# Night Lords: Blood Reaver



## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

A few days ago ADB announced that once he is finished with _The First Heretic_ he will start work on _Blood Reaver_, the sequel to _Soul Hunter_.



Aaron Dembski-Bowden said:


> It’s set at the Fall of Vilamus, when the Night Lords and Red Corsairs lay siege to the fortress-monastery of the Marines Errant. As before, the battle itself will be the backdrop, not the focus, the same as Crythe Primus was in Soul Hunter.
> 
> The two ‘main’ new characters are called Lucoryphus of the Bleeding Eyes, and Variel the Flayer. Lucoryphus leads the Raptors (the Bleeding Eyes) aboard the Covenant. Variel is… a surprise. Both show up in the Fear the Alien anthology. That’s all I’m saying.


I knew that Night Lords aided Blackheart and the Corsairs at Vilamus, but I didn't expect it to be Talos and 10th Company that did it. Its going to be amazing, and these two new guys. Lucoryphus of the Bleeding Eyes and Variel the Flayer, they sound very interesting. Im going to guess that Variel the Flayer is a Khorne Berzerker, which would be most interesting as Uzas can meet his future now. Either that or he is an extremely bloody and gory hunter.

Looking forward to this, and _Throne of Lies_ and _Fear the Alien_ both of which I am buying merely because they are Night Lord material, or have Night Lords. And yes, I like them that much that im willing to buy an entire anthology for just one story.


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## Khorne's Fist (Jul 18, 2008)

Lord of the Night said:


> . Im going to guess that Variel the Flayer is a Khorne Berzerker, which would be most interesting as Uzas can meet his future now. Either that or he is an extremely bloody and gory hunter.


I'm thinking more Slaanesh myself for some reason. Skinning people alive seems more their thing.


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## DarKnightWarlord (Apr 29, 2010)

Has Vilamus been mentioned elsewwhere?


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## darkreever (Apr 3, 2008)

In the space marine codex yes, if memory serves. Can't wait to see what the second book has in store for tenth company.


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## World Eater XII (Dec 12, 2008)

Agreed. Gotta be the first book to have raptors as a sorta main line?


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## Brother Subtle (May 24, 2009)

How many men is the 10th down to now after crythe primus? 30 something was it? If ADB isn't careful he might not have enough night lords left to make anymore than a trilogy! Lol. Unless the Exhaulted pulls over to do some recruiting soon? But from what I gathered from Soul Hunter Vandred isn't keen on doing anything to save the 10th from decending into a lose warband.


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## World Eater XII (Dec 12, 2008)

Maybe he has changed his views on the 10th, as at the end of the first book, his character changes and that may mean his priorities are different?


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## darkreever (Apr 3, 2008)

We can only be so lucky, despite everything Vandred is a fairly cool character. Though do keep in mind that as of the end of the first book, Talos is more powerful now, coincidentally for reasons made known earlier.


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

Im wondering if it will follow a similar theme as _Soul Hunter_ in the sense of as Abaddon used the Night Lords in the first book, will the Blood Reaver and his Red Corsairs use the Night Lords in this one. 

We know from the story of Vilamus as it is, that Huron Blackheart struck a deal with the Night Lords to take down the teleportation fields and orbital defences so that the Red Corsairs could enter low orbit and ultimately initiate a Terminator Assault which decimates the Marines Errant defenders, and then they make off with large amounts of Geneseed and Chapter Relics. The Night Lords don't need a large force, they go in using infiltration and stealth, so that justifies their involvement given their minimal numbers.

What interests me though, is what the Night Lords are getting from the bargain? What do the Red Corsairs promise them? Supplies and Geneseed my guesses are, after all the 10th Company are in a terrible state and need reinforcing.

And on a side note, we know the general plot outline for _Blood Reaver_. But what about _Throne of Lies_ and the short story which is going to feature in _Fear the Alien_, any hints about their plots? The short story in _Fear the Alien_ (_The Core_ is it?) I presume will pit the 10th company against a Xenos foe, I wonder who? The Night Lords seem to have some long standing beef with the Eldar, and given their inclusion in the epilogue in _Soul Hunter_, maybe them?


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## polynike (Aug 23, 2008)

Just finished SH yesterday and I was blown away by it. Can't wait for the follow up


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## Baron Spikey (Mar 26, 2008)

Didn't the Exalted help 'rescue' a few squads from the other NL warband? Are they still on board, maybe the new characters announced are from that component of the Exalted's warband?


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> And on a side note, we know the general plot outline for _Blood Reaver_. But what about _Throne of Lies_ and the short story which is going to feature in _Fear the Alien_, any hints about their plots? The short story in _Fear the Alien_ (_The Core_ is it?) I presume will pit the 10th company against a Xenos foe, I wonder who? The Night Lords seem to have some long standing beef with the Eldar, and given their inclusion in the epilogue in _Soul Hunter_, maybe them?


We do know that _Throne of Lies_ is set one month after the events of _Soul Hunter_, so we can gain a sense of how the 10th Company has been affected since Crythe. But _The Core_ is set two months after _Blood Reaver_, so it will feature some teasers to how the sequel will play out, and whatever characters dont appear I think we can assume will have died at Vilamus.



Baron Spikey said:


> Didn't the Exalted help 'rescue' a few squads from the other NL warband? Are they still on board, maybe the new characters announced are from that component of the Exalted's warband?


I would guess that they met up with Captain Halasker and the 3rd Company in the Warp to deliver their stragglers back, stealing marines would not look good at all. And I doubt the stolen Night Lords would take it lying down.

One thing I am hoping is that no more of First Claw die. It works very well now with Talos' tough leadership and stern anti-Chaos views, Cyrion's age and wisdom, Uzas' rage and unpredictability, Xarl's excellent shooting and Mercutian's wit. It was a shame that Adhemar did not survive _Soul Hunter_ but I hope that the rest of the Claw does make it through _Blood Reaver_.


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## darkreever (Apr 3, 2008)

Lord of the Night said:


> I would guess that they met up with Captain Halasker and the 3rd Company in the Warp to deliver their stragglers back, stealing marines would not look good at all. And I doubt the stolen Night Lords would take it lying down.


If I recall correctly, Vandred told Halasker that he would rendezvous with him did he not? That would likely be where and when third company was made whole again.


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## Brother Subtle (May 24, 2009)

Baron Spikey said:


> Didn't the Exalted help 'rescue' a few squads from the other NL warband? Are they still on board, maybe the new characters announced are from that component of the Exalted's warband?


Maybe they are so pissed at being left for dead they defect and join the 10th?

Cos there were deff no raptor squads in Soul Hunter. Yet there is mention of raptor squad in blood reaver.

On a sidenote was Zso Sahaal a raptor captain? He had a jump pack.


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Brother Subtle said:


> Cos there were deff no raptor squads in Soul Hunter. Yet there is mention of raptor squad in blood reaver.pack.


Its not a squad, its a warband. The Bleeding Eyes is a Raptor Warband.

Edit: On a side note I hope we see more of Captain Halasker. I quite liked him, and his directness. "After all this time, you are still a worm Vandred."


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

Brother Subtle said:


> On a sidenote was Zso Sahaal a raptor captain? He had a jump pack.


Yes I believe he was. I think _Lord of the Night_ mentions him being one of the First Raptors (although don't quote me on that, been a while since I read it).


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## Dead.Blue.Clown (Nov 27, 2009)

Baron Spikey said:


> Didn't the Exalted help 'rescue' a few squads from the other NL warband? Are they still on board, maybe the new characters announced are from that component of the Exalted's warband?


Lucoryphus of the Bleeding Eyes was one of Halasker's men.

Variel the Flayer is... from somewhere else.


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

Lord of the Night said:


> Its not a squad, its a warband. The Bleeding Eyes is a Raptor Warband.
> 
> Edit: On a side note I hope we see more of Captain Halasker. I quite liked him, and his directness. "After all this time, you are still a worm Vandred."


makes sense, I remember in the 3rd edition CSM Codex that they were described as loner type units that often considered themselves elite and apart from the regular force.


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

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> Variel the Flayer is... from somewhere else.


Interesting...  - Hope hes not a Black Legion lackey..!


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## World Eater XII (Dec 12, 2008)

black legion lackeys are good to mix the story up. That ruven guy from soul hunter was a jerk!


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Child-of-the-Emperor said:


> Yes I believe he was. I think _Lord of the Night_ mentions him being one of the First Raptors (although don't quote me on that, been a while since I read it).


Zso Sahaal claims he was the first Raptor in _Lord of the Night_, and while thats probably true I dont believe that he was the first Space Marine to use jump-packs, as he claimed.



Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> Lucoryphus of the Bleeding Eyes was one of Halasker's men.
> 
> Variel the Flayer is... from somewhere else.


Ah thats good. Lucoryphus will provide an outside look at the 10th company, its bad on the inside but who knows what it looks like to another company.

Interesting... one can speculate. My guess, he is a Khornate or Slaaneshi Chaos Marine. You dont get titles like that unless you actually do things like that, and while a Night Lord may do that... theres quicker and easier ways to scare people. A Chaos worshipper however would do it, no qualms or questions.


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

What of the Eldar from the Craftworld Ulthwe? If memory serves correctly, I remember 10th Company heading towards the Eye of Terror after the ''defeat'' within the Orestes system, at the end of Soul Hunter, with the Epilogue detailing the Eldar themselves.

... Now we will meet our protagonists and anti-heroes near the Malestrom? Not that I am against this, as I feel the Eye of Terror is perhaps a little overdone in terms of the ''Inpenertable and turbulent HQ of the Chaos forces'', with the Maelstrom and the antagonistical forces that go with it a change, possibly some insight into Huron Blackheart and the whole debacle surronding that?

Oh, and please don`t flay me for not reading so-and-so`s blog correctly, or the synopsis or extract, Im just generally curious.

Bobss


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

bobss said:


> What of the Eldar from the Craftworld Ulthwe? If memory serves correctly, I remember 10th Company heading towards the Eye of Terror after the ''defeat'' within the Orestes system, at the end of Soul Hunter, with the Epilogue detailing the Eldar themselves.


Well take into account that we've got _Throne of Lies_ (Audiobook), and _The Core_ (shortstory) - two more sources which will feature the battered 10th Company. So maybe the Eldar will appear in one (or both) of them, rather than _Blood Reaver_?


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## Dead.Blue.Clown (Nov 27, 2009)

bobss said:


> What of the Eldar from the Craftworld Ulthwe? If memory serves correctly, I remember 10th Company heading towards the Eye of Terror after the ''defeat'' within the Orestes system, at the end of Soul Hunter, with the Epilogue detailing the Eldar themselves.
> 
> ... Now we will meet our protagonists and anti-heroes near the Malestrom? Not that I am against this, as I feel the Eye of Terror is perhaps a little overdone in terms of the ''Inpenertable and turbulent HQ of the Chaos forces'', with the Maelstrom and the antagonistical forces that go with it a change, possibly some insight into Huron Blackheart and the whole debacle surronding that?
> 
> ...


The first trilogy is about the Night Lords doing all they can to get back to the Eye. Sadly, due to the fact the _Covenant of Blood_ is nearly crippled and being pursued by Imperial forces, it's not a straight - or easy - run home.


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## bobss (May 18, 2008)

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> The first trilogy is about the Night Lords doing all they can to get back to the Eye. Sadly, due to the fact the _Covenant of Blood_ is nearly crippled and being pursued by Imperial forces, it's not a straight - or easy - run home.


Wait- _First_ Trilogy? It would be interesting as in the number of foes fought, plots foiled and alliances within six, if not more books on a rather intriguing Legion. Does that also bode well for the Salamanders series having multiple trilogies? (I always assumed these series were of the same ilk, although totally unconnected...) So am I right to assume -- as Child also stated -- that the Eldar will either be playing a part in the third book, or smaller and lesser of importance, parts in the Audio-drama and short-story? If not, then I hope they are used to a greater potential than they were in Fulgrim... (My only niggle of that book)

Anyway, the synopsis sounds good, any inspiration from the 40k rulebook at all? From the Chaos Legion`s insight, with the example of Night Lord mercenaries helping out Huron to defeat a Loyalist Monastery containing vital geneseed?


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## Lord of the Night (Nov 18, 2009)

Dead.Blue.Clown said:


> The first trilogy is about the Night Lords doing all they can to get back to the Eye. Sadly, due to the fact the _Covenant of Blood_ is nearly crippled and being pursued by Imperial forces, it's not a straight - or easy - run home.


Its going to be a great trilogy. One thing that I really like about the books is that you have taken events that already existed and modified them, fleshed them out. The Fall of Vilamus is a great choice but you could have created a brand new battle just for this. I think you made the right choice in choosing Vilamus since it will not only provide a great backdrop for the battle, but its the type of battle that the Night Lords were born for. Infiltration, stealth and terror all in one.


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

I wonder if maybe the 10th company will be able to replenish their ranks before getting to the eye of terror. I was amazed at how they were able to destroy a titan with so few men. But when it gets down to it, strength in numbers always means something. I wonder if they will drop by Medrengard see the sights, and be like hey you guys have any of those chaos marine makers we can borrow?


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## World Eater XII (Dec 12, 2008)

Oh god, night lords full of crazy skinless uriel's...id rather not.

Bad neighbourhood that Medrengard!


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## ckcrawford (Feb 4, 2009)

:laugh:haha. True. true, Peturabo be like screw you. But I also like the idea of their being a conflict as such with such few numbers.


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## World Eater XII (Dec 12, 2008)

Depends on how much vandred has changed in his approach to the 10th...im guessing a little but not enough to change his priorities.

We shall see in the new book!


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