The author of the the novel Armageddon had an “Ask Me Anything” session on Reddit. Come find out what he had to say to some popular questions.
Aaron Dembski-Bowden, author of Armageddon, was more than happy to answer questions from the community during his Ask Me Anything session that took play a few days ago. Let’s take a look at some of the more popular questions and find out what his replies were.
What is your favorite bit of obscure 40k lore that you would write a novel about, given a chance?
Okay, let’s do this.
My fave bit of obscure 40K lore is probably Arkhan Land (who, admittedly, is way less obscure these days) and getting to roll with him was an absolute honour. I’d love to explore more of his impact on the Imperium in terms of what his discoveries offer humanity (or… rediscoveries, I suppose), and look into more of his dungeoneering on Mars. I especially hope to check in on him during the Siege of Terra, if I get a chance. Not that he’ll be doing much fighting. That sort of thing is beneath him.
His ultimate fate is both sort of sad, and totally triumphant. Dying in a Martian labyrthin/dungeon, on a quest for lost knowledge! I mean, he dies doing what he loves. Not many people in this setting can say that.
The start of the Night Lords Trilogy originally had them landing on the ruined world of Tyran. I thought it would be awesome to have characters going back to where it all started, Tyranid-wise. Then I realised I was being ultra self-indulgent and Tyran had nothing to do with any of the characters or any avenue of the story, so I abandoned it, but I do love the lore pertaining to the Tyranids’ first appearances in the galaxy. Like the old-ass lore mentioning the freighter Hammer of Foes, where the first ever corpse of a Tyranid was recovered by the Imperium. Think how cool those studies must’ve been. Imagine the Adepts assigned to examine and codify just what the hell they were dealing with. So awesome.
And I suppose it’s obvious, they’re not as obscure as they used to be, but I’d love to write the definitive Demiurg novel(s). And not just because I think dwarves are kickass. Their ships look double-cool, and their ties to the T’au Empire could be fodder for some great tension and diplomacy, too. (As well as having them dragged into war with the Imperium…)
Plus, y’know, Squats. Yay!
I’d also very much like to see more of the Enslavers. And the Cell-Kin, who messed up the Subjugators Chapter. Those are two cool-as-hell sounding alien races.
How do you feel about the Black Templars fluff retcon, going from “Imperial Truthers” to hyper-religious “Imperial Culters”?
I feel… distant. On one hand, I think Guy Haley dealt with it well, and he’s the consummate professional with this stuff. Whether he loves something or hates something, you’ll never know. He turns his book in, the book is great, and that’s that. He doesn’t dissolve into 8 months of crippling doubt, rewrites, and back-and-forths with other loreheads like I do.
It’s not that I dislike that specific change, exactly. I don’t think it’s bad, it’s just not a difference I personally enjoy. And that’s not me being diplomatic. I genuinely don’t think it’s worse or better, it’s just a difference I don’t want to write about. Yet? I might feel different if inspiration strikes.
I also have the advantage of being in all those conversations (and, more rarely, meetings) where important IP people have drilled into my skull “There is no one true 40K, there’s just the way you look at the lore through your own lenses”. So, to me, it’s one of those things, if you get me? If I wrote about the Templars, they’d probably? hopefully? still be more like the classic Templars, because of 40K’s stance on loose canon.
Part of my “Hmm, not for me, thanks” is that I feel like it’s such a sea change, and it crosses the boundary of what the Templars are to me, in some respects. At least insofar as I’ve always understood them. The Space Marines are inherently autonomous, not feeding upon Imperial culture, or even part of it, unless they choose to be, and literally deciding their level of involvement with the institutions of the Adeptus Terra. It strikes me as cool, but not really my flavour, for the Templars to adhere to the precepts of the Ecclesiarchy. Or even align with their beliefs, really. As much as 40K is about ignorance, and as much as everyone is some degree of wrong/in the dark/ignorant, the Templars already had their own thing without needing to stick that closely to the historical Templar, uh, template. Like, their beliefs are pretty much the least historically interesting thing about various knightly orders, so having it define the Templars in 40K isn’t for me.
Again, I don’t think it’s bad. (I’d say if I did.) It’s just not my flavour.
In Void Stalker, Uzas says that Sevatar is still alive. His fate is still pretty open ended in the Horus Heresy series. Was Uzas having a lucid moment, and does he know the fate of Sevatar?
I think it’d be a reach if he made it to M41, and if he did, he’s certainly not important. Legion First Captains are serious business, and I know some of them are still kicking at that point, but I’ll be 100% honest, no, Sevatar doesn’t survive into the Dark Millennium.
He has an arc. I worked it out with Alan Bligh a while back. He has a future, and I’m pretty sure we’ll see it in some form within a few years. But his role in the Horus Heresy is pretty much just his prologue. His real story is in the years after the Horus Heresy. And it’s probably not a spoiler to say he’s never going to be a great hero on either side of the Traitor/Loyalist divide, with his name echoing gloriously into eternity.
Sevatar is seeking righteousness, in a way. He has a line at some point (I think it’s to Altani or the Sin-Eater) where he says “I’m not on anyone’s side.” And that sums him up, not because he’s some badass space loner, but because the structures within which he’s matured and fought for have, by and large, failed. Not failed him. Just failed. At least from his perspective.
And his arc is a response to that. Can’t really be too much more specific, sorry!
Hope that helps a little!
I really wanted to ask, How did you come up with the idea on how powerful to make the emperor and what type of powers would he have?. Was it difficult to make him look awesome but not to over the top cheesy? . I read the book by graham, the wolf of ash and fire and saw similar powers used in that book and your book. The final scene seeing him finally unleashed was BEYOND epic dude, seriously. It must of been awesome to write about this epic character of legend and of course nerve wracking as fuck. thanks man.
Thank you!
That was a weird scene in a lot of ways, because it had to be narratively satisfying after all that buildup and the fact it was literally the death of the Emperor’s dream. I’ve been sincerely gratified (read: relieved) with the response to The Master of Mankind, but especially to that scene.
There were a few emails flying back and forth between me and Alan Bligh at the time, because I was haranguing him about what the Emperor would be able to do on the tabletop. In the end I sent him the first draft and he gave me the go-ahead.
It’s not like the rules have ever reflected the lore all that perfectly, we all know that, but I didn’t want to directly bugger anything up. So I’m glad I checked.
Overall the Ask Me Anything session had a lot of great questions and it was really interesting to read what Aaron Dembski-Bowden had to say about some of them. This is just a few examples of what was asked on the Reddit page so make sure you head on over for the rest.
What are your thoughts? We know the session is over, but is there anything you would have liked to ask? Let us know in the comments below.
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