[0604854]

Has anyone seen the rumoured changes background in the new 40k rulebook, namely that the tau were seen as tge ultimate enemy of chaos by the emperor and that tge adeptus astrates defend them for that reason, what do people think of the proposed changes?

[Dolnikan]

I have not seen that, where could I find it?

If what you have posted is true I must confess that I consider it completely ridiculous. The background has always been that the Emperor wanted humanity's salvation, as a psychic race which would be the bane of chaos. The tau remain a rather insignificant xenos species which are active in a backwater area. The Astartes defending a race which wasn't even present while the Emperor was still capable of giving orders, the Astartes finding them milennia later and then thinking: "Didn't the Emperor once tell our distant ancestors to protect these foul xenos?" makes no sense at all.

Such a command also undermines one of the core parts of the Imperium, its pure xenophobia.

[0604854]

Check out warseer 40k rumours section, the sources are fairly reliable.

[0604854]

http://www.warseer.com/forums/showthread.php?329875-Official-WarSeer-Warhammer-40-000-6th-Edition-discussion-thread/page15&p=6210204#post6210204

scroll down till you find it....

[0604854]

Found it for you:

 "Allright, so this was just posted on Blood of Kittens, and there's so much here, I figured it needed to be shared. 

OMG finally finally my poor little site is fixed thanks for the patience everyone! So anyway it looks like I started some rumor spilling last week as everyone in the rumor mill decided to jump in the game. I hope what I am about to post is not already outdated, but with life and the server repair I haven’t have time to keep up.
Ok, let us get ready for some fun guys 6th is about two months away so let us set up some ground rules first off.
That leaked 6th edition pdf was and is still a complete fabrication.
40k 6th edition is going to be much closer to Fantasy 8th and 40k 2nd edition than anything else.
GW still has rumor lock down in place, so these leaks are for the most part things that have been seen before from previous editions of Games Workshop games. This is to protect sources from the long arm of GW.
Ok, with that said lets get to it.
Let us start with 6th edition fluff progression.
The Imperium is fracturing and the Space Marines are starting to separate themselves from the Lords of Terra. The heretical and xenophobia has gotten to a tipping point causing many chapters to take actions against the “best wishes” of many in the Imperium.
A discovery of galactic importance has happened.
At a time before right before the Horus Heresy the Emperor had intrusted Roboute Guilliman in the protection of one Xenos race that was completely immune the temptations of Chaos and would prove the ultimate key to the destruction of Chaos. The Horus Heresy ended such plans. Fast forward today with discovery of these lost correspondences, it is believed by the Ultramarines and others that the Tau are that lost race. So now instead of being charge with their destruction the Astartes are the Tau protectors.
Rules changes
Every unit gets a 6+ save vs. all Psychic Powers.
Random Charge Lengths are in
Pre-measuring is in.
Random Battle field effects are in.
All armies can purchase buildings for placement on the battlefield.
Psychic powers are selected during deployment. (except Grey Knights)
Deployment and Missions types have doubled.
Get ready for the Big one..
ALLIES ARE BACK IN
That is right allies are back in and this will be according to fluff and will have certain restrictions. So for instance Tyranids will not have any allies. Tau with all Space Marine Chapters. Necrons with Blood Angels. Imperial Guard with Space Marines. Chaos Space Marines with Demons. If it fits the fluff it will be done.
This is just to get you guys started."
Expect more to come out as we get closer to the impeding release of Warhammer 40k 6th edition.
Oh again forgot to mention in the CSM rumor post to add that Oblit options will be even more expansive with close combat load out available.
; 

[Dolnikan]

Thank you for providing this information, digging to everything on there on my own would have been a monumental task.

So basically the Space Marines have become heretics and traitors, and not just a few but all of them because of some documents which anyone with even a slight degree of paranoia would probably condemn as forgeries. Especially Space Marines who have been psycho-indoctrinated to be utterly distrustful towards anything with possible xenos origins.

The problem with much of this is that the Space Marines are at least as xenophobic as the majority of the Imperium, this change makes them seem too much like rational do-gooders, which they aren't, they are the super-soldiers of an evil realm. They are not enlightened philosophers, they are the iron fist of the Imperium, tasked with routing out its worst enemies in an uncompromising way, they do not ally themselves with the impure or xenos, they ruthlessly crush all opposition. A space marine is not a policy-maker, he (or rather, it) is a soldier, created to kill and destroy.

[0604854]

It would create huge conflict between the chapters not seen since horus, I also cannot see marines being xenos buddies, after all they see just touching a xenos item heresy, but this is gw

[Dolnikan]

Basically it would place them outside the Imperium, those chapters would be considered traitors. They might be powerful but not more powerful than the Imperium which would still have the support of the Mechanicus and many of the chapters.

[0604854]

It also begs the queston if they change the background how else might they?

[Holiad]

Well, I officially move that the conclave declare such revisions to the 40k background heretical and therefore irrelevant to the game of inquisitor. Yes, seriously. Last I checked, space marines were if anything *more* xenophobic than the rest of the imperium, being indoctrinated to a much greater degree than ordinary human citizens who were, generally, human enough to be influenced. Space marines employing Kroot mercenaries, but a pdf or guard commander pressed for troops sometimes does. For that matter, the emperor himself was at the head of a galaxy-wide campaign of conquest that included the casual genocide of Xenos species which happened to be inconvenient.
Also, I would like to point out that a 'Xenos species completely immune to the temptations of chaos' seems closer to the tyranids(no human emotions) or necrons(able to completely seperate themselves from the warp) than the Tau who, while lacking a strong warp presence and therefore resistant, haven't come close to demonstrating "complete immunity".  Of those three, only the necrons were a significant presence in the galaxy at the time.

[Charax]

Well, it does explain those situations where the Ultramarines have been less than puritanical about their little blue brethren.

It does, however, somewhat weaken the primary threat of Chaos - the fact that anyone can succumb to it - when you have two whole species which is utterly immune (Tau and Necrons), as well as all the Grey Knights

Then you have the Eldar (all types) and Sororitas, who are extremely hard to turn

And Orks, who self-purge currupted members with extreme efficiency, same with Tyranids

You end up with Chaos going from "Threat that can pop up anywhere, from anyone" to "Well, keep an eye on the humans and maybe the Marines and you're pretty much ok"

It's lazy writing, it cheapens the primary antagonists of the setting and generally just makes things worse, although it's been heading that way for ages (see the current assumption that "Spyrer suits are Tau tech" Vs its more interesting predecessor "Spyrer suits are hand-crafted offworld with a combination of archeotech and have technology the Tau have never demonstrated or have been mentioned studying" - one is deeper, richer and more interesting than the other)

[Dolnikan]

I fully support your motion. As I said before this is complete nonsense, and tau still have emotions which will mean that they influence the warp, and the warp can influence them. They are only a bit less psychic than humans, that is all. This is probably just a part of a plan to make the tau seem more important than they are so far.

[Knobby2]

Personally im going too wait for the rulebook and read it cover too cover, Ive never been a fan of warseer's reliability, not slating the site, but it has shown how poor it is on several occasions

Lets just wait and see, however, if marines are defending the tau now, i bet the black templars are upset after the nimbosa crusade 

[Koval]

Let's wait for the book to come out before jumping to conclusions. At the moment this is all hearsay.

[Dolnikan]

Of course it's still hearsay, but the purpose of rumours is to get angry about them for a while until new rumours appear to get angry about. And with GW you never know...