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Coming soon...The Purge?

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Kol Saresk Venerable Brother

Kol Saresk

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Now that I know it is unrelated to the Terran purge, my hopes have improved.

 

If he brings it back, though . . .

Going by the summarythingymabobdoohickey(had a brainfart), specifically the part where it says one has to be careful what thoughts they voice, I think Anthoney Reynolds has "updated" his idea to be more in line with Forgeworld and A D-B.

 

Honestly, I kind of like the idea that the Purge itself may have been an excuse for some of the more racist elements to remove their "impure" brethren and that total bias and 10,000 years in the warp shaped their memory to say the Purge was only of the Terrans. History written by the victors and all that jazz.

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Here is my review guys.

 

The book contains two strands in two different timelines, and it jumps back and forth between them throughout the book. You don’t have to read ‘Scions Of The Storm’ again before you read ‘The Purge’, which I personally think is a good thing – that short story might be my least favourite HH thing ever. Click the spoiler tag for a VERY EXTENSIVE BLOW BY BLOW ACCOUNT OF ALMOST EVERYTHING THAT HAPPENS... yeah it's long. sorry.

 

In strand A, a sizeable Word Bearer presence is on Terra, but is detained in their garrison on Rogal Dorn’s orders. Sor Talgron is the lone XVII warrior allowed to meet with Dorn, where he’s informed of the Isstvan III betrayal (Garro is present for this scene, but does little). An Imperial Fist huscarl at Dorn’s side needles Talgron with some remarks about the questionable loyalty of Lorgar, but Dorn squashes the beef, and says he is certain his brother Lorgar is loyal. He orders Talgron to muster at Isstvan, which Talgron argues against, claiming it would make more sense for the World Bearers already at Terra to assist the Fists in shoring up the Palace. Dorn overrules him, but says he will release into Talgron’s care Volkhar Wreth, the Word Bearers’ lone representative in the Crusade Host (at this point, only the Imperial Fist members of the Crusade Host have been released from imprisonment).

 

Talgron then goes to the Vault and escorts Wreth out, who is delighted to see him, since Talgron was his protégé many years ago. The two of them journey to a deserted section of the Imperial Palace, which makes Wreth suspicious, more so when another Word Bearer emerges from the shadows – a Dark Apostle called Jarulek. After a tense confrontation, Talgron and Jarulek attack Wreth (there’s a nice moment where the unarmoured Wreth is grappling with Talgron, who’s in full battle plate, and Wreth manages to crack a helmet lens, prompting Talgron to say “That is all you get.” Someone’s been reading ‘Legion’…). Wreth is outraged and refuses to believe that Lorgar would betray the Emperor, but he’s told that he is the last remaining Terran Word Bearer who has not embraced the new way of thinking. Ultimately, Wreth is overpowered and butchered while still alive: horribly mutilated, his tongue removed, and his skin carved with runes and markings. Just to add insult to injury they replace his primary heart with one of those ‘warp-flasks’ and basically chuck him down a well and seal it up. It’s heavily implied he will stay alive, gestating daemonic powers, for years, conscious but unable to move. Not great. Not great at all. The purpose of this isn’t clear, but, well, it can’t be good for the defenders of the Imperial Palace.

 

Strand B shows us that some years later, Sor Talgron and his fleet (34th Company, Chapter Of The Perpetual Spiral) are persecuting the Shadow Crusade. When we join them they are killing Perecepton Primus, one of the Five Hundred Worlds. They attacked the completely unprepared planet and wiped out over half its defense fleet in less than half an hour; months later, only the sizeable Ultramarine ground forces are presenting a problem (there were Titan Legions defending the planet, but most were killed from orbit). While the 17th Chapter of the XIII Legion, led by the noble Aecus Decimus, prepare to sell their lives as dearly as they can, Talgron’s scouts discover evidence of Ultramarine activity in a bunker deep under a mountain quite far from the battle-lines. (I did enjoy the character of Loth, an ill-tempered recon marine who is something of a kindred spirit to Talgron.) Being a suspicious kind of guy, Talgron decides to check it out in person. As it turns out, the Ultramarines have an ace in the hole: one of the ships in orbit, the Righteous Fury, is badly mauled but not quite dead, and the bunker is being used as a beacon on the planet as the Fury gets ready to unload all its weaponry onto the planet’s surface. Five Ultramarines (all marked with the red helm of censure) are the only ones defending the bunker; pretty thin odds, even though one of them’s a Contemptor dreadnought. Talgron and his breacher squad show up and it gets bloody; the dreadnought is only stopped when five Word Bearer Cataphractii terminators teleport in. The last Ultramarine to survive is a former psyker and in desperation, he unleashes his psychic powers to buy more time, earning Talgron’s scorn (it would appear that, while a traitor, he still respects the Edict). It all ends when Jarulek the Dark Apostle calls in some daemons and takes the Librarian down.

 

Talgron works out too late what’s happening, and the Righteous Fury bombards the planet with phosphex, a weapon described as so destructive and horrifying that the Death Guard hesitate to use it, focusing on the muster points where the Word Bearers are leaving the world. Talgron’s armies are decimated and he knows that few of them will escape (final butcher’s bill is two-thirds of his total forces dead), but he feels strangely impressed and respectful of the XIII, compared to his bitterness and shame when he sees what his own Legion has become. Jarulek manages to escape using dark magic of some kind, but Talgron squares his shoulders and walks out into the orbital bombardment… getting most of his retinue killed in the process. Horribly burned by the phosphex, Talgron survives, ranting and pleading not to be interred in a dreadnought as the apothecaries desperately try to stabilise him. He falls into a deep vision/dream where he hallucinates that he’s back on Terra, trapped down that well with Wreth. The closing moments are genuinely horrifying: Talgron pronounced dead but beginning to twitch, then looking up at his brothers with empty eye sockets and whispering that Lorgar has shown him the gods. It ends with him escaping dreadnought interment, instead being rebuilt with extensive bionics and not a little dark magic… and his former scepticism about his Legion’s path and Lorgar’s new patrons now completely forgotten.

 

I’m not going to do a full review, but here’s a little ‘in my opinion’ rundown…

 

My opinion? ‘The Purge’ is pretty good actually! For a lot of the novella’s first half – particularly the Ultramarine/Word Bearers conflicts near the beginning – I was a little bored. I love the Terra stuff set after the Betrayal, so naturally this was my favourite part of the book and kept me interested, but actually the Shadow Crusade arc also had a very compelling ending. The back-and-forth timeline switch irritated me at first, but by the end, it was really effective in ratcheting up the tension. 

 

I know some people will wonder, and yes, there are some tie-ins to the wider HH series. We get a brief allusion to the filthy doings on the asteroid-shrine where the audio drama ‘Templar’ was set, as well as some brief discussion of the Crusade Host (the audience for that might be small, I get the feeling very few people liked ‘The Outcast Dead’ as much as I did). Also, hey, a little mention of the watch-pack assigned to Rogal Dorn, something we’re apparently getting an AD-B story about soon. The Wreth betrayal – something Talgron is deeply resentful at having to carry out – reminds me of that Sorot Tchure part in ‘Know No Fear’; a betrayal is most valued by the dark powers when it’s done by a trusted friend.

 

I can see the main complaint being "so why's it called The Purge"? Legion-wide purges aren't a prominent theme here. (For those worried about the 'Terran World Eaters', they're only mentioned in passing and it doesn't imply they were treated any differently than the Colchisian Legionaries.) Really only one person in the novella can be described as 'purged'. And that dude didn't even really die yet. Sure there are a few interpretations of the word and you could say the concept comes up a few times: Talgron despises Erebus, and sent all of those he felt were susceptible to Erebus' charms to Calth to die. Or more metaphorically: Sor Talgron's doubts and grudges are purged by his experiences in this story. Or more literally: the Ultramarines purge Perecepton Primus when they realise they've lost, teaching the Word Bearers a valuable lesson about how far their enemy will go. Don't expect high body count 'grey on red' sequences of Word Bearers 'Gestapo' squads. Personally? I'd've gone with a different title.

 

I’d compare this to ‘Ravenlord’, I guess; like Gav, Reynolds can sometimes be a little ‘bare-bones’ than BL’s most gifted writers, but when it comes down to it, I’d rather it be a little dry than a non-stop gush of overwritten clichés. Also like ‘Ravenlord’, it took a while to get started but I enjoyed the ending and actually felt pretty eager to see where this storyline goes next. A 90% bionic Word Bearer with a horribly burned face is a cool concept, but I think Reynolds has the depth to make him a compelling character and not just a sketch for a cool Forge World model we might get in a few years, or the XVII version of Julius Kaesoron. With Argel Tal no longer around I think it’s good that we are getting another Word Bearer who struggled with his Legion’s new direction but still ‘stayed bad’, and heck, any new Word Bearer characters who can bounce off Erebus and Kor Phaeron can only be a good thing… right? And some of the characters surrounding Talgron are good candidates for a bit of fleshing out in a full length novel, particularly the slimy Jarulek and the abrasive but loyal Dal Ahk. Let's not forget that poor guy stuck down the well with daemons eating his guts, either.

 

In conclusion: Pretty far off ‘Tallarn’, ‘Aurelian’ or ‘Brotherhood Of The Storm’, but I did enjoy it a lot more than ‘Promethean Sun’ and a little more than ‘Ravenlord’. Will definitely re-read eventually

and I hope Reynolds gets another Sor Talgron novel (or maybe that someone else picks the character up, I just want more of this guy).

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So what were the WB doing on terra in the first place?

 

 

 

Not really confirmed in the story but the 'fold out' centrepiece has a brief history of the Perpetual Spiral chapter, who were often called upon for garrison duty in the years of the Crusade. Near the Crusade's end, Sor Talgron and half of his Chapter are garrisoned on Terra by Lorgar's command. It's implied this is because Talgron has an antagonistic relationship with the Chapter Master, Balas Silak (a particularly zealous Word Bearer) and Lorgar felt it was possible this could lead to bloodshed - he wanted to avoid this, as he valued Talgron and was apparently grooming him for command.

 

It's 'only' half a Chapter so it's not anywhere near a force that could tangle with the Fists guarding the Palace. As for what they're actually doing, well... here's a quote from the accusatory Imperial Fist that Talgron speaks to:

 

"You've been very active since your posting here... Patrolling the length and breadth of the solar system, regulated inspections to Mars and the shipyards of Jupiter and Luna, maintaining a presence in within the Imperial Pal-"

"Such is my duty!" said Sor Talgron, interrupting. His expression was thunderous.

 

Talgron does well at convincing Dorn that everything's above board, but, well, if you've read 'Battle For The Abyss' and 'Mechanicum' and heard 'Templar', you can take an educated guess at the kind of things Talgron and his Chapter have been doing (or helping along).

 

Dorn himself commends Talgron as the acceptable face of his Legion, due to his 'straight up and down' reputation and disdain for the rituals and Emperor-worship the WBs are renowned for, so it seems their presence didn't raise suspicion. And I assume they obey their orders to leave for Isstvan V after storyline A concludes, so by the time anyone could say "Hey, what are all these Word Bearers hanging about for?" they were long gone.

 

MasterofMankind Battle-Brother

MasterofMankind

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So what were the WB doing on terra in the first place?

 

 

 

Not really confirmed in the story but the 'fold out' centrepiece has a brief history of the Perpetual Spiral chapter, who were often called upon for garrison duty in the years of the Crusade. Near the Crusade's end, Sor Talgron and half of his Chapter are garrisoned on Terra by Lorgar's command. It's implied this is because Talgron has an antagonistic relationship with the Chapter Master, Balas Silak (a particularly zealous Word Bearer) and Lorgar felt it was possible this could lead to bloodshed - he wanted to avoid this, as he valued Talgron and was apparently grooming him for command.

 

It's 'only' half a Chapter so it's not anywhere near a force that could tangle with the Fists guarding the Palace. As for what they're actually doing, well... here's a quote from the accusatory Imperial Fist that Talgron speaks to:

 

"You've been very active since your posting here... Patrolling the length and breadth of the solar system, regulated inspections to Mars and the shipyards of Jupiter and Luna, maintaining a presence in within the Imperial Pal-"

"Such is my duty!" said Sor Talgron, interrupting. His expression was thunderous.

 

Talgron does well at convincing Dorn that everything's above board, but, well, if you've read 'Battle For The Abyss' and 'Mechanicum' and heard 'Templar', you can take an educated guess at the kind of things Talgron and his Chapter have been doing (or helping along).

 

Dorn himself commends Talgron as the acceptable face of his Legion, due to his 'straight up and down' reputation and disdain for the rituals and Emperor-worship the WBs are renowned for, so it seems their presence didn't raise suspicion. And I assume they obey their orders to leave for Isstvan V after storyline A concludes, so by the time anyone could say "Hey, what are all these Word Bearers hanging about for?" they were long gone.

 

 

Thanks

Kol Saresk Venerable Brother

Kol Saresk

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I like the bit that the WB from the Crusader Host wasn't attacked because he was Terran, but because he was a Terran who wasn't going along with the new way, keeping in line with the newer fluff while allowing Anthoney Reynolds to keep with his old.

 

I think the title is a metaphorical literal message: all doubt to the new Way was purged. In case, the WB was turned into a living time bomb and removed from the equation, while the other had his doubts purged in the baptism of death and fire.

 

TrafficCustodes Battle-Brother

TrafficCustodes

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I like the bit that the WB from the Crusader Host wasn't attacked because he was Terran, but because he was a Terran who wasn't going along with the new way, keeping in line with the newer fluff while allowing Anthoney Reynolds to keep with his old.

 

I think the title is a metaphorical literal message: all doubt to the new Way was purged. In case, the WB was turned into a living time bomb and removed from the equation, while the other had his doubts purged in the baptism of death and fire.

 

 

Yeah, I agree with your interpretation. A little bit misleading, but... who says every title has to be straightforward?

 

Hyaenidae Venerable Brother

Hyaenidae

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Mine turned up yesterday, was a good read - Though it made me want to start painting Ultramarines.

 

Much better than Ravenlord and Tallarn Executioner thankfully, though not quite as good as Aurelian

 

 

....You take that back, sir.

 

Do not take the name of my beloved Tallarn: Executioner in vain....

TrafficCustodes Battle-Brother

TrafficCustodes

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Yeah, I think Tallarn: Executioner is my favourite Horus Heresy novella.

 

We all like different things though. I can see someone liking 'The Purge' way more if they're a big fan of the Word Bearers or prefer stories focusing on Astartes.

 

And yeah, the Ultramarines in this story were very heroic, almost as cool as the ones in 'Betrayer'.

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