Scars by Chris Wraight

[Hyaenidae]

*ahem* So... whatever you bloody well want to call it, such a cultural influence was only seen as Perturabo's pipedream in AE. Such an aspect never took root in the IV Legion. The only sense of 'culture' the Iron Warriors ever had was the same that Soldiers on both sides of the conflict felt amongst each other on the fields of Gettysburg, Verdun, Omaha Beach, Chosin Reservoir,  Hill 881, Easting 73, and Nasiriyah. A culture of blood and brotherhood, discipline and fidelity.

[Conn Eremon]

There's no way to do this without sounding like a smartass. Sorry guys, I know its patronizing but...

 

Hellenic pretty much refers to anything Greek. You could say something has Hellenic influences and that pretty much means it has something *Greek* in its character. The blue painted domes on white buildings that decorate postcards could be called 'Hellenic.'

 

Hellenistic is a more specific term that describes anything Greek or has Greek influence that dates from the time of Alexander the Great (so 323ish BCE) to the death of Cleopatra, the last Ptolemaic (read: successor to Alexander) monarch in the Mediterranean world. After the death of Cleopatra, most (but certainly not all) historians agree the Hellenistic Age moves over for the Roman.

 

Here's where it gets confusing: The Romans came into contact with the Greeks well before the death of Cleopatra, and assimilated much Greek culture into their own. Greek was spoken in the Roman Senate, Greeks were brought in to educate aristocratic Romans, etc etc. So, if these 'Hellenistic' influences were so clearly present in Roman civilization, can we say that the Roman Republic was a Hellenistic civilization? Probably not a useful label. It was a civilization that existed parallel to Greek ones during the Hellenistic Age, and took on many Hellenistic aspects.

 

Sorry again guys.

Yes? That is all accurate, but does that really change anything about what people were saying?

 

But ultimately I feel that 1000heathens is more or less correct. Whatever thematic background prevalent on Olympia, the Legion that comes from it really only retained linguistic ties. While much of its personality has a lot in common with some more well-known Greek philosophies, it isn't necessarily something unique to the Greeks and seems tha it has arisen thematically from the 'exhausted soldier' theme, or at least that is what the intention of the authors appears to be.

[b1soul]

*ahem* So... whatever you bloody well want to call it, such a cultural influence was only seen as Perturabo's pipedream in AE. Such an aspect never took root in the IV Legion. The only sense of 'culture' the Iron Warriors ever had was the same that Soldiers on both sides of the conflict felt amongst each other on the fields of Gettysburg, Verdun, Omaha Beach, Chosin Reservoir,  Hill 881, Easting 73, and Nasiriyah. A culture of blood and brotherhood, discipline and fidelity.

 

Which cultural influence are you referring to?

 

 

Naming mechanism, geography and what we have seen of its socio-cultural make-up rather heavily points to the ancient Greeks over Renaissance Italy. 

 

I have to agree with naming mechanisms...but I'm not seeing the cultural similarity apart from "warring city-states", which isn't really a cultural similarity as much as it is a political condition   

 

Geography: Were Greek city-states all located on top of mountains? I know Greece is mountainous but did they actually build their cities on mountains?

 

Socio-cultural make-up: Could you kindly elaborate. I'm not seeing the "socio-cultural" similarities 

 

Tech: Perturabo's world seems to be way more advanced than Hellenic/Hellenistic Greece. Technologically, it seems closer to Renaissance-era and Hellenic-era...but in truth, it seems much more advanced than either.

 

However, (this is based on my own personal bias) whenever I imagine the armies of Olympia, I see the Creon faction of Total Annihilation Kingdoms: The Iron Plague. I don't see Greek hoplite formations or Macedonian phalanxes.

 

Some examples of Creon units: 

 

http://www.peterfries.com/assets/IPAirJuggernaut.jpg

 

http://www.peterfries.com/assets/IPFireWagon.jpg

[Hyaenidae]

 

*ahem* So... whatever you bloody well want to call it, such a cultural influence was only seen as Perturabo's pipedream in AE. Such an aspect never took root in the IV Legion. The only sense of 'culture' the Iron Warriors ever had was the same that Soldiers on both sides of the conflict felt amongst each other on the fields of Gettysburg, Verdun, Omaha Beach, Chosin Reservoir,  Hill 881, Easting 73, and Nasiriyah. A culture of blood and brotherhood, discipline and fidelity.

 

Which cultural influence are you referring to? 

 

“Greater love has no one than this, that he lay down his life for his friends.”

[Emperor's Furor]

One thing that I'd love to know more about is Perturabo's decision to blow up his homeworld. Whilst you could argue Curze had a good reason to destroy his world, it seems to me Perturabo really over reacted to the natural order of things on his world. I mean whilst it wasn't perfect, the wars and such did have a positive effect on recruitment I guess and the general culture was a lot more ordered and formal than Curze's world afaik. Is that the guilt which tipped him over the edge, did he realise his anger had finally gone to far?

[Conn Eremon]

Err, wasn't Olympia in open rebellion against the Imperium? If anything, Curze had far less reason than Perturabo. Nostramo slipped back into lawlessness, but it was still imperial.

[Emperor's Furor]

I thought it had just devolved into a civil war amongst the original warring states, I'm probably wrong though.

[Kol Saresk]

If I recall correct, the tern used was "in revolt", although with Imperial 40K/30K vernacular, that could mean anything ISIS type rebellion to a simply pro-nationalist movement that was "inconsistent with Imperial Law".

 

But since his adoptive, warmongering father was leading it, it was most likely full revolt.

[Hyaenidae]

And Olympia didn't die like Nostromo; it was broken, burned and enslaved, it's surviving populace put into chains and lethal forced labor. Olympia remained the center of the Iron Empire during The Scouring, and was one of the last worlds to fall. At the very end of the Second Siege of Olympia, the encroaching Ultramarines and Imperial Fists laid siege to the world, until at the very end, when the Iron Warriors set alight every chemical and nuclear weapon in their stockpile to take the loyalists with them.

 

Only then did Olympia and her people finally know peace.

[Kol Saresk]

"Annihilation. Complete and total annihilation."

[Wade Garrett]

If we're going to give Olympia pithy epitahs, I prefer:

 

"Only the dead have seen the end of war."

[Hyaenidae]

Hm. Not bad. Myself, I prefer:

 

"To the last, I grapple with thee; from hell's heart I stab at thee; for hate's sake I spit my last breath at thee."

[Olis]

I think we need to steer things back towards the topic at hand, folks.

[Kol Saresk]

Heathens quoted Khan quoting Moby Dick. Does that count? :P