O'Shovah, or "Commander Farsight" as translated from the Tau language, was a great hero of the alien Tau Empire. His exploits against the Orks won him a reputation as a renowned campaigner protecting the other Tau castes for the Greater Good.

However, O'Shovah has become the greatest enigma of the emergent Tau race. In a society renowned for its dedication and sense of duty, he has become a renegade and defied the ruling caste, the Aun, or Ethereals.

The Tau are a young race in galactic terms, but their rise to power has been meteoric. Their nascent Empire, which lies in the Eastern Fringe, has survived Ork invasions, Tyranid assaults, and an Imperial crusade. All the while, the Tau have expanded to absorb several other minor races. Their science and technology has also advanced rapidly, ensuring their explorers and colonists are always well-equipped and well-armed to deal with any difficulties they encounter. Tau society is a tightly structured caste system of warriors, workers, intermediaries, and travelers keyed to four elements: fire, earth, water, and air, respectively. These are ruled by an enigmatic fifth caste, the Ethereals.

Over the last few centuries, the Tau castes have been completely unified, enabling them to push their boundaries farther and to reap richer rewards from it. But the galaxy is a dangerous place, and the Tau race has yet to encounter its full horror.

In the aftermath of the Imperium's abortive Damocles Gulf Crusade in 742.M41, a Tau Fire Caste commander, Shas'o Vior'la Shovah Kaius Mont'yr, led an expeditionary force which broke away from the main Tau Empire and established a series of fortified Tau colonies at the far side of the Damocles Gulf. The underlying reason for the split has intrigued certain (admittedly obscure) Scholar-Adepts in the Imperium for centuries. As more information has come to light, the actions of Commander Farsight have become the source of grave concern for certain members of the Inquisition, who perceive in him a distinct threat to the Divine Rule of the Emperor of Mankind.

Firstly, Tau forces for the Farsight Enclaves have frequently acted as mercenaries, selling their considerable martial prowess to any aggressor willing to pay the price in raw materials they demanded. Secondly, intelligence from within the Tau Empire has identified Farsight "sympathizers" within the ranks of the Fire Warriors, those who claim to understand the actions of the renegade commander in the context of the Tau central tenet of faith, that of acting "for the Greater Good." Thirdly, the place where it all began holds deep and dark significance to those with knowledge of its past.

Inquisitors fear that O'Shovah and the colonies he established have been corrupted in some way. Members of the Ordo Malleus naturally opine that the insidious influence of Chaos is at the heart of it. They cite the likelihood of a possessing Daemon or accursed artifact, or even a silver-tongued worshipper of the Ruinous Powers planting the seed of corruption in Farsight's expedition. Those of the Ordo Xenos contends that xeno corruption is just as likely as Tyranid organisms have been known to overthrow entire civilizations from within by subversive genetic corruption. Likewise, there are many known alien entities which are capable of enslaving other races — parasites, vampires, and symbiotes who can control their hosts or prey.

The Ordo Hereticus sees O'Shovah's actions as those of a crisis of faith, a crumbling of ideology. They believe something caused O'Shovah to question the very basis of the powers he served. For some reason, perhaps revenge or power lust, fear or disgust, he made the fateful decision to use his personal power to betray his masters and strike out on his own. Treachery begets heresy, so the Witch Hunters also fear something as insidious as corruption by an idea. If the Tau prove vulnerable to disruptive concepts, many more will follow his path with unpredictable results. To date, there is no record of Tau with psychic powers, but such an uncharacteristic change in motivations and personality may also indicate O'Shovah being awakened to some power of the wyrd buried deep in the Tau psyche heretofore unseen.

Less-biased observers point to the simplest conclusion of all: that O'Shovah still serves the Empire. Many times before, commanders have taken on the guise of pirate lord, mercenary, or renegade to achieve some end that is desired by their masters but which has to appear otherwise. All agree that O'Shovah's apparent rebellion is a disturbing twist in the rapid expansion of the Tau. It is hoped that a recent expedition by Inquisitor Artelles to the world of Arthas Moloch, seen by all as lying at the heart of the matter, will uncover more clues.

To many in the Tau Empire itself, O'Shovah is a virtual non-entity now, an old soldier that disappeared into the void and never came back, one among many in the histories being written of the Tau's expansion. For the Tau, it is a time of heroic endeavours, and the apparent end of one has obscured successes of others. Those who know of the Farsight Enclaves seldom speak of them. When they do, O'Shovah's sympathizers emphasize the impossibility of returning across the vast region of the Damocles Gulf after his pursuit of the Orks to their lairs after 10 years of battle and pursuit. His fiercest detractors fear this is a sign that the Fire Caste harbours a desire to overthrow the Ethereals and rule the Empire in their stead. Almost nothing is known of the distant Enclaves in recent decades, but there are persistent rumours that their mercenary forces have even clashed with the Tau Empire, a truly repellent concept to the devoted followers of the Greater Good.