So a while ago I had to team up with a Nid player for a doubles tournament. This made very little sense to my fluffy brain, so I made up a story.

Far Eastern Fringe
Sh’lly Sept
998.M41

The Tau Sept Sh’lly was founded during the 3rd Sphere expansion, one of the most daring expansions into the Far Eastern fringe the Tau had attempted. The planet’s environment consisted of densely forested and mountainous terrain. The perpetual cloud cover created a gloomy world full of shadows and dark corners. Initially this seemed like an unlikely place for the Tau to flourish, but prosper they did. Subsequent generations excelled at agriculture, mining and especially engineering. The Sh’lly Earth Caste was soon surpassing many of their Tau Sept brothers.

One of the Earth Caste’s greatest minds was the young, brash and ambitious Fio’El Sh’lly Shi J’karra. Shi, as he was known to his few friends, was fascinated by bio-engineering. Soon he had learned all he could from the local Fauna and began searching for new life forms to dissect and explore. He discovered this new path in the cadavers of the Tyranids. The Fire Caste had frequent engagements with tendrils of Hive Fleet Behemoth, and when they brought back the ravaged corpses of these alien creatures, Shi would leap at the chance to study them. He became obsessed; working relentlessly on plasma burnt and mangled appendages.

The Ethereals noticed his fixation with the repugnant organisms, and stepped in. All of his experiments had to be discussed with senior Caste members first, and any research deemed remotely dangerous would be abandoned. Enraged, Shi saw this as an attack not only on himself, but also the great work he was doing. He covertly set up his own research facility, hidden from the jealous eyes of his so-called colleagues. During the day, he would obey orders and complete mundane tasks far beneath his level of intellect. At night however, he would make extraordinary breakthroughs, advancements only he could comprehend.
His first success was in creating small living Tyranids from the tissue of the dead. Then, by splicing Tau genes with creatures’, that he could create subjects that could be trained to obey his commands. The third phase was by far his most ambitious. To craft a being that would produce spores capable of altering non-engineered subjects’ biology. His grand scheme was to release these spore excreting beasts in the midst of the hives, instantly rendering the ravenous hordes malleable to the Tau’s wishes.

Failure however, stalked him. A hunter he could not escape from. Subject after subject, test after test, all proved hollow and fruitless. One evening, exhausted from his exertions, he made a terrible mistake. Through his own negligence one of his experiments escaped. The size of a finger, it had wriggled out of its enclosure and in to the darkened world beyond. Furious with himself for yet another error, Shi doubled his efforts.

A short time later, a strange ailment started plaguing previously healthy Tau. Foaming convulsions were followed by severe brain trauma. The afflicted could still manage basic functions but all sense of self-awareness, identity and personality were lost. Dull-eyed and slack-jawed, the automaton Tau wordlessly went about their tasks. The disorder was completely unfathomable, and colloquially dubbed “stones disease”.

As the months rolled by the cases of the disorder grew, as did Shi’s frustration. Dejectedly walking to his laboratory one night, he noticed all the stricken Tau had stopped. Completely. All they did was stare open mouthed at the leaden sky. Shi followed their idiot gazes to witness the horror. The grey and dull sky was pin-pricked by masses of gigantic invaders. As the Tau planetary defensive gun blasts reverberated through him he started running to the safety of his refuge. But instead of sanctuary he found only terror.

His escaped creation had returned to its master. Having fed on the waste of the Tau it had easily grown to the size of a hover tank. The oozing abomination had too many limbs, too many tentacles, all twitching as if by their own accord. It leered at him with multiple slimy orbs. It slowly opened its maw, revealing a pulsating sack. Shi stared, frozen by repulsion and dread. The egg exploded, spraying bright green spores all over him. As many motes as the terrible creatures descending on the planet.

Shuddering and shaking on the cold earth, images and ideas flooded his mind. He saw the apparently dullard Tau calling out, wordlessly, to a monstrous presence far beyond the stars. He saw his infested brothers taking up rifles, battle suits and vehicles to attack the non-infected. As the physiology of his brain rapidly started changing, and the psychic bonds between him and billions of organisms coagulated he finally understood, what it meant to be part of something far greater than he could ever be.





Anybody else got some stories for odd alliances?