Kinot'erra

**This article, Kinot'erra, was written by Cornish Moose. It may be linked to any page without asking for the author's permission.**

## Specialist Formation

### **Purpose**

Covert operations, infiltration, assassination

Among the most secretive of the T'au’s military programmes, to the point that they are largely unknown even within the Fire Caste, the **Kinot'erra** (Shadow-Wolf) are a specialised Cadre of Tau commandos, trained in covert warfare. Unwaveringly ruthless, the Kinot'erra are assigned in small teams to the various Cadres of the T'au Empire, for the purposes of undertaking sabotage missions, guerrilla warfare operations and other clandestine ops.

## History

### Founding

During the Damocles Gulf Crusade the T'au encountered Imperial special forces for the first time, much to the shock of senior commanders. These small units of extremely well equipped soldiers, much more potent than the regular Gue'la they were facing, caused substantial damage to Tau operations in the Damocles Gulf, assassinating commanders, destroying supply depots and causing chaos behind the lines. While the Crusade was eventually stalled and later withdrew, it would have a lasting impression upon the military hierarchy of the Fire Caste, leading to a number of reforms and the adoption of many new technologies. One such change was the decision to create a specialised formation of warriors that would embrace the tactics of their opponents. With large numbers of Astra Militarum soldiers abandoned by the hasty redeployment of the Crusade, the T'au were able to capture a number of Tempestus Scions, Grenadiers and other elite troops. While most of these soldiers were fanatically loyal to the Emperor and refused to turn despite the best efforts of the Water Caste, a handful eventually agreed to become trainers in exchange for rewards and pass on their knowledge to their former adversaries. The Ethereals authorised the creation of a Cadre to experiment with implementing these strategies. Named the Kinot'erra after the mythical shadow wolves of T'au stories, these warriors were put onto a gruelling training programme and given access to a number of experimental weapons and armour programs being developed at the time.

### First Blood

The newly formed Kinot'erra would be tested for the first time during an operation to capture a Genestealer infested T'au vessel. Under normal circumstances the T'au would consider the vessel irredeemably lost and simply destroy it but the commander of the Kinot'erra, Shas'O Sti'rli, pushed for the deployment of his warriors, eager to prove their worth. The mission was a disaster from the start, with a number of the dropships being shot down by malfunctioning auto defences on the target ship. Once on board the Kinot'erra were swarmed by a horde of Genestealers, taking heavy losses in close quarter fighting before the situation could be stabilised. Once a beachhead had been secured, the survivors began a slow but methodical purging of the ship, cleansing it compartment by compartment. The vessel was retaken and returned to Tau control but at great cost, 250 of the original 300 Kinot'erra were slain and a number of dropships were destroyed or crippled. Despite this rocky beginning however, the performance of the Firewarriors which survived greatly impressed the Ethereal present, who had watched the footage from various helmet and weapon cameras and seen the heavy toll inflicted upon the xenos menace. He ensured that the message that was sent back to T'au reflected the impressive combat performance of the soldiers while downplaying the misfortune and losses incurred. Soon afterwards the remnants of the Kinot'erra would be able to test their mettle more successfully when they were tasked with assassinating an Astra Militarum commander and sabotaging the supply lines of his regiments. This was undertaken with substantially lower casualties than expected, and benefitted from the Imperials being oblivious as to exactly who had inflicted this defeat upon them, ultimately blaming local rebel forces which lead to a weakening of their defensive positions to chase after these ghosts.

Imperial sources suggest that a number of Kinot'erra teams were attached to Commander Farsight’s expedition and these units vanished with him. The reason that they did not terminate the commander after he went rogue is not known and is used by theorists to either reinforce the idea that he is still working for the Empire or suggest that even the most trusted Tau are only held in line by the Ethereals, depending on the beliefs of the speaker. These rumours also state that the descendants of these teams still operate amongst the renegade's forces.

## Notable Operations

* **Operation Dawn's Blade** - The Kinot'erra board and retake a Genestealer infested T'au vessel. While successful they suffer an 83% loss of their deployed forces. Numerous lessons were learnt from the operation, contributing to a greater success rate for future operations.

## Kinukar'la

Special forces teams cannot act alone, they need back up in case the mission goes wrong, overwatch so they can focus on the task at hand and a dependable, well-armed force to stage diversions.
For the Kinot'erra this is provided by the Kinukar'la (Jackals). These are elite firewarriors who are subjected to a training regime almost as tough as that of the commandos themselves. They are likewise equipped with advanced equipment superior to that of standard soldiers, albeit still lesser to that of the Kinot'erra themselves.

These teams often form strong bonds with their Kinot'erra, as they remain paired rather than just being picked at random for missions, the commandos often coming to regard the Kinukar'la as battle brothers, sharing meals together and sometimes bonding with them through the rite of Ta’lissera. This mutual respect is markedly different to the commando's opinion of standard firewarriors, which are regarded as mere grunts by the elite soldiers.

## Equipment

### Pulse Weapons

* **PX12 Pulse Carbine** - A Commando variant of the standard Pulse Carbine, equipped with a reflex sight and camera suite in place of the usual optical sight unit and grenade launcher. The potential rate of fire has been substantially increased at a slight cost in terms of accuracy and stopping power.
* **PX12-1 Pulse Carbine** - A further modification of the PX12 which features a pivoting fire assembly, allowing the user to fire around corners without exposing themselves.
* **Pulse Carbine** - Carried by the Kinukar'la
* **Pulse Blaster** - Carried by the Kinukar'la
* **Pulse Pistol** - Commonly carried by the Kinot'erra as a back up weapon.

### Combatsuits

* **XV19-05 Combatsuit** - While not offering substantially improved protection compared to standard Firewarrior armour, the XV19 Combatsuit features an inbuilt optical camouflage generator and improved sensory systems, along with slightly improved mobility and strength. While the camouflage system is markedly inferior to that utilised by T'au Stealth suits, it's is nonetheless effective at reducing the visual signature of the wearer, especially at night.
* **XV19-09 Combatsuit** - Worn by the Kinukar'la, this variant lacks the optical camouflage generator in exchange for superior physical protection. Some of the upgrades to the helmet systems have since been incorporated into the newly introduced Breacher armour.

## Appearance

At first glance the untrained observer would likely be unable to tell a Kinot'erra apart from a regular firewarrior, at least outside of combat. Their equipment, especially at a distance, is similar in appearance to that of any other T'au infantryman. Closer in however, the differences become more pronounced, as the modifications to the equipment become evident and the personalised touches are noticed. Kill markings and script are commonly seen daubed onto their armour, small trophies and tokens of slain foes such as Imperial identity tags and blades are frequent trophies, which is either tolerated or encouraged depending on the unit’s ‘vre. While such behaviour is viewed with a measure of disdain by others of the Fire Caste, few dare to demand their removal.