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A thread so the "News" topic doesn't get buried in pages of baseless speculation.

 

Post your crack theories and idealized novels here. I'll start with one:

 

ADB's been hinting at handling Sangy at the Eternity Gate, and I've never been so stoked about the rumor of a novel. If it comes to pass, I'm hoping for:

 

A plot: A POV with Zephon as Sangy flies around being majestic. Hopefully this is accompanied with an excruciatingly close look at Blood Angels culture to make up for lost opportunities. Hopefully Zephon dies at the end or makes some ominous comment about the Vengeful Spirit.

 

B plot: Night Lords run rampant but start hitting a wall as all the humans are basically mulched by then. Malcharion gets to do things before he faces Blood Angel whatsisname from the Night Lords trilogy

 

What's everyone's dream novel? And, out of curiosity, what do y'all think the author-to-novel distribution will be? What do you think the order and topics covered will be?

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Basic predication I've noted elsewhere: 2x French, 2x Haley, 1x Wraight/ADB/Abnett/Thorpe. Abnett with the last novel, of course. I think the ADB theory is a sound one and I can't wait to see the end result. The more French/Wraight/ADB the merrier.

 

What I'm looking forward to/hoping for the most:

  • Wraight's coverage of the White Scars: Khan v. Mortarion rematch is going to be awesome. Also really hoping we get some more Wraight Emperor's Children as they rampage across Terra. Either way, this is going to be a real treat.
  • More Abaddon and Zardu Layak. The more SoH the better, preferably from French, and I really enjoyed his Word Bearers in Slaves to Darkness. Hoping that Zardu doesn't cop a Sigismund to the face in Solar War so I can see more of his unique brand of freakiness.
  • Sanguinius not being an active detriment to whichever novel in which he is featured
  • More Zephon, Arkhan Land and Diocletian
  • Tormageddon vs. Loken
  • The iconic Abaddon tearing the Talon from Horus' corpse moment
  • Garro dying (please somebody make it happen)
  • Lots of death. Hopefully some shocking ones that we didn't expect!
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Despite it being the crowning moment of the Heresy I think I'd really like the finale to essentially start with the duel on the Vengeful Spirit and let us see some of the aftermath. Not years later, but the hours and days after it happens and the mixed sorrow and relief of the loyalists and the rage and confusion of the traitors. We all know the gist of what happened but I think seeing the aftermath of effectively the three most powerful/respected men in the Imperium all "dying" in quick succession and the immediate action required to not fall apart despite winning the conflict would be kind of fascinating because there are so many ways it could go.
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The plot thread from "The Purge" (word bearers novella) expanded upon and finally get to see what the point of this "trap" was. 

 

How the Thousand Sons show and what their involvement in the siege is. 

 

Sigismund's duels and which major named character(s?) he kills. 

 

The whole eternity gate for sure. 

 

Final bits and pieces of various plot threads leading up to it. 

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I want at least one book to be entirely from a human perspective.

I want rage against dying of light. I want sheer defiance.

No quarter given to Khorne Berserkers. Fury in the face of terror.

I want there to be shown what it took for the humans there to survive to this age.

What it takes to endure. I want them hammer home who the Emperor fights for.

What it means to be human.

 

Please.

Edited by Nashnir
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I want at least one book to be entirely from a human perspective.

I want rage against dying of light. I want sheer defiance.

No quarter given to Khorne Berserkers. Fury in the face of terror.

I want there to be shown what it took for the humans there to survive to this age.

What it takes to endure. I want them hammer home who the Emperor fights for.

What it means to be human.

 

Please.

A huge applause from me for this request! This would be my dream book and highlight of the solar war series. A squad of arbites defending a hab unit somewhere on Terra. An area not strategically important enough to warrant marine support, but the home of a community of humans who have watched as the empire has disintegrated in front of their eyes. And now they face an invasion of their home. These would be people who would have grown up celebrating the victorious crusade, grown proud in their race and leadership. They would have felt secure at the power seat of the galaxy. They watched as traditional religion was denounced and then felt its resurgence as fear grew. Who blames the emperor, who is afraid of him and his creations? Or who turns to the emperor in faith? Of course they all have to die, it would be an insignificant macro political scale tragedy but a terrible micro human tragedy.

There is a whopper of a book in this, Abnett writes amazing humans, or I would love Gav to be given this, he can do great things when left to world build. ADB could scare the pants of you writing it but I doubt he will do more than.one book and who ever would write this would probably have to be a two booker. So most likely it would be Haley which would be awesome. Haley did a fantastic job with Dante writing about the humans on Baal and could easily do the same with Terrans.

I really hope BL take a chance theming a book around a human perspective. To finish the series without it would be a monumental tragedy.

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I think smaller scale scenarios like that are likely to be left outside the main books, or as sideplots at best. imo a significant chunk of the fanbase online would go mental at a whole book being devoted to something totally outside of the main players at this stage no matter how well written it was. Not that i really agree with that way of thinking but it would imo inevitably create a lot of negative word of mouth.

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I'm looking forward to the Emperor's Children walking away from the siege to indulge their own urges, and I think this quote from John French pretty much sums why:

 

 

 

What does that have to do with the Horus Heresy and this book? It is important because it is the reason that the Traitors aren’t made stronger by falling to Chaos. They are made weaker. They are made slaves who can no longer choose their own path. Chaos pulls them apart, divides them, consumes them and sets Horus’ forces against each other. It does not do this because it is a winning strategy, far from it; it does this because it can’t help it. The great powers in the warp, the four that are called gods, can come together and apply their power to a single end, but this can only be temporary. As soon as they align they begin to split. And because they are elemental forces they do this messily, and with all the care of an earthquake.

 

The EC splintering off from the main traitor forces should have serious repercussions on the unity of the traitors, and so I really hope this event doesn't end up being underplayed. 

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Good points all. 

 

A diverse POV is definitely something I look forward to, and I mean more than simply someone from each legion. Certainly, each book should have some very driving metaplot, but let's not forget the auxillia, the arbites, the civilians, the guard, the navy, and all the rest. This is the greatest atrocity ever inflicted on terra, let's not forget the Terrans present.

 

So at present, we've got The Solar War, which presumably details much of the campaign through the Sol System at large. Here's something like what I'd want to see for (+ what I find somewhat plausible) for the rest. (Like many others, I find double French and double Haley pretty likely)

 

2: The Lost and the Damned - Haley

 

Maybe this hearkens back to that old army of chaos guardsmen? I find Haley writes marines and normies better than primarchs, maybe we can get a book of the initial attempts to even land on Terra, ships and fighters blasted out of the sky left and right. The remaining titan crews are chomping at the bit, and both sides fray just waiting for the actual ground war to commence. Maybe finish with a big landing of the Legio Mortis + the traitor primarchs. Uh, He writes Pert well-ish, and Sangy pretty well from a distance. Maybe throw in Rogal too. Hopefully the traitor guardsmen look at who they're sharing ships with and ask "are we the baddies?" Throw in the taking of Luna for some action set pieces (unless its in Solar War)

 

 

3: Gav Thorpe's Wild Ride (working title) - Gav Thorpe

 

Perturabo and Rogal work themselves into knots trying to outplay each other, a la The Lion's scheming in Angels of Caliban. This is mirrored in their legions, Siggy is mad because he can't find Abaddon, maybe he keeps running into Iron Warriors looking to settle a grudge. Maybe we get some Word Bearers wondering why they're still fighting without Lorgar. Intersperse high command talks with tight, on the ground action. Any legions could feature, really.

 

4: Jaghatai Khan Slaps a Bitch - Chris Wraight

 

The usual Chris Wraight goodness. Mortarion gets blue balled again on a rematch, but we get lots of Scars v Death Guard fighting. Presumably they see each other at some point and this gets embellished 10,000 years later into an actual duel. Contrast the struggle to keep up the constant fighting, Scars force themselves to enjoy the battle while the Death Guard tap into that Nurgle perseverance. Maybe some Malcador shenanigans to break up the action. Finish with the Khan v Fulgrim at the Lion's gate Space Port, either have Jaghatai banish Fulgrim or stalemate him, which in either case leads to the ECs deciding "hey, those civilians look fun." Eidolon leads a pack of ECs throughout the book as well.

 

Will continue at a later date.

Edited by Roomsky
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The Phalanx duels one of the Word Bearers Abyssal ships, either the Trisagion or the Blessed lady, and succeeds in destroying one.

 

The Lutheran Dark Angles with their start fort Chimaera comes to Terra somehow.

 

As sonoftheRubric21 says, the Word Bearer's trap from the novella The Purge finally Springs, whatever it could possibly be.

 

Titan could be attacked by Mortarion and daemons, which threatens the Grey Knights program.  Malcador could do his thing and hides Titan in the warp, away from space and time.

 

Lots of Custodes action, I'd love to see Valdor mowing down traitor Astartes, as easily as Space Marines mow down mortals.

 

Vulkan needs to be doing something, and not just sitting in the Underworld all alone.  Maybe the Word Bearers trap from The Purge could do something vile that disrupts the Emperor's ability to battle daemons in Underverse (which would explain in the Dreadwing novella why the "Astronomican has gone dark").  Big E then loses his ability to hold the webway shut and daemons start pouring out, and this is where Vulkan comes into play, to make sure no daemons escape.

 

 

On the last novel, perhaps, we see Ollanius Pious and his companions concluding their adventure and finally make it to Terra, where he eventually meets his fate.  (Dan Abnett do this)

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* Khârn tearing through the defenses, so we actually get to see the pile of bodies he killed before getting offed himself. (Small thing, but also hoping his kill counter gets to a million)

* A scene of an Arbitrator squad realizing what they signed up for

* The remnants of the Crusader Host being unleashed as all hands are needed

* Thane and the 22nd Company holding the line

* Space Wolves in the form of the Wolfblade vs Magnus not holding back

* Arik Taranis going out in a blaze of glory, possibly taking out Khârn as he dies

* Titans battling it out over the walls of the Imperial Palace

* Finally, probably never going to happen, but the Lockwardens releasing one of the Dark Cells occupants in a last ditch effort, perhaps against Angron

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I'm having a hard time imagining a Khan vs ascended Fulgrim fight. Four armed snake man should not be getting beat now in a straight up duel by any of the swordsmen primarchs imo,-he's got too many arms!-i'd rather just keep it at the potential of the fight and Khan's verbal burns in Scars. I'm guessing it'll be the physically outmatched, but gets support or solves the puzzle another way encounter we usually get with primarch vs demon primarch.

 

It's Khan encountering Mortarion again i'm excited for.

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I'm having a hard time imagining a Khan vs ascended Fulgrim fight. Four armed snake man should not be getting beat now in a straight up duel by any of the swordsmen primarchs imo,-he's got too many arms!-i'd rather just keep it at the potential of the fight and Khan's verbal burns in Scars. I'm guessing it'll be the physically outmatched, but gets support or solves the puzzle another way encounter we usually get with primarch vs demon primarch.

 

It's Khan encountering Mortarion again i'm excited for.

 

Considering other series has done exactly this (Drizzt defeating Marilith, not A marilith but THE marilith), it shows that just because you got lots of arms doesn't mean the hero of the story can't win out in the end, and Khan getting to be the one feels pretty right as he is one of the better swordman of the primarchs, albeit an understated one.

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The arms thing was tongue in cheek.

 

I don't know, i think it being a swordsman thing works a lot better if they are both just primarchs. That is the context the original exchanges between the two come from. I hope we'll get something more inventive as all the literature we have on ascended primarchs has them being too physically boosted to really face down purely head to head without some kind of gear/support/situational advantage.

 

We've seen with Corax in the warp there are ways for them to embrace greater warpy abilities without selling their souls(well i assume corax wasn't all chaosified), so i wonder if we might get something like that in upcoming encounters, i'd prefer it to be either a "while in the warp" thing or maybe kept for Sanguinius at the gate/versus angron as a reveal.

Edited by Fedor
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Certainly I wouldn't expect Khan v Fulgrim to be anything like your typical duel. Much as I agree that devotion to chaos is a weakness, physical ability tends to come with the package. Fulgrim had no problems with Guilliman after he got serious, after all.

 

But considering the Khan's quote to the effect of "You would dance around and show off, and I would kill you," I wouldn't be surprised if Jaghatai pulled a victory before Fulgrim ever bothered to fight hard. If a mortal can kill a willing primarch, it wouldn't surprise me to see an non-ascended primarch take out a daemon primarch before he got his head in the game (if, indeed, Fulgrim's head is ever in the game.)

Edited by Roomsky
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The main thing I want is to see Sanguinius unleashed, full on glowing super saiyan angel of Death. No hesitation, mopping or such I want to see his rage unleashed. I want to see why so many of his brothers rate him so highly because while he’s done some impressive things overall he’s been kind of muh so far.

 

Similarly the Blood Angels have not done much so far so I want them given the development and attention they desperately need. I’d also quite like to see one of the Deamon Primarchs banished for the first time near the end of the siege.

 

Lastly at the end I want the old Horus back, broken horrified with full knowledge of what he’s done and the fate he’s doomed humanity to before the Emperor obliterates him.

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But considering the Khan's quote to the effect of "You would dance around and show off, and I would kill you," I wouldn't be surprised if Jaghatai pulled a victory before Fulgrim ever bothered to fight hard.

It could be at that moment where learns his lesson of toying with his prey.  When he meets Guilliman in the future, he took no chances.

 

 

Also Jaghatai would probably shun the duel itself and bring Stormseer backup

Or Sisters of Silences, to nullify Fulgrim's ability to use warpcraft as well as hurting him.

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Lastly at the end I want the old Horus back, broken horrified with full knowledge of what he’s done and the fate he’s doomed humanity to before the Emperor obliterates him.

That would be great. It would also help show why the legions turn on Horus and end up despising him. (Apart from the whole getting defeated thing!) A broken and humiliated Horus would be great to see.

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Lastly at the end I want the old Horus back, broken horrified with full knowledge of what he’s done and the fate he’s doomed humanity to before the Emperor obliterates him.

That would be great. It would also help show why the legions turn on Horus and end up despising him. (Apart from the whole getting defeated thing!) A broken and humiliated Horus would be great to see.

 

And maybe when the Old Horus comes back, the Emperor sees his most beloved son return and he hesitates.  Big E may experience a moment where he believes Horus can be noble again and help to cleanse the galaxy of treachery.  But the Old Horus will not take any chances and begs his father to bring to the hammer of absolution down upon him, ending Horus and severing the risk of all four Chaos gods to possess him.

 

That way, it could redeem the Master of Mankind novel, and bring pockets of humanity upon the Emperor.

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Is there any reason to expect Magnus the Red to be on Terra? I checked Index Astartes but it doesn't mention it at all (and also has Daemon Magnus fighting alongside Horus at isstvan V, so . . .)

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