So for the immediate future I'm going to go through and toss out here and there collections of what me might call the "second tier" stuff - out of print material, stuff that just isn't as interesting to people as the "main" stuff. You may ask why I even bother with these books, but you might as well ask why I bothered with 2nd-4th edition fluff, or with any of the relatively obscure information. The reason I did is because it is obscure. I'm not being nearly as completist as I probably need to be - I'm ignoring all the White Dwarfs, the comics, and I've ignored Inferno! magainze (there's lots of useful tidbits in there, too) but you need as complete a picture as you can get from the available material, in order to make any decent conclusions. Especially when you deal with a primarily text-based analysis (because of semantics.) And you never know some obscure source may have the important information you're looking for. Besides which, I hate relying only on Ciaphas Cain or Gaunt's Ghosts as my sole source for evidence. It looks too selective.
Anyhow, this "phase" of information release will coincide with my normal releases: I'm going to continue with Imperial Armour, with Dawn of War, and with Eisenhorn. I think however I am going to lump the books together (EG the first two IA books together. The second two, Vraks will be all of one type, etc.) I haven't decided how to handle IA8 yet, honestly but it will probably go 8-10 simply because IA8 was where the new "style" of books started.
Novel wise, I decided to go "omnibus" and lump all the novels together into a single source: Eisenhorn will be all one thread, as will Goto's DoW novels. I may also lump a few extra tidbits in here or there (Short stories - I have one on Cyrene to cove rand I may throw the DoW 2 novel in with Gotos when I get around to covering it.,)
Other material I have to cover still is Apocalypse and its iterations, The various "picture books" of various battles (13th Black Crusade, Sabbat World's crusade, and Tactica Imperialis. I haven't decided whether to do the third Armageddon war, most of it looks recycled anyhow. And I'm still up in the air about Xenology.) There's also the HH Collected Visions book. I've also contemplated index astartes (which wsa a messy one to handle since at least some of it was online), the Chapter Approved stuff of long ago (which is all of one piece, really, and may be quasi-canon on top of that.) and even (If I feel like it) Rogue TRader.
Once I get much of this out of the way, I think enough time will have passed (in my mind at leasT) to start digging into the FFG stuff (Dark heresy, at least) although I'm still in the process of revising and reconsidering how to use all that (so this is also a delaying tactic.) as well as 5th edition (By which time I expect 6th edition will be coming out.)
****
Anyhow enough with the longwinded explanations. We're going to start with what I call the "Old Time" books. Stuff on the same level as Ian Watson's novels. A time when 40K was written more in a different style and with different sorts of authors than we get today. I also included Necromunda here because I consider Necromunda fairly "old time" as far as fluff goes, and I don't really know where to put the last handful of novels I have for that.
the four novels that will comrpise it will be two Necromunda, and two "old" novels. The first Necromunda is "Survival Instinct" by Andy Chambers (one of his few full length 40K novels until recently with that Dark Eldar stuff.) and covers a insane spyrer noble who lives in the underhive. The other is "Status: Deadzone" which is basically a anthology of necromunda stories from (I gather) Inferno magazine. Neither have a huge number of quotes, mainly because back then I was lazier about typing shit up and I wasn't nearly as attention oriented. But I am still too lazy to go back and re-read, re-analyze it (much as I won't do for any of the other Necromunda novels.)
The two "old" books are "Eye of Terror" and "Pawns of Chaos" - the former by Barrington J Bayley and the latter by Brian Craig. EoT is a peculiar novel in that it has many subplots involving a Heresy Era Dark Angel, a Rogue TRader with a mini starship, his Navigator sidekick, a good chunk of two Segmentum Battlefleets, and of course the Eye of Terror itself. All part of a much larger plot amongst the Gods. It is strangely enjoyable, despite being weird, and even downright grimdark at times, and it is the source of the hilarious "mass lightnening" bit that has plagued some recent discussions on SB (mostly out of spite.) I actually liked it more than the Inquisition War.
Pawns of Chaos isn't a direct "Imperium" novel per se. It's more a tale of a planet cut off from the galaxy, where Imperial descendents of a bastardised Imperium fight with feral Chaos worshippers. There's tons of grimdark there, but it manages to balance it out with a kind of interesting "order vs chaos" philosophy and an interesting (in my mind) ending at least.
First off will be Status Deadzone, which I can cover in a single update. It's small and then I'll move on. Probably Survival Instinct next, then Pawns of Chaos, then Eye of Terror.
So here we go with Status Deadzone:
Page 17 - an Escher Heavy is wielding a heavy bolter single-handed. Oddly, a regular Escher ganger (the leader) is able to use the weapon without getting knocked onto her ass, though it did shudder violently in her grip, was hard to manuver, and she had to brace herself before firing.
IT's either a very small bolter or these are Eschar who are verging on Goliath scale.
Page 18 - heavy bolter fires off "white hot" casings that can scald human flesh on contact.
Page 19 - Orrus rig hunting armour is resistant to autogun fire.
Page 20 - Orrus rig armour can have a grenade go off inside it and the suit remains relatively intact (the person inside, and the machinery inside, however, are fucked.
Page 22 - hunter rig auto repair will (if damaged) try to knit the mechanical components of the suit to the orgnaic parts (painfully.)
Page 27 - again reference to a Goliath being able to use heavy stubbers like infantry weapons (and this one is identified as a gang initiiate.)
Page 29 - Escher ganger wielding a heavy stubber.
Page 32
Escher Juve takes a hit from a Goliath Shotgun slug. Decapitation likely comes from the sheer size of a round from a goliath shotgun/The solid slug hit the Coven juve in the neck, practically severing her head. Her lifeless body hurled back and curmpled on the floor amidst a rain of blood and bits of vertebrae.
Page 33 - Goliath Ganger wielding a heavy bolter has the bolter misfire and explode in his hands (jamming multiple bolts together). He was sent flying off of a gantry he was firing from and impaled himself on a jagged support sticking out, and was still alive. This is of cours attrtibuted to the sheer durability of the Goliaths.
Later, he has stone spikes driven into his wrists and ankles and still survives.
Page 45
Useful toy. Necromunda always has neat tech.Cocking the brim of his hat, Creed let his robo-sight visor scour the rocky outcrop to the west, beyond the barbed wire topped settlement wall.
Page 49 - Creed's photo-visor has night-vision capabilities.
Page 49
Stubber round blows apart zombie head. Laspistol ought to do the same.Aiming a stubber at the head of the nearest horror, Creed pulled the trigger.
The zombie's skull exploded in a shower of blood, bone, and brain matter.
Page 52
More stubber fire.One of the gangers flew backwards as a bullet shattered several ribs; another scraemed as a dumdum puncutred a lung on its passage through his body.
Page 52
- the Van Saar ganges had a "dazzling array of targeting devices" on their weapons.
Page 52
The Van Saar are using autoguns and bolters, and the ratskins ar eusing more primitive weapons. I'm guessing the aVan Saar ammo causes the cauterization, although it must be rather special ammo.The cyborg [servitor] was proving more than a match for the surprised conspiractors. It seemed to be almost totally impervious to their weapons . Cauterised holes in its gore-spattered flesh attested to the fact that both the gangers and ratskins had hit the creature.
Page 61 - needle pistol. fired nonlethal toxin "silently" into a ganger.
Page 63 - mention (to my knowledge the first and only mention) of the Adeptus Arbites being in Necromunda. They seem to (like the Enforcers) co-habit the lower levels of the Hives as well as the upper (where the gangers and such inhabit) Moreover, unlike the enforcers, the Arbites are (unsuprisingly) independent operators and can "gainsay Helmwar" (the guy running Necromunda.)
Considering that on Necromunda that Helmwar's name is often used in the same manner that people mention The Emperor (IE as being a nigh-godlike figure), as well as their presence in the lower levels of the Hive as well as the upper levels (to say nothing of the gear we've seen the Necromundan Enforcers wielding), one can only imagine how powerful the Arbites must be.
Page 66 - the Arbites makes use of Primaris Psykers (Sanctioned Psykers) the same way the Guard does (at least, on Necromunda they do.)
Page 73 - "tri barreled" laspistol.
Page 80 - seven feet seems to be a typical height for at least Goliath gangers, if not all of them.
Page 101 - mention of a "holo-suit", a device that imitates the shape/features of another being (in this case a scavvy) Was part of a shipment being sold to some "Talloran rebels." by a guilder. They apparently are adaptive, because its mentioned that the device was "configuring" to the dimensions of the guy wearing it. Sounds alot like Harlequin technology.
Page 112 - Spyrer hunter rigs are noted to have lasbolts and bullets bounce "harmlessly" off of them, and also possess some form of active sensors that can "scan" an area and "lock on" to targets.
PAge 113
Hunter rig suit capabilities. I've heard that these are supposed to be tau technologyThermally sealed inside its body suit, it was invisible even to infrared detection. Its armoured suit had been crafted in the finest artificer workshops of a far distant world, and the suit's enhanced adaptation systems meant that it now possessed extra-evolved abilities that not even its creators could have predicted.
The Hunter activated its own infrared systems, watching the heat patterns of its prey dance through the darkness.
...
It paused to consider its options, strategy simulations composed from stolen memories of previous hunts flickering through its hard-wired consciousness.
Page 116 - Auditory and hearrtbeat sensors in the hunter rig.
PAge 117 - mention of renegade Spyrer hunters - those who develop too much interest in killing in the underhive and never return, staying and adapting to the enviroment and killing any they choose.
Page 121 - the huhnter ring's close combat weapons, claws, have some sortt of poison. The suits' augmentic strength allows the spyrer to lift a single ganger up one-handed with little effort and hurl it some distance over its head.
Page 122 - mention of a "chameleon camoflage" system.
Page 135 - Escher gang leader using a magazine-fed shotgun, has a "mixed" loadout of manstoppers and incendiary. Not sure if this means its selectable between the two or if it just alternates.
Page 138
Earlier they make mention of needing to "torch" victims of the plague zombies as a preventative measure (to prevent hte disease form spreading) this probably means incineration.She only threw up oncec before she'd pumped three incendiaries into the already half-charred body, barely daring to look where she was aiming, not daring to miss and let it lie around for anyone to find. In the ghastly glow and stench of the falmes, she made her way back ot the dead ratskin.
PAge 141 - A hab dome that Orlock gangers are hunting in is described as half a mile across. Important later. There is also mention of a "small island" at the centre of the lake.
Page 143 -
firefight between the Orlock gangers and Goliaths occur (lasers, bolts and bullets). The Orlocks are hiding behind the centre islet. The Goliaths are described as coming from the "far edge"The Brassers three skiffs made difficult targets, positioned behind the centre islet for cover. The whole Black Hand gang semeed to have come on the garbage scow through the sludge-filled canal at the far end of the dome. Though they made a relatively easy target, massed on the deck, their numbers were prevailing, a new gun replacing every one that the brassers downed.
We know laspistol and autopistols are being used, so this gives us a rough idea of engagement range of several hundred metres (400 metres or so)
Page 144
The Goliath boat was basically dissolving at this point, so it reinforces the idea that the Goliaths were very close to the edge of the "half mile" dome.Lord Orl breathed a sigh of relief as the scow turned back and disappeared into the canal from which it had come, the Black Hand making a last-ditch effort to reach dry land before they sank.
Page 149
I'm not sure who the "Gene Lords" are supposed to be - Dark Age of Technology humans? Some sort of Xenos race like the Old Ones? The Tyranids?His mind was hit with a jolt of terrible knoweldge. Words and images he could barely comprehend flooded his brain as the ancient device pumped the memories of lost gods through is tortured nerves.
They had called themselves Gene Lords, and hadplundered the known galaxy from frontier to frontier, colleccting not ore, not gems, but the life blood of every living horror they found haunting the abyss. There was something in this blood they needed, something for which Orl had no words. An infinitely small spiral, a tiwsted double chain they needed for some vast secret experiment that was far beyond his understanding.
That was it then, this lake around him, this stuff coursing through his poisoned veins. It was a vast alien soup, stolen from creatures beyond imagination, brewing for centuries inside this infernal vat, finally bursting forth to flood this age-old dome.
Page 156
Medical techonlogy uphive compared to underhive."Most of this scarring is from poor sutures. I don't know how they oculd still use those medi-staples. We have fibre tape ten years old that'd do a better job."
Page 157
Imperium rejuventation technology will not only stave off aging, but it can also restore a body to perfect health from the point of death, cure old injuries, and whatnot."Rejuventation?" Liz murmured.
"Yes. A complete overhaul."
Liz touched her face, gingerly at first. "My Scars-"
"Scars, lungs, blood, liver - the whole system. You've brushed up quite nicely for sucha ragged piece of work."
Page 163
- Rejuv work extends to replacing lost extremities - in this case, toes lost in the Underhive.
Page 164
The lady in question (Underhiver) is described as wearing a "bodysuit" cross hatched with nano-filaments and a feathered headress strapped to the shoulders. I guess the nano-filiments are what compose that mesh armour."Kick the shoes off and you're in a fully functioning combat suit. Much like the one you stole from those Hunters. The padding isn't simply there to flatter you. That's mesh armour. Finest quality. Lighter than those feathers..
Page 164
CAmeleoline I would guess.Kassat was attired in a material that adjusted its colours to match the background as he moved throughout the room. "Latest thing, adapted from Imperium camouflage."
Page 166
Caseless ammo for bolt pistols."An ancient bolt pistol, custom design - explosive, casless, laser sighted and recoil compensated..."
Page 166 - "Micro conduits" of the battle suit amplify the pulse of another person's heartbeat (evidently to make it detectable, as well as changes in its status.)
Page 168 - the suit's mesh armour stops a pistol shot (not sure if its an energy weapon ro a slug weapon) from an Inquistior's "heavy pistol.
Page 169 - Gunfire from Guard's weapons (again unknown, but presumably projectile given implications later as "bullets" are mentioned in the same page.) hit the mesh but fail to penetrate.
Page 169 - the "custom" bolt pistol has fully automatic settings.
PAge 172 - the Inquisitor's weapon is identified as a bolt pistol here. The ability of the mesh armor to stop the round is impressive.
Page 190
Grenade round melts an engine. Thats easiyl MJ (single or double digit) range, since most engines will be several kg (if not several tens of kg) of metalHastor appeared around the front of the ancient tractor that had been pulling the wagon down the track until a direct hit from Malec's grenade launcher had turned its wheezing, arthirtic engine into just so much slag and signalled the beginning of the attack.
Page 194 - "antique, single shot rifle" blows the head off a Cawdor ganger. Porbalby equivalent against a full power rifle round.
Page 201 - Autogun fire against an Orrus rig (battlesuit) is again proven ineffective (Chestplate.)
PAge 201 - las-fire hitting flesh produces a tell-tale "hiss"
Page 202
This is the first time I've heard of the guantlet-mounted launches on the Orrus rig as bolters, eveh though that is quite obviosuly what they are. the bolts quite obviously blow holes in the chest.Two of the Orrus-clad hunters fired their glove-mounted bolters, hitting the intrudter mid-chest. The interloper was punched backwards, but managed to retain its footing. Several unarmoured bystanders anda militiaman fell, caught by shrapnel from the twin impact.
..
By rights, the threat should have been eliminated - its chest had been reduced to little more than a smoking ruin.
Page 202
Firing bolts from both fists, it blasted both its attackers back into their fellow hunters and the chaotically milling crowd beyond
Mentioned as "thrown into an ungainly heap. Whether it is momentum or shock doing it , we dont know.
Page 204 - Battlesuits have photo visors and nasal filter plugs.
Page 207
Photo-visor displays its Night vision capabilityThe low light level had already triggered his photo-visor, which cast the area in a pale greenish glow.
Page 211 - the hunter suits have their own comm-links.
Page 212
Suit targeting system.Stinging sweat ran into one eye as he triggered his suit's targeting mechanism. He blinked it away as he raised his right hand and brought the twin crosshairs that now floated before his visior-enhanced gaze togehter on the curve of a valve assembly,
Page 214
Bolt round form the Orrus rig more or less pulverizes/blows apart a ganger.One of Kayne's bolts hit a ganger square in the chest, turning him into just so many litres of blood and liquefied bone. The sight of their comrade's explosive dissolution was enough for the rest of them.
PAge 225
- mention of the hunters using "intricate webs of atripwires and semi-autonomaous proximity alarms" during rest periods. The huunters would slip into a "narco-assisted reverie state, somewhere between sleep and trance." while the suit's self-repair systems fixed what damage they could.
Page 227
- mention of "limbs" lost to las-fire or chests that were "pulped" by bolter rounds. (hunter suit weapons.)
PAge 228
More bolter pulverization.A trio of ratskins hurled themselves at Kayne. Reacting on instinct, he pulverised them with bolter-fire, only to see them replaced before him by more human-looking Underhivers...
Page 230 - Orrus rig suit can lift up and use the body of a Goliath ganger as a shield.
Page 231
Goliath vaporized by meltagun.Telmac fired a volley at the ganger who turned a melta in his direction. Two bolts missed, teaerign holes in the nearby stack. The monolith rang with the impacts, teetered for a moment, but did not fall. His last bolt hit the weapon, not the man who held it, but the effect was the same: the Goliath was vaporised by the suddenly unleashed power of his fully charged weappon.
Page 231
Las-pistol shot takes off ganger's head.Behind him stood another, armed with a las-pistol.
..
The las-beam seemed to disappear as it struck Schular's buckler shield. The gems taht studded its rim flashed once - then the beam re-appeared, heading back the way it had come. The ganger didn't have time to realise what had happened before his headles corpse hit the ground.
page 231
Probably counts ad exploding.pulverizing... kicking a corpse that had been reduced to little more than a smoking torso by the impact of multiple bolter rounds.[
Page 258
Bolter (possibly bolt pistol, but the weapon is used two handed so probably a bolter.)
The exit wound in the back of his skull gaped wetly up at Vex as he returned fire, hitting another ganger low in the body and vaporising a hip and the upper section of his leg.
Page 273
Las shot from a Yeld hunter rig.. not sure how this qualifies as far as lasweapons go.As if sensing his intention, the Yeld hunter's next shot seared through his left knee. Pitching forward, he cried out, as much in frustration as pain. The sickening scent of cooked meat leaked from the wound as he rolled over onto his back and leant forward to grgasp the ruined joint.
...
Nerve-endings cauterised by the las-beam, Kayne's leg below the knee had gone mercifully numb.
Page 280
"The Underhivers call such knowledge archaeotech - lost examples of the massive world-shaping technologies our forebears used to spread the human race across the galaxy, to colonise the worlds they found, to riase this and the other hive-cities of Necromunda. But not all archaeotech exists on such a scale. Some of it is minute, designed not to manipulate base materials such as metal and rock, but blood and flesh and bone. To move within us and between us, to make mind and body one and to bring all minds togehter."
...
"Its creation is lost in time, but we believe it was created to ease the process by which worlds might be re-modelled, made more suitable for human habitation - or else to alter the bodies of colonists to fit the world on which they chose to live.
Its worth noting these "micro machines" or whaterver size they are can easily replicate living bodies from any matter, or build any other sortts of structures they might need from other materials (manipulate the materials of the Hunter rig battlesuits, for example.) in true "gray goo" nanotech fashion (They replicated the body of a hunter up to and including apparently his battlesuit, with little effort.)
Page 281
More on the capabilities of these mini machines.Distance was no obstacle; the language produced and translated by the minute machines that now flowed through him could convey unbelievable amounts of information across vast distances, beyond the range of human perception.
Page 283
And the AStartes show up.There were fifteen of them [Space Marines], Kayne counted. Half as tall again as a man, their armour was midnight black, but for the unit markings on their shoulder plates and a grey heart emblazoned on their chest plates. Half their number carried bolters, etched with the two-headed Imperial eagle; the rest carried more bulky-looking weapons; meltas.
...
The only answer he received was the dull roar of a melta being triggered.
Page 283-284
Because the AdMech love any advanced tehc like that.Cinar did not mention that these creatures [the machines in the bodies] were now safely stowed aboard the Thunderhawk that rested on one of the Spire's lager landing pads, ready for transport to the distant laboratories of the Adeptus Mechanicus.
Page 284 - the "still smouldering remains" of the hunters (and their rigs) from the melta(s)
Of course its possible it didnt literally explode (but just was violently slammed sideways) soo...
