Gue'vesa Settlements
Gue'vesa (T'au: "Human Helper") is the name given to those Humans who have willingly joined the T'au Empire. Gue'vesa are a not uncommon sight in the western portions of T'au space, and some are even seen on the homeworld of T'au. In the the Damocles Marches Gue'vesa worlds or settlements are common, a result of both T'au Water-caste diplomacy prior to the Damocles Gulf Crusade and also the swift withdrawal of Imperial forces when the crusade ground to a stalemate. Although some abandoned Imperial forces became part of the Imperial Remnant in the Marches, others joined the T'au Empire (some, such as The Three Cities and Antak'ya, later broke away and achieved independence).
The Gue'vesa are not an independent power bloc but are rather part of the T'au Empire. Absent vulnerability to the Ethereals' physio-psychological control, however, the T'au Empire relies on Water-caste diplomacy, promises of Earth-caste technology, and even tacit threats of Fire-caste violence to ensure loyalty and compliance. Gue'vesa settlements are less-closely aligned with the wider Empire than T'au worlds, with the ones in the Damocles Gulf enjoying even greater independence after the Ethereals declared the Gulf off-limits to the T'au
The term "Gue'vesa" is used inconsistently and often as political propaganda. Only humans or settlements formally part of the T'au Empire should be called Gue'vesa, but the term is often applied to former members of the Empire, those culturally-influenced or trading with the T'au, or even independents merely living within the T'au sphere of influence. The Imperial Remnant is fond of using the term as a pejorative slur against those it deems insufficiently zealous, while the T'au will use it to refer to independent human settlements in order to divide them from other humans.
Culture
The culture of the Gue'vesa is strongly influenced by that of the T'au and reflects their egalitarian yet rigid philosophy. Deviation from or questioning of the Greater Good or the supremacy of the T'au is not permitted and is harshly punished. A form of the Imperial Creed is permitted and practiced, but it is a bowdlerized faith with the xenophobic and homo-supremacist doctrines excised and replaced with elements of the T'au Greater Good.
The Gue'vesa speak Gotthikós day-to-day, but use T'au as their official language.
History
The origins of the Gue'vesa predate the Damocles Gulf Crusade; despite the Warp storm isolating the planet T'au and surrounding regions from the wider galaxy Rogue Traders and others explored the Damocles Marches and fought, allied and traded with various xenos races beyond the Gulf. Over the millennia minor settlements, trading posts and even petty empires waxed and waned. The expansionist and fecund nature of humanity meant there were soon hundreds of thousands if not millions of humans living on the worlds of the Damocles Marches, isolated from the Imperium by distance and disinterest and having and developed an independent culture and outlook.
The First Sphere Expansion established the T'au Empire and the initial contacts between human and xenos ranged from friendly negotiations and trade to outright hostility. It was during this period that the trade language Gotthikós arose. Some were even absorbed - willingly or less-so - into the nascent T'au Empire as the first Gue'vesa. It was some time before the T'au realized these were merely the forgotten outcasts of an incomprehensibly vast interstellar empire that stretched across the entirety of the galaxy, and that a policy of militant aggression was doomed to failure. Instead Water Caste diplomats and trade envoys began a decades-long process of insinuating themselves into the courts of several dozen Imperial Commanders, spreading the influence of the T'au further and more rapidly than any amount of military conquest could have done.
Eventually a swathe of human worlds were trading with the T'au Empire in preference to the Imperium with alien goods and technology flowing through their markets in defiance of Imperial law. The influence of the T'au was not merely economic, and when Water Caste envoys whispered long-rehearsed words into willing ears seeds of rebellion that had long been cultivated bore traitorous fruit as Imperial governors declared their world's independent.
The Imperium's response was unusually swift but characteristically brutal; the Damocles Gulf Crusade was called and the T'au's influence was pushed back across the Damocles Gulf until the Crusade ground to a halt against Dal'yth and, with the wider Imperium threatened by the Tyranids, military forces were abruptly withdrawn. The speed of withdrawal abandoned a large number of Imperial soldiers - including several regiments of Imperial Guard - in T'au space. These either established independent realms such as Outremer or were absorbed into the T'au Empire as Gue'vesa. Some founded new settlements, but others joined existing Gue'vesa strongholds such as Malat'ya.
Successor Organizations
Neighboring Nations
