Every day the Adeptus Mechanicus send out their Skitarii legions to round up the scattered tau civilians that have been unable to leave the planet. Long columns of aliens are herded across the plains by pitiless Skitarii killers with their faces half-hidden by rebreather masks. Wherever the tau rebel – and it is always, always en masse – they are put down without hesitation by rad bullet and galvanic charge. Long trails of corpses scar the land as a result, picked over by bald carrion and mangy savannah leonids. Some of these cadavers have decayed to the point the ground is covered by long chains of broken skeletons.

At the end of these bone roads are the volcano complexes where the geothermic energy is farmed. The tau captives are marched into these underground lairs and either herded onto high platforms or pushed onto crude transit belts. Electric currents often flow through these conveyors, their charge enough to stun the tau and prevent them breaking free. Then the unfortunate captives are simply carried over the edge of mechanical cliffs to fall into the magma, each xenos civilian burning bright yellow as he or she sinks into the molten rock. The Adeptus Mechanicus claim detachment, as usual They say they are simply adding fuel, the better to power the steam engines high above. But I know better. This is a lesson, a statement so vile and extreme it will be carried by word of mouth across the Damocles Gulf and still further afield.

The message is clear enough – those who sought to take advantage of the Imperium will find themselves on the pyre, becoming part of humanity’s great war machine in a far more direct fashion than they intended. Cross the sovereign territory of Mankind at your peril. We have inhumanity to spare. - Farsight: Crisis of Faith