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Over the next thousand years the Tau empire experienced an unprecedented period of scientific discovery and philosophical advancement. The Tau empire continued to expand its border at a fast rate through a series of Expansion Phases. The Tau empire has gone through 3 phases of expansion. These phases are a period of several Tau military campaigns during which nearby worlds are colonised, conquered, or sometimes peacefully persuaded to join the [[Greater Good]]. Therefore, apart from the star systems of the Tau, which are called [[Tau Sept|Septs]], the Tau Empire also incorporated worlds and star systems belonging to the [[Kroot]], [[Vespid]], and the [[Nicassar]]. It is currently unknown if the [[Demiurg]] are full members, allies, or mere trading partners. The empire is composed by over twenty fully developed septs and around one hundered settled worlds, but the exact number and most of their names are unknown.
When the Tau encounter a new alien species, the [[Ethereals]] direct each of the [[Castes]] preforms a designated role to bring them into the Empire's fold. The world is first scanned by the Air Caste and those classified as desirable are investigated further, and if a sentient alien race is discovered the Water Caste sends ambassadors to make trade deals, defense pacts, and offer advanced technologies built for them by the Earth Caste. However should all these efforts fail to persuade the planet to join with them in the Greater Good, it will fall to the Fire Caste to forcibly absorb the world into the Tau Empire. Only the stubborn and warlike [[Orks]] have been denied the offer to join the Greater Good, for the Tau abandoned their futile attempts to absorb the Orks after many battles convinced the Ethereals that bargaining with them was impossible.{{Fn|10}}
At some point, the Tau sent an expeditionary force to the planet [[Malbede]] where they came into [[Battle of Malbede|conflict]] with the [[Ultramarines]] [[Chapter]] in 936.M41. However, the world proved to be cursed when their fighting awakened the sleeping [[Necron]]s from their tomb beneath the surface. In an effort to combat this threat, the Tau and the Ultramarines combined forces to defeat the Necrons. Once the conflict was over, the Tau were allowed to evacuate their forces by [[Marneus Augustus Calgar|Marneus Calgar]] who proceeded to destroy Malbrede through an [[Exterminatus]].{{Fn|2}}
