Legion-Specific Siege Novels

[b1soul]

I am looking forward to legion-specific novels covering the defensive efforts of the IF, WS, and BA, with major villainous appearances by Traitor factions.

 

I think at least some of the Siege novels should follow this general structure. Would you guys agree?

 

Do you think the Siege series should include some Traitor legion-specific novels...perhaps also some non-legion specific novels, perhaps more sprawling stories from multiple perspectives?

[RikuEru]

Well, if there IS a specific one about the Emperor's Children, that would be the perfect candidate for multiple perspectives. Mortal perspectives could show their degeneracy and bloodlust and invoke the proper feelings of dread and despair.

 

Because the "big" Siege-participating Legions probably will get major focus in proper books, I would like to see novellas or shorts for some minor forces.

Traitor Guardsmen that proudly and heroically land on Terra, thinking they will liberate it?

Selfish Commanders on Loyalist Sides that secretly want to flee and/or use the turmoil of the siege to get rid of unwanted people?

 

Many want to see Arik Taranis and other Thunder Warriors and militant civilians to fight back, deeper down in the Terran Cityscape, on their turf.

 

Among the smaller spotlights I want one for the handful of Loyalist Legionnaires that are not part of the BA, IF, WS.

Atleast a few of every Legion should be on Terra as liaison officers/envoys or formerly wounded Legionnaires that were not stable enough for transport.

Also smaller groups assignes to specific duties on Terra, like the Wolfpack or others.

...so we get to see them desperate and agitated, unable to help in full force, but willing to fight immediately, wanting to uphold their Legion's Honor, even if it means Death.

Maybe they form (maybe even mixed) Kill-Teams on their own, to patrol the Palace' Hallways - or they just join the rank and file of the IF (or the others), a handful of differently colored dots among lines and lines of yellow.

Their deeds forgotten by history, but never by the ones they fought besides.

 

Even a Short Story could be enough to portray this well.

Something akin to the Band-of-Brothers Feeling...

[m_r_parker]

Honestly, I think some of the worse novels of the series were centred solely around a specific Legion. One of the things that the latter novels of the series has done well was to create good stories around a mix of characters from different Legions, and looking to the fact that the overall story thread is what's important rather than having Legion dedicated novels.

If the story calls for having a novel look exclusively at a single Legion's POV then by all means, but the Siege is the focal point of the story and brings together most of the factions within this conflict. When it comes to the defensive forces, I don't expect to see them as single blobs on a map - "this is where the White Scars are, and this is where the Blood Angels are" - but more seeing units deployed where their specialties are and intermingling with similar units from different Legions. The traitor Legions may get more individualised operations based on Legion abilities, but when they get on the ground I would expect them to all come together in the same way as Istvann V. 

[b1soul]

Eh?

 

Legion, Prospero Burns, A Thousand Sons, First Heretic, Know No Fear, Betrayer, Scars, Path of Heaven, Praetorian of Dorn all fit my definition of legion-centred novels. They were great.

[m_r_parker]

Without trying to turn this into a ranking of the Heresy series, there are plenty of novels which are Legion-centric and (in my opinion) not great. Descent of Angels, Fallen Angels, Vulkan Lives, Damnation of Pythos, Deliverance Lost, Deathfire - all novels that I would consider to be focussed around a single Legion and not novels that I've enjoyed.

I'm not going to debate that the novels you've listed aren't great, because some of them are among my favourites, but going forward I would prefer to see novels with strong stories that link together rather than a group of novels that feel disjointed because the authors have had to try and stay within a certain faction. As I said earlier, I'm not against having a novel specifically from a Legion's PoV if it calls for it, I just think that chunking out the Siege in terms of "This is the Blood Angels book, and this is the World Eaters book, and this one will be for Guard / Militarum" isn't the way to go for this. 

[Biscuittzz]

@m_r_parker all of the books you've stated are all well recognised as sub-par more so due to their authors and the way they are written rather than the legions they follow. Like c'mon, using these books as an example to say legion-centric books don't work out is similar to saying don't watch American football because the Cleveland Browns are a team. Utilising Gav Thorpe and Nick Kyme examples around here won't gain much traction.

 

(Apologies to Browns fans ).

[Lord_Caerolion]

As a perfect counter-example, Battle for the Abyss was the definition of a multi-Legion novel, and we all know how that turned out, so therefore we should have no more multi-Legion novels! 

[b1soul]

@ m_r_parker

 

Yes, there are some great and some not-so-great legion-centred novels. There are also some great and some not-so-great non-legion novels.

 

I just don't think novels are good or bad because they centre or do not centre on a legion.

 

I believe the novels you've listed as not so great are not so great because of the less than stellar quality of the writing.

 

As for the Siege novels, I think it would make sense for some to focus on a legion and some not to

[Jareddm]

Well, if there IS a specific one about the Emperor's Children, that would be the perfect candidate for multiple perspectives. Mortal perspectives could show their degeneracy and bloodlust and invoke the proper feelings of dread and despair.

This is actually the story that I hope is David Annandale's contribution to the siege. I have far more vivid memories of the human characters and horror elements from Damnation of Pythos than I do any of the Astartes. Similarly for Ruinstorm, the most gripping parts for me were the descriptions of daemonic influence on Davin and of The Pilgrim. These can certainly shine in a human-perspective story about dealing with the hunting of the Emperor's Children.

[Moonreaper666]

Which Legions would not get novels of their own?

 

 

Here are my guesses:

 

-World Eaters (Special Characters get their time in the Iron Warriors Novel)

 

-Thousand Sons (Also in the IW novel)

 

-Night Lords, Emperor's Children and Word Bearers share the same novel

 

-Alpha Legion play a small part in the Blood Angels and Custodes novel

 

 

 

 

-Shattered Legions, Knights-Errant, Blackshields, Malcador and Vulkan (Half a Novel sharing with Imperial Fists)

[Fire Golem]

With the way the Seige would work, as m_r_parker says, I don’t think the Legions would be strictly segregated, I would imagine they’d be fairly mixed across the different fronts. So it wouldn’t make a lot of sense to have strictly legion specific Seige novels. Plus it would give us different authors takes on the different legions, even if it’s just a character or two.

 

Some of the best (and worst) novels were centred around one legion, but it worked better earlier on when the legions were more separate. But everything is going to be a big mixed crucible on Terra, and it would be odd for the books to be so legion specific. Obviously the focus will be on one legion more than others in certain books.

[b1soul]

"Mixed crucible" is a great way of putting it.

 

That said, some events, such as WS vs. DG at the Lionsgate Spaceport and EC running amok through civilian neghbourhoods would seem to lend themselves quite well to a legion-centred narrative

[A D-B]

Which Legions would not get novels of their own?

 

 

Here are my guesses:

 

-World Eaters (Special Characters get their time in the Iron Warriors Novel)

 

-Thousand Sons (Also in the IW novel)

 

-Night Lords, Emperor's Children and Word Bearers share the same novel

 

-Alpha Legion play a small part in the Blood Angels and Custodes novel

 

 

 

 

-Shattered Legions, Knights-Errant, Blackshields, Malcador and Vulkan (Half a Novel sharing with Imperial Fists)

 

That seems like a very awkward way to organise the events of the Siege of Terra.

[Moonreaper666]

The Imperial Fists would be reinforcing the Blackshields/Shattered Legions at key points where the Traitors are advancing

 

And to protect the Knights-Errants as they do the secret missions Malcador has entrusted to them (most of them use a special spaceship to go to Titan)

 

 

 

The Iron Warriors and World Eaters would be the first Two Legions to get inside the Palace once they bypassed the wall

 

 

 

Small groups of the Alpha Legion (mostly Cultists with a few Astartes) would somehow be able to inflitrate the Palace. They are the first enemies the Angels and Golden Boys would fight on Terra

 

The Blood Angels and Custodes try to stop them from stealing/destroying irreplacable artifacts like the Astronomican or Rosetta Stone

 

 

 

Most of the novel of the Emperor's Children, Night Lords and Word Bearers is basically one War Crime after another

 

Traitor Scout Titans gunning civilians while Eurphati Keepler leads the FIRST Frateris Zealots/Militia

 

Not only are the Word Bearers summoning more Daemons from the Warp, several Greater Daemons are born from the atrocities committed on Terra!

[Roomsky]

I would imagine giving every leagion a full novel to themselves would be a bit of a drag, regardless of your opinion on the series' bloat. From what we've seen of the weekender, Novellas might be the way to go for legion-specific events, otherwise you can get at least 2 factions into each book (also a great vehicle for character study in contrasting legions). Civvies v Emperor's Children would not benefit from a legion-only perspective.

[b1soul]

This is pure wish-listing...

 

I think an EC vs. civilian novel should be (very roughly)

 

50% from the beleaguered civilian PoV

30% from EC perspective

20% from third-party perspective (Thunder Warrior remnants, Severian, maybe some Imperial Army or Arbites)

 

The EC presence would be prevalent throughout the novel, however. They're the deadly antagonists constantly menacing the struggling protagonists. Would be a nice survival horror entry among a large number of more war-oriented novels.

[Rob P]

This is pure wish-listing...

 

I think an EC vs. civilian novel should be (very roughly)

 

50% from the beleaguered civilian PoV

30% from EC perspective

20% from third-party perspective (Thunder Warrior remnants, Severian, maybe some Imperial Army or Arbites)

 

The EC presence would be prevalent throughout the novel, however. They're the deadly antagonists constantly menacing the struggling protagonists. Would be a nice survival horror entry among a large number of more war-oriented novels.

With outnumbered remnants of Raven Guard doing what they can against innumerable EC - with flashbacks to Isstvan V

 

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The concern I have with the EC rampaging is the same thing I pre-emptively don't like about Beta Garmon - on the surface it's an event to be covered because it's an event that happens rather than there being a great story. I need to know the story! How does the EC plot move the HH along or character development along?

 

The best novels that cover a known event have had more to them (Prospero Burns comes to mind as a good example). Novels that have been faithful to event without something extra have been a bit average (Battle for the Abyss / Fear to Tread - the latter being lifted a little by the pre-amble to Signus).