One of the greatest challenges in writing the Traitor Legions is making them relatable. Not humanising them, exactly, but making them relatable. You don’t have to like them or agree with them, but I think it’s killer writing when people understand them.
I try to take an approach that reflects that these Space Marines were once human children, taken and indoctrinated into the culture of a Legion, raised and trained to live their lives on the battlefield. They may have stunted emotional ranges and struggle to interact with many humans. They may be crueller than humans, or more callous. They almost certainly adhere to codes of honour and morality that are alien to any outside their mindset. And yet, they’re still living, sentient beings beneath all the things they’ve been through. They should be ultimately understandable, even if their behaviour isn’t justifiable by human standards, or by the way we (as readers and fans) understand the setting. They can be right or wrong, validated or left as apostates. It doesn’t matter to me. What matters is that their choices make sense in the context of their lives, and have a depth of realism to them.
After all, no one thinks of themselves as the bad guys. Not even Khârn.
Aaron Dembski-Bowden
October 2012
ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS
Thanks as ever to Dan, Jim, Gav, Nick, Graham and especially Laurie Goulding for all the backup: research, ideas, encouragement, various whip cracks and the unlicensed street barbering. Thanks also to Alan Merrett, Alan Bligh, and John French for use of their third eyes, seeing into the warp of the IP, and to Matt Farrer for paving the way with the inspiring ‘After Desh’ea’ in Tales of Heresy. Extra special thanks to my draft readers: Rachel, Nikki and Marijan, who pulled out all the stops this time. Gemma Noon’s loan of a laptop in Canada was the difference between this book hitting its deadline and never seeing the light of day, so ‘thanks’ seems a bit weak, but it’s sincere all the same. And last but far from least: thanks to Jon O’Sullivan and GW Dublin, for helping me get my killer gaming table together (read: for doing all the work); and to Cathy and GW Belfast for the coolest offer of all time (still gutted I couldn’t take you up on it, but I was really honoured you offered).
A portion of this book’s proceeds will go to Cancer Research UK, and the SOS Children’s Villages charity, to help orphans in Bangladesh.
ABOUT THE AUTHOR
Aaron Dembski-Bowden has written several novels for Black Library, including the Night Lords series, the Space Marine Battles book Helsreach, The Emperor’s Gift and the New York Times bestselling The First Heretic for the Horus Heresy. He lives and works in Northern Ireland with his wife Katie, hiding from the world in the middle of nowhere.
A BLACK LIBRARY PUBLICATION
Published in 2012 by Black Library, Games Workshop Ltd., Willow Road, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, UK
Cover illustration by Neil Roberts
© Games Workshop Limited, 2012. All rights reserved.
Black Library, the Black Library logo, Games Workshop, the Games Workshop logo and all associated marks, names, characters, illustrations and images from the Warhammer universe are either ®, TM and/or © Games Workshop Ltd 2012, variably registered in the UK and other countries around the world. All rights reserved.
A CIP record for this book is available from the British Library.
ISBN 978-0-85787-918-9
No part of this publication may be reproduced, stored in a retrieval system, or transmitted in any form or by any means, electronic, mechanical, photocopying, recording or otherwise except as expressly permitted under license from the publisher.
This is a work of fiction. All the characters and events portrayed in this book are fictional, and any resemblance to real people or incidents is purely coincidental.
See the Black Library on the internet at
blacklibrary.com
Find out more about Games Workshop’s world of Warhammer and the Warhammer 40,000 universe at
www.games-workshop.com
eBook license
This license is made between:
Games Workshop Limited t/a Black Library, Willow Road, Lenton, Nottingham, NG7 2WS, United Kingdom (“Black Library”); and
(2) the purchaser of an e-book product from Black Library website (“You/you/Your/your”)
(jointly, “the parties”)
These are the terms and conditions that apply when you purchase an e-book (“e-book”) from Black Library. The parties agree that in consideration of the fee paid by you, Black Library grants you a license to use the e-book on the following terms:
* 1. Black Library grants to you a personal, non-exclusive, non-transferable, royalty-free license to use the e-book in the following ways:
o 1.1 to store the e-book on any number of electronic devices and/or storage media (including, by way of example only, personal computers, e-book readers, mobile phones, portable hard drives, USB flash drives, CDs or DVDs) which are personally owned by you;
o 1.2 to access the e-book using an appropriate electronic device and/or through any appropriate storage media; and
* 2. For the avoidance of doubt, you are ONLY licensed to use the e-book as described in paragraph 1 above. You may NOT use or store the e-book in any other way. If you do, Black Library shall be entitled to terminate this license.
* 3. Further to the general restriction at paragraph 2, Black Library shall be entitled to terminate this license in the event that you use or store the e-book (or any part of it) in any way not expressly licensed. This includes (but is by no means limited to) the following circumstances:
o 3.1 you provide the e-book to any company, individual or other legal person who does not possess a license to use or store it;
o 3.2 you make the e-book available on bit-torrent sites, or are otherwise complicit in ‘seeding’ or sharing the e-book with any company, individual or other legal person who does not possess a license to use or store it;
o 3.3 you print and distribute hard copies of the e-book to any company, individual or other legal person who does not possess a license to use or store it;
o 3.4 You attempt to reverse engineer, bypass, alter, amend, remove or otherwise make any change to any copy protection technology which may be applied to the e-book.
* 4. By purchasing an e-book, you agree for the purposes of the Consumer Protection (Distance Selling) Regulations 2000 that Black Library may commence the service (of provision of the e-book to you) prior to your ordinary cancellation period coming to an end, and that by purchasing an e-book, your cancellation rights shall end immediately upon receipt of the e-book.
* 5. You acknowledge that all copyright, trademark and other intellectual property rights in the e-book are, shall remain, the sole property of Black Library.
* 6. On termination of this license, howsoever effected, you shall immediately and permanently delete all copies of the e-book from your computers and storage media, and shall destroy all hard copies of the e-book which you have derived from the e-book.
* 7. Black Library shall be entitled to amend these terms and conditions from time to time by written notice to you.
* 8. These terms and conditions shall be governed by English law, and shall be subject only to the jurisdiction of the Courts in England and Wales.
* 9. If any part of this license is illegal, or becomes illegal as a result of any change in the law, then that part shall be deleted, and replaced with wording that is as close to the original meaning as possible without being illegal.
* 10. Any failure by Black Library to exercise its rights under this license for whatever reason shall not be in any way deemed to be a waiver of its rights, and in particular, Black Library reserves the right at all times to terminate this license in the event that you breach clause 2 or clause 3.
Betrayer Page 40