A little bit of history... and background.

Occasionally I have dreams and aspirations of collating and organising all the background 'stuff' that has accumulated over the years in the 'Wargaming' folders on my computer, but inevitably something a bit less daunting becomes more... pressing. 

In the late 90's/early 2000's, the Wellington Warlords ran an ongoing 40k campaign (of many years worth) set in a place of their own creation, Sector Tiberius. 

One of the things that we would do before and after any tournament or campaign weekend would be to circulate battle reports in either short story format or a report by one of the various Inquisitor's that would be carrying out all sorts of Machiavellian plots behind the scenes.

Anyway... last night I was perusing the folders (again), and I found this and thought I would share it. It's some of the background that was written up for the Liber Animus tournament in 2007.

Kithrup - a planet in Sector Tiberius. Once a civilised planet famous throughout the sector as a seat of industry, agriculture and learning, now only famous for it’s twenty year struggle for control. Cities have been shattered, seas covered in poisonous scum, and even the atmosphere rendered unbreathable by a deadly cocktail of nuclear, biological and chemical weapons. Humans can’t live here, not for long, not without a sealed chem resistant suit to keep them safe from toxic poisoning. Even here, even in a place where humans can’t live, the Imperium still fights.

They fight to keep what was theirs. They fight to deny it to anyone else that would try and take it. They fight to give meaning to the sacrifices made by battle brothers. But mostly they fight out of sheer bloody-minded stubbornness.

However there are those that would look to defeat the forces of the Imperium. To subvert the gains made and drive the entire sector into a defenceless rabble.

And so it falls to another kind of warrior to fight another kind of war. Once it was written that the pen is mightier than the sword. This is still true in the 41^st millennium. Now it’s the information war. Divining the enemy’s intent before they know it themselves can mean the difference between victory and defeat. This hidden secret war fought by intelligence staff across the sector is also fought by the Inquisition - for who amongst men is strong enough to delve into the mind of the Xenos and emerge unscathed?

The Inquisitorial HQ, 17^th floor financial district. Formerly the offices of the planetary accountants for the Adeptus Administratum. Now a burned out chem-poisoned ruin, just like the rest of the city. Inside a temporary bubble seal the Inquisitor and his staff can work in the relative luxury of being unhelmeted in their chem-suits.

A scribe enters the protective dome and removes his helmet.

“Inquisitor - here are the reports that match your search parameters. Two confirmed contacts and two possible.”

+++++++++++++++++++Begin Report+++++++++++++++++++

Commit to: Imperial Record+++
+++EST 03/8567INQUISITORIS 8353/1453+++
+++Crossfile to: Aliens/Ultima Segmentum+++
+++Xenos/text: Necron+++
+++Input Date: 998.M41+++
+++Input Clearance: Inquisitor Rathborne+++
+++Authors: Ralamine, Langstri, Obelius+++
+++Thought for the Day: Blessed are the Ignorant+++

Cannoness Teresa du Cartho led a fighting patrol of the battle sisters form the Order of the Violaceous Heart. They were patrolling through the docklands sweeping down to the river to determine the extent of the Orkish holding, however they encountered Necron forces attempting to move some kind of artefact through the ruined docks. The courageous actions of the sisters prevented the Necrons from carrying out their schemes. The sisters were able to fight the Necrons to a standstill and when it became apparent that they would not be able to complete their plans the Necrons withdrew and took their artefact with them.

Inquisitor Maplethorp’s personal transport shuttle was forced to crash land in the ruins of hab block 12 grid 17. The Inquisitor and several of his retinue survived the crash. A fighting patrol of Raptor Marines led by Captain Kirok, responded to the Inquisitor’s distress call and arrived to recover the inquisitor and his party. The Inquisitor and his party had become separated during the crash and were being hunted through the ruined habs by a force of Necrons. The marines arrived just in time to prevent the Inquisitor and his party being killed or taken. While the marines rescued the Inquisitor several of his retinue were terminated to prevent them from falling into enemy hands. When the sector was finally cleared, the bodies of the Inquisitor’s retinue were able to be recovered. The inquisitor’s Penitent Witch was not recovered and no DNA traces were able to be detected. Officially listed as missing, the strong suspicion is that she was taken by the Necrons although for what purpose cannot be imagined.

Imperial Guard regimental head quarters had been out of contact for 6 hours. A party of Nordstadt Grenadiers made their way through the ruins to the secure bunker complex. They found the complex seal intact. The airlocks were overridden and the complex entered. The command staff were found ripped to pieced by attackers that had used edged or bladed weapons. Several of the command staff had their skins removed. Identification had to be by DNA trace.  The complex was searched thoroughly. Bioscanners detected no life signs of the intruders. Somehow, the intruders were able to penetrate a bio/chem sealed complex without breaking the seals, kill the entire command staff and their security detail with edged weapons. Apparently the intruders then left the complex without breaking the complex seals or leaving behind any detectable bio signature.

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

He continued,

“We also have a report from an Adeptus Mechanicus unit intercepted via the secure channel. One of their units has made it all the way through the manufactorum habs to the river.”

The Inquisitor looked up, surprised.

“That’s well in advance of projections. Our intelligence reported that quadrant was teeming with Orks.”

“Yes sir,” the scribe replied, “Apparently it was. But by the time the Mechanicus unit got there, there were no living Orks. An entire Ork Warband had been cut to pieces. In line with standing orders the Ork carcasses have all been burned to prevent the spread of spores. Analysis of the trooper video feeds suggests energy weapons were used in the attacks. The wounds are far too clean for projectile weapons. However auspex bio scanners picked up no traces of any attackers.”

The Inquisitor stood, a puzzled look on his face.

“Who can take down an entire Ork Clan without heavy artillery and still get past the Imperial forces patrolling the sector.” he wondered aloud

“Maybe we could recruit them to serve the Imperium sir?” answered the scribe

The Inquisitor frowned, paused for a moment, then laughed – a short, mirthless bark.

“I don’t think we could offer the Necrons acceptable terms of employment...”

And while we're talking about Space Wolves... let's talk novels...

One of the key things that grabbed me back in the dim dark past was the background of the Space Wolves, as told in this...

One of the key things that gets me inspired about an army is the background, and if it is accompanied by some great skald work (in the form of short stories, novellas, or novels themselves) then all the better.

Unfortunately I don't really think the Space Wolves have had a good run of things in this department.

I've read all the Space Wolf novels by William King up to WolfBlade. Bill writes a great novel...

... if you like Gotrek and Felix... 

...but his take on the Sons of Russ for me is underwhelming. The characters themselves felt very one dimensional, and the chapters always ended the same way (i.e. "Ragnar felt confused/angry, whatever would he do next????? Who could he trust????? Dum dum duuuuuuuummmmmm")

I have not read the two remaining novels in the series, both by Lee Lightner, so can't comment on them. I'm worried it's one of Bill's nom de plumes. 

As for the novels Blood of Asaheim, Stormcaller, as well as the short story Onyx by Chris Wraight, the only bit that was really any good (in my opinion) was when the original Wolf Guard Hjortjur was getting chased down and murdered by Inquisition agents in the prologue. The worst bit? A heavy bolter in a Grey Hunters squad. WHERE IS THE EDITOR?? Does Chris not use conversations with Games Developers (or maybe not... "Hey man, write about the Space Wolves you want to read about") or even the content of the actual codexes as a bit of a clue?? (as a side note, I have been wanting a heavy bolter in my Grey Hunters packs for ages). But seriously, no. Just no.

I was particularly disappointed about these novels especially after reading Battle for the Fang (which Chris Wraight also wrote), which I thought was pretty damn good at evoking the majesty of the Aett.

*edit* Wolves of Fenris is also pretty good, particularly Kraken but avoid Wulfen... 

Deathwolf audio drama was ... ok. Can't say I have really got into the BL audiobooks. The characterisations (across all the books) are a bit repetitive and I'd rather read the words and imagine how they might sound by myself to be honest... 

The Lone Wolves graphic novel is worth a read (Dan Abnett, yay!) even just for the artwork. And the whole Vlka Fenryka thing.

Then you have the Horus Heresy novels A Thousand Sons by Graham McNeil and Prospero Burns by Dan Abnett. These really changed the game about how people looked at the Space Wolves I think. They added a much darker, more calculatingly violent, and downright vicious streak that was not there before. And leather. And bones. And repressed violence. And nasti... ok I'll stop.

Keeping with the HH series, the cameo from the Space Wolves pack in The Unremembered Empire (also Dan Abnett) was hilariously good. The interchange between Roboute and the pack, as well as when the Lion arrives, was a bit of novel gold. I may even have LoL'd at the latter bit. And they were not scared about facing off with the Night Haunter either... I particularly enjoyed that scene. 

So which Space Wolf novel do I think is the best? It's not even a Space Wolf novel - it would have to be, hands down, Aaron Dembski-Bowden's The Emperor's Gift. Logan Grimnar with his Wolf Guard on the Grey Knight Battle barge... fantastic. The space battle above the Fang? Overwhelmingly good. 

If there is one thing I'd want for Christmas is for ADB to give the Space Wolves the same trilogy love he gave the Night Lords. Damn that man can write so evocatively.

And maybe he can do a Prince of Crows treatment to one of the minor Wolf Lords... 

I'm all inspired to go read The Emperor's Gift again, for the third time in the last 12 months...  and of course I need to build an Inquisitor and retinue based loosely on Annika Jarlsdottyr... this madness never ends.