Velk'Han - The Way of War: The Velk'Han Sept exists outside of the mainstream of the T'au Empire, and is in many ways a semi-autonomous, self-sufficient colony.When the undertaking was first mooted in the T'au Empire's ruling Council of the Highest there was a degree of opposition to the venture, with the most senior of the Earth Caste arguing that maintaining and supporting a new Sept so far outside of the empire's conventional spheres of expansion would put a huge drain on resources and require significant assets to be diverted from other fronts.The debate was ultimately carried by a combination of Fire Caste belligerence and Water Caste ambition. The warrior caste argued that only by aggressive expansion into new regions of the galaxy would the Human and other empires see both the might, and the right of the T'au way.The caste of envoys and traders saw the benefits of contact with so many worlds not ruled by the Imperium, declaring that this new region would be brought within the Greater Good for the benefit of all.What the Imperium had abandoned, the allied castes promised, the T'au would claim for their own, and in a single stroke uncounted billions of loyal servants would be brought within the unified T'au Empire.Despite the bold words, all knew that the establishment of the new Sept would be a bold undertaking, and once agreed, the Council of the Highest focused all of its attentions on the effort. A mighty war fleet was mustered, consisting of forces drawn from all of the existing Septs and all of the castes.This fleet was instructed to cross the void and establish a bridgehead on the coreward marches of the Jericho Reach, where it would consolidate and establish itself as a self-sufficient entity.While the other Septs would still contribute towards the ongoing war effort, the Velk'Han Sept was expected to be able to raise its own forces within as short a time as possible, so as not to place a drain on the empire.The first few Terran years of the undertaking went more or less entirely in the favour of the T'au, with the fleet well able to coerce those Human worlds that refused to join the T'au into doing so. Tsua'Malor was established as the Sept's principal world, and soon two dozen star systems had fallen under its control.T'au expeditionary forces ranged far and wide, probing towards the heart of the Reach and bringing the truth of the Greater Good to ever more worlds.Even when outlying, newly-contacted worlds refused to join the empire, the Water Caste envoys worked hard to sow the seeds of the T'au's doctrine within the hearts and minds of the peoples of the Reach, ready to be reaped at some point in the future as the Sept expanded.Sadly for the T'au, that next phase of expansion never occurred, for the Imperium discovered the Jericho-Maw Warp Gate at the heart of the Well of Night and launched the Achilus Crusade to expel the T'au from the Jericho Reach.Imperial forces flooded through the gate in a vengeful storm, descending on the worlds claimed by the T'au and those they had established relations with and purging any who had truck with the alien empire.In those first, desperate days the only thing that saved the Sept from complete collapse was the actions of the Imperium against the peoples of its former realm.Almost every Human world the crusade came upon refused to re-submit to the Emperor's rule, and the Imperium was forced to fight a war of reconquest against its own people before it could turn its full attentions towards the T'au.Velk'Han used this brief period of respite to undertake a massive program of arms manufacture and recruitment, and was bolstered by additional forces despatched from the distant core worlds of the T'au Empire. The newly constituted T'au force pushed forwards once more, plunging into the warzone the Imperium calls the Greyhell Front.And then, Hive Fleet Dagon appeared. The T'au had only limited experience fighting the Tyranids, and were fortunate indeed to avoid the worst of the ravenous aliens' attentions. In the short term, the T'au have benefited from the arrival of Hive Fleet Dagon, though their worlds are far from untouched.T'au spies report that Tyranid forces are putting increasing pressure on the worlds of the Canis Salient, and soon Lord Commander Sebiascor Ebongrave, commander of the Imperial forces in that region, will be forced to withdraw forces committed against the T'au in order to defend his own worlds.The T'au see this turn of events as a repeat of the final days of the Defence of the Damocles Gulf, in which an Imperial Crusade was forced to withdraw from its over-extended assault on the T'au Empire in order to commit every available resource to opposing Hive Fleet Behemoth.