Tahril wrote:I just recently brought and read (A bit late I know) Lord of the Night and have come with some questions (Mind you this is a Night Lords fan who started with the Talos series and is now working backwards.)
1) Does Sahaal wear Terminator armour? He is the first captain so does he wear Sevatar's armour or has he donned his own?
He wears Raptor armor. That's what he's good at, that's what he was before, and even if he were to wear Terminator armor, it wouldn't be Sevatars, the first company wouldn't allow it.
2) How unique/different are Sahaal and his Raptors, compared to say the Raven Guard and current other Raptors from different Legions? Is there a difference between his Raptors of First Company and himself compared to current NL Raptors?
Night Lord Raptors are extremely diverse, so other than being highly skilled and in possession of the best equipment by virtue of being part of the first company, probably no different. Compared to loyalist Assault Marines, they are much more aggressive. Compared to other traitor Raptors from other Legions, I'd say they're more skilled since the Night Lords made use of Raptors a lot more.
3) In the beginning of LoTN, he finds himself in the ruins of the Umbrea Insidior. With all its slaves dead and the ship ruined, is there anything left of First Company? (I wonder. was this ship and its crew/men the entirety of First Company? If not, where is the rest of his Company and are they even alive/still loyal around this time?
The first company Astartes refused to follow him after the death of his predecessor, captain Sevatar. They fractured into small groups to join other captains and warlords they respected. Sahaal entered the warp with likely nothing more than his human crew, and they all died.
Currently, the 'first company' no longer exists as an organisation. Many of its members are still around and remember who they were, but aren't especially loyal to each other when they occasionally meet.
If any of them did follow Sahaal, they died in the warp, but they probably abandoned him when he decided to run with one of the Legion's most important ships.
4) We see the Eldar/M'Shen also hunting the fabled Corona Nox, do we/will we ever find out what exactly makes this so special to the Eldar and M'shen (Sahaal seeks it for his rightful claim and for personal reasons it seems, correct?) And also, is Sahaal seen as an upstart/random change in fate to Chaos Gods/Eldar and M'shen because of his own brazen actions?
I believe M'shen wanted it as a trophy and proof of the deed to take back to her temple.
5) Which makes me ask, do the Chaos Gods/anything take notice of Sahaal or care/try to influence him? I mean, even if he denies them I'm sure its hard for them not to admire the Chaos Space Marine that is Sahaal.
Though I've never read of them trying to influence then, it seems likely that they take notice of a powerful Astartes with ambitions. I don't know how successful they'd be, since Sahaal despises the corruption the runious powers bring.
6) Are there any times where we see Sahaal actually leading/commanding the First Company or other Night Lords elements? Do we get a idea of how effective/tactical his ability to command are (He is a lone wolf thus far in LoTN)
The first company fractures as soon as he is placed as their leader. It had little to do with his ability, in fact, Talos, or another member of the tenth, mention that he was a fine enough leader and captain, just that he didn't match up to Sevatar and first company believed that no one ever would.
7) With Talos' series telling us Sahaal's claim and retrieval of the Corona Nox was no more regarded that the other captains (This brings the timeline to the 13th Black Crusade), and given the fact that Simon Spurrier wrote this novel in 2005 (AFAIK Spurrier does not plan on continuing/revealing the fate of the characters) what can we/should we assume has happened to Sahaal and is there a possibility for Zso to ever be revisited or expanded upon in the future?
There isn't much he can do except join a warband. He doesn't seem like someone who would allow just anyone to tell him what to do, so he could possibly raise his own from Astartes not loyal to their current leaders, or kill the leader of a warband and take control by force. Maybe he'll do this outside the Night Lords, feeling like they've forsaken him.
Or, he might continue being a lone wolf.