Gravitas Shortfall posted:

Honestly not worth spoilering as this is fundamental Necron lore. The C'Tan were "Star Gods", horrible beings of pure energy that fed on stars. The Necrontyr discovered them, and placed one into a Necrodermis shell, whereapon it realised that eating fear (and souls) was even tastier than eating stars, and the Necrons were like "gently caress, please stop killing us, we'll worship you and also there are plenty of other species to eat, including those loving Old Ones that we hate (because they didn't give us the cure for Space Cancer)". The C'Tan also hated the Old Ones, so they were like "deal, also we can give you sweet new bodies that don't have Space Cancer and make you better at fighting those fuckin Old Ones".

Obviously this didn't go great for the Necrontyr, and what came out of the forges were the Necrons, soulless robots encoded with the memory and personality engrams of their originals. Szarekh in particular was super pissed about this, and once the War In Heaven was won, lead the Necrons in a betrayal of the C'Tan while they were still weak. They couldn't destroy them, but they could shatter them into a million pieces, then seal those in vaults to use as batteries/weapons. SPOILERS: they might have also somehow eaten one which lead to Problems.

Some did, some didn't. There was even a short rebellion fought against the idea that was ultimately crushed. In the Twice Dead King books, it mentions the Red Marshals, who's job it was to round up shirkers and drag them into the furnaces, breaking their legs if needed.

Improbable Lobster posted:

Iron Warriors are about digging, building and tearing down fortresses with machines. Iron Hands are about rebuilding themselves with machines. Iron Warriors are mad that they had to do all the bullshit jobs. Iron Hands are mad that their dad died.

Z the IVth posted:

Only one has sick hazard stripes.

Arc Hammer posted:

Just grabbed End and the Death Vol 3 at the store. Didn't think it would be out yet but it was there so.

Angry Lobster posted:

"The Emperor sat upon the Golden Throne and chuckled a little wet-leopard growl."

Warden posted:

Oh fuuuuuuck.

This just rubs salt into the wound of having to wait until next weekend.

Bohemian Nights posted:

I just hope Sangunius gets better =)

Arc Hammer posted:

I'm about halfway through. Hoping to make it to at least 300 pages before today is over. Hardback is about 500 pages long.

Arc Hammer posted:

It has a definite momentum to it and manages to keep the pace up despite flipping between so many ongoing story threads. Relentless would be the word.

habeasdorkus posted:

I agree that Arc Hammer did nothing wrong, I also understand people wanting to dip out of the thread to ensure they don't get spoilered. And you don't necessarily have to click to see what the spoiler is, accidentally moving your mouse over it will do it. There's no baddies here.

poop chute posted:

Iron Hands are the tech weirdos, Iron Warriors are siege perverts.

Unironically kind of disappointing, it was something I was really hoping would be a bigger beat ||and also because I thought the idea of Alpha Legion worshiping the chaos god of the emperor was very funny||

Arc Hammer posted:

Okay, it's back up for the people who want it. Pay no attention to the edit times, since time no longer exists.

Arc Hammer posted:

NihilCredo posted:

Ok, some actual discussions:

Lol. Sounds like dude gets the closest anyone will ever get to a happy ending - he gets to repeat 30,000 years of pre-Imperium human life forever, and never have his soul end up in the Warp or have to meet an indubitably bad ending in 40k or later.

Arc Hammer posted:

You read a 500 page book in under three hours? I must be rusty.

Waroduce posted:

big rear end spoiler stuff


so is Loken Samus?

Also gently caress Erebus, seriously.

Arc Hammer posted:

To be fair to Emps Horus did strike the first blow. Horus ain't owed poo poo after that and Emps wasn't in a good mood to talk.

Arc Hammer posted:

I love the repetition of "This is how He—" during the duel as Horus continues to come up with rationalizations in his head for how he thinks things should go before immediately getting swatted down by another attempt by Emps.

I also really like how Emps fights so dirty the entire time. No honorable bouts or respect for your opponent. Just unbridled aggression and psychological cruelty if it means winning.

Potato Salad posted:

Holy poo poo gently caress Erebus with a rake

Yeah I'm a little miffed by this. Maybe it's a good thing that Bananamonium's developments will be a bit more slow rolled.

Potato Salad posted:

you forgot Erebus

imo he's also instrumental with Magnus losing a very important rhetorical point with Horus

Arc Hammer posted:

On the run for 10,000 years avoiding Kharn's axe?

DAD LOST MY IPOD posted:

I really liked the second-person Horus portions, but it’s important to remember that in those moments he is completely delusional. All of his statements about what the Emperor is doing, or what he himself is doing, or why he’s doing any of it, are totally unreliable.

kim jong-illin posted:

I liked the nod to the Bequin books - the revealing of the real name of the archivist of the Hall of Leng and the bits about The City of Dust as the warp disentangles Vengeful Spirit, the Palace, and the Inevitable City. Makes me think the third Bequin book is going to properly push the 40K storyline forward, hopefully.

nesbit37 posted:

Its just the 2 of them out right now yes? I just finished Penitent yesterday as well, and wondering when this 3rd one is going to see the light of day and wrap things up.

Potato Salad posted:

hell yeah, so it WAS an extended homosexual allegory all along

this was the best possible outcome

The Athames themselves probably could use their own character timeline trackers; like the Perpetuals, they sure proliferated during this entire two decade long narrative spree.

Mikojan posted:

I liked the scene of big E becoming a big black orb in his transcendence to godhood amidst the city of dust so I attempted to make a few AI generated images of it. (TEATD 2)

kim jong-illin posted:

The afterword is an interesting read, especially as Abnett seems to say that he wrote it as one continuous book before then splitting it into three, which makes it harder to understand how it got so bloated vs if he wrote it as three separate books from the start.

euphronius posted:

Volume three

It seems like E was talking to the knife



been betrayed. You cannot ask Him for forgiveness. You don’t dare, and you can’t speak anyway. But He can see it in your eyes. You were too weak to resist them then, and you will be too weak in another moment when they relent and replenish you with their abominable gifts. Your eyes beg Him for mercy. A son to his father. End this. End it now, if you can. If that is even possible. End it before it is too late. If you can’t do it, no one can. The burning stops. The psychic beam abates. You sway, gasping. Your father has a knife. An old stone thing. What is it? It’s so small in His hand, so ugly. That won’t do it. That won’t be enough. He seems to hesitate, reluctant. You clench, in sudden spasm and convulsion, and cry out. The power is returning. It is flowing back into you with great rapidity, as though the Old Four are suddenly desperate to restore their gifts. What do they know? What have they seen that makes them act in such haste?

Your father looks at the knife.

+I wait for you and I forgive you.+

He drives it into your heart.

The knife is xeno tech and was destined - maybe - to he the knife that killed E . That was Ollie’s plan . Maybe E knew that it was meant for him and - in the future - he knows it’s his ultimate destiny. The I forgive you is to the knife for killing his son.

He never talks to Horus as E

Anyway just my imho

Thinking about it he could also be taking to Oll against whose destiny is to kill E with the knife

Maybe ?

I don’t think he’s talking to H

Edit

I just remembered that knife is gone ? Well there are other shards like it that skills exist