[Aptorian]

I know! It's killing me!

[Garak]

Nah man, I'm enjoying seeing your reactions at these books. Zweil is pure gold. And even if he comes across like a crazy guy sometimes, there is a solid iron core in that man.

[Garak]

Oh I totally forgot about that bit. Hahahaha.

[JPK]

BK. The answer is book 5.

[Garak]

Spoiler

The Blood Pact, yes these guys are hardcore, elite troops. Most Chaos armies (talking strictly the mortals here) rely on numbers and fanaticism. The Pact add tactics and proper gear to that. As the series goes on, we learn more about them and their culture. One novel (Blood Pact) even gives us some pov sections with them. I added some official GW art for the Pact, so you know what they look like.

The ammo thing is probably just a SNAFU. Because bureaucracy and Imperial bureaucracy especially (what, it needs to be at least in duplicate). I mean in the first novel in the Dawn of Fire series, one of the plot threads is a lowly (like working in some forsaken sub-basement in the Palace) scribe go on an epic quest to deliver a paper she thinks might be highly important (it is .... it's also one among a billion others and the whole things turns out to be pointless because of course it was). She actually travels far enough from her station to claim the title of Scribe Errant, thus allowed to go to whatever office she needs to reach. She at one point comes across a giant room filled to the brim with stacks of vellum (reports, notes, whatever else) with tunnels dug through the vellum, with bracing. Why? Because a data miner is looking for anything that might have been approved or rejected by mistake, in which case he gets a reward and whoever fucked up get's ..... probably a bullet through the head if he's still alive, it was noted the stuff in that room was hundred and thousands of years old. In another chamber there were huge mountains of vellum, with the local workers feeding them into an incinerator and fighting off raids from other workers who were coming to steal the vellum (to scrape off the ink and then use for their own office needs). They raided and defended with knives and spears made from chair legs while wearing armor made from vellum and so on and so forth. All of it happening so far down in the Palace, it's a certainty no one one level above even knows they exist, let alone what insanity they are up to. There's another novel where a company from a fresh regiment get's dropped off on the wrong planet - we see in the interlude before that it was because a guy who for his entire life just sat in an office typing numbers that were dictated over the vox, mistyped two numbers and then went "Ah, who cares, this is all probably meaningless drivel anyway." So the wrong ammo packs? Not that impossible.

[Garak]

Oh right, my bad. It's about what you said in the two previous posts + some art.

[JPK]

I just finished Straight Silver .

Spoiler

Fucking Cuu. I haven't hated a character this much in such a long time. With all of the buildup going on, I really hope that fucker meets a super grisly end.

Mkoll and Mkvenner both stood out for me in this one. I still think Mkoll slightly wins in the badass department, but barely. It's the bit on Phantine after his craft is shot down that puts him slightly forward for me.

Soric's situation is interesting. At this point I'm not sure if I'm worried about him or Milo going wild psyker more.

One last thought. Kolea's showing some really interesting behavior in this book. I'm not sure if he's completely gone or not. It felt like there was foreshadowing of his mental return in this one with all the muscle memory stuff that kept popping up.

Garak - that art is fantastic.

[JPK]

I think you have a really good shot at passing me actually. I have something else I promised a friend that I would read as soon as I finished #6. I'm not terribly excited about the other book and I suspect it'll take me a bit to force myself to finish it.

[Macros]

Oh man are you right on your hatred of him, such and utterly loathable character.

And it's nerd fight for who is more badass of those two

This post has been edited by Macros: 01 March 2021 - 07:42 AM

[Garak]

All I'll say is that some characters return, some don't. I mean there's a million things I want to say but that would be spoilers so I'm gonna shut up. I can safely say that I recommend the two spin-off novels set in the Sabbat Crusade - Double Eagle and Titanicus, because they are awesome. At the same time, I tend to recommend lots of stuff and send people down the proverbial rabbit hole.

[Aptorian]

100 p. into Gaunt book 4.

Not sure I like or believe the sudden change in Gaunt.

Spoiler

So a trap is triggered and the holy city burns. That sucks. But why is this suddenly triggering a drunken depression/rage? This is completely unlike the Gaunt we've seen in the past 4 books.
He's not overly emotional, nor prone to being a sore loser or drinking.
I feel like there's some underlying storyline going on where later in the book they'll reveal Gaunt's mother was a devout Sabat follower or some quaint bullshit.

I'm also surprised Gaunt is back in the field this fast. 1. It's a miracle he's not a cripple after being blasted by a chaos general. 2. He single handedly saved Verhun hive, first strategically and then lead a charge killing a servant of chaos and destroying their doomsday weapon.

I don't care if Macaroth hates him, politically he should have been elevated some how after that miracle.

[Aptorian]

Political pressure. Giving the significance of his achievement and the gratitude of the merchant houses I find it impossible that there wouldn't be a promotion, it would be a PR/Moral boost.

[Aptorian]

P. 124

Spoiler

None of this passage fits with Gaunts behavior just 20 pages earlier.

‘You didn’t scream,’ Gaunt said to her suddenly, firing steadily. ‘What?’ ‘You didn’t scream when they grabbed you.’ ‘And that’s good – why?’ ‘Waste of energy, of dignity. If they’d killed you, they’d have taken no satisfaction in it.’ ‘Oh,’ she said, nonplussed, not sure if she should be flattered. ‘Never give the enemy anything, Ana. They take what they take and that’s more than enough as it is.’ ‘Live by that, do you?’ she asked sourly, twitching off another burst of unsteady but enthusiastic shots. ‘Yes,’ he replied, as if he was surprised she should ask. Sensing that, she felt surprised too. At herself, for her own stupidity. It was obvious and she’d known it all along if she’d but recognised it. That was Gaunt’s way. Gaunt the Imperial hero. Give nothing. Never. Ever. Never let your guard down, never allow the enemy the slightest edge. Stay firm and die hard. Nothing else would do. It wasn’t just the commissar in him. It was the warrior, Curth realised. It was Gaunt’s fundamental philosophy. It had brought him here and would carry him on to whatever death, kind or cruel, the fates had in store for him. It made him what he was: the relentless soldier, the celebrated leader, the terrifying slayer. She felt unbearably sad for him and in awe of him all in the same moment.

[Macros]

i'll echo the others.

do not expect rational from upper echelon.

do not expect logic.

do expect pettyness and jealousy

[Macros]

I took it just as being a rare book

[Garak]

While it would have been funny for it to be title of one of the books, it ain't. It's a book that Inquisitor Ravenor wrote, it pops up here and there in the setting as a famous book.. There's a 300 year gap between Ravenor and Gaunt. And Ravenor operated in Segmentum Obscurus while the Sabbat Worlds are in Segmentum Pacificus.

[amphibian]

To be clear, Ravenor is a character in his own series written by Abnett. He's an inquisitor and the series is like a violent whodunnit with a crew of detectives/cops. That's why they're being linked here.

[Garak]

Just gonna copy paste this here (honestly I only bother with the Year and Millennium, the rest is not that relevant for our needs):

Old Style (Pre-Great Rift)
The Imperium had developed its own method of recording dates, which needs a bit of explanation. Most importantly, the years are based on the "Anno Domini" system, so the dates themselves are the ones that we are familiar with now. A typical date as Imperial scholars write it would look something like 0123456.M41. Let's divide this code up to explain each part:





0 123 456 M41
Check Year Fraction Year Millennium


Check Number
The check number refers to the accuracy in the date as compared to time on Terra, with 0 being the most accurate and 9 being the least. Class 0 refers to events that occurred on Terra, with each increasing number being a further degree of separation from Terra.

Location Based
A 0 means that the event occurred on Terra.

A 1 means that the event occurred within the Sol system.

Contact Based
A 2 means that the event occurred while someone present for the event was in direct psychic contact with Terra or the Sol system.

A 3 means that an individual or organization present was in psychic contact with a 2 source while the event occurred.

A 4 means that the individual or organization was in contact with a 3 OR 2 source.

A 5 means that the individual or organization was in contact with a 4 source.

A 6 means that the individual or organization was in contact with a 5 source.

Estimation Based
A 7 means that the event in question occurred within 10 years of the date listed in the rest of the Imperial date.

An 8 means that the event occurred within 20 years of the date.

A 9 class source is special. A 9-class source is an approximated date, and is usually used when recording a date within Warp travel or while on a planet that does not use the Imperial system.


Year Fraction
For record-keeping, each year is divided into 1000 equal parts, numbered 000-999. Note that this is not generally used by Imperial citizens, but is simply for administrative use. Each increment of the year fraction corresponds to approximately eight hours and forty-five minutes Terran standard.

How to determine the Year Fraction on Terra
Rather than dividing the year into approximately 365 days like we do, the Imperium divides the year into 1000 fractions. So, "549" indicates the 549th part of 1000 parts of the year.

To calculate this, first you need to find on which day of the year your event occurred. Using July 18th of 2005 as an example, you then determine the Julian date, which is the 200th day of 2005. Next we need to split it into hours. We do that by multiplying 200 by 24 then add the hour of the day the event occurred. If the event took place at 4pm (the 16th hour) the formula to find the Determined Hour would be:
200 x 24 + 16 = 4816 Determined Hour

To convert that to an Imperial Fraction, multiply your Determined Hour above by the Makr Constant: 0.11407955.
4816 x 0.11407955 = 549.41. Always round this number down to determine the closest Year Fraction that occurred before the event. So the Year Fraction would be 549.


Year
This is the year within the millennium, running from 000-999. For general dates, often only the year and Millennium (below) are included. If the Terran calendar year was 2005 then the Imperial Dating System Year would be 005.


Millennium
This is the millennium in which the event occurred. Most "recent" events in the Warhammer 40K universe occur in M41, or the 41st millennium. If an event was in 2005 it would have occurred in M3 or M03, the 3rd millennium.

New Style (Post-Great Rift)
After the formation of the Great Rift in the ending stages of the 41st Millennium, the flow of time no longer became standard across the galaxy. As a result, Roboute Guilliman attempted to amend the dating system and create a reliable Imperial history to fit the new situation. The result has been met with controversy and a civil war known as the Chronostrife has broken out within the Inquisition's Ordo Chronos.

This post has been edited by Garak: 04 March 2021 - 11:43 PM

[Macros]

Oh man, I'm really enjoying your spoilers on book 5.
Great call, I didn't call it as finely as that I called

Spoiler

Cuu guilty, caffran off on a tech, Cuu someone wriggling out and then a rift in the ghosts and cuu the driver of it

[Garak]

Briar King, on 05 March 2021 - 01:18 AM, said:

I believe I ll just pay attention to the M and the .000 left of it. Though I do find the number in relation to Sol/Terra interesting.

Yeah, that's pretty much what I do. After that it just becomes nuts.