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Warhammer 40,000
Voice of Experience
A Warhammer 40,000 short story
Kalice Arkady, a human auxiliary within the T'au Empire, is assigned to investigate a series of suspicious accidents – but unexpected enemies lurk in the shadows.
READ IT BECAUSE
Immerse yourself in the Greater Good through the eyes of a human converted to the cause – and witness an investigation into something sinister within the worlds of the T'au Empire.
THE STORY
Few are the humans who can claim to be trusted members of the T'au Empire. Among their number is Kalice Arkady, a former Astra Militarum officer whose conversion to the Greater Good has been total and successful. Alas, there are others among the gue'vesa – the human auxiliaries who fight alongside their t'au allies – who see their alien saviours as oppressors and would stand against them. Assigned to investigate a series of accidents that may be human sabotage against the t'au, Arkady is drawn into a mystery that will reveal new enemies lurking in the shadows…
Written by J C Stearns
46 pages, Kindle Edition
Published February 10, 2020
About the author
J.C. Stearns
22 books21 followersJim Stearns started writing for Black Library in 2016. He lives in Illinois.
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Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews
March 2, 2020
Finally, an enjoyable T'au story!
I should thank people on reddit for recommending it, I would surely miss it otherwise. How about some advertisement on Warhammer Community?
But to the point!
When I read this short story, "Broken Sword" by Guy Haley and "Greater Evil" by Peter Fehervari immediately came to mind and not only because protagonist of "Voice Of Experience" is gue'vesa. It also because this story inherited important aspects from these two: subtlety, focus on cultural differences rather than battlesuit action, portrayal of t'au in ambiguous and believable way without throwing dystopian clichés in your face. However, while "Voice of Experience" use some elements from these two (best t'au stories so far – in my opinion), it is without a doubt unique because there is a twist – it is basically a cop story.
Actually, I was shocked – I had no idea how well these somewhat silly cop show tropes could fit into the narrative about gue'vesa and t'au. I mean, there even is this classic cliché when detectives are forced off the case by their superiors, but it was handled well and creatively used to benefit the story. Tropes are indeed tools. Anyway, seeing buddy-cop dynamic between characters was surprisingly refreshing. May I have another five or six stories about how They FightCrime Cults? I mean, just think about possibilities of portraying life in the T'au Empire from such perspective!
But I digress. While "Voice of Experience" isn't as deep and subtle as "Broken Sword" it has its moments. Protagonist is even more favorable towards t'au than Jathen from Guy Haley story and doesn't spent so much time analyzing t'au trying to justify his choice, but still able to notice important and sometimes disturbing things about t'au way of life. In that regard – I really like how topic of staircases was used as illustration. Even such a small thing brings up the question, which you could apply to anything in this story – "Was it on purpose?" Another interesting example – discussion about openness of t'au leadership. And while the story portray t'au in positive light in general (rarity, nowadays) it makes one thing perfectly clear – as long as you live in T'au Empire you will be tricked and manipulated. And only thing you can do about it is to believe that all of it is indeed for the Greater Good.
There are many interesting details depicting daily life in T'au Empire. Interactions between characters illustrate their differences and cultural aspects well enough, with clear distinction between formal and informal speech. Among such elements, my favorite detail is the scene when protagonist introduces herself to t'au investigator and includes her medals and honors into her name mimicking t'au name structure, where last part of the name supposed to represent recognized deeds. Another aspect of this story that I like – it completely ignores infamous concept of "in-between the spheres" from Phil Kelly works aka "you should listen to this earth caste lectures on how your equipment works but you are strictly forbidden from actually understanding them". Even while it is the earth caste who performs medical tasks, fire warriors still can perform first aid in their absence (because it is, well, logical), and while water caste investigator usually doesn't use weapons he is still proficient with pulse pistol (which, ones again, is logical due to the nature of his work). No one was put on trial for having skillset necessary for performing their duty and no one was sent to the Gulag for having a hobby. I pretty much prefer lore to stay this way.
If I have to name some negatives it would be that the main intrigue with genestealer cult investigation is rather weak in comparison with other aspects. Much more efforts and thoughts were put into depicting "the slice of life" than into the process of investigation, which is somehow understandable considering it is short story. It's hard to do something really impressive with such page count and obligation to include a battle scene.
And one more thing, I am probably overthinking that, because nothing in the story implies it, but there is something I can't stop thinking about. T'au investigator was as much buddy-cop as t'au could possibly get. In the end, he even confessed to protagonist that he also isn't that glad to be used by ethereals as a chess piece. Main character is seemingly convinced that all of this is genuine, but I have to wonder. The nature of the water caste is to reflect their collocutors, to adjust to them. Their mimic muscles evolved to imitate facial expressions of other races, their doctrines teaches them how to speak the language of others in more than one way. He even started their acquaintanceship whith a handshake witch is human gesture, not t'au. So, was his buddy-cop persona his genuine self? Or was it just a role that he adopted to perform together with human with maximum efficiency? According to Guy Haley it is when t'au from water caste stop to imitate you and start behaving like a t'au that you should know that they trust you, but I'm not sure that it is relevant here and that was author intent. Anyway, it would be nice plot hook for future stories. And it is not like protagonist told us everything about herself either!
Overall, this story is a good example of balanced t'au portrayal, even if it is a bit lighter shade of grey to my liking. But even that is easy to justify with narrator's biases and lack of information.
Highly recommended to everyone who is interested in more background-focused stories with lesser amount of action.
I should thank people on reddit for recommending it, I would surely miss it otherwise. How about some advertisement on Warhammer Community?
But to the point!
When I read this short story, "Broken Sword" by Guy Haley and "Greater Evil" by Peter Fehervari immediately came to mind and not only because protagonist of "Voice Of Experience" is gue'vesa. It also because this story inherited important aspects from these two: subtlety, focus on cultural differences rather than battlesuit action, portrayal of t'au in ambiguous and believable way without throwing dystopian clichés in your face. However, while "Voice of Experience" use some elements from these two (best t'au stories so far – in my opinion), it is without a doubt unique because there is a twist – it is basically a cop story.
Actually, I was shocked – I had no idea how well these somewhat silly cop show tropes could fit into the narrative about gue'vesa and t'au. I mean, there even is this classic cliché when detectives are forced off the case by their superiors, but it was handled well and creatively used to benefit the story. Tropes are indeed tools. Anyway, seeing buddy-cop dynamic between characters was surprisingly refreshing. May I have another five or six stories about how They Fight
But I digress. While "Voice of Experience" isn't as deep and subtle as "Broken Sword" it has its moments. Protagonist is even more favorable towards t'au than Jathen from Guy Haley story and doesn't spent so much time analyzing t'au trying to justify his choice, but still able to notice important and sometimes disturbing things about t'au way of life. In that regard – I really like how topic of staircases was used as illustration. Even such a small thing brings up the question, which you could apply to anything in this story – "Was it on purpose?" Another interesting example – discussion about openness of t'au leadership. And while the story portray t'au in positive light in general (rarity, nowadays) it makes one thing perfectly clear – as long as you live in T'au Empire you will be tricked and manipulated. And only thing you can do about it is to believe that all of it is indeed for the Greater Good.
There are many interesting details depicting daily life in T'au Empire. Interactions between characters illustrate their differences and cultural aspects well enough, with clear distinction between formal and informal speech. Among such elements, my favorite detail is the scene when protagonist introduces herself to t'au investigator and includes her medals and honors into her name mimicking t'au name structure, where last part of the name supposed to represent recognized deeds. Another aspect of this story that I like – it completely ignores infamous concept of "in-between the spheres" from Phil Kelly works aka "you should listen to this earth caste lectures on how your equipment works but you are strictly forbidden from actually understanding them". Even while it is the earth caste who performs medical tasks, fire warriors still can perform first aid in their absence (because it is, well, logical), and while water caste investigator usually doesn't use weapons he is still proficient with pulse pistol (which, ones again, is logical due to the nature of his work). No one was put on trial for having skillset necessary for performing their duty and no one was sent to the Gulag for having a hobby. I pretty much prefer lore to stay this way.
If I have to name some negatives it would be that the main intrigue with genestealer cult investigation is rather weak in comparison with other aspects. Much more efforts and thoughts were put into depicting "the slice of life" than into the process of investigation, which is somehow understandable considering it is short story. It's hard to do something really impressive with such page count and obligation to include a battle scene.
And one more thing, I am probably overthinking that, because nothing in the story implies it, but there is something I can't stop thinking about. T'au investigator was as much buddy-cop as t'au could possibly get. In the end, he even confessed to protagonist that he also isn't that glad to be used by ethereals as a chess piece. Main character is seemingly convinced that all of this is genuine, but I have to wonder. The nature of the water caste is to reflect their collocutors, to adjust to them. Their mimic muscles evolved to imitate facial expressions of other races, their doctrines teaches them how to speak the language of others in more than one way. He even started their acquaintanceship whith a handshake witch is human gesture, not t'au. So, was his buddy-cop persona his genuine self? Or was it just a role that he adopted to perform together with human with maximum efficiency? According to Guy Haley it is when t'au from water caste stop to imitate you and start behaving like a t'au that you should know that they trust you, but I'm not sure that it is relevant here and that was author intent. Anyway, it would be nice plot hook for future stories. And it is not like protagonist told us everything about herself either!
Overall, this story is a good example of balanced t'au portrayal, even if it is a bit lighter shade of grey to my liking. But even that is easy to justify with narrator's biases and lack of information.
Highly recommended to everyone who is interested in more background-focused stories with lesser amount of action.
February 22, 2023
This story is amazing and I would love to have more stories about this unusual pair of investigators. It could be the amazing Tau book we are all waiting for.
October 9, 2024
This was very entertaining, and a great T'au story for readers with limited knowledge of the source material beyond the surface level information.
What makes it work so well is that, despite being T'au story, it's from the perspective of a human. But not a human fighting the T'au - a human who is now a part of their society and earning their place amongst it.
This makes it easier for cultural nuances to be presented to the reader, and brings in an undercurrent of conflict from the outset.
This is a lightweight detective story. Being short, it moves fast and there's not a whole lot of ruminating, but it still establishes tension and mystery. There is action, too, and it's well-written.
Perhaps the strongest part of the story is the relationship between the narrator and her investigative partner, who is a T'au. They are thrust together to solve the mystery, and in the aftermath of reading this I'd quite like to read more about the two of them and where their partnership leads.
What makes it work so well is that, despite being T'au story, it's from the perspective of a human. But not a human fighting the T'au - a human who is now a part of their society and earning their place amongst it.
This makes it easier for cultural nuances to be presented to the reader, and brings in an undercurrent of conflict from the outset.
This is a lightweight detective story. Being short, it moves fast and there's not a whole lot of ruminating, but it still establishes tension and mystery. There is action, too, and it's well-written.
Perhaps the strongest part of the story is the relationship between the narrator and her investigative partner, who is a T'au. They are thrust together to solve the mystery, and in the aftermath of reading this I'd quite like to read more about the two of them and where their partnership leads.
June 17, 2025
Really fun short story
This is the story of a human who has defected to the t'au, and is called upon to investigate some fatal incidents of sabotage. I won't spoil anything because it's a lot of fun following them through this short investigation.
I really wish there were more stories with this lead character and her water caste partner. They make a very likeable buddy cop duo.
This is the story of a human who has defected to the t'au, and is called upon to investigate some fatal incidents of sabotage. I won't spoil anything because it's a lot of fun following them through this short investigation.
I really wish there were more stories with this lead character and her water caste partner. They make a very likeable buddy cop duo.
March 2, 2020
“I serve the Greater Good and always will. But I don’t appreciate being dangled like a worm on a hook.”
Note: If you enjoyed this story, you’ll very likely enjoy Peter Fehervari’s “Greater Evil” story as well.
Note: If you enjoyed this story, you’ll very likely enjoy Peter Fehervari’s “Greater Evil” story as well.
Displaying 1 - 5 of 5 reviews