#commissariat

[feit-kait]

🌱🌱🌱

[haaaaaaaaaaaave-you-met-ted]

Imperial Commissary and Space Marines by David Gallagher

[seainthestars]

Cain is so fun 'cause going into it you expect him to not really do his job or have any type of convictions or morals, and then you realise that no, this guy is actually extremely good at his job (he just delegates the unimportant paperwork to Jurgen), he has a moral framework that within the setting is probably as close to a good person you can get while still being capable of doing his job, and he has convictions and opinions he keeps to religiously.

Like he's undeniably self serving, and yet this is the guy who thinks using the title Lord Commissar for senior commissars is stupid and refuses to answer too it, not because he doesn't believe he deserves the title or anything like that, but because he doesn't think you should create an arbitrary line between commissars like that since they're all technically supposed to be the same rank.

He would undeniably get more respect and political power and luxuries if he accepted the title, especially from those outside the commissariat who doesn't understand how it works, but no. Fuck that says Ciaphas Cain.

[calyxblogging]

“They appear upon the field of battle, the suns are their halo’s and their arms are the Emperor’s judgement. I welcome their arrival as the number of executions I must perform decreases significantly.”

–Commissar Cadet Vectili about the Seraphim of the Sororitas, from "Dark Heresy: Blood of Martyrs"

[vouvrum]

[pax-imperium]

Managed to recover 375 points worth of scions, in the form of 3rd ed stormtroopers- or inquisition stormtroopers to some people. Even found the commissar I did for them, based on a short piece in the codex about them spending part of their training with a stormtrooper unit to gain field experience. All of whom are lead by my Col. Shaeffer model.

[rvexillology]

Flags and Banners of the European Commissariat

from /r/vexillology Top comment: The first one is very cool, the other two give strong INGSOC vibes (which is still cool).

[luci-yabs]

Judge of the Wastes - Review

Synopsis: After executing a fleeing Guardsman, Commissar Arehn starts to see the dead man's phantom – what does it mean, and will it lead him to enlightenment or disaster?

Note: Would just like to point out that, surprisingly, there is a rather major error in the synopsis. The Commissar is Selander and the fleeing Guardsman exectured is Arehn. 

Plot: AS another one of those short twenty minutes audio dramas there isn’t much plot. Basically it is what it says on the tin; a Commissar executes a Guardsman, begins seeing his phantom and having a mental breakdown.

However, the plot is delivered very well! Honestly I prefer the sort of creeping, doubt-yourself, existential dread horror that is featured in this to the visceral horror of Perdition’s Flame’s ending. The story works well at making the Commissar’s situation seem eerie, genuinely, through use of mostly not showing directly what he engages and encounters and instead focusing on his own harried and fraying responses to it, helping convey the weight of it through his reaction whilst leaving the horror open to interpretation by disclosing little to nothing about it.

The second part of the plot that works well is that it shows the Imperial forces in a less brutal light. Despite the topic, a Commissar’s execution of a Guardsman, this is one of those stories which reflects the Imperial commanders present as not being mindlessly evil and brutal, but instead as being authoritarian, facist, ideolouges. They calculate their actions and motivate them through a belief that they are doing what is right and necessary. They don’t do it simply to be mindlessly cruel. It doesn’t stop them being bad people but it means they don’t come across as cruel and vindictive, just ruthless. It straddles a line between lionizing them and turning them into idiots very well which is appreciated. 

Characters: There are really only two characters to discuss; Commissar Selander himself and his friend and confidante the Confessor Hallstrom. Both characters are, considering the time given, fleshed out rather well and don’t fall into the archetypes of their character.

Selander is not needlessly cruel and jackbooted, indeed a vital conversation he has with the Imperial Guard Commander present is about him specifically acknowledging that the Commander being reticent to commit to an aggressive posture in a war, causing it to drag on, is not defeatist. Further Selander himself grapples with the guilt of potentially having been wrong in executing Trooper Arehn. 

Hallstrom, despite being a Confessor, isn’t the usual ‘fire and brimstone’ fanatic sort. He is displayed as deeply faithful, yes, but he is intellectual about it as well. He’s well-reasoned, almost always calm, and even attempts to approach Selander’s fraying mindset from a rational perspective, expressing concern for him and trying to convince him that he is simply fatigued and experiencing delusions. 

Sound Direction: It is good as usual. At only twenty minutes there is not to much to say. The voice actors do a good job and I have no problem distinguishing them this time. Props to the Servo-Skull, they have a nice voice and accompanying sounds for it which help to hone in it’s somewhat eerie nature. 

Theme: There is a rather simple, short, theme here simply about how the Imperium blinds itself to danger through dogmatism. There is ‘something’ in the Wastes, a threat, a danger, and people see it: Arehn, Selander etc. but they are conditioned to not believe anything is there because, well, Chaos is a no-no. In short the theme is about how the Imperium’s lack of knowledge of Chaos leaves its military forces woefully incapable of handling it. Ignorance is not the best defence, in short, as it leaves those afflicted to behave irrationally and those who observe them refuse to believe them and instead, as this is the Imperium, kill them for any ‘deviance’ from the consensus. 

Conclusion: It’s short, but well done. There really isn’t much more I can say since that sums it up. I’d recommend it, but it is still not an amazing piece of work, but certainly one I can recommend if you want to burn twenty minutes.