my strongest-held mephiston headcanon that i've been stewing on for like a year now: he's a system
it's half vibes but I can point to evidence for some of it (under cut cuz it's long)
Kali was badly abused in childhood and at some point prior to his aspirancy spent time (lived?) with a different adult, in part due to his father's "outbursts of murderous violence" (Darkness in the Blood)
this same someone else talks about attempting to hide Kali from the Blood Angels, who "[took] him" (DitB)
despite this potentially partially-unwilling induction and rough background, Calistarius grew into an incredibly social Astartes who was rather gentle, even at his own risk (Sanguis Irae), and sensitive to his brothers' non-curse emotional struggles and grief (Space Hulk), rather than failing to assimilate
Mephiston frequently struggles or outright fails to access memories of events and loved ones (Quirinus, Rhacelus at his first emergence) from his time as Calistarius throughout his novels and can't recall anything from Kali
he also has frequent lapses in memory and behaviour where he acts oddly and doesn't realize it's even happened, even outside of his... conductive trances, I suppose, throughout his trilogy
despite his induction, he talks with the Sanguinius apparition about giving up "far more than I thought there was to give" (DitB) Combine this with his uncertain belief that he saw Sanguinius under Hades Hive and his first emergence, where it was an explicit possibility that he could flee and never come back, and I think it builds an interesting idea of his choice to be an Angel
we keep seeing Mephiston retreat into his mind, which is nearly treated as a physical space to him where he can flip through books and stuff, while his body continues to act
the first time I can recall, between his trilogy, novella, the Guy Haley books, AND the dubiously canon James Swallow books, that we ever see him make an expression* with his face is after the Rubicon
* except for, of course, him losing his shit and behaving erratically and swinging his sword at ghosts after he thinks Rhacelus has died (Blood of Sanguinius)
"As usual, there was no hint of emotion in his voice" (BoS)
in both dubiously (Deus Sanguinius) and absolutely (Lord of Death) canon contexts, he has to grapple with the Rage despite supposedly having "overcome" it and now being immune (though there's admittedly some Bull Shit going on), which would personally fit very well with him not having done that, because it was Calistarius who was sick and Calistarius who never recovered, just retreated
Mephiston's voice being unusually "dry and whispery" (Devastation of Baal) and difficult to understand (Rafen quadrilogy)
"This is not your rage, said a cold, impersonal voice. His voice, Mephiston's voice, though it seemed to come from without." (DoB) during a period of time where he's freaking the hell out and behaving erratically again
the part where his whole trilogy's plotline is about actually being several distinct guys in a trenchcoat and his brothers hating him for this because he can't be the one they knew and loved after an extremely traumatic incident made him be "replaced" by a different guy
Mephiston does emote at Rafen in the Rafen omnibus! He smirks at him once or twice. (reply by @trackerkitsune)
I couldn't remember it but this did sound like the kind of thing James Swallow would put in there so I went in with the search tool and discovered: two sneers, one ALMOST sneer, and one "clinical" smile
plus one sneer, one "ghost of a smile", and four frowns in blood of sanguinius; one smile, outright, and three frowns in revenant crusade; and three frowns in darkness in the blood only if you're counting his death experience
between 8 novels and 1 novella (excluding DITB after the rubicon and city of light)
so the rumour come out: mephiston DOES emote, rarely
my strongest-held mephiston headcanon that i've been stewing on for like a year now: he's a system
it's half vibes but I can point to evidence for some of it (under cut cuz it's long)
Kali was badly abused in childhood and at some point prior to his aspirancy spent time (lived?) with a different adult, in part due to his father's "outbursts of murderous violence" (Darkness in the Blood)
this same someone else talks about attempting to hide Kali from the Blood Angels, who "[took] him" (DitB)
despite this potentially partially-unwilling induction and rough background, Calistarius grew into an incredibly social Astartes who was rather gentle, even at his own risk (Sanguis Irae), and sensitive to his brothers' non-curse emotional struggles and grief (Space Hulk), rather than failing to assimilate
Mephiston frequently struggles or outright fails to access memories of events and loved ones (Quirinus, Rhacelus at his first emergence) from his time as Calistarius throughout his novels and can't recall anything from Kali
he also has frequent lapses in memory and behaviour where he acts oddly and doesn't realize it's even happened, even outside of his... conductive trances, I suppose, throughout his trilogy
despite his induction, he talks with the Sanguinius apparition about giving up "far more than I thought there was to give" (DitB) Combine this with his uncertain belief that he saw Sanguinius under Hades Hive and his first emergence, where it was an explicit possibility that he could flee and never come back, and I think it builds an interesting idea of his choice to be an Angel
we keep seeing Mephiston retreat into his mind, which is nearly treated as a physical space to him where he can flip through books and stuff, while his body continues to act
the first time I can recall, between his trilogy, novella, the Guy Haley books, AND the dubiously canon James Swallow books, that we ever see him make an expression* with his face is after the Rubicon
* except for, of course, him losing his shit and behaving erratically and swinging his sword at ghosts after he thinks Rhacelus has died (Blood of Sanguinius)
"As usual, there was no hint of emotion in his voice" (BoS)
in both dubiously (Deus Sanguinius) and absolutely (Lord of Death) canon contexts, he has to grapple with the Rage despite supposedly having "overcome" it and now being immune (though there's admittedly some Bull Shit going on), which would personally fit very well with him not having done that, because it was Calistarius who was sick and Calistarius who never recovered, just retreated
Mephiston's voice being unusually "dry and whispery" (Devastation of Baal) and difficult to understand (Rafen quadrilogy)
"This is not your rage, said a cold, impersonal voice. His voice, Mephiston's voice, though it seemed to come from without." (DoB) during a period of time where he's freaking the hell out and behaving erratically again
the part where his whole trilogy's plotline is about actually being several distinct guys in a trenchcoat and his brothers hating him for this because he can't be the one they knew and loved after an extremely traumatic incident made him be "replaced" by a different guy
> Abaddon is losing
> Abaddon isn't achieving their objectives
> Abaddon's style of war isn't good
> Chaos is a failure
> this is a military failure
What you NightLords don't understand is that Abaddon has developed a new style of war called Beweglichertorpfostenkrieg
When you don't achieve objectives, simply change your objectives
You cannot be defeated if you decide at the last second that it was part of your plan the whole time
This is fifth generation warfare
Can we talk for a second abt Tyberos’ weapons for a sec, the lightning claws are normal, no issues there, but wtf is going on with the inner arm chainfists?? How is he supposed to use those, just open hand slap his opponent? How does that add any utility not covered by the lightning claws, how does he not shred his fingers every time he clenches his fist?? The saws don’t even extend past his fingers, he can’t even stab with them or anything. If they were as long as the lightning claws that would make sense, but as is this is just such a niche application weapon.
i don't post as much space marine husbandry stuff as i probably should given how much i think about it but i've had the idea for a while of a wildlife preserve with an astartes population. i imagine the people working there would sometimes have to care for orphaned kits but would need to keep them from imprinting so they can still be released. enter the solution:
fortunately, the kits are too young to realize anything is up.
❌🍋🟩🍊🐦Nooo! Silly little old style lazely sketched Lamenter Space Marine with extra long damaged Beaky Helmet!
Don't flirt with the Raven Guard Coded Badass Sororitas!
She is a Hello Kitty Girl!—
Oh, you thought that something bad was going to happens didn't you? You sick creature.
—————————————————————
Low effort Warhammer comic meme post because I am lazy today.
Yes his Beaky Will be longer each time I draw him.
This sons of Sanguinius May have The Unlucky Curse but they still have The Vampire Charm huh
WHY IS his beaky forever this long now? How Did he fix his helmet? WHY does his shoulderpad now has a Crossed out Orange on It? What Did he says to Rizz up the Crow Goth Girl? How Did They do It on a Human sized bed that was previously covered in Sanrio Merch? You make too many questions. Go eat an Orange or something, get some vitamin C 🍊
that's not an oxygen thing or vox, its a incense cylinder. He smells very good and very smokey + some BDSM esk rituals under the cut. He must keep his mind focused, and devoted.
