Peter Fehervari’s Dark Coil

[The Scorpion]

On 2/14/2025 at 6:25 PM, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

 

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Third was Walker in fire. I knew this was set back on Nightfalls planet, and wanted to bounce across some of the locations to try and prevent too much through line overlap, so i was pleasantly surprised to see another Resplendent. Another great one, with some marginal otherness from when the seargent fell through the hole.

 

Fifth and last that I've read is thirteenth psalm. Penitents keep on rolling strong by being deeply uncomfortable to think about the greater implications. 

 

"Walker in Fire" is underrated. I was utterly impressed by Sevastin, the Black Wings marine. It's such a minor character, from a chapter with little lore. Yet Fehervari wrote him a way that made me think "yeah, this is exactly how a Black Wing marine would act".

 

13th Psalm might be my favorite Black Library short story of all time. It's the one from the Dark Coil that I have re-read the most.

[DarkChaplain]

I still want a Brotherhood of a Thousand novel from him...

[rpraetor]

I have seen several references to and recommendation of the Malazan series.  FYI, Humble Bundle has  a Malazan Book of the Fallen Encore set available (at least in the US).

[Taliesin]

Curious to know if anybody thinks Fehervari will have something new coming out this year?

[DukeLeto69]

2 hours ago, Taliesin said:

Curious to know if anybody thinks Fehervari will have something new coming out this year?

It would be a crime if he didn’t! Am hoping the recent Ltd Edition and now the first omnibus with another on the way is an indication that BL are starting to put a bit more “muscle” behind PF and recognising how good he actually is! Perhaps these releases are rewarming the ground / stirring the pot in preparation for something new? 

Edited February 22 by DukeLeto69

[System Sound]

2 hours ago, Taliesin said:

Curious to know if anybody thinks Fehervari will have something new coming out this year?

I would absolutely love a new novel from him, but being realistic, we probably will get a new short or two only.

[System Sound]

Pardon the off-topic, but Malazan...
 

Spoiler

What the actual hell!?

 

[wecanhaveallthree]

HE SEES. AT LAST. HE SEES.

[Mazer Rackham]

17 hours ago, System Sound said:

Pardon the off-topic, but Malazan...

 

Also apologise for the OT, but my reading time in Malazan was exactly 40 mins. DNF.

 

Edited March 5 by Mazer Rackham

[SkimaskMohawk]

I finished up a few more a week or so ago, and I think I thats all of them, or at least all I can find on the BL site. Much like characters in the novels, I feel like there's been something I'm not quite understanding, and I've been rereading the shorts and going through requiem infernal again to try and see if there's any deeper truth.

 

Spoiler

So the last three were Nightbleed, Nightshift Nineteen, and the Reverie. I was a bit surprised how directly linked the two shorts were, but more fun stuff. There was some shared elements between Mercy and the needleman, so that was interesting.

 

Another funny thing was as I was going through RI the first time, I definitely got the vibe that dreams/references to dreaming were a bit of a warning sign. And then those three stories basically hammer it home that stuff tied to dreaming is really bad news, with the reverie displaying it right on the cover lol. 

 

But ya, Reverie was interesting. Up until that point I felt like I was missing information from Aria Arcana. Athanazius had popped up a couple of times as the chief librarian and was introduced properly in RI, but who was this Satori guy? Why was his reputation not great and why didn't the penitents ever reference him; why did he know about the fiasco for RI? Oh, well here he is front and center lol. It was also kinda funny seeing how the resplendent really were just the other side of the coin of the penitent. Like they weren't just the artistic path of the BA to contrast with the austere zealotry, they were straight up decadents who had slaanesh cults in their fortress monastery; both versions were super extreme in their views. But it does kinda undermine the fall from grace into extremism tragedy the penitents has going for them. What else? I'm definitely going to need to reread to try and appreciate the warp parts, much like RI. Cervantes laments the absent chapter master in reverie that mirrors the same thought in crown of thorns towards him (except he's obviously not a chapter Magister, which is a pretty big shift in culture for the resplendent). The similar but different cycle of events and people (spiral) is also there with Casteneda/Satori/Athanazius as the enigmatic mystic. Even that culture shift the resplendent go through is something that repeats, and is on its fourth iteration in the penitent. The aphelion reappearing as a painting is also interesting; calavera is still an enigma, though of course it being one of those resplendent librarians is probably the most likely. They all seem to have way too much knowledge and the resplendent culture already pushes aside the imperium's taboos.

 

[Jareddm]

2 hours ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

I finished up a few more a week or so ago, and I think I thats all of them, or at least all I can find on the BL site. Much like characters in the novels, I feel like there's been something I'm not quite understanding, and I've been rereading the shorts and going through requiem infernal again to try and see if there's any deeper truth.

 

  Reveal hidden contents

So the last three were Nightbleed, Nightshift Nineteen, and the Reverie. I was a bit surprised how directly linked the two shorts were, but more fun stuff. There was some shared elements between Mercy and the needleman, so that was interesting.

 

Another funny thing was as I was going through RI the first time, I definitely got the vibe that dreams/references to dreaming were a bit of a warning sign. And then those three stories basically hammer it home that stuff tied to dreaming is really bad news, with the reverie displaying it right on the cover lol. 

 

But ya, Reverie was interesting. Up until that point I felt like I was missing information from Aria Arcana. Athanazius had popped up a couple of times as the chief librarian and was introduced properly in RI, but who was this Satori guy? Why was his reputation not great and why didn't the penitents ever reference him; why did he know about the fiasco for RI? Oh, well here he is front and center lol. It was also kinda funny seeing how the resplendent really were just the other side of the coin of the penitent. Like they weren't just the artistic path of the BA to contrast with the austere zealotry, they were straight up decadents who had slaanesh cults in their fortress monastery; both versions were super extreme in their views. But it does kinda undermine the fall from grace into extremism tragedy the penitents has going for them. What else? I'm definitely going to need to reread to try and appreciate the warp parts, much like RI. Cervantes laments the absent chapter master in reverie that mirrors the same thought in crown of thorns towards him (except he's obviously not a chapter Magister, which is a pretty big shift in culture for the resplendent). The similar but different cycle of events and people (spiral) is also there with Casteneda/Satori/Athanazius as the enigmatic mystic. Even that culture shift the resplendent go through is something that repeats, and is on its fourth iteration in the penitent. The aphelion reappearing as a painting is also interesting; calavera is still an enigma, though of course it being one of those resplendent librarians is probably the most likely. They all seem to have way too much knowledge and the resplendent culture already pushes aside the imperium's taboos.

 

The capstone story to Reverie is called, "The Sins of my Brothers" and can be found in the Successors anthology. It should shed a bit more light on the Resplendent-Penitent connection 

[1ncarnadine]

8 hours ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

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It was also kinda funny seeing how the resplendent really were just the other side of the coin of the penitent. Like they weren't just the artistic path of the BA to contrast with the austere zealotry, they were straight up decadents who had slaanesh cults in their fortress monastery; both versions were super extreme in their views.

 

 

 

So a big fundamental of the Angels Resplendent is that they have done the Thousand Sons thing; they've bargained away the flesh- I mean, the black rage, in exchange for their souls (though they don't all understand the soul bit) and the god that makes these types of bargains is not Slaanesh, because this kind of wish is fundamentally a hope for change. I think there's aspects of Slaanesh that can be easily misattributed to Tzeentch & vice versa, so it can be confusing, but check how many times the number 9 crops up in The Reverie and get back to me on it (it's everywhere). Satori is himself a massively manipulative liar, not a self-indulgent hedonist. I know they make art and that can seem self indulgent, but the art they create is often an expression of ambition, hope or power. Their fortress monastery compares more directly to the city of Prospero just before its fall. And yeah, again, check how often the number 9 shows up. It's Tzeentch, yo.

 

And that's why the Angels Penitent are being influenced by the opposite god; they're driven by a sense of despair. Their prophet is the voice of Nurgle, a man who looks outwardly fit but is utterly sick inside, and who comes from a miserable pit and is constantly surrounded by both the mentally and physically ill. Their armour is getting dirtier because they've stopped cleaning it. There's even a short with shipborne raiders who have fallen to Nurgle, linking Phaedra (and the prophet) more explicitly to that alignment. I can go in and grab a ton of quotes to back my stance up on both sides of the Angels tomorrow, but I think Fehervari is generally pretty clear about which god is influencing who.

Edited March 7 by 1ncarnadine

[SkimaskMohawk]

6 hours ago, 1ncarnadine said:

 

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So a big fundamental of the Angels Resplendent is that they have done the Thousand Sons thing; they've bargained away the flesh- I mean, the black rage, in exchange for their souls (though they don't all understand the soul bit) and the god that makes these types of bargains is not Slaanesh, because this kind of wish is fundamentally a hope for change. I think there's aspects of Slaanesh that can be easily misattributed to Tzeentch & vice versa, so it can be confusing, but check how many times the number 9 crops up in The Reverie and get back to me on it (it's everywhere). Satori is himself a massively manipulative liar, not a self-indulgent hedonist. I know they make art and that can seem self indulgent, but the art they create is often an expression of ambition, hope or power. Their fortress monastery compares more directly to the city of Prospero just before its fall. And yeah, again, check how often the number 9 shows up. It's Tzeentch, yo.

 

And that's why the Angels Penitent are being influenced by the opposite god; they're driven by a sense of despair. Their prophet is the voice of Nurgle, a man who looks outwardly fit but is utterly sick inside, and who comes from a miserable pit and is constantly surrounded by both the mentally and physically ill. Their armour is getting dirtier because they've stopped cleaning it. There's even a short with shipborne raiders who have fallen to Nurgle, linking Phaedra (and the prophet) more explicitly to that alignment. I can go in and grab a ton of quotes to back my stance up on both sides of the Angels tomorrow, but I think Fehervari is generally pretty clear about which god is influencing who.

 

Spoiler

I think there was a slight misunderstanding. It was definitely pretty obvious the warp stuff with the resplendent related to tzeentch as you said (you know, screamers popping up, the 9s all over the place. But what I meant was that their Muses were worshipping slaanesh in the middle of their fortress monastery, enabled by the Resplendent culture.

 

As to the rest of what you said, I'll be honest and say that bargaining away the black rage to tzeentch, and the martyrs connection to nurgle totally flew over my head. It makes sense, and is definitely obvious in retrospect, but I also...kinda don't like it lol. I kinda really enjoyed the idea that things could be terrible divorced of the warp; Phaedra had some anomalies, but I enjoy it more as just an example of a terrible planet that leads people to do terrible things to stay alive. Same thing with the penitent, I like the corruption of belief coming from human flaws and the power of extremism instead of more supernatural reasons. But ya, as I said it's very obvious once you say it; nurgle represents decay, suffering, endurance and new life. All those things are in the penitent and Martyr, with the mirror in thirteenth psalm basically revealing a plague marine lol.

 

[1ncarnadine]

3 hours ago, SkimaskMohawk said:

 

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I think there was a slight misunderstanding. It was definitely pretty obvious the warp stuff with the resplendent related to tzeentch as you said (you know, screamers popping up, the 9s all over the place. But what I meant was that their Muses were worshipping slaanesh in the middle of their fortress monastery, enabled by the Resplendent culture.

 

As to the rest of what you said, I'll be honest and say that bargaining away the black rage to tzeentch, and the martyrs connection to nurgle totally flew over my head. It makes sense, and is definitely obvious in retrospect, but I also...kinda don't like it lol. I kinda really enjoyed the idea that things could be terrible divorced of the warp; Phaedra had some anomalies, but I enjoy it more as just an example of a terrible planet that leads people to do terrible things to stay alive. Same thing with the penitent, I like the corruption of belief coming from human flaws and the power of extremism instead of more supernatural reasons. But ya, as I said it's very obvious once you say it; nurgle represents decay, suffering, endurance and new life. All those things are in the penitent and Martyr, with the mirror in thirteenth psalm basically revealing a plague marine lol.

 

 

 

Oh yeah, that's fair re: the cultists. I've read the book twice and still spaced that they were there 

The black rage/Tzeentch deal and the Martyr/Penitent direction are what they are, but I think you're still correct about Phaedra. It's the presence of humanity and their slow psychic awakening and connection to the warp that allows for the human feelings of despair to give Nurgle a foothold in some places on the planet, but it's not a daemon world. It's still just a horrific death world to the T'au, mostly that to the Mechanicus, and of course to any Kroot and Genestealers or whatever else is there. I'd assume even most humans there are still going to live and die there without experiencing significant warp influence, or if they do, they wouldn't understand what it is and just blame the planet itself. Probably some will have a nightmare, and that nightmare will slowly start to stalk the corners of their vision until they ultimately get killed in combat, and maybe they'll hear a burbling laugh or something as Nurgle sucks up their soul, but even then, outwardly it's just a life lived in fear on a terrible planet they were sent to fight and die on.
 
But, yes! The corruption of belief is coming from human flaws and the power of extremism, which in turn fuels the supernatural influences that then pulls them further along a more and more extreme path, down an ever-deepening spiral. It's kind of a chicken/egg question: did Nurgle influence them on to that path in the first place?  Or is the pull towards Nurgle simply a consequence of their own behavior, emotions and decisions? Where does personal agency begin and end with Chaos, when Chaos itself is a reflection of our own emotions? Part of why I think Fehervari's so good at writing 40k is that he is good at showing how humanity is intrinsically linked to the warp in this setting. I think he's even said before that in his writing, pretty much all of the influence of Chaos on humanity is a reflection of psychological dysfunction & mental health disorders among various groups (and I'm paraphrasing badly, but fwiw I quickly searched and found that this is the interview I'm thinking of).

 

"I like the corruption of belief coming from human flaws and the power of extremism instead of more supernatural reasons."

 

Edited March 7 by 1ncarnadine
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[The Scorpion]

On 3/6/2025 at 6:30 PM, Jareddm said:

The capstone story to Reverie is called, "The Sins of my Brothers" and can be found in the Successors anthology. It should shed a bit more light on the Resplendent-Penitent connection 

"Sins of my brothers" is a really good story, but it requires reading all other Angels Resplendent (and Penitent) content first.

 

Reverie, yes, but also Crown of Thorns and Aria Arcana. Thirteenth Psalm too, now that I think about it.

 

The Tzeentch vs Nurgle battle for the Soul of the Chapter is ambiguous and might not be happening at all, at least not intentionally with Ruinous Powers actively making corrupting plays.

 

However, resplendance is Tzeentch-friendly and Penitence is Nurgle-friendly. I knew something was up when I discovered that the Penitent are wary of their own stereotype ("Even contempt was suspect, for it flirted with pride, just as fury courted bliss. Shame itself could become a vice if taken to excess.") Still, I think Penitence is its own thing, since it has many non-nurglite traits like proactiveness, non-conformism, and an emphasis on purity.

 

Its a dark human thing, that happens to vibe with the Sea of Souls, as all things do. (In this case, Nurgle)

[DarkChaplain]

We should also keep in mind that individual marines may fall in whichever direction, really. The times in which entire Legions would turn to a specific god are long in the past, and at this point we're seeing more general corruption, with particular individuals or groups drifting towards specific entities and trends, even while others trend more towards the opposite.

 

Chaos is a spectrum in most cases; the individual or even Chapter could be placed on any set of coordinates within the chaos star-chart, at any depth level, closer to the center or right at the tips of the arrows, but the Gods are rarely mutually exclusive. In the era of Cult armies and a lack of generic daemon entities on the tabletop, we easily forget that Chaos is all manner of corruption, and that this corruption is conflicting, contradictory, convoluted and not as simple as "the red ones" or "the pink ones". The four major Gods are the big players in the Realm of Chaos, but they're not the exclusive rulers of the entire realm. Things are in flux, always, and Fehervari would rather you think about the seeping corruption and the arcane influences tugging at the human mind, than assign clear adherence to one god's prefered characteristics.

 

....man, they really dropped the ball by bringing back an amazing model for Be'lakor, but not releasing non-aligned daemons to go with him. Best you can do is probably the Ruinstorm daemons from Forgeworld, model-wise, or daemon engines. The setting really needs to take a step away from individual cults and towards Chaos Undivided again, now that Emperor's Children are finally out.

[Preliminary Bombardment]

Agreed I’d like more chaos undivided, in Gate of Bones there was a fairly unlikely Iron Warrior who ascended to demon prince, I’d like to see how he’s going on.

 

On the table top I’d like a proper Traitor Guard with some of the units described in the Gaunts Ghosts books. Only having the mono god units kind of cheapens them, like actual Blood Letters manifesting should feel like the end of the world 

[SkimaskMohawk]

Just finished Sins of my Brothers

 

Spoiler

I mentioned this last time, but there were obvious parallels between Athanazius and satori. One of the biggest parallels for me though, was how little he actually featured in the stories; people had opinions of him but we never knew why or what he actually did. Of course up until we do.

 

I don't know if i ever thought Athanazius survived post Crown of Thorns, but i did mentally consider him to be out of the narrative. This story manages to flesh out the character, make him an active player, make his manipulations even more callous and cold than Satoris, kills him, and then still have me rereading to see if he could have survived at the end lol. Great stuff. Idk if him dying was part of Satoris plan for the penitent, or its just more of the tragedy that the chapters been stuck in throughout, but it's fun to think about. Really makes me want to reread thirteenth psalm (again) and cult of the spiral dawn to see if there were any more clues about the Rhapsody. The mystery of the Calavera continues, though I think Athanazius fits perfectly in terms of cold calculation and his connection to varzival and the aphelion by extension. And then there's still the crystalized thunderhawk and librarian from Aria to think about....