Eur'ii Sept
Structure
The increased importance of the Earth caste have led to the Hunter Cadres of Eur’ii to put a far greater emphasis on vehicles, with a heavy focus on Devilfish due to the fact they have a lot more Breachers than usual since they often train upcoming fire warriors in the mines. Otherwise, the command structure of each caste is fairly standard.
Culture
One of the major differences in how Eur’ii differs from other septs is the immense influence the earth caste holds. Constantly trying to improve their Iridium refinement, the earth caste is considered just behind the Ethereals in terms of importance. Meanwhile, the lack of other tau and the limited nature of their auxiliaries have made the water caste importance plummet. This has led to tensions with higher-ranking members of other castes getting irritated as lower-ranked earth caste members seem to get both better treatment and more influence than them. The water caste has even begun discreetly selling technology and minerals to Imperials in the system, without the approval of the Ethereals. While it is unlikely to result in leaving the T’au Empire, it has led to doubt and corruption slowly beginning to spread through the other castes. Many high-ranking officials of all castes have become very adamant in proving their worth in the pursuit of rising up to the level the earth caste has been put on.
The Tau of the Eur’ii Sept have lost all contact with the empire, and do not know where exactly in space they are. If they were to realise how far from the empire they are. If they ever learnt the truth, the sept’s faith in the empire has a very real chance to be shattered, while the Ethereals have their suspicions, they have no proof and likely will try and hide it if they ever do find out.
History
After the Fourth Sphere fleet was lost in the warp, the Eur’ii tau re-entered realspace in the Juriah Sector. The tau quickly set about establishing a foothold, on a world that had no sapient life, and many massive mountains jutting from the sea. When exploring these formations, the tau discovered two things. That they were very, very rich in Iridium, and that they were hives for a group of massive, violent insects. Realising the metaphorical gold mine they had stumbled upon, the fire caste were sent to guard mining drones in expeditions to harvest the minerals. Soon the colony became fairly wealthy, though they found they were unable to make contact with the Tau Empire and couldn’t find any known stars. This also meant that the colony was essentially fully independent from the empire, allowing it to build and expand rapidly into a fully-fledged Sept World. . The earth caste began to take over the responsibilities of the water caste, as the lack of long-distance trade partners meant they could effectively build their own storefronts for essential goods and keep 100% of the profits of their creations to themselves. The septs Ethereals seemingly approved of this change for unknown reasons, stating that these actions are in favour of the greater good. The water caste, for their part, has resorted to helping smuggle goods to imperial worlds in an attempt to make a profit, as well as so when it is finally time to expand; grant them far easier access and control of the worlds they focus on and have yet to be stopped by the leaders of the sept despite it being common knowledge in higher circles. The Air and Fire caste also have concerns over the apparent favouritism.
At the turn of the 42nd millennium, Ethereals realised that the continued focus on internal affairs would ironically lead to civil unrest and very possibly civil war. To ease these tensions the Ethereals have declared their own “sphere of expansion”, where they will make contact once more with the Tau Empire and try to bring more planets in the sector under their control, as well as give the fire, air, and water caste something to do.
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