Twisthammer - an alternate history/reimagining of WH40K

[simison]

Definitely a new viewpoint. Which legion is your favorite?

[Midgard]

Definitely a new viewpoint. Which legion is your favorite?

 

Personally, I had a lot of fun writing the Gargoyles and the Iconoclasts, with a bit of a soft spot for the latter. It did not hurt that I wrote novels where both of them had prominent roles ("Reaper's War" for the Gargoyles, and "Broken Blade" for the Iconoclasts) :)

[simison]

Who's your least favorite?

[Midgard]

I don't know if I would call any faction particularly "least favorite", if only because some of them have not been as fleshed out as others. All Legions involved have their strengths and weaknesses, their more and less attractive qualities to me as a writer and a fan, and I look at them more so in "tiers" rather than in a strict numeric order. In that respect, I would probably say that my tiers are as follows (subject to change, depending on my mood and what creative endeavor I might be working on):

 

Top tier (favorites, factions I find most interesting or have the most emotional connection with):

Gargoyles

Iconoclasts

 

Factions of considerable interest (fun to read/write about, and a certain degree of attachment):

Warblades

Liberators

Jaws of the Deep

Grim Angels

Lion Guard

Doom Reavers

Iron Locusts

 

Others (not necessarily "least favorite", but perhaps not quite there for me at this time - this might change if I write more Twisthammer and find the right connection with them):

Red Star Legion

Spears of Eternity

Steel Wardens

Midnight Riders

Imperial Redeemers

Illuminators

Peacekeepers

Consecrators

Hellhounds

Immortals

Angel Kings

[simison]

Does that same list align with your views of the Primarchs?

[Midgard]

Does that same list align with your views of the Primarchs?

It is reasonably close, but not exact. I think that all of the twenty Twisthammer Primarchs are interesting in their own right, but I found some to be a lot of fun to write about - more so than others. Then again, there are many I did not get a chance to really explore. If I ever go back to writing "Death March", I am expecting to give Marvus a lot of screen time... and I think he will be a very fascinating character to write about. His brief cameo in "Conqueror" notwithstanding, I had big plans for where to take his character, and thought he would be one of my favorites to write about.

 

It might be easier to think of it less in terms of who is more fun to write about, and more in terms of which characters I find the most "connection" with, if that makes sense. I have found it easier to connect with characters like Nihlus, Baelic, Marvus, Angelus, and Kthuln than with someone like Griven Kall or Mohktal. That said, I have always found Nyxos and Rogr Hemri to be highly fascinating as well, though for different reasons... like most Twisthammer Primarchs, they are various shades of monsters, and I find those aspects of character study to be very interesting as a writer and as a reader.

[Midgard]

And with this, the project comes to a close. There does not seem to be enough interest in Twisthammer to justify any further material set in this universe.

[simison]

Ah, darn. What's next for you then?

[Kelborn]

Woooot?

What a shame. :/

But I can understand that some might lost the focus / interest to keep it alive. Heard some rumors about something called "real life" *shiver*

 

In all seriousness, what's next? Writing your series?

Or do you have something new at hand? There's still the Icarion Insurrection, of course. ;)

[bluntblade]

Well, that's a sad note to come in on.

[Azorius]

Consecrators are definitely my favorite. 

 

So who is the smartest Primarch? Dyal Rulf or Leto? And if possible, could you elaborate further about 13th Legion and its Primarch, from its history and culture to weapons and formations to auxiliary and fleet and intelligence apparatus? They are so intriguing. 

Edited June 24, 2017 by Azorius

[Azorius]

Question: What the Spears of Eternity and the Consecrators and the Angel Kings have done during years before Siege of Sol and Fall of Terra? It seems those three Legions have done virtually nothing meaningful or significant until the bitter end. 

[Midgard]

I would say that Dyal Rulf and Leto are very different, even though they share outward similarities. Both of them were the creations of another member of the Twisthammer team, so my own impressions of them might be subjective, but I have always viewed Dyal Rulf as a scientist at heart content with the role of the grey eminence, where Leto is a true empire-builder who uses his prodigious intelligence for political, organizational, and military matters. I think that Dyal Rulf is less self-absorbed, as while Leto does not take center stage as the figurehead, he does have a tendency to become self-congratulatory, and to be less aware of his flaws.

 

If I were to ever write more in this universe, I would be interested in exploring both of them to much greater extent, especially Dyal Rulf, who had very little written on him. As it stands, my next Twisthammer project was based on Marvus and the Doom Reavers... the title of the novel was "Death March", and it was going to get very, very dark. I did not anticipate Dyal Rulf to take a major spot in the story until book 10, which would have dealt with the Siege of Terra.

[Midgard]

The Consecrators were primarily guarding/fortifying Terra, while the Spears of Eternity had their own missions from the Emperor/Malcador. Let's just say there was supposed to be a novel dedicated to their actions (book 9 of Twisthammer-verse), which would have also heavily featured Grim Angels. The Angel Kings feature rather prominently in Twisthammer book 3, "Broken Blades", which gives some insight both into their Legion, and into what they were doing (and gives some hints why they ended up guarding their own pocket empire instead of fighting on the walls of Terra in the end).