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Fried Chicken posted:Imperium secondus was mentioned in a HH short story as guilliman's plan for beating the heresy, and the next Abnett book is called the unremembered empire. Good guess they are connected. I wonder if this is going to be about the beginning of the modern Imperium? Something like Warhammer 30k. It'll allow them to finish the Horus Heresy while having free reign to push the story in whatever direction they want without hindering the 40k setting.
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Mar 14, 2013 15:20
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So after reading a ton of grimdark about Space Marines and finishing it up with Wrath of Iron... reading Brotherhood of the Snake is really weird. It's so strange reading about a Librarian that cares about humans at all.
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Mar 14, 2013 15:40
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Read Helsreach aka Grimaldus' Heart Grew Three Sizes That War.
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Mar 14, 2013 17:41
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Yeah, I did. That didn't feel as warm and caring as Snake does. I mean, during the first story Priad is pretty much a teddy bear. "Oh, want some water? Here, let me give you some of my most precious water. It might not taste good, though."
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Mar 14, 2013 17:44
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I know. I think it was Abnett's first go at SMs.
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Mar 14, 2013 22:24
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I always enjoyed Brothers of the Snake, I might have to reread it soon.
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Mar 15, 2013 00:30
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I thought Brothers of the Snake was really good. Priad was suitably alien and uncomfortable around regular humans, while still being a badass.
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Mar 15, 2013 00:56
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Demiurge4 posted:I thought Brothers of the Snake was really good. Priad was suitably alien and uncomfortable around regular humans, while still being a badass. "Mingle? What in the Emperor's name does that mean?"
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Mar 15, 2013 02:29
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Schneider Heim posted:"Mingle? What in the Emperor's name does that mean?" I liked how confused they were by the really nice quarters and fine foods.
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Mar 15, 2013 05:30
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Agentdark posted:I liked how confused they were by the really nice quarters and fine foods. I have to reread the scene to refresh my memory, but I love the part where they didn't know what to do with the angry noble, so the Inquisitor had to show her his rosette to make her run away screaming in terror.
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Mar 15, 2013 05:39
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As much as i love the grim dark of the WH40k lore I can't help but love Cain a bit more than the rest. Something about a commissar of the imperium being a coward who has lucked out into being its greatest hero simply because he treats his troops nice (so they won't 'accidently' frag his rear end) amuses me to no end. Just started the Greater Good. I got the first two omnibus' so what are the other stories I'm missing Emporeres finest and ???
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Mar 15, 2013 11:47
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So I've just finished Betrayer, it's great, naturally, but I noticed that the last few Heresy books have all involved Erebus showing up, doing his moustache twirling thing, before someone gets sick of his poo poo and kicks his rear end.
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Mar 15, 2013 13:18
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EyeRChris posted:As much as i love the grim dark of the WH40k lore I can't help but love Cain a bit more than the rest. Something about a commissar of the imperium being a coward who has lucked out into being its greatest hero simply because he treats his troops nice (so they won't 'accidently' frag his rear end) amuses me to no end. Just started the Greater Good. I got the first two omnibus' so what are the other stories I'm missing Emporeres finest and ??? It's interesting because it's brought up in Gaunt's Ghosts with the new commissar who is also a coward, but completely ineffectual at his job. I can't help but feel it's a little stab at Cain by Dan Abnett.
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Mar 15, 2013 13:39
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Mowglis Haircut posted:The entire Heresy books have all involved Erebus showing up, doing his moustache twirling thing, before someone gets sick of his poo poo and kicks his rear end. It's why it's so bloody good to see it happen. He is on Cuu levels of fictional character hate for most readers.
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Mar 15, 2013 13:59
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Demiurge4 posted:It's interesting because it's brought up in Gaunt's Ghosts with the new commissar who is also a coward, but completely ineffectual at his job. I can't help but feel it's a little stab at Cain by Dan Abnett. I think it's more that the commissar corps attatched to the Tanith First and Only is now getting pretty big, and it's the last political-officer archetype left to cover. You've got Gaunt the Hero, Hark the cynic, Ludd the innocent, Blenner the coward and the new woman who came with the new Wilder's Belladon - the pious.
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Mar 15, 2013 15:41
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Mowglis Haircut posted:So I've just finished Betrayer, it's great, naturally, but I noticed that the last few Heresy books have all involved Erebus showing up, doing his moustache twirling thing, before someone gets sick of his poo poo and kicks his rear end. True, but remember that the big plan keeps moving even so. Erebus likely gets such treatment because there is no solid plan yet to give him a good plot of his own, but he's still too big a fgure in the Heresy to leave aside. It would be great if he and his legion got a decent ongoing story in the post-Heresy, something along the lines of what is being planned for the Black Legion. Hell, just him and Kor Phaeron trying to out-plot each other trhough the millenia would be a good enough hook.
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Mar 15, 2013 18:18
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Sephyr posted:True, but remember that the big plan keeps moving even so. Erebus likely gets such treatment because there is no solid plan yet to give him a good plot of his own, but he's still too big a fgure in the Heresy to leave aside. As long as Anthony Reynolds doesn't touch that poo poo I'm happy. He's even shoe-horning his lovely characters into the next Heresy anthology, goddamnit. Basically ADB should do all the Chaos books, forever.
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Mar 15, 2013 19:19
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Mowglis Haircut posted:As long as Anthony Reynolds doesn't touch that poo poo I'm happy. He's even shoe-horning his lovely characters into the next Heresy anthology, goddamnit. Basically ADB should do all the Chaos books, forever. It takes a singularly talented jerkwad to turn Chaos boring. Reynolds should be catapulted into the Eye of Terror for what he does to the universe.
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Mar 15, 2013 19:46
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HR was told to hire A Reynolds. They got the wrong one.
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Mar 16, 2013 15:03
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EyeRChris posted:As much as i love the grim dark of the WH40k lore I can't help but love Cain a bit more than the rest. Something about a commissar of the imperium being a coward who has lucked out into being its greatest hero simply because he treats his troops nice (so they won't 'accidently' frag his rear end) amuses me to no end. Just started the Greater Good. I got the first two omnibus' so what are the other stories I'm missing Emporeres finest and ??? The thing about Cain is that he is only a coward by the standards of the Commissariat which are absolutely ludicrous. The underlying joke is that by 21th century standards he is an exemplary soldier.
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Mar 16, 2013 19:03
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Mr.48 posted:The thing about Cain is that he is only a coward by the standards of the Commissariat which are absolutely ludicrous. The underlying joke is that by 21th century standards he is an exemplary soldier. The best description I heard of Cain was that he was a normal guy living in the 41st millennium. He's only as scared as you or me would be when facing zombie robots or zerg like monsters. Even with regards to the Imperial Guard Cain falters, not once feeling the enthusiasm that they feel when facing the xenos. Cain is just along for the ride, in a way, taking advantage where he can and improvising when he cannot. My favorite Cain book is the third one, I believe, where it is against the forces of Chaos, and his old rival from the Scholum is there and is just determined, every step of the way, to expose Cain as a coward. Cain isn't vindictive for the most part, even going as far as to put in a good word for the man when Cain ruins that plan. He's a decent guy, no matter how much he downplays it.
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Mar 16, 2013 23:34
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EyeRChris posted:I got the first two omnibus' so what are the other stories I'm missing Emporeres finest and ??? The Last Ditch. Impaired Casing posted:My favorite Cain book is the third one, I believe, where it is against the forces of Chaos, and his old rival from the Scholum is there and is just determined, every step of the way, to expose Cain as a coward. Cain isn't vindictive for the most part, even going as far as to put in a good word for the man when Cain ruins that plan. He's a decent guy, no matter how much he downplays it. "Harriers for the cup!" I've not read past that, but I wonder if anything after could top the third book. Even so, "more of the same" is good enough for me. What I like most about the Cain series is the narrative conceit, that Amberley is just annotating Cain's memoirs and puts in her own thoughts and footnotes. It reads more in-universe than any other 40k book--it doesn't play up the grimdark aspect, which is still there but it doesn't mean that the galaxy is an entirely cheerless place. Some of the quotes are great! Like from that Tallarn guy who hates Cain in the third book.
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Mar 17, 2013 00:13
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Cain is too much of a normal guy with regular insecurities. If you really want to read the stories of a horrible hero coward, check out the books he's based on, the Flashman series by George Macdonald Fraser. Hilariously good fun, and you get to learn about 19th century history at the same time! Just finished that Yarrick short story. The writing was pretty good; I enjoyed it. The sections from Yarrick's perspective were intense in the kind of way you'd expect. Plunging into Death of Antagonis now by the same author; hopefully he keeps it up.
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Mar 17, 2013 00:18
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Impaired Casing posted:The best description I heard of Cain was that he was a normal guy living in the 41st millennium. He's only as scared as you or me would be when facing zombie robots or zerg like monsters. Even with regards to the Imperial Guard Cain falters, not once feeling the enthusiasm that they feel when facing the xenos. Cain is just along for the ride, in a way, taking advantage where he can and improvising when he cannot. That's the best because it has Cain, the guy who has faced down literal demons having to explain the politics of the 4 chaos gods to the military brass for strategic reasons and the other commissar is so shocked and offended he calls Cain a heretic and terminates the communication immediately. Merely mentioning the concept of other gods is enough for that rival commissar to try to arrest Cain for treason. Basically Cain tells them that the 4 gods, without mentioning names, are pretty hardcore rivals with each other and will ruin plans if it means one of the them gains a major advantage. The point was "If you see demons killing demons hold back and left them sort it out, sweep in and kill any survivors."
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Mar 17, 2013 04:20
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The Sigilite fails as an interesting 40k (well, 30k) story but it's an interesting bit of science fiction on the importance of culture. Would I recommend it? Eh. Not at the current price. Wait for a sale or Something. Spoilers to follow. the plot of the book centers around the retrieval of a mysterious artifact from a war-torn world before the forces of chaos can get their hands on it. The soldier who reports to Malcador believes his mission was a failure since all they recovered was a rock, but it turns out the rock is the Rosetta Stone, and the Sigilite seems to be an immortal human who seeks to preserve human culture. It is revealed that the emperor is literally fighting primordial chaos and is therefore missing from Earth proper at the time - I see this as an pre-explanation of why the big E doesn't just crush Horus' invasion with his mind.
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Mar 17, 2013 19:53
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So something came up in the Space Opera thread, and I naturally thought to bring it to the sperglords here. Does Space Marines have genitals or are they entirely sexless? I remember reading in one of the HH books that they lacked genitals, but can't remember if it was correct. And for that matter, does Space Marines poo poo? They eat, so they must have some way to get rid of bodily waste unless their biology is so good that they can process everything.
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Mar 18, 2013 10:24
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Cardiac posted:So something came up in the Space Opera thread, and I naturally thought to bring it to the sperglords here. They have genitals. No reason to remove them, plus they're part of the male endocrine system and astartes implants are made to work alongside it for implantation and development. Yes, they excrete. Power armour does waste recycling while in deployment.
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Mar 18, 2013 10:47
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Nephilm posted:They have genitals. No reason to remove them, plus they're part of the male endocrine system and astartes implants are made to work alongside it for implantation and development.
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Mar 18, 2013 11:22
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Nephilm posted:They have genitals. No reason to remove them, plus they're part of the male endocrine system and astartes implants are made to work alongside it for implantation and development. So it's the power armour that does the dirty work. So they have all of their junk and probably fit to scale as well. But is it useless? Because we never see Space Marines involved in anything resembling romance and sex, of course this might be due to the brainwashing. Seems like Emperors Children are totally not hosed according to this, since they follow the Chaos God of Pleasure without being able to do anything about it. Sorta explains their preoccupation with drugs, torture and so on. Next best thing.
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Mar 18, 2013 11:26
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berzerkmonkey posted:It has been mentioned that they are "chemically castrated" though. To be honest though, I don't know if that is still a current thing, or if it is one of those crazy Space Marine era things that really doesn't apply anymore though. I would think that castration would stop the testosterone production, and I don't imagine that is something that would be desired in a nine-foot killing machine. Mental conditioning for the most part. Cardiac posted:So it's the power armour that does the dirty work. Slaaneshi marines followers can have sex, but that's so pedestrian. Instead they tend to rebel in things that they're already predisposed to, and other more bizarre/esoteric/extreme hobbies. Also partly because GW shifted 40k into a more PG13 tone. I forget the source but I recall EC sticking crab-like living dildoes that interface with their nervous system on their codpieces so they could rape people to death without going through the trouble of removing their armor in the middle of a warzone.
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Mar 18, 2013 11:36
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In the Emperor's Gift, a character remarks that it's a shame the main Grey Knight character doesn't feel any urges of that kind, after seeing him naked. Marine footlongs confirmed canon.
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Mar 18, 2013 12:30
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Nephilm posted:Slaaneshi marines followers can have sex, but that's so pedestrian. Instead they tend to rebel in things that they're already predisposed to, and other more bizarre/esoteric/extreme hobbies. Also partly because GW shifted 40k into a more PG13 tone. I'm happy about the PG13. Especially if one considers the history of human warfare and how Space Marines are the ultimate warrior. The series could become seriously creepy based on this, especially if one considers terror tactics. I read the first and third book of the Night Lords trilogy, and given that the Night Lords are masters in terror warfare and that the legion is recruited from murderers and rapist, I can't remember anything about rape.
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Mar 18, 2013 13:06
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Cardiac posted:So they have all of their junk and probably fit to scale as well. But is it useless? I'm pretty sure they're also sterile, in addition to not having a sex-drive. Which is why gene-seed is such a big deal to them. Also, book report, just read Fire Caste by a new BL author, Peter Fehervari, and I surprisingly enjoyed it (though in the interests of full disclosure I was pretty drunk while reading much of it). Kind of like Apocalpyse Now crossed with that HBO series The Pacific with a (superficial) dash of The Killer Angels (or maybe more like Zybourne Clock). And maybe a nod to Aguirre the Wrath of God. Very much not your typical Bolter porn. I remember the mad priest bits as genuinely frightening and particularly good. Definitely best book with the Tau in it I've read so far, too. OXBALLS DOT COM fucked around with this message at 17:35 on Mar 18, 2013 |
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Mar 18, 2013 17:32
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Cardiac posted:
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Mar 18, 2013 19:13
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Cream_Filling posted:I'm pretty sure they're also sterile, in addition to not having a sex-drive. Which is why gene-seed is such a big deal to them. I think it might be the first W40k book I've read that doesn't even have the word "bolter" in it. I really liked it, as well. It seems like with every new book about the Tau, BL is more and more strongly showing us that the ethereals are performing some kind of proximity-based controlling of other tau. Initially, the only arguments you could really make for it were the article in Xenology and the story of Commander Farsight. Before it was kind of speculated in a maybe/maybe not fashion, but now we keep seeing the ideology of the Greater Good fall apart every time there's no Ethereal (now you can add Fire Caste and I think The Greater Good) nearby.
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Mar 18, 2013 19:29
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Fried Chicken posted:It is heavily implied, but never outright said that when the former night lord arranges for the navigator to be kidnapped the prisoners gangrape her for hours until Talos rescues her In the First Heretic it happens to Cyrene too after her city is bombed.
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Mar 18, 2013 19:39
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Cardiac posted:I'm happy about the PG13. I don't get this. You understand that astartes are shock troops, right? 7 feet tall killing machines? Where does the "creepy" come in while on the battlefield? What do you even mean by "creepy"? Anything sexual? They'd be wasting themselves by personally partaking in such things, nevermind why do something like that in the first place when the gore option is readily available. The "PG13" standard only really applies in the context of depicting Slaanesh-related things (avoiding explicit sexual imagery) and being too realistic when it comes to torture when it's shown. Mowglis Haircut posted:In the First Heretic it happens to Cyrene too after her city is bombed. That's entirely different and irrelevant. Nephilm fucked around with this message at 22:23 on Mar 18, 2013 |
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Mar 18, 2013 22:12
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So, have they just permanently raised the prices on e-books that come out alongside hardcovers? It seems like a bunch of e-books which their companion book is now in softcover are still at the $11.99 price instead of the normal $7.99 for the e-book. It just seems dumb to pay exactly the same price for an e-book as the paperback.
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Mar 18, 2013 22:19
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mastermind2004 posted:So, have they just permanently raised the prices on e-books that come out alongside hardcovers? It seems like a bunch of e-books which their companion book is now in softcover are still at the $11.99 price instead of the normal $7.99 for the e-book. It just seems dumb to pay exactly the same price for an e-book as the paperback. I tried to stop reading and buying BL books back in july and so far i've only bought Pariah. Too much poo poo spread around to keep up with.
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Mar 18, 2013 22:21
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Nephilm posted:That's entirely different and irrelevant. Uh what? I wasn't directing that at anyone, no need to be a dick for no reason.
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Mar 18, 2013 22:56
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