[Macros]

I don't recall any magic healing to be honest, possibly the age old adage of sufficiently advanced technology may appear like magic?
do you recall exactly who or what it was?



spoiler for series up to book.......12?

Spoiler

the beati miracles aside

[Macros]

I'm gonna have to research this one, I really don't recall anything like that, Dorden is just a straight medical doctor drafted in.

[Macros]

Corbec and a few others have a history of banging in far too many pain killers and being able to function beyond what their wounds should allow, possibly that is what you're thinking off.

I'm fairly sure Corbec is munching them down like candy in that book at one stage

[Garak]

Ah, that's not actual magic. That's the Imperium being backwards. They have chants for applying battlefield medicine, reloading and cleaning your rifle, operating a computer etc. They believe the chants are necessary. It's partly ritual nonsense and partly the actual steps you need to use taught and passed down as an easy to remember chant. Because there was no other method to teach said method. And over time they came to believe the chant is mandatory.

We mostly have example of various litanies that do nothing really but they are taught and they believe they help. Spoilered for space.

Spoiler

Incantation against Bombardment
To be recited when suffering artillery assault:
Grant me stillness and serenity as my enemies pound and howl.



Litany to Duty
To be recited when performing arduous task:
Give me the strength to carry my duty through, and smite those who seek to thwart me.


Litany of Unjamming
To be recited when clearing a jammed weapon:
Spirits of the Machine-God, aid your servant and free his weapon so he may use it to break his foes.


Litany of Cleanliness
To be recited when cleaning your lasgun:
Let my hand wipe the grime from your perfect form,
May you purify with your bolts of light


Canticle of Appeasement
To be recited to the Machine Spirits when stripping a weapon:
Be still, spirits,
I do what I must,
Forgive the intrusion,
And give me your trust.


The Litany of Loading
To be recitred when loading your weapon:
Machine spirit, accept my gift,
Swallow the light, and spit out death.



This machine is discharged into your care.
Fight with this machine, and guard it from the shame of defeat.
Serve this machine, as you would have fight it for you.
(response) - I shall.
From the Ceremony of Commission

[Macros]

ah I get what Garak has caught.

Yeah the machinists believe that the machines have spirits that need to be appeased, and there are litanies and..... chants for nearly every walk of life. but they are not magic, just a mindless blessing or plea for the divine that is said by rote.

If they were throwing about psyker ability the inquisition and black ships would come for them

[Garak]

Don't sweat it, just enjoy the ride. And so it won't drive you nuts later on, there is one trooper that doesn't die even when you think he did. Scout Trooper Bonin, is the luckyest son of a bitch there ever was. It's something of a running joke.

[Macros]

I agree Garak, why would you tell him that?

[Garak]

Because I'm sleep deprived and didn't think. Sorry.

[Macros]

I haven't looked yet but I know there's no magic healing. Straight up none, it's like Garak said, a mindless litany chant or just sufficiently advanced medial shit that looks like magic. Guard's have in 40k do seem to run on beyond what should shut you down regularly, be it by chugging down pain killers or the being just so used to having the shit kicked out of them they carry on regardless

[T77]

Finished Gaunt 3 Necropolis last night. It finished strong and put it at the same level as the first two. Going to read some other stuff before book 4, so BK will fly by me.

[Macros]

It's not spoiler material

Heritor is a rank, not sure what the equivalent in imperial would be.

Basically a commander of note, but also an....inventor? Creator? Of warp weapons and other stuff.

Asphodel is a notable one, he escaped the big battle on Balhut that killed Warmaster Slaydo, and as such is viewed as particularly cunning/ wily. If this was a card trading game he would have evil charisma +9000, hence the fear of these type of chaos agents, his, borderline, mind control from his charismatic leadership engenders completely fanatical conversion and following.

Also viewed by as a bit of a personal nemesis I guess due to the Balhaut connection.

Any chaos member that gets named like that just assume some kind of leader or power player and you won't be far off the mark.

[Macros]

The ghosts series are fairly stand alone in that respect, because they're all set in the Sabbat crusade, most of the lore is from abnett anyway.


Inherited world's I'll let Garak field that one

[Garak]

Inherited worlds refers to worlds that Ashpodel has conquered (inherited from the Imperium in his eyes) and turned into chaos worlds - which can range from being borderline deathworlds to literal hell on Earth to (if also swallowed by a warp storm) one of those places that is both hell and laughs at the laws of physics and causality.

Outside of certain named characters, 40k novels tend to be somewhat stand alone which does do a good job of making the galaxy feel huge. The Sabbat Worlds Crusade is a massive undertaking, the battles are grueling and epic. However in the Imperium's 10.000 year history it's little more than a blip. Just one more fire in a galaxy set ablaze.

[Garak]

It's momentous in that they are facing a very high ranking enemy commander.

[Macros]

Yeah, a big deal that it's a major chaos assault led by a true chaos commander and not just a hive war

[Garak]

Oh there are nuggets sprinkled for the hardcore but they are usually mentioned in a way that doesn't attract attention or even certain characters, usually minor ones.

[Macros]

As far as I know Asphodel isn't mentioned in earlier books, he's just talked about because he suddenly appears in charge of the Zoicans, I guess because Gaunt knew him from before

[Garak]

The Volpone have massive sticks up their asses.

[Garak]

Glad to see you're enjoying it.

[Macros]

A big thing and running theme you will come across is the.... Caste? System/arrogance in the imperium.

The Blue bloods for example, there are a lot of units that come from world's that practice feudal ruling systems, and have really old long established regiments. They view them selves as better than others, especially a new formed single regiment from a forested 'agriworld'. Imagine Knights of old lording it over a standard pikeman/peasant in the shield wall. They are ingrained born and bred elitist arseholes.

The same stratification is seen across hive world's, upper hab snobs and under/basement hab 'scum/trash'. It's all elitism pure and simple. It's something Slaydo was trying to reform as well as remove commanders that just send bodies into the meat grinder offensives. Terra high command didn't like this as they are the snobbiest of the snobs so they offered him the Sabbat crusade to keep him busy.

So yeah, the Tanith, the tattooed woods men that they are will wYs be low class peasants in a lot of the eyes of those type of "old guard" prestige units, regardless of their records or ability.

There are plenty of commanders and units that are old school that see them as the specialists they are, the vitrians for example, but this prejudice won't go away