Editing NiS/Background (section)

==The Tau Empire==
From modest beginnings, the prosperous, advanced and benevolent Tau Empire has spread its aegis to over one hundred worlds by the end of the 41st Millennium, expanding gradually from within their home cluster into the wider Segmentum. In the wake of the Third Sphere expansion, several new Tau colonies have been established, while former Imperial worlds have traded their tenuous and negligent link with Terra for a concrete and rewarding place within the Greater Good. 

Central to the success of the tau'va has been the role of the Kor'vattra, the Tau's deep space navy. As a race lacking psionic potential - a blessing from the perspective of races plagued by the ravenous maw of Chaos - they have developed a consistent and efficient means of plying the stellar void without facing the kind of mortal dangers (and without requiring the presence of the likes of the Astronomican) that Imperial and other ships face in the warp. 

The divide between the Empyrean and realspace is not a straight line. Rather, it is akin to a deep ocean, whose waters are stirred by the tides of the Warp beneath. A ship lacking a psyker can, at best, force its way down into the depths before being 'bounced' back into realspace, like a balloon held under water. The Tau have designed their starships to generate a gravitic 'wing' around the vessel, which forces the ship deeper into the 'ocean', travelling further than most other vessels could maintain in a similar attempt. 

This method of interstellar travel was initially quite slow compared to true Warp travel (the average Warp travel time, the erratic dilation effects possible notwithstanding), being rougly 1/5 the speed of 'average' Warp transit. This ratio has been steadily improved by the industrious and inventive Fio caste, reaching 1/3 average by the time of development of the Il'fannor merchantman and continuing to improve to this day. 

Despite the relative slowness of the technology, it offers the Tau a major advantage in that not only are Warp dive speeds and distances consistent, with no dilation effects, they are free of the threat posed by daemonic entities which vessels travelling in the Outerdark would face. This has allowed the Tau to establish a thriving and comprehensive trade route network between their major and minor Septs, as well as to provide a basis for the detailed and rigorous planning of interstellar campaigns required by a race lacking FTL communication. 

One of the most prominent consequences of the use of warp dive technology is the ubiquitous presence of Waystations throughout Tau space, placed in deep space along each interstellar route a Tau starship would take within the Empire, acting as a refuelling depot and rallying point for Warp diving ships 'hopping' their way from world to world. 

Another aspect of the Tau's use of the warp dive has been the ease at which Tau freighters, exploration vessels, warships and 'privateers' have been able to expand into neighbouring systens at will, circumventing the myriad 'safe' Warp routes limiting Imperial traffic and the decaying Webway system of the Eldar. The Tau are thus able to contunue their expansion into the galaxy with yet another strategic advantage at their disposal. The success at which so-called Commerce Protection fleets (not to be confused with the more recent Qath'fannor CPF, which comprises of the most advanced new Tau starships at the Empire's disposal) have supplanted dozens of trade routes and trade licences across the Eastern Fringe is further evidence of this. 

Given the ease at which Demiurg vessels have been able to traverse the Eastern Fringe, it has been theorised that they may operate a yet more advanced version of this technology. Given their proven (and alleged) involvement in the technological and strategic development of the Empire, it would not be beyond the ken of possibility that the advances made in improving Warp dive capabilities seen in recent centuries have been at least in part due to the guidance of those whom the Tau call the Bentu'sin: the Wise-gifted ones.

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