While we've yet to
cover it in full on this blog, Black Library has recently followed through on an exceptional idea. After spending the last twenty or so years focusing almost exclusively upon either the very beginning or very end of the Imperium's timeline,
we're now starting to see novels fleshing out everything in between. In this
particular case we're seeing a detailed account of the war against The Beast,
where a massive Ork WAAAGH! almost brought the Imperium to its knees. While we have, of course, had a few other novels performing
similar roles, this series is a real opportunity to see something new and very
different. Perhaps even correcting a few mistakes made while the Horus
Heresy was being penned.
As rightfully loved and lauded as the Horus Heresy novels
are, there's a few notable problems which arose as the story developed. Some
were down largely to the source material, working off of the backbone of the Index
Astartes, while others came about thanks to the authors themselves.
Starting with the former first, it's hardly a lie to say that the series is
very internally focused. Almost the entirety of the Heresy itself is built upon
the Imperium's civil war, focusing upon the battle between the legions
themselves and the conflicting ideologies. Now, this is hardly a bad thing in
of itself. The Heresy was best known as a time where brother turned against
brother, an era where the hope of humanity was all but extinguished and the
Emperor's white lies were gradually snuffed out. Events were shown through
human (or, more often, transhuman) eyes, as the concepts of Chaos
were revealed to them.
Having more xenos perspectives will help in two regards. The first, and
most obvious, is that this allows for more inclusive stories. Rather than being
largely astartes dominated, we'll be seeing a wider variety of factions getting
in on the action, with better representation of the setting as a whole. The
other, however, is that we will get an alien response to the Heresy itself. In
galactic terms, humanity sprung up effectively overnight, drove multiple races
into extinction in a massed crusade, crippled countless alien empires, then
abruptly jackknifed into one of the most violent internal wars in galactic
history. Something so massive, so sudden and dramatic as those two events
should have left a lasting impression if not a direct impact upon many races.
Perhaps the eldar now see humanity as a loose cannon, and the orks see the
Imperium as a foe truly worthy of their time. Perhaps this could have even
changed their societies, with the eldar becoming even more guarded and isolated
following the event. Hell, perhaps the very reason the titular Beast is waging
his war is thanks to the Horus Heresy inspiring him to wage a bigger war. We
never did learn just how old that particular ork was, after all.
The above is also just considering the direct impact, driven by humanity
itself. There might also have been cultural shifts among certain eldar
craftworlds, the hrud might have undergone a ideological or religious
revolution, and the orks might have been pushed further into tribalism thanks
to their wars. Due to its era, there's a real opportunity here to
truly emphasize the age and history of the galaxy, and give real
signs of internal change among various societies. The lack of such change is,
after all, one of several problems which led to the setting often appearing
stagnant, with stories offering little in the way of real change to species
over ten thousand years. This is actually just as true of the Imperium as it is
many xenos races, and a failing which seems to have gradually set into the Horus
Heresy books.
When you actually
stop to compare certain Heresy books with others, you might
notice an unfortunate issue. While certain authors can pick up on certain
changes and shifts in attitudes, others seem to stick to what they know. If you
stop to compare the Luna Wolves of Horus Rising with the Blood
Angels of Fear To Tread, they seem as if they're worlds apart from
one another. The less disciplined nature, tactics and mentality of
the Luna Wolves reflected a time before the Codex Astartes or a darker age, but
compare the Blood Angels with their M41 selves and there's no difference.
They're just as driven, just as disciplined, hell, they're even
trying to hide the same curses. This same problem arose across
several books, where multiple legions seemed identical to their chapters ten
thousand years later, with the Space Wolves of Battle for the Abyss often
cited as a key example of this problem. The result of writing factions like
this is that it can be hard to believe centuries have passed since the Heresy,
let alone thousands of years. Even if the writing reflects events such as the
breaking up of the legions or the deaths of the primarchs, if a military
force's thoughts, beliefs and attitudes remain the same, it's hard to register
any long-term changes. The opening of I Am Slaughter already
shows that the series will be going some way to address this, and even show
a transitional phase between older and newer styles of astartes.
The title of I Am Slaughter refers to a tradition within
the Imperial Fists chapter. During battle, during conflicts, the warriors
have this almost ritualistic habit of naming themselves after defining
abilities or traits. This leads to Tactical Squads with nicknames such as
Kill-Shot or Ironside, and even a few general attitudes which seem oddly out of
character for space marines. Such elements can at first seem too human, too
much like a traditional military force, until you consider the era. As this is
a mere few hundred years since the Codex was implemented, these aren't
quite the astartes who will be facing down Hive Fleet Behemoth or confronting
Trazyn the Infinite. No, instead these are chapters who still retain traces of
an era where they were more human, and odd traditions such as this reflect
this transitional phase.
Think of it for a
moment - Something like defining nicknames are a trait more at home within
the Imperial Guard or more conventionally human military. It makes sense that
the older legions would retain this given their laxer nature and more human
mental state. Seeing it here, used among the almost machine-like templars and treated
as a venerated tradition reflects the warriors they have become. They are
already glorifying older days, taking such aspects previously freely given as a
sign of affection or trust, and turning it into an almost sacrosanct ritual.
While not taken to the extremes we'll later see with the Black Templars or
others, it's nevertheless a starting point where you can see the chapter
changing over time.
Other internal
traditions and aspects within the Imperial Fists also arise within the book,
often completely unlike anything seen in M41 or the Great Crusade. For example,
the naming conventions of their units after fortifications is something wholly
new, but nevertheless quite understandable. This is set in an
era where the Imperial Fists are the eternal guardians of Terra, and have been
manning its walls of centuries. After that time, it's understandable that their
internal structure would change to reflect this service or perhaps even what
they saw as their finest hour. With the growing threats which would follow, and
the chapter departing Terra to fight on other worlds, it then becomes
understandable how this might diminish again over time, replaced by something
more relevant. It's change within the chapter itself, its very identity and
society, and one which shows them evolving to suit their era.
There's certainly
more to this, but we'll be saving that for the review of I Am Slaughter itself.
For the moment though, what this book and The Beast Arises means
to Black Library is change. Like the books itself, it's a gateway for authors
to try something different, something unseen since Gav Thrope penned Codex:
Sisters of Battle, and experiment with how well established factions could
be altered over time. It's a chance to be freed up from some past depictions
and present the thought processes of a different era, and present
developing events on a truly galactic scale. Ultimately, more than
anything else, it's a chance for Black Library to give something fans have
always wanted: A new era to explore, but without the problems of pushing past
M41.
I'm going to be honest, while I'm really happy that Black Library is going somewhere other than M42 and M31, I'm more curious what the other races were doing at that time. This is a time when the Eldar are still trying to find a way to recover from the birth of Slaanesh, the Dark Eldar are still in the process of being made into what they are later, and some of the first Necron Tombs might have woken up (specifically Trazyn the Infinite might be awake).
ReplyDeleteAt least as far as the Imperium goes, you still have a lot of interesting stories to explore, for example I'd really be interested in even a short story about the trial of Inquisitor Xanthus, and the birth of radical Inquisitors.
Hopefully in future novels we'll be able so see some of those, however if The Beast Arises series as a whole turns out to be pretty good I'll check it out too.
In all honesty, i'm personally glad they're actually pushing towards it more now. They have been experimenting with looking into M42 with Battle of the Fang and the Talon of Horus, but this is the first serious push to look right into the big events. The previous stuff, while extremely well written, focused more upon individual important events rather than something at the heart of the Imperium itself. Fair point about the Necron Tombs though, i'd forgotten a few were already up and about at this time.
DeleteThe only concern I seriously have, personally, is that the series has started off playing very fast and loose with the canon. I Am Slaughter had its interesting points, but it contradicted a lot of stuff and seemed extremely rushed. Really do hope that Rob Sanders and Ben Counter can make up for it.
I can forgive them forgetting things depending on how they're done. If it's just somebody somewhere, even some random Space Marines somewhere, then it's understandable that they might not even know about things like the Black Crusades, however if it's just the narrative saying "The galaxy is at peace" or somebody important like one of the High Lords then that's a lot less excusable.
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