A passage capturing the essence of your fave legion...

[Mellow]

 

 

 

 

'For Dorn and the Imperium, brother. Your objective is the Iron Blood. Execute Perturabo.'

 

- Alexis Polux

 

This part of the story always grabs me. I know it seems minor, but when given thought I believe it captures the Imperial Fists and their whole mindset. Leading up to this moment the Imperial Fists are outnumbered and stranded. Through steadfast training and sacrifice they are able to turn a slaughter into a even fight... then they realize they are fighting a Primarch... and Alexis Polux immediately assigns 50 ships to Captain Tyr and orders him to execute a freaking Primarch! Nevermind that the attack fails. Never mind that we all know that Perturabo does not get executed. Right there... in that moment... regular Space Marines are ordered to their certain doom, and they didn't bat an eye.

 

For the freaking Emperor!

Actually, IT DOES NOT FAIL. Were it not for the orders from Dorn to retreat to Terra, Perturabo would be dead, a thousand TDAs teleported in front of his face. He knows that all too well, that is why he destroys the cogitator showing him the outcome projections.

 

Alexis Pollux was as much of an epic talent at void warfare as Sigismund was in single combat.

was this is a novel

Shadows of Treachery I believe.

 

He should have disobeyed the order to withdraw and killed the enemy fleet and Primarch.

 

It would have given the loyalists a win and evened up the whole embarrassment of Ferrus losing his head like a moron. Making Perturabo a moron too.

 

But no. He decided to obey and withdraw and suffered greatly because of it.

[Biscuittzz]

Reading all these passages of brilliant work really highlight the shambles Thorpe made of the RG. I can't find one good piece of prose. However, he was quite descriptive and I feel the best essence of the Raven Guard is captured by the description of their planetstrike on Yarrant to rescue the Wolves.

 

Really good piece showing the legion (or what's left of it) in action, from the use of infiltration to decapitation strikes and also their whole 'shadowcast' strategy. 

 

Edit: From Weregeld.

Edited September 13, 2017 by Biscuittzz

[b1soul]

So many gems by Wraight...

 

‘This was his weapon,’ he said. ‘It was taken from him, and he met his death with another blade, one he preferred. Straight, like the blades of this world.’

He gave it to her, and she laid it heavily in her lap, gazing down at it. For the first time, something like recognition sparked in her eyes.

‘But this was the one he was given,’ Shiban said. ‘It has the mark of the ordu on it. That is the sign of his honour, and should remain here.’

She looked up at him. ‘Can it be kept safe?’ she asked.

‘Nowhere is safe now. It belongs in this place.’

She nodded, then traced a finger along the sweep of the metal. ‘I do remember,’ she said, never taking her eyes off the weapon. ‘My mother told me the story, told to her by her mother.’ She looked up at him. ‘We were proud. We never stopped being proud.’

Shiban nodded. ‘Good.’

‘Forgive me, though. I do not know much of the war. I had always been told… Well, it was said…’ She struggled. ‘They told us he had gone to the Luna Wolves.’

That name no longer meant anything. It had ceased even to be a source of hatred, just an old term that belonged in another age. It had been a long time since Shiban had even heard it mentioned, and soon it would disappear entirely, buried under an avalanche of stale treachery.

‘No,’ he said. ‘No, tell it differently now. He was, and will always be, a White Scar.’

[Phoebus]

What is that from, b1soul?

[b1soul]

Restorer, a recent short

[HeritorA]

Restorer, a recent short

You forget - a brilliant 'recent' short

[Phoebus]

Thanks!

[Guest Triszin]

the 13th company

 

 

On the 13th day of Secundus in 999.M41, Cadian sector command lost contact with the sparsely populated mining world of Ormnatep  Located at the outskirts of the Sector and close to the Cadian Gate, the planet was an important Astropath listening post and was thus guarded by a company of Kashkirn.

 

It soon became apparent that the world had come under fierce assault. The attack that crippled the station came with complete surprise and left only a handful of survivors, among them a single dying Astropath who was able to call for aid from a nearby Imperial Navy Cruiser. The attackers identified as a small but elite company of Black Legionairs who had sought to quickly knock out the Astropathic Choir. However their plan was foiled by a heroic last stand by Kasrkin that held off the Chaos Space Marines forr several hours until the plea for aid had been dispatched. As the Traitors closed on the hastily Kasrkin-constructed barricades of the inner sanctum of the Choir's fortress, night fell. It was then that the tide of the battle turned, with Black Legionnaires being mysteriously cut down and dragged into the shadows by howling creatures. In minutes, all the Chaos Marines were dead. Their bodies were found savagely ripped open, and the only evidence of the identity of their slayers was a distorted vox recording of howls. Many have since come to suspect that the world was saved by the Space Wolves 13th Great company.

 

^{Raid on Voidsoul, Creeds blade failed attempt is a second favorite of mine.}

 

^{It shows that the 13th company are terrifying nightmares of the imperium.}

[Jagus Kumkani]

"On the Anvil of War are the strong tempered and the weak made to perish, thus are men's souls tested as metal in the forge's fire."

 

I love this quote personally because it speaks volumes about war. It's unbiased, uncompromising and you must get through it one way or another.

My time as a US Army Paratrooper, I saw this first hand on my first deployment. Some soldiers couldn't handle the fighting, they learn from it and do their duty or they get put on the sidelines and watch the warriors fight.

[b1soul]

I have found all portrayals of the Wulfen to be really cringey...except French's in the Ahriman series

 

 

The writing here is really cliched...like a scene out of Aliens or any horror monster movie

 

As the Traitors closed on the hastily Kasrkin-constructed barricades of the inner sanctum of the Choir's fortress, night fell. It was then that the tide of the battle turned, with Black Legionnaires being mysteriously cut down and dragged into the shadows by howling creatures. In minutes, all the Chaos Marines were dead. Their bodies were found savagely ripped open, and the only evidence of the identity of their slayers was a distorted vox recording of howls. Many have since come to suspect that the world was saved by the Space Wolves 13th Great company.

[Ascanius]

I have found all portrayals of the Wulfen to be really cringey...except French's in the Ahriman series

 

Maybe I'm dense, but I figured that pack just mutated from spending too long in the Warp, rather than becoming Wulfen per se.

[Sandlemad]

 

I have found all portrayals of the Wulfen to be really cringey...except French's in the Ahriman series

 

Maybe I'm dense, but I figured that pack just mutated from spending too long in the Warp, rather than becoming Wulfen per se.

 

 

Both, sort of. They were all on their way to being wulfen but also had various mutations, e.g. snake-like teeth and a distended jaw.

[b1soul]

I am not a big fan of the "Wulfen are just friendly Lycans" treatment

 

Warzone Fenris was comically juvenile

[Bellarius]

"We're the Luna Wolves, Garvi. We can do anything."

 

The line itself might sound like a relatively uninspiring thing, but the context of the situation makes that all the better somehow. On one side you have a full warfleet of the Imperium, led by four demi-gods of war who helped bring the galaxy to its knees, and every advantage they could ask for. They know the tactics of the opposing side, their faces, their personal flaws, and can even use a deeply ingrained loyalty against them. On the other you have a few thousand battle weary and depleted soldiers, led by outcasts deemed unworthy of their legion's future, who just survived total annihilation by little more than bravery and dumb luck.

 

The fact that the Luna Wolves take this situation in stride and quite casually say "Come on if you think you're hard enough!" truly cements what they were in my mind. The fact that they managed to back up this boast for months on end all the more so.

[Calas Typhon]

 

When the Emperor dies under his axes, when his final thought is of how the Great Crusade was all in pathetic futility, and when his last sight is Angron's iron smile... Then the Master of Mankind will learn what Angron has known since he picked up his first blade.

 

Freedom is the only thing worth fighting for.

It is why Tyrants always fall.

Edited September 18, 2017 by Warsmith Kroeger

[Petitioner's City]

 

I have found all portrayals of the Wulfen to be really cringey...except French's in the Ahriman series

 

Maybe I'm dense, but I figured that pack just mutated from spending too long in the Warp, rather than becoming Wulfen per se.

 

 

 

 

 

I have found all portrayals of the Wulfen to be really cringey...except French's in the Ahriman series

 

Maybe I'm dense, but I figured that pack just mutated from spending too long in the Warp, rather than becoming Wulfen per se.

 

 

Both, sort of. They were all on their way to being wulfen but also had various mutations, e.g. snake-like teeth and a distended jaw.

 

 

 

I am not a big fan of the "Wulfen are just friendly Lycans" treatment

 

Warzone Fenris was comically juvenile

 

I think they were meant to be a more realistic take on the Wulfen, following on better the Wulfen of Codex: Eye of Terror and the Wolves of Prosero Burns - how could Wolves survive in the Eye for an unknown amount of time. Also they maintained a company structure in that codex, which French captures well. 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

This is definitely what I was thinking of when reading Sorceror ... 

Edited September 18, 2017 by Petitioner's City

[Phoebus]

“Will this…’ began Kulok, and found his voice catching in his lips. ‘Will this make a difference?’

Lycus looked at him, green lenses bright in the bare ceramite of his helm.

‘Yes,’ he said after a moment. ‘Every act of defiance matters.’

‘To the Imperium?’

‘To existence.”

 

Excerpt From: French, John. “Tallarn.” iBooks.

This material may be protected by copyright.

 

Check out this book on the iBooks Store: https://itunes.apple.com/us/book/tallarn/id1249987023?mt=11

[b1soul]

Beautiful stuff...

 

‘Death holds no sacred mystery to me, Russ. It holds no terror.’ He laughed then, through the Nails’ pain, laughing hard enough that his eyes watered. ‘I may even welcome it! Are you empowered by our “beloved” father, dog? Can you really give me death, or has your posturing already gone too far? Will you run back to Terra and report that you lost control of your mongrel-blooded curs in the same way you slander me?’

Angron’s pain-slitted eyes locked to his brother’s, and he laughed even harder. ‘This was never meant to come to battle! I see it in your eyes – you took a step too far, little executioner, now you fear how this will all end.’ He stepped closer, his amusement turning sick and savage. ‘Executions are the murder of helpless prey, Russ. What you’ve committed to here, “brother”, is a fair fight.’

He nodded over the battlefield again. ‘And I say once more – your men are losing. You know why? Because yours have something to live for. They care. Mine fight for pleasure, knowing any life outside of war is denied to them. Their own lives are as meaningless to themselves as they are to me, and that is the gift given by the Butcher’s Nails. Warriors, not soldiers. Warriors with no fear of death, and no caution to guard against it. They don’t protect, they kill. They cast aside all thoughts of their own lives in the hunger to end others’. Remember that, Russ. Remember it well.’

 

‘Listen to your blue-clad wretches yelling of courage and honour, courage and honour, courage and honour. Do you even know the meaning of those words? Courage is fighting the kingdom that enslaves you, no matter that their armies overshadow yours by ten thousand to one. You know nothing of courage. Honour is resisting a tyrant when all others suckle and grow fat on the hypocrisy he feeds them. You know nothing of honour.’

Guilliman parried, forced back further by the storm of Angron’s blows.

‘You’re still a slave, Angron. Enslaved by your past, blind to the future. Too hateful to learn. Too spiteful to prosper.’