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The Siege of Terra: The Lost and the Damned

JH79

By JH79
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helterskelter Veteran

helterskelter

Posted
Posted

 

 

 

Skraivok doesn't die, another pointless duel, unless he gets mauled enough Tso Sahaal or Krieg Acerbus have to take over, I see no need for it

Ok full details as i remember them so be warned proper spoilers

 

He dies. Well sort of.

 

He commands the Night Lords (there are Death guard and World Eater elements there as well) first attack on the outer wall in an attempt to gain some fame. He's not the first to land on the wall, thats some other Night Lord who has made that claim in a 40k story, again don't have the book to hand so can't nam them for sure but can later if anyone wants.

 

The attack takes place on the section of the wall defended by Raldoran & Thane (Sanguinius is there too).

 

When the Blood Angels counter attack The Painted Count wants the prestige of killing Raldoran.

 

They fight with it being evenlly matched due to The Count's Daemon Weapon.

 

Suddenly the Daemon weapon stops "working" enabling Raldoran to throw the Count from the walls.

 

One the ground after the plummet the Count is not in great shape and near death.

 

The daemon from the sword manifests and explains that it desserted the Count along the lines as he'd gotten too cocky and only was his his position due to the daemon sword.

 

the daemon from the sword then offers him "salvation" via possesion. The Count desparatly accepts as he's near death and then is dragged into the warp fro 6 time 66 time 666 years of pain.

 

The details may be slightly off but thats' the gist of it as I remember it.

 

hmmm, i have to concede on this one and beg forgiveness of mr Haley on one point. Whilst I'm unhappy about how much Skraivok has caused for the legion, and how central a character he was made, and now is the first "possessed" of the night lords, i take some pleasure that the 40k variant is only claiming links by virtue of that was the name of the sack of meat it once occupied
Blindhamster Venerable Brother

Blindhamster

Posted
Posted

 

 

Apart from the duel, I hope Raldoron shows some personality beyond his extreme blandness in Fear to Tread.

Depends on what you mean by personality I guess. I think his "blandness" is probably why he ends up being The first Chapter master, level head, steady Eddie, safe pair of hands etc.

 

He does have one really funny moment IMO

is that the "never heard of you" line? I saw that in FB.

 

Little sad that he was only on an even footing with skarivok tbh but at least he isn't dead!

 

 

As far as raldorans blandness goes, he is meant to be a perfect example of a space marine captain and chapter master. He is honourable, calm, even tempered, a master swordsman and a good strategist. He is also described as exemplifying the nobility and humility of sanguinius amongst his sons.

 

The trouble is, he hasn't had pages dedicated to him like some other characters, he's almost always in a supporting role to his primary. Kind of hoping he gets a bit more chance to shine here but not sure that's likely

Lex D'Arquebus Novitiate

Lex D'Arquebus

Posted
Posted (edited)

 

Thank you for the information!

 

Which famous characters died in the book? Especially Space Marines :wink:

 

 

Space Marines do not really see any action in the book till the last few chapters.

 

The rational being that this is the first stage of the ground war so no point comminting the Astartes to action yet.

 

Most of the book's action sequences focus on the conscripts of the Imperium manning the outworks just outside the outer wall of the Palace. These are essentially civilians giving a lasgun and pointed in the right direction. There is maybe one officer for every 300 conscripts. Obviuosly some of the Civilians are ex military or Gang members but it's largely untrained people

 

On the Traitor side there are the Lost and the Damned, hence the title. You get a cool couple of passages from a Beastman's POV which is a nice nod to then older 40k lore. There are also mutants/spawn as well as some traitor army units that have seenbetter days.

 

The Alpha Legaion operatives that survived Praetorian of Dorn also make an apperence.

 

I'm hard pressed to say if any "famous" characters die in it actually. As i mentioned in a previous post the Painted Count's Heresy is over but it's not a real death..

 

 

 

 

Lex D'Arquebus

 

Is there any notable Sanguinius action? Does he duels with Angron?

 

There are a couple of nice very nice bits with him. I'd say he has easily the most time devoted to him out of the Loyalist Primarchs.

 

Bear in mind this is the very early stages of the ground war so not much marine on marine action. He does have an interaction with Angron but no fisticuffs

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

What's the book's page count?

 

 

Lex D'Arquebus

 

Is there any notable Sanguinius action? Does he duels with Angron?

 

Second this question.

About the same size as Solar War 412 of Story and another 10 for an afterword. Some really nice illustarions as well

 

 

 

Anymore detail on Horus being burnt out by the gods?

It's pretty much that weilding that much Power is burning him out quickly.

He spend long periods of the book seemingly in a cataonic state whilst communing with the Warp Powers. When he is consciuos he's lucid and a Dark Mirror of his old self but Abaddon can see the strain it's placing on him.

 

Layak the Word Bearer Sorceror is the one who reveals that Horus is being burnt out to Abaddon so maybe take it with a pinch of salt? Pretty sure in the afrerword Haley says it's also about foreshaddowing Abaddon's rise to power indeed that's how the book ends

 

 

 

 

 

 

Apart from the duel, I hope Raldoron shows some personality beyond his extreme blandness in Fear to Tread.

Depends on what you mean by personality I guess. I think his "blandness" is probably why he ends up being The first Chapter master, level head, steady Eddie, safe pair of hands etc.

 

He does have one really funny moment IMO

is that the "never heard of you" line? I saw that in FB.

 

Little sad that he was only on an even footing with skarivok tbh but at least he isn't dead!

 

 

As far as raldorans blandness goes, he is meant to be a perfect example of a space marine captain and chapter master. He is honourable, calm, even tempered, a master swordsman and a good strategist. He is also described as exemplifying the nobility and humility of sanguinius amongst his sons.

 

The trouble is, he hasn't had pages dedicated to him like some other characters, he's almost always in a supporting role to his primary. Kind of hoping he gets a bit more chance to shine here but not sure that's likely

Yes that's the line from Ral that I found funny:yes:

 

Yes agree completely with your points there. I guess his real time to shine will be in the wake of the final duel... He does probably get the most loyalist Astartes screen time in this book though.

Edited by Lex D'Arquebus
Merged several posts into one
Lex D'Arquebus Novitiate

Lex D'Arquebus

Posted
Posted (edited)

@Lex D'Arquebus... curious to know what went on between sangy and angy?

I'll prefice this with a bit of background first for context many spoilers so beware

One of the key concepts of the book, that I believe is possibily alluded to in the Solar War, is that Daemons, and therefore Daemon Primarchs, cannot set foot on Terra (maybe just near the Palace?) at the start of the ground siege as the Emperor is keeping them at bay with his Psychic Power.

 

Part of the way of eroding this protection from the Emperor is the mass bloodshed in the initial stages of the ground siege on the outworks just beyond the Palace wall, also possibly Horus is battling the Emperor psychically as well?

 

Angron in a rare moment of lucidity demands to be at the tip of the spear in assaulting Terra but accepts Horus' reasoning the he'll evaporate if he sets foot on Terra with the Emperor's protection still in place. This does not last long and Angron starts slaughtering his own Legion and is on the verge of heading to Terra anyway. 

 

Khârn, after conspiring with the Painted Count fo the Night Lords fights/avoids dieing with Angron and sticks him with a telport homer, whereafter Angron is teleported aboard the Nightfall into the maze that was use to trap Vulkan, untill such a time as the Emperor's protection is weakened & it's safe for Angron to set foot on Terra. 

 

After enough bloodshed The Word Bearer Layak completes a ritual that makes it start raining blood on Terra this meaning that Daemons can now appear on Terra and it's safe for the Daemon Primarch to make planet fall.

 

It shoud be noted that I think the Psychic protection is still in place it's just now decreasing in radius so daemons could appear in the ouside palace.

 

Also of note is I've only read the book once so the details may be a bit off but i'm pretty sure i'm correct on the broad strokes

 

Now to the actual question

 

With the barrier to Planet fall removed Angron flys down to to Terra after the Nightlords release him from the Maze. He's flying about outside the walls as he's still prevented from breaching them due to the aforemented psychic protection. He exchanges a few words with Sanguinius along the lines of "fight me", Sanguinius is then is like "not today broham, smell you later" and then Angron flys away, paraphraing obviously. Sanguinius does say that they will fight so given his foresight  that is something we'll hopefully get in a future book.  

 

 

Could anyone maybe tell me Alpharius' involvement in the story? I remember him being mentioned in the Roll of Characters, but we all know what happened in PoD.

 

He's not really in it at all besides being present via hologram, or whatever, at some of Horus' council of wars. It should be noted most of the Primarchs are not there in person either.

 

The Alpha Legion do have a strong presence in the book with the surviving opperatives from PoD featuring heavily. Alpharius does appear in a flashback with one of them as she's recruited by him.. or someone claiming to be him....

Edited by Lex D'Arquebus
Lex D'Arquebus Novitiate

Lex D'Arquebus

Posted
Posted

ohhhboy we getting into spoiler territory and im resisting clicking on those links

 

can anyone just say: awesome, good, average, bad, Vulkan Lives?

 

I'd go for a solid good at this point.

 

It offers a different perspective than a lot of the HH books by focusing on non Astartes, indeed non military, a lot of the time.

 

Does a lot of heavy lifting in the logic department as well I feel giving solid reasons for the way the seige pans out.

 

All Loyalist Primarchs have at least a couple of really cool moments each and some nice interactions with each other. The traitors too  but to a lesser extend due to their greater numbers.

 

Maybe it lacks the WOW!!! moments that I felt in the Solar War but it still has some really cool set pieces.

 

Obviously this is after only one reading and I'm possibly biast after paying £50 for the book so wanted it to be good. I also like the HH series as a whole having only not really enjoyed the Damnation of Pythos

 

cheers lex

 You're welcome, happy to have shared my impressions and thoughts on it.

Lex D'Arquebus Novitiate

Lex D'Arquebus

Posted
Posted (edited)

Thanks for the info, any really really interesting interactions?

 

Unsurprisingly i's really the Primarch interactions that shine for me.

 

There is a Loyalist War Council where Dorn, Sanguinius, The Khan, Valdor, & Malcador talk on the upcoming ground siege. Dicussed is the role of Chaos in the Heresy and offers expanations as to why the Emperor didn't tell any of the Primarchs (bar one!) about it, essentialy that even knowing about Chaos would make them more open to corruption by it.

 

The scene is somewhat marred by a possible inconsistency regarding Vulkan where his presence on Terra is revealed to Primarchs by Macador, the issue being that Dorn met him in Old Earth after he arrived. As mentioned erlier in this thread it can be interpreted in a way that doesn't break that consistency but to me it did read like a continutity error.

 

 

Lots of interesting interactions with the Traitor Primarchs underscoring their disparate natures and individual reasons for turning traitor, also their growth (or regression) after taking their first steps on the eightfold path. I was left with the impression that infighting and their own individual agendas could really hamper the siege for them, or at least really require some masterful manipulating by Horus, which we do get a great glimpse of in a section between him & Peturabo. It's a nice comparison with the Loyalist Primarchs who also have disagreements and their own differing priorities in the siege.

 

Layak and Abaddons relationship continues to be an interesting one

 

Sanguinius and Kane also have a nice scene together that was unexpected but underscores the pretty frail bond between Terra and the new Adeptus Mechanicus.

Edited by Lex D'Arquebus
Roomsky Veteran

Roomsky

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the spoilers, Lex. Your description of the book moving things (both logical and in-universe) into place brings The Beheading to mind, one of my favourite of Haley's works. Fingers crossed it gels as well as that did.

 

RE: Skraivok

 

 

More of that, please. I'm fine with an uncanny amount of named characters showing up again if a swathe of them experiences character death like that. Besides, I think basically being dragged to hell is an even better "end" for a bastard like Skraivok than just getting chopped up.

 

b1soul Venerable Brother

b1soul

Posted
Posted
Skraivok being manipulated by a daemonsword and then being possessed by the daemon is not really a "fake" death is it? Some possessions involve two souls sharing control of one body. Other possessions involve the daemon soul simply taking over.
Apothecary Vaddon Battle-Brother

Apothecary Vaddon

Posted
Posted

Thanks for the spoilers, Lex. Your description of the book moving things (both logical and in-universe) into place brings The Beheading to mind, one of my favourite of Haley's works. Fingers crossed it gels as well as that did.

 

RE: Skraivok

 

 

More of that, please. I'm fine with an uncanny amount of named characters showing up again if a swathe of them experiences character death like that. Besides, I think basically being dragged to hell is an even better "end" for a bastard like Skraivok than just getting chopped up.

 

IMO Haley saved TBA with his latter contributions. His stuff wasn't perfect but it did a lot towards making TBA interesting in the end. 

Lex D'Arquebus Novitiate

Lex D'Arquebus

Posted
Posted (edited)

https://www.warhammer-community.com/2019/07/17/siege-of-terra-website-new-details-and-a-new-map/

 

New stuff on the GW site re the books of the Siege. Definatly worth a look as you can zoom in on the map and it sets up the premise for book 3 "The First Wall"

 

Thanks for the spoilers, Lex. Your description of the book moving things (both logical and in-universe) into place brings The Beheading to mind, one of my favourite of Haley's works. Fingers crossed it gels as well as that did.

 

RE: Skraivok

 

 

More of that, please. I'm fine with an uncanny amount of named characters showing up again if a swathe of them experiences character death like that. Besides, I think basically being dragged to hell is an even better "end" for a bastard like Skraivok than just getting chopped up.

 

 

Yeah I'm not too familar with the BL's 40k stuff, or 32k in that case I guess? Put it this way it answered some of the thoughts I had on why the siege played out the way it did.

 

It was inevitable that a large chunk of named characters would be present at the siege really wasn't it?, I'll guess we'll see a few die by each others hands, (Sigismund's role as Emperor's champion will be interesting) I wouldn't even mind a few of the existing character getting killed by random or in collateral damage. I also suspect now that the Fist's Oath name thing (different version of "I'm Alpharius" I feel) was highlighted in PoD we might see a few unexpected deaths in Fist characters that we think survive (Rann and Thane spring to mind) 

6 times 66 times 666 years of pain - 23.976 years going through hell, in total.

That should please some Skraivok haters. :tongue.:


 

I double checked. It's actually only 6*666 years, a walk in the part by comparion

 

What is the main plotline with the conscripts like? i'm guessing it's suitably bleak.

Yeah it's suitably bleak. It mainly follows Katsuhiro who is conscripted into one of the regiments of the Old 100, his unit is essentially all conscripts with a few ex services people in their by chance
The Alpha Legion Operatives are there too posing as conscripts albeit with service training
. It follow their engagements with the initial traior first wave that consists of Beastmen, mutants, and traitor army. It then progresses to their engagemnts with the Daeth Guard as the outer works are gradually over run and the conscripts are pushed back to the Palace outer wall. It's got a very WW1 trench warfare vibe to it which was cool        
Edited by Lex D'Arquebus

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