Codexes: Imperial Propaganda? Black Library books: Truth?

[Brother Tyler]

Well, this has turned into a discussion of Black Library fiction and authors.

[MrDarth151]

 

 

McNeill and Thrope tend to write their Primarchs as this mythic juggernauts who can fight whole armies. Conversely, Abnett is the one who has a track record of Primarchs being threatened by more mundane threats.

 

Thorpe? Tell me, have you read Ravenlord?

 

I have not. I stopped reading about when Unremebered Empire. I have not paid attention to any of the novellas since then.

 

I was referring to his rampage in ''Deliverance Lost''.

 

 

I know that one. I asked because he actually backed out on that one in Ravenlord. Corax almost gets killed by... I can't remember, either Mechanicum cyborgs or Bile's experiments. I think it might have been the latter.

 

Needed to be bailed out by one of his honour guard, if memory serves right. I believe it's the closest a Primarch came to dying without another Primarch being involved.

[mc warhammer]

he idea of  propaganda vs truth is nice, but ultimately falls flat if we view the big picture. In an interview with Guy Haley, he mentions that only the Horus Heresy has anything like a bible with timelines and flowcharts what is happening when and who is where, so authors don't contradict each other. But in 40K there is no such thing. The background is vague and has decades of contradictory and retconned fiction.And there is no authority who could say, this is what really happened, this is how it's like. And then there is stuff like that C.S. Goto wrote. Yeah... those books were clearly not edited to fit the background

 

i'd actually like 40k to be written with less authority and more contradiction. mo' vague please. make it an obscure future history that readers have to really work at to find the "facts".

 

i'll freely admit that's a personal thing and probably wouldn't work commercially.

[Moonreaper666]

 

 

 

 

McNeill and Thrope tend to write their Primarchs as this mythic juggernauts who can fight whole armies. Conversely, Abnett is the one who has a track record of Primarchs being threatened by more mundane threats.

Thorpe? Tell me, have you read Ravenlord?

I have not. I stopped reading about when Unremebered Empire. I have not paid attention to any of the novellas since then.

 

I was referring to his rampage in ''Deliverance Lost''.

I know that one. I asked because he actually backed out on that one in Ravenlord. Corax almost gets killed by... I can't remember, either Mechanicum cyborgs or Bile's experiments. I think it might have been the latter.

 

Needed to be bailed out by one of his honour guard, if memory serves right. I believe it's the closest a Primarch came to dying without another Primarch being involved.

One of Corax's lieutenants disobeyed his orders and saved his life

 

How would it affect the Heresy if Bile's New Men killed Corvus Corax?

[Marshal Loss]

 

How would it affect the Heresy if Bile's New Men killed Corvus Corax?

 

Man I swear you're actually addicted to theory crafting. Seek help

[bluntblade]

Depends on who, in-universe, is writing. The Badab War and HH books from FW are written as honest historical records, even if they don't have access to all the facts. The vast majority of Conquest, for example, is Horus emphatically crushing Imperial worlds, the Ultramarines' history prominently includes a heavy defeat they suffered, and a Raven Guard exemplary battle makes it clear that their actions led to the deaths of many Army soldiers.

[Marshal Loss]

Depends on who, in-universe, is writing. The Badab War and HH books from FW are written as honest historical records, even if they don't have access to all the facts. The vast majority of Conquest, for example, is Horus emphatically crushing Imperial worlds, the Ultramarines' history prominently includes a heavy defeat they suffered, and a Raven Guard exemplary battle makes it clear that their actions led to the deaths of many Army soldiers.

 

While the FW books are written as pseudo-history, the author is also concerned with showcasing the virtues of the fallen and the dark side of those who stayed loyal, so it's still written with an agenda, just a more subtle one than what we're used to in other texts.

[bluntblade]

Former virtues of the fallen. I think that's a crucial distinction. There is an agenda, but it's one person trying to record what he can of the truth.

[Marshal Loss]

Yes, but I thought that was obvious, given that the Legion files to which I am referring are written past tense and pre-Heresy, not post. The agenda goes beyond just one man trying to tell the truth though. Alan Bligh was always very aware of literary historicity, and Xenophon was the example he used to describe AK to me; hardly just a man trying to tell the truth. AK is selective with information and, in places, deliberately omits certain facts.

Edited February 18, 2018 by Marshal Loss

[bluntblade]

Any particular instances you can think of?