AL-38 Slipstream Module

Tau Portal

The AL-38 Slipstream Module is an experimental Tau device to allow for faster-than-light travel.

The device was developed by Earth Caste scientist Ka'buto through years of studying Imperial FTL technology and old wreckages of Kroot Warspheres. Once fitted to a space vessel, the module creates a bubble of anti-matter around the ship and propels it at such a speed that it can pierce the fabric of reality itself. The technology would potentially give the Tau their first true FTL capability and allow for a new Sphere of Expansion.^[1]

However despite Ka'buto's warnings, the Ethereal Council activated hundreds if not thousands of of AL-38 modules simultaneously at Numenar Point to begin the Fourth Sphere of Expansion. The resulting mass use of anti-matter created a tear of reality that swept the Tau fleet away. In the aftermath of the Numenar Point disaster the Ethereals scrapped the entire AL-38 program.^[1]

However decades later it was discovered that the Tau fleet had not been destroyed but instead transported across much of the galaxy, leaving behind a wormhole that would become known as Startide Nexus.^[1]

Sources

• 1: Codex: Tau Empire (8th Edition) pg.22-23