claimed to have noticed a slight, yet unmistakable change in his mindset and behaviour. The ageing Kor'O seems to have become more determined, more relentless in combat and less compromising to both enemies and those under his command, though this is only noticed by those who have served with him for an extremely long time. This change is not officially noted by Water Caste psych-analysists, who claim that his thought-processes are no different to the past and that his aforementioned compatriots are simply over-reacting to the fatigue and stresses near-constant combat action inevitably has. Those who claim to have noticed the change however remain unconvinced and quite concerned..

Fleet Advisor: Aun'O'T'au Ret'Sav'cyr

It is common practice for Tau fleets to have an Ethereal attached to them in order to provide guidance for the fleet and inspire ship crews to operate to the absolute best of their ability. For the Kor'vattra fleet K-42 this role is performed by Aun'O'T'au Ret'Sav'cyr. Despite his prestigious rank the enigmatic Ethereal is little-known within what constitutes the Tau political landscape, having far less of a public profile than the likes of Aun'va, Aun'Shi or even the late Aun'vre that accompanied the T'ros expedition. Instead Ret'Sav'cyr prefers to lead from the background, allowing others large amounts of autonomy and only giving occasional subtle suggestions and advice. An idealist despite his senior rank, he has extremely strong moral convictions and holds a firm belief that for every problem and dilemma there is a solution and there is a correct solution, and strongly advocates the need to do the morally right thing at all times. By his own account the Aun'O specifically requested his current posting after growing tired of greater Tau politics and the High Council's dabbling in questionable actions.

Aun'O'T'au Ret'Sav'cyr has travelled to much of the Tau Empire over his lifetime, helping to resolve a number of diplomatic disputes and monitoring numerous important research and development projects, such as the current development initiative for greater numbers of high-precision fleet support weaponry and options begun after combat experience during the first ATT station incursion highlighted a deficiency in this area. He has also been involved in a considerable number of military conflicts, including both fleet engagements and ground campaigns with Fire Caste Hunter Cadres, perhaps most notably accompanying the renowned Hunter Cadre Kais'Da'Anuk, otherwise known as the 42nd T'au Guards Cadre, in several battles. In following with his indirect approach to guidance, he will often remain neutral in major decisions, especially during fleet actions, but if he does issue a directive it will be considered sacrosanct and carried out to the utmost ability of the fleet, as is typical of all directions and orders given by members of the Ethereal Caste.

Over the course of his time spent in K-42, Aun'O'T'au Ret'Sav'cyr has come to thoroughly enjoy his fleet posting, sharing many of Kais's views and ideals and showing great acceptance of and even fascination with the various eccentricities and quirks of the fleet's personalities, and it is unlikely that he would ever want to return to the great domes and towers of T'au any time in the foreseeable future. It is perhaps interesting to note, however, that many who have encountered the Aun'O claim to have felt as though he knows a great deal more about a given subject, or indeed the nature of the galaxy itself, than he makes immediately apparent, and there have even been occasional reports that he has successfully predicted events or actions before they occur. What to make of this, however, none are certain...

Chief Officer: Kor'El'T'au M'yen'Cha

Though in practice the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh is commanded by Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh himself, the ship's technical captain is currently Kor'El'T'au M'yen'Cha, whose responsibilities include command of the ship should Kais be incapacitated or otherwise rendered incapable of leading, as well as helping in administrative work, informing the Kor'O of current developments, ensuring the Kor'O's orders are carried out and in general acting as a second in command. He has an excellent record, being a veteran captain of both civilian and military missions, including one of the last voyages of a T'au Merchant class starship outside of K-42, and a masterful ship defence against Ork pirates that earned him his current posting.

Kor'El'T'au M'yen'Cha is the newest addition to the crew of the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, having been assigned to it after Kais's promotion to Kor'O. This means that he has not had the same amount of time the ship's crew has had to grow accustomed to each other, and as a result he is at times something of an outsider amongst the crew. Although he has since quickly started to adapt to the crew's own particular characteristics and idiosyncrasies this disconnect can at times lead to tension amongst the crew. While undoubtedly a capable officer, M'yen'Cha still lacks some of the experience and command skill of Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, as well as the latter's ability to think outside the box, and his knowledge is slightly more based in academic studies and theory. While this is not usually a problem when in his typical role or when in command of a single ship, it does result in a greater tendency to make critical errors in judgement, especially when placed in situations or duties outside of his main areas of expertise. This was perhaps most prominently illustrated during the first ATT Station incursion, when after relieving Kais of his command M'yen'Cha's lack of direction when giving the order to disengage from the main battle and commence deep space anti-shipping patrols, to prevent enemy reinforcement from outside the orbital station, resulted in the loss of four entire wings of Mantas after they were hijacked by internal saboteurs and turned against Tau forces. Although not severely reprimanded for this mistake, Kais is still yet to truly forgive him for it..

Chief Engineer: Fio'El'T'au D'Yan

"Red sector team 5, reinforce that bulkhead now! If it pops the entire 3 decks next-door go with it! Don't worry about the causeway team 8, just focus on the oxygen feeds, the Juntas gun crews need air more than they need to get to the docking port. Team 2 black sector, what's the status on the number 3 reactor? What do you mean you don't know what to do with it!? To'tau'va, you've been on this metal brick for how long and you're telling me you don't know how to handle a fluctuating reactor!? What does the emission indicator look like!? Then get over and replace the containment unit regulator circuit, it's not plotting an etheric dive! Noo, kna, the spare one is in the passenger quarters, what else do you think would be in a compartment labelled 'Reserve containment circuit', use your head for Aun's sake! Klkn, if I have to go back there and fix it myself you're going to wish that last hit to the engine room had gotten through the hull plating!"

- Fio'El'T'au D'yan, during an encounter with two cruisers from Task Force Vandal during the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh's escape from the Kindjal system

From her earliest days as a Fio'la working alongside Air Caste ground crews to service and repair Mantas, Fio'El'T'au has displayed an extraordinary affinity for machines and exceptional talent for understanding their workings. Such a gift quickly saw her promoted to higher duties in a highly promising career cumulating in the position of chief engineer on a Custodian class battleship. Eventually however, her renown gave way to discontent as her superiors grew increasingly aware of her character. Whatever the reason for it may be, D'yan has a long-standing history and reputation for being notoriously sardonic and derisive, as well as being extremely strong-willed and fiercely stubborn, and has been known to make frequent use of morbid or black humour. While early in her rise to fame such traits were ignored due to a combination of her immense technical skills and a belief that wisdom and experience would see them phased out of her, eventually such a personality proved too much for such a prominent position, and D'yan was transferred to the much less glamorous role of chief engineer aboard the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh when the ship was placed under command of Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh (at the time only a Kor'El). It was thought that placing D'yan on an old Kor'vattra vessel meant to only perform mundane tasks in the quiet corners of the Tau Empire would be the ideal way of getting her out of the way and keeping her busy until she finally learnt more 'proper' conduct.

As it transpired this would turn out to be a stroke of genius. D'yan found the rugged, simple mechanical systems of the Merchant class starship to be an absolute joy to work on, and Kais, himself more than a little unorthodox, proved more than willing to turn a blind eye to her snarking - indeed, Kais would prove to be one of the few individuals of authority that D'yan treated with considerable respect, with the two quickly becoming good friends. Now more motivated than ever, D'yan would go on to prove her worth time and again. During the fateful first voyage of the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh under Kais's command her careful monitoring and direction of the engines of the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh while the ship was on silent running was instrumental in evading Imperial patrols, while her exquisite command of the ship's engineering teams enabled swift repairs that kept the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh fully operational during the Battle of Thespa despite being targeted multiple times by enemy capital ships.

As the crew of the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh has grown closer over time, Fio'El'T'au D'yen has grown to be extremely protective of her shipmates, and will not hesitate to retaliate against visitors that she feels have insulted the crew in some way, making her very popular with a number of the ship's crew members. Her derisive and often dark sense of humour also often makes her popular with Gue'vessa being transported aboard the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, providing them with a source of relate-able amusement on what might otherwise be an uneventful voyage.

Chief Science Officer: Fio'vre'T'au Gal'T'koreth

Not all of the major crew members of the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh were placed there by the ar'tols of T'au to hide their quirks. Indeed, Fio'vre'T'au Gal'T'koreth is considered by many to be a model citizen of the Tau Empire, a renowned scientific mind well known for his dynamic enthusiasm and utmost belief in the Tau'va, and is something of a 'rising star' in the Tau scientific community, rapidly establishing a reputation as one of the Tau Empire's leading experts in the field of astronomy. It was because of this extensive knowledge base that Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh personally requested Gal'T'koreth's posting on the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, believing that his expertise could prove highly useful for deep space missions. Gal'T'koreth himself was happy to comply, reasoning that being stationed aboard the ship would be an ideal way to study the mysteries of the cosmos without being likely to be frequently exposed to dangerous combat.

Fio'vre'T'au Gal'T'koreth would swiftly find out he was incorrect in his assessment, as the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, but Kais would be greatly vindicated in his judgement, with Gal'Tkoreth's insights proving invaluable on several occasions. It was his knowledge of celestial phenomena that allowed the crew of the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh to lay the fateful trap that doomed the Crucius Imperator, and to escape pursuit from Eldar pirates in the Hydrapses System, using the movements of the system's celestial bodies to mask the ship's course and taking advantage of the local solar winds to hinder the aliens. In return, the various journeys and missions K-42 and the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh have undertaken have lead Gal'T'koreth to all manner of exciting new discoveries and breakthroughs.

But Fio'vre'T'au Gal'T'koreth is not just learned in material space features. He is also a leading authority on Etheric or warp-based events and developments, a subject of immeasurable importance in interstellar travel. Gal'T'koreth's insights have allowed the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh to successfully navigate several minor warp storms, as well as successfully avoiding a number of small warp rifts, and during the first ATT station incursion it was Gal'T'koreth's analysis of the etheric breach in the orbital's Upper Concourse section that allowed the fleet's engineers to jurry-rig several 'etheric polarity reversal charges' that succeeded in sealing the rift, cutting off a key source of enemy reinforcements. Once again this arrangement is mutually beneficial, as the travels of K-42 and the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh frequently bring Gal'Tkoreth into contact with new and unusual etheric anomalies to study, observe and categorise, further expanding the collective knowledge of the Tau Empire.

Chief Security Officer: Shas'El'T'au B'kais

All Tau vessels maintain a Fire Caste shipboard security force of some description, ranging from just one or two Firewarrior teams on an escort to an entire contingent of Shipboard Security Cadres stationed on a capital ship. These forces are functionally analogous to marines or naval armsmen, acting as an internal security force to defend the ship in boarding actions, police any disputes that occur between the occupants of the vessel, and in general act to ensure the safety of all on board the ship. While the Tau are usually loathe to initiate boarding actions against a hostile ship themselves, Shipboard Security forces nonetheless also conduct the task of securing enemy ships that have surrendered to Tau forces, disarming the crew and ensuring they pose no danger, as well as confiscating any illegal contraband the vessel may be carrying.

In the case of capital ships where multiple cadres are present, one of the Fire Caste commanders present will be appointed an overall commander of the entire shipboard security force, in a similar manner to being appointed overall commander of a Contingent or Battle during ground warfare, however unlike terrestrial multi-cadre groupings that are almost entirely temporary in nature, the long-term nature of most deep-space missions and ship crew postings mean that the position of overall commander of a shipboard security force is for all practical purposes a permanent one, lasting until the Fire Caste commander in question is either killed or assigned a new mission. These overall commanders or Chief Security Officers then report directly to the ship's captain, as well as the fleet admiral if applicable, and are not only responsible for organising and directing the vessel's Shipboard Security Contingent, but also for the safety of the ship's commander, effectively acting as a bodyguard for the Kor'El or Kor'O. Hunter Cadres assigned Shipboard Security duty are often met with mixed feelings by other Fire Caste forces, as while they frequently see much less combat than terrestrially-bound Fire Caste units, what combat they do see is invariably extremely dangerous, as the tight confines of a starship interior often place severe limits on the amount and variety of heavy equipment and weaponry that can be deployed, and leaves Tau forces highly vulnerable to close assault. Victory in such circumstances usually comes down to cunning tactical ploys and clever use of the ship's layout, and consequently veteran shipboard security commanders often have a reputation for being devious and underhanded.

The current chief security officer in command of the shipboard security forces aboard the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh, Shas'El'T'au B'kais is relatively new to the position, having been promoted to Shas'El for her valorous actions during the first ATT Station incursion, where she played a key role in fighting off the Mont'au forces' assault on the ship's bridge, and then given the role of chief security officer after it's previous holder was killed protecting Kor'O'T'au Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh from an assault by a boarding party of Gue'ron'sha heavy infantry that teleported directly into the interior of the T'au'Il'fannor'B'Kyse'Kais'Y'eldi'Aloh. Nonetheless B'kais has a considerable amount of leadership experience despite her relatively new posting, having commanded small forces of Shipboard Security Firewarriors in several boarding actions during her time as a Shas'vre - a common occurrence among shipboard security forces due to the frequently chaotic nature of fighting in the confines of a starship, which often sees force elements cut off from main command channels. She has already displayed an impressive aptitude for the unique challenges of starship interior combat, and her tactical approaches and thinking on the subject are beginning to revolutionise the way such battles are fought, having already been adopted by many of the other shipboard security forces in K-42, and are even starting to diffuse to other Tau fleets.

As for Shas'El'T'au B'kais herself, she is soft-spoken and will often prefer to speak through actions rather than words, and is reputed to be highly honourable in battle, in contrast to the common stereotype of shipboard security commanders. Tall and powerful even by Fire Caste standards, she often presents an intimidating sight, and is extensively trained in combat and leadership both from within and without a battlesuit, a requirement for shipboard security commanders due to the restrictive nature of many starship interiors. Despite this imposing presence, she is often surprisingly compassionate, and frequently acts as a comforting presence in times of stress. 

And that people, is how you cram in 3 post's worth of new developments and material into just one.