#King of Nostramo

[fuukonomiko]

Konrad Curze by @disarmonia

Thank you @candiceirae for this gem :)

[nevesmose]

Karenna saluted in VIII Legion tradition, her hand in a loose claw, fingers touching her chest, above her heart – a sign of submission, offering the heart itself to a commander. Another gang custom, weaving its way down the years. On Nostramo, it had always meant a much more literal and visceral offer: to promise something so sincerely, the speaker would have their heart cut from their chest if they were found to be lying or incompetent.

Prince of Crows by Aaron Dembski-Bowden.

[idle-skull]

“Remember, you’re only alive because your attempts at petulance and rebellion amuse me”.

Lark had a strong disdain for Konrad when they first met—, but the greasy, sadomasochistic man ended up growing on him. Before, he did pretty much every little thing he could to piss Curze off, short of actually doing anything ‘bad’ of course; This ended up backfiring immensely, however.

In short, They fuck

[tertiusdecimusfilius]

tag drop

[leareadsheresy]

“The Dark King”

This post contains spoilers for "The Dark King," by Graham McNeill, first published as a short story in the 2007 Games Day exclusive two-story anthology Horus Heresy Chapbook on (as nearly as I can tell) September 23rd, 2007, and later republished in the anthology Shadows of Treachery on September 27th, 2012.

This story is about how Konrad "the Night Haunter" Curze, Primarch of the Night Lords Legion, named after Joseph Conrad and the character Colonel Kurtz from Conrad's story "Heart of Darkness," is a monster and has been for a lot longer than the start of the Heresy. It's told through a series of three scenes, connected disjointedly, because Curze suffers from nightmare visions of the future and seems to experience time out of joint.

In the first scene, Kurze is leading his Space Marines in the execution of a bunch of humans whose world the Night Lords and Imperial Fists are in the process of conquering. Rogal Dorn, Primarch of the Imperial Fists, shows up and is unhappy that Curze is just executing a conquered people, and Curze goes into a speech about how only by demonstrating the consequences of resistance will the rest of the galaxy be convinced to fall in line. They argue a bit and it's better than the usual McNeill arguments. Curze points to the next guy due to be executed and loudly proclaims that whatever he does, he's not to be punished, and then hands him a gun; the guy tries to shoot Curze and Curze turns around and punches him in the head so hard his skull explodiates, then turns to Dorn and goes "See? He wasn't resisting until he thought he wouldn't be punished." Dorn says that when this campaign is done they'll have words, and that Curze's way is not the way of the Imperium, to which Curze says "...you may be right," and then Dorn leaves.

It then cuts very abruptly to Curze imprisoned by Dorn and Fulgrim; Curze is visited by his equerry who says Dorn is recovering from the injuries that Curze inflicted with his bare hands and teeth, so that talk went really bad. Fulgrim signed off on Curze's imprisonment because around the same time, Curze spoke to him in confidence about visions he was having of a dark future of the galaxy embroiled in endless war and how the Emperor was going to try to kill him (Curze), which Fulgrim took as talk of treachery. Anyway there's a big jail escape scene where Curze plays the part of Batman leaping around between rafters in the dark but with more murder, kills all his captors bloodily, and escapes to the Night Lords fleet who were maintaining formation with the Imperial Fists and Emperor's Children, and they run off.

In the third scene, the first two scenes are framed as Curze reminiscing aboard his flagship, having taken his whole fleet back to his homeworld Nostramo (also named after a Joseph Conrad thing). For context, Primarchs were genetically engineered on Earth by the Emperor to serve as super-generals but then the gods of the warp stole their growth pods and scattered them around the galazy; Curze landed on Nostramo, a cyberpunk world of high crime rates, which he murder-batmanned into perfect compliant order before the Emperor found him. Here he's pondering how since he left, the planet has backslid into cyberpunk high crime, so to send a message to the galaxy he Death Stars it, just in time for Imperial fleets sent in pursuit of him to witness the destruction but not in time for them to stop it or to stop him from escaping back into the warp. End of story.

The exact temporal relationships between the three scenes are not clear, like, we don't know how much time passed between them, which I like; I enjoy a tone piece where the reader is given no more information than needed to establish tone. Graham McNeill continues to improve by virtue of structuring his writing so that the things he's weak at (subtle ideological and practical conflicts expressed deftly and intelligently) do not appear. The conflict between Dorn and Curze is not subtle. The story is also very short -- significantly shorter than "The Kaban Project," which helps; it's easier to be punchy when you're working in short form.

It does kind of raise the question of why Dorn thought the Night Lords would be a suitable force to include in the backup force sent to Istvaan V, but I'm not interpreting that as a plot hole; I assume there'll be some narrative later explaining how the Night Lords were brought back into the Imperial fold somewhat following the events of the second scene of the story, and I also believe it later turns out that the third scene of the story takes place significantly after the events in the Istvaan system.

The only thing that really annoys me is that it occasionally calls him Night Haunter, and my personal preference when addressing a fictional character with a name that's a title is that the "the" always get stuck in front of it, so he should be the Night Haunter, not just Night Haunter. But again that's just me being ultra-picky. Good job, Graham McNeill, solid improvement.

[ave-dominus-nostramos]

@earth-master X

"I could say the same of your feline, Rocket."

The tyrant king's black eyes study Giovanni with a predatory intensity, analyzing each breath, each slight twitch of his muscles. This is a man he'd spent years studying from afar: a sinner responsible for Nostramo's lawless state. Yet another name upon his list of those who've escaped justice.

[Go back to picking your territory clean. There are no bones for you here, you glorified Mandibuzz], Mercy snarls.

The Absol puffs his massive chest out, showing off his collar. An Absolite sat in the center of the band, surrounded by several massive rubies the color of fresh blood. For most, it would have been a gaudy display of opulence. However for this pair, it served as a warning: not even your riches will save you from our blades. ( Their previous owner had made international news several years ago when she'd been crucified in Quintus's city square. The Baroness died as she'd lived, draped in hundreds of glittering jewels while her people lived in squalor. None dared to touch her corpse. )

"What buisness do you have in Tandor?," Curze asks with a toothy grin, false civility dripping from his voice. The sharp points of his teeth gleam in the light. He snaps and Mercy comes to heel at his feet like a well trained dog.

His mind races through the complex threads of fate coiled around the man, searching through countless probabilities for the true future. He cannot cut Giovanni down here without jeopardizing his diplomatic ties but his opportunity shall come in time. He has forseen it already: his knife parting the wretch's ribs from his spinal chord, Mercy's fangs tearing out Wy's throat, his children watching with rapt eyes as Nostramo's wild crag Absols feast upon their entrails. Justice shall be served in the end. He needs only to lie in wait.

[stories-from-the-warp]

DEMEANOR AND MANNERISMS GUIDE FOR VICTOR SALTZPYRE. Bold is for what applies often, italics is for what applies sometimes / in specific circumstances.

EYES. | avoids eye contact when nervous, maintains eye contact, avoids eye contact due to being neurodivergent, enjoys eye contact as a means to read and convey emotion, looks down when emotional, looks up when emotional, cries openly, wipes tears quickly, suppresses tears, wandering gaze when lost in thought, holds gaze while thinking, seeks out eye contact for reassurance, seeks out eye contact to gauge enthusiasm during conversations, eyes move constantly during conversation, expressive eyes, emotions only evident through eyes, uses eye contact to intimidate, looks up while thinking, looks down while thinking.

HANDS. | clasps behind back, rests in lap, fidgets with clothes, twiddles thumbs, chews at nails, pushes back cuticles, draws patterns on table / counter surfaces, animated gestures while speaking, only gestures to emphasize, utilizes sign language, speaks only through sign, callouses, scars, smooth, wrinkled, worn, soft, delicate, boney, slender, thick, veiny, touches others while speaking, touches others for balance and navigation, reaches out while laughing, reaches out to comfort others, reaches out to seek comfort, places face in hands when exasperated, places face in hands when exhausted, places palms over eyes to hide when overwhelmed, rests chin in hands, taps fingers when impatient, taps fingers when nervous, taps fingers while thinking, scratches scalp, strokes chin, rubs back of head, toys with objects around them, runs fingers over surfaces while walking by.

MOUTH. | chews lip, chews at inside of cheek, licks lips, bites tongue, chews on straws, resting frown, resting smile, neutral resting expression, resting pout, grinds teeth, flexes jaw, covers mouth when laughing, covers mouth when shocked, covers mouth when concerned, hands to lips while thinking, covers mouth when chewing, chews with mouth closed, chews with mouth open, smirks, grins, subtle smiles, wide smiles, sad smiles, intimidating smiles, menacing grins, openly smiles, tries to suppress smiles, bares teeth when angry, lips quiver when emotional, stutters, speaks quickly, speaks slowly, good pronunciation, poor pronunciation, moderate pronunciation, purses lips, sucks in lips, holds mouth open when shocked or confused.

LEGS. | bounces leg when nervous, draws knees to chest when sitting, draws knees to chest as a means of comfort, sits on knees, sits with legs crossed, sits with legs spread open in chairs, crosses legs when sitting in chairs, sits with one leg folded under the other, places feet on furniture, never places feet on furniture, sits on counters, sits on desks, sits on tables, sits on edge of seat, sits hunched over with forearms on knees, arches one knee up, sits on the arm of chairs / couches, feet on dashboard, swings legs back and forth when sitting somewhere elevated, wiggles toes when nervous, wiggles toes as a general tick, shuffles feet, kicks foot into ground, stomps feet, loud footsteps, quiet footsteps, silent footsteps.

HAIR. | runs fingers through hair, tugs at hair, picks at scalp, chews on hair, twists locks of hair while thinking or nervous, smooths out locks of hair while thinking or nervous, prefers hair out of face, prefers long(er) hair, prefers short hair, wears hair back, keeps hair down, smooths back hair, plays with other’s hair while talking, plays with own hair while talking, strokes hair to comfort others, likes having hair stroked for their own comfort, braids others’ hair while talking, braids own hair while talking, flips hair out of face, pushes hair out of face, leaves hair alone even when falling into face

Tagged by: @skxrbrand

Tagging: I think Skxr already tagged all the WF people, but I'll tag some cool 40K people @chapter-master-darius @ask-the-crimson-king @corsair-princess-nenime @roguecustode @ave-dominus-nostramos

[caiusmajor]

I posted 3,222 times in 2022

That's 2,007 more posts than 2021!

150 posts created (5%)

3,072 posts reblogged (95%)

Blogs I reblogged the most:

@bitegore

@funboxsupreme

@gracia-regina

@edge-lorde

@transmechanicus

I tagged 2,820 of my posts in 2022

Only 12% of my posts had no tags

#warhammer 40k - 1,431 posts

#transformers - 155 posts

#fulgrim - 153 posts

#perturabo - 89 posts

#beast wars - 69 posts

#sanguinius - 68 posts

#iron warriors - 57 posts

#magnus the red - 57 posts

#emperor's children - 54 posts

#konrad curze - 51 posts

Longest Tag: 115 characters

#pretty sure that istvaan iii loyalists holding out longer just relocates the istvaan v battle to istvaan iii anyway

My Top Posts in 2022:

#5

Me: what do you MEAN he's straight, he's in Warhammer 40k.

35 notes - Posted May 8, 2022

#4

Causality with the Primarchs and their space marine geneseed is just bonkers sometimes.

For example, Konrad Curze has black night vision eyes, which makes sense as a adaptation to Nostramo, and the Nostramo born Night Lords have the same trait, sure.

BUT, it turns out the Terran born Night Lords ALSO have the black eyes, and apparently had been developing them since long before Konrad had been found????

Honestly since time travel and warpfuckery are definitely involved in the Primarchs' origins, shit like this isn't super surprising.

It's just. Funny to imagine a whole legion (or 2? Did the Raven guard do this too?) developing black night vision eyes and people being like HUH, MAYBE YOUR DADDY'S ON A DARK PLANET.

(Meanwhile the Iron Warriors: oh your Dad landed on a planet of paranoid backstabbing assholes that that do a lot of siege warfare, why of course.)

72 notes - Posted May 1, 2022

#3

For Primarch Aura comparison purposes:

Fulgrim was neither the largest of his ­brothers, nor the most intimidating. He was beautiful and graceful, and those things put the human mind at ease. All but the most wary quickly forgot that he was a primarch, and not simply exceedingly tall.

-- from Fulgrim: the Palatine Phoenix, by Josh Reynolds.

82 notes - Posted February 13, 2022

#2

...If you ever wanted to know what Chapter Master Seth of the Flesh Tearers smells like, Grimaldus has you covered:

He smells of sacred weapon oils, his primarch’s potent blood running beneath his weathered skin, and the spicy, unwholesome reptilian scent of the lizard predator-kings that stalk the jungles of his home world.

85 notes - Posted May 28, 2022

My #1 post of 2022

154 notes - Posted May 17, 2022

Get your Tumblr 2022 Year in Review →

[kalle-and-lita]

"It’s turbulence. It’s normal." ( @ave-dominus-nostramos )

Here's that drabble for you my friend! @ave-dominus-nostramos

~~

Lita couldn't help but feel like she was living in a liminal space between dream and nightmare. Nothing, from the dirt between her fingers to the servant cowering in the threshold, felt real anymore. Reality had stopped working a long time ago.

When her king, her friend, her beloved had left Nostromo. When he had left her.

Lita scowled at the flower bed. The bitterness and anger tasted like ash in her mouth.

The Night Haunter was gone from Nostromo. Taken to his rightful place among the stars and set to lead a legion that would bring order to the galaxy. That had been the words of the Emperor of Mankind.

And poor, pathetic little Lita? She had been left behind to care for a failing planet. For the barons held no fear nor respect for her, and once the King had left it did not take long for old habits to return.

And she tried her best to perform the tasks that had been given to her. But she felt so helpless and stupid. What could a mere human do to enforce the laws of the god who set them?

"Your grace...!"

The servant's voice gasped above a whisper. His footsteps shuffled and he quickly yelped as he was unceremoniously tossed from the garden. The doors closed with a barely audible click and left behind a tense silence.

Lita ignored the gaze boring into the back of her neck. The ashen taste in her mouth traveled to her throat as the bitterness rose. Now he deigned to grace her with his presence. After she almost died?! After she had confessed all the stupid, human feelings he despised so much?!

Lita worked and worked the soil in a vain attempt to ignore the shadow at her back. Even when the first tears slipped down her cheeks and her shoulders wracked with her silent cries. She didn't even know he was hovering just a few feet behind her until he spoke.

"Are you done?"

Righteous anger burned in her breast and without a second thought or moments hesitation she turned to throw the gardening shears in her hand. The tears still blurred her vision, but it would have been hard to miss him anyway large as he was. Still, he easily sidestepped her makeshift projectile with an easy step to the side.

She didn't say anything in reply, every breath strained with the effort to control herself. And he merely gazed at her with a cool and even stare. Time seemed to pass by at a crawl until the garden doors opened once more.

The man was pale as pale as marble, and as beautiful as if he had been sculpted from stone. Pale blonde hair ran down the length of his back, and swayed with every confident step he took. His robes, colorful and immaculate, shimmered in the low light. There was a serene smile on his face as he came to the Night Haunter's side.

"This is her?"

Pitched eyes turned away as the Night Haunter leveled his gaze out the window. The pale man smirked and stepped closer; a hand reached out and his fingertips brushed the black hair from her face before she could stop him. Lita flinched back and averted her gaze from the pitiful stare of the stranger.

Of course, poor pitiful Lita and her hideous scars.

The stranger hid his pity behind a smile and Lita soon found herself pulled close to his side. A large hand rested just on her shoulder, gently guiding her out of the room.

"I think you've had enough excitement on this planet," he said, all charm and wit. "Come, let's take you away from this place. No need to worry about your things, we'll buy you everything brand new."

The shadow of the Night Haunter appeared at her side and chased away the hand at her back. A quick glance offered her a peek at the obvious disdain of the strangers touch. The man simply smirked and rolled his eyes, and talked as if nothing was wrong.

"Why?"

Her voice was a whisper, her gaze unflinching as they departed from the castle. If the stranger heard her question he did not reply, it wasn't meant for him to begin with. The Night Haunter said nothing, his silence infuriating.

She stopped there in the middle of the empty street, the rain an annoying and constant drizzle. The Night Haunter followed suit, turning back to gaze at her through the darkened shadows. The stranger continued as if there was nothing wrong until he was a respectable distance away.

Lita leveled a glare at him, "Why?"

Silence. Awful, awful silence.

"Why?!"

Why indeed. Why did he do anything? She couldn't even begin to fathom the thoughts in that mind of his. Why her, of all people, why did it have to be her to help him? Why did it have to be her to love him? Why did it have to be her to be abandoned once he had what he wanted.

The tears were back, "Why...?"

She fell to her knees and finally cried.

Stupid, weak, pathetic little Lita. He probably didn't know the answers any better than she did.

She felt herself being lifted off the ground and wrapped in the warmth of the cloak around the Night Haunter's shoulders. It kept away the worst of the rain as he continued to walk, falling into stride with the stranger.

The docking bay was as quiet as the rest of the night. They boarded a large transport, where she was deposited onto a nearby seat. The Night Haunter hesitated before he left, a hand reaching out then retreating as if he thought better against it. He disappeared, as did the stranger, and Lita was left to her own devices.

She gazed out the window and watched the dock workers. She had always wondered what being on the inside of one these things would be like, but always assumed she'd always be on the outside looking in. The shuttle lurched as the engines whined, and the ground began to slowly fall away. Lita swallowed and turned to press a hand against the window.

She took in the fading city lights as they rose higher and higher through the clouds and the rain. She could feel the dumbstruck look on her own face, she never dreamed she would be so high up.

The shuttle lurched again. Her stomach dropped and her anxiety rose. Unbidden the memories of falling came back. The ghostly touch of pain raced up and down her spine with her each quickened breath.

A hand fell onto her head, large with the talons falling through her tresses. She looked up to find him, her king, gazing down at her. His gaze impassive, his tone even and smooth though it barely rose above a whisper.

"It's turbulence. It's normal."

She blinked up at him, then nodded after turning away from the window. To her surprise he took a seat next to her and pulled her close. She bumped her head against his arm but didn't have the energy to struggle as he held her.

Lita didn't know where she was going, but she had a feeling that a lot of strange things were going to be normal soon enough.

[divinacaptivus]

🎁 Curze unceremoniously drops a terrified man in a cardinal's robes on the dining table ( @ave-dominus-nostramos )

The ancient beams with renewed pride, not at the clergyman, of course. That man was so far removed from representing the risen god-king, which was exactly why he’d been dragged here kicking and screaming.

[garleansecretary]

Angel of Yesterday

Absinthe was walking back to the Bridge of the Curzes Revenge. Moments before she had a talk with Arden after their solo charge against the Word Bearers ended in them getting gravely wounded. She had realized how her own Plans were not only egotistical but also actively endangering her friends and Crew. And thus she had made a decision.

Bursting through the Door of the Bridge she grabbed the microphone of the Vox sytem and send a message to her crew which was currently split on their two Ships.

"Night Lords, Space Wolf, Word Bearer, Iron Warrior, Servs and Human Crew. Hear my message. I have to tell you that I was dishonest. I lied. My Goals never were to become Empress. My Goal was to die. I am no true Heretic. I never was. I can't agree with either System but I know that I still wish to protect the People who rely on Soldiers like us. Farmers, City folks no matter the age or planet. I want to save the people once more. I don't want to serve a Primarch. No Bureaucracy. No Kings and No Gods."

Absinthe became more and more passionate in her speech.

"BUT WHO I WANT TO SERVE ARE THE CHILDREN AND INNOCENT PEOPLE WHO GET PRAYED ON BY BOTH. We are no shiny Ultramarines. We are no benevolent Salamanders. We are killers, butchers. Traitors and Deserteurs. But we still can be Protectors. I will not lie to you again. Our help won't be appreciated. We will never get our own statues. But we will know that when Imperium and Chaos wanted us dead or integrated into their ranks that we protected the people while also staying ourselves!"

She stopped and sighed. "Those that wish to leave can do so freely. Those that leave can board the Deicide and leave. I will not hunt or judge you. Those that want to stay will join me on the Curzes Revenge... No. On the 'Claw of Retaliation'. Claw Commander Absinthe out."

Absinthe turned around, ready to face backlash and hate. To her surprise nothing of the sorts happened. On the contrary.

Nocturnus stepped forward. "Commander. I think I speak for everyone aboard our ships that we would go into the Warp and back with you. Look at us. We would be alone amd lost without you unifying us. You are our Leader. So lead us forward to a new path"

Absinthe saluted her crew, her friends. She truly was blind before. She didn't see how important they all were for each other. That she didn't need to find a new family. She already had one.

"I am honored to be your Commander. Okay lets go. Nocturnus. I want you to calculate a course towards the Atta system. The 8th world there is a Agriworld which will soon be attacked by Red Corsairs. We can thank our friend Anvil for this information given how long he worked with them. We will intercept them and kick Hurons sons off of that World."

Nocturnus didn't waste any time and started his calculations as Absinthe turned towards Anvil, Olaf and Pete. "Follow me"

Hours later, Absinthe was helping those 3 with preparing Drop Pods and Petes new Terminator Armor.

"Its my old Atramentar Power Armor. I don't fit into it anymore but it will serve you well. I can't think of a better Terminator than you"

"I appreciate the gesture Lord Absinthe."

Absinthe gave the Iron Warrior a short smile before turning her attention to a nearby servitor. "Prepare my Armor. And... Uh.. Put on the black cape. No skin."

---

The Agriworld of Atta 8 was peaceful even by our standards. Most potential Attackers were more interested in the nearby Ultramar Sector. That made big defensive builds unnecessary but that was a fatal flaw in this case.

The Corsairs coming was announced by rustling in the corn underneath the sapphire blue sky. A small farming town was their target. Score it and set up camp to raid the surrounding area that hosted the only spaceport of the planet. With the Sun in their back, the Corsairs landed in the fields. Their Ships looking like Blood Raven ships to the untrained and unknowing Farmers eye. Thus the Farmers didn't fear them once they stepped out. Nothing ever happened and noone expected Chaos Marines here.

"I greet you Lord Blood Angel! What makes you visit our small town?"

The Corsair Captain grinned, exposing his filthy, warp tainted Mouth. "Blood Angel huh? BOYS. APPARENTLY WE'RE BLOOD ANGELS"

The Corsairs laughter was disturbing and horrible. The farmers instantly realized that this situation could be very well their end. The Corsair Captain smirked as he revved up his Chainsword. "Oh whom should I kill first? I haven't met my Quota for Khorne yet and I don't want to keep the old man waiting hahahahahah"

The Townsfolk screamed and cried in horror as they ran. It was of course useless since Hurons Boys could just outrun them but pure instinct drove them forward.

The Pirates were about to rush after them when one of them turned to the Captain. "Boss. There are Drop Pods raining down nearby. Apparently they come from those two Night Lords Ships we picked up earlier."

"Night Lords here? What do they want here? Aren't they busy flaying on some fucking Hive World or getting killed by Tyberos or Guilliman? Ugh fine. Boys we hunt the farmers later. Let's take care of those Bat-winged idiots first."

As the Captain ended his speech the Drop Pods hitted the ground. Absinthe was the first and only to emerge. "Captain Teach i assume? I heard a lot about you and your Pirates."

"Heh. Heard that boys? The big girl called us famous. You must be that newcomer. Absinthe right? I faintly remember that you killed Captain Bellamy and his guys. Have to thank you for that. They were a thorn in my remaining eye"

Absinthe laughed. "Oh don't thank me. It will not make me spare you"

"Spare us? You and your 5 drop pods? We're 30 Marines and you are one big Night Lord plus 4. Give up lassie. Go home and flay some Prisoners"

Absinthe laughed as the sound of clicking Bolters was heard all around them. Out of the softly moving corn, more and more Night Lords stepped forth until they numbered 60. Then Pete, Olaf and Anvil emerged from their pods.

"Corsairs. I offer you a choice. Join me and fight for the people of the Galaxy or die like the Rats you are. Its your choice. Fight for a cause or die for a greedy Bastard that sees you as cannonfodder"

A moment of silence fell upon them. It felt like hours. The Corsairs thought. Then. One by one they dropped their guns and surrendered to Absinthe.

Only the Captain was too far gone. Corrupted by greed and the Warp. With loud screams he charged at Absinthe while throwing grenades behind him into the Village. "IF I CAN'T GET THE LOOT NOONE WILL"

He fell faster than he could realize that his life was over. With one fluid movement Absinthe had ripped off his disgusting head using her Lightning Claw "Protector", once a weapon of Terror used by Night Haunter it now would serve as a Tool of protection and peace.

While Absinthe stared at the dead body of the Captain, the others were busy putting out the fire the Grenades caused and building new Huts by using the Drop Pods in which the distraction came. Truth is that most of them were hiding there long before the Corsairs arrived. The corn had given them a perfect hiding spot to await Absinthes arrival so they could surround the Pirates. Everything went according to plan.

Soon the People returned. They had witnessed how the Pods dropped and returned after they were sure that the situation was peaceful.

"Thank you for saving us Master.", the elderly Man that greeted the Corsairs earlier now spoke to Absinthe. "What legion do you belong to?"

Absinthe sighed and removed the Cape she had put over her Shoulder to hide her Legions insignia. "I am Claw Commander Absinthe the Orphanmaker. Leader of the Night Lords 1st Claw."

Absinthe was prepared for screaming and attacks of hatred against her but all she got was a chuckle from the old man. "Orphanmaker? That doesn't seem fitting at all for someone as benevolent as you! You protected us and made us new Homes until we can rebuild our regular houses. Think about it my Lord"

Absinthe was surprised but smiled. "I will. Goodbye old Man. And tell noone of this. The Inquisition would execute you all probably."

"We won't spill a word", the elder and the entire village made a gesture as if they lock their mouths with a key and throwing the key away. A gesture Absinthe knew from Nostramo but remembered that it originated on Terra. As Absinthe turned around to leave, a small child. A girl no older than 7 approached her, trying to give her a doll made from straw and fabric. Absinthe kneeled down and smiled.

"That's a beautiful doll. Thank you. I'll make sure that she gets a nice place on my ship. I promise"

Absinthe and her men then returned to their Thunderhawks as well as the two new the Corsairs left behind when joining the 1st Claws Ranks. Only the Drop Pods were left behind and told the Story of the Night Lords that came to protect.

------

Later that Day. On the Bridge of the Claw of Retaliation, Absinthe was sitting in her command seat, holding the small doll in her hands and thinking about the mission and the gratitude the people expressed.

Nocturnus approached her after he took note of all losses and captures of the Strike. "That was good work Commander. We got new Soldiers, Gear and Thunderhawks. The Drop Pods can be replac....you look as if something is worrying you"

"Not worrying...just..that old man and the kid. They are right. Orphanmaker is a bad name for someone who wishes to help and protect People instead of killing and terrorizing them"

Nocturnus nodded. "Yeah. Hmm...What about Angel of Yesterday?"

Absinthe chuckled. "What? Nocturnus don't make me laugh. That's... What does arden always say? Cheesy?"

"No no. Think about it. You have returned into this world after 10000 years. You live after ideals that are nearly forgotten but to the People, to those you wish to protect, you are a Angel by living these ideals. Think about it. Goodnight Commander."

With that, Nocturnus left the bridge to Absinthe and the Servitors and humans that keep the ship on track.

"Angel of Yesterday.....heh. yeah...i can be that", The doll was placed on the command seat as Absinthe left for her quarters.

(@slaanesh-is-my-boy and @chapter-master-darius as promised I tagged you guys because you voted for the Corsairs)

[fuukonomiko]

I Need A Bigger Handkerchief by Nan Kikicheva

[nevesmose]

Nostraman Nature Sucks: An Attempted Lore Post

Ave dominus nox Night Lords fans. I thought I'd take some time to go through the various NL stories I have to hand and see what I could find out about the animals that lived on Nostramo. Might come in useful for something, who knows?

Sharks and Whales

As a child, on several coastal journeys with his father, he had witnessed the eyeless barrasal sharks that would group together to hunt the great whales of the open ocean. (Night Lords Trilogy)

His voice filters into something savage and predatory, as hungry as the eyeless white sharks of Nostramo’s blackest depths. (The Long Night)

Not a big surprise since they talk about them fairly often and have the Space Sharks as a successor chapter but Nostramo does have sharks. Pretty gnarly-sounding sharks if I'm honest.

I didn't know what "barrasal" meant, so I looked it up and only found one thread on r/40klore that had the same quote in it as above. Hmm.

Assuming it's not a typo or a more straightforward reference to something I'm just not getting, I'd venture a guess that barrasal, understood here to mean of or relating to "barras" like with "abyssal" could be connected to the French Revolutionary leader Paul Barras who is mostly remembered for supporting Napoleon's rise to power before being overthrown by him.

So maybe the older barrasal sharks will make use of younger ones as temporary hunting partners only to be inevitably betrayed and consumed by them. Sounds about right I think.

As for the whales, where do I even begin? I would imagine they're "whales" in name only like in Dishonored:

This does imply the possible existence of a whaling industry at some stage in Nostramo's history, though.

Crows

Jago reached into his pockets, offering a handful of breadcrumbs. Come, he said to the crows. Food for tonight. Flesh, flesh, flesh, they called back. He laughed as several of the black birds landed on his shoulders and outstretched arm. (Prince Of Crows)

‘Yes. I’ve seen them in books. Is a crow a type of bird?’ ‘Black of feather and dark of eye. It feeds on the bodies of the dead, and sings in a raw, croaking caw.’ (TLN)

Breaking news - legion that keeps referring to crows in shocking has crows on its homeworld scandal. "This is outrageous," said local Nostraman cutpurse and skin disease enthusiast Verxaglryn Quickstabber, "here we are trying to make a good name for Nostramo as a respectable hellhole, a place you'd be proud to exile your worst enemy to, and yet we're surrounded by some of the most intelligent and curious birds in existence. I was shanking someone in a back alley the other night and suddenly I saw a crow learning how to use rudimentary tools! Not on my watch, I said to the rapidly cooling body, and I threw my shiv at it. But it just flew away." At this point Mr Quickstabber was obliged to end the interview due to having been eviscerated by the Night Haunter.

I know their communication with Sevatar is happening in a dream but I really like the idea of the crows adapting to Nostramo by developing some kind of psychic hive mind that's also able to be understood by human psykers.

Crag Cougars

A beast of my home world. When next you see one of the Atramentar, look to their shoulder guards. The roaring lions on their pauldrons are what we called crag cougars on Nostramo. It was considered a mark of wealth for gang bosses to be able to leave the cities and hunt such creatures. (NLT)

Every single one of them is Scar from the Lion King, isn't it? An interesting hint about Nostramo's geography though, of which more later.

Rats

Groundcars whisked by, headlights brighter than deep-hive rats’ eyes, the occupants snug and safe behind armoured glass. (Konrad Curze: The Night Haunter)

No surprises here either. Where there's people there's rats after all.

Something with tusks?

The older Astartes grinned, wolf-like and keen, as the Atramentar either side of the Exalted’s throne growled through their tusked helms. (NLT)

This isn't that conclusive because a lot of Chaos Terminators have tusks no matter what legion they are, but Nostramo being Nostramo they probably belonged to a species of giant carnivorous mammoth that ate babies and sprayed acid from its trunk.

Cows? On My Sunless World?

‘They are still of standard human stock, and not to be mourned. What does it matter if the cattle fear the herdsman?’ hissed Krukesh the Pale. (KC:TNH)

This one's a real reach on my part as it's very likely just a turn of phrase, but I noticed it because wouldn't it be slightly more typical to use a sheep metaphor here? Plus it supports the existence of Nostraman cowboys/ranchers/vaqueros which is fun.

No bats?

His helmet bore a new, spread batwing crest in blatant imitation of Sevatar’s own. (A Safe and Shadowed Place)

A sole space was neat: a circle around an iron lectern fashioned in the form of a bat’s outflung wings, which carried a heavy book bound in human skin. (KC:TNH)

Although they appear a lot in the VIII legion's iconography and artwork, oddly enough I wasn't actually able to find a direct reference to Nostramo itself having bats. Let's cover my ass by saying this aspect might therefore have been brought in by the legion's Terran component instead.

Some Nostraman geography

The Hill Folk lived away from the cities, eking out an existence in the mountains. (NLT)

What's worse than living in a Nostraman city? Living on a Nostraman hill, apparently. This seems to just be an idea of ADB's that doesn't come up again but I've always found it quite interesting. Were the Hill Folk as scummy as the City Folk, just with more of a down-home Dukes of Hazzard vibe? Seems likely.

This also supports the idea of Nostramo not being completely urbanised like some Hive Worlds are. In my view its continents might have had a geographical layout a bit like Italy or Scotland where the cities are mainly on the flatter coasts with a more sparsely populated hilly/mountainous interior.

What else? (This part is just me making stuff up so feel free to ignore it. I'm not ADB, I'm not even ADB's hat.)

If the rest of Nostramo's marine life is anything like the sharks and whales then it's fucking terrifying. I would imagine, because it's funny, that a lot of Nostraman food features disgusting industrially-processed fish in some way or another. Like the food in Dishonored but even worse.

Is something wrong, dearest offworld husband? You haven't touched your stale bread, whalemeat and jellied eels.

Since all life on Nostramo seems to be comically carnivorous and aggressive, it would make sense in a 40K kind of way for there to be giant predatory penguins living at one or both of its poles. A bit like the monstrous blind albino penguins HP Lovecraft wrote about.

Last known infrared pict-capture of an early Nostraman settler attempting communication with a juvenile specimen of the native penguin species. There were no survivors.

[idle-skull]

Lark having an aside because he gave Konrad attention ONCE & now he won’t leave him alone.

[warsofasoiaf]

Do you think the primarchs (in general at least; re Angron & Kurze) actually turned out better for being lost than if they had been raised in the Imperial Palace by the Emperor (actually, I'd imagine Malacador ends up doing most of the heavy parental lifting & plays the Uncle Blackfish/Maester Cressen role)? Turtle-paced made a comment about fAegon that you can't grow fantasy protagonists in a lab, and so I thought of the Emperor's sons. I would love the opinion of the primarch expert.

Oh please, I’m not a primarch expert.

Anyway, @turtle-paced has it right, you can’t put all the elements of a fantasy protagonist in a lab. This was actually something @joannalannister and I discussed at Con of Thrones, that Varys’s crafting of the narrative cheapens the actual experience. For all that Varys places all of the heroic elements one after the other with the idea that he can forge reality itself, reality punches back with the weight of the universe behind it.

Anyway, I think if Big E had the Primarchs, they would have been raised much along the vision that Russ sees in Wolfsbane, raised as military officers in a sterile environment, the only adornment being a collar stud with the number of their legion. They would have none of the life experiences that color the Primarchs’ lives for good or ill. Sanguinius wouldn’t develop his instinct for sacrifice and protection, Dorn would not develop his fixation on fortification as protection, the Khan would not possess the same spirit of endless discovery and wanderlust. They would turn out more like Horus who spent much of his time raised by the Emperor (and even then, the Cthonian background did color his experiences somewhat). Exceptionally talented, but proud and vulnerable in that regard. Perhaps even moreso as the deeds that each Primarch performed became part of their being and self-conception. Corax was always the Deliverer and it informed his being, how different would he be if he never saw the forge-tyrants of Kiavahr work their tyranny upon the mine slaves. 

Angron wouldn’t receive the Nails, though, and that’s important. The life experiences of Angron were extremely negative, and the loyalty of the legions to their Primarch caused themselves to break themselves upon the Nails in an attempt to share his pain. This twisted the bonds of warrior brotherhood that was a part of Angron’s gladiator nature. Similarly, growing up among the criminals in the darkness of Nostramo colored Curze’s outlook to the point where he always saw cruelty in the past, present, and future during his formative years.

Curze though, his visions were a part of him, and whether he grew up on Terra or Nostramo, he’d have been tormented by those visions. In that sense, Curze will have his sense of fatalism and see doom, unless the Emperor gives him the talk that he gave Ra in Master of Mankind about mutability and imprecision inherent within all visions of the future. 

Lorgar might be changed significantly. Malacador had a lot of sympathy for Lorgar, and being raised on a planet that did not hold the Ruinious Powers in such regard might have channeled his instincts in another direction, but I doubt it. Big E is still covering up Chaos, and Lorgar will still seek it out.

Changing where they grew up would not mean that they wouldn’t have an absence of experiences. Again, take Horus, the one who spent the longest time among the Emperor. The Emperor left for the Webway Project and Horus felt abandoned. The Emperor appointed High Lords and Horus felt cheated. If other Primarchs were raised among the Emperor, there may have simply been more ready to fall. The Loyalist Primarchs had positive experiences with humans on their adoptive worlds, Guilliman and Tarasha Euten just as an example. Taking those positive experiences away and replacing them with the impersonal experiences might cause them to chafe more at the thought of human bureaucrats administering the Imperium.

Of course, given that it is rather heavily suggested that the Primarchs being abducted and scattered across the cosmos, to those unique worlds that many seemed so perfect for, was planned. But that’s a whole other can of worms there.

Thanks for the question, Anon.

SomethingLikeALawyer, Hand of the King

[noctischaplain]

"What made you want to become a chaplain?"

“Logically...Order,” Helbane said. “We are a legion of murderers and opportunists, reigned only by the familiar loyalties to our Dark King and gang-oaths. Even then, the Night Lords are harbingers of terror and express it freely. If there is no one to remind them of their oaths, we will be a splintered legion. An extension of Nostramo’s blight that our Lord has dedicated his very existence to remould.”

The Chaplain stared beyond himself a moment and shook his head. 

“There are few like myself. The original expectation of a Chaplain - Lorgar and the Sigilite’s design - is not of the Night Lords. I am to be the iron will of our devotion and ensure the culling of the Witch-gene. Our Librarians weren’t many and they are culled by their familiarity with our Father’s...curse.”

In terms of the curse, he spoke of the dark foresight that plagued Konrad Curze and sometimes, himself. His gauntlet instinctively brushed its clawed ends at his helm. “And so, our Primarch made the Chaplains his arbiters of those who step outside their station. To end those who thought themselves better than his will. His dark justicar. The invokers of the damned, pray their last rites. And to tear the truth from bleeding mouths, few are more skilled of the art than us.”

There was a dark pride in his tone with a clasp of his fist, the servos purring like a pleased cat. Helbane inhaled and slowly exhales as he rested the tips of his fingers to the black desk of this meeting. 

“I am a Chaplain because I see beyond myself, I serve my Primarch and Legion to keep it from straying into a blackness deeper than a starless night. I stand as exemplary and bulwark to the poison of Humanity’s weakness. I am a Chaplain because of my love, devotion, and awareness. Others are aware of our faults but they do nothing about. If I didn’t, no one else would.”