# Death and Defiance shorts synopsis.



## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

So the various synopsis for the five stories have been announced now.



> Imperfect
> by Nick Kyme
> A simple game of Regicide between Fulgrim and Ferrus Manus is far more than it seems...


Since the actual novel _Fulgrim_, I can't say I've once liked how his character has been portrayed, I mean I've never liked him much anyway, but he's been particularly poor for a while now. Kyme being in charge of his story doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either.

Anyways, seeing as it shows deamon prince Fulgrim on the cover, I'm guessing this won't be a game from the past before the Heresy. Maybe some delusion on his behalf? 



> Howl of the Hearthworld
> by Aaron Dembski-Bowden
> A Space Wolves pack rails at being sent back to Terra to watch over Rogal Dorn.


ADB and the Wolves again? Loved how he handled them in _The Emperors Gift_, can't wait to see how he handles the Heresy era Wolves, and Dorn for that matter if he features. As always with ADB, looking forward to this in a big way.



> A Safe And Shadowed Place
> by Guy Haley
> Seeking refuge, the remnants of the Night Lords fleet stumble across Imperium Secundus.


Don't really know much about Haley, not even sure I've read any of his work for that matter? Sounds like it could be an interesting story, I doubt it will feature Sevetar, and I hope it doesn't either. Would rather see his character stay in ADB's hands. Though the seeking refuge part is interesting, are they going to try and cause havoc, or try and make an alliance of sorts? Can't see the Lion reacting well to them.



> Virtues of the Sons
> by Andy Smillie
> Amit duels Khârn and Azkaellon faces Lucius as Sanguinius's chosen sons explore the twin aspects of their nature.


Now this sounds interesting! We know all the characters here survive the Heresy, but it still sounds like it should be a good fight. Also refreshing to see someone else taking control of the characters instead of Swallow. Hopefully Smillie will be able to inject some character into Azkaellon, though that wouldn't be too hard considering how shit his portrayal was in _Fear to Tread_. And who doesn't want to see more of Amit?



> Gunsight
> by James Swallow
> An Assassin lurks on board the Vengeful Spirit. His target? Warmaster Horus himself.


Swallow? Like Kyme I'm already skeptical, especially as his depiction of the Assassins in _Nemesis_ was hardly stellar. Kell surely died right? Did it not mention somewhere that he tried to take a shot at Horus after he crashed the ship into the Vengeful Spirit? Can't see him either surviving that. Although it doesn't state a clade assassin, so it could be anyone really.


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

Angel of Blood said:


> Since the actual novel _Fulgrim_, I can't say I've once liked how his character has been portrayed, I mean I've never liked him much anyway, but he's been particularly poor for a while now. Kyme being in charge of his story doesn't exactly fill me with confidence either.
> 
> Anyways, seeing as it shows deamon prince Fulgrim on the cover, I'm guessing this won't be a game from the past before the Heresy. Maybe some delusion on his behalf?


I agree. Must say I was stunned with Fulgrim's evolution as a character. At first I felt, maybe they could make a descent story though I may not like where they are going, however it appears to be a forced manipulation of the character. I feel Fulgrim will try to mess with Magnus, this kind of seems dumb. If Fulgrim does this I hope he loses his nuts. 



Angel of Blood said:


> ADB and the Wolves again? Loved how he handled them in _The Emperors Gift_, can't wait to see how he handles the Heresy era Wolves, and Dorn for that matter if he features. As always with ADB, looking forward to this in a big way.
> 
> 
> 
> Don't really know much about Haley, not even sure I've read any of his work for that matter? Sounds like it could be an interesting story, I doubt it will feature Sevetar, and I hope it doesn't either. Would rather see his character stay in ADB's hands. Though the seeking refuge part is interesting, are they going to try and cause havoc, or try and make an alliance of sorts? Can't see the Lion reacting well to them.


Its interesting about the evolution of the Wolves of Fenris. There have been many authors that have changed how the Wolves looked like. I personally liked _Prospero Burns_, _Battle of the Fang_, and _The Emperor's Gift_ has really struck my interest. From what I've read I can definitely see different variations of the Wolves of Fenris. Most notably the difference between how the Wolves were portrayed during the Wolves/Thousand Sons era in the Heresy Series, and ADB's reaction over how they are portrayed and a lot of readers interpretation of them. In another thread I described how I saw differences between how Dan Abnett's Wolves were compared to ADB's (at least from what I've read. I really want to read _The Emperor's Gift_, sounds awesome). Both in how the Wolves work as an organization with relation to others in the Imperium as well as the critical view of the Wolves being an "executional" force or even a stronger astartes force in some shape or form to be more accurate. 

Perhaps it is only my view that there is a difference, however I don't dislike it. I am a bit skeptical about it, but ADB is a good story teller. I think the depiction of the Wolves may also be different from ADB's 40k look at the Wolves




Angel of Blood said:


> Now this sounds interesting! We know all the characters here survive the Heresy, but it still sounds like it should be a good fight. Also refreshing to see someone else taking control of the characters instead of Swallow. Hopefully Smillie will be able to inject some character into Azkaellon, though that wouldn't be too hard considering how shit his portrayal was in _Fear to Tread_. And who doesn't want to see more of Amit?


This is potentially a great story. I totally agree. I want to see two similar but different aspects of war expressed in the same story with the same author. 



Angel of Blood said:


> Swallow? Like Kyme I'm already skeptical, especially as his depiction of the Assassins in _Nemesis_ was hardly stellar. Kell surely died right? Did it not mention somewhere that he tried to take a shot at Horus after he crashed the ship into the Vengeful Spirit? Can't see him either surviving that. Although it doesn't state a clade assassin, so it could be anyone really.


Another assassin story... :headbutt:


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## Child-of-the-Emperor (Feb 22, 2009)

Do we think _Virtues of the Sons_ will be set during the Siege of Terra? Surely that is the only time & place those 4 characters could cross paths?


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

That's a good point but I don't know, don't underestimate the series trend of having characters just turn up in places where it doesn't make much sense. Did we ever find out when or why Kharn was on Prospero for instance, other than to fit the story. All but Lucius are currently in and around the 500 worlds last we knew, just need a likely convoluted reason for Lucius to be there too.


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## Sev (Sep 15, 2013)

My best guess is that this is a pre-Isstvan story and they are just dueling each other in the fighting pits of the World Eaters. I can't think of any other reason that would explain how these 4 characters would meet each other at this point in the Heresy, especially one that could be explained in a short story.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Imperfect - I'm guessing this is where Manus makes some comment about how perfect the machine is, and Fulgrim goes and cries in his room.

Hearthworld - could be interesting, although maybe at odds with what we've seen. They're hardly "sent back" if Russ is already there. I've not been a fan of wolves interpretations. As poor as Prospero Burns is, it was the one interesting portrayal of them. Even though TUE's by the same author, it was so different it was stupid - and that only one was killed by the attentions of a primarch was utterly ridiculously OP'd by them, or UP'd by the primarch's case. No matter how veteran they are. I'm rambling, I look forward to this.

Guy Haley - his Baneblade was well recieved, although I'm yet to read it. Night Lords - I think there was mention of a Night Lord loyalist in something I read recently (Ravenlord?). Sounds like a fairly typical plot twist. Only to be torn apart by Night Haunter who they don't know is there. Why else would it be a "safe and shadowed place"?

Virtue of the Sons - we're already at Terra? Not read Flesh of Cretacea, but I think he'll probably be better than Signus - although it's fairly telling that he's not actually written a full novel about SM for ages - Not sure as to why there was a need to have 4 major characters in such a short read either. Sounds like name dropping for the fun of it.

Gunsight - get fucked. Last time we had assassins it read like a fucking Jason Statham movie, or the cast of Team Fortress 2. We have "The Heavy", "The Melee guy", "The Sniper", "The Tech Geek"... The plot was a pile of shit. This time, we have a Sniper who's going to take a shot at Horus. Sorry guys, I'm going to spoil this one for you. HORUS SURVIVES. Even without knowing what everyone knows already, you really think they'd leave the assassination of the guy the series is named after to a short? This sounds like a chapter of a book that he wrote, and the editors actually went through and said "shit, shit, shit, more shit, what the fuck is this crap", and when he started crying tears of anguish that all of his random slapping of the keyboard, they said "okay, okay, we'll keep this one chapter, just stop crying you big girl".

So, I'm looking forward to the 3rd one and the 2nd one, in that order. The rest? To say skeptical would be doing them justice.


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## Angel of Blood (Aug 18, 2010)

Vaz said:


> Hearthworld - could be interesting, although maybe at odds with what we've seen. They're hardly "sent back" if Russ is already there. I've not been a fan of wolves interpretations. As poor as Prospero Burns is, it was the one interesting portrayal of them. Even though TUE's by the same author, it was so different it was stupid - and that only one was killed by the attentions of a primarch was utterly ridiculously OP'd by them, or UP'd by the primarch's case. No matter how veteran they are. I'm rambling, I look forward to this.


From both _Fear to Tread_ and _The Purge_, it's shown that the VI Legion were already sent to watch over other Legions before Istvaan had even happened. So I'm going to assume this one is pre-Istvaan as well.


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## Vaz (Mar 19, 2008)

Been a while since FTT, completely forgot that bit in Purge. Must have glossed over it. Cheers


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