The First Sphere expansion was an era when the might and value of the Fire caste were fully appreciated by the rest of the Empire, for many worlds played host to hostile alien predators that had to be eliminated before colonisation could begin. The Water caste, too, proved their value during the First Sphere Expansion, for it was they who acclimatised their people to the notion of befriending and then incorporating even the strangest aliens into the Empire. For all their efforts, though, there was one group that could not be absorbed nor even reasoned with. It took many costly disasters before the T’au accepted that the Orks – who proliferate throughout every region of the galaxy – were too savage and hostile to ever benefit the Greater Good.

Artist: Alex Boyd