Confused about Pariah *Spoilers*

[Kilofix]

I'm a little lost after having read Pariah by Dan Abnett.

 

I made the mistake of not at all having read previous Ravenor or Eisenhorn novels.

 

The sense that I get from the book is that Mab is attacked, then its attacked again, then Beta is running, then someone tries to capture her, then someone tries to help her, then another group tries to capture her, then some Chaos shows up, then either Ravenor or Eisenhorn shows up, then more running. I am more than a little confused as to who is whom without context.

 

Can someone help me summarize all the different 'sides' that were after 'Beta' and their motivations?

 

If this is somehow against B&C regs then forget I asked.

 

Thanks!

[Chaeron]

  On 6/10/2014 at 6:08 PM, Kilofix said:

I made the mistake of not at all having read previous Ravenor or Eisenhorn novels.

 

This is the biggest mistake really. I'd go and read them - then re-read this, and it'll make perfect sense.

[ElectricPaladin]

Chaeron has the right of it. That said, I'll try to help you out...

 

• You have the Inquisition, as represented by Gideon Ravenor and his team.
• You have the "Inquisition," as represented by the loyal rogue Gregor Eisenhorn (actually I think he's totally loyal and a patriot - I kid because I love).
• You have the Cognitae (a transhumanist Chaos cult introduced in the earlier books), represented by the organization that raised Bequin (or as I put it over on BoLS "Bequin, sweetheart, I don't know who you work for, but it's not the Inquisition.").
• You've got the Emperors Children, represented by... well, the Emperor's Children Space Marine who showed up.
• You've got the Word Bearers, represented by the Word Bearers.
• You've got the Chaos-worshipping powers in charge of Mab, represented by the people surrounding the pontiff who "interviewed" Bequin. Now, said pontiff might actually be in the Emperor's light - he seemed to be - as the corruption is clearly both deep and subtle. These folks seem to be related to the Eight, who seem to have some kind of relationship with the Cognitae (as the Cognitae were providing them with blanks to act as hosts for their spider-things). But like I said, the situation is complex and we don't know that the Eight and the Cognitae are exactly the same thing. You could argue that the Word Bearers and the Eight are the same, but that seems more likely to be an alliance of disparate groups, rather than that they are one and the same.
• And finally, you've got the Alpha Legion, as represented by Badass McKickbutt and his dog, Face-Eater.

[Kilofix]

That helps - thanks man.

 

The most confusing thing for me was whether the Cognitae, the shop folks of Mab, the authority of Mab, the Eight, and the Word Bearers were on the same 'side'. I guess technically they are but they each had their own interests.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

I'll try to sum up the web of who-knows-who-and-how here for you to clear it up a little more.

 

 

 

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Gregor Eisenhorn once had his own school for gifted youngsters psychic blanks, and the first blank he used was his good friend Alizebeth Bequin.  After decades of operating together, they were kind of-sort of in love, but since it was physically painful for Gregor, a psyker, to touch a blank, it kind of made the whole relationship this weird version of a friend-zone.  That is, until Bequin is attacked and put into a coma never to wake up.  Anyway, Eisenhorn is declared rogue by the Inquisition for becoming super-radical, but. . . well, roads to Hell and paving stones, and all that.

 

Gregor also had a gifted and psychically powerful Interrogator named Gideon Ravenor, who was horribly burned during an operation and basically became Professor X in an enclosed hover-chair.  Ravenor continues to be seen as a loyal Inquisitor, and is hunting down his old mentor because, well, he's a super-radical who has his own personal pet daemonhost.

 

In the Ravenor trilogy, one of the organizations he'd tangled with was a Chaos cult called the Cognitae.  As it turns out, this group was basically trying to build its own reverse-Inquisition; an organization with its fingers in all of the Imperium's pies to further their own agenda.  This is who ran the school Beta was at.  So while Beta thinks she's being trained by the Inquisition[/i], she's really not, which is why Ravenor and his team raid the school.

 

Anyway, as it turns out, Beta is actually a clone of Alizebeth Bequin, which is why Eisenhorn and his team kind of fawn over her a little.  And why Alpharius the hide-in-plain-sight-as-a-Warblind Space Marine is watching over her at Eisenhorn's request; Gregor is protecting her because while she's not actually Bequin, she's kind of Bequin, and he loves her.

 

Meanwhile, Ravenor wants to capture Beta, well, partly because she's a clone of Bequin (whom he knew before the whole interred-in-floating-chair event), but mainly because:

 

1. She's another link in the chain of trying to root out the Cognitae again, and

2. He knows that Eisenhorn is going to protect her because love, so she's a link in the chain of finding him, too.

 

 

 

[Kol Saresk]

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You forgot to mention the daemonhost has a bad:cuss sense of humor. ;)

[ElectricPaladin]

I'd also like to trumpet my personal theory that Eisenhorn and Ravenor aren't actually on opposite sides. It think it's entirely possible that they're gaming the Inquisition. We'll see how it shakes out.

[Chaeron]

  On 6/10/2014 at 8:00 PM, ElectricPaladin said:

I'd also like to trumpet my personal theory that Eisenhorn and Ravenor aren't actually on opposite sides. It think it's entirely possible that they're gaming the Inquisition. We'll see how it shakes out.

 

I actually don't want them to be against one another - and hope that there's a superb reconciliation and happy families pandering at the end of this trilogy.

 

 

 

 

Eternal optimist: likelihood? Nil.

[Iron Father Ferrum]

This is grimdark, Chaeron.  Either they're working at cross purposes and there will be only one man standing at the end of the day, or they're working together and something is going to go terribly, horribly wrong.

[Chaeron]

  On 6/10/2014 at 11:56 PM, Deus Ex Ferrum said:

This is grimdark, Chaeron.  Either they're working at cross purposes and there will be only one man standing at the end of the day, or they're working together and something is going to go terribly, horribly wrong.

 

I can but hope...!

[Gripharius]

  On 6/10/2014 at 6:40 PM, Deus Ex Ferrum said:

I'll try to sum up the web of who-knows-who-and-how here for you to clear it up a little more.

 

 

 

Prior to reading your spoiler, I would have thought it patently impossible to sum up the whole pre-Pariah Gideon/Ravenor interaction in 6 paragraphs or less.

 

You, my friend, are a scholar and a gentleman.  But I promise I won't tell anyone. 

[Kol Saresk]

  On 6/11/2014 at 6:57 PM, Gripharius said:

 

  On 6/10/2014 at 6:40 PM, Deus Ex Ferrum said:

I'll try to sum up the web of who-knows-who-and-how here for you to clear it up a little more.

 

Prior to reading your spoiler, I would have thought it patently impossible to sum up the whole pre-Pariah Gideon/Ravenor interaction in 6 paragraphs or less.

 

You, my friend, are a scholar and a gentleman.  But I promise I won't tell anyone.

 

That is a good point. Although I did realize that Deus did forget something.

 

 

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In the book, there is reference to a House Glau(sp? I feel real stupid for having to ask). This goes back to the Eisenhorn series as the main villains in the first and third novel have to do with House Glau. They're Eisenhorn's Cognitae so to speak. And it was Pontius Glau, the Patriarch of said house, who was responsible for organizing the bombing of Eisenhorn's Pariah school. It was thought the House was destroyed in the first book with Pontius, the only survivor, being killed off in the third. But apparently some remnant has survived and resumed its former servitude to the Emperor's Children.

 

[Captain Juan Juarez]

I always felt there should have been a cousin, or someone, called Summer in that House.

[Daevyll]

I kind of liked the novel, but at some point all the different factions became a bit too much of a good thing, it started to look one of those family reunion shows. Even the Glaws make an appearance.

[ElectricPaladin]

  On 6/20/2014 at 11:51 AM, Daevyll said:

I kind of liked the novel, but at some point all the different factions became a bit too much of a good thing, it started to look one of those family reunion shows. Even the Glaws make an appearance.

 

I think it's likely that many of the "separate" factions are actually working for each other, manipulated by each other, or actually just different facets of the same organization. The situation may become less complex with time.

[Kol Saresk]

I like complex. Makes it harder to figure out the catch before its written down .

[Daevyll]

I like complexity if it adds to the story. I do not like complexity for the sake of complexity. 

 

Come to think of it, that is why I got annoyed with Inception. If something is overly convoluted for the sake of being convoluted, it starts to grate and pulls you out of the suspension of disbelief necessary for enjoyment.

[ElectricPaladin]

  On 6/20/2014 at 5:14 PM, Daevyll said:

I like complexity if it adds to the story. I do not like complexity for the sake of complexity. 

 

Come to think of it, that is why I got annoyed with Inception. If something is overly convoluted for the sake of being convoluted, it starts to grate and pulls you out of the suspension of disbelief necessary for enjoyment.

 

What annoyed me about Inception was that it had a fascinating premise, but devolved into a nonsensical over-the-top gunfest.

 

They should have got Abnett to write it... he knows how to use action to further the plot, rather than letting action become the point of the plot.

[fluxdeluxe]

I loved inception personally.

 

I can't wait for the follow up to Pariah, however we are going to be waiting a while :(

[Perrin]

Has anyone read Perihelion? It's an ebook short prequel to Pariah. I'll sum up what I can remember below.

 

 

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Basically, Eisenhorn goes to an Inquisition book trial. Some rich guy has died and left the contents of his library to the people of his world, but before the books are released they have to be inspected by the Inquisition. There are three Inquisitors there and each book is brought out onto the stage, talked about, inspected, then they decide whether it should be destroyed, kept but locked away or released if it's deemed harmless.

 

Anyway, a powerful psyker starts piggybacking various stormtroopers and guards around the theatre and forcing them to attack other guards and the Inquisitors. It's like a psyker ghost form that comes up quite a lot in Abnett's works. Eisenhorn thinks it's after him, and fights it a bit but it's too strong, although he does realise he is much more experienced and skilled than it. Think a scalpel vs a battle axe. He is running around the building while also trying to fight off this psyker, when he runs into a back room and finds... Box Man! It turns out the psyker is actually after Ravenor.

 

I can't remember if it is revealed in this short or at the end of Pariah, but Ravenor thinks that Eisenhorn could be the Yellow King that has been set up as the big bad so far.

 

 

I liked Pariah a lot. The hardcover is so pretty, and it's so different than any other 40k book (apart from Eisenhorn and Ravenor obviously). Dan sort of ignores any restrictions if that makes sense, he really makes his own version of 40k that, although not always a good thing, comes off great.