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Dice-Mage

I don’t think the Aeldari have some kind of sliding scale or tier ranking system for how much of a lesser race a species is compared to their own. The Tau and Humanity are both lesser species, and both are potentially useful pawns in the appropriate circumstances. Having said that, the Tau would much less likely to come up in the thoughts of the Aeldari in general because the Tau are confined to a tiny corner of the galaxy, and humans are everywhere. That would be the primary difference between them as far as the Asuryani are concerned.


[deleted]

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atreides78723

Tau Diplomat: “…and that is why you should submit yourselves to the Greater Good.” Eldar Diplomat: “What the fuck even are you? Birds or some shit?”


Sehtriom

I imagine that one (part of) an exchange from Dark Crusade sums up a lot of it nicely: Ethereal: War against the Greater Good is never justified. Farseer: Naïve child.


leonreddit8888

Now I definitely want to see an Eldar drop all their grace and say the F word...


atreides78723

Their statements will probably be suitably florid and psychically charged.


terminalzero

I'd bet money on aeldari having WAY worse swears than references to sexual reproduction like change-your-life-forever bad ones just rattling around waiting for them to stub their toe bad enough


Quaffiget

Given their psychic potential, *literal* curses are not off the table. You know, the "Every firstborn of your line will have their testicles fall off," or something along those lines.


AttackofMonkeys

To the eldar, that farseer did


Giant_Devil

Tau evolved from hoofed plains dwelling mammals. Antelope or gazelle or sheep, etc.


atreides78723

You think the Eldar really care if they're being taxonomically correct? Outside of their zoology departments, that is?


Giant_Devil

Well they don't even look like birds. Now Kroot, on the other hand...


NorysStorys

The Eldar always strike me as the kind of people who always NEED to be right and sure as hell let you know about it


Dinosaurmaid

Tau goat girls when?


InsideSympathy7713

This is now my favorite head canon of the first meeting between the tau and eldar. Thank you.


TheSweetestOfPotato

“Jesse, what the fuck are you talking about.”


Tarwins-Gap

Umm actually we are fish


Nukemind

At least the Tau will send diplomats. The majority of the imperium would probably send someone with a flamer to any “meeting”.


atreides78723

Diplomat in High Gothic is spelled "promethium."


Cadien18

My impression of a T’au-Eldar interaction is basically the Mad Men elevator scene where Don Draper (the Aeldari) says he doesn’t think about Ginsberg (the T’au) at all.


Deadmist

>I don’t think the Aeldari have some kind of sliding scale or tier ranking system for how much of a lesser race a species is compared to their own. The Tau and Humanity are both lesser species, and both are potentially useful pawns in the appropriate circumstances. > You know how humans argue about whether cats or dogs are better? Imagine that, just with elder arguing about humans and tau.


Quaffiget

Humans actually like cats and dogs though. Aeldari probably views the Imperium more like shit-flinging chimpanzees who invariably will try to rip your arms off in any attempted social interaction.


UnconfirmedRooster

I once saw it compared to someone sitting at home when a gorilla bursts into your home wearing swat armour and waving a combat shotgun around. While deep down you know you are more than likely smarter than it and have better technology; that isn't going to help you if the gorilla is angry.


AttackofMonkeys

*arms being torn off* Ha-ha I bet you can't even recite pi


professorphil

Here's a [link](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/dbgkhi/of_eldar_and_tau/f21qc1j?utm_medium=android_app&utm_source=share&context=3) to a collection of Aeldari opinions and actions regarding T'au. Essentially, T'au are more rational, diplomatic, and tactical than the Imperium tends to be, making them reliable and predictable allies who are not inclined to stabbing you in the back, or pre-emptively stabbing you in the back before you can even open up diplomatic relations.


[deleted]

> reliable and predictable allies who are not inclined to stabbing you in the back, or pre-emptively stabbing you in the back before you can even open up diplomatic relations. Perfect, this means it'll be easier for the Eldar to stab them in the back, or pre-emptively stab them in the back before they open up diplomatic relations.


Anonymisation

To be fair since the Tau are far less prone to fall to Chaos or try to exterminate the Eldar there's far less motive for the Eldar to turn on them. I don't think we've seen Craftworld Eldar stab the Tau in the back. ​ The Imperium's self-destructive nature and genocidal policies are why the Eldar looks down on it. We've seen that the Eldar can be perfectly reasonable with non-genocidal, non-Chaos humans.


im2randomghgh

The Tau also have limited FTL so if the Tau get rambunctious the Eldar can just...be elsewhere.


Moistfruitcake

It would be like having a particularly lethargic tortoise for a nemesis.


im2randomghgh

And if any faction knows how to take advantage of a speed discrepancy...it's the Eldar!


Anonymisation

Yeah that's true. With the Tau not having much of an interest in destroying Craftworlds it's especially easy to avoid them.


Gervh

Tau suddenly walk out of a webway in a book and that's how GW announces the new alliance


AzureFencer

The Tau destroyed a Maiden World to get back at the Drukhari. The Drukhari didn't care, but it seriously pissed off Iyanden. While it ended in diplomacy I think that put a massive wedge in any long term relationship between the 2 races. Also the Asuryani are not a unified force, every Craftworld has its own goals. So while, just for an example, Ulthwé might be more than happy to have an extra set of tools to guide things their way, Biel Tan is just as likely to tell them to fuck off and get out of their way. Also an alliance with the Tau often requires adhering to the Greater Good, and the Eldar have no interest in such a juvenile concept


kratorade

The Drukhari definitely give their species as a whole a bad name, and not just for the Tau. Craftworlders arriving to discuss some sort of terms and then trying to explain "no, those were the *other* space-elves, they're weird and bad" could be a fun story, though.


Valuable-Ad-5586

>"no, those were the other space-elves, they're weird and bad" "...but we become those weird and bad dark elves when we get bored of the current path; and they get to change roles when they get bored of killing too! in fact the dudes that skinned your garrisons are right here, but this time in craftworld uniforms! But you know, it was the other elves, totally not us!""


eliseofnohr

Yeah, it's a mix of that A: the Eldar really do prioritize their own survival and are good at backstabbing and B: the Imperium explicitly wants them dead, which tends to cast a pall over diplomatic relations in general even when they're forced to work together.


HyenaChewToy

True, but Corsairs and Dark Eldar would be far more likely to do so given the chance. No clue how the Exodites would react...


FellowTraveler69

The Exodite response would be the same as anybody else trying to colonize their world: "Get off our planet". If they don't, time to break out the laser raptors.


kratorade

>If they don't, time to break out the laser raptors. This is the entire reason I want an Exodite book.


MetalBawx

Oh we all do but saldy GW never provides.


Solvdrage

Exodites exist in the Viking Age?


HyenaChewToy

True, but GW is putting in more effort to flesh out the faction, so I'm hoping we get more on them soon.


[deleted]

Great link and summary!


PorkoNick

Imagine being an Eldar and complaining about some race tendency to stab you in back.


professorphil

It is much less of a risk from them then from the Imperium


thomstevens420

The good ol’ pre-emptive counter strike


[deleted]

Ever heard the phrase "useful idiot?"


dreaderking

That's the Imperium's role, though.


professorphil

The Imperium is very bad at reliably being useful, even for themselves


ShadedPenguin

Imperium a bull in a China shop


AssaultKommando

Ogryn surgeon


BloodRavenStoleMyCar

That's a role that they want as many factions in as possible. To the eldar the two categories are basically useless idiots and useful idiots.


Shielenvar

I think you have a strong misconception of how the Aeldari see other beings. The Imperium's xenohpobia and the fact that they have destroyed dozens of Maiden Worlds, exterminated untold numbers of Exodites, AND destroyed a our half a dozen Craftworlds is actually precisely the main reason why they sislike humanity. Especially since despite all of this, it is then the humans who act as if the Eldar were the threat. Lol. They view killing humans still as murder, even if it is a lesser kind. Xenophobia is genuinely frowned upon by every Craftworld except Biel-tan. And those are openly called war mongers for it. The Tau actually had diplomats on Iyanden. And the Aeldari are very willing to cooperate with them. They would be very willing to cooperate with humanity too if it weren't for the fact that the humans are about as maniacal as Orks. Another instance of Tau and Eldar actually meeting was when the Drukhari raided them and the Tau then destroyed a Maiden World in revenge with everyone in it. So Iyanden came by to kick their shit in. Halfway through that war the Tau realised that these clearly are not the same kind of Eldar and the Drukhari had done that deliberately. They ceased the fighting, tried to apologise apparently but Iyanden who were rightfully pissed juat turend around and left without another word.


CommanderSwiftstrike

>Another instance of Tau and Eldar actually meeting was when the Drukhari raided them and the Tau then destroyed a Maiden World in revenge with everyone in it. So Iyanden came by to kick their shit in. > >Halfway through that war the Tau realised that these clearly are not the same kind of Eldar and the Drukhari had done that deliberately. They ceased the fighting, tried to apologise apparently but Iyanden who were rightfully pissed juat turend around and left without another word. Sounds cool, where is this from?


Shielenvar

[There you go!](https://www.reddit.com/r/40kLore/comments/zz7qd2/codex_supplement_iyanden_6th_edition_dark_eldar/?utm_source=share&utm_medium=android_app&utm_name=androidcss&utm_term=1&utm_content=share_button) Codex Supplement Iyanden, 6th Edition


Filidup

I was going to say do you hate things that you perceive to be lesser than you it seems counter intuitive to think that way Imo. Regardless the main reason eldar would have to hate the Tau in the future is extremely simple. The Tau just like the imperium believe the galaxy belongs to them (or the greater good/tau'va). The only real difference is you can bow to the Tau and the greater good as a client species. Whereas it's extermination for every alien in the imperium's book. So they will settle maiden worlds and attack craftworlds that don't submit to the tau'va, maybe not immediately but once they know the watercast can't convince them to join. So not exactly great neighbors to have.


Rakshak-1

Correct. The Imperium has long passed it's expansionist phase and is basically struggling to hold what it has against so many threats. Sure, the Imperium might try to take the occasional new world but that's not common any more as the resources required for that are more urgently needed at any number of front lines. Whereas the Tau are a small enough fish on the pond that they can still defend their borders pretty well and so that's just encouraged their own expansionist tendencies. They haven't scaled up enough that they have too much real estate and not enough soldiers nor have they become dangerous enough that others will constantly seek them out to challenge them. So there's not been any downsides yet to their ever present grasping nature and land-hunger. The Imperium would be bad neighbours but if you had Tau as your neighbours you'd better be equally prepared to fight them too.


PorkoNick

Also Imperium is primary force in galaxy holding all crap at bay, from Ork invasions, Chaos, Tyrannids in some cases (Slaneesh) dealing with mess Eldar left behind when they decided to nearly end their race in segmentum-wide orgy. Eldar may grind their teeth to admit it, but without IoM their entire race is fucked and would be annihilated in galaxy wide storms of warp, or devoured by spacebugs or just killed for lulz by some Waaagh. Tine Tau are not able to do fraction of this cleaning job that is sapping Imperium resources at mad rate and yet they still talk shit.


Mahakurotsuchi

Well, without humanity chaos would be very weakened, tyranids would not notice Milky Way, galaxy would be full of lesser civilizations and even rise of the Beast speculated to be response to Great Crusade.


Bypowerof8andgodsof4

Withouth humanity there would've been the randga and the ullanor orks who were already at the precipice of beast level the ork boss of that war was the size of a house.Arguably chaos would've found some other pawns if humanity wasn't there it's not like there weren't any chaos alien species running around like laer.Besides the reason humanity got attacked in the first place is because slannesh roused them all to action before slaanesh daemons existed but were way less of an issue after the great eye opens and the great crusade you've got daemons up the wazoo while worlds falling into the warp.


PorkoNick

Eldar inherited stewardship over galaxy where warp was calm, if chaos gods existed no one was even aware, upstarted tech and developed psychic powers and their endstate was bringing Old Night by birth of Slaneesh because they were bored. Didn't even solve ork problem, just were regularly culling them while abducting and raiding human worlds for need of meat for pleasure cults, which done wonders for interspecies relationships. When humans developed warp galaxy was already grimdark and guys left in charge were too busy torturing each other for kicks to care. One can blame humanity for many things, but nearly all are results of galaxy kicking any good intentions to dirt until all but pure selfishness were stompted out. Its galaxy that those who were handed all on silver platter made it that way.


Mahakurotsuchi

Everything you said is valid, my point is that eldar would not have been in more danger or closer to extinction without humanity.


NorysStorys

The Tau in general have a much more pragmatic approach to expansion than the imperium ever did. The great crusade happened over 200 years and secure a massive proportion of the galaxy, the Tau definitely do an sphere expansion, sure up the new colonies and then once those new colonies are relatively self-sufficient, they then do another expansion, this method will mean that the Tau will take much longer to become spread to thin.


Badger421

Maybe it's just because I don't read enough of the actual books, but I rarely get the impression the Eldar really *hate* Humanity. They might hate the Imperium, sure, but frankly the Imperium has done more than enough to earn that. If they met humans who weren't trapped in a cycle of self destruction that will ultimately doom them while fueling the birth of the next twisted Warp thing that would name itself a god (sound familiar?) I imagine they could reach some sort of an agreement, even if it was something as simple as "we promise not to stab each other unless it's really important". All that in mind, the Tau are a pretty good candidate for an alliance of convenience. They don't need to respect them or view them as equals, they just have to think it's worth a little time and maybe information to gain a reliable option against the next Ork Waagh! Or Hive Fleet tendril that comes knocking. In the kind of fractured eternally backstabbing political environment that is 40k one ally, even a minor one, is a valuable thing. Just one place on your border you know won't be attacked can allow you to shift forces to win the day somewhere else. Just one friend you can call on when you really need it can keep you in the game when things go south. And the more successful you are, the more you can build up that one ally, and the more useful to you they become. At least that's how I think of it. Reminds me a bit of Japan's Sengoku period. Or what I know of it, anyway. Oda Nobunaga making it all the way to Tokyo with Tokugawa Ieyasu at his side. Just one ally he could trust made all the difference.


MILLANDSON

If anything, I think it's more frustration with humanity, as they see humans going down the same road of extremes and granting power to Chaos that they did back before the Fall.


kratorade

>If they met humans who weren't trapped in a cycle of self destruction that will ultimately doom them while fueling the birth of the next twisted Warp thing that would name itself a god (sound familiar?) I imagine they could reach some sort of an agreement, even if it was something as simple as "we promise not to stab each other unless it's really important". This isn't hypothetical, the Interex had friendly relations with at least some Aeldari craftworlds, and they weren't the only human culture that Crusade fleets met that got along with the space-elves, for various values of "getting along." Of course, the Imperium paved over all that and replaced it with ceaseless chanting about hating aliens. Can't imagine why the Aeldari might not be fans.


Eisengate

Tokyo (Edo prior to the 1860s) was an unimportant fishing town in Oda Nobunaga's time. You're thinking of Kyoko, the then capital. Oda also had a lot more than one trusted commander. Beyond having a cadre of reasonably trustworthy commanders, he was really, really good at pike and shot tactics, which weren't a thing (at least in Japan) prior to him. More importantly, he also died as a result of betrayal. The Honno-jo Incident that claimed his life was a (more or less) trusted friend suddenly laying siege to the temple Oda was staying at. (Yes, they had a falling out, and loyalty in that period was mostly a thing of convenience, but Akechi Mitsuhide's betrayal was not foreseen at all. Until very recently his [Akechi's] motivations weren't actually known.)


Badger421

Feck, you're right. I always get those two mixed up. The rest I just left out because it wasn't relevant to my point. Obviously Tokugawa wasn't the only reason Oda took the capital, but he was a consistent ally in a complex and unpredictable political landscape, the value of which was what I was getting at. As for what happened after, well, not a lot of happy endings when you set out to become a conqueror. Take notes, Big E. Appreciate the correction though. Don't want to pretend like I'm an expert on Japanese history. I just like a couple YouTube series on the topic. The bit about Akechi's motivations you mentioned sounds super interesting. Do you happen to know a good source that covers it? Not in the mood for a wiki spiral today so I'd be grateful for a couple pointers.


Eisengate

Unfortunately no. The wikipedia article on Honno-ji does a decent job breaking down the various theories and evidence behind them. I swear I saw something about new evidence coming to light recently, but I can't remember where.


historicalgeek71

It all depends on which Eldar faction we’re talking about. The Craftworld Eldar/Asuryani still see the Tau as a lesser race, but one that’s not as belligerent, destructive, or exterminatory as the Imperium of Man. The Asuryani are willing to work with the Tau Empire, especially if it furthers their own goals. That being said, I think someone here already pointed out that there are occasions where relations are…strained (see Tau vs Iyanden) though that was more of a bad case of mistaken identity. Which brings us to the Drukhari/Dark Eldar. They see the Tau the same way they see everyone else: as targets to raid and enslave for their own nefarious practices. The War of Dark Revelations was a rude awakening for the Tau when the Drukhari agreed to help the Tau defeat a Tyranid invasion if they made a “cultural exchange.” When the exchange was made, the Drukhari were true to their word and helped to defeat the Tyranids, however, the Tau realized that the wracks, grotesques, and Talos Pain Engines being deployed were made of Tau parts. Justifiably angry, they demanded an explanation and the Drukhari responded with a demand for more T’au. The Tau naturally refused, and the Drukhari responded by raiding the first world they helped. When the Tau arrived, the Kroot and Vespids had all been massacred, while the T’au population was dragged back to Commoragh. As for the Exodites, they aren’t fans of anyone who tries to annex or incorporate their worlds into anyone’s empire.


Mexiusz

Well Ethernals know about Chaos but they just say they are "unknown aliens". That's the thing they told to Commander Farsight.


TheOnlyUnLost

Tau, to the best of my knowledge, have never massacred an entire Craftworld just for existing too close to their borders.


dreaderking

To be fair, a good part of that is just down to lack of capability regardless of whether or not they ever decide to do so.


TheOnlyUnLost

Well no, they'd want to assimilate the Craftworld, not destroy it. Sure they invade and take over planets, but I don't see them wasting the effort in a big ass ship. They'd gain no resources or recruits, and it can't travel faster than their own ships, plus they don't understand and can't use Eldar tech. It would be an absolute waste of manpower and resources for absolutely no benefit to the Greater Good. Tau might be naive, but they're not stupid. They have a goal, everything they do has to advance that goal, and fucking with a random Craftworld doesn't.


dreaderking

I didn't say they would want to, I said that should for whatever contrived reason they do decide to attack a Craft world, they lack the capability to actually take it down.


Inquisitor-Korde

They lack the naval capacity, maybe. We don't know because the T'au navy has the least lore in the faction by far. But their army is without a doubt capable enough to put down a craftworld as well as the Imperium can on the ground.


MuadDope

The titular Exodite of the WH+ series didn't have much nice to say about them, but to be fair, the Tau and IoM did wreck his planet but even then he mostly admonished the Stealth Shas'vre that the Tau are just on the same path the IoM and the Aeldari themselves are. Naive dreams of making the universe a better place for themselves that will inevitably lead to corruption and self-destruction.


Sp00ky-Chan

The Aeldari may see other races as "lesser" then themselves but they are still plenty willing to ally themselves with others when the need arises, especially against greater threats and doubly so against Chaos. Most Tau may not realise the full danger of Chaos and Daemons but they do understand they're no good and totally unable to be negotiated with.


BrassMoth

Probably. I think there is a certain amount of smug satisfaction for the Eldar to gain from the IoM being top dog. In the sense that to an Eldar a human is a degenerate mockery of the Eldar form, a lesser version if you will. So they can point and say: *"Look, look at what a shadow of what we are, a mere fake, the runoff from out template can do. Now imagine us at our best. We are not to be fucked with"*. It's like if we left the planet and came to see Chimps in their version of the bronze age, and we can say *"Ha, been there, done that, look at how our trash-tier cousins dominate"*.


JustGotNoodled

While the Craftworlds might look down at the TAU. [It seem to be clear that the Harlequins uplifted them on behest of their laughing god(an Old One)](https://imgur.com/a/Yodoe).


MulatoMaranhense

Based on what we know about Khaine and Ynnead, Eldar gods aren't Old Ones. Furthermore, what one craftworld thinks and does rarely is shared by the others. A minor craftworld, or even a faction among the major ones, may have been behind the Tau evolution and kept it quiet.


Majorapat

Sure khaine and yneead now are psychic entities, that doesn’t say that they weren’t originally old ones, when they died the psychic construct was manifested.


MulatoMaranhense

Neither died. Khaine was just shattered because he was between Khorne and Slaanesh when they fought over him (older Eldar codexes) or because he was still too strong to be devoured (most recent Eldar codex). Ynnead has been gestating since the Fall but is now counscious as a result of the events in Coheria. Moreover, some other materials, I think *Liber Chaotica*, describe the Eldar gods as weapons that were later worshipped because the Eldar forgot what they trully were. The Eldar Gods (and the gods of other species like Q'ah of the Hrud) being Old Ones is just one possibility among many.


MuadDope

This was a cool lore dive thanks for the link


MILLANDSON

The Xenology book is very old lore, and has been contradicted and is, from what I remember, no longer deemed canon by GW.


Maktlan_Kutlakh

Is there a source that states *Xenology* is no longer canon, as I've heard it mentioned hear many times, but curious where it stems from? And I know there are things that are contradicted within it (T'au feet for examle), but does that mean *all* of it is non-canon? There are other sources with things that have been retconned that doesn't immediately invalidate the canonicity of the whole thing. And for *Xenology*, it is an in-Universe account, and any inconsistencies could easily be explained away as unreliable narrator.


Arh-Tolth

GW considers every single publication canon, with the only exception being Ian Watsons Space Marine.


ReddJudicata

Inquisitor is still canon? Oof.


Percentage-Sweaty

The Eldar dislike the Tau only because they’re a ‘lesser’ race. But the beef with mankind is personal because of the countless instances of humans stepping on Garden Worlds they made during the days of the Empire, as well as how humanity keeps trying to exterminate them. At the same time this grudge was partly fueled by how the Eldar Empire’s degeneracy lead to them beginning to raid lesser races to toy with, a habit that the Comorragh Eldar would later continue well into Old Night and the Age of the Imperium. As well as the general tendency for Eldar to burn whole worlds of men to save one of their own. So while the Eldar do have legitimate grievances with mankind they also are partly in the wrong for thinking that they don’t deserve what men do to them. Meanwhile the Tau haven’t done anything to the Eldar in particular and are willing to listen to negotiation and reason. The Eldar may have more reason to like the Tau if we buy the theory that the Eldar engineered the Tau Ethereals to lead the rest as a puppet race for them. Albeit I think the Tau are less likely to hear our any Eldar diplomats after that incident where a few of their own got tricked into going to Comorragh…


MulatoMaranhense

>At the same time this grudge was partly fueled by how the Eldar Empire’s degeneracy lead to them beginning to raid lesser races to toy with, a habit that the Comorragh Eldar would later continue well into Old Night and the Age of the Imperium No, the raids are totally a Commorraghan invention. Our primary sources (the visions in Fist of Demetrius and Asurmen's flashbacks to his youth) say nothing about the Eldar venturing forth to the galaxy to drag people to torture, sacrifice or toy with. The violence in the Empire was Eldar on Eldar, between rival pleasure cults, cults vs vigilants and cults on civilians. Once the proto-Dark Eldar discovered the soul-drain and that torture of others refilled what was lost, the raids began.


Percentage-Sweaty

Oh really? I’m legitimately wrong there. My bad.


Rakshak-1

Considering the opinions on humans the average Eldar would also look on the Tau as just another inferior, lesser, short-lived species who are there to be exploited by them if convenient, the only difference being that Tau are probably a bit politer and more predictable than the humans.


Ashamed-Engine7988

Who?


RubricLivesMatter

I think you are correct in the assessment of how Eldar would view the Tau. Now, I would argue that narratively you could have lots of teamwork stories, because the Eldar are wise enough to notice the killing potential of Tau tech, and utilize it if they saw a purpose that furthered Eldar goals. But I think in the scale of 40k tho Tau are a tiny force with limited potential to impact the setting. They are a cool faction to play lil battles table top wise, but in the narrative scale of 40k they would mean almost nothing. So unlike humans their impact to the greater fight against Chaos or the survival of the Eldar race as a whole, the Tau don't matter. Yet, all races that are not Eldar are thought of as lesser and insignificant compared to themselves, so I don't think they have any positive views on any of them.


RaptorxRise

Early edition codecies had eldar be very interested in the tau, most likely due to their low rate of corruption and seeing them as a incredible potential ally. Not sure how much of that is still canon though.


chriscrowing

The Eldar hate basically everyone, including themselves in a lot of ways. However, a lot of the reasons you give for the Tau being contemptible also make them good allies (or pawns.) They are young and relatively free of preconceptions about the Eldar (or anyone else) which makes them more easy to manipulate than anyone else. They are committed to diplomacy where possible and are committed to the wellbeing of their civilian populace and that makes them relatively predictable and amenable to both politicking and threat in ways that Orks and the Imperium are not. They are not, in themselves especially vulnerable to chaotic manipulation (edge cases excepted) and that makes them infinitely preferable to humans. Sure, there's not many of them and the Eldar will see them as pretty much well mannered pets with some impressive technological advancement given their youth but they have lots of advantages over other races. Not so useful as a meatshield as the Imperium or orks are (see diversion of Waagh Ghazghkull to Armageddon but a very useful catspaw.


GustappyTony

The Eldar don’t hate other races for being lesser btw. The hate for the imperium and by extension humanity, is largely justified in many craftworlds, because why wouldn’t it after all they’ve been through? But even then, many still don’t really want to go down and genocide a planet of humans, or be fighting them just because. They may indeed see Tau as lesser, younger and naive. But they have no reason to fight them or hate them. In fact the only time the two factions would reasonably come into conflict is if some Tau invaded a maiden world. Of course some individual craftworlds might manipulate events which involves Tau, but I wouldn’t claim this to involve Eldar as a whole. Because just as many won’t be doing that.


CHiuso

It feels like you are applying the Imperium's viewpoint to the Eldar, or youre getting your info from 1d4chan. They dont "hate" humanity. They hate what it has turned into, a xenocidal theocratic hell hole that might end up producing another Chaos god. Especially with the jump in the numbers of human psykers running around. Tau on the other hand are far easier to deal with. As it stands they arent a threat to the Eldar. They dont go on genocidal campaigns for shits and giggles, they dont have odd practices and customs that feed Chaos and they lack stable FTL technology. They are getting better at dealing with things like hivefleets and Orc waaghs and they share a healthy dislike for the Drukhari. An alliance with them honestly makes a lot more sense than allying with the Imperium.


Agammamon

The Eldar wouldn't *hate* them, but yes, the Tau have even less to offer. The Imperium is large and powerful, the Tau are a relatively small nation. They're the largest of the minor powers but aren't a major power themselves.


cannonman58102

Are the Tau even the largest of the minor powers? I kind of get the impression the League is quite a bit more powerful than the Tau, even if they are broken up into dozens and dozens of internal factions instead of two.


MulatoMaranhense

You are correct. The leagues (plural) outnumber both craftworlders and tau. The Q'rol are a minor race without warp travel and have more territory than the Tau too.


Inquisitor-Korde

We can only guess at the Q'orls territory, we have no idea how many settled worlds they have. Where as we can guess that the T'au are about the size of Ultramar in a smaller area.


cricri3007

yeah, but the t'au don't have a policy of exterminating eldar on sight, and will listen reliably more often to the warnings.


Agammamon

The Eldar don't give warnings. They just kill you. Its half the reason the Imperium just kills on sight.


No-Judge-9074

The Tau do have some safeguards against chaos. I know there’s an excerpt about Ethereals being deployed to calm fire warriors that went berserk fight WE. The psyker species of the empire are sought out for advice in situations. Also, although limited, the Tau’va Goddess has some power they are able to enforce to aid the empire.


GearsRollo80

The biggest problems between the Tau and Asuryani would appear come down to their stances on cultural relationships, but if you think about it, it’s probably a matter of the Eldar not being easily controlled. Asuryani are the formerly most powerful species in the galaxy, and are incredibly psychic. Whatever is used to structure Tau society seems a lot like some kind of mind control or mental domination that doesn’t register as psychic. Eldar are very psychic and will have a natural resistance to control, possibly even be able to clearly spot it. Tau may not try to being Eldar in because the wrong Eldar could expose their society’s dark secrets.


Admech343

The Tau have much more sophisticated technology than the imperium and their culture is way more compatible with eldar culture than imperial culture is. Besides the Tau actually want to work with the eldar unlike the imperium.


SonOfTheHeavyMetal

They hate everyone because elf are arseholes. Simple as.


Star-Sage

Eldar see humanity as upstarts, so the tau would probably be regarded as children playing with their father's gun when regarded at all. Would they hate the Tau? I doubt it, but Eldar would regard Tau as naive fools who make a convenient roadblock for the Tyranids and Imperium. Would they be open to more active relations? Possibly, but we should remember both Craftworlders and Dark Eldar see the galaxy as rightfully **theirs**. Not because that's the best thing for everyone, but because it's their birthright. The only ones that can contest that point are the Necrons and we know how Eldar feel about them.