Black Library Advent Calendar 2017

[Marshal Rohr]

I really liked Dorn and Valdor’s little petty fight.

[Scribe]

Because you do not leave a savage force at your back when you are actively working to replace them Karthak.

 

Look at some of the motives for the Legions to rebel, and you would have the same for Thunderwarriors.

[b1soul]

I did find it a bit odd that in Magisterium, Valdor has an attendant who is a Custodes himself but behaves like a personal serf. He views Valdor as his master. I thought Custodes generally eschewed rank and subservience, and had only one true lord, the Emperor.

[Marshal Rohr]

I did find it a bit odd that in Magisterium, Valdor has an attendant who is a Custodes himself but behaves like a personal serf. He views Valdor as his master. I thought Custodes generally eschewed rank and subservience, and had only one true lord, the Emperor.

 

I thought he was part of Valdor Haetaroi? 

[Sete]

Valdor is de facto leader of the Custodes.The Emperor right arm and one of his oldest companions.

Some reverence is to be expected.

[bluntblade]

Bear in mind that the Custodians whose interactions with Valdor we've seen are a Prefect and a wotsit... Damn... High-ranking Custodians regardless.

[Sandlemad]

It is kind of weird that Samonas and Valdor call each other master/lord and servant, yeah. Samonas is clearly a senior custodian, he has his own sodality, and his role of vestarios (can't find any historical antecedent) is explicitly as informal as most other ranks/titles. Presumably he's something like an equerry, when the role is called for? The Hetaeron/hetairoi get their title from being the Emperor's companions, not anyone else's.

 

It does feel like a fairly relaxed relationship though. Think of Watchers of the Throne. Valerian was a shield-captain but he still deferred to that older custodes on the grounds of wisdom and experience. The legio has less of an obviously military culture than the astartes so these affiliations could be similar to master-pupil relationships in martial arts, the kind of thing that stays significant even when the pupil is centuries old.

[b1soul]

I think you're referring to Navradaran (the older Custodes).

I also like the idea that perhaps Samonas received a lot of personal tutelage from Valdor, and there relationship might be more like master and pupil as opposed to master and servant.

That said, Samonas is described as Valdor's "thrall" in one line. That is a bit odd, considering that you wouldn't expect even Valdor to have a serf/thrall who is another Custodes. Samonas does come across almost as a man-servant.

Interesting to note that Valdor is a bit taller than Russ and towers over other Custodes.

Samonas, who is pretty handy with his sentinel blade, is awed by Valdor's combat prowess.

[DarkChaplain]

So today we got a Primarchs audio drama that isn't attributed to a Primarch, but instead to Malcador. Color me surprised, but pleasantly.

 

I listened to Heart of Decay earlier, and really enjoyed it. Pretty grotesque overall, great audio production and Counter managed to pull off quite enjoyable dialogue with the actors delivering it wonderfully.

[Calas Typhon]

Is there any reason why a Primarch Audio was attributed to someone that is not a Primarch?

 

I don't mind a story about Malcador, but putting it up as a Primarch audiodrama is pretty stupid tbh

[Sete]

Plot twist.

Unless Malcador was a Primarch!

 

Someone here in the forum wrote a theory about that

Edited December 14, 2017 by Sete

[Charlo]

Just finished First Lord and....

 

HOLY !

 

BIG Spoilers

• Malcador is over 6000 years old.
• The Emperor was not the Emperor until he met Malcodor, he was just another Terran Warlord "by another name."
• The Sigilite Order is in place to look back at history to ensure mistakes are not repeated. This is because the Emperor must/ is always looking forward. Hence the Imperial Aquila missing and eye so that it cannot look back.
• The Horus Heresy was always in the Emperor's and Malcador's plans.
• The Great Crusade was a plan to retake the stars for Humanity and not post-humanity.
• The Primarchs were not created equal and favour was deliberately spread to certain ones to stoke rage in the others.
• Those that were not worthy were always destined to be killed or plotted to be on suicide missions/ away from the Imperium.
• The only issue was that Emps & Malc underestimated Chaos' power and how much it elevated some of the Primarchs, sped up some deaths & changed some plans. This is all said while sounding in total control though.
• Then the biggest reveal; some of the above is lies; told to a woman on her deathbed to bring her peace ;)

[Marshal Rohr]

Just finished First Lord and....

 

HOLY !

 

BIG Spoilers

• Malcador is over 6000 years old.
• The Emperor was not the Emperor until he met Malcodor, he was just another Terran Warlord "by another name."
• The Sigilite Order is in place to look back at history to ensure mistakes are not repeated. This is because the Emperor must/ is always looking forward. Hence the Imperial Aquila missing and eye so that it cannot look back.
• The Horus Heresy was always in the Emperor's and Malcador's plans.
• The Great Crusade was a plan to retake the stars for Humanity and not post-humanity.
• The Primarchs were not created equal and favour was deliberately spread to certain ones to stoke rage in the others.
• Those that were not worthy were always destined to be killed or plotted to be on suicide missions/ away from the Imperium.
• The only issue was that Emps & Malc underestimated Chaos' power and how much it elevated some of the Primarchs, sped up some deaths & changed some plans. This is all said while sounding in total control though.
• Then the biggest reveal; some of the above is lies; told to a woman on her deathbed to bring her peace ;)

Sounds like LG’s big middle finger to the Heresy communities.

[Charlo]

?

 

I'll admit, I don't keep up with, endorse or like to engage in the Author Hate that happens but.... ?

[Sete]

Just as planned.

[Calas Typhon]

Sounds like a cluster just to throw a wrench in. 

[Angel_of_Blood]

So that last point just throws it all into the air again then. 

[b1soul]

Kinda pointless to be honest

[Calas Typhon]

So that last point just throws it all into the air again then. 

I aint gonna spend money on it after hearing whats in it in the spoilers.

 

Its already stupid that its chucked into the Primarch series for what ever reason but It sounds absolutely stupid to load all of that information up into a short then just say LOL MIGHT BE LIES BECAUSE YOUR DYING. 

Edited December 14, 2017 by Warsmith Kroeger

[Marshal Rohr]

Many people, myself included, really resent the only facts presented to us about the Heresy keep getting the ‘these are lies’ treatment. It’s like that TV show from the 80’s or 90’s where the show turned out to be the imaginations of a special needs child. It adds nothing narratively for them to be lying and it frustrates the people who just wanna build ‘historical’ armies. You never see anyone say the Beast series was lies, or the other stories set in older settings. Just the Heresy.

 

 

It’s part of the typical social media age phenomena of authors and fandoms being antagonistic to one another.

[Charlo]

I'm not mad and I think it's okay.

 

It causes discussion in the whole "well what IS truth?" which is a nice part of the Heresy in itself.

 

It's certainly a well acted half hour and a good listen, which I really enjoyed.

[Roomsky]

Hmnr, those are some answers I never wanted to know, tbh.

 

Never been a fan of this "interesting secrets revealed" = "good plotting" mentality, and especially here, in a work likely only designed to splurge all these details and little else. As for ambiguity, I prefer authors dropping little, vague hints that flesh out character's views of the setting without outright stating them. Saying "this is how it is but hey, maybe its lies so if you really hate it you can ignore it" strikes me as the far lazier approach.

[Marshal Rohr]

It’s not a matter of loose canon. It’s the intentional thumbing of the nose at what some in Black Library consider to be ‘mouth breathers’. They lost the ability to distinguish between 4channers and fans.

[Scribe]

 

Just finished First Lord and....

 

HOLY !

 

BIG Spoilers

• Malcador is over 6000 years old.
• The Emperor was not the Emperor until he met Malcodor, he was just another Terran Warlord "by another name."
• The Sigilite Order is in place to look back at history to ensure mistakes are not repeated. This is because the Emperor must/ is always looking forward. Hence the Imperial Aquila missing and eye so that it cannot look back.
• The Horus Heresy was always in the Emperor's and Malcador's plans.
• The Great Crusade was a plan to retake the stars for Humanity and not post-humanity.
• The Primarchs were not created equal and favour was deliberately spread to certain ones to stoke rage in the others.
• Those that were not worthy were always destined to be killed or plotted to be on suicide missions/ away from the Imperium.
• The only issue was that Emps & Malc underestimated Chaos' power and how much it elevated some of the Primarchs, sped up some deaths & changed some plans. This is all said while sounding in total control though.
• Then the biggest reveal; some of the above is lies; told to a woman on her deathbed to bring her peace

Sounds like LG’s big middle finger to the Heresy communities.

 

 

What...the :?

 

I'm going to have to buy this, because I cannot accept that this is the full context...

 

EDIT: Its an audio?! Garbage. I dont buy those. :/

Edited December 14, 2017 by Scribe

[Charlo]

I will say, again, the quality of the Audio is very good. Voice acting and sound effects etc.