#plague war

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Plague War by Jack

[cursed-40k-thoughts]

Roboute absolutely going off on a priest for 2-3 pages has got to be one of the most cathartic 40k-releated things I’ve read for a loooong time

[screamingatthevoid]

“If you start playing those miserable pipes where I can hear them, Septicus Seven of the Seventh Manse, I’ll rip out your filthy guts and eat them in front of you.”

- Ku’gath Plaguefather (Dark Imperium: Plague War by Guy Haley)

[possiblyhereticalultramarine]

Guilliman’s new (girl)friend

From the new Plague War book. A friend made the great point that she’s totally Zoe from Firefly lol.

House Sulymanyan’s planetary holdings were on a hot world bathed often in the effusions of its parent star. The ever-flexible human genome called upon the heritage of equatorial Terran Afrik from ages past to protect itself. Consequently Sulymanya’s skin was a velvety black, so dark it appeared blue in gentler lighting. Her thick hair, currently tamed into a complex braid at the side of her head, stood up around her head like a dark matter star when unbound.

‘Roboute,’ said Yassilli suddenly. He glanced sidelong at her use of his given name. The liberty had been taken only once before, and recently, and though he had not rebuked her for speaking this way it took him by surprise, she could tell.

‘What?’ she said, mischief lifting the corners of her mouth. ‘It is your name, isn’t it?’

‘You really have no fear of me, do you?’ he asked. ‘I find that amazing, as well as saddening. Everyone is frightened of me now.’

She flashed her brilliant smile at him. ‘I suppose I should be frightened of you, but no, I’m not. There’s plenty to be afraid of in this galaxy. Why be afraid of the one who is trying to save us?’

He loomed over her, his eyebrows drawn together, two disapproving thunderheads shadowing his eyes. ‘I am Roboute Guilliman, primarch, gene-engineered son of the Emperor of Mankind. I am the Avenging Son, the Victorious, the Blade of Unity, the Master of Ultramar. I am the Imperial Regent. Empires tremble before me. I was made one hundred centuries before your birth, millennia before your House rose to prominence. I have fought daemons and defied beings that call themselves gods. Species have died at my hand. Now, tell me again, do you not fear me?’

She stared up at him. Her smile was a little less cocky, but she was still wearing it, proud as a badge. ‘When you put it like that, maybe I do a little bit.’

‘More impudence,’ he said, though his tone was kind. He resumed his walking. ‘You may call me Roboute, if you wish. I miss such signs of common feeling.’

‘I thank you, Robu,’ she said.

‘Oh, now you overstep the limit,’ he said.

‘I am sorry, my lord.’

‘Somehow, I doubt your sincerity,’ he said, still smiling.

@fuukonomiko @beans345 @fuzzy-chronicler @pholcidae @templarhalo

[ask-valerian-40k]

Some Thoughts On Plague War (Dark Imperium, Part II)

This is certainly the Die Hard 2 to the original’s Die Hard; I am cautious to say it matches up well with the barnstorming novel that is the original, however it undoubtedly takes us to some more interesting places in the lore. 

The main point of the book is obviously an exploration of different kinds of faith; and the author certainly wants us to see the problems faith can cause...but...despite the villains being people of faith (on both the Imperial and Chaos sides) I found myself more than once appreciating how the author displayed the problems of those without faith. 

It is very rare a novel gets me to start groaning at Guilliman, and feeling sorry for the Inquisition, but by the time you finish Plague War it is easy to see why the Inquisition tries to keep so many secrets and defend the current structure of the Imperium of fanatically. In the first novel we never really got a taste of the conflicts/dangers a reborn Primarch could cause but now they are met head on. As well as this Guilliman;s flaws in character also begining to rear their heads, and his lack of any kind of faith is at the forefront throughout 

It will be interesting in the third book to see how Guilliman’s experiences of the Imperium as it should be finally come to a head with the current elite’s experience of the galaxy as it has become...

I would go into greater detail, but I can’t without spoiling the book totally

[titanomancy]

I quite liked Dark Imperium, especially Guy Haley’s take on Roboute Guilliman - which was both thoughtful and relatable. You may not think that it’s possible to relate to a twelve-foot tall post-human demigod but, freed from the narrative confines of the Horus Heresy, Guilliman fills the role of man-out-of-time and provides the reader with an outsider’s perspective of the 41st millennium that’s often lacking in 40k fiction.

So I’m looking forward to Plague War, which promises to escalate the conflict between Guilliman and Mortarion that has been the fulcrum of this edition, although I’d be lying if I said I wasn’t a little bit disappointed. As powerful a prologue as Dark Imperium opened with, I’d been hoping the sequel would bring another forthcoming daemon primarch into the fray.

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