Por'la Vior'la Kais'uam

Por'la Vior'la Kais'uam is a T'au envoy of the Water Caste. Por'la Vior'la Kais'uam, like many of his race, has an ambition and drive far above his current station. Although elements of his name roughly translate as "skilful mediator" and "Water Caste bureaucrat," Por'la has the fiery temperament and outgoing nature typical to those from the T'au Sept world of Vior'la.

Though young by T'au standards, Por'la is extremely well-travelled, having fled the T'au Sept worlds and crossed vast tracts of space to distant Karis Cephalon. The reasons behind this self-imposed odyssey hail back to one of the most important and bloody eras in T'au history -- the Damocles Gulf Crusade.

History
Ever since the crucial and near-unprecedented outcome of the Damocles Crusade, an Imperial purge of T'au space that ended not in sustained genocide as with other Imperial Crusades but with a shaky peace treaty, Por'la's family have been extremely well respected. The Water Caste envoy is a direct descendant of Por'O Vior'la Ko'vash M'yen Shi (lit. "Strives for Unforseen Victory"), the Water Caste Ambassador primarily responsible for implementing the peace treaty with the Imperial forces after the armies of the two races had ground each other to a standstill during the latter stages of the Crusade.

Those scholars who know anything of Imperial history know well that this was no mean feat, and that it was the first time in several millennia that an Imperial Crusade has ended before its bloody conclusion. Thus Por'la has grown up as the latest in the most celebrated Water Caste bloodline of the T'au Sept worlds. It is no small wonder he chose to leave when the most recent of his now-legendary Initiatives garnered a little too much attention from those keenly watching his progress.

Por'la has inherited his bloodline's natural flair for relating to the other castes of T'au society, so much so that his mentors suspect he prefers the company of the other castes to that of his peers. He has always aspired to the honorific Vash'ya, literally "between spheres," a suffix bestowed on those who have forged strong bonds with castes other than that of their birth. As a nascent envoy, Por'la had strong connections to both the Earth and Fire Caste, and had many friends within the ranks of the T'au army.

These included Shas'ui Mal'caor, the quartermaster of the Fire Warrior Hunter Cadre with which he was posted to the Sept world of Tash'va. The two had become fast friends after the diplomatic coup known as the Ria'tan Convocation whereby the Savage Blade, a large faction of Kroot mercenaries led by the rogue Master Shaper Jhongor Omotu, were brought back into the arms of the T'au Empire. The T'au fleet were relieved not to have to waste resources joining in battle with the immense Warsphere of this splinter faction of Kroot, although the Earth Caste was a little shocked to find that they had been pledged to upgrade the Kroot vessel's defensive capabilities over the next Tau'cyr.

Nonetheless, Por'la impressed his superiors with what they euphemistically termed "exceptional initiative." He had broken a few rules, but the end result had most definitely been for the Greater Good, and with the incursions of the Tyranids in the southeast galactic quarter of the Sept Worlds his omissions toward protocol were ignored. However, the young T'au let his success go to his head.

Shortly after the Ria'tan Convocation, Por'la uncovered information relating to a nascent Tyrannic cult within the families of Tash'va. The cult had perverted the T'au life-ritual of the Ta'lissera, a sacred bonding ceremony, into something far worse that culminated in the Genestealer's kiss. Enraged, and confident that he could take the initiative and tackle the problem on his own, Por'la called upon a pack of Savage Blade Kroot still planetside and "acquired" enough Pulse Carbines and Photon Grenades from his quartermaster friend's property to ensure every member of the carnivore squad was armed to the teeth.

Unleashed upon the cult's underground headquarters, the Kroot reaped a massive toll of blood from the corrupted T'au, putting the place to flame and feasting on the few T'au that had merely been hypnotised instead of contaminated by the insidious Genestealer Cult. The action was a bloody and a swift success, but the T'au Fire Caste was enraged at having been bypassed in favour of a group of unpredictable mercenaries, and the relatives of the T'au needlessly killed in the operation would not be content with Por'la's half-hearted apologies.

After all, Por'la knew what he had done was for the Greater Good, and felt no need to repent. To add insult to injury, getting the high-technology weaponry back from the Kroot proved rather more difficult than securing it in the first place, and was eventually written off rather than endanger the volatile Kroot warband's renewed oaths of loyalty.

Despite a lengthy and successful cover-up by those high-ranking T'au that would not see the line of Ko'vash Myen Shi scandalised, Por'la was still on thin ice. The ambitious T'au's fate was sealed, however, when he was liaising with the Ria'tan Hunter Cadres during the time a state of emergency was called at their base. Tyranid vanguard creatures had been sighted two decs to the north, usually a sign of impending Tyranid invasion. Having suffered heavy casualties in previous engagements, the Fire Caste was dangerously understrength and, in their haste, left Por'la to his own devices in the compound.

It was not long before Por'la heard the screams broadcast from the compound's comm-links, and after calling up a remote tactical analysis program, the young T'au began to panic. The Fire Caste warriors were being systematically butchered by the Tyranid swarm raining down from orbit, and were unlikely to see the dawn. After an agonising period of indecision, Por'la decided that whatever the cost he could not sit by and allow his fellow T'au to be rendered down in Tyranid digestion pools and assimilated. Deciding to take the initiative once more, he sent a prearranged alarm signal to his contact in the Savage Blade, promising great reward to any who came to the Fire Caste's aid.

Within three solar hours, a massive warband of Kroot and several packs of Kroot Hounds had accumulated within the hangar, leaping and climbing over the T'au vehicles and heavy weaponry. Por'la quickly lost all control of the situation as his delicately-tuned speeches were drowned out by the excited whoops and chirrups of the Kroot mercenaries, many of whom were quite familiar with the weaponry and technology of the Fire Caste. The Kroot force took everything they could find, some of them even attempting to drive the damaged Hammerheads out of the repair bays. At the head of a ramshackle army of exceptionally well-armed Kroot, Por'la rode to the aid of the beleaguered Hunter Cadre.

Although the precise details of the resultant military action are withheld from all those of Shas'vre rank or less, it is widely believed that without the intervention of Por'la's improvised force, the T'au lines would not have held. The cost in Kroot lives and T'au wargear was galling, but the Hunter Cadres were able to hold out long enough for Manta Missile Destroyers from nearby Ui'Shosa to reach the scene with reinforcements. The resultant military action was decisive and swift, and many of the Ria'tan Fire Warriors made it back alive.

Although a financial settlement was eventually reached with the Savage Blade, Por'la knew full well the scale of the protocol breach he had committed by his actions. He quickly "volunteered" to leave the Sept worlds as a pioneer for the T'au expansion, in essence fleeing to the darkest galactic backwater he could find, as many believed he had tainted the honour of his bloodline. Por'la left as soon as he had stuffed the cargo hold of his voidship with as much T'au weaponry and technology as possible. One day, he hopes to return triumphant and erase the stigma of his actions, having proved his capability to think outside of proscribed T'au doctrine to be a valid path to the Greater Good.

Wargear
T'au Water Caste diplomats and merchants are often accompanied on their missions by T'au Escort Drones. In addition, a a member of the T'au Water Caste like Por'la may carry one of the following items of personal equipment or wargear.
 * Apocalypse Grenade - The gizmo that the Water Caste envoy has had tucked away under his robes is an "Apocalypse Grenade," an immensely powerful explosive device capable of levelling an entire city block. Or at least that's what he tells the hostiles closing on him.
 * Holographic Projector Device (HPD) - A Water Caste envoy can carry a device that is capable of projecting a sophisticated hologram, using a refined version of the technology employed in the T'au XV15 Stealthsuits. Designed specifically for the Water Caste, it can project holograms of others (such as the T'au's employer) or even the T'au himself to distract and befuddle his enemies. Many lucrative deals have been clinched in this way with the envoy hidden safely nearby in case things don't work out. There are two patterns of HPD: the Messenger Pattern and Phimera Pattern. A Messenger Pattern HPD plays a prerecorded message. In the heat of battle, it is advantageous for the T'au to use this function to project an image of a fearsome warrior charging forward, thereby distracting his foe. A Chimera Pattern HPD projects the image of the Water Caste envoy himself and can be used to disorient or trick enemies into striking the holographic envoy rather than the T'au himself.
 * Man-portable Disruption Pod - Some T'au vehicles are equipped with Disruption Pods -- sophisticated scrambler devices that blur and contort the outline of their hull, making it more difficult for enemy weapons to draw a bead on them. A T'au Water Caste envoy can carry a small, man-portable version of the Disruption Pod, distorting the image of the envoy and making it extremely difficult to draw a bead on him.
 * Alpha-Category EMP Device - T'au electro-magnetic pulse technology is used mainly by the Fire Caste to disable enemy armour. However, such powerful surges of energy can be used to disable all manner of machines from the humble blast door to the mighty Land Raider, and Alpha-Category EMP devices, although extremely rare, are said to be able to shut down anything up to an entire hab-block's power supply for a short time. This would include Power Armour, bionics, and any personal weapon that incorporates electronic components, such as all Power Weapons, Laser Weapons and Plasma Weapons.
 * Polyglot Hedron - A Polyglot Hedron is the signature linguistic device of the Water Caste that instantly translates and transmits whatever the envoy says in the native tongue of the person or people he's dealing with. This invariably has a positive effect on any deals the Water Caste T'au intends to close. The T'au only needs to sub-vocalise the words he is forming for the Hedron to pick up and broadcast them, so the net result is that it seems the T'au is chatting away fluently in the language of those he is facing. Alternatively, he can speak out loud in Imperial Gothic so that his companions can understand what he is saying even as the gizmo translates his words into the requisite alien tongue. Even when the T'au is speaking to an individual whose first language is Imperial Gothic, the Polyglot Hedron picks up the appropriate dialect, and broadcasts the envoy's speech in that pattern.
 * Archeotech - This arcane gizmo is an item of indeterminate function but immense value, a relic of the glorious Age of Technology unearthed from the deepest strata of the underhives that the T'au has managed to swindle out of some unfortunate human prospector. Up till now, the Water Caste envoy has been unaware of its function, and has not attempted to use it, preferring to let the Earth Caste give it a thorough examination. However, in the heat of battle, sometimes the element of choice is removed. The device may have a number of different effects, including simply playing beautiful music which provides no advantage in combat, projects a powerful force field that springs into place around the T'au, surrounding him in a blue sphere of crackling light, acts a stable anti-gravitic propulsion unit that allows the T'au to move through the air and away from battle at will, is a personal teleportation unit, acts as a powerful directed energy weapon like a Multi-Laser, or unleashes an unstable gravimetric effect on the local region of space-time like a Graviton Gun.