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This ritual bonds the members of a team together in a microcosm of the Greater Good wherein each individual sheds his individual identity in favour of his role in the group. Those who undertake the Ta’lissera are said to be “bonded,” and the ritual is a solemn one indeed in which each Tau spills a portion of his own blood as a sign of his devotion to the whole. Those who are not bonded view those who are with awe, seeing them as the ultimate adherents of the Greater Good. The Ritual of the Ta’lissera is carried out in many areas of Tau society, but is most frequently undertaken amongst Fire Warrior teams, who enter the crucible of war together and often stand or fall by one another’s deeds. The members of a bonded team will go to any length to aid one another, sacrificing their very lives if needed that the team might succeed in its mission. Members of a bonded team often carry ceremonial knifes, while those piloting battlesuits paint a stylised knife device on their armour.⁴