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CommissarMega posted:The Emperor's Gift though, was awesome scene after awesome scene, which was amazing for what is essentially a very pessimistic work. Again, spoiling to be safe, but seeing Bjorn face down Logan Grimnar and the Grey Knight who broke Angron's sword was loving amazing The Ravenor tie-in was definitely my favourite part as well. Even more so because I felt he had a tiny role in the Ravenor books and I really wanted his character to go somewhere.
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Jul 17, 2012 13:41
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That sarcophagus must contain and be powered by his massive balls. And finding out that kid from the Ravenor books grew up to BE that Grey Knight was 
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Cream_Filling posted:I think it was the same Abnett book where they mention a case where two scouts found an ancient STC print-out for a better way to make a combat knife. In the end, they were rewarded with a planet each for their discovery. It still gets to me that Horus didn't try to trick that one planet into giving him the only fully functional STC in the galaxy. And instead went balls out invasion and had it blown up in Angrons face.
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Jul 25, 2012 22:42
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Wasn't there a piece of fluff on how the emperor cast aside his compassion in order to make himself kill Horus? Essentially he split off a part of his soul and lost power that way which is why he can't heal himself and get off the throne. I've always imagined that's what the star child is. The imperium is a poo poo hole because the passive influence of the emperor leaves no room for compasion. I've also been of the opinion that this part of his soul is what influences certain events, like the reincarnation of Sabbat in the Gaunt universe.
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Aug 4, 2012 23:40
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Cuu is a sadistic rear end in a top hat, and for once I'm okay with a guy being evil just for the sake of it. He's an ex ganger, probably had a rough life and that marks you, doesn't excuse him but it works because he's not a major villain, just a plot device. poo poo, the First and Only is full of emotionally damaged veterans, like Brostin. I really miss Bragg though 
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Aug 31, 2012 01:50
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berzerkmonkey posted:Yes, but after thinking about it, in this case, it makes more sense. I mean, what is more believable? Many of the Primarchs had specific genetic coding that made their legions subtly different. For example Lorgar's Word Bearers had the loyalty gene buffed up by the chaos gods when the primarchs were snatched. Lorgar was kept in the warp for a much longer time period and he was the last primarch to appear on a planet so he's also the youngest in some ways. Magnus' legion has always had the psyker flaw, and mutation was a major problem before he was found by the Emperor, to the point where he was seriously considering purging the Thousand Sons. But Magnus fought a demon in the warp and fixed it somehow (except he didn't). So it's not unreasonable to assume that the black rage has always existed in the Blood Angels.
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Sep 1, 2012 17:48
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I really hate the fact that Dan Abnett's books are always in hardcover for first releaase. They're twice as expensive and don't fit in well with my mountain of Warhammer paperbacks
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Sep 6, 2012 11:27
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Degenerate Star posted:So I was reading one of James Swallows' Blood Angels books, and one of the plot points was that the Flesh Tearers and BA are running low on Marines, though for different reasons. I think you extract 2 from each marine. One can be removed when its matured, but the other can only be removed from a dead marine since taking it out would kill him.
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Sep 11, 2012 11:02
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Elrond Hubbard posted:It occurs to me, on reading the Horus Heresy books, that even though the Emperor is almost 40,000 years old during the Heresy, older than the Chaos Gods (is that still canon?), has seen the entirety of human existence from birth to death, again and again, even, in spite of all of this, he was a REALLY bad dad. A little bit of compassion and a hug now and again would have meant that the Heresy never happened, even if he wasn't around when his sons were growing up. No according to the Chaos gods, it was all part of the plan to enable him to ascend to godhood. See the False Gods book. That book really fascinated me, because I got the impression that the chaos gods turned Horus by showing him the real future, but left out the part where its his doing. And so Horus betrays the Emperor to prevent it, the Cabal tells Alpharius/Omegon that the gods are showing Horus "truth cloaked in falsehoods".
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Nov 10, 2012 23:40
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JerryLee posted:The Emperor isn't just a bad dad, he's a really bad savior, too. His grand master plan to keep humanity from falling under the sway of Chaos seems to have amounted to 'prohibition, ignorance, and xenophobia' which even I, with the benefit of about 28 fewer millennia of human history to look back on, could have told you was a horrible idea. One theory I've heard (and the one I subscribe to) is that since the warp is a reflection of the thoughts of every sentient in the galaxy, it's possible to influence it by controlling the thoughts of sentients. So what sentients believe essentially becomes fact, god's exist because we believe in them. This is sort of how ork science works, it's complete bollocks but it works because the orks, who are a gestalt, believe it works. So the Emperor set out to destroy every sentient species in the galaxy that wasn't humanity, so that he could directly control what exists in the warp. If humanity stops believing in gods, the chaos gods disappear.
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Nov 11, 2012 02:12
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The first HH book is fantastic. I really liked the scene where it humanises Horus when he sits down and tells Loken one of the best kept secrets in the galaxy to help him cope with seeing a demon posses one of his men and kill Astartes.
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Nov 19, 2012 07:32
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Fellblade posted:There's an epilogue or something detailing how the Inquisition never managed to get control of such a large force or something, or how they never let a single Inquisitor get so much power to himself. I forget the details but it's in there. It's hilarious because nobody actually knew who the hell the guy was. He just showed up, was like "hey I'm an important inquisitor" and suddenly he was in charge.
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Nov 20, 2012 23:50
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But there's also Talos' visions to consider, and that the person to receive his geneseed is supposed to unite Curze's legion and give it purpose again.
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Dec 8, 2012 03:31
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Schneider Heim posted:There's a part where the Rune Priest is asked what the wyrds/roles of each Primarch were. He gives some examples and Guilliman is one of them. Russ is "executioner". Yeah Russ is the enforcer. The genetically loyal attack dog the Emperor keeps on a leash. He's supposed to have very strained relationships with his brothers and distrusts most of them deeply. It's also heavily implied that the Space Wolves destroyed the two missing legions on the Emperor's orders.
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Dec 18, 2012 16:11
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berzerkmonkey posted:I disagree - it's less trauma and more everyday life. It would be trauma to us because we can't imagine living in a situation where everything is potentially deadly, but if you grew up with it, it would become day-to-day life. I have to agree with this, take Fenris for example. It's a constant fight for the stable land that happened to rise out of the sea. Someone already living there? Well we need to live and so its us or them, kill 'em. They revere the Space Wolves as mythical heroes who sometimes show up to take the best of them to a place where they can fight wars forever. It's literally a warrior society that doesn't see war as trauma, but as the greatest pursuit a man can aspire to. Sure they're all sociopathic monsters, but they're not kidnapped children afraid of everything before they're forced to join a legion.
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Dec 18, 2012 18:40
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Nephilm posted:Let's not forget human populations that decided adaptation through natural selection was too slow and dove right into tampering their genetics to fit their new environments, particularly in the case of death worlds. From the onset, the Imperium had strict regarding tampering too heavily with the genome and specially adding extraneous (read: xeno) elements to it, but selective breeding and expression of traits is a-okay. There are no wolves on Fenris 
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Dec 19, 2012 10:28
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Mechafunkzilla posted:Or instead of bringing Roboute back, the Lion wakes up and starts being a jerk to everyone as he is wont to do. Roboute coming back to fight the Tyranids would be really cool. And it could kickstart the storyline of the Emperors ascent or death. Roboute coming back would just be the sign of things going for a massive change, while still keeping him out of the way story wise, busy fighting off the Tyranids.
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Dec 27, 2012 15:10
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spootime posted:Oh man Pariah was craaaazy.Eisenhorn is into some hosed up poo poo! Traitor marines in his warband.. weird to think about. Also the whole name of the emperor thing is definitely an interesting plot point to start the series with Why does the Emperors name give them power over him though? Is he really just a warp daemon?
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Dec 29, 2012 12:36
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Peztopiary posted:The name is important because it is like Slaanesh or Khorne or (Emperor). Enuncia isn't a language, it's the fundamental reality of the 40k setting expressed as a sound. Basically the birth cry of Slaanesh/the death of the eldar civilization? That sound, the physicality/reality of it is what brought Slaanesh into being. So if the Emperor has a sound/a word-phrase in Enuncia that expresses His totality, He can be made manifest, or at least that's what Eisenhorn appears to believe. I hope it's Bob. Cool, but I imagine the snag is that in order to restore him, it has to be pronounced in his presence.
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Dec 29, 2012 14:40
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Affi posted:Yeah having Eisenhorn go to Terra to try and resurrect the Emperor of Mankind with Alpha Legion by his side and Ravenor following him with the might of the Imperium. It'll be interesting. Not to mention a Daemonhost  My own pet theory, for which I have absolutely no evidence, is that Cherubael is actually the tortured and corrupted soul of Sanguinius. I base this entirely on the fact that Cherubaels name is based on Cherub, which is an angelic being.
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Dec 30, 2012 11:42
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SquadronROE posted:I think I'm about halfway through Imperial Glory, and I have to admit that I am absolutely loving it. There aren't nearly as many battles or fights as I'm used to (reading Gaunt's Ghosts or whatnot), but I actually am really liking the character of the Imperial Guard regiment presented there. Definitely has a British feel to it. Yeah the flashlight analogy always comes to mind when discussing the las lock. I think in Abnett's case the las has more power because it fits better with the elite soldier theme he's running. Otherwise every trooper would need a hellfire gun. Gaunt's Ghosts are a small infiltration unit with incredible skills and experience and the Sabbat Crusade host as a whole is a professional and well managed force. This would seem out of character for the guard, which is predominantly a meat grinder, but we do have Criid's experience on Gereon as a reservist to point out that only organised regiments enjoy any real success and survivability.
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Jan 4, 2013 15:25
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I've been wondering just how deep Dan Abnett is in the Alpha Legion stuff. I've been rereading the Gaunt's Ghosts and on Aexe Cardinal and Herodor Gaunt talks to the old Sister of Battle in the chapel. She mentions the divine powers and this long plan that has been going on so long that they can see neither the beginning or the end. I wonder if the divine powers are the Cabal and the Alpha Legion is secretly running the whole show. Now Abnett has introduced them in Pariah and the rumours are he's going to take that even further. If there's anything at all to my theory, I really want to know what Milo's purpose in all this is.
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Jan 6, 2013 15:05
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VanSandman posted:When you start to think about it, the Grey Knight's plan is literally "bruise Angron so badly we can rebuild from our atrocious losses." Which is 40k as gently caress. Breaking the blade is the most  thing I have ever read. They were successful though, so I dunno if its fair to say they just bruised him.
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Jan 7, 2013 10:10
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Impaired Casing posted:In the second Horus book, where he's stabbed and dying, the A-Team of apothecaries had no idea what they were doing. I think it even goes to say that a primarch has organs that they never even heard of. So I don't think so. But on the subject of Guilliman, does it go into detail on how he died, aside from it was Fulgrim? Because maybe he is fine, and can heal from his slit throat if they let him out. Since, you know, Fulgrim's foot was burned off and then regrew. There's a comment in the Thousand Sons book, where Ahriman(?) mentions that Magnus doesn't have organs. That's he basically a great psychich force, bound inside a meat shell. It wouldn't surprise me if the Primarchs are basically Daemon hosts wherein the Emperor bound powerful warp entities.
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Jan 9, 2013 10:58
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Scoobi posted:On the other hand when Curze was beat up, the Night Lords tried healing him but their apothecaries noted he had organs they have never seen before. Everything is hosed up in 40k. Although it makes me wonder if none of the primarchs ran an anatomy check on themselves to understand how they were built. It would make sense for some of the more practically minded ones, but in all the books every apothecary just goes "oh poo poo what do we do? Call the Emperor!" because nobody ever imagined their Primarch could so much as break a bone.
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Jan 9, 2013 16:36
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berzerkmonkey posted:I don't know - it kind of seemed like it was implied that if you didn't make it, you didn't get to go on the Great Crusade. I could be reading into it though. I haven't read Angel Exterminatus yet, but it would imply that the primarchs arrived on their planets as blank slates, or a force of energy in Fulgrims case, and then immediately absorbed physical traits to match the population. For example, Conrad Curze has the same black eyes as the natives of his planet.
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Jan 9, 2013 18:29
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Cream_Filling posted:Is that really that good a justification, though? They might as well just say "future space armor is so good that shots from anything that won't utterly destroy the whole area (and thus render it worthless) just bounce off until you're in close range." Space Marines are terror weapons, when they show up they get in your face and cave it in imaginative ways and this scares the poo poo out of people. If they were all artillery experts they wouldn't have the same effect, and they're brutally effective in close combat thanks to their armour and weapons. As for everyone else, I dunno, the Imperial guard just kind of do the bayonet thing.
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Jan 17, 2013 19:10
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A lot of sci-fi explains melee combat away with personal forcefields etc. In the Deathstalker series they've got everything from sabres to mono-filament swords but nobody uses guns because literally everyone has a cheap knockoff personal shield that deflects highspeed projectiles. 40k has the occasional personal forcefield that makes a guy a god on the battlefield when fighting Imperial Guard.
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Jan 18, 2013 12:25
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VanSandman posted:I just got this vision of a 40k universe where a portable shield will be impervious... but won't stop momentum. So you get hit with a tank shell and your perfectly spherical shield-ball turns into a cannonball. I think that's exactly how they work. In The Guns of Tanith, Larkin fires two hotshots into a shielded Blood Pact officer and while it doesn't penetrate, it knocks him the gently caress down. In Honor Guard, Gaunt's sword pops a shield like nothing though, but that sword is crazy.
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Jan 19, 2013 03:52
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Fried Chicken posted:Angel Exterminatus suggests Vulkan is prisoner of the World Eaters in a special prison Perturbo built. That's pretty cool, how does this tie in with the Salamanders and the artifacts of Vulkan though? Are the artifacts in fact part of a plan to rescue their Primarch that has been partially forgotten?
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Jan 20, 2013 22:21
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We're two books into The Victory, and depending on Abnett's pace he could probably finish the Ghosts story in two books, maybe three. We've got the outcome of Salvations Reach and he can bring in lots of information on how the Warmaster is doing on the front. My personal favorite outcome is that the Ghosts finally make it to the frontline to fight alongside the Warmaster and the Saint again in a final showdown with the chaos Warlord. Or they'll be finishing up the Son's of Sek storyline on the sides with Innokenti Sek somehow. Honestly it could go any which way. Salvations reach spoiler: I really want to see where Abnett intends to go with Gaunt's son. Is he destined for something great, or is he going to force Gaunt into a choice between his service to the Emperor and saving his son's life?
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Jan 21, 2013 16:32
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Off the top of my head the only Dan Abnett books I can think of that ended abruptly is Know no Fear and Pariah. It's been a long time since I read Eisenhorn or Ravenor but I've enjoyed the endings of most of the Gaunt's Ghosts books.
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Jan 24, 2013 19:05
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I think the best non-Abnett books I've read so far have to be Emperor's Gift and Hellsreach. Especially Hellsreach, it's so goddamn I want more stuff like that.
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Jan 27, 2013 23:36
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Impaired Casing posted:I just finished that today, and I loved every second of it. It's rare for me to find a book I cannot put down, but this one is one of them. It was a long time since I read any Abnett books, and it was nice to see why he remains my favorite author. I feel bad for you, it's one thing not being able to put down a book. But being hooked on a 10 book series is something else and will ruin your social life for weeks.
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Jan 31, 2013 12:16
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lenoon posted:Necropolis is absolutely amazing. I almost feel jealous for you having not read them all. Please do post whenever Abnett does something that makes you cry "NOOOOOOO" to an uncaring sky. Cuu is such an amazing character. I think in the Guns of Tanith forewords Abnett talks about how he actually lost the whole book in a computer crash and had to write it again from scratch. Cuu wasn't in the first one and would never have become a character if not for that crash.
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Jan 31, 2013 17:24
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lenoon posted:You know the one. the carpenter I've read that book so many goddamn times. I swear my copy of that omnibus is so loving wrinkled and worn it's a wonder it hasn't disintegrated.
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Feb 7, 2013 00:53
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Eisenhorn has been in the deep end ever since he started using that Daemonhost. Oddly though Ravenor's been okay with it, I mean he's done awkward stuff too, like collaborating with the Eldar on ocassion (ironicly, Eisenhorn critized him for this) and he's seen Eisenhorn use it before too. So I wonder what changed that made Ravenor decide that Eisenhorn is too radical now.
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Feb 7, 2013 16:17
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Nephilm posted:It's been indirectly referenced. Fulgrim was known to have been found early (from spending time with Horus on the early days of the crusade) and Ferrus had been found both before Fulgrim and roughly at the same time (they coincided at Terra before leaving on their crusades). Fulgrims legion was tiny as well, there was some problems with the gene seed or possibly a large engagement (I don't recall exactly). And Fulgrim's Legion was grouped directly under the Lunar Wolves and only became a proper legion decades after Fulgrim was found and a new source of geneseed was created. I like that a lot of the Primarchs have interesting inter-personal relationships and rivalries. I still think that Angron is one of the more tragic downfalls along with Fulgrim. Bad luck created Angron's madness and ignorance put down Fulgrim Arquinsiel posted:My girlfriend read it before me having picked it up at Gamesday, and not knowing 40k outside of the Ghosts books she didn't get why I was all :aaaaaa: when I realised who the "special" dudes making the Lord General stand outside were. Sometimes you really need the grounding in tabletop to appreciate just how batshit things have gotten in that series. Abnett is my favorite guy when it comes to portraying space marines. Especially from the vantage points outside the legions themselves. When the White Scar engages with and helps one of the guardsmen that was a really human moment while still being frightening.
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Feb 15, 2013 01:26
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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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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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EyeRChris posted:Bjorn the Fell Hand says what ever to that and to wake him next time Magnus needs to be oval office punted back into the warp. I'd really like some development on the whole Cypher storyline, honestly. Bjorn is loving awesome, and never has he been more badass than in The Emperor's Gift when everyone basically falls over backwards to tell him how honoured they are and he just goes "oh loving poo poo dude, stand up, you're embarrassing me."
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Mar 23, 2013 09:23
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