The Emperor’s Angel of Death

A Sept is a very distinctive administrative division for the T'au, because the T'au lack Astropaths, which means that information and announcements may take a considerable amount of time to reach all parts of the T'au Empire. Therefore, the T'au leadership decided to decentralize power. With each new wave of colonial expansion, the planets they selected were the most suitable for settlement. These planets became the centers of local government, i.e., Septs, while also serving as centers for nearby other worlds, somewhat similar to the Empire's hereditary governorates, including an indeterminate number of colonial planets, satellites, or space bases. The Sept a T'au comes from is an integral part of his identity, so everyone's name conforms to the origin of their Sept world.

Each Sept, apart from following the T'au's core of power in the general direction, develops independently in other aspects, so they have all developed their own dialects, fleets and armies, and their own ways of waging war.

At the same time, the grand star chart of the Segmentum Ultima where the T'au are located is spread out above the heads of the Conclave members, and soon shrinks to the T'au's domain.

It must be said that the Aeldari at least have a very detailed and comprehensive grasp of the galaxy's astronomical situation. Perhaps this is the greatest wealth that the ancient empire left to future generations. Almost every Craftworld has such a complete star chart. The ancient Aeldari explorers had explored almost all of the galaxy except for a few areas very clearly. Although there have been some changes in celestial bodies during this period, overall they are still one of the very few civilizations that have mastered a detailed star chart of the entire galaxy.

The T'au Empire is located in the eastern part of the Segmentum Ultima, which is already a very remote location, and this Ke'lshan Sept world is even in the easternmost part of the T'au Empire. It would not be an exaggeration to say that it is in a remote corner, but it just so happens that an even more remote Aeldari Maiden World is next to it.

"The Kingdom of Rillaru'sus is a medium-sized kingdom with a population of about 150,000. It was founded on the eve of the Fall. Their main allies are the Weeping Dawn Troupe and Craftworld Iyanden. Iyanden would regularly patrol here for a long time in the past, but since the tragic losses of the Burning of the Burning Moon, Iyanden has reduced its scope of activities. In addition, there used to be a very strong fleet of the Void Dragon in that area, Iyanden basically gave up patrolling the area, Rillaru'sus can only rely on itself for self-defense, so they formed a standing army that is much larger than that of a general kingdom, called the White Dragon Knights, with more than 8,000 various dragon knights, and hundreds of tamed dragon fortresses, and even three Mountain Dragons left over from the Fall. Logically speaking, they can deal with normal-sized invaders, but this Ke'lshan Sept is indeed not an ordinary force. They repelled that fleet of the Void Dragon decades ago, although this caused them huge losses, but it indirectly protected Rillaru'sus."

Sokhyan supported his chin with his right fist and looked at the star chart for a while, then frowned and said:

"Then why did they suddenly attack Rillaru'sus? In my memory, the T'au are not considered a very aggressive race, although they have been expanding."

A trace of embarrassment appeared on Ivarhan's face, and finally he just said in a low voice:

"Reporting to Your Highness, it is currently unknown. We have not had any contact with the T'au, nor have the residents of Rillaru'sus, but they brought some images."

Soon, a dozen projection spheres projected realistic images into the air.

Sokhyan looked at one of them, and saw the enemy engulfed in a sea of fire, followed by a group of gray, angular things similar to combat robots rising from above the sea of fire, and the weapons on their arms and shoulders began to emit a bright blue halo, followed by a group of soldiers holding rifles and wearing gray enclosed armor rushing out of the flames and began shooting.

After a while, a group of Aeldari warriors wearing bone-white armor and riding bipedal war dragons roared in, piercing the gray soldiers one by one with the laser lances in their hands, but many were also shot down from the sky by the enemy along with their dragons.

Then Sokhyan looked at another place, and saw Aeldari knights riding winged dragons soaring in a storm of lasers and plasma, and winged dragons were constantly shot through their wings and fell, and what created all this was a flat aircraft, and at the same time, in the burning clouds, one could vaguely see larger outlines passing by, just like the shallow ripples that giant beasts swimming in the deep sea stir up on the surface of the water.

Sokhyan frowned and turned to another picture. A huge Triceratops stepped over the burning ruins and slammed into a uniquely shaped ground vehicle, or rather an anti-gravity vehicle, because it was actually some distance from the ground. It was attacked after being hit by the cannon on the Triceratops' back. The sharp dragon horns directly tore apart the cockpit of the vehicle, and one could even see a short figure pierced on the dragon horns, struggling with his hands and feet.

But suddenly several dazzling flashes of light flashed across, and the head of the Triceratops was directly evaporated, followed by a huge, equally angular mechanical behemoth descending from the sky, stepping on the overturned giant dragon. According to the size of the Triceratops Sokhyan had seen, he deduced that this thing was four or five meters high. Its right arm was a plasma weapon emitting blue light, its left arm was a multi-barreled cannon, and its head was almost connected to its body, appearing very small. The front was a huge lens that looked like a Cyclops. Almost no melee possibility could be seen, but it could fly.

The last picture Sokhyan saw was of a huge wraithbone building slowly collapsing. A Mountain Dragon carrying a huge war fortress was spewing out hot plasma jets towards the enemy, and the fortress on its back was constantly firing dazzling beams of light and flashing star darts around.

Suddenly, dense plasma and laser rained down on it. Even the Mountain Dragon's tough body still roared in pain as it raised its head. Through the smoke, Sokhyan saw a huge machine almost the same size as a large knight titan firing. Its entire body was covered with ranged weapons. Not only its arms, but also three giant cannons on its back. It could be said that it had maximized its firepower.

After less than three minutes of observation, Sokhyan made his own judgment.

The T'au pay great attention to ranged attack capabilities, and most of their vehicles can fly, which means that not only are they very tactically mobile, but their air power may also be very strong. In addition, they also have large bipedal mechs no less than knight titans.

The Aeldari's history of dealing with the T'au is not long. They have long maintained an indifferent attitude towards this "small race", but there have been many conflicts and exchanges between the two sides. Through various channels, the Royal Court has also stored some information about the T'au, and this information is stored in the Conclave for use in war.

Sokhyan hooked his fingers, and several golden spheres flew to him, followed by a lot of data being listed, including descriptions, depictions, and introductions of some T'au equipment.

After reading it in a short time, Sokhyan had some understanding in his heart. The T'au are a different type from most of the enemies he has encountered so far. It is not that their weapons are so terrifying, or that their numbers are so large, but that their combat methods and style can definitely be called novel. As a warrior who is used to fighting old battles, at least in his eyes, this enemy is in a sense quite tricky!

Just as Sokhyan was analyzing the T'au's combat power and combat methods, some war strategists below had already expressed their opinions.

There are many different opinions online about the strength of the T'au, mainly comparing the T'au with the Imperium. It is easy to draw diametrically opposite conclusions using the same arguments. Old Mo is neither a T'au hater nor a T'au fan, so he will try to give an objective description from a third-party perspective. There will definitely be some personal opinions in the middle. If you have different opinions, you can post them in the chapter comments, but try not to quarrel, because the T'au are indeed a topic that easily causes disputes, so Old Mo has only really gotten involved in such a long piece.