T'au Battlesuit - Earning a Battlesuit: Being allowed to use a battlesuit, particularly the massive XV8 Crisis Battlesuits, is considered a high honour among the T'au Fire Caste, and is only granted to T'au Fire Warriors who have earned the rank and privilege required to be granted this responsibility. Such a privilege can only be attained after several Terran years of progressing through the ranks of the Fire Caste as a Fire Warrior. A Fire Warrior will normally follow a standard rate of progression and advancement in the T'au military that is based around an evaluation of their skills called a "Trial by Fire."T'au Battlesuits are only piloted by those Fire Warriors who have proven themselves in battle and completed their first Trial by Fire to earn the Fire Caste rank of shas'ui. Often, the first battlesuits that Fire Warriors learn to pilot are the XV15 and/or the XV25 Stealthsuit, to complete their training in the arts of infiltration and ambush that they began as Pathfinders. Once their time utilising a Stealthsuit is complete, they are then given the honour of piloting an XV8 Crisis Battlesuit and becoming a member of the Fire Caste's elite.After this service, Fire Warriors will normally move on to train in the use of the XV88 Broadside Battlesuit. Whilst some T'au Fire Warriors may skip this stage, it is considered important by many T'au Commanders for their veteran warriors seeking greater command roles within the Fire Caste to have had experience in the heavy fire support role. Once a Fire Warrior has proven themselves ready for more responsibility in a second Trial by Fire, they will then be promoted to the rank of shas'vre and lead their own XV8 Crisis Battlesuit Team.If they succeed in that demanding role, they will go on to be assigned to a T'au Commander's Battlesuit Bodyguard Team, and eventually will become a T'au Commander themselves once they attains the rank of shas'el. By the time a Fire Caste warrior has reached this stage, they are a veteran of many battles, extremely experienced in the way of mobile warfare and equipped with a set of wargear perfectly suited to support their style of combat. Further service and success in the role of shas'el will then lead to a promotion to the highest Fire Caste rank of shas'o.Only the greatest commanders and warriors are assigned experimental weaponry or even entirely unique battlesuits. Such prototypes have turned the tide of many battles where the T'au Empire might have suffered grievous defeats without their pilots' intervention. In the hands of their esteemed wielders, their equipment can become the stuff of legends within the T'au Empire, for the tools and weapons heroes use to accomplish their greatest deeds are tied to their stores.Not all T'au find themselves suitable for advancement through all of these stages, either due to failure in training or simply because some warriors choose to take on more specialised roles that end their advancement up the general command ranks of the Fire Caste. As such, they will often stay in one role to teach the others who will follow, such as the shas'ui who command Fire Warrior Squads, the shas'nel who serve as Cadre Fireblades, and the shas'vre who lead XV88 Broadside Battlesuit Teams and Stealthsuit Teams, amongst others.