Honour Blade
A Honour Blade is a weapon carried by Tau Ethereals and Ethereal Guards for a number of uses.[1][2]
Overview
The Honour Blade is mainly used as a symbols of their office, ceremonial weapons, and in self-defence. While each weapon is custom-made, they all feature a broad blade fitted to a long, lightweight metallic staff.[3]
Ethereals use the blades primarily to settle disputes, engaging in lengthy, highly stylised duels that are more coordinated co-meditation than combat. The combatants dance and weave as if in a trance, their weapons flashing past one another scant millimeters and microseconds from causing terrible damage. Yet somehow, the dance is always bloodless, as if the Ethereals are in total union with one another. In truth, the combatants are engaged in a deeply spiritual duel, conducted at a level which none outside of their caste can discern. Some Ethereals carry their Honour Blades on the field of battle, not expecting to have to use them, but prepared to make a last stand against their foes nonetheless.[3]
Related Articles
Sources
- 1: Codex: Tau Empire (6th Edition), pg. 65
- 2: Codex: Tau Empire (4th Edition), pg. 28
- 3: Deathwatch: Mark of the Xenos, pg. 12
| Tau Empire Weapons | |
|---|---|
| One-Handed Weapons | Honour Blade • Pulse Pistol |
| Two-Handed Weapons | Pulse Rifle • Pulse Carbine • Pulse Blaster • Rail Rifle • Ion Rifle • Longshot Pulse Rifle • Equalisers |
| Battlesuit Weapons | Airbursting Fragmentation Projector • Burst Cannon • Cyclic Ion Blaster • Cyclic Ion Raker • Flamer • Fusion Blaster • Fusion Cannon • Fusion Cascade • Fusion Collider • Fusion Eradicator • Ion Accelerator • Missile Pod • Phased Ion Gun • Plasma Rifle • Pulse Submunitions Rifle • Heavy Rail Rifle • Heavy Burst Cannon • Heavy Rail Cannon • Pulse Submunition Cannon • EMP Discharge Cannon • Pulse Ordnance Multi-Driver • Pulse Driver Cannon • Pulse ARC Cannon • Destroyer Missiles • Cluster Rockets • Fragmentation Cluster Shell Launcher |
| Other Vehicle Weapons | Ion Cannon • Plasma Bomb • Railgun • Seeker Missile • Smart Missile System • Quad Ion Turret |
| Auxiliary Weapons | Kroot Weapons • Neutron Weapons |
| Grenades | EMP Grenade • Photon Grenade |
