Best products from r/40kLore

It was the first arc of X-Men Legacy. I always flip back and forth between different series so I haven’t read the other 20 something issues, but the first arc was excellent. Crossed looks really good too, gonna have to give that a go. Spurrier seems to have a few interesting comics series. Abnett of course is an even more prolific comics writer, astounds me how much that man does. Abnett and Lanning’s run on Marvel Cosmic is worth reading on the off chance you haven’t yet.

Was planning to read all Fehervari’s shorts since they connect to his novels, I’ll toss Elucidium in with the lot. Thanks man!

I think I flipped through a scan of xenology a long long time ago. Great illustrations! I should go back to that as well. So many books, so little time.

Fantastic excerpt. I’ll have to skim over the books and find some more. Not sure I have time to dive into reading them right now though.

The Horus Heresy is a series of books which now numbers several dozen. Reading the entire Heresy series isnt quite required to get into 40k. Rather, the first three novels are a pretty good introduction to the universe, its conflicts, and its major players.

Now, there are also rule books for the Horus Heresy game, which was created to synergize with the novel series. Those have "fluff" (story) in them as well, but Id stay away from the rule books unless you find yourself super deep in. The HH codices are expensive, and even the 40k rule books came be a bit of a slog (theyre poorly written, IMO).

Honestly, if you dont want to buy anything right now, the best place to start is the Lexicanum. You can learn about the various factions, some of the lore, and all kinds of cool stuff. And the best part is, its FREE!

Well, Ulysses S Grant's brutal strategy ended a war that had killed around a 20th of the US population, ended slavery, and kept the entirety of the south under US control and while he was president tried much harder than any other president afterwards (until the Civil Rights movement) to ensure the rights of African-Americans. I would read A Life of Ulysses S Grant and Ron Chernow's Grant to understand the more positive view of him being developed by current historians.

Genghis Khan is interesting, his penchant for rape and murder is well known, however he was able to unify the previously desperate mongol tribes into an army and eventually an empire that conquered: China, Russia (in the winter because screw everyone else who tried), Central Asia, and parts of the Middle East. Genghis' empire ultimately improved trade across Eurasia, his bureaucracy was strong and his movement of skilled people to where they were needed is considered a pretty smart move. The mongols were also very culturally tolerant this is why Han Chinese, Muslims, and others could all live under his rule. So basically awesome empire, not so awesome conquering of empire.

Other guys are harder to defend but I will say for Georgy Zhukov and Douglas MacArthur that they developed working strategies for defeating an ideology that could have very well changed the way life is in our time. Also MacArthur basically turned Japan into a democracy and helped end the fanaticism there that helped cause WW2 in the first place.

How you view historical figures and whether you see them as heroes depends a lot on perspective and your values. The Hague and great deal of the world's humans see human rights as an important part of their values today and will attach a great deal of negativity to the actions of many of the figures mentioned above. However evaluating these figures just by human rights I think ignores a great deal of nuance in their actions and their improvements to the human condition. What I also try to remember nowadays is that heroism and progress doesn't negate violence and terror, but violence and terror don't negate heroism and progress and ultimately we have to each, for ourselves, evaluate historical figures based on what we believe in.

You could always read Fire Warrior if you can track down a copy. The video game was garbage but the novel is pretty good. Other than that, there's Farseer, and the Path of the Eldar trilogy, neither of which I have read, so I can't comment on the quality. I'm pretty sure there are others, but those are what I could think of off the top of my head and find with a quick search. I know I read a short story somewhere from the perspective of an Ork, too.

>I have tried reading Deathfire, but the author, Nick Khyme I think? His writing is a bit dry and stale to read. I've tried reading other Salamander stuff, but it's ALL written by him. So I was hoping some of the other, better BL writers had taken a crack at him. Sad to hear he has so little screen time.

If you want to read about the Salamanders but don't like Nick Kyme, you are, as they say, s**t out of luck. The upcoming entry of the Primarch-series Vulkan - Lord of Drakes will be written by David Annandale, though.

There isn't a dedicated lore-book for 40k unfortunately.

My suggestions:

• Look on ebay for the Dark Millennium (the the lore section of the 7th edition 40k rulebook). I don't see anything currently listed, but "sold listings" show they usually go for around $10
  
  
• Grab the 6th edition 40k rulebook. Unlike 7th edition, the hardback has the rules, lore, and hobby sections combined
  together. Because it's outdated you can usually find it for cheap (around $15 on ebay). Make sure you get the hardback, not the softback (which only includes game rules).
  
  
• Dark Heresy 1st Edition RPG book. This is OOP I think, but it has lots of lore on the imperium. Great artwork. 2nd edition is out, so you can probably find it decently priced on ebay.
  
  
• Horus Heresy: Visions of Heresy. Official art/lore book about the Horus Heresy. Huge event that influences the 40k setting. Technically not about 40k proper, but explains a lot of important background material.
  

Thanks, I was also looking at Crusade + Other Stories which also includes stuff from some of the other good BL authors like Abnett and ADB.

I'm curious, what do you think are the must-read Fehervari short stories?

> There were originally sizeable factions that opposed recognizing the Emperor as Omnissiah, opposed the traditionalism, opposed the ancient edicts and prohibitions against xenotech and AI. Many were purged in internal power struggles, others submitted to Imperial orthodoxy but secretly kept their views, and most of these ended up turning traitor.

This is covered in Graham McNeil's EXCELLENT novel Mechanicum for anyone who is interested

Honestly, I kind of want an 8th-edition ready variant of the old Warhammer General's Compendium, which was this excellent guide to running narrative campaigns from way back in the day (seriously, it's probably one of the single best supplemental book that GW has ever made). Put out a new General's Compendium, and use it as an opportunity to flesh out some of the lesser campaigns in the flavortext (and tied-in with explicit narrative arcs as a means for players to recreate a given historical campaign).

If you're from the UK you'll find plenty on Amazon for very cheap.

If you're from the US you can also find there. Like I said the copies are very cheap and if you're willing to buy second hand then I'd definitely recommend it.

>[Citation Needed]

Really? You don't read?
Horus Heresy books. You know, the books that are being published in the last decade or so?

I would advise to read particularly these ones. You know, everything, literally everything I said came from these (and other) books. No interpretation, no collusion- word by word. There's really not much left to interpret; the books are quite clear on the back story (E breaking his word, the primarchs being the products of this arcane knowledge of the warp and science mixed together), and the nature of the warp "gods".

https://books.google.co.uk/books/about/Vengeful_Spirit.html?id=Oui9oQEACAAJ&source=kp_cover&redir_esc=y&hl=en

http://www.goodreads.com/book/show/12998311-aurelian

https://www.amazon.co.uk/dp/B01MRKVKLT/ref=dp-kindle-redirect?_encoding=UTF8&btkr=1

http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/The_First_Heretic_(Novel)

>Oh, so you think the last 10,000 years has been a tea party, and not a fight, huh? Either that, or you're stretching the meaning of the word "fight" far past the point of usefulness.

This absolutely makes no sense. It addresses none of my (well the authors') points. The Imperium has fought against forces that used the warp- the Black Legion, different "chaos cultists" -like the Sek's forces in the Sabbat Crusade, and they also fought renegades, who despise the warp as much as your purest commissar (Night Lords come to mind). They do not fight some chaos god. In fact, most of the primarchs who ascended into demonhood do not even give a flying f£ck about humans any more. I don't think any of the "four" seriously cares; some of their followers might. But it's not some black-and-white fight between two forces. That is precisely the reason I like some of the new books; the naive, simpleton world has been changed into a very interesting, complex one.


Anyhow. As I said the whole debate is pointless. The books are quite clear on what happened; from here on I really can't imagine what I could do to convince you. Or why I should extend any more effort to do so.


Edit: some stuff

There's a 12-volume box set available on Amazon. It's pretty reasonably priced used. I bought it a couple months ago and have been reading through it. I mainly read the Ciaphas Cain books (also highly recommended if you haven't read them) before these, and it's a much darker setting, but it's also an amazing story.

Both of these are great reads:

Imperial Munitorum Manual


The Imperial Infantryman's Uplifting Primer, Damocles Gulf Edition

edit: woah I bought these for $13.59 USD when they first came out...

A friendly rivalry in 30k that without their primarchs guidance over 10k years grew to hatred by 40k. The Lion is literally the only primarch ever listed as Russ's friend.

New book coming out on the subject! hthttps://www.amazon.com/gp/product/1784964492/ref=ox_sc_sfl_title_3?ie=UTF8&psc=1&smid=ATVPDKIKX0DER

I'm excited.

Solar System Sized, Planet Busting Bloodthirster:
A planetary system loomed up. He slowed further and steered close to take a good look at it. Its sun was huge, except that it was not what he would normally think of as a sun. It was not spherical but a flat disc, in colour a brilliant shimmering green. There were at least twenty different planets, each a different colour- mauve, russet, lemon yellow, magenta- but they were not arranged as planets normally are. Instead of being roughly in the same plane, their orbits criss-crossed at all angles, linke the electrons of an atom, and sometimes more than one planet shared the same orbit. Then something appeared which caused Calliden to sit stock-still with shock. A figure was flying through the system, and it was bigger than the planets themselves, bigger than the disc-shaped green sun. A vaguely humanoid figure but crimson-furred, with a ferociously fanged, dog-like head, eyes glaring like pits of blood from beneath jutting horns, the head topped by great angled horns plus a twisted unicorn horn jutting from the crown. The creature was flying by, flapping great membranous wings which put a dozen planets in shadow with each pass. It wore brief, ornately worked armour down to the waist, glinting red and black, close-fitting except at the shoulders whch were protected by raised and extravagently worked pieces. The curve-bladed battle-axe it carried in one hand, holding the haft loosely as it flew, was bronze-black and vaster than any weapon should be. A supernatural energy seemed to flow and crackle through the unbelievable apparition, making it more solid-seeming, more real, than any natural creature. "What- what-" Calliden stuttered until his mind found a rational explanation. "It's a hallucination. Can you see it, Kwyler?" Though frightened, Kwyler was not quite as astonished as the navigator. "It is real," he said quietly, his mouth dry. "A daemon, one of rank too." Now something happened which confused Calliden at first. The apparition seemed to be retreating. Too late, be realized that it in fact was approaching, but diminishing in size at the same time. The daemon seemed angry. It flew alongside the Wandering Star, no more than twenty times the size of the spacecraft now, glancing at it sidelong with its smouldering eyes, wings beating majestically. "How can it use those wings to fly in space?" Calliden queried hysterically. "It flies on warp currents. Be careful. Don't do anything. Perhaps it will go away." Calliden shrieked and pulled on the controls as the warp entity, in a sudden rage, swung round and lashed out with the battle-axe, itself larger than the starship. The Wandering Star jinked aside, narrowly missing being crushed by the blow, then sped off. The daemon did not follow. The spaceship was too minute to be worth the bother, no more significant than a gnat. When last he looked Calliden saw the immense Chaos creature, system-sized again, taking his frustration out on one of the circling coloured worlds, batting it sidewise with the flat of the battle-axe, and sending the broken pieces hurtling into the disc-shaped sun. For the very first time the navigator felt that now he truly understood what it was that the divine Emperor was striving to protect the human race from. Briefly he wondered if the smashed planet had had a human population. -Eye of Terror Page 96-97


Greater Daemons assume forms larger than entire star clusters, then shrink down and push planets around:


It is an advantage of being a greater daemon that the quality of size, the greatest of restrictions placed on merely physical beings, means nothing. Size is a property of matter only. The disparate pair, allies of convenience if events fell that way, flew through the Door, the narrow pass through which all this time the forces of Chaos had been trying to overcome the Materium. Spread before them was what, in comparison with the galaxy in its entirety, was but an antechamber. Still they could fly here, for the space of the warp and the space of the physical world overlaid one another here, like oil spreading and swirling on water, creating rainbow colours. This was what some mortals called the Eye of Terror, and for rainbow colours there was the suspension and warping of physical laws, making new types of worlds possible. The two great daemons flew through entire star clusters which for the moment were smaller than they were. They adjusted their size, dwindling as they approached their destinations. Each selected a suitable planet from their respective domains. They moved those planets away from their warming suns — it did not matter, the planets did not freeze; instead their atmospheres were heated by friction as they moved through the ether-like warpspace-realspace overlap. They brought the planets close together and drew out from the surface of each a long tongue or causeway so that they met and welded together. Here, then, was the field of battle: a verdant bridge between two worlds, lit by a glowing sky, blasted by hot winds, crackling with incessant lightning. And on each of these worlds the war hosts were already assembled. Officered by daemon princes, its leading standard bearing the Eye of Tzeentch, raising aloft every magical emblem, herded by Chaos champions, half the population of the world belonging to the Chi’khami’tzann Tsunoi, armed and trained, mutated into their war roles, proceeded forth on to the battle-bridge. Officered by daemon princes, its leading standard bearing the crossed-bars emblem of Khorne, skull-filled banners dripping blood, herded by Chaos Champions, half the population of the world belonging to the Khak’akaoz’khyshk’akami, armed and trained, mutated or else mutilated into their battle roles, proceeded likewise. Far above, seated on floating thrones of gold and silver, the greater daemons directed the game, relaying tactics to their captains. - Eye of Terror Page 85


The Rose Cluster, created by a Greater Daemon of Tzeentch:


Multiple multi-coloured suns fled past, some misshapen, some ring-shaped, some joined together in complicated patterns by filaments of light and fire, some surrounded by what looked like intricate decorations made of gold and silver and brass. There was no consistency; no two were identical. It was a storm-enwrapped minor universe in which the normal laws of physics did not count. The will and imagination of daemons counted for more. "The Rose Cluster," Kwyler kept saying. "Took for the Rose Cluster." Calliden found it, coming at him from the darkness and distance, and despite everything that had already happened, he gasped with wonder. "Maynard!" he called. "Come and look at this!" The trader staggered from the pallet where he had been lying and peered out blearily. His arms dropped limply. His jaw sagged. The Rose Cluster was, as its name implied, a large cluster of stars. Typically these were globular and contained thousands, sometimes tens of thousands of stars. In that respect, the cluster was unremarkable. Except that all the stars were an entrancing pink colour. And the entire cluster had the shape of a rose. It was all there, the curving petals, hundreds of light years across, picked out in sheets of stars and glowing gas - also pink - the petals foliated one within another, layered down to a softly blazing heart. Some mighty daemon with a sense of beauty had crafted this. Calliden powered the telescope, feeding its image to the view-screen. One of the stars forming the cluster appeared before them. It, too, was in the shape of a rose, its radiant plasma magically suspended to form identical layers of soft petals. "Every single sun in there is the same," Kwyler told him. "And that's not all. Every one of the planets in there is shaped like a rose too. Thousands upon thousands of them." - Eye of Terror Page 97



https://www.amazon.com/Eye-Terror-Warhammer-000-Novels/dp/0671783904

You should read Eye of Terror