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 G00fySmiley wrote:
i mean.. yarrick survived fighting Ghaz, one of the toughest biggest meanest beings in the galaxy. that alone give him the crown to me.

Cain, in no particular order, killed a GSC patriarch facing it pretty much alone, destroyed splinter of tyranid fleet (granted, that one could have been a lucky fluke), faced Necron Pariachs and lived, killed multiple Hive Tyrants, faced multiple Daemon Princes (and banished at least two to warp), faced WAAAGH and beat it pretty much all on his own by gathering stragglers, striking at ork camp, and killing Warboss in single combat, beaten Khornate berserker, stopped entire splinter of 13th black crusade by killing its leader, managed to go through entire Space Hulk, alone, despite both orks and genestealers hunting him, and that's just first half of his series.

I'd say it beats being krumped by warboss who took pity on you and let you live to have something to krump again later

tneva82 wrote:
How is Cain whose only goal is trying to stay alive hardcore? Guy who does all he can do to avoid combat isn't generally what you would call hardcore

A) read Amberley's footnotes, she pretty much calls his excuses a lie dozens of times, B) read above list and tell me it's work of someone trying to stay alive with a straight face. He went through a frakking Necron Tomb hunting ambulls (twice) because no one else could be bothered to do it. Does it sound a "safer" than a minor skirmish he was supposedly "trying to avoid"?

 Irbis wrote:

 G00fySmiley wrote:
i mean.. yarrick survived fighting Ghaz, one of the toughest biggest meanest beings in the galaxy. that alone give him the crown to me.

Cain, in no particular order, killed a GSC patriarch facing it pretty much alone, destroyed splinter of tyranid fleet (granted, that one could have been a lucky fluke), faced Necron Pariachs and lived, killed multiple Hive Tyrants, faced multiple Daemon Princes (and banished at least two to warp), faced WAAAGH and beat it pretty much all on his own by gathering stragglers, striking at ork camp, and killing Warboss in single combat, beaten Khornate berserker, stopped entire splinter of 13th black crusade by killing its leader, managed to go through entire Space Hulk, alone, despite both orks and genestealers hunting him, and that's just first half of his series.

I'd say it beats being krumped by warboss who took pity on you and let you live to have something to krump again later

tneva82 wrote:
How is Cain whose only goal is trying to stay alive hardcore? Guy who does all he can do to avoid combat isn't generally what you would call hardcore

A) read Amberley's footnotes, she pretty much calls his excuses a lie dozens of times, B) read above list and tell me it's work of someone trying to stay alive with a straight face. He went through a frakking Necron Tomb hunting ambulls (twice) because no one else could be bothered to do it. Does it sound a "safer" than a minor skirmish he was supposedly "trying to avoid"?

In every case, he was forced into those situations by a snowballing reputation. The joke is that he tries to engineer situations to avoid combat (searching for a beast that may not exist with a heavily armoured guard killteam rather than facing an Ork horde on the battlefield) that directly resulted in him uncovering a new threat and having to combat it (the necron tomb). Alternately, the service to the reputation that saves his skin also throws him directly into the line of fire.

Amberly casts doubts on anything Cain says - saying he's too good a liar but also indicating that he is probably being hard on himself.

The conflict in a Cain novel is when he is forced to do the heroic thing rather than running away because:
(A)The Odds: To not do so mean certain death later- he is gambling that he may survive this unlikely matchup after all
(B)The Rep: People are watching- if he doesn't do the right thing, the mask will have slipped and he loses the loyalty of the people who keep him alive
(C)The Hero: Cain is loyal to Amberly and Jurgen, others and the Imperium as a whole, for selfish reasons as well as noble ones.

The interplay of his intelligent appraisal of any situation and these motivations means that often, Cain can't state for certain why he has done a thing. His own self doubt whether he loves Amberly or whether he was saving his own skin is compelling. Amberly notes that this may be Cain manipulating us yet again.

The takeaway is that Cain is not a coward. He stands and fights when not to do so would be calamitous- where a lesser man would be overcome with fear. He is a selfish pragmatist with a heart of gold- if given the choice he would (and does) scooby doo the hell away from any given monster, were it not for A,B and C.

Colonel Schaeffer

Where does it say Ollanius Pius faced off against Horus? All we're ever told is "...Ollanius Pius, the Guardsman who is supposed to have given his life by interposing his body between Horus and the Emperor during the assault on the Imperial Palace." One sentence in the caption of a picture, explainging the face on a standard. All the rest is fanwank.

I mean, that's still pretty badass, but rather diminished now when he's made into some immortal superhuman instead.

If you believe he is a super human immortal. I chose not to. Face off against or not stepping between the two fighting is awesome if he mortal. That’s why I was asking where the quote is from. Not read it before. Wasn’t aware of any more detail than that.

Nork Dedog!

Probably Yarrick. People like Marbo aren't even characters, but more caricatures of fake or real life people. They are just gimmicks.

 Irbis wrote:

 G00fySmiley wrote:
i mean.. yarrick survived fighting Ghaz, one of the toughest biggest meanest beings in the galaxy. that alone give him the crown to me.

Cain, in no particular order, killed a GSC patriarch facing it pretty much alone, destroyed splinter of tyranid fleet (granted, that one could have been a lucky fluke), faced Necron Pariachs and lived, killed multiple Hive Tyrants, faced multiple Daemon Princes (and banished at least two to warp), faced WAAAGH and beat it pretty much all on his own by gathering stragglers, striking at ork camp, and killing Warboss in single combat, beaten Khornate berserker, stopped entire splinter of 13th black crusade by killing its leader, managed to go through entire Space Hulk, alone, despite both orks and genestealers hunting him, and that's just first half of his series.

I'd say it beats being krumped by warboss who took pity on you and let you live to have something to krump again later

tneva82 wrote:
How is Cain whose only goal is trying to stay alive hardcore? Guy who does all he can do to avoid combat isn't generally what you would call hardcore

A) read Amberley's footnotes, she pretty much calls his excuses a lie dozens of times, B) read above list and tell me it's work of someone trying to stay alive with a straight face. He went through a frakking Necron Tomb hunting ambulls (twice) because no one else could be bothered to do it. Does it sound a "safer" than a minor skirmish he was supposedly "trying to avoid"?

Caine, what a Mary-Sue

Andykp wrote:
If you believe he is a super human immortal. I chose not to. Face off against or not stepping between the two fighting is awesome if he mortal. That’s why I was asking where the quote is from. Not read it before. Wasn’t aware of any more detail than that.

keep in mind even before the HH novels Ollinious was described as a legend etc. so his existance etc was always up in their air. It would be just like the IoM to find a soldiers corpse that had been killed, and proclaim he was a hero who did XYZ when the truth is that he had curled into a fetal position and died cowering.

BrianDavion wrote:

Andykp wrote:
If you believe he is a super human immortal. I chose not to. Face off against or not stepping between the two fighting is awesome if he mortal. That’s why I was asking where the quote is from. Not read it before. Wasn’t aware of any more detail than that.

keep in mind even before the HH novels Ollinious was described as a legend etc. so his existance etc was always up in their air. It would be just like the IoM to find a soldiers corpse that had been killed, and proclaim he was a hero who did XYZ when the truth is that he had curled into a fetal position and died cowering.

I know and that is what makes it great too, he could have just been running away and accidentally got in the way or his body blown over near the duel and the story was made. Or the entire thing could have totally fabricated to create a moral boost propaganda coup for the imperial army, it has happened enough in real life and is all better than immortal nonsense.

Yarrick. Sure, he’s been at the rejuvenat a little much and looks like a zombie these days, but who else can strap on a Power Klaw, ride in his personal Baneblade up to the enemy then start punching their biggest and ‘ardest to death with their own weapon? Who else had their eye removed and replaced with a laser just to play on enemy superstitions?

He’s an utter nutjob. What a guy.

There is however a rumour that the Klaw he has is too small to have come from an Ork, but I don’t believe such Heretical whispering. I made this slightly ludicrous version anyway so that his Klaw is full Ork-sized:



Now there’s no question. What a guy!