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xeno scum.

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It's good that there is at least one 40k fan writer out there who actually understands the point of the setting. Maybe they can teach GW about it.

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I always found it strange, how the writers of 40k tend to depict the Tau's understanding of the Imperial Creed as something akin to modern atheistic understandings of religion; They don't mind if you worship, so long as you do as they say. They don't believe, themselves, and think it's all nonsense.

However, the Imperial Creed isn't based off just traditions and ancient texts. Literally anyone who has ever traveled through the warp knows that daemons are real, and knows that humankind travels by the light of Holy Terra.
I know the Tau can't see into the warp, but surely they've met Imperial psykers before. Literally every single one of those psykers would have been to Terra, and would know the immutable truth the Imperial Creed is based on from literally personal experience. The Emperor is real; He creates the Astronomicon.
Even ignoring the actual Imperial Saints who have committed for real miracles-like coming back from actual death-it is now just cannon that Two of the Emperor's sons have come back, and the one actively leading the Imperium isn't denying the Emperor's divinity.

Sort of hope this gets addressed. Kind of curious to see how a Tau reacts to the literal power of faith in the Emperor being used to exercise a daemon from a their daemon host. Explain That one with sciene.

Not that the Tau don't know about the warp, considering they ally with Kroot whom have access to psyker powers.

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@Genoshia

The Imperial Creed isn't about being able to travel through the Warp or daemons existing any more than Christianity is about whether or not the Roman Empire was real. Those are, at best, side points in the larger story of those religions. The core of the Imperial Creed is that the God-Emperor is a divine entity who protects mankind and demands servitude and who espouses a doctrine of intolerance and rigid hierarchy from his servants. It's also notable that Space Marines don't believe in the Imperial Creed, either, despite their experiences with the Warp and psykers- that's because they have their own dogma of religious belief that is separate from the Creed, although it does tangentially overlap in a few places.

The Tau recognize the existence of the Warp, and of warp entities, and probably have at least a basic understanding that the Astronomicon exists (as they have been experimenting with Warp travel for several centuries.) But they don't believe that those things are divine, merely physical phenomena. "Miracles" and other Warp phenomena don't hold any special mystery for the Tau because they are a demonstrable and repeatable part of the universe, in the same way that the behavior of electricity or gravity does not seem especially magical to people in our world. They wouldn't be shaken by the "power of faith" of a saint because those sorts of things are just a part of the world that they live in- faith in literally anything can achieve the same results, because at the end of the day it is manipulation of the Warp that achieves the effect, not any kind of special holy status of the Emperor.

Remember, the Tau have been fighting Orks since literally their first steps into space- psychic phenomena powered by belief in an absurd concept are nothing new to them.

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@AbusePuppy That's my point; To the Tau, 'faith' isn't an empty term that doesn't directly translate to actionable results. They have literally seen it in action, and what it can let people accomplish.

Why do they let people keep worshipping? Hell, at this point, it's cannon that the Tau literally have their own goddess who helped defeat Deathguard escaping into the warp-T'au'va, created by the non-Tau worshippers of the Greater Good, whom Shadowsun canonically Spoke To-which is proof that faith in Any dogma grants power to warp entities. Which, by extension, can create an actual tactical advantage during war, for their enemies.

So why let humans keep following the Imperial Creed? It doesn't make sense. They have actual evidence that it empowers an enemy warp entity; At that point, it'd be the same reason to uproot it for why they'd stop people from worshipping Chaos. If enough worship can summon a daemon from the warp, why take the chances of all the Imperials summoning a Saint?

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为了上上善道

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@Genoshia

I would presume because they realize that attempting to deprogram them would be more harmful than beneficial. The Tau are happy to let Imperial worlds (and individuals) continue practicing the Creed because their plans are long-term and in the long term, it doesn't matter. (There is also an element of overconfidence one assumes, since that is usually portrayed as a core part of the Tau- an unquenchable belief that their own ways are superior and will inevitably result in victory in the end.) Sure, a few billion Imperial citizens might cause some warp disruptions and maybe a handful of them manifest some miraculous powers as a result- those individuals can be shot with a railgun to solve the problem, and in time the new Gue'la will abandon their Imperial Creed once it's no longer being forced down their throats by priests at gunpoint. Why wouldn't they, after all? At least from the perspective of those particular citizens, the Tau way IS better. It feeds them better, provides them with more amenities, is less obviously repressive, and showcases a superior military to boot. Just like the Christians of old converted pagans by first incorporating, then subliminating and finally replacing their beliefs in their original religions, the Tau can very easily bring over the majority of Gue'la to the Way of the Greater Good without any need to force the issue.

Of course, there will be a handful of die-hards who refuse and continue to stubbornly resist, but they can be isolated, "reeducated," or eliminated as necessary, depending on how much of a threat to the plan they actually present. But for most humans? There's no need. Breaking down their faith would be counterproductive when it can instead be redirected. They don't need to worry about them summoning a Saint because that sort of thing can't really happen by accident and it won't happen by intention because the Tau pretty much always have massive monitoring and social control networks on conquered planets. You need a pretty massive organized ritual to breach into the Warp, and the Tau don't really let their subject races organize like that.

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