Away from the battlefield

[bluntblade]

Also the briefing stuff with Aximand. I'd like to see more tactical-prep holos and stuff, come to think of it.

[MegaVolt87]

At this point, I could easily see a novel series about a knight household more focused around characters and their shenanigans + drama without needing hardly any bolter porn. 

[Indefragable]

I found the part of Titandeath where

the main character gives birth...naturally...

to be quite beautiful in its own way, especially the way it is considered to be an aberration. The community of similar people who have down the same coming out of the woodwork in support, and even the adrenaline rush and how x makes y feel all the better. Not to mention how said character came to be in that situation...

 

It’s a nugget of a moment buried in a war story and moving in its own way. Another flash of brilliance from Haley buried in there.

[Frater Antodeniel]

"My daily life as Master of my chapter Logisticiam"

 

Featuring :

 

"Techmarines" and their incessant request for raw materials and workers.

 

"Brother X" and his ranting about the lack of "fine" food for the campaign return feast.

 

"Librarian Y" and his questionning about the chapter stock of paper, quill and ink. Questions supported by "Chaplain Z" who is requesting even more of those supplies for the spiritual work of our fellow brothers, and their many purity seals (most of which burning into ashes within the firsts days of campaign).

 

"Apothecary W" who also request raw materials and workers for the apothecarion. With a formal request for special tools that must be transmited to the chapter techmarines.

 

And finally, "Chapter Master A" who want a full report of the current strenght of the chapter.

 

(Not yet included : The first to tenth captains demands, the fleet commandment requests, the Logisticiam own needs.....)

[MegaVolt87]

"My daily life as Master of my chapter Logisticiam"

 

Featuring :

 

"Techmarines" and their incessant request for raw materials and workers.

 

"Brother X" and his ranting about the lack of "fine" food for the campaign return feast.

 

"Librarian Y" and his questionning about the chapter stock of paper, quill and ink. Questions supported by "Chaplain Z" who is requesting even more of those supplies for the spiritual work of our fellow brothers, and their many purity seals (most of which burning into ashes within the firsts days of campaign).

 

"Apothecary W" who also request raw materials and workers for the apothecarion. With a formal request for special tools that must be transmited to the chapter techmarines.

 

And finally, "Chapter Master A" who want a full report of the current strenght of the chapter.

 

(Not yet included : The first to tenth captains demands, the fleet commandment requests, the Logisticiam own needs.....)

So it would basically be the office for a 40k SM chapter. I would be very interested.

[DukeLeto69]

So with the news of the new imprint Warhammer Crime to sit alongside Warhammer Horror it means BL really are enabling more stories set away from the battlefield.

 

IMO this is fabulous news as it will give authors (and us readers) the chance to really expand and enrich the setting. There will of course still be the "main line" warfare stories but we will now see all sorts of "domestic" stories about smaller, more intimate tales. Personally I love the idea of a film noir style detective series or something akin to Peter James' novels set in W40k.

 

I was excited with WH Horror (though personally could do without the AoS stories as not my thing) but I think WH Crime could be even better (and I think this is W40k only from the weekender coverage).

 

Interesting thought though - going forward if WHC proves to be a successful and long lived imprint (hopefully) I wonder whether things like Eisenhorn/Ravenor/Bequin would be labelled/branded as Crime?

 

Edit - I don't mean BL go back and rebrand Abnett's books I mean books like those.

Edited November 11, 2019 by DukeLeto69

[cheywood]

Snip

 

Interesting thought though - going forward if WHC proves to be a successful and long lived imprint (hopefully) I wonder whether things like Eisenhorn/Ravenor/Bequin would be labelled/branded as Crime?

 

Edit - I don't mean BL go back and rebrand Abnett's books I mean books like those.

I’d expect the Shira Calpurnia trilogy to be rebranded eventually, but part of me thinks BL will keep past and future Inquisition novels as part of the main line for sales purposes and perhaps for reasons of scale. I’m not sure how many planet hopping adventures are going to pop up in Crime, hard to say from the description on the Community page. Edited November 11, 2019 by cheywood

[MegaVolt87]

I worry about the cross over between the crime and horror aspects IMO. It's about time we see stuff like RT smuggling etc.

[DukeLeto69]

 

Snip

 

Interesting thought though - going forward if WHC proves to be a successful and long lived imprint (hopefully) I wonder whether things like Eisenhorn/Ravenor/Bequin would be labelled/branded as Crime?

 

Edit - I don't mean BL go back and rebrand Abnett's books I mean books like those.

I’d expect the Shira Calpurnia trilogy to be rebranded eventually, but part of me thinks BL will keep past and future Inquisition novels as part of the main line for sales purposes and perhaps for reasons of scale. I’m not sure how many planet hopping adventures are going to pop up in Crime, hard to say from the description on the Community page.

 

 

Interesting thought. I have always thought that space travel (if you are not either in the military or senior adeptus positions or merchant navy) is very rare and expensive in 40k. As such interplanetary crime might be less prevalent than something self contained on a planet.

 

Could be totally wrong of course!

[cheywood]

 

 

 

Snip

 

Interesting thought though - going forward if WHC proves to be a successful and long lived imprint (hopefully) I wonder whether things like Eisenhorn/Ravenor/Bequin would be labelled/branded as Crime?

 

Edit - I don't mean BL go back and rebrand Abnett's books I mean books like those.

I’d expect the Shira Calpurnia trilogy to be rebranded eventually, but part of me thinks BL will keep past and future Inquisition novels as part of the main line for sales purposes and perhaps for reasons of scale. I’m not sure how many planet hopping adventures are going to pop up in Crime, hard to say from the description on the Community page.

Interesting thought. I have always thought that space travel (if you are not either in the military or senior adeptus positions or merchant navy) is very rare and expensive in 40k. As such interplanetary crime might be less prevalent than something self contained on a planet.

 

Could be totally wrong of course!

No I think you’re spot on. Most interplanetary criminality would demand a lot of resources.

[Frater Antodeniel]

 

 

 

Snip

 

Interesting thought though - going forward if WHC proves to be a successful and long lived imprint (hopefully) I wonder whether things like Eisenhorn/Ravenor/Bequin would be labelled/branded as Crime?

 

Edit - I don't mean BL go back and rebrand Abnett's books I mean books like those.

I’d expect the Shira Calpurnia trilogy to be rebranded eventually, but part of me thinks BL will keep past and future Inquisition novels as part of the main line for sales purposes and perhaps for reasons of scale. I’m not sure how many planet hopping adventures are going to pop up in Crime, hard to say from the description on the Community page.

Interesting thought. I have always thought that space travel (if you are not either in the military or senior adeptus positions or merchant navy) is very rare and expensive in 40k. As such interplanetary crime might be less prevalent than something self contained on a planet.

 

Could be totally wrong of course!

No I think you’re spot on. Most interplanetary criminality would demand a lot of resources.

 

 

Well it isn't hard to imagine the Adeptus Arbites fighting against the "Cults of Pleasures" (a.k.a Slaanesh cults in becoming...), illegal Combat Arena that could become future Khorne cults, corrupted Politician/Eclesiarchy/Administratum...etc who support heretic cults, or, more "mundane" thing, a murder case with a rogue psyker....

 

The limit is your imagination.

 

It can be easy to imagine some Arbites investigation on a new drug in a hive world, looking for those behind it, discovering corruption, performing some 40K justice....., and in the end, stopping a group of depraved and corrupted people, to transform what is a first sight a drug business to become a cult of pleasure. (In the end, without even knowing anything of "daemons" the Arbites would prevent corruption to take a foothold on their world.)

 

With this kind a plot, anyone can witness how important are the Arbites. Without even knowing the full truth, in their ignorance they may discover possible threats that could lead to the fall of their world, if not worse.

[cheywood]

I’d read the heck out of those books but:

 

‘Set in the 41st Millennium, Warhammer Crime will examine the seedy underbelly of a grim, urban environment, looking at criminals and the upholders of the law in the far future. You’ll encounter consulting detectives, arbitrators, gangers, traffickers, corrupt Administratum officials, thugs and humble clerks with secrets to hide. The tales these souls tell will be perfect for fans of the detective and crime genre, as well as for Warhammer 40,000 devotees who enjoy the stories of Eisenhorn, Ravenor and Erasmus Crowl.’

 

makes me think we’ll see fewer heretical cults (even if they’re not explicitly chaotic on the surface) and more ordinary criminals at least to begin with. It’s a chance to see the horror of the Imperium on its own terms instead of compared against the writhing miasma that is chaos. Or I’m overthinking it and it’ll be more closely aligned with vanilla 40k. I rather hope it’s the former though.

Edited November 11, 2019 by cheywood

[Lord_Caerolion]

Yes, we definitely need to see more standard criminals in 40k, without absolutely everything being tied back to Chaos/Genestealer Cults.

[Frater Antodeniel]

Yes, we definitely need to see more standard criminals in 40k, without absolutely everything being tied back to Chaos/Genestealer Cults.

 

How small a mind you have (No insult, just teasing^^), indeed there is no need for a grand spectacle. But know that, as it does in our reality, people can here voices, people can be corrupted, people can rise and fall, madness is a way to escape reality, the way you experience it is different from people to people.

 

What is sane, what isn't ? If everybody start to call the blue paint, white, and the white paint blue, then how can the sane man who won't change still be considered sane.

 

The major difference between our Reality and the 40K one, is that our reality can be considered separated from the unreality of the warp. But in the 40K universe, emotions echoes, dreams and nightmares mingles, and some people are chosens by gods and daemons to herald their creed. Unreality can become reality. What shouldn't happen can happen.

 

Peoples dream of richess beyond counting, and it is a nightmare for most to have those mortal richess being taken by another.

 

Ambition is the creed of many in this world and it alone have killed more people than pure madness itself. But ambition is seldom a dream to further those who are under you, most of the time, it is a cruel need to oppress others.

 

Criminals, what are criminals ? Madmen whose mind is altered ? Poor peoples who dreams of a better life ? Unlucky peoples who turned their back to an heartless society ? Lone knights who fight against corruption ?

 

Criminality can be an act of corruption or purification...

 

Open your eyes to the possibilities...

[Lord_Caerolion]

That's true, but it doesn't mean that everyone who murders does so screaming "For the glory of KHORNE!!!"

 

Yes, everything echoes into the Warp, but sometimes, crime is just crime, and not part of an overarching plan by a Cult of Slaanesh intent on opening a Warp portal bringing the Keeper of Secrets Arg'jyr'sgby'vfver'pkr into our reality so that it may feast upon 666,666 souls. Sometimes, people are just jerks.

 

At the moment, everything is the latter version. In the very, very rare cases of the second option, they stay so for roughly 5 minutes, before turning into the first, for the time-honoured reason of "I dunno, Chaos corruption lol?" How is the Imperium not entirely consumed by daemons if every single scheming bureaucrat is apparently turned to Tzeentch-worship an hour or so about discovering that this "embezzlement" thing can make them richer?

[cheywood]

‘Criminal’ in the context of Warhammer Crime seems to be those who break the laws of the Imperium. I’m all for a philosophical exploration of what a criminal is and how even mundane crimes can lead to darkest corruption. But 40k proper has plenty of novels exploring the paths the warp takes to corrupt us already, and Warhammer Horror seems better suited to tales of succumbing to the malignant sweetness that lurks behind the veil and in the galaxy’s occluded edges. I don’t want a moratorium on characters falling to Chaos or fighting it, that’s a pretty important element of the setting, but I hope Warhammer Crime focuses more on the mundane miseries and tribulations of a life in the Imperium. We need more of those stories. Edited November 12, 2019 by cheywood

[DarkChaplain]

There's lots of potential in the drug sector, too. Just remember Ravenor's hunt for the source of the Flects, which may have been warp-tainted, but it was a drug trafficking case for the most part, until things escalated.

 

Then you have potential for mysteries in the Administratum - heck, The Watcher in the Rain, the latest Warhammer Horror audio drama, makes a lot of good points about the Administratum drones and what a single mistake may mean for countless Imperial citizens.

 

The best part of Nemesis, from the Heresy, was the criminal investigation of arising cult activity, something that at the time wasn't really recognized by the authorities yet. The book turned more disappointing once Swallow closed that plotline and focused harder on the assassins vs daemons, but I firmly believe the general setup he provided would've made for a great Crime novel, and may be reproducable in Warhammer Crime's present day, seeing how Chaos is still hush hush in normal society.

Then you have shorts like The Strange Demise of Titus Endor, where the mystery is a bit whacky but it still follows a compelling, if short, investigation.

 

Part of me is hugely disappointed that it'll be 40k only, though. I'd have loved this to be the stepping stone for Josh Reynolds to FINALLY be commissioned to write more Zavant, along with a reprint of the classic novel; Josh wrote a few short stories, but the End Times shut those endeavours down before they could fully bloom. In fact, there was a story that's been shelved til Inferno! started last year...

 

Either way, a lot of novels and short stories have investigative plotlines or subplots, even without being full-on Inquisition or Arbites stories. I could totally see a spy thriller involving an Infocyte agent popping up, too.

[DukeLeto69]

Great discussion brothers (and sisters - do we have sisters?). I think it demonstrates the range of "crime" stories that could be told. It will be interesting to see how BL differentiate Crime v Horror v Mainline for 40k set stories. Afterall "horror" is very much a part of the mainstream 40k stories/setting but I guess it is more about the style of the story being a pure horror story rather than a war story with horror elements. I think it is also about scale. The stories told under the Crime and Horror imprints can be more intimate / smaller scale. They don't need to impact on a whole hive city / planet / sub sector / sector / IoM. Just on an individual or small group of people.

 

Worth us (me) remembering as well the (likely) reasons for why BL are doing these imprints:

 

1) There has been some vocal demand for these type of stories eversince Dan Abnett coined the phrase "domestic 40k" when talking about Eisenhorn books.

2) Some authors have expressed an interest in writing more of these "types" of books.

3) Most importantly, it provides an opportunity for BL books to appear in sections other than SFF (probably) and potentially exposing their product to a broader audience. Not sure how that is working out with Horror so far (been a while since I looked around a bookshop being honest). Are the Horror books to be found in the horror section or are they still firmly in the SFF section due to the Warhammer name?

 

Personally what I would love to see is a detective series akin to the Roy Grace novels by Peter James (highly recommended BTW). A cop dealing with the villains, degenerates and scum that any society generates. Sure there could (on occasion) be a link to a cult etc but personally I would rather these stories just show how awful human beings can be to each other (quite a feat in an already exceptionally grimdark dystopian setting). I like the idea that a standard planetary cop (not Arbites) would not really have any knowledge of chaos, the warp etc so the reader (well us harcore reader, perhaps not a newbie to the setting) would pick up hints but there is nothing explicit in the story.