The Farsight Enclaves A Brief History:The Farsight Enclaves are a breakaway faction of the Tau Empire, currently carving out a home for itself on the Empires borders. The Farsight Enclaves was founded by the venerated ShasO Viorla Shovah Kais Montyr, more commonly known as OShovah or Commander Farsight, and from whom the Enclaves take their name.

The Enclaves trace their origins to the end of a grueling campaign against the Ork menace. This military campaign, fought in 742.M41, was led by Commander Farsight, whom harried the Orks relentlessly as they were driven out of the Empires territory, eventually engaging them at Arthas Moloch, an Artefact world which predated the Imperium of Man.

While it is currently known to but a very limited few what happened on Arthas Moloch, as Farsight and his expedition left the planet to pursue any remaining Orks across the Damocles Gulf, all the Ethereal Caste accompanying the expedition had perished, and Farsight himself had left the planet with a great alien blade in his possession; a sword as large as a fully grown Tau, known as the Dawn Blade.

While many expected Farsight and his forces to return once they had ensured that the Ork threat was neutralized, OShovah and his subordinates instead established a series of colonies on the far side of the Damocles Gulf and cut off all communication with the Tau Empire, creating what has essentially become a Fire Caste led alternative to the Ethereal Castes hegemony.

Enclave Society:The societal structure of the Farsight Enclaves is far more militaristic than the Tau Empire, being ruled and dominated by the militant Fire Caste instead of the wise but aloof Ethereal Caste, with almost every government instance being geared towards aiding the military machine. While this would seem preposterous to an Empire Tau, in the Enclaves, the huge military focus is a necessity because of the constant threat of alien invasions. This, combined with the limited resources the Enclaves have access to, makes life in the Enclaves harsher than anywhere in the Tau Empire, which is reflected most clearly in how worn and almost scavenged Enclave military gear and ships look.

However, despite what is a situation which would normally require more cohesion between the Castes to ensure survival, the Castes are instead far more divided, not only between the different castes, but also within the castes, with several different families or dynasties having arisen, usually named after its founding member and reflecting the more tribal society from which the Tau Empire originated.

The largest of these dynasties is the OShovah, or Farsight family, which is currently ruled by the grandson of the original Commander Farsight. The Farsight family, in turn, rules the Enclaves by virtue of bonds of blood and duty which ties it to several other large families. While some would suspect that this means the Farsights rule is absolute, in reality its rule is based on a web of political wrangling and favors, making the Farsight and their allies more of a political block than a hegemony like the Ethereals rule.

On top of these familial divisions, there are three major political blocks within the Enclaves, with lines drawn across the boundries of how they wish to engage with the rest of the galaxy. The largest of these, and the ones to whom Farsight and his allies belong, are the Expansionists. This group is largely focused on expanding the Enclaves territory outward, securing its worlds and seizing new ones, essentially engaging in a more aggressive form of the Tau Empires sphere expansions. The second group is the Repatriationists, whom wish to re-establish contact with the Tau Empire. Unfortunately, what the Repatriationists wish to do after establishing contact is not widely agreed upon, making the group more fractious than its opponents, and largely preventing them from mobilizing a united front.

The third, smallest and perhaps most troubling group, both to the Tau Empire and to the Farsight Enclaves themselves, are the Conquerors, whose goal is to mobilize the Farsight Enclaves and expand, not outwards like the Expansionists, but inwards, towards the Tau Empire, and overthrow the Ethereals in favor of the Fire Castes rule. However, while this group has grand designs, it has very little political influence, and only the most hardline of the families will give them any public support. However, should they succeed in swaying Commander Farsight or one of his descendents to their cause, they might be able to start an avalanche that they could ride all the way to Tau itself.

The different families tend to share a common preference for how they carry out their work. Certain Earth Caste families, for instance, might be focused entirely on the production of ship parts. Fire Caste families, likewise, tend to focus on a certain type of military doctrine, especially those whom wield a large number of Battlesuits, which tend to share a general preference for equipment. The Oblotai family, for instance, tends to prefer equipping their Battlesuits with large amounts of explosive ordinance, and wields a larger than usual number of XV88 Battlesuits, as opposed to the more common XV8, while the ShaVastos tend to prefer exclusively wielding plasma rifles for offensive output, whilst the Arrakon prefer the tactical flexibility of a combined arms approach to warfare.

Enclave Castes:

The dominant Caste within the Farsight Enclaves is the Fire Caste, which comprises the majority of the Enclaves population, and the caste that is most closely associated with the original Commander Farsight, who founded the Enclaves at the edge of the Tau Empire.

Almost 50 percent of the Farsight Enclaves is made up of Fire Caste members, and their ubiquitous presence has had an obvious impact on the formation of the cultural landscape of the Enclaves - from the focus on martial prowess, to the defense oriented architectural design, to the stipulations placed on those who seek to hold political office, to the treatment of those unassociated with the Enclave military as almost second hand citizens; almost every facet of the daily life in the Farsight Enclaves is colored by the thoughts and ideals of the Fire Caste.

The second largest caste in the Enclaves is the Air Caste, which comprises around 30 percent of the Enclaves population. Being responsible for troop- and resource transportation, fleet engagements, and providing orbital support for the Enclave Fire Caste, the Air Caste is largely regarded as the Fire Castes only true equals in the Enclaves. This relationship can be explained by the two castes having developed a symbiotic relationship: without the Air Caste, the Fire Caste would not be able to move its troops between various planets and battlefields, nor would they be able to maintain supply lines between their own world and the frontiers where the majority of the Fire Caste fights its battles.

Likewise, without the Fire Caste, the Air Caste would not be able to occupy or hold surface territory, nor wage war without saturation bombing a planets surface, which would render the planet unusable without massive resource investments which the Enclaves cannot easily spare. Subsequently, the two Castes reliance on each other have made the Air Caste the Fire Castes equals, with many Air Caste even receiving combat training outside of naval and air engagements, though most Air Caste members are uncomfortable using anything larger than a pistol. Nonetheless, the Air Caste have begun arranging marksmanship contests to encourage its members to maintain a passable level of skill with their new weapons, much to the approval of their Fire Caste cousins.

The Earth Caste is the third largest caste within the Enclaves, and still the ones largely responsible for maintaining the infrastructure of the Enclaves as they were in the Empire proper. Still, the differences between the Empire and the Enclaves has resulted in a marked shift in how the Earth Caste is viewed. To begin with, the increased focus upon self-reliance amongst the Fire Caste means that the Earth Caste is looked down on somewhat; with most Enclave ShasLa being capable of at least maintaining their own gear, and in many cases repairing or building new ones with the proper tools, as well as a general belief that they can survive by scavenging and raiding, living off the land as it where, the Earth Castes traditional roles as the engineers and farmers of the Tau have seen a decrease in general value.

The Earth Caste is still valued, because of their expertise where refining raw materials and generally greater craftsmanship is concerned, and without the Earth Castes toil, the Fire Caste would never be able to maintain its army in its present condition. The Enclave Earth Caste is also, despite a lower level of expertise in general, due to the more limited pool of available talent, generally better at constructing Battlesuits than their Empire counterparts, though this is largely due to a combination of limited resources, and the preferred combat doctrine of the Enclave Fire Caste and its ruling Dynasty. The Air Caste tends to have a noticeably higher opinion of the Earth Caste than the Fire Caste, largely because of their symbiotic relationship where ship construction is concerned, with the Earth Caste providing the materials and assembling them to the Air Castes specifications, as well as the Air Castes much greater reliance on the Earth Caste for food, fuel and weapons.

Not all Earth Caste work for the military, of course; several work as independent farmers or craftsmen, selling their wares to various Water Caste merchants, who then sell their products further on. While these independent Earth and Water Caste provide necessary comforts for making the harsher life on the edges of Tau space bearable, theyre publicly looked down on by the more dominant and militant Fire and Air castes as being profiteers, or worse, a waste of resources that could be better spent on the military.

The smallest caste within the Farsight Enclaves is the Water Caste, which comprises a measly ~5% of the Enclaves population. While the Fire and Air castes are the social elite of the Enclaves, with the Earth Caste forming a slightly lower middle class, the Water Caste are the true second class citizens of the Farsight Enclaves. Traditionally, the Water Caste are the diplomats, translators, merchants and envoys of the Tau Empire, a task for which the Water Caste has been bred towards fulfilling since the earliest days of tribal society on Tau. But the Farsight Enclaves has very little use for the Water Caste: the Enclaves engage in very little external trade, and almost all contact with alien species on the frontier involves the Fire and Air castes exchanging fire with hostile raiders, pirates and warbands.

Subsequently, those members of the Water Caste who arent content with being simple market vendors in the Enclaves cities seek to make themselves useful to the Enclave military. This usually involves working as supply officers, quartermasters, communications officers and aids to Fire- and Air Caste officers. While these Tau are generally held in higher regard than the rest of the Water Caste, their general absence from the front lines means that even these Water Caste members are somewhat looked down on by the Fire Caste.

Farsight Enclave Military Doctrine:The Farsight Enclaves military doctrine varies from that of the Tau Empire in several regards, the most obvious of which is the increased focus on close quarters combat, and a heavier reliance on Battlesuits instead of tanks.

The Enclave Fire Caste began to focus more on close combat after the original Farsight Expeditions battle against the Orks. While the Tau doctrine traditionally focuses on retreating in the face of advancing enemy forces, Farsight and his generals experiences with the Orks closing to melee before the Fire Caste could withdraw, and the subsequent horrific losses in lives, reasoned that while Fire Caste could never match the Orks in brute strength, must become skilled enough in close combat to fend the Orks off until reinforcements could save them. This doctrine has proven successful, to an extent; while the Fire Caste are still no match for one of the Emperors Chosen or the Eldar in close combat, they have become skilled enough to hold their own in melee, although they still prefer to fall back rather than engage their foes on anything but their own terms.

The second difference, is the increased reliance on Battlesuits in favor of tanks and skimmers. This is largely due to a combination of limited resources, and the Farsight Enclave Fire Castes greater emphasis on personal combat prowess. To pilot a Battlesuit is a great honor to which every member of the Fire Caste aspires, and with the greater tactical flexibility of the XV8 over, for example the Hammerhead tank (at least in the eyes of Farsight and his peers), the great number and variants of Battlesuits utilized by the Enclaves is hardly a surprise.