Dawn of War series analysis thread

[Connor MacLeod]

Yes this is for the first DOW novel by Goto. It's actually the second Goto novel I've covered (The first being Salvation, a necromunda novel) but it is the first of his 40K work I covered. Not his worst, and not really what one can call his best.. it is fairly decent. I've known alot of people to rage about some of the details he got wrong, and he does make mistakes - but then again so do many authors - even the 'good' authors will change around facts to suit their purposes (this includes Abnett, McNeill, etc.) so I can hardly blame Goto for it just because his writing is comparatively worse than the Ghosts or Ultramarines. It's a small novel, so it will be in two parts. This is the first.

Also has the infamous Cyrene "crust melting" calcs, which no doubt contribute to my continued perception as some evil Sithlike manipulator trying to corrupt the purity of the almighty vs Debates with high numbers wankery

Contrast this to Eisenhorn, and decide for yourself how Goto is.


Page 10

Kaerial, we are not alone on this planet. Look to the blind-side of the ascent. Macha's thoughts wove their way through the tortuous eddies of psychic energy that swirled around the mountain, and she guided them home -into the soul of Kaerial, the wraithguard commander who was holding the rear line of defences at the bottom of the slope.
Understood, farseer, came the simple reply, and the wraithguard loped off in search of prey. Towering over the battlefield in their psycho-plastic armour, the wraithguard were un-living warriors: artificial constructs housing the spirit stone of once mighty eldar warriors, giving their eternal souls the chance to wreak vengeance on those who slew them.

Wraithguard.

Page 10

Without a moment of hesitation, he clicked the trig­ger of his shuriken catapult, loosing a hail of tiny projectiles into the bank of advancing Chaos cultists, felling four or five at once.

shuriken fire manages to take out multiple targets.

Page 12

.. chanting it out in tones both too high and too low for human ears to make out.

Eldar auditory and vocal capabilities would seem to be more diverse than human voices/ears. We know from other sources as well they tend to add in other nuances and compleixties of a psychic and other nature.

Page 12

From around the perimeter of his elongated helmet spat tiny toxic shards, peppering the faces and necks of cultists who strayed too close, melting them from within - the mandiblaster helmet, still edged in deep red,, was all that Jaerielle had kept from his time as an Aspect Warrior of the Striking Scorpions. It was a mark of unusual and great honour to be permitted to keep it, and he was glad of it now.

This seems to be a different form of mandiblaster than the game fluff typically describes (metal needles that are vaporized via laser into a plasmatic state.)


Page 13

She had been a Howling Banshee once, and her elaborate mask was still fitted with the sonic amplifiers employed by Aspect Warriors of that temple. Like her brother, she had served her Aspect with such devotion that the Exarch had made her a gift of the mask when she left the temple, hopeful that one day she would return.

Aspect mask given as a gift? I think that's technically unheard of (and from what I uinderstand violates canon) but its not impossible I would think.


Page 13

Frqual was a different story. A former Fire Dragon, he was a blur of motion, spililng great jets of fire from his flamer and incinerating swathes of cultists with rapid bursts from his fusion gun. Melta bombs sprayed out from unseen holsters around his legs, scattering into the oncoming horde and blasting great craters out of the mountain itself.

fusion gun "incinerating" cultists. Not sure if its cremating or burning severely.. but somewhere in the megajoule to gigajoule range, over a short period of time figure. I've never heard of leg mounted meltabomb launchers though.. sounds like something a swooping Hawk would carry.

Page 14

The ancient tomes in the Black Library told of the return of the dae­mon prince, and it fell to the eldar to vanquish him every three thousand years.

Ususally as I recall its about a thousand years or so.. this must be a special case.

Page 16

Their weapons flared with life, returning fire with a hail of projectiles that hissed smoothly through the air, ricocheting off the power amour of the Marines.

Wraithguard "weapons" - I assume in this context its possible for some Wraithguard to use shruiken weapons rathre than d-guns. Or maybe osme other kind of projectile weapon . They're basically heavy weapons troopers for the Eldar, more or less, so I don't see why not.

Page 16

A volley of bolter fire punched out of the line of Deathwatch Space Marines, smashing into the advancing line of wraithguard. Great chunks of psycho-plastic splintered away into the darkness, but the strange crea­tures just kept coming, as though they couldn't feel the impacts.
...
From behind him came the chatter of bolter fire and shells flashed past his head, peppering the charging wraithguard with impacts.
...

The inquisitor squeezed off a pulse of plasma that burst against the glowing gem stone on the chest of the leading wraithguard. The creature stopped short and a keening cry erupted from its mouthless head, before it suddenly broke into a run, spraying projectiles from its weapon as it charged towards the team.

- Space Marine (Deathwatch) bolter fire can penetrate and damage Eldar Wraithguard body (armor?), but it doesnt seem to do severe damage/noticably slow them down.

Wraithguard waystone/jewels are also resistant to the plasma pistol fire of an Inquisitor. This makes me wonder if the psychoplastics might have some sort of naturally-generated shielding effect.

Page 17

The axe cracked into the jewel with a metallic ring tha techoed with an incredible volume. The force weapon sputtered and parked with power as the pressure agianst the gem increased, but the stone would not break. Trythos drove the head of the axe forward with all his strength until a huge explosion threw him back from the shattered wraithguard.

The Wriathguard's waystone takes a blow from a power axe (the force weapon bit is clearly an error) and requires sustained pressure to be destroyed. Unsurprisingly, destroying the stone means the Eldar soul inside it is fucked.

Page 18

. The sword seemed to hum and glow with a life of its own, crying out for blood, wailing with doom. Its impacts resounded simultaneously in multiple dimensions, slicing into the sub­stance of the prince on both sides of the breach in the immaterium.

Wailing doom implied to be 'multi-dimensional' probably refers to the weapon doing harm both in realspace and the warp.

Page 19

If the prince were permitted to take solid form, not even the Avatar of Khaine would be able to confront it.

- its stated that the Biel-Tan Avatar of Khaine would be no match for the fully materilaised daemon prince here (but is a match for it partially materialized)

Page 19

Tendrils of energy darted out of the daemon's limbs, questing for purchase to prevent its fall from the summit, from the epicentre of the warp storm that fed its manifestation. They lashed and whipped around the mountain top, vaporising clutches of cultists and lapping at the warp-shields that burned around a group of eldar warlocks, who returned fire with jabs of their own lightning, riddling the daemonic form with javelins of blue flame.

'vaporizing' cultists implies megajoules, although how many is entirely up to how you interpret it. I'd guess probably tens or hundreds (at least partial vaporization) but like all vape calcs it will be disputed. I'll just leave it up to the individual to define the range. Either way its impressive for what is largely an incidental.instinctive reaction

Page 21

The creature seemed to slip and slide around his blade, as though it were not wholly solid. Jaerielle spun with his sword, taking clutches of clumsy cultists with each turn, but the dancing, devilish form seemed to evade his every move. It glowed with a dark light, making it shimmer in the rain-drenched night. Its finger tips leaked energy, as though it flowed through its body like blood or cascaded down its arms with the rain. With sharp flicks of its wrists, the bloodletter splattered sizzling droplets of warp energy against the eldar warriors and cut into their armour with its scything finger nails.
Great plumes of flame jetted out from Frqual, engulfing the slippery form in chemical fire. But it just laughed, bathing in the flames and lick­ing at them with its forked tongue. With a sudden movement it spat something back in the direction of Frqual. The old Fire Dragon's reflexes were the sharpest of any of the eldar in the squad, but the viscous liq­uid splashed into the face of his helmet before he could even flinch. A fraction of a second later, and Frqual was lying prone in the bloody mud, a yawing hole cut straight through his helmet where his head should have been.

Our "former" STrikeing scorpion vs Daemon.

Page 22

For a moment, Skrekrea's blade cut deeply into the white flesh of the bloodletter's gut, but then it caught as the flesh seemed to regenerate around it, leaving it stuck as a protrusion from the daemon itself. A blast of warp energy fed back along the blade and into the hilt, throwing Skrekrea from her feet and sending her sliding into the swampy earth.

Neat countermeasure.

Page 22

Again Jaerielle was ready. He let the natural arc of his sword turn him into a spin and he came round again with his blade held high, slicing perfectly through the neck of the bloodletter. For a horrible moment, nothing happened. But Skrekrea pulled herself up onto her elbows, dripping with blood and soil, and let out a banshee howl that smashed into the frozen form of the daemon-creature, blowing its severed head from its rapidly disintegrating shoulders and casting it into the ravening hordes of cultists who snatched at it like a prize.

Howling banshee attack affects bloodletter. Considering its sonic and psychic in nature, that's not terribly surprising.

Page 25

"Over many millennia, the eldar have created a weapon to slay daemons and banish the forces of Chaos from this world - that is the Wailing Doom of Biel-Tan. That is why we are here. Even the smallest fragment could be wrought into a great weapon for the Emperor's Inquisition."

Interesting idea, although ther'es no way a puritan inquisitor would do this.


Page 25

The daemon screamed as the blade sliced into its head, shattering its skull in hundreds of dimensions at once.

More multi-dimensional Wailing doom. That pretty much shoots my whole "its the warp" thing - as I recall from Eye of Terror the warp is only like eight or twelve dimensional.

Page 27-28

The Librarian vaulted across the lava flows that radiated out from the fallen avatar and rolled beneath the fire that seared out from the line of eldar warlocks who had already gathered to honour him. Streaks of blue power jetted through the air, sending up explosions around the charging Librarian. But the eldar were tired and spent, and Prothius was easily their match. His spinning force staff deflected the bursts of alien power, and sent back flares of its own, smashing into the line of stationary warlocks.

Deathwatch Librarian holding off (Weakened) warlock firepower.

Page 33

Tartarus system, 999.M41

Let's set the timeframe clearly. The main interesting thing about this is that through much of the Dawn of War novels (and the sequel) events seem to take place within a year or so - and this includes multipel traisping across the galaxy/segmentum. That's one interpretation. If it doesn't work out, then we have another case where the Imperium manages to survive (albeit briefly) into M42.

Page 33

The voices soared into an angelic chorus, filling the furthest reaches of space with silver light. It was a divine sound, ineffable in its beauty and valorous in purpose. The Astronomican pulsed with life, riddling the Imperium with the light of the Emperor, filling it with the perfect sounds of his psychic choir.

Gabriel held the voices in his head for an instant, thrilling at the touch of this sacred beacon. They filled him with cool light, flooding his soul with the promise of salvation. It was like looking into the eyes of the Emperor himself and seeing him gaze back with implacable calm.

Angelos is dreaming, but he apparently thinks he can hear/feel the Astronomican. not the first time we deal with this. Expect much mockery.


Page 35

"We have entered the Tartarus system and are preparing a trajectory for optimum orbit around the fourth planet - Tartarus itself"

- Tartarus, the target planet of the Blood Ravens Battlebarge, is the fourth planet of the Tartarus system. We don't know quite sure how close to the planet they arrived, however.


Page 35

The Blood Ravens' third company had received the distress call frrom the Tartarus Planetary Defence Force - a regiment of the Imperial Guard affectionately known a s the Tartarans - a couple of days earlier.

The message indicates here that they're under attack by a "large force of Orks" giving a rough idea of when the assault began. Note the confusion of PDF and IG. It's possible the Tartarans are garrisoning their own planet even though that would be unusual practice. (maybe they were a founding that was never recruited)

Also an implied travel time of days, although we dont know the distances involved.

Page 35-36

"It is a civilized world and semi-urbanised. There are a series of cities and one spaceport. Most of the indigenous population are focussed in the cities.'

"And what is the population, Librarian?" asked Gabriel, keen to know the details of the battle to come before throwing himself into it.

"Nearly four billion" replied Isador, wincing slightly at the thought of the probable casualties."

An outline of the planet, its category, and its population.


Page 36

"Our librarium on the Omnis Arcanum holds many records on ork battle tactics, but little on their psy­chology." Isador had spent long years studying in the legendary librarium sanatorium, housed in the Blood Ravens' Chapter Fortress, the Omnis Arcanum. It was justly famed as one of the most extensive archives in the Imperium, and the Librarians of the Blood Ravens were amongst the most knowledgeable servants of the Emperor anywhere in His realm.

- The Blood Ravens Chapter Fortress, the Omnis Arcanum, is famed as one of the most extensive archives in the Imperium, and the Librarians are described as "amongst the most knowledgeable servants of the Emperor anywhere in His realm."

Page 36-37

The massive bulk of the Litany of Fury eased its way through the detri­tus, destroying any of the wreckages large enough to cause any harm. The gun-servitors played casually with the debris field, as though they were on a training run, preparing themselves for the battle to come.

Servitor-crewed guns, with implication of a measure of sentience in the gunners.

Page 37

"Orks are certainly not at their best in space. On the ground, it is a very different story, as you well know."

- Orks, according to the Blood Ravens Librarian Isador, are not at their best in space, but are far better on the ground. This opinion varies from source to source (as Rogue Trader RPG gives them a fairly impressive reputation in orbit)

Page 37

As they spoke, the planet of Tartarus slipped onto their view screen, emerging out from behind the exploded remains of an old Onslaught attack ship that the ork fleet must have jettisoned as useless. Its jagged hull simply collapsed under the brief strafe of fire from one of the prow batteries of the Litany of Fury, leaving the field of vision clear for the first time since they entered the system.

Apparently it takes the Litany of Fury the length of the conversation to enter the system. Either they accelerate obscenly fast, or the emergence point was quite close (less than an AU.) It can't be more than a few million km, and probably more like tens of millions of km at least. I'm not even going to guess at acceleration figures, because it's possible that the ship came out of the warp at high velocity (like Sabbat Martyr) and we dont really know how long.. it could be minutes, or hours..

Page 37-38

..their fleets were almost entirely salvaged from Imperial or even Chaos vessels that were immo­bilised or weakened in the glorious Imperial crusades. They were vultures. The orks would steal the remains of an honourable space ship, ignoring the pleadings and death-throes of its machine spirit, bolt on a bristling array of heavy guns and prow batteries then plunge the hapless craft into battle.

Ork starship origins.

Page 38

Tartarus itself was no longer the pristine blue and green for which it was famed. It was not a heavily populated world, and there was a lot of agriculture. The atmosphere was usuall clear and crisp, providing a perfect view of the verdant surface from orbit. No longer. Even from space the fires that engulfed the cities could be seen burning with a dirty orange. Great sheets of flames stretched across the arable lands and the wide prairies that rolled between the settlements. Plumes of thick, black smoke billowed into the atmosphere, shutting in the heat and moisture and changing the planet's temperate climate into a stiflingly humid monsoon.

4 billion is not a "heavily populated" Imperial world, at least for a civilised world.


Page 39

It was one of the quirks of the Blood Ravens that each of their battlebarges contained its own librarium, and hence each required a team of curators to facilitate its smooth operation. The curators would also record details of each and every event that took plae on the vessel, although they would rely on the testimony of the company Librarian for details of missions that took place off ship. Hence, every barge contained the history of the company that operated it, in addition to copies of more general Imperial tomes. Whenever the battle barges rendezvoused with the Chapter fortress, copies of every file would be transferred into the central librarium sanatorium, where only the most senior Librarians and the Chapter Master himself would have acess to every detail concerning every company.

Gabriel had often reflected that his brother-librarians were rather fanatical about documentation, as though knowledge and experience were not real unless they were committed to paper. He knew that the Blood Ravens were unique amongst all the Chapters of the Emperor's Space Marines in being so studiously conscientious, and he was not sure why this was the case.

In keeping with the scholarly nature of the Blood Ravens (something Goto seems to like in his stories mor than Eldar) they have extensive libraries on their battle barges, overseen by the Librarians.

Page 41

"For the most part, it seems an unremark­able planet, captain. It was settled in the thirty-eighth millennia by a colonising mission, who subsequently established it as an agricultural centre. More recently it has seen some affluence as a trading centre, and the population has grown. "

More indication that Tartarus is not, by Imperial standards, a major or important metropolis, although it is not necesarily a trivial world.


Page 42

"The Tartarus Plnaetary Defence Force has stood guardian over the planet since its foundation - successfully seeing off various incursions by the orks. Most of the Tartarans activity, however, has been in the suppression of civil wars and uprisings, of which there have been many. Some minor Khornate cults have been recorded amongst the population at various times, but they have been efficiently suppressed. Considering the relatively small size of the population on Tartarus, a grerat deal of blood has been shed here over the centuries."

It is considered unusual for such a "small" population (HAH!) to have so much strife. We learn why much later, but it's worth noting that they don't consider this activity to be normal, as well as 4 billion being a "small" population in Imperial terms.

Page 43

The rockets punched into the side of the Leman Russ, rolling the tank onto its side with the force of the impacts. The turret of the battle cannon swung round under gravity, smashing into the ground and rupturing instantly. Meanwhile, the hull-mounted lascannon spat impotently into the air, as though sending up flares. Colonel Brom could see the hatch flip open, and a tumble of tank-crew spill out onto the rockcrete. They were on tehir feet and running before another hail of rockets puncutred the exposed underbelly of the tank. The explosion was massive as the rockets detonated in the fuel reserves and tirggered the remaining cannon shells.

Ork rockets manage to impart enough momentum to knock a Leman russ onto it's side. They utterly fail to penetrate or do damage, however, A second barrage, however, easily penetrates the underside. We don't really know the KE or mass of the rockets, but assuming it was enough momentum to move the tank at least half a meter to a metre's distance, and traveled at a velocity of at least a hundred m/s.. call it a couple megajoules at least.

Page 44-45

Streaks of las-fire lashed across the closing gap between them and the rampage of orks. Volleys of fire from heavy stubbers and plasma guns strafed through the advancing pack of greenskins. Even as one or two of the slugga boyz and grethcin collapsed to the ground, the thundering gaggle of teeth and muscles stromed over their prone bodies, trampling them into pulped death.

A barrage of grenades hissed out of the Tartaran line, arcing in tight parabolas before plungin into the throng of orks. Pockets of explosions ripped through the crowd of wailing greenskins, shredding them in clusters, sending sprays of ichor and green flesh raining down over their brethern. But the chargge continued unbroken.

At the head of the charge was a knot of massive creatures, each covered in crudely riveted plates of armour. They brandished evil-looking power claws in one hand and clunky guns in the other.
...

Eratic sputterings of gun-fire spat out from the charging orks, smashing inot the Tartaran line with crude power, lifting Guardsmen off their feet as shells punched into them. Stikkbombz flipped and spiralled through the air,d etonating into blasts of shrapnel as they hit the infanrty formation. Guardsmen fell in dozens, clutching at puncture wounds and lacerations.

Orks vs 'Guardsmen.' Interesting to see some of the Guard gear as well as Ork stuff. we also see they have Ork burnas.

Page 46 - the Tartarans also use autocannon as well as stubbers and plasma guns.

Page 48

Brom threw his officer's pistol to the ground and snatched up a fallen hellgun.

As we learn the Tartarans have storm troopers or Grenadiers.

Page 49

Sergeant Katrn was sprinting across the spaceport, flanked on both sides by members of his Armoured Fists squad - a Tartarans team usu­ally based in a Chimera transport

..


As one, they dived for the temporary cover of a gaping crater rolling into a false sense of relief and security.

Armored fist squad (or the remnants of it, plus the Sergeant) take cover in a mortar crater from Ork weapons.


Page 49

A squad of enormous, overly-muscled ogryns was pouring out of a Chimera transport and laying into the orks with their ripper guns and then using them as clubs to smash the greenskins when the range closed.

..

Striding out of one of the hangars on the far side of the spaceport came Mavo's Sentinel squadron. Sergeant Mavo took the lead, stamping down with the huge legs of the armoured bipedal walker, squashing an ork instantly, and then opening up with the nose-mounted autocannon. He was supported on both sides by Catachan-pattern Sentinels that spewed chemical fire from their heavy flamers as they stalked into the mist of the battle.

- The Tartarans have at least one squad of Ogryn with them, and at least a single Sentinel squadron (autocannons and heavy flamer equipped.) Which pretty much is the gamut of stuff displaed in Dawn of War, as I recall, short of a baneblade or the stuff in Soulstorm.

Page 50-51

A glut of activity surrounded Fartzek as his mob responded to the cries from their warboss. Four of them held him down while another strapped a large rocket to his back. They snarled and slapped at him as a mekboy riveted the fixings into his leathery skin.
When they were done, Fartzek climbed clumsily to his feet, threw a thunderous punch into the face of the mekboy, and then fired the rocket.
The ignition incinerated a gretchin that was creeping away from the mob under the cover of the flight preparations. it squealed briefly and then collapsed into a pile of ashes.

As the rocket flared and rpoeplled the Fartzek into the air, he let out a gurggling cry and the stormboyz stamped their feet into the trampled earth in response. The huge ork arced through a shallow curve, rattling his slugga as he flew over the heads of his brethren. Afer a couple of secnds he slammed into she side of one of the metal stompers, smashing his choppa into an armoured palte to ensure purchase. The human inside the machine leaned out of the cockpit, eyes wide with horror, and Fartzek cackled into his face with a malicious and mirth-filled snarl. Then, without even the slightest hesitation, he detonated the warhead on the rocket.

This is actually something of an amusing scene, in my opinion. Then again writing orks isn't too terribly hard as long as you remember the proper terminology. The suicide trooper must be a madboy of some kind though, since they usually use Gretchin. Speaking of which note the exhaust of said rocket burns a Gretchin to ass - hundreds or thousands of megajoules of energy in the exhaust it would seem.

The ""stomper" is a Sentinel - the term for it anyhow. IT's not a proper Stompa though.

Page 52

Striding confidently from the steam-shrouded doors nearest to Katrn came a huge warrior, fully two metres tall, bedecked in shining red power armour.

- Blood Raven Marine is estimated (by Tartaran sergeant) to be two metres tall in his armor. Which would be rather short for a marine.

Page 53

They vaulted over the mortar craters with single strides, spraying precision bolter shells form their guns with each step.

..

Sergeant Katrn watched the Marines bound over his head and then launched themselves into the fray with selfless abandon...

Given the stride length of Space Marines in the Thorpe novels (Kill Team or Angels of Darkness) we're talking 3-5 meter craters, probably. Maybe a bit bigger. based on the ADC I'd guess maybe 7.5-25 kg of TNT to make holes that size. Unfortunately, without knowing the kind of mortar we can't really say more.


Page 55

...Brom rocked onto his back foot, unleashing a spray from his hellgun at close range.

...
Brom's hail of fire strafed up and the ork's bulging abdomen, riddling it with holes.

Note the absence of exploding significant parts of the body. Punching lots of holes in the body though is not neccesarily ineffective - depends on the number of holes though. This isn't neccesarily an inconsistency - we know lasguns have wildly variable effects - and despite the fact that the torso is intact rather than exploded, the holes could be quite big - especially considering the size and durability of Orks.

Page 56

The creature was already riddled with gunshot wounds all the way down its chest, but it had freed its axe from the rockcrete and was holding it high in the air, ready to hack down into Brom's back. The bolter shell buried itsel into the beast's skull and then exploded into tiny lacerating fragments that shredded the thick bone instantly.

hellgun wounds described as "gunshots".. bolter round predictably explodes an Ork's skull. Considering the mass differences of Orks and humans, thsi is like blowing a large hole in the chest of a normal person.

Page 58

"They are stranded, captain. The Tartarans have few ships, and most were destroyed by the orks during the initial stages of the invasion,"

The Tartarans had their own ships, quite likely warp capable given the implied means of escape.

page 63

"They are Blood Ravens, trooper. The Blood Ravens Third Company"
Ckrius's eyes lit up. "I've heard of them," he blurted excitedly. Then he paused for a moment and a shadow fell over his face as his thoughts caught up with him. "Aren't they-"
"Yes, I dare say you have, trooper. Their reputation precedes them wherever they go, I'm sure. The Adeptus Astartes are justly exalted throughout the Imperium. As I say, they are here to help us with the orks, and we should thank the Emperor for that." Brom cut Ckrius off, aware of the rumours about the Cyrene affair but unsure of the facts himself. "Now I suggest that you get some sleep, trooper. Tomorrow will be a long day, and you will need all of your strength if you are to show the Blood Ravens the worth of the Tartaran Fifth."

- the Blood Ravens (And their activities) seem to be well known amongst the Tartarans
'
Page 64

Those assault bikes were faster than a Sentinel walker and probably packed more firepower than a Chimera transport. And just one Marine sat stride each of the awesome machines, thjrowing it around as though it were nothing.

Space marines have more firepower than a chimera and are fater than a Sentinel.

Page 65 - According to the Tartaran Colonel, the regiment had faced Ork hordes as big as the one they are currently facing before and seen it off, so their failure to deal with this one is due to other circumstances (as we learn.)

Page 67

"I am Colonel Carus Brom of the Tartarus Planetary Defence Force. It is an honour to be in the presence of a Librar­ian of the Adeptus Astartes,"

Again, Goto seems to use the term "PDF" and "Guard" interchangably here and throughout the novel. He's not the only author to do this, mind, but its more noticable in his novels.

Page 69

"They have heard that your company cleansed the planet of a terrible heresy," explained Brom, hoping that the Librarian would finish the story for him. But there was silence, so he continued. "They have heard that you performed an exterminatus, down to the last man, woman and child."

Brom knows about Exterminatus, presumably through rumour, although a Guard Colonel knowing all about this (much less speaking openly about knowing it) is.. interesting.

Page 70-71

"No, captain. The wounds on the orks were too delicate to have been caused by bolter fire. It was as though they had been shredded by thou­sands of tiny projectiles. I've never seen anything like it. When we caught up with the stragglers, they were so dazed and confused that it was hardly worth wasting ammunition on them."

yeah... so the Blood Ravens don't know about the Eldar and Shuriken weaponry it would seem. The TArtarans don't seem to.

Page 71

"Captain Angelos. I wish to place the Tartarans at the disposal of the Blood Ravens. As you know, we have suffered many casualties, but between the fifth and seventh we can offer an entire regiment."

Seven regiments.


Page 81

He was a colonel of the Emperor's Imperial Guard, and should be treated as such.

Again, the Tartarans are IG.

Page 82

The Space Marines were a blessing from the Emperor himself. They were the finest warriors in the Imperium, selected from the most able hopefuls from thousands of different worlds and then cultivated for decades.

Space Marines recruited from "thousands" of Worlds.

Page 85

From his left hand pulsed javelins of blue lightning, which chased after the fleeing greenskins and incinerated them as they tried to dive for cover.

Isador incinerates Orks. single/double digit MJ at least.. upwards of hundreds or thousands of megajoules for full cremation.

Page 85

The shots boucned off Gabriel's armour, denting it and scratching away wht brilliant red paintwork. One or two of the slugs buried themselves in the joints between the armoured plates, punching into his flesh and sending shafts of pain darrting through his limbs. But the Space Marine's augmented nervous system quickly shut down the pain receptors and his enhanced blood clotted the wounds almost as soon as they were made.

Ork gunfire vs Power armor.

Page 96

In the small chapel behind the altar, Gabriel knelt in silent prayer. After a few moments, the glorious rapture of the Astronomican washed into his mind once again. It began with a single voice, silver and pure. It was a solitary note, unwavering, struck and held beyond all sense and perception, playing directly into the soul. One voice became two, and then two shattered into a miracle of harmonies, filling every last vestige of his soul with an aria of purity and light.
Hidden in the depths of his conscious mind, part of Gabriel resisted the magnificent vision, as the last healthy cells in a body might fight an enveloping cancer. Part of him knew that this was not a vision for an untrained mind. Gabriel was no astropath, and he had not spent decades of psychic torment in the secret halls of the librarium sanato­rium, learning to control and shape the deceptive energies of the immaterium, like Isador. His soul simply knew not what to do with this rapturous vision.

Gabriel has another little episode.


Page 98

Within only a few days of making planet-fall, Gabriel had cut short the trials and returned to his strike cruiser, Ravenous Spirit, from which he had transmitted an encrypted astropathic communique. Shortly afterwards, a flotilla of Naval and Inquisition vessels had joined the Ravenous Spirit in orbit and had proceeded to launch an unrelenting barrage of lance strikes, mass drivers and cyclone torpedoes, reducing the once green world to a primeval, molten state.
It had been his duty, and a Space Marine is nothing without his sense of duty. It had been his decision, which made it his responsibility. Bil­lions of people. More people than were struggling for their survival here on Tartarus, and Gabriel could still hear their screams in his soul - they blamed him, and they were right.

I've already done the calcs, so I'm not really going to redo it in any great detail. I'm simply going to note that I probably was generous in assuming the whole crust got reduced to a molten state (given the difficulties in melting the crust/mantle, that probably would explain why the whole planet isn't literally described thus.). AT a minimum we've got the 1 metre crust melting which puts it at least somewhere in the e24 watt range, putting firepower in the e17-e18watt range per ship, and almost without a doubt considerably greater. But boiling off the ocean is a likeyl consequence of the bombardment, so we probably are talking e26-e27, and probably melting some hundreds of metres of the crust (enough to ensure no sub-surface population endured) which falls within that possible scale too. For the "weeks" timeframe also that means e19-e20 watts at least, For the exterminatus timeframe fo "hours" it could mean at least 1-2 Orders of magnitude greater.
It is noted that Cyrene apparently held more people than there were on Tartarus.

Page 99

A number of orks had already passed through the camp, utterly oblivious to its existence, until a rain of fire from shuriken catapults shredded them into mush.

Orks vs shuriken fire.
Page 104

Lascannons, autocannons,a nd heavy bolters lashed visciously into the charging mass of green muscle that thundered across the plains to the south of Magna Bonum.
...
The greenskins had crahsed into the makeshift defences and overrun them, almost instantly, hardly even noticing that the defensive guns were firing automatically and that there were no troopers to hack and dice.

automated static defences on the spaceport.

Page 106

Katrn drew his hellpistol and levelled it towarsd the gun-crew.
..

He clenched the trigger in a frenzy of violence, riddling the backs of his crewmen with bullet holes until they slumped forward..

Hellpistol apparently are projectile weapons - not the first author to make this mistake.

Page 112

Peering back over the edge of the roof, Gruntz could see the two great, red tanks positioned in the heart of the city, in front of the cathedral. Somehow, Orkamungus had known where they would be, even yester­day. Their missile turrets were twitching slightly, as they tracked distant targets outside the city. Then in a great roar of energgy, a flurry of missiles burst out of their chambers, searing into the sky and vanishing from view. A couple of seconds later Gruntz could hear the distant explosions as the warheads punched down into the ork positions.

Must have been less thana kilometre or so awayt to impact so fast.
Page 114

The first shots punched straight into the face of the mob's leader, the biggest of the bunch, dropping him to his knees in a bloody cascade of his own brain tissue. His henchmen wailed in anger and borugh their weapons into sharper focus, as a hail of slugs crunched into the bike on all sides of Gabriel and bit into his armour
Gabriel gritted his teeth as the onslaught started to penetrate his armour and the ork slugs began to dig into his flesh.

Sustained ork fire can penetrate Blood Ravens armour.
Page 116

Pulses of lightning jousted out from his [Isador's] fingertips, frying orks as they dived for him or incinerating them as they tried to make clear shots in the densely packed muddle of greenskins.

Librarian Isador burns if not cremates Orks. Megajoule to gigajoule depending on the extent of burning and number of Orks involved.
Page 117

Tanthius felt the flames douse his armour as the skorcha bathed the Terminators in fire, but it would take more than a few flames to arrest the might of a Blood Ravens Terminator.

Ork Dreadnought flamer - not very good against Terminator armor, unsurprisingly.
Page 121

Standing at the top of the steps in front of the cathedral, Gabriel and Isador watched the bombardment shells sear through the sky like falling stars. They thudded into the plain outside the city and exploded into sheets of white light. Mushrooms of dust and dirt billowed up from the impacts, and ripples of concussion throbbed across the skyline of the city.

A second flurry of meteoric strikes flashed down into the outskirts of Magna Bonum, just inside the ruins of the once defiant city wall. The immense explosions pounded the rockcrete and tore buildings apart, sending waves of fire rushing through the streets. Huge fountains of rub­ble and broken masonry were thrown high into the air, only to rain down again like cannonballs into those structures that had survived the initial blasts.
The edges of the city and the plains of Bonum beyond were submerged under a blanket of brillaiint white as the superheated charges form the bombardment shells fried the air itself. The orks at the gates and those that had just broken int the city were instantly incinerated, leaving nothing but faint thermal shadows scorched into the crumbling rockcrete.

A pair of bombardment cannon salvos from the orbiting battle barge. Clearly not high firepower, probably not much more than low kiloton at most.

[PainRack]

Just to clarify, the "colonel" knowing ofo exterminatus and etc, this is supposed to be unusual, right? The old fluff is that exterminatus were classified operations, and it would be weird for a mere colonel of a PDF regiment to even know of such an operation, much less any more specific details.

Wishing to discuss about heresy........ that's really quite unusual in the context of the Imperium known secrecy and propaganda machine. It makes one wonder if there was any contact with Cyrene and if the exterminatus didn't catch everyone..

[Connor MacLeod]

Just to clarify, the "colonel" knowing of exterminatus and etc, this is supposed to be unusual, right? The old fluff is that exterminatus were classified operations, and it would be weird for a mere colonel of a PDF regiment to even know of such an operation, much less any more specific details.

Well the thing is, we dont know if Brom is really PDF or Guard - the novel isn't exactly hte most clear cut on this issue. I mean they act/Behave like PDF but are basically Guardsmen throughout the novel. It could be Brom is also the (acting) head of the planet - we don't see any Imperial commander or other figure of authority in contact with the Astartes or Inquisition except him, which is also odd but.. *shrugs*.

It's kinda like the daemon thing. Technically they're not supposed to know much about Daemons or Eldar or whatever.. but sometimes rumors do seem to slip out, or unoffiical knowledge of some sort or other. Of course, Exterminatus, like all things, tends to be a.. diverse.. topic os he might not be well versed or fully acquainted on the issue.

Out of universe its a clear fuckup like alot of things, but he's not the first author to do shit like that, nor will he be the last.

Wishing to discuss about heresy........ that's really quite unusual in the context of the Imperium known secrecy and propaganda machine. It makes one wonder if there was any contact with Cyrene and if the exterminatus didn't catch everyone..

Gabriel is rather pathetic as Space Marines go. He's more emo than most, and his little astronomican episodes will become almost a running joke by the end of the third novel.

Really Gabriel despite being the primary character in the series is perhaps the least interesting character. Even the 18 year old recruit they take from Tartarus ends up being more interesting, and his fate is rather hilariously grimdark.

[Connor MacLeod]

The last update for the first Dawn of War. This wasa ctually a short one compared to the other two. So.. I'll probably start part 2 next.



Page 122

Gabriel was just staring at the ruined remains of the city. The bom­bardment had prevented the loss of Magna Bonum, but it had levelled most of the city in the process. He was speechless as he struggled to rec­oncile himself with the wisdom of his decision.

Bombardment had "levelled most of the city" with just a couple bombardment cannon salvoes.
Page 127

orbital images form the Litany of Fury suggests that there is an even largere ork force massing in this area here,"

Orbital recon from the Space Marine battle barge.
Page 133

As one, the rangers opened up with their shuriken catapults, trans­forming the clearing into a mist of tiny, hissing projectiles. The air was perforated by the rattles of rapid impacts against the power armour of a clutch of Chaos Marines, who dived for cover behind the hatch of the drop-ship. But there was no cover, because the eldar had the clearing surrounded.

Shuriken weapons again.
Page 134

A wail of pain made him turn, just in time to see one of their Marines shredded by a focussed barrage of shuriken projectiles. He was riddled with tiny holes all across his abdomen, as though each of his major organs and both of his hearts had been shot through. He had fallen forwards onto his knees and blood was pouring out of the joints in his armour, from around the edges of his shattered helmet, and form the hundreds of tiny wounds all over his body.

two Shuriken Catapults - they can with sustained fire or lucky hits penetrate the armor, so it's not a definite penetrate/doesn't penetrate issue. Note as well the "hundreds of holes" in a short period of time, which is consistent with suggested fire rates fo rthe weapon.

Page 137

The Whirlwind missile launchers had already ground to a halt as they came into range, and the sky above the convoy was streaked with vapour trails form the flurry of rockets that were being loosed over the horizon.

Whirlwinds have indirect fire capability, unsurprisingly - at least 7-8 km or so given Rhino heights and the horizon.

Page 139

The lascannons on the gunship flared and pulsed, sending streams of las-fire slicing into the orks as it descended onto the valley floor, burn­ing gaggles of orks as it came down straight on top of them.

lascannon fire burning/slicing Orks in strafing runs, implying some sort of sustained beam.

Page 139

A huge eruption of firepower burst out of the vanguard group, with the Terminators towering over the orks and unleashing waves of auto-cannon fire and sleets of bolter shells from their storm bolters.

I wonder if the Terminator autocannons are those reaper-autocannons that CSM Terminators use.
Page 142

He had also noticed that a number of the larger orks appeared to have Imperial weaponry, including the boltguns such as Space Marines used. It was not uncommon for a few of these scavenger creatures to have weapons from other races, but the numbers here were noticeably larger than he expected.

- its not unusula for a few orks to be wielding bolt guns or other space marine weapons, but large numbers of such weapons is unusual.
Page 143

The underside of the armoured panel was covered in a thick layer of carbon, as though it had been used as a bowl in which to overcook some meat.
..
"he is burnt beyond recovery of his gene-seed. Something semes to have reached into his soul and burnt him from the inside out."

Effects of Chaos Sorcerer's attack.

Page 145

The shard of ceramite looked as if it had been punched out of the armour of a Space MArine, but it was a dull, acid green. Moreover, it was perforated by a series of tiny holes, barely a couple of centimeters across.

Shuriken holes. They're probably on the micro-metre scale thickness, and gnerally circular, several cm across. Assuming a density of around 2000-300 kg*M^3 yields a mass of about 6 milligrams. Assuming a 100 shot/second rate of fire yields a total mass of .6 grams per second. This sort of mass can allow for quite a high Shuriken-fire velocity - definite hyper velocity, whilst retaining low momentum. Assuming ~5-10 km/s recoil would be a mere 3-6 kg*m/s (about the recoil of a single handgun round.) KE would be between 8-30 kj. Higher velocities leads to both higher recoil and greater KE. At 25 km/s for exmaple, recoil is 15 kg*m/s and 188 kilojoules.

Page 153

Katrn shook his head in disgust and drew his pistol, firing directly into Tavett's temple.
..
As the shot passed straight through Tavett's head and ricocheted off the stone beneath him, something else stabbed into Katrn's shoulder.

Laspistol round overpenetrates guy's skull (without exploding it) and kills him.

Page 154

"I'm sure that they'll bleed just like the rest of us," answered Bancs enthusiastically, ramming the ammunition stock into his weapon and bracing it against the edge of the altar.

..

The clunk and hiss of the grenade launcher was followed by a series of explosions around the rim of the crater, whcih sent mud and rubble sliding down into the pit in miniature avalanches. The eldar had seemed to vanish, and it was impossible to twell wheher any had been hit by the blasts. After a few seconds, another rain of grenades shot over the lip of the crater, detonating over the open ground beyond.

Multi-shot grenade launcher. Seems to have a high rate of fire.

Page 157

"I am well aware of the powers and function of the Emperor's Inquisi­tion, inquisitor. You may well have the authority to evacuate every last civilian and Guardsman off this planet," said Gabriel with a casual nod towards Brom. "But you are very much mistaken if you think that I will cede command of the Blood Ravens to you. The Adeptus Astartes are not common soldiers, inquisitor, and I will thank you to show us the appro­priate respect."

Inquisitorial authority vs Space Marines. AS we see, even the theoretical dominance of an Inquisitor has practical limits.

Page 158

"If you must have a reason, then I shall give you one: a giant warp storm is sweeping through this sector of the galaxy, wreaking turmoil and havoc on each world that it touches. It is pregnant with the forces of Chaos and it is unclear what fate might befall any life-forms touched by its wrath. It will arrive imminently, and it could trap us here on Tartarus for more than a century, raining the terrors of warp energy into our souls each moment. We must evacuate the planet, and we must do it now. Would you like me to explain that again, so that we can waste some more time, captain?"
"The Imperial Guard can attend to the evacuation, inquisitor. We have already given them the use of some of our transport vessels to assist with the wounded civilians. The matter is already in hand, and I am sure that Colonel Brom here is more than capable of ensuring the success of such a logistical exercise. The Blood Ravens, however, are not logisticians, inquisitor. We are Space Marines, and we have more pressing issues to attend to," replied Gabriel, conscious of Brom's eyes from the cockpit.

Interesting, isnt it? With preparation and at least under Inquisitorial authority, they can actually evacuate some millions if not billions from the planet - whatever the current population is. We aren't told of any significant civilian losses, but it's possible.

Page 159

"How long until the storm arrives?" asked Gabriel, his mind made up.
"Three days, captain. Perhaps less."

Interesting timeframe to remember.

Page 161

"As I recall, you were the one who requested the assistance of the Inquisition in the performance of an exterminatus on cyrene - the systematic annihilation of all life on the planet - genocide by another name."

We confirm what happened with cyrene was an exterminatus, and wiped out all life on the planet.

Page 166-167

She shook her head in disbelief and prodded her finger into the cauterised hole in the man's temple. The wound was clean and crisp, as though the las-shot had carefully parted each molecule of tissue as it had passed through.

..

As Macha withdrew her finger from the man's head...

The aforementioned execution via laspistol on the shrine when Katrn executed Tavett. The wound goes straight through the head (15-20 cm) and is at least several cm in diameter. Based on Luke Campbell's own research and website (see here and here it would be quite possible to do the above with ~2-3 kilojoules of energy or thereabouts. The only problem is the cauterization bit - that suggests the weapon may not be terribly efficient - generally it's assumed that the "bullet like" yields wouldn't cauterize, but its possible it might at least partly cauterize (about 4-5 kilojoules worth of flash burning could inflict third degree burns on the wound, which might be roughly enough to catuerize (for note, cauterizing a 1mm or so thick layer of flesh would take approximately the energy I calced above - a few millimeter's worth wouldn't make much difference.)
Anyhow, if the "less efficient" wounding applies, we might figure on the aforementioned wound taking up to several tens of kilojoules to create (to verify, note Luke's 40 kj figure in the first link - that basically seems to assume vaporization of a "mostly water" human body along a ~20 cm, 1 cm diameter channel. For a ~2 cm diameter, 15 cm long wound channel, we get ~80 kj)
In general, we can safely say the laspistol is at lest single digit to double digit kj, although possibly doing higher if we assume total vaporization (say 100 kj or so.) Single to double digit kj works well enough, though, even a laspistol that creates 2-3 kj wounds as above would be formidable (analagous to a magnum pistol round or a full powered rifle round, basically.)

Page 172

"The man was executed by a single shot to the head. A shot from an Imperial Guard officer's laspistol."

Just so we can confirm all my earlier assessments, yes it was a laspistol.

Page 174

But these orks really were dead. Some of them had been shredded by thousands of tiny projectiles, others had been felled by a single, precise shot through the soft tissue just below their jawline, and some had simply been sliced into pieces.

Interesting shuriken fire. Note it takes more than thousands of shots to shred an ork to pieces.

Page 174

Stooping to pick up a fallen weapon, Matiel gasped audibly. It was a boltgun - the distinctive weapon of the Space Marines. But the designs etched into the material of the gun were not very clear - the ork had obviously tried to scratch them away in an attempt to make the weapon his. Deep grooves and scars were dug into the metalwork, wrought by claws or teeth, but they could not fully obscure the markings that were set into the weapon when it was first made. Wriggling out from under the clumsy marks of the ork were the points of a star, each at the end of an axis that bisected a smaller circle. The eight-pointed star, thought Matiel: the mark of the Traitor Legions and the forces of Chaos.

Ork bolter, obviously provided by CSM.

Page 176

'This man had already been shot through the brain with an Imperial issue laspistol.'

As if we needed further confirmation, but it never hurts.
Page 182

Turning his attention back to the runes, Isador produced a small combat knife from a holster on his belt. He muttered something inaudible as he ran his finger along its blade, and the sheen of the metal seemed to burst into effervescence. When he pressed the blade into the side of the altar, a trickle of blood seeped out of the stone, as though he were inflicting a wound. The blade hissed and vibrated under his touch as he cut through the altar, defining a neat rectangle around the constellation of runes that surrounded Treraum.

Neat psyker trick.

Paged 187

A splattering of shuriken projectiles clinked into the armour of his left leg, sending pins of pain darting through his nervous system as they penetrated his skin, parting his armour at the molecular level.

Eldar Shuriken shots against CSM armor
Page 196

As he finished talking, everything happened at once. The Typhoon land speeders roared into life, accelerating to attack speed almost instantaneously and flashing through the pass amidst a hail of fire, engaging the Falcon tanks on the other side.

I'm not sure what attack speed is but if we assume its maximum speed of 350 kph (slightly under 100 mps) an instantaneous acceleration owuld be ~10 gravitiies. I believe that some White Dwarf article or Chapter approved entry gave the Land Speeder an acceleration of something like 15-20 gravities, depending on what the Space Marine could endure.

Page 199

Warp Spiders carried warp jump genera­tors in their armoured carapaces, enabling them to slip in and out of even the most secure locations, flitting in and out of the warp at will. A squadron could jump through the webway straight to the site of the menhir without having to penetrate the line of Chaos Marines assault­ing it.

Goto's favorite Aspect Warriors.

Page 200

A heavily armoured eldar warrior leapt out of the warp-tear with a rotary death-spinner churning out lethal micro-filament threads that rattled and whipped into Bale's armour.

Warp spider signature weapon - CSM champion armor not penetrated immdiately.

Page 200

Sindri was at his shoulder, stabbing out with a spike of purple energy from his force staff. The blast sizzled and cracked against the eldar's armour, which was warded against the forces of the warp to permit travel through it. Nonetheless, the Warp Spider was thrown back by the energy, flying off his feet and crashing to the ground in front of the men­hir.

Warp Spider armor has some level of warp protection as a result of its ability to pass through the Warp.
Page 204

"They are webway portals - temporary doorways from one point in space to another,' answered Isador. They are a unique eldar technology, captain, and incredibly unstable. Stepping through throws you instan­taneously into the warp and then drags you out again into another place, where another portal is open. An unshielded soul would go insane,"

Isador explains to Gabriel webway portals. I guess Golden Boy isn't perfect after all.

Page 210

The selection procedure for induction into the Blood Ravens - the Blood Trials - were rigorous in the extreme. Not only were aspirants required to demonstrate the physical prowess of a superior warrior, but their genetic code would also be tested for the smallest sign of muta­tion. But genetic mutation and a taint of the soul were not the same thing. For detection of the latter, the Blood Ravens would rely on the shadowy expertise of the librarium sanatorium - where all would-be Librarians were screened psychically, to the point of insanity, probing the depths of their souls to find the cracks and fissures for which the forces of Chaos would quest constantly.
...
Although he had a sensitive mind, the Chapter had decided not to push Gabriel through the horrors of the sanatorium - he was not a psyker and he would never be a Librarian.

- Blood raven librairans are used to pyschically screen all potential recruits "to the point of insanity" - looking for weaknesses which Chaos might use against them. Gotta love them Space Marine rituals.

Page 220

"Speed is very important on this expedition, with the storm only two days away, but I was wrong not to give you more time."

We're down to two days now.


Page 223-224

"The Path of the Eldar was put in place to guard us against ourselves, Jaerielle. We are a passionate people, and easily fixated. The path allows us to cycle through various arts and explore all aspects of ourselves, not only the warrior within. It does sometimes happen," she continued, "that an eldar becomes trapped in one path or another. His soul becomes unable to make the transition into another part of itself, and the eldar becomes consumed by the art that has chosen him. In your case, Jaerielle, you have been chosen by the Path of the Warrior, and it seems that you may never leave it."

"War for its own sake, farseer? You are talking about the Way of the Exarch?" asked Jaerielle in whispered tones, hardly daring to speak the name of the most feared of all eldar warrior castes. The exarch is com­pletely lost to himself, enveloped by a passion for war, and utterly dedicated to the arts of one of the eldar aspect shrines. Over time, he will gradually be assimilated into his armour, which will never be taken off. And when he is finally slain, there will be nothing left but the armour itself, a testament to the dedication and sacrifice of this most lonely path.

"Yes, Jaerielle. You have felt it. I saw it in your soul as you battled the Chaos Marines last night. There was delight in your heart, and joy in your abilities. Your memory is already awash with images of blood, drowning out the dances and poetry of your youth. Soon there will be nothing but battle for you," said Macha with solemnity.
..
"You came to me, Jaerielle. You are ready. And we need you to be ready. I will talk with the Shrine of the Striking Scorpions, your old aspect temple, and the ritual of transition will be performed before the sun reaches its third quadrant," concluded Macha, as though this were the most natural thing in the world. She looked down at the kneeling eldar at her feet and shivered slightly - he was about to step into a place where even she could not see.

We get an explanation about Eldar Paths and Exarchs. As far as I can tell Goto didn't screw this up.


PAge 228

Isador's bolts seared under the feet of Gabriel and Prathios as they ran, and then exploded into flames as they crashed into the stances of the Warp Spiders. The creatures shimmered slightly, trying to leap back into the webway, but Isador's energy blast had done something to their warp jump generators.

- Librarian Isador is able to disrupt/jam the warp jump packs of Warp Spiders.

Page 229

A shower of fire speckled his armour as he sprang off the corpse and rounded on the last eldar, seeing that Prathios had already incinerated the other one in an inferno of holy fire from his crozius.

I'm doubting he means literally cremate, since power weapons rarely emit meltagun level energies, but it probably burnt them pretty badly (hundreds of kilowatts to several megawatts would eaisly cover it)

Page 235

"I will not be ignored, Captain Angelos, and you will answer to me. I may not have the power to commandeer your precious Blood Ravens, but I certainly do have the power to have you placed into custody for obstructing the affairs of the Inquisition."

- Inquisitor Toth has no power to comandeer the Blood Ravens, but he can commandeer the entire planet Tartarus (and deny their aid to the Ravens.) Again more politicking between Inquisition and other arms of the Imperium's forces.

Page 248

Following in the wake of the Striking Scorpions came the reds and golds of the Fire Dragons, dousing the wall defences in chemical flames from their fire-lances and fusion guns.

Like some authors, Goto treats melta weapons as glorified flamethrowers. although in this case they're more literally flamethrowers than other sources.


Page 251

Behind them, the summit of the mountain erupted like a volcano as the eldar charges exploded. The mountain top was vaporised and a huge cloud of debris and smoke blasted into the air, obscuring the sun. The rocks around the summit were instantly rendered into flows of molten lava that psrayed outwards from the mountain in a superheated fountain.

[

Result of Eldar detonators. We dont know how many unfortunately, except that they apparently were man portable. It's pretty impressive nonetheless considering it reduces at least some of the surrounding area to vapour and/'or molten rock Assuming just a 10x10 meter area several metres thick was melted we're talking well over 900 gigajoules. That's impressive even if it took hundreds/thousands of charges to accomplish the feat, and it could be much greater (possibly going inot nuclear scale.) Mind you, I am sure these are high end demo charges (like a high powered meltabomb) rather than some sort of nuclear hand grenade. Then again, plasma grenades can do similar...

Page 254

To Macha's eldar eyes, the statues looked clumsy and ugly - not merely because they depicted the disproportionate features of the mon-keigh, but also because the artisans had been poor. In general, reflected the farseer, this was true of all human art - it all seemed so rushed and underdeveloped. It was almost as though art were a hobby, rather than the highest expression of the soul. It would be inconceivable that the Biel-Tan would grant a commission of the magnitude of a public statue to an artisan who had not been walking the Path of the Artist for many centuries, perhaps even millennia. The commission itself might take decades to fulfil. But these pathetic lumps of stone looked as though they had been turned out in a matter of months, by artisans barely old enough to hold the tools.

Eldar vs Human art.


Page 257

Lyling flat against the earth, Gabriel took out his binocs, letting them whir and blip until they clicked into focus against the great wall of the city before him.

computer assisted viewing gear, I suppose?

Page 267

He walked slowly over the shimmering pool on the flagstones, fol­lowing the stream of warp energy that poured out of the farseer's hand. Looking down into the pool, he could see the distant throne room of Biel-Tan as though it were a rippling reflection. Arrayed throughout the great chamber were the exarchs of the other shrines, and the seers of the grand council. They were waiting for him - the most lost soul of all the Biel-Tan. They waited to sacrifice him to Khaine, so that he might be reborn as the god's avatar.

the whole 'young king' ritual sacrifice that awakens the Avatar. In this context it tells us rather than hinting that the AVatar works like a massively uprated suit of Exarch armor, or like a daemonic summoning (more disturbingly.)

Page 270

The Devastators angled their grenade launchers into the sky, punching out salvoes of frag-grenades in tight parabolas. The grenades arced over the city walls and crashed down into the courtyard on the other side, ,setting off explosions that made the ground rumble.

Grenade launchers with indirect fire.

Page 271

Dreadnought Trythos stomped into the breach, pushing ahead of the Terminators, its multi-melta hissing with power in one hand and great plumes of chemical flame jetting out of the other.

Blood Ravens Dreadnought.

PAge 274

A tremendous blast of las-fire lashed out of one of the side streets, punching into Dreadnought Trythos as it doused the retreating eldar in flames; the thick pulse of energy virtually vaporised the dreandought where it stood. Its giant limbs clattered to teh ground as its body was utterly shattered by the inredible blast.

Tanthius let out a yell as Trythos collapsed to the ground, and he pounded off in the direction of the blast. As he rounded the street corner, he skidded to an abrupt halt as the huge, crystalline turret of an eldar Fire Prism tank flared with energy before him.

Falcon grav-tank decimates a Dreadnought. Considering a dreadnought weighs a good 10-12 tonnes usually we're talking quite a bit of vaporization if we take it literally - tens of gigajoules eaisly, which isn't totally impossible considering what the Falcon is. Even if it doesnt literally vaporize its quite probably quite equal to hundreds if not thousands of megajoules, which is not beyond anti-tank grade weapons (look at meltaguns and plasma weapons.)

Page 281-282

For the first time in the history of the Biel-Tan, the avatar had been incarnated without its Wailing Doom - the ancestral weapon of this god-eldar.

The Ceremony of Awakening had been performed too quickly, and shards of the avatar's energy were still missing. It was born incomplete.

As Macha stumbled, too weak to support the weight of her own weapon, the two Striking Scorpions rushed to her aid once again, grasp­ing her elbows and supporting her weight. Her blade was a pathetic shadow of the great Wailing Doom lost on this very planet three thou­sand years before, but it was the finest blade on the whole of Biel-Tan, and a weapon worthy of a great eldar warrior.

The farseer walked towards the avatar, and dropped to one knee before it, holding her long, two-handed force sword out in front of her. The avatar looked down at the small figure of the farseer and tilted its head slightly, as though confused by an inappropriate sight. Then it reached out its right hand and lifted Macha back onto her feet, before kneeling itself and bowing its head to the farseer who had brought it back from the fathomless depths of Biel-Tan's infinity circuit. Macha nodded with satisfaction and held out the sword. Without a word, the avatar took the great blade into one hand, and leapt backwards away from the farseer, flourishing the sword in a complicated and elegant pat­tern.

More avatar awakening, minus his wailing doom (it was stolen, remember.)


Page 283

Then, as it turned its back on her to set out into the city, a Typhoon missile blasted out of an adjoining street and smashed into its chest.

The land speeder banked around the building on the corner of the street, bursting out into the plaza. Gabriel hit the brakes hard and skid­ded the Typhoon, banking again to bleed some energy as Isador punched the trigger of the missile launcher. The rocket roared out of the turret and spiralled straight into the chest of the monstrous warrior in the centre of the plaza, where it exploded in a shower of flames.
...

The flames from the missile impact had not abated, but the colossal eldar warrior sprang clear of the inferno that had erupted around its chest. There was hardly even a mark on it as it flipped across the plaza, closing the space between it and the Blood Ravens in a flurry of somer­saults. Isador punched the missile launcher again, but the rocket flashed harmlessly over the gigantic eldar and smashed into the statue of Lloovre Marr, blowing it into a crumbled ruin.

- Avatar of Khaine takes a Whirlwind missile to the chest with no damage.


Page 285

The avatar bent its legs, ready to spring forward at Isador, just as Gabriel crashed into it from the side. The two warriors tumbled to the ground, and Isador leapt out of his cover to assist his friend.
...
Meanwhile, Gabriel wrestled with the avatar, struggling to keep the huge creature from bringing his great blade into play. The Blood Raven pummelled the hilt of his chainsword against the avatar's burning armour, pounding over and over again until the faintest of cracks began to appear. Sheets of blue lightning jousted out of Isador's staff, as the Librarian stood just clear of the two writhing warriors, launching javelins of power to assist his captain.

Lying on the ground with the Blood Raven on top of it, the avatar bucked and threw Gabriel over his shoulder, away from Isador. In the same movement, it reached for its fallen sword, but a blast from Isador sent the blade skidding out of its reach. As it sprang back up onto its feet, the avatar was pounded from both sides at once - Gabriel launched himself back into the creature's face while Isador ploughed into its legs with his force staff. A huge explosion shook the ground at the same time as a cluster of grenades exploded behind the barricades. With a shriek of frustration, the avatar crumpled to the ground once again.

Gabriel drove his chainsword into the weakened crack in the avatar's armour, finally breaking through. A sizzling jet of molten blood spurted out of the hole, spraying Gabriel in the face, making him cry out and reel in pain. As the captain rolled backwards off the avatar, Isador leapt forward into his place, thrusting the tip of his force staff deep into the wound and leaning his entire weight onto it. As the staff sunk deeper into the creature's chest, Isador closed his eyes and released his rage into the weapon, letting its power cascade down the shaft and explode into a starburst of blue energy inside the eldar warrior.

The explosion threw Isador and Gabriel a hundred metres back through the air, until their flight was broken by the stone of a white building on the fringe of the plaza. They thumped into the wall, and then slid down into heaps at its base. When they looked up, the bloody remains of the avatar were fizzing and hissing all over the flagstones, but Matiel's Marines were still raining fire on the barricades.

- Captain GAbriel and librarian Isador (the former with a Power fist and the latter with a Force staff) combine forces to defeat a weakened, hastily summoned Avatar of Khaine (without its Wailing Doom.) Avatars again are shown to be the bitch of every other power in 40K, although this isn't quite nearly as retarded as Marneus Calgar suckerpunching one.

Page 307

"But yes, you are right, the Ordo Xenos has been watching Tartarus for longer than you might imagine."
..

"Three thousand years ago an artefact of ancient and evil power was lost here. The forces of Chaos seek this artefact - they have sought it for centuries, but they have never been in possession of all the pieces of the puzzle."
...

"It is a stone - a small gem called the Maledictum. Inside is contained a daemon of great power - a daemon prince, born of the forces of Chaos itself,"

- Inquisitor Toth is of the Ordo Xenos and mentions a gem of daemonic power that is being sought on Tartarus, yet its the Ordo Xenos (Rather than Malleus) involved? It may be because the Eldar are involved in this, and its not as if a Xenos Inquisitor would ignore Daemonic activity, but it's not really their bailiwick either.

Page 308

"When the warp storm last visited Tartarus, three thousand years ago, it drove the local population into insanity. When the Imperium reset­tled the planet, it did so as though for the first time. Lloovre Marr himself cleansed the planet of all survivors of the storm - it is said that the rivers ran with blood. All traces of the previous colonists were erad­icated. Lloovre Marr and his comrades built over the dark places without ever knowing what lay beneath,"

...

"Yes, the previous records were all expunged by the Inquisition," replied Mordecai. "And thus the people of Tartarus remained ignorant of what lay beneath them, even when they built a network of underground tunnels as escape routes from the capital city."

..

"If this Maledictum stone is as powerful as you say, inquisitor,' said Isador, his interest piqued, 'would it not exert some kind of effect on the people even whilst it is buried?"
"A good question, Librarian," replied Mordecai. "The ancient text in the Registratum Malfeas suggests that the daemon within the stone may be imprisoned, but it is not without power, particularly if its thirst for blood is satiated. It is possible that the stone could affect the affairs of Tartarus - it is certainly affecting them now."

Yes. So the Inquisition allowed a knowingly tainted planet to be inhabited.. again? I could sort of understand if this were an important world, like Armageddon - I mean the Imperium places a premium on habitable planets, but this comes across as just begging for trouble.

Page 310

The Deathwatch team came for the materials needed to construct this warhammer - a daemonhammer. It was forged from a shard broken from the sword of the avatar of the Biel-Tan - the fabled Wailing Doom of Khaine himself. That was the very weapon with which the avatar slew the daemon prince on that dark night - and this is a daemonhammer unlike any other. It is the God-Splitter.

Again, interesting idea.

Page 311

"This is already a disaster, Gabriel. The power of the Maledictum has grown - it is enough to turn the faithful and drive men mad. Many of the local population have already turned, as you have seen, but some of the Imperial Guard also teeter on the edge of a precipice. It is affecting you and your Marines too, I can feel it."

I wonder if this means a good portion of that 4 billion population wasn't evacuated. Quite possibly.

Page 311

"It is calling to the warp storm, drawing it in to eclipse the system when dusk falls tomorrow."

Down to one day already.

Page 322

"More and more turn every hour, captain. Before long, the spaceport will fall - the evacuation must be completed within the next few hours," added Ckrius.

"It must be completed today in any case, sergeant," responded Morde­cai. "The warp storm will be here before the day is out, and when it arrives, it is all over for anyone left on the surface."

More like hours, now.

Page 324-325

The relentless fire cut a sudden cor­ridor into the crowd, and Ckrius stormed into it, his hellgun bucking with automatic fire as he sprinted towards the temple steps. Behind him came one of the storm trooper squads, pounding over the carpet of corpses, desperate to reach the other side of the square before the corri­dor closed in on them again.

Ckrius burst out of the crowd on the far side, diving up the steps of the temple and crashing his weight into the heavy doors. He rolled instantly, bringing his hellgun round to bear on the cultists once again. An instant later, and seven more storm troopers flew out of the crowd, launching themselves out of the reach of the grasping hands and turn­ing to riddle them with bullets.
..

As the two squadrons were reunited on the temple steps, the cultists found themselves caught in the crossfire between the storm troopers and the Blood Ravens Terminators. The whole precinct was instantly transformed into a giant killing zone, with bullets, bolter shells and flames flashing maniacally through the space from both sides. Every shot hit something, and in a matter of seconds the crowd had been reduced into a pummelled, broken and bloody pile of corpses.

- Hellgun mentioned firing bullets again . The Tartarans have confirmed Storm trooper squad as well.

Page 335

And they soared, filling Gabriel's head with spirals of glittering faces as the choir of the Astro­nomican cycled through his mind, growing louder and louder as though drawing closer with every passing second.

Gabriel's having yet another episode. GEt used to seeing these.. they play more of a role in later novels.

Page 337

He was a greater soldier than I ever was, and a wiser man. I have seen the powers of Librarians many times over the long decades of my ser­vice, but never have I seen a Blood Raven wield the kind of raw power, ability and will that was possessed by Isador.

- its implied heavily here that Librarian Isador was an exceptionally powerful Librarian, perhaps the greatest (At least according to Gabriel) in terms of raw power and ability. His judgement, of course, is hardly universal, but it could apply to a great many.

Page 361

Holding his blade firmly in his right hand, he dropped off the Land Raider directly down onto the creature's back, driving his sword cleanly between the beast's collarbone and its shoulder blade, letting his fall push the blade in right up to its hilt. The ork hardly even had time to shriek before the blade pierced straight down through its heart, killing it instantly.

Sword through the heart can kill an ork Does it stay dead, though?

Page 362

At her side, the last of the Biel-Tan warlocks sent crackling blasts of warp energy jousting from his fingertips, cook­ing the flesh of Chaos Marines inside their armour and making their souls cry out in horror.

Would be interesting if I could figure out how to quantify cooking - the best I come up with is inflicting severe burns.. which could be hundreds of kilojoules or several megajoules.

Page 362

She plunged her blade straight through the green and black armour of a Chaos Marine, shrieking a cry into is face as she withdrew it, and watching his head shatter and explode as her rage was funnelled through the Banshee Mask on her own head, transforming it into a psychosonic blast.

Banshee sonic attack explodes head.

Page 364

Raging with impatience, Sindri pointed the Maledictum towards a knot of Alpha Legionaries and Imperial Guardsmen on a floating mass of rock nearby. The stone blazed with power and a lance of red light flashed into the soldiers, exploding them into a rain of blood and dis­integrating the rock beneath their feet.

probably megajoule range, both from the people exploding (grenade level damage perhaps) or from shattering a rock several metres in diameter (enough to hold several Space Marines and humans on it) though its probably more accurat to describe it in terms of TNT.


Page 369

Macha sent out bursts of blue energy from her fingertips, incinerating the sleet of bolter shells that flashed out towards Skrekrea as she leapt towards the Chaos Marines.

Macha can react fast enough to shoot down bolter shells midair

Page 375

"Suddenly a blue fireball hissed through the sleeting rain and punched into the levitating form of the Chaos sorcerer, knocking him back. Sindri, the emergent daemon prince, snapped his gaze back round to face the eldar farseer, raking his flaming eyes in a great arc of destruction across the islets of the mountaintop, exploding rock and incinerating Marines as his stare touchd them. The Purple river crashed against the figure of the farseer, splitting inot a series of streams that ran around her, as she stood defiantly against the current.

Blah blah, maybe megajoule or gigajoule depending on itnerpretation/context.. Macha able to stand up to it to a limited degree, etc. I'm done with this book.

[Kojiro]

I know this is for the novel and not the game but does it anywhere address the ability or an ork stormboy to land? I know orks are tough and all that but the way they land in the game would lead one to believe their legs (at the least) are ridiculously tough. I have no idea how much an ork would weigh (with armour, weapons and jump booster) but it feels to me they should never survive a jump.

[Cykeisme]

Well, if we assume that they only use their rokkit packs during the ascent phase, and have it completely switched off during landing (essentially freefall from the apex of the jump, down to the ground), then yeah, they'd need to have extremely strong legs.

However, if we disregard the visuals in the game, the rokkits could be used to retard their descent and bring the forces involved down to manageable levels. Or it is also possible that the rokkits, running at reduced thrust while aimed downward for braking, may have a reduced exhaust plume that is not visible.

OR, yeah, kickass Ork legs.

[Bedlam]

OR, yeah, kickass Ork legs.

Well Kicking Ass is the primary function of Orc legs, the moving from place to place is just a secondary benefit.

[Ugolino]

Incidentally, Goto gets a lot of things wrong, canon-wise. Toth wielding a daemonhammer and yet being of the Ordos Xenos, the infamous multilasers... (and hellguns firing bullets?!)

In specific cases, DOW II goes out of its way to disregard his novels in favour of the game's canon. Doesn't that mean any calculations based on Goto's writing have to be taken with a grain of salt?

[Black Admiral]

Incidentally, Goto gets a lot of things wrong, canon-wise. Toth wielding a daemonhammer and yet being of the Ordos Xenos,

I ... am really not seeing a problem here. Or are you going to start complaining that for a member of the Ordo Xenos, Gregor Eisenhorn seems to spend a whole lot of time dealing with Chaotic/rebel plots?

the infamous multilasers...

Yes, the infamous and hideously overblown multilaser issue.

(and hellguns firing bullets?!)

Weird interpretations like that are not unique to Goto. Ben Counter in particular shares that (plasma guns as Super-Soakers firing incendiary goo), and doubtless I could find other authors who've put weird spins on various weapons.

[Connor MacLeod]

I figured Ork Stormboyz may or may not have a mechanism to control it.. or they may just be expected to collide with something and survive. Consideirng you have Ork Boyz who have survived getting run over (Ragnar's Claw) I doubt colliding with a building would be much worse.

And Goto is hardly the only author to have hellguns firing bullets. It shows up in Necromunda, and quit ea few short stories I've covered (in Let the Galaxy Burn, What Price Victory, etc.) REally Goto isnt the best author, but its not fair to fixate on him for fucking around with canon when plenty of other authors do it too (including the Much Beloved Abnett and even Sandy Mitchell.)

[Connor MacLeod]

Yeah we're starting the second DoW novel now even though I haven't finished Eisenhorn. Probably should be glad. This is a longer novel and more to get through, though its more interesting than the third book. I rather liked it. Won't be as big an update this time since I'm starting out, but oh well


Page 8-9

The Old Ones told of a time after The Beginning when an Ancient Enemy emerged from the hearts of a thousand suns, feeding on light, drinking the very life of the galaxy. These glittering beings were born entirely into the material realm, and they were its undisputed lords - commanding the very stars themselves. But mastering the materium and conquering the galaxy were not the same thing, and the Old Ones confronted this Ancient Foe by surfing the tides of the immaterium, drawing ineffable power from realms incomprehensible to the star gods, realms swimming with the unformed and raw powers of daemons and gods.
I have heard legends that this was the time when daemons first dragged themselves into existence, clawing their way through the rift between realms, salivating at the scent of life on the other side. And I have also heard that eldar more ancient even than Asurmen himself were born into this time, fed by curdling eddies of power where the Old Ones stirred the material and immaterial together with a giant, warp-stone jewelled spear. Thus the Old Ones stood against them at the dawn of war itself. Despite the machinations of the Ancient Enemy, the tear in the galaxy was never sealed, and from it continues to pour the echoes and promises of our eternity. From it seeps hope and damnation together.

- the C'tan (or "the ancient enemy" are mentioned as emerging from "a thousand suns." - this is clearly prophecy/legend and cannot be taken as objective fact, but it does suggest there were at least a thousand (thousands) of C'tan in existence back then. The creation of daemonic entities seems to parallel this time (probably because the Old Ones started tampering ot create highly psychic races.)

It also describes the C'tan/Necron efforts to seal this galaxy off from the warp (the Great Work.)

Page 9-10

If the Ancient Enemy were to return to complete their Great Work, then the tear would be sown up, the Library would blink out of existence and the sons of Asuryan would be cut off from their life source forever. We would cease to be; cease to ever have been as the universe was severed from its own memories. The Eye of Isha would dim, closing for all eternity. The legacy of the Old Ones would vanish.
For the Ancient Foe have no souls, and thus nothing to fear by severing reality in two - draining the life force from the substance of life.
For the Ancient Foe have only life, and an insatiable thirst for death.
For the Ancient Foe were turned back only by the blinding brilliance of Isha's gaze, and, were that gaze ever to fade, there would be nothing to stand before them.

Apparnetly the Eldar need access to the warp to survive. It's more liekly that this means they draw on the warp to sustaint heir bodies, rather than simply losing their souls - after all there are races (the tau) that have no "warp souls" per se - nevermidn the pariahs! - and they don't die. In simpelr terms, its like taking a fish out of water.

Page 20

Most eldar craftworlds were governed by a Seer Council, headed by the farseer, but Biel-Tan had been an exception for millennia. Alongside the seers, Biel-Tan was ruled by a military council comprised of the exarchs from the biggest Aspect Temples on the craftworld. The balance of power between these councils was delicate, and the exarchs resented any and all appeals to traditions that implied their subordination to the Seer Council. In practice, most of the political decisions were made behind the closed doors of the Young King's Court, whilst the exarchs begrudgingly acknowledged their need for the advice and guidance of Macha and her seers.

The Biel-Tan government, an uneasy alliance between farseers and Exarchs/Autarchs.

Page 23

These zygotes were usually implanted when the neophyte was much younger than Ckrius - perhaps as young as ten years old. It took time for them to stabilise, and for the young human bodies to accept the new organs. The ossmodula and biscopea implants were developmental, flooding the body with hormones to encourage rapid growth and strengthening of the skeleton and its musculature - an older neophyte may not respond well to such traumatic processes. But time was not a luxury that the beleaguered Blood Ravens Space Marines could enjoy; they needed new initiates as quickly as possible, and the surgical processes were being accelerated beyond the point of caution or good sense.

- The Blood Ravens normalyl take 10 year olds for implantation, but they've taken a young Guardsmen (Ckrius, from the first novel) and are implanting him. They are afraid he may not survive the process, and the procedures are already being accelerated, as "time isnt a luxury" and they need new recruits. This suggests that in times of strife, the Astartes may in fact push the creation of Marines to fill out their ranks (possibly at a cost of a higher mortality rate among recruits.) This oddly also suggests they must keep a huge stockpile of gene-seed on hand, as I doubt they can salvage it from dead recruits.

Page 23-24

A thin jet of blood was spraying out of another slit in Ckrius's chest, and the neophyte's eyes seemed fixed on the crimson shower. There was barely controlled horror in his face as he flickered on the edge of consciousness, waiting for shock to dull the searing pain. But a complicated web of intravenous drips supplied him with a constant flow of stimulants, ensuring that he would not drift into unconsciousness or even be able to sublimate the memories afterwards. These horrific procedures would stick with him forever, always present behind his eyelids if ever he tried to close them for sleep or dreams. He was becoming a Space Marine, and it was important that he should never forget what that meant.

"sanitation" is not a watchword of the Space Marine implantation process. This is one of the things I will give Goto credit for - he really did find a rather gruesome way to drive home the horror that lies behind the implantation process, and some of the irony in its ritualized approach.

At leats with this part. The rest of it is unintentionally hilarious.

Page 25

The mechanical, skeletal, metal arms that augmented the surgical dexterity of the Blood Ravens apothecary twitched and clicked as they worked the instruments inside Ckrius's flesh. Meanwhile, the apothecary's real arms were braced against the neophyte's shoulders. The spray of blood had erupted as one of the main blood vessels exiting the primary heart had been severed, and now the apothecary was carefully inserting the tiny haemastamen organ into the line of the vessel. It was designed to monitor and control the make-up of the Marine's blood, particularly to ensure that the other implants would receive rich enough sustenance for proper development and maintenance.

Before reconnecting the severed blood vessel, the mechanical, chittering arms of the apothecary tugged the incision in Ckrius's chest a little wider, making him moan and gasp. Another thin metal arm appeared from under the apothecary's black smock, carrying a dark, fleshy organ of about the size and shape of a small fruit. The arm pushed the Larraman's organ through the opening in the neophyte's flesh, while another of the many arms quickly stitched it into place - setting it next to the primary heart like an extra valve in the severed blood vessel, and then connecting the artery again on the other side of it.

With smooth slithering motions, the various metal arms and instruments withdrew from the violated body and slipped back into place under the apothecary's smock as he simply turned and left, leaving the gaping wound on Ckrius's chest open to the air with blood pouring out of it. The neophyte's head strained against the restraints that were looped over his forehead, as he watched the apothecary vanish. Up until that point, he had wanted nothing more than for his torturer to leave him in peace, but now that the oddly augmented figure was leaving him half-finished, his mind welled up with panic that he would simply bleed to death on the tablet.

In fact, he might bleed to death there and then. Many neophytes did not make it past this, the fifth phase of the transformation into a Space Marine. The apothecary had deliberately left the egregious wound open. One of three things would now happen: Ckrius would bleed to death; Ckrius's Larraman's organ would eventually kick in and stem the blood flow, but his immune system would be too weakened by all the body-trauma and he would die of an infection - nothing would be done to prevent this; or the haemastamen organ would already be working to provide the Larraman's organ with the enriched blood necessary to help it heal the wound quickly enough to prevent either infection or too much blood loss. Then he might survive.

The only way Ckrius would still be alive in an hour's time would be if his genetic make-up was an almost exact match with the Blood Ravens' gene-seed. If not, one or other of the implants would fail, or would be inefficient, and he would die. The apothecary would let him die: if the zygotes did not take root, then the neophyte was basically worthless to the Chapter.

- Ckrius is left with a large wound on his chest (large enough to implant an organ "the size of a small fruit" in his chest, in order to test to see if ihs Larraman's organ would heal the wound and stop the bleeding, within an hour. Another test of the recruit during the implantation process, and further needless Grimdark. Although I can understand the why - they need to know a recruit will be able to heal himself and to survive infection.

The gaping chest wound and bleeding is expected to close within an hour.

Page 26

Clouds of smoke billowed around the room from the burners that had been lit at each corner of the operation tablet.

The smoke was slightly toxic, enough to cause lethal infections in any untrated wounds, ,and enough to choke a normal huhman being. Gabriel and Sergeant Tanthius who accompanied him breathed easily, their multi-lungs working naturally to filter out the more unpleasant effects of the gas

Yet another danger the recruit is subjected to -normal Marines are protected from it

PAge 27

The ceremonial conditions of the implantation process were deliberately unhygienic. Purity was an entirely ritualised concept in this context, as the bank of masked Chapter priests ensconced in prayer at the far side of the chamber showed. The neophyte had to sruvive the various surgeries, but he had to sruvive them himself: the apothecary would administer the transformation, but would offer no medical care. A Space Marine should have to rely on nobody, and if he required a sterilised atmosphere and shiny new surgical instruments, then he was not of the right stuff. The Implantation Chamber was a haven for death and disease- its carefully controlled airsupply wa rich with some of the most deadly viruses and bacteria to have plagued the galaxy.
..

The unusual air-conditioning also acted as a defensive precaution - this was one of the most secure locations in the Blood Ravens' realm. At the back of the chamber were a pair of massive, heavy, adamantium doors, bolted and encrusted with purity seals. Sprinkled around the frame of the great doors were a series of automatic defence cannons that tracked and whirred constantly, drawing tabs on anything and anyone that moved into the room. An ancient, runic script had been inscribed in a giant arc around the super-armoured portal, but there were few who could decipher its meaning. And at the apex of the arch was a shimmering, blood red, stylised raven.
Behind those doors was kept part of the Chapter's supply of gene-seed. This was the most heavily guarded place in the entire battle barge - even more secure than the magnificent armouries of the Blood Ravens.

This is also used as a security measure (along with defense guns and sealed and warded doors) to protect the geneseed. Again in some cases this is downright hilarious with the grimdarkitude, but I still have to respect Goto for managing to cover this aspect of the Space Marines fairly well (even though it does, to me, make the Blood Ravens assholes.)

Page 28

Instead, the reservoir was divided amongst the Chapter's magnificent battle barges, including the epic fortress of the Omnis Arcanum, buried deep in their impregnable hulls and encased in concentric spheres of armoured shields. Even if the unthinkable were to happen, and a battle barge was destroyed, the gene-chamber would survive, tumbling invisibly through space until its heavily encrypted signal was picked up by another Blood Ravens vessel. It could survive for centuries, even millennia without external power. Like their brother Chapters, the Blood Ravens took no risks with their gene-seed, for without it they were doomed.

Geneseed security measures.

Page 31

The hall was big enough to hold a thousand eldar warriors, but today there were only a dozen.
The Court had been comprised of the same four exarchs for centuries. They were the keepers of the largest Aspect Temples on Biel-Tan, and between them they determined all the military affairs of the craftworld.

I'm not sure if this means there would be a thousand leaders on the craftworld, or a thousand exarchs. This would imply tens if not hundreds of thousands of Eldar in Biel Tan.

Page 33

It was not that long ago that she had summoned forth the Avatar of Khaine and sent it to its doom on the backwater world of Tartarus.

..

The mon-keigh had ruined the Avatar and unleashed a hideous daemon from the warp. Macha had not foreseen that - her visions had been ''clouded'' by something or someone that she could not or would not explain. In the meantime, the birth pains of the Avatar had drained all the life force from the Young King himself, leaving Biel-Tan without its premier warrior lord.

A lil backstory explaining the first novel. I should also say that the life force was drained from the Young King, since the AVatar of Khaine typically kills the fucker and incorporates its essence into itself.

Page 37-38

"Eldar souls are powerful beings, intimately connected to immaterial realms beyond our own. Our beliefs have repercussions. They produce ripples and echoes in the empyrean. If too many of us believe the same thing, we sometimes have the power to make it real. Or if the most powerful of us believe something passionately enough, he might create the echoes of it in the unseen realms."

Sounds like a sort of mass probability manipulation, through the basic fact that thought and emotion influence the warp. The whole "butterflies triggering hurricanes" thing.

Page 39

Macha shook her head and sighed. The past was a complicated place for her, but for the exarchs it was simple. They could remember precious little of their lives before their ascensions. Their personal histories were nothing more than wisps of cloud to them, lingering in the unused recesses of their minds. She didn't know whether this was a deliberate consequence of the ritual transformation, or whether it was simply a side effect of the psychic changes affected during the soul's dedication to Khaine. She knew, as the keepers of the Aspect Temples had known since time immemorial, that the exarchs were war personified, with the hindrances of their personalities stripped away like inhibitors from a powerful engine. In an ugly, alien tome stolen from the mon-keigh, she had once read that the Imperium of Man also aspired to the creation of warriors who lived in the eternal present, with their lives stripped away by drugs, augmetics and conditioning.

This is rather peculiar given what we know from "Path of the Warrior" - the protagonist seems to be able to remember aspects of his past fairly well. Maybe it varies from Craftworld to Craftworld. Alternately, being a Farseer, Macha may not understand Exarchs as well as she thinks. Or maybe some Exarchs just engage in that memory suppression better than others. Even Exarchs are not totally alike.

One possibility is that Macha is simply trying to rationalize what we know happens behind the mask - the Exarchs are sort of a gestalt consciousness, comprising all the past Exarchs and the present one, this tends to blend things together, which may give the impression that teh present "self" is forgotten - it isn't "forgotten", it is just altered.

I also wonder if this is a hinting of Space MArines being like Exarchs.

Page 41

He knew that it was impossible - the planet was ruined and most of the population had been infected by tainted blood that ran under the surface like subterranean rivers. In truth, Gabriel knew that he was taking a risk even with Ckrius. The Blood Ravens could not afford to introduce any residual taint into their Chapter, even in the blood of just one of their initiates.

speaking of TArtarus from the first DoW novel. Odd that a "tainted" world is left intact. Even odder is that the context of this passage makes it very easy to start questioning the motives and even sanity of Gabriel. I will be doing that quite a bit til I finish with Goto's books.

Page 42
]quote]
When he closed his eyes, he could see nothing except the tortured hell of Cyrene as the Exterminatus finally consumed all living tissue on the planet's surface. Not only had Cyrene been unsuitable for recruitment on that visit, but it had been riddled with corruption, taint, mutation and heresy. Gabriel had not had any choice - he could not suffer those abominations to live. From orbit, he had killed the entire planet.
[/quote]

Interesting in that this passage references Gabriel's memories of the destruction of Cyrene, implying he watched the entire thing.

Page 42

The hypnotherapy that he had undergone as he became a Space Marine had overwritten certain memories of his youth, leaving his mind tuned perfectly to the present. But the process could not obliterate his past completely, and his emotions continued to tug at his mind when he thought of what he had done to his own home planet. It was a curse of the Blood Ravens that they could not forget anything that they did as Marines; their minds were finely tuned to encourage their academic tendencies, which was why they had such a reputation for scholarship and knowledge. Gabriel had heard that it had something to do with a slight mutation in their catalepsean node. Whatever the reason, he could not forget the hell that he had unleashed on Cyrene, but the visions of the heaven that he had destroyed were gone forever.

This seems to echo Macha's sentiments with regards to Exarchs, the past being forgotten in favor of the present. Also the Blood Ravens apparently have a peculiar mutation that basically gives them perfect memories. This may explain why Gabriel is seemingly unstable from time to time - forgetting things is a rather effective self-defense mechanism for a human.

PAge 45

The Foundations of the Monastery-outpost on Rahe's Paradise were heavy and deep, plunging down into the rock substructure of the planet's crust. Although the edifice was only an outpost, with a minimal detachement of Marines, it was still the largest building on the planet, and it needed every centimetre of its foundations, ,especially when it fired its huge air-defence cannons.

the foundations seem to offer structurel reinforcement for defense cannons, although I dont know if they are anti-air or anti-orbit per se.

It also represents a case where a Space Marine force is deployed on a planet to watch over a potential recruiting center.

Page 47

It had been to the surprise of many that Jonas had specifically requested the posting; he had been a great warrior in his time, and his brethren could not imagine him fading away in the dark. Rahe's Paradise was certainly no humiliation - it was a worthy post for an aging Space Marine librarian - but there was little combat to be had, except for occasional ork raids and not infrequent civil wars. However, Jonas had harboured a desire to visit Rahe's Paradise for a long time: it had something more important than war buried beneath its sands.

This is another thing I will forgive many of Goto's flaws for. He managed to create a rather interesting and likeable character (to me at least) in the Librarian Jonas. But still it sounds more like a Space Marine in "retirement"

Page 49

Eventually, the site had become too extensive for him to manage on his own, and he had sent out a request to the Order of the Lost Rosetta, an Order Dialogous of the Adeptus Sororitas, ostensibly affiliated with the Ecclesiarchy. Sister Superior Meritia had answered the call.
The Blood Ravens had an ancient agreement with the Ecclesiarchy that Sisters of the Lost Rosetta would be seconded to them on request, for the purpose of mutually beneficial historical research. In fact, the Blood Ravens were one of the few Chapters of Space Marines that maintained better than cursory relations with the Ecclesiarchy. Most Chapters kept the priests at arm's length, disapproving of all the dogma and the rituals that subordinated everyone absolutely to the God-Emperor. The Adeptus Astartes had a more complicated relationship with the Emperor - he was simultaneously both more and less than a god: he was not exactly the ineffable, untouchable, pristine figure at the centre of Ecclesiarchal law, but rather he was a father and a hero - the historical founder of the Space Marines, friend and battle-brother to teh great primarchs. In many ways, the Emperor was the first and greatest of the Primarchs themselves, and the Adeptus Astartes were living incarnations of his will - angels of Death, born of the Emperor himself. They had no objections to the Ecclesiarchy preaching absolute obedience to everyone else in the galaxy, but they themselves required no reminders of the debt or duty they owed, and they were certain that they owed nothing to the bureaucrats and priests of the Ecclesiarchy.

An interesting arrangement, especially given the AStartes and Ecclesiarchical relationships. It is also inrteresting that factions in the Ecclesiarchy seem devoted to archaeology - it makes sense for the Order Dialogous to be so, but its interesting nonetheless. you tend not to associate religion with discovering history or knowledge - but rather trying to change or control it.

Interesting that Jonas comments on bureaucrats in the Ecclesiarchy - wouldn't surprise me if they wrere as wealthy and corrupt as the Roman Catholic church.

Page 51

Jonas dug his fingertips down into the sand next to the tablet, feeling along its length for a crack. With a slight nod of satisfaction, he found some leverage with his index finger and drove it underneath the stone. With a faint grimace of effort, the librarian prised the slab of rock off the ground; it pivoted along the far edge, as though hinged, and cascades of sand fell away, revealing the full extent of the object. The tablet was nearly two metres long, perhaps a metre wide, and at least ten centimetres thick.

As she approached, Meritia shook her head in amusement: Jonas hadn't even noticed that he had lifted mor ewith the index finger of one hand than most men could have done with the strength of their entire bodies.

Assuming solid stone, that maybe masses some 450-900 kilos or so. And Jonas lifted it with a finger. To be fair, he is a Librairan and I believe Librarians are known for being able to augment their strength and speed psychically (we even get a hint of this in the third DoW novel) but evne so this is damn impressive.

Page 53

Laying in the centre of the uncovered space was a shimmering black tablet, nearly a metre in length and perhaps half a metre wide. It seemed to contain a universe of miniature stars, glittering and winking in a complicated darkness.
Entranced, Meritia could find no words. She had never seen anything like it before; it just seemed to draw her in, capturing her eyes and her mind in an eternal instant. She had read about such materials, and had heard accounts from other Sisters who had been fortunate enough to glimpse it, but she had never dared hope that she would come so close to it herself. Legends told that it was fashioned out of the very fabric of the warp itself, rendered material by the impossibly ancient technologies of the eldar. And the warp contained no time - it was utterly timeless. This manifest fragment might be older than the galaxy itself. Her mind seemed unable or reluctant to grasp what she was seeing.
"Is that wraithbone?" asked Meritia, still staring at the object with wide, brown eyes. It seemed to thrill as she spoke its name, drawing her down to it. With aching trepidation, she stooped to look at it more closely, crouched under the lid that was still propped delicately against Jonas's finger.
The librarian closed his fingers around the edge of the heavy stone slab and lifted it clear of the exposed interior of the casket, placing it carefully onto the ground with one hand. Then he knelt softly on the sand next to Meritia and stared at the tablet. "Yes," he said simply. "It is wraithbone." Jonas had had dealings with the eldar before, and this was not the first time that he had come across their mysterious material.

Knowledge of Wraithbone.

[Connor MacLeod]

Dawn of War: Ascension. Update 2 of 4

Page 55

The monastery-outpost on Rahe's Paradise hosted two scout squads. They were on the point of graduating from the Tenth Company into one of the main combat Companies of the Chapter: it was tradition that one would go to join the Third Company - led by the Chapter's Commander of the Watch - and one the Seventh, each of which was famous for its explorative functions and hence required some extra training for its scouts.

This extra training was received on Rahe's Paradise partly because two scout squads was considered to be a suitable defensive force for such a small and relatively peaceful outpost and partly because the terrain was harsh and the people just bellicose enough to keep young scouts on their toes. The occasional raid by pirates or even by the foul greenskinned orks was simply a bonus. There was also usually a single squad of Assault Marines stationed at hte monastery itself, in case the Chapter had any need to flex it smuscles on the planet or in the most inaccessible regions of the mountains. THe assault squad was seconded on a rotational basis - one being supplied by each Blood Ravens' company in turn for a period of no more than two years at a time.

They also have a retired librarian (Jonas) and at least tow "Missionary Chaplains" Interesting that individual companies (or pairs of companies) seem to have their own recruiting grounds. It also implies their scout company, is, as a rule, quite heavily dispersed amongst various planets and spacecraft.

2 scout companies, 1 assault company, and the librarian and chaplains is considered a suitable Astartes garrison for a "peaceful" outpost.

Page 57

Caleb squinted, waiting for his occulobe implant to filter out the obfuscatory glare. The small, slug-like organ at the base of his brain had been working inconsistently rececntly, but the repair facilities on Rahe's Paradise were not sufficient to deal with zygote maintenance, so Caleb was waiting for the arrival of the Third Company's apothecary. In the meantime, his vision was occasionally glitchy, and he was conemplating simply having the implant removed.

Mention of repairs and maintenance to space marine implants. Oddly it seems to behave more lika a machine than anything.

Also odd is the implication that implants can be removed, which is weird considering how intimately they become connected to an aspirant's body and grow with him during the process. It's not like plug and play with a PC.

Page 58

The elegantly curving shape of the Vampire Raider was now fully submerged under the sand. Although its twin dorsal fins protruded out of the desert, they were virtually invisible. A light gravitic shield clung to the shiny surface of the fins (vampire raider), refracting and bending the surrounding light around them so that they were visible only as slight distortions in the already heat-distorted scene. The technology was a variation on that used in the cameleoline cloaks worn by the rangers themselves.

Vampire Raider appears to have cloaking tech, or maybe this is an aspect of their Holofield defenses. Gravitic shielding of a sort, and similar is implied ot be behind Eldar cameleoline cloaks.

Page 59

Let's go, he said, without a sound, whispering the command directly into the minds of his team.

A bank of jetbikes flashed forward from each side of him, accelerating to maximum speed almost instantaneously and virtually without sound.

I dont recall offhand Eldar jetbike speeds given, but in other goto short stories they achieve hypersonic speeds. Tens or hundred of gees acceleration seems likely (assuming on one hand they can move as fast as an Imperial Land Speeder, if not faster, the other being hypersonic speed.)

Page 60-61

In the ancient and long misremembered past, at the time of the Fall, it is said that the one who is now known only as Asurmen led the eldar into exile aboard the great craftworlds. It was he who founded the first of the Aspect Shrines, the Shrine of Asur, in the discipline of which the Asurya would cleanse their souls of the passions and savagery that had brought doom to their race.
Asurmen taught that there was a way for the eldar to harness their nature into weapons that could be used to protect their people, rather than to ruin themselves. The way of an Aspect Warrior was to channel the violence in an eldar's soul into service, transforming self-indulgence into acts of worship for Kaela Mensha Khaine, the bloody-handed god. War became a way of purging the eldar nature without encouraging the warriors to be consumed by the thirst for violence itself.
In the centuries and millennia that followed, the Asurya took the Path of the Warrior to all the craftworlds, founding first the Temple of the Dire Avengers. After time, other temples were created, reflecting the multitudinous aspects of the terrible thirst in eldar souls. In mirror images of the warrior path, other paths were established within eldar society, including the Path of the Seer. Each path permitted the controlled and disciplined expression of part of the nature of the eldar, such that their souls might never again fall into the decadence that had led to their Fall. In this way was born the Path of the Eldar - a winding road of self-discipline and self-reproach. Every craftworld eldar would spend a cycle following each of the eldar ways, taming her passions and controlling her myriad nature. In this way the eldar race hoped to escape its daemons.
Of course, the way is not clear to everyone, and the souls of a few are so passionate that they cannot easily be tamed. Such rare individuals may return to the same path over and over again - perhaps flitting between different Aspect Temples until finally meeting their deaths.
Even more exceptionally, some become trapped by their own essential tendencies, never able to leave their paths - doomed to fight for all time in the guise of an exarch, becoming the living incarnations of Kaela Mensha Khaine himself, both admired and abhorred by their fellow warriors and by all eldar.

Aspect Warriors and the Craftowrld eldar - at least legends of such. Along with discussion of the Exarchs.

Page 65

They knew better than to doubt him, but they also knew that there was no way that he could know anything about this ''invasion''. He was not a librarian, and he had no sanctioned gifts of foresight. However, he did have uncannily acute senses, and the eyebrows of the Inquisition had been raised in his direction before, particularly since Cyrene.

Implication that Librarians have precognitive abilities, a long with "sanctioned foresight." He's referring to the stuff which I have continued to refer to as his "little episodes." - I really dont know what Goto intended with all this.

Page 67

The battle barge. Litany of Fury, in whose conference chamber they now stood, was on its way to the Trontiux system, where it would fall into an orbit around the third planet so that a small detachment of Marines, including himself, Tanthius and Chaplain Prathios, could descend to the planet's surface and conduct the Blood Trials. After Trontiux III, the Litany of Fury would head for the Lorn system, before finally heading for Rahe's Paradise.
..

"The Litany will continue to Trontiux III - we cannot afford to miss this opportunity to run the Blood Trials there… Captain Ulantus can oversee the trials in my place. I will take the Ravenous Spirit to Rahe's Paradise, immediately,"

..

"In only a few weeks, the Litany of Fury itself will arrive and we can deal with any residual problems then, if necessary."

- the Blood Ravens Battle Barge Litany of Fury will arrive at Rahe's paradise from its current location in "several weeks" Gabriel instead chooses to go ahead with a stirke cruiser instead. Its also worth noting there are two other locations before reaching Rahe's Paradise. STrike cruisers unsurprisingly are faster than battle barges.

Page 67

The Third were not the only Company who found their home on the Litany. The Ninth was also based within its revered and venerated halls, under the command of Captain Ulantus. It was a Reserve Company, comprised mostiy of Devastator squads, and it was at about three-quarter strength.

It seems to be practice that a battle company is paired with one reseve company per battle barge, along with escorts and strike cruisers (at least 2 I believe, per barge). This suggests the Blood Ravnes have maybe upwards of 5 battle barges and 10 Strike cruisers, which makes their fleet as large as the Ultramarines had gotten at one point (prior ot Tyrannic war, I think. They lost a few during and after)

For whatever it is worth Lexicanum lists 4 battle barges.

Page 67

Prathios had watched Gabriel in prayer on many occasions over the last few weeks, and even he could see Isador's tainted and ruined face plaguing the captain's already tortured mind: there was certainly little room for Ikarus in Gabriel's affections at the moment.

A "few weeks" had elapsed since Tartarus. Perhaps a month, or a month and a half of transit total We dont know for sure where Tartarus is, but it may be somewhere in the southern part of the Imperium, as that is hinted to be Biel-Tan's area of operations. Whether or not Rahe's Paradise is somewhere else in the Imperium It's implied to be on the edg eof the segmentum, wherever we are) is up for debate.

Page 71

The Reaper's Blade is in position. From the command deck of his Void Dragon cruiser, Laeresh's voice eased its way directly into Macha's head and broke her chain of thought, resolving her confusion with its single-minded clarity.

The Reaper's Blade was a beautiful ship, almost invisible against the darkness of space because it was immaculately black from prow to stern. It was unique amongst the vessels of the Biel-Tan fleet since it did not bear the emblem of the craftworld - the seeing eye set into a triangle of power. Instead, the runic symbol of the Dark Reapers was emblazoned in shimmering silver into the star-sails that projected out of the middle of the hull on both sides, like wings. No eldar could command that ship, except for the exarch of the Aspect Temple himself - not even the Court of the Young King could order it into battle, and Laeresh was taking great pleasure in ignoring Uldreth's requests that the Reaper's Blade should accompany the fleet to Lorn.

- the Biel-Tan Dark Reapers have at least one warship (a cruiser) under their personal control and not answering to the commands of the rest of the Biel-Tan forces. This must have something to do with their anomalous status on Biel-Tan at this time - other Aspect Warriors probably borrow on the existing fleet or something, since they list it as being unique.

Page 72

The Dark Reapers occupied an unusual position in the society of Biel-Tan. Unlike the other major Aspect Temples, they were not represented in the Court of the Young King. Instead, they were a semi-autonomous force on the craftworld, which placed them on the periphery of Biel-Tan society and caused some eldar to view them with suspicion. This marginal status was reinforced by the low numbers of eldar who joined the temple during their cycle on the Path of the Warrior, which meant that the temple was always one of the smallest and most mysterious on the craftworld.
Legend had it that the Dark Reapers found their origins on the lost craftworld of Altansar, which once partnered Ulthwe as a guardian of the Eye of Terror. Many millennia ago, the Eye expanded and Altansar was caught in its grip. For centuries, the doomed craftworld battled the daemonic forces of the massive warp storm as it was slowly pulled in. But, after half a millennium of fierce resistance, Altansar finally succumbed and plunged into the Eye, never to be seen or heard of again.

From the millions of eldar who perished, their emerged only one survivor, the Phoenix Lord Maugan Ra, the Harvester of Souls.

Maugan Ra was the first of the Dark Reapers, wielding the first Reaper Cannon - the Maugetar. His armour was blackened and tortured by the rapacious currents of the Eye, and in that terrible visage he dedicated himself to wreaking vengeance on those who had brought destruction to his temple. With no home left to defend, Maugan Ra adopted the maxim that remains etched into the wraithbone shrines in Dark Reaper temples to this day: war is my master, death my mistress. He had no lord other than death itself. Although Asurmen was the first of the Phoenix Lords and his Dire Avengers are the most numerous of all Aspect Warriors, there was never a warrior that more perfectly enshrined the nature of Kaela Mensha Khaine, the Bloody-Handed God, than Maugan Ra. Perhaps this is why his temple is still viewed with such dread.

The temples of the Dark Reapers are doomed to stay on the edge of craftworld society, since the craftworld on which they were born was destroyed long ago - the Reapers find their home in battle, and nowhere else. This means that none can claim dominion over them, and they answer to none other than their own exarch, aspiring always to rediscover the ancient armour of Maugan Ra and the lost craftworld of Altansar.

Two things of note:

First is the backstory of the Dark REapers as well as their peculiar position (At this time) on Biel Tan. It is also implied that their independence in Eldar society is part and parcel of their aspect, rather than something unique to Biel-Tan. This makes them in some ways akin to outcasts.

Secondly, is that Craftworld Altansar had "millions" of Eldar in population - which is to my knowledge the most direct and only indicator of craftworld populations. EVerything else is genergally vague or partial - numbers of "hundreds" or "thousands." Its implied that Ulthwe may have been as large as Altansar, given they were both tasked with guarding the Eye of Terror. We don't know how Altansar compares ot other craftworlds, except that it must be smaller than Iyanden, which was one of the largest. This does reinforce the idea of that Eldar Craftworld populations must hover in the hundreds of thousands at least, if not millions.

There are also scores if not hundreds of Craftworlds.. so perhaps at least tens if not hundreds of millions of Craftworld eldar at an absolute minimum, and more probably billions. This would be acocmpanied with hundreds if not thousands of planets (Exodite worlds, colonies, etc) which probably have roughly similar populations. We might infer the Eldar are as numerous (or nearly so) as the Tau.

The one caveat I have is that "eldar" might possibly also include the spirits in the infinity circuit, although I dont think they routinely get referred to as regular Eldar. given Wraithguard and Wraithlords an such, they tend to occupy a separate and distinct category from corporeal Eldar souls.

Page 77

The chaplain nodded, taken aback slightly by his captain's sudden venom, but acknowledging that he was right. There was nothing more glorious than opening one's soul to the guidance of the Imperial light, although the sacred Astronomican remained invisible to most servants of the Emperor, radiating through the echoing minds of astropaths and sanctioned psykers. As a chaplain, Prathios had seen glimpses of its pulsating brightness, and he was always conscious of it as a beacon in the deepest subconscious parts of his mind. But he would never claim to have seen it clearly or unambiguously in the glare of his mind's eye. Ever since Cyrene, however, he had seen Gabriel blinded by visions of its radiance, and the Blood Ravens captain had no sanctioned psychic potentials.

Prathios thinks he's seen the Astronomican. I'm not sure if this is some result of him being a Blood Raven or a Chaplain (meaning either because Blood Ravens are known for being gifted with psykers in their ranks, or because Chaplains have some latent psychic potential akin to what Sisters of Battle possess.)

And we get a bit more about Gabriel's little episodes.

Page 81

AS she read, the vox-unit in the corner of her chamber whistled delicately. In the still night air, the sound seemed unnecessarily shrill an dloud, and Meritia glared at the little machine with irritation. The powerful amplifier arrays of the outpost-monastery were essential for the maintenance of communication with the rest of the sector, but they did mean that any sense of seclusion that Meritia might have enjoyed in her own chamber was entirely false. For some reason, the Blood Ravens Techmarines and even a detachment from the ADeptus Mechanicus had never been able to estalbish a reliable astropathic station on Rahe's Paradise. Two astropaths had been sent to the planet over the years, but both had been wracked with nightmares and agony. One had hanged hihmself in his cell. So the outpost relied on the slow, primitive vox technology even more than it might otherwise have done.

Yep that's right. Sector wide vox communication through "amplifier arrays" and explicitly NOT tied to Astropaths. There's no way in hell this could reliably be lightspeed comms, not across the WHOLE sector - I don't care what kind of amplifiers you use.

What's even odder is they have a veteran Librarian there.. so what do they need a separate comms for? He could serve as astropath.

I would speculate that the "vox" is actually wired to some astropathic servitors or something operating the "amplifier array" - like the psychic servitors reputed ot make up the living "Transmat link" the AdMech use, or are described in the shira Calpurnia novel "blind" (which cannot handle a fraction of what a living Astropath can do.) It's clearly slower and more primtiive and shorter ranged than true astrotelepathy, but I doubt a sevitor would be aware enough to hang itself.

What's more is that you could run the damn things off vox like is described.

either way we have yet another case of non-Astropathic FTL communications, of a sort.

Page 82

"'…ister Meritia. This is Sister Ptolemea... en route to.. e's PAradise... two days. Please acknowledge."
Meritia just stared at the machine with mounting displeasure. Not only had it interrupted her studies, but it was now also the bearer of such troublesome news. She knew Ptolemea - she was also of the Order of the Lost Rosetta, although the two of them had never been close. She was young and ambitious, and Meritia was not sure why she should be on her way to Rahe's Paradise. This was not the kind of posting that someone like Ptolemea would request.
"Acknowledged," she said simply, not bothering to repeat her message and not caring whether it was swamped in the rush of whining feedback that suddenly filled the echoing stone room.
There was no reply, and Meritia chose to interpret that as a good sign.

Goto was nice enough to provide us with a tangible example that this cannot be, in any goddamn way, lightspeed sensors. At BEST the ship might be in-system and travelling at sublight and arriving in two days, but it's virtually realtime (or nearly so).

Page 82

Part of the reason that she had answered the Blood Ravens' call for scholarly aid on Rahe's Paradise was that she had wanted to escape the internal politics of the Ecclesiarchy. There were so many agendas competing for resources in those hallowed halls, and factions were constantly at each other's throats, determined to discredit their hypotheses and research programmes. From time to time, there were even charges of heresy thrown about, when one powerful group of scholars realised that another was working on a competing project. For obvious reasons, charges of heresy within the Ecclesiarchy were taken even more seriously than such charges in other branches of the sprawling Administratum - and heresy was always the most serious of charges.

The Adeptus Sororitas were in a unique and complicated position when such dramas began to unfold, since they were technically part of the Ecclesiarchy itself, but they could also be enlisted into the service of the Ordo Hereticus whenever there was need. It was more often the case that the militant orders of the Sisters of Battle would be seconded by the Inquisition for services outside the confines of the Ecclesiarchy, but from time to time the inquisitors of the Ordo Hereticus had need for the special talents of the non-militant orders, such as that of the Lost Rosetta, particularly when charges of doctrinal heresy were levelled at curators, scholars or priests.

Meritia was something of an idealist, and she sincerely believed that scholarship should be free of politics. Of course, she was aware that certain types of knowledge could be dangerous, but she was confident in the ability of scholars to draw a line between the discovery of dangerous information and the internalisation of any taint that it might contain. She was opposed, for example, to the puritans in her order who insisted that the Lost Rosetta should have no contact with alien artefacts, lest their own sacred purity be contaminated by the foul taint of the xenos creatures. She had seen Ordo Hereticus inquisitors summoned to investigate her own Sisters when it was discovered that they were analysing a lost eldar tract or an intercepted data-stream from a tau fleet.

- mention of the cutthroate internal politics of the Ecclesiarchy and how many agendas competed for resources and undercut other hypotheses and research programmes. This is important largely becuase it indicates a significant research/scholarly aspect. Up to and including heresy.

Again I will give this much to Goto - I rather like his assessment of hte Ecclesiarchy in this way. It's rather materialistic and not much on religion, although the individual members may actually be believers.

Note as well direct mention of intercepting transmissions from tau fleets.

Page 84

Finally turning her face away from the little vox-unit in the corner, Meritia inspected herself in the mirror that dominated the back of the main door to her chamber. It was there mainly to reflect the daylight onto her desk in the hours before sunset, since her slit-window was inadequate to the task of providing sufficient reading light, and for some reason artificial light was damaging to some of the older texts. Indeed, some of the most interesting tracts remained utterly invisible until exposed to natural light.

A rather peculiar aspect for some text. I wonde rwhat "odl texts" are being described.

Page 86

"'We received news of your recent encounter with the eldar, and we are here ahead of the Litany of Fury to bolster your defences"

In context, days at most, could have passed. That means they crossed thousands of light years (suggested later) a matter of hours or days via strike cruiser. That's rather fast compared to many other cases, but it's not unheard of, and Space Marine vessels are known for doing this sort of thing.

Page 89

In the faint blue light of the sanctum of the Dire Avengers' temple, Uldreth paced restlessly around the holographic image that was projected in the centre of the octagonal chamber. The three dimensional picture was intricate and complicated, laced with the glowing tracks of spacecraft and trace lines of weapons discharge. The vectors were plotted in wisps of green as luminous blue darts flickered and flashed through the image.

The exarch shot occasional glances at the shifting scene, taking in all the details in a fraction of a second. His mind had become so accustomed to strategic layouts that they no longer seemed to require any conscious interpretation. Despite the fact that the complicated image was actually a composite of two separate theatres, Uldreth could see the potentials and realities of each instantly, while an inner voice continued to rail against the reckless abandon of Macha and Laeresh.

Dire Avenger Exarch has the ability to rapidly assimilate (in a fraction of a second) strategic/tactical information from multiple theatres. He also seems to have some sort of specialized, short term precog devoted to warfare, which is honestly unsurprising in an Exarch.


Page 94

The four of them were in the shimmering power armour of the Order of Golden Light, one of the smallest of the militant Order Minoris of the Adeptus Sororitas; they occasionally accompanied the non-militant Lost Rosetta on expeditions to the less hospitable parts of the galaxy. In fact, the two orders were related historically, each splitting from the now defunct Order of Lost Light after a virulent purity sweep by the Witch Hunters of the Ordo Hereticus found its particular mix of scholarship and martial prowess threatening to the stability of the Imperium.

A bit of interesting Sororitas history.

Page 95

"I made several attempts to contact Sister Superior Meritia whilst in transit," replied Ptolemea, looking past Jonas once again. "It would seem that my attempts were not successful."
"It is not unusual for vessels to experience communication disruption in this region of the segmentum, Sister. But I regret that we were unable to arrange a proper welcome for you."

Again the strong indications of non-Astorpathic FTL communications. Rather interesting that the Sororitas vessel seemed to have the same sort of system. It may be something common to vessels and Imperial bases and locales in this region of space.

The curious thing is whether "in transit" means whilst in the Warp, or whilst in realspace (perhaps making multiple jumps)

Page 97

The Void Dragon was a very different vessel from the wraithship, very much a product of the materium; it may have fallen behind in the labyrinthine webways that had brought the two ancient cruisers to the fringe of Lsathranil's Shield, but in material space its engines could be counted amongst the most powerful in the Biel-Tan fleet. The myriad souls collected into the Reaper's spirit pool were happiest in the heavy void of deep space.

The Dark Reaper starship is apparently faster in REalspace than Macha's wraithship, and is mentioned explicitl to have its own spirit pool. I guess the Dark REaper Aspect Warriors are sergregated even.

This leads to some interesting questions - since most Eldar typically do not stay on a path, do they remain ostracised after they leave the Aspect Temple? Possibly not, since Eldar nature seems to make a habit of sergreating their minds, memories, and personalities in bizarre ways when they follow a path - they almost become a new person with each new path./

Page 98

It had taken her decades of patience and diligence to bring her set of runes into perfect synchronicity with her own particular psychic signatures, and the abrupt sense of alienation that slapped her as the stones repelled her touch was akin to horror. She stared in confused disbelief at the singed and smoking tips of her fingers as she withdrew them sharply from the runic maelstrom.

With an explosion of emerald light, the stones seemed to detonate, spraying themselves into shrapnel and jagged shards that ricocheted around the polished, wraithbone walls of her inner sanctum. A hail of razor-sharp projectiles, like the tinyy shuriken used in eldar firearms, lashed into Macha's body, lacerating the psychic shields and armoured plates with microscopic ease.

Farseer body armour seems to be both shielded and armoured, like Warlocks. Shuriken ammo likened to "microscopic" projectiles. Also Farseer runestones, at least in Macha's case, took decades to attune to her properly.

Page 101

"Thank you, captain. I assure you that I had no intention of taking you by surprise. I made several attempts to contact Sister Senioris Meritia whilst in transit, and I had been under the impression that Librarian Isador Akios might have alerted you to my visit."

Again mention of multiple communications via the weird non-astropathic FTL and "Several attempts" at communication in transit. Again I wonder if "in transit" means whilst traveling to the planet throught he wapr, or if it refers to transit once arriving in system.

Curious that ISador is mentioned, suggesting news of his Death hasn't reached very many yet (unsurprising, since the only ones who would know are all on TArtarus or leaving it.) This may also mean that wherever Sister Ptoloema came from she was in transit durint the whole Tartarus thing.

Page 103

The shots seemed to come out of nowhere, like a torrent of hail from a cloudless sky. Tiny projectiles rattled against the fuel tank on Corallis's bike, riddling its armour with microscopic explosions that threatened to ignite the liquid inside.

The peculiar eldar Ranger weapons create "microscopic explosions" I think they were using shuriken weapons of some sort, rather than Ranger laser sniper rifles. Odd, that.


Page 104

Shifting like shadows in the maelstrom of sand that now filled the air, Corallis could see the flickering images of several slim figures. They were clearly using some form of reactive camouflage, but, whatever it was, it was having problems adapting rapidly enough to deal with the wafting clouds of desert kicked up by the bikes.

- The cameleoline cloaks the Eldar Rangers are wearing is described by a Space AMrine as "reactive camouflage."

Page 104

Whoever they were, they were moving faster than anyone local to Rahe's PAradise could ever move.

Implied that Eldar move faster than humans. Considering Space Marines can move in tenths of a second or faster, and cover a good 15-20 m/s on a run.. that's saying something.

Page 107

Almost instantaneously, the sergeant tracked his bolter across and squeezed off two rounds.
Ikarus had also sensed the movement, and a wave of psychic energy smashed into the eldar's chest just as the bolter shells punched into the side of his head. The ranger's incinerated and decapitated body dropped into a crumpled heap on the sand.

Two bolt rounds "decapitate" Eldar Ranger while the Librairans psychic attack "incinerates" it - which in this case I'll take to mena badly burnt rather than cremated, sinc ethere is still a body to be dropped in a heap and only the head is missing.

Page 108

When Corallis stooped down over the librarian, he saw that his armour was riddled with tiny holes, across his chest plates and helmet. All of the librarian's major organs, including his brain, had been lacerated and pulverised.

Shuriken fire had "lacereated and pulverized" the Librarian. Possibly indicators yet again of the odd explosive ammunition.

Page 111

Just at the edge of his awareness, Gabriel thought that he saw Prathios glance up towards him as he addressed the crowd, explaining to them that most of them would die over the course of the next few days.

The Blood Trials here occur "over a few days", whichends with IIRC the arrival of the battle barge. This implies it took maybe a week or so for the Strike cruiser to arrive.

Page 111-112

As he struggled to bring the faces into focus, one of them spiralled up out of the crowd towards him - its clear green eyes and braided blonde hair fixing themselves into Gabriel's mind. At the same time, a choir of voices started to chant into his ears, beginning with a single, soaring note of silver purity. The music began to swirl in sweeps of stereo as it grew louder and more voices joined the first, making Gabriel's mind spin in his head and bringing the gut-wrenches of nausea. For a moment, he thought that the aspirants were singing, but he quickly realised that these voices were from somewhere else entirely.

Gabriel has another of his episodes. There's really not much more to say than this.


Page 112

Sleep had been the neophyte's only solace, and now the Blood Ravens were about to take that away from him too. Ckrius had been pushed rapidly through the first five phases of the implantation process - a process that would normally have taken several years.

Several years compressed into what.. weeks? a month or two?

Page 113

During the process, he had experienced precious few moments of sleep, in which pain, surgery and transformation could be forgotten, but they had kept him relatively sane. Of course, the apothecary was not overly concerned about Ckrius's sanity or his state of mind during the first five phases strength of mind was essential, but sanity was a relative concept and not necessarily an asset to a Space Marine.

- its noted here that "strenght of mind" is a desirable feature in a Space Marine, but santiy "was a relative concept and not neccesarily an asset to a Space Marine." This reminds me much of General Xarius from CRimson Tears and his attitudes about the Astartes. This would seem to justify it.

Page 113-114

In any case, phase six would begin the process of eradicating any significant personality flaws. After its initial implantation, the catalepsean node would deprive Ckrius of sleep, thus preventing his brain from launching its automatic defences of his personality whilst a programme of hypnotherapy fashioned him into a Marine. Later on, the implant would enable him to regulate his own circadian rhythms by isolating different sections of his brain and letting each sleep in turn - at no stage in the future would Ckrius dream in the way that he did before. He would become able to sleep while he was still awake.

Over the course of recent centuries, there had been some whispered rumours that the phase six zygote had suffered a slight mutation in the Blood Ravens. In response, the librarian fathers of the Chapter had made some slight alterations to the long-term programme of hypnotherapy that all Marines continued to receive, even after they completed their ascensions into the Adeptus Astartes. It was hypothesised that the Blood Ravens' catalepsean node continued to interfere with the ability of Marines to sleep normally even after the implant was fully embedded and control of its functions should have become voluntary. The result appeared to be that some Blood Ravens never had any dreams of any kind, and the Chapter's leaders were concerned about the effects that this might have on their Marines' states of mind. Nonetheless, the zygote continued to be implanted in every initiate because, without it, it would be impossible to conduct the intravenous hypnotherapy required to alter the nervous systems of neophytes to sustain the other implants. And, in the final analysis, the Chapter maintained its faith that the node functioned as it should.

Yet another hinted mutation in the Blood Raven Gene seed, as well as more grimdark indications that Space Marines may be brainwashed lunatics.

Also some indications of the purpose of the hypnotherapy, suitably grimdarkified.


Page 114

If he had to be honest, Ulantus had thought that Gabriel had made a mistake to try and put someone so old through the process, no matter how much need there was for new initiates. It was dangerous for the boy and potentially a tremendous waste of resources for the Chapter.

I blame Gabriel's episodes. Seriously though it is interesting how much conflict Gabriel creates with all the decisions stemming from the first novel, and it's hard to blame Ulantus for feeling this way given how Gabriel acts. Overlal I find Ulantus a more likeable and sympathetic character than I do Gabriel, which is par for the course for these novels. The supporting characters are invairably better than most main characters (with the exception of Jonas, who is a secondary character who becomes a main character.)

Page 116

He had been less than impressed when the Commander of the Watch had decided to take his strike cruier off ot the other side of the Segmentum on what appeared to be a whim, leaving Ulantus and the Ninth Company to complete the recruitment sweep of the Trontiux and then Lorn systems, as well as leaving Ckrius in his hands.

Gabriel went haring off to the "other side of the Segmentum" - implying a distance crossed of many thousands, if not tens of thousands of ligth years - in a matter of days or weeks. take your pick.

Page 116

It had only been a matter of hours after the Ravenous Spirit had departed that he had made his way down to the Litany of Fury's Implantation Chamber to check on the boy's progress.

I'm guessing not hours. Although they may have taken hours to reach the edge of the system for warp translation.

Page 121

Even from the very edge of the system, where the webway portal spilt the sleek eldar cruisers back into real space, LAeresh could sense the presecne of the mon'keigh. They were like a stenchin the psychic wash that swept through his mind. The warp signatures in the region of Lsathranil's Shield had always been unusual, but Laeresh was not expected to find the ugly dissonance of humans already mixed into the streams of conciousnesss that flowed through the apparent vaccuum of space. It was as though an animal had died and fallen into the current upstream, filling his senses with atrophy and poisoned decay. His long, elegant face grimaced slightly in revulsion, even before the Blade's long range scanners confirmed the presence of an Imperium strike cruiser in orbit aroudn the Fourth planet.

The Dark REaper Exarch could make some psychic detection of humans around Rahe's PAradise from the edge of the system. The sensors seem to be nearly as fast.

Page 122-123

The Reaper's Blade streaked away from the inconstant form of the Eternal Star, leaving it glowing ont he cusp of the webway portal. After a few seconds, Laeresh registered the fact that Macha's wraithship was not following his lead, but his thoughts were already in the heat of the battle to come and he dismissed her absence as a strategic mistake rather than a significant communication. The Blade was more than a match for any of the cumbersome, ugly vessels of the Imperium - he didn't need the wraithship's support to deal with a single strike cruiser. Wait. The echo came again, persistent and pressing, albeit still weak and feeble. The thought had a familiar quality that Laeresh refused to recognise, shutting it out as his Void Dragon cruiser flashed through the edges of the system, heading in towards the fourth planet.

As the Reaper's Blade closed, its forntal puslar lancecs erupted with power, sending a volley of high-energy laser bolts searing through the vaccuum towards the mon'keigh vessel. In tight formation, ,a clutch of Phantom torpedoes flashed along in the wake of the energy discharge.

The two vessels were still too far apart for a proper engagmeent, but long distance strikes were what the Dark Reapers were famous for, and the Void Dragon had been specially adapted to match the tactics of the Aspect Temple: the lance blasts would soften up the enemy's shields before the torpedoes impacted.

IT is not obviously clear from the scene, but it implies greatly that the Dark REapers were firing towards the planet from a considerable distance off.. millions of kilometers, perhaps even multiple AU away. Against predictable, non-moving targets (especially if you can detect them psychiclaly and might have some predictive capability) this is not impossible, and they even note this is an atypical engagement range that is only made possible by Dark REaper abilities (somerthing perhaps only an Exarch could pull off.)

Curiously the Eldar torpedoes need the shields weakened to allow them to penetrate. This may be a consequence of the higher velocities.

Page 123

It was a deep space vessel, capable of supporting the Dark Repaers for years or even decades at a time, if the exarch chose not to take it back to the Biel-Tan craftworld straight away. In fact, it was one of the very few Dragon-class cruisers that contained its own Aspect shrine, so that the warriors on board could be spiritually self-sufficient for longer periods. The spirit pool of the Reaper's Blade contained only the souls of deceased Dark Reapers, making it a ritually pure vessel for the exarch and his glorious army - like a miniature recreation of craftworld Altansar, for which the Void Dragon continued to search the deepest reaches of space. The refusal of the Dark Reapers to blend their souls with those of the other Biel-Tan eldar in the craft-world's infinity circuit excited both resentment and relief from the other members of the Court of the Young King. Nobody knew what effect their vengeful souls would have on the balance of that circuit, especially since there were now thousands of them in the Reaper's Blade itself, stored up over the centuries in the hope that they might one day be released into the craftworld of Altansar once again.

The Biel-Tan Dark Reapers cruiser - about as self contained a craft as any Eldar vessel could be.

Page 124

The volley of lance fire streaked towards the Imperium's vessel, which was beginning to pitch around to face the charging form of the Reaper's Blade and to bring its own frontal batteries into play.

Laeresh also assumed that the mon-keigh would be unimaginative enough to place their thickest armour on the prow of their cruisers, so he reasoned that the apparently aggressive move was actually a defensive manoeuvre. Despite himself, he nodded slightly, surprised that the clumsy fools had even noticed that they were under attack: He was certtain that their primitive sensors could not detect the Phantom torpedoes and he was fairly sure that they would have great difficulty resolving the continuously shifting signature of the Reaper's Blade into a constant, definite image. Of course, even the mon`keigh would be able to see a volley of blindingly bright laser bolts heading straight for them, eventually.

The engagement ranges are long enough for thoughts to pass and for the sTrike cruiser to make a turn (many seconds, possibly even minutes depending on how charitable one wants to be.)

Also interesting that the laser blasts are (in the Exarch's mind) more eaisly detected than the torpedoes are. This means the lasers are giving off light (They aren't normal lasers!) for some reason. Moreover, the light they are giving off is in the direction of the Strike cruiser, and is detectable at FTL... ugh. Nevermind my head is starting to hurt. Better to write it off as idle speculation rather than legitimate fact.

Page 124-125

Wait! The thought was insistent and powerful, activating something primeval deep in Laeresh's mind. His aggression subsided for a moment, and the Reaper's Blade slowed down, falling behind the dark, speeding flecks of the torpedoes. As the Void Dragon slowed it was suddenly overtaken by a blur of light, swooping past it like a majestic bird. The Eternal Star drew itself up in front of the Reaper's Blade, blocking the route of the Dark Reaper's cruiser. As it did so, the lance bolts smahed into the prow of the distant, ugly Imperium vessel in orbit around the fourth planet.

A second later, ,and the Phantom torpedoes ploughed into the cruiser behind them, detonating on impact and sending out concentric rings of shock waves into the surrounding spacee and the upper levels of the planet's atmosphere. With only a fraction of a delay, a burst of fire erupted from the Imperium's vessel as a flurry of torpeodes were sent chasing through space towards the Eldar cruisers. Laeresh watched the exchange taking place on the view screen in front of him, cursing Macha under his breath for thwarting his attack.

He watched the slow little signals of the torpedoes heading for the Eternal Star, and he shook his head in dismay. By the time those pathetic rockets reached the wraithship, it could be on the other side of the planet, and the Void Dragon could be half way out of the star system.

Why would Macha seek to prevent the Dark Reapers from ending this battle at long range, where the mon-keigh's weapons would be ineffective?

Laeresh, wait, came Macha's thoughts, firm and resolute.

I await your leisure, farseer, replied Laeresh, his thoughts full of repressed bitterness.

No, Laeresh, you await direction. Her mind seemed thin and tremulous, as though speaking whilst labouring for breath. There is more to this battle than an Astartes cruiser, Laeresh…

Her thoughts faded into silence before starting up again, fainter than before. Follow me.

With that, the exquisite form of the Eternal Star seemed to flick its wings and sweep back out towards the edge of the system.

The Eldar torpedoes are travelleing pretty damn fast - just a bit slower than the lasers really, since they stroke a second later. Either the lasers arne't really lasers (And weren't travelling at ligthspeed) or those torpedoes were travelling at near-c.

The Strike cruiser returns fire with cruisers. It's implied the strike cruiser is more than halfway in the system, but would be halfway again before the torpedoes reached Macha's craft. They are also close enough to the planet for the Wraithship to get behind it. Again implied ranges of millions or tens of millions, while not explicit seem mentioned, although the exarch thinks that this is far beyond the effective range of those weapons, so the exact range from this probably doesn't matter

Also again implication of realtime or near-reatlime sensor detection for the Eldar.

Page 126

The little torpedoes were visible on the screen now, like small points of light or insects crawling over the Blade's sensors. He shook his head again in resentment, and another flurry of PHantom torpedoes streaked out of the Void Dragon's prow, tearing invisibly through the ditance between it and the mon`keigh. As the Reaper's Blade banked and set off in pursuit of the Eternal Star, Laeresh laughed inwardly at the thought that his rockets would hit the enemy cruiser before the mon`keigh's weapons had even reached his launch location. What's more, the ignorant, myopic humans would probably not even know that they were still under attack, or notice that their foe had already left the system.

The Dark Reaper torpedoes would reach the target long before the human torpedoes reached the Blade's location.

Page 127

Crawling back to her feet, another projectile hissed past her ear. There was a pause and then another flurry of shots, zipping through the rain and leaving a faint trail of steam in their wake, like miniature contrails.

Shuriken weapons.

Page 128

Limbs were being severed by whatever projectiles were searing out of the jungle in pursuit of them, sending the eldar stumbling to the ground, where they continued to return fire until they were lacerated beyond any hope of recovery by concentrated volleys of fire from the hidden depths of the jungle.

Unknown fire fucking up Eldar warriors. Necrons? Blood Ravens? Since a Sister of Battle is observing this one would think she would recognize bolter fire. But at the same time, Necron weaponry is as a rule rather.. obvious nor od they use projectile weapons. Possibly other Eldar weapons?

Page 131

In fact, she had suffered a slight hallucination on the journey to Rahe's Paradise, just as her gunship had been released into the system from the Incisive Light, the Ordo Hereticus cruiser that had brought her most of the way from her order's convent on Bethle II. She had dismissed it as a side effect of the warp jump from which the Incisive Light had just emerged, but it now seemed possible that it had represented the birth pains of whatever afflicted her now.

This answers my question before - "in transit" means during the warp travel, which means that the vox communications were outside the system, but still within the sector.

It also implies they emerge form the warp close to the planet - at least close enough for a gunship to take them to rAhe's Paradise

[Connor MacLeod]

Next Ascension update. I think I'll finish the second novel and start the third after this. What I'll start next, I dunno.


Page 133

The instruments had registered a slight interference signal on the edge of the system, but it had vanished almost the moment that it had appeared. The serfs were feverishly checking to verify whether it had been the ghostly signature of another vessel or whether it had been merely a blip in the ship's machine spirit. The local system was notorious as a hide-out for pirate-raiders, and the Blood Ravens could not afford to be seen to tolerate their presence, especially while there was a fully armed strike cruiser in orbit around the main habitable planet. In addition, Captain Angelos had made it very clear to Kohath that he should keep a constant watch for eldar infiltrations into the system.

Detection systems can reach the edge of the systme. Whether or not this is FTL I cannot say, although context makes me think heavily "yes".

Page 134

"There's nothing, sergeant," said Reuben finally, glancing up from the glowing green screen over which he was hunched. "It must have been a glitch."

"Very well," nodded Kohath, apparently satisfied by the eventual confidence of his serf. Nonetheless, he clicked the view screen to shift its orientation, bringing the scene behind the

Ravenous Spirit into relief. In the far distance, he could make out the slow perambulations of the outer planets as they came into alignment, eclipsing each other in a faint ring of light. For a moment, he thought that he saw a tiny glimmer, little more than a fleck of light dancing around the farthest planet, where it would normally have been hidden in the glare of the planet's reflected light. Then it was gone. It was probably a moon or even an asteroid orbiting the distant world - the outer reaches of the system were peppered with space debris. As he watched, the little glittering speck reappeared and then disappeared again, blinking like an inconsistent and far-off beacon. Clicking the controls, Kohath enhanced the view and then strained his eyes into the darkness, a quiet, suspicious voice in his soul making him ill at ease. No matter what the Ravenous Spirit's instruments said, there was something not quite right about the faint, flickering light, but it was just slightly too far away for Kohath to see it properly. The thought that this could be a deliberately strategic placement prodded its way into the sergeant's military mind.

"Bring the prow around," said Kohath slowly, still staring out into the blackness. He couldn't see anything unusual, but many battles were won on the basis of sound human intuition, no matter how insistent the Inquisition was that this was usually folly bordering on heresy.

I guess the flickers are the approaching Dark Reaper attack being picked up by sensors. Which again strongly suggests effectively FTL detection of some kind.

Page 135-136

In the silent blackness at the edge of the system, the flicker of light shifted almost imperceptibly into a burst. It was the merest phase shift, just a slight alteration in the colour spectrum.
"There," murmured Kohath, as though his suspicions had been confirmed. "Target torpedoes on-"

A stream of light-bolts flashed into view and the view screen collapsed into a lbanket of white. Instnatly, a series of explosions shook the command deck. Some kind of laser fire sunk into the armoured shielding, but it was followed by a cluster of impacts from ballistics that Kohath did not see. The ghostly rockets punched into the softened armour and detonated, sending plates of adamantium splintering off into space.

The command deck bucked and rocked, sending any unsecured serfs and equipment careening across the floor, colliding and crashing into the instruments. Only Kohath stood immovable, even as a crate skidded and bounced off his armoured leg, ricocheting off and crunching into the workstation next to Reuben. The terminal exploded, spraying glass and metal shards up into the face of the serf that clung to it for stability. The serf threw himself back away from the unit, clutching at his head and screaming as mists of smoke hissed out of the cracked station. As he fell onto his back, his hands dropped away from his face exposing his ruined skull. His left eye was impaled by a spike of green glass and the right side of his face was completely missing, spilling his pulverised brain out onto the deck.

"Return fire." Said Kohath firmly,, still standing in front of the main view screen, unmoving amidst the commotion around him.

"We still have no target identified, sergeant," insisted Reuben, looking up desperately from his terminal.

"That's the target!" stated Kohath, finally losing his calm as he pointed at the starburst on the view screen, which had just flickered back into life. Whatever it was that was firing on them, he would not permit anything to attack the Blood Ravens without at least trying to fight back. If he had to incinerate the entire outer system, it would be done. Nobody and nothing could take a free shot at the Ravenous Spirit, not on his watch.

The Blood Raven captain feels at least he has some chance of hitting a target somewhere close to the edge of the system with torpedoes, albeit this might be fudged a little by holofields. implies tens of millions of km range, if not multi-AU ranges, for torpedoes at least if nothing else.

Also the lance fire either knocked the shields down, or they weren't up to begin with. Or some sort of structurally reinforcing powerfields were what the REaper was talking about.

Page 136

There was an audible hiss as the volley of torpeodes roared out of the frontal batteries and rocketed out towards the outlying planets. Kohath watched the progress of the missiles on the view screen as they diminished into distant invisibility, then he saw the even more distant flickering target burst into a streak of light and vanish. Turning away from the viewer in disappointed disgust, Kohath surveyed the destruction on the command deck.

"Clear that body away and put those fires out," he snapped, repulsed by the mess that disgraced the spirit of his venerable cruiser. "Reuben," he began, using the serf s name in an attempt to inspire him to greater effort; Kohath always tried to learn the names of a few serfs in the crew for this purpose. "Track that vessel—"

Before he could finish his order, another cluster of explosions wracked the Ravenous Spirit, this time even throwing Kohath to the deck.

This implies no more than seconds or minutes elapsed between the Dark REaper firing and striking the cruiser a second time, and even then the human torpedoes hadn't gotten even close to halfway across the system. What's more the distances involved probably can't be much more than a couple AU at most, if even that, since its unlikely that the engagement time is anywhere close to much less greater than an hour. We know there is at least the distance between two planets between the ships during this engagmeent.

Page 138

As soon as the Reaper's Blade had taken up its position on the far side of the fourth planet of Lsathranil's Shield, he had rushed across to the Eternal Star to check on the farseer, gripped by a sudden panic that he had brought her across the galaxy only to watch her die within moments of emerging from the webway. .

Across the galaxy in a matter of days? They're now on the far side of the fourth planet. I dont know which one is Rahe's paradise though.

Also the Eldar are on the opposite side of the planet from the Strike cruiser.

Page 139

I cannot see them, she confessed, finally. The planet has no present, and even its past teeters on the edge of an abyss. The mon-keigh are there, but I am blind to their presence and their role in the planet's fate, since the planet itself seems devoid of destiny. Lsathranil's Shield is cracked.

The NEcron presence, or whatever the Eldar to do block it (or the warp) seems to fuck with precog something fierce.

Page 140

After several cycles in this way, Jonas had realised that there were actually only a set number of patterns and that there was some kind of psychic mechanism at work that triggered the transition from one to the next. In a moment of clarity, he realised that the tablet was effectively turning the page for him, paced for the eyes of an eldar who would doubtlessly be able to read each page before the next appeared. Unfortunately, Jonas could not read the ancient alien script so quickly, and he had to labour over each rune in turn, waiting for the shuffle-cycle to complete itself before he could move onto the next as the first page reappeared.

Eldar read faster than Astartes, apparently.

Page 140-141

For the last few hours, Jonas had been working on the first cluster of runes by himself, struggling even to trace their unsettled shapes into a likeness that he could recognise. He had searched through dozens of tomes in the librarium, leafing through a collection of texts that had been supplied to him by the Order of the Lost Rosetta years before - hence the Blood Ravens' librarian assumed that he had inquisitorial sanction for these dangerous volumes, which contained within their illuminated pages the ruminations of researchers, priests and inquisitors on the nature of the eldar tongue. The Inquisition had been known to arrest scholars for the possession of much less perilous books than these, and it was a mark of the respect that the Ordo Hereticus had for the scholarship of the Blood Ravens that they were prepared to look the other way in this case, in the name of furthering truth and knowledge for the Emperor. However, Jonas occasionally wondered whether the Sisters of the Lost Rosetta seconded to Rahe's Paradise actually served a double function, not only to help with the research, but also to keep an eye on the research being done; in the back of his mind he was always vaguely conscious of the order's twin allegiances to the Ecclesiarchy and the Ordo Hereticus.

He had struggled for hours over the very first rune of the main body of the text.

Rather odd in some ways that the Hereticus controls knowledge of Xenos languages, rather than the Ordo Xenos. Jonas also notes that the Sisters may be acting as spies on the Space Marines.

Page 141-142

Analects of Xenoartefacts, inscribed by the notorious Inquisitor Ichtyus Drumall, who claimed to have spent three years in the underworld of craftworld Saim-Hann, attempting to incite a civil war amongst the bellicose gangs of that monstrous vessel. Within moments of his alleged escape, he had been seized by agents of the Ordo Hereticus, his analects removed from his possession, and his soul had been ritually purged until it was finally liberated from the irrevocably tainted form of his flesh.

Apparently Craft World Saim-Hann has some properties like a Hive world, and the Eldar there wouldn't find it odd to have a human in their midst, much less one fermenting revolt.

Page 143

Space Marines were not built to remain hunched over a desk for hours on end - his augmetic body needed to move.

Spac eMarine implants referred to as augmetics.

Page 144-145

Fewer and fewer of the hundreds of warriors that had collected during the first congregation on the previous day would walk out through that arch each evening, until there were only a handful left. Of those, perhaps three or four would discover that there was, in fact, another exit from the amphitheatre, through a series of tunnels and valves in Krax-7 itself, which led into the heart of the Blood Ravens' monastery-outpost.

..

This day was a free for all, designed principally to reduce the numbers of aspirants to a more manageable level. Prathios had explained the rules to all of them the day before: they were to arrive at dawn and they were not to leave until sunset; if any of them tried to leave while light still poured through the great arch, he would kill them himself.

..

He had simply instructed them that they should not leave until sundown. Dawn had been seven hours earlier, and neither Prathios nor Gabriel had yet spoken a word to the battling warriors before them. All that Prathios had said on the previous day was that the aspirants should understand that very few of them, if any, would have what it took to be considered for the process of ascension into a Space Marine. That was the seed that he had implanted in their minds, and on this first day of the trials he could witness what potentials that seed contained.

The Bloood trials seem to take at least a day for this first part.. hundreds whittled down to 3-4 recruits in a form of deliberate attirtion.. Go figure.

Page 148-149

"Is he a psyker, Prathios?" asked Gabriel, using the vox link inside their helmets.
"I cannot tell, Gabriel, but he does show evidence of foreknowledge - moving away from blows before they are landed, even when they are struck from behind or from blind spots. His awareness seems considerable," mused the chaplain.
"And the others follow his lead. That is unusual charisma in one so young,"
..

"There are others who seem to have similar abilities today, including that one," nodded Prathios, indicating the short man with the beard. "If these aspirants do have latent psychic powers, then there would appear to be an unusually high number of them in this group. We will have to inform Jonas and Ikarus; a librarian must assess psychic potentials—"

Awareness and precog are signs of psychic awareness. Odd that a Chaplain is called on to judge such things.. but these are the blood ravens. I assume Prathios' is judging from experience.

Page 149-150

After a few seconds, a slight figure came charging out of the crowd with a long-bladed dagger brandished in his left hand. His blond braids fluttered out behind him and his green eyes flashed with intensity. Gabriel ignored the courageous boy as he closed and then leapt forward, driving his dagger into the armoured plate on the Marine's back. The blade snapped like ice against the ancient armour and, following through, the boy crashed into Gabriel's legs.

Dagger does fuck all against Space MArine armor.


Page 150-151

Staring out into the sulphurous fog, Prathios finally caught his first glimpse of Gabriel's targets - slight, slender figures darting through the cloud, visible only as distortions in the mist.
..

The darting figures in the cloud started to flicker and materialise more solidly, as though the noxious gas was somehow degrading or interfering with their camouflage.

Some gas or fog messes with Eldar cameleoline.

Page 153-154

The sleek shape of the twin-finned Vampire Raider was bathed in red flames as it scythed its way through the upper atmosphere. Its broad, forward-sweeping wings sliced through the mesosphere and plunged into the gaseous resistance of the stratosphere, submerging the streaking vessel in furious waves of fire.
As the fireball burst through into the troposphere, revealing the slick black of the vessel's armour, a long hatch jettisoned from the underside of its fuselage and a slender missile-emplacement dropped into place. Immediately, the barrel flared and a rocket roared down towards the distant mountains below.
After a few seconds, the hypersonic missiles punched into the snowy peak of one of the largest mountains, instantly vaporising the ice and glacial permafrost, sending avalanches of snow and abrupt waves of water crashing down the mountainside. The missiles drove their way down into the substance of hte mountain, clearing a wide impact crater and blowing clouds of dust and debris into the air. Then, just as the avalanche seemed to stop and the dust started to settle, the warheads detonated in the molten core of the volcano.

The explosion caused the mountain to convulse, shrugging off its surface layer of snow and rocky debris. Then the peak trembled and cracked, as the pressure forced the molten lava out into streams that hissed and steamed through the icy heights, blending with the plumes of sulpurous gases into a towering cumulonimbus. Finally the pressure was too great to be vented by the little lacerations in the mountainside and the whole peak blew clear of the mountain, blasting immense chunks of rock and spraying magma for kilometres in every direction.
Strapped into the pilot's seat of the black Vampire Raider, Laeresh was confident that the eruption would cover their descent into the desert. He had very little faith in the efficacy of mon-keigh technology; the strike cruiser that he had almost crippled in orbit had merely served to confirm his preconceptions. A huge volcanic eruption woudl certainly register on the primitive instruments of the humans, but he was sure that the signal would swamp the fleet, delicate signatures of the two Vampires. The mon-keigh would simply assume that it was a natural event, or even that a freak meteor had struck the volcano. He knew that they had been confused by stories of natural disasters on that planet before.

Hypersonic missiles which trigger an enormous (artificial) volcanic eruption. I'd guess tenatively it is roughly eqiuvalent to a nuclear scale event, given the "natural" explanations ascribed to it and the effects.

Page 155

He rolled the Vampire over and tipped its nose twoards the desert, acelerating vertically through the sound barrier before pulling up less than a metre from the ground, hammering the sonic boom into the sand and blasting out an impact crater.

..

In a manoeuvre that would have killed a mon'keigh in one of their primitive flyers, Laeresh hit the gravitic-repellers and brought hte craft to a dead halt in less than a second. The extreme g-forces that should have instnatly killed all of the eldar onboard were spontaneously nullified by the graviy stabilizers in the Vampire's occupied compartments. LAeresh had used this manoeuvre against the ignorant humans and retarded orks on many occasions, watching them overshoot his position by kilometres as their primitive craft struggled to declerate slowly enough to keep their pilots alive. The eldar had been making use of anti-gravitic technologies for millenia and laersh was constantly shocked that the younger races had still not worked it out.

Vampire accelerates to supersonic speeds and apparently stopped in under a second - implying accelerations at least on the order of tens of gees if not higher. THe otehr races' fighters don't seem to have this, although they work out other, brute force solutions (Suspensor equipped flight suits, for example) OR if they do, they simply aren't as efficient.

Page 160

The xenos wretch had simply crumpled into a heap, with apparently toxic blood hissing out of the gaping wound on its leg. It had not responded to any questions and had not even cried out when Prathios had attempted to administer some of his enhanced interrogation techniques. On his way to the chapel, Gabriel had looked in on the prisoner, only to find him sitting in the middle of his cell, legs crossed in front of him, eyes closed. The wound on his leg was apparently healed already.

The Eldar have toxic blood, and apparently heal rapidly.

Page 160

He had been so certain about the presence of the eldar on Rahe's Paradise, certain enough to bring his Battle Company charging across the segmentum. In the voiceless depths of his mind, he had been sure that he was enacting the direction of the Astronomican itself, manifesting the very will of the Undying Emperor. However, now that he was there on the planet's surface with indisputable proof of the sustained involvement of the eldar, the guidance of the silver choir seemed to have deserted him. He had no idea how to proceed. It was as though something was interfering with his mind.

OH Gabriel and his episodes. Also mention again of traveling across an entire segmentum, if we didnt need confirmation of this.

Page 164

"They appeared to select those who showed the most psychic potential - eliminating the natural leaders, the charismatics, and those with unnaturally good reflexes,"

Prime indicators of naturally latent psykers I guess.

Page 165

The First Company, who were based on the Omnis, also had two entire combat squads of librarians - elite forces used to confront the most archaic or daemonic of threats to the Imperium.

20 librarians in a company is.. alot. I wonder if this is part of the company allotment or in addition to it. This might mean that the Blood Ravens are an over-strength chapter as a rule.

Page 171

A complicated array of cables and tubes peppered Ckrius's head as he lay strapped to the adamantium tablet in the Implantation Chamber of the Litany of Fury. They covered his eyes, ears and nose, forcing his senses to remain active and jamming them full of new types of pain. The pipe that ran down his throat prevented him from making any noise, and the stimulants that were jetted into his ears and open eyes riddled his brain with suggestions of terror.

As the neophyte lay rigid with psychological horror, the apothecary worked feverishly in the massive cavity that it had opened up in his chest. The boy would have no idea about the violations that his body was suffering, since his brain was already overloaded with directly inserted agonies that would have been inconceivable to him only hours earlier, despite the unspeakable traumas of the last few days.

The apothecary had reopened the healed scar down Ckrius's chest and rebroken the ribs that had already knitted back together. The boy's entire sternum was cracked open and folded back while the shrouded figure of the apothecary inserted a series of new organs. The first, a large zygote that had to be inserted somewhere in the digestive tract, was the preomnor organ, which would act as a predigestive stomach for the Marine, bolstering his system against poisonous or indigestible materials so that he could extract maximum nutrition from them without suffering any ill-effects. It was an important organ for survival in some of the most inhospitable parts of the Imperium.

Whilst working on the digestive tract, the apothecary also inserted the complicated little omophagea implant in between the thoracic and cervical vertebrae. It would function in partnership with the preomnor organ, filtering out the essential genetic material from animals and organic substances that contained information about the survival mutations undergone by an organism to succeed in their particular climate. The Marine would eventually be able to verbalise these mutations, understanding them consciously after eating any part of a living creature.

More of poor Ckrius' implantation. Note that is implied only days have passed since Captain Crazy (Gabriel) left.

I think I liked the depiction of Ragnar's implant process better.

Page 173

Ulantus was concerned enough to send off a message to Captain Angelos, requesting that the Third Company might be able to depart Rahe's Paradise early and send assistance to Lorn. However, the astropathic communication had received no response from the Commander of the Watch. Not for the first time, Ulantus cursed the cavalier nature of the revered captain.

Ulantus sends an astropathic signal across the segmentum and expects a response in an unspecified but presumably short time hours maybe rather than days. But who knows.

Page 173

As Ulantus's head raced with thoughts, the apothecary lifted a large, tubular, bloody organ from a tray next to the neophyte. With two other hands, it pushed aside the already cramped organs in Ckrius's chest cavity, making space for the multi-lung just above the primary heart, where it would be inserted directly into the pulmonary system around the trachea. When this organ started to function, Ckrius would finally be freed from the nauseating effects of the toxic and poisonous gases that wafted around the Implantation Chamber, as the multi-lung would filter out the poisons for him.
With an abrupt movement, the apothecary snapped shut the gaping wound in Ckrius's chest, folding the ribs closed and pressing the sternum back together again, leaving a lead weight resting on the join to keep it pressed together. The cloaked figure then turned and nodded sharply at Ulantus, indicating that the procedure was now finished for the time being.

Multi-Lung.

Page 177

"Your conclusions are apposite, Jonas," said Gabriel, taking some satisfaction in the way that the archaeological record was now confirming the apparently groundless suspicions that he had voiced about Rahe's Paradise a few days earlier aboard the Litany of Fury.

The transit and events occuring were a matter of days - certainly less than a week. And in that same context Ulatnus sent and expected a reply froma cross the Segmentum in much less time - less than a day probably?

So again thousands/tens of thousand sof light years in under a week for a strike cruiser, several weeks for a Battle barge (in no great hurty it seems), and astorpathig signals in far less time - hours or a day or so maybe.

It is possible that we are meant to interpret the greater FTL speed as proof that Gabriel (and his forces) are somehow specially favored or "blessed" by the Emperor for the duration of these engagements, for whatever reason -his actions may have some significance for the Imperium as events suggest (and Gabriel's episodes hint)

Page 178

But, just as the captain was about to speak, a huge explosion made the three of them turn and stare out of the intricately patterned stained-glass window. One of the largest volcanoes in the range around the monastery had suddenly blown its peak, jettisoning clouds of sulphurous gas, dust, and molten rock high up into the troposphere. Streams of lava were already cascading down the sides of the mountain, and the red sun was being rapidly obscured by the black, mushrooming cloud.

The effects of the Eldar missile attack. Again a massive volcanic eruption of that scale seems very powerful.. close ot if not at the yields of some sort of nuclear weapon, subjectively speaking. Of course considering the Eldar have megaton ground attack missiles (The Atlas) its not terribly surprising that the Eldar might, is it?


Page 179

"She is our farseer and head of the Council of Seers! Your bond with her cannot be broken by space!"
It has not been broken by space, Uldreth Avenger, but it has been broken, nonetheless. I cannot see her, and I can see nothing of the future of Lsathranil's Shield. It is as though it has been erased from the future-past, hanging in the invisible limbo of the pure present.

Once again we find out that whatever weirdness is around RAhe's Paradise fucks with precog. Also we get an implications that Farseers can remain in contact with each other over vast distances.

Page 180

Laeresh strode easily alongside them, the heavily augmented psychoplastics of his leg-armour making the sand irrelevant to him.

Exarch armour seems to be able to adjust itself for terrain.

Page 181

"We have located the deposit, farseer, and excavations are almost complete," explained Aldryan, leading Macha through the rangers' camp in the desert.
...
Walking another few steps, Macha's eyes widened suddenly as the extent of the rangers' work became evident. As she crested the dune, in the shadow of which nestled the makeshift camp, a huge quarry loomed into view before her. It must have been about a kilometre in diameter, and perhaps half that deep. In the bottom, she could just about make out the busy forms of rangers labouring at clearing away the sand. They had some kind of suction devices strapped to their backs which drew the sand off the ground and then blasted it into long, thin fountains in the air, sending it cascading over the lip of the quarry and mounding into the massive dunes that now completely surrounded the pit.
..
"We are already at depth, farseer. They are now merely working against the wind, keeping the site clear and at a consistent depth."
...


Before the words were even out of her mind, a film of sha'iel starrted to seep out of the farseer's skin, enveloping the three of them and lifting them gently off their feet. In a matter of seconds, they were already half-way down the steeply sloping sides of the quarry.By the time they reached the bottom, the shrouded figures of Druinir and the other warlocks were already there, formed into a ring around Macha as her feet touched down.

Macha can levitate three Eldar (including herlsef) halfway down a slope half a kilometer deep and a kilometer in diameter in "seconds" - 560 meters covered.. call it between 10 and 230 m/s for maybe 150-200 kilos for all 3 eldar. 1500 kg*m/s to 46,000 kg*m/s worth of levitation for eitehr a few seconds or a few minutes. Not bad for a FArseer, consideirng it has to do as mcuh with finesse and control and endurance as well as brute strength.

Also, this represents proof of the Eldar moving countless millions (tens of millions) of tons of sand in a matter of days. Quite impressive, especially if we consider the apparent lack of any obvious heavy equipment.


Page 183

Looking down into the exposed cavern below, Laeresh smiled. There, buried under the desert for millennia, waiting for the return of the Biel-Tan, was a pristine squadron of Wave Serpent transports and Falcon anti-grav tanks. What the mon-keigh called archaeology, he called sound strategic planning. A couple of the Falcons and two of the Serpents had already been painted in the featureless black of the Dark Reapers, and Laeresh vaulted down onto a black Falcon's roof instantly, while the rangers and the Guardians that had accompanied Macha and her warlocks as personal retinues jumped down to check on the other craft.
..

All those millennia before, Farseer Lsathranil had used his foresight to provide these vessels for his kin in their time of need, but now Macha could not even see the sun going down at the end of the day.

Neat trick.

Page 185-186

As the convoy had started to close on the edge of the desert and the fringe of the ring-mountains had become visible above the horizon, the exarch had climbed out of the gun-emplacement on top of the Falcon and stood on its roof, braced with his reaper launcher, eager for the battle to begin.
..

As he stood expectantly atop the tank, there was a sudden and massive movement in the dunes ahead. His helmet twitched automatically, snapping the aim of his reaper launcher onto the point of movement as the weapon tracked the motion of his eyes. The mon-keigh monastery and the mountains were still over the horizon, so he was not yet expecting blood; his soul thrilled at the sudden promise.

The monastery is still over the horizon, both forces are out of line of sight. Note the Exarch's reaper launcher apparently is self-guided, or linked to the sight-lines of the Exarch.

Page 186

They were still largely obscured beneath the sand when a bolt of energy flared near the top of one them and flashed down towards the convoy.

The bolt punched into one of the frontal wings of a Wave Serpent, but it bounced off the protective energy field, ricocheting wildly up into the air. Immediately, the other emergent gun towers erupted with fire, spraying laser bolts down on the eldar convoy and transforming the baking desert into an inferno.

Las-fire from the Monasery's defenses deflect off wave serpent shields.

Page 187

Meanwhile, Laeresh was instantly back in the gun turret on his own Falcon, his thoughts excited and his soul calling out for blood as he plotted the trajectory for his own attack. He counted under his breath, waiting for exactly the right moment, and then clenched his jaw. This was all that his customised vehicle needed from him, and three missiles roared out of the cluster launcher, spiralling around each other as they honed in on the heat source at the top of one of the mon-keigh gun towers. They all impacted at once, punching into the rockcrete structure and detonating inside, blowing a fountain of masonry and melting rock into air.

Rearper launcher melting rock and tracking on the heat from the turrets.

Page 188-189

The distant thunder of ordnance rubmled through the ground, shaking the desert and sending streams of sand cascading down the dunes. The exchange was taking place just over the horizon, and even the superior augmetic vision of Corallis could not yet make out the number of foes. He stood on the roof of a modified Helios Pattern Land Raider, seemingly oblivious to the volleys of rockets that streaked out of the missile turret next to him. He watched the ballistics disappear over the horizon, nodding with satisfaction at the clouds of sand and smoke that plumed into the air after their invisible impacts.

Over the horizon missile engagement at the moment, although the turrets must have line of sight. Impiles multi-km ranges for all the vehicle weaposn involved.. the Helios having at least an 8-10 km range

Page 192

There are jetbikes and a squadron of Falcon tanks. At least three Wave Serpent transports, and an open-topped vehicle that I do not recognise - it appears to contain a group of psykers of some kind. "The will break the horizon in a matter of minutes."

Considering how fast Eldar Grav Tanks can be (several hundred km/hr easily) this would suggest they're a good six km or so away (give or take a km or two) suggesting the Helios has an effective range at least as good as a Basilisk


Page 192

Corallis looked at the scout with concern, but at that precise moment a tremendous roar erupted from the TErminator line behind him as they unleashed the first volley of hellfire shells at the eldar force as it crested the horizon, a billowing cloud of silence, sand and shimmering lethality. The automatic defences had failed to hold them, so now it was time for war.

Terminators engage targets just as they crest the horizon. Again, multi km ranges implied.

Page 195

"They will not speak, captain," explained Ptolemea. "The Order of Golden Light requires a vow of silence from their Celestians - in honour of their lost and fallen brethren."

These are Celestiasn and they have to stay quiet.

Page 196

The Eldar line burst through the immense dune that obscured the horizon, leaving the wreckage of the automatic gun emplacements out of sight in their wake. Columns of smoke and jets of flame that aspired towards the sun from the blindside of the dune lay testament to the ruined defences and to the few eldar craft that had fallen.

...

As soon as the first vehicle broke the dune, a volley of fire erupted from the line of Terminator marines dug into the sand between the two Land Raiders that held the most advanced position in the Blood Ravens' defensive arc. A torrent of shells lashed through the sand-riddled air before exploding into lethal shards of shrapnel as they impacted against the armour on the front of the eldar vehicles. Only a fraction of a second later, the land Raiders themselves opened up with the twin-linked lascannons housed in each of their side sponsons streaking the dusky air with strips of brilliance. The Wave Serpents returned fire with a constant spray of tiny black shuriken, visible only because of the incredible numbers being unleashed - like clouds of night whining towards the Marines, blackening the sandstorms into a lethal menace.

Again lines of sight and just "over the horizon" engagements suggest multi-km ranges for all teh vehicles involved. And in thise case "vehicles" includes the Terminators, since they are often likened to walking tanks anyhow. This implies hypersonic velocities for the shuriken weapons, especially givne their high ROF and light mass will dictate rapid velocity loss in the atmosphere unlessthey're moving incredibly fast to beginw ith.

Page 198

As the impacts thudded into the sleek form of the eldar craft, they seemed to slow and pitch forward, driving their dual-pronged prows into the sand and half burying themselves, like a row of gravestones in the desert. The twin barrels mounted on their roofs pitched upwards, counterbalancing the unusual angle of the transporters themselves, and permitting them to continue firing relentlessly.
"Topheth," said Tanthius, the vox bead in his ear whistling with feedback. "Get your bikes round behind them - they're digging in."
..

The eldar assault appeared to have stalled, and their transports had pitched themselves into the ground.
From the north and the south of the Blood Ravens tanks, viscious and relentless salvos of fire lashed agianst the downed vehicles from the Devastator and Tactical squads..

Devastator and tacticla marine fire contributes.. again with significant implications about the ranges.

Page 212-213

"Captain?" replied the huge Terminator Marine, his feet planted firmly agianst the rocky ground and his storm bolter still trained on the rapidly vanishing foe, which were now almost out of range. He had been cheated of his duel with the magnificent alien, and he was exorcising his frustrations with his bolter.

"This is unexpected," confessed Gabriel, still gazing towards the horizon where the last silhouette of a Wave Serpent finally vanished from view, chased by a line of explosions as Necho's squad strafed the ground with grenades.

Once more, the Eldar are out of range when they disappear out of line of sight.

Page 217

When she had first arrived on Rahe's Paradise, Jonas had found her yearning for solitude rather strange, thinking that being light-years away from Bethle II and the rest of her order should seem secluded enough for his guest. He was wrong.

Bethle 2 is "light years" away.. Probably not an adjacetn system.. either far across the sector or in another sctor - tens if not hundreds of LY away.

Page 220

There was still no response from the unconscious Sister Senioris, but as Gabriel loomed over her he noticed a trickle of red running over her neck. He reached down and turned her face away from the wall, bringing it square with his own. Her thick, muddled, grey hair was matted in liquid and stuck haphazardly all over the side of her face, and there was the faint, ferrous smell of blood in the air. Pushing the hair away with his fingers, Gabriel saw the neat, cauterised entry wound that had punched through Meritia's temple, killing her instantly. The gray and red liquid in her hair had gradually seeped out of the hole in her skull under gravity, as her head had slumped over to the side.

We aren't definite on the kind of weapon.. it may have been a projectile pistol (bolt or auto) or a laser. Note the wound is only partly cauterized, since there's still bleeding going on. It also probably wasnt a bolter, since those explode on penetration, and her head is intact. My guess is las or auto, and probably las given the cauterization (a bullet won't cauterize.)

Single kilojoule las weapon can probably do this and achieve the partial cauterization.

Page 225

Captain Ulantus strode into the ritually cleansed space, his polished armour glinting with its own purity seals. The Blood Trials on Trontiux III had been conducted with more haste than he would have liked; he had condensed the week into only two days. The landing party had returned with three successful aspirants, all of them strong and resilient, all of them slightly too old to be ideal. The course of the trials had made Ulantus even more conscious of the importance of Ckrius - not only as an individual neophyte undergoing the sacred transformation, but also as a test case for the ascension of older aspirants. It was never something that a Space Marine Chapter liked to do - the results could be unreliable, unpredictable and occasionally abhorrent - but in times of need even the most pristine of the Emperor's servants had to compromise. Above all other things, the Chapter's gene-seed had to survive. If Ckrius's travails were to fail, Ulantus would not hold out much hope for the others.

3 recruits out of hundreds probably. They also cut short a week long ceremony into 2 days, suggesting the transit time of "several weeks" to cover thousands/tens of thousands of light years was substnatially less.


Page 225

While he had been down on the planet's surface, Ulantus had received another message from Imperial Guard Captain Sturnn of the Cadians 412th on Lorn V, reiterating his request for assistance from the Blood Ravens. It seemed that the situation on the ice-world was becoming desperate, and Sturnn was not confident that he would be able to hold off the ork warhost for much longer. The relay stations around the Lorn system were also reporting signs of an approaching alien fleet. The signatures of the vessels did not support the conclusion that they were reinforcements for the orks, and tentative intelligence suggested that it may be an eldar force en route to Lorn V.

Astropathic message received during the two day stint. There's alot of messages that have been sent back and forth within a mere week, it seems.

Page 227-228

Stepping into the chamber to permit the great doors to hiss and clunk sealed behind him, Ulantus watched the apothecary manoeuvring a large, hemispherical device into place above Ckrius's face. The inside of the machine was bristling with projections, syringes and blades. They were focussed into bunches that approximately coincided with the positions of the neophyte's eyes and ears as he lay on the tablet beneath it.
Even from his position next to the doors, Ulantus could see the settled horror on the youth's face as he realised what was about to happen to him. For a fraction of a second, Ulantus felt a surge of sympathy for the boy, wondering whether it might not be more humane to perform some of these operations whilst the aspirants were unconscious. Immediately, he threw the thought aside, berating himself for his own weakness in the face of pain. Without pain the Adeptus Astartes would be nothing - how could they prove their worthiness of the Emperor's blessing? The wash of sympathy was instantly replaced by a wall of resentment: pandering to this youth was delaying the insertion of the Litany into the warp and jeopardising the Blood Ravens' capacity to fulfil its duty.
His resentment was misplaced, and Ulantus regretted it almost as soon as he felt it. Ckrius and others like him were the future of the Blood Ravens. Without him there would be nobody left to fulfil the duties of the Chapter. As his mind calmed again, Ulantus realised that the real source of his resentment was Gabriel and his apparently cavalier disregard for both Ckrius, the Blood Trials and now the developing crisis on Lorn V. It was not his place to question the dignity of the Commander of the Watch, but Ulantus was concerned and infuriated by his recent conduct - he seemed obsessed by the eldar and by that cursed, manipulative farseer.
As the thoughts raced through Ulantus's mind, the apothecary slowly lowered the machine over Ckrius's head, obscuring his horrified features inside the dome. A series of whirring noises and cracking sounds told Ulantus that the boy's ears and eyes were being removed by the device so that the occulobe and Lyman's ear implants could be inserted into the brain stems behind them. After a few minutes, the dome stopped clucking and lifted clear of Ckrius's head, leaving him blinking with sustained trauma, terror and awe at the new world which was suddenly revealed around him, through his now highly enhanced senses.

REvel in the grimdark and the generally enforced madness inflicted upon potential aspirants at yet another stage of this trial.

It does occur to me that having the process accelerated like this liekyl contributes to the grimdarkitude, since we're talking about something normally spread out over years.. the horror and such is probably lessened and it is not nearly this tortuous
(although still damn unpleasant!)

Page 238

The red sand swirled around the rangers' camp in the desert, cloaking the makeshift structures in a veil of dust that rendered the emplacement all but invisible. In the very centre of the camp, an elegant and deceptively fragile structure had been erected. It appeared to be little more than a tent, with a length of fabric stretched over the black, shiny frame in place of a roof. There were no walls. The material and the struts were covered in tiny, silver runes, each of which glowed with an imperceptible hint of power. And the desert sand was not able to penetrate the space within despite the apparently open sides.

Magic rune shields ward away the sand from the Farseers tent.

Page 240

His hands gripped her slender shoulders, as though he believed that he could convince her of his will through the physical strength of his arms. Immediately, the warlocks broke their silent chant and sprang to their feet. Druinir was first, sliding to the farseer's side with preternatural speed, as though slipping through space without encountering the resistance of physical laws.

The warlock touched his fingers against Laeresh's outstretched arm and a flash of energy lurched into the exarch's flesh, making him recoil, snapping back his arms and staggering back away from the unmoving figure of the farseer.

Neat trick.


Page 245

With a burst of light and power from his staff, Jonas pushed himself up off the ground, his feet lifting slowly as the bulk of the Space Marine librarian began to levitate up towards the stalactite ridden ceiling. He was a radiant, blue star in the dim, ruddiness of the subterranean cavern.

Jonas can levitate himself too. We find that Goto likes to really power up Librairans, and the ability to fly, leap and levitate is generally given to them (Wait til one sees Shaidan in Warrior Brood.,)

Page 258

Gabriel squeezed a couple of shells out of his bolter and watched the little contrails that poured out behind them, as though in slow motion. They spun through the thick, gaseous air and then slipped through a gap in the lava flow, punching into the kaleidoscope of reflections beyond.

I dont know if this is normal space marine "bullet time"or what.

Page 260

From the prone position on the floor, he lobbed the grenade up towards the eldar snipers. It arced steeply, reaching its peak just over the heads of the aliens when the timer blipped and the grenade detonated into a brilliant, shrapnel-filled fireball.

Three of the aliens dived flat against the ledge, disappearing from view, but the fourth staggered back in the sudden blast of pressure and heat, losing his footing in a flail of limbs and falling head over heels off the ledge. Gabriel watched the hapless creature, ripped through by the shrapnel from the frag grenade, as it splashed down into one of the pools of magma, sending up a thick, viscous fountain of molten rock and then a cloud of steam as the body vaporised in the intense heat.

- Space Marine frag grenades will penetrate Eldar Ranger armour. The armor will also not block molten rock tempertures hot enough to insantly vaporize the body, either.

Page 263

As the convoy crested a high dune, the heavy black of the mon-keigh monastery loomed into view, breaking the dull, rusty monotony of the desert and marking the beginning of the mountain range beyond.

Laeresh stamped his foot against the roof of the transporter and his vehicle slowed to a halt. The bone-white plumes around his death mask fluttered and whirled in the dusty wind. The other Wave Serpents spread out into a line next to him, running along the apex of the dune with their gun barrels bristling out towards the enemy. The red sun glinted against their armoured plates in little bursts of colour.

..

He stamped down once more, this time triggering a stream of light form the gun-turret next to him on the wave Serpent's roof. The lance of brightness seared acrsoss the desert, flashing in perfect straightness until it smashed against the huge walls of the monastery in the distance. Following the lead of their exarch, the other Dark Reaper Wave Serpent also unleashed strips of lightning through the desert air, crunching its beams into the massive shape of the Mon' Keigh
strcuture.From a distance, there were few forces in the galaxy that could match the Dark Reapers. As the pulses of lance fire streaked out of the line that ran along the crest of the dune, the green and whie Wave Serpents of the Biel-Tan Guardians lurhced forward, skating down the face of the dune and racing forward towards the monastery, leaving clouds of sand in their wake as they accelerated to attack speed. After a few seconds, the flashing reports of weapons fire could be seen around the base of the monastery, and ordnance started to rain down on the speeding eldar vehicles. Shells punched into the desert on all sides of the Wave Serpents, exploding into huge craters and sending great plumes of sand billowing up into the air.

We dont know for sure how far away they are, but it takes a few seconds for wepaons/ordnance fire to reach them (non energy weapons.) It probalby isnt artillery, but if we assume the similar" horizon" ranges before this suggests velocities on the order of close to or greater than hypersonic.


Page 264

The chaplain was collapsed on the ground between the corpses of three eldar rangers; their blades, shattered and broken, lay in ruins across the floor. Prathios had confronted their force-swords with his Crozius and wrecked them all, ploughing through the alien technology with the power of his faith. His bolter had punched holes through the psycho-plastic armour of the eldar warriors, leaving seeping wounds in their limbs and abdomens, from which hissing, toxic blood poured into little pools around the dead.

But he had suffered terrible wounds. The snipers on the ledge had almost ignored Gabriel, seeking merely to prevent the captain from assisting his chaplain, while raining gouts of shuriken down at the embattled Prathios.

He had fought valiantly and with passion, but the odds had been stacked impossibly against him. He had parried and struck with his Crozius, snapping off shots with his bolter, fighting three eldar warriors at close range and trying to contend with four more at distance. Not even the magisterial might of a Blood Ravens chaplain could stand against such terrible force.

- Blood Ravens chaplain takes on three Eldar rangers in hand to hand (and endures fire from four ranger snipers with shuriken weapons). He manages to down thre three melee assailants before succumbing. His bolter punches through thier armour rather easily.

Interestingly, we learn later that the rnagers are deliberately targeting and killing psykers. This does mena Prathios is a psyker, although if GAbriel is believed his faith is his source of power. This also means Gabriel is not innately a psyker and that is not the source of his visions - the visions may indeed not even be warp based or psychich in nature, since he clearly is not giving off any sort of warp/psychic emanation that would make him a target of the Eldar. (OR if he does have one it is shielded from their detection.)

Page 264-265

At the last, as his body was ripped through by streams of tiny projectiles from the rifles of the snipers, Prathios had let out a great roar of defiance that echoed powerfully around the cavern and out into the surrounding tunnels. He had lashed out with his Crozius for a final time, smashing through the lancing blades of his attackers and splintering them into shards. Even as his ruined legs collapsed under his weight and he started to fall, he had tracked his bolter around the cavern, placing his last shells precisely into the flesh of the aliens around him. By the time he hit the ground, his three assailants were broken, wretched, and dying.
...
There was no reply. The chaplain lay face down on the ground with his powerful legs buckled underneath him; the thick armour around his knees had been perforated by shuriken fire and his lower legs almost severed. His ornate and ancient death mask was twisted around to one side, suggesting that his neck may have broken, and his arms were stretched out in front of him, as though reaching for the weapons that were still clutched in his hands. His arms were riddled with tiny holes where the monomolecular projectiles of the eldar snipers had ripped through his armour, flesh and bones.

Again, Space MArine bolters can easily penetrate/injure through Eldar Ranger armour. Curiously its mentioned Eldar have "toxic" blood.

Liekwise, sustained shuriken fire from multipel eldar can bring down the Space Marine Chaplain.

Page 267

"On th ehorizon!" called Corallis as he stared out across the sand. He was standing up on the roof of one of the Land Raiders, keeping watch for the reutrn of the eldar forces while Tanthius organised the Blood Ravens' defensces.

The huge Terminator Marine stopped what he was doing and turned to follow Corallis's line of sight. Arrayed along the crest of a dune on the horizon, he could clearly see a line of eldar vehicles glinting in the red sun as clouds of sand gusted past them.

They appeared to have stopped moving, as though they were waiting to be seen before they launched their attack. On the roof of one of the Wave Serpents, Tanthius could just about make out the distinctively tall form of the crested, ornate warrior-leader. He had heard that such magnificent figures were known as exarchs, and he thrilled in anticipation of the battle to come.

...

A burst of brightness flashed on the horizon and a strip of brilliance lanced over Corallis's head, punchign into the walls of the monastery behind him. After a second, another beam of energy followed the first, burning thrrough the dusty air and smashing into the towering edifice at the back of the Marines. In rapid succession, another flurry of beams pulsed into the wall, this timelaunched form multiple locations on the horizon. The walls shook under the onslaught and rains of debris fell, but the structure was sound - the Blood Ravens knew how to construct fortifications.

Under cover of the lance fire that lashed out of hte few of the Wave Serpents on the horizon, Corallis and Tanthius could see the rest of the eldar convoy lurhc forward, rushing down the face of the dune as it began the charge across the open desert towards the glssy and rocky gorund in fron to fhte blood Ravens' defences.

"And so it begins again," muttered Tanthius, signalling to the gunners in the land Raider sto start their bombardments and bracing his own weapons ready for the combat to come.

More "on the horizon" scale bombardments back and forth, which would seem to confirm my earlier assessment.

[Connor MacLeod]

Last install ment for Dawn of War ascension. Next the last Goto DOW novel, and probably the worst, DOW Tempest.

BTW if you're looking and wondering "Where's Eisenhorn" I'm r unning short on time I find, so I'll probably have to do more updates sometime later in the week. I'm still working on Taros, I'm deciding what new novel to cover (I want to start covering more novels to get some of this crap out) and then you'll get your Eisenhorn fix.


Page 274

"I was inspecting the new find - that fascinating black pyramid - I assume that you saw it? There was nothing around. No footfalls and not even the hint of a psychic presence - the eldar give off such a psychic stench that it is almost impossible for them to take a Blood Ravens librarian by surprise. "

Eldar apparently cna't hide their own psychic signatures, at least not from other psykers of Librarian grade.


Page 275

Even Chaplain Prathios, with his finely tuned psychic sympathies and sensitivities, had been put out of action.

- apparently Blood Ravens chaplains are highly psychic (which may explain why the bugger can incinerate corpses even partially)

Page 276-277

Turning away from Jonas with a comradely smile, Gabriel strode over to the other side of the apothecarion, where Prathios was lying in an elaborate, ceremonial sarcophagus. His limbs had been shattered beyond the skill of anyone on Rahe's Paradise and his neck was broken. His eyes were wide and wild, although they seemed blind. The Third Company's apothecary was still light-years away aboard the Litany of Fury. Despite a number of attempts, Gabriel had not been able to get a message to the battle barge to try and encourage them to hurry through the Blood Trials on Trontiux III. The apothecary was needed badly, not least to tend to the grievously wounded Prathios, but also to maintain the recently erratic implants of a number of the scouts based on Rahe's Paradise, including Caleb.

In the absence of the apothecary, Gabriel had no choice other than to seal Prathios in one of the ancient sarcophagi that were kept in the walls of the monastery's chapel. He had no idea how the archaic and revered cabinets worked, but there was a legend in the pantheon of the Blood Ravens that told how the Great Father Azaraiah Vidya himself had been mortally wounded in a terrible battle against the unclean powers and then enshrined into the hallowed confines of such a device. It is recorded in the Apocrypha Azaraiah: Travails of Vidya that the Great Father floated freely through space for many decades, encased in the ceremonial purity of his sarcophagus, until he was finally recovered by the Ravenous Spirit, which was the strike cruiser of the Commander of the Watch even then.
If it had worked for the Great Father, it should work for Chaplain Prathios, thought Gabriel, holding fast to his faith as he closed the heavy lid over the face of his oldest friend.

- Gabriel puts the injured Chaplain in a stasis sarcophagus to preseve him until he can be healed, although (amusingly) he admits he doesn't know how it works.

Also multiple attempts to contact the battle barge, despite being "light years" away explicitly, and not having astropaths supposedly. They never mentioned using Jonas but that is one possibility.

Page 277

The Ninth Company had three librarians and they were all there, standing side-by-side directly in front of the huge armoured doors with the other Marines spreading out on either side of them. The Implantation Chamber had its own separate protective field, which activated automatically when even the tiniest glitch appeared in the Litany of Fury's own warp shields. The Chapter Priests within worked hardest of all when the Litany slipped into the warp. Within that chamber was the future of the Chapter itself: not only the half-finished form of the neophyte still strapped to the ceremonial tablet, but also one of the armoured repositories of the Blood Ravens' gene-seed itself.

Ninth company's 3 librarians, the geneseed and implantation chamber are redundantly shielded against the warp.

Page 278

Although the ancient battle barge had sailed its way through countless warp storms throughout the course of its long and venerable existence, it was never wise to be complacent about the unearthly and incomprehensible forces that swam through the empyrean, stirring time and space themselves as though they were merely water. The unspeakable powers would not be unaware of the presence of a vulnerable soul in the bowels of the Litany, even though it would be shielded behind the massive gellar-field of the ship itself and then behind the psychic walls that were maintained around the Implantation Chamber at all times.

Redundancy of the battle barge's gellar fields again.

Page 279

Something had slipped through a phase variance in the ship's shield and emerged into the open and sensitive mind of the astropath. However, even the disciplined, trained, controlled mind of the astropath had been unable to contain the presence, and it had ripped itself clear of the organic container, shredding the astropath's mind, brain and eyes.
Immediately, the Implantation Chamber had locked itself down, sealing the priests, the Apothecary and the neophyte inside. But Ulantus was not about to take any chances: he dispatched the Ninth Company's librarians and a detachment of Devastator Marines to stand guard over the vital chamber.

A daemon gets inside.

Page 279

He could not afford to take the Litany out of the warp until it had reached its designated extraction point - there was no telling where it might emerge..

This reinforces the idea that while technically it is possible ot travel anywhere in the warp, various risks and unknowns guarantee that certain routes and entry/exit points will be adhered to most of the time.

Page 285

In any case, he did not believe that even the Sky Angels, who had built the massive fortress on the edge of the desert and who dropped down out of the heavens once or twice in every generation, could command such power as was attributed to them in the stories.

- The Blood Ravens visited Rahe's Paradise once or twice in every generation. How the fuck do they maintain a Chapter that way? a double handful of recruits per generation? I hope they have lots more places to recruit from.


Page 289-290

He twisted his body and brought himself upright, propping his back against the wall. Staring at the female, he spat, watching the viscous globule of saliva splatter against the woman's cheek, hissing with delicate toxicity.

..

With a slow and deliberate movement, the human female wiped his saliva from her face, leaving a raw blemish of red on her otherwise porcelain skin.

- Eldar saliva is mildly toxic to human skin. Oh that Goto.

Page 290

And he had been led to expect fear from the mon-keigh, fear and hate. But he had not expected to be an object of disgust - how could these stinking, festering mon-keigh be disgusted by him? It was absurd. And he had certainly not expected pity. Of all the emotions that he had expected to sense from a degenerate primitive, pity was the very last one on the list. On what grounds could she possibly pity a superior species of life?

Eldar are indoctrinated too it seems.. at least, among the Biel-Tan.


Page 290-291

The woman held his gaze for a few seconds, and then he was struck by the notion that she might actually be able to see something of his own confusion in his eyes and he looked away. He regretted it immediately, cursing himself for the apparent show of weakness - he was sure that the primitive female animal would see the aversion of his eyes as a capitulation. Animals have simple and direct minds. However, when he snapped his eyes back up to confront hers again, she had already looked away. He had lost his chance to impose himself and he was angered by it. He had been tricked by the relatively interesting eyes of the human woman - they were not as ugly or as crude as he had been expecting - and he had read too much insight into them.
And what did she think she was doing now? The stupid woman was staring down at Lsathranil's tablet, which the Blood Ravens captain had dropped so disrespectfully onto the floor. She was gazing at it and prodding it with her fingers, as though pretending to be following along with the flow of the runes - like a baby learning to read. Her face was contorted and ugly with concentration.

Flaetriu laughed, amused by the pathetic scene and the ridiculousness of the female's pretence. It was his turn to feel pity, and this time it was entirely justified.

A rather heavy handed approach to dealing with some Eldar attitudes towards younger races, but accurate enough I suppose.

Page 291

Flaetriu's eyes flashed and narrowed. The mon-keigh had struck out at him in his own tongue. Of course, the language was slightly confused, the grammar was bad and the pronunciation was appalling, but the sense of it was clear enough. He had never heard of such a thing in his entire life. He stopped laughing.

..

Flaetriu's mind flickered between abject revulsion at this living monstrosity before him and utter fascination that he seemed to have found a human female of such unusual depth. How typical, he reasoned, that the other mon-keigh had thrown this creature into their dungeons. He was sure that they would have no hope of understanding her.

What's amazing is this guy's continued gift for self-rationalization. Then again that doesnt make him unique in 40K.

Also it does seem possible for humans to talk in Eldar language, without the psychic nuances and overtones, but this is probably one reason it is so crude to an Eldar.

Page 294

As they stood uneasily in the doorway, Flaetriu jumped up and dashed towards the exit. In stark contrast to the gingerly, fragile motion of Ptolemea, his sudden movements were smooth and fleet, and he took them both by surprise.

Gabriel was his match. In a flash of glittering red, the captain's powerful arm shot out to the side, punching his fist into the stone doorframe and blocking the eldar's escape route. His other arm still supported the swaying figure of Ptolemea.

Flaetriu slid, changing his pace and ducking down, trying to slide his slim figure under the sudden barrier, but Gabriel dropped his fist, bringing his arm crashing down on the eldar's head as the ranger tried to slip underneath it.

Gabriel at least seems to be able to match the speed/reactions of an Eldar ranger, so I guess not all Space MArines are slower than Eldar.

Page 298-299

Her body-glove had been cleaned and repaired, and her limbs were covered with straps and holsters. Looking more closely, Gabriel could see that she had equipped herself with an array of bladed weapons, each bound to her body glove in a manner that he had never seen before, vaguely reminiscent of the techniques used by some of the assassins in the employ of the Ordo Hereticus. On her right thigh was a more substantial holster, and Gabriel immediately recognised the antique pistol from the alcove in Meritia's chamber. Tied around her hairless head, in place of her customary red headscarf, Ptolemea had wrapped the worn and atrophied tapestry that had covered the little alcove - the emblem of the chalice and starburst centred on her forehead. Bound to her shoulders, abdomen and legs were precisely sculpted plates of armour, which must have been designed specifically to wear within the fabric of a body-glove without much external sign.

Ptolemea's garb and equipment. Note the body plates which can be worn internally or externally.

Page 303

He could see the Assault squad over to one side of the battlefield, raining fire and grenades down onto a clutch of weapon batteries that the eldar had dug into the sand where the petrification ended. The batteries themselves were pulsing with emissions, as though firing waves of disruptive energy through the battlefield, and two knots of eldar warriors stood guard over them, angling their long-barrelled weapons up into the sky to confront the Marines. Necho showed no signs of moving out.

I'm guessing the "long barrelled" weapons are Dark Reaper launchers. Typical of Goto, ASsault Marines can fly with their jump packs. Also he has the Eldar dug in using static emplacements. I suppose if we needed to we could rationalize it as the eldar guns needing full power diverted to their weapons in order to damage the monastery.


Page 304-305

From behind him came the roaring hiss of ordnance being launched, and he turned to see Corallis directing the rockets from the Land Raiders that remained nestled in the shadow of the monastery. The missiles raked overhead, howling out towards the Wave Serpents on the horizon in shallow parabolas. But the eldar vehicles were too fast, sliding over the dunes and shifting position before the rockets could reach them. The shells ploughed into the sand left vacant by the slippery eldar, exploding into craters and great plumes of sand.
Almost instantly, brilliant strobes of lance fire flashed out of the Wave Serpents. It was as though they were mocking the powerful, explosive impotence of the Land Raiders, as the javelins of energy punched into the black towers of the monastery once again.
Straining his eyes out to the horizon, Tanthius saw one of the jet-black Wave Serpents pitch and twist suddenly, as though it had collided with something or was under attack.

Once more a "on the horizon" duel. Note that the Land raider missiles are useless against Eldar vehicles, giving a limit on their tracking abilities in this instance. (maybe they didnt have dedicated AA missiles?)


Page 307

Unlike the armoured warriors around her, she was ill-protected from the tremendous, stifling heat of the volcanic world; for a while she felt feverish and nauseous, fearing that she would collapse once again.

Indication of the protective abiliites of Marine/Sororitias armor vs a relatively unarmored person.

Page 307-308

Without waiting for their lead, Ptolemea took a couple of rapid steps forward and then launched herself out over the pit, as though diving into water. As she dived forward towards the ground, she pulled her feet down into a pike and turned a gentle half-rotation over her back. By the time she hit the ground, her legs had spun round perfectly, and she landed so lightly that she made almost no sound at all. She was determined to overcome her human frailties in the stifling heat, even if only through the strength of her will. In an instant, the slight figure of Ptolemea was flanked by the glittering golden armour of the Celestians - the battle-sisters landing only slightly heavier than her.

Acrobatic feats of unarmored and armored SoB.

Page 309

Only Jonas stood firm, slicing his force staff through the streams of power and disrupting their flow, redirecting them and parrying them off into the boiling lava.

After a second, a number of shrouded figures stepped out of their hiding places behind the cascades of molten rock, walking slowly through the sheets of falling lava as though they were little more than waterfalls. All the time, huge pulses of warp fire lashed out of their finger tips, stabbing out towards the besieged figures in the centre of the pit, as Jonas strove to protect them all. From their positions on the ground, Gabriel and the Celestians snapped off volleys of bolter fire at the advancing warlocks, but their shells just seemed to bounce off the energy fields that surrounded the cloaked eldar.

Librarian vs multiple Eldar Warlocks.

Page 315

Macha looked at him, her eyes suddenly flickering with doubt. Blood Ravens. She paused. This is the name of your Marines? She paused again, as though realising something. There are many types of Adeptus Astartes?
"Yes, many."
I did not know that - you all seem the same to me.

Macha didnt know that there were differnet Chapters of Space Marines.


Page 317

"Ten millennia ago, the eldar left a device on this planet that regulated the psychic field around its surface," explained Gabriel. "The device was designed by a powerful farseer, who understood that the Yngir would sleep for as long as they believed that the eldar still dominated the stars. The psychic field synthesised the presence of the eldar on this planet, even after they left. It seems that the excavations of Father Jonas disturbed the device causing it to malfunction. The result was an emission of the psychic echoes of the original battles between the eldar and the Yngir on this planet, which would be picked up and amplified by receptive minds on the planet's surface—"

- the Eldar used their technology to simulate their presence on a planet in order ot trick a Yngir (C'tan?) into staying asleep thinking the eldar were still powerful.

Page 319

They had been watching the faint signature flicker on the edge of the Ravenous Spirit's scopes for the last few minutes, since it had emerged from the warp and entered the edge of the system. It was moving fast, and seemed to be heading directly towards Rahe's Paradise.

"I'm not sure, sergeant," replied the serf without lifting his head from the screen on his console. "It will be within range of the resolution sensors in a few minutes, then we will be able to get a better fix on its signature."

If we had any doubts about the Spirit having FTL sensors, this pretty much dispels them, since at a minimum the thing must be around an AU or so away (probably more)

Even more hilarious is that it apparently crosses the vast distances involved in "a few minutes" Which I am under no reason going to take seriously. a Strike Cruiser is not the Andromeda Ascendant, even if some people argue 40K ships have mass lightening.

Page 322

"By the Father, what is that thing?" asked Kohath, staring as though transfixed as the elegant craft gradually resolved into its final form - a long, slender vessel with massive, swooping star-sails along three axes. At its prow, a graceful command deck protruded in the form of a crescent, with massive cannons mounted on each forward-facing point.

They don't recognize Eldar warships? Come on! These people are supposed to be fucking scholars. Gaberiel knows fuck all about eldar Warp gate usage, about their weaponry, and now we have a Blood Ravens starship captain who apparently has never seen or fought a fucking Eldar starship!

Page 322

"Sergeant, we are being hailed by Sergeant Saulh form the Rage of Erudition," chirped Loren, reluctant to interrupt the present drama but pleased to have a simple function to fulfil.

"What? Saulh? Where is he?" snapped Kohath, dragging his eyes away from the miraculous birth outside.

"The other signature, Sergeant Kohath. The one on the edge of the system - it is Sergeant Saulh aboard the strike cruiser Rage of Erudition."

For a moment Kohath paused. He had received no word from Captain Ulantus that a Ninth Company strike cruiser was en route. In fact, he had received no communiques from the Litany of Fury since they had entered orbit around Rahe's Paradise. It was wlel known that the space in that sector made astropathic communication particularily difficult, and the distant position of the planet made conventional modes of communication so slow as to be almost worthless. It was often quicker to take the message yourself.

So again how the fuck are they communicating?


Page 323

"Emperor damn it!" yelled Kohath, barking orders off to the command crew, demanding evasive manoeuvres, increased shielding, return fire, and the launch of the Cobra gunships. "Tell Saulh he is most welcome. Then tell him to haul his guns over here right now!"

- "Cobra gunships" mentioned, presumably what passes for fighters on a strike cruiser. Some sort of variant of a thunderhawk, maybe?


Page 325

They had seen a couple more black pyramids like the one it the lava-pit, and Macha had explained that they were markers, defining the perimeter of the Yngir catacombs. The sentinel eldar had fashioned them out of the Yngir's own thirsting mateirals and technologies, rendering them into conductors of psychic energy, which absorbed any unusual warp discharge in their vicinity, acting to further insulate the slumbering creatures within from any fluctuations in the warp signature around the planet..

The Eldar have their own means of controlling/absorbing warp energies - I guess they were the ones who made this null-warp place.


Page 327-328

As one, the Celestian Sisters opened up with their bolters, sending a unified salvo smashing into the location of the hideous creature. At the same time, Druinir launched himself off the ledge next to Gabriel, and started to sprint across the wide floor of the chamber, bursts of crackling warp-fire lashing out of his fingertips towards his hapless brethren.
But the wraith just seemed to fade away, as though drifting out of phase once again. The Celestians' bolter shells tore through its shadow and impacted against the wall behind it, exploding into showers of shrapnel that ricocheted back into the thrashing warlock.
A second later and it reappeared, still clutching at the eldar psyker with the blades and scalpels that constituted its arms. But this time Druinir was ready for it, vaulting up onto the balcony and thrusting his hand through the semi-material substance of the beast's spine. There was a deafening shriek as the wraith threw back its head and brayed, dropping the warlock from its metallic talons. Then the beast simply exploded, as though it could not bear to be touched by Druinir. Vast streams of energy poured down the warlock's arm, filling the appari-tional form of the wraith with dazzling warp energy until it could hold no more. Then it exploded into a rain of light, showering down from the balcony like a waterfall.

Bolter rounds detonating with shrapnel effects. the Wratih can also phase out with objects, although Warlock psychic powers can counter this.

Page 329-330

They didn't even pause to take aim, but instantly turned and started spraying the outside of the Wave Serpent with projectiles from their reaper launchers.
Before Caleb could do anything, two or three of the local warriors were already dead. They lost their grip on the transporter as their limbs were lacerated by fire from the Dark Reapers, falling helplessly into the sand where they were crushed under the antigravitic field of the vehicle itself.
Caleb loosed a volley from his bolter, and watched one of the eldar warriors stumble and fall as the shell punched through the armour on his leg. Immediately, a youth with blond braids saw his chance and leapt off the roof of the Wave Serpent, crashing down onto the wounded eldar and driving his blade down through the hairline seal at the base of the alien's helmet.

Eldar Antigrav seems to generate a downward acting forces. Or, it at least transmits the force of the vehicle it holds aloft.


Page 333

As Gabriel vaulted down from his ledge and charged across towards the fray, he realised that the tomb spyders had emerged from previously hidden alcoves cut into the stonework around the central pedestal in the cavern. It was as though they were guarding it.

The Celestian Sisters were ablaze with fire as Gabriel arrived, each parrying the thrashing arachnid legs with their blades and lashing back at the spidery forms with volleys of bolter fire, which seemed to bounce harmlessly off the hardened carapaces. Ptolemea was also alive with action, leaping and flipping away from the metallic limbs, and hacking into them with her own blades.

- Tomb Spyders are highyl resistant to bolter fire (the carapaces at least.) Shooting it in the eyes work better. They seem more vulnerable to the Sisters blades though.



Page 337

Between them, the two Blood Ravens strike cruisers easily outclassed the single Dragon-class eldar cruiser. Their heavy weapons batteries were pounding at the alien's armoured shielding, and the fleet of Cobra gun-ships that had emptied out of the launch bays of both the Ravenous Spirit and the Rage of Erudition were engaging the Shadowhunter escorts four to one.

- two Blood Ravens strike cruisers can outmatch a single Eldar Dragon class cruiser. The vessle is mentioned as having "armoured shelding." There are also four times as many Shadowhunters as there are Cobras.

Page 337-338

Kohath punched the controls of the view screen, vaporising the image of Saulh and replacing it with an external view. He could see that the Rage of Erudition had seen the new arrivals already. The cruiser was pitching around to face the two charging vessels, and a flurry of torpedoes had already been loosed from its frontal batteries. But the alien vessels were faster, and flashes of las-fire were already streaking towards the two Blood Ravens vessels. At the same time, shoals of little fighters were pouring out of the two new vessels, filling the surrounding space with darting flecks of light.

...

One of the las-bolts struck the Ravenous Spirit square on its nose, rocking the command deck and reigniting the fires that been extinguished only hours before. But the torpedoes were away, and Kohath saw them punch into the side of the jet-black eldar cruiser as it banked and started to pull away from the combat zone, presumably preparing for another attack run. The other newcomer was ablaze with light already, as though made out of pure energy. It swooped and fluttered like a giant phoenix, spitting out gouts of warp fire into the gyring confusion of the dogfights that now raged all around.
..

"Great," muttered Kohath as the Ravenous Spirit came about, and the starboard weapons batteries opened up once again, shredding the surrounding space with explosive shells and sheets of las-fire.

1.) The engagement range (for the Dark Reaper ship at least) is several light seconds, as Kohath has enough time to note both that weapons fire is heading towards the two ships, for torpedoes to launch (AFter the lasers fire!), and for fighters to be deployed. The Imperium is engaging with its own weapons at this range and scoring at least some hits.

2.) Macha's wraithship is armed with some sort of warp weaponry.

3.) The Dark Reaper attack on the Spirit that had done damage and started fires happened only "hours" ago, meaning (at a minimum) that it took hours for the other Striek cruiser to each the fourth planet from the edge of the system, with the usual acceleration implications.

Page 340

So, Uldreth had organised a force from his own Aspect Temple and set out in the wake of Macha and Laeresh, guiding his Ghost Dragon cruiser through the labyrinthine webways himself. If there was even the slightest chance that Macha's visions foreshadowed the future, then he had no choice but to act on them. That is what it meant to be the future. He muttered and grumbled all the way, realising that it took a separation of days and light-years for him to deign to agree with Laeresh on that point.

"days" have passed since the Macha and the Dark Reapers left Biel-Tan, which generally meshes with the spans implied in all the other novels.

Page 352

Tanthius twisted to the side and arched his back down towards the ground, letting the sleet of projectiles hiss past him. They scraped across the armoured plates on his chest, sizzling with toxic heat and inscribing gashes through the embossed raven's wings. He dropped his left hand to the ground behind him and caught his weight before he overbalanced, bringing his storm bolter around in his right hand at the same time and loosing an explosive response.

Pushing himself back up to his feet, Tanthius saw the exarch flip backwards as the volley of shells closed. The timing was immaculate: the darkly armoured eldar warrior leant back as the shells reached its chest, dropping its head and hands down to the ground behind it and letting the explosive rounds skim over its chest armour and slide just over its neck as it leant its head back. An instant later and its legs cycled over its handstand, bringing it back up onto its feet with its reaper cannon ready in its hands once again. Immediately, another burst of monomolecular projectiles lashed out of its weapon towards Tanthius.

- Dark Reaper launcher firing monomolecular projectiles that can easily penetrate Terminator armour, and Tanthius having Terminator armor that is somehow flexible enough to allow him to do a Matrix-style dodge. I suppose it's not IMPOSSIBLE, but it would be abnormally mobile for Termy armor.

Page 352

The Terminator sergeant was getting frustrated by this ostentatious exchange, impressive though the alien was proving to be. They could exchange long-range fire like this all day; he had to find some way of closing the distance.

As he sidestepped the eldar hail, he squeezed off another volley from his storm bolter and broke into a run, trying to rein in the slippery exarch. But for every step forward taken by Tanthius, the eldar took one back, turning flips and summersaults to maintain a constant distance. It seemed determined to conduct this fight at a range of a hundred metres, as though this was the only kind of combat it was comfortable with. If the alien really wanted to keep the range constant so badly, then Tanthius was all the more determined to shorten it.

Storming forward, ,Tanthius detached a cluctch of grenades from his belt and lobbed them into a high curve, letting them pitch up over the eldar warrior as it flipped and turned underneath them, somehow slipping around every shell that whined past it. But Tanthius wasn't expecting to hit the alien with those shots.

As the grenades dropped down behind the tumbling exarch, the rounds that had slid past it stabbed into them, detonating them into a huge burst of flame and shrapnel, blasting a concussive wave into the charging figure of the Terminator and sending the incredibly elegant alien stumbling to a halt.

Terminator vs Exarch. Again Tanthius seems to be demosntrating fairly good mobility to keep up.

The Dark Reaper Exarch is also good at dodging gunfire.. suggesting some precog.

Tanthius is also able to throw grenades 100 metres or so. Bolter fire strikes faster than the Eldar can react across the same distance (at least 1/5-1/10th of a second maybe? 500-1000 m/s implied velocity for storm bolter rounds? Possibly several km/s if we go with 1/20th of a second or so, although I wouldn't insist on that velocity ) And the bolt rounds generate again shrapnel effects - rather significant shrapnel and area effects really.


Page 354

For a second, Tanthius's vision blurred, as though the impacts had somehow interfered with the visual systems in his helmet. He stopped charging and lunged to the side, trying to throw off the alien's aim while he waited for his sight to return. Another constellation of burning shards slid through the flesh in his leg, passing through the ancient armour with incredible ease.
Thrashing out instinctively, Tanthius caught hold of a slender arm in the grip of his powerfist and yanked it into the air. Turning his bolter, he blasted into the suspended body, spending twenty explosive rounds into its abdomen before his helmet's vision finally crackled and settled back into place.

..

Another rain of toxic shards made him turn as they sunk into his ribcage.

Storm bolter vs generic armoured eldar. And Toxic shuriken weapons.

Page 355

Clicking his storm bolter onto full-manual, he took careful aim and squeezed off three shots, one to the creature's right, one directly at it, and the other just to its left. The staggered timing caught the exarch just as he had hoped: as the first shot sizzled past its face, the second made it twitch to its left, where the third punched straight into its shoulder, digging down into the psychoplastic armour and detonating into a cluster of vicious shards which shredded the alien's muscle.

- Storm bolter rounds penetrate Dark Reaper exarch armour at close range (less than twenty metres.)

Page 356

The Shadowhunter escort ships rolled and dived in breathtaking shoals, shimmering like tropical fish as they flicked through sunbeams and darted in between lances of las-fire. The Cobra gunboats that spiralled after them were no match for their speed or agility, and they were also outnumbered by the fleet alien ships.

..

The Spirit's Cobras were performing well, and their kill-rate appeared to be slightly better than that of the eldar; the sergeant was silently impressed with the abilities of the Third Company's pilot-serfs.

This is despite being outnumbered and out-teched (A situation not unusual for the Imperium - cf Imperila Navy fighters vs Tau on Taros.) We learn the Cobras are crewed by normal humans, so the blood Ravens seem to have invested in fighter craft unlike some Space Marine Chapters.

Page 356-357

The ship was trembling and convulsing with constant fire, taking impacts on both sides and loosing torpedoes and las-fire in equal measure. The Ravenous Spirit had been involved in innumerable battles in its time, and it had not survived this long by being fragile; its weapons batteries were ablaze like infernos along the length of either side, dousing the enemy cruisers with unrelenting tirades of violence. At the same time, Kohath was swinging the venerable vessel around in tight arcs, striving to bring its main frontal cannons into play, and hoping that the movement would throw off the targeting of the eldar weapons.

Implication of broadside torpedo mounts as well as fore cnanons of some kind.

Page 358-359

Then the image slid off the edge of the screen and the radiant glow of the wraithship emerged onto the other side. Streams of crackling lightning were arcing out of its strangely fluid form, like tendrils of the warp itself.
"Krayem - check that the geller-field is operational and reinforce its phase variance over the prow," snapped the sergeant, wondering whether the unusual enemy was really using pulses of the warp as weapons.

Gellar fields seem designed to provide defence against warp weaponry, of at least some kinds at least.


Page 367

As he watched, he saw the side batteries of the Space Marine cruiser open up against the sleek, incoming shape of the Reaper's Blade, loosing torrents of torpedoes and las-fire directly into the speeding Dragon's path, even as its frontal arrays unleashed an inferno of fire against the Eternal Star.

Once more broadside torpedo mounts.

Page 369

All at once, the shielding around the Blade collapsed, and the mon-keigh torpedoes tore into its hull, drilling their way in towards the power core. A series of smaller explosions shook the ship, sending plates of armour spiralling out into space. And then a colossal detonation blew the Reaper's Blade in two, cracking it through the middle and breaking it like the branch of a tree.

the Eldar Cruiser has shields of it sown of some sort.. and the Imperial torpedoes couldn't penetrate it. The torpedoes seem to be the "impact and detonate" variety.

Page 369

The spirit pool of the ancient vessel contained the souls of thousands of eldar warriors, stored there in the hope that they would one day be reunited with their brethren in the infinity circuit of the lost craftworld of Altansar. Not for millennia had the Dark Reapers given their dark souls over to Biel-Tan, and for all those thousands of years they had collected themselves into their own spirit pool.

The Dark Reaper spirit pool and its general size.

Page 383-384

Turning on his heel, Caleb heard a scream and saw a roiling cloud of black flecks emerging out of the wide tunnel mouth on the other side of the chamber. The cloud was swarming around one of the locals, and he was screaming. Even as he watched, Caleb could see the boy's flesh vanishing before his eyes: little spots of blood appeared on his skin, rapidly stretching out into cuts and gashes, then into open wounds. Eventually, parts of the screaming youth's skull and skeleton became visible, glinting with specks of white in amongst the teeming and glittering shadows that swarmed around him.
..

As the beetles swarmed around the fallen corpse and feasted on its flesh, consuming it in a matter of seconds, the warriors turned and dashed up into the exit tunnel. Caleb paused for a moment at the mouth of the passage, watching the little metallic insects work their way through the flesh of the fallen warrior. It was disgusting, but his mind was plagued by questions and doubts. What in the name of the Great Father was going on? He had never heard of anything like these shimmering, black beetle-like scarabs. They appeared to be made of metal, as though they were artificial constructions, like tiny insectoid robots, and there were hundreds of them, perhaps thousands in the swarm.

Necron beetle things vs human flesh. Hungry buggers to consume a body in seconds with only uhndreds or thousands of em.

Page 387-388

Even as he watched, he saw the cloud near Asherah billow and shift under the tirade of fire, but then it morphed around the impacts and reached out towards the sergeant, touching him with a shadowy tendril. The Marine flinched away from its touch, as though stung, but the tentacle of darkness followed after his movements as though attached to his gauntlet. And the tendril grew thicker, pulsing with darkness as more of the cloud flowed along its line and started to engulf Asherah's hand, then his arm.

The Tactical squad hesitated, unwilling to fire on their sergeant, and in the lull the cloud engulfed him completely. The eldar were not so reticent, and they continued to unleash shuriken into the obscure form, forcing a couple of Marines to turn and threaten them with their bolters. For a few seconds, the armoured shape of the Marine thrashed against the cloud, lashing out with his weapons in almost random abandon. Then, quite suddenly, the thrashing stopped and Asherah slumped to the ground. A couple of moments later and his armour was rent asunder, and pieces of it went scurrying off across the sand before vanishing down into newly opened crevices. After little more than ten seconds, there was no trace of the sergeant left at all, and the cloud of tiny black fragments billowed up once again, heading for the other Marines in his squad.

Some sort of Necron foe, but I'm not sure what it is honestly.

Page 389

The eldar in the field seemed to recognise the dark, sinister warriors immediately, and they all turned their weapons on the newcomers, leaving the Blood Ravens to deal with the swarms of scarab beetles that still drifted through the air. But the eldar shurikens just bounced harmlessly off the mysterious warriors, ricocheting in little metallic sparks, as though their skeletal forms were composed entirely of some kind of metal.

- Necron warriors resistant to impact of Shuriken projectiles.

Page 389

slowly and deliberately, one of the metal skeleotns lifted its own weapon and pointed it at a white and emerald eldar Guardian. A stream of glittering darkness flashed out of the barrel and crashed into the elegant alien as it struggled to move aside, catching it in the ribs. The stream instnatly spread out, creeping and flowing all over the eldar warrior, coating it completely in a shimmering, silver darkness in less than a second. A fraction of a second later, the darkness blinked and evaporated into the air, leaving the flickering image of an atrophied and deocmposed eldar where hte Guardian had been. The image flickered and then vanished, leaving nothing of the alien at all.

well its not green like it shoudl be, but Goto at least got the effects mostly right.

Page 390

He had never before seen warriors that could climb imperviously out of magma and resist eldar fire as if it were nothing, and he had certainly never seen weapons tha tcould vaporise an eldar Guardian in less than a second.

Except for melta and plasma weapons, and I'm pretty sure Space Marines have resisted lava and eldar fire.

Page 394-395

"There are also some signatures that I have never seen before. They are moving faster than any of ours. Faster even than the eldar Vampires."
..
"That's just it, sergeant, they're everywhere. It's as though they're spilling out of the planet itself. Some of them are already breaking out of the atmosphere."
The image on the view screen snowed into nonsense and then resolved itself again, showing a section of the upper atmosphere. The eldar wraithship and the Ghost Dragon were just visible on the edge of the screen, and they were streaking towards its centre with their remaining Shadowhunter escorts in tow. Little bursts of light started to spark in the atmosphere as lightning-fast vessels burst out of it. No sooner were they birthed into space than the eldar opened fire at them, lashing out with tirades of torpedoes and las-fire, dousing the planet's atmosphere in flames. But the little silvery-black gunships flashed through the fire as though impermeable to it. Then, after only a few seconds, they returned fire.

Necron fighters are outperforming Eldar fighters (meaning they accelerate faster) Also the Eldar starship seems to have dedicated point defence lasers and torpedoes.

Page 395

From the control room of his Thunderhawk, Gabriel watched the sleek shape of the eldar Vampire Raider bank and then flash up into the atmosphere. It was out of sight in a matter of seconds, carrying Macha and her warlocks back up to their cruiser in orbit.

Giuven space Marine vision, it might be out of signt in kilometers to tens of kilometers.. suggesting again tens if not hundreds of gees of acceleration.

Page 396-397

Then a great explosion of darkness erupted in the heart of the monastery, blasting its remaining walls into streams of vapour as a shimmering black shape emerged from within.
The levitating craft was shaped like a crescent, with a series of little pyramidal structures running around its rim. In the very centre was a larger pyramid - presumably housing the control decks. It eased slowly into the air, as debris rained down from its edges, crashing back into the craterous ruins of the Blood Ravens' facility and into the desert.

Necron warships appear

PAge 400

Clicking the view screen back to a forward view, Gabriel watched the battle unfolding. There must have been nearly a dozen of fleet, eldar Shadowhunters, flashing and rolling in elegant formations, unleashing las-fire and torpedoes in vast numbers. He had seen such craft in action before, and he knew that they were easily a match for anything that the Imperial Navy could field against them. Just off to the side of the main battle, Gabriel could see the glorious, glowing shape of a wraithship, its cannons flaring and pulses of warp energy flaring from its beautifully curving wingtips. There was also a second eldar cruiser - part of the so-called Dragon-class, thought Gabriel. It was slightly withdrawn from the battle, but its weapons were working hard in support of its smaller escorts.

Page 400

He could hardly make out an enemy at all, although it was clear that something was moving through the void at incredible speeds, making even the Shadowhunters look pedestrian. Whatever they were, they were small, manoeuvrable and extremely fast, flashing through the mire like shimmering flecks of shadow.
..

"But the Imperium has confronted them before, though only rarely, and never with much success. They are necron vessels, Gabriel."

Even though they can barely see them, the Blood Ravens can identify Necron ships right off the bat. Irregular scholarship strikes again!

Page 404-405

A tiny point of shimmering black was the first thing to break the atmosphere, like the tip of an iceberg. It grew slowly, with the atmosphere bursting into flames on all sides of it as the pyramid pushed out into space. A moment later, and the broad, crescent-shaped hull of the Shroud Cruiser pressed up into the troposphere, highlighted in an aura of burning ozone.

..

The Avenging Sword disengaged its cannons from its support role in the dogfights and redirected them down towards the emerging Shroud Cruiser, knowing that the Yngir lord was encased within it. At exactly the same time, the weapons of the Eternal Star also turned down to atmosphere, pounding it with tirades of violence.

Even as the Shroud pulled clear of the planet and into orbit, with lashes of fire and torpedoes bouncing off its hull, entire squadrons of Dirge Raiders zipped out of the atmosphere in its wake, flashing straight into the mire of combat with the Shadowhunters and the lumbering mon-keigh gunships.

Starting slowly the Shroud quickly gathered pace as it accelerated off towards the sun, apparently ignoring the continuous bombardment to which it was being subjected by the eldar cruisers.

Eldar start ot bombard the cruiser when it is in the upper levels of the atmosphere, just about to get free. Does fuck all to the Necron ship.


Page 405

"I assume that the Exterminatus array is still functioning aboard the Rage of Erudition, sergeant?"
"Yes, captain. It remains undamaged," replied Saulh, his image crackling and snowing on the view screen.

"You are to fire on Rahe's Paradise when you are ready," directed Gabriel firmly. This was not the first time that he had ordered the destruction of a planet, but perhaps that was why it felt like such a weight of responsibility. "We can no longer leave it intact - its labyrinthine structure is riddled with slumbering necron. It must be destroyed."

"But captain…" Saulh's voice faded out, as though he wasn't quite sure what to say. "Captain Angelos, what evidence do we have of contamination on such a scale? We cannot just exterminate entire planets, Gabriel."

Exterminatus array used to wipe out a planet, and a Space Marine objecting ot using it.

Gabriel claims the planet's interior is chock full of Necrons, but again it is noted he has no proof of this. It's really hard not to consider this another example of Gabriel's Grandpa-simpson-esque lunacy.

Then again we do have the Hellforged and Dark Apostle examples for Necron worlds...


Page 406-407

The Shroud Cruiser closed on the star as hostile fire rained onto it from its eldar hunters. It was beginning to suffer under the onslaught and it started to rotate to face them. Even as he watched, Uldreth could see dark sunspots appearing on the red star behind the Shroud and thin solar flares lashing out from its burning surface like massive storms. He knew what was coming.

The sunspots grew and darkened as the solar flares lengthened and strengthened, reaching out towards the Shroud as it pitched up vertically in front of the star. Then in an incredible burst of power, a searing flare exploded out from the sun striking the central pyramidal structure on the Shroud, from where it was refracted into a constellation of beams that flashed through the other pyramid-prisms on its hull, lighting the vessel like a brilliant, geometric star of its own. Then, the beams reconverged on the central pyramid and combined into a single bolt, lashing out at the

Eternal Star as a blinding lightning-arc.

The wraithship quaked under the impact, spiralling backwards, out of control.

The implication of course is that the shroud cruiser absorbed/tapped a solar flare and shot that power at the Wraithship, but of course the obvious objection will be we dont know if it's a real solar flare, since it doesn't have the diameter of one.

Page 407-408

Just as he screamed, his own vessel returned fire, throwing everything it had into the side of the Shroud.

At the same time, a flood of fire lashed into the Yngir cruiser from another side, and Uldreth snatched his head around to see the roaring engines of a Blood Ravens strike cruiser blasting into the blind side of the Shroud, ,throwing las-fire and torpedoes at the nearly impregnable hull. It was also firing some kind of bombardment cannon that was probably designed for planetary assault, but it shells were punching into the armoured plates of the Shoud and detonating inside.

In a matter of seconds, part tof the central pyramid on the Yngir cruiser exploded and cracked off, sending the concentrated beams of solar power crakcling for uncontrolled targets. The lightning arcs lashed out into space, striking the Avenging Sword with a wild and crackling whip of power, but then turning back on themselves and engulfing the Shroud itself.
The vessel convulsed and shook, throbbing with an overload of power, and then detonated right in its core. The silvery black Shroud Cruiser erupted into flames of darkness and then blew apart, sending lethal shards and shadows hurtling out through the system. For a moment, silhouetted against the dying sun, where the Shroud had once been, there was the shimmering figure of a glorious humanoid - like a star god caught in his own inferno. And then it was gone.

To be fair, the cruiser may very well have been weaked by sustained fire from two Eldar vessels before this, but its pretty damn impressive that Space marine guns, especially the bobmardment cannons, fucked up that cruiser.

It also seems to frag the Yngir, whatever the fuck it really was in the cruiser.



Page 408

The last of the Dirge Raiders spiralled down into the atmosphere of Rahe's Paradise, flames pouring from its engine vents and armoured plates free falling from its hull. Beneath its fall, the planet's surface was vaguely visible beneath clouds of toxic smoke and viral contagions that roiled around in the atmosphere. The Exterminatus arrays had caused all the volcanos around the equator to erupt at once, spilling the planet's core out onto its surface and effectively turning the entire world inside out. For good measure, the epic bombardment had continued, throwing viral and bacterial agents down into the mix to ensure that nothing could survive, even if it could swim in molten rock and breathe sulphur. In a matter of minutes, the atmosphere had been completely eaten away and then, in less than an hour, the planet's structural integrity collapsed and it simply fell apart, scattering itself into asteroids and meteorites.

Probably one of the most bizarre and self-contradictory bombardments since Xenos. Not going to even bother trying to calc it, orhte rhtan fucking up a planet like that does not seem to be beyond the Space Marine even if it is largely technobabble.

Page 408-409

Gabriel watched the planet die with confidence. This time he knew that he had done the right thing. It would, in any case, be only a matter of days before the local star would collapse in on itself and turn supernova. The necron lord had destabilised it enough, even in that short period of exposure. Emperor only knows what harm it could have done had it escaped the system.

The Necron Lord or Star God or whatever it was destabilized the star in a short period of time.

Page 409

Lying on the ceremonial tablet in the middle of the chamber, with the apothecary fussing around him with dull, dirty surgical instruments, struggled the scarred and horrified figure of Ckrius. He had survived the warp jump, it seemed. Walking around to the side of the adamantium table, Ulantus saw that the boy's head had been cut open from ear to ear in order to expose the upper half of his brain.

The apothecary bowed slightly to the captain as he lay the flat, circular sus-an membrane into the neophyte's skull, and Ulantus smiled at the irony. In a few years time, that membrane would enable Ckrius to drop into a state of suspended animation in the event of extreme physical trauma. It was the same technology as was used in stasis sarcophagi for Marines irredeemably injured in the course of duty - they could be kept alive almost indefinitely, until a dreadnought shell became available and they could be transplanted into a new, entirely mechanical body. For a moment, Ulantus wondered whether Ckrius might enjoy the irony of the trauma he was experiencing in order to enable him to survive even more trauma later on.

I guess teh sus-an membrane is a form of stasis technology now

[Connor MacLeod]

And before you say anything: yes I am aware of the Necron Shards.. and that this might reconcile with this novel above. I don't completely rule out some sort of weird or crazy necron lord, or the planetary master program going nutso, but it almost certainly isnt a full C'tan anymore.

[Connor MacLeod]

And now we start dawn of War tempest. also known as "What might be Goto's least interesting novel had he not written Eldar Prophecy" Guest appearances by Ahriman to provide all those dangly bits of hintyness that fuel the debates over the nature of the Blood Angels (For my part I think they're Thousand Sons descended, but that's just me.)

This be part 1, of three probable parts (or two if I get lazy)

Page 11

... warmth began to flood through the rest of my body. Something had shifted in my physiology, triggering a chemical release that raised my body temperature. I should understand this process, but I have forgotten its name.
As I climbed to my feet, splinters of icy shards exploded out of the joints in my arms and legs, but my body already felt warm and strong within its super-augmented shell.

Space marine body seems to automatically warm itself up after some time in deep cold/suspended animation. Possibly the Sus-an membrane.

Page 13

In a reflex reaction, I squinted, and suddenly the light in the scene shifted, as though enhanced by something in my own brain. The bottom of the ravine zoomed up towards me,- tinted in an overexposed, pale blue; it was as though my eyes were reeling it in. The sudden flush of nausea and vertigo lasted for only a fraction of moment, and then I realised that this was natural.

Space Marine visual enhancement.

Page 16

As I stood on the brink of the climb, a third possibility suggested itself to me like a secret revelation. I might survive the fall. Holding my hands out in front of my face, I studied the strong, heat-scarred fingers; the large combat knife looked tiny in my fist, even as it glinted with the last rays of the third red sun. The armoured panels that covered my arms were scratched and dented, but they seemed immovably fixed, as though they were somehow grafted to my body. The ceramite plates looked heavy and formidable, and yet I could not feel their weight at all. It was as though they were made of the air itself. The armour supports its own weight. It does not sap my strength; it gives strength to me.

Space Marine armour through some mechanism supports its own weight. Probably the exoskeleton given context (eg no mass lightening)

Page 21

I glanced up at the scene, squinting my eyes against the distant but gathering wind. I might have dropped to the ground or flung myself behind a dune for cover, but something deep in my brain told me that there was no need. This was a storm that I could weather. As it thundered towards me, I simply raised an arm to shield my eyes from the maelstrom of sand, and walked on through it.
The temperature soared as the cloud broke over me. I could feel the air seethe against the skin of my face and hands. But the rest of my body seemed to register no change at all. Neither the wind nor the sand nor the heat penetrated my armour, and, after a couple of seconds, even the exposed skin of my face was regulated back to normality.

Space Marine resistance to the elements.

Page 22

By my own calculations I had walked about fifteen kilometres in twenty minutes, through a frozen desert in arctic temperatures, and yet I was not even breathing hard.I could not remember the last time I had eaten or drunk, and yet I felt strong and full of energy. The maelstrom of superheated sand had blasted past me, and I had hardly even noticed.

If his math is right, the armoured marine is pulling 45 kph. Not bad.

Page 29-30

Directly above the altar piece, captured in the beam that shone down from the ceiling, was a sphere of luminous, pearlescent energy. Light danced and curdled over its surface, and it sheened as though slick with oil. Delicate tendrils of silvering light snaked up into the glowing pearl, feeding out of the blind, sunken and gaunt eye-sockets of a number of the peripatetic, green-robed astropaths. As the energy flows converged, the silvery pearl shimmered and pulsed, as though alive with the combined powers of the astropaths and the psychic chanting of the choir telepathica.

Blood Ravens psychic mumbo-jumbo. note the tangible "light" emitting from astropath eye sockets into the magic sphere thingy. We learn some things but not all.

Page 31

The last time they had taken up the podium, many years before, there had been four of them in the Ninth Company:

4 Librarians in the Ninth company. This is interesting in light of the commentary in DoW2, where there were entire SQUADS of Librarians, and two squads was considreed light. Maybe they took some hefty attrition lately?

Page 31

Brother-Librarian Rhamah had fallen only days ago, standing with Korinth and Zhaphel against the warp daemons that had assailed the Implantation Chamber of the Litany, as the massive battle-barge had made its way through the warp to defend the Lorn system.

"Days" had passed since the events outlined in DoW: Ascension


Page 31

The Blood Ravens were an ancient and profound organisation, and they were unusually well-connected within the various institutions of the Emperor's Imperium. The Sanctorium and its associated rites were a product of one such relationship. In many ways, the Blood Ravens' position within the networks and matrices of the Administratum was rivalled only by that of the legendary Imperial Fists. However, whilst the Fists could trace the origins of their political acumen all the way back to their once and great originator, the Primarch Rogal Dorn, the Blood Ravens had no real knowledge of their origins. The identity of their primarch had been lost or obscured in the records of history many millennia ago, and their place in the Imperium was now guaranteed only by their industry, labour and spirit, rather than resting on the laurels of a magnificent and half misremembered past.

Short version: the Imperial organizations like the Blood Ravens and cut alot of deals with them. They don't know why it is, but it may be linked ot their primarch (it would be hilarious if this really was Magnus, but I suppose if they were tied to some Thousand Sons loyalist they might have good ties with the Imperium .) I also like the snub of the first founding chapters like the Fists.


Page 31

In dark moments, the Secret Masters of the Chapter might acknowledge a repressed but seething resentment at the persistent renown of the Imperial Fists, when it was the Blood Ravens that had actually achieved most in the last couple of millennia; the Fists were so arrogant that they probably didn't even know it.

Blood Ravens Hate the Fists

Page 32-33

Its existence was the result of an unusual and intimate connection between the Blood Ravens and the Scholastia Psykana. In many ways it was an aspect of the complementary natures of the Inquisition and the Blood Ravens, who shared an interest in esoteric and historical knowledge. Indeed, the Blood Ravens had a number of mutually beneficial relationships with certain branches of the Inquisition and Ecclesiarchy, particularly with the Adeptus Sororitas of the Ordo Dialogous.
...
The arrangement with the Scholastia Psykana was of an entirely different nature. In the hidden lore of the Blood Ravens Secret Order of Psykana, it was theorised that the existence of the Sanctorium demonstrated that the Blood Ravens were actually a Chapter dear to the undying soul of the Emperor of Man. An ancient and revered document, known as the Apocrypha of the Un-Founding, allegedly penned by Azariah Vidya himself, the first recorded Father Librarian of the Chapter, argued that this was why the history of the Blood Ravens was so obscure. The authenticity of the document had never been substantiated, but its argument was whispered in the folklore of the Chapter.

The Un-Founding suggested that agents close to the Golden Throne had acted to obscure the history of the Blood Ravens. Azariah suggested that the Chapter's true origins were not actually absent from Imperial record, but deliberately lost, or hidden, perhaps even by psychic means. Hence, Azariah and the Blood Ravens searched for all kinds of knowledge in order to help them to see through this veil of ignorance.

The Un-Founding suggested that this quest would be heretical only if the knowledge were sought for the self-serving purpose of disseminating it throughout the Imperium, risking conflict with other Chapters. Azariah argued that the Emperor had never meant for the Blood Ravens to be ignorant of their own origins but had merely sought to hide them from his other sons, and Great Father Vidya had insisted that such knowledge was entirely appropriate as long as it remained within the secretive confines of the secret orders of the Chapter. It is enough that we should know the face of the Emperor-for others it may be the face of insanity or death.

A bit more of the Blood RAvens past and their connections. IT may be true, although it would be like Space Marines to try to paint themselves as favoured by the Emperor.



Page 34

He was also aware that the unusually high number of psykers in the Blood Ravens Chapter leant some support to those who argued that they were the Chapter closest to the nature of the Emperor himself: who but the Blood Ravens could really claim to reflect the psychic grandeur of the Emperor? In the not-too-distant past, the rogue Librarian Father Phraius had broken away from the leadership of Chapter Master Izaria, dragging a squad of Librarians into heresy as he declared his nature identical to that of the Emperor himself and thus free from the confines of the Chapter and the Codex. The formidable Izaria had unleashed his fury against the renegade Librarians and crushed them almost single-handedly. But Phraius was not a solitary example; a similar incident had happened more recently, involving the Third Company Librarian, Isador Akios, on the planet of Tartarus.

More Blood Ravnes Grandstanding. Note (hilariously in retrospect) it seems like the Blood Ravens have a history of heretical conflicts with itself. This makes events in DoW 2 even more amusing.


Page 35

It was said that the practice originated early in M.38 when the entire Fifth Company, under the leadership of the magnificent Librarian-Captain Lucius, had been lost in the warp storm of the Maelstrom. The present Fifth Company still wore badges of shame and penitence, which suggested that something other than an accident befell Lucius and his battle-brothers. No records of the events survived, but the Fifth Company became known as ''The Fated'' thereafter, and the Secret Masters of the Chapter had seen to it that they had fewer Librarians than the other companies in modern times. Whispered rumours amongst the more puritanical Librarians of the Chapter implied that Lucius had led his company into the Maelstrom on purpose.

An interesting bit of continuity between the Goto novels and the DoW2 novel/stuff.

Page 35 -

It was traditional for the remains of a lost Librarian of the SEcret Order of the Psykana to be laid to rest on the altar of the Sanctorium for one hundred days. The pearl of psychic energy above the altar actedlike a beacon for lost souls, and it was not unknown for the soul of a Blood Ravens Librarian to return to his body within the hundred days, as though guided byh the AStronomican itself, summoned back from its exodus.

An Astronomican for the soul, as it were.

PAge 37

However, the Blood Ravens held another unique contract with the Adeptus Telepathica, according to which they would also take a small number of secondary psykers from the Scholastia, some of whom would undergo the Soul Binding ceremony necessary to render them into astropaths capable of transmitting messages through the warp. These psykers were then sent to serve in the Sanctorium of the Litany of Fury, the battle-barge of the Blood Ravens Commander of the Watch.

Although their precise function aboard that venerable vessel [Litany of Fury] was shrouded in myth, legend, and apocrypha, the dominant theory within the Secret Orders of Psykana was that the pskyers acted as a kind of mobile repeater station for the Astronomican itself, ,spreading the voice of the silver choir into the farthest and darkest reaches of the galaxy. But like so many ritual sand technologies, the precise origins and function of the Sanctorium were lost in the tempests of history.

Interesting that they believe astropaths can act as a sort of "repeater" for the Astronomican, as this is the sole time I have heard of this used. More likely would be that they act as a mobile version of an Astropathic relay station -which would serve similar purposes.


Page 43-44

With a cry that rose from my stomach, I leapt into the air, reaching out with one hand above my head. I felt my fingers clasp the top lip of the stone, and I pulled, yanking my body up the rock face and flipping my legs over my head in a smooth arc. The ruddy, red light burst all around me as I cleared the rock-line and landed on top of the sandstone pavement. Instantly, my eyes scanned the sky and identified the distant, descending form of the gunship. Keeping my gaze fixed on the vessel, I started to run again, jumping and springing automatically over the wide cracks and crevices in the sloping ground.

I made that jump like it was nothing. The thought tumbled about my head as I ran, distracting me and jabbing me with its significance. That rock was more than twice my height. My skin still tingled with an unrealised power. I could have gone higher.

Jumping 5-6 meters high in the air I suppose. Whether this is because he's a Space Marine or a Librarian, I'm not sure.


Page 46

The ship rotated on its axis, hovering heavily. They had found a place to land. Then another thought struck me: They couldn't see this city from the sky. They must have been looking for it; that was the only way to explain the erratic, inefficient and cumbersome hovering.
..
The ship itself was a radiant mix of startling blues and dazzling gold, hanging in the air with heavy menace, pouring flames out of its thrusters just to maintain its position and demonstrate its disregard for the force of gravity.

- the Thunderhawk (as identified later) is able to hover above the ground on its jets, negating the force of gravity. I am sure suspensors of some kind are involved, since I doubt the thunderhawk would liquefy the ground doing this otherwse.


Page 48 - the vessel is identified at last as a Thunderhawk.

Page 53-54

As the Ravenous Spirit ploughed into the outer reaches of the Lorn system, Captain Gabriel Angelos of the Blood Ravens Third Company, the Commander of the Watch, stood on the bloody and fire-damaged control deck and gazed out at the floating debris that littered the sector
..

In his mind's eye, Gabriel could still see the smoking remains of Rahe's Paradise, upon which he had ordered the Exterminatus shortly before. The rain of ruined rock that clattered against the Spirit's armoured plating echoed the hail of destruction that had befallen that ill-fated world.

The RAvenous spirit has made it to the Lorn system at last after events in DoW:A, and ordering yet another planet obliterated.

They are also currently on the edge of the system.

Page 55

However, over the last few days, Jonas's world had been exploded, quite literally.

Only a "few days" have happened since then. Bear this in mind, we're in for some hilarious calcs yet again.

Page 55

The captain nodded. He had already seen the broken and twisted forms of damaged Imperial pattern vessels and Furies. Here and there, he even thought that he could make out the distinctive shapes of salvageable Cobra fighter gunships.

- "Cobra fighter gunships" mentioned in the second DoW novel.

Page 55

No matter what had happened at Rahe's Paradise, Gabriel had taken the Ravenous Spirit and most of the surviving Third Company halfway across the galaxy on a blind hunch. Captain Ulantus of the Ninth Company, with whom the Third shared the magnificent battle-barge Litany of Fury, had been right to disapprove of his departure, and a defeat for the Blood Ravens at Lorn would certainly have proven the straight-laced captain's point.

- here its mentioned Gabriel traveled "Hlafway across the galaxy" in the events of DoW Ascension. Like we need more confirmation of this.

Page 57

In the distance, in a close orbit around the fifth planet of the system, the massive and glorious shape of the Litany of Fury began to appear. It looked like a small, malformed moon cresting the horizon of Lorn V. The radiant, blood-red insignia was emblazoned across the prow and the sides of the hull; the black raven's wings were spread broadly around the glistening droplet of blood at their centre.

Litany of fury is around the fifth planet of the system at this point in the book. Interesting that it is implied to be vaguely spherical in shape - more of a forterss monastery than an "official" battlebarge, although IIRC battle barges hav eno specific shapes.

This is the "desitnation" - they are nowhere near close to the 5th planet yet (As we learn later) -they must be spotting it on passives and telescope/optical shit.


Page 60-61

The file was a record of the charges against the Ordo Malleus Inquisitor Kravin pressed by Girreaux himself after the Ikrilla Conclave, at which the impassioned Kravin had warned that, unlike the other traitorous Chaos Marines who had fled into the Eye of Terror, the Alpha Legion was recruiting neophytes from within the Imperium, just like the loyal Space Marine Chapters. Girreaux had charged Kravin with heresy, arguing that the once-respected inquisitor was in league with the Alpha Legionaries, and that he was attempting to sow the seeds of panic and suspicion into the Imperium.
More important, however, was the fact that Kravin was the only Imperial researcher to have made any significant headway into the secretive history of the Alpha Legion. Indeed, it was on his research that the Inquisition and the Blood Ravens based their understanding of the origins of that mysterious Chapter. If Girreaux was right, then the Imperium's understanding of the Alpha Legion would have to be reconsidered.

Inquisition on the Alpha Legion,a nd how the infighting causes more problems than it solves sometimes. I'm betting it's right, considering some of the shit the Alpha Legion has pulled.

Page 62

The Librarian could imagine the chagrin of Ulantus if he had arrived too late or if he had been forced to share the field with the Ultramarines because the Litany of Fury's battle company - Gabriel's Third - had vanished off to the other side of the galaxy. Gabriel would blame himself for any such shame.

We get further confirmation that the Litany has gone off "to the other side of the galaxy". Whether this is from Ultima Segmentum to Pacificus or vice versa, we aren't quite told. Either way it can trnaslate to between 3-10 million c depending on how many days you figure on.

Either way I imagine someone will object to how fast this is. Bear in mind that Gabriel is under the impression he is blessed or is special - the fact he can haul ass across the system so fast may in fact be proof of that. We know that the Emperor, if he so chose, could manipulate the astronomican to favor someone with faster warp travel. I'm certainly not going to try to argue it's standard, but it is nice to know what is possible under the right circumstances

Page 63

A clutch of automatic defence cannons clucked and whirred as they tracked his motion from their mountings amidst the archaic runic script that ran around the portal's archway.

Ulantus inhaled deeply, taking the poisonous gas fully into lungs without concern for its toxicity. He had long since learned to trust in the functioning of his multi-lung, which filtered all the toxins out of the air before it was infused into his bloodstream. After all, it was not long ago that he had watched the apothecary insert this organ into the crammed chest cavity of Ckrius, the young neophyte who still lay broken and horrified on the surgical table in the centre of the chamber.

Defences of the Implantation chamber and gene-seed.

Page 63-64

The youth was undergoing the most brutal transformation imaginable - the transformation from boyhood into one of the Adeptus Astartes, one of the Emperor's own Angels of Death - and he was being pushed through the process at an incredible, unnatural speed. The Blood Ravens could no longer afford the luxury of waiting years for their neophytes to grow into their implants. Their numbers were getting dangerously low, and they had to take the risk of a number of shortcuts, despite the terrible dangers inherent in such a move. Young Ckrius was an experiment in more than one way.

More of Ckrius' forced implantation. The interesting ting I find about this is that the implants growth rate seems to be artifiically controlled - they can make it fit within a year (or months) or years.

It also finds me interesting that they would run this risk again - either they've forgotten what happened in the Heresy (EG Raven Guard) or they are really hard up for recruits. I suppose when you arne't a first founding Legion like the Blood Angels you can't steal geneseed from others the way the Blood Angels did.

Page 65

With smoothly choreographed motions, the apothecary pressed the Melanchromic hemisphere down into the neophyte's chest whilst drawing out threads of nerves from its slick surface. With incredible precision and dexterity, the numerous augmetic limbs positioned and fused the nerve endings into the underside of the skin-flap, hardwiring the organ into the youth's epidermis. In the future, the Space Marine's skin would act as a sensitive radiation sensor, triggering changes in the pigment and colour shielding of exposed skin to protect the Marine from atmospheric radiation, thus shielding him from the poisoning and cancers caused by solar activity or dirty weapons.
The very instant that all the nerves were fixed, the apothecary slapped the skin back over Ckrius's chest, nodded briskly towards Ulantus, and then turned away, shuffling into the shadows, leaving the terrible torn skin to heal by itself. If Ckrius could not survive this wound, he was of no use to the Blood Ravens anyway.

- The Melanchromic implant is designed to protect Marines from "atmospheric radiation", including protection from "poisoning and cancers" caused by "solar activity or dirty weapons."

Page 70

After the battle of Rahe's Paradise, Captain Angelos had made sure that the crew of the Ravenous Spirit were thoroughly drilled on the various known classes of necron vessels, including the Dirge fighters that had given them so much trouble in the battle. The material from which these fighters were constructed had eluded all attempts at analysis, a fact that was noteworthy in itself.

Even now the Imperium knows very little about the shit making up Necron vessels. Are we surprised?

Page 70

They had gone decades without even hearing rumours about the ascension of the necron, and now it seemed that the Blood Ravens had encountered them twice in two simultaneous battles on opposite sides of the galaxy.

Yet MORE confirmation that Gabriel in the Spirit and Ulantus in the Litany are on opposite sides of the galaxy. Which is on which end we still have no fucking clue. It also implies they travelled quite a bit further than halfway across the galaxy , but its not neccesarily consistent with "halfway across the galaxy" either.

Page 71-72

Emerging from behind the distant and monstrous, glowing gas-giant of Lorn VII, half hidden by a cluster of asteroids and ork war-wrecks, was the sleek and beautiful shape of an eldar cruiser. The long, slender craft bore the green and white markings of the Biel-Tan. Its elegant, great star-sloop, which swept out of the stern like a massive dorsal fin, was holed in three separate places, including a yawning rupture that had torn a third of it clear away. However, the worst damage had been reserved for the breathlessly curving prow, under which could still be seen the remnants of the pulsar lance and other weapons batteries. The whole front end of the vessel had been blasted away, as though it had been pummelled into submission and then destruction by a relentless and impossibly powerful barrage of fire.
...

"Loren," said Jonas calmly, remembering the name that Kohath had used. "Can you enhance and magnify image-sector 18.K?"

The viewscreen panned and zoomed, clicking into focus once again. The image enhancers dragged the cruiser closer, pulling it in from the far side of the stellar system, and looking through the massive rupture in its dorsal fin, framing the screen with the ragged edges of the hole.

They get a visual of an Eldar warship on the opposite edge of the system.

Page 73

Even as Jonas spoke the words, an explosion of power erupted on the screen, as though massive engines had suddenly awoken and ignited. At the same time the curdling tendrils of warp power spun suddenly into a giant and hypnotic spiral. A bulky Astarrtes frigate lurched out of the distant shatdow of the eldar cruiser and plunged into the spinning whirlpool with its engines pouring power into its wake. For a moment it began to roll within the motion of the warp vortex, spinning on its axis like a bullet. But then, a s abruptly as it had appeared, teh ship seemed to explode into a rain of light and darkness. The vortex flared violently and then vanished, leaving the bright haze of light to fade gradually from the overexposed viewscreen, returning the scene to a star-riddled blackness once again.

Space Marine frigate materializes then vanishes into the warp. The odd thing about this is that despite stating being on the far side of the system, the image is treated as realtime. I suppose it's possible they're just getting the realtime data passively and this was hours old, but warp phenomena (including sensors) tend to be FTL more or less.

Another possibility is the "other side of the system" is in error, and they're actually close enough for realtime-nearly realtime sensor reception.

Option three is that the sensors incorporate some technological or cybenretic equivalent of astropathic scrying or clairvoyance to detect rthings or get realtime images (not unlike the warp telescope/monocle in Eye of Terror.)

Page 74

It only registered on our sensor arrays for a fraction of a second, Father Librarian. Its signature was an approximate match with a Nova-class frigate.

This tends to reinforce either that they were much closer than implied, or that the detection was FTL.

PAge 77

Looking around the medical facility, Gabriel could understand the kind of action that Ulantus had engaged in his absence. There were Marines held in a number of the suspensor harnesses, most of the beds were occupied, and the apothecary himself was rushing from one case to the next, barking quiet instructions to his staff of serfs and servitors. With the Third Company on the other side of the galaxy, the Ninth had certainly been pulling its weight in the Lorn system.

- here its mentioend that Third Comapny had been "on the other side of the galaxy" when on RAhe's Paradise. Yet again.

Page 79

It had been nearly a decade since he had performed the Rites of Enshrinement - the irreversible process that implanted the ruined form of a Space Marine into an ancient and glorious Dreadnought, wherein he would live out his days as the half-living incarnation of the Emperor's warhammer. If there was a Marine that deserved this great honour, it was Prathios.

We learn the fate of Prathios.

Page 82

"However we have lost many fine battle-brothers over the last couple of days, and this may not yet be the time or grieving their passing."

Several days have passed since the Litany of Fury arriving on Lorn V. Whether this factors before or after the Spirit left RAhe's PAradise, I dont recall. Probably doesn't matter a whole lot.

Page 89

"Shortly after dispatching the Rage of Erudition to inform you of the situation, the Litany entered the Lorn system. It was immediately clear the fifth planet was beseiged by the greenskins. A force from the Imperial Navy was engaging its orbital fleet, and Imperial Guard Commander Sturnn reported that that ground battle was turning a corner. It seems that we were not the first of the Adeptus Astartes to reach the scene, captain. Of course, the Litany laid in a course for Lorn V to provide assistance. Before we could clear Lorn VII, however, ,we were caught by a fleet of eldar fighters. They engaged us at range and prevented us from closing on the planet. It seems that they were concerned that we should not reach Lorn V

..

"As suddenly as they had appeared, the eldar fleet disengaged. At the same time, a report came from Commander Sturnn tht the greenskins had been routed and that the battle was won."

Events around Lorn V while Gabriel was busy at RAhe's paradise.

Page 89

It seems that the Imperial Guard had recovered a Dominatus-class titan - a rare and almost unknown class of titan - and a squad of Ultramarines under the command of Chaplain Varnus had air-dropped a crew for it. The titan had fallen centuries before in defencse of the capital city of Talorn."

Mention of the Dominatus class Titan. I believe this actually showed up in the DoW series at some point./

Page 90

"At the instant that Sturnn's report came in, we identified a new threat emerging form the dark side of the planet. The eldar fleet engaged it immediately, without hesitation. On the planet's surface, Sturrn reorted that a new enemy was decimating his positions. After a few moments, we identified the new assailants as..." Ulantus hesitated, as though afraid that his words might not be believed. "They were necron, captain."

Yep. The Necrons show up here too, mysteriously.

Page 91

"We also met the necron menace at Rahe's Paradise. I am not surprised to hear that you have encountered them, but I am concerned to hear that the Blood Ravens have now fought them twice, simultaneously on opposite sides of the galaxy and in alliance with the Biel-Tan eldar. In what circumstances did the farseer gain access to the Litany."

- they mention fighting necrons on "opposite sides of the galaxy" (RAhe's Paradise and now Lorn V), reinfrocing the aforementioned distances covered if we needed more of that. The simultaneous inference is interesting, but probably hsouldn't be read too much into.

Page 92

The Phantom Raptor's engines lay dormant as the heavily modified Nova-class frigate floated in the massive, sleek shadow of the eldar Dragonship.
..
Only on very close inspection did it become clear that the dirt, grime and damage that seemed to coat the vessel were actually intricate and winding litanties, etched into the armoured plates in ancient and near-unintelligible runes. Deep blue and golden fins and flaps extended from teh hull, breaking up the outline and signature of the vessel, designed to frsutrate the sensor-arrays of the false Emperor's space cruisers.

A dull psychic field shimmered around the hull, masking the psychci resonance of the once-human forms within, the entire ship was effectively a warp-blank, all but invisible to psykers.

Interesting that the outline/signature of the ship is designed to make detection harder - it makes me think Goto figured stealth in the atmosphere would be like in space. either way, its sensor disrupting technology, as well as psychic stealthing. Maybe the fins are part of some force field shielding mechanism that disrupts sensors and such.

Page 93-94

All around him, the Cyclopean Hall seemed to open out to the heavens: although the chamber was constructed at the very heart of the Phantom Raptor, protected behind dozens of metres of armoured plating and hidden within a labyrinth of spiralling corridors that swept around it in ever decreasing circles, it was as though there were no walls at all.

Chamber at the "center" of the ship protected by a fucking immense thickness of armor - is that all one slab or is it divited over multiple corridors and such? I suppose it doesn't matter too much either way.

Page 97

Beyond it, despite being blocked by the form of the alien vessel and out of sight, the sorcerer could see the shape of an Astartes
cruiser, emblazoned with a blood-red raven.
...
As his eyes flared and his mouth poured rivers of cacophonous power into the unreal space of the Cyclopean Eye, he felt the Phantom's engine come on-line. In his mind, he could see the flowing lines of the sensor arrays fomr the Astartes cruiser flash round to scan the sudden energy source. But then the Phantom's engines fired and roared, and it lurhced forward into the flickering, shimmering webway portal that Ahriman held open with the raw power of his will...

The first quote implies that the Blood Ravens strike cruiser is pretty close to Ahriman's frigate, although its hard to say.

Well wherever it is, they detect him using his warp engines to open a webway portal.

Page 98

A web of tubes and wires was punched into his abdomen, limbs and head, pumping him full of chemicals and toxins, some designed to enhance his development, others designed to test his defences against poisons. He could die at any time, and he probably wanted to. Without the hypno-conditioning that was pouring constantly into his mind, his brain would have given up the fight ages before. Meanwhile, his muscle bulk had grown beyond normal proportions, but the growth was not yet even, so he appeared malformed like a mutant or freak.

His transformation was happening very fast, which heightened the risks of mutation and implant-rejection. Uneven muscle development was the least of Ckrius's worries.

Poor Ckrius' state in his state of accelerated development. Technically space marines are mutants.. well artificial mutations of a sort. If stable ones. That probably makes them abhumans.

Page 100

Since that fateful day, when Tanthius had deposited him on the Litany of Fury as the rubble of Tartarus hailed against its massive hull, Ckrius had merely been an experimental body, little more than a slab of meat.

This implies Tartarus was blown apart by the Exterminatus Gabirel executed against it.


Page 102-103

All Blood Ravens were asked to make this decision at this point in their transformation. In was called the ''Constituo Fatum'' - the fateful choice. Long and tortuous justifications and rationalisations of this principle filled hundreds of shelves in the Librarium Sanctorum aboard the glorious fortress monastery of Omnis Arcanum. The orthodox treatise, penned originally by the Great Father Azariah Vidya himself, argued that this moment of choice represented the only instant in a human being's life when his soul could be subjected directly to the light of the Emperor.

Stripped of dignity, physical integrity and mental fortitude, the only thing left for a mind was truth. According to tradition, the question should be posed by the veteran Blood Raven with the closest bond with the neophyte. In most cases, this meant the chaplain. However, Tanthius had discovered Ckrius on Tartarus; he had brought the youth aboard the Litany and had watched over his progress. The Terminator sergeant was the closest thing to a father that Ckrius had in the Chapter.

If Ckrius's soul was found wanting, despite the gene-compatibility and resilience of his body, Tanthius would kill him. In the past, a number of Librarians in the Blood Ravens had argued that this was a waste of an able neophyte. They pointed out that most Chapters of the Adeptus Astartes require no such choice from their aspirants - indeed, some Chapters actively coerced gene-compatible neophytes, effectively forcing them to become Marines, by which time their fates were sealed. To discard a neophyte at Ckrius's stage of transformation was costly, foolish, and unnecessary.

But the Great Father had been clear and adamant. No matter how low Blood Ravens' numbers became, and no matter how desperately the Chapter needed to recruit new battle-brothers, they should never compromise on the purity of their neophyte's souls. It was subsequently suggested that Vidya had been so adamant about this because of the special nature of the Blood Ravens: they were scholars and researchers, who spent much of their time immersed in the forbidden and secret teachings of ancient times or alien species. Only the purest of heart would be able to keep the grace and light of the Emperor always in mind, even in the face of the greatest temptations and the most powerful of knowledge. Vidya's ''Constituo'' helped to ensure that the Blood Ravens would not slide into heresy.

Intersting concept, although it is rather silly from a practicality standpoint and hardly justifies the conditions they're put under, whatever the reasons Especially given how Ckrius is stressed out. Of course, this is probably one of the less silly rituals we' ve seen adopted by Astartes during development.


Page 112

However, its best defence was its secrecy: potential enemies of the Imperium would have no idea that such an unusual and important chamber existed hidden within the depths of an Adeptus Astartes battle-barge. They would not be able to detect its presence with any kinds of sensors or psychic channels. Only the all-seeing eyes of the Emperor himself could see the gleaming, silvering pearl of energy that rotated in the centre of the hemispherical chamber.

Jonas knew that the purpose of the pearlescent Beacon Psykana was far from certain. It was one of the many innovations of the Great Father, Azariah Vidya, who had arranged for it to be built several millennia before.

The room hat the aforemtnieond "beacon psykana" is in. Shielded from sensor or psychic detection. IT's purpose (like most things) is unknown but was "made" by their mythical "Great Father" Guess away what it is.

[Connor MacLeod]

Another update.. one more to go and then the DoW2 novel

Page 113

Jonas himself had taught a number of young Librarians that the pearl of pure psychic energy in the Sanctorium Arcanum was linked in some way to the Emperor's silver choir: the Blood Ravens had been entrusted with a sacred and unique mission to spread the pristine symphony of the Astronomican throughout the farthest reaches of the uncharted galaxy.

During his time of contemplation and research on Rahe's Paradise, Jonas had begun to realise that this explanation was probably unfounded. In a long and heated debate with Sister Senioris Meritia, of the Order of the Lost Rosetta, Jonas had relaized that the effectiveness of the Astronomican rested on the fact that it was absolutely stationary - or rather that its position marked the absolute point of the centre of the Imperium at any one time. The Astronomican called out to all the souls of the Emperor's chosen, guiding them back into the sight of the Emperor himself. If the Beacon Psykana was really a booster for this signal, then its constant and relentless perambulations around the galaxy would destroy the purpose of the Astronomican completely.

Jonas has a point, but that doesn't mean the concept is wholly wrong. as I noted, having some sort of "major astropathic relay" that could be moved around the galaxy at need to provide reliable reference points would actually be quite useful - establishing vital lines of supply in turbulent areas of the galaxy, operating beyond the limits of the AStronomican, etc. Having the blood ravens act as such a relay during a Crusade could be damn useful. All that is needed is to KNOW its a fixed point and where its supposed to represent, and it would work. Besides, considering its astropath fueled like most other beacons would be, it's not going to be even close to matching the AStronomican any mor than another astropathic beacon/relay would. This would be useful in exploring (or fighting) on the Eastern Fringe. Or in invading Tau space, if they could get time and resources and motivation to bother.

Also, note that Jonas implies here the Blood Ravens operate throughout the galaxy.

Page 114

Whatever it was, it was obviously something that the very highest authorities on Terra itself wanted to see maintained.

One theory that Jonas still found plausible was that Vidya had designed the Beacon Psykana to provide a light for the lost Fifth Company - the so-called ''Fated'' - who vanished into the Maelstrom three thousand years before. However, the Fifth Company had been lost nearly a thousand years after the death of Vidya. Any such purpose for the beacon would therefore require a foresight so immense that it seemed unlikely that even a great Librarian of the immense learning and power of Vidya could have planned for it. Unlikely and impossible are allied, but they are not identical.

Jonas provides another possible theory. Regardless of the reason, there seems to be littel disagreement that it is a beacon of SOME kind, anyhow. This might imply considerable (pan galactic?) range, but I doubt it would reach all across the galaxy (and if it did, it would just add more interefrence to the already muddled mess.)

I would note that the major flaw in Jonas' reasoning is he assumes it was established on human foresight. This is rather poor logic of him considering he just got off a planet where he discovered the Blood Ravens and Eldar cooperating. What if some race like the Eldar had cooperated with the humans in this device and had provided the requisite precog? It wouldn't be the first time they do something like this.

Page 116

Jonas had heard the rumours of the unusual force-axe that Zhaphel used in combat - it was said that he had recovered it from a research expedition on the planet of Dorian Prime, a world that had been lost for millennia behind the veil of a vast warp storm and whose residents, once normal human citizens of the Imperium, had become stunted and malformed by the bizarre gravitational effects of the storm. Their metalwork was beyond compare in the known galaxy, but the planet had been lost to the warp once again before their resources could be properly exploited by the Blood Ravens.

An interesting and unusal force axe from a planet of mutants known for unusual metalwork and unusual gravitational effects (We know they can be extreme, especially from the recent Black Crusade rulebook.)


Page 120-121

"The Yngir cannot die, human. They can be merely confined. Our battle is lost if the portal is gone. All that death for nothing. Without it and the others, the balance of the galaxy will shift, and the Yngir will return. Macha knew this too - she should have been here. Why could she not see this? Ash-ruulnah - the blindness of sight."

Farseer Taldeer comments on the Necron/C'Tan menace.

Page 127

Staring out the main viewscreen of the control chamber, Uldreth watched as the Eternal Star, a brilliant fiery wing in the darkness, stabilised suddenly and then dropped its speed to almost nothing. In immediate response, the Avenging Sword cut its engines and came to a near-halt, instantly matching the velocity of the startling Wraithship as though the two ships were organically fused.

Interesting implication that Eldar drive systems can near-instantly stop. Between this and their magic solar sails, I'd say you had a better argument for Eldar using mass lightening than the Imperium



Page 129

..I soon discovered that my body could withstand long drops and that my arms could catch my weight even after a fall of a dozen metres.

From time to time, when I thought I had missed a ledge, or that I had caught myself too late and htat I would tear my shoulder out of joint, i felt an electric pulse of an unknown energy gather strength in my body, reinforcing my shoulder or guiding my weight suddenly onto a shelf.

This, I suggest, is proof that Librarians (at least those of the Blood Raven perusasion) use TK to boost their strength and such abbilities.

The other curious thing is how the Librarian's known predictive/precog abilities don't seem to kick in instinctively, the way other psychic powers do. Then again maybe this Librarian doesn't have precog

Page 134

And such streets they were: wide and sweeping like the great boulevards of Qulus Trine, the wealthy merchants' world that was protected on all sides by massive orbital fortresses, manned by a private army but overseen by the Emperor's gaze in the form of the Blood Ravens Eighth Company, whose glorious battle-barge Ominous Insight had made the Qulus system into its home.

Another world "garrisoned/overseen" by the bBlood Ravens.


Page 140

He was a powerful psyker, and it suited his purposes for his Space Marines to believe the rumours that he rivalled the power of Magnus and the Emperor himself.

In truth, however, most of Ahriman's power came from the allies that he could enlist. Over the long centuries and millennia, the unmatched sorcerer had learnt the keys that unlocked many secrets: he could call upon the aid of daemons without exposing his soul to their thirst, binding them to his will and his purpose; he could seduce service from the lithe and terrible daemonettes, promising them pleasures that he would never have to fulfil; and he could speak the hidden words that stirred the warp itself, bringing the raw, depersonalised power of the empyrean into his service for short periods of time.

He had required all of these assets to break the moorings of the portal into the eldar webway at Lorn, and yet his Space Marines grasped only that he had accomplished it with his own power. The irony of cultivating such stupidity in these ostensible searchers of truth was not wasted on Ahriman, but the preservation of his own power was a still higher imperative: if they had his knowledge, they would have his power too. If they learnt too much, Ahriman would kill them himself. If knowledge was power, then Ahriman, Sorcerer Lord of the Prodigal Sons, was its ultimate guardian.

Ahriman's internal monologue on his power. This doesn't mean he's not an insanely powerful psyker on his own right, it just means that to reach anything approaching what the rumors place Ahriman's power at requires help of others, however he utilizes it.

Page 147

"We killed the Marines in question. We surrounded them in the command tent and then blew them to pieces. Dozens of our own men sacrificed themselves so that the traitors would not suspect the plan.'"

- Dozens of Imperial Guardsmen died to kill a squad of CSMs, albeit from ambush.

Page 167-168

Focussing his thoughts, Gabriel drew the light closer to his mind's eye, opening himself to it, dropping his innate resistance to the presence of this intrusion. He had seen it before, many times, but always in moments of crisis. He knew that it was the light of the Emperor himself. This was the Astronomican reaching for him, reassuring him with the brilliance of the Imperial faith, confirming his righteousness. He had seen it on Cyrene. He had seen it on Tartarus. And he had even seen it on Rahe's Paradise. It was the beacon that drew him towards the good.

The single, pristine tone became a harmony. It was a chorus, filling his head with platinum light and angelic music, leaving his senses in rapture. He opened his soul in relief and release, letting the symphony consume him. But then something shifted in the music. A tone fell flat, and another spiked into sharpness. Dissonance oscillated through the chorus, shattering the pristine sound like a spray of bullets through a pane of glass. The voices trembled and broke, breaking away into separate melodies that devastated the harmony, each aspiring to subsume the next.

Faces started to flicker in the light, flashing like strobed memories. Peaceful at first, the faces gradually grew ugly and contorted, twisting into daemonic images of fury and rage. They screamed, releasing infernos of pain into Gabriel's head, and for a moment he saw the face of his father burning in the fires of Cyrene. Isador's death rattle spat through the sound, reverberating like the chiming of a great bell.

Gabriel has another little episode. Make your own joke here.

Page 174

From the elevated podium in the apse, Korinth and Zhaphel looked on as the choir telepathica continued its ritual chants. The green-robed astropaths shuffled around the ambulatories with their gaunt, blind faces staring blankly ahead of them. Streams of psychic radiance streamed out of them, converging on the perpetually spinning gyroscope of the Beacon Psykana, which revolved beautifully and impossibly in the air above the altar.

More on the Beacon Psykana.

Page 178

For their part, the circling astropaths and the choir telepathica continued to chant and process around the turmoil of energy, with threads of silver still running from their blind faces up into the spluttering, misshapen orb.

They continued for a while as though nothing had happened, splashing through the ripples of energy that ebbed and flowed over the floor, like a tide lapping at their feet. If anything, their chant grew louder and the amount of energy that they were sacrificing into the beacon swelled. After a few seconds, other telepaths and astropaths emerged from the shadows beyond the ambulatories, where the reserves rested before it was their turn to take over in the service of the beacon. But rather than replacing the procession, the newcomers joined it, swelling its ranks and adding their voices to the harmonies and their wills to the flood of energy that struggled to keep the beacon alight.

The Beacon had its own little episode as I recall, and needed reinforcing. Two possibilities occur to me here: 1.) Gabriel is sensing the Beacon Psykana, and its existence is tied to him in some way. 2.) The Beacon is containing some powerful entity, much in the same way that C'tan/Necron dude was being contained by psychic trickery in DoW:A

Page 184

"And how will we find this rupture? Our Navigator made no mention of seeing the webway during the trip through the warp. Indeed, I can recall only myths and legends of any such sightings - are you sure that it is even possible for a Navigator to see this devious alien structure?"

"Taldeer will navigate the ship."

Farseers can emulate navigators. This isn't wholly unprecedented. We've heard of seers and farseers guiding Eldar ships before.

Also, the webway is screened against external detection by most races, it seems.


Page 187

Ulantus shook his head slowly. He had heard of the Harlequins. There were one or two tomes dedicated to them in the great librarium of the Omnis Arcanum, but nobody really believed that they were real. All of the evidence had been collected from fragments of forbidden eldar texts, assembled and reconstructed by agents of the Ordo Xenos in times long ago.

It was widely accepted amongst the most learned of the Blood Ravens Librarians that the Harlequins were part of eldar mythology - little more than characters from folklore that appeared in children's stories. They were supposed to be the guardians of the mythic Black Library - the eldar's grand repository of wisdom and erudition. They were the sentinels that stood guard over the timeless knowledge of the ancient race. But nobody had ever actually seen one.

- curiously, up until the point of this novel, the eldar Harlequins seem to be mostly unknown to the Imperium, considered to be largely mythology even by the Blood Ravens.

It may be that in the regions of Space the Blood Ravens operate, the JHarlequins are considered myth. WE know that the beliefs above are not consistent with everyone. Of course the Blood Ravens are implied to operate Galaxy wide... ugh.

I suspect that like some scholars, the Ravens dispute over the existence or nonexistence of alot of things in 40K so their apparent lack of knowledge may stem from that (out of universe we know its author error. )

Page 189

For the second time, I was shocked to feel the presence of another's thoughts where I anticipated only my own. I chastised myself silently, feeling the weakness of my control and the vulnerabilities of my mind. Whoever this was, he should not be able to read my thoughts so easily, and he should certainly not be able to plant his own into my mind so effortlessly.

Implying that Librarians have the unsurprising ability to shield their thoughts against detection/reading.


Page 197-198

"Lanthrilaq the Swift was one of the great eldar warriors that once did battle with the star god, Kaelis Ra. It is said that he wielded one of the hundred Blades of Vaul in that epic duel."

I carried the book over towards the circular window, holding it carefully into the flood of ruddy light. The cover glittered with runes and images that had been etched delicately into the dark material. I could make out the phonetic ideograms for Lanthrilaq - the swift one. They were run through by the image of a glorious blade, striking diagonally across the cover. The blade was damaged and chipped; its tip was missing completely, but it was decorated with a breathless whirl of alien characters that seemed to charge even its image with life and energy. On the jewel of the pommel there was a single runic symbol: Vaul - the smith-god of the ancient eldar.

"In times long ago, before even our Emperor drew breath in this galaxy, it is said that the Death-Bringer brought portents of the eldar's demise,' continued Ahriman. He was speaking slowly and with affected drama, watching me study the book, waiting for a response."

...

"None could stand before the might of this star-god, for it carried the scythe of death itself. The blood of entire systems could not slake its thirst, and the greatest of eldar heroes fell under its blade. But the ancient eldar were cunning, and they knew that there was more than one way to humble a god - this is their first great teaching to us, my friend: even gods can be shown humility. Through their whispered cunning, the eldar turned the c'tan against themselves, and they watched as the galaxy degenerated into unholy feasts of star-flesh. But Kaelis Ra saw the plan and turned his own wrath against the c'tan that betrayed his cause. The Nightbringer butchered its own kin, laying waste to the stars themselves in order to bring the necrontyr back into line. Meanwhile, the eldar were not idle. Their greatest warrior, Kaela Mensha Khaine consulted with the Laughing God and his Harlequins, receiving wisdom and advice. Then he struck a bargain with Vaul, the smith-god, commissioning him to forge one hundred blade-wraiths - swords of such glorious craftsmanship and power that they could slay the gods themselves. These were the legendary Blades of Vaul. With rage incandescent in his soul, Khaine led one hundred of his finest warriors in a final stand against Kaelis Ra. Each of the eldar faced hordes of silvered necontyr so vast that the horizon glittered like the heavens in all directions. Yet, armed with the blade-wraiths, the eldar warriors knew no dread and no fear. They formed into a sweeping circle, each defending the back of another, and they fought like mythical heroes for seven days and seven nights, never tiring or falling back. But then the ring was broken. Lanthrilaq the Swiff grew suddenly tired and drained of energy. His face turned pale and his features became gaunt. In an explosion of darkness, his blade-wraith cracked, falling from his hands into the corpse-strewn earth."
..
"Vaul had tricked the eldar; one of his blades was imperfect and flawed. The energies that pulsed and glowed within its mystical structure were imbalanced and unstable. Vaul had tricked Khaine, leaving him vulnerable to the wrath of the Nightbringer. Lanthrilaq fell and Khaine's formation was mined. What followed was little more than a slaughter - the eldar heroes fell one after the other, valiant in their desperate and futile fight, as the thousands of silvering necrontyr overran their position. Their blades were shattered and ruined, falling into the rivers of blood as sparkling shards. Only Khaine himself stood above the fray, his spear flashing like lightning. On the point of his own exhaustion, Khaine came face to face with Kaelis Ra. At the last, as the Nightbringer's scythe sliced toward his neck, Khaine remembered the words of the Laughing God and he danced inside the blow, thrusting forward with his lightning spear and skewering Kaelis Ra just as his form solidified in order to land his own strike. The star god screamed and exploded into a rain of silver. The scattering essence of the Nightbringer shredded the teeming necrontyr, vaporising them and rendering the world into a mercurial flood, leaving only Khaine standing, howling his costly victory to the heavens."

- Its noted here in a story Ahriman is telling that when Khaine "killed" (supposedly?) the Nightbringer his legions basically dissolved into silver liquid that flooded the entire surface of the planet.

Assuming that this is true, and the planet was earthlike with no oceans and that the flood was oh.. 1 cm thick (.01 meters) the volume it encmpasses would be around 5e12 m^3. Even assuming a Necron encompassed 2 cubic meters of volume on average (despite being spindly and skeletal) that would mean trillions of Necrons under the command of Nightbringer alone.

Of course, its a story, so we dont know if its true or not, but its still a staggering number even if it were off by orders of magntiude.

It also suggests some sort of odd "connection" between a C'tan and his Necron minions, though the purpose/nature and effect of this connection isnt known. Its not a vital one, since w eknow Necrons endure independent of C'tan on Tomb worlds, but perhaps it is a boosting/amplification effect, or a more effective form of command and control.

Also, the point of the story was to indicate that one of those 100 blades of Vaul had survived to modern times, and Ahriman (supposedly) is hunting for it. And yes, this is a plot point.

Page 201-203

Any rupture in the webway is like a magnet for all the daemonic energies of the warp. To begin with, it might be little bigger than a man, perhaps torn out of the fabric of the timeless maze by the blaze of a force weapon, or perhaps it might grow from the tiniest of imperfections in the structure itself, gradually eroding and expanding throughout the millennia by the persistent and desperate thirst of the chaotic powers.

In the ancient texts of the eldar farseers, now hidden in the depths of the fabled Black Library, it was once hypothesised that the warp was an expression of the terrible responsibilities of the farseers themselves. It contains images, echoes and reflections of the myriad time lines that penetrate reality, swirling and congealing around possibilities that seem satisfactory according to the natures of whatever unspeakable beings could be satisfied.

In the story of the Great Fall of the eldar, it is told how the daemon of Slaanesh was given form in the warp because of the lascivious, decadent and thirsty turn in the consciousness of the eldar themselves. As soon as the daemon roared into existence, it had suddenly always been there, and the farseers of the eldar people suddenly realised that they had always known that it was there, lurking on the fringes of their vision, waiting to emerge into a fully shaped nightmare.

Time passes strangely in the warp, if it can be said to pass at all, but that does not mean that it is a static or changeless realm. The real character of the immaterium is Chaotic; it contains time and space, but not in the ordered and predictable ways that they are contained in the material realms.

The webway itself is only partly contained within the warp, although it has no existence outside the immaterium. It is an artefact from the golden days of the eldar empire, criss-crossing the galaxy like an intricate, dew-dappled spider's web. It is a maze and a labyrinth. It is a network of tunnels and passages, some as small as a man and others so large that a great space fleet could pass through unconstrained.

Like the foresight of the farseers and the emergence of Slaanesh, the webway is a testament to the profound and intimate connections between the eldar and the warp itself. The project to harness the spaceless and timeless warp was the greatest of the ancient eldar's achievements. To travel through the webway is to traverse the warp itself, insulated and protected by the golden passages of material space that the eldar managed to stabilise.

The ancient and glorious fleets of the Sons of Asuryan could blink across the galaxy in an instant, droppping into the webway in the eastern rim and emerging almost instantaneously in the cusp of the western arc; the trip through the warp was literally timless when perceived from the material realm.

In the imposibly ancient past, at the time when the wars between the Old Ones and the Star Gods ragedm the webway was the salvation of the eldar and the bane of the c'tan. The terror of the night, Kaelis Ra, vowed to return and destroy the structure that riddled the universe with the psychic curse of the eldar. Although the Nightbringer fell under the shining spear of Khaine, its vow wremains to be fufilled.

More Eldar history, comments on the webway, the nature of the warp, farseers, and such. Here the webway is credited to Eldar achievement.

The first paragraph is interesting in the sense that it confirms that the Webway is in some way hidden from detection externally. Ruptures in the warp break this, and make it visible (and an attraction) to various creatures and warp entities.

The bits about Slaanesh's genesis are also interesting, as is the bit about Farseer belief regarding the Warp. My interpretation is different: We know that warp entities can exist in some vague form - a coalescing of thoughts, emotions and abilities, but an existence that is unthinking and unaware. Once achieving a critical mass, the "god" can awaken. In a sense a Chaos God would always have existed, as long as those thoughts, feelings, etc. tied to it have existed. But others (like farseers) may only become truly aware of the god once it achieves sentience (and starts influencing/being influenced by things).

Lastly, the comment that the Webway is virtually instantaneous (to an outside observer - we know inside the warp time may seem to pass in some manner) even from one side of the galaxy to the other. The other interesting bit of this is that this conferred some sort of significant advantage over the Necrons during thier distant war. This would imply some hefty limits on Necron FTL, since the webway is largely stationary whereas necron FTL can reach anywhere in the galaxy.


Page 204

"No, sergeant. Nothing that I can detect… But these sensors are not designed—"
"—to work in the warp,"

Strike cruiser sensors aren't meant to work in the Warp. Context is that the Ravenous spirit is travelling throught he warp currently, under the direct control of the Farseer Taldeer.

Page 205-206

The eldar seer was tiny in the massive throne, held high on a pedestal tn the centre of the vast Navigatorium that domed up out of the top of the Ravenous Spirit. Her figure looked almost impossibly slight and fragile, and her pale complexion had taken on the hue of death. A maze of wires, pipes and connections studded her limp body, trailing off into the walls and into the ceiling, and plugging directly into the labyrinthine structure of the throne itself. She was hard wired into the very soul of the ancient vessel, feeling its passage through the warp as though it were her own. Every few seconds, she flinched and shuddered, as though shivering against the touch of a profound cold, making the myriad wires shake and oscillate like tendrils.

- an Eldar FArseer is used as a substitute for a Navigator on a Blood Ravens Strike cruiser. It seems thus that Farseers have Navigator-like qualities, although the technology of the Imperium seems incompatible with Eldar bodies (it actively tries to reject the Farseer's presence.)

The fact the ship tries to reject the presence of the Navigator also says something about the "machine spirit" of the ship - it seems to be quite similar to Titan spirits, and it implies the thing has quite a bit of awareness and interaction with various parts of the ship.

Page 207

The two Ninth Company Librarians had only been aboard the Ravenous Spirit for a couple of hours, but already they were beginning to understand that the Commander of the Watch and Captain of the Third Company was no ordinary Marine.

That's right. He's a lunatic.

Page 207-208

Bound into the Navigator's throne, Taldeer twitched then spasmed. Her slender muscles tensed and her limbs snapped straight, transforming her into a rigid board. A disembodied moan echoed through the domed chamber, but it did not seem to originate from the eldar's throat.
Immediately, Techmarine Ephraim darted forward, pressing the eldar seer down into the throne with his human arms whilst the mechanical augmetics chattered and whirred between the various couplings and connectors that linked the female alien to the heart of the Spirit. It was as though the ancient vessel was trying to reject the alien incursion, like a body rejecting an incompatible organ.

But the Ravenous Spirit was already deeply immersed in the warp; if the eldar witch were ejected from the seat of the Navigator now, then the entire vessel and all of its crew would be lost. Even if he had to hold the alien in place with the brute strength of his arms, Ephraim would ensure that she could not break loose. Pain wracked her features, and her suffering was obvious to them all, but Ephraim's concern was for the machine spirit of the Spirit itself; if safe passage meant the death of the eldar witch, then so be it. Her agonies meant nothing.

In the back of his mind Ephraim toyed with the possibility of throwing the relay and cutting the eldar out of the control circuit - the regular Navigator was already strapped into the back-up station in the Litany's stern. If things got too bad, at least he had this option, although he could not throw the switch without the approval of Captain Angelos, no matter what the circumstances.

CS Goto: Bringing you Eldar torture scenes since Eldar Prophecy and various short stories.

Again the ship is trying to resist the presence of the Eldar Farseer. Also we have a backup that can cut the Navigator out of the control of the ship -although doing so whilst in the Warp is likely to be hazardous at best and fatal at worst.

Page 208-209

"She is being rejected," muttered Ephraim, hardly looking up from his work as the two Librarians took up positions beside him. "The Spirit will not accept her presence here, and the interface was not designed with an alien psyker in mind. The connections are flimsy and malformed, and the psychic resonances are off-kilter. I am amazed that she had managed to stay engaged for so long."

Korinth nodded with understanding. It was bad enough that the vessel had been forced into the warp without a Navigator in the throne; many ships would have rebelled from the very start of this process. But to be made dependent on an alien mind and alien eyes might in itself be enough to bring the cmiser to the point of self-destruction. All over the Spirit, through its twisting corridors, antechambers, docks and control rooms, intrusion alarms were pulsing and klaxons were sounding. The ship thought that it was under attack from within, even as it found itself plunged into the dizzying, immaterial mire of the warp itself outside.

Agaiun the ship's own apparent sentience seems to be communictaed quite prominently - what's more this is implied to be typical of warp capable ships if Korinth is to be bleieved.

Further, human and Eldar/alien psychic gear is apparently not compatible. Or rather, human stuff (which is crude by Eldar standards) is not compatible with eldar shit. Eldar shit does not usually seem to share this drawback.

Page 211

It was not unprecedented for an entire squad of Blood Ravens Librarians to be formed under the semi-autonomous command of a father Librarian; indeed, this was the usual manner in which the Order Psykana deployed its unique power. To some extent, because of its complicated and intricate connections through the Ecclesiarchy and Scholastia Psykana, back even to the grandest halls of Terra itself, the Secret Orders of Psykana resembled an entrenched organisation in its own right: it had its own internal hierarchy and a distinct sense of purpose.

In practice, however, every single Librarian in the Order was a Blood Raven before anything else. Moving from the Ninth Company to join a team under the command of Jonas Urelie was little different from being seconded into the Third Company itself, under the command of Gabriel Angelos. Ulantus had known this, and he had hated being forced to release two of his most powerful Librarians into the service of the unsavoury Commander of the Watch; too many decisions had been taken out of his hands over the course of the last day, and he was furious with indignation and frustration.

More on Blood Ravens Librarians. And once again poor Ulantus is expected to bite the bullet and roll under Gabriel's delusions/inspirations.

Page 213

Rolling back onto my feet, I swung Vairocanum back in a wide crescent, turning in time to see the glowing blade slice perfectly through the alien's throat. But there was no blood and there was no deathly scream. Instead, the eldar warrior flickered slightly, like a holographic projection that my sword had momentarily disturbed. At the same instant, I caught sight of a movement to one side. Out the corner of my eye, I saw the same alien warrior lunging at me, its terrible, skull-like face grinning with insane excitement.

Two places at once! The realisation struck me just before the pointed barrel of the Harlequin's weapon. I felt a dull pain punch into my abdomen, and I realised that the weapon had just kissed the surface of my armour but had failed to break through. Glancing down, I saw a fibrous web erupt out of the barrel, sending tiny tendrils questing over the surface of my armour, searching for seams and weaknesses.

Harlequins.

Page 214

"They have some kind of holographic camouflage." I didn't want Ahriman to be taken unawares. I could feel the movements of the sorcerer behind me, as he did battle with others from the Harlequin troupe.
Yes. Holo-suits. Ahriman could give the technology a name. They mask the fighter and project his image elsewhere.

Ahriman descirbes Holosuits.

Page 215

I braced my sword and turned to stand at Ahriman's shoulder. Here and there between the book stacks, I could see the dizzying distortion patterns that had lured me there in the first place. They shimmered and burst into blindingly bright shards of multicoloured light, filling my thoughts with nausea.
Domino-fields. Ahriman gave them a name too, as though sensing my quesdon before I could give it a voice. It's a blanket light disruptor. The deceitful wretches are hidden in that cloud of light somewhere.

More Harlequin tech.

Page 217

A gaggle of servitors and serfs milled around the hull, directed by sharp shouts from Techmarine Ephraim. They were making some modifications to the structure of the gunship, adding a series of new sensor-arrays and shield relays.

adding shield relays and sensors to a gunship. I'm presuming some kind of atmospheric shield perhaps.



Page 220

"But this is no longer merely a question of accepting the guidance of an alien. This Thunderhawk is simply incapable of functioning in the warp - it has no warp shields and is too small to have any fitted. Even with the best guidance in the world, I do not think that this course of action is anything other than suicide."

- thunderhawks are too small to be warp capable due to the fact they lack the space to carry warp shields (gellar fields probably.)


Page 220

But Gabriel was not an astropath, not even a sanctioned psyker; to receive any kinds of visions would be grounds for prosecution by the Ordo Hereticus.

Further proof that Gabriel is not an psyker, and that his "visions" are rather unusual and even ominous, from Imperial POV. Of course, it could be like I said and he is divinely inspired by the Emperor.


Page 224

Two of the dead Marines were ruined beyond recognition. They had been riddled with fire from the Harlequins' shrieker cannons, filling their superhuman blood stream with virulent toxins that excited the nervous system into overdrive: their armour had cracked and blown apart from the inside as their bodies had exploded from within.

Harlequin Shuriken weapons. Nasty.

Page 225

Distaur - it means ''mime''.' These are unusual and rare specimens, my sons. We should treat it carefully.
..
Distaur — mime — let's see whether you are really mute, or whether there is anything you can tell us about this place.

Don't know if these actually exist in canon outside of this novel.

The two eldar cruisers decelerated rapidly as they entered planetary space, checking their movement against the complex gravitational forces and suddenly surrounded by chunks of tumbling space debris.

Implies, I suppoose, they use the gravity of a nearby planet to slow down, or something.


Page 225

The glittering Wraithship Eteranl Star flashed into the outskirts of hte Lorn system, its wings swept back...

Edge of the system again.


Page 226

Deep within the shimmering structure of the Eternal Star, Farseer Macha sat in focussed mediation. Her Wraithship fluttered and flashed in accord with her will, darting and weaving through the outskirts of the system, sliding in between the asteroids and rolling chunks of junk. The cruiser's movement was organic and fluid, as though it were a living entity, or an extension of the farseer's will.

On the bridge of his Ghost Dragon, Uldreth the Avenger kept his eyes on the ethereal gleam of Macha's vessel. He marvelled at its beauty and elegance. Wraithships were rare and ancient vessels, and Uldreth never ceased to be awed by their bird-like grace - the Eternal Star touched something primeval in his soul, speaking to him of the nature of his people. In comparison, his sleek and dangerous Dragon-class cruiser seemed cold and overly technological; it swerved and manoeuvred with perfect precision in the wake of the farseer's ship.

The Avenger comments on Macha's Wraithships.


Page 227 - Eldar ships including the Wraitship approach the gas giant Lorn VII.


Page 228

Scans of the rest of th system revealed that there was not a single functioning Biel-Tan vessel, other than the two cruisers. However, the sensors also indicated the presence of Yngir technology, mostly in the form of fragmented and inconsistent signals.

Eldar sensor scans.


Page 229

As the cruisers approached the wreckage of the Exultation they cleared the horizon of Lorn VII.

In the distance, in a tight orbit around the fifth planet, Uldreth and Macha could see a small, malformed moon, glinting with metallic menace. Automatically magnitifed by their viewscreens, they could se that it was no moon. The massive, cumbersome and ugly shape was a mon-keigh vessel - recognisable as a battle-barge. It appeared slightly damaged, but scans showed that it was fully operational. Debris and damaged vessels floated in a loose orbit around it, sometimes crashing against its armour or plunging down into the atmosphere of the planet like a rain of fire. A familiar insignia was emblazoned across the hull: a glistening droplet of blood-red was surrounded by broad black wings. Macha had seen that symbol before. Gabriel.

Even across the distance of space that separated the two eldar cruisers, the farseer could sense the wave of hostility and suspicion that flooded out of Uldreth's mind as the mon-keigh vessel appeared on their screens.

The Litany is large enough to be mistaken as a moon (again a spherical battle barge?) at a distance, despite being in Lorn V's orbit and the Eldar being by Lorn VII. While we dont know how big the battle barge actually is, is it possible to have planets in this close an orbit around each other?

Page 230

Something seemed to prevent them from getting through, as though the breach had been ward-sealed from the inside. A twinkling sheen was collecting around the tear within the golden tube, glittering like a constellation of tiny, crystalline stars - like little warp spiders trying to pull a silken-web over the breach to patch it.

Warp spiders self-repairing a webway breach (or trying to, anyhow)

Page 230

The little gunship had no warp engines and only limited manoeuvrability in the immaterial mire - the Spirit had ejected it like a drop pod, setting its path and then jettisoning it like a projectile towards the raging breach in the webway.

It is possible to move in the warp without warp engines, it is just less efficient.



Page 245

Gravity failed and the vessel seemed to spin, although it was impossible to tell whether it was the Thunderhawk or the Marines that tumbled hopelessly out of control.

Blood Raven thunderhawk has AG. This would make it unusual amongst Space Marine Chpaters. Alternately it is possible this is one of the modifications alluded to before.

Page 246

He pushed himself up off the deck, noting that gravity had returned, and surveyed the ruins of his gunship.

Artificial gravity aboard the gunship, again.

Page 246

A pool of thick blood surrounded the prone alien, hissing with a faint toxicity against the icy metal floor.

Eldar blood is toxic right?

Page 247

"As we dropped through the breach into the webway, we re-entered material space, leaving the warp violence behind. What a remarkable achievement - a passage of stable, material space through the tempest of the warp,"

Webway tunne.

Page 248

Her eye cavities trickled with tissue and her abdomen was a shredded mess of flesh and shrapnel.

The result of a bolter ricochet wound during a battle in the thunderhawk. Like I said, Goto seems to enjoy making the Eldar suffer horrible fates (CF Eldar Prophecy)

[Bedlam]

Distaur - it means ''mime''.' These are unusual and rare specimens, my sons. We should treat it carefully.
..
Distaur — mime — let's see whether you are really mute, or whether there is anything you can tell us about this place.

I dont know if Mimes still exist but they were covered in the original Halequin write up back in 1st (2nd?) ed. Its in the Warhammer 40K compendium (along with the earlier appearences of Terminators, Badab War, Ogryns, Dreadnaughts, Robots and Squats), the eldar translation Distaur is the same as well.

[Connor MacLeod]

Certain authors (Forge world, Goto, Graham McNeill, etc.) seem to have a fetish for resurrecting old fluff. The current batch of Codex writers seem to as well. I'm frnakly sure there's lots of details that crop up in novels that I wouldnt recognize as existing in original source material. It's happened fairly often I notice.

[Connor MacLeod]

God at last.. the last update of this novel.. it was frankly the worst of the three.. and the entire series goes out with a whimper. DoW2 was a bit better, but not much. I really have to say the DoW series does not make a good source for novels. Which is pretty sad, because the Fire Warrior novel was much better, and that had tau in it.

Oh well.. we make do with what we have. Here we go!

Page 250

He laughed as the daemon of Slaanesh turned its hungry and lascivious eyes onto him.
He laughed in the face of damnation, ridiculing the grandiloquence and pomp, finding nothing but amusement in the drama and the death that unravelled around him.
He laughed, knowing that his kinsmen had brought this ruination upon themselves, knowing that this knowledge made him different.
And Slaanesh could find no sustenance in the grinning and mocking face of the Laughing God. As the craftworld eldar fled to the heavens, the Daemon of Passion eyed the Great Jester with cold detachment and disdain, and then threw itself into their pursuit.

Eldar legend pertaining to the Laughing God vs Slaanesh.

Page 253

He was lifted high with the assistance of the inertia pivot fitted to his belt, somersaulting into the centre of the stage, scattering the Yngir and eldar warriors in all directions, slaying the beautiful Jaeriela with a single venomous glance.

"inertia pivot" tech.

Page 255

The Dance of Lanthrilaq was the only way to summon the blade from its place of rest, and it had been a long time since Eldarec had felt its touch against his skin. The dance was like an elaborate combination lock, opening up the immaterial vaults in which the Harlequins sequestered the ancient treasures over which they stood sentinel.

It didn't matter where in the galaxy the dance was performed - the troupe travelled widely through the domains of the craftworld eldar and their darker cousins - it would always open the vault to the flawed Vaulish blade; time and space moved differently on the Harlequins' stage.

Some sort of Eldar ritual, I guess. Seems to be able to mess with time and space.

Page 257

The Solitaire was well known to the Harlequins of Arcadia; he had passed through the Ritual of Laughter with them long ago, emerging on the other side of that rite of passage free from the temptations and clutches of Slaanesh.

The Solitaire.

Page 264

Intermixed in the formation of the curved and smoothly shaped Nightwings were two other vessels. Their design was not wholly different, with wide, elegant, sweeping wings around a central fuselage.

But the outlines were not smooth like those of the Nightwings; instead they were barbed and bristling with spiked features. There was something brutal and menacing about their shape that set them apart from the other fighters.

"Ravens," said Corallis with foreboding.

Dark Eldar fighters. The Harlequins use tech from both sides, it seems.


Page 275

As he watched them speed through the gusts of sand that blew across the desert, Gabriel realised that it was hard to calculate exactly where they were. Despite the garish colours, their outlines seemed vague and hazy, as though they were indistinct or improperly resolved.
Volleys of bolter fire from the Blood Ravens sliced through them, making the Venoms flicker like projections but failing to make any impact on the skimmers themselves. The sleek vessels obviously employed some kind of holo-field to disrupt their shape.

bolts versus Holofields.

Page 284

""They seem to change, captain. I can't decide on a fixed number. And I can't track their trajecotries either - my shells either fall short or fly past."
..

"These cursed holo-fields" grumbled Ephraim..

...

"There is some kind of warp charge held in those skimmers - I can see it. It cycles, building to a crescendo every few seconds. Then the Venom actually dips into the warp and re-emerges into a slightly different point in space. The movement is slight, but for a second the gun-platform is literally nowhere at all, ,and then it reappears on a fractionally different trajectory, which throws off our aim."

"PHase fields," confirmed Korinth.

Even better. The Eldar devices phase into the warp briefly, and partly, not unilke Warp Spiders.

Page 289

...a grenade fell through the alien's immaterial body from behind. It detonated in the air just in front of Gabriel and he dove to the ground, throwing himself flat. But he never hit the sand. In place of an explosion of fire, a wave of gravitational disruption crashed over the captain, leaving him struggling to maintain his balance and holding him fractionally above the ground.

Eldar Harlequin grenade tech.

Page 292

Staring after the vanished Venom, Gabriel saw the suns dip below the horizon and felt the blast of icy night roll over him. His sealed armour adjusted to the terrible cold in an instant, but the fractional delay was enough for him to realise the extent of the climatic change that had just engulfed his team.

Power armour climate adjustment

Page 298

A flicker of feedback from the Eternal Star splashed into her thoughts: one of the sensor arrays had picked up a disturbance in the local star. A sunspot had appeared without warning, and great fountains of radioactive solar flares had been discharged, spouting out of the yellow inferno like eruptions.
...
The sensors of the Eternal Star were interlaced into the capillaries of space itself; they picked up any and all shifts in the material realm. The ancient vessel was organically fused with the space through which it sailed, just as it was effectively an extension of Macha's own being. It served to mediate her experience of the world. Had the solar flares failed to make their presence felt in the farseer's mind, then there would have been something wrong.

An interesting comment on the detection arrays of Macha's starship. Whether this means it is FTL, I dont know.

Page 303

"This is a Harlequin settlement - a world of knowledge that is hidden even from the eldar of the craftworlds. The Order Psykana have being searching for such a place for centuries; it is said that the Harlequins possess knowledge of rifts in the time-space continuum - they can travel both through time and space, utilising the timelessness of the warp. An influential thesis in our Order suggests that this knowledge will provide the key for the recovery of the Fated Fifth."

I wonder if this means that the Harlequins are using something in addition to the webway for travel purposes. We know of places in the Webway from the Inquisition War series in which time may slow, stop or even flow backwards.

Page 304-305

"Taldeer spoke of a sword."

Jonas looked at Gabriel, searching his eyes for a sign. "The Sword of Vaul, yes."

"It is a mythical blade. A rare and forbidden volume recovered from the ruins of one of the smaller Callidus Temples in the outskirts of the Orphean sector contains a record of the myth: The Fall of Lanthrilaq. Evidently, one of the Callidus heirosavants, Rafaellus Kneg, extracted the tale from a captured Harlequin mime called ''Wraelle''

Mind you, I'm not sure that the swords from the story were neccesarily LITERAL swords. It's possible, given events in Farseer, but it could be that the Swords of vaul were something else entirely. There's only legend and hearsay to go on this. For now, we just accept it as we know, but keep in mind that if anything in the future of 40K hints at the Swords being somethign else... well.. you get the idea.

We also have the Wailing Dooms ot go by - they don't have a fixed form, after all.


Page 305

"Mime? I thought that the mimes were incapable of speech," interrupted Ephraim, taking an interest in the possibility of technical knowledge being revealed to them on this planet.

"Yes, that is the standard, orthodox position," agreed Jonas nodding. "It seems that the agents of the Callidus Temple suspected that this position was flawed, and they sought to test their theory. As it turns out, it transpired that they were right. By the end of the intenogation, 'Wraelle had divulged details of a number of the mythic cycles over which the Harlequins appear to stand sentinel. One of them was the Fall of Lanthrilaq."

frankly, I'm not suprirsed the Assassins tortured a Harlequin to find this out. It's even a bit amusing considering that earlier Ahriman of the Thousand sons (an event I didnt cover) did the exact same thing to another Mime. What's even more interesting is somehow the Blood Ravens know the findings of one of the Assasin temples, and they either don't care or don't know they know.



Page 306-308

"Brother Rhamah has an eldar blade of his own - the Vairocanum. It is an ancient and famous sword, once wielded by the Harlequin warlock Lavena the Joyful. But one day Lavena fell under the onslaught of a force more glorious than anything she had encountered before: the Great Father, Vidya himself - the Seeker of Truth - fell upon Lavena and clove her life force in two, ending the Harlequin raids of Qulus Trine. After his victory, Vidya gave the wealthy Qulus system to the Eighth Company and took Vairocanum as his own prize."
...
"In fact, the Great Father never wielded Vairocanum. We are not sure why, and Vidya left no records to explain his reasons, as far as we know. Instead, he left the blade in trust to the Order Psykana."
..
"It was held in the Psykana Armorium, hidden in one of the psychically shielded subchambers of the Sanctorium Arcanum aboard the Litany of Fury,"
...

Gabriel raised an eyebrow at the mention of a secret armoury hidden in the bowels of his own battle-barge, but he said nothing to interrupt the father Librarian.

"This armoury contains only force weapons, most of which have been procured throughout the ages by Blood Ravens Librarians in encounters with the eldar. Some, in fact, have been bequeathed to us voluntarily."

Gabriel shook his head. "Does Ulantus know about this place?" He smiled broadly at the sudden realisation that the straight-laced captain was currently in command of potentially the most heretical battle-barge in any Chapter of the Adeptus Astartes.
..
"The Psykana Armorium is more than merely an armoury, brother Ephraim. It arts as a conduit for the psychic potentials of the weapons it holds, channelling them into the Beacon Psykana itself, amplifying the psychic signal that pulses in the heart of the Blood Ravens."
"After a certain period, the weapons become psychically fused with the beacon. When new Librarians are initiated into the order, they are free to select one of the weapons as their own. Carrying this weapon with us ensures that we retain a permanent connection with the beacon at all times - this means that we can draw on its power at times of need, but it also means that the beacon can draw on us. This is partly how the Summoning of the Exodus functions."
Gabriel nodded. He felt that he had known this already. For an instant, his mind flashed with half misremembered images of the Astronomican, and he wondered whether there was any connection between these dubious moments of unsanctioned psychic awareness and the secret beacon held in the core of his battle-barge. With so much psychic energy confined within the structure of a space vessel, surely there would be some unexpected or uncontrollable consequences?

- the Blood Ravens Librarians house a number of Forcee weapons taken from the Eldar, and keep these weapons in a speical armoury designed to make them psychically attuned to the Beacon Psykana, giving the weapon a permanant connection to it. This allows the Librarians to draw on the Beacon's power in times of need, but also that the beacon can draw on the Librarians as well.

Amusingly, it's also mentioned that Rhamah's blade, Vairocanum, was forged from part of the aforementioned blade wraith.

This puts some of my earlier specualtion into perspective. If Gabriel is "seeing" the Beacon, does this mean he's able to tap from it despite not having psychic abilities of his own. Is he some analogue to a Living Saint?

We also learn that the Eldar have deliberately contributed weapons to the Armorium


Page 317

..Ulantus had ordered the scan-array servitors to go back through the records of the mid-range scanners for the last day, and they had indeed shown the abrupt presence and sudden disappearance of a frigate-sized vessle around Lorn VII at about the time the Ravenous Spirit had entered the system.

..

Gabriel had made this leap on the basis of information gifted to him by an alien witch who, until merely hours before the appearance of the necron menace, ,had been assaulting the Litany of Fury

More about the detection of Ahriman's ship. And again it may or may not be FTL.

Page 322-323

Drawing to a halt at the tip of Vairocanum he reached out his hand. We were not always so different, friend of Ahriman.

In his outstretched hand was the book that I had found in the librarium, with the Blood Ravens insignia on the cover.

There was a time, long ago before the Change, when the Thousand Sons of Magnus the Red wore the blood-red armour of their primarch. But times change. Everything changes. We have changed. This is one of the constant laws of our chaotic times. The key is to learn how to control the changes, how to master them and transform them to your own advantage. Do you think that it is coincidence that the Librarians of your Blood Ravens wear the blue armour of the Prodigal Sons and the Rubric of Ahriman? We are the seekers of truth, friend of Ahriman. We need only ever confront each other with our minds.

- its implied heavily here that there are past connections betwene the Blood Ravens and thousand sons.

Page 327

As he spoke, the whistle of a grenade cut throught he air. He watched it arc out from within the shadows of the hall's entrance, rising and then falling in a steep parabola before it clinked onto the ground in front of one the statues next to him. He stepped calmly to one side and watched as it detonated only a fraction of a second later, blowing most of hte statue's base into ruble and revealing the coruching figure of Corallis behind it.

Grenade blows part of a statue away to reveal crouching space marine. Implies maybe blasting apart a meter diameter amount of rock away.. say a kilo of TNT perhaps? for an omnidirecitonal blast, implies the grenade is equal to at least several kilos of TNT.


Page 331

"Because of the Rubric of Ahriman, it is unknown how the Thousand Sons are able to replenish their ranks. They seem to seek to foster cults on dozens of worlds at the same time, cultivating magi who can contribute in some way to the power of the Legion. This network is called the Prodigal Sons of Ahriman - and the name is also used by the Space Marines closest to the terrible sorcerer."

Thousands Sons cult practices.

Page 335

"The quest for knowledge of alien sorcery was explicitly forbidden by the Edicts of Nikaea, as you know. We are not sons of Ahriman, Gabriel, we are the children of Vidya. We seek truth, not merely knowledge for its own sake."

This is interesting considering we know some like Ravenor have studied with the Eldar.

Page 336

"Ahriman knows all things, son of Ahriman. I knew Vidya better than you might expect, young sword of Vidya."

Implies a connection between Ahriman and the Vidya, although what or why we dont know. Or even if he's telling the truth.


Page 347-348

A constellation of sunspots was clustered near the star's equator. They were black against the radioactive radiance of the sun, but they appeared to shift and shimmer, as though possessing their own power. Massive fiery storms were raging around the perimeter of the star, spilling fountains of thermal radiation and superheated hydrogen through the orbits of the inner planets of the Lorn system. Lorn I was already beginning to die, as its atmosphere started to bleed away under the onslaught, leaving the rocky surface of the planet exposed to the rain of fire and radiation. Its clour was gradually shifting toward an inferno of orange, evna s the star began to swell and its colour darkened towards red.

"its dying, captain."
"I can see that, Saulh. But how, why?"
"We can't tell. All the probes indicate that it is well within the average lifespan for a star of this size and constituency. Something appears to be draining it of energy, literally bleeding it dry."

The Necrons of course. Despite the fact they are "bleeding" the star dry, it is quite obvious that it is not a totally efficient process - given the sun seems to be disrupted and ejecting matter and energy from its surface - fucking up the nearby planets, as well as continuing to radiate.

Page 348

"Where is the energy drain focussed?"

"
On the far side of the sun, captain. We should be able to see it shortly, when the orbit of Lorn V swings us around the next sector of the ellipse."

"I'm not sure that we should wait that long, sergeant."

Our hypothetical necrons are on the far side of the star from Lorn V.

Page 349

" The Yngir are returning. Look to the star. They draw its strength into themselves, waiting to be reborn into the materium."
..
"No, not destroyed. The Yngir are not a foe that can be destroyed with the weapons of mon-keigh.

The silvering hordes return and return until they are put to death by the spear of Khaine, or by the wraith blades of Vaul himself. "

The supposed weaknesses of C'tan. I wonder if this means an Avatar of Khaine could harm one?

I also suspect this means PERMANANT destruction., Destroying the physical body is different and can be achieved by mundane means.

PAge 359

As the Litanry of Fury powered around a tight solar orbit, it rapidly brought the far side of the sun into view. Tendrils of gleaming matter were questing out from its gyring form, and the rotation of the massive sun was slowing visibly. Huge sunspots speckled its fiery surface, throwing radiation and fire out into the Lorn system, bathing the floating wreckage and debris with heat and reactive energgy.

The snaking tendrils of starlight whipped and lashed into the vaccuum, filling it with streaks of silvering light. After awhile, the questing tendirls seemed to latch on to flecks of debris, cracking into them and filling them with iridescence. Even as Ulantus watched, the main viewscreen on the control deck of the Litany of Fury, he saw the apparent debris flare and catch, reforming into recognisable shapes, as though flicking back into life. After a few more moments, he could see the distant specks flash with power as their engines came back online. The immobilised necron vessels seemed to be drawing power directly from the sun, bleeding it dry so that they might live again.

Necron ships drawing power from the sun. How much energy, we dont know. It is worth noting they're close enough when the energy release is fucking over planets (blasting off atmosphere, etc) at a distance.

Page 360

With the viewscreen magnifying the distant image, Ulantus checked the images against the vessel-categorisation charts just to be certain, and he could see that perhaps ten or fifteen of the smaller, Dirge-class raiders were already back in motion. A couple of slightly larger Jackals had come online, and all the raiders were spiralling around a group of crescent-shaped Shroud-class cruisers, which remained dark and lifeless, despite the arcs of lightning that poured energy into the pyramidal structures that encrusted their surfaces.

"Sergeant," said Ulantus with a calmness that belied his internal turmoil. "See whether you can contact the Ravenous Spirit. Tell Captain Angelos that his presence is required in the Lorn system.

Code your message 'imperative'"

Necron forces starting to activate.

Page 361

"Gunnery. TArget torpedoes and bombardment cannons onto one of the Shrouds. Fire when ready and keep firing until there is only nothing left.

Helm. Keep us on this course. The closer we can get, the more damage our heavy weapons will do."

The Litany is in orbit around the Star I suspect the speeds (tens or hundreds of km/s) indicates they cna't have changed distance much since first detecting the Necrons over the horizon of the sun. Even if many minutes have passed they can only have covered a few light seocnds... there should be hundreds of thousands of kilometers (if not more) separating the Litany and the 'Necrons.

Page 367

As the eldar cruisers swpet aorund to the other side of the star, the exarch and the farseer saw exactly what they had feared. The energy of the sun was bleeding out into space. It was being conducted through the crystalline prisims on the decks of the dormant yngir vessles and then focussed into their energy circuits. The effect was not dissimilar from that seen on terrestrial battlefields when the yngir deployed the so-called "resurrection robs," which were basically micro-scaled star-fusion devices. THe only difference here was scale.

This implies the Necron ships have some battery like aspect to their power generation systems.

Also the resurrection orbs seem to operate as glorified reactors tht provide power to necron ressurection. Does this mean Living metal has energy absorbing properties? Can they absorb sunlight in this way? Quite possibly.


Page 368

There is something else, added Uldreth as a series of explosions detonated over the shimmering surface of one of the Shroud cruisers. The Avenger tracked the line of fire back on a curving trajecotry in a tight orbit. Judging from the nature of the explosions, he assumed that the mon'keigh battle barge had commenced bombardment of the cruisers before coming properly into range. From his position, the battle-barge was not yet even visible around the sun.

Battle barge out of LOS of the Eldar, but the 'Necrons are in sight.

Interestingly the projectile bombardment (bombardment cannon and torpedoes) are tracking in orbit along with the Battle barge. This implies they're travelling faster than the Barge, but not so fast they can escape the pull of the star's gravity. It also implies that whatever their range, the humans are outside their normal range (or at best, on the extreme edge of it.) It is possible, but not certain that the range is sell over several light seconds, possiblty more than a million km.


Page 368

Behind the cruisers, shrouded in the dark of the vacuum and constructed out of a mysterious and utterly non-reflective metallic substance, he could just make out the outline of another ship. It was bigger than the others, much bigger. It resembled a massive cross, brisding with gun batteries and the distinctive emplacements for gauss particle whips and lightning arcs. Protruding from the sharpened nose was the vaguely visible suggestion of a star-pulse generator. It's a Harvest Ship. The realisation filled Uldreth with horror and determination simultaneously. Scythe-class, I think.

Necron Battleship equivalent.

Page 370

But if this were the case, the implications were terrible. Macha had heard rumours of the return of the Deceiver - Mephet'ran - the star-god that had once tricked Kaelis Ra into turning against his own silvering hordes, convincing him to feast on the flesh of the Yngir themselves. She had seen the Harlequins of Arcadia perform the Masque of the Deceiver, and listened to Eldarec narrate the many myths of his return.

The Harlequins, sons of the Laughing God, had mixed and complicated emotions about the Deceiver - admiration and terror gripped their souls at the mention of his name, and only Eldarec himself was able to perform his part in the masques. Sometimes they told stories of the Deceiver's exploits as though they were the deeds of the Laughing God himself.

Of all the lords of the Yngir, only the Deceiver might have the wit for this kind of galaxy-spanning performance.

- Macha speculates that the simultaneous awakenings of Necron on Rahe's Paradise and Lorn V may be a result of the Deceiver's actions. Curious that she does not consider the Nightbringer. Either he's not awake at this point, ,or he never really did awaken despite what we learn in Nightbringer. Or it could be simply that the Nightbringer (or any of the other few Necrons who might be around still) are capable of the sort of actions that the Deceiver clearly is.

It does occur to me that Macha is simply not aware of the Nightbringer's awakening, if he is awake, but why would she know of the Deceiver (or suspect) but not know of or suspect the other?

Page 371

In that dance, the Deceiver took on various organic forms to lure the living into his service. In the dance, the Deceiver's objective was to convince the living to destroy or banish all of the weapons and talismans that had been constructed by Vaul, the smith god, to prepare the way for his return. He found the psychic resonance of the Vaulish artefacts offensive.

It was certainly true that the talismans had been lost, and all but one of the Blades of Vaul had also fallen out of the memory of the children of Isha. As the numbers of the eldar dwindled throughout the galaxy, Macha felt sure that the Deceiver would be plotting his return and testing the water. The Yngir could taste the cross-pollution of materium and immaterium; it was like poison to them. But as the light of the eldar faded from the galaxy, so the interflow of the warp into real space would begin to dwindle, providing a more conducive environment for the return of the ancient foe.

We know now (from the 13rth Black crusade stuff, I believe, and through Eldrad) that the Deceiver played a role in Abbadon acquiring (and then losing) some of the Blackstone fortresses. This may suggest there was at least SOME possible threat to him personally from them, although as I recall the Outsider/DRagon was not harmed the least bit by an even greater number.

Rather interesting that the Eldar link the dwindling of the warp witjh the dwindling of their race. Arrogance, or is there something to it?


Page 371

But somehow she could not make all the pieces fit. There was not quite enough for her to be sure of anything, and the frustration drove her to the point of anger. The Yngir were without souls, and this made them almost impossible to see clearly in the myriad unfolding futures and pasts of the present. She hated them, and hated that she could not master them or even fully grasp them.

Having souls/connections to the warp is an important part of Farseeing it seems (or precog in general as far as 40k goes) In a way it makes sense - if the warp can transcend or mess with time and space, and it contains/influenced by the thoughts and feelings of all living beings, then not having a connection to the warp limits one's abilities to "read" the threads of the warp. This could mean other races (like the tau) aere likewise not easily read.

Another aspect of this is the implication in vs debates - 40K precog may be less reliable (or even totally useless) against those of other universes (They have few or no psykers.)


Page 372

As she sat in her mediation chamber, watching the viewscreen that was trained on the emergent, shimmering Yngir fleet, she noticed the massive form of the Litany of Fury crest the outline of the dying sun, with its cannons and torpedoes firing relentlessly.

The litany appears at last.


Page 372

In her mind's eye, she could see the radiance of the psychic presence in the heart of that ugly vessel, and she wondered whether the Blood Ravens were really aware of the value of the beacon that they so industriously and studiously maintained there. Even Gabriel did not really seem to understand, despite her persistent efforts to reveal the truth to him.

There had been a mon-keigh warrior once, long ago, who had understood the need for psychic radiance in the galaxy, especially in a galaxy from which the eldar were rapidly fading. But those primitive mammals lived such short lives, even the most promising of them.

Whether the humans understood their power or not, Macha was certain that the regenerating Yngir could see the brilliance of the psychic pool in the Litany of Fury, and that they would seek to extinguish it as quickly as they possibly could.

Macha seems to understand the Beacon Psykana, and in context she seems to imply that Vidya may have established it as some possible counter against the future Necron/C'tan threat. Given the collusion of the prior novel between Eldar and Marines on Rahe's Paradise, and the supposed collusion with the Beacon, this seems likely.

This may have suggested that, had the series continued, Goto would have had Gabriel facing some great Necron thrat.


Page 379

"concentrate all fire on the Scythe-class Harvester - torpedoes and weapons batteries," Bellowed Ulantus from the brdige. He was ignoring the proximity warnings, assuming that there was some sort of malfunction in the distancing cogitators. The Harvester was still several thousand metres away, and he could see no danger of collision or boarding form that range. BEsides, given the huge mass superiority of the Litany, ,a collison wcould only possibly be to their own advantage.

The main disadvantage of the closing range was that they were now too close ot employ the bombardment cannons withour risking damaging the Litany with explosive concussion.

Torpedoes and lasfire pummelled against the surfacec of the necron vessel, but somehow it managed to escape serious damage.

I love that. They're two kilometers away and they don't think there is danger of boarding or collision. They think the Litany is more massive than the Harvester though.

Also interesting that the bombardment cannon can't be employed at 2 km range due to explosive/balast effects (in space?) But torpedoes are okay, for whatever reason.

Page 379-380

It appeared to perform no evasive manoeuvres, and yet the punishing tirade of fire just slipped off its armour, like light bouning off a mirror. Its hull was immaculately black, to the point of virtual invisibility; it seemed to wrap space around it, reflecting vision back on itsel for bending it around the vessel so that a clear conception of its shap eand size were almost impossible.

Just as sensors could not quite grasp the vessel's dimensions, so weapons failed to find much purchase against its unusual, metallic skin.

Defensive properites of living metal.


Page 380

"Any word from the Ravenous Spirit?" snapped Ulantus,..

..

"They are closing on the fringes of the Lorn system, captain. Sergeant Kohath is in command. Captain Angelos is not with them. Estimated arrival: fifteen minutes.

Unless they're moving at near-c (doubtful) or they are approaching the system from above or below, I see no way they could reach the system's star in fifteen minutes.

One possibility is "fringes" of the system means the inhabited planet. Otherwise this is a damn compact planet of the sort that allows warp emergence within 1 AU of the star (or tens of millions of km even, as hinted at in Eye of Terror), although even then we're talking thousands of gees of acceleration.

This is really one of those scenes like the "quarter of the speed f light in seconds" or the "9 AU in 91 minutes" form Sabbat Martyr.

Page 380

"some kind of particle whip, captain, amplified to incredible power. THe necrons appear ot be drawing their fire-power directly from the sun."

Draw your own conclusion.


Page 381

A huge roar erupted form the turret-mounted linear accelerators as a salvo of heavy magma-bomb warheads powered through the intervening space between the Litany of Fury and the Harvester. As they impacted against the deceptively spindly necron vessel, they detonated into a massive infernos, coating the entire craft in roiling magma, and blasting it several hundred metres back away from the Litany. A couple of seconds later, the backwash from the explosion crashed into the prow of the Litany itself, throwing superheated radioactivity across the thick shields and making the massive vessel pitch slightly. For ten seconds the viewscreens snowed into blackness.

Again draw your own conclusions. given the aforementioned 2 km distance, it implies that the radioactive "magma" is moving at hundreds of m/s tops.. maybe a km/s or so tops. I don't know quite what to make of the blast blowing the Harvester back, since we don't know how massive it is. Make your own conclusions.

Page 385

"And out there?" The captain turned his head to indicate the main frontal viewscreen on which the space battle was raging.
"Eleven Cobra fighters."

"Coba rifhgters"

Page 386

"I see. And where is the Ravenous Spirit?"
"On route."
"Distance?"
"She is just clearing Lorn III, captain. Arrival is imminent."
Ulantus sighed and looked around the bridge of the venerable battle-barge. He had never thought that any enemy could reduce the pride of Vidya to a smoking wreck, especially not on his watch.

- tha Ravenous Spirit is noted here to be just clearing Lorn III, and that its arrival would be "imminent" I dont know what to make of that. The HArvester seems to have reduceed the Litany to a wreck regardless of bombardment cannon.

Page 391

She ducked and twisted violently, throwing the Star into a spin and plunging it down under the anticipated lash of a lightning arc. Pulling the nose up, Macha gasped suddenly and squinted her eyes in intense concentration, pouring her will and her fury into the massive discharge from the prow-mounted pulsar lance exactly as she loosed the keel-launched torpedoes.

Armament of Macha's ship - it all seems thought controlled.

Page 391

The barrage punched and punched again into the already weakened armour of the Shroud, finally rupturing its hull and sending it spinning out of control. Its momentum carried it crashing into its sister ship, which had been deployed in a tight formation on its wing.
Screaming with lust for the kill, Macha loosed another volley of torpedoes, which plunged through the holes in the armour of the first Shroud and detonated inside. The vessel convulsed and then exploded from within, shredding its sister ship in the spray of superheated, metallic debris. Whatever the necron made their spacecraft from, it seemed that it was also the best material to use to attack their vessels.

Necron ship finally destroyed, taking another ship with it.


Page 392

You must engage the Harvester. The mon-keigh will not be able to defeat it on their own. Once the Harvester falls, this battle is won. Without it, the Yngir lose their leadership.

Macha nodded in silent assent. She knew that the Avenger was right; she had never doubted his military good sense. The Scythe-class Harvester was indeed the key to this battle. The ancient eldar had named it after the scythe of Kaelis Ra, the bringer of death, because although its appearance was fearsome, its removal constituted the hobbling of a Yngir attack.

Much like with the 'Nids and synapse beasts, the major ships seem to be command and control nexus. The Necron Lords for the fleet, as it were.


Page 392

clicking her viewscreen, Macha saw a second Blood Ravens strike cruiser blazing around the sun, its prow cannons already firing on the Harvester that continued to pummel the Litany of Fury

The Ravenous Spirit finally arrives, opening fire as it clears the sun's horizon.

Page 397

At the same time, the troupers on stage thinned to a handful, and Eldarec slumped suddenly, clearly exhausted by the effort of maintaining the charade. The Great Harlequin had projected an elaborate show and drawn a sorcerer lord into his play, but now he was hard pressed even to maintain his balance. As the apparently healthy holographic troupers faded away, so too the corpses of dozens of dead Harlequins began to appear all over the stage. The scene of carnage was terrible. The Harlequins of Arcadia had paid a terrible price.

Gabriel looked around him in confusion and concern. He could see his Librarians and Marines doing the same thing - they were amazed by the scale of the deception and appalled by the reality that lay hidden behind it.

Even fooled Ahriman, those silly Harliequins.

Page 398

"How many Thunderhawks do we have operational?"
"Four, sergeant," answered Loren instantly.
"Let's get those out there to run guard duty before we get boarded by these sly undead aliens."

- The Ravenous Spirit deploys its Thunderhawks out into spacee to interdict enemy fighter/boarding parties from the Necron.

Page 399

Several Jackals were circling tightly around the powerless but venerable vessel, and Kohath knew enough about the tactics and abilities of the necron to be aware that this probably meant that the Rage had been boarded. The Jackals packed portal projection arrays that acted as unusuually precise teleporters. Dozens of necron warriors would already be aboard.

Necrons teleport troops onboards hips in boarding operations. IF they can do that, why not beam aboard munitions?

Page 400

Further away from the sun, just beyond the point where Macha's Wraithship had been ripped apart, Kohath could see the valiant struggle of an eldar Dragon cruiser as it twisted and spun around the multiple assaults of two Shroud cruisers. Its weapons were ablaze with fire, and sheets of rockets spilled continuously out of all of its launchers. It appeared as the very incarnation of fury and vengeance, but Kohath could see that it would be no match for the two Shrouds in the end. Not even the eldar could maintain such ferocity forever, and the soulless necron could absorb the punishment until the eldar crew exhausted itself.

Rather unique for an Eldar craft to be launching rockets, don't you think?

Page 400

The blast doors of the sealed prow section of the Litany of Fury were glowing red-hot. They would not hold much longer.

Possible indication of the 'Crons using thermal weapons. A rare but not unheard-of occurance.

Page 401

The regular, pledged human crew of the Litany had mustered themselves for her defence. They had dragged fixings and furniture, bed-frames, doors, old cogitators, ammunition canisters, equipment crates and anything else they could lay their hands on and they had thrown them all into the main corridor in front of the blast doors in an attempt to slow down the advance of the necron warriors.

Then the guards and sentries of the prow sections had assembled into militias and manned the make-shift barricade with rifles, pistols and grenades. It was not only the Space Marines of the Blood Ravens Ninth Company who could fight for the survival of their venerable ship. The pledged workers of the Litany of Fury had families to defend.

Onboard the ship? Seriously? The Blood Ravens let the serfs bring their families onboard?

On the other hand its nice to see the serfs seeking to defend the ship rathe rthan just relying on Marines to do it. Even if they are likely to be fucked over by the Necrons.


Page 401

When Ulantus had strode down the corridor, his heavy boots clanging against the metallic floor, the men and Marines had been staring at the slowly melting blast doors in utter silence, waiting for the necron to break through.

Once agian the Necrons appear to be melting throught eh blast door with brute force energy weaponry.

Page 402

An almost inaudible scratching noise started to scrape through the structure of the corridor. It grew louder and louder, scraping and rustling until it became a metallic din. Little flecks of black appeared on the floor in front of the blast doors. They looked like beetles or roaches, scurrying across the ground. There were dozens of them, then hundreds spilling out into the corridor.

Hundreds rapidly became thousands, pouring out of the breach towards Ulantus and the Devastator Marines. Then a thunderous cacophony of beating wings erupted from the breach and a great cloud of flying scarabs burst out of the smoke, like a solid black, gleaming cloud of sharpened metal.

This makes me wonder if it was the scarabes trying to breach the door.


Page 404

The gauss flayer struck the Devastator at Ulantus' shoulder and for a moment it seemed to have no effect. There was no pressure behind the strike and the Space Marine held his ground. But then the vox was suddenly filled with screams as the Marine's armour fizzled and then dissolved away, exposing his raw skin and muscles, which were consumed atom by atom. After less than a second, even his bones were suddenly rendered into dust.

Gauss flayer vs Space Marine. Marine loses.

Page 409-410

An explosion of light ripped through the control room, dazzling the Blood Ravens momentarily. When it faded, Macha was gone. Turning to the viewscreen, they could see a pulse of green warpfire unlike anything they had ever witnessed before, like a gash torn through into the immaterium itself, as though the blade had somehow ripped through the boundaries between realms. The tear stretched out of the prow of the Ravenous Spirit all the way to the hull of the necron Harvester, where it was joined by a fork of similar energy arcing out of the heart of the Litany of Fury.

As soon as the energy touched the hull of the Scythe cruiser, its armour buckled and folded, as though the merest touch of that force was enough to repel the pristine and perfect material technology of the necron. The Harvester folded and crumpled, collapsing back in on itself as though it were being reduced into a two dimensional form. Then, in a sudden explosion of darkness, the Harvester imploded, sucking the great rips of fire into a massive vortex that spiralled momentarily, dragging the Dirge raiders, the remaining Jackals and the Shrouds into a tempest of immaterial fury that consumed them in a single gulp. After a second, there was nothing left but the gently floating wreckage of Blood Ravens vessels and the limping shape of an eldar cruiser. All vestiges of the necron were gone.

Macha and Blade Wraith vs Necron starships. The Blade Wraith seems to have an effect not unlike the BlackStone Fortresses or Eldar D-cannon, in the sense it semes to create tears/seams in warp space which intersect the Necrons and fuck them over.


Page 411

The captain followed the bustling apothecary through the cluttered and overfull Apothecarion. There had been many casualties over the last few days, and Medicius had his work cut out for him.

Events of "the last few days" indicating the timeframe for all this. This also means all the insystem travelling took places in less than a day for the most part either way.


Oh yeah and to spoil the cliffhanger ending?

Looking down at the new scout's hands, as though ready to shake one of them, Gabriel's eyes widened in horror. In place of hands, Ckrius had grown strange fleshy stumps with a series of intertwining tendrils protruding where fingers should have been. The tendrils swayed delicately and interlaced into a sequence of solid forms that approximated hands.

"Scout Ckrius." snapped Gabriel, recoiling automatically from the sight of the mutation, as he realised that the rapidity of the implantation process had clearly exacted a cost on the former Guardsman.

[/quote]

Ckrius' forced implantation gave him mutant tentacle hand thingies. And Gabriel is okay with it simply telling him to find gloves. I guess we learn of that vital Blood Ravens = Soul Drinker connection or something - mutations are a-ok as long as your heart is pure. Or something. Not the best of twist endings but this is a Goto novel so we have to make allowances.

[Connor MacLeod]

We start Chris Roberson's Dawn of War 2. It's a.. different novel from Gotos both in theme and atmosphere and generally attitude. I haven't played DoW 2 so I dont know how the characteirzations or backgrounds hold up, but I know the characters here show up in the game, and reflect a different aspect of the Blood Ravens (much as DoW and DoW2 are different kinds of games.)

Overall it wasn't a bad novel.. its better than Goto's writing, but its still pretty so so. This is part 1.

Page 8

Vox communication planet-side was all but impossible, impeded by the shadow in the warp cast by the tyranid fleet in high orbit. And when the air blew from the east, it carried with it the scent of fungus and rot, of mildew and stagnation - the smell of tyranoforming, the stench of a dying world.

Effects of Tyranoforming, and the shadow in the warp impeding normal communications. Interestingly this was something an Inquisitor denied that the Tyranids did in "Warrior Brood."


Page 8

From a distance, and using the hellfire shells with which those with heavy bolters had been equipped given the extreme circumstances, the squad had dispatched the hormagaunt swarm, reducing them to a litter of blasted body parts and ichor carpeting the forest floor.

Space Marine squad obliterates a swarm of hormagaunts which overwhelm one of their number.

Page 10

Without the gene-seed carried within the progenoid gland of a fallen Space Marine, it would be impossible to create the zygote with which another Space Marine could be created. Were enough gene-seed to be lost, in time the Chapter itself would die, and the forces of the Imperium would be the poorer for it.

Importance of Gene-seed to astartes. Interesting that it implies that gene-seed creation is not a "steady state" process, which is pretty much required for Space Marines not to die out (sometimes they can't recover one or other of the gene seedds from a fallen marine.)

Page 11

Apothecary Gordian didn't pause an instant to consider, but fired off a stream of hellfire rounds. The ceramic hellfire shells smashed into the monster's carapace, allowing the payload of mutagenic acid to pour into the genestealer's torso, eating it away from within. With a hideous squeal - whether of rage, or pain, or frustration, or all three, Gordian couldn't say - the genestealer fell sprawling to the dust at his feet.
As the monster twitched and writhed on the forest floor, Gordian fired another hellfire round into the base of its skull.

HEllfire rounds vs Tyranid. The interesting thing is that the explicit implication above that only the heavy bolters have hellfire shells, and one thing that is a common thread through this novel - EVERYONE is using hellfire shells. I don't know if this is an artefact of DoW2 where they used hellfires as an upgrade or something, but it happens constantly in this novel.

Not that I have a problem with it, per se, since it makes sense to equip even regular bolters and pistols with the ammo, but it would be a violation of "canon" technically. Then agian what isnt lately?

PAge 12

He was taking point as the squad's vanguard formation moved through the dense undergrowth, the shrine still hours distant, when a lictor burst out of the jungle before them and was upon Vela in an eye-blink. Vela managed to hit one of the lictor's ventral limbs with his melta gun, searing it off at the joint, but the tyranid surged onwards with its remaining limbs, and Vela fell beneath it before he'd had a chance to take another shot.

..

Aramus rushed to assist, but before he'd reached Vela's side the lictor had driven a scything talon, as long as a man was tall, right through Vela's abdomen, shattering the ceramite on front and back and lancing through the body within.

Lictor taking down another Marine, carryin ga meltagun. Note the "multi-metre" scything talons. That must be one fucking huge Lictor.


Page 13

With a nod to the rest of the squad to withdraw to a safe distance, Aramus undipped a frag grenade from his waist and, in a single motion, armed and threw it directly at the lictor, then dived for cover.

As the lictor turned its attention to Aramus, the frag grenade completed its tight arc through the air, striking the tyranid's carapace between the first and second upper limbs on the dorsal side. The grenade, set to detonate on impact, activated instantly. Aramus, still in midair in his dive for cover, could feel the concussive force of the blast rippling past him.

When he and the rest of the squad moved forward, all that remained of the lictor was a carpet of pulped remains, a few metres away from the place where Battle-Brother Vela lay.

Vela had shut down, rendered unconscious as his body struggled to combat his injuries, both those from the talon's puncture and the secondary effects of his proximity to the frag grenade's effects. It would fall to the Apothecary to determine whether Vela had a chance of recovering from his injuries, but in Aramus's experience Space Marines seldom recovered from injuries that looked as dire as Vela's did now.

Frag grenades used by the Marines can be set to impact detonation. The Grenade more or less pulverizes the Lictor, which as of IA4 masses something like a ton means the thing has to be carrying way more (many times) the explosive force than a real life grenade.

Page 15

Battle-Brother Milius was the next to fall, though he took nearly a dozen tyranid warriors with him when he went. And Battle-Brother Qao managed to dispatch a broodlord and its retinue of genestealers before the damage done by the broodlord's acid maw finally claimed him. Battle-Brother Kraal was caught by a fragmentation spore mine, and while the mine managed only minor damage to his armour, a splinter of the spore shell was driven through into Kraal's flesh, flooding his system with toxins that his oolitic kidney was unable to overcome. Battle-Brother Javier, bolter flashing and chainsword whirring, took down four raveners single-handedly, but fell beneath the scything talons of the fifth, never to stand again.

More losses. The loss to the spore mine was interesting.

PAge 17

Battle-Brother Quinzi dived clear to the right as the ball of blinding green fire spurted from the screamer-killer's weapon-symbiote, but Battle-Brother Siano was a fraction of an instant too slow, caught by the burst of bio-plasma as it shot past them. Knocked crashing back into the trees, which were immediately set ablaze, Siano was cooked alive in his power armour, his shouts of pain and outrage squawking over the static-laced comms.

Aramus hit the ground running, only metres behind Battle-Brother Durio, who was racing to the left around the carnifex's flank.

Carnifex bio plasma. . seems to behave like other 40K plasmas, just.. bio.


Page 17

Intended for use against armoured vehicles and bunkers, the krak grenade in the early days of the Tyrannic War had been found to be just as effective against even the largest tyranids in close combat. The only problem was that you had to be extremely close to the target to get the krak grenade into position, which left you extremely close to the resultant blast. Even though krak charges imploded, instead of exploding, the blowback could be disastrous to anyone standing too close.

They intend to use krak grenades against the Carnifex. Tells you something about the durability of the Carnifex, at least in this context.

The Krak grenades are damn odd, what with the "implosion rather explosion" bit. I'm not sure what the imploding is meant to do, really. Create some sort of really dense, compact projectile or osmething? Also why would an implosion have a backblast? Imploding would suggest it collapses inwards, not expands outwards in any way. I doubt there would be any "backblast."

Page 18

The thwump of the krak grenades' implosion coincided with the final crescendo of the bio-plasma burst, just as Aramus dived through the open entrance into the Imperial shrine.

Apothecary Gordian emerged from behind the smouldering remains of the treeline, there no longer being any need for suppressing fire. The brief and horrible battle was over. The carnifex lay on its side, struggling to regain its footing, despite the fact that one of its lower limbs had been blown away at the second joint. One of its upper scything talons had been pulped to chitin and ichor by a krak grenade, but its weapon-symbiote appeared unharmed, and once it was upright and ambulatory - in a matter of moments, at most - it would be in a position to open fire once more.

Multiple Krak grenades seem to cripple and put down the Carnifex, but not killing it.

Page 19

Aramus didn't know what the relic contained. It appeared to be some sort of suspension unit, a miniature version of the sarcophagi into which badly injured - but not yet terminal - Space Marines were sometimes sealed, so that they could later be recovered and encased in Dreadnought assemblies. If it was a suspension unit, what was stored within? The finger bone of some forgotten saint, perhaps? Dust upon which the Emperor himself once trod when he still walked in mortal form? A scroll containing some hermetic and holy wisdom?

Odd suspension unit thingy. Implied Stasis tech of some sort?

Page 21-22

When the bio-plasma blast had taken out Quinzi, it appeared, Durio had been knocked deep into the trees and out of sight, though whether by a blow from the carnifex's scything talons or as a consequence of a misfiring krak grenade, Aramus couldn't say.

Again we get the implication that an "imploding" krak grenades blows people away/backwards (EG having a blast effect.) Maybe they're some sort of quasi-nuclear shaped charge and the implosion is part of the process

Page 23

Further on they encountered a pair of warriors, but again Aramus and Gordian were able to make short work of them, sending streams of hellfire rounds into their carapaces, letting the acid do its work from within while the ceramic shells did their damage externally.

Again regular bolter weaponry using hellfire amo. The ceramic of the shells must be pretty damn nasty to be damaging carapace.


Page 29

By midday, the sun would beat down on the deserts like a hammer, hot enough to suck all the life and moisture from a man in a matter of hours.
Captain Davian Thule had little reason to concern himself over the heat of the midday sun, any more than he had reason to worry over the chill of the moonless desert night. Even without his blood-red power armour, his superhuman body was more than capable of handling even greater extremes of temperature and environment, but wearing his armour, as he'd done since first setting foot on Calderis a month before, he could survive everything from the cold of space to the heat of a close approach on a star's photosphere.

A bit on Space Marine enviromental durability.


Page 36

Thule narrowed his eyes, regarding the Librarian closely. The captain and the Librarian were never openly adversarial, both faithful to the Emperor and to the Chapter, but their very different personalities often seemed to put them at odds. But perhaps it was more than just their conflicting personalities that set Thule's nerves on edge. Since the days of Lucius in M.38, when the loss of the entire Fifth Company had led to their successors forever after being named ''The Fated'', the Secret Masters of the Chapter had seen to it that the Fifth had fewer Librarians than other Companies. So while the other Blood Ravens Companies had a far greater percentage of Librarians than any other Chapter - in the First Company, in fact, there were two entire combat squads of Librarians, which would have been unthinkable in any other Codex Chapter - in ''The Fated'' there were a bare handful, Niven among them.

the 5th only has "two" squads of Libarians, and that this is a small number relative to other Companies. Are these squads part of the company size, or in addition to it? This could imply that either they have fewer Tactical Marines than other Chapters (If they are Codex) or that they go over Codex chapter limits somewhat with all their extra Librarians.

this doesn't even consider the detached librarian type slike Jonas from DoW ascension.

Page 37

Thule was thoughtful for a moment, considering Niven's words. There were four golden studs affixed to the captain's forehead, a pair over each brow, each of them reflecting a century of faithful service to the Blood Ravens. Thule might not have been comfortable around servants of the Librarium, principally because there were so few of them in the Fifth Company and his experience with them perforce was comparatively limited, but he had not survived long enough to earn four service-studs by ignoring the advice of Librarians. If he was to survive long enough to wear a fifth, it would be by making use of all information at his disposal.

4 centuries of service, = 4 studs. 40K has an odd tendency ot vary between "decades" and "centuries" in what the service studs mean. I assume it may vary either from chapter ot chapter or time to time. He also belives he can live long enough to earn a fifth and this may not even be the limit of Blood Raven ages.

Page 41

Cyrus narrowed his eyes, lips pursed, and shook his head. It was clear that the sergeant felt it a personal failing that his auspex had registered movement past the horizon that he'd subsequently been unable to locate.

Auspex can detect objects "beyond the horizon" For a space Marine sized target this would be 5-6 km or so range, possibly more. It's also interesting HOW they detect it over the horizon.

Page 43
Or rather it was, but not one of wind, rain, or sand. The keen eyes of the Space Marines showed them what the Calderians could not yet see, but what the desert traditions had taught them that such a sandstorm meant. The dust-cloud was being kicked up in the wake of hundreds upon hundreds of tramping feet. And the thunderous booms were in fact shouts of animal rage, war cries issuing from the advancing horde.

"Blood Ravens!" Thule voxed over the comms, raising his bolter and taking aim. "Defensive posture, severe threat."

The examinations would have to wait. And in fact it remained to be seen whether the Blood Trials would be held or not. As it stood, Captain Thule and his party had more pressing concerns.

The feral orks thundered towards them, a ragtag motley of savage giants, primitive and barbaric, the weapons they wielded crudely made but no less deadly.

Thule fired his bolter into the advancing ranks, with his third shot managing to bring down one of the feral orks in the lead. He didn't allow himself to feel any sense of accomplishment. With one of the green-skinned monsters down, there were still hundreds upon hundreds more in the stampeding horde.
[/quote]

Bolter range is implied to be greater than normal human eyesight, quite possible somewhere at the end of Space Marine eyesight range (1-2 km or so, depending on source.)


Page 46

This was one of the Space Marines' favoured places onboard the strike cruiser, and seldom untenanted under normal circumstances. But the Armageddon was scarcely a fraction occupied, and aside from the hundred-odd Chapter serfs and innumerable servitors who serviced her, there were only four squads of Space Marines onboard, and none of them operating at full

100 or so serfs and 40 marines, meaning the ship is mostly run by servitors.


Page 47

They were of an age, as well, each in the middle of his fourth decade of life, though with the life-extending benefits of the implants that had transformed them from mortals into superhuman Astartes, neither looked older than the middle of their third decade.

Age reduction of Space marines.

Page 50

Aramus had been born into luxury, a member of the upper classes in their high-habs, while Thaddeus had grown up a ganger from the low-level habs. Born and raised only kilometres from one another, the two had effectively come from different worlds.

Hive-born Astartes, born "merely" kilometres apart.

Page 52

Like the rest of the ships in the Blood Ravens fleet, the Armageddon was crewed almost entirely by servitors; half-human cyborgs wired directly into the ship's weapons, engines, and communications. At the control stations that ringed the command dais, dozens of servitors devoted their entire attentions to crystals and controls, monitoring the ship's myriad systems and processes. The only humans in evidence were Chapter serfs, some of the hundred or so onboard who served the ship and her crew, and none of these were responsible for anything other than routine maintenance and cleaning.

As noted above, the Blood Ravens ships seem to rely almost entirely on servitors, and only a hundreds or so serfs, plus an unknown (but presumably small) number of crewers.

Page 53

...when his attention could be torn away from the empty Dreadnought assembly they were transporting back to the Scientia Est Potentia. The Dreadnought, lacking the biological component of an Astartes to guide it, had been only recently refitted and refurbished by the tech-priests of Mars, and was nearing the end of a years-long journey via one ship or another to its final home in the Fifth Company. Just who would be encased in the Dreadnought armour, just which Astartes would be granted the great honour of living beyond death within its shell, their remains suspended within and their minds animating the war-engine, none could say.

The Strike cruiser is hauling a refurbished Dreadnought suit back from Mars. IT apparently took "years" to haul it from Mars to wherever they go. We dont know where they are now, really, but given how often the 'Nids seem to be involved with the Imperium we could guess they're somewhere on the souther or eastern fringes, which implies tens of thousands of LY.


Page 53

The ship's captain a Blood Raven, and a Techmarine of the Chapter at her engines - not only were the few officers onboard the Armageddon Space Marines, they were more importantly Blood Ravens. Even in the case of the ship's astropath, instead of a member of the Adeptus Astra Telepathica, the Armageddon instead employed Lexicanium Konan, a servant of the Blood Ravens Librarium. In fact, of all the ship's command functions, only that of Navigator was filled by any but Blood Ravens, the inscrutable Lord Principal in his dome an inhuman scion of the Navis Nobilite.

The Blood Ravens seem to have enough marines to heavilly staff their ships with Marines.

Page 54

As the serf lifted his gaze momentarily to look upon the sergeant's face, Merrik recognized him as a one-time aspirant to the Blood Ravens Chapter, who had succeeded in the Blood Trials on his native world decades before, but who had been found unsuitable for initiation before the first of the implants had been administered. As often happened in the cases of such unfortunates, this man's life had been spared, and given new meaning, as a place was found for him in the service of the Chapter. Having served long years on board the Armageddon, he had risen to the rank of deck hand, and was one of a dozen such serfs who routinely relayed reports from the servitors to the officers - having learned enough of the binary-squeal language of the cyborgs to translate it into more easily comprehensible Low Gothic - or else relayed messages from one officer to another.

Failed aspiriants (who don't die) get made into serfs, and some of the serfs can understand the binary of Servitors. (This makes me think it's not the same sort of "binary" we are familiar with IRL.)


Page 54

"Sir." the Chapter serf answered with a deeper bow, "passive sensors confirm that we have reached the outskirts of the Calderis system."
"Time to planet-side?"
"Techmarine Martellus sends his compliments, sir,' the Chapter serf replied quickly, 'and says that with sublight engines at full burn we should make planetfall before the day is out."

Edge of system to the habitable planet within a day (12-24 hours, depending on how one defines a day. At 1 AU this could be between 8-32 gees depending on the timeframe. At say 10 AU we get to 80-300+ gees.

Page 58

"What of the native population?" Sergeant Aramus put in. "Calderis isn't heavily populated, as I understand it, but the numbers of inhabitants must still number in the millions."

"millions" is considered "not heavily populated". for an imperial world at least.

PAge 61

"Thirteen ships in orbit, sir," one of the Chapter serfs translated. "No, fourteen. Most are civilian registry, but there are three Imperial Navy vessels, Dauntless-class light cruisers."
Aramus could see the annoyance and curiosity playing across Merrik's face. There were typically few, if any ships in the vicinity of Calderis, or in fact anywhere in the Aurelia sub-sector, much less more than a dozen.

A dozen or more ships in this partiuclar subsector is considered unusual.

PAge 62

"Battlegroup Aurelia is responding to a distress call sent out by the Calderis civilian authority," Admiral Forbes replied. "On the authority of Governor Vandis of Meridian, we are in the process of evacuating key members of the planet's civilian population."

Aramus knew what the admiral meant by ''key members'' of the population, and by the expression on Merrik's face he could see the sergeant did, too. Even with a population as small as that of Calderis, there was simply no way an entire planet could be evacuated, whatever the threat. Instead, those who the admiral was taking off-world would be powerful politicians, noble families with ties to this Governor Vandis, and so on.

"And the civilian vessels?" Merrik asked, pointedly.

The admiral paused a moment before replying. "We are not in a position to evacuate everyone, of course. Those with resources of their own have arranged for private transportation."

Aramus could well imagine what that meant. Those lacking the prestige of the planet's political elite, but who had wealth enough of their own to call upon, had contracted civilian merchant trader vessels to whisk them out of harm's way.

As for those who lacked political prestige and wealth…?

Aramus could well imagine what remained for them.

"We have orders of our own to carry out, admiral," Merrik replied, "but we wish you good fortune in the successful completion of yours. Armageddon out."

HA ha, Grimdark! If you're not rich or wealthy in 40K (or America) you're screwed! This force (although we dont know the exact size of the vessels, except they are probably smaller than a light cruiser) cannot evacuate "millions" of people. Rather interesting as there has been implications in other conflicts involving the 'Nids (like Hive Fleet Kraken) were that has been carried out. I assume it depends entirely on the availability of ships and enough time/resources to get people out of the way. Hell we know they can transplant the entire populations of hive worlds (Medusa V or Armageddon), nevermind the hundreds of thousands/millions of guardsmen raised annually on most worlds (esp hive worlds).

Also note the mention of "battlegroup Aurelia" rather than Battlefleet Aurelia. I assume "Battlegroup" isthe sub-sector detachment of the larger battlefleet assigned to patrol and handle things in the subsector.

Page 68

Hardly feeling the G-forces of acceleration within the confines of his power armour, Aramus swivelled a wall-mounted data-slate into position before him and called up a feed from the gunship's forward cameras. At first, all he could see was a swathe of dingy white, the heavy clouds that were at present smothering the eastern deserts. A moment later, the clouds parted like a curtain as the Thunderhawk shot downward like a bolter round, and the vistas below were revealed.

Directly below them, Aramus could make out the outlines of the township of Argus, their designated landing coordinates. A few kilometres on a side, Argus was laid out in a haphazard grid, roughly square in shape and aligned more-or-less north and south. It was an unremarkable sight, a small patch of urban development on the otherwise unbroken expanses of rock and sand that stretched out to the horizon in every direction. Or rather, it would have been an unremarkable sight, had the township itself and its inhabitants been the only elements visible on the data-slate.

Data-slate feed from external cameras on the thunderhawk, and a city/township/whatever that is "a few kilometres on a side"

Also Aramus' power armor seems to be compensating for whatever accelerations the gunship is subjecting him to.


Page 70

With his psychic hood serving to dampen any latent pyskers in the ork horde, the Librarian inspired the members of Thule's party from the vanguard, eldritch energies crackling from his gauntlets as his shouted battle cries rang out over the melee's din. Time and again the Librarian's psyker abilities allowed him to blunt the enemies' attacks, and he moved through the carnage with impossible speed, his blade snapping out lightning fast to slash against one greenskin enemy in one instant, then reappearing metres away to parry the blow of another ork in the next. Niven was a relentless combatant, seemingly tireless, lashing out time and again at the unwashed onslaught, striking fear into the enemies' soulless hearts.

Super-Hyper-Jedi Librarian vs Orks.

PAge 80

As the giant ork reversed his sword for another swing, a howl of incoherent rage reverberating through cracked teeth and rubbery lips, Thaddeus darted forward, chainsword whirring, and took a hunk from one of the ork's massive legs.

Bellowing in outraged pain, the ork backhanded Thaddeus with his free hand, the blow striking the Blood Raven with force almost sufficient to knock him off balance. As it was, Thaddeus managed to right himself in time to parry the ork's next thrust. Even with a large part of one of his legs sheared away, the ork continued to fight, merely shifting his weight onto his other leg and using the pain and rage to fuel his attacks.

Ork loses a leg and keeps fighting.

Page 81

The ork with the barbed sword rushed forward for another lunge, and Thaddeus jinked to one side, at the same time sweeping his chainsword in and down, biting into the ork's as yet uninjured leg. This time Thaddeus's chainsword cut through the skin and meat of the greenskin's leg until it hit bone, and as the sergeant yanked his weapon free the whirling blade rasped against the sides of the wound, sending up a greenish-black mist of liquefied flesh, black ichor, and pulverized bone.

With one leg cut straight through to the bone and the other already missing a significant hunk of flesh, the ork was left unbalanced, and while the monster struggled to retain its footing, howling in pain, Thaddeus opened fire with his own bolter, sending a stream of rounds directly into the ork's wide chest, shattering the necklace of teeth that surrounded the tree-trunk neck. The force of the bolts' impact toppled the ork backwards, and without wasting an instant's advantage, Thaddeus leapt into the air a few metres and came crashing down on the supine monster's chest. Swinging his chainsword like a farmer cutting wheat with a scythe, Thaddeus cleaved the head of the ork from his massive shoulders, ending forever his bellowing rage.

Same Ork has a hefty chunk torn from its other leg, takes a barrage of bolter shells ot the chest, and only goes down when decapitated.


PAge 88

A firebomb lobbed by one of the lead orks smashed into Avitus's chest, wreathing him in sickly-green flames, but he paid it no mind, and returned the ork's fire with a few well-placed bolts of his own.

GREEN flames? Must be some osrt of psychic firebomb. Either way it does fuck-all to the Marine in the armor.

Page 88-89

Like all the Blood Ravens, Avitus knew that these were feral orks, primitive tribes only a few stages removed from their earliest beginnings. In many ways orks were more fungal than animal, reproducing by the dispersal of spores, their green colouration from the algae that coursed through their crude blood and made up so much of their internal processes. A single world could be overrun, in time, if a single mature ork were to be killed on its surface. The dying ork would release spores, which would then develop into cocoons, which given time and suitable conditions would hatch into the more rudimentary of forms, that given the opportunity would eventually mature into fully-grown orks. Was that how the greenskin plague had come to Calderis? Ork Waaaghs! had never touched the Aurelia system, or else the chances were that there would be no humans still living here. Perhaps nothing more than a single ork vessel, cast off from some mindlessly drifting space hulk, had crashed on the far side of the desert world, over across the mountains, at some point in the distant past, and the death of its passengers had over the course of centuries or even millennia eventually given rise to the untold thousands of greenskins who had covered the western hemisphere like a plague since time out of mind.
But these were not yet the most developed orks that waged their eternal Waaaghs! across the stars. These were feral, primitive, little more than beasts. They lacked the technological sophistication to manufacture or repair engines of war - bikes, buggies, trucks, and so on - or even to devise firearms, and instead rode upon the backs of enormous beasts, and fought with little more than rocks and sticks, with primitive explosives being the pinnacle of their technological prowess.

Individually, any one of the feral orks presented hardly any threat, since a human with a ranged weapon could, with enough distance between him and his target, bring down any ork with a few well-placed rounds. And even though the lumbering creatures were all but immune to pain, and able to fight on even after receiving wounds that would fell even an Astartes, they were mindless fighting machines, bereft of any strategy or form, and a Space Marine with a sword in hand and his wits about him could best an ork in individual combat nine times out of ten.

The problem with feral orks, and with these feral orks in particular, came in their overwhelming numbers. Even with the addition of the forces from the Armageddon reinforcing them, Thule's defenders totalled little more than three dozen. Facing them were hundreds upon hundreds of greenskins, if not thousands, raging monsters with little thought for their own safety, and none at all for the safety of their fellow orks. This was perfectly exemplified in the strategy now being carried out beneath the walls of Argus, as Barabbas had pointed out.

the usual info on Feral Orks vs regular Orks and Ferals vs Humans.

Page 90

Lacking the technological sophistication to create siege engines, even something as rudimentary as a ladder, the feral orks had hit upon a novel approach to assaulting the high city walls. They simply piled the bodies of their fallen brethren one atop the other, creating an asymmetrical pyramid of ork bodies leaning against the walls of Argus. Some of the orks in the pile were dead, some were dying, and some had just had the misfortune of being knocked from their feet and had not stood up again before their brothers seized them and threw them upon the pile. Already the pyramid of greenskin bodies rose halfway to the top of the Argus walls, and was growing higher every passing moment.

Orkish ingenuity at work. This is not the height of their tactics. As I recall later there is a scene where Orks are literally catapulted into the township to invade, and the Blood Ravens take turns potshotting them or cutting them down as they approach landing. It's kinda funny, actually.

Page 91

A long wooden stick, sharpened to a point, bounced off the faceplate of Avitus's helmet, a spear thrown by one of the greenskins below.

"A spear?" Avitus said in disbelief.

Avitus, in a rare flash of humour, actually grinned, if only slightly, as he returned fire, ripping the green-skin's arm from its massive shoulder with a barrage of bolts.

Bolter fire amputates Greenskin arm, whilst its wooden pointy stick fails to penetrate Avitus' faceplate. Unsurprisingly, feral weapons even if driven by Ork muscles do fuck all to Space Marine armor.


Page 92

On the visor display within Thaddeus's helmet, runes representing each of the other eight members of the Seventh Squad were tinged green, indicating that each of them had survived the fight to this point.
...
Now, as they neared the edge of the horde and the next phase of their mission, Thaddeus could only make visual contact with four of his battle-brothers, though most of the others were separated from him only by a matter of a few dozen metres at most. Only Battle-Brother Renzo trailed behind by a matter of several hundred metres.

Positions of Space Marines. Despite being out of line of sight their suit systems keep track of individual members.


Page 93

"Arcing up now," Renzo voxed. "Approaching apex. I can see the horde's edge and… Golden Throne!"

A feral ork made a charge at Thaddeus's position, and the sergeant swung his chainsword in a wide arc that took off the top of the greenskins head before it even reached him. As he sidestepped the ork, who lurched by without even realizing yet that it was dead, Thaddeus glanced overhead to see Renzo beginning his descent a few hundred metres south of their position.

...

"Sergeant, it's not just ferals!" Renzo's voice sounded almost frenzied over the vox. "There's…"
A deafening cracking sound split the air, and Renzo suddenly fell silent.
"That was heavy ordnance!" Thaddeus shouted, to no one in particular.

Jump marine jumps maybe some 400-600 metres on his jump pack, we can't telll the exact angle or the apxe, but he gets hit by heavy weapons.

Page 95-96

Thaddeus cleared the edge of the feral ork horde, and he had his answer.

Beyond the edge of the horde there was a wide stretch of open desert, a few hundred metres across. In the midst of this open stretch lay the broken and bloodied form of Battle-Brother Renzo, looking like a puppet whose strings had been cut. At the other side of the open ground, Thaddeus saw the source of the cracking sound, the thing that had brought the leaping Renzo back down to earth once and for all.

There were thousands of them. Orks with augmetic bionics, and others encased in piston-driven exoskeletons.

Orks atop battlewagons and sitting astride combat bikes. Orks with flamethrowers, and rocket-launchers, and powerful energy cannons. There were war machines, mechanized walkers as tall as any Dreadnought. There were warbuggies, and trucks, and infantry beyond count.

...

The warboss appeared surprised to see Thaddeus standing at the edge of the feral horde...

..

...the serried ranks of armoured and mechanised orks surged forward, answering their leader's war cry with shouts of their own, each of them rushing towards Thaddeus with weapons raised and ready.

"So much for this being too easy," Thaddeus said as he raised his bolter and fired into the onrushing horde.

Surprise! The real Ork menace appears The main thing is noting that Thaddeus' bolter opens fire on the orks from an already established "several hundred metres" - establishing a minimum 100-200 meter or so range. While Thaddeus is said to have a bolter here, we know later that he actually has a bolt pistol (recall he is an assault marine - bolt pistol and chainsword usually.) so this is actually establishing approximate bolt pistol range, which meshes with other novels (Space Wolf and Angels of Darkness, specifically.)


Page 99

When an Astartes was wounded, the implant released Larraman cells into the bloodstream, which attached themselves to leucocytes in the blood and, once in contact with the air at the site of injury, immediately began forming an instant scar tissue, which staunched the flow of blood and served to protect the wounded area.

When Niven had been injured in the withdrawal to Argus, among other ills his Larraman's organ had been severely injured, preventing it from releasing the cells that would aid the body in healing itself. It was for this, and other reasons, that the Librarian had slipped into a state of suspended animation. Apothecary Gordian had already prepared the chemical therapies that, along with an appropriate auto-suggestion spoken aloud in the Librarian's hearing, would trigger the sus-an membrane to restore Niven to full consciousness. But until Gordian was able successfully to restore Niven's implants to full functioning, and his Larraman's organ in particular, if brought to full awareness his body would simply shut down again almost immediately.

We find there are limits to what Space Marine implants can do damage wise. If the Larraman's organ takes sufficient abuse a Marine can no longer heal from his injuries. We aren't sure what constitue s "severe" damage to the Larraman's organ, though. It is possible to repair/restore such implants somehow, but it shows that even Space Marine organs can fail and have limits.


Page 105

Gorgrim had hit upon an innovation in the waging of war, a rare thing in a species born with skills and knowledge already encoded into their genetic strand. Having perhaps a few hundred fully-grown orks in his warband at the point that he struck out on his own, when Gorgrim's space hulk chanced upon a world inhabited by feral orks, he saw the advantage in recruitment. Taking his warband to the surface, he bested the local warlord in single combat, and then declared that all of the planet's inhabitants were henceforth to consider themselves part of Gorgrim's horde. But that only a select few would be allowed to leave on board Gorgrim's space hulk, and the rest left behind to die as Gorgrim unleashed an orbital bombardment that would wipe clean the surface of the planet of any life.

Understandably motivated, the feral orks on the planet quickly turned against one another in mortal combat, lashing out with swords, clubs, fists, and teeth to claim their place among Gorgrim's horde.
In the end, some few thousand feral orks survived the ensuing melee, and accompanied Gorgrim and his warband back up to the space hulk that hung in orbit above the world. And then Gorgrim set off in search of other contests, other conquests.

Inefficient perhaps, and rather brutal, but it also has its own sort of efficiency about it. and Orks reproduce so readily/quickly that it probably doesnt matter if they wipe themselves out like that.

Gogrim's Space Hulk also has the firepower to render a mass-extinction event on the planet via raw firepower.


Page 108

Merrik was a trained Adeptus Astartes with long years of experience, and he had an advantage that the orks did not - the ability to strategise beyond the immediate moment. Orks were vicious fighters, but largely creatures of instinct, and seldom thought beyond the next exchange in any confrontation.

On the rear of the warbuggy was a pintle-mounted flamethrower, fuelled by the same promethium tank that powered the vehicle's engine.

Commentary on Ork tactical/strategic capabilities vs that of a Marine, and a flamer linked to the same fuel tank of the vehicle engine. (note not using squig fuel this time.)

Page 109

By the time he caught sight of the enormous monstrosity, the massive mechanized walker was already bearing down on him, opening fire with bunker-busting rounds that hammered into his power armour, knocking him to the ground.

Merrik moaned, struggling to regain his footing before the walker opened fire again. He only needed a moment's grace.

Merrik's power armor takes "bunker-busting" firepower from what I take to be an Ork Dreadnought briefly, but the second salvo pretty much wipes him out.


Page 121

Against the chitinous armour of a tyranid, even a relative juvenile such as the warrior who faced them now, the bolts were all but ineffective. Aramus cursed himself for not bringing hellfire rounds to the planet's surface - with a mutagenic acid vial at the bolt's core, the rounds would at least have stood a chance of doing some significant damage - but no one had anticipated the presence of the Great Devourer's offspring lurking on Calderis.

This implies normal bolter rounds are supposed to be ineffective against Tyranids. Rather odd since other novels have shown quite often that explosive bolter rounds do quite well against 'Nids. Maybe they're using some sort of solid, non exploding core ammo? We dont know what the non-Hellfire ammo is, so gauging the effect isn't easy.

Page 122

The tyranid was barely mature, having only recently hatched, but was already a fearsome monster. Tyranids passed quickly through their juvenile stages, and in short order were already all but unstoppable killing machines.

Unsurprisingly, Tyranids "grow" quickly. I suspect these might be custom-made as infiltration organisms, the way hormagaunts can be made to reproduce/breed independently on planet to create a ready-made insurrection force, rather than those short lived-highly specialized warrior forms deployed on planet by a Hive Fleet.


Page 122

"Aramus!" shouted Captain Thule, his power armour already dotted with toxic-laden spines that had buried themselves in the ceramite, but none of which had, as yet, pierced through into the flesh beneath. 'Flanking manoeuvre.'

Aramus didn't waste time or breath in acknowledgment, but sprang into motion. He had a frag grenade in one fist, his bolter in the other, and while he wished fervently that he had heavier weaponry, or perhaps even a krak grenade or two..

Tyranid spines penetrating Thule's power armor. We also discover that frag grenades are ineffective against 'Nids - at least some kinds.

Page 123

Aramus waited until Thule had pulled away, then lobbed a frag grenade at the warrior. The grenade hit the ground between the tyranid's rear limbs, and the resulting blast was directed upwards into the warrior's lower body. The shrapnel pitted and cracked the tyranid's chitin here and there, with an evil-smelling ichor oozing out from between the cracks, but aside from some minor surface damage the warrior seemed not to be significantly injured.

Still, they had succeeded in cracking the tyranid's armoured shell, and if they could do that, it meant that they might be able to do real harm to the body within, as well.

Grenade did very little damage. These are some damn tough 'Nids.

PAge 125

Had Thule and Aramus been properly armed, a contest against a single tyranid warrior would have been no contest at all. Enough well-placed hellfire rounds and a krak grenade would have been sufficient to fell the inhuman beast. But the Blood Ravens had come to Calderis armed for a conflict with orks, little expecting a need for the weaponry and tactics developed over the long years of the Tyrannic Wars.

Kind of surprising. From my admittedly limited recollection these 'Nids are way tougher than I remember other Warriors or such being, yet Thule and Aramus consider this Normal. Whatever strain of 'Nid they face in their region of space must be insanely durable.

Also a note showing one of the Drawbacks of the MArine approach to war - they tend to specialize, which while making them highly effective against certain enemies can leave them under-equipped to face others.

[Malagar]

Page 36

Thule narrowed his eyes, regarding the Librarian closely. The captain and the Librarian were never openly adversarial, both faithful to the Emperor and to the Chapter, but their very different personalities often seemed to put them at odds. But perhaps it was more than just their conflicting personalities that set Thule's nerves on edge. Since the days of Lucius in M.38, when the loss of the entire Fifth Company had led to their successors forever after being named ''The Fated'', the Secret Masters of the Chapter had seen to it that the Fifth had fewer Librarians than other Companies. So while the other Blood Ravens Companies had a far greater percentage of Librarians than any other Chapter - in the First Company, in fact, there were two entire combat squads of Librarians, which would have been unthinkable in any other Codex Chapter - in ''The Fated'' there were a bare handful, Niven among them.

the 5th only has "two" squads of Libarians, and that this is a small number relative to other Companies. Are these squads part of the company size, or in addition to it? This could imply that either they have fewer Tactical Marines than other Chapters (If they are Codex) or that they go over Codex chapter limits somewhat with all their extra Librarians.

this doesn't even consider the detached librarian type slike Jonas from DoW ascension.

You either misquoted or misread that part, it says that the First company has two squads of Librarians, witch is implied to be a lot, even for the Blood Ravens.
Meanwhile the Fifth has "a bare handful" witch I'm guessing is at most half a squad.

[Connor MacLeod]

Next to last update for the Dow2 novel. I've also got one more update, the short story 'Altar of Cyrene' which I realized I had from several years back. Teleros before he vanished off the thread (the guy who did the excellent Lensman analysis) actually typed it up for me and I've had it in my pm box for some time. So you can thank him for that and the discovery of the ten tonne mass driver projtectiles. I also finally thing I might have finalized the Cyrene calcs I have done (and re-done) periodically.. turns out it echoes the longer timeframe from Index Astartes. Which is probably just as well, as when you factor i inefficiencies (especially for melting the crust over a longer period of time) I imagine the energy input will be many times greater, so the increase in timeframe probably is useful in compensating for that. Even for magically delicious 40K, there is such a thing as 'too much' firepower.

I probably won't do any other short story (like Trials of Isador) but you never know. I once never said I'd do Realms of Chaos, but I did

anyhow, here we go!


Page 126-127

The spinefist bound to the warrior's other mid-limb fired another salvo of diamond-hard spines, which at this close range grouped together over an area no more than a few centimetres in diameter at the centre of Thule's abdomen, just below his sternum. The spines buried themselves in the ceramite, some of them a centimetre or more deep, and together sent cracks spidering through the outer skin of the captain's armour.

Thule heard Aramus's bolter firing, again and again, saw the muzzle-flashes from the corner of his eye, but already his vision was becoming obscured as the barbed strangler continued to grow and wrap itself around Thule's helmet.

The warrior swung down its massive rending claw, punching directly at the worst of the spidering cracks on Thule's abdomen, once, then again, and on the third impact the claw punched through the cracked ceramite and buried itself in the muscle and soft tissue within.
.

A barrage of close range spinefist rounds (striking an area no more than a few centimetres in diamter) weaken Thule's power armour enough that three claw blows penetrate the weak spot. Also note that Spcae Marine armour here is implied to be more than a few centimetres thick - at least for the ceramite layer.

Page 129

His own enhanced strength augmented by the servos of his power armour, Sergeant Aramus strained as he lifted the massive bulk of the felled tyranid warrior from off Captain Thule, and with a grunt of effort shoved it aside. Having already confirmed to his satisfaction that the tyranid was no further threat, Aramus knelt by Thule's side as soon as the warrior flopped lifeless onto the cold rockcrete of the warehouse floor.

According to IA4 a Tyranid Warrior masses aroudn 2.5 Tonnes, giving us a rough idea of the weight Aramus lifted off Thule's body, although "lifting" seems to involve only partly lifting it off the ground rather than totally, and then pushing it aside, as opposed ot (for example) l ifting it over his head.

Of course there are different kinds of strength and lifting, so speculating from this is probably unwise, but it gives us a rough idea of the strength of a Space Marine in full power armor. It can also be chalked up to variations in power armor, Marines, or even Chapters.

Page 135

Twelve aspirants. All of these weeks of fighting and bleeding - and dying, Cyrus reminded himself - and all they had to show for it were twelve aspirants. Would even a single one of them survive the Blood Trials that would follow, much less the examinations and initiations required to become a Blood Raven?

Cyrus seems less than enthused to retrieve a mere 12 Aspriants. That suggests that the usual Blood Ravnes intake is higher (which it shoudl be, given the implantation process and such from the previous novels.)

Page 139

The runes on Avitus's visor display showed green for each of the seven Space Marines in his Devastator squad, and his auspex showed that all seven had withdrawn from the wall and were moving towards the west, the two teams angling together, one northwest and the other south-west, so that their paths converged somewhere near the city's centre.

Visor display and auspex provide valuable data on Avitus' squad, their status and locations.

Page 140-141

The mind of an Astartes was a highly trained tool, but one that had to be kept properly honed in order to maintain full functioning. The catalepsean node, one of the nineteen organs implanted in the Space Marine's body during the process of initiation, regulated the body's circadian rhythms and responses to sleep deprivation, and with it an Astartes was capable of remaining awake for long periods while at the same time getting the benefits of slumber by switching off different regions of the brain sequentially. It could not substitute for proper sleep entirely - even a Space Marine had to sleep eventually - but it meant that a Space Marine could survive long periods in the field while never losing awareness of their surroundings.

As a consequence, the minds of even the most highly trained Adeptus Astartes were not acquainted with long periods of inactivity, used instead to a near-constant influx of stimulation and information. When a Space Marine entered a state of suspended animation, however, their body regulated at the threshold between life and death by their sus-an membrane, the brain received virtually no stimulus, not even the low-level rapid eye movement activity experienced in dreams. Thus deprived of stimulus, the mind of a Space Marine in suspended animation would, when revived, temporarily find it difficult once more to process the cascade of new information flooding in. And in the case of a psyker like Librarian Niven, who experienced the world with a greater number of senses than the average Space Marine, the process of acclimatising once more to their world beyond their skulls could be an even more difficult one.

Intresting info on the mental aspects of Space Marine life and activity.


Page 145

Just as the encircling greenskins closed the distance to the ring of defenders, a bolt of blinding blue las-fire lanced down out of the sky and drew a line of screaming death across a dozen or more orks. Before the orks could even look up to the heavens to see whence this burning agony came, a torrent of metal storm frag rounds ripped into the orks on the opposite side of the defenders' ring, the high-explosive charges detonating on impact and sending the deadly fragmentation casings flying out in all directions.

Gunship assault on Orks. Lascannon shot raked across a "dozen or more" orks, although whether it just burned them (and to what degree) or sliced them apart or blew them apart we don't know. Also "metal storm frag rounds" deployed against the orks.

Page 153

And, according to protocol, in ultimate command of all of the squads who sailed on board her? A Space Marine less than half his life, and already Aramus held in his hands the lives - and deaths, potentially - of more than three dozen Blood Ravens, including the Scouts in the count. And if one included the dozen aspirants culled from Calderis, or the hundred or so Chapter serfs, or the countless servitors who manned the ship…

Once more we get a head count of Blood Ravens forces in this scenario.

Page 154

"Yes," Gordian answered, "and no. There are any number of lacerations, breakages, and contusions, but most importantly there is a degree of systemic organ failure. In particular, the captain's oolitic kidney has been badly damaged, rendering it incapable of filtering out the tyranid toxins coursing through his body."
"So the captain will die," Aramus said, his tone flat and effectless.

"No," Gordian replied, "'and yes. Were his oolitic kidney functioning, his body might in time recover from its other injuries, but if not, the toxins would kill him in short order. I have placed the captain in a sarcophagus, which will maintain his body in its present state, almost indefinitely."

Again we see that Spcae Marine organs have their limits, due to battle damage, other kinds of damage, etc.

PAge 159

It was a mark of the strength of the Blood Ravens Librarium, and of the prowess of the Librarians it produced, that a mere Lexicanium could serve on a Space Marine strike cruiser as her astropath. In other Chapters, Niven knew, only Librarians who had advanced to the rank of Epistolary were able to master the ability to project their minds across warp space itself, a feat that no normal psyker could endure without first undergoing the tortuous ritual of Soul Binding. Niven often wondered if the Blood Ravens had such powerful Librarians because they recruited such naturally gifted psykers, or if they recruited such gifted psykers because they had powerful Librarians. Or, in fact, if it even mattered at all.

A possible benchmark showing how Blood Ravens Librarians rank compared to others. This may suggest that some of the far out abilities we've seen in the DoW novels attributed to Psykers aren't normal. (Then again we saw similar shit like this in the Deathwatch novels, but Deatwatch tned to recruit exceptional invididuals as well...)

Page 161-162

"I have requested that Lexicanium Konan send word to the Scientia Est Potentia of our plans," Aramus said, "along with the details of our undertaking on Calderis and the disposition of Captain Thule's recruitment efforts.
"
"However," Librarian Niven said, raising a hand, "the Lexicanium has reported to me" - he paused meaningfully, emphasizing the fact that while Lexicanium Konan acted as astropath for the Armageddon, and was therefore beneath the Commander at Sail's chain of command, as a servant of the Blood Ravens' Librarium he was subject to Librarian Niven's personal authority -"that he has experienced some difficulty making astropathic contact out of the Aurelia sub-sector. It remains to be discovered whether the attempted communication will, or will not, reach the fortress-monastery as intended."

"If I may," Admiral Forbes put forward, "I can task the astropaths onboard the Sword of Hadrian to relay your message through Imperial Navy astropathic channels, as well. Perhaps they'll have better luck."

The two interesting things are: Tyranid forces seem to be making it difficult to get signals out of the subsector, but not neccesarily screwing up the subsecotr itself. The Sword of Hadrian (the Light cruiser) has its own astropaths (plural) and the Navy itself has its owm astropathic channels (Relays, networks, etc.) This may suggest there are government, military, civiilan, and even Astartes/Inquisitorial "channels" for communication, lending quite a bit of complexity to the astropathic network.


Page 163

"Gentlemen, I'm sure that noble Astartes have no need to concern themselves with such matters, but speaking as an officer in the Imperial Navy who has spent nearly two years seconded as adjutant to a sub-sector governor who has no more pressing business for three Dauntless-class light cruisers than to send us on trifling errands like ferrying his distant relatives and most generous donors out of harm's way, I am bored. And the thought of an action with the promise of actual action to it is an all but irresistible one."

Mention of a sub-sector governmor with 3 Light cruisers assigned to his personal authority it seems. We don't know whether or not this represents the sum total of the naval strength in the Aurelian subsector, or not. That only 3 light cruisers and some escrots are in the sector wouldn't surprise me though, the novel makes it seem like the place is a backwater. On the other hand its unlikely that they could afford to send 3 ligth cruisers to a minor world for such a minor task if it was a significant part of their fleet detachment, either (escorts would work jsut as well.)


Page 165

After little more than a day of travelling through the immaterium, the Armageddon shuddered through the transition from warp to normal space, and the verdant globe of Typhon Primaris hung before them like an emerald against the black velvet of night. Shortly after the strike cruiser emerged into real space, they received confirmation that Admiral Forbes's flagship the Sword of Hadrian had followed, and together the two craft crawled at sublight speeds towards their destination.

Typhon Primaris is described several times as being adjacent (in space) to CAlderis, so we might infer say 10 LY or so distance. we're not talking much speed wise either way.. ~1000-7000C maybe depending on the number of light years you figure on, but it is also worth noting that the activity fucking with astropathic communication can be disrupting stable warp travel as well. Besides, it's not the first time that inter sector/subsector warp travel being so slow relative to other cases has been noted (it happens all the time in Eisenhorn and Ravenor, for example. This example is downright speedy compared to some of those.)

Page 166

In fact, Aramus would not have been surprised to discover that the majority of ships that had appeared in the skies above the jungle world in past centuries had been those of the Blood Ravens, who visited it as a recruiting world, just as they did the other Aurelian worlds, Calderis and Meridian. But like Calderis, there was no outpost-monastery on Typhon Primaris; unlike Meridian's, where Aramus and Thaddeus had been brought after their Blood Trials two decades before. There wasn't a sufficiently large population on Typhon to justify a permanent presence for the Chapter, and so instead periodic visits, once a generation or so, were deemed more than sufficient for the Blood Ravens' purposes.

Calderis and Typhon Primaris' populations seem to be too small to justify permanant blood Raven outposts (despite Calderis implied to have millions.) They only justify visits every few decades (although recruiting from throughout the subsector balances out the slow intake, methinks.)

Page 169-170

Typhon Primaris was sparsely populated, no more than a few hundred thousand hardy souls who dwelt in the ruins of their former glory.

Smaller than Calderis, but not much more it would seem.


page 174

"Well, ma'am, it appears that since we transitioned back to normal space, the astropaths are having difficulty making contact with the rest of the Aurelia Battlegroup. Or with Meridian, for that matter."

I guess there is more of an Aurelian battlegroup than 3 ligth cruisers. It aslso implies that there is a fairly short period of transit time for messages between the distant ships or the subsector capital.


Page 175

The admiral only hoped that the difficulty in astropathic communication was due merely to some sort of vagary in warp topography - perhaps the empyrean equivalent of a seasonal squall if such a thing existed - and might pass quickly.

Because if that was not the case, and the interference did not pass, then it was highly suggestive of only one other cause that Forbes knew, one other circumstance that affected all astropathic communications.

Our plucky light cruiser captain speculates on the nature of the warp interference.

Page 180

And while Blood Ravens did not make use of the heaviest equipment often employed by other Chapters, still Thaddeus knew that he would not complain were a Predator Destructor or two to be offered him. Several centimetres of forged adamantium between him and an onslaught of tyranids would not be something he would readily refuse.

Something tells me that the hull of a PREdator is thicker than that, even if we didnt have forge world stats to go by.


Page 181

One of his implants, the preomnor, was a predigestive stomach capable of processing a wide variety of poisonous or otherwise indigestible material - if he so chose, Aramus could consume and digest the scaffolding and the cushions and all, without any concern but that he might receive a few splinters along the way. And if a Space Marine should happen to ingest something that the preomnor was incapable of processing, the neuroglottis implanted at the back of his mouth would allow him to detect the fact in time for him to spit it out before swallowing any of it.

More space marine biology. I swear almost every novel has to devote time to explaining what the damn organs do.

Page 185

He pointed to the markings carved in the wood of the frame. "Those aren't Chaos symbols. I don't know what they are, but it doesn't hurt my eyes to look on them, like every other Chaos symbol I've ever seen."

Chaos symbology is always distinctive by carrying a noticable physical/psychological effect on the person viewing them. Hurting the eyes or mkaing them hard to stare at is one common example, but others can occur.

Page 194

Voire's auspex had mapped the terrain, and their current position was less than half an hour's travel from the point at which Thaddeus had encountered the tyranids.

..

Voire indicated the map of the area displayed on his auspex.

Mapping function of the auspex.

Page 203

Mycetic spores, and their effects on living creatures, were perhaps one of the most insidious aspects of a tyranid invasion. Typically released into the atmosphere in the middle stages of the invasion, mycetic spores grew rapidly on contact with any organic material. Reproducing at an alarming rate, they would send rhizomes burrowing deep into the host's organic tissue, releasing enzymes that began to break down the organic matter itself, rendering it gradually into raw biomass. In essence, the affected plants and animals were digested alive within their own skins, long before their bodies were ever consumed. All that remained was for a tyranid ripper swarm to come along and consume the resultant biomass, which would be eventually converted into yet more tyranids.

Mycetic spores. They not only seem to be drop pods and orbital bombardment weapons, but they also seem to be a means of deploying the more insidious forms of Tyrnaid biowarfare. Not only is it yet another avenue of attack on living beings defending the planet, but a means of preparing the organic matter for consumption and storage.


Page 208

Battle-Brother Barabbas didn't waste breath in replying, but swung the barrel of his meltagun around to spray its heat on the gaunts nearest the sergeant. But even the heat of the melta wasn't enough to destroy the hormagaunts with a single blast, and Barabbas was forced to chase the quickly moving terrors with his aim to do any real damage at all.

There had been perhaps a dozen of the gaunts when they'd first attacked and taken Philetus down beneath their flesh hooks and scything talons. Now, there were no more than a half-dozen of the monsters left. But reducing the brood's number by half had cost the Ninth Squad, and dearly.

Meltagun blast cannot affect a dozen gaunts simultaneously.


Page 213

...the sergeant threw aside his heavy bolter, and wrapped his own armoured arms around the hormagaunt's body. Clasping his hands together, the sergeant squeezed for all he was worth, his own enhanced strength redoubled by the servos in his power armour.
...

With a final surge, the sergeant squeezed his arms together in a vice-like embrace, and the chitinous carapace of the hormagaunt cracked open like an egg. The hormagaunt let out a final keening squeal, and then fell silent, slumping forward onto the still-prostrate Avitus.

With some effort, a Power armored marine cracked the carapace of a gaunt. Implied that the power armour servos "doubled" Avitus' Astartes strength.

Page 215

On his way back to where Barabbas stood the sergeant fired off a stream of shells at another gaunt, this one already wounded enough that it collapsed into paroxysms as the mutagenic acid began to burn.

Barabbas looked up from the severed nodule in his hand. "No," he answered, smiling behind his visor. "There's no trace of mutagen in it. You got it free before the hellfire shells worked their magic on it."

Avitus nodded. "Then we may just have what we came for." He fired another volley of hellfire shells at a hormagaunt who'd come racing towards Barabbas. "Take a chemical profile and transmit it up to the
Armageddon."

"Already in progress, sergeant," Barabbas answered, as he keyed the commands into his auspex. "With the chemical profile of the biotoxin, Apothecary Gordian would be able to begin work on an antitoxin for the poisons that kept Captain Thule at death's door."

The Auspex can get a chemical profile of tyranid biotoxin, which can be relayed via auspex back up to a ship in orbit.

note again the Blood Ravens making rampant use of hellfire shells.


Page 217

..spore chimneys, cone-shaped structures hundreds of metres tall, belching mycetic spores into the atmosphere to travel wherever the winds carried them. They were broodhives, in which new monsters were birthed to range out over the land to kill and consume. Sunlight glistened off reclamation pools, miniature lakes of enzymes and acids, in which the bodies of both tyranid victims and tyranids who had outlived their usefulness were rendered down into raw, consumable biomass. There were even the beginnings of capillary towers, which when fully grown would stretch high into the thermosphere, mind-bogglingly tall organic structures through which the biomass of the reclamation pools would eventually be carried up into orbit and transferred to the bellies of spacefaring bio-forms.

This was no initial outbreak, nor was it an infestation that might still be quelled. This was full-scale tyranoforming, the final phase of a tyranid invasion.

The tyranoforming has begun, and in a reliatlvey short period of time (Days. maybe. Certainly less than weeks.)


Page 219

Sergeant Aramus had sent word that the squads would be retrieving their fallen from the battlefield, and assuming that they were brought back to the Armageddon in time, Gordian believed it likely he could still retrieve the gene-seed from their bodies. But the progenoid glands would be at the outer limits of their viability by that point, and any delay would render them useless. And there would be another generation of Blood Ravens lost to the Chapter.

Apparently once a Battle Brother is dead there is a limited timespan in which gene-seed may be recovered before it ceases to be viable. This probably explains the use of special containers (often stasis) to contain them, even in the field.

Page 223

She was sure that Governor Vandis would be less sanguine about receiving the penniless and uncultured refugees of Typhon Primaris than he was about the few hundred wealthy Calderians currently making their way to Meridian. But Admiral Forbes wasn't about to stand idly by doing nothing if there was a chance to save at least a few innocent lives, at no cost or risk to her own vessel.

Forbes is a better person than the ASshole governor (saving only a few hundred rich fucks through three light cruisers.) The hilarious bit of grimdark is you have to wonder what else might be going on in the subsector where those 3 cruisers (or even several others) might have helped. Some Dark Eldar raid or Chaos raid maybe?


Page 228

"Between the astropaths on the Sword of Hadrian, and their counterparts on the Blood Ravens strike cruiser, we have independent verification from more than half a dozen sources."

"counterparts" on the Strike cruiser? I thought ther was only the LExicanum? Unless they mean Niven maybe. That would mean HAdrian has maybe 4-5 Astropaths.

Page 229

Aramus met Thaddeus's gaze, and shook his head. "While I disagree with Sergeant Avitus on the capabilities of PDFs in general - and on the qualities of the Meridian forces in particular - I'm forced to agree that a tyranid invasion is almost certainly beyond the scope of their abilities. And that's assuming that they even discover the infestation in time to respond at all."

Thaddeus scowled, but knew that Aramus was right. Meridian was a hive world, home to billions of inhabitants. Every square kilometre of the planet was developed to some degree, with habs - enormous cities that stretched from horizon to horizon - covering most of its surface. There were park districts, isolated patches of greenery enjoyed only by the wealthy and powerful - like Aramus's own high-hab family - but a low-hab dweller like Thaddeus had once been would never dream that such places could exist. If a tyranid mycetic spore were to drift to earth and take root in one of the immense ''gardens'', rarely visited and tended only by servitors, or else infest the underhive levels where the authorities never ventured, then the tyranid infestation might progress considerably before those in power even knew it had begun.

The "Hive world" of MEridia. I suspect it is one fo those Verghast/Gudrun/Thracian Primaris style "intermediate" Hive worlds that probably encompasses tens of billions, although they say "billions" so it may be single digit, odd as thay may be. Hell double digit billions seems rather odd for a planet supposedly "developed" across its entire surface, but we relaly dont konw HOW it is developed, and it really isnt the polluted, indsutrial shithole the way Armageddon or Necromunda are - there still seems to be significant vegitation.

also interesting they think the PDF of Meridia might be useful after all.

Page 235

... we are not discussing a planetary evacuation. There isn't time for that many runs down into the gravity well and up again, for one thing, and not enough resources to house them all on board, for another. What we are talking about is preserving the life of a scant few hundred Typhonians who, but for our intervention, would very quickly find themselves in the belly of the Great Devourer itself. The rest of the Aurelia Battle-group is already en route to Meridian as we speak, and we should be able to join them within a day or two, at the outside, by which time we'll be in a position to lead an attack against any and all orbital elements of the tyranid fleet, and to provide cover for Sergeant Aramus and his Blood Ravens as they wage the ground war."

Again we get mention that the fleet in orbit cannot evacuate the entire planet, but get explicit mention that they a.) don't have enough time ot make trips to retrieve everoyne and b.) don't have enough facilities/life support onboard to maintain them for the time it takes to get back to Meridian.

WE also learn it takes a day or two to reach Meridian in current conditions. Depending on how far away the place is (10-100 LY maybe, given we're still within a subsector but probably more distant than Typhon Primaris) we're talking thousands, maybe low tens of thousands of c (still faster than Eisenhorn/Ravenor.)

Lastly we receive yet naother mention about the rest of Aurelia Battlegroup, which apparently is a force large enough to fend off a sizalbe Tyranid fleet.


Page 238

When he pictured the world of his birth, his mind conjured images of the green and growing land of his earliest memories, a peaceful and pastoral world of farms and farmers that provided produce for a dozen other worlds. But having seen the stain of tyranid infestation on other worlds - on Prosperon, now on Typhon Primaris, and on too many others to count - he knew that in its death throes Erinia had no longer been green, and no longer peaceful nor pastoral. It had been overrun by the offspring of the Great Devourer, just as this world was now being overrun before his eyes.

This scene is also notable in that an Astartes expresses a sort of.. regret.. for the fact he loses his family to another Tyranid attack, and attempts to protect the Navy's recovery operation as long as he can from the Tyranids as a way of making amends. It's one of the few interesting things about this novel - we get many different Astartes perspectives on how they view their human siblings - some like Avitus have contempt and disgust for them, while others like Aramus value them. We also see variations in attitude amongst the various Astartes as well - Avitus again being a complete hardass whereas Thaddeus encourages banter and camaraderie in his troops. It reminds me a bit of "Assault on Black REach" in this way, and while this isn't a fantastic novel, it is one of the better novels out there, especially considering its a novelization of the DAwn of War series.

Page 248

Thanks to their catalepsean node, Space Marines did not truly need sleep, the implant enabling them to rest half of their brain for brief periods while maintaining awareness with the other half. But even vaunted Adeptus Astartes were required to succumb to the circadian rhythms of sleep from time to time, lest they suffer impaired efficiency, or even the onset of personality disorders. And while during the four hours per night in which he lay in a fugue he did not dream, as such, still a Space Marine could find it difficult to slumber if his mind still raced with the concerns of the day.

This runs slightly to Captain Ardias' beliefs in Fire Warrior, but each Marine is different, and some of them are more zealous than others

Page 253

In only a matter of hours they would reach Meridian itself. Perhaps an answer would present itself to Niven by then.

Advancing at sublight speeds, the journey to the planet Meridian occupied most of the remainder of the day, and it was not until after the evening prayers that Sergeant Aramus summoned the squad leaders to the command deck for their briefing. The Chapter serfs who tended the command deck servitors reported that vox communication with the planet's surface was expected at any moment as the Armageddon came within range of the planet-side vox-casters.

The ship had just shortly emerged from the Warp, so the times given indicate the distance traveled at sublight from the edge of the system to the planet. Again it takes them less than a day to cross in-system distances from the point they emerge fro the warp to reach the planet, although here they imply it is far less than a day, suggesting more towards the upper end of my previous calcs than the lower.

Page 256

Governor Vandis was one of those who had never faced danger first hand. He had heard of the myriad threats to the Imperium, of course, but even having risen in the Imperial bureaucracy to such an elevated post, he had not experienced any of those threats himself. And like one who sees endless images of distant horrors which have never once been visited on him, Vandis had like so many others become inured to the dangers surrounding him on all sides. While he probably was in possession of more facts about threats xenos and otherwise than the average hab-dweller on Meridian, he did not comprehend what those facts portended, and did not feel the terror he should have felt.

Once more we see there are places in the Imperium where you can go years, decades, or longer without facing a horrible world destroying threat Probably longe really. The imperium could not funciton if every part of it were constnatly at war - there would be no trade, no taxation, no ability to manufacture, no time to reproduce - nothing.

"In the Grim Darkness of the Future there is only WAR" indeed.

Page 258

Avitus bristled. "Your pardon," he said, making the apology sound like a curse. "But I'll say again that we could get greater and more immediate results if we discarded concerns about collateral damage…"
Aramus held up his hand. "Let's not use euphemisms, sergeant. You're saying, rather, that we could kill the tyranids faster and easier if we didn't mind killing a few million innocent civilians in the process. Isn't that it?"

Wiping out the tyranids "without concern of collateral damage" would kill "a few million" civiiains in the process. How or why this is th case, we dont know. But that's aot of people. And again it's nice seeing Space Marines who remember they are fucking human. (Still Avitus may be an ass, but he at least has his reasons for being an ass, and they are ones people can understand.)

[Connor MacLeod]

More updates. I'm going to finish off DoW 2 because I want to. enjoy



Page 263

Librarian Niven had explained that the hive mind of the tyranid fleet was being reinforced by ground-based tyranid vanguard creatures, specialized variants of the zoanthrope type; brains who acted in concert to extend the shadow in the warp, strengthening the interference. With the fleet so far removed from Meridian, there was no other explanation for the fact that the shadow should fall so far. Niven realised only now that the zoanthropes glimpsed on Typhon Primaris must have been fulfilling a similar role, but knew that the jungle world was already too far gone for the knowledge to have done the Blood Ravens any good.

..

If the vanguard creatures could be located and eliminated, then the interference caused by the shadow in the warp would be lessened, perhaps sufficiently for the Armageddon to get an astropathic call out to Blood Ravens elements outside the Aurelia sub-sector. If contact could be made, then reinforcements could be requested, and once they arrived Meridian might still be saved. It was too late for Typhon Primaris, but perhaps if additional Blood Ravens forces arrived in time then no other world in the Aurelia sub-sector needed share the doomed jungle world's fate.

We learn the tyranids employ a variant tactic again - using their Zoanthropes as psychic nodes to exten the Shadow and psychic abilities on the ground. The change it seems comes in that the Zoanthropes allow them to fuck with communications and such to a degree that would only be possible if the fleet were close by.

One wonders what drawback the Zoanthropes doing this must engender. We'll learn s hortly.

Page 264

The grass underfoot was lush and verdant, and the trees and hedges that marched from one side of the immense garden zone to the other in their serried ranks were in full leaf, emerald bright. In inclement weather a force shield extended from atop the walls of the zone, sheltering the plants within, but when the sun shone and the winds died down, the garden zone was open to the grey skies above, to absorb as much sunlight as possible. It must have been a sunny, cloudless day when the mycetic spores of the tyranid invasion drifted down from above, settling here in this little spot of green and taking root. With so much organic material at hand, the spores would have reproduced and grown at an alarming rate, perhaps explaining why this garden appeared to serve as one of the key loci of the invasion.

Once again this "hive world" seems to be strangely habitable compared to other shitholes (Like Necromunda.) WE also learn that the hive has a "force shield" to protect its gardens (but presumably not strong enough to resist military attack, else they would be used.)

Page 269

The rank and file of a tyranid invasion fleet were mindless creatures, without any independent thought or will of their own. It was only with the guiding influence of the collective minds which directed their movements that the tyranids were any threat at all. Without the beasts who relayed the synapse commands of the hive mind to the lesser forms, the tyranids would be nothing more than mindless beasts, lacking even the appetites and instincts that now drove them.

The synapse beasts that Thaddeus's squad would seek were zoanthropes, close cousins to the vanguard creatures who it was believed were responsible for the blanketing interference of the shadow in the warp. Unlike the vanguard creatures, though, zoanthropes whose psychic potential was geared entirely towards promulgating the warp shadow, the zoanthropes that Thaddeus sought were intended for the battlefield. They possessed not only the power to direct the movements of their hive siblings, but also the ability to fight their enemy directly with claws, teeth, and awesome psychic powers.

Basics of Tyranid organization and structure, such as it was. Synapse creatures are "officers" for the lesser (and more animal) basic forms.

Also comment on different "kinds" of Zoanthropes - ones optimized for maintaining the warp interference, and others designed for battlefield use...

Page 270

"Dow!" he called to the battle-brother who stood atop the roof of the storage facility a few dozen metres away. "Target those buildings and fire," Avitus snarled.

"Right, sir," Dow said, and fired a ribbon of burning plasma from his gun at the buildings before them.
They'd had no sign of the enemy, and the lack of engagement was wearing on Avitus's nerves. Destroying a few hundred square kilometres of farm and industrial zones served to improve his mood slightly, but it wasn't enough.

"Eyes open, squad," Avitus said, lobbing another fire-bomb into the gouge carved out by Dow's plasma beam.

Flamethrower like plasma gun with at least "a few dozen metres" range, as well as Avitus noting his squad is responsible for destroying "a few hundred square kilometres" of farm and industirla zone (although much of it seems to involve setting shit on fire and letting it burn.)


Page 271-272

Some of the inhabitants, hearing reports of the xenos activity to the east, had already fled west toward Zenith, abandoning hive and hab as they sought refugee in the soaring towers of the capital city. The first zone that the Ninth Squad had come to torch had been a farming region, with huge vats of algae and enzymes in culture that could then be reconstituted into the foodstuffs consumed by the lower-hab dwellers of the planet, those who couldn't afford organic foodstuffs imported from off-world. The algae vats were sickly green, repulsive in appearance and even worse in smell, but the worst thing about them was that they were raw, easily processed biomass, such as the tyranids thrived upon. If the vats were still standing when the ripper swarms of the invading tyranids arrived, they would be able to consume it in an eye-blink, preparing it immediately for conversion into yet more tyranids.

Avitus and his Devastator squad had been given the task of removing this asset from the enemy's path. That is, they had been instructed to burn the whole thing to dust. And not just the farm zone itself, but all the buildings and structures surrounding it, kilometres deep and hundreds of kilometres across. Just as firefighters would create a firebreak - cutting down all the trees in the path of a wildfire, employing the axe to spare them the flames - so too did the Blood Ravens have to destroy at times in order to preserve. And there were no Blood Ravens better suited to destruction than a Devastator squad, and no Devastators more qualified for the task than Avitus's Ninth.

Those inhabitants of the area who had not yet fled had, initially, been less than sanguine about the prospect of Imperial forces destroying their homes, their workplaces, everything they had ever known. They had stubbornly refused to accept that the safety of others' homes was worth the sacrifice of their own. Of course, though Avitus had been tempted to rip a few of the dissenters to pieces with his heavy bolter, Sergeant Aramus had ordered in no uncertain terms that the human inhabitants of Meridian were to be safeguarded, whatever the costs. And Aramus would, doubtless, have taken umbrage at Avitus mowing down a few innocent civilians simply in order to make his case with the civilians he didn't shoot.

Still, Avitus was not one to coddle, and barred from opening fire on the civilians, he'd simply repeated his order for them to vacate, giving them to the count of one hundred before the Ninth Squad opened fire. If any of the bleating civilians were still in harm's way when the first plasma and melta shots fired the area, it was only because they had refused to listen.

There was no enemy to fire upon… yet. But Avitus had so far managed to keep his temper in check by releasing any frustration he felt on the buildings.

First off: we learn this particular hive has methods in place to feed and sustain its populace if they cnanot afford alternate means of feeding themeslves (and something that might work if they suddenly lose trade, one might imagine.) Destroying such facilities runs the long term risk of starvation for that same population now unless they can easily rebuild - but if the 'Nids get a foothold on the planet and reproduce they're fucked in the short term, so it's the lesser of two evils.

Second: Avitus and his squad once again play wrecking crew, confirming the previous assessment broadly.

Third : We once again get a glimpse of the interpersonal skills Avitus is so well knonw for.

Page 278

But all of them, from the ripper swarms to the mighty carnifex, took their direction from the zoan-thrope, who passed along the synapse commands of the hive mind. It was a rare tyranid - like the tyrants and the warriors - who shared its own direct link with the hive mind. The other sibling creatures were ultimately and completely dependent on the psychic resonance of creatures like the zoanthrope. If the zoanthropes were removed from the field of battle, the number of effective combatants among the tyranids would drop precipitously. Tyranid tyrants could still operate on their own, of course, and tyranid warriors could act as psychic resonators on a smaller scale, effectively ''leading'' sibling creatures in close range around them, but the rank and file of the tyranid invasion would be incapacitated.

More on the synapse creatures.

Page 280

"Brandt, Marr," Thaddeus voxed to the two Blood Ravens nearest him, his voice scarcely above a whisper. The runes on the inside of Thaddeus's visor flashed green for both of them, signalling that they were listening. "I want to know what we're walking into, and that means we need aerial. You two hop one hundred metres ahead" - Thaddeus pointed with the barrel of his bolt pistol to the intersection that lay ahead of them, where the thoroughfare met another running north-south - "with Marr covering left, Brandt right. If you see anything, shoot it. We'll move ahead while you're airborne to give cover for your descent."

Assault marines making 100 metre hops again. Also the fact that they are moving to give cover to the hops implies the range corresponds roughly with the hops.

Page 281

"The rest of you advance on my mark," Thaddeus voxed to the others. "Takayo and Skander, cover the left approach. Kell, you're with me on the right."
Three runes flashed green.
Overhead, the two Blood Ravens on their jump packs were about to clear the obstructing habs and get their first glimpse of what lay beyond.
"Mark!" Thaddeus shouted, and drawing his chainsword raced forward towards the intersection.
Far overhead and ahead of them, Brandt opened fire with his bolt pistol, pouring hellfire rounds down. "I've got lictors," he voxed, as calm and collected as ever.
To the left, Marr was also firing, and somewhat more agitated than his battle-brother replied, "And I've got gaunts."

Marines firing in midair with bolt pistols on Tyranids on the ground.. again has implications about range.


Page 282

"Hellfire rounds?"
Cyrus nodded. "Special rounds developed in the early days of the Tyrannic Wars. You take out the core of a bolter round, replace it with thousands of needles full of mutagenic acid encased in a ceramic shell. The round is armour-piercing, just like a standard-issue bolt round, but instead of exploding on impact, the hellfire bleeds the acid inside the target's body, eating it from the inside out."

Hellfire rounds described. Once more they are implied to be standard issue rather than specialized for heavy weapons.

Page 283

"Our munitions were already strained after our action against the tyranid on Typhon Primaris, and we've got barely enough hellfire rounds to outfit the Blood Ravens on the ground. But even if we did have the rounds to spare, we wouldn't be able to adapt them for use in your autoguns as thrown slugs."

Again hellfire rounds for every marine. It's not surprising autoguns can't use them, since bolters are insanely oversized rounds.

Page 283

"Most of you are armed with lasguns. Standard M-G short pattern models, looks like. Now, a single blast from a lasgun isn't likely to do much damage to a tyranid's shell, but pour enough massed fire on and eventually it'll punch through. Any heavy weaponry you've got will just make matters that much simpler. Of course, you've got to know where to direct your fire."

Tyranid carapace is resistant to single lasgun shots, but multiple shots seem effective at getting through.



Page 287

The sergeant's reveries were interrupted by a ping from his hand-held auspex.
There was movement ahead. And if its mass was any indication, it was no gardening servitor or poisoned squirrel.

..

As the others clustered around him, the sergeant pointed to the stand of trees beyond which his auspex had detected motion
..

Aramus nodded, and tucked his auspex away.

Hand held auspex used to detect motion, and can differentiate between different kinds of targets.

Page 295

Martellus shook his head. "Not since Sergeant Aramus voxed that they had found and eliminated the clutch of vanguard zoanthropes." He paused, and then asked, "Does the interference of the warp shadow persist?
Should we notify the sergeant to continue the search for other vanguard creatures?"

The corners of Niven's mouth tugged up in a slight smile. "That won't be necessary, techmarine." He glanced over his shoulder at Lexicanium Konan, who stood behind him and a pace to the left. "The effects of Aramus's action appear to have been sufficient. Only moments ago - working in concert to boost our capacities - the Lexicanium and I were able successfully to make contact with a Blood Ravens battlegroup."
Techmarine Martellus's augmetic eyes flashed excitedly. "An entire battlegroup?"

Niven nodded. "The flagship is the Litany of Fury, under the command of Captain Gabriel Angelos of the Third Company."

Martellus considered the implications. The battle-barge Litany of Fury was home to the Blood Ravens' Third Company, commanded by Captain Angelos, as well as the Ninth, a reserve company composed mostly of Devastator squads and under the command of Captain Ulantus. Neither company was at full strength, given the recent actions on Tartarus and elsewhere, but even so two partial-strength companies of the Blood Ravens Chapter would be a welcome addition to the mere four squads currently fighting on Meridian, to say nothing of the tactical advantage offered by the battle-barge itself and the strike cruisers and other craft that would be following in its wake.

"Then Meridian is not lost, after all," Martellus said.

Here the smile on Librarian Niven's face began to fade, and he shook his head slightly. "It is far too soon to celebrate our victory, I'm afraid," he said. "Captain Angelos replies that he will make best speed to the Meridian system, but that his battle-group is a considerable distance from the Aurelia sub-sector. Her Navigators estimate a journey of weeks, perhaps even longer."

"Weeks?" Techmarine Martellus repeated.

Niven nodded. "If Meridian is to survive, then our forces on the ground must hold the line in a delaying action until Captain Angelos and his forces can arrive."

It seems that Roberson kept at least some aspects of Goto's stories in hid own - the Third and Ninth on the Litany, Ulantus, along with indirect mention of events going on. This indicates the Aurelian stuff takes place not long after.

On a more technical note, they made contact "moments" ago, suggesting a fairly realtime communication over multiple lightyears (if not tens of ligth years.. since it's far outside the subsector) Say between 10-100 LY or so within a few minutes (for a commuincation) would be at least a few million to a few tens of millions of c, for two powerful Libarians working in concert, but offset by the fact of the Tyranid interference. It could of course go higher.

On the other hand, it takes "weeks" for them if not longer. We dont know WHY it takes so long - quite possibly due to the 'Nid's presence, r they may just not have a good/reliable route to the system from where they are, but 10-100 LY in a 2-3 weeks is a few hundred c to a few thousand c, tops. This is more in line with the "Ravenor/Eisenhorn" FTL numbres, ironcially

Page 298

Forbes's face closed, and she nodded curtly. "We've carried away as many as we were able."

"Some thousands, by my count," Tarkus said.

"Three thousand, two hundred and five, to be exact," Admiral Forbes corrected.

Tarkus nodded, appreciatively. That the fleet admiral could recite with such exactitude the number of refugees spared the tyranids' wrath suggested that she valued their lives more highly than other Imperial Navy officers might have done, and that the three Blood Ravens who had been left behind on the jungle world had not died in vain.

Mention of the population pulled off Typhon Primaris. Less than 1% of the population, in all probability

Page 299

"As you know, we've been operating in imposed silence for days, all astropathic communication blocked by what appears to be a shadow in the warp, the result of the tyranid hive fleet encroaching upon the Aurelia sub-sector. But in the last hours the interference has lifted, at least in part, and the astropathic contact we've established with the Armageddon suggests it's your Sergeant Aramus who we have to thank for that."

Confirms that only "hours" have passed since astropathic contract was reestablished. Implies velocities at least of high tens of thousands of c for velocity, more probably hundreds of thousands at least.


Page 299

"We have also regained contact with the other two light cruisers which make up the Aurelia Battle-group," Admiral Forbes continued. "Their journey through the warp from Calderis to Meridian was more lengthy than anticipated, and they have only now emerged at the edge of the Meridian system. Now that they have been apprised as to the nature of the tyranid threat, I have ordered them to divert course immediately, to rendezvous with the Sword of Hadrian not in orbit above Meridian, as planned, but instead nearer to the location in interstellar space where our astropaths have estimated that the tyranid hive fleet will be found."

This confirms that Aurelia's battlegroup was just 3 light cruisers. Oddly they hav eno escorts. IF we assume the other subsectors had similar numbers there might be between 18-24 light cruisers.

Also the astorpathic prediction of the 'Nid emergence point.

Page 307

It had been only hours since Aramus and the surviving members of the Third Squad had been ferried back to Zenith on board Thunderhawk One, and with Thunderhawk Two making its final descent from the Armageddon the last stage of his emergency strategy was about to begin.

This would imply hours had passed since other events (EG like the arrival of the rest of Battlegroup Aurelia) arrived.

Page 331

Pyro-acidic batteries were among the most damaging weapons in the tyranid arsenal. Unless the battery were deflected on impact, the ship ran the risk of severe internal damage from the deadly bio-agents contained within.

Danger of Tyranid weapons. EG magic.

Page 333

"Starboard battery," Forbes said, "target rail guns on Razorfiend and fire when ready."
"Aye, aye," chorused the pair of officers who controlled the myriad of weapons housed in the starboard battery.

The Hadrian has railguns in hits weapons batteries, but it may not be the only weapon neccesaril.

Page 333

It wasn't as if Battlegroup Aurelia was a proper ''battlegroup'', not that that was any excuse. The name was just an informal tag for a convoy that was small by Imperial Navy standards to say the least, just three Dauntless-class light cruisers - her own Sword of Hadrian, Trajan's Shield under the command of Captain Grieve, and Captain Voronin's The Praetorian.

Further confirmation (IF we needed it) that 3 light cruisers formed "battlegroup" Aurelia, but it's nice knowing its not a proper battlegroup in Naval terms.

Page 336-337

It was a well known fact among the Imperial Navy that the gestalt consciousness of a hive - the psychic contact that pervaded the area around a tyrannic fleet - had the effect of distorting warp space for light years in every direction. As a result, travel via the warp became increasingly uncertain the nearer one came to a tyrannic fleet, and astropathic contact became unreliable, sometimes even completely impossible. On the larger scale, this was the cause for the shadow in the warp that had interfered with astrotelepathy in the Aurelia sub-sector these last days and weeks. On the smaller scale, though, and in combat situations in particular, this distortion could have a profoundly unsettling effect on astropaths, many of whom had been known to lose their minds completely in battles with tyranids.

However, just as the astropaths of the Sword of Hadrian and the Blood Ravens strike cruiser Armageddon had been able to triangulate the general position of the fleet by measuring in which direction the interference was strongest, so too was Admiral Forbes with three ships able to do much the same kind of trian-gulation to steer the Aurelia Battlegroup physically towards the fleet itself. In essence - and in a move that many in her command considered foolhardy and unnecessarily dangerous, Captain Grieve chief among them - Forbes had simply ordered the three light cruisers to travel towards the direction of greatest distortion, reasoning that the greater the distortion, the closer to the hive fleet they would be.

use of astropathic "tirangulation" to track the Tyranid fleet. We also get confirmation that the tyranids were fucking with warp travel as well as astrotelepathy in the subsector.

Page 337

When the battlegroup had emerged in normal space at the far edge of the Aurelia sub-sector, only days before, their long-range scans had immediately detected the vanguard drones of the tyranid fleet, proof positive that they were in close range of the fleet itself. To traverse the remaining distance by warp, though, was too foolhardy and dangerous, and so Forbes had ordered the ships to proceed at sublight speeds, making ready to engage with the fleet as soon as they made contact.

As they had closed with the hive fleet, they had quickly gotten a better read on their situation. It came as something of a relief to discover that this was not a full fleet, like the massive Leviathan, Behemoth, and Kraken Fleets of such dark memory, but was instead a splinter fleet, which must have split off from one of the larger bodies at some point in the past. But while it wasn't a full-fledged invasion fleet, it was still a not-inconsiderable threat, the hive ship herself a massive void-swimming gargantuan, attended by a myriad of other vessels ranging in size from the vanguard drone ships who acted as her scouts - small and only lightly armed, but possessing great speed and agility - to the massive Razorfiend cruisers and Kraken predators who swam in the hive ship's wake.

The Tyranid menace revealed at last. They apparently located it on the edge of the subsector "days" ago, and had to spend time closing at sublight speeds because of the dangers of warp travel. Pity we dont know the time or distances involved, although its clearly "warp" distances.

Page 338

By the time Sergeant Aramus reached the crash site at the heart of Meridian's capital city Zenith, the other two surviving members of his Third Squad, Battle-Brothers Cirrac and Siddig, were already there with fire suppression units, trying to keep the flames that burned on the outer hull of the governor's shuttle from igniting the promethium in its tanks and taking an entire city block up with it.

Shuttle fuel tanks going up (promethium) woudl take out an entire city block (hundreds of metres square) A bit hard to measure since we a.) don't know how much fuel is onboard and b.) what kind of explosion per se.

Page 339

His own enhanced strength augmented even further by the servos of his power armour, Aramus simply reached down, grabbed hold of the edge of the crumpled starboard-side hatch, and yanked it off. With an ear-splitting sound of metal against metal the hatch tore free, and Aramus tossed it aside without another thought. The shuttle was canted over onto its right side, its nose buried in the cracked base of the pool, and so with the hatch open everything in the cabin that wasn't locked down came tumbling out the starboard hatch, falling at Aramus's feet.

Aramus yanks a shuttle hatch off with his power armor. Considering the bolts and shit that must hold it in by the hinges.. this would almost certainly take extreme strength (we're talking Jedi "wrenching machinery off the walls" type strength, which is multi-ton levels of force, IIRC)

Page 357

And Librarian Niven, who had come down from the Armageddon to join in the effort, used his psyker's senses to help direct the movements of the Thunderhawk gunships who patrolled the skies, shooting down any airborne tyranids they encountered and firing strafing runs on the tyranid forces who had now spread out to surround the city entirely.

use of psychic powers

Page 360

Aramus glanced skyward, knowing that somewhere overhead the strike cruiser Armageddon orbited. Onboard, Lexicanium Konan would still be trying to reach anyone by astrotelepathy, for all the good it would do them. As it stood, they could not even communicate with anyone in the next system over, much less hundreds or thousands of light years away.
Not only had they been unable to contact anyone outside of the Aurelia sub-sector, but ever since the Aurelia Battlegroup had closed with the hive fleet, they'd lost astropathic contact with Admiral Forbes as well. Aramus only hoped that her forces were still in the fight, and that they might succeed in weakening the tyranid fleet, or distracting it if nothing else.

Interesting that they are implying they are trying to communicate with someone "hundreds or thousands of light years away" - is this an implication of the distances they've covered in the novel, or the distance that the Litany of Fury battlegroup had to cover? Granted, hundreds or thousands of LY in "weeks" isn't a whole lot better (thousands to tens of thousands of c instead) but its still pretty fast by 40K terms, esp in light of Tyranid warp interference. Astropathic activity would be tens if not hundreds of millions of c at least.

Page 362

The hive ship was, in a sense, the mother of a tyranid hive. Home of the norn-queen, a living bio-factory that constantly gave birth to an unending stream of warriors, weapons, and ships, the ship itself was a living creature incorporating millions of bio-engineered organisms, their genomes spliced and replicated to be perfectly adapted for their tasks. The hive ship followed the rest of the fleet, arriving at an invaded world only at the last stages of assimilation, and with the help of the capillary towers constructed on the surface by its offspring, it would then complete the process of planetary assimilation by consuming even the atmosphere and oceans from a world, until there was nothing left behind but a lifeless husk.

Mention of the Norn queen, and the composition of the Tyranid hive ship. Note again the "consumption of atmosphere and ocean" from the planet. Sucking all that up against graviy is VERY energy intensive (We're talking around e28 joules at least for the oceans, and around e26 Joules for the atmosphere.

Page 391

"Any word?" Forbes asked. She'd tasked one of the ship's astropaths with attempting to monitor the progress of Tarkus's strike team through the hive ship, which was difficult given the interference in the warp generated by the fleet's hive mind, but had produced some small measure of success. So far they had been able to confirm that, at least, Tarkus still lived.

Astropathic monitoring of spoace Marine activity in the hive ship.

[Connor MacLeod]

I got this from Teleros back in 2009, and he apparently transcribed it word for word (or nearly so) from Inferno #45. So you have him to thank for this, as well as why it doesn't have page #s.

This is a short story featuring the destruction of Cyrene in detail, and it seems designed to examine Gabriel's own feelings and motivations behind it. It's sort of a prequel to DoW novel as well, as this apparently takes place prior to Tartarus.

The main context of the story is to really explain the Cyrene bombardment and to largely clarify my earlier calcs. It will be.. interesting to say the least.

Anyhow, enjoy your 10 ton Emperor shaped railgun rounds.

Plumes of dust rained across Cyrene, the sky unable to shed tears any longer. A layer of fine debris filled the stratosphere and sent slow-drifting columns of suffocating ash down on the planet's surface. Occasionally, the storm thundered at the touch of orbital mass-driver rounds that rippled the cinder clouds and shattered the ground. The projectiles were fashioned to look like ten tonne metallic statues of the Emperor. Each bomb sent more dust and fire-borne ash into the heavens. Each bomb was an exclamation point in the litany against heresy and another hammer fall in the Exterminatus and destruction absolute of Cyrene's every living citizen. Chaos had a foothold, but the might of the Imperium was busy kicking it loose, and using the final death throes of the planet as an example for all who might falter.
The black fleet of the Adeptus Astartes orbited Cyrene, raining down the will of the Ordo Malleus. No unsanctioned craft could pass through the debris cloud, although escape vessels occasionally breached the canopy of dust, before falling back under the blistering fire of the blockade. Hulls blackened and tongues of flame spat through ruptured seams as the ships careened back to the planet, adding to the confusion. Only the fleet's Thunderhawks and dropships earned free passage, ferrying the wounded and bringing fresh forces into the fray.
And far below the stationary fleet, Cyrene rotated slowly, bringing city after city to bear under the attack.

The exterminatus of Cyrene. What's interesting here is that it seems to involve some sort of preliminary bombardment and ground purge rather than the actual Exterminatus (which follows after.) Why this is we're not sure, but it does echo the sort of 'redundancy' taken with events like Prospero in the HH (which while not an actual Exterminatus has similarities), the planet the Word Bearers purged in the Tales of Heresy HH anthology, 56-Izar in Xenos, etc. Why thye bothered with ground assault rather than just blast the place (as some sources suggest) we don't know - perhaps they needed to take out some key targets first, or to ensure they were defended. It may have something to do with the nature of the enemy (Chaos worshippers and large numbers of psykers - agian Prospero comes to mind) Maybe its just something silly and arbitrary the Inquisitors decreed. Whatever it is, we aren't seeing the actual bombardment yet.
Also note they are using 10 tonne Emperor-shaped mass drivers rounds (presumably ferrous, or the shells are grav-accelerated.) Assuming a 11 km/s velocity we're talking 600 GJ of KE, while 20 km/s is more like 2 TJ. Either way it's not a bad yield for tactical bombardments, although precision isn't all that big an issue here. As to why they are emperor-shaped... either its more 40K silliness or it's thought ot have some faith-based effect against enemy psykers (blessing or something or other.) Whether these are typical cannon round masses or specialized bombardment rounds.. we don't know, so using this mass in other cases (EG ship to ship combat) is iffy.

"Gabriel," Isador said, "Look around you. We are here to bear witness to this. We are the last who will see this world alive. We should return to the Grey Knights before this quest of yours endangers the Blood Ravens."

The only Space Marines around seem to be Grey Knights and Blood Ravens. If there are Astartes fleet assets then they belong to these two chapters. GK ships may also represent hte Inquisitorial forces, although its possible the Inquisitors present (and mentioned) have their own retinues. We dont know anything about navy groups (Except a battlegroup mentioned later) but they could also be Inquisitoiral requisitions.

Another shape appeared from the mists, this one bulky and laden with prosthetics. It swung around at Gabriel's approach. Gabriel could see that its arms had been replaced with melta cannons and a chain blade, its upper body crawling with preservation tubes and armour plates. One eye was gone, replaced by a large implant. It was an inquisitor's gun servitor, tracking movement with a servo-skull. The servitor nodded to Gabriel before opening fire into the darkness, screaming its holy fury at some invisible enemy.
Gabriel swung wide and to the outside, following the servitor's superheated thermal discharges, but keeping his distance lest the blast's halo cook him instead.

heavily armed gun servitor. Also seems suprrisingly self-aware given the nod it gives Gabriel - more a cyborg than a augmetic zombie.

It tore up and blistered the ground in its passage, striking the gun servitor in the chest. It screamed, white-hot pyrokinetic flames engulfing it. Gabriel ran faster, knowing what would come next. The fire ignited the pyrum-petrol gases that still lingered in the servitor's fuel lines, back into his subdermal reservoirs. The explosion spread the servitor's body across two dozen red metres.

Gun Servitor screams, explodes. Pyrum-petrol seems volatile, and is a gas.

The Grey Knight apothecary sprayed the burns on Gabriel's neck. The wounds calcified into dead, hardened skin while the apothecary offered the Litany of Healing and peeled off the flakes. Gabriel didn't grimace at the large patches of skin being torn away. His thoughts rested elsewhere.

Space Marine burn care.

Squads of Inquisitorial storm troopers, wearing red cloth and gun grey armour, moved through the streets. They directed their meltaguns against the adjoining building, through windows and holes, herding the hidden occupants out into the streets, where others waited to cut them down in a blistering hail of fire. Those who didn't escape the buildings died in the inferno.
Further on, Grey Knight Terminators served as artillery units, firing gas grenades into fleeing crowds. Those caught in the noxious fumes screamed short-lived cries, before the acid clouds seared out their lungs. They fell to the ground convulsing, their skin sloughing off as the gas ate at the connective tissue anchoring flesh and muscle to bones. They died after several minutes of agony, skin draped loose over their own skeletons.

Storm trooper and GK forces purging the populace. Nasty. Note the chemical weapon grenades, and how they echo Virus weaponry.

"Cyrene was your home centuries ago, my friend," Isador said. "Nearly everyone you know is dead and gone."

Implies at least some of Gabriel's acquaintances or family had access to life extension technologies to make them live centuries.

"This action is just! Even if I was asked to end the life of every man, woman and child here, one bullet at a time, then I would do so. The planet was steeped in heresy, the taint of the warp in her very soil!"

The implied extent of chaos influence in the planet. This might explain why they continued bombardment even after all life was extinguished and burned the crust. I'm not sure if turning the crust molten actually makes it 'less' chaotic, but who knows. It might be an effort to exterminate any lingering traces of organic matter that might be corrupted or turned to Chaos' purposes or something.

"Let this diseased world be amputated, lest the scourge of heresy infect more worlds. I just wonder if there are none here who deserve a quick, quiet death. Not everyone here is corrupt. Surely not all deserve their burning fate, nor the renouncement of their names? Not all were so weak as to fall. I wish we could leave them their dignity in their final hours."
"Who are we to take that chance?" Isador asked. "I would prefer a million innocent victims to die than to suffer one false martyr to the dark to escape our notice. A hollow saint undermines, no, mocks, the sanctity of our faith. And remember, nobody here is innocent. The Inquisition deemed it so. The heresy was too widespread, too pervasive, for anyone to miss its presence."

This tends to suggest the situation is rather unusual and drawn out. I presume 'quick' death would just be to exterminatus the place. The bit of 'final hours' echoes the Exterminatus timeframe of BFG and other sources for wiping out all life on a planet.

The old man spat in disgust and raised his lasgun to fire. Gabriel was quicker and fired first. The guardsman's head exploded, spraying those around him.

Bolter headshot exploding. As a side note the old man was a guard vet who had lost an arm, so he's using the lasgun one handed (but not neccesarily well.)

...his bolter dropping attackers two and three at a shot.

Penetration capability of Gabriel's bolter.

A third shot finally brought within sight on a black-haired Imperial Guardsman. He was young and without the blemish of a scar of cybernetic augment, a neophyte to Cyrene's defence force and now among the doomed.

Cyrene seems to be unusual in that it raises its own forces for PDF and Guard garrison service (on planet) as well as being exported off planet. This is normally a security risk - perhaps it's status as a Space Marine recruiting world gives it special priveliges? OF course, if its recruiting sa well it seems a bit odd that it contributes to the Guard to begin with but it's not exactly forbidden either. The DoW related material always seems to conflate IG and PDF forces.

Dawn approached, yet the sky remained dark and overcast with clouds of soot and ash. The city was quiet in those early hours, the harrying Inquisition, marching westward in gigantic convoys and leaving the city to its appointed hour with the fleet's orbital mass drivers. Less than a half-hour remained.

This is interesting in that it suggests the 'acutal' exterminatus hasn't begun yet (The bombardment that is) - but whatever was going on was just preliminary stuff. Also interesting that they mention only mass drivers involved, whereas the other refrences (DoW novel and IA Blood Ravens) mentions lances and cyclonics. Appointed hour suggest a relatively short timeframe again to kill all life on the world.

"Captain," Ulray said. "The Inquisition have ordered our evacuation to the city of Sestra. The orbital bombardment begins soon."

Once more, this suggests the actual exterminatus hasn't begun yet, but it will soon.

The skulls now sat inside grate-covered niches along the walls, each one painted red and blue with prayers and decorated with wax imprints and rune-covered banners. In a few hours, they'd be buried under rubble, with nobody to remember their names or celebrate their lives. In a few hours, the spirits of the thousands who died here would be joined by millions more.

Again implication that only a couple of hours will be needed to wipe out all life on the planet, which echoes the BFG timeframes.

Praying at the altar was an old man. His eyes were milky, his bald head covered with liver spots, his face caked in stubble and filth and his body covered in a network of tubes and filters that wheezed as they pumped rejuvenation fluids into his organs.

Gabriel's father. Rather interesting rejuvenation tech, since this means he's been living centuries. Seem to be part rejuv, part augmetic though.

"Better I die the coward, than you the butcher!" Esmond's outburst sent him into a coughing fit. He spat up black liquid. No doubt one of his rejuvenation pumps was leaking.
"It means nothing to me. Butcher. Murderer. Assassin. I have been called them all today, yesterday, in the weeks before. And I will hear them in the weeks to come."

Implies that he's been on the planet for 'weeks' - perhaps that this purge has been going on that long as well. Hard to say.

"All the psykers from the local Pathfinder Gymnasium were turned, as were high-ranking officers within the Imperial Guard."

not sure what the Pathfinder Gymnasium is, but the IG refrence mentions either some sort of garrison or liasion force, or it's just another DoW PDF/IG fuckup.

"Even now, the Inquisition is questioning all Cyrene guardsmen off world, and I doubt any will survive the torture, or escape from this unscathed."

at least some Cyrene guardsmen serve offworld or are deployed as such (which is proper to how the IG works) and they're apparently well knonw enough for the Inquisition to be certain of hunting them all down.

Esmond looked at the bolt pistol and picked it up, its size and weight ungainly in his feeble grip.

Old man can pick up a astartes bolter without trouble here. Contrast this with Inquisitor Thaddeus trying to lift a Soul Drinkers bolt pistol.

The blues and whites of Cyrene were gone, swallowed by a choking death. All that remained was a ceiling of black clouds and the occasional hellish glow of magma-fuelled fired from where the orbital bombardment had shattered the crust.
Cyrene was dead. Yet, that did not stop the orbiting fleet from broad-siding the planet with their cannons.

The actual 'exterminatus', begun shortly after Gabriel executes his father and departs. The interesting thing here is that the bombardment continues even after all life is destroyed. They're being very thorough, which perhaps explains the discrepancy: a few hours to wipe out all life on the planet, and more time (a week) to actually melt the crust and all the others. The two aren't mutually exclusive, and it neatly explains eveything.
Assuming the 1 billion megaton benchmark as an order of magnitude estimate for depopulatin gthe world, and 3 hours to do so we get about 93 GT/s. We dont know how many ships there are.. some sources suggest a handful, a flotilla might suggest as few as a couple (for ship sof the same type) to a dozen or a score of vessels (or therabouts). Hundreds is possible, but unlikely, and we dont know the ship types, but this suggests a lower limit of at least tens/hundreds of MT/s to gigatons/s average firepower.
The week long crust melting, depending on parameters, fits roughly in that benchmark and towards gigaton/Teraton per second average starship firepower. We dont know the breakdwon of weapons there (it could be for example the bulk of firepower comes from cyclonics) but since cyclonics can be brute force (plasma or radiation) and this is a brute force bombardment we can conclude that it doesn't matter much. After all, cyclonics can be used for tacticla bombardments as well as a space combat weapon.
Note that a week is consistent with the IA blood Angels entry.

"I thought you should know," Isador said. "We leave orbit tomorrow, the machine spirits willing."
"I thought we were to remain here for the week," Gabriel said, momentarily forgetting his sorrow.
"The fleet will remain, but we are to escort the Hellwatch Battlegroup. An ork fleet has entered the Tartarus system and the Imperium is dispatching us to handle the invasion."

Mention of a naval battelgroup in addition to all the other vessels. WE dont know the size of the battle group, but it suggests the magnitude of the forces involved is single/double digit number of ships, and likely to be far fewer than hundreds.

"Tartarus? Why is that name familiar?" Gabriel asked.
"It is a pilgrim world, with a very important saint. She lies near the Eye of Terror and has endured several Black Crusades."

Location of Tartarus.

"Good. You can visit them when we are done with the orks. After these two weeks," Gabriel said, staring out at Cyrene, "a little war will be a welcome relief."

Two week transit from Cyrene to Tartarus. We don't have a precise idea of where Aurelia is by, but we have hints:
- in the DoW 2 novel, one of the Blood Ravens comments his home world was 'half a galaxy away' and destroyed by Hive Fleet Behemoth, which means the approximate location is 50-60K from the Macragge/Tau Empire region.
- in DoW2 we know the Aurelia subsector is being invaded by a tendril of Hive fleet leviathan, which is attacking Solar, Tempestus, Ultima Segmentum and (possibly) OBscurus or the fringes of Obscurus depending on the source you ask.
- in the DoW2 expansions we also learn that a Cadian force is deployed to Aurelia to reclaim the sector. While this isn't decisive (Cadians serve across the galaxy) logic dictates they would be close to or within the same segmentum as Aurelia and Tartarus.
- sources have indicated that Space Marine 'spheres of influence' encompass hundreds/thousand sof light years and sectors around their homeworlds. Space-going Chapters like the Blood Ravens are a bit different, but that's an approximate range as well.
- The Eldar involved in DoW (Altaioc, Ulthwe, and Biel-Tan) all operate around Ultima, Tempestus, or (for ulthwe) the Obscurus/Solar region. This again is not definite or conclusive due to webway access, and in the series you get eldar from far off going elsewhere (Macha to Tartarus for example) but it is still telling.
Overall I'd guess thousands/tens of thousands of LY distance in 2 weeks, so we're talking tens or hundreds of thousands of c roughly. Probably not more than 20-30K LY though.

..within months of its sending, fleets of Naval and Inquisitorial vessels were anchored in high orbit. Almost immediately, the orbiting ships began pounding the surface of the planet to destruction with lance strikes, mass drivers, and cyclonic topreodes. The constant barrage continued for over a week until the entire planet had been reduced to a smouldering wasteland and nothing left alive.

A reminder of what the IA entry says about Cyrene's destruction. The 'almost immediately' pounding the surface bit may refer to the tactical, preliminary bombardments rather than immediate Exterminatus. That would mean the week long timeframe includes that prelim bombardment and the purges, however long they lasted, and that the actual 'crust melting' wsa somewhat less than a week, but not significantly so.

Within only a few days of making planet-fall, Gabriel had cut short the trials and returned to his strike cruiser, Ravenous Spirit, from which he had transmitted an encrypted astropathic communique. Shortly afterwards, a flotilla of Naval and Inquisition vessels had joined the Ravenous Spirit in orbit and had proceeded to launch an unrelenting barrage of lance strikes, mass drivers and cyclone torpedoes, reducing the once green world to a primeval, molten state.

The DoW perspective on the event. The weapons use is consistent. Note the flotilla bit as well.