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http://1d4chan.org/wiki/Ollanius_Pius THIS pretty much explains him. balls of steel that one.

I think it's good that they're bringing back some of the older fluff. It makes a connection to the old material and encourages people to go back and try to find and read the original sources.

On the subject of whether they should have kept him a humble, unknown guardsman. If he's unknown and humble, he wouldn't be very interesting to write about. Also, the people in the 40k universe would have no idea that the guy is thousands of years old. To them he would appear to be just a regular dude.

Besides, how would anyone even find out about his act? Would any of the traitors beam down to Earth and share the tale of his heroics? Did the Emperor while trying to convey his wishes for the future of the Imperium with his last breaths take the time to describe Oll's act?

I think Abnett did a good thing by bringing back a historical fluff figure while resurrecting the sensei background as well.

The way the Emperor gains entry to the Vengeful Spirit basically voids the old story of Pious, for a second Horus lowered the shields and the Emp, Sang, Dorn and few marines teleported on board the ship. Why would they even bother bringing an Imperial Army trooper (no such thing as the Guard in Heresy era) I imagine they would have teleported those that had the best chance of overwhelming Horus's elite body guards and the horrors on board.

In a slightly unrelated note, it really annoys me when people justify the Emperor's actions as he was doing what he thought was right, or what would eventually save humanity...Yeah...so did Hitler. Hitler never went Ted Bundy on anyone and chopped up some woman in his house, but he killed millions of people to create his perfect Empire, removing those that he thought could create division later. Just because a person is intelligent, has a purpose and conviction, does not make them any better than a simple murderer.

Dearest Kor Phaeron, The Purpose of fighting is to win. Defense is not the same thing as winning. The Sword is mightier than the shield and experience is ever more important.
The final Weapon is the mind, everything else is supplemental.

Kindly,
Espandor contingent.

Still not sure how that justifies the genocide of billions who didn't even start a fight. I understand that to create any kind of large Empire, the concerns of the weak must be ignored and oppositions crushed, I just find it amusing that people are so quick to defend the acts of a Tyrant because he had good intentions...and you know what they so about those right?

If Hitler had won his war we would be regurgitating the same propaganda about how it pained him to do so but it was necessary yadayada . The Imperial Truth was a lie from the start, whether Pious was a Imperial trooper or cabal operative, its a shame he interupted Horus curbstomping the Self Proclaimed Emperor of Man.

Genocide schmemocide, its a game.

KorPhaeron77 wrote:Still not sure how that justifies the genocide of billions who didn't even start a fight. I understand that to create any kind of large Empire, the concerns of the weak must be ignored and oppositions crushed, I just find it amusing that people are so quick to defend the acts of a Tyrant because he had good intentions...and you know what they so about those right?

GW don't have to 'justify' it because the neither the Imperium nor the Emperor are ever presented as being 'just'. The setting is intended to be a horrible, horrible place to live, and the Imperium a hideously harsh police/religious state.

The Heresy-era fiction makes this more interesting by presenting a world which is just as harsh, but which powerful beings are at least attempting to correct/make better, making the 40k setting seem even more declining and apathetic since it's still very harsh but much more conservative. The Heresy era books also play on the Emperor's inviolate nature by giving him flaws. We cam see how the Great Crusade was flawed from the start because of the arrogance of the person starting it...

The general points of the setting are that morality is subjective, religion is bad, and horrible things can be done to morality by arrogant people in power acting in the name of a higher purpose. The added twist is that, in their setting, the supernatural actually exists, and the Imperium's religion is a misunderstanding of a natural occurence (the warp).

Exactly what you'd expect by a group of British games developers who grew up in the early 80s, where atheism and left-wing political views are much more the norm than in America. (Thankfully)