Cain's Last Stand(Spoilers !) [Warhammer 40.000]

[Lancer]

Don't forget the synthetic protein bars. Our friend Pyrus is burning heretics on page 28, but you can't immolate heretics on an empty stomach.

[andrewgpaul]

Don't forget the children's rhymes (The Tracks of the Land Raider Crush the Heretics) and Our Friend Prometheum (More Burning Heretics) giving us a quick glimpse into the lives of Imperial citizens who don't live in some screaming nightmare of non-burning heretics and daemons or xenos bursting through the walls with teeth for eyes or worse. I like the touches like that. The Imperium's not entirely shitty. Just 90-95%. Max.

Not to mention poker night, with the Commissar, the Storm Trooper and the Sororitas Sister Superior.

I liked the rookie commissar flirting with the Sororitas novice, in the middle of combat, too.

[The Yosemite Bear]

Remember Russy has a hard armour shell, but he knows what to do when the Xenos attack!

(Shows pics of an ani-morphic Leman Russ Tank, to kindergardeners_

[Vanas]

It did just occour to me that we do see the Necrons actually communicating with each other; the tricorder wielding leader of the 'commandos' appears to inform it's comrades where the Shadowlight is. Sure, it's not verbal, but it makes a change at the least.


A Commissar, a Storm Trooper and a Celestian Superior walk into a bar...

Actually, to be fair, the bar will probably be emptied of alcohol in this case. Before it catches fire.

[fgalkin]

Did anyone else notice that Cain's gotten a lot more heroic in this book, and only pays lip service to the old mantra of "I'm just saving my skin." Of course, he was always paying lip service, but in Cain's Last Stand, the justifications seem especially flimsy. He doesn't even attempt to rationalize his obvious concern for Jurgen, for example. I guess, after a century of playing the role, he finally grew into it at last.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[The Yosemite Bear]

you have to keep Jurgen alive for the protection of the imperium. It's known that Jurgen is the one thing that smells so bad that the Tyranid hive queens won't even try and eat/assimilate him. His Chili farts can corroade an Ork Stompa, and kill a whole garrison of Tau.

[fgalkin]

you have to keep Jurgen alive for the protection of the imperium. It's known that Jurgen is the one thing that smells so bad that the Tyranid hive queens won't even try and eat/assimilate him. His Chili farts can corroade an Ork Stompa, and kill a whole garrison of Tau.

And daemons flee his very sight (or is is scent?)

Not to mention, he out-pariahed a bunch of Necron Pariahs in Caves of Ice, and scared the shit out of THEM.

Jurgen is so friggen awesome.

Have a very nice day.
-fgalkin

[NecronLord]

More seriously, I think it's likely that pariahs primarily hunt through using the soul-detector equipment from Inquisitor. Thus, they don't really care about other pariahs.

[Thanatos]

The Cain books actually make the 40k verse seem somewhat sane, livable and populated with likable - if a bit silly - people.

They also subvert a lot of the current background fluff, thanks to Amberly being way into the future of 40K. The current time frame of the universe is basically treated as "Phew, that was a tough time wasn't it? Glad we're past that!"

[Samuel]

The Cain books actually make the 40k verse seem somewhat sane, livable and populated with likable - if a bit silly - people.

They also subvert a lot of the current background fluff, thanks to Amberly being way into the future of 40K. The current time frame of the universe is basically treated as "Phew, that was a tough time wasn't it? Glad we're past that!"

So basically, hinting to GW and the fans "The Imperium wins this campaign. And the next. And the next..." Do you think they will go with it or turn up the grim dark by a factor of 10?

[Shroom Man 777]

I thought the story had Cain working in the Schola and teaching young Commissar Cadets. What's Jurgen doing here? Is Cain reunited with the Valhallans, or did Cain pull strings and get Jurgen employed as the Schola's janitor?

[The Yosemite Bear]

Schola Training operations in Krieg simulation, we lock the cadets in a small room with Jurgen.

[Luzifer's right hand]

I thought the story had Cain working in the Schola and teaching young Commissar Cadets. What's Jurgen doing here? Is Cain reunited with the Valhallans, or did Cain pull strings and get Jurgen employed as the Schola's janitor?

Jurgen is still his aid, he most likely "retired" with Cain, Guardsman do not serve forever after all.
He also got juvent treatments just like Cain thus he still kicks(or vaporizes) ass with his melta.

[Peptuck]

I thought the story had Cain working in the Schola and teaching young Commissar Cadets. What's Jurgen doing here? Is Cain reunited with the Valhallans, or did Cain pull strings and get Jurgen employed as the Schola's janitor?

Cain picked up Jurgen straight from his first posting with the 12th Valhallan Field Artillery. Apparently, when Cain was then seconded to brigade HQ, they didn't have a problem with him taking him with him. Since then he's effectively Cain's aide, so he doesn't belong to any Guard unit, and retired with Cain when he settled at the Scholam.

[Bob the Gunslinger]

Abnett instead comes up with: wirewolves;

Warpcraft golems. Sorcerous creatures are a dime a dozen in 40k. Simply creating one type is hardly radical.

whatever those things in His Last Command were;

You mean the re-worked Imperial Guardsmen? I hate to break it to you but that's hardly something surprising; the mutants from the Lost and the Damned list could easily fit the bill. He put a sort-of zombies in a space-age horror franchise. Again hardly anything radical.

brass thief entities that existed before/separately from daemons;

You mean the daemon? There's nothing new about that. The brass thief was unusual, for 40k fiction, for predating the rise of the four major Chaos Powers but that's nothing too radical. We know that the warps been around from the beginning of time and has been littered since the beginning with such random creations. How is an old daemon particularly new? Heck, if you want to get nit-picky the daemon-lord from Hereticus is probably more canon breaking.

I was actually referring to that daemon and the brass thief.

So far, you are correct about these things being able to coexist with 40k canon quite well. The problem I have is when something that should be rare or unique becomes the standard for one book, and one book only. The books portray the wirewolves as efficient enough guardians of Chaos for someone to create them all over this one planet, yet they will never be used on other planets in the subsector, instead coming across as more of a Buffy monster-of-the-week. In fact, there are times when I think "Oh, that dog-monster must be a flesh-hound of Khorne or Warhound of Chaos" only to find out that it's some one-shot wonder whom we will never see again. This phenomenon reminds me a little too much of Star Trek (Iconians! Talarians! Warp 10 salamanders!) for me to enjoy it altogether.

Nothing terribly radical for 40k and actually pretty common for WHFB fluff. If anything, just a logical extension of the fluff.

Their existence is a logical extension of the fluff, but their use is not. Are we really going to see more electro-golems on a Chaos world than chaos spawn or, say, bloodletters? Even if the head honcho on said planet is a Khorne-worshipper?

I suppose these occurrences can be waived away the same way we waive away the high incidence of Inquisitors in the literature.

blood pact;

Lost and the Damned list. He did put a stamp on things by creating a Chaos army that's not Chaos Marines or hordes of rampaging idiots. But that's one of those things that really ought to have been taken for granted in the fluff. We've heard of major defections of the Imperial Army/Guard since the days of the Horus Heresy. Why should they be limited to screaming maniacs?

Conceded.

loxotl;

Admittedly freaky and admittedly Abnett's creation. But there's always been the understanding that there are a lot of nasty aliens out there. It's been part of the fluff from day one that there are hostile (or indifferent) alien species out there. Why not show them when you have the chance in a long running series?

Also conceded. I really don't have a problem with their existence, although I do think it's weird that they have an apparent pact with (or are simply useful to) Chaos, enough of one to be among the elite of Chaos's assassins, yet still can't bum a ride out of the Sabbat worlds. Admittedly, this is GW dropping the ball on something brilliant that Abnett created, but it still seems odd.

Plus, the Loxatl design artwork that GW has produced is unbelievably shitty. As much as I would enjoy having a miniature Loxatl, I would really hate it if it looked like American Godzilla on 'roids.

Enuncia;

Ritual warpcraft. There's nothing new about the concept and the application isn't exactly that different from that of a whole lot of horror movies. It's a new creation but nothing that should be jarring.

Actually, Enuncia is not ritual warpcraft. The nearest precedent I can find for it is "Anoqeyan", the language that the Old Ones used to control magic directly (unfortunately, GW took the article down when they updated to their new site), but the basic idea seems to be that Enuncia works without rituals, psykic powers or the intercession of patron deities, which makes it unique in 40k, and a little odd. Again, it feels like something pretty important that Abnett just kind of made up on the fly.

a daemon prince with chaos spaceship (that worked in real space!) who apparently predated Chaos;

Again, Chaos is incredibly ancient. The first of the entities were probably created by the wars of the first sapient species, the Old Ones and C'tan. Why should an ancient survivor come as a surprise, especially since we see the tomb of one in Hereticus?

I'm not sure that chaos existed in it's current form until after the Necrontyr/C'tan war. Even so, the entire plot of Eye of Terror is based on the idea that ships created in the warp cannot exist outside of the Eye for any period of time, and neither can daemons. Not without something concrete or some tasty, tasty mortals to possess, which was not mentioned at all, and in fact seemed to go against the nature of this daemon.

Megarachnids;

Freaky freaky aliens. Neither new nor unexpected. The Great Crusade put foot to ass of a lot of species. Why is the depiction of one such race, especially with the classics not being around, something especially new?

Okay, I just found the big metal bugs of doom to be really stupid. It also doesn't help that Abnett was trying to contrast the Marines of the Crusade period from those of the 41st Millennium by portraying them as more rational, and then suddenly had them charge into a chainsaw fight with some steel megafauna when they had perfectly serviceable weapons on their ships, landers, fighters and tanks. It was a thematic error as well as a misstep as far as the much-discussed Rule-of-Cool is concerned; he shouldn't have given us Tyranids Lite in the same universe that invented Tyranids Classic and expected it to fly.

Omegon;

Freaky freaky aliens?

Alpharius' brother. One half of one Primarch. (!) The Alpha Legion's "That was just my Dr Doombot, you fool!" excuse to let AL fanboys have their cake and eat it, too.

psykers with 'mutant abilities';

How so? They've been established for a long time to have wide-ranging abilities. Through in the fact that many of the are chaos dabblers and it's a pretty normal thing.

Well, Abnett isn't quite as bad about it as Counter, but I really hate it when a Psyker has a power that just manifests itself in one specific ability. "I'm a telekine!" "I'm a pyro!" "I amplify other mutant powers!" "I can give commands that must be obeyed!" "I stabbed Sabertoof with my Psykic Dagger, the focused totality of my psykic abilities, for I am Psykelocke."
Granted, this is more of a personal choice, but if I wanted to read the X-men, I would read the X-men.

Or possibly Star Trek: Planet X.

stalk tanks, etc, etc.

Chaos has weird war-machines and they were created around the time of VDR. Why not have some chaos equipment that isn't a mirror image/rip off of Imperial tech?

Again, I would prefer if it either a) wasn't so standardised, being Chaotic and all, or b) if it must be something that is obviously mass produced, can we at least get references to why we aren't seeing the other, more common Chaos war machines instead/beside them?

Many of these things fill a role that has already been filled by canonical entities or ideas. Many apparently exist as common chaotic creatures that are somehow isolated only in the Sabbat worlds, despite the nature of chaos.

What has Sandy Mitchell made up, besides the occasional humorous reference?

The shadowlight for one. Working machinery from the Old Ones. Which may have played a part in spawning Chaos itself. And has a planetoid of Necrons watching it.

This kind of tech follows naturally from Xenology, the Necron Codex, the older fluff on the Slann, Horus Rising (see the alien map of ancient Earth, etc.) and is explicitly mentioned to be so rare that the Inquisition has to wrangle with the Mechanicus for control of it.

Pile on top of that the fact that Alex Stewart has done a huge amount with the culture of the Imperium, being one of the first to actually show 40ks pop-culture not least.

Yes, but he keeps it within the bounds of canon. He doesn't create radical new technologies/creatures/whatever that will only be used in one sector just so he can discuss the culture of the Imperium... or to move the plot. Frankly, the pop culture of the Imperium, as well as how Imperial Citizens live, is one section where I'd love to see more development as it has been left entirely open by the fluff.

The whole notion of Ciaphas Cain rests on something which is a huge break from the norm in 40k in general. There's a fair amount of world building and he's definitely put a stamp on things. Stewart may not have done as much as Abnett but he's done some rather far reaching things.

I'm glad you agree he doesn't make up new canon as much as Abnett does. That was my point.

Now, I don't think it interferes with Abnett's writing too much (although Ravenor started to feel more like an X-Men novel than Warhammer), or with the setting, but it can be a frustrating habit for a reader who wants to have consistency.

True but consistency can also be the bane of creativity. Why should everything have to come from a source book? Why should the universe be stifled? Nothing he'd one has been exactly been setting breaking. Many of them are really things already implicit in the setting, either ignored or simply not explored previously.

I like that Abnett is competent enough to come up with new things that mostly complement the existing fluff, mostly. My problem is when he makes up something new, and even something less canon-y, when there already exist beings/whatever in the fluff that would already fit perfectly into a situation he has written, and in fact would be expected to show up in those situations.

As for consistency stifling creativity, I tend to think that the writers who stray the most from the canon tend to be Ben Counter (in the Soul Drinkers Omnibus) and CS Goto, and I would not recommend their work for adding anything to the fluff or even describe it as "good".

Abnett contributed a lot because he was one of the early writers and is certainly the most prolific. With that in mind, it's not surprise what so ever that he created a lot. Why shouldn't he have?

Mostly, he's pretty good at it. Sometimes his created stuff comes across as unnecessary and contrived, especially in the Ravenor series and later Ghosts books, which weakens the setting. It also tends to make his books feel less like WH40k and more like Bernard Cornwell or Lee Child or even Marcinko in space, fighting some generic baddie for 300 predictable pages.

[Stormbringer]

I was actually referring to that daemon and the brass thief.

So far, you are correct about these things being able to coexist with 40k canon quite well. The problem I have is when something that should be rare or unique becomes the standard for one book, and one book only. The books portray the wirewolves as efficient enough guardians of Chaos for someone to create them all over this one planet, yet they will never be used on other planets in the subsector, instead coming across as more of a Buffy monster-of-the-week. In fact, there are times when I think "Oh, that dog-monster must be a flesh-hound of Khorne or Warhound of Chaos" only to find out that it's some one-shot wonder whom we will never see again. This phenomenon reminds me a little too much of Star Trek (Iconians! Talarians! Warp 10 salamanders!) for me to enjoy it altogether.

Why is it so surprising? Chaos Sorcers are pretty eccentric individuals and not prone to sharing. It's entirely possible things like wire-wolves were the creation of a single sorceror or cabal of them. If/when said planet fell and said sorceror is killed then there's no one left to create new ones.

Furthermore, the source books are fine as gaming aids but by definition they have to be balanced and standardized. That means there are very, very few compared to the variations fluff suggests are possible. I really don't see why things would have to come directly from an army book when you admit they fit fluff just fine.

Their existence is a logical extension of the fluff, but their use is not. Are we really going to see more electro-golems on a Chaos world than chaos spawn or, say, bloodletters? Even if the head honcho on said planet is a Khorne-worshipper?

And why should they look like they were constructed with the 40k force organization and appropriate codex?

Also conceded. I really don't have a problem with their existence, although I do think it's weird that they have an apparent pact with (or are simply useful to) Chaos, enough of one to be among the elite of Chaos's assassins, yet still can't bum a ride out of the Sabbat worlds. Admittedly, this is GW dropping the ball on something brilliant that Abnett created, but it still seems odd.

For the same reason that the tau shouldn't be nearly as prominent in the fluff as they are? The lxoltal are probably on a handful of worlds in the path of one of the greater latter day Imperial Crusades. And they've allied with Chaos. There's every reason to think they weren't numerous enough to appear large scale all over and with the success of the Crusade were simply obliterated as a species. It's entirely possible that in the 200-some years between the Gaunt's Ghosts time frame and the "present" they'd become a speed bump under Macaroth's tank treads.

Actually, Enuncia is not ritual warpcraft. The nearest precedent I can find for it is "Anoqeyan", the language that the Old Ones used to control magic directly (unfortunately, GW took the article down when they updated to their new site), but the basic idea seems to be that Enuncia works without rituals, psykic powers or the intercession of patron deities, which makes it unique in 40k, and a little odd. Again, it feels like something pretty important that Abnett just kind of made up on the fly.

I'm not sure that chaos existed in it's current form until after the Necrontyr/C'tan war. Even so, the entire plot of Eye of Terror is based on the idea that ships created in the warp cannot exist outside of the Eye for any period of time, and neither can daemons. Not without something concrete or some tasty, tasty mortals to possess, which was not mentioned at all, and in fact seemed to go against the nature of this daemon.

Well, the early fluff has always been some what in flux and prone to revision when ever the pointy ears and/or necrons get a new codex.

I really don't know the details of what you're referring to, so I can't go into it extensively. Suffice to say your objection that chaos ghost-ship couldn't exist in real space is belied by Abbadon's Planet Killer. That was created by GW, refined by BL fluff, and continued by Specialist Games (to the extent GW lets them). It's been described by plenty of high level sources as being quite literally impossible to create in normal space and only possible because it was created in the Eye of Terror. And that's not touching on the mutations ships of Chaos may potentially take on. It entirely possible for warp entities to manifest in real-space so long as they're sufficiently powerful, so I fail to see exactly what the problem is.

Okay, I just found the big metal bugs of doom to be really stupid. It also doesn't help that Abnett was trying to contrast the Marines of the Crusade period from those of the 41st Millennium by portraying them as more rational, and then suddenly had them charge into a chainsaw fight with some steel megafauna when they had perfectly serviceable weapons on their ships, landers, fighters and tanks. It was a thematic error as well as a misstep as far as the much-discussed Rule-of-Cool is concerned; he shouldn't have given us Tyranids Lite in the same universe that invented Tyranids Classic and expected it to fly.

I'd agree with you whole-heartedly that the Horus Heresy stuff has not been handled too well. Then again, so of it's just the accumulated absurdities that have been laid over the 40k universe. Melee shouldn't really be that effective (let alone the some what odd 300 homage in Iron Snakes) or resorted to quite that quickly but it'[s part of the established setting. But I think at least some of that needs to be laid at the door of the people directing the overall arch of these mega-plots.

Alpharius' brother. One half of one Primarch. (!) The Alpha Legion's "That was just my Dr Doombot, you fool!" excuse to let AL fanboys have their cake and eat it, too.

Ouch. That's really, really dumb. I've got to think that was a lame excuse dictated from above as GW is skittish about making the death of any Primarch a done and proven deal. As I said, I think a lot of stuff like that was dictated by the people directing the larger story, either in BL or GW design itself.

Well, Abnett isn't quite as bad about it as Counter, but I really hate it when a Psyker has a power that just manifests itself in one specific ability.

I have no idea what your comic books references mean as I've never been one to read them. So I have to think this is either a guilt by association thing or just a stylistic issue. Because it's been established way back in the day (like 2nd edition days) that many psykers are only good at one or two things. Heck the concept of astropaths basically embodies that idea.

Again, I would prefer if it either a) wasn't so standardised, being Chaotic and all, or b) if it must be something that is obviously mass produced, can we at least get references to why we aren't seeing the other, more common Chaos war machines instead/beside them?

Because the Sabbat Worlds got smoked by a major Imperial Crusade 200-some years before the "present" of the story line? It's quite probable that the production was limited to the Chaos domains with in the Sabbat Worlds, which were isolated from the major bastions in the Eye of Terror and Maelstrom. When they went down, those went bye bye.

This kind of tech follows naturally from Xenology, the Necron Codex, the older fluff on the Slann, Horus Rising (see the alien map of ancient Earth, etc.) and is explicitly mentioned to be so rare that the Inquisition has to wrangle with the Mechanicus for control of it.

It naturally follows from canon. But it's a huge thing to have the Imperium getting it's hands on it even so briefly. It's treated appropriately but probably more unusual than some of the things Dan Abnett's introduced.

It's certainly something new, even if it's a bit of a macguffin.

Yes, but he keeps it within the bounds of canon. He doesn't create radical new technologies/creatures/whatever that will only be used in one sector just so he can discuss the culture of the Imperium... or to move the plot. Frankly, the pop culture of the Imperium, as well as how Imperial Citizens live, is one section where I'd love to see more development as it has been left entirely open by the fluff.

I'm glad you agree he doesn't make up new canon as much as Abnett does. That was my point.

I like that Abnett is competent enough to come up with new things that mostly complement the existing fluff, mostly. My problem is when he makes up something new, and even something less canon-y, when there already exist beings/whatever in the fluff that would already fit perfectly into a situation he has written, and in fact would be expected to show up in those situations.

I think you're misundersting me, I think both Dan Abnett and Alex Stewart are creating new things. I think Abnett's created more mostly by virtue of having written far more material. It seems to me you're confusing stylistic choices on Abnett's part for canon issues. You seem to think everything ought to be out of the source books or otherwise be spread all over subsequently. That doesn't have to be the case for them to fall with in canon

On the other hand, you seem to be much more accepting of Stewart's work simply because of the area's he covering. In reality his contributions have been pretty significant for only six books. He's done a significant amount of world building, as much as Dan Abnett, but because it hasn't much challenged your preconceptions (or personal stake on canon) it doesn't seem as significant.

[Connor MacLeod]

I was going to comment again on this issue and then forgot about it, but Stormbringer did it far better than I did.

Yes, Mitchell has added things, maybe not as much as other authors but he still does. Things I can recall off the top of my head is that he has the Valhallans receiving recruits all the way from VAlhalla and even implies this is fairly common. (Which as I recall wasnt s upposed to be possible save in rare cases, like the Vostroyans.. who are actually known for it because their regiments are a "continuiation" from others due to constant influxes of new recruits.) I'm also sure that Mitchell was one of those who adopted the "fire team" concept before it was officially in canon. He also tends to make lasguns (valhallans at least) Uber-lasguns of doom (blowing apart Tyranid or Ork heads with single shots pretty damn easily I should note) - even though they've never been given variable settings (he seems to have neglected thas aspect.) I dont mind the lasgun thing, but its something that would technically go against the "game canon" such as it were. I also tend to find it annoying that he seems to assume that things as simple as auspex are denied to the guard troops (save on vehicles) or that they have on infrared cap[ability whatsoever (even tho cases for that can be made in the canon even without novels.)

Basically though, thed point is that all authors do this to one degree or another (usually a fairly large degree) because their writing THEIR view of 40K, and not everyone always agrees. (Graham McNeill is a particularily good example here.) This isnt neccesarily a bad thing (not always good though.) and its not fair to blame one writer for it but not another. Hell there are things Abnett does that annoy the heck out of me (he's transitioned lasguns into being like slugthrowers, basically. ITs a frigging novel and he's somehow managed to incorporate the Star wars "slow moving glowing projectiles of doom" into that format. ARRRGH!)
Its just one of those things you learn to cope with if you do analysis. Hell, in my opinion the worst offendersa re the Forgeworld supplements in most regards (thet tend to facilitate alot of the Grimdark bullshit, a notable offender being IA3 with its tau fanservice.)

I'd also like to point out that "making new shit up" is by far from a bad thing. STar Wars suffers from too much of "recycled concepts" bullshit, and look how its turned out. Hell 40K itself has grown pretty static outside the novels due to the "recycled grrimdark" concept as well. And to be honest, there area wlays some aspects of 40K that NEED to be ignored sometimes (they're neither amusing nor cool nor anything. The big thign being the GRIMDARK" content. I patently and consistently ignore that and everything it entails.)

[Shroom Man 777]

What's to stop Chaos-worshiping aliens from allying with Chaos-worshiping humans? In Xenos, those Glaw Guys didn't ally with the weirdo Abnett Aliens because they were so goddamn weird, but perhaps other Chaos guys wouldn't be adverse to allying with aliens. Hey, Chaos Undivided and all that.

Uber-lasguns of doom (blowing apart Tyranid or Ork heads with single shots pretty damn easily I should note)

Ork heads are still relatively squishy, unlike obscene Tyrannid carapace armor things, and unless they're made out of solid rock or metal, lasers rated at the megawatts should do them in easily.

[TheMuffinKing]

What's to stop Chaos-worshiping aliens from allying with Chaos-worshiping humans? In Xenos, those Glaw Guys didn't ally with the weirdo Abnett Aliens because they were so goddamn weird, but perhaps other Chaos guys wouldn't be adverse to allying with aliens. Hey, Chaos Undivided and all that.

Are those aliens the ones that were in possession of some uber-chaos tome and whose planet was described as being covered a silver/gray jigsaw puzzle pattern? What was their name from this vague reference?

[Shroom Man 777]

Those are them, I don't know what they were called. I'll have to check the book again.

[Chris OFarrell]

I liked this book.

I love the Cain books in general. I love the way they show the future DOES have its grim moments, but its not the increasingly irritating GRIM DARK x 10000000 we find in a lot of other books. Amberly's notes -such as the aformentioned childrens books/songs- are great to show how yes it IS nothing but war, but even in that there is fun!

Dito Cain's continual bemoaning of the Sisters of Battle, some of those moments in 'Duty Calls' where he lets go with the exasperation against them are classic.

Not to mention the dismissiveness of the Tau, thank GOD, for once, as an insignificant threat that only exists because the Imperium have too many other problems to care.

A few points about this book in particular.

I wish we had seen more Amberly, but I did find the last line of the book and series worthy of a smirk.

I find it interesting that she as an Inquisistor of the Ordos Xenos does not know who the C'Tan are, dito the team working on the Shadowlight. Or if the Inquisition did, they were holding that knowledge back from them. But I doubt it frankly. Which suggests that while Necrons are a known threat to the Ordos Xenos, knowledge of their Gods is kept far tighter. And it doesn't look like the AdaptMech spread knowledge about this project very far, otherwise you'd think Deceiver would have found out and sent the boys in for a look earlier...

Its also interesting that the Shadowlight appears to confirm the hypothesis that massive directed warp energy is a direct threat to a C'Tan, between the Blackstones and this, enough of one for the Necrons to dedicate considerable resources over the long term to locating and capturing/destroying it. And again the patience and surgical nature of the operation overwhelming points to the Jackal God, Nightbringer would probably just blow up the planet or something...

I also like how although the Necrons were painted to be VERY powerful in both this book and Caves of Ice, they didn't go absurdly overboard like CS Goto and his 'OMG, those Necron fighters are too powerful for our Battle Barge to even kill, only 'disable' for a short time....yeah.

[Shroom Man 777]

In Caves of Ice, an Ork rips off a Necron Warrior's leg and uses the severe limb as a bludgeon. Then the Necrons de-atomize the Ork.

Also, a Gargant was able to ruin the shit out of several Monoliths.

So, yeah, no woner the Necrons went to sleep. The Old One's weapons (Orks) were far too awesome!

[NecronLord]

Its also interesting that the Shadowlight appears to confirm the hypothesis that massive directed warp energy is a direct threat to a C'Tan, between the Blackstones and this, enough of one for the Necrons to dedicate considerable resources over the long term to locating and capturing/destroying it.

Eh. It depends if it actually creates chaos gods - frankly, that seems a bit unlikely (extraordinary claims require extraordinary proof after all) - if it could do that, it wouldn't need to be a direct threat to the C'tan for it to be something they'd want to get their evil mitts on, or destroy. What it certainly does, is make mass-manufacture of high level psykers possible, which itself is reason enough to devote a squad or two to keeping an eye out to see who turns up to try and use it, then call in a starship to ruin their day. It's not like this operation compares to the (simultaneous) operations to destroy the remaining Blackstones in scope, after all.

In Caves of Ice, an Ork rips off a Necron Warrior's leg and uses the severe limb as a bludgeon. Then the Necrons de-atomize the Ork.

Also, a Gargant was able to ruin the shit out of several Monoliths.

Eh. I'm not sure if they're monoliths or something else. Their weapons were described as lightning arcs, wheras monoliths use a gauss weapon as their primary armament. They're possibly some kind of lightning-arc turret gun that's teleported into place.

[Shroom Man 777]

Don't Necron gauss weaponry generally look like evil green lightning? That's what it looked like in Dawn of War too...

[NecronLord]

Don't Necron gauss weaponry generally look like evil green lightning?

No. The weapons crackle with a lightning-like effect, but they shoot a distinct ray, not a lightning bolt.

That's what it looked like in Dawn of War too...

Dawn of War's graphics engine is pathetically below what would be required to give a realistic depiction. When people are shot by a gauss weapon, they're engulfed by the ray, which whittles them away, showing organs, skeleton, and such.

The lightning arc, on the other hand, is a distinctly different necron weapon, which much more closely matches what Jenit Sulla describes from the 'blank pyramids' engaging the Gargant.