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So, spoilers abound, as you might expect...Only really got the bare bones and the main details at the moment, but they are fairly big ones.
Spoiler:
Gulliman very reluctantly has declared the Imperium Secondus (under pressure from his human mother...who knew?) but by no means wants to be Emperor (whose status he knows absolutely nothing about at the moment0. The Lion turns up with his Dark Angels, and is reluctant, but understands what Gulliman is getting at...and also refuses to be Emperor.
John Grammaticus, followed by that Damon guy from Betrayer infiltrate Macragge, Grammaticus having orders to kill Vulkan who has teleported in, half dead and pretty angry, put in a cell for a while.
Curze was stowed away on The Lion's ship, as per Prince of Crows, and manages to activate the drop pods that The Lion had ready in the case of Gulliman being a traitor. Gulliman gets very angry about this, fearing another incident similar to Calth. Drop pods land, and Curze is revealed to be inside one of them...Which still puts Gulliman in a pretty foul mood, cause really, that's some bad security right there. There's a confrontation between Gulliman, The Lion and Curze, but Curze has rigged their meeting place with explosives, refusing to play fair in typical Night Lord fashion, and nearly blows Gulliman and The Lion up - but they're teleported out in the nick of time.
Vulkan awakes and appears, ready to tear Curze apart, but Curze manages to escape. The Word Bearer from Vulkan Lives, Narek, is after Grammaticus for the the Fulgurite Spear so he can murder Lorgar and go some way to redeeming his Legion. Not too sure what happens to Narek, but Eldrad apparently puts in a guest appearance, convinces Grammaticus that he can save Vulkan by stabbing him with the Fulgurite Spear (not sure of the logic here...) and defy the Cabal, somehow. Damon catches up with Grammaticus who catches up with Vulkan, and then Curze appears, attempts to massacre all three and is subsequently thrown into the warp by a daemon. Grammaticus stabs Vulkan and, shock and horror...kills him, apparently.
Sanguinus and his lads show up, and the Lion and Gulliman crown him regent of this second Imperium. The book ends with Curze escaping the warp and vowing to destroy the Imperium Secondus.
Also, Vulkan is put in a casket engraved with the words "The Unbound Flame", which I'm sure makes more sense to people more knowledgeable about the fluff than me.
Not really the most cohesive of summaries, but it'll get clear with time, I'm sure. And the main points are all there, so there's bits and pieces to discuss, at least.
The Unbound Flame is one of the artefacts that Vulkan seeks in the belief the Primarch will return if they get all nine - they have five.
I AM A MARINE PLAYER
"Unimaginably ancient xenos artefact somewhere on the planet, hive fleet poised above our heads, hidden 'stealer broods making an early start....and now a bloody Chaos cult crawling out of the woodwork just in case we were bored. Welcome to my world, Ciaphas."
Inquisitor Amberley Vail, Ordo Xenos
"I will admit that some Primachs like Russ or Horus could have a chance against an unarmed 12 year old novice but, a full Battle Sister??!! One to one? In close combat? Perhaps three Primarchs fighting together... but just one Primarch?" da001
The unbound flame, aka Vulkan? Is that not kinda cheating a little saying your one of the nine artifacts Vulkan.
Come into my web, said the spider to the fly.
Come rest your wings, and let us talk eye to eye.
For I am a spider, and you are the fly. Now that you are here, let us sit, and say hi.
But I have have no morsel to share, nor anything to eat. But wait, what is that stickiness upon your feet.
Ah now I have you, now I can eat. Now I can enjoy you, or store you as meat.
For I am the spider, and you are the fly. How else could it have gone, between one such as you, and one such as I.
Verses wrote: So, spoilers abound, as you might expect...Only really got the bare bones and the main details at the moment, but they are fairly big ones.
Spoiler:
Sanguinus and his lads show up, and the Lion and Gulliman crown him regent of this second Imperium.
Eh... I might be missing something, but shouldn't Sanguinius be dead by this point? I mean I haven't read the book, but the declaration of Imperium Secundus took place after the Big E's ascension, was it not?
They have no way of communicating other than actually travelling there in person. And while it isn't mentioned much, it seems travelling routinely takes months or even years. The actual Heresy must have spanned decades.
tgjensen wrote: The actual Heresy must have spanned decades.
The blurb for Age of Darkness states that the fighting part of the Heresy took seven years.
Lost Sons states that the Blood Angels have been out of communication with the Imperium for five years, yet Sanguinius can find the time to go from the Signus cluster to Ultramar, get crowned regent of Imperium Secundus, and then go to Terra. That's cutting it very close. I get the impression that Unremembered Empire implies that the Lion and Guilliman intentionally dragged their heels to see who would win.
Verses wrote: So, spoilers abound, as you might expect...Only really got the bare bones and the main details at the moment, but they are fairly big ones.
Spoiler:
Sanguinus and his lads show up, and the Lion and Gulliman crown him regent of this second Imperium.
Eh... I might be missing something, but shouldn't Sanguinius be dead by this point? I mean I haven't read the book, but the declaration of Imperium Secundus took place after the Big E's ascension, was it not?
No, it's during the Heresy after Calth. Guiliman can't get in contact with Terra and believes Imeperium Secondus is the only option left.
At least that's how I understand it, I haven't read it either.
Not sure what previous fluff says, but at the moment we're looking at, from this book at least, the Imperium Secondus happening during the Heresy.
Also, communication between Loyalist forces is being heavily interfered with thanks to the efforts of Chaos.
And, with regards to Vulkan...
Spoiler:
His fate is now, again, a mystery, apparently. Some Salamander reckons he heard a heartbeat, along with other bits and pieces...I don't know, I'm not fond of this whole immortal reincarnation thing.
tgjensen wrote: The actual Heresy must have spanned decades.
The blurb for Age of Darkness states that the fighting part of the Heresy took seven years.
Lost Sons states that the Blood Angels have been out of communication with the Imperium for five years, yet Sanguinius can find the time to go from the Signus cluster to Ultramar, get crowned regent of Imperium Secundus, and then go to Terra. That's cutting it very close. I get the impression that Unremembered Empire implies that the Lion and Guilliman intentionally dragged their heels to see who would win.
There is always the random factor when dealing with warp travel to consider. You might arrive at your destination before you left since time is not linear in the warp.
Vulkan being the 9th artifact is reallynot too surprising in hindsight, I think. Lots of people probably guessed that's the case already given how esoteric some of the other artifacts was (one of the artifacts was a friggin' space ship and another was an entire friggin' space laser planetary defense array, so why not the primarch himself?)
Though yea, so far it doesn't look like he'll be around to dispute the Codex Astartes, but you never know. The series is far from finished.
Good to see a loyalist Word Bearer. I'm reminded of that thread now where people said that loyalist Word Bearers weren't possible due to their genetic personality quirk.
This message was edited 3 times. Last update was at 2013/10/01 14:26:27
I think the issue is not an individual Word Bearer remaining loyal but having enough to build a new chapter from, would they take the risk of forming a new chapter from traitor stock with known flaws.
And from the information we had before Unremembered Empire there was no reason to think that there would be any loyalist Word bearers left after their cull.
I need to read it, but it doesn't sound much like what I was expecting and am note sure about all this Vulkan being a perpetual, which was only established a book ago, and then dieing.
What i don't understand is how these loyalist Primarch's have time be hanging about making these decision BEFORE the war is finished.
Dorn's calls must be on answer phone....
The Astronomicon is down for reasons unknown, which leads Guilliman to believe that Horus has already taken Terra and killed the Emperor. So he rallies any and all remaining Imperial forces to Ultramar, makes sense to me.
tgjensen wrote: The actual Heresy must have spanned decades.
The blurb for Age of Darkness states that the fighting part of the Heresy took seven years.
Lost Sons states that the Blood Angels have been out of communication with the Imperium for five years, yet Sanguinius can find the time to go from the Signus cluster to Ultramar, get crowned regent of Imperium Secundus, and then go to Terra. That's cutting it very close. I get the impression that Unremembered Empire implies that the Lion and Guilliman intentionally dragged their heels to see who would win.
Not necessarily. It could possibly be that Sanguinius was still cut off from communicating with the remaining Blood Angels on Baal while he was in Ultramar, since obviously Ultramar cannot contact Terra either. I'm assuming that at the end of Unremembered Empire they either reestablish communications, or Sanguinius decides to leave and head for Terra. Either one of those could be the explanation for the sudden reappearance of Sanguinius at the end of Lost Sons.
Pilau Rice wrote: I think the issue is not an individual Word Bearer remaining loyal but having enough to build a new chapter from, would they take the risk of forming a new chapter from traitor stock with known flaws.
And from the information we had before Unremembered Empire there was no reason to think that there would be any loyalist Word bearers left after their cull.
I need to read it, but it doesn't sound much like what I was expecting and am note sure about all this Vulkan being a perpetual, which was only established a book ago, and then dieing.
I don't think the Word Bearer is quite a Loyalist - in Vulkan Lives, he was shown as being repulsed by Chaos and unsure of this new path, but still willing to slaughter Loyalists. He did pay them respect after fighting or killing them.
Also, Vulkan...
Spoiler:
Don't take my word for this being exactly the way it goes, but what with a heartbeat being possibly heard by a Salamander, and Grammaticus having apparently lost his perpetual powers, it's possible that some other bizarre ritual to heal Vulkan's mind or spirit or something took place. Basically, no guarantees on him being dead, yet.
Good to see so many characters from so many legions getting the Abnett treatment. I'm curious about the Lion, mostly, as every little bit I read about his (mis)adventures makes it harder for me to empathize with him...
Also, poor Grammaticus. Seems his intent on taking revenge on the Cabal has made him even more a manipulable person than he already was.
War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
I've liked ADBs Lion thus far, Gavs Lion is ok, his DA are better than his Raven Guard imo, so it will be interesting to read how Abnetts Lion comes across.
Void__Dragon wrote: The Lion is all but said to be a sociopath. You aren't meant to empathize with him.
Yep. I just want to find out if his repulsiveness is deliberate or just the product of poor storytelling. For some BL writers, the divide between "badass" and "lofty heartless monster" is indeed a blurry one.
War does not determine who is right - only who is left.
Evil Sunz
