I wouldn’t go so far as to say that women aren’t in the minority, but I’ve seen plenty at the adepticons I’ve gone to, and the brutal unapologetic war is what my wife likes about the setting (she plays chaos).
You’re a lucky man ;) - get the movie if you can shell out the dough, you’ll both probably love it!
Sorry for the delay.
I definitely liked the geometric-challenge planet and the idea of the gates and so on (though the planet honestly was cooler than the combat IMHO). On the other hand, Ravenor’s ongoing obsession with a girl he could never have (Kara I believe?) and his insane rage over his ally that was hitting that was really, really annoying. So I guess it balances out. :D
You know, it might have been. I read my fantasy books like I play my video games: way after everyone else when they are cheap. In this case, I read all the Eisenhorn and Ravenor in the Omnibuses, which means yeah that would include transitional stories.
Well the way I see it, the Inquisition was kind of marginally unofficially vaguely outskirtsextreme-circumstances open to working with forbidden lore and even Chaos spawn in extreme cases. Even the puritan Eisenhorn decided to do so, and was found innocent both times he was brought up on charges of heresy (note that the facts were not in dispute either time, only the intention and circumstances). But working with Eldar? I dunno. Just my perspective. :)
It’s great, make no mistake. Just not up to Abnett’s par in my view. He said something in the opener to the Omnibus about how he approached writing the Ravenor series and I wonder if he was too rushed, either by his own excitement or external pressure, to tighten things up a bit more. Or perhaps overloaded writing Ravenor and an increasingly popular/large Gaunt’s Ghosts series at the same time?
I don’t think your recommendation is necessary. I certainly didn’t have any trouble following what was going on and why (I’ve read maybe fifteen 40k novels and not a single sourcebook). And yes, Enforcer is very much worth reading.
I know, but sometimes in the beginning with the explanation of all the rituals and daily ceremonies I was a little lost and confused sometimes.
But may have been because I only read it an hour at a time. Having to re read some paragraphs etc…
That’s a funny objection. Fluff-wise the Inquisition, at least the inner core of it, has always been pretty friendly with the Eldar. Elder may be a grave threat to individual humans every so often (not the job of the Inquisition), but they’re no threat to humanity (which is what Inquisitors handle). Quite the opposite. They’re far more expert on daemonology than the Empire and they’re willing to share the information. Moreover, they’re far more expert on all things Warp. They’re so closely related to humanity that the two races can interbreed. And they have already evolved to the point where all of them are psykers to some degree, which is the Emperor’s Grand Plan for humanity. So… Eldar = harmless crystal ball for humanity, and one that’s even favourably disposed towards the fate of humanity.
The Eldar are more than capable of threatening humanity, even diminished as they are. They see no problem with wiping out human settlements on “their” worlds, raiding human shipping, and even diverting orks/tyranids/other nasties towards human worlds for their own purposes.
They are not favourably disposed to the fate of humanity exept when it serves theit needs.
And a significant part of the Inquisition sees the idea of humanity being all psykers as the ultimate doom for the human race.
Yeah, the Inquisition may well work with Eldar in certain (rare) cases, but the Ordo Xenos is not particularly friendly to them.
Eisenhorn was a study in how a puritan becomes a radical, and the use of daemonhosts was a sign of that.
Do you have an actual fluff example of Eldar posing a threat to humanity at large?
To the best of my fluff-knowledge, they neither can nor want to destroy Humanity. On their own, the Eldar race will eventually go extinct and their souls get gobbled all up by the perversion they birthed in the Warp.
Humanity is the one race that may yet evolve into beings who transcend the threat of Chaos - like the Eldar might have, if they’d been less ignorant of the Warp. Moreover, the races are so closely related that Humanity offers a hope that both may evolve into something greater together.
The chances that Humanity will avoid the fate of the Eldar, that the Eldar will hang on long enough to reap the benefits, and that Humanity will then allow it, are all pretty slim. But the alternative is unimaginable, endless ruin.
Up to the eventual unification of the races the Eldar desire, the Eldar and the Emperor’s Plan for Humanity are one and the same. Likewise, the original mandate of the Inquisition is to ensure that destiny by any means - and one of the most potent means the Inquisition has is, for obvious reasons, the Eldar.
They are not favourably disposed to the fate of humanity exept when it serves theit needs.
Indeed. And you might say they’re only favourably disposed to Humanity up to a point: they seek to use Humanity to save themselves. The implications for Humanity is of no concern.
Inquisitors don’t die from natural causes, and the details of their work are such that their minds are eventually destroyed. That is why the Inquisition has an internal investigations department, known as the Ordo Malleus, whose sole task is to identify and destroy elements of the Inquisition who fail to uphold the mandate of the Inquisition (and, incidentally, until Eisenhorn/the Inquisitor skirmish game, dealing with the denizens of the Warp was proof of corruption in the eyes of the Malleus).
Yeah, the Inquisition may well work with Eldar in certain (rare) cases, but the Ordo Xenos is not particularly friendly to them.
Well… When you start getting into greater detail than the basic motivations and organisation of the races in the setting, things get pretty written in water-like. To give you a couple of examples: xeno-policy used to be up to individual Planetary Governors, and while the alien and the mutant couldn’t be citizens, the Empire was basically a multi-species Imperium and its working class-equivalent was almost exclusively mutants.
Eisenhorn was a study in how a puritan becomes a radical, and the use of daemonhosts was a sign of that.
Which I have no problem with. Our GM back in 1ed wrote a scenario that had some nasty Space Marines intercept my merry band of lovable Orks, on the advice from a NPC Inquisitor who knew f’ing everything because he used a third guy’s Arbites warband hunt down Psychic children amongst the mutie (fourth warband) population, and fed the captured children to a Warp ghost (forgot what they were called) in return for intel on my poor little Orks.
The setting lends itself to that kind of stories. It’s what’s so cool about it. But Inquisitors who cross lines like that should go crazy and end up getting snuffed by the Malleus.
My only objection was to the idea that it is more outrageous for an Inquisitor to deal with Eldar, or almost any kind of realspace alien, than it is for an inquisitor to deal with the denizens of the Warp.
If the two Dark Heresy books I’ve read are anything to go by, they’ve now got the Ordos pegged as so: Ordo Xenos - aliens; Ordo Hereticus - mutants, unlicensed psykers, and other miscellaneous heretics; Ordo Malleus - daemons. It didn’t seem like there was, per se, a specific internal affairs-type group, although inquisitors have good reason to be wary even of other inquisitors - not necessarily due to corruption, but simply goals/methods running at cross-purposes. My impression in general has been that all xenos species are considered enemies of mankind, so working with them would be intrinsically suspect. Not -worse- than working with the powers of the warp, especially if dealing with certain species of occasionally coinciding goals (eldar being a notable example of such), but crossing a line, definitely.
The Eldar are not a threat to the survival of humanity as a species, like the orks, tyranids or necrons are but they are still more than capable of hurting humanity wherever they feel we are in their way, with disastrous consequences for individual planets or even sub-sectors.
They have absolutely no regard for humanity as anything but pawns, at best. If they help us it is only because it will save Eldar lives in the process and their interests might coincide with ours but no inquisitor should ever think that they can be trusted.
That really isn’t the sole task of the Ordo Malleus. There are 3 major Ordos - Hereticus, Malleus, Xenos. All 3 are fairly self-explanatory and it’s wrong to say that Malleus focuses on within, because it has a huge role to play fighting Chaos (which is its primary role) outside of the Inquisition. The Grey Knights are tied to them, after all.
Inquisitors are just as likely to be investigated by Hereticus, especially given the nature of a Hereticus Puritan (yay for Witch Hunters!).
Well… When you start getting into greater detail than the basic motivations and organisation of the races in the setting, things get pretty written in water-like. To give you a couple of examples: xeno-policy used to be up to individual Planetary Governors, and while the alien and the mutant couldn’t be citizens, the Empire was basically a multi-species Imperium and its working class-equivalent was almost exclusively mutants.
It sounds like you’re going so far back into the murky history of GW fluff that it’s all been written out and replaced with something a little more consistent. Certainly in the 40k universe as it stands now, that isn’t the case.
The Eldar might not be strong enough to wipe out humanity militarily, but they have shown repeatedly that they can manipulate the actions of entire sectors of space for their own purposes. I’d say the Inquisition would take some notice of that.
I vaguely remember this from 1st edition, but I kind of thought the idea had been scrapped as 40K moved further from its WHFB roots in the 90s. Is there a recent mention of this?
Indeed. And going back to his line about cross-breeding Eldar and humans, the Eldar as they have been depicted for the last 15 years would think of breeding with a human in the same way that we would think of breeding with orangutans.
I think you give the eldar far more respect for humanity with that statement than they would have. In my estimation, the Eldar as they have been depicted for the last 15 years would think of breeding with a human in the same way that we would think of breeding with earthworms.
Now, I am probobly not the best to recommend any books, since I’m a 40K fanboy and pretty much like all thier stuff. That said, here are some of the books/series that I found stood out better than most.
Soul Hunter - Insight into current day Night lords chapter. A chaos marine faction that, at least in this interpretation, generally do not follow the chaos gods.
Cadian Blood - Cadian imperial guard reclaiming a world that has been taken over by the minions of the Chaos god Nurgle.
Salamander trilogy - Only 2 are made so far, Salamander and Firedrake. Not too bad and gives insight into the Salamander chapter. Also paints the space marines, or at least this entire chapter, as deeply flawed mentally.
Dark Apostle trilogy - Gives good insight in how the Word Bearers work, and follows the rise of Marduk to become a Dark Apostle.
Red Fury - In the middle of an ongoing story ark revolving the Blood angels, but this one in particular practically brings the chapter down to it’s knees and do things I wouldn’t expect an Astartes chapter to do.
Ah, I saw this one laying around earlier today in the GW Shop, might pick one of them up.
Also, just wanted to point out that other than the Mechanicum (or however it’s spelled) and Nemisis, the other Horus Heresy books are pretty decent overall. I personally enjoyed the Tales of Heresy, which is a collection of short stories involving betrayal or submission to Chaos in some form.
I’ve yet to read the latest installment The First Heretic yet. Also, I believe the new Ciaphas Cain novel The Emperor’s Finest is availible now. I know it was mentioned before, but Cain is a good entertaining read if you want a more lighthearted approach in such a dark setting.
Tales of Heresy is excellent, I second that recommendation.
Ugh. I’d been struggling mightily to get through Nemesis for the past few weeks, but just couldn’t read more than a few pages before losing interest. I think I’ll put it down for First Heretic.