Search the Community

So I asked about doing this a while ago and was told it was better to start a new thread to discuss the Black Books in a review format. I am posting this here because I think there is alot of good fluff to tap here and I dont see the books often discussed for their narrative value or the sheer amount of stuff in them even for those uninterested in the game itself. So I am posting them here (with mod permission) rather than on the 30k section in part to bring them to the attention of folks that are not interested in 30k as a game but enjoy the HH books. So I am going to structure this by sections, since I tend to think that the subjects are very different and warrant discussions of their own. Anyhow, enough preamble, here it is. Black Book One: Betrayal Chapter One: The Age of the Emperor Otherwise known as: Here is literally everything you need to know about the Great Crusade, the Imperium and their Modus Operandii. This section is alot of things really, a good intro to the setting (arguably the single best way i have seen of introducing it to someone with only a periphery knowledge) and to a degree a Q&A as to how alot of things a Vet might not know work. Why do Astropaths go Blind? Turns out that 'Soul-Binding' is basically the Emp performing mass-scale brain surgery with Biomancy and its really hard to not screw up the optic nerves when you are at it. Where did the Astronomicon come from? A massive building project commissioned during the Unificiation Wars. Carried out by a population pretty thrilled to have been cured of extremely common mutations. Why do distances not work right in alot of books? Here is a handy-dandy rough map of Warp Currents that shows you that its actually not a straight-line deal. How did the Imperium work so well for so long? Simple, they practiced the novel idea of ruffling as few feathers as possible, giving away tech and swapping out existing fleet personnel with a taken planet's military in an infinite domino effect that got everyone of note considerable skin in the game. This is also the section of the book where you start seeing some of the best parts of the Black Books. Where they rub and push against the narratives of the BL HH, sometimes in the wrong (as the narrator is basically working off of (extremely detailed) court records) and sometimes showing how unreliable the BL PoVs can be. To take an example, Kelbor's claims that the Imperium did nothing for Mars become extremely hard to take seriously after you see example what they gained from the Treaty and how bad a state they were in beforehand (for example, they had lost their navigators and were essentially starved for resources). Overall, a pretty darned good start. Chapter Two: The Legiones Astartes And now we get a nifty and extremely detailed prologue to the Legions as a collective entity, their (little-mentioned) issues and their strengths to the cause of the Crusade. I liked this section because it introduces alot of the foibles that the Primarchs and their Astartes would reasonably ignore due to either arrogance or a willing inability to cope with weakness. We learn that without a Primarch to revitalize Gene-Seed periodically, the stock begins to wear down and rapidly degrade (a good prelude to the issues we see in 40k) which combined with the sheer brutality of the Crusade meant that the Legions would have died a rather unpleasant death if the super-manchildren were never found. (An angle Wraight draws on rather cleverly to motivate a certain character in a certain work). This section also introduces two factors that rationalize two of the big issues folks note with 30k. Why were there so many Astartes and why so many Indoctrinated supersoldiers fell so easily to Chaos compared to 40k. Quite simple, a workaround to the lack of Primarchs was introduced which both rapidly decreased recruitment time at the cost of accelerating Indoctrination to the point of being partially ineffective. A short-term measure which no Primarch saw fit to curb and the book itself notes seems to have been most present in the Legions that fell to Chaos. A short section, but well worth the read. Chapter Three: Istvaan Otherwise known as 'literally took 30ish pages to write a better Galaxy in Flames'. This is where the BBs start actively tackling the HH from a different and frankly much more coherent PoV. We see the Betrayal played out from a macro-level which paints both a much more interesting and logical vision of what the battle looked like. This is helped in no small part by the pretty-competent author stating both his sources and speculating as to the reasoning behind a number of choices. These include things like Horus not bombing Angron into oblivion because Angron's fleet happened to be in 'make a bad situation considerable worse' distance to the SoH elements to having the entire operation be rushed and haphazard due to the almost unprecedented nature of the battle. There is a real sense of shell-shock from the accounts we have of the survivors and it goes out of its way to really press home the fact that Astartes are not used to really fighting each other and how it messes with their entire understanding of war. Bonus points for the Mechanicum kicking butt despite the Traitors making extremely poor decision to think it would be easy to push the Magos out of the way. On the whole, again, a good read. Chapter Four: The Sons of Horus Someone remembered to actually give some characterization to the XVIth after it got shot out back. Amusingly, said character is best summarized as 'Personality Cult'. Betrayal is interested primarily in taking a look at how a Legion is defined by having had a Primarch from day one and being gradually worn down by said Primarch's extremely controlling tendencies (something the BBs really develop over time to retroactively give Horus some character nuance). The book details who the Luna Wolves seemed to be beforehand, which is frankly really reminiscent of early Republican Roman self-perception. Misfits and outcasts gathered up and remade into an entity of iron will and discipline. The book makes an attempt to display what is meant by the oft-repeated idea of 'controlled savagery' by showing their gene-seed as seeming to kill alot of driving factors in them aside from a raw aggression which in turn needed a considerable amount of will to keep in check. This sort of cold bluntness then puts Cthonia and the ritualism that would later come in the same interesting place as Horus. Both are introduced as surface-level complements to the joyless and taciturn Legion with Horus's charisma, military acumen and the complementary ruthlessness of the Cthonians (which the Books tries but still fails to make remotely interesting, although thats hardly new). But the author notes that over the centuries both served as a slow poison within the Wolves that seemed to erode alot of the rigid control they had once had. Things like the slow bleeding in of ritual and trophy-taking from the bottom while Horus ruthlessly dissolved rank and hierarchy from above, until they seemingly met in the middle for the Sons. Rather than an abrupt shift, the book paints a slow and useful decline into the Barbarian Horde they would someday become and justifies it readily. Horus wanted careful control because he had a talent for assessing who is best used? Then its an impediment to have anything above Captain. There is a need to for flexibility? Best to de-emphasize specialism and make more tacticals. Need some ways of retaining status? Markings and titles to boost moral! Lastly, this is best exemplified in the first of the 'Exemplary Battles' Section which serve as a wonderful illustration of this decline. From the first battle of Luna where the Wolves went in like an avalanche but stopped at exactly the point commanded with an almost professional eye for targets and objectives, to the somewhat vanilla Gorro Hollowing to the extreme over-slaughter of the Castigation of Terentius. The last being superbly executed but with a certain temperamentally grotesque and pettiness that while reminiscent of Luna in execution is utterly at odds with the 'control' and detachment we started this section out with. Its a slow and devious decline into a barbarian cult. Still the second-weakest of the four Legions covered, but C'est La Wolf. Chapter Five: The World Eaters The start of the real characterization for the Twelfth (this came before the legendary Betrayer and I think ADB really jives with this) and but a bit weaker than the Luna Wolf section. Where the previous section was a slow decline into madness, the Warhounds decline went from 90 to 100 at the speed of an angry Angron launched from a Nova Cannon. The Twelfth are shown to have always been monstrous bastards, monsters so vicious that even during the Unification Wars allied generals had a golly gee moment just seeing them in use. But they were extremely effective monsters, characterized by an ability to cripple enemies as powerful line breakers even when the cost inflicted on them was horrific. Although this forced a harsh discipline among them which they were all to eager to inflict on mortal auxilia which didnt meet their standards. It also shows how much, for lack of a better word, protection Angron received from the public eye. The things he did to his Sons didnt just go unreported, knowledge is actively suppressed. The most hilarious example being the author ominously noting that he couldn't find any trace of what became of the former Legion Master and noting how odd it was given that he was such a successful and respected officer. The decline of the Eaters is also explained from a political angle. Angron was from the first brutal in the extreme, melting away resistance and almost immediately replicating his childhood in every WE through arena combat and fratricide before he even embarked but this is hinted to have been collateral. Predictable but the book draws two interesting observations, the first being that this was unusual since previous custom was for a Primarch to either shadow a senior brother or the Emp himself before assuming full control and the second being his effectiveness. The book actually makes Angron a surprisingly competent general to a degree almost at odds with the BL works. The book notes that Angron for all of his brutality actually took steps to ensure a streamlined command echelon was put into place and orchestrated a number of simple but also effective campaigns to make the most of his increasingly unstable Legion. It also shows his having the backing of Horus (which fits well with what the above taught us about him) and, shockingly enough, Jaghatai of all people. This brings us to the Golgothan Slaughter, their singular exemplary campaign and a very well written one by my mileage. Detailing a war to put down an extremely aggressive and raid-happy group of Xenos and to free the Forgeworld of Sarum. Its quite a good part by my take, showing how Angron used the assets he had at hand to manipulate the battlefield into favoring his tactics and showing that a mostly-lobotimized Primarch is still a force of nature as a war planner. On the whole I liked this section, but I think ADB and later St.Martin due better at injecting some tragedy into the Legion. But it still does two things I really value, making Angron competent and showing how he got away with his tantrums. Chapter Six: The Emperor's Children Where the tide began to turn for the EC's characterization I believe, given the bad one-note joke they had been before this. This section does a good job at showing why the EC became monsters and why that is something to be mourned. We see who they began as, proud warriors scions known for having an aptitude for working with Mortals which so many other Legions did not. It also shows us why that bit them royally in the rear, as said mortals were quite happy to begin removing the EC's contributions from battles they won just as quickly. This is important since its an angle which really builds as you go through this section and into Reynold's work. The EC are arrogant and self-aggrandizing but this is where the idea starts that it is in part a reaction to being starved of glory. Another interesting note drawn from early on is that the EC were seemingly designed to be perfectionists, not as a flaw but as the means to make them ideal tools at the Emp's hand for that sort of delicate control of mortals and acting as heralds. The EC could be trusted as commanders and envoys for the simple reason that they took no liberties with orders beyond their exact, bleeding, point. These things seem pretty minor at first glance, but then the book hits you with something that is only off-handedly discussed in BL but here becomes a perfect blow to undercut the IIIrd in a way they never recovered from. The Blight, a contagion that functionally destroyed their means to reproduce and their effectiveness as a Legion. Yet they were still used and pushed until the Emp stepped in to stop the bloodline from going extinct entirely. Thats the context the book places their reconstruction, pride and obsession in. Everything is about clawing back glory, everything is about trying to bury the past in countless laurals, everything is about climbing back after falling from being the Emp's personal tools to being a gloried Company. The EC became obsessed with competition and worked themselves bloody, the result obvious from their pre-Fulgrim history. After all, what happens when you take being designed to be exact and meticulous and proud and then kneecap them at the gate? The section is exceptional I think at showing you the deep scars that the EC seem perpetually racing to outrun. Fulgrim in this book comes across as oddly caring, he defended his sons from their dismissal for their size. He thought for the right of Chemosans to enter the Legion despite their lack of martial heritage and he always strove to find the exact place in the Legion where each son best fit. Its very positive perhaps but it makes sense when you consider that, mildly put, his characterization before this was negative to say the least. The Three Exemplary battles do three key things for the Legion characterization, the first being to establish golly gee 'perfect' is supposed to mean, the second being a more humble aspect to their honor culture and the sort of arrogance that doomed them all showing the sort of weird stuff I love from the BBs. The Defense of Tranquility shows us the EC fighting aliens of living crystal shapes while drastically outnumbered, winning by a mix of insane preparation (having mapped out every last cranny of the planet) and having plotted out each potential move so that each warrior could wage their individual battle as part of a greater mechanism. They might be arrogant but this battle really shows you the 'why' of their confidence. The Extinction of the Katara on the other hand shows us the more somber and honorable dimension of the Legion, showing us their 'war' with a warrior race of abhumans which sound extremely cool (being elongated and wearing armor of obsidian glass). The quotations are due to the nature of the war, which was more like a series of one man assaults against the Astartes until a single champion came forward and challenged the Lord Commander. His defeat lead to their entire race killing themselves. Not out of hate or resistance, they simply wanted to be best on their terms (a duel) by a superior opponent. I am not doing justice to it but the beauty of the way they're described to fight and their oddness is oddly touching. The EC didnt take the worlds afterwards, they simply summarily extended their protection to the entirety of the Katara territories and left their worlds untouched as a monument to the honor of the warriors shown. The EC only took the weapons of those they had slain as momentos and entombed the slain champion with honors. Lastly, the Praxil Compliance. The EC suffered setbacks facing a human civ as augment, clever and perfectionist as they were ad the War Council was not impressed and so summoned the BA and IF to aid them. This battle shows the cracks in the EC, it did not matter that the two reinforcing Legions placed themselves beneath the EC's command or that it was generally agreed with while their force and idea won the victory it was only because the EC had refined them to perfection. It did not matter that everyone acknowledged the EC's contribution then or that their forces had shown themselves to perfection (so much so the Guilliman and Raldoran would both praise the EC commander as a genius for having devised it) or that the Praxil would prove a loyal and productive part of the Imperium, the EC left before the final ceremony of surrender. That Lord Commander would never accept credit or a part in that campaign, because the fact that he had needed help and that the commanders explicitly said they did not want to offend his ego (when the BA commander was Raldoran) had already made the campaign an utter defeat for him and the EC. I liked this section, its what got me to start collecting EC. Its also what made me a touch bitter at the realization of how one note they had been beforehand. Speaking of one-note. Chapter Seven: The Death Guard Man, where all of those I have reviewed before show the starts of a correction to greater Legion identity BL more or less just ignored the depth shown here. Do you ever hear about what the Dusk Raiders were actually like beyond their Dusk gimmick? What the DG were good at other than poisons and being tough? Anything remotely sympathetic beyond 'sucky Death World #3714)? Well, here is the section for you. And I really am not sure how to review it beyond 'read it' because there is so little I can draw on from other material to compare to or to speak of. This section tried to give the DG the character they are frankly starved for pre-Chaos and to give them real depth. It did it too, it tells you about their tradition as not-English armored heavy infantry and their skill at armored breaththroughs and infantry excellence. It tells you about Mortarions exemplary generalship and his talent for manipulating the flow of battle with preternatural skill. It draws lines between the brutality of the DG as opposed to the old meticulous honor of the Dusk Raiders and what those two things looked like. But it also shows the idealism that drives Mortarion and the sheer conviction he has in its necessity. I wish this had been built on more. Because this BB makes Morty as sullen and bitter as he has always been but it also makes him unshakable commited and almost idealistic about the Crusade's cause in a way that makes so much sense. Almost as if there was something more to him than petulance, hypocrisy and racism. Heck, he openly trusted and respected his sons to give a full accounting of his history to each new member (especially since this book clarifies that details about Barbarus are super-duper forbidden from being publicly known for obvious reasons). Speaking of competence, it also establishes logical quirks for the Legion that BL also tossed out a window for more plague-memes. The examples including a highly infantry-focused Legion with high attrition tactics logically going out of its way to cross-train as much as possible so that everyone knows how to swap gear to plug holes in the line of battle as needed. Only one exemplary battle here, The Conquest of Galaspar and boy is it good. It essentially details how the DG took a Hive-World which was the capital of a small empire. This empire holds the distinction of being our first case of a 'yikes thats worse than the Imperium' civilization, with a small bureaucracy controlling a slave population that was literally not allowed names or to live past middle-age. Mortarion, seeing a big red bulls-eye on the tyrants, rammed his fleet straight past the empire and onto the Hive World. I do mean straight by the way, aside from the core of his Gloriana, he had another Battle Barge that had the unique ability to land and attack the Hiveworld. I could go on and on about how cool this fight is, from Mortarion and his Legion marching across the rad-wastes between spires to how Mory gradually neuters their defenses to the way Mort's overkill ended up being less 'liberation' and more 'instill a new myth of horror' into the 'freed' people. Quite liked this section, but it does make you bitter at how much potential is wasted with the DG. Fun easter egg, that famous quote Typhus claimed to be BS in LoS? It turns out its in the court records, just your regularly scheduled reminder that Wraight does his research and that Typhus isnt just literally full of it. Chapter Eight: The Legio Mortis The first, shortest and worst of the Titan Legio sections. Nothing is really exceptional or likable or really even that interesting here. Doesn't help that it is only a page long. Overall This is good stuff. Really good stuff. 8/10 I know alot of this is gushing but then again I would not have made a thread if I didnt think this stuff was both excellent and worthy of further discussion. Hope folks are up to review the book and the others, I will throw on Massacre after a fresh reread!