[hailene]

It wasn't any sort of natural evolution. You don't "evolve" over 6000 years. It was their incredible technological advance. From wandering plainsmen to Space-faring explorers in a few thousand years.

The Ethereals bound the Tau into a society before they destroyed themselves.

As to the STC idea, I'm not sure.

 

[hailene]

Then again they were trapped in a warp storm and anyone who has heard CoTE go on one of his "TIME MEANS NOTHING" talks knows that, within the warp, time doesn't mean jack shit. So they could have been in there longer, to them anyway.

Except warp storms don't cause you to go into the warp. They're just unnavigable and near-impossible to get messages through. Or anything with the warp, really.

Anywho, the Etherals are Tau (or at least appear to be Tau) that appeared around the end of the 37th millennium. At this time the Tau broken up into many factions and were slaughtering each other. Then the Etherals arrived and brokered peace between all the factions. Uniting them all under the idea of a "Greater Good".

Now they serve as leaders of the Tau and champions of the Greater Good.

 

[hailene]

I don't recall Aurelia being stuck in there any longer than it should have been. After all, there wasn't really there (minus various daemons) to really keep track of time.

It was sealed away for a thousand years, though.

 

[hailene]

It is rather far-fetched to believe two races are somehow related because of one technological similarity.

I mean, heck, Orks and humans both use vehicles that use wheels and tracks in large numbers.

 

[hailene]

The Tau caste system doesn't seek to maintain the status quo. Actually rather to the contrary. Each individual must excel to his or her utmost at his or her given task for the Greater Good.

It's as if Communism actually worked.

 

[hailene]

At one point, humanity had all the technology (or at least something similar) to all the Tau have. Does this mean that Humanity engineered the Tau? Unlikely.

I've always detested the idea of the Eldar playing with the Tau. After reading Xenology, it looks likely. The timing of it links up as well. They took the Q'Orl queen around the end of the m37 and the Etherals so happened to pop in around then.

The question is how the Eldar got there. Since Tau was still covered in warp storms. I suppose they created a webway there before hand.

The odd thing, though, is that they went through a wave of technological innovation even before the Etherals came into being. Very strange.