Demiurg
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- – From the Tau Empire trailer for the Battlefleet Gothic vidya
The Demiurg are a client race of the T'au Empire and are described as short, rocky humanoids using huge mining ships to brave asteroid fields to mine.
They're Squats, straight up an alien species different from the abhuman known as Squat, though the confusion is quite common. Reportedly they were created specifically as a compromise for fans who wanted the Squats back, though GW ended up doing very little with them anyway and then retconned them back into relevance. Prior to the League of Votann Codex, the most we ever see of them is in Battlefleet Gothic as auxiliary fleets, and that was about it.
Their lore in BFG is one big fat reference to Homeworld Bentusi, not just in name, but the whole concept of ancient spacefaring race of traders, every fleet a brotherhood, and they are so hardwired to their ships that ship damage results in loss of captain mental capacity. And just like the Bentusi, Bentus'la, how Tau call them, have taught the young ones how to build ion cannons (for 400 resource units?)
Recent lore regarding the Leagues of Votann states that the Demiurg are a part of the Leagues (with the Seran-Tok Mercantile League being an example of a league that profited greatly from trade with the Tau. Notably, some old canon materials such as Battle Fleet Gothic Magazine and Fanatic Magazine mentioned the "SrryTok" Demiurg brotherhood trading heavily with the Tau). We also have further confirmation with some of the Kin exhibiting similar genetic mutations to Demiurg (hardened skin scales). The Demiurg have provided Energy Drills to the Leagues of Votann, according to Necromunda's Book of Judgement, which makes sense considering the that they are members of the Leagues themselves. Like the rest of the Leagues, they make use of ion technology as well; making the Mechanicus all but on the brink of proscribing them as hereteks (if they haven't already). Further reveals in their Codex say they’re simply misidentified Prospect trade fleets of Kin origin by both Imperial and Tau observation. Other mistaken identities include Gnostari, Kreg, Gromes, and Heliosi Ancients. Part of the reason they’re misidentified is they’ve drifted culturally in the same manner the Ironhead Squat Prospectors on Necromunda or the Vordini Squats under Imperial sovereignty have drifted.
