Donkey Kong

It's not just space marines. Human characters in this universe are portrayed far kinder, more compassionate, and individually oriented than expected. Some quotations are inspired (i.e. "Some may question your right to destroy ten billion people. Those who understand realise you have no right to let them live!" or "A plea of innocence is guilty of wasting my time."), but as you've already pointed out, I'm not sure how easy would be reading and empathizing with characters that may as well have walked out of Brave New World.

I'll third Leif Bearclaw and Xwingt65 and I'd take a hacksaw to Gaunt's Ghosts and give the Sabbat Worlds Crusade the Roughnecks: Starship Troopers Chronicles/ Band of Brothers/ The Pacific treatment. But, I wouldn't start with First and Only; I'd start with Necropolis. Then I'd go Honour Guard, Sabbat Martyr, His Last Command, and Only in Death. Also, I'd want it animated.

Magnus broke the Emperor's wards. It's the prologue of the book, referred to as Magnus's Folly. I'm sure A D-B can give a better explanation since it is, after all, his book. But, my metaphor would be the Warp is an infinitely large ocean, the Webway is an infinitely large hamster tube cage sitting in said ocean, Magnus cracked the tube, and daemons poured in. As for how Horus got access to the Webway, I don't think he did. The only traitor space marines in MoM are World Eaters, and I don't know how World Eaters got there either. Their presence reads as either a coincidence or an oversight, so the World Eaters just happen to have been going that way (and it works because Angron is used as a peripheral talking point for Land's consultation and Ra's insults) or A D-B and whoever he was consulting with didn't think things through. If it was a planned out campaign (I don't think it was), and Horus knew about the Webway and where it lead (I don't think he did), I don't know why he wouldn't attack from that direction. Also, when the Daemons start winning, they fall into infighting as Chaos does.

Emphasis mine. That's where I am now in terms of 40k fluff. The difference is, when I don't care, and the very nature of 40k Loose Canon encourages me to not care, I have no incentive to go out and pick up books because they won't add to my understanding of the setting, and I used to forgive books I didn't like if they had something I found interesting. For instance, and sacrilege I know, I didn't like A Thousand Sons/ Prospero Burns, but I liked the psychic robot operator and I liked aspects of the Kasper Hawser character. So, I've gone from buying one to three books a month, including ones I wasn't interested in beforehand and didn't enjoy reading, to one every several months when something gets glowing reviews. At the same time, BL is supposedly reporting record sales, so what do I know?

I don't see how this refutes "canon is whatever you want it to be."

I think the most important factor in defining the "Abnettverse" is setting, or rather proximity. Abnett was one of, if not the most prolific Black Library authors. But, the Gaunt's Ghosts Books (thirteen going on fourteen), plus short stories, plus spinoffs and background books (The Sabbat Worlds Crusade, Tactica Imperialis, Double Eagle, Titanicus), plus anthologies edited by Abnett all take place in a singular conflict in a singular corner of the 40K universe. My perceived problem with the Abnettverse as it's understood in this way is that the sensibilities from Abnett's characters, for better or worse, bleed into the rest of the universe.

No offense intended to Aaron, but this is one of the more major reasons why I don't particularly care for 40k fluff anymore. There's no way that would offend me. It's not my decision, or anything related to me. Nor is it new. It's not something that's just started happening. The 40K universe has always been treated this way by its creators, so if there's something you don't like lately, this probably isn't its source. Nothing's changed in terms of what you're referring to. The quote from Marc Gascoigne below is, like, ten years old. And he was talking about how things were always done. I don't blame you for making the decision for secrets and lies, but it is something that I hadn't noticed until more recently (i.e. several years ago), most notably through your "loose canon" blog posts. But, the way I interpret GW's or BL's decision, for better or worse, is lazy, and unfortunately it's not something I can rationalize in a forest from the trees kind of way. It feels like GW does not care about maintaining continuity, and if corporate doesn't care about it, I don't feel compelled to either. We had a similar discussion before, I don't know if you remember, in which you replied to something I wrote about being frustrated by continuity as exemplified by Sanguinius's hair in A Thousand Sons. The crux of my argument at the time was that if I can't trust GW to keep continuity on minutia, what can I expect them to do? It doesn't help that there are moments where it feels like authors, including you, revel in the ambiguity of the setting. There's a throwaway line in Helsreach where Andrej doesn't care about whether he's referred to as a grenadier or a stormtrooper. In the grand scheme of 40k, it means less than nothing. Helsreach is still an enjoyable book. Andrej is still a fun character. But, in the moment, it bothers me. All the same, I appreciate you taking time to talk to us on the forums. Thank you Aaron.

The Forge World Horus Heresy Black Books are records written by A.K.

I'd agree with you if I could recall any examples like that in the 40k fiction I've read, and I'd like to say that I've read my fair share. So, for example, I can't recall any Gaunt's Ghosts characters ever interacting with servitors. But I can recall Caffran getting accused of beat and murder and instead of either being summarily executed on the spot for his perceived crimes or being pardoned because he's a soldier in the God Emperor's Imperial Guard, he is granted the right to a trial and power of attorney. And then it happens again in His Last Command when the accusation is potential Chaos taint. And when the Guard arrive in a WW1 trench war, instead of the Guard assuming control, implementing modern tactics, and imprisoning or executing anyone that got in their way, they defer command. When Grimaldus has to deal with managing Hive Helsreach, he has to contend with trade unions opposing warehouses being requisitioned for barracks. Worker's rights, how authoritarian and dictatorial. But, I admittedly enjoy 40k in two very different perspectives that are oftentimes difficult to reconcile, the over the top sci-fi fantasy smorgasbord 80s action movie Rogue Trader and the hyper literal Forge World Imperial Armour.

No offense intended to Aaron, but this is one of the more major reasons why I don't particularly care for 40k fluff anymore. This as well. For what's supposedly "the cruellest and most bloody regime imaginable" the Imperium is populated by quite a few folks with modern western sensibilities. If 40k was committed to satire, you'd think they'd have remixed a nasheed or two by now.

Might it make more sense for the psyker host to be from Rogue Traders? By your own description, the Redemptors operate, at best, at the edge of the Astronomcion's light. Would the Adeptus Astra Telepathica want to operate there? I think the form the Chapter's bases take depend on the role the Chapter takes. How widespread is their patrol? Are they defenders or conquerers? I had an idea for the aesthetic that I thought would be interesting. Could the white armor be unpainted ceramite ala the Death Guard? I think it could feed into the pragmatic angle.

The first thing that sprang to my mind when I read "a ranging light, a flame of purity that stood defiant against the tide of filth that assailed the Imperium." was a lighthouse. A little bit of playing with the thesaurus tool turned up "Pharos." Although, I'm not sure if a lighthouse on a peninsula is quite the same imagery as a torch lighting the way. Wouldn't the precarious positioning be all the more reasoning to have a forge ship? I think their situation would be more easily explained with a chronically undersupplied ship than waiting on forge world shipments. It could be explained by a lack of forge worlds in the region rather than begging the question why the Chapter doesn't periodically swing by to make a pickup. I like the idea of the sanctioned psyker and his minder. Certainly not Librarians in power armor under a different name, but maybe allowing the sanctioned psyker to have a fetish or shield or flak/ carapace armor in Redemptor colors? Another question is if the Chapter is in this position, why would they be reliant on psykers from the Adeptus Astra Telepathica rather than recruiting their own? Given that the Redemptors and the Inheritors are going to be spin offs from the Castigators, I think it puts greater emphasis on the aesthetic. If form follows function, it might be an interesting place to start and figure out the factors to get you there afterwards? It sounds like their appearance is pretty well hammered out already.

Hi Mol! What do the Redemptors redeem exactly? Are they redeeming the lawless lands at the galactic rim? Are they redeeming psykers in the eyes of their Chapter and their Castigator lineage? If the Redemptors are fleet based, why are they reliant on shipments from forge worlds few and far between as opposed to having their own forge ships? This one is difficult for me too, because I also like the idea of the Chapter armed with lasguns and armor effectively stripped down and rigged up like MK5 with heavy cabling and bonding studs. I also like the mining tools idea, planning on nabbing stuff from the genestealer cults? How does the Redemptor's use of psykers differ from the Castigators, given that the Castigators are also reliant on psykers for navigation and communication? Do the Redemptors have psykers in a battlefield role? Wouldn't it help differentiate them more from the Castigators if they weren't uneasy about having psykers or perhaps allowed the sanctioned psykers attached to them to wear the Chapter's colors and heraldry?

I enjoy the aesthetic. Power armor, (sometimes barbarian) super humans, infinite armies of soldiers and tanks, cyborgs, and angels with giant guns, fists and chainsaw swords facing off against daemons and great big green barbarian hordes. Although it may be sacrilege to say here, I don't think there's anything more uniquely 40k than the Orks (other contenders being Khârn/Khorne, the Black Templars, and Eversor Assassins) with how they embrace the madness of the universe, and how their character permeates throughout the hobby i.e. the "bitz box." I appreciate 40k for being as coherent as it is when it's fundamentally a mishmash of Dune, High Fantasy, and 80s action flicks. And I especially enjoy 40k when it's written as a historical document, usually in the Imperial Armour Campaign Books, but also in the Sabbat Worlds Crusade. The peaks of writing are enjoyable romps, Helsreach and select Horus Heresy titles at face value, and Ciaphas Cain as soft parody.