Betrayer was by ADB, covering the Word Bearers x World Eaters (both groups aside from the Night Lords that ADB seems to be leaving his trademark on.) which means that its a.) another story about portraying Traitor Marines and Primarchs in a more sympathetic light (not neccesarily a bad thing.) and b.) a book which I devoured in about two days.
Its also very much a 'betrayal of brotherhood' story in the sense of Angel Exterminatus, different largely in the intent (Lorgar's intentions, whilst I believe misguided and distorted, were genuine in his desire to 'save' Angron. To be blunt, lots of people betray lots of other people.) It's also notable in that ADB turned what was usually a one-note Legion by game terms (World Eaters = bloodthirsty psychos) into something more complex, much the way Graham seemed to make the Iron Warriors likeable and sympathetic. I liked Kharn in this one, and knowing what he is destined to become makes it more sympathetic. Also trademark with ADB stories, the focus is as much on the human allies of the Space Marines as it is about the Marines themselves, and their interactions.
It's also one of those 'foreshadowing' books as the Perpetuals/Cabal make another appearance, albeit briefly and mysteriously.
Page 21
Magnus is still sitting on the sidelines in the Eye rather than allying. It seems he's still coming to terms with what happened at Prospero, although his inevitable fate, as implied in the novel, is known."The Legions are at war," Lorgar pressed gently, "and the galaxy burns. Accept it. End your seclusion in the Great Eye. Get back into the fight. You’ll be part of Horus’s plans, and won’t need to ask me what’s happening, or where, or why. You’ll know where the playing pieces stand on the board. You’ll be moving them yourself."
PAge 22
Man Erebus and Kor Phaeron can't catch a break can they? Magnus and Lorgar discuss the three top men in the Word Bearers. Even Lorgar doesn't trust him. Makes me think that he's been dicking around with them for over 10 millenia, the same way they dick with their legion."You once warned me not to rely so heavily on Erebus and Kor Phaeron."
..
"True, but you were right."
..
"Tell me of Argel Tal."
..
"Of my three closest sons, he alone remains devoted to my vision. And yet, brother, he is broken. As for the other two… I love them for their pride and ambition, yet the warp curdles around them, ripe with the sickness of their souls. They play their own games now. Erebus plays them at the behest of the gods. He is a slave, believing himself king. Kor Phaeron plays them for his own reasons."
Page 22
Magnus feels about Ahriman the same way Lorgar does about Erebus and Kor Phaeron."And Ahriman, he is… similar?"
..
"He is. A sickening thing for us to share in common, isn’t it?"
Page 23
Interesting in that it implies the Emperor masks his true face/nature from even his Primarchs as he does from the rest of humanity. Makes you wonder about the visage he presents in artwork.. how real is it? Moreover, why the obfuscation? It just plays more into that whole keeping secrets thing that he is so good at, and caues so many problems."It has always unnerved me how you look the most like Father."
"I did not mean physically." Lorgar brushed a scriptured hand across his equally tattooed face.
"I’m speaking of your… facelessness. You are as powerful as him, and your face dances in the same way."
It was Magnus’s turn to chuckle. "I am not as strong as our father. Would that I was."
Lorgar waved it aside. "Have any of us even seen your real face?"
PAge 25
Void shield generators. 'kinetic' gneerators of some kind.Kinetic generators along the warship’s belly and backbone groaned as they woke, charging the nothingness around the Lex, bringing its void shields into being. Along its flanks and battlements, domes opened in a rattling ballet and blast shields lifted from gun ports as cannons juddered out into the void.
Page 26
A year to travel from Isstvan to Ultramar. Going by the 'Betrayal' map we're talking some 60-100 thousand LY maybe in a straight line, given we're crossing from the edge of somewhere near Segmentum Obscurus (or the edge betwene that and Ultima) all the way across to the far edge of Ultima segmentum. 50-100 thousandc, estimated. Atlhough thats a bit conservative as they evidently have been fighting along the way, there's warp strom activity (although Horus' allies have an edge there with Chaos) and they aren't giong to be going straight line either."The year’s journey from Isstvan was more eventful than I’d anticipated. "
..
"Armatura"
...
"Where’s the rest of your fleet?"
..
"Ulixis. Espandor. Latona. Elsewhere. They’re killing their way across Ultramar, now Guilliman’s sons are crippled at Calth. The Five Hundred Worlds have suddenly found themselves rather starved of protection. "
Page 26
Magnus arrived before Lorgar's fleet has, so therefore they haven't been here long either."Is there anyone you don’t underestimate, Magnus? You’ve been here no more than a few minutes and already you’ve insulted both Angron and me several times."
Page 29
Again 'minuts' to arrive over the planet. THey must have emerged quite close to the planet to do that. maybe a few million km, or a couple hundreds of thousands. If we figure as close as the Orks (somehow) from Rynn's world (120-150,000 km or so) or 2.3 million km (Savage ScarS) and we figure in under an hour it would be at least 4-5 gees accleeration/decel to cover that distance, and some 40-80 km/s speed. IF we figure no more than, sya 10 minutes tops it would be 160 gees or so, and 500 km/s. If we go with 2.3 million km we're talking 36 gees and 640 km/s, and 1300 gees and 3800 km/s respectively."For once, Magnus. Trust me. Both Legions will make planetfall in a matter of minutes."
Page 29
Dozens of ships is a 'fraction' of the combined word Bearers/World Eaters fleets.In truth, an armada thundered across the silent sky towards Armatura: dozens and dozens of vessels, yet a mere fraction of two Legions’ strength.
Page 30
Another world of ultramamr, a 'war world' shipyard and recruiting grounds. Months to refurbish crippled starships.Neither the crown jewel that Macragge claimed to be, nor the future capital Calth had threatened to become, Armatura matched both in importance, and vastly eclipsed them in population. If Ultramar was reduced to crude metaphor, Macragge beat as the heart of the astral kingdom, while Calth served as its soul – a sign of a bright future, now consigned to fire. Armatura was a war-world, feeding the other planets the way bone marrow feeds blood into the body. It fed the Legion with recruits; it fed the void with damaged warships reborn from its docks...
..
Its close-orbit played home to immense shipyards, populated by thousands upon thousands of workers, servitors, archimechs, enginseers, serfs, thralls and technographers. It took an army of souls to breathe life back into the great warships of the Imperium, and here several million of them did their finest work. Orbital bastions of linked gantries and docking maws drifted above the placid world, crawling with insectile shuttles, lifters, loaders and tugs. Imperial warships limped here, scarred from the Great Crusade, and left months later in resurrected perfection.
Page 30
Defenses of Armatura.Above and beyond the shipyard was the first concentric ring of void defences. Here, weaponised satellites and fire platforms bristled with turrets, alongside independent landing decks for fighter craft in lockdown.
Beyond those, the true defences began. Castles in the sky: great fortress-stations with their own racks of fighters and entire battlements given over to plasma batteries, laser broadsides and ship-killing lance arrays.
In highest orbit, the outer sphere of satellites was a three-dimensional spread of solar panels, clockwork engines and slaved servitor brains all connected to vast long-range weapons arrays.
Amidst that outermost sphere waited the Evocati fleet.
Page 32
Lorgar's plan seems to be to throw Ultramar to the warp by stirring up enough devastation and conflict to tear some sort of warp rift, I'm guessing. also ultramarine's starship with 100K crew (unknown type) and Ultramar referred to as a subsector. A 500 world subsector."The tides of the Sea of Souls can be altered by mortal hands, brother. Listen. Listen. We’re reordering the warp itself, Magnus, changing it through pain. We’re rewriting the song."
..
"There, a ship burns in Latona’s atmosphere, the cries of the doomed souls echoing into the empyrean. And there, a warship ploughs into the surface of Ulixis, digging its own grave, taking a hundred thousand souls shrieking into the afterlife."
..
"Calth was the genesis of the storm, Magnus. I will make an entire sub-sector suffer enough that the curtain falls and the Five Hundred Worlds drown in the warp."
Page 33
Reference to Battle for the Abyss, and the plan there. It seems that the Word Bearers have constructed a rather amazing coordinated assault, and this has all taken place in roughly the same timeframe, although clearly the forces did not deploy at the same time. Lorgar has as low an opinon of Zakdiel as he does of his other subordinates save Argen Tal."To break Armatura, we’ll need a vessel to rival anything humanity has ever wrought."
..
"We had one, you know. Zadkiel’s folly, the Furious Abyss."
..
"It died days ago, close to the same moment Kor Phaeron struck at Calth. Its corpse is probably still a shadow in the skies above Macragge – a monument to the Word Bearers failure. Another inscription on Zadkiel’s legacy of little idiocies. I told him he was a fool to attack Macragge, but he was so keen to bathe in glory, and all he ever heard were the whispers begging for revenge. I indulged him."
Also the Furious abyss 'rivalled anything humanity has ever wrought', which means that size wise its at least as big as the 60-80 km Mass conveyors from A Thousand sons, bigger than the 26 km (or bigger) battleships from Know no Fear, and heck probably is comparable to the Emperor's starship, which was compared to a freaking continent as I recall.
Page 33
Lorgar has spent 50 years preparing, which means the Furious Abyss (as I noted before) could not have taken longer than this to be constructed. Probably less, given you need time to implement, design, amass resources and infrastrucutre, and build the thing."This is what I meant when I said you underestimated us, Magnus. To you, this war is something shocking and new. Yet it is something I’ve been planning for half a century. I spent a quarter of the Great Crusade preparing for the moment when our father’s sad cravings of eminent domain would end, and the true holy war would begin."
Page 34
They built 3 Furious abyss types, but why they gave Zakdiel one I have no idea, since you'd think there would be better uses for them. When you consider it was done in secret, at the behest of only ONE of 20 legions, and they had three such built.. thats damn impressive. The BloodQuest starship is not so unreasonable in that contextThe ship grinding into reality was a reflection of the slain colossus Lorgar had spoken of. A city of monasteries and cathedrals rose from its back with the reverence of clawed hands sculpted to clutch at the stars. Where most Imperial battleships were spears of crenellated intent and iron-ridged might, this was a fortress in space, borne on the back of a great trident. The central tine served as the vessel’s core: dense at the stern, encrusted with massive engines and tapering towards the prow, where it formed a pointed ram the size of lesser vessels. The trident’s adjacent tines formed smaller blade-wings, each one barnacled with broadsides and cannon batteries.
If one were to clad the concept of spite in iron and set it sailing amongst the stars, it might approach the image of what burst back into the universe in that moment. It was, in every way, the Furious Abyss reborn.
..
Magnus released an unnecessary breath, watching as a ship too vast to exist left the wound in the material universe. It easily eclipsed even the Gloriana-class flagships of the combined Legion fleet..
..
"You built two," the sorcerer breathed.
"Oh, no." Lorgar didn’t even open his eyes. He raised a hand to point into the void, where a second warp-slice ripped across the stars. "I built three."
Page 37
Scope of Armatura's forces. Not quite on the scale of the Boros Gate, but still pretty impressive for a single world. Although I suspect that some hive worlds, given their populations, could match or exceed that. Hell Gomorra from REdemption Corps had an annual tithe that big."This world is suicide. The Armaturan Academy Guard. The Thirteenth’s barracks-cities, for its initiates and Evocati overlords. The Titan Legio Lysanda. We’re going to die down there, you know."
..
A billion human soldiers. A billion. Not even counting Titans or Mechanicum skitarii. Not even considering the tank battalions stationed down there. Not even adding in the thousands of Ultramarines Evocati. The numbers had to be exaggerated, or they were all dead.
..
The geo-conflict analytics came from Ultramar’s own census archives. A handful of years out of date, certainly, but they were still facing a billion soldiers. Even if a tenth of them were teenage youths in the earliest stages of gene-implantation, there was no sense pretending this was going to be a bloodless triumph.
Page 43
The Furious-abyss 'class' are said to rival the Iron Fists Fortress Monastery. Whether this is in size, capability, both, or what we don't know, but its an impressive assessment nonetheless."I saw the Word Bearers new battleships. Each one is a rival to Dorn’s precious Phalanx"
Page 43
Again implied rates of construction for the Furious AByss and her sisters."Lorgar has been planning this war for decades," Angron said to his sons. "The mere sight of those ships is evidence of that. "
Page 45
Argen Tal wield Custodes weapons, which had gene-locks against others using their features, except Tal broke that somehow.Both were crafted on Terra, in forges forbidden to all outside the Emperor’s own inner sanctum. Both were gene-locked, and could never be activated without the original owners’ genetic imprints on the reactive palm grips along both blades’ hafts. Argel Tal had broken that technological law, though he’d never shared how.
..
The first weapon was a guardian spear, with an ornate boltgun forming the tip, bonded to an underslung power blade.
..
The second was a cousin to the spear – a two-handed sword forged in the same fires as Shahin-i Tarazu, and shaped by the same hands.
Page 47-48
The World Eaters have a peculiar relationship with their Primarch. In some ways the same as Curze has with the Night Lords. Whereas the Night Lords have a love for their Primarch that Curze cannot return (seeing them as symbols of corruption and failure), Angron and his World Eaters seem to share a mutual love/hate relationship. They know he's 'broken', he's a disgrace, but he is also their primarch and they are loyal to him - so much so they will emulate his 'metal parasite' as it is often described, in hopes of becoming closer with him. But they do not treat him respectfully, and Angron's callous disregard for the World Eaters is reflected in the Legion at large.+A primarch should be inspiring. Our genetics should react at the mere sight of them. Think of the moments you laid eyes on Horus, Dorn, or Magnus. I’ve seen Sanguinius and Russ with my own eyes, as well. Close enough to touch their armour. Think of when you stand before Lorgar: the awe and reverence that beats through your blood. The feeling of our genetic coding reacting to the pinnacle of the human process. I’ve never felt that instinctive respect for Angron, Khârn. Not once. He is a broken thing. Devastating, unrivalled in war, but broken.+
..
+You feel it,+ Argel Tal said. +You feel it, too.+
In psychic silence, Khârn confessed something he’d never said outside his Legion.
Yes, we feel the same. The World Eaters, each and every one of us, knows what you know.
Argel Tal’s voice was laced with cold, seething anger. +Why do you tolerate it?+
..
It’s our shame to bear before the other Legions, brother. Angron was broken long before he ever reached us. Why do you think we let him beat the Nails into our heads? We hoped that by breaking ourselves on the same anvil, we’d finally feel unity with our father.
...
+It didn’t work?+
..
"No," he muttered, as much to himself as to the distant Word Bearer. "It didn’t."
Other Space Marines seem to notice the difference, as they don't respect Angron either the way other Primarchs earn it.
Page 50
Space Marine vision/detection omdes.Khârn’s retinal display responded to his irritation, auto-cycling through vision filters. Thermal sight was a worthless smear of migraine colours when half the city was aflame. Tracking by echolocation auspex was unreliable with any atmospheric interference, and the dense clouds of particulate coupled with burning buildings all around most definitely counted as suboptimal conditions.
Page 52
Helmet has hololithic displays for communications as well as secondary displays for inloaded datafeed info, such as orbital visual feeds.Her image pulsed into being, just her head and shoulders, in a crackling, distorted hololithic window to the right of his targeting array. As usual, her long hair was bound back in a ponytail to keep it from her face. Her features were in profile, with the imagifier attached to the side of her command throne.
..
"Give me the orbitals, flag-captain."
..
Secondary image windows bloomed into being on both sides of his flickering retinal display. Each one showed the city from above, blanketed in clouds of choking smoke.
Page 53
Comment on Maximus pattern Space Marine armour and its sensory capabilities - they can provide detailed histroical info on the construction of the Rhino (origin) as well as the composition and properties of its materials (to a significant degree of accuracy.)His retinal display locked onto it, spilling out a screed of data he didn’t need to see. Maximus-pattern armour was a technological marvel, but the autosenses took a great deal of tuning to meet a warrior’s personal preferences. Khârn usually ignored most of what his armour tried to tell him. As if he cared what forge world had churned out any particular Rhino chassis. As if he cared about the density of the alloys making up its hull, and how they differed by point-one per cent from others.
Pgae 54
Legion Rhinos have scanners.The Rhino was motionless, its engine silent, but the scanners might still be operational.
Page 55-56
Speaking to a special relationship with Angron. The reasons of which we can speculate on but I imagine we'll learn later.The real reason was simple enough: they’d annoyed Lotara Sarrin, therefore they’d annoyed Angron. The primarch had ignored them until the moment he heard Lotara’s first complaint. They were banished back to Terra the next day.
...
The only citation she actually cared about was noted in the following terms: ‘Awarded a unique distinction by the XII Legion for notable courage in the compliance of the worlds formerly claimed by the Ashul Stellar Principality.’
She wore that commendation, loud and proud. The Blood Hand, a red handprint across the chest of her crisp white uniform..
Page 57
Differences between orbital and void combat. One might imaigne this could explain inconsistencies in starship combat, as some battles are fought in close to planets or other celestial bodies (or similar objects) whilst others are fought in the void. That can affect weapons ranges, starship velocities, how ships manuever, etc. Closer to the planet one is, it is likely that manuevers are quicker/sharper, ranges shorter, and velocities lower, compared with void engagements (such as one fleet accelerating to engage another, say from a planet being defended and a warp emeergence point.)Orbital wars were their own beasts, with their own methods and moments of madness. A war above a world tended to play out in much closer quarters than many stately, oddly-placid void engagements. Fighting it out in high orbit meant getting in your foe’s face, and that suited Lotara just fine. She was used to it. The World Eaters liked to board their enemies’ ships, and that almost always meant coming in close, no matter where the Conqueror fought.
Page 64
Capabilities of the Furious Abyss classes. Given that they are both matching up to the orbital defenses of Armatura, which is stated to be as important as Calth or Macragge, it suggests that at least both together are as good or better (and tougher) than Calth's orbital grid, and they can stand up to that kind of fire for at least an hour, including at least one ramming action to breach.Mostly, he watched the Blessed Lady and her twin sister, the Trisagion, making a mockery of Armatura’s orbital arrays, dismantling one of the best-defended worlds in the Imperium with barrage after barrage from their howling, flashing weapon decks.
...
The ships’ size and scale rendered all countermeasures obsolete. For the first hour, nothing could punch through their shields. Nothing even managed to scrape their skin. It took the combined firepower of a battle-station, two orbital defence platforms and a suicidal ramming from the Imperial warship Steel Sky to finally burst the Blessed Lady’s shields. She sailed on, oblivious to the thousands dying within one of the flaming monasteries on her back, for their agonies made no difference at all to a crew of half a million.
Also each has a crew of half a million.
Page 71
Three shots off (or so) in an instant, incinerating 3 troopers. IF we figure 3rd degree burns at least 500-1000 kj per human in that instnat (single digit MW), possibly hundreds or even thousands of megawatts sustained if its actual cremation. Given Angron is doing this in between a dual with an Ultramarine (as we note he turns back to defend a swing) it could even be a fraction of a second.Khârn turned, releasing the charge from his shaking plasma pistol. Bolts of corrosive fusion-fire splashed against the three uniformed humans scrambling towards him, incinerating them where they stood. He spun back in time to catch the Evocatus’s descending blade..
Page 76
Communion, a psychic gestalt of the (remaining) World Eater Librarians. It eems they have to do this to gain enough power to reach into Angron's mind, the combination of being a Primarch and having the Butcher's Nails archeotech make entering it difficult and hazardous (as many Librarians have died in doing this.) They apparently have to do this because his implants ar ekilling him (an important part of this story.)"Who are you?"
The last nineteen still alive. I am the Communion. The only one who can reach you.
He tried to wipe his eyes clean of the clinging blood. It did little but smear it across his face.
..
I am counteracting the machine in your skull, by altering the chemicals flowing through your brain. I cannot maintain it for long, not with only nineteen of us left. Your mind is too different from baseline humanity. It resists any interference.
..
I cannot. I do not exist on this plane of being. I am the gestalt of nineteen psychic minds, nothing more. Nineteen minds separated by hundreds of kilometres, as the Legion marches to war across this world.
Page 76-77
A glimpse into Angron's mind, which explains perhaps why he is such a bloodthirsty berserker. And it seems we can blame much of it on Big E and his decision to snatch Angron away from his 'home world'. Angron always resented him for it, even as he served the Imperium and Emperor loyally (another 'love/hate' relationship there.) Angron seems to view it almost as a sort of rebirth or maybe more accurately schizophrenia given his implied 'broken-ness'. He lives in the past, longing for that 'last stand' with those people he had brotherhood and respect for.. not serving at the head of a Legion he can form no bonds with (which is ironic, as 'brotherhood' seemed to be a key trait of the War Hounds before Angron came along. A broken Primarch that fractured his Legion.)He remembered standing in the dark, while his brothers and sisters died.
He remembered standing in the dark, while his brothers and sisters died, because he wasn’t there to fight with th–
..
He remembered being blinded by his father’s light. He remembered refusing to abandon his brothers and sisters, beneath a blue sky at high-sun, far from the city of Desh’ea. He remembered the mechanical thunder of absolute betrayal, when he was stolen from the death he’d so richly earned.
He remembered the cold moment of truth as he stood in the dark, his hurting eyes healing, that every day he breathed was an unwanted gift. He was walking another man’s destiny now. His destiny was to be with the men and women who needed him, who called for him, who followed him into the mountains and died without him. A destiny denied.
He was Angron of Desh’ea. After that, nothing mattered. He’d listened to the others that begged him, that needed it all to matter. He’d played their games, living out another man’s life. He’d led his fleets, he’d embraced his sons, he’d told himself that blood was thicker than water, and the Eaters of Worlds were the army he wanted and the horde he deserved. He’d sustained himself on lies, letting none see how he starved.
And he served in his cold-hearted father’s empire, enduring the silent sneers of brothers he despised.
Yes, Angron. Angron the Conqueror. The Butcher. The Red Angel. All the things they’d made him into, after stealing his destiny as…
That love/hate relationship with the Emperor, and his denied 'destiny', I suspect, shape much of his actions in the Heresy, and the way he interacts with his own subordinates (Why Lotara, for example, seems to earn high regard from him.)
Page 81
Lorgar TK's cna protect him agianst gunfire, and allows him to bring down a 120+ ton Thunderhawk gunship.Lorgar’s ridged boots crunched down on the rubble, grinding the rocks to pebbles and dust. Sniper fire lanced the air at once, flaring with frustrated light as it impacted against the psychokinetic shield shimmering around the primarch’s armour.
..
As the Thunderhawk banked away, Lorgar raised his hands towards it, fingers curling into claws. He gripped it, holding it in the air.
And he pulled.
The gunship’s engines coughed black filth and shuddered in the sky. Lorgar pulled again, a prophet clawing wisdom from the heavens. The gunship fell, smashing into the broken avenue with an ear-aching crash of tormented metal, engines aflame, hull mangled.
Page 88-89
Kharn's thoughts and comments on the nature of warfare in the 31st millenium. True in alot of ways, although I feel it reflects more the 'propoganda' we get from the codexes and artwork, rather than an absolute reflection of real life. Its how Kharn views warfare, and how he sees it as ideal, but it doesn't reflect others. Lotara, for example, considers the assault of armatura a waste and that bombardment would have served better. But Angrons' thrist for blood and close combat drove the combat, and so they had to go the hard route.Battle was a matter of endurance, the passing of time marked only by his own aching muscles and breathlessness. Front-line warfare – from the warbands of Ancient Terra to the grinding of vast hordes in the Great Crusade – was a war against the self. Skill meant nothing, while brotherhood and endurance meant everything. Every warrior in the 31st millennium who picked up a rifle, pistol or blade was duelling against their own reserves of courage, strength and endurance. They were duelling against their own brothers’ and sisters’ courage; their capacity to stand and hold the line.
After thirty thousand years, warfare had come full circle.
The sheer scale of humanity’s conflicts disregarded the corrupt reliance on automation as seen in the Dark Age of Technology. Mankind was back down to swords beating against shields and men entrenched with their rifles, where the gods of myth were Titan war machines and Baneblade tanks.
..
The true strength of the Emperor’s Space Marines was in their genetic coding. Not their strength, mighty though it was; not their discipline, for many lacked that virtue almost entirely; not in the armoured fist of their massed armour battalions, which in truth could be crewed by lesser men with little difference.
No, their strength was a testament to the Emperor’s shrewd foresight for conflict, for he made warriors that could endure more than any other mortal. Secondary organs compensated when primary hearts and lungs grew tired. Wounds that would leave a man or woman stunned or crippled scarcely slowed a legionary at all. They were children harvested from a natural life, grown purely into creatures that were able to tolerate pain and damage beyond measure, and still keep going.
The Emperor, for all his supposed faults, understood war had come full circle. In his Imperial wisdom, he’d bred soldiers to win those ancient wars that would be fought again in the future.
That said, certain prejudices likely remain true. The distrust of artificial intelligence and robotics ('automation' I take it, since we know they can automate the fuck out of stuff with machine spirits and serviotrs.) Its also quite likely that the Emperor did intend 'endurance' to be a key aspect of the Astartes, as so many of their implants are geared towards that - greater endurance to fight, run, greater resilience to injury, the ability to survive and thrive in adverse conditions, without extreme food or bater, etc.
Kharn also comments that he loves the feeling of being warriors, where courage and endurance met the madness of warfare, and enjoying the brotherhood of war, and because he was made for it. Ironic, considering he is the one who breaks the World Eaters legion ultimately.
Page 90
Lorgar trying to dig through 200 metres or so of rock to save Angron, casually throwing aside entire squads of power armoured ultramarines hard enough to kill them (10-100+gees probably at least for 'fatal')Khârn saw Lorgar’s silhouette in the dust, hurling great rocks and slabs of fallen architecture aside with telekinetic fury. The primarch was digging deep, well below street level, leaving the air tense with a pall of psychic resonance sharp enough to breed migraines and toothaches among those nearby. Any Ultramarine descending into the hole died without Lorgar even sparing a glance; mirage-waves of kinetic pressure slammed into whole squads, hurling them away to die against the rocks.
Page 91
More of Lorgar's TK feat If we asusme it is literally the dimensions of a Rhino it would be around 250 tons. If we figure its ~7 m in diamter (Slightly longer than the Rhino's lenght) we might get up to 800 tons. We dont know how fast he hurls it, but its still an impressive feat of TK all told.Lorgar, his gauntlets rimed with psychic hoarfrost, lifted a chunk of broken masonry the size of a Rhino transport and hurled it across the avenue. Such was its speed that dust-waves parted in its wake. With the majestic toll of a ringing bell, it collided with the Titan’s armoured wolf-head cockpit, flattening the crew chamber and sending the Titan slowly, so slowly, toppling onto its side.
Page 93
Size of Vulcan megabolter fire, ejecting shells in their hundreds in a presumably short period of time. Gives an idea of megabolter calibre in this case.. if we figure 'size' means length and diameter, they are maybe a foot, foot and a half long, and perhaps 4-5 inches in diamter, implying a 100-120mm 'caliber' equivlaent. It isn't improbable for them to be equal to 100-120mm cannon shells though. Figure a 8-12 kg shell at 900-1500 m/s you could get 3-13.5 MJ per shell. With scores or hundreds of such shots a second you get hundreds or thousands of MJ in terms of KE.Another of the iron beasts bathed a nearby building in a spray of explosive vulcan fire, chewing through the stone to dice the legionaries within. Spent shells the size of a man’s arm rained onto the road: hundreds of them in a clattering fall, spilling across the stree
page 93
Secondary, anti-infantry weapons mounted on a warhound's chin.Secondary weapon mounts, good for little more than spitting at light infantry, chattered from its chin.
Page 94-95
Lorgar hit by plasma blastgun, surviving by kineshield. If we assume at least a few metres around him further, say 5-10 cm deep that would be around 4-9 tons of rock melted 9-16 GJ or so at least by the ground melting. If we figure multiple word bearers were cremated/melted (figure 300 kg of armour at least, probably more that would be hundreds of MJ at least.The Warhound’s heels locked tight as it fired, and a second sun was born at Valika.
Imperial plasma technology combined elemental gases to form the fire that licked across the skin of stars. In ancient ages, the process was better known as fusion – the ionising of hydrogen at a hundred million degrees – to recreate the heartbeat of a sun through human ingenuity. Cooking the plasma was half of the ritual. ‘Unleashment’ was the rest. Among the hallowed halls of the Legio Lysanda and the various Collegia Titanica, unleashment of their god-machines’ plasma weaponry came with a wealth of prayers, invocations, benedictions, and the burning of a specific scent of incense.
The Warhound fired, its comet-tailed bolt of raw plasma contained within an engineered magnetic field to prevent the projectile’s dissipation from the ionised atoms flying apart. Venting began at once, ghosts of coolant steam slashing from the relief ports along the Titan’s weaponised arm.
The unleashment incinerated the dust, burning the air clear, and splashed a sun’s core into the crater for the fraction of a second. The World Eaters caught at the blast’s edges dissolved into bones and armour shards spilling through the air, eroding to powder, and then to nothingness.
..
The air rippled with the force of his focus, and the kine-shield he kept raised with his outstretched hand. The ground by his boots, in a spread of several metres, was unharmed rock. Everything else was burned into sludged, black glass.
Page 95-97
Lorgar (barely) survives a second plasma burst.Ardentor fired again.
The discharge sent the Titan rocking back two steps, its splayed claw-feet crunching into the avenue to avoid falling. In the wake of its release, the weaponised arm hissed steam from its coolant vanes, like a forged blade quenched in water.
..
The primarch of the Word Bearers had fallen. His armour, once red and engraved with scripture, was an ashen husk of charred plate. Cracked and weeping skin showed around the patchwork spread of bleeding burns. Not a patch of skin was left untouched. He didn’t rise from his knees. He didn’t lift his head. He did nothing at all.
Page 97
Angron (temporarily) holds back the mass of a warhound titan (or at least the strenght of one of its feet).He turned, raising his arms, and took a god-machine’s weight on his shoulders.
Every muscle in his body locked tighter than the iron trying to crush him. Drool stringed through his metal teeth, skinned knuckles white as he defied the will of a Titan. He gave a bear’s roar as the foot lowered another half-metre. Sinews crackled in his shoulders. His broken boots skidded back on the patch of unglassed rock; something cracked in his spine, something else cracked in his left knee. The compression of his bones sounded like twigs breaking underfoot, which was a vivid burst of imagination he didn’t appreciate.
Page 102-103
World Eaters Warhound of Legio Audax equipped with some sort of EM propelled harpoon, which can EM seal inside the target. No way to calc it, except it has enough force to rock said Warhound, and doesnt knock the launching one over."It’s armed with… I can’t even tell what that is. Something with magnetic accelerators, cycling up to charge. "
..
Magnetic coils in the Warhound’s arm launched the spear, propelling it into the crater and sinking it home in Ardentor’s torso with a brutal crack of annihilated metal. Solostine gave a slow smile as he watched the Lysanda engine jerk with the impact.
..
" Magnetic bindings empowered."
Ardentor rocked back and forth, its shoulder and cockpit holed through. The great impaling spear came active, magnetically sealing inside the lethal wound.
Page 107
Indications of Astartes physical endurance.. For a few moments, he was content to just breathe, surrendering to the aches that populated his body after hours of remorseless fighting. A legionary could fight for days – weeks if he had to – but a capacity to endure misery didn’t offer complete immunity to mortal limitations.
Page 107-108
Space Marines can endure bleeding for hours that would kill a human in minutes.They also nagged him about the fact that his wound had broken open again, despite his body’s haemosealant capabilities. It was clotting as normal, to prevent blood loss, but kept re-tearing when he moved. He’d been bleeding on and off for over two hours. A human would have been dead in minutes.
PAge 115-116
an implied 7 minutes for a heavy cruiser to reach a distance to break into the warp. Its unlikely this is as far as an AU - the accelerations would be Sabbat Martyr ludicrous. Not impossible mind, just ludicrous. If we go with tens of millions of km implied in Sons of Fenris and Eye of Terror, its a bit better, but not much, and ship velocities on the order of tens or hundreds of thousands of km/s."The Ultramarines vessel Praetorian Trust has powered up in the wreckage, ma’am."
..
"They’re running."
..
"Chase at once. Order all other vessels to hold back, this one’s ours."
..
"They’ll be free to break into the warp in seven minutes."
"They’re sluggish and plasma-cold from hiding in silent running," she replied. "We’ll catch them before their engines are even warm."
"Four minutes, ma’am, if they wish to risk navigational flux from the debris field."
Lotara was staring now, her eyes bright. The Conqueror shook as it breathed again, running hot and hard. "We’ll have them in three minutes, Ivar. Am I ever wrong?"
So what about 2.3 million km from Savage Scars? 2670 gees, which is better, and ~5500 km/s average velocity.
And if it were 120,000-150,000 km or so (also known as 'insane suicidal ork emergence range) from Rynn's World? 138-174 gees, and 286-357 km/s.
Overall, take your pick
And even more amusingly, the Conqueror has similar acceleration.Page 116-117
Implication that heavy cruiser's prow lances would impart considerable recoil (and drain considerable power) from ship's engines to risk its escape. If we figure at least half a gee to a gee of accel imparted by lances (5-10 m/s compared to 2-3 gees top sustained.) going by FFG accels rates and 30-40 megatons (again FFG stats) that is 1.5e11 to 4e11 kg*m/s that would be 10-11 GT per salvo to 28-30 gigatons per salvo estimated. If we go by percentage of thrust (assume 1000-2000 km/s exhaust velocity) and representing between 10-30% of max ship power, it would be 15 megatons per salvo at least, whilst at the other end it would be 172 megatons per salvo. Overall it implies at least megaton-gigaton range firepower.. Impact flares danced across both vessels’ void shields as they ploughed through the junk field. Praetorian Truth fired her lances once, risking the threat of inertial drift and power drain by emitting a barrage of cutting beams to carve through the hull of a dead cruiser turning in space before them. They bisected the hulk, as neatly as any surgeon would incise flesh, and sailed clean through the dead ship’s severed halves.
Page 117
The conqueror's class.The Gloriana-pattern Conqueror, outweighing the Praetorian Truth by several classes, spat an indifferent lob of lance fire after its prey. Everything went calculatedly wide.
Page 120-121
Librarians could not handle the Butcher's Nails. Given that self control is important to tapping the Warp safely, this is hardly surprising. Losing control of your emotions (much less sanity) to become a berserker is rather counter-productive to psychic powers.Librarians gifted with the Nails lost the ability to control their psychic talents. One of them, a warrior attached to the 100th Company, had been lost to the Nails in his very first battle after implantation, and immolated three squads when he couldn’t cease projecting witch-lightning from his eyes. Several others had just… burst. They combusted in flaming gore.
..
But they kept dying. They died in battle, in storms of fire or lightning, or – in several incidents – by pulsing hateful pain through the Nails of nearby warriors and forcing their own kindred to suffer cerebrovascular blockages. Entire squads died of brain haemorrhages and strokes at their Codiciers’ boots.
..
Soon enough, the last Librarians were those who’d not yet received Nails in a Legion now overcome by them. They eked out an isolated existence in the near-empty halls of their Librarius aboard the Conqueror.
One by one they, too, began to die.
..
A hundred remained. Then fifty. Then twenty.
This means there were far more than 100 Libarirans at the beginning, far more than that. Gives a good lower limit on their numbers, at least for this Legion.,
Page 122
'thousands' of vessels in low orbit, still causing atmospheric distrubances by their reentry/exits and proximity (implied low hundreds of km for low orbit there.) In this context 'vessels' probably includes dropships and the like rathr than escorts/capital ships or transports.Rain, doubtless inspired by the atmospheric disturbance of thousands of vessels in low orbit and making planetfall runs to disgorge troops, lashed down in a tidal pour.
Still even with 'dozens' of ships thats scores or hundreds of subsidiary craft for every vessel easily, and given the sizes of 40K attack craft/drop craft that can be still quite impressive.
Page 122-123
Engagement ranges. And the Ultramarines ship is a heavy cruiser to the World Eaters battleship.Away from Armatura, away from the tight-packed iron-sky chaos of two warring fleets, the engagement was much more traditional, at a range of thousands of kilometres. Even so, the Conqueror had been closing fast, and the Praetorian Truth was now eating up the distance by coming straight at its pursuer.
..
The Truth was a heavy cruiser, but her captain and crew demanded the best from her.
PAge 129
Boarding shields.He watched the gold and blue Evocati vanguard brace their shields, clashing their edges together, forming an unbreakable wall of overlapping cobalt. Full-body boarding shields. These warriors were arrayed for tight-knit boarding actions, where protection mattered more than anything else.
Page 134
Horus vs Lorgar, and their relation to Big E. Note again that Big E's features are indistinct.Of all the primarchs, Lorgar’s face most closely resembled a stable composite of their father’s shifting features, but Horus was an avatar of an idealised version of the Emperor, perfected, iconic and completely devoid of the concerns of human existence.
Page 134-135
We learned of this previously (Fear to Tread or Know no Fear, I forget which prior novel really) and it still allows realtime communication across tens of thousands of LY. If Horus is still at Isstvan, this probably reinforces (approximately my earlier estimate for distance, at least on the lower end.The Word Bearer smiled – he smiled in his meditation chamber aboard the Lex above Armatura, and he smiled halfway across the galaxy – physically present in the former, a soul incarnated in the latter.
..
Horus gestured to the book on the plinth. "I confess, I didn’t expect this to work. To speak a man’s name and have him appear before you? It reeks of black magic. The warp-flasks I can understand, but–"
"Black magic," Lorgar smiled.
Page 135
Again Lorgar (barely) survived an encounter with a Warhound's plasma gun. If he wasn't a sorcerer, I suspect he wouldn't have at all."Plasma. A Warhound’s plasma blastgun. Twice."
Horus winced, an awed exhalation escaping his lips. "You’re lucky to be merely mutilated."
Page 137
I dont quite remember what Lorgar was doing when Isstvan went up, but thousands of systems being 'detected' when the planet died is pretty fast transmisson speed. It also implies botht eh scope of influence (at least for minimal effects) and the amount of effort needed to detect such widescale death/cause even temporary blackouts of the AStronomican. Given that war is perhaps even more widespread and desturctive in the 41st millenium, you hve to wonder if this fucks over warp travel for the Imperium even more since devastation fo even greater scales has been known to occur since the Heresy."Think back to Isstvan III, Horus. I heard that planet die, even thousands of systems away. Surely you spoke with your astropathic choirs, or the fleet’s Navigators. That world’s death-scream was louder, brighter, harsher than even the Astronomican."
..
"Pain and terror reflected from the material realm into the warp. The agonies of billions upon billions of mortals at the moment of death, poisoning the warp’s song itself. You changed the tune, made the whole melody miss a note."
Page 146
Half the Imperium agianst Horus. That doesnt mean the other half allies with him, but its at least in a state of Chaos. Also less than a year to travel from Isstvan to Ultramar, but more than half a year. so 6 months to travel 60-100 thousand LY is 120-200,000c tops, at least in a straight line.They were at war with half the Imperium. They were openly at war with the Emperor now, and they had been for over a year. Most of the time seemed to have been spent in warp transit, descending on unsuspecting worlds still blind to the unfolding war and massacring their populations wholesale.
Page 164-165
Meeting between Russ and Angron. In alot of ways this is a comparison/contrast scene, as both are, in a sense, executioners, but they're also quite unlike, the World EaterS (formerly the War Hounds) and the Space wolves (NO WOLVES ON FENRIS.) The interesting thing for me, about the passage, is that both Primarchs speak truth. The Great Crusade is waged for ideals - order vs Chaos even if most don't realize the truth of the Emperor's agenda (to cleanse Chaos from the galaxy and protect humanity.) And yet, the manner in which that war is waged is pretty much as Angron describes it. I've commented at length in the past on what a joke the 'Imperial Truth' is, and compliance is little more than conquest 'join us or be made to join us.' So Angron's comments about slavery and freedom aren't that massive a distortion."but the galaxy will not be brought to heel by crude philosophy. Your ideals are meaningless."
"Ideals are what we fight for, brother." There was something colder in Russ’s tone, then.
..
"Such pretty lies! We fight for the same reasons men have always fought: for land, for resources, for wealth and for bodies to feed into the grinders of industry. We fight to silence anyone that dares draw breath and whisper a different opinion from ours. We fight because the Emperor wants every world in his hands. All he knows is slavery, painted in the inoffensive cloak of compliance. The very notion of freedom is a horror to him."
...
"Do we give choices to those we slaughter? A true choice? Or do we broadcast that they must throw their weapons into the fires of peace and bow down, faces pushed into the mud like beggars, thanking us for the culture we force upon them? We offer them compliance or we offer them death. How am I a traitor, wolfling? I fight as you fight, as loyal as you are. I do the tyrant’s bidding."
"We offer them freedom." Russ spoke through clenched teeth, the moon bright in his eyes. "You are mutilating your own sons and stealing their minds – now you preach of the Emperor’s tyranny? Are you lost so far in your delusions?"
...
"You are free, Leman Russ of Fenris, because your freedom matches the Emperor’s will. For each time I wage war against worlds that threaten the Imperium’s advance, there comes another time when I am told to conquer peaceful worlds that wish only to be left alone. I am told to destroy whole civilisations and call it liberation. I am told to demand millions of men and women from these new worlds, to make them take up arms in the Emperor’s hordes, and I am told to call this a tithe, or recruitment, because we are too scared of the truth. We refuse to call it slavery."
I have to say this novel does a good job of portraying all the Primarchs and Legions involved. I like Lorgar and Argen Tal more than in First Heretic (although I still consider Lorgar an ass and the Word Bearers assholes as a whole. Argen Tal is a tragic figure.) Angron is also an asshole, but he's a peculiar sort of asshole - as much a victim of circumstance as anyone in the series. ADB seems to have a gift for taking Chaos Marine Legions and crafting a tragedy around them, especially the ones I would normally not care for. The Night Lords, World Eaters, etc.
I also like ADB's depiction of Russ best. SEems to be a balance of the 'Will King' version and Abnett's.
Page 174
Space Marine Dreadnought half-slagged by Meltagun (or perhaps multimelta.) If we figure 1-2 tonnes and iron composition 1-3 gigajoules at least.Neras was down and twice as dead, the entire left side of his ironform melted to waxy slag by a vicious shot from a vape-gun.
Page 175
Contemptor Dreadnought atomantic shielding bursts after prolonged period of fire from 4-6 bolters (I think) and at least one plasma weapon.Bolt shells burst against his atomantic shield. A roiling bolt of plasma splashed over it, briefly lighting the energy screen with oily, refracted luminescence, only to dissipate into painless steam.
..
His shield burst at point-blank range. It died with a final, gasping surge, sending worms of discharging electricity crawling across the power pack mounted on his back.
Page 185
Angron doens't seem good at endearing himself to his men. Not unlike The Night Lords."Just give me the Peace." The warrior sank back to the ground. "Seventy years of serving the Butcher and his Nails is long enough."
Khârn wished he’d not heard those words. Discomfort danced its tingling way down his backbone.
..
"Any last words?"
"Aye. Piss on Angron’s grave when he finally lies dead."
Khârn wished he’d not heard those words, either.
Page 193
Laspistol shot has enough recoil (explosive vaporization) to knock back Space Marine head. assuming 10-15 kg or so and it recoiled at 10-20 cm/s is between 1-3 kg*m/s. Assuming 1500 m/s 'exhaust' velocity (speed of sound in water. thats 750-2250 J of KE for the shot. That would be .67 and 2 grams vaporized is 1500-5000 J to 'vaporize.Very calmly, Lotara Sarrin drew her laspistol, took aim, and shot a World Eaters captain in the face.
His head snapped back from the las-beam’s impact.
Page 193-194
Lbirarian stops barrage from World Eaters bodyguard (3-4 bolters at least?)She barely had time to blink before the bolts detonated in the air not six metres from her face, spraying her with burning, stinging shrapnel.
..
The Triarii captain turned his grim-faced helm towards the Codicier,..
Page 194
If they're a head and a half taller.. 30-40 cm maybe. Depending on what we figure the Spce Marines to be height wise (2.13-2.5 m roughly,) you might figure 1.7-1.8 m at least, to perhaps a bit over two metres at the more generous end. Not quite 'Ghosts' level of insane tall, but damn tall considering its a woman all the same.The other Triarii pulled steel, as another three World Eaters came to stand by Lotara. She looked up at them, each of them a full head and a half taller than her.
Page 197
Time since the events of KNF.Calth was no more than a week ago. Good. Very good.
Page 203
Lorgar explaining the warp. What I like most about it is the manner in which he describes it is not 'arbitrary.' Too many people assume just because 40K has a magic-analogue in the Warp (or rather the concept of magic borrowed from WHF and translated vaguely to 'psychic' powers) and that is true. Warp - and magic - need not be arbitrary just because it is magic. It may obey its own laws and principles, but they are - in that way - as fundamental and consistent as what science and reality is. Those 'laws' can be complex and a bit odd (such as words, symbols, beliefs, and thoughts all impacting the warp) but it is still internally consistent and has an impact in its interactions with realspace. Its not a no limits fallacy, or a 'hax'."We are dealing with the metaphysics that underpin reality – the very foundations of creation – not the capering of fools conjuring coins from behind children’s ears."
...
"That, my brother, is what I mean. Reality obeys certain laws. Gravity. Electromagnetism. The nuclear forces. Cause and effect. If I breathe in, my body converts air into life, unless I am too weak or diseased for the process to continue. There are millions of laws that are unknown to all but the most enlightened. Magnus knows many more than even I, but I have learned enough. It is not magic" He fairly sneered the word. "It is manipulation of the infinite potential that is the source of all realities. A blending of components from the universe of flesh and blood and the divine realm of pure aether and emotion."
..
"Some words and sounds shake the foundations of reality. For example, the concept and sound of a hundred and one blind men choking and gasping as they all drown at the same time serves as the name of a certain daemonic princeling. Compressing that noise and its meaning into a single sound can be enough to draw that entity’s attention and render it easier to summon."
Page 205
sounds like Erebus fucked up royally. Also if he did flee into the Maelstrom and a week has passed and he's fled into the maelstrom (some 10-20K LY) It would imply a warp transit speed of hundreds of htousands of c easily (half a million to a million c, in fact.) Although its possible Lorgar 'only' means he's travelling towards the Maelstrom. Heck even if its a month or so we're still talking a good 100-200 thousand times the speed of light." I’ve been worried that you’d failed to kill my brother, lost half the fleet I granted you to an Ultramarines counter-attack, and abandoned tens of thousands of my sons and mortal servants on Calth’s irradiated surface while you fled into the Maelstrom."
