Dark Scribe of the 38th Company, Iron Warriors Legion, come to bring the glory of Chaos to the realm of Pony.
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This story is a sequel to Iron Hearts: Book 4 - Emerald Dawn
An MLP/Warhammer 40K crossover supplement.
The ponies that have joined the grim and unheroic warriors of the Iron Warriors 38th Company peer into the pasts of their sapien friends. They learn what made them, what drives them, and, just maybe, what may save them...
(Warning: experimental writing techniques, perspective shifts, classical grimdark, and much less pony than usual)
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Er...sequel to a JUST STARTED story?
Gaela and Dest i can get behind that
4823998
Technically it's not a sequel, since the events are mostly concurrent with Book 4, but since the option is there to connect it directly to another story I figured why not?
Ultimately though, this is just set aside from the main story so that readers who don't care needn't skim through chapters of Book 4 to get back to the real plot.
I very much like the first of these little side stories. Neat to read about Dest since I don't think we've gotten nearly as much of his story as the other named characters.
I look forward to more.
After giving more thought to this. I'd say calling this a sequel to Book 4 is inaccurate. If there's more to come then I'd say that these are more like intermediate stories to the main one in book four.
4824492
Soooooo....
You actually did a side story!(I am pleased)
Will we read about how our angry(not very good smelling) Chaos Lord and his Terminator squad screwed so much they got in 38th?(very curious about this aspect)
4855722
Well, no, because that's not Sliver's story. Also, Sliver's played a relatively small part in the plot, and hasn't befriended any ponies with which he can spill his guts (metaphorically, for once) to. So I'll probably do a Sliver chapter eventually, but not any time soon.
4855880
Sliver really seems like he's going to be a tough nut to crack.
I keep having amusing visions of Sliver and Celestia bonding over their mutual dislike of the others society.
4882159
That thought is HILARIOUS.
"You're repulsive, demented murderers! You only tolerate others to use them as tools, and you worship entropy itself! You're obviously trying to be disgusting, and it's working!"
"Your entire race iss compossed of ssimpering, usselesss weaklingss! You do not even posssesss the manipulative digitss to make worthy sslavess! If a third of your sspeciess weren't pssykerss, you'd be completely worthlesss!"
"All this ranting is making me thirsty. I know a good place in easy teleport distance."
"Ssure. I'll buy."
The comedy was well done!
Some folks are perverts.
Sometimes a story doesn't call for much comedy; this is one of them. I get enough chuckles out of the casual violence and blatant neuroses in the main story, so I can fully accept some grim darkness seeping out of these character backstory flashbacks.
I'm really liking these sides stories. Any chance of a Gaela one, even if her personality isn't quite conducive to story telling?
5029951
Of course Gaela will get one! Although next will probably be Tellis or Delgan.
5030391 Nice. Gaela is by far my favorite character. When I reread parts of the series, I tend to open a search function and only read the parts with Gaela in them.
From the title I thought this was going to be Tellis. But getting the back-story of one of my favorite straight-men is good too. :)
It's actually quite a tragedy for the Imperium to have lost Daniel. He probably would have made a nice sensible officer.
Belly rubs are adorable.
I'm here waiting for silver's backstory.
Here is hoping the next chapter is entitled "The Madman" or such... Also, great chapter as always!
That was great fun, I enjoyed hearing about Kharn being a cool guy. One of the reasons I personally favor the Whore God is because only He seems to have any fun in the 41st millennium. Nice to see that Khorne is also getting his giggles in.
Crimson Slaughter REFERENCE!
Yes! This was most entertaining. Reading how Tellis found his personal path to worshiping Khorn is kind of touching.
Tellis's contribution to the performing arts has no doubt added a new splash of color to Equestrian culture. That color being a big messy stain of red, but still a contribution. Loved the audience participation and the background ponies reactions.
"Tellis is allowed to do as he pleases insofar as it does not result in the death, dismemberment, or physical harm of Equestrian citiz-... the Equestrian Species."
Oh no. People LOVE Tellis. This was a great chapter.
But these are the back-story chapters and Sliver is by far the most mysterious of our 38th Company. We, the audience, have no idea what drives him or why he is part of a punishment troop despite all examples showing him to be a fairly competent commander. The Hulking Nurgle worshiper doesn't share anything with anyone unlike the other Iron Warrior characters. Even Gaela has shared more about herself with both the 38th company and the ponies while Sliver is pretty much closed off to everyone but his fellow cultist Terminator Brothers. So his story will be very interesting.
I cackled madly at the first mention of Kharn the Betrayer. His 1d4chan characterisation is the only way to make him remotely interesting, and you used it very, very well. Because, as everyone knows, Kharn is actually a pretty swell dude.
Young Tellis would have made a good Angry Marine.
"We are a bunch of bloodthirsty killers and grad A psychos but at least were having fun along the ride."
-Kharn the Betrayer, Life as a Khornate in a Boltshell
5315927
Worship to Slaanesh also tends to twist one's concept of "fun" into things uniquely destructive and horrible, but basically, that's true.
Of course, if I wanted to play a happy faction I'd just make an Ork army. Chaos is Grim Darkness concentrate, and I love them for that.
Also, I'll always consider Slaanesh an Eldar God, since they're the ones that created him. The jerks.
5316433
Yes it was! It was sarcastic and condescending, but I totally referenced them!
5318032
Huh. I suppose that makes sense.
Although I'm still surprised. I thought Serith was the most mysterious character, since hints keep getting dropped about his past and his intentions are less consistent.
5318035
The funny thing is that the "swell guy" characterization of Kharn isn't that far off from his actual pre-Heresy personality in the novels. He actually was the most reasonable, rational, and likable World Eater by a fair margin, and even had a good sense of humor (which is pretty rare for ANY Space Marine, much less one with rage machines drilled into their brain).
5318387
I didn't know that. Almost all of my knowledge of WH40K is second-hand from the Lexicanum wiki, so please forgive my occasional ignorance. Still, it makes sense that the level-headed one and jovial would be able to find a way to worship Khorne that didn't involve living in a haze of rage.
5318387 Crimson Slaughter are the arch-enemies of the Dark Angels. They number around six thousand and have special daemon powers. They have a lot of Possessed Marines.
5319534
Six thousand?
They must have a special trick for recruitment if they've managed to convert at least six Chapters' worth of Space Marines. Unless they found a way to quickly make their own without the resources of the Imperium.
5319705 Several notes about them:
-Fabius Bile helped the Crimson Slaughter in rebuilding their warband
-Along with the Skulltakers, the Crimson Slaughter work for the Black Legion
-They have incorporated several warbands into their forces
-They have killed several Dark Angels and scavenged their gene-seed
-They have less CSMs and ships than the Red Corsairs
-They have raided Caliban
-They are participating in the 13th Black Crusade
-Their leader is still alive
Where is that Silver chapter?
Man! Kharn is such a swell guy! Helping people work through their problems and get a new lease on life!
"I can pay MORE."
That line sold me not just this story, but the story universe you're building as well.
You know I have read the entire story of Tellis now.... and I don't know how to put this but you actually have Khorne and Slaanesh mixed up when it comes to battle. A Slaanesh warrior would care about style, grace and preformances or as Tellis put it seeing it as an Art. Slaanesh is more then a wore god you know. It's more a god of sensation. Not that I don't mind Tellis doing an art preformances you know. It actually is really funny and I loved it.
The way Tellis was 1st was actually more what Khorne is about. He's more about the rush you feel when pushing yourself over the edge that you enter into a mindless sensation while Slaanesh is more about a blissful sensation. Anyway I enjoyed the story and really don't care so much in this case about details of how the gods of chaos are portrayed. I enjoyed reading it and that's what counts. ^^
5545499
I know that Tellis is very... unconventional for a Khorne worshipper, but I wouldn't necessarily say he's more characteristic of a Slaaneshi.
Sex and artistry aside, Slaanesh is, first and foremost, about EXCESS. That tends to translate to a lot more speed and hubris as opposed to Khorne, but it hardly means that a Khornate can't appreciate grace or style when killing, just so long as killing is the focus. They usually don't, because they're in a constant state of angry bloodlust, but that's kind of what Tellis' story is about: an enlightenment of his worship of the Blood God beyond the psychotic fury that characterizes the vast majority of Khorne cultists.
A Slaaneshi, on the other hand, would be obsessed with grace and style to the point of absurdity, no matter what they were doing, until it became blatantly twisted and self-destructive. Which I suppose could fit Tellis as well, but he's quite firmly in the Khorne "all-violence-all-the-time" camp.
Then again, if you ask me Khorne and Slaanesh have never been as different as they like to pretend, what with being (im)mortal enemies and all.
This was the best short story by far. Delgan is plenty compelling and interesting although he was not immediately so.
This is definitely a notch above typical MLP fiction. Bravo, I say!
Question though: what does Rarity think of Delgan's betrayal of his subordinate? Out of all of his acts, that one seemed definitely that she would have a hard time reconciling.
Huh... a lot of things I wasn't expecting to see in this chapter! I must say though, Delgan has an interesting story. A lot of what I know of the lore comes from either you or the PC games, which are lacking a fair bit compared to this. Really good stuff here!
5588416
I feel that she and the others have given up on "reconciling" the behavior of their human friends. They're bad people, and they do bad things. The ponies are pretty much resigned by now to trying to focus the worst impulses on those creatures that they want dead and avoiding becoming sacrifices or meat shields themselves (although they might not admit it).
To be sure, she was less surprised and disturbed by Delgan betraying a servant to save himself than she was that he ever used to be a good and pure soul who wouldn't consider such a tactic. And immoral decisions made for the sake of survival under extremely traumatic circumstances are hard to judge people for, anyway.
The true joy of this series for me is seeing how the 38th company and attendent Heretics and the Ponies are influencing each other. Before the series start, Rarity would have blanched or been disgusted at talk of cutting someone open, even for understandable reasons. And Im sure Delgan would never have told his story to anyone.
5589038
The painstaking balance between the "good" of MLP and the "evil" of warhammer 40k forms the backbone of this sprawling tale. Never too grimdark; Iron Hearts has just the right touch of lightheartedness needed to make the interactions between these two disparate universes believable, and more importantly, intriguing.
While your previous chapter in the main novel left me wanting, this short story sent chills down my spine. Surprisingly, perhaps due to the tragic nature of this tale, the predictability of the inquisitor's action, killing off Delgan's entire family , made the climax all the more visceral. I did not predict Delgan's betraying his loyal servant, which, aside from being a wonderfully executed twist, was a plot point that further served to underline his surprisingly deep back story.
Thank you kindly for yet another gem, dear author.
As usual, SFaccountant's writing is excellent. I found Delgan's backstory engaging and sadly plausible in the 40K universe. I'd love to think that Locus was unusually harsh, but that's unlikely.
The only serious criticism that I can level against this chapter is that there is no separation between paragraphs or indents on the first line. One of the two is needed to make the text more readable. I can easily attribute this to the site somehow corrupting the formatting, however.
The double spit-take at the end was a spectacularly strategic use of juicy gossip. The only way it could have been better was if Rarity timed it so it was caught on camera.
5590048
Locus is another one of those characters with the dubious distinction of doing horrible things while also being right about them (which is how I picture the entire Imperial Inquisition, actually). I'm not sure how many readers noticed this, but this is the second mention of this particular Inquisitor in Visions.
And the formatting was my mistake. Forgot to hit the indent button. It's fixed now.
5589916
The tag! The tag is broken! The spoiler has been revealed to all the internet! ALL IS LOST
Thanks, BTW. Glad you liked it.
5590893 Which story was she mentioned in? Is she going to be a running character in these origin stories?
5591167
She was the Inquisitor who decided it would be better to glass Daniels' home planet than risk losing either it or a forge world to Chaos.
If she were to appear in another chapter, it would have to be Gaela's (I can tell you up front that she hasn't met any of the Iron Warrior characters), but I haven't decided yet.
That ending is hilarious, but also it doesn't really fit. Maybe if you had ponies around that knew Rarity and Delgan(or thought they knew them) it would have fit better.
I'm not really sure who Orchid is besides another pony in ...Delgan's service? Maybe because there's little-to-no context of the other's thoughts on the relationship between Rarity x Delgan?
Now that I've had that thought process...it does fit. So that's what others did think of their relationship.
5591390 I just thought that since you have discussed a spin-off story set in the wider Galaxy, the 38th Company and Pony Auxiliaries might run into Inquisitor Locus.
5591620
Orchid Flair is the pony running the Iron Chest, the shop that sells Delgan's stuff.
Man, this character roster really IS getting too long. I was hoping that mentioning her selling stuff and her obvious enthusiasm for technology would jog readers' memories. I might have to fit little mini-introductions into the story when I bring these minor characters around again.
At this rate, you might even forget about Gear Works!
5591649
That... COULD happen.
5591784
Who?
5591828
Gear Works was INSTRUMENTAL in saving the Elements of Harmony from the Tau by diverting the guards away from their temporary prison! He's a hero!
By proximity, that is.
5592059
Oh. Was this the assault on Sweet Apple Acres or the Tau base? I still can't recall the instance this happened.
Speaking of which..... Did Delgan's backstory happen on a Tuesday?
5592121
It was in Canterlot.
And Altima V possessed a solar calendar that resulted in ten-day weeks, so really his tragic backstory happened on Dahlday.
5592166
I meant, did it happen on a Tuesday for you, the demigurge?