Interlude of Arc 8 (un-betaed)

Not exactly. The first big problem they had is that there remained so few of them in the aftermath of the Heresy, and the second is that a lot of factions, including some Imperial ones, have manifested a will to crush them as soon as they are on the way to recovery. Because GW thinks the universe must be grimdark, I suppose...

Antony444

The question will be asked in Interlude 2.

Antony444

Yes. Well, not immediately, creating a Chapter from scratch is a long industrial process, and after seeing one immediately be built up, the High Lords won't give their support this decade for a new Salamander Successor. Plus of course some of this gene-seed is going to go to Nocturne, because M31 gene-seed is very, very precious.

Antony444

The problem the Salamanders have is connected with the fact that it is HARD to harvest good Geneseed that can be used from the sons of Vulcan, which makes the progenoids from Flamewrought valuable beyond measure for the Salamanders, that there is so many problems with the Salamanders is likely ALSO connected with the fact that Vulcan is a perpetual

Bent Alex Rane Bundgaard

I always found it weird how the Raven Guard and Iron Hands had more successors then the Salamanders, considering the gene seed issues of the Raven Guard and mental issues of the Iron Hands. The Salamanders should have been the first pick of the 3 to create new chapters as they are much more stable.

Claudiu

As the Flamewrought had 5000 Salamanders gene seeds in stock , is it possible that some of the available gene seed will be taken to create more Salamander descendant chapters beside the one that will be created out of the Istvaan survivors. The Salamanders have the smallest number of successor chapters of all legions, it would be great to see more sons of Vulkan in the galaxy.

Claudiu

Technically, anyone having the power to command a capital starship can have a Falchion, it's just that the Custodes aren't exactly giving the schematics and the shipyards building them a lot of people...

Antony444

So Taylor gets to command and deploy a Falchion battleship? Aren't those meant to be only for the Custodes??

Rufio18

Wow, that would be something to have especially for a forge oriented chapter like the Salamanders. Those guys are well know for their artifice/artisan crafted weapons/ships etc

Rufio18

So I'm guessing the Starfort+Forge is destined for the new Salamanders chapter (given the Brothers of the Red precedent) and that the Imperial Fists will be setting up a Stalingrad zone in the Cadian Gate... and given that the Sons of Sanguinius decided on a possible sacrifice rather than piracy (or worse), they'll be on the front line of that.

Lee Shilo

Yes, though as seen as Commoragh, all Chapters will have some polyvalence in military operations. It would be beyond idiotic if at one moment, you didn't have one Chapter and it screwed an entire campaign before it began...

Antony444

Ha! Ha! That would be telling...

Antony444

Defecting from Nova-Terra, what else?

Antony444

I enjoyed this chapter. It was quite a lot of fun, great job! I did have one question that jumped out at me. How did the Sons of Sanguinius get to Pavia so fast? They were fighting for the Nova Terrans, which should have put them in Segmentum Pacificus, that is halfway across the galaxy from Pavia. Yet somehow they arrived at Pavia with in 10 days of the beginning of the attack on Commorragh. What were they doing that close to Commorragh?

Nicholas

Apart from prestige, what advantage does Peer of Terra have over a basic noble?

Remi Minjoulat

I'm curious if you are gonna keep the idea of each Legion/chapter will have their own role and combat doctrines? And how that will work for the 3rd legion and their idea of perfection.

Ha! Ha! Ha! Thanks for all the compliments!

Antony444

Sure, but Krieg has not had their terrible civil war to that point...which doesn't mean there won't be worlds like them met at one point or another.

Antony444

1) Dance is not Over (current) 2) The odds were never in my favour 3) to be decided, depending on the return schedule of the betas and my own inspiration

Antony444

so wait wait wait, a bit late, and it might have been brought up, but if Taylor is the Saint representing Sacrifice, Krieg, if it ever becomes what it is in OTL, will have her as their patron SAINT, what with their cult of sacrifice...though Taylor might try to get them to tone it fucking down.

Michael Zalesny

WHAT ARE YOU?! A "novel" is generally considered (to the best of my knowledge, and dependent upon genre and opinion) to be c.a. 60,000 words in length, and with your muse at full-blast YOU JUST UNLEASHED A NOVEL-LENGTH CHAPTER IN A MONTH! I'm going to conveniently ignore how every single time I read one of your updates it's like getting a drug fix I never knew I needed, and then going into withdrawal when I reach the end and mourn how slowly the month is passing me by. All things considered though, this is a fantastic chapter. Thank you for the LONG update. I was never a Warhammer 40,000 fan until I found this story and enjoyed the madness of what you have unleashed. Half the fun as a new fan coming into your series is researching the lore and then figuring out how you play around with it. I'm also looking forward to seeing more of Pierre and his tricorn... he is GENUINELY too much fun for words. And if I'm reading this right... then Xerxes Vandire is going to lose his **** when he realizes that Taylor is now obscenely wealthy and (potentially) higher-ranked in the nobility than he is... Also, Sophia is about to get smacked DOWN and it will be a toss-up between whether Xerxes or Sophia freaking out will be the highlight of the next Interlude for me. And... 'Ziz is back? HOW ARE WE GOING TO KILL HER?! A PARAHUMAN ACOLYTE OF TZEENTCH "THE DESTINY UNWRITTEN" IS ALREADY AROUND SCREWING EVERYTHING UP AND NOW THE EMPEROR-DAMNED SIMURGH IS JUST FLYING THROUGH SPACE?! WHAT THE **** DO WE DO NOW?! WHEN IS SHE GOING TO SHOW UP AND ESCALATE THINGS FURTHER?! STALINGRAD? SOMETHING BEYOND THAT?! FFFFFFFFFFF- Ahem. Anyway. Excuse me while I go and re-read the interlude again. I'm not doing it justice in my review. Suffice to say, it's LITERALLY too much awesome for my computer and brain to handle all at once, and must be digested for easier comprehension. Thank you for writing this. Please stay safe!

sur quelle fic vas tu travailler maintenant?

Yes, otherwise the need for betas wouldn't be justified...

Antony444

There will be some in the next interlude I think, but there will be a lot of them when Taylor returns to Nyx.

Antony444

If she is, I'm certainly not ready to reveal it yet. But yes, by her simple existence she influences her successors. The same is true for her, obviously, see the expectations the Black Templars had...

Antony444

Yes, that's a typo. It's 17 Trillion.

Antony444

Hey Anthony just a little thing but I’m re-reading I noticed that you said that the reward for killing Sliscus was only 17 Billion. Is that a typo or is the main reward the systems? Just kinda curious

Jack

Was just re-reading the chapter and I was wondering does Weaver meet other Living Saints or at least influence her successors? Does she meet Saint Sabbat?

Silver Wolf

I honestly want to see more reactions from normal people. It’s quite sweet and inspiring seeing the awe of the commons.

Regan

The problem, as always, is that Xerxes is not alone, neither in his Clan or the Administratum, to have his...selfish and arrogant views, to stay polite. Otherwise his brother would have long been able to sideline him, and the Custodes or another High Lord would have arranged a fatal accident. Xerxes is a very nasty example of what happens when political shenanigans have steamed into absolute power and centuries of nepotism and plots, but he's the symptom, not the full disease...

Antony444

No, not his day. Though given the situation they are, having a full bio on the Simurgh would help a little, but not enough to provide a real advantage. They don't have reality-breaking weapons save their psyker powers with them...

Antony444

The Vandires should seriously consider a quite but tragic accident for Xerxes. Going after a Living Saint who has been directly commanded by the Emperor can only end badly, even if it isn't Taylor.

Richard Paull

Poor psamtic, today is just not his day... Being introduced to simurgh in the harshest manner, with barely any info from Contessa

Her Celestial Highness is the correct way to address a Living Saint, or so the Ecclesiarchy pretends. And no, Vandire isn't a Peer of Terra, his family came from the Zion Terror and was not sufficiently popular outside the Administratum to get some titles, so to convince an absolute majority of the High Lords...

Antony444

Prestige for one, being a noble of a fifth-tier Sector and being a noble of the Throneworld aren't exactly the same thing. Then there are the privilieges of M31 who go with the job, not counting the ones which have been added in four millennia, because obviously, no one expected much the God-Emperor to add people to the ranks in person...

Antony444

Yes, absolutely, your clarification is correct...I won't confirm or deny the latter part.

Antony444

Is that why her title now says "Her Celestial Highness"? Because of her peerage granted by the Emp's? Would she now have a land title on the throne world and all the traditional grants a peerage gets you? I wonder if Vandire is a peer of Terra? If not, this must burn him something crazy 😝

Rufio18

what does it change to be a noble of terra because she was already a noble?

Remi Minjoulat

So, just to clarify, there is going to be a lone Eldar heading to Nyx, sent by Lelith to be her Arena Ambassador, and if her meaning of the word ambassador aligns with ours that may turn out to be a permanent position. Yeah, that is going to go real smoothly.... ( Imagine if the Wych chosen bucks the trend and actually likes Taylor for giving Lelith a proper challenge after so long 😆😆😆😆)

Matej Kovačić

As a matter of fact, Taylor has the majority of the Space Marines who are more coherent with M3 ideals now, even if there are some she can always recruit later. Space Wolves, Iron Hands and Dark Angels are the three big lines she doesn't have a contact with, and which will prove problematic for her for a lot of reasons.

Antony444

You are a noble, ennobled by the God-Emperor Himself.

Antony444

Nova-Terra is not completely finished, especially as certain core rebel worlds know very well what awaits them now that their secessionist movement is losing its teeth. But to quote a certain politician, Taylor has rang the beginning of the end for them...

Antony444

silly question: what does it mean to be a "pair of terra" ?

Remi Minjoulat

There is just too much fun in this chapter. We have unreal numbers making Taylor wealthy beyond our crazier dreams, We have the dawnbreaking approaching company size numbers. We get the Simurgh showing up and going all Here's johnny! Damn cliffs striking again! But honestly the best impressions come from the funnier parts: Our new favored squat slayer is emptying entire starship holds, Dennis does a lot of fraternization and Leet is seeing Glorious Doom approaching while Lisa has her priorities straight (Sugar!). And finally Wei is gonna have to invest in sleep masks. But a couple of questions remains: How many chapters are gonna end following Weaver around ? Is she gonna end up going full collector on the astartes ? Because she is only missing space wolves and iron hands for the full loyalist legions set. And lastly are we at some point getting into your version of what happened to the lost primarchs and their legions ? Somewhere in the future maybe ?

Guilherme Bezerra

Great! Also, did Taylor just accidentally the nova-terra issue? Also I love how one craft world has decided to be very sensible and friendly the surviving pirate “king of common sense” XD

Regan

Absolutely. Wouldn't you?

Antony444

Wow, I was...not expecting that thorough an analysis. There won't be many Astartes interned in Dreadnaught suits, not with Bacta available and high assistance of the Mechanicus Archmagi (who can provide mechanical/biological prosthesis).

Antony444

“Victor believed it was to ask for more food and more caresses.” Clearly Lisa has her priority’s in line.

Cactuspunch

Oh man, thats so f**** up!!! Love that.

Rufio18

I wonder if the Salamanders would be interested in using Dragon Armours to host some of their crippled Brothers instead of the usual Dreadnaughts?

Matt.Silver

Hmmm lets see now. 1 Penitent Chapter (Sons of Sangiunus) 3 New Established Chapters (3 Legion' hope. : Dorns Legacy : Salamanders 2nd) 1 Brothers of the Red. 1 Iron Drakes (Tough motherfuckers) Company + sized force of Black Templars (Likely to be used to train the new Imperial Fist decendant Chapter) Increased Dawnbreaker Guard (40+) Some Liasons from some of the 1st Founding (and 2nd) incl some of the Ultra Marine Chapters involved in the second ½ of the conflict (Liasons = max 5) Heracles Warden (Shared with the Inquisition) max 500 over the next couple of decades (20 to 30 years) Weaver Chapter size (Which is codex compliant whether the high Lords wishes it or not) max 1442 (NOT counting neophytes/scouts) due to the limitation of Librarians available, numbers would likely rarely exceed 1350 by much. All in all effectively there should be 8300 + Astartes available after +20 years (not counting running losses) Due to Bacta some of the Astartes that normally would be transferred to Dreadnught chassis wont be needed to, on the other hand some of the ones that would have outright died can know be at least somewhat saved (Bacta can't repair what isn't there) which means the number of Astartes that might be able to be transferred to *coffins* before their true Death (Astartes can die more than once and still survive) and considering that more than a 1000 Astartes lost that ability to continue figthing permanently (By WoG, the Holy Anthony) on one hand the Astartes princible opponents used many exoteric weapons, on the other relatively few where the Weapons (Heavy mostly) that could outright vaporized an Astartes. The Q is Holy Anthony, just how many is going to be interred in Dreadnaught suits?, a good rule of thumb i think is that 7-8 in a thousand against opponents that LIKES to use Heavy Weapons and Artillery, in this case it is Pirates and Drukhari so maybe more like 5 to10%

Bent Alex Rane Bundgaard

They certainly have ideas going in this direction, though of course for the moment one Sector plus one sub-sector does not make a Quadrant ruler, especially since obviously the current ruler controls directly or indirectly several Sectors.

Antony444

Thanks fo rth esupport!

Antony444

Thanks!

Antony444

In canon, that is to say ignoring entirely my story, I don't think so. ITTL, the most common explanation was that if Taylor had not come here, they would have been executed and then replaced by successors with the same name once the Nova-Terra Interregnum ended. Because the High Lords are not noted to be particularly merciful, and the loyalty of a Chapter which stayed 900 years without obeying orders is a bit questionable...

Antony444

No, no, no. By my standards, this chapter barely qualifies as one...(grin)

Antony444

They performed excellently, though people on both sides of the debate will have to point out that the Drukhari and other machines they were opposed to were really crap...

Antony444

Glad you have good priorities...

Antony444

Are the Ecclesiarchy trying to turn Weaver into a quadrant ruler?

primus

... Subscribing to you so I can have these updates a few weeks early was possibly the best choice I made in the last ten years or so.

Sebastian Rubin

You make sure you rest up after writing that beast of an interlude!

Matthew Moore

Did the Sons of Sanguinius defect in the OTL, and if so, how were they not executed?

Silver Wolf

You sir, are magnificent evil bastard. SOO MANY CLIFF HANGERS!!!!

Antony, I thought of another question to bother you with, how did the "new cataphracts" aka super heavy tanks with smaug cannon do in the battle?

Guisarme

This chapter was amazing and there were a lot of things I wanted to comment on, but as soon as I saw that Pierre still had his pirate hat I knew none of them mattered anymore and I was happy

Vega

Well, seeing that Antony live in France, he is posting at about 13PM, which is more that reasonable time... if only it was during my lunch... Otherwise yes, Taylor will be courted a lot, ofter all for most of Adeptus she is possibly the closest thing to pass their ideas directly to the Emperor. By the way, Antony I wanted to add: great moment with adding Simurgh. With this brief POV your managed to greatly lower the hipe of such great triumph over ennemies of the mankind.

Boris Michenski

God damn it Anthony we have talked about this. Stop posting things during the wee hours of the morning some of us can’t be up 24/7 ;) but seriously i love this story and can’t wait for more. Especially the scenes where her future sub sectors get decided, might they just give her a neighboring sector or 2 at this point? Also 12 votes in the Martian parliament hot damn she is surely going to be courted at this point for her votes but probably more importantly her clout since her backing for something would bring a lot of it.

Jack

Glad you liked it...and no, I won't end up like Leet...I have no Squat near me.

Antony444

One was shown in this chapter, Maximillian von Schafer. The second will be shown next Interlude.

Antony444

Ha! ha! Ha! Take your time...

Antony444

You're welcome.

Antony444

Lankovar section was my fav part this time around with space marines coming in second. Well wow amazing chapter, get all the rest you need or you could end up like Leet!

Forgottenone

who are the two people who had the decoration "lion of terra" ?

Remi Minjoulat

cool, solid cool................ when I come down from the height of WH40K Super Joy I will comment some more

thomas miller

Thank you for this wonderful chapter!

Confused

I have not planned a Catachan POV for the moment...though it's not definite, and I suppose I will have at some point, because indeed it will be funny...

Antony444

Yes, the Officio Assassinorum has not lucked out on this regard...

Antony444

Thanks, and yes, it was a bit tiring...but the Emperor Protects!

Antony444

In due time, in due time...

Antony444

Yes, yes. There is a second interlude coming once I will have given some attention to other stories (and rested a bit too).

Antony444

The problem is likely going to be the selection of who to take, not to reach the 10 000 mark. As for the grass and flowers, let's say the miracles are not on the small side...

Antony444

Well, it takes time to write, even with inspiration at full power...

Antony444

Thanks a lot!

Antony444

I had a question Antony, will we see a POV of the happenings on Catachan, what with half or more of the ants being given the psychic imperative to protect. I can just imagine a scene of a hunting party about to die when out of nowhere a bunch of golden ants take care of it!

Guisarme

Hess reaction was funny to see, but Xanaria Lythis reaction that here apprentice have been summoned to the Imperial place was a even better one. Xanaria Lythis is going to be so unhappy when she find out that several more parahuman is in the Imperium, but she cant touch anyone of them. I can see officio assassinorum send people and try to see if parahuman power is breading true, but the chance for them to succeed in getting close to any of them is really small. Luck is having it that one of there former member already close to one in the group. And even if they do succeed it is going to be all for nothing. Keep up the good work, the Emperor protect

Albino87

Great chapter, have a good rest now that the Emperor is done speaking through you. I imagine it's exhausting;)

Guisarme

I believe you mean between a psychopathic moron with a rock for brains and a hard place aka Taylor Hebert

Guisarme

It was beautiful please give us more we beg of you

Rockinalice

By the Emperor that was a beast of a chapter... Do I remember you saying we were getting two interludes before the next arc?

Richard Paull

Every time another chapter of this comes out, my response is "Oh man that was awesome! Oh, shit, it's gonna so long before the next one ;_;" and this chapter was no different in that regard. Vandire's meltdown once it comes out that Taylor got paid out incredibly large sums of money for the bounties despite him is going to be truly awe inspiring.

Paul McDonnell

thx for the words as always that poor government official having to sign of the bounty's talk about being stuck in a rock and a hard place :d

frank schellingerhout

Ok... that was a real Beast of the Interlude. And it's scary that it is only the beginning. So, what do we have? Rewards, rewards, and even more rewards. Vandire will probably get even more pissed once he sees that his instruction “not a Gelt to Weaver’ was more or less ignored. Sophia got her little breakdown upon learning about Taylor, so Emperor may impart some of his wisdom to her… Dennis got a girlfriend. Leet is ready to cry. Whole fleet is ready to drink themselves to death. Astartes are thinking about joining Dawnbreaker Guard. Red Thirst is also weakening, I imagine it’s going back to what it was before death of Sanguinius – 1/10000 I think it was? And another Chapter of Blood coming to Weaver, ex Renegades. As Sons of Sanguinius are marked as Loyalist in wiki, does it means they came back and were accepted even in OTL or did they die out and got replaced? Either way, there will be grumbling about too much Astartes around Weaver. On the other hand, that way it’ll be easier to reunite 10000 for next campaign. So Constantinople in honour of Valdor, I approve. But did I understand it right? There is already grass and flowers on a planet which was poisoned 3-4 days ago? It’s a bit too much, I’d say.

Boris Michenski

Amazing new chapter!!! Great job @Antony444!!!

The old fashioned-way: it returned to Desaderia, requisitioned a few Navigators, and made the translation to Pavia through the Warp. Alas, the battle was over long hours after it arrived there.

Antony444

So many questions...that I won't answer for now (evil grin).

Antony444

Rather intact, the Salamanders built the old beast tough, even the traitors at Isstvan weren't enough to cripple it and prevent is escape from the Warp...

Antony444

It's the Simurgh, all hail Ziz, her reasons are her own...

Antony444

Ave Imperator!

Antony444

Maybe I missed something but how did the Flamewrought get to Pavia? Wasn’t it coming in from a different webway gate and did it not return through the same one?

I also want to ask what does Peer of the Emperor title mean? Im curious does that mean she is beholden to the Emperor as an equal? What about Aenoid, The Raven Guard survivors and even the sons of Dorn, who would most likely be the same people who would come murder-rape the Biel Tan Eldar very very thoroughly. And an Assassin and her apprentice, the Fabricator General and Mistress of the Astronomican will see the Emperor all at once or not? And will the Inquisition be appraised of the stuff revealed by Taylor and her origins plus the Necron and Eldar revelations?

Vortiboy27

*sigh* I.... have to go out for like 4-5 hours. Damn it. Oh well, I'll ask the question I'm thinking anyway. How much of the Flamewroughts computer core is intact? Because it's Vulcans flagship, from the great crusade. STC templates at minimum. Star charts that have been lost. Rare vehicles. Vulcans room having Emperor knows what in it. Add in the Raven Guards stuff too. I really want to know! Damn it, did you write that in!? Gah! Obligations IRL!!!!!

Mordart

I knew the Simurgh was responsible for Contessa. But it is she an ally or enemy of Chaos? Tzeentch will not let a powerful weapon like the Simurgh be independent. Also, isnt the Simurgh free from the kill all humans thing when Eidolon died? The Worm one, not the Emperor's children one...

Vortiboy27

Praise the God-Emperor! Now, on to the reading