Work Text:
There are many paths through time. It is the Architect of Fate’s task to guide the universe through the best, most righteous, most true path.
-Meditations of a Tzeentchian monk, recovered by a since erased member of the Ordo Hereticus in M38.
~~~~~
On a world that would eventually be consumed by Tyranids, a follower of Tzeentch has a dream of the 37th Millennium.
He sees a group of Transhuman warriors descend on a seemingly empty world at the behest of his god, who had used another member of his cult to lure them there with the promise of a good fight.
He sees them descend yet further down, through the rocks and the mountains and the caves. He sees them battle things in the dark that would destroy entire worlds. He sees one of them find an artifact, a skull with such ritual significance that offering it to Khorne is enough to see him ascend.
He sees the newly ascended Daemon Prince of Khorne slaughter his way through the depths, following the greatest fight. He sees the Prince make his way through a royal palace, guided there by a desperate, ancient machine intelligence. He sees this Abominable Intelligence lead the warrior down, down, down.
The warrior carves open a door at a whisper from what he believes is his god, but is Tzeentch in truth.
The cultist wakes as the cavern explodes.
He goes about his day with the knowledge that this future has been prevented, somehow.
He does not understand how, but he must attempt to render it possible again.
He does not succeed.
~~~~~
“For the Greater Good!”
-Common T'au Fire Caste war cry.
~~~~~
Shas’ui T’au Tor’il was somewhat excited.
Despite his low rank, he had been selected as one of the forward scouts of the vast tunnel systems that lay below the surface of 9-Jodran. It was one of the first major worlds the Earth Caste had marked as potentially capable of supporting T'au life. It may even support Poctroon life, but he wasn’t so sure about that. The other species was still in the process of joining. They were the first sentient life the T'au had encountered other than themselves, and it was exciting, but the Ethereals wanted their integration to be perfect, so things were going slowly.
Tor’il shook his head as his group’s Devilfish transport touched down. He was the leader of a group of Shas’la, and that meant he had to be proactive.
“Out! Out!”
His Strike Team rushed out of the transport and formed up in front of the cave mouth. He had them all confirm that their air tanks were full and acting as normal before ordering them inside. Ordinarily a pair of Pathfinder Teams would be accomplishing this task, but the leader of their great mission, Shas’o T’au Rotaa, had declared that they must all contribute for the Greater Good.
(An Ethereal should have been commanding them, but they had chosen to remain behind. There was only one Ethereal on each mission outside of their home system for now, and such was the extent of the mission Tor’il was apart of that the Ethereal in charge of this scouting expedition was on the other side of the solar system.)
“Inside.”
The pilot would watch the ship. He would leave them behind if the weather took an unexpected turn, but he would attempt to pick them up before their air ran out if possible. Their knowledge would otherwise die with them, which was the only reason such fit within the Greater Good.
It was dark in the cave. Their lights could only cover so much, and the experimental echolocation technology they’d been granted by the Earth Caste was of a limited range and strength to avoid disturbing the delicate geology of 9-Jodran. Thankfully, they had prepared for this via skilfully crafted simulations on the journey here.
As the simulations had prepared them to do, they proceeded in silence. To do otherwise would have triggered a collapse in the weaker caverns and they lacked any real way to tell if this was one such cavern. They were merely a forward scouting mission. Experienced Pathfinders would come to check their reports in person later. Such was the Greater Good.
They had not been prepared for the ruins.
No, that was the wrong term. Pure black buildings made of metal began to show themselves in the cave walls. They should have been damaged by whatever event buried them, but they were intact.
‘Collapsed city?’ One of his Strike Team signed.
‘Proceed.’ Tor’il replied.
They did so. The rock slowly vanished. After a certain point, they were walking on the strange metal. Their armored boots clattered against it as they entered a vast cavern filled with more of the metal buildings. All of the doors were closed.
As they walked the silent streets, the sound of a sharp metal object scraping against a flat metal surface echoed through the cavern. Tor’il spun to see the youngest of his Strike Team trying to scrape at one of the buildings with his emergency knife. The youngest turned towards him sheepishly. Tor’il raised his hands to begin a proper reprimand when a strange sound interrupted him. It was like the insectoid drones the Earth Caste were experimenting with for ship maintenance.
A sickly green light shone from the darkness. Their lights revealed the rest of it. It had 8 legs, 2 mandibles below what was clearly an optic, all in front of an abdomen. The construct merely watched them for a moment. It made a sound like a world dying as green lines began to glow on the buildings around them.
“Out, Out!” Tor’il shouted with force towards his Strike Team, and they began to run off back the way they’d come, following the electronic beacons they’d been leaving behind. He only stayed behind to drop the Universal Greeting Tablet the Water Caste had developed for First Contact.
Then he turned and ran to report this to his superiors, as was his duty under the Greater Good.
~~~~~
Perhaps in another, less cruel world, the T'au would have found nothing on the world they knew as 9-Jodran. Perhaps the world would have been destroyed, or the inhabitants would have died in their slumber. Perhaps even the Mechanicus would have arrived first and saved us all from their menace.
Unfortunately for the rest of the galaxy, the T'au found the Necrons.
-Private journal of an Inquisitor of the Ordo Xenos. Exact author classified by order of the Grand Inquisitor.
~~~~~
Phaerakh Inaclea of the Meretamun Dynasty woke with practiced ease.
She knew she was unusual. Inaclea knew many of her peers had abandoned their genders upon Biotransference, but she held firm. They had needed to retain something, anything of their biological lives. Thus, she had kept the title of Phaerakh and insisted that her court at least attempt to be fashionable.
The other main reason would be that she had awoken many times. The Deep Spirit of her Throneworld woke her whenever something important occurred on her Throneworld or was visible from it. This meant she had awoken many, many times from her Stasis-Crypt, and she suspected the checkups she had insisted be performed every time she woke had kept her relatively sane. She shuddered to imagine what state even a noble’s mind would be in after 60 Million years of slumber. She’d had to change Stasis-Crypt at least twice while her Crypteks updated the relevant code.
“Why have you awoken me?” Inaclea inquired of the Deep Spirit.
A nearby screen immediately began to display the relevant information.
“Ah, intruders. The first in millenia.” Inaclea said to herself as she read through the report. It was a habit she had developed over the Long Sleep. She was nominally speaking to the Deep Spirit. It was mostly for herself. “What is this?”
The Warp section of the report expanded into a more detailed version at her demand, and it confirmed several things.
These intruders were nearly incapable of influencing the Warp. What the Eldar called Souls were barely present. If the Eldar were raging bonfires, then these intruders were primitive firestarters. Barely enough to light a gas based flame. Their ships had arrived in the system via a remarkably Materium based form of Warp Drive as well, using gravity itself to force their way out of the Materium for brief periods. It would be slow, but far, far less corrupting than the abominations the previous batches had used.
A priority message caught her eye as she looked for the footage of their intrusion. They had left behind a pictograph! Primitive compared to their technology, but that seemed to be the point. It depicted these intruders outside of their armor and inside of it, then what was clearly a request for negotiation, or at least dialogue. It was a primitive attempt at non-language based communication, but it was effective.
She watched the footage of their intrusion several times. They came into her city and wandered around for some time. One of them tried to damage a storage warehouse, which was when a Canoptek Spider had found them. Most intruders would have tried to fight it, a fool's errand. Running should have been as well, but they had been very close to the exit and the nearest Canoptek construct capable of killing them had been crushed during the geologic activity that had buried the city some 20,000 years ago. They had reported to the nearest other members of their species. Ever since, the intruders on her Throneworld had been leaving in good order, although they stayed in orbit.
It was only a few centuries before the Long Sleep was intended to end.
“Bring up the last remaining data on Necrontyr biology.” Inaclea demanded.
She expected to be disappointed, and she was. These were not close to who the Necrons had once been, even according to her fragmentary databases. However, several things stood out. Their lifespans were similar to the Necrontyr. Their Warp Influence was only a small amount greater. They had similar audible and visual ranges. They were somewhat smaller than the Necrontyr had been, but that was minor. This group did not suffer from the rampant mutations and cancers the Necrontyr had, but perhaps they had a kinder home world.
Inaclea knew some of her peers would demand their execution. They had intruded on the Infinite Empire, and thus they must die. No, most of them would demand that. Perhaps the Silent King would see differently, but he had left the galaxy.
“Begin reawakening protocols. Let the Great Sleep of the Meretamun Dynasty end.”
~~~~~
“May our negotiations be in accordance with the Greater Good.”
-Opening line by the T'au Water Caste diplomats who first negotiated with the Poctroon.
~~~~~
Por’o T’au Iel was, perhaps ironically, a patient man.
He had been named for the lightning that had struck the medical facility he had been born in, which had ceased his crying. While the T'au had evolved past most forms of religious superstition, his home region of T’au did hold such an event in some significance. It was considered a good omen, if nothing else. Such things no longer decided the movements of armies or the turning of the crop cycles, but it had been a moment of wonder no matter the era
Their current expedition was part of an experiment where each Caste had been allowed a certain number of couples, and children were encouraged. At least one was born each week, in fact. It was a way to counteract the problem of how long inter-system travel took compared to the average T'au lifespan. The Etherals were already considering putting a temporary halt on expansion until a solution was found, or else a single member of their species could never hope to see their homeworld again if they ventured too far across the empire.
Any children that were born today had a similar moment of wonder to be named after, in his humble opinion.
The Fire Caste had found life!
When a group of Pathfinders were sent to investigate their fellows claim of strange underground constructions with automatons inside, they had found a scene carved into the rock wall by the cave entrance and a barrier that matched the rough description the initial Strike Team had provided for the native metals. The barrier was the least of their concern, for the natives had replicated the Universal Greeting Tablet!
Strange skeletal machines of the same metal were depicted on the rock wall first performing the same general actions as on the Universal Greeting Tablet, but then it continued. The machines were shown interacting with the T'au, but one machine was pointing to the stars above the interaction. The Earth Caste had already identified the night sky above the final image as a hyper-accurate chart of the night sky as seen from the cave mouth on a specific day.
As the foremost sponsor of the Universal Greeting Tablet, Iel was overjoyed that his pet project had accomplished so much. Not only had it successfully communicated the expedition’s intent, but their potential new allies had even understood the intention behind their use of such an elegantly simple method of communication and mirrored it! The committee of his fellow Water Caste members who had designed the tablet had quietly celebrated with their families in the time between when the message was discovered and the requested meeting time. Iel himself had partaken of a single glass of Poctroon stimulant and proceeded with his preparations.
While most surveying activity had ceased in the face of the Fire Caste’s discovery, the Earth Caste was still conducting some research. They had reported some small amount of geological activity in the region near the cave entrance with the message. It had ceased yesterday, which Iel took as a good sign. His Fire Caste equivalent, Shas’o T’au Eur’ii, was being paranoid. They had all left the planet swiftly and the machines had responded with a message of their own! There was no cause for concern.
He hoped the machines interpreted the Kavaal worth of Fire Caste members Shas’o Eur’ii had assembled at the meeting ground as Iel’s honor guard.
He was currently seated within a relatively simple command tent a small distance away from the designated meeting area and sipping the liquid his Caste was named for. It was a simple pre-negotiation habit he had developed over the years. Being well hydrated was important, but equally as important was the reminder of how he must flow and bind life together. It was a calming and meditative moment he made sure to have even before the most stressful negotiations.
Green light burst from the peak of the mountain under which the city was buried. No, it simply appeared. There was no grand shower of rock, a hole manifested itself into existence near the peak and a pillar of light emerged from it. More emerged across the mountain, all pointing directly up. Each ended in the sigil that had been depicted above the machines in the art, light being forged into a specific shape. Marvelous.
The outer ring of pillars began to move in a circle that only seemed slow because of how far they were from the closest one.
“Look.” Shas’o Eur’ii, ever laconic, said as he gestured towards an orbital feed of their location.
A trench was being dug by the lights. Those were lasers beyond anything the T'au could produce.
The central beam split into four, which traveled diagonally from the center until they reached the circle the others had created. When they did so, all of the beams stopped moving. The mountain itself was cloaked in a green light, paler than the pillars. It then began to rise at speeds geography was not meant to go. The four sections that had been separated by the pillars split as the bottom of the carved out section of the planet became visible. The section of the mountain that faced them was split again as it passed through one of the pillars, and all 5 of the sections floated away from their origin point. They came to rest in 5 valleys around the mountain, as if they had been designed for them.
The ground had remained stationary this entire time, a fact Iel only realized when it began to shake. The peak of an obelisk rose from the hole in the ground where a mountain once stood, and then another, and then another. The entire buried city rose from beneath the earth until it stood well above the horizon, obelisks reaching towards the sky. The construction was entirely of that black metal, illuminated by circuitry of green light. It seemed more like a vast technological funerary complex than a city.
The Fire Caste were becoming restless, and that was before one of the buildings on the outer reaches of the city began to float towards them. It had guns on the corners, though not ones Iel recognized. By the looks of it, Shas’o Eur’ii didn’t either.
As it got closer, the symbol from the pillars, the symbol of these machines became clearly embossed on the front of the building. It descended until it stood precisely where the machines had in their part of the message. An advanced metal drawbridge descended from below the symbol until it hit the ground, revealing itself to be stairs. Neon green light, even brighter than the pillars, could be seen in the doorway that was revealed. It hurt to look at.
A silhouette became clear in it, a skeletal construct beating a grand cannon of some kind emerged from it with mechanical precision. It resembled the most distant guards from the message. More emerged, until it became obvious that there was no possible way these constructs could have all fit inside the structure. The Earth Caste were discussing it in very excited tones behind him, the few who had come to demonstrate T'au technology.
It would be impolite to say the Poctroon were primitive, but they had not achieved space flight when the T'au found them. Even the greenskinned savages the great Ethereal assigned to their expedition was currently dealing with wielded technology that seemed roughshod at best. The T'au had begun to believe they were simply ahead of the curve, as it were.
Iel finished his water in one gulp.
They were behind. Very behind.
A new type of construct emerged from the structure, this one with far, far more detailed artistry and decoration. This was not mass produced. It bore a somehow even more advanced form of the cannon the lesser constructs had. They moved with the same amount of precision, only showing their true intellect once they had come to stand in parade formation around the door to the structure, forming a corridor.
The final machine to emerge was somehow even more detailed and, dare he say it, beautiful. It still resembled a skeleton, but this one wore fine robes over its black metal body. They were green, bronze, and black, with the symbol of its kind clearly displayed on the breast. It carried an ornate staff that glowed with a pure white light that shone against its face. This one had a far more articulate face than the dour masks of its brethren. It smiled at them in a way that reached its optics.
A stream of liquid metal flowed through the gate behind it and continued in front of the final machine until the metal reached the midpoint between the two groups. It formed into an elevated dais with a throne atop it, which the final machine climbed and sat in. The initial constructs arrayed themselves around it, while the more ornate ones arranged themselves on the dais itself. The final machine waved its staff.
A simple language chip for the standard Water Caste translator Iel was wearing floated until it was right in front of him. It could have been in any catalog of them except it was the same color as the machines. An Earth Caste member placed it into a scanner of some sort.
“It is clean, Por’o Iel.” The Earth Caste member said as she handed him the language chip.
Iel swallowed the lump in his throat as he inserted it into his ear mounted translator.
The ornate machine next to the final one immediately stepped forward and began to speak with a voice that sounded like an automated death sentence.
“Presenting Phaerakh Inaclea of the Meretamun Dynasty, First of her line, C’Tan Shatterer, and Noble of the Infinite Empire under Szarekh, the Silent King of the Necrons!”
The ornate machine stepped back.
Heralds. They had not prepared heralds, and there was only one language chip. Of course. He was the supplicant.
Iel stood and moved as close to the dais as he dared and kneeled.
He made the traditional sign of the T'au. “I am Por’o T’au Iel, Commander of the Water Caste of this Expedition of the First Sphere of Expansion of the T’au Empire under Aun’o Kau’va, Ethereal Supreme of the T'au.”
The Phaerakh began to speak with a voice akin to the most advanced of the digital idols the Earth Caste had created to boost morale. “My Dynasty has laid claim to this world for over 60 million years, since your people were naught but pond scum with delusions of a multicellular existence. Why do you dare try to lay claim to our Throneworld?”
Iel’s mind boggled at the sheer scale of time involved in the claim. If this machine’s words were true, the T’au were extremely late to the galactic stage. Still, he held firm.
“We are a young and ambitious species, Phaerakh. We wish to spread the Greater Good to as many worlds and as many species as possible. We did not intend to intrude upon your Throneworld.” Iel said carefully.
“Yes, this T’au’va. We have read your philosophies on it.” The Phaerakh said so simply that he nearly did not realize what it implied. “For such a young species, you have come to a sensible conclusion quite quickly.”
“Yes, Phaerakh. The Great Ethereals granted it unto us, and it is through them that we have ascended to the stars.” Iel said.
“You are young, and thus must be educated.” The Phaerakh said. “Our people, the Necrontyr, emerged into the galaxy in search of a way to heal our cancer and mutation ridden bodies. We were young and ambitious, as you are now.”
“Yes, Phaerakh.” Iel said.
“As you have encountered us, so too did we encounter the Old Ones, the first to claim dominion over this galaxy of ours. We came to them as supplicants, as beggars. They were skilled in the ways of biology. Surely they could cure us, we thought.” The Phaerakh said. “They refused to do so. They laughed in our faces. They did not even ask us to kneel. We were not even worthy to be their subjects.”
Iel swallowed heavily. He could see where this was going.
“It has been millenia upon millenia since that day, since the beginning of the War In Heaven. It changed us. To take revenge on those who had laughed at our weakness, we made deals with the C’Tan to give us the power needed. It was glorious, and they even provided a cure, in their own way.” The Phaerakh sighed. “It is far harder for mechanical bodies to develop cancers or mutations, after all.”
Iel had experience with elder T’au. He would not interrupt an elder when they were getting to the point.
“We killed them as well. One of their shards powers this Throneworld to this day. Thus, we turned from the Necrontyr to merely the Necrons.” The Phaerakh said sadly. “I do not doubt that, driven to madness or mere senility by the Long Sleep, many of my peers would demand you execution for daring to intrude upon this world.”
Iel stayed silent. He would not risk his good fortune.
“However, you have been as respectful as could be expected under the circumstances. Your lifespans are almost as short as ours were, once. Your people advance technologically, with only the barest hint of the Warp marring you, no more than we had, once.” The Phaerakh said almost wistfully. “I see in this T’au expedition the chance to be to you what the Old Ones refused to be to the Necrontyr.”
Iel raised his head to see the Phaerakh was extending a hand out to him in offering. “You would help us? You would lend your aid to the cause of spreading the T’au Empire and the Greater Good?”
“We wish for an audience with your Ethereals to discuss the terms of such aid.” The Phaerakh said firmly. “You have been pleasant, Por’o T’au, but you are not a ruler, merely a negotiator. I will speak with the closest you have to a peer of mine.”
“Yes, Phaerakh.” Iel said. His head was spinning.
“We will provide you with a frequency for your primitive communicators to allow long distance communication and further organization of this meeting.”
Iel forced himself to nod. “Yes, Phaerakh Inaclea.”
He took the clear dismissal for what it was. He turned and entered the command tent again as the Necrons filed through the gate they had arrived in. The building remained. None dared approach.
A very thoughtful subordinate of his had prepared a bucket of ice water for him to dunk his head into.
He desperately needed it to confirm he had not dreamed of this encounter.
~~~~~
“For the Silent King.”
-A phrase used by particularly patriotic Necrons, or those who work directly under the Silent King.
~~~~~
The Krork had infected her Throneworld’s system.
Rage attempted to take over completely, but Inaclea was a Phaerakh. She was better than fools who would give their game away at such a crucial moment.
Inaclea’s Flagship the Old Creed had survived nearly as well as she herself had, as it should have. The sub-dimension it had been kept within had not been granted access to entropy. The T’au’s reaction to it had been quite fun as they attempted to square her vast Scytheccraft Carrier with their primitive attempt at a battleship. It was admirable for their technological level, but so slow.
The T’au had attained orbital supremacy over the world they knew as Kor’voss, but the Krork held much of the planet. This should have meant the T’au could simply begin orbital bombardment and that would be the end of it, but they were trying to negotiate. It was almost cute how earnest they were about this.
Inaclea stepped through the Eternity Gate on her flagship and found herself outside what she could only call a prefabricated palace. She waited for her throne to form and sat down upon it. The Ethereals, the ruling Caste of the T’au, had not been overly present in the data banks of the T’au ship her Crypteks had infiltrated. They were a spiritual ruling class, but that was no great obstacle. Some lip service would sway them. If not, her court could easily come up with some ‘ancient’ philosophy to awe them with.
Her first example of an Ethereal was an ostentatious member of his species. He wore ornate orange and black robes along with a bejeweled headpiece that emphasized a diamond shaped organ the other Castes lacked. An unobtrusive scan revealed it contained extremely dense stores of certain fluids. Perhaps a biological weapon or an extra method of communication. Interesting.
He awaited her with a significant honor guard, all those that could be spared from their defenses against the Krork. The Water Caste member she had spoken with initially was next to him, and he stepped forward.
“Presenting Aun’ui T’au Kais’iho, leader of this Expedition of the First Sphere of Expansion of the T’au Empire under Aun’o Kau’va, Ethereal Supreme of the T'au.”
Inaclea nearly laughed. They had taken her use of a herald as something they could do as well. Cute.
One of her Royal Wardens stepped forward to do the same.
“Presenting Phaerakh Inaclea of the Meretamun Dynasty, First of her line, C’Tan Shatterer, and Noble of the Infinite Empire under Szarekh, the Silent King of the Necrons!”
He stepped back.
The Ethereal did not kneel. A less patient Necron would have him executed for that alone.
“Greetings, Ina-”
Her Royal Wardens cut him off as one. “You will address the Phaerakh with her proper title.”
The Ethereal’s eye twitched and some gas began to emanate from the diamond organ on his face. “Greetings, Phaerakh Inaclea.”
Inaclea nodded. The greeting was acceptable. She gestured for him to continue.
“The Water and Fire Castes did not mean any disrespect to your Infinite Empire when they landed on your Throneworld, as I am sure they assured you. We would have attempted a greeting worthy of your age and stature if we had known of your existence.” The Ethereal said. “We thank you for your patience and willingness to consider our vision of the Greater Good despite their intrusion.”
There was no apology.
“The young and foolish will make mistakes. That you acknowledged your intrusion and sought to correct it was your virtue.” Inaclea said as she continued reading through the Ethereal’s personal, far more detailed accounts of the T’au’s history. It seemed he was a scholar, how convenient.“You are attempting to negotiate with the Krork I see.”
“We believe they call themselves Orks, Phaerakh. Our envoys have made little progress.” The Ethereal said.
“That is because the Krork are biological weapons. I am not surprised to see they still live, although they have clearly degenerated.” Inaclea said. “These were one of the weapons the Old Ones deployed against us. In those days, they were a threat. Today, they are a pest."
“There is no hope of negotiation?” The Ethereal said. There was genuine sadness in his voice. His notes revealed this was because he hoped to use the Krork as a client species to supplant and supplement the Fire Caste and potentially elevate him to supreme leader.
“No. Violence is the only language they understand, and the only way to ensure peace is through eradication.” Inaclea said. The Aeldari were not much better, but she had an image to maintain.
“The deaths of our envoys should have shown us this, I suppose.” The Ethereal sighed. “Phaerakh Inaclea, may we request your aid against these greenskins?”
The use of the informal term was clearly intended to endear him to the Fire Caste. He had to shore up his image with them now that his plans to supplant and supplement them were rendered impossible.
“Let it be done.” Inaclea waved her staff of Light as she sent a message to the Old Creed.
Countless Night and Doom Scythes emerged from her flagship and began to descend on the world. They rained technological destruction upon these Warp-infused abominations that had dared intrude upon her Throneworld’s system.
The T’au watched in awe as her fleet did their work. Impressing the masses was always so simple, so easy. With such primitive barbarians, it was even easier.
As the ambient Warp field the Krork put out began to disperse, her Crypteks began to notice something. That would make things far easier.
“May we invite you inside our palace so we may begin negotiations?” The Ethereal asked.
Inaclea smiled. “Yes, you may.”
She followed the T’au into the prefabricated palace as a plan was formed in her mind.
~~~~~
With the true nature of Ork kind revealed for all to see, Phaerakh Inaclea the Kind began to negotiate with the hated Ethereal who led that expedition. It was during this series of meetings that her honored Crypteks began to uncover the true nature of the hated Ethereals.
They had been controlling the Four True Castes with their pheromones. The dream of the Greater Good they had used to end the Mont’au had been but a thin screen for their greed and ambition to rule the Four True Castes of the T’au. Furthermore, they had a higher influence on the Warp, and thus the Warp could influence them even more strongly in turn. Our entire path since the Mont’au had been influenced by that fickle dimension and the horrors within.
Phaerakh Inaclea the Kind revealed this to the Expedition during the final round of negotiations. The hated Ethereal Aun’ui who led the Expedition was executed for his crimes of manipulation and Warp corruption, as would become the law. With this done, Phaerakh Inaclea the Kind vowed to free the T’au from the chains of the Ethereals and to guide them into becoming the true heirs to the Infinite Empire.
The Commanders of the Expedition asked what she meant with such a grand vow. She clarified that the Necrons could no longer reproduce. They could build artificial intelligences, yes, but no more of themselves. They had no way back from the abominable process that had granted them their immortality. Thus, they would need heirs, and the T’au would be those heirs.
The Expedition vowed their support of Phaerakh Inaclea the Kind’s cause, and the First Expansion Sphere ended with the declaration of the Civil War. The dispossessed and the criminals, all of those T’au who had suffered under the hated Ethereal’s regime rose up to join the Expedition’s efforts, as did many regions to T'au itself that had been forced to pay for extravagant palaces and monuments to the greatness of the hated Ethereals. Phaerakh Inaclea the Kind’s Crypteks began to take on apprentices amongst the T’au, and the Earth Caste began their long, arduous task of studying the Necron technology so that we may produce it ourselves, a task they still labor for to this day It is through the aid of Phaerakh Inaclea the Kind that the Expedition’s forces won the Civil War.
With the death of the despised Supreme Ethereal, Phaerakh Inaclea the Kind declared that the T’au Star Empire would become a client state of the Meretamun Dynasty of the Infinite Empire. The T’au Star Empire rejoiced at this declaration, and it was with the aid of the Meretamun Dynasty’s Crypteks that the Advanced Gravitic Drive was finally deemed viable for widespread use. Thus did the Second Sphere of Expansion begin.
Glory be to the Silent King and the Greater Good.
-Excrept from “A History of the T’au Star Empire,” a text used in T’au schools to educate the students on their government’s official histories.