The Siege of Terra: The First Wall

[Billy the Squid]

See that's the biggest issue I have with the Free Corp plot line, it's IMO a waste of time, it goes absolutely nowhere and takes away time from the Siege itself and the very real human cost of the meat grinder that is taking place. 

 

I want to see more of the siege through Katsohiro's eyes, he's been conscripted, herded like cattle to the outer trench line as cannon fodder, fended off the deranged hordes of mutants and cultists thrown at them, endured traitor attacks, orbital barrages which penetrate the shield on occasions and level entire sections of the outer trench line, chemical weapons munitions and the horror of gas attacks and a direct assault by the Death Guard, escaping by the skin of his teeth and it shows a sliver of humanity in his interaction with the Imperial Fists, then he has a full blown panic attack.  

 

That poor bastard has been to hell and back and the walls haven't even been breached yet, It was a missed opportunity to see the Siege through his eyes, being posted to various sectors the degenerating conditions of the slums and refugee camps, the lack of supplies, the grumbling and patrolling of Commissars within the walls and executions to forestall mutiny, hinting at what the Imperium will become in the grim future 

 

The Old lore dealt with it more effectively, that Imperial army units went rogue and turned traitor as the Traitor Legions made an assault on the Space Port, rendering the perimeter compromised and allowing the Traitors to gain a foot hold. The entire Free Corps plot line could have been rolled in and dealt with through Katsohiro's eyes and his interactions with them as part of the perimeter defence on various sections of wall, keeping it inside the Siege lines, rather than splitting things off into yet another plot line, where we are trying to focus on the Imperial Fists, the Iron Warriors, Katsohiro AND the Free Corps, it's just too scatty and it's not given the time and attention needed for the plot line to deliver effectively, rather detracting from the main focus of the book, becoming a tangential arc which doesn't add anything to the pivotal event of the HH and sets the tone for the entire 40k universe, the Siege of the Imperial Palace

Edited April 9, 2020 by Billy the Squid

[aa.logan]

Re: the above post

why should a bloody and horrendous meat grinder of a war only feature narratively satisfying viewpoints? The beauty of this story lies in the futility of their grand gesture, and their awareness of this. The brightest and best of a hive, their potential future gone in a flash to make a point as much as achieve any military goals. It’s perfect.

[Billy the Squid]

Re: the above post

why should a bloody and horrendous meat grinder of a war only feature narratively satisfying viewpoints? The beauty of this story lies in the futility of their grand gesture, and their awareness of this. The brightest and best of a hive, their potential future gone in a flash to make a point as much as achieve any military goals. It’s perfect.

 

 Because it is the most pivotal moment in the entire history of the Imperium, it sets up the entire 40k universe as the dystopian nightmare that we know and love and  sets the theme of slow decline, from what the Imperium could have been to it's inevitable death, while mankind continues it's desperate, but ultimately futile, struggle to rage against the dying of the light. 

 

The entire Free Corps line takes us on a pointless tangent, there's no reason they couldn't have been rolled into the story arc with Katsohiro, ie: we meet them through him and they explain to us where they're from, how they've been drafted and it lets us see hints that all might not be well, but with Commissars executing mutineers, refugees, disease, starvation and the squalor of the slums it just gets written off as battle fatigue and the mind playing tricks; that's the human element I'd like to see, the struggle of normal humans trapped in a apocalyptic clash of titans which they have little to no hope of affecting, Some like Katsohiro may cope, others like the Free Corps resent it and turn renegade, others seek solace in the Lecticio Divinitatus. 

 

This works with Perturabo's move for the space port, the Free Corps mutinies, disrupting the perimeter and Dorn is forced to bring down friendly fire on his own positions of risk the Iron Warriors break out of their beach head on the Lion's Gate. It still achieves the futility of their action, they're immediately wiped out by either Imperial artillery or by the Iron warriors as they breach the perimeter, who aren't going to stop and ask questions, rather simply gun down. anything in their way 

 

Gav's issue was veering off into pointless tangents which go nowhere, as a separate little novella it'd work, but inter spaced between the most important events of Imperial History the cutting back and forth simply becomes a distraction and more than anything an irritation, as you say it's a futile gesture, so why should the reader care about their futile gesture which is removed from the events of the Siege and not even related to it?

 

They've been drafted as cannon fodder and they turn rogue, I don't see how that required almost a third of the book to achieve a narrative which doesn't go anywhere and is completely divorced from the main thrust of the book, as I said earlier in the thread, it feels like it's been cobbled together and shoe horned in to try and subvert the readers expectations, yet all I got from it was that they all ended up dead and Gav wasted however many chapters writing a merry song and dance about how they get to the staging point that goes no where. 

 

Edit: My problem isn't so much the free corps, it's the way in which they were handled and written into the main story was bad. 

Edited April 9, 2020 by Billy the Squid

[b1soul]

I'd agree that the Freecorps tangent would probably work better as a separate SoT novella.

[Tymell]

Ho boy I have some mixed feelings on this one.

 

I'll start with the positives:

 

Perturabo and the Iron Warriors are solid, I particularly enjoyed the brutal grind of Forrix's story in this, it's really good. You see their bitterness, brutality and hunger for glory: Berossus abandoning his post for glory, Kroeger's street fighter tactics, Forrix's blunt willingness to do whatever it takes. But they're not entirely without concern for the lives of their brothers. I also enjoyed the paranoia, like Forrix's softening his words a little for Gharal out of concern that he might just abandon him. It all shows the flaws in the legion's mindset but without feeling cartoonish or overdone, and contrasts well with the Imperial Fists while allowing both to be accomplished.

 

Zenobi's story was thoroughly enjoyable for me, honestly the best part of the book even before the twist, and that twist sealed it as one of the best handled plotlines of the entire series IMO. I've wanted to see more of regular people involved in the war since the beginning, and to see people siding with Horus that aren't moustache-twirling villains, but real people with their reasons.

 

I also felt the twist itself was very well done. I didn't see it coming, and yet after I finished the book I went back over the Addaba parts. All the talk of "the cause" and "freedom" takes on a new meaning in hindsight, and it gives it some of the best re-read potential of the series. It all felt natural and unforced, and I really like an assessment I read elsewhere that it plays with our 40k expectations: when we see talk of slavishly dying for the Emperor and blind obedience to him, we take it in stride and as a positive thing, because that's what we've come to expect in 40k. But this isn't 40k, and these things -aren't- meant as positives.

 

...

 

 

BUT...

 

As much as I love Zenobi's story, it does feel almost entirely separate from the assault on the Lion's Gate. Technically it does tie in at the end, but in a way that feels almost irrelevant. It's another example of a HH book with two main storylines which are fine in and of themselves, but feel pushed together into one book (see Wolfsbane or The Buried Dagger). It doesn't help that those bits are all set in the past, so it feels especially jarring to keep getting pulled back to it.

 

In connection with that, my biggest problem with the book is how the narrative flows in the space port parts, which is best summed up as:

 

 

The timeline/perspective jumping is very distracting and almost ruins the whole novel in the first half/two thirds. We keep bouncing between different characters, some not feeling especially relevant or important. I had the same sort of issue with Lost and the Damned (where the closest the book had to a main character was Katsuhiro, who still only appeared in about 20-25% of the entire book). This one wasn't quite so bad in that regard, it does feel like it has more of a focus (the Iron Warriors and Imperial Fists, as well as the aforementioned Zenobi story), but it also keeps moving through different points in time.

 

I've actually gone through and noted all the timestamps to illustrate how much it jumps around, with jumps backwards in red (I've removed Zenobi's parts because, while they do jump back and forth between that and the Imperial Palace, the Addaba parts at least flow forward linearly):

 

70 hours before - Perturabo planning on the Iron Blood

69 hours before - Perturabo briefs his generals

13 hours before - Dorn sends Rann to the space port

6 hours before - A look at "Poxville", quarantined section inside the walls with Katsuhiro

7 hours before - Rann arrives at the space port

6 hours before - The Triarch talk before first ground assault

6 hours before - Rann prepares for assault

4 hours before - Kroeger meets with Khârn

Assault hour - Forrix advances as assault begins

1 hour before - Soldiers witness the advancing traitors triggering explosives left for them

Assault hour - Rann commands the Imperial Fists shield wall outside the main walls

Assault hour - Khârn advances as part of the attack

Assault hour - Angron joins the attack but can't penetrate the Emperor's shield

Assault hour - Soldiers inside see Emperor's Children taking captives

4 hours after - Forrix discusses concerns with Vull Bronn

10 hours after - Horus speaks with his brothers

18 hours after - Iron Warriors blast a lance strike at the space port

18 hours after - Archmagos Satarael infiltrates the space port and sends Volk into the system

18 hours after - Forrix heads into the space port from the ground

18 hours after - Abaddon, Typhus, Layak and Perturabo meet and summon Utterblight

2 days after - Katsuhiro sees a vision

20 hours after - Forrix moves up in the port

2 days after - Valdor and Dorn investigate the strange sightings

2 days after - Amon begins to investigate

1 day after - Berossus leads an attack into the space port

1 day after - Khârn and the World Eaters attack the port via boarding torpedoes

3 days after - Amon continues his investigation and meets Keeler

4 days after - Rann continues the defence

3 days after - Keeler speaks with Amon

2 days after - Abaddon joins the assault on the space port

4 days after - Amon and Keeler meet a congregation

2 days after - Forrix's offensive continues

5 days after - Keeler visits the Lightbearers

6 days after - Rann continues the defence

6 days after - Rann leads a counter-attack

6 days after - Forrix's force continue to fight

8 days after - Amon uncovers daemonic influence among the faithful

12 days after - Amon, Malcador, Dorn, Sisigmund and Keeler meet

12 days after - Abaddon and Layak link up with Kroeger

12 days after - Forrix's force continue to fight

12 days after - Amon, Malcador, Dorn, Sisigmund and Keeler meet

14 days after - Sigismund leads the Templars into the space port

13 days after - Keeler and Sindermann join a Lightbearer congregation

15 days after - Rann battles Kroeger

15 days after - Forrix's force heads towards a monorail terminal

16 days after - Sigismund's forces continue to fight in the space port

16 days after - Amon discovers half-born

18 days after - Keeler and others appear to cleanse half-born with holy fire

19 days after - Forrix's force break through and join up with others

20 days after - Amon speaks with Valdor

21 days after - Dorn sets off to join the battle at the space port

21 days after - Sigismund desires to go after Abaddonn

21 days after - Forrix links up with Vull Bronn

21 days after - Amon and Malcador witness a gathering of the faithful

21 days after - Abaddon, Layak and Khârn charge against the Imperial Fists

"unknown" - Keeler sees the truth of her visions and Utterblight's corruption

22 days after - Khârn battles Sigismund, but Dorn arrives and knocks Khârn away

"unknown" - Keeler struggles in her vision

22 days after - Amon fights to defend Keeler and Sindermann

22 days after - Dorn slays Layak and Perturabo arrives

22 days after - Utterblight manifests and is repelled by Malcador and Amon

22 days after - Dorn and Perturabo trade verbal barbs

24 days after - Traitor titans land

24 days after - Amon, Valdor, Malcador and the loyalist primarchs meet

"unknown" - Grammaticus arrives

 

In addition to the "steps back" above, there are two occasions where a day seems to elapse instantly: At the end of Chapter 15 Zenobi gets ready at the train turrets (60 days before), we cut away...then when we return in Chapter 16 it's 59 days before and Zenobi is still sat at the gun, ready to fire on the incoming aircraft. At the end of Chapter 29 we see Khârn charging at the Imperial Fists led by Sigismund (21 days after), we cut away...then when we return in Chapter 30 it's 22 days after and Khârn is still leaping over them.

 

It makes the whole thing feel like a bunch of vaguely related short stories rather than a coherent story, and robs the narrative of momentum.

 

Additionally, I struggled to really get a feel for the logistics of the battle because of all this. I read what's happening, but I don't really get -why- it's happening, why I should care, etc. Early on there's a big assault on the gate...then the Iron Warriors assault the port directly with lance strikes, drop pods/ships, torpedoes, and entering through additional entrances. So why the big kerfuffle at the gate?

 

So yeah, those are my mixed feelings. I loved Zenobi's story in this, even if it had basically nothing to do with the attack on the space port. A lot of the prose and character writing is solid, but the lack of any kind of narrative flow and focus early on hurts this novel so badly. Overall I did prefer this to Lost and the Damned, but Solar War remains the best example of balancing all the characters involved.

 

I give it a 7/10 overall: Zenobi's stuff is worth an easy 9, but the pacing problems of the book as a whole drag it down.

Edited April 11, 2020 by Tymell

[Ascanius]

The one real weakness of the novel was the Zenobi thread in the book. It was initially a nice change of pace to see a more human aspect to the war, but as the ongoing trudge towards the palace that they face, reading it was a similar trudge - and I quickly became bored. As I want to speak more about this I will put the rest in spoilers, so read on at your peril (and if you want to talk about it further, please continue to use spoiler tags):

As I mentioned before, I had a suspicion that with such a focus on these events there was going to be some sort of twist, and there was. The initial idea before the twist was good - the conscripts we’re heading to a hidden / cloaked staging area outside the palace, as Dorn was keeping by for a strategic counter attack against the walls. With the Iron Warriors placing huge amounts of ground-based firepower against the Lions Gate shields, this was the call to them to come out. As they do, surprise, the regiment is actually supporting the Warmaster (as Zenobi unfurls a company banner that she’s been told to keep with her at all times throughout the novel, a red background with the eye of Horus emblazoned on it) - and that would be ok, if that thread didn’t stop there. Dorn receives reports that various imperial army elements are rebelling, and that’s the end of that plot point and those characters. Worse still, it didn’t even feel that they had a decent reason to rebel and fall in with the Warmaster. So there wasn’t a real payoff, nor was there a compelling reason why, for something that occupies ~20% of the novel.

 

I'm not going to say "You're wrong", but I really disagree on a couple of points:

The twist really worked for me - I didn't see it coming, but when I thought back across Zenobi's storyline a few things fell into place. The integrity officers really were quick to eradicate the Emperor-worshippers, weren't they? They did talk about "freedom" and "putting Addaba first" a bit more than you'd expect for regular Imperial citizens, didn't they? Even the name "Free Corps" has some not-great associations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freikorps

 

I liked that - and I really liked that "For the Warmaster!" was the last we saw of them directly. Of course they all died at the muster point - they weren't numerous enough to wipe out the loyalists, and that would never have been the plan. The plan would have been to cause as much harm to the Emperor's cause as possible, wherever the tides of fate took them.

 

I specifically told my wife when I was past the section where Dorn hears about what happened at the muster point that I really appreciated that reference was the end of it.

 

That's just me, but it was my favourite element of the book.

 

I haven't always been fond of the way Zardu Layak foreshadowed Abaddon's future role, if for no other reason than that Black Legion did such a good job at demonstrating that his rise was never exactly a foregone conclusion. On the other hand, now that he's dead, perhaps that thread will be left to trail off and we can assume that it was Layak's particular conviction that Abaddon was The Guy, not a general belief held by all and sundry with a line to the Dark Gods.

[Moonreaper666]

 

 

The one real weakness of the novel was the Zenobi thread in the book. It was initially a nice change of pace to see a more human aspect to the war, but as the ongoing trudge towards the palace that they face, reading it was a similar trudge - and I quickly became bored. As I want to speak more about this I will put the rest in spoilers, so read on at your peril (and if you want to talk about it further, please continue to use spoiler tags):

As I mentioned before, I had a suspicion that with such a focus on these events there was going to be some sort of twist, and there was. The initial idea before the twist was good - the conscripts we’re heading to a hidden / cloaked staging area outside the palace, as Dorn was keeping by for a strategic counter attack against the walls. With the Iron Warriors placing huge amounts of ground-based firepower against the Lions Gate shields, this was the call to them to come out. As they do, surprise, the regiment is actually supporting the Warmaster (as Zenobi unfurls a company banner that she’s been told to keep with her at all times throughout the novel, a red background with the eye of Horus emblazoned on it) - and that would be ok, if that thread didn’t stop there. Dorn receives reports that various imperial army elements are rebelling, and that’s the end of that plot point and those characters. Worse still, it didn’t even feel that they had a decent reason to rebel and fall in with the Warmaster. So there wasn’t a real payoff, nor was there a compelling reason why, for something that occupies ~20% of the novel.

I'm not going to say "You're wrong", but I really disagree on a couple of points:

The twist really worked for me - I didn't see it coming, but when I thought back across Zenobi's storyline a few things fell into place. The integrity officers really were quick to eradicate the Emperor-worshippers, weren't they? They did talk about "freedom" and "putting Addaba first" a bit more than you'd expect for regular Imperial citizens, didn't they? Even the name "Free Corps" has some not-great associations: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Freikorps

 

I liked that - and I really liked that "For the Warmaster!" was the last we saw of them directly. Of course they all died at the muster point - they weren't numerous enough to wipe out the loyalists, and that would never have been the plan. The plan would have been to cause as much harm to the Emperor's cause as possible, wherever the tides of fate took them.

 

I specifically told my wife when I was past the section where Dorn hears about what happened at the muster point that I really appreciated that reference was the end of it.

 

That's just me, but it was my favourite element of the book.

 

I haven't always been fond of the way Zardu Layak foreshadowed Abaddon's future role, if for no other reason than that Black Legion did such a good job at demonstrating that his rise was never exactly a foregone conclusion. On the other hand, now that he's dead, perhaps that thread will be left to trail off and we can assume that it was Layak's particular conviction that Abaddon was The Guy, not a general belief held by all and sundry with a line to the Dark Gods.

To be fair Laylak told Abaddon not to rescue Khârn saying that the Gods do not approve. Had Abaddon obeyed the will of Chaos, Laylak would still be alive

 

Khârn dies but is revive by Khorne anyway so it was moot for Abaddon to rescue him

 

Dorn>Laylak>Guilliman

[Indefragable]

So I finished this a while back....before the whole COVID19 thing was on the minds of most of the planet. I've been struggling with my review, however, since I literally have to mentally switch gears to the Before Times to pick back up and complete it. Yea, I know it's just for these forums so it's not exactly impacting human history, but it nags at me to have started something without finishing it (like my entire collection of unpainted models). I'll see what I can do soon. 

[Red_Shift]

I finished this yesterday. I enjoyed it overall, and I view Thorpe novels with some trepidation.

 

I thought the iron warriors were well handled. The right degree of pessimism and suspicion and the fight scenes were good. I never felt like they had too much plot armour although I would have liked to have seen one of their bigger characters bite it.

 

I found the free corps sideline a bit pointless. Where in previous books the imperial army viewpoint gave some perspective I thought it was largely wasted. I didn't see that particular twist coming but I was expecting a twist, such as them all being stepped on by a titan the minute they arrive. I think it would have been fine if the page use hadn't been so excessive.

 

I sped up towards the end in anticipation of a Dorn vs Perturabo showdown and I was disappointed. Dorn clearly thought he could take Perturabo as he raced to the confrontation and I think Perturabo backing down showed he lacked some confidence. I think the fairly minor role that Dorn had was my biggest disappointment in a book called The First Wall and I was hoping for a but more whoopass

[Guiltysparc]

I'll say the first half or so was a bit slow, then it got better, then I really enjoyed the last several chapters. I loved the end of the free corps plot line.

[Indefragable]

Re-listened to this. Not often I do that, but this one I decided to. I had previously finished the audiobook moments before COVID became a thing so as I alluded to in some other posts, it felt like a decade since I had absorbed it. I had started writing my usual tome of reaction, but I'm just gonna be quick about it below. 

 

**********

 

Like Buried Dagger I found this one an odd mix of stories to include. Each are pretty good on their own, but put together....I have to ask what the author's intent was. Like an album you listen to that is widely varied--almost jarringly so--with the tracks on it. If it's a collection/greatest hits/mixtape? Sure. But if that's the creator's intent....I don't get it.

 

Unlike Buried Dagger, I thought this one was pretty good overall..it just seemed odd to have these 3 stories put together, let alone as a numbered entry in DA SIEGE. 

 

1. Imperial Fists vs Iron Warriors: this was the best part of the book, and precisely the sort of thing we've all been wanting from DA SIEGIEST SIEGE THAT EVER DID SIEGE. The mind games, the unstoppable force meets unmovable object nature of the IF v IW rivalry...we got a taste of that. Not a cooked to perfection meal, but a nice taste. Forrix (sp?) and Rann stole the show....but since they're on the cover, maybe it was their show all along. An excellent blend of individual combat, tactical maneuvering, greater strategy, and the confluence of them all. If the entire series was mostly this, I'd be happy. I was less pleased with:

-Abaddon's fate being built up so much by Zardu Layak. The idea of Abbadon being more of a self-made dude is more appealing to me. From a meta perspective it feels to wink-wink to our knowing 40k sensibilities

 

-Sigismund's stuff. It felt off. I actually tuned out for much of this during the second listen. I'm not sure why. 

 

-Mixed feelings on Dorn and Perturabo having an in-person conversation. It was cool and fitting and perfectly in-setting: what makes 40k so fun is that in a battle where you have walking skyscrapers that can nuke a continent, it's so STUPID to have the commanders of each side within missile range of each other, let alone mere yards apart, yet they do it anyways because in the grim darkness of the far future, brotherly dissing can't be passed up. Love it....

...but I also feel like it was a bit gimmicky. Did they really need to have that moment? Perhaps I am stuck in my own idea of them "talking" via the chessboard of the siege more than the actual physical confrontation. Overall I have to go with "yes, I can't fault its inclusion."

 

2. Adabba Free Korps: I like this story. Especially the second time around, I really appreciate it. I can even see why it's part of SIEGE OF TERRA, THE. I just don't get why it had to be told here, now, as part of this particular numbered entry. It clearly was a neat idea that Thorpe wanted to expand on, so good there, but how it fit into the battle felt tacked on and lacking any meaning. If....

...Dorn had been coy throughout the narrative about having a trick up his sleeve, with the reveal being that he was going to have conscripts and mortals as his final counter-attack, precisely because Pert would least expect that--just like Dorn would least expect Kroger (sp?)'s brute assault plan--then I think this would have made more sense and further played into the mind games and chessboard aspect of Dorn vs Perturabo. 

 

3. Amon + Keeler + Malcador: most boring part of the siege to me so far. Yea yea the start of the Imperial Creed and how faith can literally shield you. Again, felt a bit too on-the-nose for us readers with our knowledge of life 10,000 years later. It's not a bad little story at all, it just feels off to be in this book at this point in the Siege. I know the scale of the battle is beyond human comprehension, so there's plenty of sections of the palace that are calm and relatively untouched, but a detective story in the middle of it was jarring....like reading about someone on a quest to fix a vending machine during Pearl Harbor.  A cumulative effect of the HH and Siege series I also find off-putting:

The fact that no-one, not even Valdor or Malcador has spoken to the Emperor or knows what he is up to. It sounds just dumb to me. Like....that's what the freaking Custodes are for, to be the ones that know what he is up to when no one else does. It would be perfectly acceptable for the Custodes to know in-setting, but we readers do not. That would be more plausible to me. 

 

Likewise, Malcador is the 2nd or 3rd most powerful parker in humanity after Big E and Magnus....yet he still doesn't know :cuss about different warp manifestations? That was another part of me that was jarring. Maybe I interpreted things wrong, but Malcador genuinely curious about Amon's findings and such seemed wrong. It would have been more interesting to me if Malcador was coy and kept probing Amon for little details like "what did it smell like? how many times did that sound manifest?" You'll notice a theme among my critiques here, but I'm finding it harder to suspend disbelief about some things. 

I have to give Thorpe credit on writing some of the religious aspects, especially as someone who has admitted that's not their comfort zone. There was a part that hit home for me from a discomfort level, and that's always a good sign for an author. Also, to make sure I get it right:

Layak uses the chaos worm thing to infiltrate the palace and cause mortals to become religious, thus increasing chaos' power, thus weakening the shields? And the Lectitio Divinatus cult, with Keeler as the most prominent, plays right into that....but also is the greatest localized counteragent to it?

 

I submit that many of my gripes and queries around "why was that included in this book" may be answered as the rest of the series unfolds. I hope it does and that my complaints here are more of the "just watch" variety rather than artistic oddities, but we'll just have to see. 

 

Again, I harp on the negative stuff mainly because that's what stands out the most to me. This was decent overall. 

 

My arbitrary rankings so far (too lazy to look back at what I previously gave them). 

1. The Solar War = 7.5
2. The Lost and The Damned = 6.5
3. The First Wall = 7

To be honest, I have not been blown away by any of the Siege novels so far. Solar War was good and an interesting way to kick it all off. I am a bit partial to Lost and Damned because I'm a BA guy and A. they finally got some interesting moments, especially the criminally under explored Raldoron, and B. the more I think about it the more the Katsuhiro arc has grown on me.  First Wall was 1/3 good, 2/3 good-but-not-Siege-y to me. 

[1ncarnadine]

I have to give Thorpe credit on writing some of the religious aspects, especially as someone who has admitted that's not their comfort zone. There was a part that hit home for me from a discomfort level, and that's always a good sign for an author. Also, to make sure I get it right:

Layak uses the chaos worm thing to infiltrate the palace and cause mortals to become religious, thus increasing chaos' power, thus weakening the shields? And the Lectitio Divinatus cult, with Keeler as the most prominent, plays right into that....but also is the greatest localized counteragent to it?

 

I think it's more that with Cor'bax, it infiltrated faith itself and then helped it to spread a specific way, rather than outright created religion or a need for religion on its own. It's a Daemon of Nurgle that was parasitizing the Imperial Creed and exploiting human needs for comfort, answers, and relief from their crisis. But Nurgle's answer to escaping misery is to become part of it, to become a vector for despair and spread it like a plague. So you have two types of religion at play, where one is powered by hope and the other is essentially an end to hope (more like a doomsday cult).