|
I think "digital weapons" is my favorite 40k phrase. "Digital" makes it sound like some incredibly advanced laser thing but really it just means it goes on your finger (and usually happens to be an incredibly advanced laser).
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2012 22:18
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 15:32 |
|
|
Infoplease posted:Digital: Also, being as High Gothic is as to our Latin, "digital (digitus) weapon" would pretty much mean "finger weapon."
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2012 22:55
|
|
|
berzerkmonkey posted:Considering four of the top five meanings of the word pertain to fingers, I'd say your perceived definition of the word is what is causing your confusion/amusement. Yes, I know. Are you just being obtuse or do you not realize that the general connotation of the word "digital" is "relating to computers"?
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2012 22:59
|
|
|
When I first saw them I just assumed it was a James Bond laser watch.
|
|
#
?
Dec 13, 2012 23:30
|
|
|
Mechafunkzilla posted:Yes, I know. Are you just being obtuse or do you not realize that the general connotation of the word "digital" is "relating to computers"? Especially in the context of space men with laser guns and stuff. I actually enjoy Abnett because he's pretty good at re-purposing (or at least re-spelling) archaic terms and then using them to do world-building. It's fun for language nerds buried in his pulp fun for space fantasy nerds.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 02:43
|
|
|
Arquinsiel posted:When I first saw them I just assumed it was a James Bond laser watch. I always pictured it as a ring that shoots lasers. Kinda like The Mandarin from the Iron Man comics.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 07:33
|
|
|
Nephilm posted:Lorgar - Became like a god himself, retreating to his own meditations to contemplate the greatness of chaos while leaving the running of his legion to themselves. You forgot: Angron - Is angry.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 07:39
|
|
|
EyeRChris posted:I always pictured it as a ring that shoots lasers. Kinda like The Mandarin from the Iron Man comics. One time in a Trad Games Inquisitor RPG I, as the Inquisitor, lent my digital weapon as collateral to rent out an entire hotel to use as a base of clandestine operations in a foreign city. The owner promptly shot themselves in the face with it because they didnt know it shot lasers & my retinue had to clear the entire hotel of witnesses. Inquisiting is such tedious work.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 07:52
|
|
|
Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the Eisonhorn and Ravenor initial books, plus Gaunts Ghosts etc, and the ending of Pariah was decent, I just needed to read through a fair amount of dross to get there.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 10:24
|
|
|
Mechafunkzilla posted:Yes, I know. Are you just being obtuse or do you not realize that the general connotation of the word "digital" is "relating to computers"? There - we're even in the smartass-retort department. The way you phrased your statement didn't necessarily show your knowledge one way or another - and besides, some people might not know what the true meaning is. Emnity posted:Don't get me wrong, I'm a huge fan of the Eisonhorn and Ravenor initial books, plus Gaunts Ghosts etc, and the ending of Pariah was decent, I just needed to read through a fair amount of dross to get there. I'm not sure what you were expecting when you came into this? berzerkmonkey fucked around with this message at 14:23 on Dec 14, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 12:27
|
|
|
EyeRChris posted:I always pictured it as a ring that shoots lasers. Kinda like The Mandarin from the Iron Man comics.  " made about as much sense as anything.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 15:07
|
|
|
berzerkmonkey posted:Oh, no poo poo? Heh, gosh, all that time in the cave must have blunted my knowledge of the phrases the kids are using today! That's on you and your lack of comprehension. If I wasn't aware of the multiple meanings of "digital", then there would be nothing interesting about the phrase. It just wouldn't make sense and wouldn't be worth talking about. The entire point was the irony of a "digital" weapon in a sci-fi setting actually referring to the non-technology-related definition. You do realize that quoting the loving dictionary at people because you assume (for no reason) that they don't know what certain words mean is incredibly insulting, right?
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 15:35
|
|
|
Shut up, everyone knows the dictionary wins arguements  But really, given how 40k does things the fact that the gun isn't steam powered or or orphan soul powered is probably worth mentioning.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 16:24
|
|
|
Arquinsiel posted:Shut up, everyone knows the dictionary wins arguements I could swear I remember reading about an orphan-soul-powered machine in some kind of BL thing.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 16:37
|
|
|
Arquinsiel posted:Shut up, everyone knows the dictionary wins arguements Yeah, but nobody's quite sure how they work and they're mostly made by inscrutable alien orangutans who just spontaneously construct guns for no known reason. It's from the non-grimdark, weird part of 40k.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 17:12
|
|
|
Cream_Filling posted:Yeah, but nobody's quite sure how they work and they're mostly made by inscrutable alien orangutans who just spontaneously construct guns for no known reason. It's from the non-grimdark, weird part of 40k. I think there are digital weapons that weren't made by the Jokaero, like rings that shoot a tiny poison dart or single-shot las round. The Jokaero ones just happen to be significantly more powerful and advanced. I do wish the Jokaero got some more time in the spotlight, they're a pretty great concept.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 17:18
|
|
|
Mechafunkzilla posted:I could swear I remember reading about an orphan-soul-powered machine in some kind of BL thing. You almost have that in Sacrifice. There's a few short stories where you learn that the Grey Knights' armor is sanctified through the sacrifice of psykers and their ammo is also sanctified in the blood of "good" people who are executed.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 17:47
|
|
|
Mechafunkzilla posted:I think there are digital weapons that weren't made by the Jokaero, like rings that shoot a tiny poison dart or single-shot las round. The Jokaero ones just happen to be significantly more powerful and advanced.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 17:51
|
|
|
Shroud posted:You almost have that in Sacrifice. There's a few short stories where you learn that the Grey Knights' armor is sanctified through the sacrifice of psykers and their ammo is also sanctified in the blood of "good" people who are executed. I think I might actually have been thinking of The Venture Bros. https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=D8aBP-JOZsU
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 17:52
|
|
|
Shroud posted:You almost have that in Sacrifice. There's a few short stories where you learn that the Grey Knights' armor is sanctified through the sacrifice of psykers and their ammo is also sanctified in the blood of "good" people who are executed. Sacrifice is a damned good story, and a terrific check on the worst of the fanboys.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 18:10
|
|
|
Mechafunkzilla posted:I think I might actually have been thinking of The Venture Bros.
|
|
#
?
Dec 14, 2012 18:14
|
|
|
Shroud posted:You almost have that in Sacrifice. There's a few short stories where you learn that the Grey Knights' armor is sanctified through the sacrifice of psykers and their ammo is also sanctified in the blood of "good" people who are executed. That's all there since Codex: Daemonhunters.
|
|
#
?
Dec 15, 2012 01:43
|
|
|
So I am about halfway through Betrayer, and I have to say, ADB has once again blown my mind. The whole morality conflict between Angron and the Emperor is actually pretty awesome to me. The whole concept of Angron admitting the bare truth about how although the Emperor has altruistic motives, he is still a "conquering" hypocrite is amazing. Like Angron says, how noble can someone be when some planets, despite offering peaceful intentions, are ultimately obliterated because they don't want to conform to the Imperium. I always thought of Angron as all about butchering, but once again ADB adds an element of sympathy you have a hard time disagreeing with. The whole basis of the HH seems to be a bunch of sons disappointed in their father and somehow ADB really makes this possible. As a side note, all the Magnus as 3rd observer stuff makes me sad considering the Thousand Sons are my favorite legion. I only wish Magnus realized his mistake and forgave his father for misunderstanding his own intentions. Also the fall of Argel Tal is such a giant frownie face. He is someone who could have been noble, despite the machinations of his primarch. And it really saddens me that the death of Cyrene seems to be the main fuel behind his despair. EDIT: Grammar Polpoto fucked around with this message at 03:37 on Dec 16, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2012 03:23
|
|
|
I finished Betrayer last night, and enjoyed it. I loved the dynamic between Angron and his legion, and how they make it a point of how different it is compared to any other legion. Also, is it just me, or is ADB the only guy who can write Lorgar as something other than a pretentious rear end? He even does great work with Angron. He is more than just BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, and gives a great speech on why he turned traitor, and why he doesn't consider it a betrayal. Before this book, I had always assumed he was just insane. ADB turned one of the weakest primarchs, on a character level at least, into one of the strongest. There's also a few cameos of Magnus in it, who comes off as a sort of useless Obi Wan, giving advice that Lorgar already knows, and ignores anyway. But he's fun nonetheless. But it focuses mainly on the Word Bearers and the World Eaters, and even though they are fighting Ultramarines, very little of the book is devoted to them. So while it does, after awhile, feel like they could be fighting any old enemy, it is nice to get book straight from the traitor's point of view. Even this late into the Heresy, we still get loyalist characters going on and on about how unthinkable it is to fight space marines, and how their hearts ache over it. I understand that the characters in the various books may be going through that the first time, but I, as a reader, get a little tired of it in book after book. ADB makes mention of it, but its used nothing more than a way to describe the setting, and works wonderfully, and is less than a sentence long. Polpoto posted:
Yeah, Argel Tal was very guilt ridden. The part where Kharn mentions the bit about the burial shroud just showed the decay of that character. For a man with a demon inside of him, he sure was hollow.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2012 22:50
|
|
|
Man it is bullshit that the ebook version costs more than the paperback would. There is practically no overhead! And I doubt ADB is seeing a bigger cut of the profit as a result, so I can't even justify it that way
Fried Chicken fucked around with this message at 06:08 on Dec 17, 2012 |
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2012 23:12
|
|
|
Just finished Wrath of Iron; good book, and a suitably grimdark piece. Liked it better than the previous Wright book I read (Battle for the Fang), which ended on similar note of the Imperium and its institutions enduring while most of the protagonists meet cruel ends. Moving onto Pariah then Betrayer once I get my grubby hands on it.
|
|
#
?
Dec 16, 2012 23:59
|
|
|
Doesn't look like I'll be continuing the Night Lords books any time soon. Blood Reaver is going for crazy prices on Amazon. Did this suddenly go out of print or something?
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 06:03
|
|
|
Just finished Pariah. Holy poo poo. Plot twist/revelation rollercoaster, and it never gets old or implausible! Though, it does come off as a bit fan-wankery when you the POV on a new character exalting the characters developed in the Eisenhorn/Ravenor series. Still, I much prefer everyone being described as loving awesome than as being walking sex appeal (Revenor trilogy), primarily because, well... Inquisitor warbands really are loving awesome.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 10:51
|
|
|
EyeRChris posted:Doesn't look like I'll be continuing the Night Lords books any time soon. Blood Reaver is going for crazy prices on Amazon. Did this suddenly go out of print or something?
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 14:20
|
|
|
berzerkmonkey posted:Yeah, apparently so. The BL site has it as OOS as well. They might be preparing for the collection? I'm gonna need confirmation on this before I'm forced to go back to B&N and pick up their copies of the individual paperbacks.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 19:26
|
|
|
There's approximately a 100% chance that the Night Lords trilogy will become an omnibus fairly soon so I wouldn't stress too much about them being out of print.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 20:16
|
|
|
Polpoto posted:So I am about halfway through Betrayer, and I have to say, ADB has once again blown my mind. I agree with this pretty much wholeheartedly. It's pretty much why I'm going to have to go back and read his stuff again - especially The First Heretic. I'll also have to read the Space Wolves/Thousand Sons twinned books. I thought both were great. I think my favorite characters are the various ship Captains and other important figures who have to deal with these demigod figures while being human - admittedly supremely powerful humans, in terms of people at their command - and the conflicts that result from that mess. ADB does that better than almost anyone.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 20:18
|
|
|
I just read Eisenhorn and it was pretty good. I have one complaint though. I wish the final enemy hadn't been Pontius Glaw, I felt like a stretch. I would have liked it to have been just The Inquisition finally coming after him for summoning deamons and for it to end with Eisenhorn as a wanted refugee. I know Halden and Osmo were there in a corner alongside Fischig, but yeah whatevs.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 20:24
|
|
|
EyeRChris posted:Doesn't look like I'll be continuing the Night Lords books any time soon. Blood Reaver is going for crazy prices on Amazon. Did this suddenly go out of print or something? Weird, recently got all 3 books on amazon for about ~20 bucks, shipping included, all used though. Starting on Blood Reaver today; i think that was like four bucks or so.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 20:30
|
|
|
Affi posted:I just read Eisenhorn and it was pretty good. I have one complaint though. I wish the final enemy hadn't been Pontius Glaw, I felt like a stretch. I would have liked it to have been just The Inquisition finally coming after him for summoning deamons and for it to end with Eisenhorn as a wanted refugee. I know Halden and Osmo were there in a corner alongside Fischig, but yeah whatevs. That's, uh, pretty much exactly what the Bequin trilogy is about. So enjoy Pariah I guess.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 20:42
|
|
|
Impaired Casing posted:I finished Betrayer last night, and enjoyed it. I loved the dynamic between Angron and his legion, and how they make it a point of how different it is compared to any other legion. Also, is it just me, or is ADB the only guy who can write Lorgar as something other than a pretentious rear end? He even does great work with Angron. He is more than just BLOOD FOR THE BLOOD GOD, and gives a great speech on why he turned traitor, and why he doesn't consider it a betrayal. Before this book, I had always assumed he was just insane. ADB turned one of the weakest primarchs, on a character level at least, into one of the strongest. I actually felt sympathy for the World Eaters - not something I would ever have expected. The use of the Librarians and the Dreadnought was a neat idea to show the deterioration of the legion, and they also contributed some nice Khornate foreshadowing, through their effect on Angron and the marines with Nails (went crazy whenever they came nearby) as well as their inability to survive the use of their powers when they had the Nails implanted. The story of the Night of Wolves took me a while to figure out, though. I did have a mental image of Lorgar going  when Angron couldn't understand the lesson Russ was trying to teach.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 20:46
|
|
|
In regards to Khorne, I don't know if it is ADB who first presented it this way, but I love how he made that mindless bloodlust into something akin to murderous alzheimers. Urzas from his Night Lords trilogy was handled beautifully, especially when the other characters commented on how lucid he could act, between the insanity. I love how bits of that were used in regards to the Nails.Shroud posted:I actually felt sympathy for the World Eaters - not something I would ever have expected. The use of the Librarians and the Dreadnought was a neat idea to show the deterioration of the legion If you haven't finished the book, don't read this, but The way Angron is so loyal to Lorgar in terms of brotherhood that he kills the only real loyal Marines left that were trying to save him was a nice, dramatic twist. There are so many characters that the tile of the book could refer to.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 22:17
|
|
|
I did finish it. You know what the first thing I thought of was? gently caress Erebus. Also, I wonder if BL will ever explain what the hell the Emperor was thinking at De'shea. Angron spelled out what people have wondered for a long time.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 23:07
|
|
|
Shroud posted:I did finish it. You know what the first thing I thought of was? The best part in the HH series is knowing that Erebus is still alive and well right up to the 41st Millennium. Betrayer spoilers The book is done really well especially when it showed the relationship between Angron and his legion. ADB seems to work everything around the book's title. The Emperor betrays his Angron and Lorgar. The primarchs betray their legions and Erebus betrays Argel Tal. Even Kharn is betrayed by his gods as Erebus gets to slip away scott free. It's just one massive clusterfuck. One of the more interesting points in the story that might pan out into the current 40k setting is the possibility of an internal conspiracy within the traitors. Erebus seems to imply that a number of the senior officers have gotten together because they're unhappy with their Primarchs and where their Legion is heading so I wonder if this culminates in a plot to get their Primarch out of legion affairs by forcing them to ascend to daemonhood in the same way that Lorgar did to Angron. I think the book does provide one possible answer to Nuceria though. The world is functioning as a compliant loyal planet that is also full of technology. Given how pragmatic the Emperor is, it sounds like he deliberately let Angron's rebellion fail in order to keep the world as it was. Giving the world to Angron would have resulted in him tearing everything down.
|
|
#
?
Dec 17, 2012 23:56
|
|
|
|
| # ? May 9, 2024 15:32 |
|
|
Shroud posted:Also, I wonder if BL will ever explain what the hell the Emperor was thinking at De'shea. Angron spelled out what people have wondered for a long time. I can't figure out the Emperor for the life of me in terms of his choices in the Heresy. I understand that a lot of it is based on the lore of 40k, so he has to do X because it says it in codex Y, but some of it just seems silly. It seems to be implied that the Emperor knew all about chaos and the warp, and then told the primarchs nothing. Magnus even said in Thousand Suns that he would run to the Emperor, eager to please his dad on finding out something knew about the great ocean, and the Emperor already knew, and told him nothing more. Well, if he dissapproved of Magnus's actions, why didn't he say something before he sent in Russ? Plus, in the first books of the series, the daemons allude to the fact that the Emperor bargained with Chaos to make the primarchs, and then cut out of whatever deal he made. I have no idea if the daemon was telling the truth, but if the Emperor is as powerful and as wise as everyone thinks, one would think he'd keep a better eye on his various legions because Chaos seems to be the thing that would have a long memory. And now, I am not sure if this is in the realm of speculation or if it's fact, but the Emperor made Horus Warmaster and retired to Terra to work on the webway, right? As his last gift to humanity, or something like that. That might explain why he was so short and distant from the Primarchs, but even then would it have killed him to say "Shhh, I'm doing this. It's a surprise so don't tell anyone!" Hell, I think Magnus realizes that he was supposed to take the Big E's place on the Golden Throne overseeing it when he was done, so why not clue him in on that. I can't tell if all of this is just because of the preexisting backstory, poor character writing, or if it is on purpose to show that the Imperium worships a guy who wasn't as great and smart as they think he is. Kegslayer posted:The best part in the HH series is knowing that Erebus is still alive and well right up to the 41st Millennium. I go from hating Erebus to loving him from book to book. Either it's great writing or inconsistent writing.
|
|
#
?
Dec 18, 2012 01:04
|
|