Vulkan Lives

[Emperor's Furor]

Well it's not clear whether they all die or not, there's no definitive indication they are, however this is how they are left...(Moderately Big Spoilers)

 

 

Numeon is last seen choking on his own blood after being shot in the torso with a bolter, previously he'd been shot in the eye by John Grammaticus. The others are last seen fighting word bearers at the space port with them charging.

 

So I'm questioning whether they truly do die or is something else going to happen, they are probably just going to be assumed dead, but it would be pretty :cussty.

 

[Kol Saresk]

Well, considering the ones doing the charge were given this whole "See you on the Other side feel", I'm going with they were dead. Unless Vulkan lands right in the middle of the fight.

[Greyall]

Thanks for the spoils. Real shame, I had high hopes for Numey.

[Kol Saresk]

Yeah, sorry. But I think it was for the best. Nick Kyme made him and Leodrakk very......... out of character.

[Greyall]

How so?

[Kol Saresk]

 

Well, I guess you could call it PTSD, or shock from the Dropsite Massacre, but Leodrakk in particular is shown as being very, very, very aggressive. And suicidal. And I get that in their part of the story, they're just trying to kill the Dark Apostle to keep him from doing whatever it was he was trying to do. But there is a whole planet where most of the humans are captured> And then they are being marched to an old temple and are being sacrificed. The group is made up of mostly Salamanders. Nowhere in their heads did it click "Hey, let's cause some disruption and let the civilians get away. Then we can use the confusion to get in, kill the Dark Apostle and get out." Instead, it basically went "Let the civilians die. The Dark Apostle has the thingy John Grammaticus is looking for. So instead of killing three birds with one stone, we're going to perform a tactical retreat to somewhere else. Because Vulkan lives.

 

Like I said, it wasn't a bad story. It just seemed some of the portrayals were wonky. Only in the flashbacks did the Salamanders actually appear like the humanitarian Salamanders. The Word Bearers kept reminding me of Night Lords with all the hunting. Konrad Curze was in his sensitive phase. I get that everything practically changed after Istvaan V and wanting to break the stereotypes but the portrayals were so way out of the box. I think Vulkan was the only one who had a portrayal I could actually see relating to the character. Which is weird since he was delusional the part of the time he may or may not have been in a psyker-induced dreamland.

 

 

Although, I guess the portrayals might make sense to others. I mean, the way the story was written, I don't it could have worked any other way. But it does seem abnormal the way everyonee is shown.

[Greyall]

We've seen a lot of PTSD on Salamanders..no such thing for the Raven Guard, is there?

 

Why are the Salamanders' super-engineered-soldiers so fragile?

[Kol Saresk]

Well, I think Deliverance Lost was supposed to be an attempt at PTSD in the Raven Guard, but it failed miserably since the Raven Guard who didn't go to Istvaan behaved exactly like the survivors. I think A D-B did a far better job with the Raven who suffered from Stockholm Syndrome. Which is saying something because I don't think that was what he was trying to do there since Prince of Crows was Sevatar's story.

[Emperor's Furor]

lol the PTSD Iron hand in Vulkan Lives adopts sarcasm to cope with it lol.

[Kol Saresk]

Yeah, that was kind of awesome. Pergellen for the win. Too bad he died.

[Greyall]

That's sig-worthy, Kol

[lilMAC25]

I got lost pretty quickly as to whether all of the torture/escape scenarios were actually happening or they were products of Vulkan's ruined mind (due to torture). Also, is Vulkan ACTUALLY a Perpetual like Grammaticus?? Or is that more physch torture by Curze? Where the hell does Vulkan teleport to at the end of the novel? Random coordinates in space? What was the significance of the little hammer (that the author refers to repeatedly as a beacon) if not as a teleport beacon? Maybe Vulkan teleported IN to a set of coordinates where the hammer WAS. meaning the hammer beacon was on a moving ship? Or was that escape by Vulkan just another product of his tortured mind? I'm sure that some of the confusion is intentional, but it did take away from the story. This, IMO is by FAR the worst of the HH novels.

[Kol Saresk]

 

Yes, Vulkan is a confirmed perpetual. When that random Eldar communicates with John Grammaticus, he calls Vulkan a perpetual. So that was not a product of the psychic torture. So far, we have agreed that the airlock, the incinerator and the Iron Labyrinth are indeed real events. The debate is whether or not the squishing of civilians, the puppet-machine, the rotten dinner and the duel with Corax are all implanted images, or if it is just that the duel was the only psychic illusion. The escape was definitely real. And the author put such emphasis on the hammer, because the character was putting that emphasis on the hammer. Yes, Vulkan escaped, but currently we do not know where.

 

This novel was meant to be more psychological than action. If you were expecting Betrayer or Know No Fear, then well, yeah it is not going to be what you expected. But because it was psychological, I think many aspects were left for us to actually think on, like Vulkan's torture, or why the hammer icon meant so much when in reality it did so little, except to give a few Salamanders hopw that their Primarch lived.

 

[Apothecary Vaddon]

 

Plus beheaded, IIRC

 

[Kol Saresk]

It was mentioned along with thirty other types of death, but it wasn't actually shown IIRC. And since it was mentioned during the Rotten Feast, which is itself debateable on being real or planted, the mention has the potential to fall under the same category.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

 

Since it wasn't actually experienced (or remembered to be experienced) by Vulkan, and just mentioned as something Curze found infuriating about his brother, I put stock into it. Some things were obviously hallucinations (don't you dare say Verace was though), but I think Curze spoke the truth. After all, if he's a Perpetual, it shouldn't matter how you kill him, he'll come back regardless.

 

[Artein]

 

I believe that only the escape with Corax was an illusion planted by Davinites. Other things were real, maybe slightly deformed by tortures and trauma, like adding a ghost of Ferrus....

 

 

Kinda Unremembered Empire spoiler:

 

Also probably Vulkan teleported to Macragge so it'll tie in nice with Unremembered Empire.

 

[Kol Saresk]

Technically, not a spoiler. It's a theory. A sound theory since nothing can say its wrong, but a theory.

[lilMAC25]

 

Yes, Vulkan is a confirmed perpetual. When that random Eldar communicates with John Grammaticus, he calls Vulkan a perpetual. So that was not a product of the psychic torture. So far, we have agreed that the airlock, the incinerator and the Iron Labyrinth are indeed real events. The debate is whether or not the squishing of civilians, the puppet-machine, the rotten dinner and the duel with Corax are all implanted images, or if it is just that the duel was the only psychic illusion. The escape was definitely real. And the author put such emphasis on the hammer, because the character was putting that emphasis on the hammer. Yes, Vulkan escaped, but currently we do not know where.

 

This novel was meant to be more psychological than action. If you were expecting Betrayer or Know No Fear, then well, yeah it is not going to be what you expected. But because it was psychological, I think many aspects were left for us to actually think on, like Vulkan's torture, or why the hammer icon meant so much when in reality it did so little, except to give a few Salamanders hopw that their Primarch lived.

 

my post was simply moving the post I had about this book into the discussion. Several of the questions were already answered or discussed.

 

I think you are giving Kymes too much credit in that we are supposed to "think on it". I think it's just poorly written. JMO... And you know what they say about opinions.

[amaze07]

Correct me if I am wrong but isnt there a thing in 40K called the Sigil of Vulkan??!!

 

 

[Kol Saresk]

 

 

 

Yes, Vulkan is a confirmed perpetual. When that random Eldar communicates with John Grammaticus, he calls Vulkan a perpetual. So that was not a product of the psychic torture. So far, we have agreed that the airlock, the incinerator and the Iron Labyrinth are indeed real events. The debate is whether or not the squishing of civilians, the puppet-machine, the rotten dinner and the duel with Corax are all implanted images, or if it is just that the duel was the only psychic illusion. The escape was definitely real. And the author put such emphasis on the hammer, because the character was putting that emphasis on the hammer. Yes, Vulkan escaped, but currently we do not know where.

 

This novel was meant to be more psychological than action. If you were expecting Betrayer or Know No Fear, then well, yeah it is not going to be what you expected. But because it was psychological, I think many aspects were left for us to actually think on, like Vulkan's torture, or why the hammer icon meant so much when in reality it did so little, except to give a few Salamanders hopw that their Primarch lived.

 

my post was simply moving the post I had about this book into the discussion. Several of the questions were already answered or discussed.

 

I think you are giving Kymes too much credit in that we are supposed to "think on it". I think it's just poorly written. JMO... And you know what they say about opinions.

 

 

 Maybe. Naybe you're not giving him enough. JMO... And you know what they say about opinions.

 

Correct me if I am wrong but isnt there a thing in 40K called the Sigil of Vulkan??!!

I believe so. I'm not exactly the biggest on Salamander fluff so I don't know.

[Emperor's Furor]

Yeah the Salamanders Chaplain Xavier (whose been removed and replaced with Vulkan He'stan) bore it.

 

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Vulkan's_Sigil#.Ugz5HpKkrjs

[Artein]

Technically, not a spoiler. It's a theory. A sound theory since nothing can say its wrong, but a theory.

 

Well, there were spoilers pretty much confirming it.... as long as spoilers can confirm anything.

I'll put all those spoilers in the tag (some from Vulkan Lives, some from Unremembered Empire, some from Scars)

 

 

Unremembered Empire

Quote

 

That phantoms should haunt Macragge, after all the horrors that had been recently visited upon the planet and the five hundred worlds it held in fealty, came as no surprise to anyone.

The population of Ultramar’s Five Hundred World dominion had suffered the atrocity of Calth, the gross treachery of Lorgar, the widespread bloodshed that followed in consequence, and the pan-galactic devastation of the so-named ‘Ruinstorm’.

Every single one of those billions of souls was in a state of existential shock. The monumental events had left psychological scars, ghost wounds that lingered in the minds of men: combat traumas, griefs and private losses, physical injuries, bitternesses, grudges, stress disorders, warp-fuelled nightmares, and other, less-classifiable after-effects. Calth, the ignition point, barely more than two years past, had haunted the citizens of Ultramar with such phantoms ever since.

No, when the latest apparitions came, the only surprise was that they should be so very real.

 

it has no less then five Primarchs in it, and representatives from eleven Legions in it. And there's a major death in it as well.

 

Primarchs:

Roboute Guilliman, ‘the Avenging Son’

The Lion

Vulkan

Sanguinius

Kurze

 

Legions:

Ultramarines

Dark Angels

Blood Angels

Night Lords

White Scars

Iron Hands

Iron Warriors

Salamanders

Word Bearers

Alpha Legion

Imperial Fists

 

There's two perpetuals in UE. I won't say who they are.

Also Eldrad makes an appearance. He's a dick.

 

Unremembered Empire is very good. I personally don't rank it as high as Know No Fear, but it is one of the best of the HH stories, easily in the top 10.

 

Vulkan Lives

 

Q: And does Vulkan really burn up in the atmosphere in Vulkan Lives? Because that sounded too dumb to believe.

A: Yes, Vulkan does actually burn up. And what is worse, he survives it to play a part in UE.

 

Q: I just thought it'd be REALLY dumb if Vulkan died in - You know - a novel called VULKAN LIVES.

A: No, but he comes very close, and he's not going to survive the Heresy, take it from me.

Black dude always dies.

 

Scars

 

Scars is going to be really good (Half the White Scars Legion sides with Horus, Dark Angels eat your heart out)

 

Alpha legion star prominently in Scars.

 

Q: Who wrote Savage Scars?

A: Chris Wraight. He's really outdone himself with Scars, I've put it in my top five HH novels after reading it.

 

Scars has three Legions in it. Space Wolves, White Scars and Alpha Legion.

We get to see Russ' reaction to finding out he destroyed Prospero on false orders, and that his brothers have turned on the allfather. It's one hell of a scene.

 

 

Some more stuff:

ADB has a Night Lords Novel named 'Nightfall', which will be the one he does after 'The Master of Mankind' next year.

 

Q: New Thousand Sons book?

A: Well Audio Drama, but yes, Magnus is making a return.

 

Sigismund isn't in UE, but he's getting a short in one of the anthologies where he fights his first battle against the traitors in the Sol system, and he will indeed be one hell of a badarse.

 

Q: May I ask what kind of word bearers stuff can we expect?

A: Something very unexpected, a Loyalist Word Bearer.

 

 

‘I believe in the Word of our primarch, and I believe that Word makes us loyal to the Emperor. We are of the Word, and thus we are of the Emperor. It was ever thus. I despise the steps my Legion-kin have taken to embrace the Outer Dark. Too many steps, too far.'

 

There's a Death Guard Novel coming after 'The Master of Mankind'. It shows the events leading up to the fateful trip which dooms the Death Guard.

That's not until Q3 of 2014 though.

 

Q: One more question: Siege of Terra/Post-Heresy novels. Are any scheduled in 1-2 year?

A: Nice try. There has been a lot of talk about a Scouring series (Abnett has some good ideas about the dynamic between Guilliman and Dorn and their differing views about where the Imperium should go post-heresy) but that's not for a good 3-5 years. Let me add to that. The plan is for 50 Horus Heresy books, at four a year. And we're getting numbers 27 (UE) and 28 (Scars) this year. So there'a about 4-5 years before we get to the Siege and the endgame. There's some really good stuff upcoming though, even beyond what I have told you all about.

 

 

All of this from Anon from /tg/.

[Kol Saresk]

So which part says that he landed in Macragge? How do we know he didn't wind up at Nurceria and landed on Guilliman's Thunderhawk as he was leaving the surface? Or that he wound up on any one of the other 400 worlds in Ultramar and then received transport to Macragge? Just because he makes an appearance in Unremembered Empire(something Nick Kyme said would happen on his blog back in January), it still does not tell us where he wound up. It can give us ideas, but until something that can be confirmed comes out and says "Vulkan landed on Macragge", like a post by a confirmed BL employee or BL itself, it is rumor and speculation. A sound speculative rumor, but still a rumor.

 

I remember in the Unremembered Empire thread, someone swore up and down that Vulkan Lives would take place on the Nightfall and that Vulkan would escape when the Dark Angels destroyed the ship in Prince of Crows. The only part they got right was that it took place on a ship. What the callsign for that ship is has never been stated.

 

So, I still stand by my statement. It is a theory. A sound theory, but a theory nonetheless. Unless the Anon comes forward with proof that he is a BL employee and with the actual work that proves what he is saying. Although that might get him fired. If that happens, then I guess he shouldn't have broken the non-disclosure agreement he signed.

[Emperor's Furor]

So with those spoilers in mind.

 

 

Does that pretty much confirm John is successful and Vulkan gets killed, if there is a major death in it? If so that stinks, but then again how does Vulkan show up at the breaking of the legions and why do the Salamanders go looking for his gifts..It can't be him who dies then surely?