Eisenhorn Series analysis thread

[Connor MacLeod]

And we end with providing the clear winnder of the voting thread, and something I am sure everoyne has wanted to see for.. years? now? Probably better I waited, since way back when I was a suckier analyst. I'm still not the best compared to some, but I'm better than I was and that is saying something.

Anyhow, the first Eisenhorn novel. One of the best still, IMHO, although Malleus is pretty good as well. The Eisenhorn novels are, in my mind, the best work Abnett has done thus far. It's not that his other novels are worse, but they even surpass the Ghost novels simply by being different and unique within 40K without totally abandoning the flavour and themes that make 40K what it is. We don't get over the top grimdark, we don't get cariacture characters. Eisenhorn is a believable and interesting character, and you come to enjoy and care about him and his entourage, especially as the work progresses. The work also is very self contained, so you dont neccesarily HAVE to read them in order, or together, to enjoy them, but they also connect in a way that makes sense and makes the whole much more fufilling. Also, good Inquisitorial novels are rare, and the series has a definite "detective" feel that is positivley unique in 40K - not evne RAvenor can come close to being as good as Eisenhorn is (IMHO.)

This is also early Abnett, so his ideas about technology and the guard and other stuff in 40K aren't quite so well entrenched like they are in later novels (esp the Ghost ones.)

Enjoy!


Page 14

... [subject (ii)] to be male, approx 40 years, heavy-set, wearing Imperial Guard-issue body plate [no insignia or idents], significant facial scarring [old], wielding belt-fed heavy stubber..

Back when I first read this, I always went "shit a guardsman wielding a heavy machine gun, fucking sweet." Of course nowadays heavy stubbers range from 7.62mm to 25mm type ammo, so there's no telling what it is.

Page 14

...tattoos and body-glove armour of a Morituri Death Cultist initiate, wielding force blade [approx 45cm length].

this is one aspect where you can tell early Abnett, he's doing quirky shit like this. Still I suppose its not wholly impossible for a Inquisitor-sanctioned Death Cultist to obtain a force blade of some kind. Just very odd.

Page 15

...(ii) fires heavy stubber [sound track distorts].
Two human adversaries pulped ..

Effects of the aforementioned heavy stubber.

Page 15

VOICE OFF: Maneesha! To the left! To the l-
Pict-source makes partial capture as (iii) is hit repeatedly by energy fire. (iii) convulses, explodes. Pict source is hit by blood mist [image fogs].
...
(ii) is yelling, moving ahead out of view, firing heavy stubber. Sudden crossfire laser effect [las-flare blinds pict-source optics].

Human female (identified in prior data) is evidently exploded by sustained gunfire (six human, wo mutatnt, ,and three servitor assailants.) subsequent comments make it suggestive of las-fire, but it could be a plasma weapon. While Abnett novels usually have plasma weapons burning people, they have done explodey damage like that.

Page 17

...I had pulled on an internally heated bodyskin and swathes of sturdy, insulated foul weather gear ..

Eisenhorn's cold weather gear.

Page 18

I left the winking signal lights and the serrated dagger-shape of my gun-cutter behind in the perpetual winter night.

His gun-cutter is designed in a baroque fashion, more akin to a mini Chaos cruiser or Space Fleet era starship. Honestly I kinda like that, I like the heresy era designs more.

Page 19

The power sword, an antique and graceful weapon, blessed by the Provost of Inx himself, spun in my hand. With five abrupt moves I made corpses out of them and left their blood vapour drifting in the air.

40K version of a lightsaber, and a high end power weapon.

Page 20

A Scipio-pattern naval pistol, finished in dull chrome with inlaid ivory grips, it felt reassuringly heavy in my gloved hand. Ten rounds, every one a fat, blunt man-stopper, were spring-loaded into the slide inside the grip.

Eisenhorn's pistol. One thing I like about the novels over the game material is that weapons are not so blatantly hierarchical. EG bolters are not always the OMG super powerful weapons - there can be las and slug weapons that match them.

Page 21

To express it in simple terms, some inquisitors are puritans and some are radicals. Puritans believe in and enforce the traditional station of the Inquisition, working to purge our galactic community of any criminal or malevolent element: the triumvirate of evil - alien, mutant and daemon.
...
Radicals believe that any methods are allowable if they accomplish the Inquisitorial task. Some, as I understand it, actually embrace and use forbidden resources, such as the Warp itself, as weapons against the enemies of mankind.
...
Amalathians take our name from the conclave at Mount Amalath. Our endeavour is to maintain the status quo of the Imperium, and we work to identify and destroy any persons or agencies that might destabilise the power of the Imperium from without or within. We believe in strength through unity. Change is the greatest enemy. We believe the God-Emperor has a divine plan, and we work to sustain the Imperium in stability until that plan is made known. We deplore factions and in-fighting... Indeed, it is sometimes a painful irony that our beliefs mark us as a faction within the political helix of the Inquisition.

Eisenhorn summarizes Inquisitorial factions and their philosohpies. I really shouldn't have to belabour this at this point.

Page 24

Taking cover behind a stone bulkhead, I emptied a clip down the length of the gallery, the spent shell cases smoking in the air as the pumping slide ejected them. A hot vapour of cordite blew back at me.

Eisenhorn's gun is using cordite propellant (rather than something like fyceline) which is sometimes noted for slug weapons. Also it is cased ammo, rather than casless. There is no pattern to this really.. I guess they are of equal technology (and cased ammo as has been discussed on this forum does have advantages over caseless.)

Page 24

My legs actually twitched, actually started to walk me clear of cover into the open. Eyclone was infamous across a dozen settled systems for his mind powers and mesmeric tone. How else had he managed to get these dark-eyed fools to do his bidding?

But I have similar skills. And I have honed them well.

There is a time to use mind or voice tricks gently to draw out your target. And there are times to use them like a stub-gun at point blank range.
..
I pitched my voice, balanced my mind and yelled: "Show yourself first!"
Eyclone didn't succumb. I didn't expect him to. Like me, he had years of resilience training. But his two gunmen were easy meat.

- Eisenhorn uses "mind and voice" tricks. Ev idently both are psychic, but they are different in nature/effect. (possibly variations of the same actions, in case enemies are resilient to one kind or another.) This might be analogous to use of vocal and somatic gestures in some fantasy "spellcasting", even. (Or it might just be another nod to Dune. Its not the first time such a tribute has occured.)


Page 24

The Scipio made a hole in the middle of his forehgead and blew his brains out behind him in a grotesque pink mist.

..

The round penetrated his head under his nose, splinted on his upper teeth, and blew the sides of his skull out.

Eisenhorn's autopistol. Las-weapons arguably shoudl be capable of similar performance.

Page 25

At the moment Eyclone fired, several cryo-tubes finally gave way and yowling, naked, blistered humans staggered out into the corridor, clawing with ice-webbed hands, mewling, vomiting, blind and ice-burned. Eyeclone's shots tore three of them apart and hideously wounded the fourth. Had it not been for them, those las-shots would have finished me.

...
..stepping over the blasted ruins of the sleepers who had inadvertently spared me. The wounded one, a middle-aged female, compromised and naked as she lay in the melt-water, clutched at my leg, begging for salvation. Eyeclone's gunfire had all but disembowelled her.

Eyeclone is armed with a las-pistol, the effects seem quite substantial compared to just "poking holes in people" although its not exactly blowing torsos apart grenade-style. I imagine a series of fist or head sized shots could do what is described fairly well.


Page 25

..the hierarchy of Hubris would not understand a mercy killing. I would be trapped here for years, fighting my case through every court in their legislature.

This may seem odd, but remember Eisenhorn at this point is an Amalathian.

Page 27

..another of Eyclone's black-eyed men, running in through the main hatch with an old-model laspistol raised in his hand.
His first shot, a twinkling ball of pink light, snapped the metal handrail of the platform I stood on with an explosive ping.

And we see a case of Abnett lasweapon oddness. Yep. Lasers shooting glorified ball lightning. Snapping a metal handrail isn't too shabby. Assuming a 1-2 cm diameter rail of iron you could expect single (at least) to double digit KJ to pull it off. A laspistol packing the firepower of a full power rifle round is not a trivial thing, even if the energy is relatively minor.

(If you're wondering, I just plugged some parameters into Luke Campbells laser death ray calculator on his website.)

Page 28

"Enough!" I commanded, modulating my tone to emphasise my will as I drove it into his mind. "Drop it!"
He did, meekly, as if surprised. Psyker tricks of will often baffle those who find themselves compelled by them.

More voice tricks.

Page 28

...my gun-cutter. Four hundred and fifty tonnes of armoured alloy, eighty metres from barbed nose to raked stern, landing gear still lowered like spider-legs, it rose on the blue-hot downwash of angled jets.
...
The gun-turrets in the ends of the stubby wings rotated and washed the platform with withering heavy fire. Stone splintered. Bodies were reduced to sprays of liquid.

Eisenhorn's guncutter. This gives us a rough indicator of the size and mass of small craft, which meshes with what we know of the sizes and masses of fighters and bombers in other sources.

Page 28

I fired.
Having emptied his brain-case and shattered it into the bargain, the round still had so much force it crossed the deck and pinked off the armoured nose of the hovering gun-cutter, just below the cockpit window.

Eisenhorn's autopistol again. Once more, lasweapons could be capable of similar given the previously established parity between las and slug weapons in terms of effect.

Page 29

Aemos was two hundred and seventy-eight standard years old, and had provided his services as a savant to three inquisitors before me. He was alive only thanks to significant bionic augmentation to his digestive tract, liver, urinary system, hips and left leg.

Aemos's age as of Xenos.

Page 29

"A codifier of unique design. A series processor, similar in layout to the mind-impulse units used by the hallowed Adeptus Mechanicus to govern the linkage between human brain and god-machine. "
...
"I do not pretend to have more than a cursory knowledge. I am certain, however, that the Adeptus Mechanicus would be interested in this device. It may be illicit technology or something derived from apparatus stolen from them. Either way, they would impound it. "

MIU stuff. It seems to be a codifier type thing. The interesting thing about this is that the context will suggest that MIUs have a strongly psychic element to their operation (which is reinforced later in other novels.)

Page 30

At the age of forty-two, he had contracted a meme-virus that altered his brain function for ever, driving him to collect information - any sort of information - whenever he got the chance. He was pathologically compelled to acquire knowledge, a data-addict. That made him an aggravating, easily sidetracked companion, and a perfect savant, as four inquisitors had discovered.

- "meme virus" mentioned, causes insatiable curiosity/desire to accumulate knowledge. Evidently provides recipient with virtually perfect memory.

Page 34 -

He had removed his tight-fitting gloves so that the intricate Glavian circuitry set like silver inlay into his palms and finger tips could engage with the cutter's system directly via the control stick.

Betancore's glavian circuitry. The Glavians aren't extensively documented in 40K that I know of, but much hints at them having some special relationship with the Mechanicus, perhaps analogous to what the Vostroyans have/supposedly have.

Page 34

Two independent multitask servitors waited for commands in the crew-bay The ship had five in all. Two were limb-less combat units slaved directly to the gun-pods and the other, the chief servitor, a high-spec model we called Uclid, never left his duties in the engine room.
..
Betancore didn't want anybody or anything touching the gun-cutter, so he ordered Modo and Nilquit, our two independent servitors, to take over the tasks and send the locals away.

Eisenhorn's Guncutter servitors The classifications are interesting. It's also interesting to note that the "high spec" model is named, and apparently even has a gender, although this could be affectation. Though evidence from other novels would not rule out it being a sentient of some kind.

Page 34

Lowink, my astropath, slumbered in his chamber, linked to the vox and pict systems, awaiting a summons.

I guess this means astrotelepathy can transmit visual and audio signals both, or at least 40K systems can interpret it in that fashion.

Page 39

"Your arrogance astounds me, off-worlder! You bring this monster to our world, battle with him through our most sacred sanctums, a private war that slaughters our best and you- "

An interesting insight into how the Imperium interacts with its subordinate worlds. Largely, the "adeptus" institutions, like the Inquisition, the Adminsitratum, the Munitorum, etc are quite often seen as "outsiders" and not part of the offical hierarchy, even though they have authority over it. This creates a sort of "two tier" system of citizenry - those who are "Imperials" - members or servants of the Adeptus Terra and the territories it may directly rule or be governred by (including organizations like the Schola Progenium and such), and then the various cultures of the individual worlds making up the Imperium. The former are more likely to be highly conditioned and loyal to the Imperium, as well as being more familiar with things like technology, space travel etc. Individual worlds, however, will be more variable (from the most superstitous feral world to a high tech Industrial world.)

page 39

"Should I explain how I came here at the last minute when I learned Eyclone was moving to Hubris? That I learned that only by astro-pathic decryption of a cipher message sent by Eyclone two months ago? A cipher that killed my astropath in his efforts to translate it? "

Eisenhorn mentions earlier (when introducing Lowink) that his previous astropath was killed six weeks before, setting an upper limit on the time he took to arrive at this planet. Considering he's largely travelling within the subsector/sector scope, his speed cannot be super fast.

Page 40

"This is Chastener Fischig, of the Adeptus Arbites. I wanted him present "

Fischig and Eisenhorn had a very confrontational attitude for much of the early parts of the book, which highlights how not all the ADeptus always get along or respect each other. We've seen similar attitudes in other novels (EG the Shira Calpurnia ones and her dealings with Inquisitors.) It's understandable though, given how Inquisitors and Arbites, organizations devoted to investigating Imperial crimes, can step on one another's toes as much as they might cooperate.

Page 41

"You called him a 'facilitator'"
...
"He believed he could serve his obscene masters best by offering his considerable skills to cults and sects that needed them. He had no true allegiances. He worked to facilitate the grand schemes of others. "

Much as Orfeo Culzean did in Ravenor. I guess they're not an unusual breed, at least in this particular sector or segmentum (cloes to the Eye of Terror? Is that surprising?)

Page 41

His head had been wrapped in an almost comical plastic bonnet to contain the wound I had dealt him. Framed in the plastic, his face was tranquil, with just a slight bruising around the lips

Eyclone's body.

Page 41

There were labelled bins of mostly liquescent material against the back wall, the remains of those that Betan-core had slaughtered with the cutter's cannons.

Self explanatory. Not sure what weapons caused this. As I recall Eisenhorn's cutter can have both autocannons or heavy bolters depending on the scene or book.

Page 42

Some I gauged from build and coloration to be off-worlders, but they had no documents, no surgical identifiers, no clue whatsoever about their origins or identities. Even their clothing was blank... manufacturing tags and labels had been torn or burned off. I could begin a forensic investigation to identify the source of the clothing, but that would be a massive waste of resources.

Without timeframes or other data this is not quantitatively useful, but the implications are interesting nonetheless

Page 42

I found fresh scars that suggested subcutaneous idem markers had been surgically removed. Ident marking was not a local practice, so that at least suggested off-world. But where? Hundreds of Imperial planets routinely used such devices, and their placing and use was pretty standard. I had carried one myself for a few years, as a child, before the Black Ships selected me and it was dug out.

- hundreds is almost certainly an underestimate, given that there are thousands of sectors, and it would be quite easy to narrow that down if there were only a handful (or less) of such planets per sector (or surrounding sectors, really.) Its also unlikely he's talking about within the sector, given the numbers involved.


Page 43

His laspistol, a compact vox-device, a pearl-inlaid box containing six obscura tubes and an igniter, a credit tile, spare cells for the gun, a plastic key. And the belt; with four buttoned pouches.
I opened them one by one: some local coins; a miniature las-knife; three bars of high-calorie rations; a steel tooth-pick; more obscura, this time in an injector vial; a small data slate.

Pretty compact stuff if he carried it all on his person.

Page43

The knife? Too slow and small to counter a man who has a naval pistol wedged into your mouth.
....
And then again, he hadn't reached for his holstered lasgun.

Laspistol called a "lasgun" here, lasgun is probabyl colloquial. Not the first time it happens. I'm guessing "lasgun" can refer to pistols or rifles, but usually refers to rifles.

Page 44

The worm slithered back into the light. It was a metre long and several centimetres thick now. What foul sorcery had caused that expansion, I did not want to know. It was made of segmented metal, and the head was an eyeless cone split by a hissing mouth full of razor teeth.
...
"Touch-activated mechanism," Aemos was murmuring to himself, "very discrete, probably of Xenos manufacture, a guard weapon, with some mass-altering system that expands it on contact with air and/or release, hunting by sound..."
...
The impact knocked me back. I found I had the whole, heavy, two-metre thing thrashing on the end of my knife like a lash.

Identified as a "gift from his masters" - and that Eisenhorn coudl tell they were powerful.

Note as well the mass-altering system, although it is considered a distinctly xenos device. This would tend to suggest such technology is not common or well regarded in the Imperium (considering how they brute force everything, this would not be surprising - "finesse" type technology like this is generally reserved for the alien.)

Page 47

"Let's look at the transmission lag that Lowink detected in the messages Eyclone sent and received while on the planet."
...
"...but look at the lag. This one... eight seconds... that's from a ship in orbit... and the timeframe matches that period in which we know Eyclone's mysterious starship was here. But this... during your struggle with him last night. A lag of twelve and a half minutes. That's from another system "
...
I'd never much considered the blurry side-bar that edged all astropathic message forms before.
"Twelve and a half? You're sure?"
...
"Three worlds in the picture. All between eleven and fifteen minutes' lag of here. Thracian Primaris, Kobalt II and Gudran "

Interesting that sector-level astropathic communications are reliable enough for a time lag to be established. This probably gives us a good indicator of inter-sector astropathic range, at least for privately available/civilian astropaths.

Going off the Ravneor maps, I'd guess that the systems are at least 10-20 LY of each other, but far less than 50 LY or so (its still within a sector after all) - although not being able to see in a third dimension (and a sector is 200 ly to a side) complicates this, the fact they are "nearby" suggests they cannot be on the other side of the sector. Hell this is all still within the subector, so that means its gotta be within roughly 10-20 LY anyhow.

transmission speed for astropathic signals given the range I established is between 350,000 and 956,000c for a 10-20 LY range and 11-15 min lag. for 50-200 LY the figure goes up into the millions of c easily. This is rather "low" than what is implied to be possible elsewhere, but bear in mind that a.) this is likely a civilian astropath, not government or military, eyeclone has to do with what he can acquire without attracting Imperial notice. b.) the calcs assume that the whole of the "lag" was from the signal travelling to and from source. It does not make any allowance for time spent composing, encrypting or decoding, reading, or the like that might delay the message. c.) odds are it's a single astropath or at most a small choir, I doubt Eyeclone could acquire a large number of astropaths commercially and not notice.


Page 48

We turned to find Fischig standing there. He was wearing the full flak armour, carapace and visored helm of an Arbites now. I have to admit the effect was impressive.

Arbites body armor, at least on this planet.

Page 49

The speeder was a standard Imperial model, painted matt-brown and sporting the badges of the solar symbol and the chevrons and tail number of the local Arbites. Armoured, it turned heavily, the anti-grav straining to keep us aloft. There was a heavy bolter pintle-mounted forward of my seat. I glanced around and saw a locked rack of combat shotguns behind the rear seats.

Arbites on this planet have their own antigrav speeders.

Page 50

Fischig swept up a warning hand and took a coin from his pocket. He flipped it onto the terrance and it was atomsied by nine separate las beams.

Arbites also have the authority to manually shut down such auto defences.

Page 50

He stepped back, apparently preparing to shoot the window in.
"It's arma-plex." I told him, rapping my knuckles off the material. "Don't be stupid."
I pulled the plastic bag containing Eyclone's effects from my jacket and searched for the compact las-knife.

Material that seems highly resistant to blunt force impacts but not to laser weapons of some kind. The exact damage mechanism for that laser device isn't specified, though.

Page 51

"Put it down." I commanded.
He hesitated, as if my will had no force. A conditioned mind, I supposed. Take no chances.

The autopistol was just pulling up to find me when I blew off his half-shaved face with the shotgun and sent his body splintering back through the half-open door.

Shotgun vs human head. Not beyond what modern shotguns could do with pellets IIRC.

Page 53

The man coughed and whined, rolling his eyes. Unless he possessed unnaturally boosted strength thanks to drugs or hidden aug-metics, this man wasn't muscle.

"hidden augmetics" seem possible to non-military, non Adeptus forces. Even if illegally and hard to procure for the average person.

Page 54

"I was trade envoy for the Bonded Merchant Guild of Sinesias "
Guild Sinesias was one of the largest mercantile companies in the sector. It had holdings on a hundred-plus planets and links to the Imperial nobility.
...
"Long-term contracts with the authorities on this world that require the personal touch."

Basically an off-world representative to other worlds for the Guild, speaking with their authority (and taking the risks of travelling to other planets, through the Warp.)

Page 55

He was dead. Eyclone had left failsafes in the conditioning that would trigger at certain subjects. The Pontius evidently was one of those.
"A stroke. Artificially induced "

Interesting safeguards. Psychic one would assume. One owuld assume the Imperium can do similar.

Page 56

"The charges were set off by the same spasm that killed Crotes. "
...
And he had seen how brutally they would cover their traces, using mental-weapons and brain-wired booby traps that spoke of vast resources and frightening sophistication.

Psychic detonation of hidden explosives, it seems.

Page 57

There was a good chance any valuable documents had been set to burn or delete on the same trigger signal that had blown the shutter and killed Crotes. And it also seemed likely these people carried all truly important information internally, as memory engrams, or meme-codes, the sort of techniques usually reserved for the higher echelons of diplomatic corps, the Administratum and elite trade delegations.

That turned my mind back to Crotes's employer, the Guild Sinesias.

More interesting info on security measures and how presumably psychic measures are invovled.

Page 57-58

"It's a common enough name in this sub-sector." Aemos told me back in the comfortable half-light of the gun-cutter in its landing platform berth. He had been researching the name 'Pontius'. "I've turned up over half a million citizens with that forename, another two hundred thousand with it as a middle name, plus another forty or fifty thousand spelling variants."

Aemons has been doing research (for hours or days it seems, probably not more than weeks) on Pontius) seemingly from data archives across the subsector. With the astropathic lag times established before, this is not improbable.

Page 59

I wandered up to the cockpit and sat with Betancore. "We'll need passage off-world, to Gudrun."
"I'll arrange it. It may be a day or two."

a day or two for transport to arrive. Possibly from another system.

Page 60

That was half a sector away. "How did you get from Bonaventure to Thracian?"
"By way of this and that. Here and there. I've travelled a lot. Never stayed put very long."

Inter-sector travel seems at least somewhat possible, for some people. Although it isn't cheap, as Bequin seems to indicate.


Page 61

"She's an untouchable."

"Seriously?"

"Seriously. A psychic blank. It's natural, and I haven't tested her limits. It's all I can do to be in the same room as her."

...

Untouchables were rare, and almost impossible to create artificially. They have a negative presence in the warp that renders them virtually immune to psychic powers, which in turn makes them potent anti-psyker eapons . The side-effect of their psychic blankness is the unpleasant disturbance that accompanies them, the waves of fear and revulsion they trigger in those they meet.

Pretty self explanatory.

Page 61

"Made contact with a sprint trader called the Essene. Master's one Tobius Maxilla. Deals in small units of luxury goods. Coming here in two days to deliver a consignment of vintage wines from Hesperus, then on to Gudrun. For a fee, he'll make room for the cutter in his hold "
...
"So we'll be on Gudrun when?"
"Two weeks "

Two weeks from Hubris to Gudrun, estimated. going by the Ravenor maps, I'd guess that's 15-20 LY. Call it between 400-500c.

Page 70


Page 64

I had Lowink prepare for an auto-seance.
...
..Lowink opened his mind to the warp, and filtered its raging influence through his highly trained mental architecture. This transitional moment was always a shock, and I shuddered. The temperature in the room dropped palpably, and a glass bowl on a side counter cracked spontaneously. Lowink was murmuring, his eyes rolled back, twitching and jerking slightly.

I closed my eyes, though I could still see my room. What I was seeing was a visualisation of our surroundings constructed by Lowink astropath-ically in the Empyrean itself. Everything shone with a pale blue light from within, and solids became translucent. The dimensions of the room shifted slightly, stretching and buckling as if they had difficulty retaining their coherence.

I took up the items on the table in turn, Lowink's projection enhancing their psychometric qualities, opening my mind's abilities to the signatures and resonances they carried in the warp.

Most were dull and blunt, with no trace of resonance. Some had wispy tendrils of auras around them, relics of passing contact with human hands and human minds.

- Eisenhorn and his astropath conduct an "auto-seance". Of interest is that the astropath was able to re-construct a visualization of the room in the Empyrean. Objects in
this state have "psychometric" qualities, as well as "signatures and resonances" they carry in the warp. Most objects are "blunt", in that they carry no residual traces of human contact or activity (which is what the resonance represents; the signature probably means its presence in the warp, since we know even inanimate objects like stars and planets have presences in the warp, to some degree.) This may give hints as to how FTL sensors in 40K work (the aforementioned "warp scan" by Orsai.)

Also, ,like in the Ghosts novels, Psyker activity creates a noticable drop in temperature.

[Shroom Man 777]

It's an excellent story and while I haven't gone fully through your analysis yet (merely at the first parts), when I first read the book I reckoned that Eisenhorn's autopistol was basically a Space M1911. Low ammo capacity? Check. Fat (.45?) caliber rounds? Check. Optimized for killing folk? Check. Ivory grips? That's practically this. Maybe with more engraved skulls. With spikes instead of sights. And... banners. Somewhere.

[Meest]

I always pictured it as a desert eagle type gun, doesn't he describe the ammo being thumb sized? Might have been in Ravenor and Nayl's weapon. He loved describing a few gun manufacturers, especially Hecuter or something being an absolute beast, so I always picture a .50+ or crazy magnum style rounds.

[Connor MacLeod]

It's an excellent story and while I haven't gone fully through your analysis yet (merely at the first parts), when I first read the book I reckoned that Eisenhorn's autopistol was basically a Space M1911. Low ammo capacity? Check. Fat (.45?) caliber rounds? Check. Optimized for killing folk? Check. Ivory grips? That's practically this. Maybe with more engraved skulls. With spikes instead of sights. And... banners. Somewhere.

It could be. Might be a .40 though or there abouts. .45 can get up to 12 shots per clip IIRC, although most tend to be 7-8 IIRC. Eisenhorn has alot of guns, just in this novel alone.

Funny thing is that alot of the fluff tends to treat stubbers as being the revolver/semiautomatics like a .45. Autopistols typically were something along the line of a one-handed SMG like an Uzi or Ingram-Mac 10 - generally using smaller ammo (Esp when they were still caseless.)

Rather hilarious really. you had autopistols (machine pistols/SMGs), autoguns (battle rifles, carbines, SMG, assault rifles), and autocannon (really big MGs or vehicle mounted repeating cannons). But you only had stubbers (semi auto handguns) and heavy stubbers (large calibre Machine gun) Semi auto rifles (esp bolt action or full power rifles) were never covered (even though they'd be stubguns or fome kind I'd figure) *shrug*

I always pictured it as a desert eagle type gun, doesn't he describe the ammo being thumb sized? Might have been in Ravenor and Nayl's weapon. He loved describing a few gun manufacturers, especially Hecuter or something being an absolute beast, so I always picture a .50+ or crazy magnum style rounds.

You're thinking of the stubber he has on Maxilla's starship. I'll probably be covering that next. Then again this is an Abnett novel so large calibre, powerful handguns (like Nayl's Hecutor) show up quite a bit. Eisenhorn, and Nayl folowing him, tend to have an insanely large and diverse number of guns

[Simon_Jester]

Rather hilarious really. you had autopistols (machine pistols/SMGs), autoguns (battle rifles, carbines, SMG, assault rifles), and autocannon (really big MGs or vehicle mounted repeating cannons). But you only had stubbers (semi auto handguns) and heavy stubbers (large calibre Machine gun)

Semi auto rifles (esp bolt action or full power rifles) were never covered (even though they'd be stubguns or fome kind I'd figure) *shrug*

I suspect that the niche now occupied by large-caliber semi-automatic or bolt action rifles would be filled by bolt and las weapons in 40k. If you want long range accuracy a laser will nearly always outcompete a projectile weapon, and if you want 'elephant gun' levels of firepower you get yourself a bolt pistol, not a superheavy rifle.

[Brother-Captain Gaius]

Rather hilarious really. you had autopistols (machine pistols/SMGs), autoguns (battle rifles, carbines, SMG, assault rifles), and autocannon (really big MGs or vehicle mounted repeating cannons). But you only had stubbers (semi auto handguns) and heavy stubbers (large calibre Machine gun) Semi auto rifles (esp bolt action or full power rifles) were never covered (even though they'd be stubguns or fome kind I'd figure) *shrug*

Building on what Simon said, traditional rifles would largely be obsolete and serve no practical function. Even so, bolt-action style weapons can be found in the form of the "hunting rifle" (as it is generally categorized in Dark Heresy).

[The Reaper]

Bolt action rifles in 40k tend to be ludicrously powerful, such as the one in Warriors of Ultramar.

And high-powered rifles are still used by guardsmen, such as in Redemption Corps.

[Simon_Jester]

OK, perhaps. I gather there are a lot of weird weapons that wouldn't be in widespread use in those sourcebooks, so maybe single-shot* slugthrowing rifles should be included too.

But I do think that on a galactic scale, the niches that we normally see single-shot* rifles in in real life would be filled by other weapons, mostly. Snipers would on average prefer 'long las,' and people who want antimateriel firepower at relatively close quarters would go for bolt rifles.
_______

*i.e. no automatic fire capability. I'm not sure how else to say that compactly...

[Connor MacLeod]

the 40K game itself got alot more streamlined as time went on, so stuff like autoguns and such got abstracted away compared to the earlier editions. But the distinctions have survived into spinoff stuff like the RPGs - which if anything have expanded on the weapons variety quite a bit.

Semi auto rifles (esp bolt action or full power rifles) were never covered (even though they'd be stubguns or fome kind I'd figure) *shrug*

I suspect that the niche now occupied by large-caliber semi-automatic or bolt action rifles would be filled by bolt and las weapons in 40k. If you want long range accuracy a laser will nearly always outcompete a projectile weapon, and if you want 'elephant gun' levels of firepower you get yourself a bolt pistol, not a superheavy rifle.[/quote]

Yeah, effects wise that's pretty much it. And even stubbers are something of an antique as far as "modern" 40K warfare goes (basically civilian or militia weapons) But bolt action rifles (or anything else sufficiently large calibre) would still fill in the category between stub pistols and HMGs I'd think. But they don't ever seem to have done that. It always kinda bugged me that you had "Stub pistols" as a class, then "heavy stubber", but there was no intermediate "stub rifle" category or like that. Whereas you had laspistol, lasgun, autocannons. Bolt pistol boltgun, heavy bolters. Plasma pistol plasma gun, plasma cannon. Autopistol, Autogun, autocannon. And so on. Seemed rather unfair

Hell there is still some reference to use of muskets and other black powder weapons in the setting, even amongst IG units (though its not stated that this is neccesarily *common*, but it happens)

[white_rabbit]

Those who have played Chaos Gate should be familiar with the pink energy ball style of las pistol....

[andrewgpaul]

From the original Rogue Trader rulebook:

"Auto-gun. An auto-gun is comparable to a twentieth century automatic rifle in appearance and operation - although it uses caseless, small calibre ammunition and has a rate of fire far outweighing that ancient weapon."

"Auto-pistol. Auto-pistols are rapid-firing automatic pistols similar to twentieth century sub-machine guns, but more compact."

"Stub gun. This weapon, also known as a slug gun or hand gun, is similar to a twentieth century automatic."

"Auto-cannon. Auto-cannon are similar in concept to twentieth century tank guns. They are rapid-firing and use mass-reactive explosive ammunition."

"Heavy stub. Heavy stubs are clumsy just like the twentieth century heavy machine guns they resemble."

Looking at the artwork, the auto-pistol looks much like the ones on the old 2nd edition plastic Close Combat Weapons sprue, the auto-gun like the ones used by Escher and Orlock Necromunda ganger miniatures, the stub gun is an M1911 pistol and the heavy stub is almost an MG 42. IIRC the "stub" name is pinched from Judge Dredd.

It looks like the original intention is that auto- and stub weapons are all one "family", hence the lack of a "stub rifle". The game is notably missing a single-shot rifle - the needle rifle is the "standard" sniper rifle.

Also, originally the auto-gun's advantage over the lasgun was its longer range - 32" compared to 24".

[Connor MacLeod]

Next Xenos update. We go from the meeting of Essene, to the end of our first meeting of the Glaws. Guest appearance by Inquisitor Heldane.

This update ens on a cliffhanger, where we'll see Eisenhorn's arena battle and the intervention of battlefleet Scarus

Page 67

"A bulk clipper, of the classic Isolde pattern, from the depot yards of Ur-Haven or Tancred. Majestic..." Aemos was muttering and annotating his idle observations into his wrist slate again.

The Essene was three kilometres long by my estimation, and fully seven hundred metres deep at its broadest part. Its nose was a long sleek cone like a cathedral spire made of overlapping gothic curves and barbed with bronze finials and spines. Behind that bladed front, the angular hull thickened into muscular buttresses of rusty-red plating, looped and riveted with ribs of dark steel. Crenellated tower stacks bulged from the dorsal hump. Hundred metre masts stabbed forward from the hull like tusks and other, shorter masts projected from the flanks and underside, winking with guide lights. The rear portion of the juggernaut splayed into four heat-blackened cones, each of which was large enough to swallow a dozen gun-cutters at once.

The sprint trader Essene. This makes it the size of a pre-Rogue Trader RPG cruiser, but now its on the low end of the light cruiser scale, at least by that approach. As I've noted before, there's likely some overlap in classifications.

Page 67

The hatch was one of a line of six down the hull's underside, but this was the only open one.
...
Exchanging a few terse comments with Uclid in the drive room, Betancore nudged the gun-cutter upwards through the yawning hatch. I watched the edges of the hatch-mouth, two metres thick and scratched in places to the bare metal, pass by alarmingly close.

Gun-cutter sized hatches, each two metres thick. Presumably the hull is much thicker.

Page 68

The hold where we were docked was vaulted and immense. I reminded myself it was just one of six accommodated by this vessel.

The Essene has six holds vast enough to easily hold a gun cutter.

Page 69

"You run this route regularly?"
"For the past few decades. It's seasonal. Sameter, Hesperus, Thracian, Hubris, Gudrun, sometimes to Messina too. When Dormant finishes on Hubris, there'll be a lot more work there."

"seasonal" implies a matter of months, probably less than a year. Again off the Ravenor maps, I'd guess the run as outlined is at least 80 LY. With a run back it probably can go to 100-150 LY easily. AGain that's still not super fast.. hundreds of c, perhaps a few thousand, but this is a civilian ship, with a stated "no human crew" which arguably means no Navigator (although given later comments this is disputable), and it doesn't factor in time spent at each location, which likely makes up a fair bit of that.

Page 70

It was to be a journey of more than a week.
...

"Do you know Gudrun? "

Hubris to Gudrun in "more than a week." but less than two. Rather reliable estimate of travel time in-sector, showing perhaps how settled the subsector is.

Page 70

The Essene left Hubris later that day, executed the translation to the Empyrean effortlessly, and made best speed for Gudrun.

Implies less than a day for the Essene to reach the edge of the system. Assuming they can warp out 1 AU from the planet, they would need 8-9 g's of constant acceleration. Average velocity would be between 1-1.2% of c. 10 AU (around several billion km distance) in a day involves some 80 gravities and about 12% of c.

Page 72

The Essene translated back into real-space and entered the Gudrun system on the morning of the eighth day, ahead of schedule. Maxilla had boasted his ship was fast under optimum conditions and the boast hadn't been empty.

8 days rather than 14., 685-913c.

Page 72

I had made arrangements with him to leave the Empyrean in the outreach of the system, considerably short of the busy local trade lanes that most arrivals to Gudrun followed. He agreed without question. It would only be a short delay.

Implies the ship could have gotten closer to the system, implied to be on the very edge. they dump off the body of one of Eisenhorn's agents.

Page 73

I told Maxilla we could begin our approach run to Gudrun now, and he estimated it would take two hours to reach the inner system.

Much faster this time. Again assuming the 1-10 AU figure I used before, the acceleration figures now range into the thousands of gees range (at least 1000 no less than 10,000 actually.) Velocity between ~12% and 82% of c.

Note that some may queston the calc, but we can put a firmer upper limit on that. We know from Rynn's World, for example, that getting within half a light second (ten planetery diamertrs) to a light second of a planet is flat out insane and generally fatal - at least for most warp starships. We also know from Savage Scars that the closest Inquisitor-grade starships can emerge from the warp is ~2-2.5 million km or so.

at half a light second, one gee of sustained thrust would get them in close to the planet in two hours, but this is so ludicrously low end and unreasonable that I wouldn't seriously consider it a reasonable calc. It is therefore more likely to be several times that figure (closer to 3-5 gees). At 2-2.5 million km we're looking at 12-15 gees approximately.



Page 74

"Your crew are all servitors." I remarked.
"Yes." he said distractedly. "They are more reliable than pure flesh."

All servitor crew. They're not just for Space Marine vessels! We know that the Navy chooses regular people (or cyborgs) over servitors for many functions because humans can generally be multi function, while most servitors are highly specialized. A human can serve at any ship system need be, as well as doubling as a soldier/infantry during boarding actions or ground actions.

Page 74

These were huge groups of orbiting ships, I realised. Massive dreadnoughts at high anchor, trains of great merchant ships, convoys of trade freighters streaming in under tug supervision. I had seldom seen such a wealth of orbital activity.

Considering this is a substantial fleet of Battlefleet warships, we can probably say that groupings of dozens/scores of ships, or at most hundreds, is rare. It also puts a bit of context on formations of ships we see later in ravenor (10,000 around Eustis Majoris.)

The complicating facotr of course is, context. We dont know how many ships are here - it could be a few dozen military and hundreds/thousands of merchant ships for all I know. Or maybe Eisenhorn isn't as widely traveled across the sector. Or it may be a timeframe issue.. literally centuries span between this time and Ravenor later on.

Page 74

"I told you there was a founding festival under way. You can see considerable portions of Battlefleet Scaras on station... "

As I noted above, its a battlefleet.

Page 75

A dozen large figures emerged through the haze. They were all dressed in the grey and black body armour of naval security..
...
All were masked in form-moulded ceramite helmets with lowered visor plates and rebreathers. They were armed with compact, short-frame autoguns.
..
"Tobius Maxilla?" barked the leader, his voice distorted by his mask and vox-amplified.

Naval security troopers. I'm still not sure if these are the same as naval armsmen, or they are the stormtrooper equivalent of Armsmen. They're damn well equipped in any case.

Page 76

There were twelve troops, hardly enough to search a ship the size of the Essene. Where were their servitors, their scanning units, their crow-bars, multi-keys and heat-detectors?

Eisenhorn comments on normal boarding and search procedures for hte Navy.

Page 77 -

Their compact autoguns were designed for ship-board fighting and zero-gravity work: low velocity, low recoil weapons that fired blunt-nosed slugs which couldn't puncture a hull.
But they were more than capable of shredding a man.
...
One of Maxilla's servitors was decapitated and then punched into spare-part debris as it turned towards the attackers. The other tried to move to shield Maxilla, but more shots tore out its tracks and its torso.

The navy guns. Basically they are probably compact SMG of low calibre and high rate of fire (explaining the "shredding a man" bit.) In any case we see they're quite devastatingly effective in close quarters.

Page 77

He dropped one of the troopers with a tight group of shots that sent the man flying in a puff of blood. Then Fischig was lifted off his feet by a hit to the stomach. Doubled over, he tumbled into the corner of the chamber and lay still.

Effect of the naval autoguns on Fischig. He survives (as outlined later). Tempting as it might be, I would not ascribe the knockdown to sheer momentum - that's flat out impossible (and it happens fairly often with projectile weapons here.) Some other factor is at work, especially the aformentioned "low recoil" bit (knocking people over isn't 'low recoil', unless you're comparing to tank and aircraft cannon)

Page 78

Maxilla roared and raised his right hand. A beam of searing light spat from one of the ornate rings and the nearest trooper exploded, burned down to scorched bone and ragged arour in his midsection. As the smouldering ruin crashed to the deck plates, the man behind him caught Maxilla in a chasing arc of automatic fire and blasted him backwards through the glass doors of an evacsuit-bay.

We dont really know what Maxila's ring is. It implies a laser, but it might also be a melta weapon of some kind. Either way it could easily involve many hundreds of kilojoules if not several megajoules to "explode" and severely burn a person like that. It is also not a weapon optimized for energy efficiency - such a weapon (as Luke Campbell notes) would rely on mechanical effects and probably not do much thermal. That may be by design or it could be a compromise of some sort.

Again the momentum quandry. Made worse this time because MAxilia is mostly augmetic as we find out.

Page 78

At least the stubber had stopping power. The clips only held four shots because they were high-calibre solids, each the size of my thumb.

Eisenhorn's new weapon is a large calibre stubber. Makes me think of Hellboy's gun.

Page 78

The first trooper was pushing through the shutter and raising his weapon. I shot down the length of the tunnel and blew out his chest-plate..

Naval security armor appears to be some sort of solid-plate armor (hard-flak or carapace of some kind, we aren't told.) Eisenhorn's pistol is able to damage it, although whether it penetrates deeply or kills I don't know.

Page 78-79

There was only red auxiliary light down here. The troopers' visors had vision amplifiers.
...
Their visors had heat-enhancement too. That was clear the moment they both started firing at my position.

Light amplification or night vision I guess. Like I said these guys are well outfitted.

Page 78

All four red tell-tale lights on the stubber's grip were showing. I ejected the disposable plastic clip and slid the fresh one into place. Four green lights lit up in place of the red ones.

Ammo counter on Eisenhorn's gun. Also it doesn't seem to be a revolver, it seems to use some osrt of unusual (disposable?) clip. Nothing I am aware of IRL,b ut again I honestly didn't check.

Page 79 -

I took out my inquisitorial rosette. It is a badge of office and a great deal more besides. A press of my thumb deployed the micro multi-key from its recess, and I slid it into the terminal's socket. It engaged. The screen blanked. My rosette had up to magenta level Imperial clearance. I prayed Maxilla had not encoded his entire ship with personal encryptions.

Eisenhorn's swiss-army rosette.

Page 80

I checked Fischig. He was alive. His Arbites uniform was heavily laced with armour, but the short-range impacts had given him internal injuries; he was unconscious and leaking blood from the mouth.

Fischig's uniform (minus the armor) has armor like qualities (like kevlar.) Useful and interesting to note since it is largely clothing. There's been some dispute in the past over whether 40K "flak" armor is just the hard plate stuff we see cadians usually wearing, or if it includes the outfits. (If you can believe that) This, and other sources (like the spray on flak stuff from Dark HEresy, and flak greatcoats and other sources with armored clothing) show even the clothing can be armor.

Page 81

From the chest down, his rich clothes were shredded and his legs were gone.

But then, from the chest down, he wasn't human.
...
To control the sophisticated bionic lower body he had to have intricate neural linkage.

Maxila is augmetic, like I said.

Page 81

"I need access to your astropathic link. I need to contact battlefleet command..."
...
"I'll instruct the bridge to provide you with the access you need. You may care to extract the inspection requests from my communication log "
...
Within half an hour I was on the bridge of the Essene, surrounded by attentive servitors, reporting the incident to battlefleet command by confidential astropathic link.

Remember the all-servitor crew comment? I guess that applies to the astropaths as well. Servitor astropaths have been hinted in other sources (although early 2nd edition type stuff as I recall, and one blurb in the Shira Calpurnia novel 'blind') but this is the first civilian mention of such. It's not the first reference in the novels either.

Page 81-82

"From the guard levies. You are aware a founding is presently under way on Gudran. By order of the Lord Militant Commander, seven hundred and fifty thousand men are being inducted into the Imperial Guard to form the 50th Gudranite Rifles. Such is the size of the founding, and the fact that this is notably the fiftieth regiment assembled from this illustrious world, that a planet-wide celebration and associated ceremonial military events are taking place."
...
"The muster was originally to have been half a million, but the Lord Militant Commander increased the figure a week prior to the founding - he is preparing for a crusade into the Ophidian sub-sector - and, well, many found themselves conscripted with little notice. "

Given the context, it seems like this is not one of the "routine" foundings described in the IG codex (the ones that occur regardless of circumstances") but rather a founding demanded due to specific circumstances (that is, for the purpose of the Crusade in question.) This probably explains the extraordinarily large size of the regiment. Nonetheless it does show what has been mentioned repeatedly since 2nd edition, whistl many sources state Guard regiments typically range in the thousands, there is no definite, fixed number to "thousands".

It's likely that since these are trained troopers (we see them later) they probably came from the Gurdun PDF despite not being an annual tithe. But if we assumed it was an annual tithe, that would mean around 8 million PDF. Not unresonable, givne Thracian Primaris has an 8 million PDF as well.


Page 84

I was certain it was because he had rediscovered the pleasure of interaction with other humans.
...
He had been alone in the company of machines for too long.

Again reiterating that prior to meeting Eisenhorn, there were NO HUMANS on Maxila's ship. To reinforce the point that we can't play semantics games with 'human' they go so far as to point out that Maxila was basically alone and deprived of interaction. Which means no sentient Astropaths, and no navigator. The latter bit will come up as a sort of quandry later, so bear this in mind when I come to that point - it will be a fun little contradiction.

Page 84

We kept a number of alternative craft identifiers in the codifier memory.

I would expect that for anyone but an Inquisitor this would be illegal.

Page 84

Now we were a trade delegation from Sameter, specialising in gene-fixed cereal crops, hoping to interest Gudrun's noble estates in easy maintenance, pest-free crops now that the founding had drained their labour pool.

An interesting glimpse into the commercial side of things.

Page 84-85

We swept down through the vast elements of Battlefleet Scarus at high-anchor: rows of grotesque, swollen-bellied troop ships; massive destroyers with jutting prow-rams and proud aquila emblems; the vast battleships of the line, cold, grey orthogonal giants of space, blistered with weapon emplacements; barbed frigates, long and lean and cruel as wood-wasps; schools of fighter craft, running the picket.

Post-orbital space was seething with transports, scudding tugs, resupply launches, merchant cutters, bulky service lifters and skeletal loading platforms. Away to starboard, the mixed echelons of the merchant ships, the bulk freighters, the sleek sprint traders, the super-massive guild ships, the hybrid rogues. The Essene was out there somewhere.

More on the orbital fleets. Oddly frigates seem less msasive than destroyers. Also all the variations on merchant ships, which apparently are numerous enough in orbit that Eisenhorn cannot easily identify the Essene (Dozens easily, if not hundreds.)

Page 86

I had speed-read Aemos's summation of the planet: Gudrun, capital of the Helican sub-sector, Scarus Sector, Segmentum Obscurus. Boasting a human culture for three and a half thousand years, feudally governed by powerful noble houses, whose reach and power extended across three dozen other worlds in the Helican sub-sector. Thracian Primaris, that vast, bloated hub of industry and commerce, was the most populated and productive world in the region, but Gudrun was the cultural and administrative heart. And it was reckoned the combined wealth of the noble houses rivalled the commercial worth of the output of the Thracian hives.

A brief overview of Gudrun, and its comparison to Thracian primaris. IT seems that the Scarus sector lacks some of those "uber high density" hive worlds like Armageddon or Necromunda or the like.

Page 87

...we hired one of the grav-skiffs lining up at the jetty. It was a long, speartip-shaped airboat with a glossy violet hull. Open-topped, it provided seats for six, with the steersman perched high at the aft over the bulbous anti-grav generators.

- anti-grav skiffs seem to be fairly commonplace for civilian use on Gudrun. Rather curious, given the fact some sources tend to suggest grav-tech is rare or highly specialized (IE Land's speeder or other Space Marine vehicles.)

I would attribute the use of anti-grav vehicles in the Guard being rare to logistics and maintenance issues (the same way that hellguns and bolters are restricted in favour of lasguns and autoguns) except that Valkyries/Vultures use some anti-grav, as do jump packs and some drop ships. (Although drop troops and storm troopers are arguably "elites")

Page 87

...our passage down the canals was slowed by other grav-skiffs, water-buses, private yawls and motor-driven boats.
Above us, at high traffic levels, speeders and atmospheric fliers buzzed back and forth.

More waterborn and sort of waterborn traffic, as well as the aerial traffic. Oddly no mention of ground traffic, but it probably exists. Again note the rampant use of gravtech.

Page 88

Betancore drilled out the door frames with a hand tool and installed locator bolts with built-in flash deterrents. We also wired the internal doorways. The house servitors were given strict instructions not to enter when we were absent.

Security measures.

Page 89

The guild representative flew in through the doors a moment later. He was a small, spiky-haired man with flowing gowns and far too much jewellery. The Guild Sinesias brand mark was proudly displayed on his forehead.

He was, the brand indicated, property.

slavery, or at least indentured servitude, is permitted on Gudrun.

Page 90

"A gene-fixed strain of cereal that could be easily managed by many of your landowners now that their workforce is depleted."
...
"Not officially. The Inquisition is of course very tight about such things. But that is precisely why we offer these discreet interviews. The entire guild buildings are buffered against trackers, intercept beams and vox-thieves."
..
"So a xenos-cultured cereal strain would not be hard to market?"
"Naturally not. There are collective enterprises eager for assured crop yields. Especially those hot-housed by alien technology."

mention of "vox thieves, intercept beams, and trackers", and mention of countermeasures against such spying methods.

Also, the dealing in xenos (proscribed) technologies seems to be an open secret in the Helican sub-sector. (Secret enough it doesn't draw the open attention of the Inquisition, but open enough that a relatively unknown but potentially wealthy individual like Eisenhorn pretends to be can be told about it. Eisenhorn of course resolves to bring this to the attention of the Inquisition.


Page 91

The drone, an oblate metal unit roughly the size of a small citrus fruit, came buzzing into the dining terrace like a pollen-insect, scudding from table to table at head-height on its tiny repeller motors until it found me. Then it hovered, chimed, and beamed its holographic cargo against the side of my crystal tumbler: the crest of Guild Sinesias, followed by a formal and obsequious...
...
The drone continued to project the message until I broke the beam with a wave of my hand and made a quick verbal assent, which it recorded.
...
"A pheromonal trace." Aemos replied. "The guild building's master systems will have sampled you both during your visit and then it would have come searching until it matched the record in its sensors."

Vox-drone messaging was common practice on higher tech Imperial worlds like this.

An interesting means of communication, both for the way it is handled, and all teh technologies involvd. What's more, its not unusual, at least not in the Scarus sector.

Page 92

We used a clerical bureau on a water-street off the Ooskin Canal, and paid for a vox-drone message.
...
..loaded the message into one of the three-dozen vox-drones that lay inert in a rack behind his seat. Then he accessed his data-files, retrieved the pheromone trace for Tanokbrey that the ship master had logged with the city administration at immigration, and installed that too.

More of the vox drone commercial stuff.

Page 92

..Betancore fired up the motor of the air-bike he had rented and made off after it.

You can rent grav vehicles on Gudrun.

Page 93

The crewman beside me lunged out of his seat, a compact shock-flail snapping out of his sleeve and into his gloved hand.
"Drop it." I willed, without even speaking.

shock flail and an indicator Eisenhorn can do his mind tricks without the voice. voice must just aid in doing it, or something.

Page 94

...I jabbed the flail into his shoulder. Unfortunately, I realised he was wearing armour under that silk.

Some body armour provides anti-shock protection

Page 94

"Aside!" I yelled, and the crowd parted like hatch shutters.

Eisenhorn affecting a seemingly large but unquantified crowd.

Page 94

I wanted to gain height, and move to a level where I could coax more speed from the machine without fear of collision. But the vehicle's grav-plate had a governor unit that prevented anything more than three metres of climb. I had no time to figure out where the governor was or how to disable it.

Eisenhorn borrowed Betancore's rented airbike. The mention of the governor is interesting, as it has been suggested to me by Thanatos (From SB.com) in the past that the AdMech might stick governors on alot of vehicles, which may explain why IA values list such slow apparent speeds, but they can demonstrate much higher speeds in other places.

Page 95

A slow-moving river of skiffs, military barges and landspeeder escorts filled the entire width of the waterway.

More grav vehicles.

Page 95

Then twenty or more freshly issued las-rifles on a neighbouring barge opened fire, smashing him and his stolen craft to pieces. The drive unit exploded, scattering hull fragments across the churning water.

20 lasrifles fire off bursts,blasting apart a man and his bike. Hard to gauge the bike, but the rifle sare quite easily single/double digit kj, with my gut inching dowards double digit kj. Probably alot more than this when you factor in the bike, assuming some power source didnt go up.

Page 97

No flash charges roared. Our visitors had detected and neutralised the security countermeasures
..
A slender telescopic rod extended smoothly in through the crack. An optical sensor on the end slowly began to pan around, searching the room.

Anti-anti security measures.

Page 97

The boiling psychic waves were rattling the windows and vibrating the furniture. Glasses shattered and Betancore fell, whimpering.
...
Bequin screamed. Her psychic blankness, abruptly intruding on the telepathic maelstrom, suddenly blew the energies out, like a vacuum snuffing the heart of a fire.

Effect of Bequin's blankness on psychic phenomena. This is a bit different IIRC from what other untouchables (like Jurgen) do. but all psychic phenomena can vary, so it probably stands to reason that untouchables/Pariahs can as well.

Page 98

He had served as a noviciate with the legendary Absalom Angevin three hundred years before ...

Commodus Voke is at least 300 years old as of this time. Of course, his Interrogator Heldane is likely even older (over 5 centuries) given how he lasts to the Ghosts era (as does, we find out later, Inquisitor Lilith.)

Page 99

"..I uncovered traces which suggested that particular coven, and several other minor groups, were collectively being run by an all but invisible parent cult - a cult of great scope and power, old and hidden, stretching across many worlds..."

Chaos cults can span sectors. Despite all the restrictions and segregation the Imperium tries to create to limit this (or xenos cult) infestations, that shows that at least some level of regular contact and coordination occurs.

Page 102

She pointed out a number of ancient paintings, mostly oil portraits, but some exquisite hololithic works, as well as vivid psyk-pict miniatures.

psychic and holographic artwork.

Page 103

House Glaw had interests on worlds throughout the sub-sector..

There's also mention of an "off-world" cousin. Dark heresy mentions that many aristocratic lines will span multiple planets (as a means to ensure that the bloodline is not extinguished. It probably also helps the genetic purity to some degree, as it limits inbreeding.)

Page 104

Most of the rooms were spy-wired with vox-thieves and a few pict-sensors, and there was a complex infrastructure of alarm systems. Heldane had set up a small jammer to blind the spy-ware in our suite.

spying and observation methods. Also the countermeasures, which suggests jamming devices do exist.

Page 104

"The roof is lousy with alarms. I didn't dare probe too far, even with my jammers and sensors. "

again jammers and also mention of personal (portable) sensors.

Page 104-105

I put on a heat-insulated bodyglove of matt-black plastic weave with a tight-fitting hood and supple gloves. Then I strapped a webbing harness around my torso and filled the integral pouches with a compact scope, a set of multi-keys, a folding knife, two spools of monofilament wire, a tubular torch, two jamming units and a scanner pad.
...
...laced on the grip-gloves and grip-boots that Betancore had been using...
...
I had to test every move I made to make sure the overlapping teeth of the grip-pads on my hands and feet were secure.

Eisenhorn's ninja gear.

Page 105

I'd taped Betancore's data-slate to my left forearm for easy reference. The tiny backlit screen showed a three-dimensional model of the building, and an inertial locator built into the slate moved the map and kept my current location centred.

pretty useful dataslate.

Page 105

They were soft and blurred, their responses undoubtedly slowed by the opiate effects of the obscura. Difficult minds to plant strong suggestions in, but vulnerable to paranoia.

drugs, it seems, can have an effect on psychic powers affecting a mind.

Page 106

A tamper-proof ceramite seal, a tumbler alarm and a keypad for entry-codes
...
I would need to tape a jammer to the latch to
avoid tripping any alarm or access signal. Then it would be a job for the scanner to search andconfigure a usable code...

codebreaking measures.

[Connor MacLeod]

Next to last Xenos update. This one is actually the meat of the story up until just before the final conflict I believe.. maybe a bit before that. I just decided I'd do "half and half" I'll do part of Xenos to finish and then probably part of the next tsory. Probably the short story since that I originally intended to provide alongside Malleus. I'll think on it.

In any case, enjoy your fix of Eisenhorn.

Page 111

He wore some strange apparatus on his right hand, a glove of segmented metal that ended each digit with a needle-like spike.
..
"That is a strousine neural scourge."
...
"Educated man like you knows all about pressure points." Locke said, onversationally. "So do the strousii. But they like to do more than tap them - they like to burn them out. I studied with one of their sacred torturers for a year or so. This grip, for example, the one that's choking you. It's also paralysing your respiratory system, and stopping your heart."
...
"..I can stop your heart. Burst your brain. Blind you."

Interesting bit of Xenos tech owned by a certain Rogue trader. At least I think its xenos tech.

Page 115

House Glaw militiamen in body armour burst into our cell and drove us out through the gate with force shields and psyk-whips.

milita troops with "force shields" - I presume this is some sort of large shield like a storm shield or Arbites riot shield, but with a forcefield built in, either to overlay the armor, or to reinforce it. Dark heresy has them for non-Space Marine folk IIRC too.


Page 115

The camodon was six metres from nose to whipping tail. Nine hundred kilos of muscle, sinew, striped pelt and sawing tusks.

Carnodons.

Page 118

Urisel snatched a hunting rifle that one of the men fetched for him. He took careful aim at the carnodon and fired. The massive weapon roared and the huge bulk of the creature flipped over, its chest blasted open.

assuming its head masses a few percent of its body (not unresaonsable) we're talking a good 18-20 kilos of mass at least. A human head, by contrast, is around 4-5 kilos total. That's easily 3-4x larger, and presumably more destructive. AMR grade or better, quite easily. Probably more, which shows how insane high end projectile weapons can get in the Imperium.

Page 119

Terronce fired. I aimed high and blew his head and his plumed silver helmet apartt with another tight burst.

Eisenhorn is using a militia autogun. again a lasgun should be capable of similar. Single digit to double digit kj could d that.

Page 119

There was an abrupt, sizzling series of buzzing shots from somewhere behind me. Three of the militia guards at the pit rail juddered and fell, and Urisel Glaw was thrown backwards...
...
His needle guns, one clutched in each hand, spat again, peppering the front stands with lethal shots.

Midas Betancore and his needle guns. They don't seem to be the "laser driven poison dart" type needleguns, but some sort of EM gun or shuriken weapon knockoff. They also seem to be a Glavian signature item. This, along with Dark hEresy, Necropolis, and a few other recent sources indicate that the Imperium does have man portable "gauss/railgun" weapons of some kind, but they are limited use/high end devices, which is not really surprising. Or they may be common enough for civilian/noble access, but not stnadardized the way other weapons (EG lasguns, stubbers, autoguns) are.

Page 120

Midas had at least winged him with a needle round.
...
Urisel Glaw had not gone far, bleeding badly from his shoulder wound.

needle round creating a physical wound.

Page 121

The troops had run in before dawn in four armoured dropships, hugging the rolling terrain of the inland bluffs to avoid the more than competent sensor system of House Glaw.
...
...a forward team of naval security troopers to ran ahead on foot and cut holes,
electronically, in the perimeter defences of the great house.

Navy ground action begins.

Page 121

The Imperial Light Intruder Frigate Defence of Stalinvast, retasked by Admiral
Spatian on the Lord Militant's instruction to hold geosynchronous orbit above target Glaw 505, had obliterated the launch hangars behind the yard with pinpoint strikes from its lance batteries.

Not sure if that's a natural or artifiically maintained geosynch orbit, but if the former it could mean a bombardment range with lances of tens of thousands of kilometers. By orbital bombardment standards, that's god damn precise. Quite possibly the Defence is specially outfitted as a bombardment platform (meaning it sucks as a warship.)

Also a frigate using lance batteries, when for most frigates a proper lance would be spinal weapon.

Page 122

Two dropships, rocketing smoke charges and antipersonnel grenades, had settled in front of the main house, blowing out all the windows. Forty black-armoured troopers from naval security had then made an assault landing and struck at the main facade.

This, along with the gear, is what really convinces me Naval Security arne't just armsmen, they're the elite "stormtrooper" analgoue to naval troopers.

Page 122 -

House Glaw owned close on four hundred fighting men in its retinue, not to mention another nine hundred staff, many of whom took up weapons. Glaw Militia were all trained men, veterans, well armoured in green ballistic cloth and silver helmets, well equipped with autoguns, heavy stubbers and grenades. An army, by most standards. I know more than one commander in the Imperial Guard who has taken cities, whole planets indeed, with such a number.
...

Naval security took them apart. The elite of Battlefleet Scarus, armed with matt-black hell-guns and iron discipline, they conquered and purged the great house room by room.
...
Twenty-two minutes after the assault began, the militia had lost nearly three hundred men.

I consider Eisenhorn's comments WRT the IG to be technically possible, although in a very limited sense. In most cases whole regiments (thousands if not tens of thousands) are used to take cities (usually with much heavier support, such as in Honour Guard). Whole planets take hundreds of thousands or millions, in practice. It is possible that this refers to "low-tech" planets or may in fact refer to "taking" cities/planets under specific circumstances. It does not mean they can "hold" it, of course.

And again, we see many indications that Naval Security are not the standard armsmen. This is perhaps the most convincing argument there.,

Page 122

A suicide run by two Glaw soldiers laden with tube charges vaporised another four [Naval security troops] and took twenty metres off the end of the east wing.

If it literally vaporises - we're talking 800-1000 MJ at least. Less literally.. several grenades worth of devastation. We don't know how many tube charges, so it's probably a moot point either way.

Page 122

Several orbital craft broke from the tree cover behind the main attack, launching from secret hangars in the woods behind the house. One was hammered out of the air by a trooper with a rocket launcher. Another two made it five kilometres down the valley before they were incinerated from above by the watchful Defence of Stalinvast.

Another, a fast and heavily armoured model, evaded the cover sweep and headed west. The Defence of Stalinvast launched a trio of fighters after it, and they eventually brought it down in the open sea after a lengthy chase. Only weeks of forensic recovery might reveal who had been aboard any of those craft, and mere was no guarantee that an answer would be forthcoming even then.

More badass precision bombardment.


Page 125

"They're all probably cinders in the craft that tried to escape." he said. "But I'll tell you this. Before it torched the two boats running the valley, the Defence of Stalinvast was sure it read no life signs."
...
"But good armour can rob away signals."

Life sign sensors on the frigate. The interesting bit is that normal hulls (or even normal levels of armor) might be penetrated by sensors like that, but some kinds of armor can interfere with it - some sort of countermeasure quality perhaps?

Page 127

Multiple neural injuries afflicted my system, many of which would never repair. Augmeticists from the battlefleet's Officio Medicalis conducted microsurgery on shredded nerve transmitters in my spine, thorax, brainstem and throat. They implanted more than sixty sections of artificial nerve fibre and ganglions. I had lost a good deal of sensitivity in my palette and oesophagus, and the reflexes on the left side of my body were dulled.

My face they could do nothing with. Neural systems there had been utterly scourged.

Eisenhorn's surgery. Not neccesarily top of the line, but probably better than most civilian or guard forces have.

Page 127

Damask was a real place, right enough, a harsh frontier planet at the very limit of the Helican sub-sector territory, one of a hundred worthless, seldom-visited places. Astrogeographically it lay just a few months passage spinward of the uncharted regions of the mysterious saruthi.

This implies there are at least a hundred "frontier" or other low-priority worlds within the Helican subsector. The Imperium apparently knows about them, and they are 'technically' part of the Imperium, but probably not as visible or important as other worlds are (that is, they aren't known across the entire Imperium the way others like Armageddon and Necromunda might be. Hell they may not be well known outside the Helican subsector.

The latest Dark HEresy book mentions "tens of thousands" of subsectors, and earlier 40K material hints at hundreds of thousands perhaps. This implies there are at least many millions of such worlds throughout the Imperium, possibly tens of millions depending on how many subsectors you figure on.

Page 127

..extracted from my mind a likeness of the pipe-smoking man, which he realised psychometrically on an unexposed pict-plate.

Eisenhorn's astropath does some more interesting funky psyker voodoo.

PAge 128

"It is not beyond the highest Imperial technologies to maintain a sentience after great
physical injury or even death. But for such technologies to be within the grasp of even a mighty family like the Glaws.."

"You told me it resembled something of the mysteries of the Adeptes Mechanicus."

Interesting hint into Imperial life extension tech. Given the MIU context, its probably some sort of "machine spirit" or augmetic type thing.

Page 128

The Ultima Victrix, a four hundred thousand tonne ironclad, had exploded at anchor. The blast had crippled four ships nearby.

An hour later, it became clear the incident had grown signally worse. Exactly how was not clear, even to battlefleet intelligence, but the explosion had been identified in error as a sign of an enemy attack by several components of the fleet. A frigate wing commanded by a captain called Estrum had moved to engage, and several destroyers from the advance phalanx had mistaken them for fleet intruders and opened fire. For twenty-seven hideous minutes, Battlefleet Scaras waged war against itself through the anchor lines of navy vessels and troop ships. Six ships were lost.

Eventually, apparently heedless of countermands, Estrum broke off and, with a mobile group of fifteen vessels, went to warp to outrun 'the enemy'. Admiral Spatian gave chase with a flotilla of eight heavy cruisers.

The remaining fleet elements straggled to regain control and handle the wanton destruction.

"Ironclad" is not a definitive classification as far as I am aware of. In real life, it could refer to a cruiser, frigate, corvette, or even a battleship. In this context, however, I find it unlikely that it is a four hundred thousand tonne battleship (given the size and mass of Eisenhorn's gun cutter, of fighters and bombers in Execution Hour/Shadow Point, or the one hundred thousand tonne raider in Execution Hour.) Maybe a cruiser on the smaller end of the scale, ,at worst.

Page 129

"Voke's reports on the Glaw case have concerned our order's sub-sector officio. Lord Inquisitor Rorken has declared the need for a full disclosure."

They mention two other Inquisitors, alongside Eisenhorn and Titus Ender. At least 4-5 Inquisitors in the subsector, implying at least hundreds of thousands in the Imperium.

Page 130

"I think we work against each other. This comes out and, look! We all hold
pieces to the same mystery. How might we have taken this enemy and his structure apart a month ago, two months, if we had exchanged information?"

Endor laughed. "Are you questioning the working practices of the most lauded Inquisition, Gregor? Working practices laid down centuries ago? Are you questioning the motives of fellow members of our convocation?"

I knew he was joking, but my manner remained serious. "I'm decrying a system where we don't even trust each other."

Eisenhorn complaints on one of the great shortcomings of the Inquisition as a whole - it's its own worst enemy. To be fair, it is sort of necessary, since it operates with no oversight it effectively has to police itself. It's a messy and inefficient way, but the nature of the way things work in 40K don't allow the Imperium many alternatives.

Page 131

The likes of Lord Glaw and his accomplices had either escaped destruction or
they were but part of an invisible ruling elite that now mobilised all the hidden offspring cabals on a double-dozen worlds into revolt.

This implies at least 2 dozen worlds in the HElican subsector. I'm presuming major worlds, since a cult on a minor frontier world that is rarely visitied would do fuck all.

Page 134 135

Midas and Fischig waited by the landspeeder that they had spent the past two hours unstowing and reassembling from the gun-cutter's hold. It was an old, unarmed model and it hadn't been used for three years. Midas was closing an engine cowling.
...
We followed the frothy, brackish river waters for twenty kilometres...
...
We pushed on another ten kilometres..
...
He pin-pointed the site to the speeder's navigation system. "Another seventy kilometres, roughly the location of another possible settlement listed on our maps."

- Eisenhorn's gun-cutter carries a dissassembled ( modular) land-speeder, albeit rather old and in need of repair. It has a range of at least around 140-200 km (to and from a destination), and some form of sensor/navigational system that can receive data from Maxila in orbit.

Page 136

Below the peak of one of the largest cones, the landspeeder's rudimentary scanners detected signs of activity as we rode up a long slope of tumbled, desiccated rock.

Eisenhorn's landspeeder has some form of sensors.


Page 137

..the edges of the settlement had been ringed with motion detectors and
antipersonnel mines.

Seismic actiivty rendered them useless, however,, but the security measures for the camp are interesting.

Page 137

"A giant, a horned giant in jewelled metal." Midas said.
..
Fischig agreed with a nod. "A monster." he said.

Midas and Fischig, the latter Arbites, can't recognize a CSM off the bat.

Page 138

'Sanctum' meant that he had detected a ship or ships emerging from the immaterium into realspace, and was withdrawing to a concealment orbit behind the local star.

- the Essene Evidently is able to detect ships emerging from Warp at the edges of the system with its sensors. The context suggests this is effectively FTL (may not be surprising, this could be due to astropaths, or this may be a function of the "warp scan" - The Warp may emit FTL signals of some kind, we do know it emits energy from Execution Hour on emergence.) The Essene in turn hid behind the Star (in the photosphere, we learn later.)

Page 141

Then the volcanic activity began, suddenly, without warning...
...
It seemed likely to me that the vulcanism had been triggered by incautious mining work.

Things were bad enough they need rebreathers on what was a habitable planet. It's interesting that simple mining could threaten the stability of a planet like this, although its not impossible given the insane thirst of the Adminsitratum and Admech for materials. Of course theser are chaos cultists, so they aren't likely to care what happens. Still, that they can access equipment that allows them to fuck up a planet like this, and that its all more or less man portable, is highly illuminating.

I would love to know what sort of explosives, feats might be required to mess up a planet like this or trigger a volcano.


Page 139-141

It was noon...
...
The scrolls were a transcription log of the astropathic and vox traffic Midas had been able to monitor from the ships in orbit.

They reached the settlement they had witnessed the exvacation work at at dawn. That means it took the fleet less than twelve hours to reach the planetary orbit. It also means that the Essene managed to get into hiding around the star much sooner than that if it was to avoid being spotted. I won't bother going over the specific calcs I outlined before, but within a day is easily single double digit gees for the incoming renegade battlegroup.

Assuming the planet (which is habitable enough and not too warm or cold) is ~1 AU from the star it would require some 30-40 gees to cover that distance in ~12 hours. 100-150+ gees for 6 hours.


page 143

I'd given Fischig an old but well-maintained heavy stubber..
..
...a satchel full of spare ammo drums for the stubber.

Again a man portable heavy stubber.. and enough multiple ammo drum sthat don't bog him down too much. Fischig is strong, but I kinda doubt he's hefting the high end of the heavy stubber category.

Page 150

I backed with him, our weapons laying down a storm of explosive metal and piercing energy that rippled across the ruin walls, scattering debris, spraying ash dust and bursting bodies.
..
Fischig made the ditch his killing field, and emptied his second dram of ammunition down the length, pulverising guard and canine alike.

- Fischig's stubber pulverizes canine (cygnids) and human guards with the entire contents of his second ammo drum. Eisenhorn is using what he describes as a "powerful" las carbine.

Also note that the stubber is firing "explosive" metal - either some fragmenting or explosive round, while the lascarbine Eisenhorn has is described as "piercing." . To "burst" bodies - a coupel fist sized (single to double digit kj per shot) or a single head sized (double to triple digit kj) wounds in the body would suffice, Probably at least several times that if there is significant thermal damage.

Page 152

Bequin was cowering in a corner, filthy, tearful. The sight of the Child of the Emperor Mandragore had sent her fleeing in blind panic. Like me, she had made the mistake of looking at the runes and marks on his foul, dazzling armour. Unlike me, she hadn't had the sense to look away.

Rather interestng that an untouchable can still be harmed by looking at Chaos sigils, isn't it?

Page 157

"Standard Imperial battlefleet dispersal. There's always a picket ship positioned on the blind side of the subject world. If we'd kept straight on we'd have flown right into its fire-field"
...
The picket ship, a medium frigate, was firing anyway, running interference, driving us on.
"It's launched fighters"

Implies a firing range against the gun cutter of thousands, if not tens of thousands of kilometres.

Page 159

It was a dented, irregular nugget of nickel, zinc and selenium, six hundred kilometres across at its widest dimension.

The description of the current battleground for the following passages.

PAge 159

But Midas had been flying ships since he was young, schooled in the pilot academies of Glavia. By way of his inlaid circuitry, he understood the nuances of flight, power and manoeuvre better than me, and better than most professional pilots in the Imperium.

indicator of how the glavian circuitry hleps Midas fly.

Page 160

From the tactical display, I saw all six fighters had dropped back to six minutes behind us. None wanted to try duplicating that move. They were diving in more conventional, slower arcs.
...
Four dropped into dogged pursuit, chasing us low over the landscape. The other two had broken and were heading anti-clockwise around the blindside of Obol.
...
"We'll meet them head on in eight minutes."

8 minutes on a converging course to round a maybe 600 km diameter rock. Thats about 940 km distance to cover in ~480 seconds, assuming constant speed.. 1.96 km/s approximately. This assumes a fairly close orbit, but unless they were like hundreds of km out I don't think it would substantially alter the calc, and since its order of magnitude anyways...


Page 160-161

Within seconds, a bright blob on the weapons array had been covered with red crosshairs.
...
"Scratch one." said Midas, firing the wing cannons.
The engine flare far ahead flashed and then turned into an expanding ball of burning gases which swept past us in jagged streaks.
..
There was another flash, of sunlight off metal, a kilometre ahead.
"And two."

with a combined closing speed of 4 km/s implies the gun-cutter's weapons range against fighters could be some 5-10 km at least, possibly several tens of km, but not much more than that. The gun cutter also has guns or ammo that pack enough firepower to obliterate naval fighters.

Page 161

We had firepower on our side, firepower and Midas. The fighters were Lightnings, small, fast and dextrous, less than a quarter our size. For all intents and purposes, the gun-cutter was a transport, but its drive and weapon enhancements and its vertical thrust capability made it a formidable fighting ship when it came to a skirmish close down over terrain like this.

The navy "lightnings" are less than a quarter of the size. Not sure what that means.. it could mean they're 20 metres long, or a quarter the volume which would imply something like 40-50 meters long. It could also mean mass, meaning that the Lightning sare some 100 tons in mass.

Also note the features of the guncutter, it has vertical thrust (like some atmospheric fighters and starfighters) and also its weaponry, whilst fairly powerful, is still designed for close in work. That implies starfighters (at least) would have considerably greater gun range.

Page 162

THE WAIT, WHICH lasted for sixty-six hours...
...
After forty hours, Lowink was confident he had overheard astropathic traffic exchanges indicating a fleet departure, shortly followed by a tremor in the fabric of the fathomless immaterium.
...
Just after the turn of the sixty-sixth hour, it came. An astropathic signal in Glossia..
...

The Essene, slow and majestic, moved in to meet us. Once the heretic fleet had left the system, Maxilla had emerged from hiding in the star's corona and sent his signal..

Maxilla set off after detecting the fleet, meaning in all probabtility that he could have been hidden for close to ninety hours (sixty six plus roughly a day or so given context.)

We know the Essene is 3 km long and 700 meters tall. Assuming a typical cruiser-sized dimension and if the sun is earthlike and the cruiser is ~ 2 million km from the surface it would absorb about 4.2 Mw per square metre.. about 9 TW absorbed per length-wise side. Front and back would only absorb about 2 TW per side. Odds are no more than 3-4 facings could absorb energy, so we're talking maybe 30 TW or so.

The Essene could have been closer, since we dont know how far into the corona they went, but its unlikely they got within more than a few hundred thousand km (possible thoguh) which would be 40 mw/M^2, about na order of magntiude greater. Since it san Order of magnitude calc I'm not too worried, and it can't be much more than 100 MW/M^2 in any case, unless it was an unusual star.

Over a 66 hour timeframe thats 7.13 million TJ, or close to 2 GT worth of energy for the 3-4 facings I assumed, or 2.2 million TW for one facing, which is ~510 MT. 90 hours is slightly greater.. 700 megatons to 2.5 gigatons of total energy. Which is quite impressive for a merchant ship.
Bear in mind, however, that we don't know really HOW the essene withstood it, so putting this calc in any context is hard. Its likely that the void shields were shut down to reduce emissions - indeed, likely that the entire ship is running silent, meaning that the bare hull had to withstand it, but that is just an educated guess, and however reasonable, it could be wrong. It could beh the Essene has powerfield generators installed too, or some sort of sophisticated cooling mechanism.. or whatever.

For my guess.. the thing is probably bare hull or powerfield. But evne then, note that it neccesarily doesnt mean that a freighter can tank a gigaton nuke, its possible the armor or shields could reradiate most or all of the energy it absorbed away safely - all we could safely say is that a civilian freighter could possibly withstand a couple kilotons worth of energy without a scratch - a significant feat in and of itself.

Page 163

His astronavigators had not been idle. The chief of them emerged from their
annex..
..
Like all of his crew, it was essentially mechanical. Its organic, human component - my guess was no more than a brain and some key organs - supported both physically and biologically in a polished silver servitor...

I'm hard pressed to believe this is an actual, "Navigator" fo the "third eye steering in the warp" variety. I have never heard of a Navigator turned into a servitor, and indeed it is rather unlikely unless the dude died in battle or some other means, given any long lived Navigator succumbs to mutation. I also doubt any Navigator family would willingly let one of its members be converted INTO a servitor (competition, at least) unless they somehow had control of such. I even queston whether such a servitor could perform its duty without a consicousness behind it.

In all likelihood, we have a sevitor designed for realspace and some warp space navigation, but is nowhere near as capable as a true "Navigator"

Page 163

The navigators have analysed the warp-wake of the departing fleet and made a number of algorithmic computations.

They are able to track and make a prediction of the rough destination. Again despite the apparent implications, I find it unlikely this is a "real" Navigator. It's not as if astropaths and warp sensors can't help do some of this.

Page 163

"The charts have it as KCX-1288. Under optimal conditions, it's thirty weeks away from here..."
..
"The warp-wake of the fleet was quite considerable. They may of course break the journey and re-route, but we will be watching for changes in their wake"

Funny enough the astronavigator servitor can speak. although speech-capable Servitors are not unheard of, and it does not neccesarily convey sentience.

Page 165

"To sacrifice the nobility of Hubris so that their life energies might be siphoned off into you through this casket. To give you the power to create a body for yourself"

To awaken Pontius Glaw. Again MIU units seem to have a psychic element to them.

Page 173

The local star was a vast, swollen fireball pulsing and retching out its last few millions years of life. Distended and no longer spherical, it glowed with a malevolent pink fire beneath a cooling crust of black shreds and tatters that looked like rot infecting its granular skin. Firestorms swirled and blistered across its enlarged surface and vomited gouts of stellar matter out into the system.
..

From the moment of our arrival at the translation point, sirens and alarms began shrilling on the bridge. External radiation levels were almost immeasurable, and we shuddered and rocked through waves of searing star debris. The entire system was lousy with drifting radioactive banks, ash clouds, flares and the splinters of matter they projected, and magnetic anomalies. Our shields were full on and already we were taking damage.
...
Maxilla said nothing, but furrowed his brow in concentration as he steered the juddering ship in through the treacherous course, negotiating the gravity pools and radioactive undertows.
...

"The whole damn system is in a state of collapse."

I'm tempted to try and calc it, but I really don't know where to begin, and given some of the general craziness and the general warp nature of the saruthi, it could be altered somehow.


Page 174

The juddering and shaking continued, and now we couldhear the groaning and creaking of the Essene's hull under stress.

What causes it.. I have no idea.

Page 174

"I'm picking up their drive-wake and gravitational displacement, but in these conditions it's getting really hard to read them with accuracy."

- Maxilla's sensors detected the wake trails of the drive engines and the gravitational displacement of the heretic fleet, despite extensive stellar interference from the distinetgrating star.

Page 174

"...we could see the burst-open hulk of an Imperial cruiser drifting
in a halo of slowly dissipating energy."
..
"Holed by meteor storms."

If we had more data we could probably calc this. On the other hand, the vast majority of the flotilla survived, so this could just be chalked up to bad luck.

Page 174

As far as the Essene's bewildered and over-taxed sensors could establish, there were fifteen planets in the system, as well as millions of planetoid fragments, mostly ragged embers of wasted rock and venting energy. Our quarry's drive wake led directly to the third largest, one of the inner worlds.

12 planets inwards the system. That's likely quite a bit of distance.

Page 175

It was a scabby, ruined, semi-shattered ball with lingering swathes of swirling bluish atmosphere. Craters covered its northern hemisphere-some impacts had been so large that they had torn open the mantle and exposed the livid red core beneath, like a skull cracked with devastating wounds. Even as we watched, we saw scatters of light dot and blossom across the surface as meteors struck and incinerated continents far below.

Gives us a potential upper limit indicator of the kind of abuse the cruiser might have suffered, but still doesnt tell us anything precise.

Page 175

A vast sheet of stellar fire swept out at us, throwing the ship wildly off course and hurling silver lumps of rock and ice against our shields.

A CME of osme kind I guess? If its powerful enough to knock the ship off course... it may carry alot of momentum/energy behind it. However, it's hard to calc given the chaotic (possibly quite literally Chaotic) nature of the system. I wouldnt' even begin to try, although the shields seem to be handling it so far.

Page 175

I wanted to use the time to get Lowink or Maxilla's astropaths to check on the approach of the task force from Gudrun...
...
The stellar distortion rendered astrotelepathy blind.

Stellar phenomena not only hampers warp travel and warp emergence distances, but also astrotelepathy as well.

Page 176

"Send a marker drone back to the surface."
A moment later, the rear display showed a small servitor drone straggling back up the vast channel towards the surface, running lights winking.

Essene had servitor drones. Useful.

Page 177

As Maxilla had pointed out, it was not a trans-atmospheric vessel and it should have been impossible to stabilise it this close to a planetary body without severe stress damage.

From its system registers, the Essene seemed happy enough, happy to have ridden out the vile stellar storms of KCX-1288 into this safe harbour.

Apart from minor impact damage, only two of the ship's systems were inoperative.

Essene survived the approach, but we note it cannot survive atmosperic entry.

Page 177

All of us had buckled on hard-armour vacuum suits from Maxilla's lockers. Lowink, Fischig, Aemos and I shambled about the crew bay, getting used to the heavy plate and bulky quilting of the suits.

Unpowered vaccuum armor.

Pages 178-179

A row of arches, octagonal, jutting from the sand a few hundred metres back from the waterline, ran parallel to the water. They were each about fifty metres broad
...
The next in the line was three hundred metres away, and they seemed regularly spaced.

-Octogonal arches (Tetragates) are fifty meters across, and spaced three hundred meters apart (evently)

Page 181

A second later, their pursuers came over the rise and fell upon them from behind. Three black, armoured speeders in the livery of navy security, and a following line of thirty troopers in their distinctive black armour, ordered, disciplined, marching in a spaced line, firing their hell-guns into the backs of the fleeing conscripts. The landspeeders swept in low, drizzling the slopes with cannon fire.

Yep even the navy has land speeders. And more hellguns.

Page 182

Lowink and Midas had their firearms - a las-carbine and a Glavian needle-rifle respectively

Needle rifles now too.

PAge 182

Fischig's big gun smashed into the lip of the high ridge, kicking up dust, before he found range and demolished three of the stalking troopers.

Las-carbine and pistol fire seem to penetrate the Navsec armor as well, although it may be due to precisely placed shots.

Page 182

Betancore dropped to one knee, raised his exotic weapon and fired. The long barrel pulsed and made a sound like a whispered shriek. Explosive splinters tore through the nearest speeder as it crossed down over us and it blew apart in the air.
...
My shots missed or deflected from the armour.

eisenhorn is using a las-carbine against a land speeder. Betancore's rifle is firing "explosive splinters" which definteily tells us its not the "toxic, laser propelled" needleguns. And it packs alot of firepower to shoot down a fucking speeder.

Page 183

"Sergeant Enil Jeruss, second battalion, 50th Gudrunite Rifles."
..
"We were mustered to the frigate Exalted, waiting to ship out."

guardsmen stationed aboard a frigate.

Page 185

"I went to no officer school, sir, but I am educated. I understand simple geometry. The angles of the polygons did not add up, yet they were there"

Education level of the Aformentioned Gudrunite sergeant.

Page 186

...the polished black combat armour of a naval security trooper. Midas attempted to do the same, but his build was too slim for the heavy rig. The troopers were, to a man, large brutes.
...
...I adjusted the helmet vox set.

Much like Grenadiers/Storm troopers, interesting gear.

Page 186

The sleek black body armour I was now wearing had an integral cooling system..

Neat feature.

Page 187

Smaller groups of soldiers stood in ordered ranks further towards the centre of the plateau, escorting two navy troop carriers in which figures sat, and a pair of empty landspeeders.

More troop carriers. Not sure if they are land or air/space based though.

Next time.. final update.. and the Saruthi!

[Connor MacLeod]

Okay this will actually be two updates in one. One will be the rest of Xenos, the other will encompass the Omnibus short story "Missing in action", which is, IMHO the better of the two short stories - its bittersweet and very much 40K without overdoing the dark or the grim or that silliness.

First, Xenos: Last installment


Page 187-188

I took out my scope, and trained it on them, carefully resolving the magnification.
..
Each creature was twice the mass of a man, with gleaming grey flesh.

Saruthi. That implies 100-200 kg roughly.

Page 189

A trooper near me growled, "I didn't sign up for this!" as he stared at the saruthi two hundred metres away.

implied engagement distance that will shortly occur. Not impossible given what we know.

Page 193

Hell-gun fire from troopers who were convinced that the aliens were the aggressors blasted into two of them. One burst open and collapsed onto the tiles in a spreading pool of grey ichor and gristle. The other lost a limb and began to drag itself towards the arches with its remaining stilts.

Hellguns amputate one Saruthi, and blow apart another. Equal to blowing apart two normal people, but we dont know how many guns or shots.

Page 193

Electric-blue discharges fizzled around the saruthi's swaying heads and then spat raking beams of ice-bright energy at their attackers. Two troopers were vaporised (By energy fire from a Saruthi), their constituent matter boiling away in searing flshes of light.
...
An alien beam sliced into Mandragore's arm...

Saruthi retaliation. Triple digit kj or MJ depending on the contet of "vaporise"

Page 194

The Saruthi jittered around to stop him just as Fischig and Twane blew it apart with hell-gun shots. Stringy grey fluid splashed across the tesselated tiles.

two hellguns appear to blow apart a Saruthi with two bursts of hellgun fire. Implying a single hellgun burst from a naval security weapon will blow apart a normal person - hundreds of kilojoules, several MJ at least, ignoring other factors (EG thermal damage)

Page 194

Another Saruthi, its skull crackling with electrical power, blasted its kin's murderers. Twane convulsed and exploded in a drizzle of matter. By his side, Fischig was thrown over by the blinding detonation, his armour ripped open.

This seems to suggest "vaporize" should be taken to mean "explode violently", which works for me. The attack penetrates and injures Fischig.

Page 194

I severed his left leg at the knee with a round from my hellgun...
...
...he was clawing forward, daubed in blood...

severing the knee with a single hellgun shot implies a 10-15 cm hole, which could be double digit to triple digit kj (the latter especially considering overpenetration.) Again roughly grenade level damage and roughly consistent with what we know lasguns and hellguns can do. And again does not factor in thermal damage.

Page 194-195

I was felled by a monumental blow to the shoulder.
...
My dazed half-turn at the last moment had spoiled his first blow, but still the back plate of my naval trooper combat armour was shredded; the left shoulder guard was completely ripped away. The glancing shoulder wound was savage and deep.

Chain-axe. Oddly the naval armor stopped the blow even though the plate was destroyed in the process. Rather impressive, even if Eisenhorn still takes a serious wound. (Better than having your back torn open.)

Page 195

My fallen hell-gun was out of reach, and I doubted it would have made a dent in the monster anyway.

Naval hellgun useless against CSM armor. As we've seen, you seem to need numbers to do any damage.

Page 195

The device is a fine weapon, of the old kind. It has no material blade like other, cruder models I have seen. It is a hilt, twenty centimetres long, inlaid and wound with silver thread, enclosing a fusion cell that generates a metre-long blade of coherent light. The Provost of Inx himself blessed it for me..
...
I ignited the blade and fended away the next axe swing.
...
...the beast's huge strength nearly struck it from my hand.

- pure energy blade instead of a physical blade wrapped in energy (like Hieronymo Sondar's power sword in the Ghosts novels.). It also has the peculiar quality of transferring momentum from parries. The blade appears to lack significant thermal effects, and its blade is stopped (intact) by Mandragore's chain axe.

PAge 197

Fischig lay on a makeshift stretcher. The saruthi weapon that had obliterated Twane had cost him an arm and half of his face.

Fischig's injuries.

Page 199

As Aemos had predicted, the place seemed to unravel around us, as if that apparently timeless realm of the sea, the beach and the uplands had been nothing but an ingenious construct, a space engineered by the saruthi to accommodate the meeting with their human 'guests'.

Implied capabilities of the Saruthi.

Page 199

Two DAYS LATER, aboard the Essene at anchor beyond the treacherous reaches of system KCX-1288...
...
We left the fractured planet behind, braving flares and gravity storms as we made a dash for the outer system. Forty minutes after leaving that place..

Implies between 40 minutes and two days to leave the system. Either way it is extremely slow or extremely (insanely) fast, and I do't like much of either calc.

Page 200

"Their technologies are beyond my ken, but I feel that they might have arrived on the
plateau through those archways from another world, into a place they had built for the meeting."
...
Such a concept defied my imaginings. Aemos was suggesting interstellar teleportation.

Hard to believe, since both Eldar and Necron have demonstrated this capability. One would think that as a member of the Ordo Xenos, Eisenhorn would be aware of this. Then again it's hard to remember if the Necron even were a widespread threat at this time. Quite possibly not.

Page 200

Other warp indicators informed us that the taskforce was approaching, no more than two days away.

"Warp indicators" detect an approaching Imperial task force two days away. (several hundred or several thousand x superluminal detection range. Light minutes or light hours.)

This also suggests it took far less than a day for the Essene to reach the edge of the system.

Page 200

Eleven ships loomed out of the empyrean before us in battle formation: six Imperial frigates running out in the van, fighter wings riding out ahead of them in formation. Behind this spearhead of warships came the battleships Vulpecula and Saint Scythus, each three times the size of the frigates, each a bristling ogre of a vessel. To the rear was an ominous trio of cruisers, black ships of the Imperial Inquisition.

Inquisitorial taskforce. Battleships "three times the size" of the frigates. I'm guessing this refers to length, so maybe 5-7 km long battleships, since if it was mass or volume those would be light cruiser sized battleships. Perhaps they are battlecruisers or fast battleships.

also eight plus fifteen plus one destroyed ship equals some 24 ships in the "battlegroup" which presumably included two battleships. A lower limit on Battlefleet scarus, including at least two battleships, a number of heavy cruisers, and quite a few escorts. Could be at least 2-3 times greater.

Page 200

Procurator Olm Madorthene and a detail of navy stormtroopers waited to greet us.

naval security was Olm Madorthene's bailiwick as I recall, so this confirms Naval Security are storm troopers.

Page 208

Astropaths, nearly thirty of them, drawn from the ship's complement and the inquisitorial delegation, had assembled behind it.

maybe thirty astropaths in the task force, although breakdown is hard to accomplish.

Page 209

I looked at Malahite, flayed and pathetic in the shimmering envelope of stasis. Grotesquely, he reminded me of the God-Emperor himself, resting for eternity in the great stasis field of the golden throne, preserved until the end of time from the death Horus had tried to bestow upon him.

- Eisenhorn indicates here that the body of the GEoM is maintained in a "Great stasis field" of his own, generated by the Golden Throne. If so, this puts his psychic abilities into an even more badass context, as the stasis fields don't stop him being active in the least.

Page 209

I saw Brother-Captain Cynewolf and two of his awe-inspiring fellow Space Marines take their place behind the altar screen. All of them were in full armour and carried storm bolters.

Deathwatch marines carrying storm bolters.

Page 211

"Smell and taste, the two combined in fact, are their primary senses. They can detect the flavours of reality, even those of dimensional space. The angles of time."
...
"Carried by humans, fleeing persecution on Terra in the very earliest days. Thanks to their taste-based sensory apparatus, they derived from the Necroteuch more than a simple human eye could read. From that first taste, the profound lore of the Necroteuch passed through their culture like wildfire, like a pathogen, transforming and twisting, investing them with great power.

Lead to civil war and loss of an Empire, but it shows how nefarious Chaos can be.


Page 211

"They became able to undo the angles of space and time, to move through dimensions. From world to world. They mastered the art of constructing spaces in four dimensions, environments that existed only at specific time-points"

Some sort of Warp-based teleportation then.

Page 217

He was a master, his circuit-inlaid fingers reading and playing the coded strings as expertly as they did flight controls.

Midas' Glavian Lyre.

Page 218

As it turned out, Commodus Voke lived on for another one hundred and three years. He proved nigh on impossible to kill.

so about 4 centuries or so. Not bad as far as Imperial lifespans go.

Page 218-219

Admiral Spatian's plan was for a fleet action, a simple annihilation of any targets from orbit. But Lord Rorken and the Deathwatch insisted that a physical invasion was required. The recovery and destruction of the xenos Necroteuch had to be authenticated, or we would never know for sure that it was truly gone. Only after that objective was achieved could extreme destructive sanction be unleashed on 56-Izar.

Naval preference seems to be to waste things from orbit, but the need to confirm victory or defeat (whether this makes sense or not) required a ground assault in this case. It's an interesting reason worth noting for future use.

Page 219

"I'm sure your chapter's experience and specialised sensor equipment will be a match for it"

Madorthene thinks the Deathwatch gear will be able to adapt to the four-dimensional wrongness of the Saruthi tetrascapes.

Page 222

"But I thought you'd want to know. The fleet exited the immaterium twenty-six minutes ago. We are entering invasion orbit of 56-Izar"

Yep. 26 minutes from emergence to orbit. less than an hour. We'd be talking 5000 gees or so even at 1 AU. Anything more than that and we start getting into "Sabbat Martyr" levels of calc madness (tens of thousands of gees. Hell even with half an hour at 1 AU we're talking a possible 20,000 gees.) and a .3-.5c velocity. I'd be nominally willing to allow the thousands, but tens of thousands? Euh, I'm leery. Maybe this is the mass lightening (if we allow for that to exist, despite the fact of not knowing how widespread it is or how it even works.)

Page 223 - 224

The thirteen ships had blockaded 56-Izar in a non-standard but effective conquest pattern. Serial waves of their fighter-bombers, interceptors and dropships rained down on the planet and the orbiting heavies bombarded the surface with their entire batteries.
..
They detected our battle-pack the moment we came out of warp. Their picket ships, the heavy destroyers Nebuchadnezzar and Fournier, wheeled round to protect their hindquarters. Admiral Spatian held our battle-pack off orbit and chased the frigates Defence of Stalinvast, Emperor's Hammer and Will of Iron straight in to clear the way.
..
...diverted the battleship Vulpecula to engage the enemy flagship, a heavy cruiser named the Leoncour.

interesting ships.. mostly frigate.s. but two heavy destoryers (again destroyers are bigger than frigates here) and a heavy cruiser

Page 2424

Now the ferocious, high-velocity small ship phase began as waves of interceptors and
light bombers from both fleets met and buzzed around each other..
...
Even the tactical displays overwhelmed the senses: pict-plates flickering with thousands of type markers and flashing cursors...

Thousands of fighters implied to be engaging amongst some two dozen vessels. Considering many are likely to be escorts, that implies over a hundred fighters per vessel average, and likely more than that.

Page 224

The Will of Iron moved past the Emperor's Hammer and began to sweep a path through the mine zone with its specialised clearing devices. Triggered by probing force cones, the floating weapons began to detonate in their thousands.

Interesting minesweeping weapon.


Page 224

Its main guns mercilessly disposed of the heretic cruiser Scutum and forced the carrier frigate Glory of Algol into a desperate retreat.

Enemy cruiser.

Page 225

Within the first hour of the war, we managed to land more than two-thirds of our one hundred and twenty thousand Mirepofx Light Elite Infantry on the surface of 56-Izar, almost half of the motorised armour brigades, and all sixty Adeptus Astartes warriors of the Deathwatch.
...
The approaches were thick with enemy interceptors, micro-mines and the fire of
surface to air defences. All of this was human warfare.

80,000 troops and half the armour units deployed in an hour from orbit. Amazing what elite troops can do isnt it


Page 226

Librarian Brytnoth, in a gesture that honoured me, had sent a bolt pistol for my personal use. It was a compact, hand-crafted model with a casing of matt-green steel. The rectangular-pattern magazines slid into the handgrip, and I had one locked in place and another eight in the loops of my belt.

Probalby not an Astartes bolter, since Eisenhorn can use it one handed.

Page 230

Purge Two countered, lasguns barking. I moved to the front of the group and began firing my bolt pistol.
...
Midas complained, sighting his Glavian rifle and decapitating a
heretic trooper at one hundred metres.

- Eisenhorn's group is engaging and killing heretic troops at a range of at least 100 meters ore more (inculding Eisenhorn's bolt pistol.) Midas' rifle again causes significant physical injury.

Page 230

I looked down the silver path in time to see Guilar jerk backwards as multiple bolter rounds struck his chest plate.

Bolter rounds strike but don't seem to penetrate Deathwatch armor.

Page 230

His bolter spat and the Gudrunite beside me burst apart.

Bolter fire explodes a body. roughly grenade level damage.

Page 231

There was a bang of weapon discharge and a flash. His face destroyed and his collapsed skull burning from the inisde, the Chaos filth fell back into the swamp water.

Guilar (Deathwatch Marine) fires his storm bolter at a Emperor's Children CSM.


Page 237

"Ten minutes ago, I signalled to the fleet that the primary objective was achieved. I gave the code for Sanction Extremis."
...
"Our forces are withdrawing, with all haste. The batteries of the fleet have begun
to level these xenos places. No one will know that the divine Necroteuch has been carried off safely. Not a shred of evidence will survive the bombardment. Not a shred of evidence... nor any voice of dissent."

The exterminatus begins. Preliminary bombardment employed.

Page 238

A las-round blew his hand off at the wrist.

Molitor scramed and stumbled back, clutching his smoking stump.
Bequin, her face pursed grimly, her las-carbine at her shoulder...

Las-carbine blows off Molitor's wrist. About a fist-sized wound I'd guess, and obvious cauterization/severe tissue burning. Maybe single digit to double digit kj for the "explosive" bit depending on how efficient, but needing to cause significant cauterization or third degree burns would probably push it up to double digit kj for sure. Overpenetration is possible, and the thermal damage suggests its not optimally efficient.


Page 238

Arco-flagellants. Heretics reprogrammed and rebuilt with augmetics and bionics to serve as murderous slaves. The trigger words woke them from their calming states of bliss and plunged them into maniacal rages.
...
Their hands were lashing clutches of electrowhips, their eyes dull, bulbous orbits
under the rims of the tarnished pacifier helmets bolted to their skulls.

Midas, Bequin and I fired our weapons together, raking them with punishment as they charged forward. The damage they suffered was immense, but still they came on, their bodies pumped with intoxicating adrenal fluid, pain-blockers and frenzy-inducing chemical stimulants.

Arco flagellants.

Page 239

Midas pulled off his pouch of grenades, priming one..
..
..snagging the strap of his pouch around its neck as he vaulted over its shoulder head first.

The grenades detonated in one stunning flash and atomised the ravening man-beast.

"atomizes" an arco-flagellant. we dont know how many grenades though, but I guess it takes alot to ensure you stop one of those things.


Page 239

Shells and las-fire flickered across the lakes and mud as the remaining heretic forces fought on heedless.

The "fire lakes/resivoirs" referencees above are heavily implied to be a kilometer or more across in the earlier setions (page 226)

Page 240

Lances and forks of dazzling energy bit down from the clouds, murdering the landscape. Obeying Molitor's instructions to the letter, Admiral Spatian was levelling the area.
...
Once given, Sanction Extremis could not be revoked, even if my vox had been working instead of crippled by the electromagnetic bursts that accompanied every orbital strike. As per the battle plans, Spatian was systematically wasting the invasion site as fast as possible, even at the cost of his own retreating
ground forces.

Exterminatus is irreversible, supposedly, yet it has been halted or stopped before. Maybe that's the official word. Again it also involves ground bombardment, although how widespread is debatable (how large is the invasion site?)


Page 240

Another saruthi edifice, twenty kilometres away, died. Shaped in a form that suggested a nautilus shell, its opalescent curves were cracked and split by blue-hot heavy lasers. The die-straight beams came down through the clouds from ships so far up they were invisible, and tore through the edifice like testamental judgment. Waves of fighter-bombers swept in, sowing payloads of munitions that bloomed in rippling seas of explosions. Guided warheads, sleek like airborne sharks, whined overhead on the last stage of their first and final journey from starship to target.
The edifice ruptured and blew out.
...
A few heartbeats later it was repeated behind us, forty kilometres distant, as another saruthi edifice was annihilated. The edifice on whose smoothly curving upper surfaces we now stood was undoubtedly going to go the same way soon. Even now, I knew, the co-ordinates were being loaded into the fleet's gunnery servitors..

Lasers can stirke 20 km away and not harm anyone nearby in the short term. If each strike was equal to a nuclear warhead going off (possible if configured right, but probably over generous even so since it assumes a single pulse) it couldnt be more than a couple of megatons or so, althoguh a deeper penetrating blast, or more significant and less blast effect would mitigate that. Probably not gigaton range per shot. Also mention of fighter bombers and guided warheads being used, but they don't seem to be significantly greater.

Also worth noting is the mention of gunnery servitors. Some naval ships must use them for gunnery purposes.

Page 240

I gave him a full clip of bolt rounds instead.
The first of the thundering tracer shots splintered chunks out of the edifice roof. Then I hit and exploded his left thigh, his belly and his throat.

Effects of Eisenhorn's bolt pistol on a human body. Note the tracers used in the bolter. This damage is further indication Eisenhorn isnt using Space Marine grade weapons (contrast with the CSM bolter earlier), and it requires alot less than grenade level damage (a few grams of TNT maybe?)

Page 243

Cynewolf raised his storm bolter and fired at the blank-eyed man.
Cherubael reached out and caught the glowing shells, plucking them out of the air.

- Cherubael the daemonhost has the reflexes and speed to catch storm bolter rounds out of the air.

Page 243

"This edifice is two hundred and forty seconds away from destruction."

Cherubael indicates the structure Eisenhorn is exiting will be destroyed four minutes from now. Intresting level of precog.

Page 244 -

I watched 56-Izar die from the bridge of the Saint Scythus as we left orbit. Petals of flame, the size of continents, spread out under its milky skin. Sanction Extremis. Exterminatus

After the deluge of fire, the virus bombs. The seething storms of tailored plagues. The nuclear atrocity.

It was a cinder by the time we left. No contact with the Saruthi was ever made again.

And the tainted, glowing light of the Necroteuch was extinguished forever.

this has been often cited as a firepower calc, but it really doesn't provide much. "petals of flame" does not indicate fireballs - it could be widespread or even global firestorms erupting, for example. Moreover, the odd nature of the Saruthi planet and their abilit yto manipulate it makes hard calcs difficult to acquire anyhow.

If, for some reason, we decided to calc it, it would take maybe a billion, or say ten billion megatons to do what is described - there's not really alot to go by. Eisenhorn watches, which suggests less than a day passed. There were some eleven vessels.. at best.. you might get hundreds of mt/sec or several gigatons/second, and that still doesn't quite address the virus bombing (which could detract from it, that can cause thermal damage as well.) I'm actually more inclined to go with a a hundred million to a billion teraton range for the bombardment.. it created widespread firestorms that may or may not have been global, but that's about it.

Assuming 1 day (100,000 seconds actually) 11 vessels, and 1e8 to 1e9 megatons delivered for the bombardment.. 91 mt/s to 910 Mt/sec. Not bad, but not exactly what other sources implied (like BFG.) Then again nothing says it is an upper limit either.

What it is more useful for is telling us is that conventional firepower can be used to exterminatus a world, and they may not always rely on just Virus bombs to do it.

*****

Now your bonus treat: Missing in Action:


Page 250

Sameter, a declining agro-chemical planet in the Helican subsector..

Agricultural and chemical (mining/manufacturing) hybrid planet, I guess.

Page 251

..the suite looked out across the filthy grey towers of the city to the brackish waters of the polluted bay twenty kilometres away. Ornithopters and biplanes buzzed
between the massive city structures, and the running lights of freighters and orbitals glowed in the smog as they swung down towards the landing port.

Urbitane, a city on Sameter, seems to be at least twenty kilometres wide.

Page 251

He was escorted by two bodyguards in grey, armour-ribbed uniforms..

I'm not sure if this means it was reinforced with armour, or what.

Page 252

Hewall had been found a week before by city sanitation servitors..

The planet usees Servitors for rathre mundane tasks it seems.. and sanitation does matter.

Page 254

We stepped from Wrex's armoured speeder at the corner of Shearing Street and Pentecost. The captain pulled on her arbites helmet and a quilted flak-coat.

ARbites speeder and flak armour. The lady seems to be more like a detective type though, so carapace is probably too obvious/bulky.

Page 255

...a partially disassembled mini-servitor in a tub of oil...

"Mini-servitor" - apparently civilian use.

Page 257

The mill-hives of Thracian Primaris eclipsed Sameter's production, and export profits fell away. In an effort to compete, the authorities freed the refineries to escalate production by stripping away the legal restrictions on atmospheric pollution levels.

Hives.. so.. hive world I guess?

Page 257

"Surealis... that's in the next damn subsector! Aemos, every day of the year is the anniversary of an Imperial action somewhere."

A lot of somewheres really. a million and more worlds and all that.

Page 261

"The gun that guy left behind? It exploded behind you. Powercell overload."

Las rifle exploded. Eisenhorn suffered minor abrasions. No idea how far away he was.. maybe 10-20 meters or so tops given how he got a way in a matter of seconds.


Page 262

The remains of the lasrifle discarded by my assailant lay on an evidence tray. Even with the damage done by the overloading powercell, it was apparent that this was an old model.

"Did the powercell overload because it was dropped? It fell through the roof, didn't it?"
...
"They're pretty solid"
...
"Forced overload." I said. "An old Imperial Guard trick. I've heard they learn how to set one off. As a last ditch in tight spots. Cornered. About to die anyway."
...
...poking at the trigger guard of the twisted weapon. His knowledge of guns was sometimes unseemly. "See this modification? It's been machine-tooled to widen the guard around the trigger."

We saw this used to fuck up a Dreadnought in Ghostmaker. The overload isn't terribly explosive (like a BLEVE probably), since its not a grenade nor is it meant to act that way, but close up it probably has nasty thermal/blast effects for what are liekly pwoerpack yields for a lasgun (although it may not have been fully powered, either. The guy did loose fire at Eisenhorn.) Interesting that the weapon is seemingly so intact after what amounts to a detonation - I assume this may mean only the powerpack blew up and part of it was expended on the enviroment and part on the lasweapon.

single/double digit MJ would probably leave Eisenhorn mostly unharmed at 20 meters as far as thermal effects go. Triple digit MJ is unlikely: that's starting to push the burn threshold (first degree burns would be possible, but large scale second degree would have seriously threatened Eisenhorn's life and that isn't happening)

Given the effect here (and other effects) I'm tempted to think it has "grenade like" damage, although I'm not sure whether concussion or fragmentation would be more appropriate. Given the effects of the weapon (more concussion than fragmentation - the weapon seems to be mostly intact, I'd be inclined to go more towards the former than the latter, although it doesn't completely rule out fragmentation. Also, since this isn't true "High explosive" such as it was, it probably would not be remotely as efficient as a frag grenade. say at least 1, maybe 2 concussion grenade equivalents, which might be some 227 to 454 grams of TNT (1/4 to 1/2 a kilo nearly, or 1-2 MJ energy equivalent). This would be consistent with latter IG assessments of the entire powerpack of a lasweapon equalling a tube charge, although as in the Dreadnought example I'm thinking the yield might be a bit greater. Dreadnoughts are damn tough.

Page 262

According to city records, five hundred and nineteen veterans of that war and that regiment had been repatriated to Sameter after mustering out thirteen years ago..

They note that Sameter is an agricultural "hive" world, and also its troops are returned to the planet intact. To a relatively poor planet too. I guess transporting troops back to home is not impossible under the right circumstances.

Page 263

"The Sameter Ninth were a mixed unit, then?" asked Bequin.
"All our Guard foundings are."

Sameter raised men and women in the regiment.

PAge 263

It remains a sad truth of the Imperium that no virtually no veteran ever comes back from fighting its wars intact. Combat alone shreds nerves and shatters bodies. But the horrors of the warp, and of foul xenos forms like the tyranid, steal sanity forever, and leave veterans fearing the shadows, and the night and, sometimes, the nature of their friends and neighbours, for the rest of their lives.

Grimdark, but it's hard to argue with the truth of it. Abnett can make something most people would ake for granted truly horrific by humanizing the people mentioning it, which is why the Abnett verison of grimdark, for me, is so much better than the over-the-top exaggerated fluff "grimdark."

Pages 263-264

Sancto had been a flamer operator in the guard, and like so many of his kind, had managed to keep his weapon as a memento. Screaming a battlecry of the Sameter Ninth, he torched four arbites in the stairwell of his building before the tactical squads of the judiciary vaporised him in a hail of gunshots.

They let the guardsmen keep their weapons. Probably as a milita-type backup in case of invasion or other trouble, although considering how psychotic these guys turn out, I'm not sure letting loose well armed lunatics was the best idea (while at the same time being a perfectly bizarere sort of "WTF" 40K thing.

It's also another case where "ha ha equipment is more important than men" becomes rather obviously silly as an "across the board" thing.

Page 266

His shot tore through the shoulder padding of my storm coat. My bolt exploded his head, spraying blood across the rusty metal eagle on the wall.

Eisenhorn's bolt pistol blows apart a head.

Page 266

I saw three or four veterans drop, sliced through by silent needles and
another six tumble as shotgun rounds blew them apart.
...
His face distorted as a needle round punched through it and he fell in a crumpled
heap.

Midas has needle pistols, and Fischig and automatic shotgun. I wonder if Fischig is using an explosive round. Midas seems to be using non-exploding needle ammo, although the impact still seems to possess considerable KE.

Page 266

I got up, and then was thrown back by a las shot that blew off my left hand.
Spinning, falling, I saw Lund, struggling to make her prosthetic fingers work the unmodified trigger of Traves's lasgun.
My bolt round hit her with such force she flew back down the aisle...

....
Lund cost me my hand.
...
They gave me a prosthetic on Sameter. I never used it. For two years I made do with a fused stump.

Eisenhorn's hand was blown off at the wrist, and left a "fused stump" from a lasrifle. It doesnt take much energy to blow off a hand (single digit KJ could do it) but the cauterization effect, depending on how severe, would be much more significant. For my own wrist It looks to be around 6-8 cm in diameter - call it 7 = would require some 2500 joules to inflict third degree burns on the stump or thereabouts. We'd expect at least 2-6x greater than this (at a minimum half the energy from the explosion will cauterize the end of the hand as well as the stump of the wrist, if not be lost to the surrounding air) meaning at least 5 kilojoules. More severre burns owuld be double digit kj easily. A larger area burnt, more inefficiencies, or more severe burns could increase the figure - of course, since the explosive effects may be fairly constrained (its not blowing his whole arm apart, after all) this means the lasweapon is less efficient (more towards burning than exploding)

Page 266

Surgeons on Messina finally gave me a fully functional graft.

They can regrow and graft on fresh limbs. I'm guessing the main reason augmetics are more common is that a.) they don't need to waste time growing the replacement b.) they don't have to match an augmetic to the patient (organ rejection does not seem to be as great a problem with augmetics), and c.) Cloning is iffy technology for the Imperium - not exactly ruled out, but tightly controlled (Fabius Bile being a good example why, in particular the second blood angels duology)

[Connor MacLeod]

Next Eisenhorn update. We start Malleus next.. this will probably again be two or three updates. Part 1:


Page 273

Whatever the terrifying strength of the Astartes, this thing was a hundredfold more powerful.

- according to an Inquisitor, the Daemonhost Cherubael (At least) is 100x stronger than a Space Marine. Considering your average space marine is 10x stronger than a nromal person outside his armor (and a normal 40K human could be potentially much stronger than a normal human), and power armor provides upwards of a 10x modifier to strnegth (Soul hunter, IIRC), we're talking about said Daemonhost being 10,000x stronger than a normal person.


Page 275

Alizebeth Bequin was by that time one hundred and twenty-five years old. She was still as beautiful and as active as she had been in her thirties, thanks to discreet augmetic surgery and a regime of juvenat-drugs.

at 125 Bequin has a physicla age of thirty, suggesting juvenat provided a roughly 1/3 to 1/4 retardation in age.


Page 277

Qus ran point, his autocannon swinging from side to side, hunting targets with the red laser rangefinder that projected from the corner of his bionically enhanced left eye. He was a stocky man, rippling with muscle under his harness of ceramite armour.

Man portable autocannon with a eyepiece targeter setup. And ceramite body armor.

Page 277

Arianrhod Esw Sweydyr was well over two metres tall, quite the tallest
human woman I have ever met, though such stature is common amongst the people of far away Carthae.

Abnett has a fondness for putting overly tall people into his works, I'll say this.

Page 278

The Inquisition - and many other institutions, august or otherwise - has long been aware of the usefulness of untouchables, those rare human souls who simply have no psionic signature whatsoever and thus disrupt or negate even the most strenuous psychic attack.
...
..the Distaff, a cadre of untouchables recruited from all across the Imperium. The Distaff was my own private resource, although I often loaned their services to others of my order.

They numbered around forty members now, trained and managed by Bequin.

untouchables, pariahs, etc. Eisenhorn has managed to find around 40 or so in his sector/subsector, suggesting an average of hundreds of thousands, millions in the Imperium at least. With one untouchable per billion(s) of humans, we're talking a population in the high trillions/low quadrillions.

Page 279

She was one of the only humans I knew of who had struck collaborative pacts with their wretched kabals. Rumour had it she had been recently initiated into the cult of Kaela Mensha Khaine, in his aspect as the Murder-God beloved of the eldar renegades.
...
..base killers, shrouded in shadow fields she had bought, borrowed or stolen from her inhuman allies.

A rarity - a human who has communicated with and allied with the Dark Eldar, much less one who can acquire some of their technology.

Page 281

Several of the worshippers were punched apart by Qus's heavy fire.

Autocannon blows apart chaos worshippers - how many shots and whether it is kinetic or explosive effects aren't specified.

Page 281

I raised my weapon. She flew at me.
Her sheer bulk brought me down.
One spider limb stabbed entirely through the meat of my left thigh. Her steel fangs, like needles, snarled into my face. I saw her eyes, black and without limit or sanity.
She spat.
I wrenched my head around to avoid the corrosive spew, and fired my bolt pistol up into her.
The impact threw her backwards, all four hundred kilos of wizened witch and bionic undercarriage.

Another infamous calc of long ago - bolter impact knocking a 400 kilo augmetic witch lady over. Considering a bolt shell can't weigh more than 50-100 grams (for a human sized bolter) we're talking a amazingly hypervelocity 4-8 km/s velocity (minimum) and a momentum of at least 400 kg*m/s (thrown back at least a metre)
Now this is where the fun begins. The round would have had to accelerate to said velocities within less than a metre (milliseconds) the acceleration is going to be insane (hundreds of kilojoules to megajoules of energy released close up to Gregor AT A MINIMUM - he ought to burn to death)
So clearly this is a case where we have some uber-rare high tech Inquisitorial ammo, probably using a modified gravitic reaction motor or something

Page 283

Her head exploded in a spray of bone shards and tissue.

Once more the bolt round blows a human head apart.

Page 285

Tantalid had squinted up into the glare, his stringy tortoise head turning in the rim of his massive carapace armour.

Not the firs ttime Abnett confuses carapace and powered armor. There seems to be (for him, and for Ben counter) some sort of overlap territory btween the two)

Page 285

The slaved servitors in the cutter's blunt wingtips opened fire, hosing the chapel with autocannon shells. The stained glass windows had all shattered, statues had been decapitated, flagstones had disintegrated. Hit at least once, Tantalid had fallen backwards into the dust and debris. His body had not been found, so I presumed the bastard had survived.

effect of the guncutter autocannon. And yes Tantalid did survive.

Page 286

Arnaut Tantalid had risen from the rank of confessor militant in the Missionaria Galaxia seventy years before to become one of the Ministorum's most feared and ruthless witch-hunters.

Seems like an Ecclsiarchy-based rival organization to the Inquisition, possibly with the support of the HEreticus.

Page 287

But before the Black Ships could arrive to take them, they were spirited away by renegade slavers working in collusion with corrupt officials in the local Administratum. Vast sums could be made on the black market for unregistered, virgin psychic slaves.

There's a criminal market in psychic slavery. Abnett is not the first one ot suggest this (There were examples in the Inquisiton War and elsewhere of course.)

Page 289

Thracian Primaris, the most massive, industrialised and populated world in the sub-sector, had wrested capital planet status from ancient Gudrun after the disgrace and foment of the Schism..

Thracian Primaris is pretty much upper limit for all worlds of that type in the sector. As we learn it is not amongst the biggest of hive worlds either, nor does it have a particularily huge PDF.

Page 291

Shoals of ships, flocks of them, countless craft, drawn to this bloated cesspit...
...
Five Ramilies-class star-forts hang above its atmosphere, their crenellated towers and buttressed gun-stations guarding the approaches to and from the capital world. A dedicated guild of forty thousand skilled pilots exists simply to guide traffic in and out of the jostling, crowded high-anchor reaches. It has a planetary defence force, a standing army of eight million men. It has a population of twenty-two billion, plus another billion temporary residents and visitors. Seven-tenths of its surface are now covered by hive structures, including great sections of the world's original oceans. City-sprawl fells and covers the seas, and the waters roll in darkness far beneath.

22 billion permament, around a billion transients (visitors aboard starships, in other words) 8 million pdf (3.6/10,000th the population, in other words. Makes some sense since Scarus is, by 40K standards a rather civilised and peaceful sector of space.) The tourist/transient population is 5% of the total, compared to (for example) 19% of the US population in toursits.

40K pilots implies a large capacity for handling starships, although whether they are all warp capable or not is up for debate. Even if a fraction of them are, that's still damn impressive as far as shipping goes.

The population seems rather low given the percentage of the planet's surface covered in hive structures - I wonder if automated/servitor based construction is for that reason, or if they just have a depleted population ro what.

Page 291

The voyage from Lethe Eleven took a month..
...
We arrived just four days shy of the start of the Novena.

20-30 LY.. a few hundred c, unsurprisingly.

Page 292

Instead, the exclusive habitats were on the underside of the hive portions that extended out over and into the hidden seas.
...
In under an hour we had reached a great transit hub, three kilometres down in the city-crust, where she set the cutter down on a massive elevator platform that sedately lowered us and a dozen other craft into the sublevels of Hive Seventy.

the "crust" of Thracian primaris' hives is at least 3 km thick.

Page 292

Built from plasma-sealed grandiorite and an adamite frame, the Ocean House was one of a thousand estates built along the submarine wall of Hive Seventy. It was nine kilometres beneath the city crust and another two below sea level.

A bit on construction technqiues. And "nine kilometers beneath city crust", suggesting parts of Thraican primaris extend underground (below water or below the earth)

Page 295

"They say the Bestowment will be the making of the Warmaster.."
...
"Feudal Protector. That's as good as Imperial Lord Commander Helican admitting the Warmaster is on an equal footing with him"
...
"It makes Honorius the favourite to become warmaster-in-chief in the Acrotara theatre now that Warmaster Hiju is dead, and Hiju was being groomed for a place on the Senatorum Imperialis, perhaps even to sit amongst the High Lords of Terra."

Interesting if possibly flawed look at Imperial politics. First, the existence apparently of multiple warmasters, but only at a sector/subsector level. I'm thinking that either "warmaster" is a colloquial term (or possibly only one applied this way in the Scarus sector) rather than referring to the "Warmaster" in the sense of a single man appointed by the High Lords. Technically its not unheard of to have multiple warmasters at the same time, but it is a rare and dramatic step.

Secondly is the distinction between the "Senatorum Imperialis" and the "High Lords", when many other sources tend to treat them interchangably. This would suggest there are different (lesser?) chambers to the Senate, with the High Lords being the top tier. One possibility is that the distinction separates those just below the high lords, the ones who compete and politick amongst them and with them, and from whom a new High Lord is selected. It may also include those amongst the Adeptus who don't hold one of the permanant seats, but may be elected to the temporary ones.

Page 295

Imperial Lord Commander Helican, which is to say Jeromya Faurlitz IV of the noble Imperial family Faurlitz, was the supreme secular authority in the Helican sub-sector, for which reason he styled himself with the sub-sector's name in his appellation. On paper, even the cardinals of the Ministorium, the Grandmaster of the Inquisition, the senior luminaries of the Administratum and the Lords Militant had to answer to him, though as with all things in Imperial society, it was never as easy as that.

More on politics between the various organizations of the Imperium

Page 295

..history has shown the Church to be chronically intolerant of losing power to the military or the state.

Unsurprisingly so, since they consider themselves the ones really in charge (the same way the military and the administratum do.)

Page 295

"The Faurlitz line is weak and lacks both support in the Adeptus Terra and a ready ear at the Senatorum Imperialis and the courts of the Golden Throne."
...
"His [a different] house is far too unpopular with the Adeptus Mechanicus, and without their consent, however tacit, no one ever makes it to High Lord rank. Besides, the Ministorum would block it. Giann Augustyn made no friends there with his reforms. They say it was a Callidus of the Officio Assassinoram, under orders from the Ecclesiarcy, that took old Giann off.."

Interesting that they think Assassins can be used for politicla motives, evne though it is unlikely (since the Assassins are under the control of an Inquisitorial Ordos now) - but there are plenty of more "normal" assassins run by every organization running around to comepnsate.

Also the AdMech seems to be more influential than many other organizations. Unsurprising since they have a virtual monopoly on tech.

Page 296-297

"I scoured the building and found vox-thieves buried in the walls of six rooms, including your inner chambers, and discreet farcoders wired into three communication junction nodes, spliced to vox and pict lines. Someone had also tried, and failed, to force their way into your void-vault, but they didn't know the shield codes"
..
"No prints, no microspores, no follicles. I washed the air itself through the particle scrubber. The inhouse pict recorders show nothing..."
...
"The astropaths sensed nothing."

Monitoring and spying gear and counter-espionage.. Use of astropaths in espionage and ocunter-espionage as well.

Page 297

"Unmarked, but Imperial. Very high grade and advanced."
...
"Military? Secular?" I asked.
Ravenor shrugged. "We could source them to likely manufacturers, but they likely supply all arms of the Imperium."
...
"They have no maker markings, but they're clearly refined models from the Amplox series. Much more refined than the heavy-duty units the military use. It's just conjecture, but I'd say this was beyond the Ministorum too. They're notoriously behind when it comes to tech advancements."
...
"The Adeptus Mechanicus?" he ventured. I scowled.
He shrugged, smiling. "Or at least a body with the power and influence to secure such advanced devices from the Adeptus Mechanicus."
"Like?"
"The Officio Assassinorum?"
...
"Then a powerful Imperial house, one with clout in the Senatorum Imperialis."

And of course, the Inquisition, but its nice to know how the power rankings fit out. It's also interesting to see a discussion of technological manufacturing on both civilian and government/military sides, who has access to what, and generally its influence in and on society.

Page 302

...sitting in my sanctum dressed in a body-heat masking stealth suit...

Stealth gear. Different from some kinds of Cameleoline I guess.

Page 305

The size of a small city itself, it is the chief office of the Inquisition in the Helican sub-sector, maintaining a permanent staff of sixty thousand.

subsector headquarters, its size and such.

Page 306

Inside, it is a dark maze of shadowy halls, void screens and opaquing fields. The staff and visitors move privately behind masking energy fields....
...
...my party was issued with a drone cyber-skull that hovered at our shoulders and projected an insulating cone of silence around us. We were offered an astropath adept too to further ensure our privacy.
...
A void shield dissipated to allow us through the circular doorway and flickered back to life once we were inside.

Internal security, privacy and other measures.

Page 307

It was impossible to guess his age, but he must have been at least three hundred years old, for he had held his high office for a century and a half. Thanks to augmentation and juvenatus processes, he looked like a man in his late forties.

Rorken. His juvenat seems better than Bequins, and the implied age he could live to is a really long time.

Page 309

Apotropaic studies are conducted all the time by the Inquisition, and usually involve one or perhaps as many as three inquisitors. On a larger scale, they are named Councils, and require a quorum of at least eleven inquisitors. Larger than that, they become a Congress. Such assemblies are extremely rare.
...
The purpose of these studies, even at their smallest level, is the acute examination and assessment of unusually valuable captives.

Basically in depth research and experimentation to understand and discover weaknesses. Amazing that the backwards, scientifically inept Imperium does research of some kind isnt it

Page 311

I read through the list of inquisitors summoned to form the Council, a list which included my name. There were sixty in all.
...
It was quite an assembly, drawn from all over the sector.

at least 60 Imperial Inquisitors per sector. That means at least half a million Inquisitors if that held as average throughout all other Sectors in the Imperium.

Page 312-313

In the night, flocks of dirigibles from the Officium Meteorologicus had seeded the smog fields and upper cloud levels with carbon black and other chemical precipitants.
...
..that this radical act of weather control would have profound ill consequences for the planet's already brutalised climate for decades to come. Reactive hurricane storms were expected in the southern regions before the week was out, and the drainage system of the primary hives was said to be choked to bursting by the singular rainfall.
It was also said that the seas would die quicker, thanks to the overdose of pollutants hosed into them so suddenly by the rain-clearance.

Probalby not going to matter much in the long term since the planet is on its way to becoming a "true" Hive world, but its predictably grimdark that politics and pride dictate that sort of thing. Then again, its human nature as well, considering the sorts of shit we do in real life in a similar vein.


Page 314

At the front rolled eighty tanks of the Thracian Fifth...
...
..five hundred men carrying aloft the many regimental guidons and emblems representing the units and regiments that had participated in the Ophidian Suppression.
...
The dreadnought was escorted by five Baneblade super-heavy tanks.
...
Every Imperial corpse recovered from the closing stages of the war, loaded in state into fifteen hundred Rhino carriers painted black for the duty. One hundred mighty
Space Marines of the Aurora Chapter marched beside the trundling machines
...
After the Space Marines came sixty thousand Thracian troops, thirty thousand from Gudrun, eight thousand from Messina, four thousand from Samater.

Also the Aurora chapter and the White consuls contributed forces, but most of this is Imperial Guards. I think its pretty cool that 1500 Rhinos and 100 space marines did service to the Dead like that. Another of those little Dan Abnett Touches that you notice and increases the cool factor.

I do wonder if the Rhinos were all Space Marine or if others (like say, the Guard) contributed them.

Oh and 102,000 Guardsmen.

Page 314

Four Warlords, blotting out the sun, eight grinding Warhounds, and a massive Super-Titan called Imperius Volcanus.
...
.man-shaped mechanisms as tall as a steeple, taller yet in the case of Volcanus.

At least a Legion? 13 Titans.

Page 314

The tank brigades of the Narmenians and the Scuterans followed the god-machines. Five thousand armour units...
...
Tractors towed Earthshaker cannons behind them, three abreast, and then a seemingly endless flow of Hydra batteries...

Narmenian forces seem to be accesslible as far as the Scarus sector. 5,000 tanks. Various air defense and artillery forces. No Chimeras seen though!

Page 315

..the Inquisition fell in line behind the priesthood, six hundred strong.
...

..some even hidden by personal void shields.

I'd guess not all are Inquisitors, but many are. Note the "personal void shields." I'm starting ot think in many ghosts novels the term "void shield" gets used to refer to any shield including refractor or conversion field. Elsewise in this case "void" means something else.

Page 315

Ten thousand men from their personal retinues marched together.

Two hundred grunting, snuffling behemoths from the aurochothere cavalry. Eight hundred Conqueror tanks. Lifter bikes skimmed alongside their line.

forces of Lord Commander Helican and Warmaster Honorius.


Page 316

On the flatbed, shackled in adamite and encased in individual void shield bubbles,
were the thirty-three psykers..
...
..dim, contorted shapes, barely human, swimming in the milky green cocoons of the
imprisoning shields.
...
...two hundred astrotelepaths strode alongside it, mentally reinforcing the void bubbles that were damping the psychic fury of the captives.

10,000 more troops, in void shields (hah) and 200 astorpaths reinforcing the void shield defenses.

Page 316

Twenty thousand men and five hundred armoured machines of the Thracian Interior Guard formed the tail of the Great Triumph...

20,000 more troops and 500 more vehicles. that makes 123,000 troops, 1500 APCs and 5580 tanks.


PAge 318

One Lightning, over ten tonnes of almost supersonic metal, cartwheeled down and went into the crowd on the west side of the Avenue.
...
At its final impact, it became a massive fireball that belched up a blazing mushroom cloud a hundred metres into the air.

This lightning fighter is 10 tonnes. Contrast with the fighters 1/4 the size of the gun cuter in Xenos.

Page 320-321

Streams of tracer rounds spat from the heavy cannons under their noses. Wing-mounted lascannons sparkled soundlessly.
Two went low over the crowd, slaughtering thousands.
...
Stippled lines of explosions sawed through the populace, casting up both human and
mechanical wreckage. There was an actual fog of liquefied tissue in the air. I saw tanks struck on the highway, detonating in the mob.

Results of the strafing attacks by the Lightnings.

Page 321

Hundreds of Guarsdmen and Space Marines in the rained cavalcade
opened fire into the air, chasing the planes, churning the sky with bright, criss-crossed lines.

For all the good it does.

Page 321

A Lightning swept by almost overhead, cutting to the left of the Spatian Gate. Its strafing firepower explosively mangled hundreds of people perilously close to me, showering me and the white stone of the Gate's side face with cooked blood.

exploding/burning hundreds of people in a short period of time, it would seem. Hundreds of megajoules easily, perhaps?

Page 321

Hundreds of batteries in the procession were now firing into the sky, the Hydras blitzing the air. Even tanks were firing - out of anger, I suppose, for they hadn't a hope in hell of hitting the fastmoving aircraft.

Tanks can't hit aircraft.


Page 322

...the Titans themselves had turned to engage, and my guts convulsed with the subsonic roar of their weapons. I could see them, three kilometres away, weapon mounts pumping and flashing, high above the crowd.
...
The tumbling Lightning, ablaze from end to end, hit the immense Warlord Titan square on and decapitated the colossus as it exploded.

Titans engage fighters 3 km away. One slams into a Warlord and destroys its surface. May or may not have hit at supersonic, but probably not, since sheer momentum didnt even notably rock the Titan. It may have detonated though. I'd still expect it to be moving pretty fast (50-100 m/s at least) before it hit though.


Page 322

Four Thracian Guardsmen were directly ahead of me,..using the charred corpse of a fallen aurochothere for cover...
...
I was a few steps away from them when the gigantic dead animal reanimated, a psychic puppet...

...
I focussed my mind and blew the thing apart with a concussive mental
wave.

An idea of Eisenhorn's psychic power, as well as the psychic power of the Alpha levels - animating zombies. No idea how big a beast it is, but its probably much more massive than a person, since four guardsmen were using it as cover.

Page 323

He was a dwarf, with stunted limbs and an enlarged cranium.
...
...then exploded his face with a pin-point bolt.

Emperor save me, he kept coming. I had blown the front off his skull, but he kept coming....
...
...blew off one of his arms. Still he came on...
...
A Space Marine in the colours of the Aurora Chapter came at him from behind and shredded him into pulp with his boltgun.

This particular alpha level was pretty damn durable.

Page 324

My hand was shaking, resisting, as I swung the boltgun around and shot the Marine through the head.
...
..the collapsed, headless Marine.

Eisenhorn's bolt pistol decapitates or explodes the head of a helmeted Space Marine.

Page 325

Both it, and the boltgun it clutched, were cased in psionic ice, the
mechanism jammed and locked out.
...
"Point. It. Aside." His words came out as halting gasps. "I. Cannot. Hold. It. Much. Longer."

Voke can block the mechanisms of a bolt gun, even if temporarily. It could have something to do with the adverse conditions of several dozen Alpha-class psykers, or it may be a fine control issue (blowing apart animal corpses is one thing, trying to hold bakc a trigger without breaking the gun is another.

page 326

Squalls of hail and acid rain, localised to this small stretch of the Avenue, blustered across us, triggered by the ferocity of the psychic war.

Psychic activity affect the weather, as well as the artifically stimulated atmosphere alluded to earlier.

Page 326

The indigenous population alone was vast, but it had been swelled to an
unimaginable extent by pilgrims and tourists for the Novena.

This suggests there was considerably more transients at this time than usual. The fact htere is tourism and pilgrimmages is pretty neat.

Page 327

It cost three days and the lives of eight hundred Imperial Guardsmen, sixty-two astropaths, two Space Marines and six inquisitors to blast it out and burn it. The cannery, and the outhab for three square kilometres around it, was flattened.

All this to take out one Alpha-class psyker.

Page 327

Admiral Oetron...
..
..move four picket ships into geo-synchronous orbit above Hive Primaris, and for a while succeeded in providing comprehensive vox and astropathic communications for the ground forces. But by nightfall on the first day, psychic storms had blown up across the hive and all relayed reception was lost.

Temporary orbital relay of communications support, until psychic storms block it out.

Page 327

...missiles and promethium bombs splintered off the shielded
windows..

shielded iwndows in an arbites "section house."

Page 327-328

...The arbites themselves numbered around one hundred and fifty, and the section house...

Minimum number of arbites per section house.

Page 328

Voke had seen enough of it to know that as many as two hundred of our fellow
inquisitors had been obliterated.

Minimum number out of the 600 who were Inquisitors. This means something like 2 million or so Inquisitors potentially in the Imperium.

Page 330

Missiles rained down on us, and the Interior Guardsmen raised an umbrella of riot shields. Small arms fired at us too, and an arbites near me fell with his knee buckled the wrong way

Guardsmen using riot shields.

Page 330

Our attackers, some hundred or more, were hive citizens, blank faced and moving like marionettes.

- Alpha-plus Psyker can control at least a hundred normal humans simultaneously

Page 331

"This monster." Heldane replied, "can read every mind in the city and beyond. He knows what we're all doing."

More on the detection abilities of an Alpha Class. Can read minds within kilometers of his locale.

Page 331

I took out my pocket scope and tried to read the energy patterns and spectrums.

Pocket scanner./scope.

Page 331-332

..a grizzled precinct commander in full riot gear.
...
"..this palace must come into your precinct's patrol area."
..
"So street security around it is your responsibility."
...
"..just as a matter of procedure, your section house will have on file the shield type and harmonics for the palace, in case of emergencies." In my experience, it was standard protocol for anyarbites precinct to know such things about key structures within their purview.

- Arbites have on file the shield type and harmonics of void shields used by other groups, "for emergencies." Useful contingency really.


Page 332

"It's an old type-ten conical void." Arbites Commander Lucius reported presently. Tangent eightseven- eight harmonic wave. We don't have an override code."
...
"Collapse a void shield?" Roban asked.
"Its conical... super-surface only. And its old. Voids shrug off just about anything, but they don't retain their field if you take out one or more of the projectors."

This implies that you have to "knock out" a generator to take shields down permanantly. This might be by overheating them (pushing their perforance too high they blow out.) or by destroying the generator)

The "super surface" comment also implies certian shields (or certain void shields) may be subsurface or interact with the surface as well as be over the surface (super-surface")

Page 333

Close to five hundred citizens were now advancing towards us from streets on all
sides.

Later they mention that the psyker was just toying with them, using the mind controlled civilians as playthings. But when Eisenhorn executed his plan, the psyker realized his danger and tsarted getting serious.

Page 333

"Because if we can simply make the projector fail, the energies of the shield will short out before they collapse. Rather than blowing outwards, that'll cause an electromagnetic pulse within the field itself. And I think an EM pulse is the last thing Esarhaddon wants right now.

Psykers seem vulenrable to EMP.

Page 34

I have made a point to have his name and memory celebrated by the Primarch of the White Consuls.

This is pretty old, they still confuse Chapter Masters with Primarchs. It could be in some sections of the Imperium the term "Primarch" was used to refer to Chapter Masters though.

Page 334

With the generating projector killed, the void shield collapsed in on itself, blacking out the palace systems with the thunderclap of electromagnetic rage.

Blacking out Esarhaddon's seething mind too.

My research into untouchables, ,through Alizebeth and then through the Distaff she created and ran, had indicated to me that perhaps psychic power, no matter how potent, relied in the final analysis on the electrical workings of the human mind, the firing of impulse charges between synapses. Untouchables somehow blanked this, and triggered a disturbing and disarming vacancy in the natural and fundamental processes of the human brain. That, I had initially concluded, was why psykers don't work around untouchables... and whyy forgetfulness and unease is prevalent in their company. And, ultimately, why they disturb and upset huhmans so, and psykers doubly so.

I'd turned the old void shield into a brief, bright untouchable event.

It is an interesting idea, but it is not without problems. We know, for example, that various pariahs/untouchables can affect psychic phenomena and creatures (EG manifested daemons) which would not have a brain. It is difficult, but not impossible to reconcile this difficulty, although to put this into a single ability would carry some complex and far reaching interactions (such as implying that untouchables/pariahs can somehow undermine the fundamental belief/connectons that may feed/sustain daemonic entities while in realspace in order to "harm" them.)

It seems more likely to speculate that like with psychic power, there are different "kinds" of Pariah/untouchables. We already know that they come in different levels of power and ability like pyskers od, and the variety of names and effects attributed to them in the fluff and novels could also be explained by their being different kinds of Pariah (some may work as Eisenhorn describe, whilst others have abilities that can more directly attack psychic powers and entities independent of a brain.) Or perhaps the differences lie in the "strength" levels themselves (one level of pariah strength may only work like Eisenhorn's untouchables, but a stronger one may not only have that capability but others that allow them to affect psychic powers and creatures without an organic brain. Such a Pariah would be "better equipped" than a mere untouchable.)


Page 337

Despite its mechanical appearance, the cargo drone, like all servitors, was built around human organic components: brain, brain-stem, neural network, glands so Esarhaddon could control it just like a standard human.

unsurprisingly, there are certain organic minimums for a servitor to not be a robot a brain and neural network are obvious ones of course.

This also gives us an indication of how at least some forms of psychic mind/body control work - they affect the brain/nervous system. At least, a very powerful psyker can (although since an Alpha Level can control large numbers of humans this way, it stands to reason a less powerful psyker can control at least one person this way.)

Page 338

The energised blade sliced clean through the servitor's left forearm..
...
...lashing with the fused, smoking end of its recently truncated limb.

Eisenhorn's lightsaber powersword does have some thermal element (like many power swords) since it can fuse/cauterize the end of limbs it severs.


Page 339

A plasma gun.

The violet beam, almost too bright to look at, struck Esarhaddon. In his weakened state, he had no defence against it.

He ignited like an incendiary round and burned from head to foot in the middle of the lawn.
...
I looked back at the molten heat that had been our quarry.

Plasma weapon appears to cremate a person, although aspects of this make it difficult to rationalize as purely brute-force application of heat unless we adopt the idea this is one of those flame-thrower like "super soaker" plasma guns. Otherwise the "ignited" bit suggests that the plasma gun only provided the spark that lead to the person being combusted - which is not trivial in and of itself (having to dehydrate at least part of the body ot make it ready to combust is not trivial considering the body is mostly water) but it means that the body itself contributed considerable quantities of energy to the feat.

Page 340

Ravenor, in the eyes of some, had been lucky. He had not been amongst the one hundred and ninetyeight Inquisition personnel killed outright....
...
He, like fifty others, had been caught on the edge of the explosion and lived.

This implies 250 inquisitors.. which probably means most if not all of that 600 were actually inquisitors, and that the probable estiamte "per sector" goes up to the millions, easily. And that probably is still not an upper limit since it is unliekyl that the entire Sector's allotment of Inquisitors were present on that one planet.

Page 344

"The statement was very brief. Esarhadon's corpse was burnt from the calves upwards and utterly immolated. As in the incidents of spontaneous human combustion, the relics left by the plasma weapon were little more than the flesh and bones of the feet and ankles. Just bare vestiges."

Again we have cremation, but it is debatable as to whether the plasma gun contributed only some of the energy or all of it, even if the plasma gun did behave more like a glorified flamethrower/supersoaker in this case.

My reading of the scene says that it contributed at least the starting of the immolation, which may actually be significant (the person caught fire and burned rapidly across most of the body in a short time, which is not what plausible human spontaneous combustion does. And significant dehydration of at least part of the body is going to be pretty energy intensive by itself.) I suspect that a fair portion of the body's mass (say 15-20%, which for a 60 kg or so person is a good 10-12 kg worth of water) was boiled off in a very short period of time which requires ~260 kj per kg IIRC - so at least single if not double digit MJ, which is still pretty hefty for a plasma weapon.)

[Lost Soal]

Page 295

"The Faurlitz line is weak and lacks both support in the Adeptus Terra and a ready ear at the Senatorum Imperialis and the courts of the Golden Throne."
...
"His [a different] house is far too unpopular with the Adeptus Mechanicus, and without their consent, however tacit, no one ever makes it to High Lord rank. Besides, the Ministorum would block it. Giann Augustyn made no friends there with his reforms. They say it was a Callidus of the Officio Assassinoram, under orders from the Ecclesiarcy, that took old Giann off.."

Interesting that they think Assassins can be used for politicla motives, evne though it is unlikely (since the Assassins are under the control of an Inquisitorial Ordos now) - but there are plenty of more "normal" assassins run by every organization running around to comepnsate.

Its possible they are talking about The Ecclesiarch of the Adeptus Ministorum, who as one of the nine permanent High Lords would have the authority to the Callidus, plus we don't know how willing this arm of the Ordos is to start picking fights.

Page 340

Ravenor, in the eyes of some, had been lucky. He had not been amongst the one hundred and ninetyeight Inquisition personnel killed outright....
...
He, like fifty others, had been caught on the edge of the explosion and lived.

This implies 250 inquisitors.. which probably means most if not all of that 600 were actually inquisitors, and that the probable estiamte "per sector" goes up to the millions, easily. And that probably is still not an upper limit since it is unliekyl that the entire Sector's allotment of Inquisitors were present on that one planet.

Sorry, but I think your miss-reading this. He includes Ravenor amongst the number of "Inquisition personnel" killed or injured which (if I'm reading you correctly) you seem to think implies Inquisitors, however at this point in time Ravenor is only an Interrogator, not an Inquisitor. To my reading of this and the various inquisition series (Eisenhorn, Ravenor & Scourge the Heretic) up to half the 600 could be Interrogators.

[Connor MacLeod]

Yeah I'm missreading the inquisition personnel bit on further reflection. I don't think it can even say Interrogators alone even. *shrugs* Oh well

[Connor MacLeod]

Okay you people can celebrate, it's Malleus day and you can get your Eisenhorn fix. We pick up where we left off last time, Eisenhorn's capture, and just prior to his escape (and the end of the novel.) Enjoy!


Page 346

Twists. We were all twists here. 'Mutant' is a dirty word if you're a mutant. They delight in referring to themselves by the Imperium's glibbest and most detrimental slang. It's a pride thing, a common habit with any underclass. Non-telepaths do it when they call themselves 'blunts'. The tall, slender people of low-grav Sylvan do it when they call themselves 'sticks'.
...
Labour laws on Eechan permit twists to work as indentured labourers in the industrial mill-farms and the sap distilleries, provided they abide by the local regime and keep themselves to the licensed shanty towns huddled in the skirts of the bad end of Eechan mainhive.

A bit on mutant culture and how mutants are treated in parts of this particlar sector/subsector. Interesting is mention of low grav "Sylvan" worlds, and the discrimination in that (as well as telepath/non telepath discrimination.) It's rally treated as all of a piece.

If there are "Sylvans" I wonder if this is a subtle hint there are abhuman "heavy g" types that are short and.. "squat"
Page 346

It had taken six weeks to reach Eechan..

Maybe.. if it was straight line, 40 LY. ~350c

Page 348

handed Nayl one of a pair of brass stimm-injectors and we detoxed quickly
to rid our bodies of the alcohol dulling our systems.

Imperial medicine has a means of quickly eliminating intoxicaiton. How sophisticated or available such is isnt known.

Page 348

...several vast harvesters. They were segmented juggernauts; beetle-like machines the size of small starships, chewing up die greenbelt with massive reaping mandibles and digesting it through vast interior vats and worklines. Flues lined their backs like spines and spewed moisture waste and atomised sap up high into the atmosphere, where it drifted and fell again like rain.

large mechanical harvesters described as being the size of "small starships". Once more we get an impression of scale in the Imperium - no matter how impressive you think Titans are, there are bigger vehicles around, and this is hardly the only exaple.

Page 349

A black armoured land speeder with blazing grilled lamps crept past. I saw the crest motif of the mainhive arbites on the side and an armoured officer sat in the top hatch manipulating a spotlight.
...
..the officers dismounted to shake them down and run their gene-prints through the system.

Arbites keep gene-prints of humans and mutants on the planet. And apparently for many off-planet adeptus (like Inquisitors)

And yet again arbites (hive arbites at least) having antigrav vehicles in widespread use.

Page 350

The paws belonged to a hulk, a two hundred kilo monster covered with blistered fish-scales and bony scutes.p

200 kilo mutant and considered "large" by the standards of this world.

Page 351

The flintlock mechanism was in good order, though. It cracked loudly with a fizz and a flash, the recoil punishing my wrist, and the ball went point-blank through the forehead of the nearest twist, exploding the rear of his cranium in a surprisingly messy fountain.

Tech levels among the mutants in Eechan.

PAge 357-358

Wrecklands of shredded vegetation that began to regrow within days of a harvest,
such was the speed and fecundity of Eechan's floral growth. At any one time, there were several thousand square kilometres of chewafter in the farmlands round the mainhive.

Results of the harvesters. Probably makes it an agri-world. This also really mutilates the definition of hive worlds, since you can have "agricultural" hives, and other kinds where the world isn't a polluted shithole. I guess only the strip mined, heavily industrial and overpopulated hives are shitholes. Then again this isn't a true agri-world either, since having a hive implies a substantial population.

Page 361

He was dressed in a bright orange cooler-suit, with large, articulated exchanger vanes sprouting from his shoulders. His breath smoked in the personal veil of cold air the suit was generating around him.

The point of usch suits, I have no idea, unless they're meant fro cryogenics or very very hot worlds.


PAge 361

Or would be death-cultist, I thought. She had five masked and harnessed slaves with her..
...
They played at death-cult, up in the eyries of the mainhive, maybe cutting their skin and drinking blood once in a while.

Mix of BDSM, snuff-pic watching wannabes. Weird, but still grimdark silly. One of the reasons I like Eisenhorn and Abnett.

Page 364

The orange cooler-suit began to burn and collapse off him in molten hanks until he was naked.

Cherubael melts a cooler suit off.

Page 366

Lyko whipped around and incinerated the old man with his plasma gun

Badly burned or cremated, you decide. Ihundreds if not thousands of kilojoules at least though

Page 366

I saw Phant Mastik hit by a burst of fire and collapse in rough sections backwards off the platform.

Fire from what I dont know.

Page 367-368

I saw two dots in the air three kilometres to the west and gunned the machine after them. Heavy land speeders, making towards the bulk of the nearest harvester factory. I pushed the turbines to their limit, coming in low and fast behind the slower lift-machines. I knew they'd seen me the moment autofire chattered back in my direction, wildly off target. I began to think, the way Midas had taught me, before they got their aim in. I thought about shooting back at them, but it took both hands on the stick just to keep the sports speeder level.
..
More tracer shots howled back past me.

- Eisenhorn is chasing Lyko and his henchmen in speeders. He's 3 kilometres away at this point.
the moment Eisenhorn turns to pursue, Lyko's group opens up with autofire. Eisenhorn considers returning fire, but cannot control the speeder and fire at the same time. I'm not sure if they're using laser weapons or autoweapons.

Page 368

Downjets flaring, the streamlined bulk of my gun-cutter settled in beside me, matching my speed. It seemed huge compared to my insignificant little speeder; one-fifty tonnes, eighty metres from beak nose to finned tail, landing gear lowered like insect legs.

The gun-cutter now is a mere "one fifty tonnes" although the length is still right. This is almost certainly a typo, since by novel 3 it goes back to 450 tonnes.

Page 368

The chin-turret crackled, and heavy-gauge munitions tore the second of the two speeders into a shower of flames in the air.

Guncutter chin turret. Not sure what it is.

Page

He was closing on the armoured bulk of the harvester, which now dominated the landscape ahead. It was a giant, six hundred metres long and ninety high at the peak of its humped, beetle-back.

the harvesters are 600 meters long, which is, in eisenhorn's estimation, the size of a "small starship." The thing probably has to mass more than an aircraft carrier.

Page 368

A massive processing conveyor carried the harvested produce along from the reaping blades at the harvester's mouth, at a rate of several tonnes every second.

Processing speed of our super huge harvester machines.

Page 370

It was a compact, short-frame auto with a muzzle so short it barely extended beyond the trigger guard. The handgrip was actually longer than the barrel, and contained a slide-magazine of twenty small-calibre rounds. Selecting single-fire, I cracked off a couple of shots. The aim was lousy and the power poor.

Eisenhorn continues his calvalcade of having a gun for every occasion. This is a compact autopistol (analogus I'm betting to a .22) with at least a burst fire capacity and an extended magazine.

Page 371

What I lacked in power I made up for in numbers. I hit him six or seven times in the left arm and collar and staggered him backwards, his bonded armour torn open.

not sure what bonded armour is, but Eisenhorn's autopistol can penetrate it with sustained fire.

Page 372

He realised what I was doing, realised that I outclassed him psychically. He tried to shoot me with his plasma gun, but by then I had shut down his nervous system and blocked all autonomous function. I scoured his mind. He was frozen, helpless, unable to stop me ransacking his memory, despite the blocks and engram locks he had placed there.

Eisenhorn's psychic abilities. This confirms what I mentioend earlier with Esarhaddon - a less powerful psyker can mess with a person's nervous system psychically.

Also note the psychic security measure.s

Page 376

"Long ago, an edict was made by the planetary government that only certain fields of land could ever be used for burial. So cemetery space is at an optimum. Hence, the Law of Decipherability."
...
The law states that once the eroding hands of time and the elements have made the last names on afield's gravestones illegible, the anonymous dead may be exhumed, the bones buried in a pit, and the field reused."
..
"It's their way. Once the names have vanished, so has the memory, and so has any need for honour."

Cadian burial rites

Page 376

It has bred elite troops since it was first colonised, and billions of its sons and daughters have died bravely protecting our culture.

Cadia has lost "billions" in an unknown timeframe.

Page 378

"Best part of six months. We got as far as Mordia on a free trader called the Best of Eagles, and then came the rest of the way as guests of the Adeptus Mechanicus. The super-heavy barge Mons Olympus, no less, carrying virgin Titans to the garrisons of the Cadian Gate."
...
"..the tech-priests of Mars are damned surly company for a two month voyage."

no more than 4 months between Scarus sector and Mordia, then another roughly 2 months from Mordia to Cadia. Cardia is between 10 and 11 thousand LY away from Mordia, and Mordia is ~13,000 LY from Scarus. That means approximately 60-66 thousand c and 39,000c respectively.

That still assumes a linear course, does not account for stopovers, etc. It's also basically for transport vessels. I'd expect starships (esp Astartes and Inquisition vessels) to be faster.

What's interestinga bout this is that when we compare it with the generally consistent (both in Eisenhorn and latter in Ravenor) "inter-sector" travel times (which are hundreds to maybe a thousand or so times the speed of light) it suggests that for some reason inter-sector travel is actually harder/slower than travelling across longer distances. Exactly why this is is never said - and no source ever actually makes admission of this, it only comes out by comparing calcs.

One possible reason why this is is that large concentrations of sentient life actually mess with the warp more across short distances. Sectors are generally very uniform, and are (for the Imperium) densely populated and interconnected little islands of civilization and humanity. They have countless billions of humans (nevremind aliens and such), and sentinents will influence the warp in their area. Whereas the spaces between sectors (which can be vast) may very well be less densley settled or even empty of life (at least human life) and the warp there is less disturbed. When you factor in warp traffic within a sector, and that the general activity of warp-sensitive sentients is more likely to draw warp predators to a sector, it is not impossible to think that for many ships in a sector warp travel will be slower than travelling between sectors.

Page 378

Right from the time they are issued with their own las-guns, which is about the same time they are given their first primary readers, the young warrior-caste of Cadia are handling live ammunition. Most can fire, and kill, and perform most infantry field drills before they reach the age often standard.

Well at least they are taught to read, although I bet what they mainly learn to read is devoted to warfare and killing (like the lasgun training manual)

I really dont know if this makes them "better" soldiers than someone who is just given a few months of training, but it does suggest they are less likely to lose their edge and are more conditioned to warfare. Possibly more "veteran" than a fresh recruit, although the drawbacks of this I dont know (psychologically in particular.)

Page 379

"Aemos once told me that the weight of data generated by the Imperium would fry all the metriculators and codifiers on Terra in a flash if it was input simultaneously. It's a matter of making connections. Sifting the data. The Inquisition - and you - have been looking all over for signs of Cherubael. But some things just don't flag."

Data processing in the Imperium. Probably one reason why a meme-virus (and peopl elike Aemos) are considered useful.

Page 379-380

The moaning song of the wind as it laced through the geometries of the pylon was now so loud I could hear it over the racing turbines of the speeder. The pylon was vast: half a kilometre high and a quarter square. The upper facing of the smooth black stone was machined with delicate craft to form holes and other round-edged orifices no bigger than a man's head. It was through these slim, two hundred and fifty metre tubes that the wind moaned and howled.

And the tubes weren't straight. They wove through the pylon like worm tunnels. Tech-magos had tried running tiny servitor probes through them to map their loops, but generally the probes didn't come back.
...
Five thousand, eight hundred and ten known pylons dot the surface of Cadia, not counting the two thousand others that remain as partial ruins or buried relics. No two are identical in design. Each one rises to a precise half kilometre height and is sunk a quarter kilometre into the ground.
...
They are totally inert, by any auspex measure known to our race, but many
believe their presence explains the quieting of the violent warp torrents that makes the Cadia Gate the single, calm, navigable route to the Ocularis Terribus.

The Cadian Pylons. I won't go into those since we know what they are and what they do.


Page 380

"They had auspex and geo-locators and magnetic plumbs."

Cultists doing geological/archeological work. The gear is interesting, although the "magnetic plumbs" are a nice touch of "magic" to the technological.


Page 380

Fischig switched on the speeder's vox-ponder and broadcast the day's access codes to the sentry turrets as we passed the outer ring-ditch. Even so, Manticore and Hydra batteries traversed and tracked us as we went over.

The vox-ponder pinged fretfully as it detected multiple target-locks.

Some of the "on the ground" CAdian security measures.


Page 380

We ran down the line of a slow moving convoy - drab, armoured twelve-wheeler transports escorted by lurching Sentinel walkers - and followed the highway up towards the ridge of the earthwork.

Cadian convoy. Does not appear to be any sort of pattern of vehicle obviously recognizable in the fluff. I wonder if it is local to Cadia. I think they were mentioned as troop transports.

Page 381

Since then, the kasrs had been planned in elaborate geometric patterns, the streets jinking back and forth like the teeth of a key. From the air, Kasr Derth looked like an intricate, angular puzzle. Given the Cadians' mettle and their skills at urban-war, a kasr could be held, street by street, metre by metre, for months if not years.

Cadian architecture. They mention that early in the colony cities had been built in "high Terra" style, although they proved impossible to defend against Chaos invasion.

Page 381

We slunk along the busy, labyrinthine streets as the caged lamps came on and business began to shut for the night.
...
..even the civilian fashion was for camouflaged clothing.
..
Even the townhouses of the wealthy had armouring on their mansard roofs.
To the left lay the brightly-lit aleatorium, to which night crowds were already flocking to gamble away their pay.

A glimpse into CAdian "civilian" life as it is. Part of me thinks this would be America if we let the libertarian, anti-govenrment, pro-militia types nostalgic for the grand old frontier days have a hand in things.

They still drink and have taverns at least. And businesses. I rather like that since it creates a kind of disturbing contrast to things - these people work, earn money, and find ways to spend their free time and pay - yet they're total militia-freak types.


Page 382

She was a short, sturdy woman in her late one tens..

Eisenhorn can judge age even with juvenat. Incidentally the Inquisitor is Cadian, with violet eyes.

Page 382

..a servitor-skull drifted down from the coffered ceiling, hovering at her shoulder and igniting its halogen eye-beams.

"Bael, Sons of. Find"
..
It stopped, eight sections down, and began to buzz around a shelf groaning with data-slates, file tubes and dusty paper books.

Servo-skull search! It beats a giant animated paperclip I suppose.

PAge 383

"The seepage of evil is so great, I have a hundred active cults to subdue every month! A hundred! The place breeds recidivists like a pond breeds scum."

Despite the much lauded military mindset of Cadians and the Cadian Shock, they also have extensive problems with cult activity and such. Unsurprising of course, given the fact th eplanet is on the very doorstep of the Eye of Terror.

Page 386

The year before, when it had been decided that Fischig would embark on this long chase after the Cadian leads, I had asked Maxilla to provide him with transportation, for as long as it was needed.

The Essene took 5-6 months to run between CAdia and Scarus, given it took Eisenhorn 6 months to reach the place (and Fischig had heard something about the events on Thracian Primaris, which was noted to be 7 months ago). Probably much less given Fischig needed time to search.

Call it 15-16 thousand light years on a roughly linear path, and 4-5 months tops to reach the place. - call it between 36,000 and 48,000c at least.

It also means Maxila has to have a navigator, although we haven't yet met a navigator that is obviously one (EG the three eye type). This becomes something of a minor mystery and point of speculation as we continue, much as the nature of Maxila's astropaths.

Page 387

Despite the fact that we were broadcasting the correct clearances, we were challenged six times in the half-hour descent. At one point, a pair of Cadian Marauders rolled in and flanked us as they checked us over.

Military security dominated the Cadian way of life. Every non-military transport, shuttle and starship was placed under acute observation, especially those that behaved suspiciously or wandered from the authorised flight routes.

Cadian security. They mention that a Deacon had been shot down for failing to give correct codes. Because they're hardcore military bastard types, remember.

Page 387

Eight regiments of Cadian Shock, just a few days away from shipping out to a tour of duty on one of the inner fortress worlds of the Cadian Gate..

Cadians are everywhere. They serve in teh far eastern fringe against the Tau, they served in the Sabbat worlds crusade at the edge of the Pacificus segmentum, and they serve heavily in the fucking middle of the Eye of Terror. Because they're badass military bastard types.

Page 388

There are no arbites on Cadia. A permanent state of martial law governs the world, and as a result, all civil policing duties are overseen by the Interior Guard, a sub-office of the Cadian Imperial Guard itself.

I can only imagine that Inquisitorial/High Lord authority supplants this, because the Arbites, like many other Imperial organizations, are jealous of their power and position and duties (CF Shira Calpurnia novels on Hydraphur.)


Page 388

Worldwide, one in every ten soldiers recruited into the Cadian forces is transferred into the Interior force at the end of basic and preparatory, whatever their achievements and promise. As a result, some of the most able troopers ever raised on this planet of warriors serve out their time on the home world itself, and Cadia boasts one of the most effective and skilled planetary defence forces of any Imperial world.

Cadia's official "PDF" comprises 10% of its population (or nearly all of it, since the vast bulk of the planet gets militay training and can fight if need be, 75% IIRC), and if IG practice is followed, 10% of that is recruited annually. 5 million or so guardsmen a year at least, although the 5th edition stuff suggested more, I think (as does the fact the Cadians are literally everywhere.)

Page 388

"We have no files on illegal or suspect."
..
"...it doesn't happen. The system does not permit it."
...
"Every identity and visit-purpose is logged and filed and any infractions quickly dealt with."

It may be unlikely, but it happens in this case, so it is at least possible. But even CAdia has its intransigent bureaucracy, and they refuse to admit that their perfect, hardass military security can be breached. A rather significant oversight, and one which has been exploited as we find out.

Page 390

I had interviewed specialist professors at the universitary, and certain tech-priests from the Mechanicus who were shown in the records as having expert knowledge of the pylons.

Cadia has universities, albeit I bet they're military universities ala West Point or something. Or they are there strictly because of the pylons.

Having a universeity however, does imply that Cadians (or at least some) Receive higher education to some extent.

Page 390

I had been arriving at the same time almost every day for the last seventy-five. I even recognised some of the guardsmen by sight. But still, it was like the first time I had ever been there. Papers were not only stamped, but read thoroughly and ran through an anti-counterfeit auspex. My rosette was scrutinised and tagged. The duty officer voxed my details through to the main building to get authorisation

more of the ultra-hardcore, ultra-badass, ultra-perfecto Cadian security setup which cannot have any flaws.


Page 392

"It's amazing how many zipped mouths and blind eyes you can buy with a purse of hard cash round here."
..
"Cadia's a tough nut to crack, I'll admit. One of the toughest I've faced in a long and naughty career. But not impossible, as you see"

He did it through bribery, but also use of Eisenhorn's own Inquisitorial authority. Not quite as bad a "flaw" as one might think per se, but its still an exploitable one, and one noone ever thought of using. And as we know there are renegade/rogue Inquisitors, or ones just plain interested in stirring shit up because they think ti will benefit the Imperium (Istvaanians and recongregators)

Page 394

But together, combining our ranks, we could request, via the Astropathicus, permission to use the Inquisition's most powerful decryption keys.

It took five hours to approve our joint rating.

I dont know where they sent the info to gain permission, presumably Terra given the importance, but that's pure conjecture. The signal was sent and returned in a matter of hours, however.

If they sent it across thousands, or tens of thousands of light years, we're looking at tens or hundreds of millions of c. Hell, even if its just a few hundred light years we'd be looking at close to several million or so depending on how many hundreds. I doubt it could be any slower than what was established as standard between systems in Xenos.

Page 395

"Three hundred and forty-two, sir."
"Right. Well, that's no age, is it? Not given augmetics, or rejuvanat drags... or sorcery."

342 isn't considered even remotely "old" or "ancient" In the imperium. It's not exactly young either, but still it implies that hitting 400, 500 or maybe even 600 isn't impossible.

Page 396-397

...a six-man squad of Cadian Elite Shock, impassive troopers in winter camo armour, prepping matt-white lasrifles and stubbers in the crew-bay.

"God-throne, they're tough-ass bastards." Nayl muttered to me as I passed him coming out of the bay.
"Impressed?"
"Scared is more like it. Regular Cadian is soldier enough for me. These are elite. The elite of the elite. The Kasrkin."
...
"The Kasrkin. The Cadian best, and you can imagine what that means. Holy Terra, they're stonekillers!"
..
"..look at their necks. The Caducades sea-eagle brand. Come to that, just look at their necks. I've seen slimmer trees!"

And we get one of our views of the Kasrkin. I like Nayl's response, which is what tells us anything about how badass they are. And how Nayl regards regular Cadians, for that matter.

Page 397

She was dressed in Cadian mesh armour, and was adjusting her winter hood.

Cadians have their own brand of mesh armor as well as flak and carapace. How widespread its usage is, we dont know.

Page 397

Six snow-visored faces turned to look at me.
"We've logged the bio-spoors of you and your company into our sighting auspexes , sir." Echbar announced to me. "We couldn't shoot them now even if we wanted to."

Kasrkin have "snow visors." Also we get a look at their gun targeteres and their unique properties.

Page398

...orbital detachments of the Cadian Interior Guard were hunting the hidden starship from which the visitors to Kasr Gesh had come.

The CIG has its own space based (And presuambly sublight) arm, like any PDF.

Page 398

I slid out my main weapon: a storm-bolter which I had sprayed green in memory of the prize sidearm I had lost somewhere on Eechan, may Librarian Brytnoth forgive me. This storm-gun was slightly larger and more powerful, but nothing like so well engineered as the boltpistol I had treasured.
...
It was just a simple piece of sharp steel, but I'd had the hierarchs at the Ministorum of Kasr Derth make some modifications.

- Eisenhorn can wield a storm-bolter. The sword is a Cadian hanger. Interesting that despite it being basically two bolt guns in one it is only slightly larger - and yet is not "well engineered!"

Page 398

Nayl was to my left, fielding a combat-cannon.
...
Bequin, a long-barrelled autopistol in her gloved hand..

Armament of Eisenhorn's compartiots.


Page 400

I shot at it with my storm-gun, watching in horrid fascination as it caught the white hot bolt rounds out of the air in its outstretched hands, like a man idly catching slow-tossed racquet balls.

Daemonhost again catches bolter shells. I dont know if they truly are white hot, just appear that way because of the rocket exhuast, or what.

Page 400

Husmaan's first hot-shot round cracked into the side of its head, and snapped its skull around. As it was reeling, its robes were ripped across by double laspistol fire from Inshabel. Then Fischig's riotgun roared and knocked it down in the brittle bracken. Fischig liked to spend his free time handmoulding the shot for his riot-gun's cartridges. Every pellet was silver, and stamped with a sacred sigil of warding that I had taught him long ago.
..
Nayl's cycling drum-cannon raked the daemonhost and the earth around it, doing hideous damage.

The blizzard of shots twisted it, ripping off one of its legs at the knee and the fingers off its left hand.

Effects of gunfire from Eisenhorn's entourage on a Daemonhost.

Page 401

In truth, I may say now that they were somehow more terrifying than the daemonhost.
...

The Kasrkin were just men. It made their actions all the more astonishing. Six white blurs, they fell upon the cultists, lasguns barking at close range. They wasted no shots. One shot, one kill.

Eisenhorn's testimonial to the Kasrkin.


Page 401

His weapon refused to fire as its sight-auspex detected my bio-spoor in the range field. A second later, I was no longer blocking the shot and the weapon spat.

Again the unique properties of the KAsrkin targeters. Implies a certain level of sentience (logic engines)

Page 401

Entry wounds and burns bubbled and smoked across its chest. Its head hung slack on a neck broken by Husmaan's hot-shot.

Damage to the Daemonhost. Not sure what the burns are from - lasfire pwerhaps THey "bubbled and smokes" across the chest, although not knowing how many caused it (And because it is a daemonhost which radiates heat/energy to begin with) its hard to really calc it. The hot shot round broke the DAemonhost' sneck though.

Page 402

Alizebeth's psychic deadness blocked its psychic rage. But not its physical assault.

Interesting. Does this mean the daemonhost's connection to the warp relies on it having control over the brain and nervous system, as Eisenhorn's research suggested? If so, it is interesting that the Daemonhost's psychic powers are blunted, but the Daemon inhabits the body and is active and unweakened physically.

Indeed, this suggests its incredible strength may not be totally psychic (psychokinetic?)


Page 402

The runes inscribed on the blade by the Ministorum glittered.
..
"Pentagrammatic runes on your blade."
...
"The wards... hurt... but they are no... stronger... than the weapon... you
should learn to... make your weapons sounder... next time..."
...
The hanger had become so hot, I let it go with a howl. Prophaniti tossed the buckled, molten steel aside.

The runes injure the daemonhost. The sword is described as a Falcate blade - this is Eisenhorn's Cadian Hangar, in case we forget. The Daemonhost still melts it though.

Page 403

Echbar body-tackled the daemonhost, smashing it away from us. Prophaniti hurled him aside, and then incinerated the second Kasrkin mid-leap with its eyes. The third jammed his Cadian bayonet up to the hilt in Prophaniti's breastbone. Fire exploded back from the wound, down the trooper's arm and engulfed him.
...
His knife, clenched double-handed, split Prophaniti open down the back bone. The warp-energies that boiled out blew Echbar apart.

More Kasrkin badassery. They basically charge and fuck voer (but sadly, not defeat) a Daemonhost with nothing more than Knives, evne though it wipes them all out.

Daemonhost incinerates an armoured Kasrkin - megajoule to gigajoule for the same reasons (Badly burnt to cremated, depending on interpretattion.)

Page 403

The gun-servitors trained wing and chin turrets on the charging daemonhost.
When they opened up, their firepower was so monumental, they vapourised it.
..
I pulled Bequin to me as the drizzle of liquidised host-form rained on us out of the cold night.

Sadly, it doesn't stop the daemonhost, as it is able to possess one of Eisenhorn's agents. Literally may not be vapourized, but even so could not be reliably calced due to unnatural damonic toughness anyhow.

Page 404

Inshabel had found Neve, lacerated but alive, twenty metres up the slope, and was calling for a medic.

- one of the Inquisitors had been flung twenty meters away from teh Daemonhost by a blow from its maimed hand. And the lady survived.

Page 404

Twenty Cadian APCs crested the brow, their floods beaming down at us.

They do imply it was storm troopers in the APCs.

Page 408

They opened up a fifty centimetre-thick hatch cover riven with studs, and pushed me into a cell.

Cell door.

Page 415

The doctor was hunched over me. I could hear the beeping of the medicae auspex he'd taken from his pharmacopoeia.
..
"You can't fake muscle binding like that. Bloodoxygen is down to thirty per cent and his heart is defibrillating."

Medicae gear. Nice to know they dont use just drills and leeches

[Elheru Aran]

Regarding the stormbolter-- if it doesn't say where he picked it up, I'd guess it's possibly standard Imperial Guard or Stormtrooper issue as I believe they're occasionally an option for IG, see Commissar Yarrick for an example. As these would be mass-produced in quantity compared to the higher craftsmanship of Astartes weapons, and given that Eisenhorn's boltpistol was better quality, it could be conceived that the Astartes occasionally craft human-scale weapons to use as gifts/tokens of loyalty/whatever. How's that?

[Shroom Man 777]

Astartes have non-superhumans in the ranks of their organizations, and their recruits spend some time as mundane mortals before being superhumanized. Makes sense to have stuff that isn't superhuman-only.

[Zinegata]

In the latest Ciaphas Cain book, it's explicitly shown that the crewmen of the Astartes Battle Barge are just regular humans (called "Chapter Serfs") - albeit they're still pretty damn elite as they're apparently people who just barely failed the Astartes selection process.

It will vary from Chapter to Chapter however, like everything else in the Imperium. Some Chapters for instance have a "last man standing" recruitment method so they probably won't have other survivors from the selection process to use as spaceship crewmen :p.

[Connor MacLeod]

And.. the last update to Malleus. The showdown with Quixos and the high point in Eisenhorn's career. Everything is downhill from here, and it goes downhill fast, and it brings book 2 of Eisenhorn to close. Enjoy!


Page 416

"Contact! Three kilometres and coming in hard!"
...
There was a pinging sound from the shuttle's transponder.
"Throne of Earth! They've got a target-lock on us!"

Eisenhorn's guncutter has a range of around three kilometres or so.

Page 416

Riggre made to fire the pistol, but there was a searing flash of light. Fischig burned Riggre with a blat from the digi weapon built into the jokaero-made ring on his right index finger. An item of Maxilla's jewelry, I realised.

Fischig fired another shot that vaporised the vox-system.

Interesting that it has two shots, rather than one of the usual digital weaponry. IT does not obviously seem to be a laser weapon either.

Anyhow if we knew anything about the vox system we could porbably calc this

Page 417

His gold-masked servitors chimed in agreement. His hooded navigator, all senses fixed on some different, quite other place, said nothing.

This may be Maxila's navigator. Although its not specifically stated to be the three eyed navigator type. and it doesn't imply it is a servitor.

Page 418

"Why Cinchare? A mining world out in the edges of the Segmentum, almost a Halo Star."

This tells us approximately where it is, as we have no exact location. Cadia to Cinchare is tens of thousands of light years.

Page 419

Even at full warp, it took the Essene thirty weeks to reach Cinchare. True, we took a circuitous route, avoiding all possible encounters with the forces of the Imperium.

There were at least half a dozen trips in between, but the Halo Stars are maybe 20 or 30 thousand LY or so (having to make a curve around the eye of terror, depending on distance and which way is gone) Given that, maybe between 35,000 and 50,000c. Again we see that the long distance transits are much faster than inter-sector travel.


Page 419

At Avignor, a squadron of Ecclesiarchy battle-boats, standing picket watch along the border of the diocese, tried to run us to ground.

The Ecclesiarchy has its own warships, and seem to use them to patrol its diocese, which in this case seems to be a single world.

Page 420

Tasaera Ungish was a semi-paralysed woman in her fifties. The arduous rituals of the warp had left her broken and all but burned out, consigned to a life as a junior telepath in the class-chambers of Anemae Gulfward. Her raddled body was supported by an augmetic exo-skeleton.

Astropath who gets around via augmetic exoskeleton. IT seems that without juvenat, an astropath that is lucky can reach their fifties without dying.

PAge 421

"Astropaths are supposed to be neutral." I countered.

"Astropaths are supposed to serve the Emperor, heretic."

Eisenhorn comments that AStropaths are supposed to be "neutral" - by which I take to mean they are supposed to serve all the arms and organizations/factions of the Imperium equally and without bias. The Astropath clarifies this of course, although in practice astropaths have served with heretics before, even knowingly.

Page 422

Plagued by gravitic storms, the Cinchare system wanders sloppily through the fringes of the Halo Stars at the edge of Imperial space.

"gravitic storms." Yay for bizarre fucked up space weather.

Page 422

..tightening the grip of her circuit-inlaid hands around the bio-sensors of the
cutter's steering yoke.

Medea's cutter controls, and we see how the circuit inlaid hands interact with the controls.

Page 422

The cutter's shields could handle most of the larger rocks
that swirled through it, but some were giants and required evasive manoeuvres.

Eisenhorn's gun cutter has shielding of some sort, at least shields that could deflect (relatively) slow moving physical impactors. Except the giant ones (anything larger than the gun cutter itself I assume)

Page 424

Heavy, tan and baggy, they were actually the quilted liner of an armoured void-suit. The surface was covered in eyelets, laces and stud-connectors where the armour segments would lock on and there were umbilical sockets in the chest.

Armoured void suit, I assume the "lock on segments" are meant to facilitate replacement of armored sections.

Page 424

I lacked any trace of my usual inquisitorial garb. I wore learner breeches and high, buckled boots, an old flak-armour jerkin with dirty ceramite over-plates, and a full-face filter mask with tinted eyeslits that resembled nothing so much as a snarling skull. Nayl had lent me a motion tracker unit from his personal kit, which I had strapped over my right shoulder..
..
I looked and felt like hired thug-muscle... which was precisely the point.

Eisenhorn's disguise. Motion tracker unit, and flak with hard-plate attachments.

Page 425

Nayl's motion detector clicked and whirred. It projected its display on the inside of my mask's right lens. Motion, the rear office, eight metres.

Aforementioned motion tracker in action.

Page 427

"So you don't need me to detonate anyone's skull, Doctor Savine?"
...
Medea slunk from cover in a shutterway across the street, a Glavian
needle pistol held in an unwavering two-handed grip and aimed at Kaleil's head.

Medea's comment implies that the needle pistol inflicts physical damage and could "explode" a person's skull, bolter style. Whether because of the kind of ammo or from sheer impact we aren't told.

Page 429

"Gravity sickness." Bandelbi continued, "weight distemper, lead-head, the Gravs... you know."
"Chronic Gravitisthesia, also known as Mazbur's Syndrome. A progressive disorder caused by exotic gravitational flux. Symptoms include paranoia, loss of co-ordination, bursts of anxiety or rapture, memory loss, hallucination and sometimes, in extremis, homicidal urges. The condition is usually accompanied by myasthenia gravis, osteochondritis, osteoporosis, scoliosis and leukaemia"

Gravity sickenss

PAge 429

"Cinchare is mineral rich precisely because of the exotic gravities it has been
subjected to in its billion year life. Elements have been transmuted and rearranged here in ways that may be unique."

Possibly unique in how they are forme,d but "weird alloys made from strange gravity" are not unusual in the Imperium (CF the Lathes in Calixis.)

Page 431

"Even if the corporations were suckered, it's not like the Adeptus Mechanicus to fail in a prediction. Any cosmologist would know if Cinchare was entering a gravitation wilderness that would be harmful to humans. They'd know it years in advance. Emperor protect me, stellar objects move far slower and more predictably than human minds!"

I guess mathematics, astronomy and prediction aren't dark arts fro the AdMech

Page 433

Both walls were entirely panelled with banks of codifiers and matriculators, all dormant and powered down.
..

The tech-priests treasured machines more than anything else. If they had evacuated as Kaleil described, there was no way they would have left such a wealth of technology here... especially as each unit was clearly designed to slot out of its alcove in the black marble walls.

AdMech technology.. they seem to favor portable and somewhat modular stuff for places like this. I imagine this applies to other stuff too (like vehicles)

Page 433

Static, or something like it, bristled the atmosphere. Some invisible, harnessed force - perhaps gravity or magnetics, certainly something beyond my understanding - was at play here, suspending the multiple tonnes of the machine-skull.
..
Even with the power shut down, their miracles endured.

some sort of levitation.

Page 434

The tracker's display on my mask's right lens indicated a movement or contact seventeen paces to my left, but even as I turned, it flashed up more. Multiple contacts, all around, coming so fast that they overlapped and utterly confused the tracker for a moment.
...
..knew what it had sensed.

The sanctum was coming to life.

Range and cpaabilities of the motion tracker, yet again.

Page 436-437

It uses subliminal symbols and 'head words'.
..
There is no encryption - at least no mathematical encryption - to be calculated and broken. It is idiomatic and visceral.
...
It uses the uncalculable, unregulated mechanisms of poetry and intimacy to
perform its functions.
..
there have been times when an ally or retainer of mine has sent me a Glossia message using terms and words that have never been used before. And still, I have understood them. It's a knack. It's knowing how to use, and improvise, a shared cant. There are basic rules of constructi on and metaphor, of course, but Glossia's strength lies in its nebulous vagueness.

Eisenhorn explains the nitty gritty of Glossia. Part of me suspects it might rely on some sort of subtle, warp-based or psychic empathy/telepathy between all Eisenhorn's staff.


Page 438

"There are elements of this machine code that I can't make out. Adeptus encryption. But... well, look at the text breaks. These are the filed records of regular transmissions from outside the minehead."
..
"Not just someone... it's Bure. This is the Adeptus code-form for his name"
...
"What is he saying?"
"I've no idea. The main text is too deeply codified. Mechanilingua-A or С or possibly some modern revision of one of the hexadecimal servito-ware scripts. Possibly Impulse Analog version nine."
..
"Each broadcast is routinely accompanied by a spectrographic report on the location of the transmitter. These colours are a condensed expression of the type, mix and density of the rock surrounding him. It's like a fingerprint. If I had a good quality strata map of Cinchare, and a geologicae auspex, I could track him down"

- the AM encrypts its machine code/communications routines, and appears to employ varied versions of it. (Aemos, who presumably has familiarity due to past experiences with Magos Bure, cannot wholly translate them even.)


Page 439

"Any prospector machine will have an on-board mineralogicae or geologicae scanner"

Prospecting machine standard equipment.

Page 439

He sat down on his cot and began to adjust the settings of his wrist-mounted data-slate.
...
"Downloading a chart from the security office's cogitorum"
...
"Despite the gravities, my slate's vox-link has enough range to communicate with
the office's codifier. I can make a text-bridge and ask it to send its chart files."

- Aemos' data-slate has a vox-link that allows him to connect with and upload data from the mine's office cogitator (computer?) - pretty nifty.

Page 440

The bright blue lances of two laser sights stabbed into the rec-room, and a tight burst of stubber fire blew holes in my vacated cot and puffed padding fibres up from the wounds in the mattress.

Like Larkin's scope in the Ghosts novels and certian other types of sighting mechanism, laser sights tend to be highly (and unrealistically) visible.

Page 441

I speared my mind right into his and triggered a massive cerebral haemorrhage that burst his eyeballs and sent him slack.

Eisenhorn shows yet another of the offensive uses of his psychic powers.

Page 444

simple process of elimination directed me to a fat metal drum clamped to the
underside of the gravitic assembly and the housing for the kinaesthetic gyroscopes.

Antigrav vehicles seem to need or use gyroscopes for whatever reason. Balance?
Also has various geological and spectrographic sensory/auspex devices.



PAge 448

A massive tube of machined metal, thirty metres in diameter and seventy long, with a huge plasma cutting-screw at the front end and rows of claw-like impellers that cycled down its flanks like the active teeth of a gigantic chainsword. It had cut its way from the tube and was grumbling across the clastic silt of the chamber floor away from us, pumping thick clouds of vapourised rock and steam out behind it.

Some sort of digging.mining vehicle, only much more heavily armed. Like a super-sized mole miner, I guess.

Page 450-451:

"But that response I learned from study of the Divine Primer."
"You've read the Primer?" Bure asked.
"It was basic study in air school on my home world." she replied.
"Medea has a... considerable aptitude for machines."
...
"She is machine-wise, yet she has no augmentation?" Bure questioned me.
Medea stripped off her gloves and showed him the intricate circuits inlaid into her hands.
"I beg to differ, magos."
...
"A Glavian! Your enhancements are... so... beautiful..."

Glavians (like Medea and Midas) it seems have some close connections with the Adeptus Mechanicus.

This also evidedntly explains the "intricate circuitry" inlaid into Glavian skin (such as the hands.) - this is considered an "augmentation" of sorts. The augmentation in question is also distinctive enough to be recognizable as Glavian on sight (evidently few if no other planets or cultures employ them.)

Page 451

Magos Bure had been a metallurgy specialist for two hundred years, his knowledge and discoveries almost worshipped by his brethren in the tech-priesthood. Before that, he had been a fabricatorarchitect in the titan forges of Triplex Phall. To my certain knowledge, he was almost seven hundred years old. Hapshant had occasionally hinted that Bure was far older than that.

..
The vestigial organic parts of Geard Bure the human being - his brain and neural systems - were sealed inside his gleaming mechanoid body.

- Eisenhorn indicates here that Magos Bure is at least seven hundred years old, but that he may very well be much older than that. (We already know high level masters of the AM can live thousands of years, although with reduced mental capacities if not insanity.)

I have to note we find yet another reason to like Abnett's writing and the Eisenhorn novels in general. Magos Bure is perhaps one of the most likeable AdMech dudes this side of "Deus Ex Mechanicus" or a Ciaphas Cain novel.

Page 453

"The Lith is a hyper-dense geode of approximately seven hundred tonnes. It is, as I
understand it, a perfect decahedron four metres in diameter. Its mineral composition is exotic and inexplicable. And it is alive."
...
"Sentient, at least. It is infused with the wretched filth of Chaos. How long it has lain undiscovered in the depths of this world, I do not know."
..
"As soon as it came in contact with men, it began to twist their minds with its malign
power. It subjugated them."
..
"Each initiate had a splinter of rock shaved from the Lith buried beneath his skin in a simple, brutal ritual"

- the "Lith" a Chaos artefact/construct/entity of some sort, is described as a "hyperdense geod" that masses approximately seven hundred tonnes and is a "perfect dodecahedron four metres in diameter."

AT the estimated dimensions I would put its density at around 20,000 kg*m^3 - if I did the math right.

Page 455

They were combat servitors. Heavyweight and burnished silver, they strode on powerful, backwardjointed legs, puffing black exhaust from their upthrust smoke stacks. Cannons in their upper limbs jerked with pneumatic recoil..
..
They were all slaved to his direct control.

Bure's combat servitors. More spider like than many others.

Page 455

A good many of the men assaulting us wore no shielding or environment armour.
...
Some force was keeping them active and functioning in this great infernal depth where no living thing should have been able to survive unprotected. Not the pressure, the extreme heat, not even the toxic, corrosive atmosphere was stopping them. The taint of the Lith had transmuted them into denizens of this underworld.

Psychic influence/mutation on the Lith cultists. Shows how dangeorus chaos cultists can be comapred to normal people, even if the changes have limtiations.

Page 456

The whole machine lurched again, more violently, and we stumbled, despite the internal gravity systems and inertial dampers.

Bure's mining machine has inertial dampers.. which perhaps tells us such devices anre antigrav in nature. Has implications for the Pardus conqueor "inertial dampers" in Honour Guard, at least.

Page 456

Without warning, the inertial dampers failed and we tumbled as the burrower was rolled onto its side.

Inertial dampers yet again.

Page 458

Heavy mining pods and anti-grav drill platforms sat on the ash slopes below it

Anti grav drill platforms.

Page 460

..managed to spin the anti-grav machine in place using the attitude jets, dropping my nose as if curtseying to my attacker.

- again the prospecting/mining pods are described as anti-gravity, although they also evidently have other reaction-based propulsion devices as well.

Page 460-461

Then I diverted its signal into the echo-sounding sonar system that the pod used to supplement its auspex in assay and location work.
...
I pushed the sonar gain to maximum. In terms of sonics alone, the pulses would have stunned a man to unconsciousness and snapped his bones.

sonar systems on the mining craft. Distinct from auspex.

Page 465

had captured the engram sphere of Pontius Glaw.... His family and their minions had attempted to sacrifice thousands of innocents in order to restore him to physicality.
...
Bure, I knew, would have the time and skill enough to unlock its technical marvels at least.
.

The thing holding Glaw does use at least some AdMech tech in it, supposedly, but also enough mysteries to interest a Magos's attention.


Page 473

"I considered pyraline or one of the other tele-empathic crystallines like epidotrichite, but I doubt any of them would have the durability for your purposes. Certainly not for more than one or two uses. I also thought of tabular zanthroclase"
..
"A silicate [the zanthroclase] we use in mind-impulse devices. But I'm not convinced. I have a few other possibilities in mind."
..
"Steel?"
"Superficially. There's a titanium core surrounded by an adamantium sleeve under the steel jacket.The titanium is drilled with channels that carry the conductive lapidorontium wires."

Bure and Eisenhorn discuss the creation of his force staff, including the crystals being used, the means of ocnstruction, and the metals used. THe stuff has similarities/connections to MIU devices as well, further cementing their partly-psychic natures.


Page 473

Barbarisater was as beautiful as I remembered it. I admired the fresh pentagrammatic wards that had been etched in the blade since I had last seen it, ten on each side.
"It is a remarkable artifact. I was almost unwilling to make the alterations you requested. As it was, I wore out eight adamantium drill bits on this side alone. The hardened steel skin of the blade around the solid core has been folded and beaten nine hundred times. It is beyond anything we can manufacture today."
..
Pentagrammatic wards worked against daemonhosts, but they were no stronger than the weapon that bore them.

Adamantium, or whatever Bure was using, apparently isn't as good as some fictional wank folded steel analogue used in the magic force sword thingy from Carthean. Suggests the ewapons are glorified katanas

Page 476

From Cinchare, the Essene ran back, fast and impatient, into the great territories of the Segmentum Obscurus, a three month voyage that we broke twice.

We dont know for sure the distances involved, or how far in so we can't really calc it, at least from this data.


Page 477

At Palobara, that crossroads on the border, busy with trading vessels and obscura caravans guarded by mercenary gunships.

mercenary warships and some sort of rogue/pirate trading station.

Page 477

...it was responding to my will, channelling it so hard that the rune marks glowed with manifesting psychic power. It had a will of its own, and once it was in my hands, ready, swinging, it was difficult to stop it pulling and slicing where it pleased.

This is interesting because Gaunt's "Sword of Sondar" in the Ghosts novels supposedly demonstrates similar behaviour. It may be either related to the psychic nature of the weapon (some sort of subconcious reactive precognition and/or psychic manipulation of the blade on the wielder's part, or it may have some form of "will" that can act on its own psychically.) Alternately, it could be some sort of "machien spirit".

It also doesnt seem to care whether it attacks friend or foe, as Eisenhorn notes he has to restrain it from striking Medea.

Page 477

Though my aim was appalling, especially over distances further than three or four metres, I became able to channel my will, through my hands, into its haft and then project it from the crystal skull in the form of electrical bolts that dented deck plating.

Eisenhorn's new runestaff.

Page 477-478

We reached the shrine world of Orbul Infanta at the end of the twelfth week.
...
The Ecclesiarch chose it as a shrine world because it lay on a direct line between Terra and Avignor.

As near as I can tell they went back to the Scarus sector from the Halo stars, so we're looking at maybe a 5-10 thousand LY trip tops. 20-40,000c for a 12 week trip.

Page 479

I found the provost of the cathedral, and explained to him what I wanted. He looked at me blankly, fidgeting with his yellow robes, but I soon made him understand by depositing six large coins into his alms chest, and another two into his hand.

Ah, how holy and pure the Ecclesiarchy is.

Page 482

...or the Inquisition's Officio of Internal Prosecution.

The Scarus sector seems to have a more formalized approach to dealing with Inquisitors than some other sectors (EG Calixis)

Page 482

My eyes widened. In the gap was a glint of energy, like a side-flash from a mirror shield.
...
He was that. With his mirror shield activated, he was just a heat-haze blur, marked only by the bright flare of his weapon.

The Witchfinder again. Note that previously Eisenhorn dismissed the Inquisition as being rather low-tech, so its interesting that he could get a cloaking shield of some sort, nevermind the powered armor (men under arms?)


Page 483

I fired my laspistol, powering shot after shot at him, driving him backwards. His gold-chased battle suit, which gave his shrivelled frame the bulk and proportions of a Space Marine, absorbed or deflected the impacts, but the sheer force knocked him back several paces.

The "force" of the las-shots knocks the guy backwards several paces, Could be surprise or pain, but it could also be having to compensate for explosive evaporation fo the surface. Note the armor "absorbs or deflects" impacts.

Page 483

The psychic sting shocked him into silence, but he was generally protected by psi-dampers and ignored my next will-driven order to 'desist' completely.

The Witchfinder again vs Eisenhorn's psychic assault.

Page 484

I fired my laspistol again, but the last few shots fizzed and spluttered, underpowered. The power cell was exhausted.

Las-shots are not always uniform in strength from full charge to zero charge.. this means that the last few shots from a powerpack may be weaker or unreliable than the others, especially full charge shots.

Page 486

Frigates of the Frateris Militia, along with several Imperial Navy guard boats, attempted to block the Essene, but Maxilla's navigator got us out of the system and real space before they could even close range. Some ships pursued us into the warp, and we were chased for eight days, finally losing our pursuers through a series of real-space decelerations and redirections.

- The Frateris Militia evidently has some naval vessels of their own... at least frigate class. Such frigates also appear to be warp-capable. What's interesting is that they cannot be "standing" Ecclesiarchy military, as that isn't what the Militia is (And they're prevented from having a standing military, including a Navy). My guess would be that they were short ranged vessels part of the Shrine world PDF (which is likely Frateris Militia and PDF at the same time.)

It's also possible they are private military vessels, or perhaps Naval captains seconded to or tied to the Ecclesiarchy in some way, but somehow I doubt that (The Navy is as major a faction as the Guard and Ecclesiarchy, and they're unlikely to subordinate themselves to any other adeptus.)

Page 486

...we risked a run to Gloricent, an outlying but prosperous trade world in the Antimar sub-sector, another division of the Scarus Sector, just two sub-sectors over from the Helican sub itself. Though worlds like Gudran and Thracian Primaris were a good four months away by starship,

A Linear course suggests between 100-150 LY or so tops, as ti seems they have to track roughly halfway (or two thirds) of the sector) That said, I suspect the duration requires taking a lot of separate routes and multiple jumps in sector

This leads to an interesting sort of dichotomy. "Short" range jumps in theory seem to take as long as long range jumps, more or less. That is you can cross a few tens or hundreds of LY in the same time it takes to cross thousands or tens of thousands. This likely reflects any number of variables being involved in a warp jump.

In this case, I suspect warp turbulence is to blame after a fashion. Sectors are the largest and most inter-dependent/connected "islands" of civilization in the Imperium, and probably the most densely concentrated. As a result, that means you tend to have alot of humans congregating in the area, and their thoughts and emotions will be affecting the warp. If things are peaceful and calm the warp might be relatively stable, but if there is ongoing conflict and strife (as there has been for the past months, years or hell even decades) that is likely to mess things up and make warp travel more difficult and roundabout.

Either that or ou can have servitor-Navigators (which is unheard of, and I suspect the Navigators would not allow it, given how they have to mutate nastily before they die.) A more likely possibility could be with the Essene's drive itself. We know a good warp drive is neccessary for top speeds, especially over long range. Some quality (or qualities) about it may make it lousy at the sort of travle needed for inter-sector movement. If he needs to make large numbers of short jumps in different directions or along different routes, a long drive charge time might slow him down significantly (for example) Whereas long term he migth follow a more linear route, and only have to make a couple of transitions, meaning he can cover much greater distances between translations.

FTL speeds again are not fantastic in sector. Hundreds of c perhaps.

Page 486

...one of the main trade-hives, and procured a pair of astropaths, hiring
their services from the local commercial guild on an open-ended lease.

Gloricant has hives, and you can hire astropaths for open ended reasons (if you have the money)


Page 487

..when a flotilla of warships from Battlefleet Reaver arrived. I know now that the Battlefleet manoeuvres at Lorwen - and incidentally at Sarum and Femis Major too - were part of a major precautionary deployment against a pair of space hulks that had suddenly roamed into the subsector.

Not sure what the fuck Battlefleet REaver is. IS there a Reaver sector, or are they some subsector force or what?

Page 487

Medea, Maxilla and I marked it together, just the three of us. The two astropaths and the navigator were not invited to attend.

This makes it seem like Maxilla's navigator is human. I wonder if perhaps post Xenos he acquired one (likely through his association with Eisenhorn) but never had one prior? It would make sense given Maxila had to travel out-system to help Fischig.

Of course this still leaves one wondering why The ship is so fast over long distances but considerably slower over short.

It also implies that the astropaths are human, but that may not be wholly true (or it varies.) Maxilas ship carries 2 astropaths in eithe rcase.

Page 488

All this while, I remained an Imperial outlaw, wanted by the Inquisition for my heresies. It is interesting to note that at no time during this period did the Inquisition formally refute or overturn the carta I had declared on Quixos.

Politics. Eisenhorn is declared an outlaw/traitor by at least certain factions in the Inquisition, but his actions still apparently remain legal, for whatever reason.

Page

He had travelled back to Cadia from Cinchare to collect more data and to specifically recruit the inquisitor general.

Halo stars to cadia in a year or two, tops, although he also has to make it back to the scarus sector in that time. Yet another probable 'tens of thousands of c" reference.

Page 491

"Osma made big trouble after we sprang you from the Carnificina. He had the combined clout of Bezier and Orsini behind him, after all. That made Neve's
superior, Grandmaster Nunthum of the Ordos Cadia, sit up and take notice.."

Intersting angle about Inquisitorial politics between sectors but within a segmentum. Osma had authority to overrule Neve on Cadia (despite her being the senior official there, I gather), but not enough to directly interefere with Ordos Cadia, although they could bend the ear of the grandmaster of that Ordos.

Page 491

"Thanks to a massive incursion of the Enemy eight months ago. The Cadian Gate's on a war footing and utterly in turmoil."

That suggests Fischig probably had a year or less to get to Cadia from the Halo stars.

Page 493

My people had enjoyed the best part of two years to do their work, many dozens of agents sifting data from hundreds of worlds.

Within the sector? hundreds of worlds, and Eisenhorn has dozens of agents.

Page494

"I have traced massive stonecutting orders to the limit-world of Serebos, which lies galactically south of Terra. The masonic guilds of Serebos are famously secretive about their contracts. They provide an inert, obsidian-like black glass-stone called serebite, a beautiful substance that is in high demand right across the Imperium. Serebite is, as far as reckoning goes, as close to the material used on Cadia for the pylons as it is possible to get. As I have said, the masonic guilds are close about their contracts, but there is little hiding the transportation of a massive copy of one of those pylons by shipping guild bulk-lifter. Three-quarters of a kilometre long and a quarter square! Quixos has ordered the manufacture of a perfect copy of the Cadian pylons, and has had it shipped to Farness Beta."

Quixos is on Farness, according to Ravenor. The details of trakcing him down and the mercantile implicationsa re interesting too.

Page 495

"Farness Beta." said Ricci. "Remind me. Where is that?"
"In the throat of the Cadian Gate." said Grumman. "Right on the edge of the Eye of Terror."

Location of where they are headed next.

Page 496

It was early in 343.M41 before we reached Farness Beta.

Odd, that earlier that the year 343 was "half gone" by the time Eisenhorn reached the planet where he held his conclave with the four inquisitors who attended his summons. There must be some mistake in the account, but I would imagine it means it took less than a year to travel, possibly as little as a few month.s AGain, tens of thousands of c, although if it took only 2-3 months we could get close to or slightly over 100,000c. The fastest speed yet, but well within the established speeds elsewhere, which are themselves only rough, "back of the envelope" calcs - there are enough variables in warp travle to allow for very fast and very slow progress at any given time.

Page 496

The Imperial Navy taskforce, a ten-ship squadron seconded from Battle-fleet Scarus for special operations under the remit of the Battlefleet Disciplinary Detachment, was waiting for us.

10 ship "squadron" from BAttlefleet scarus.

Page 497

"Site A is what you're looking for."
...
"It's a table mountain called Ferell Sidor.."

Site A defined. Useful later, I believe.

Page 497-498

Two hours before sunrise the next day, five hundred Imperial Guard from the Fifty-First Thracian moved in towards Ferell Sidor - Site A - from covert forward assembly points in the surrounding hills where they had been dropped by troop ships the day before. They advanced, silently, in three prongs, the first securing the single trackway that gave land-vehicle access to the table mountain. When all three were in position, we woke Ferell Sidor up.

The frigates Zhikov and Fury of Spatian bombarded the mountain for six minutes, raising a ball of fire that lit the landscape as if the sun had come up early. In its afterglow, thirty Marauder bombers overflew Site A at low level and delivered thirty thousand kilos of high explosives.
Another false dawn.

Despite this punishing overture, when the ground troops went in eight minutes after the last bomb, resistance was furious. Madorthene had feared that the best part of Quixos's strength lay underground, wormed inside the mountain, resistant to the worst aerial assaults.

In the blazing ruins of the excavation township, the Thracian troops found themselves engaging fanatical and well-armed cultists. Most wore the insignia and colours of the Mystic Path. Many were mutants. Initial reports estimated over eight hundred enemy warriors. Madorthene committed the taskforce reserve: another seven hundred Thracian assault soldiers.

Bombarding the mountain with frigates and bombers. Being belowground provided resistance.
PAge 498

Ricci's shielded pinnace settled in close by...

Another shielded smallcraft.

Page

500
The runestaff, so carefully prepared and constructed, so painstakingly etched with the ancient symbols of control, was a lever to topple that binding will by amplifying my own to levels that would overwhelm it. For a brief moment, I felt how it must feel to be an alpha-plus psyker.

Eisenhorn thinks momentarily tha tthe Force STaff bolsters his power to alpha-plus levels, albeit only briefly. Still impressive and useful. Implies its at least possible to achieve such things via technological means (probably helps explain why psykers always seem to have wires and augmetics sticking out of them.)

Page 501
[quoteProphaniti screamed and exploded, blowing me off my feet. I don't think I banished it. I think I obliterated its essence forever. ]The Runestaff was, miraculously, unscathed, and lay amid the rubble. But Prophaniti's dissipating being had made it wide hot from base to cap, and I could not pick it up again.[/quote]
Eisenhorn + Force staff > DAemonhost. I assume "obliterating its essence" means blowing it apart into component souls/spirits/thoughts that fromed up its gestalt consciousness.
Interesting that Eisenhorn's staff can be made "white hot" yet not melt or even deform (1500+ Degrees Kelvin IIRC)

Page 501-502

"When did you transfer, Endor? Damn you, when did you change ordos?"
"They forced me..." he wheezed, "Osma forced me!"
..
"But he had Bezel's backing! He could have made anything look
heretical! I transferred orders to stop him breaking me."

Politics forced Eisenhorn's ally Titus Ender to change sides. Interesting that alleigance and ordos changes can happen lik that.

Page 504

Barbarisater felt him move before I did. It lurched in my hands. In the time it takes to draw a breath, we had exchanged a flurry of twenty or more blows.
...
Barbarisater's pentagrammatic runes flashed and flared with discharging energy.

The wards on the sword discharge energ.

A normal person has 12-20 breaths per minute, or one per 3-5 seconds. That means anywhere from 4-7 blows exchanged each second, at least.

Page 505

The pylons of Cadia pacify the warp, he spat. By amplifying them using extreme-level psykers, they could be made into a weapon. A weapon to destroy the warp! A weapon to collapse the Eye of Terror in upon itself!
...
All I knew was that a pylon, psychically super-charged, might do all manner of things, but its side-effects would be catastrophic. It could lay waste to the continent, the planet.

Quixos plan and the side effects.

Page 505

I saw my moment. Barbarisater saw it too. A slight underswing on his blade return that opened a gap for a sar aht uht, a slice to the heart, just for a microsecond.

I thrust in, putting all my will into the blade. Somehow, dazzlingly, he still managed to turn Karnager and block me.

Implies microsecond reaction times for Eisenhorn wielding the sword, and Quixos still blocking it.

[Connor MacLeod]

And we ring in the holidays with Hereticus.. the last of the Eisenhorn novels. this one is pure grimdark. Everything in the first two novels had a fairly upbeat part to it.. things take a downturn here.. and yet Abnett does manage to pull it off. I think that's really the high point of the series.. Eisenhorn's transition from novel to novel is well handled without being too over the top or obvious, and the grimdark in this book shows you just how all authors should handle 40K grimdark (fuck you codexes and Forge world fluff!). As an ending to the series, it is perfect, and yet it retains that same 'self-contained-ness' that is the hallmark of every other one (albeit a bit less so.)

Also part of this is the short story between Malleus and HEreticus.. so there's a slight delay before we get to the true grimdark. It wasnt a bad short story but it wans't as evocative as the first one.

Part one of three.. the short story and the encounter with a Chaos Titan and the start of the slide downhill...

Page 512

"Well, how very miserable. Dead at eighty-two. That's no age."
...
"Aen Froigre was, if anything, maddeningly robust and healthy. Not a scrap of augmetics about him."

The person is a noble and head of a house, so I doubt we can apply this to the Imperium at large, but it's interesting to see how aging for those with access to rejuv can be held (82 "not being any age" and still being vigorous implies at least 2-3x greater lifespans, possibly 5+ times greater.

Page 514

"Your friend spoke out against the Ophidian Campaign."

"So did his father. Neither believed it was appropriate to divert funds and manpower into a war of reconquest in the sub-sector next door when there was so much to put in order on the home front."

Inter-sector politics. I would guess this might qualify as something of a liberal in 40K (at least in the sense of "we should focus more on domestic situations rather than going off on military adventurism.")

Page 517

Even without any invasive mental probing, it is possible for a psionic of my ability to sense surface thoughts. There was no flavour of deceit about Rinton's person, though I could feel carefully contained loss, and the tingle of trepidation.

Eisenhorn's psychic reading abilities - passive vs active.

Page 517

Rinton's story might easily be put to the test with an autoseance, during which psychometric techniques would simply reveal the truth of his father's last moments to me.

More on autoseances/psychometric techniques.

Page 517

...high-throated ceramic fireplace with its wood-burning fusion stove.

WOOD POWERED FUSION!

Clearly, 40K starships run on hydrocarbons and wood and simple chemical reactions. (Of course given how some novels link promethium to plasma reactors, this could be actually claimed. See the Fire Warrior novel. LOL)

Page 518

That, or inquisition-grade software. I unpinned my Inquisitorial rosette..
...
...I force fed the touch-plates with several magenta-level security override programs. It gave up the fight almost at once, opening systems without even the need for passwords.

"Inquisitor grade software."

Page 519

There it extended four, multi-jointed limbs and scurried across onto my palm.
I turned the wriggling poison-snooper over and pressed the recessed stud on its belly.

A little ball of hololithic energy coalesced above its head-mounted projector and I read it as slowly scrolled around on its own axis.

Traces of Iho, obscura and several other class II and III narcotics in the garden area and the staff quarters. Penshel seed traces found in the stable block. More lho, as well as listeria and e. coli in small amounts in the kitchen section...

An example of miniaturized robotics/cogitator/machine spirit/servitor technology probably - at least that available to Inquisitors. This particular one is a poison sniffer, and we get an idea of its performance capability.

Page 520

Barbarisater had been an heirloom sword, a psychically-attuned weapon from the forges of distant Carthae and slaved to the minds of the generations of warrior women who had wielded it. Enhancing its strength with pentagrammic wards...
...
Master swordsmiths had remade the blade from the broken main portion, creating a shorter, straighter blade by rounding off and edging the break and reducing the hilt. A good deal smaller than its old self, now more a single-handed rapier than a
hand-and-a-half sabre, it was still a potent weapon.

Eisenhorn's new Force Sword. I bet this pissed someone off.


Page 520

...holding the blade out before me like a dowsing rod, sweeping the scene, letting the
blade-tip slide along the invisible angles of space...
...
Twice, on my circuit of the lawns, it twitched...
...
My first hint of a malign focus.

Using his force sword Barbarisater to divine out trouble. Likely the main reason is that the weapon is semi-sentient, but it also acts as a focus-amplifier for Eisenhorn's powers.


Page 527

"Warpcraft." I said. "You say you mix your own oxides and solutions?"

"Yes."

"Where do you get your supplies from?"

"Everywhere, here and there, sometimes from apothecaries, or market traders or..."

Anywhere. Bakunin had experimented with all manner of compounds over the years to create the best, most effective plates for his camera. He'd never been fussy about where the active ingredients came from. Something in his workshop, something in his rack of flasks and bottles, was tainted.

Imperial Photographic technology.

Page 529

"The green bottle. I needed tincture of mercury, years ago, years ago, and an old woman in one of the villages gave it to me and said it would do as well. I use it all the time now. The emulsions it mixes are perfect. My work has never been better."
...
"I should have realised. No matter how much I used, the bottle never emptied."

Yeah. That's definitely a sign of warpcraft and you should have realized. It's always interesting to see just how utterly utterly insidious chaos can be in these sorts of things. It's all well and good when the local Traitor Marines decide to go on a rampage, or some chaos cult rises up in revolution, but Chaos is at its most creepy when you can be at risk of losing your life or soul from simply going to a damn fair


Page 534

Origin: Thracian Primaris, Helican Sub 81281 origin date:
142.386.M41
...
Received: Durer, Ophidian Sub 52981 reception date: 144.386.M41

As per the explanation of timeframe in 5th edition, this took roughly 2/1000th "time units" or time parts or however they defined that in 40K. We can call it 17.52 hours. I'd call it 45-50 light years (linear) distance.. 25,000c travel time. Rather slow by astropathic time (contrast with Xenos) but astrotelepathy, like warp travel, is never precise.

This also assumes that most or all of the time was devoted to the message travelling through the warp, however. In other words it ignores time for decrypting, deliberation, composing/dictating, encrypting, and retransmitting the message.

Page 535

He will arrive with you on the 151st.

142 - 151 units is 9 time units, which as above translates to roughly.. 3.3 days, and an average transit time of 5500c roughly. Still not fast compared to some of the examples in 'Malleus', but blindingly fast by the hundreds of c travel times typical in-sector.

It is no small irony, I suspect, that Thracian Primaris is on a direct path to Durer in the Ravenor novel maps, which explains this.


Page 538

Origin: Durer, Ophidian Sub 52981 origin date: 144.386.M41
..
Received: Thracian Primaris, Helican Sub 81281 reception date:
149.386.M41

5 time units this time. 2.5 times slower.. a mere 10,000c.

Page 539

ON THE 160TH day of 386.M41 a nobleman in his late one sixties appeared...

the 1000 "time units" seems to be considered a "day", although its not a day by Terra standards. Each one of these "days" (if thats what the 142, 144, 149, 151, etc referred to) is roughly 9 hours (or a bit over 1/3 a Terra day).

It is also 386, which means some 41 years have passed since the events of Malleus. Also note the nobleman over 160 years old. More on longevity and aging in a Juvenat-permissible society.

Page 540

...possible heretics to be weighed by this Formal Court of Examination.
...
He had hired a pardoner called Fen of Clincy to speak on his behalf.

I guess even against an Inquisitorial accusations one is allowed a lawyer, if you are wealthy enough. Of course this may only be the custom for the Scarus sector - nothing says this automatically applies anywhere else.

Page 541

The Minster at Eriale was only a few decades old, rebuilt from war rubble in a triumphant High Gothic style. As little as half a century before, this entire sub-sector - the Ophidian sub-sector - had been in the embrace of the arch-enemy.

Surprisingly little damage must have been done, despite it taking the better part of a century to liberate, if they can set things to order in a matter of decades. By Imperial standards, that's damn speedy.

Also probably a bit less than 50 years.. more like 40-45 years.


Page 541

I had lived, by that time, for one hundred and eighty-eight years, so I was in early middle age by the standards of priveleged Imperial society. Careful augmentic work and juvenat conditioning had retarded the natural deteriorations of my body and mind, and more significant artifice had repaired wounds and damage my career had cost me. I was robust, healthy, and vigorous, but sometimes the sheer profusion of my memories reminded me how long I had been alive. Of course, I was but a youth compared ot Aemos.

Aemos was 278 in year 240, Eisenhorn 42, which makes Aemos some 424. Aemos is of course heavily augmetic, so that could explain his greater apparent age more than juvenat. Still it shows another possible way for people to live long lives in 40K.

Page 543

"They're good stock, the best. Certificated by the Administratum Officio Agricultae. I was hoping to breed from them and establish a commercial herd for my combine."

Another office/organ of the Imperium. Abnett and a few other authors tend to make these up on the fly, but given how labyrinthine an organization the Administratum is suppose to be, you'd expect there to be shit-tons of "Officios" existing.

Page 550

My gun-cutter, all four hundred and fifty tonnes of it, swung in over the roof of the Eriale Municipal Library and descended on wailing thrasters into the Minster square.

Eisenhorn's gun cutter mass has gained back the 300 or so tonnes it lost in Malleus.

Page 554

Bequin was still as demure and beautiful as the day I had met her, a century and a half before, a spectacular testament to the way Imperial science can counter the effects of aging. Only the faintest creases in the corners of her eyes and lips betrayed the fact she was not a stunning woman in her late thirties.

Bequin is 150 here, but only looks to be in her thirties. Juvenat effects seem highly variable depending on the person or technique, but if the ratio holds true Bequin might expect to live to be 375-450 or so depending on age. Then again she was in her late tens/early twenties before meeting Eisenhorn, so she probably aged 10 years in 130 years. That suggests if the ratio holds constant and she lives to be 70-80 she could end up being 600-800 years old, but this assumes a scaling that may or may not hold (Juvenat may be more effective the younger you start applying it at, for example - aging may very well be harder to retard the older you get as well.)

Page 554-555

He had been with me for twenty years, by far the longest stretch any astropath had managed in my employ.
...
Only in the past few years had he started to show the signs of psychic exhaustion - the shallow, drawn skin, the hunted look, the aphasia. I dearly hoped I would be able to retire him on a pension before his calling burned out his mind.
...
..connect his skullplugs to the astro-communication network.

20 years of service is a "long time" for an astropath, at leat in Eisenhorn's service. This tends to suggest that the lifespan of an astropath depends on usage (how they are employed, how often they are employed, etc.) Eisenhorn as an Inquisitor tends to be exposed to things that are liekly to wear out an astropath faster.


Page 555

Haar was an ex-Imperial Guard marksman from the 50th Gudrunite Rifles..
...
..as good a shot with the sniper-variant long-las..
...
He wore an optic target enhancer that clamped around the side of his skull, looping over his ear, and could drop the articulate arm of the foresight down over his right eye for aiming. He preferred the enhancer to a conventional rifle-mounted scope, and with his tally of clean hits, I wasn't about to argue.

targeting monocle type tdevice. We know lasguns can carry them.

Page 555

She was just over seventy-five years old, just a youngster still.

Medea betancore. Again in a Juvenat society, just approaching your first century is still considered youthful. She probably looks to be in her twenties or thirties as well I believe (suggesting she should live to be at least 300-400 years)

Page 556

the curved, pentagram-engraved force sword that I had commissioned to be forged from the broken half of the Carthaen war-blade, Barbarisater.

- Barbarisater here is described as a "force sword"

Page 558

They were old-pattern Imperial modulars, shipped in and bolted together.
...
Windows were boarded and the fibre-ply walls were rotten and patched.

Prefab buildings making up a PDF listening station.


Page 558

A motion tracker unit was buckled over his left shoulder, whirring and ticking as it subjected Fischig's immediate vicinity to invisible waves of vigilance.

Fischig has an auspex as well along with yet another backpack motion tracker.

Page 560

In the old days, I suppose, that meant one Glavian pilot swearing to exchange valuable technical or navigational secrets with another as an act of faith and honour.

further suggestion the Glavians are a highly advanced/technical member of humantiy - some sort of industrial world, or pseudo-forge world probably.

Page 560

I was worried about Poul Rassi. Though he didn't look it, he was over a century older than me..

Troubles seem to set in around approaching 300, although again we dont know the exact parameters for juvenat to predict such things.

Page 561

Fischig had an auspex locked off on the old PDF base, so we headed for that as a place to start.

Location/mapping/compass functions in the auspex, I guess

Page 561

Through it, and around three huhndred facilities like it, the Durer PDF had been able to maintain a round-the-clock watch of orbital traffic, local shipping lane activity and even general warp space movements, providing the planet with an early warning network and gahtering vital tactical intelligence for this part of the sub-sector in general.
..
...the network had gradually been ran down, eventually supplanted by a string of scanner beacons in high orbit and a slaved sub-net of sensor buoys seeded throughout the Durer system.

The watch/listening station in detail again. I wonder exactly what the "warp space movements" entails - psykers or astropaths staitioned there, or are theire sensors/machines? Also what are they detecting - just the movements of object in warp in general (speed/direction, etc.) or can they identify the size or numbers or types?

Page 561

...there were eighteen longhouses arranged in a grid around a drum-like generator
building, a hangar large enough to shelter several troop carriers or orbital interceptors, a cluster of store barns, a number of machine shops, a small Ecclesiarchy chapel, a central command post with adjoining modules arranged in a radial hub and the main dish array.

More details on the watch outpost.

Page 562

Rassi, his sombre, fur-trimmed robes flapping in the wind, had produced a multi-barrel pepperpot handgun of exotic manufacture.

Because its 40K and gothic remember. Like crossbow-bolters.

Page 562

She [Bequin] had drawn a slim, long-nosed micro-las..
..
The pistol suited her. It was slender and elegant and devastatingly potent.

A possible example of compact miniaturization of lasgun tech, I suppose.

Page 564

"Movement... thirty metres..." His fore-sight was twitching as it downloaded the data.

Haar's little sighting monocle again.

Page 565

Three men in insulated combat armour raced into the street..
..
Begundi's Hecuter pistols were in his hands..
...
..the shell cases spraying out from the slide-slots of his weapons. All three men ahead of us lurched back and sprawled.

Hecutors seem powerful enough to overwhelm "combat" body armour, although it may be due to shot placement for all we know.

Page 566

A round from my bolt pistol knocked the fifth [soldier] five metres back down
the road.

It's really hard not to argue this isn't due to momentum, but eh.

Page 566

Rassi's fission-lock pepperpot banged and sparked and hailed lead balls at the
enemy. Every few seconds, he raised his cane and sent forth a drizzle of psycho-thermic flame from the silver tip

The gothic pepperpot weapon thingy is a fission powered shotgun type thing. I guess they can power slugthrowers on fission reactions or something. I wonder if this can scale up to battle cannon or something? Probalby not since its "exotic manufacture"

Page 566

...Haar, Begundi and Kara had all been mentally conditioned during rigorous training to block out my psy-streams.

Eisenhorn's associates are conditioned to ignore his psychic actions. This shows that selectively blocking out such abilities are possible.

Page 566-567

..Rassi was doubled up by convulsions.
...
A sudden jolt in the background psionic resonance. Like a painfully bright flash of light.
I staggered back and slammed into the side of the nearest hut. Blood spurted out of my nose. Begundi and Kara fell to their knees. Haar sat down hard, sobbing. Even Fischig, protected by his tore, felt it and staggered.
...
What we had felt had simply been the backwash of its mind-link going live....

Indication of significant warp/psyker elements to a MIU.


Page 568

It [the Titan] weighed two and a half thousand tonnes and stood sixty metres tall. Like all the Warlord-class battle titans, it was a biped, almost humanoid in its proportions.

...

... its massive legs supported a colossal pelvic mount and the great, riveted torso that housed its throbbing atomic furnaces. Broad shoulders provided ample space for turbo-laser batteries. Beneath the shoulder armour, the Titan's arms elevated the machine's primary weapons: A gatling blaster as the right fist, a plasma cannon as the left.

Warlord class Titan. Note the refrences to "atomic" furnaces.


Page 568

We have made more powerful things - the starships that can cross the void, negotiate warp space, and reduce continents to ashes with their ordnance - and we have made more technically sophisticated things - the latest generations of fluid-core autonomous cogtiators.

starships with ordnance that can fuck up continents. Gigaton to teraton range maybe, but hard to say if its single shot or entire payload. Since "ordnance" is usually torpedoes and attak craft that would give context, but someone could probably try arguing it refers to weapons in general.


Page 568 - 569

They carry the most potent armaments of any land-based fighting vehicle anywhere. Only fleet warships can bring greater firepower to bear. Their image, bulk, their sheer size, is intended to do nothing except terrify and demoralise a foe.

And they are alive. Not as you or I would understand it, perhaps, but there is an intellect burning inside the mind-impulse link that connects the drivers and crew to the Titan's function. Some say they have a soul. Only the Priests of Mars, the adepts and tech-mages of the Cult Mechanicus, truly understand their secrets and they guard that lore ruthlessly.

Titan capabilities - noted specifically to exist as psychological weapons.


Page 569

Some [Titans] are manufactured in the smithies and forges of the warp, their designs copied and parodied from the Imperial originals, sacrilegious perversions of the
Martian god-machines.

This suggest at least some Titans are produced in the Eye. Probably made by the Dark Mechanicus for sale to any warband that can afford em.


Page 570

Military grade sensors. Heavy duty auspex. Devices so powerful that they could overcome the island's magnetic distortions. This beast had been made to fight in horrifically inhospitible theatres, resisting toxins, radiations, vacuums, bombardments. It needed to be able to see and hear and smell the target in the middle of hell.

Sensor capabilities of Titans. Also, Titans are also designed to handle any enviroment, up to and including orbital bombardments.

page 570

I felt a spasm, a pulse on a psychic level. I was feeling the surge and flicker of its mind-impulse link.

MIUs are again strongly tied to psychic phenomena.

Page 570

The gatling blaster opened fire. The sound was a single blur of noise. A huge cone of flaming gases flickered and twitched around the blaster muzzles.
...
Hundreds of high-explosive shells hosed the street, blitzing
the fronts of the buildings, pulping them.
..
The stench of fyceline was chokingly strong.

Gatling blasters have some sort of propellant, firing "hundreds" of Hi-EX shells. IIRC they're around 150mm.


Page 570

Either the Titan's targeting systems were off-set, or the crew were still getting used
to its operation. The sensors might be capable of tracking our movement, but the Titan still had to get its eye in.

Targeting sensors aleon won't guarantee accurate shot placement - if the crew aren't on the ball or properly synched or if the Titan isnt properly configured even they can miss


Page 570

"Even the cutter hasn't got enough kill-power. It might make a dent, but it wouldn't
stand a chance. That thing would shoot it out of the sky before it even got close."

- Eisenhorn's gun-cutter has much less range (and firepower) than the Warlord-class battle titan.

Page 571

But I could feel it. I could feel its abhuman mind seething malevolently through the deepest harmonics of the psyk-range.

The Titan has an "abhuman mind" I guess. And a psychic signature.

page 571

A flurry of shots sliced through the shell of the troop carrier, splitting its fatigued armour wide open and hurling rusty shrapnel in all directions. The force of the hits actually lifted the carrier's mouldering bulk and spun it around, end to end. I dragged Fischig behind a longhouse and just prevented us from being crushed under the lurching metal shape.

No idea what kind of troop carrier, sadly, or this might be vaguely useful.

Page 573-574

He could have designs of his own, and with a Battle Titan at his command those designs could be very bloody. He could hold cities to ransom, here on Durer or elsewhere. He could raze population centres, slaughter millions, particularly once the turbines of Cruor Vult were operating at full power.

Threat of a Titan.


Page 575

I knew enough to understand that the function of a Titan depended on the connection between man and machine, between the human brain and the mechanical sentience. That was achieved - miraculously - through the psychic interface of the mind-impulse unit. Which meant, in very simple terms, that the root of our problem was essentially a psychic one. If we could disrupt or, better still, destroy, the mind link...

A weak point of Titans, obviously.


Page 575

"Then Madam Bequin takes hold of the runestaff and delivers her untouchable blankness into the heart of it"

I foudn this the peculari thing - Eisenhorn's staff can transmit untouchable-ness the same way it transmit psychic power. I dont think this is a trait shard by other sorts of Pariahs.

Page 579

The backrip of the Titan's terrible sentience tore into her, overwhelmed her untouchable quality by dint of its sheer force, and broke her mind.

Titan scale psychic presence can fuck over an untouchable of Bequin's capability.

Page 580

The streams of hi-cal shells were just pinging off the giant's thick, armoured skin.
Cruor Vult turned with a scrape of metal.
...
The cutter bucked and lurched as the first rounds struck it. It tried to evade, but the air was air was too thick with pelting bolts.

The ferocious salvo ripped the belly out of my beloved gun-cutter and tore off a tail-wing. Spewing flames and smoke, the cutter veered off, debris cascading away from its shredded hull. It tried to climb.

Its main engines stalled out.

Titan firepower downs Eisenhorn's guncutter. It imparts a little momentum but not a significant amount. This suggests that the recoil/momentum of the gatling blaster shells are close (within an Order of magnitude or so) of the Gun Cutter's mass (hovering while it pelts the Titan) It may or may be the explosive effects, or the impact, or both in varying degrees. If we ignore the explosive effect.. Call it between 40,000 and 400,000 kg*m/s worth of momentum perhaps.. but that is also for multiple shells to be fair. We might estimate more from velocity (except *maybe* being hypervelocity we might get double/triple digit MJ for the barrage (assume 1 km/s or so at least).

The obviousl limit is that the Titan is still upright and not really shaking when it fires, so the recoil can't be a significant portion of the Titan's own stated mass (even allowing for bracing.)

Page 581

He raised my runestaff and used it to amplify his weary mind. Psycho-thermic energy, manifesting far more powerfully than it had done through his cane, spat at the towering back of the great Titan.

Rassi is psychic, and had a staff that did something akin to Eisenhorn's staff, although Eisenhorn's staff is of course more powerful. How he thought to take down a Titan...

Page 585

The cutter seemed to writhe, as if it was trying to escape the bombardment. In truth, it was simply being shifted and jolted as the hurricane of shots hammered it from end to end and shredded it.

Again the momentum of the impacts is shaking the cutter, but not significantly so. And we don't know if its either impact or explosive, or both.

Page 582

The cold island air was full of mineral dust from the pebbles and rock mat had been atomised by its blaster fire. Rassi and Haar simply didn't exist any more. They had been vaporised by the megagrade military weapon. My runestaff, blackened but intact, lay on a wide patch of ground that had been transmuted to furrowed glass by the hideous alchemy of blaster fire.

- the blaster fire had "vaporised" two individuals. Single digit to triple digit MJ, although whether that is kinetic or explosive effects we don't know.

Page 582

I had something more powerful than a Titan.

A daemonhost named Cherubael. Cherubael outdoes a Warlord Titan, obviously.

Page 585

Channelled by the runestaff and warded by the prayers I had ritually intoned, I flowed into a vaster, darker void. I reached across the fabric of space towards Gudrun, far away, an entire sub-sector away, towards a private estate on the Insume Headland.
..
Like a small sun dawning, the enslaved daemon poured out of the head of the runestaff.

A rather interesting case of covering tens of LY (call it 50-60 LY at a guess) in seconds, tops. It is both communication with AND travel. - we're talking hundreds of millions of c EASILY.

Page 586

Cruor Vult, ancient enemy of mankind, exploded from the waist up in a globe of furious white heat. Nothing of its head, torso or arms survived the immolation.

A fully unleashed daemonhost named Cherubael against a Titan.

Page 587

He was at his most deadly now, non-corporeal, a daemon spirit, raw and
bare, unfettered by a fleshly host.
...
But it was weak too. It had just expended huge reserves of power vanquishing a Titan.

The thing about this is that if he runs out of energy, he risks dissipating bakc into the Warp. Why isn't Eisenhorn aware of this? IT could be he's worried about letting Cherubael get away and cause greater mischief - who knows.,

Page 588

I heard a groaning, crashing sound and realised the walls were closing in. Cherubael was lifting both longhouses off their blocks and crushing them together with me in between.

Strength feet by Cherubael. The notable thing isnt so much the sheer mass he might be lifting (many tons or tens of tons I figure, although exact composition of the longhouses isnt known) but rather he's lifting them up with his hands, and the longhouses don't crumple apart under gravity or under his grip. That suggests some fairly significant TK-like effects in this strength.

Page 592

...aboard the far trader Pulchritude, en route to Gudrun in the Helican sub. A three-week passage...

50-60 LY in 3 weeks is around 800-1000c. Safe to call it (again) hundreds of c.

Page 595

"That is the rune of voiding. It is an essential part of the binding transaction. It empties the host of any previous soul so that the daemon can be contained. In effect, it kills the original host. You are not Bastian Verveuk because Bastian is dead and departed from this flesh."

40K Rune lesson!

Page 597

"In the course of my hunt for Quixos, I learned several dark things. Chief of
those was the means to control a daemon. It is knowledge that I would have chosen never to use. But the Titan was too much. It couldn't be allowed to survive. I had nothing left in my arsenal except dark lore"

Eisenhorn tries to justify his actions to Aemos.

Eisenhorn was right. The Titan had to be stopped, by any means neccessary. Chaos is still corrupting, however, and its use can only lead to corruption and evil. The only *possible* way Chaos' use can be allowed in this manner is for the wielder to submit to more puritanical forces, including possibly execution. Most Radicals, however, would not do so, and instead believe they can control/understand Chaos. Oblationists (from Dark Heresy) are an exception, of course, as long as they submit to their fate and do not try to resist or give in.

Page 599

..Thracian Primaris, a world crusted by cities, riddled with crime, lamed by
overpopulation..

OverpopulateD? HAH. It's downright roomy compared to some hives.

Page 600

I used a flamer to scour the walls and burn away the runic inscriptions. The grisly
remains of Cherubael's previous host form, now an empty husk, lay amid the slack chains, and I cremated that too. The host form had been a vat-grown organic vessel I had privately commissioned for use in the original summoning. At the time, it had been a hard enough decision just to use a synthetic body.

Eisenhorn uses a flamer to cremate Cherubael's former body.

Also a privately commissioned, vat-grown organic "synthetic body" - eg like something you'd use for servitors.

[Shadowtraveler]

Page 565

Three men in insulated combat armour raced into the street..
..
Begundi's Hecuter pistols were in his hands..
...
..the shell cases spraying out from the slide-slots of his weapons. All three men ahead of us lurched back and sprawled.

Hecutors seem powerful enough to overwhelm "combat" body armour, although it may be due to shot placement for all we know.

It's possible this is the Hecuter 9/5 from Dark Heresy: The Inquisitor's Handbook. If that's the case it possesses a larger-than-average caliber for an autopistol.

[Connor MacLeod]

And the last update for this year is.. second installment of Hereticus. I call this part 'the downfall' where he shortly loses everything and ends up fleeing for his life both from the Inquisition and his hidden adversary. I may post the last update sometime after the new year, depending on my mood.

I am also dedicating this update to GR and his one year disappearance. Chuck did it already for his SFDebris stuff, and it inspired me to do it as well. I hope he doesn't mind me borrowing his idea, and I'm not nearly on his level but.. *shrugs* Anyhow, GR was a big support to me in doing the 40K stuff obviously, and he was a good friend to me and many others on here, and this place just hasn't felt the same to me without him. So, here's to hoping he comes back soon.

Enjoy, and happy new year


Page 602

She walked over to the armoury terminal and keyed on the screen, jump-cutting rapidly through the graphic templates the monitor displayed.
..
There was a distant rattle and whirr as automated systems in the armoury under the floor processed the selected weapons from their racks and elevated them up into the ready rack in the wall next to the terminal.

It also warns when lethal force sorts of weapons are being used.


Page 602

It strapped around the left forearm, supporting a round, machined emitter the size of a pocket watch. Engaged, it projected a disc of shield energy the size of a banquet plate above the back of my hand and forearm.

Example of a compact shield generator unit. Not sure of its limits, or how common it is (it might be rare/lost tech - he is an Inquisitor after all)

Page 602

"We can use full body shields, if you're worried."

IT isnt clear if they are forcefield or physical, but by context I'm guessing full body (like powerfields or refractor fields.)

Page 603

The buckler was a weapon. Not only could it block, it could lock or even break a
blade. I had heard of some duels where the small shield's solid-energy edge had actually delivered the killing stroke to an unprotected windpipe.

- the power buckler's shield edge apparently can be used as a cutting edge. Although "solid enregy" is a nonsense term Apparently it isnt good against armor though but it can break a blade,

Page 607

There, at the helm of the gun-cutter, itself now just a ghost too, the Glavian circuitry
inlaid into his hands marrying him profoundly to the craft'scontrols.

How the glavian circuits work with the guncutter.

Page 607

Jarana lived still, far away on Glavia, a distinguished widow and director of a shipwrighting firm.

More info on Glavia - apparently it is an industrial world, and a successful one (very mercantile and such!)

PAge 609 -

I hurried down a carpeted crosswalk, arming the needle pistol. Thirty rounds and a fully charged cell.

- the charged ell and absence of propellant are implying some sort of railgun/gravitic/magnetic accelerator.

Page 610

A pict-unit still playing a live broadcast from the arena at Dorsay.

40K Television analgoue,

Page 610

Through a door into the west landing I found Urben. He was dead all right. He was sprawled with his back arched in the doorway. Laser fire had blasted him open.

Fearsome, although it doesnt really tell us how much lasfire or what kinds of shots did it. Probably not a huge nubmer (EG more than a squad) given what we see, but evne a handful can complicate calcs.

Page 610

They were wearing combat armour made of rubberised mesh...
...
I heard the pip and chatter of their microbead communicators.

Eisenhorn's assailant. Interesting that we have non-hard "rubberised mesh" armour. Also comm-beads are privately available (at least ofr mercenary/militia groups.) This suggests their use/lack of use in a PDF or other froce may be avilability.

Page 611

They were psy-shielded. Someone had prepared

YEs, they had. Commercial/privately available psy-shielding, since it doesn't tell Eisenhorn anything right off the bat.

Page 611

I crouched and fired up at the chandelier. When it came crashing down, the mermaid dived to the side and I caught him squarely with three needles, any of which would have been a kill shot.

Apparently Lethal needles, and kinetic rather than poison (if we needed further confirmation of the glavian needlers at this point.)

PAge 611

The room was a mess. A missile or ram-grenade fired from the lawns had blown out the main windows and turned the desk and chair into kindling.

"missile or ram grenade" - rocket proplled grenade I suppose?

Page 612

They all turned, reaching for their weapons. Throne, they were fast! I had the drop, but they moved like lightning.

Our merc/infatry for hire have super reflexes.

Page 612

His blurt of las-fire met my hail of bolts and needles. I swear that at least two of my bolt rounds were exploded in mid-air by his laser shots. But the needles went clean through the desk and clean through him.

Needlers have good penetration of wood and people (Despite the armor)

Page 613

Three heavy speeders had landed there, crouching like glossy black insects on their extending landing claws.
..
A fourth, and then a fifth, passed low overhead, searchlights sweeping down as they riddled the back of the house with cannon fire.
..
Five fliers. Each one was capable of carrying a dozen armed men.

Civiilan/private militia antigrav vehicles, armed and armored. This shit is common as dirt in Scarus. I wonder if their guard forces feature AG vehicles more commonly than others.


Page 614

"They were driving us back, and he stayed to hold the main hall. Took on twenty of the bastards."
...
"They blew him apart. But not before he'd finished a good half dozen."

Again lasfire blows a person apart, but we dont know the circumstances.

Page 614

Kircher had employed this Kronsky in good faith, and no doubt scrupulously vetted his background and subjected him to a mind-search.
...
My respect for the resources, skill and preparation of my unknown enemy grew.

Eisenhorn's adversary and his judgement of the person.


Page 615

I bade the other three move ahead and crept back, staying as concealed as possible, in case they had night-vision lenses or motion detectors.

He considers it possible that the well equipped mercs migth have NV gear or sensors.

Page 616

Las-bolts slashed the air over our heads. A few at first, then more, from at least four sources. They lowered their aim and the bright orange shots ripped into the nettles, kicking up mists of sap and pulp. Two young larches by the fence ditch were splintered. Dry gorse and fintle shuddered and burst into flames.

lasfire blasting apart trees. HArd to calc, although based on the "hoop stress" stuff Mike did for TL we might geuss oh.. mid to high kj range at least, depending on how big the trees are, and what splintering means.

Setting stuff afire implies also that the bolts might be releasing at least 125 j cm^2.

Page 616-617

Sastre had trained his pistol at the advancing killers, and was firing.
..
He made two kills as I remember, cutting down figures struggling forward in the weeds and undergrowth fifty metres away.

- las pistol being used against man-sized targets (accurately) from fifty metres away.

PAge 617

A rain of las-fire fell around us, puncturing the fence and throwing up wet clods of earth. I was forced to turn and use Barbarisater to deflect several shots. The blade hummed as it twitched and soaked up the power.

Eisenhorn's force sword is absorbing and deflecting lasshots. Eisenhorn can't see his adversaries very well I imagine at night - maybe he can psychically detect them, or he's using some sort of telepathy or short-time precog to guide his shots.


Page 618

Twice, speeders passed overhead, their stablights backlighting the dense foliage. If they'd possessed heat trackers, we would have been dead.

Speeders (or the crews) might have had heat trackers, but this time they didn't. Oddly for how prepared they had in other cases (EG having speederS) they didnt have much sensor gear.

Page 619

The transport in question was a monocoque turbofan flier, handmade on Urdesh. Light, fast, ultramanoeuvrable.
..
..it being so much more racey than the house shuttles and bulk speeders.
...
Six metres long and finished in slate grey, the craft had a wedge-shaped cabin that tapered to a short, V-vaned tail. There were three turbofan units, one fixed behind the cabin under the tail for main thrust, the other two mounted on stubby wings that projected from the cabin roof on either side. The wing units were gimble-mounted for lift and attitude control.

High performance racing flyer type thing purchased and shipped to Thraican Primaris from Urdesh by eisenhorn. Considerng Urdesh is way off in the SAbbat Worlds, this tells you something.

Page 620

The plane's power cells showed about seventy-five per cent capacity.
..
The craft was armed with a light las-lance, fitted discreetly under the nose in a
fixed-forward mount.
..
The lance, little more than a slender tube, was capped with a rubberised sleeve to muzzle the weapon and keep dirt out of the emitter. I fumbled with the sleeve and removed it. Pulling the safety sleeve off broke a wire clasp that allowed a small pin to be yanked out. The lance was enabled.

"las lance" a lance like energy weaponthat has an emitter and needs to be externally armed like a munition. Also the fltyer runs on a power cell.


Page 621 - 622

The lance fired a continuous beam for as long as I held down the trigger. It has no pulse or burst option. A line of bright yellow light, pencil thin, sliced out from under the nose and ripped scrub by the spinney.
..
I saw mud and plant debris spray up from the furrow it cut. The plane's nose was dipped. I was falling short. I nudged the flier's snout up and fired again. Two raiders collapsed, sliced through by the beam. Several saplings and a mature fintle at the edge of the spinney came down in a shower of leaves

Las lance fires only on "continuous wave" (or a continuous series of pulses.) Basically the laser equivalent of full automatic I gather. It cuts through trees and raiders - minimal thermal effect.

The other interetsing thing is that it may have come with a "pulse" or "burst" option, which I take to mean a single "explosive" shot, or a barrage of shots (possibly of pulsed shots, rather than CW.)

All in all we might take this as "semi-auto, burst mode, and full auto" references, suggesting the las lance (as well as teh absence of thermal effect) works like a Luke Campbell style blaster weapon. One wonders if such settings and capabilities can be worked into other las weapons - I certainly see no reason why not anyhow..

Page 621

Raiders threw themselves flat to avoid the lethal beam of light passing over them. Several didn't make it. The lance simply sectioned them, clean through flesh, bone and armour. I must have hit a power pack or a grenade, because one exploded in a sheet of flame.

Las lance slices through flesh and armor neatly, no heating. Also lasgun power pack likened to a grenade in terms of effect on body and in yield (both explode a person if they go off.) This means at least similar energy ocntent, although a lasgun power pack is not (By nature a lasgun would have less efficient explosive effects - call it several MJ at least.)

I suppose it could be some other power pack, but no other weapons were observed, really.

PAge 622-623

Then she [Medea] was hurled face first into the grass by a las-shot.
...
There was a bloody, burned hole in the back of her silk jacket.

This time las fire causes a thermal effect, although the bloody bit suggests it didnt initially cauterize or it partly cauterized. I'm not oging to quantify the knockdown

Page 623

..relishing the satisfying roar and recoil of the hefty solid-slug weapon. Needle guns were elegant and deadly, but you barely knew you'd fired them.

Needle guns have very little recoil. Assuming a half gramm dart at around 700-1400 m/s (like modern flechette weapons In other words) momentum is btween .35-.7 kg*m/s per shot and between 123 and 246 joules of KE. The power pack would carry at least 3.7-7.5 kj.

Page 623

I kept it low, but pulled away south across the paddock at full thrust
..
We were doing forty, forty-five knots by the time we reached the road.

Eisenhorn's flyer again.

Page 624

"She's alive, thank the stars. But her breathing's not right. Perhaps a collapsed lung, or internal cauterization. She needs a medic, Gregor.

Internal damage inflicted by the las shot. Entry and exit wounds seem rather narrow, but that it had significant internal thermal effects. Hard to gauge without knowing the size of the wound and the area effected (otehr than straight punch-through.) This does suggest las shots can be designed to heat/cauterize a considerable volume of flesh beyond the entry/exit wound (much as the uplifting primer suggests energy weapons boil surrounding tissues.)

Page 624

Two were following us directly through the trees, about five hundred metres behind us.
..
They were ex-military models; I'd seen that much from the glimpse I'd got of them parked on the lawns. Bigger power plants than this nimble Urdeshi turbofan; bigger, and better armoured. And their cannons, mounted on racks in the doorframes, meant they could, essentially, fire in any direction. They didn't have to be pointing at their target.
..
One of the fliers above the forest was matching us for speed.

- armoured military speeders, equipped with omni-directional autocannon/stubber weaponry.

Page 624

I was fairly certain they had no heat or motion tracking instruments.

AGain the crews or vehicles have no sensor gear.

page 625

The lance beam seared up into the backlit canopy. There was a brief flash and then a nine tonne metal fireball that had once been a speeder simply dropped down into the clearing, smashing through the branches, ripping apart and hurling flaming debris in all directions.

- Aforementioned military speeders are approximately nine tonnes. Rather lightweight for combat stuff. Also they are "military" which suggests PDF (if not Guard) forces use them - whose military or where we don't know (They are off world mercenaries, but where they got the gear, we dont know.)

Page 626

I realised someone had had the sense to bring night vision goggles. They could see us.

WE find out they do have NVGs of some sort.

Page 629

I could see the masked side-gunner in the open door, one hand on the yoke of the
pintle-mounted autocannon, the other on the bracket of the lamp.

Mask on the trooper. and pintle autocannon on the speeder

Page 630

He was a short but well-built man in ablative armour and a grey flight helmet with a
breathing visor.
...
Keeping one hand raised, he drew the zipper of the ablat-suit down

Helmet and breathing visor (whaver that means - ventilated?) and I guess the "rubberised armour" mentioned before is ablative.

Page 630

The psi-shield was a small, disc-shaped device hung
round his neck on a plastic cord.

the technology protecting the mercnaries' minds.

PAge 630

Emplate IDs were cheap enough to buy on the black market, especially a fiarly poor quality one like this. They were fake personalities, usually sold with matching papers, psi-woven onto the subject's persona like a fitted dust cover on a piece of furniture. Nothing fancy. If you had the money, you could buy fingerprints and retinas to match. If you really had the money, a new face too.

Commercial mindfuckery and cosmetic stuff. Pretty neat, I'd say.


Page 631

It was clearly an ex-military flier, bought for the purpose in my opinion. Insignia mouldings had been chiselled off, service numbers erased with acid swabs.Apart from the basic controls, the cabin was provided with several socket racks where optional instrument modules could be bolted in. Only a vox-set had been fitted. There were gaps where an auspex, a terrain-reader, and night vision displays might have gone, and also slots for a navigation codifier and a remote fire-control system that would have slaved the door weapon to the pilot and done away with the necessity of a separate gunner. Whoever had supplied the mercenaries with their vehicles had provided only the most basic package. An armed troop-lifter with an old model vox-caster comm. Not automated systems. No clue to origin or source.
...
But it had decent power and range - over a thousand kilometres left in it before it would need a recharge.

Description of the military flyer captured from the mercs. "service numbers" again implies legit military use somewhere (PDF if not guard) and in some service Eisenhorn could track down (within the sector, if not the subsector.)

The other interesting bit is how modular the interior is - it can accept various sensor and navigational gear, as well as comms gear and remote fire control (which is useful.)

the flier also doubles as a troop carrier of some sort as well as a weapons platform. "Basic sets" are considred to only have vox, no sensors or automated systems.

Also a range of at least 1000 km, considered to be "Decnet" by Eisenhorn.

Page 633

..I was glad I had asked Aemos to stow the door gun during our flight. At least we resembled a private transport.

Again suggesting the commonality of such vehicles onplanet, if no twihtin the sector/subsector.

Page 633

Medea's autopistol, reloaded with shells from a box magazine we found on
the speeder...

Auto-ammo must be fairly cmmon or standardized, at least for Medea's pistol.