"Each one, Loken noticed, had placed a single personal item on the edge of the dais where they stood: a glove, a cap, a wand-stave."
The Imperium is always so weird
What if it's so weird and people are so superstitious because Emps is trying to get everyone to make up random rituals and stuff to bleed off all their soul-religion-energy in useless ways?
Emps solving global warming the ruinous powers by lighting methane soul juice on fire.
"‘Who is that?’ Loken whispered.
‘Regulus,’ Aximand replied curtly. ‘Adept of the Mechanicum.’
So that was what a Mechanicum adept looked like, Loken thought. That was the sort of being who could command the invincible Titans into war. "
He's never seen a single one of the guys who run some of their tech?
wait are the astartes actually a harem situation? is their part of the ship largely kept separate except for when Horus asks specific humans to come by and give them lessons? has Loken just gotten elevated to full wife?
They all bow but the Mechanicum adept bows slow because he clearly hates this whole thing, because Emps was weird about Mars and the Mars cult. I think sometimes the idea is he just really needs them, but I don't buy it. Emps crushes what he doesn't like. Emps installed himself as their god. He could have said his kids were mostly tech watsits that just looked biological to fool the normies and they'd have believed him.
"Massive and limber, a demi-god manifest, wrapped in white-gold armour and pelts of fur. His head was bare. Shaven, sculptural, his face was noble, deeply tanned by multiple sunlights, his wide-spaced eyes bright, his teeth gleaming. He smiled and nodded to each and every one of them.
He had such vitality, like a force of nature – a tornado, a tempest, an avalanche – trapped in humanoid form and distilled, the potential locked in. "
Potential trapped and locked in humanoid form yeah…
Horus wears more than one fur! How many wolves are on him right now, and has the number increased since the Space Wolves became a thing?
"The primarch looked at Loken, back in the shadows of the overhang, and his smile seemed to broaden for a second.
Loken felt a shudder of fear. It was pleasant and vigorous. Only the Warmaster could make an Astartes feel that.
‘Friends,’ Horus said. His voice was like honey, like steel, like a whisper, like all of those things mixed as one. "
Astartes don't feel fear, except for the pleasant thing he feels when a god with a honeysteel whisper voice smiles at him, which definitely fear.
The architect from last chapter is here with Horus " like a father showing off a small child to his brothers."
"‘Our lord the Emperor himself sent Peeter to us,’ Horus told them. ‘He knew his worth. You see, I don’t want to conquer. Conquest of itself is so messy, isn’t it Ezekyle?’"
I wonder if last chapter happens after this. Maybe having Horus enthuse about how much he loves hearing him talk about architecture made him decide to give an extremely long speech to everyone else, and the iterators were caught up in it too.
(also EEEEEMMMMMMMMPPPPPPPPPS use your tyranny to ban the name peter across the galaxy absolutely don't pick one to be the architect who'll build the foundation of your new not-church come on man)
" We are duty-bound to leave them better than we found them, enlightened by the communication of the Imperial Truth and dazzlingly made over as august provinces of our wide estate. This expedition – and all expeditions – must look to the future and be mindful that what we leave in our wake must stand as an enduring statement of our intent, especially upon worlds, as here, where we have been forced to inflict damage in the promulgation of our message. We must leave legacies behind us. Imperial cities, monuments to the new age, and fitting memorials to those who have fallen in the struggle to establish it. Peeter, my friend Peeter here, understands this. I urge you all to take the time to visit his workshops and review his marvellous schemes. And I look forward to seeing the genius of his vision gracing all the new cities we build in the course of our crusade.’"
"‘I am at one with the way he perceives architecture as celebration. He understands, like no other, I believe, how the spirit of the crusade may be realised in steel and glass and stone. What we raise up is far more important than what we strike down. What we leave behind us, men must admire for eternity, and say “This was well done indeed. This is what the Imperium means, and without it we would be shadows”. For that, Peeter’s our man."
even if he's trying to make a big deal about respecting humans and Emps as the Warmaster standing in at the moment, this is too much. he could've said this with the angle that he's so glad this guy is here to handle something he knows jack shit about and made it about staying in his lane like Emps wanted rather than personallu appreciating his skills just like Emps did. Horus is into this.
now I want the AU where Emps is paying an iota less attention and doesn't Monarchia before he hands the job off and see how many years it takes before Lorgar gets appointed Secular Pope by the Warmaster. The primarchs yearn to build golden science catheriels to the Imperium.
I wonder how much they think about the planets they leave behind?
"A governorship was intended to be the ultimate reward for a war-hero’s service, but it seemed to Loken a quietly terrible fate: to be monarch of a world, and then cast away upon it.
The crusade would not be back to visit conquered worlds in a hurry. "
do they take it on faith the planets are better off and fail to ever check? do they suspect the planets aren't, and try to hurry onward to preserve what's left of their ignorance? are they unable to think anything else?
"‘…in truth, my commander,’ Rakris was saying, ‘it may be many decades until this world achieves a state of equity with the Imperium."
the remembrancer selection suggests worlds take a lot longer than just decades to be considered equal members. or maybe he measn something more like convincing of the Imperium's rule over them as fair.
"Horus nodded. ‘So we stay here, if we must, until the job is done. We must hold over our plans to advance. Such a shame…’ The primarch’s smile faded for a second as he pondered. ‘Unless there is another suggestion?’"
oh no! not the smile! not that warm, fear-inducing smile! it's fading away!
LOKEN MUST ACT by offering to go down and fix it right now.
He does the diplomancy thing good though "Tenth Company. We were first in, and for that we have been praised, but the praise was not deserved, for the job is not done.’"
"‘An expedient solution would be a weight off my back, sir,’ Rakris said. He smiled. ‘It would be a hammer to crush a nut, perhaps, but it would be emphatic. "
and as we learned earlier, the mighty astartes are used only as a last resort or when you're hungry and want to crack a nut quick.
"A shrewd and experienced soul, Maloghurst’s talents for intrigue and intelligence ideally served him in that role, and had long since earned him the title ‘Twisted’." but now he's also physically twisted by war injuries, but he says he loves the title and keep calling him that, and will the guy called Malo and then gutteral ghost whose name can be literally translated as apple (of knowledge) grove (of Eden) sound turn out to be evil?
https://aeternalatina.com/id-rather-be-in-an-apple-tree/ than a bad boy in adversity. Malo malo malo malo.
a dude called Maloghurst the Ttwisted not turning evil would be kind of fun but also I figure he was evil first and this is later backstory.
But I would call him Galaghurst so readers would think it's a Galahad thing and then omg now that he's evil his new, evil, name is MALOghurst and also it's funny because Gala is still an apple.
then he tells Horus about what the places they can go next once Loken's atomized people's nuts, which is probably references to stuff
" We may consider it a priority to venture forward to this region to reinforce the Imperial presence there.’
For the first time since the briefing began, the smile had left the Warmaster’s face. ‘I will speak with my brother Sanguinius on this matter,’ he said. ‘I would not see his men perish, unsupported.’"
oh so last time the smile fading was fake but this time he's for real
Final thought for the day
I wonder if Horus is just clingy about Sanguinius or if there's a subtle pattern he's noticed of the Blood Angels not asking for reinforcements when they should (because they don't want anyone to see how they act when they're stressed).
dailybridgerton
areudirty
amandla
