The Damocles Gulf Crusade was fought between the Tau Empire and the Imperium of Man in this region between 742.M41 and 745.M41, and was the first time the two species had met militarily. Previous to this conflict, the Tau had been unaware of the true size of the human Imperium. Despite the Ethereals' later instructions that the Damocles Gulf was to be off-limits to the Tau, the Tau Fire Caste's Commander Farsight established colonies there, known as the Farsight Enclaves, which have severed contact with the rest of the Tau Empire for unknown reasons.