Dark Imperium II by Guy Haley

[mc warhammer]

except, that's still an interpretation.

 

if we want to get all wordy about it; mortarion describes it as "snatches of a dream". which doesn't sound like anything i would bet the house on. the text even says mortarion speaks in part prophecy. 

 

he also only uses the word "confirmed" in regards to guilliman. specifically. 

 

i also can't see the part where he is surprised that vorx didn't know all this. but i might have missed it. can you quote it please?

 

 

 

on the subject of demons seeing the future; can they see an ironclad 100% accurate result? i was always under the impression they saw many paths.

[GAZ_AV_NZ]

On the subject of the book

Plague Wars 2

 

 

It was noted primaris have replaced more normal marines on duty as observed by Gulliman

This was due to battle loses

So unclear if primaris will feature more in 3rd book

 

I'm always questioning where they are taking primaris and normal marines

Current Books might give hints

My impression is marines are out

replaced by bigger marines who cannot use chain swords etc and travel in other vehicles

I don't know how they to get battle in first place

 

Warp Shields used in assault by Typhus are totally OP

Vs those defense weapons it's was a bit meh

Wasn't impressed with that battle

It was good grey knights sorted it all out however

For once they served there purpose

 

The issue in the book is Gulliman trying to figure out best way forward in current situation with religion and emperor worship vs imperial truth

It's a delicate situation

Reading book was part of his understanding and he relates his practical theory into this

So he had no choice but to read it

My biggest question is what did the emperor say to him

He says the big E spoke to him ( in his head most likely)

What we're his instructions?

He never shared

 

As to primarchs briefly discussed

Corax is only loyalist primarchs to have had a recent BL story written

He is chasing Lorgar in eye of terror and killing his guys

 

In plague wars Montarion is a coward and doesn't seem to want to face Gulliman

Without guaranteed victory

He's very aware of his mortality vs emps sword

So he's Abit of a wuss

 

As to the emperor

He's on a Dark Eldar pain machine construction

Unclear if it's containing him / strengthening him

All books say throne is failing

Emperor is never described

As referenced in path to heaven hh book

Regarding it's duplicate it's a pain machine

 

Also refer mechanicus trip to the dark eldar city re this and entering into pacts with vect re the throne failing

See codex and history of mech in short history trees

 

Current Dark Eldar codex discuss a mock setup of golden throne room and dead custodians that were abducted

Inquistor finds this and is killed

So they will perhaps try to kill E in future

Dark Eldar tried in past with a single assassin who failed

Unclear what outcome would be

[Red_Shift]

Yes there seemed to be a lot of hand wavium/daemonic shenanigans with the space station fight although I've only really just started that bit. Obviously in a novel there has to be a balance between mathhammer and dramatic license but it can go too far one way.

 

I've not found the primaris too jarring so far compared to the old marines and I particularly liked the short segment where the old marine lieutenant asks to look at the primaris bolt rifle and ends up saying, yes it's a bit heavy and has more range but we're going to be at close range in our business before long so I'll stick to my boltgun ta.

 

Re daemons and seeing the future I would think they can see many different futures and might get confused as to which timeline they are in occasionally. Otherwise chaos would just have everything sewn up.

[mc warhammer]

thanks for the clarification re daemons and the future...that was always my impression

 

the bit in lords of silence with morts and vorx ...he admits there was a point (oh, just 10,000 years or so) where he thought his time directly fighting the imperium was over. which means he didn’t foresee the return of guilliman or himself in all those years

 

so it seems like it’s not an exact science

[b1soul]

I don't think the meta-plot will progress much further from DE III.

 

The setting will be frozen in an era with Primaris majority but original Astartes significant minority

[Ishagu]

That's a possibility. I actually think GW will continue to advance it slightly, potentially to reflect new campaigns, etc

[FirstSonofHorus]

thanks for the clarification re daemons and the future...that was always my impression

 

the bit in lords of silence with morts and vorx ...he admits there was a point (oh, just 10,000 years or so) where he thought his time directly fighting the imperium was over. which means he didn’t foresee the return of guilliman or himself in all those years

 

so it seems like it’s not an exact science

 

well he always thinks he is going to win so i wouldn't take it too literally.

[Burni]

So is DI confirmed to be a trilogy? But we don’t know what the next book is?

[Ishagu]

Yes it's a trilogy.

 

I hope it's ongoing as it's so great to have a book series moving the story forward!!

[Ahistorian]

I found it interesting but disappointing overall. A very "series middle" book without much progression. Simultaneously reminded me of good Dan Abnett and bad Robert Jordan

 

*tugs braid & flees

[Boldthreat]

I really enjoyed the Novamarines part of the novel. It honestly left me wishing there was more. I was fascinated with Justinian's character arc and I didn't want it to end. I need more Primaris Novamarines stuff.

 

You know what really stood out to me... And has zero to do with the plot? When Justinian takes a shower... It mentions a few quick blasts of water and done. Never has 40k sounded so grim and terrible.

[Sete]

"As to the emperor

He's on a Dark Eldar pain machine construction"

 

Wait what?

[Kelborn]

Think that this (pain machine construction) is covered in Carrion Throne, but I'm not sure.

[Apothecary Vaddon]

They brought the DE in to try and see if they could fix the Throne, not that it was a giant DE pain machine...

[carlisimo]

"As to the emperor

He's on a Dark Eldar pain machine construction"

 

Wait what?

Not literally, but in one of the Adeptus Mechanicus codexes that came out a couple of years ago, the AdMech finds some faults in the Golden Throne and gets help from the Dark Eldar to fix them… or to otherwise keep the Emperor on life support. I feel like there’ve been hints about that in much earlier books, but I haven’t found anything concrete. They’ve mentioned that the Golden Throne is failing since 3rd edition, I think?

 

So no one’s flat out said it’s an Eldar construct, but it’d make a lot of sense if it were at least based on Eldar technology. It’s a Webway Gate, and the Eldar know Webway Gates the best now that the Old Ones are gone. The Necrons might also be familiar with such things, but I don’t see them designing a psychic interface for their Webway tools.

 

It also sucks the souls out of living beings to breathe life back into the Emperor. Who else does that?

[Sete]

Ok makes sense...

Well good to know that the Emps is a god and BT are right :P

[BLACK BLΠFLY]

The Emperor needs some combat drugs for sure !

[Sandlemad]

So no one’s flat out said it’s an Eldar construct, but it’d make a lot of sense if it were at least based on Eldar technology. It’s a Webway Gate, and the Eldar know Webway Gates the best now that the Old Ones are gone. The Necrons might also be familiar with such things, but I don’t see them designing a psychic interface for their Webway tools.

 

It also sucks the souls out of living beings to breathe life back into the Emperor. Who else does that?

 

 

It's definitely the kind of thing that the Eldar have a knack for but I kind of like the idea Master of Mankind brings up: that golden throne-esque devices are something multiple species have tried in their time, like an inevitable technological bottleneck independently discovered many times over millions of years as a means of dealing with the problem of the warp.

 

 

"Any relics of lost ages that have proven useful for their parts being the legacies of dead species that had the same idea, millennia before my birth. In such an instance, each race envisions its own salvation independent of the others, only to discover that other species, other empires, have already failed to save themselves."

[Panzer]

Sooo returning Primarchs aside, do we have any word about an audiobook release for this one yet?

[DarkChaplain]

Nothing so far, though last time it came out of the blue alongside the paperback. For Plague War, that will seemingly be released in April...

[Panzer]

I guess I can wait until April. That's 4 more audible credits I can spend on other audiobooks after I'm done with Realmslayer (an AoS audiodrama but really good so far!)

[DarkChaplain]

I concur, though it is also quite depressing to listen to!

 

I'll probably be listening to the Blood of Iax audiobook in the meantime. Should tide me over until Plague War!

[Panzer]

I concur, though it is also quite depressing to listen to!

 

I'll probably be listening to the Blood of Iax audiobook in the meantime. Should tide me over until Plague War!

 

Yeah it made me realise how many AoS factions feel more like a shadow of their former glory. Definitely not true for all of them but it's especially true for what used to be the awesomeness of the white dwarf Slayer army and now the Fyreslayer. I once said on reddit that I don't like the Fyreslayer fluff and that the original Slayer were much more awesome ... I got downvoted into oblivion lol

Worse about it is that the Battlesmith character makes me actually dislike Fyreslayer so any thought about maybe starting such an army is getting smaller and smaller. 

 

Anyway, enough AoS talk from me. Wrong forum for that and everything. I second Blood of Iax. Still haven't read/listened to it. The Carrion Throne is still on my list as well. After those two to ... well maybe I'll finally pick up the The Beast Arises series. Or Lukas The Trickster ... never read any SW novels and at least theoretical Lukas is quite the interesting character. ^^

[DarkChaplain]

I wasn't particularly enthusiastic about a faction of volcano dwarves with fiery bears, drinking hot ale and hammering gold into their flesh to begin with, but I definitely agree that the Storysmith and the rest soured me even more to them. Gotrek is, as ever, a wonderful character to call out the inherent stupidity of the setting!

 

I've been meaning to finish Lukas the Trickster for some time. I finished the first part of the book, and enjoyed it a good deal. Josh's a magician when it comes to comedic characters like Lukas, especially since he doesn't overplay it even for the Jackalwolf. Look forward to it, and the Carrion Throne!

[Taliesin]

I really enjoyed the Novamarines part of the novel. It honestly left me wishing there was more. I was fascinated with Justinian's character arc and I didn't want it to end. I need more Primaris Novamarines stuff.

 

You know what really stood out to me... And has zero to do with the plot? When Justinian takes a shower... It mentions a few quick blasts of water and done. Never has 40k sounded so grim and terrible.

 

You know, he probably nicked that from the scene in Blade Runner 2049 last year, where exactly that happens with Gosling taking a shower.