Adeptus Ridiculous - ​Are You Winning, Guilliman? (Dark Imperium: Godblight) | Warhammer 40k Lore

Episode Date: March 25, 2026

https://www.patreon.com/AdeptusRidiculoushttps://www.adeptusridiculous.com/https://twitter.com/AdRidiculoushttps://shop.orchideight.com/collections/adeptus-ridiculousIn the grand finale of the Dark Imperium trilogy, Roboute Guilliman is having a spectacularly bad time. Not only is he forced into a miserable reunion with his stinky brother Mortarion, but he’s also dodging fanatic priests and dealing with Ku'Gath's ultimate weapon: the Godblight.Things get so bad that Guilliman actually dies, only to have a lovely chat with the Emperor, who kindly reminds him that he is nothing more than a tool, a number, and a weapon. Truly, the "#1 Dad" of the 41st Millennium.Support the show

Welcome, everyone, to another episode of the Adeptus Ridiculous podcast. My name is D.K. Diamantis, his name is Bricky. We also have Kiryoth here, and that's great. But before we get into all that, if you enjoy today's episode and maybe you want to support the podcast, head over to patreon.com slash adeptus ridiculous, where you can get access to the Discord, bloopers if they happen, $15 tier gets you access to all of our posters in just the most crispy, immaculate digital form you've ever seen, Patreon.com slash, Adeptus, ridiculous. Bricky, what's up?

Um, I'm Bricky. Uh, I don't, I don't know if we have any coins left or anything, but first thing's first, there's a poster. So, oh, apparently Shai says we have two Patreon awards today, a poster, which is, wait. Okay, that, okay, I, you, that's right. You showed me the work in progress for this and it completely escaped my brain because I'm very attentive and remember things. What the hell is this? The unsung heroes? I don't know what to make of this. Oh, I get it.

Okay, so Shai has, it is a bit meta, Shai says. Since Bricky made new merch dedicated to most of the crew and included the most important member, Craig. Shy figured we can actually dedicate a poster to the other members of the crew who might not contribute as much as Craig does, but still help a whole. lot. So we have Halisday as the lead vocals and poster art. We have Sparky who's on the strings and the assistant video editor. And we have Ted

Zero in the first violin and thumbnail master. Oh, okay. Wait, that's... Literally the unsung heroes of Adric. Wait, I'm sorry. Is an electric guitar considered strings? It has strings.

Yeah, it's got six of them. I know it's gone. if you want to get funky. But like, I know it's got strings, but like, is it, really? Is that called strings? I thought strings was like a big, traditionally violin viola, chillo type thing. Yeah, if you're talking, if you're talking orchestras, then typically,

well, typically there isn't a guitar there at all. But it's still, you know, it's, it's, it's, it's, it's gone. It's got on. It's the only way you make noise with them. So, you know, I think, I think we can allow it for this one. All right. Well, okay. It's our character's based.

on their internet personas and OCs. This poster also includes text and no text version, individual character concept art, their inspirations and work in progress sketches for the $15 tier. Plus, you get all the previous posters since day one. Okay. You know what? That's actually pretty sweet.

I didn't, I did not look, I didn't think about that. All right. Okay. I think that is a justifiably dope poster. Looks great. I would agree. Yep. Yeah.

And it shouts out the people that helps us. Great. Love it. It's not, they're not quite. as big of a deal as Craig is, but I still appreciate their time immensely. So true. So true.

Second. Yeah, second. Do you want me to do it or you? Oh, you can do it. Go for it. The second content type is what a lot of people have been asking for since we hire Possum. Episode scripts. Now, we unfortunately can't post the full scripts because they will be instantly scraped by AI

bots. But that's, I didn't even think about that. Crap. Oof. I hate this world. But instead, Possom did something even cooler. They wrote an entire progress report on their plague war script writing, how they did research, what they chose to show, and not show, and for which reasons. And examples of chapter summaries and script writing notes.

It's super cool read, and part one of it is on Patreon right now for any one of the paid tier, which is if you're paying any amount at all. So that's actually, okay, so I did not think about the fact that it could be scraped by AIBots. That's really unfortunate. however a little bit of a vision behind the madness i do think is uh is really cool and a honestly i i think the alternative is like a little cooler because it's like if you just post the script it's like oh yeah here's literally what they said in the episode i just watched but actually getting like a little bit of like possum's mindset into it i think is i think it's a little cooler actually all right possum here's uh here's the thing if if we read this and you're and you're go on

there and you're like, here's how I do my researching and it's a bunch of malarkey. You've doomed us all. You've doomed us all, possum. A bunch of malarkey, huh? I use chat GPT to. That's not true. That is not true. It's not a thing that happens.

It's a lot more hard work than that. All right. If it's a bunch of malarkey, you're getting monarchyed. There's the, um, the head. That was okay. There's the poster. It is available for physical purchase at Orchidate down in the description. as well as some of the single coins still and,

you know, the little guys, objective markers, dice and so on. And then if you want to check out the, the possum in the garbage pin, the possum in the AdRick branded garbage bin, you can check that out on any support level for Patreon. I think the, which the cheapest shy like two bucks? Three bucks? I forget.

It's been a while. Can we actually have an AdRick branded trash can that people can roll their dice in. See, originally, me and Poor Hammer were thinking of an idea of having like the Poor Hammer bucket where it's just like a big

branded bucket and then like you throw a bunch of dice in the bucket. But we'll figure something out. Okay. Anyway. Oh, Karyoth is here as well. Kirioth. Hi.

Hello. We've, we've done that we've done the things. We've done the intros. We're going to have to go straight into it. I mean, Palsam has warned us. Parsim has given an insight into how they do scripts,

which is amazing. The insight for the start of this script is simply, ain't no time for a quote. I crammed as much as I could in this sucker right here. If it wasn't included, there's only so many hours in the day. Now get on with it.

So, I think we might, I think we may have to make a start. Also, the script title for this one is she got on my blight till I amath So, excellence. That's a minus two, Possum. Yeah, that'll, that's, that's, that's, that's, that's not, no, no, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not, I'm not giving you anything for that one.

Feels wrong, like properly wrong. And also the, uh, the, the, the title for the first, sort of the first section is Mr. Prime Mark, there has been a second war, which I, I love that. That's better. That's better. Made up for the last one, Possum, yeah. A, a, uh, a Mr. Something. A second, a second, a second something, insert values there is always a goodie. It's a classic. It's an absolute classic. So we're going to go straight in because having read through this a couple of times to prepare, it's pretty long. So let's go. On a plague-covered planet, we follow two children who are also not kids and are old, because Nurgle is fun, and they're named Chirala and Oediphas. And as they walk around a location

known as the Stink Forest, oh dear Lord, by the way, the Stink Forest is also one. Yep. I mean, it's important to point out, the stink forest is also what I call, and then there's a, this has been redacted by the innuendo police note. Just in case you were wanting the end of that punchline, you can't have it. Right. Anyway, they're exploring this world where mushrooms now stand like skyscrapers, and it's honestly, relatively normal as far as a chaos-afflicted world is concerned. Anyway, there's a bit of normalcy there, and life has shifted from what it once was to what it is now. As to explore, they find something beautiful, a shimmering light amidst wreckage where they're scavenging for treasures. Chirala is enchanted by it and explores it further until encountering a whimsical creature that looks crystalline.

Crystals on a plague planet. Bit interested in there. Bit of bits. So when you say relatively normal for a plague planet, I assume you mean like this place is full of stink and all kinds of gross fungal stuff, but like the ground is not like ethereal and will remove reality type shit. Yeah, they can kind of get on with their day to day in as much as you can on a, you know, a plague planet. On a plague planet, yeah. Lockers and everything on this plague planet or just fungus everywhere and decay and stink and rot.

It's properly nergly, but it doesn't seem to be, you know, you disintegrate just by existing there, which is, you know, it's pretty good. That's good. Yeah. I think. So. Well, yeah. Is it? No, I mean, I'd say it's good.

Yeah. I'd say that that's a, like, that is a good thing that you don't disintegrate, but like also the giant mushroom clouds or, and mushrooms are, you know, a thing. Yeah, I don't really want to be waiting through the stink forest, though. That's because you're not touching that one. Someone's going to make the innuendo. It's not going to be me, but damn it. We keep talking about the sting forest. Wading through the stink forest.

So, Chirala has found this sort of crystalline creature. It would be a shame if it trapped Chirala's soul into a crystal and erased her from existence before a bunch of other Zincian creatures pour out of the crystal and invade the planet, wouldn't it? Boy, that's oddly specific. It is for good reason, because that's exactly. The first shadow is a literary device. So all of the above happens, including the other one, Oediphas being torn into pieces, and it becomes clear that something has changed.

The gods are fighting and the war in the rift has begun. Now at this point, we are moving over to good old, poor, trying his best, but feeling a bit over his head, Felix. Tetrarch Decimus Felix, to be specific, boarding McCrague's honour. they're kind of frantically for two reasons. He has, over time, begun to fill into his new role, but he's quite overwhelmed with it. He's working on protecting his region of Ultramar, and he's having a difficult time. Navigating so many threats in the Vespitor Front and having just a very rough time for someone new at their job, he wishes to speak with Gillerman about the situation. He also really wants to speak to him about a missing prisoner, which is a demon host

that was once an inquisitorial interrogator named Remo that Felix had captured, a demon host that he had planned on executing, which was mysteriously transported elsewhere under his nose. He is not happy about this for, I think, understandable reasons. This never is never a happy moment when you lose a demon host. He just, he just kind of got up and left. It's like, I'm not feeling this anymore, guys.

I'm just going to go get some milk, guys. Don't worry. I'll get right back in my chains. Doesn't get back in his chains. Ever. Absolutely. He barges in and demands to speak to Gilliman, half expecting the Primark to be irritated by his arrival. But Gilliman seems to have sort of expected him to barge in. He asks him how he's going and Felix is very much like, honestly, Dad, everything is a nightmare. There's tyrannids everywhere. There's orc raiders. There's necrons, human pirates, chaos and a whole bunch of planets just not. giving their tithes. He's taking drastic action against the worlds that aren't being agreeable,

and he apologises for it. Gilliman again tries to assure Felix and tells him that it makes sense, and that this isn't like Felix's fault or anything. This is the nature of a divided ultramar. He then asked Felix if he thinks people know what, if he thinks people know what's good for them. Felix says that he's technically only not been modified by call for like 12 years and doesn't know people. That's just really funny. Just a really funny statement. I'm centuries old, but I'm basically 12. What do you expect me to say with it?

What do you mean? Oh, no, not another one of these. If you looked at the Imperium, you could very easily be like, yeah, these idiots have no clue what's good for them. Like, they got no idea. They're just all a bunch of like, I mean, clearly this is sort of like, oh, you've been, brainwashed by religion kind of thing, but still, they have no clue what they actually need. Yeah, absolutely not. It's not going well, is it? Let's be honest. Gilliman says that this is not an excuse and asks him what his like empathetic instincts say.

And Felix says that people as individuals can be intelligent, but as a group, they are animals that need a firm hand. A statement that surprises Gilliman, who now sees an ocean of disappointment between his one, world and the world that his son mentally is on. He then sort of admits that yes, the demon host is in his captivity, confirming Felix's frustration. Gilliman wanted to question it to learn more about Mortarian's plans for Iax. Felix was now not only pissed off, but he was also worried, because this was a bad idea in his eyes, and you can't trust what a demon host says. Gilliman says that this might not be the case here. His concilius Icarna believes that Rimo's soul is still clinging on within the host, and that there's a chance that this is because he wanted to

serve the Imperium one final time, and this could force him to force the demon to tell the truth. And then, after the interrogation, the demon host would be killed. He offers Felix a chance to see the interrogation, and Felix accepts that invitation. They joined the members of Gilliman's concilia, including Donus Maxim of the Aurora chapter, and also involved are Ionan Grud, terrible last name. I only grudge. Yikes.

I mean, come on. Who is the brother captain of the Grey Knight's Fourth Brotherhood and is coincidentally, or not coincidentally at all, the guy who bodied typhus in the last book, and an Eldar farseer

named Elian Natase sent by Eldrad because Eldrad is just showing up at the end of book series like it's his job at this point. I was literally about to say that almost verbatim. Eldrad just as it just shows up. I feel like whenever they need something, they're just like, all right, just get Eldrad in there.

He's the guy, I guess. He'll handle it for us all. Our Eldar representation, yeah. It's so often. I'm trying to, there's a, there's a meme that I've only seen like twice, but it feels weirdly, it feels weirdly apt for Eldrad showing up at the end of every trilogy. It's the one where, where the guy's like, and now I shall depart or whatever. And then someone's going, but you didn't do anything. Oh, the magician one.

Yeah. Yeah. No, excuse me. That is the Sailor Moon Giff with Tuxedo Mask that says, I've saved the day. You didn't do anything in a way. That's a sailor one thing. Fast one. Yeah.

I knew, I knew, what's that old joke where it's like the best way to learn something on the internet is to say something intentionally wrong and someone will immediately rush to correct you? That is perfect. I said, I said magician man. And I got way more information. and now I've been cultured. It's a tuxedo mask. Tocito mask from Sailor Moon. My apology, sir.

It's all right. Don't worry about it. Not everybody's cultured, I guess. These are all words that I understand. Sure. So, by the way, the name of this, of this, this farcea might be familiar because it's the same name as the half-elder Ultramarine from first edition slash rogue trader. So a nice little...

Oh, nice little... Easter egg there? I'm assuming that's an Easter egg and it is not in fact the half-human Eldar character. It is not. He's fully Eldor now, so. But I quite like that. Getting back in there.

Fortunately, the demon inhabiting the body of Remo, well, you know, fortunately, I guess, that demon is Zincheon and Gilliman clocks this during the interrogation and basically says that Mortarian is favoured in the eyes of the god that is this

demon's sworn enemy. This could be like a little victory for him. The demon says it'll answer Zinche's numbers question-wise, which is how many D-K? Oh. I... He's thinking hard.

Let's say seven. No, that's Nurgle. Okay, all right. You know Nogel's seven? Who's eight? It's got to be cool. No. Oh, don't you

How dare you? Right? Corn's eight So Zich would be Nine? There we go. I really wanted you to say six. You want to you?

No, no, I wanted you just go to the opposite. No, I wanted you to go to the opposite. Oh, okay. Cool. Thank God. Because once one spreeky was like, hey, hey, don't you? I was like, oh no. Did I, did I mix it up like the way I mix up like

Legion numbers. Because I was like, oh, God, I have enough trouble with, like, I don't even know all the Legion numbers. And then it's like, oh, yeah, what's the God's number? And it's like, guys, please, I'm stupid. Go on. I have the same thing with Legion numbers where I know them until someone asks me one and then my mind goes blank.

Like, if I'm sat there by myself, I can do it. It's fine. But as soon as the pressure rises, that's it. It's game over. It's just like, there are no numbers. allegiance. Why are you asking me this question? Can I leave? And that's it. So I can sympathize. I can't feel there are bones. There are. It's true. I'm known to fold under literally no pressure. So we go. Name a woman. For a dollar. Name a woman. Any woman. Any woman. Put down the yoga bag.

Name a woman. I always remember Florence Nightingale precisely because of a short. thought with that exact format and then the person was like, why Florence Nightingale? He's like, I don't know. She invented medicine or something and then it just ends. And I'm like, that's my kind of folding under the pressure. Love it. All right. So we've got nine questions. The first one is, where is Mortarian? And he's on Iaxe, like Mortarian told Gilliman himself. So, cool. Number two, what is his intention to kill you? Which is a also what he's already said. Three, how would he kill Gilliman? With a disease to honor Nurgle.

Four, I'm a prime-arc. What do you mean disease? Coagath is brewing something nasty in Nurgle's part on Iaxe with your blood. Five, is the cauldron you speak of causing all the issues in Ultramar? Obviously yes. Six, and if I destroy it, you'll ruin your brother's day. Seven, where is it? In the warp in Nurgle's garden? And then eight is, where is it on I-A-A-A-A-A. Axe, which I think is probably the more sensible question. And this is proper Zinchen warp nonsense. Love this. Everywhere and nowhere on Iaxe.

And then he then he pinches the bridge of his nose. Yeah. And he's like, God, damn it. Well, Gelleman then just yells at the demon to stop messing around and answer the question properly. I take it after his brother Dorn. and I can see. Yeah. Also,

the demon kind of wasted those first two questions, didn't he? Like, that's literally information he had been told to by Mortarian about what he was going to do. He clearly isn't like, he's clearly not dealt with this very much. He probably is a lot better at just getting the answers he wants

because he's like 10 feet tall. Fair. So having yelled at the demon, the demon clarifies that I, Iax has become Pestiliacs. It's a manifestation of Nurgle's garden itself at this point. The demon also tells him that the goal is to pull all of Ultramar into the warp like what happened to Iax, and that Gileman is the key to stopping it. And then finally, the demon has asked, where is the cauldron? The demon gives a riddle that it's in a place of life made one of sickness.

He then says, no more questions. Now excuse me and let me kill everything in this room. The demon busts out of its bonds, and before the grey night like, librarian can act, Gilliman destroys the demon with his father's sword. Everyone stands there horrified, but none more than the Grey Knight who essentially says, I don't give a shit who you are, this is a terrible idea, and the rest of the Grey Knights and me are done. And that's the end of their involvement with Gilman for now, because clearly asking demon hosts questions is not a sanctified practice for them. No, no. I'm sure in the 10 tombs that the Great Knights carry around their shoulders.

They're probably sitting there like, this sucked, man. What a, what a terrible idea. Sure if they could have, they would have turned on Gilliman, but, you know, being prime mark and having the emperor sword. Let me consult my shoulder book. Oh, yeah, this was a bad idea. Don't need to consult the book, sir. The inscription on my knee also agrees.

So here out number two to one. What the fuck is your problem? I just love a gray night lifting his knee going, yep, checks out. That's what the inscription says, sir. Can we have? I'm sorry. There's a SpongeBob and only I'm going to get this,

but there's a bubble bass goes in and he's like, I believe you owe me like three bucks. It's like your guarantee. And he points at the menu and it's like the tiniest, tiniest, tiniest fine print of all time as it keeps zooming in saying like money back guarantee. because Mr. Craves is cheap.

I'm just imagining, I'm just imagining the gray night, like pointing to various parts of his armor being like, you're not supposed to converse with a demon host. It says here on the Patella, here on the elbow, and on my back somewhere that I can't reach. I can appreciate that.

I don't know the SpongeBob part, but I get it. I immediately went to the, the meme of the Inquisitor looking at a book. There's a Photoshop of a totally different meme. And it's like, yeah, says here you're a heretic. I just like the idea of that same meme but a grey knight looking at his kneecap and just saying it says here this was a bad idea. I want to see that. I don't have the

talent for it. If someone else does, that would be lovely. So with all of this, things are shifting quite badly for Mortarian who is not paying attention to Nergel. Because of course he isn't, he is the sulky one. So as the war in the rift is a war between the gods themselves, priority has completely shifted in the eyes of Nurgle, and his forces are moving back to the Scourge Stars. Typhus is more than willing to accept this fact, and plans to bring a bunch of deathguard with him, but Mortarian refuses. Tiphis thinks this is absurd, and he performs his role as Nurgle ordains, and Mortarian snaps back. Has Nurgle himself come out of his dark house and told Tifus that he needs to go to the Scourge Stars? Mortarian has heard no such calls,

and if Nogel wanted him to go fight the war in the rift, he would tell him directly. Typhus says that Mortarian needs to remember that despite being a prime arc, he is a servant to Nurgel, and that he needs to heed his commands no matter how subtle they may be, and Mortarian says he will not take

orders from a first captain who owes everything to him before smashing the telephone fungus they were using to talk to each other into pieces. Wait, was it actually a telephone fungus? Were they like picking up the rotary phone, except each is like a little pustule.

Ew, man. I just imagine like a mushroom fungus phone that had like little blobule buttons on it that all just exploded and pussed when you push the number on them. My first, my first thought was like was Dante from Devil May Cry 5. It's like a big gross pestle of phone. He picks it up and he's like, demon may cry or something like that. Hey, Ted, put it on the thumbnail. If you haven't made the thumbnail yet, put it on the thumbnail. It just seems so goofy, you know?

It's fair. Also, this seems like it's going to be like, um, this feels like it's going to be Mortarian and the forces of Nergel fail because, again, Mortarian and Typhus fucking hate each other. And Mortarian, not a big fan of Nergel. And I feel like that's going to be one of the big selling points of this whole shindig, where like they could have won if they all agreed, but. in typical Warhammer faction, they don't. I mean, isn't like an extensive lack of tolerance, a major point of Warhammer in general.

Yeah, yeah, yeah, that's fair. Well, Maurerian's rebellion was not unnoticed because in Nurgle's house, within the garden, an eye rolled in its socket to gaze upon Ultramar. Kugath is toiling away within Nurgle's cauldron and is deeply disturbed by everything that's shifted. Septicus was killed by the Primark and he's afraid once again about his plans to remain in Nurgle's favour. Then the great unclean one Rottigus rises from the cauldron. He tells Kugath about the war and that they need to go. Kugath doesn't wish to move and Rottigas has a few words about this.

Ego, D.K., have a chunky quote. By the way, Rodney is if you're unfamiliar, He's the great unclean one that has like the funny hair. He's got the emo hair. Yeah. He has, is he like the big, uh,

mini that people usually have of like the great unclean one? Yeah. So, so every greater demon has like a generic, aka like a great and clean one or a keeper of secrets and stuff. And then you have the singular named one like scar brand and chelaxi. That's a rodigis. That's the named one.

Got you. Oh, wait. It's not, it's like a, well, I think it's made to look like. like hair, but it's not. Yeah.

God, that's disgusting. It's so good. The more you look at it, the more you're like, oh, my lord. Yeah, agreed and clean ones are not. Anyway, big beefy quote, but this is a catastrophe, said Kugath. My plague is nearly finished. I have crafted something special,

something delightful that will kill the anathemas sun's spirit and body. This is as good as the plague that made me. It's better. "'Ach, nobody cares,' said Rodigus, and dabbled his fingers in the bath. "'The anathemas son,' he said mockingly. "'Oh, do shut up! What is he? One man, one counterfeit demigod. This is a game of real gods. This reality is doomed, Cougath. The mortals here are finished.

They always lose in the end, and this bunch have all already lost. They just can't see it yet. The gods just fight over the spoils before the next corruption begins. fresh realms await he gave Cougath a sly look surely that makes even you happy miserable one poor Cougath he's working so hard he's working so hard

and it feels like he just doesn't get to finish his plans and also all the other great and clean ones are like you're miserable and I don't want to talk to you I'm just like God you suck to be around I'm just not interested in this they're clowning on you in the quote retweets Kugath.

So Kugath speaks to Mortarian and Mortarian is well aware of what's going to happen but they need to keep going regardless because they are very close to perfection. Now, I need your feedback on the next section's title

because this is something that I have no memory of. That really religious part of the Charlie Brown Christmas special everyone always forgets about. The Charlie Brown Christmas special, I think. came out before I was alive. So I'm not, I got nothing on that one. I'm sorry. That was one I had to have explained to me because I've, I've seen that once. And I don't

remember really anything about it, let alone the really religious part of it. But apparently it's there and it's jarring. So this, this is where we go into something exceptionally theological. The faith of the Imperium has been causing Gilliman's mind to reel. And the questions about his father's divinity have stuck with him. Something that also stuck with him was Matthew. As he yelled at him, he could see the adoration shining in his eyes, and Matthew could feel the sensation of religious ecstasy building up in his stomach. Weird.

Despite being belittled and yelled at, he remained firm, probably in more ways than one. But... God damn, awesome. I'm going to give you a plus two, but I'm going to shake my head, so I know that you're all going to agree. Yeah, definitely. shaken head not agreeing. By the time

Gilliman sits down and opens up the lectitio divinit oh dear God. It's not like the Lititio divinatatus. Thank you, Lorgar. God damn. The actions of Matthew and the experience of Parmenio

had already been stewing in his brain. At the start of everything, Gilliman was firm and hardlined about the idea that his father was not only a divine being, but also something that did not wish to be worshipped as a god. As his experiences continued, questions and doubts began to seep into his mind. Sure, his father said he didn't wish to be worshipped, but his father had also said many other

things that were not true. Could it be that this was a lie as well? I mean, probably yes. It's my read on it overall. Even the concept of opening the book written by his brother was a product of his own doubt. When his brother was alive, he always condemned what Logar said and did, but with no good reason. Gilemon was a rationalist, and Logar was far more curious. Maybe he didn't ever read the Letticio divinitatus because he felt that his brother was misguided, but maybe he also refused to read it because his brother might be right, and the idea of him being right frightened him. Gilliman, after finishing his brother's book, invites Donis Maxim, the librarian of the Aurora chapter, and Ileian Natase, the Ulhu Farsir, and also the one who shares the name of the half-elf from Rogue Trader,

to discuss more in depth regarding godhood. He says that he wants to speak about godhood, and Maxim says in a half-joking manner, should you not ask a priest? And Gilliman says he's sick a priest, and he wants to ask those who are capable to psychically perceive the world around them. very sort of a rational, skeptic way of approaching that subject. I don't want someone of faith. I want like sort of kind of. It's a little bit of strange, though, because like if we take his objective statement,

he's like, I don't want a priest. I want a psychic, which it's sort of in a way, which like I know what he means, but it is a really funny, like, objective statement. I'm sorry, I'm fair, Gileman waking up and seeing what the Imperium has come,

I become like, of course he doesn't want a priest, right? Like that, he doesn't, he doesn't want religious people. I don't want religion at all. He'd probably die before he asked a priest,

their opinion. It's, I mean, I think just, I guess it makes sense, I guess maybe it's not a psychic. It's more like, I don't want a priest,

I want a wizard. But even so. It's a very... Funny class for that in an actual church. That'd be great. A wizard? Yeah, I want a wizard. I don't want you.

I'm not looking for a hominy in a parish and I slend. I'm looking for fucking Gandalf in the corner. So Gileman starts out by asking, what is a god? Maxim says anything that he has met that has called itself a god. is his enemy and Iliam says what like even your master? Maxim says the emperor denied his godhood and the farceer says yes he denied but is he still in denial. Maxim says that falsehood is the essence of godhood which is why no gods are needed. Chaos brings only horror. The farceer says that not all gods are evil. Sure the ones born out of the Emitterium are evil but other gods have

existed that were not. The Eldar defined gods by two categories, the Materium and the war. The Ones of the Materium, like the Catan, are essential to the influence of the structure of the material. The warp gods are diverse, and concentrations of feeling and emotion. His ancestors' gods, though, were a mix of both. There's so many things that fit the definition of what a God is, but just because something is a God doesn't mean it requires faith. The Catan, for instance, were hungry and evil to mortals, but they didn't require any belief system to exist, and the four gods of chaos are self-sustaining. Hell, the great devourer is the mind of the tyrannage generated by unthinking actions and is even greater than anything else in the galaxy.

Is that a god? Some would say yes, but some will also say no. Gilliman says that if people cease to believe in the emperor, he would not vanish. He has a physical form and he's not a god. The farceeer says that the basis of his argument is that the emperor was a man to begin with, and that the man that currently sits on the throne is the same man, while also believing that at no point did he lie. There are plenty of gods who are once mortal, including Gileman. To countless billions, he is a god walking the galaxy once more. Doesn't that make him a god, whether he likes it or not? Gilliman says no, he's not, and Farsir says that wherever you go, victory follows in your wake.

The walk calms at your approach and your presence inspires everyone with overwhelming belief. How long will it be for the first miracle to be proclaimed in your name? Or has that already happened with the girl on? Parmenio. Giliman asks if he thinks that he did that and he said, I'm just asking you to consider it. We're not talking sorcery. We're talking faith and belief and the manipulating force behind it. And this belief is overwhelming and clearly having an impact. His kind birth to God, perhaps it's time for humans to do the same. Weirdly ominous though that last turn. I think we've had a conversation about this before, haven't we? The definition of what is a

God and um oh yeah i'm sure we've had this talk a bunch right when it comes to like the emperor and big e and like is he just a you know pseudo god of faith and does that even make you a god and yeah we've definitely talked about this before yeah and like it's actually kind of interesting because we clearly talked about this after this book came out because we did not start the podcast when this book this book was already out but um that's relatively interesting that they they really kind of lay it out like that. So, so kind of, not, not cut and dry, but they're like, yeah, it's, there's more than just this. It does a lot to like, when I say balance out the universe as balance away, kind of introducing

the idea of, or at least reinforcing the idea that a lot of is up to personal, like, interpretation, even though there are definite things that are fully referred to as gods. There's a whole layer of, oh, well, faith counts for so much of it that there's a lot left, up in the air. It's kind of nice to get that sort of almost like reinforcing how vague it is, which is a fun way of doing it. Because yeah, they are right. There are the Eldar gods. There are the star gods. There are the chaos gods. But yeah, we could argue about this for a long ass time. I was going to say, this could be a whole episode by itself. I mean, I mean, the short answer is the way the warp works is that with enough saturation, anything could be

considered a god. It's what happens. to the emperor, right? But, yeah, I don't know. No, at this point, Gillam... No, sorry, Shai's little comment of religious lore in 40K was written in the 90s by British nerds who knew fuck all about religion, which I'd say it's half, right, but not fully,

but I'd say half. It's goofy. All right. So at this point, Gilliman asks Maximus thoughts and asks if he thinks the emperor is a god. He says that the emperor is the emperor. it's not enough to accept the emperor's power.

Something has been seen and it cannot be discounted. It could be true that the emperor is back at work again in the Imperium. Gelleman pauses and the farcea says that the phenomena is beyond him, meaning it's also beyond the concilius Icarna, who are not as goaded as he is with the warp. Gilliman says, on one hand, I have a priest that believes that my father fights through me, and on the other, we need to be worried there's manipulation going on, and that they had both given him much to think about.

And he actually thanks them, you know, instead of yelling at them and screaming that they should get the fuck out. So, you know, it definitely thinks more with them than the priest for sure. Now, this, for some reason, this has become one of my favorite random things out of titles because I forgot this was a thing. So scrolling down earlier today and seeing just that. What a reason? The tattle slug!

I mean, please tell me it is a Nurgle slug that tells you off, or to like, a great unclean one if you're being bad. A literal tattletail slug, hell, yeah. You are so close. Oh, what am I missing? So, so, Kugan at this point is now on a really bad spot. He is fully dedicated to his cause to kill Gilliman, but now he knows that it's a bit all or nothing in the eyes of the grandfather. If he and Maltarian are to defy a nurgle, they'd better get it right. so he needs help.

Fortunately, there is a demon that can help, a horrific winged maggot called a tattleslug. Kugath summons the tattleslug to assist him on learning more about Gilliman's plans, but in order to collaborate with a tattel slug, you need to give it something too. If you give a tattel slug a secret of equal or greater value, it'll do its infiltration work. He tells the tattel slug that he has a drop of Gilliman's blood,

and the slug is like, all right, bet, and goes off to gather info. conveniently around this time Captain Diamida Tophelius of the Ultramar Auxilia is having nightmares about a pestilence planet and wakes up abruptly and in a short amount of time he learns of Gileman's plans concerning Iaxe So the Tattleslug basically just goes

If you give me a secret I will find out a secret You give him a secret He goes off, possesses some poor bastard And they have to go And they are compelled to listen in on conversations find out the goods and then the tattleslug will go back and tell the person who originally gave it a secret to begin with, which is excellent. And it's called the tattleslug, which is a great name, like actually good naming. But it's got to be a secret that is like on par.

Like you can't be like, oh yeah, go find out what Gilliman's up to. And then you tell like, oh, yeah, big secret, didn't bathe yesterday. Great unclean one. I knew that. I could smell it when I came in. Yeah. Something decent. So here we move into the section that Possum is named Hydrogen Bomb versus Coffing Baby. So, Gillerman and his fleet prepare to engage the enemy blockade around Iax.

And Gilliman is ready to take his landing craft, the Aquila resplendum, which was gifted to him by the custodies and is shaped like an aquila, and personally lead an assault with his victory. guard and the custodies. Colkin thinks this is a needless risk, but Gilliman assures him that this is a strategic one. A demonstration of pure courage and might would potentially demoralize Mortarian and his forces. They managed to breach and make a landing on a truly ancient ship, now corrupted to serve Immortarians' fleet. As they secure it, Gilliman reflects on everything going on. Colkin is there, but Gilliman knows that even he is a thorn in his side. The custodians don't trust him, and should he act suspiciously, they would likely try to kill him. Then, of course, Matthew is only growing in influence and power, so much that any action against him could see to it that the administratum

would get involved in some way. He wondered what Mortarian thought of this. Was Giliman a slave to the Imperium, like his brother said? Was Mortarian truly blind to what Nurgle had done to him? Gilliman feels sorry for his brothers who fell, all of them. He didn't love these brothers equally, but he did love them, and he mourned them and the people they used. used to be. As the perimeter was secured, Gilliman, fresh off the nostalgia trip, ignites the Emperor's sword,

yelling for the Emperor, for Ultramar, at quote-unquote shocking levels before fucking booking it into the depths of this plague ship. So at this point... What was the White Scar do on his bike who, like, went in that one time and then, like, got obliterated but saved people? That's just kind of the vibe I got.

Yeah. That was the Battle of Terra with the white scar dude that went crazy. Yeah, oh yeah, that was with Hal, Amber King. Yeah. Look at him go. Oh, that is the perfect gift for that. So Colkin watches the Primark fucking leg it past him at indescribable speed and essentially crowd dives into the hordes of Neverborn

and essentially goes, holy shit, get the fuck out there. What are you all doing? out there, he's going to die, protect the Primark right now. Colkin and the other custodies try to make their way to him, but Gilliman is in the thick of it. He keeps yelling, someone get his ass without really noticing that the demons are terrified of him. The Primark rushing in to kill these demons was essentially a meteor hitting a builder bear workshop. The destruction is unfathomable to the point where custodian warden Pontus Varsilian has this to say to Culkin.

Here you go, Bricky. Oh, we're supposed to be guarding him, said Varselyum. He had recently completed his fifth century of service and taken the honor robes of the wardens. He needs no guarding tribune. We are, I fear, entirely ancillary to purposes here. Gilliman cuts through the machines of the Death Garden as if they were paper stage props. Yet we must watch him, growled the Tribune. He is not involved.

vulnerable, and you must watch your tone also, Varsilian. Primark, he may be, but in him dwells the hopes of us all. For the moment, for the moment, I will not have him die under my protection because we allowed ourselves to stumble into this ambush. Privately, he can see that Varsilion had a point. There was nothing to greet them in that chamber that could even slow the primark down. Primark, yeah, everyone be talking like that with the primark. when I roll up with two doomsday arcs.

Eat this shit, Gilman. No, it's, he's probably right in a lot of ways, but then occasionally, like, you know, Mortarian just will show up and be like, here's my, my reality eater play. Go, my chuddlings. Not the chudlings. Oh, no.

He's just cutting demons down with the emperor sword, huh? Just permacilling and slicing them to be. Yeah, gosh. I love that it's a custodian with five centuries of service. It's like, what the, I've never seen anything like this. That's a long time to be an active, you know, combatant and then be like, the fuck is happening. Five centuries like, go guard the primark. The fuck am I going to do? What am I going to take the bullets for him? Yeah. So at this point they take the bridge, unsurprisingly, the ship is theirs and they're ready to land first.

But they don't get the chance to do so because someone else has already landed. And it's a group of crusaders led by Matthew. As Gilliman says, the priest has slipped his leash. So Matthew leads his crusade of the witness to the planet and they're singing hymns to the emperor as they land. Matthew is dressed lightly claiming the emperor will protect him and to his credit, he is fearless and frankly terrifying on the field of battle. Swinging his chainsawed with faith and vigor while serving as a beacon of hope, he's able to rally the believers around him into standing up against the horrors on Iax. With reinforcement from the Astromilitarum, they are able to successfully seize

the void port in the name of the emperor, allowing for Killerman to land. What a legend. Matthew. Yeah. When he lands, he sees the true devastation that has enveloped the planet. Citizens are sick and are begging for help, and the planetary governor is in a dire state. Gilliman vows to help as best he can, but he can hear that Matthew is one step ahead of him in the whole calming the masses game by preaching the good word on how Gilliman is here to save them. Matthew rallies the people and encourages them to embrace their faith in the emperor, and that the arrival of the emperor's son is proof that a new day is rising. Gilliman is watching and allows this to happen,

as the words are igniting a flicker of hope within the doomed people of IAC. Bad news though You'll never You'll never guess that this sort of thing could happen in the Imperium But the religious fervour Begins to turn into a And kill the non-believer-style fervor

And at this point, Gilleman has to step in I'm fucking shocked I'm fucking shocked They're normally so reasonable The crowd adores his presence And it's very clear that Gilleman Does not want to be adored He wants people to be loyal to the

Imperium and he needs as much help as he can get. He speaks to Matthew and Matthew explains to Gileman that he has his own little army with equipment and armaments, including tanks, by the way, and explains that it's made up entirely of people who have experienced the grace of the Emperor in their lives. The detail of them having tanks, I don't care how much grace of experience, if you're taking tanks away from the Imperial Guard because you're like, the Emperor loves me, surely that is, That is shot to the head commissar style punishment for that. How are they getting away with that? Yeah.

Killiman's got to be so conflicted. Like, oh, God, I have to be civil with these people. I hate everything that's happening here, but I do kind of need this. Flash the badge. I need to borrow this tank. Religious reasons. God approved. He says at this point that if there's a time to accept his father's divinity, it would be about now.

Gilleman does not believe so, as we've made clear in the past, and makes it clear that he will stop him if he has to. And Matthew essentially says, nah, not so fast, and states that there's plenty of powerful people that believe Gilliman is trying to replace the emperor on the throne. If Gilliman stops the witnesses, a group that exists to serve the emperor directly, how many people will feel? finally be convinced that Gilliman is actually attempting to overthrow the emperor. Now that is dirty play. Imagine nut-eyed Gilliman. Oh man. Jesus.

All right. Matthew's gone from, no, you have to understand. Your father is a god to, look, this is blackmail, okay? You, we're just seeing an honest here. Yeah. Now, to be fair to Matthew, it worked. He couldn't deny what the priest had said. They were a passionate group that provided nothing but hope to those around them.

And whether he likes it or not, this was an inevitability that he had to accept. While all this is going on, by the way, Calgar is standing in Fortress Hera while Magnum McCrag Civitas burns. The assault faced on the planet is overwhelming and he discusses tactics with chief librarian Tigurius. While this is occurring, one of the members of Gilliman's Logos Historic Verita arrives, a man by the name of Fabian Gulgulph, Glefrain. Man, fuck this guy's name. Sure. Yeah.

Gullfrain. Yeah. Gulphrain. That's what I would have gone with Gulefrain. He had been doing research into the libraries in the capital and became a bit obsessed with the Library of Ptolemy. The library, which has artefacts including the original Codex Astartes, was ordered to be sealed by Gilliman himself, an entry was forbidden under penalty of death. Gullfrain's desire to get into the library is becoming a bit obsessive, but he knows that his history chasing is something that ultimately needs to take a big back seat compared to the whole war thing. But we'll get back to him later.

Yeah. Good call. Now, though, now we have the tattles. Slog, part two. Just to reinforce, it is all in caps. Yeah, it is in all caps, thank goodness. All right. So, do you remember that Auxilia Captain Tophelius or Tophilius who had the nightmares? Well, he's standing idly by outside of the Palace of Flowers where Gilliman is about to speak, and he is all over the place.

His emotions are running rampant, and something convinces him to leave his post to sit down and watch the speech. As he watches Gilliman speak encouraging words, a voice in his head dismisses it as a hollow promise to already dead masses. Tophelius is invited to a post-speech briefing with the Primark, and he feels thrilled to attend, for the Tattle Slug has fully taken control. Oh, no, God. I love the Tattel Slug.

It's my favorite book so far. In the meeting, Gilliman states that first landing, the capital city of Iax, very original naming there, would be the base of operations. He would do what he could to rescue the population that he could and provide protection, but due to his presence on the planet, the deathguard will likely to attack first landing even harder than before, and the people there would likely not survive. Gilliman said that the plan is to evacuate the entirety of the city's population and keep them safe in orbit while they continue fighting,

which many of the people attending are upset with, because they wanted to defend their home themselves. But by now, about 80% of the planet is controlled by Mortarians' forces, and this is pretty much do or die. The Tattleslug watches on through Tophelius, disappointed in humanity, but one thing becomes clear as it watches this. Gilliman seems like he has no idea about the virus that Cougathe is making, and he has no idea that Nurgle's cauldron is on the planet. Satisfied with this belief, and as someone looks suspiciously, at Tophelius, the Tattleslug retreats. Conversations continue until Gilliman gets word that Matthew was trying to leave with his crusade,

which has only grown larger. We're talking sororitas, soldiers, and the flagship of this whole operation, a personal war train for Matthew. Jesus. Well, I mean, we need to make sure that we have at least that, right? Oh, for sure. Obviously. I mean, the ability of Matthew to just, you know, conjure this shit out of nowhere by talking well is genuinely hugely impressive.

I mean, he's got a train on land. Like a gigantic, unstoppable, glorious church organ train. That's pretty decent. I mean, even in the real world, if you're a good enough orator, you can kind of make anything happen. You can make anyone believe anything and get you whatever you need. Oh, that's true. I mean, if you want to go down the religious route, what's the name with that?

What's the name of that preacher in the US who's got like a private jet, but he looks like... Oh, the... So you know how little of that narrows it down? No, no, I know exactly what you're referring to. You're referring to that dude who got on the interview and his eyes got like giant and terrifying. Yeah. I know who you're speaking of. I don't know what the fucking megapaster, a billion dollars tax-free asshole is, but that guy.

Yeah, yeah, yeah. You know what you mean? Freak that dude. He's so weird looking. Genuinely horrifying individual. Like really, really scary. So Gilliman leaves to encounter Matthew to see what the hell he's doing, and he links up with Felix.

Felix is angry about Matthew's actions and believes that this is an act of defiance, but Gilliman sees something different. Although this is likely a very reckless thing to do, he sees that they're operating off of unrelenting hope, and he decides to let them leave and continue their crusade. I mean, at this point, if Matthew and his crusade, say get wiped out by Nurgle. It's, they'll have done some damage and Gilliman won't have to deal with the priest's

bullshit anymore. So I would also be like, yeah, sure. Yeah, they're doing good work. Off they go. Oh, yeah. I'm sure Gilliman would be like, oh, darn, they got wiped out doing that. Such a shame that we lost our religious zealots. But I'll remember you fondly, of course, Sure, sure. I had so many conversations with him. We spend so much time together. It truly is. It truly is, it's such a, he's, I mean, he's gone now,

and that is disappointing to so many people. I like the idea that there's just like a eulogy and Gilliman is up there like you just were. And he's fumbling around looking for like, he's like, uh, we had so many conversations. And, um. he hmm one thing you can absolutely you can absolutely say

is that he really he really loved the emperor he definitely oh he just couldn't shut up about him that's all he talked about just couldn't stop talking about the emperor yeah

and Gilam just like he was completely wrong in everything he believed but boy did he believe good for him for him for having the conviction. The strength of his belief was almost infuriating at times. Almost. Now, man, Gilman's like, the strength of his conviction was actually infuriating. I hated it.

It made my blood boil. But you know, he died. He died doing what he loved, which was still yelling about the emperor. I've seen the Vox recordings, I've heard him, and, you know, right up until that last breath, he wouldn't shut the fuck off about the fucking emperor. Golly. Yeah, he's veering into red there, shy, but. He's hard veering into the red, especially with like the electroflail embedded in his groin. Like that's levels of committed that is just it's too high.

You got to back it off occasionally, you know? You know, in all of these talks, we've never talked about an electrophlail being used on an opponent. This electrophlail is specifically for the... That's not true. The Arcoflagellins electrophelales are specifically used on opponents. I guess we have talked about those in like a sister's episode or something, haven't we? Yeah. Yeah, that's true.

If you're a naughty boy, if you're a naughty boy, you get your head removed and your brain screwed up and then you get electroflails and you go, woo, and you kill people. I believe we did decide that that was the, that was the sound effect as well, if I'm not mistaken, yeah. Yep, yep, yep. So after after all of this, having decided to let Matthew go off with his crusade and carry on screaming and yelling about the emperor. Tephelius is freaking out, as if he had some sort of slug in his head. Donus Maxim is there and senses the presence of a demon, and he's able to expel it, causing Tephelius horrific pain. Good times for Tophelius. High-traked by his slug and then just gets a really awful migraine.

Lovely stuff for him. He got Rath of Kand. Oh, love it. A little bug brain. That's, he, yeah. So at this point,

Kugath is dangerously close to the end of his work and he's dressed up to protect himself from the toxicity of the situation. He is wearing protective leather made out of human skin. Because of what are you going to take it from? Yeah, sure. Don't actually use leather. I mean, leather's just cured.

skin, you can get it from anywhere. That is, you're factually correct. You know how to go. Shocking that the night lord would go to bat with you on this one, yeah. Yeah, well, you know, we've got to make sure we got high quality stuff. See, I believe in, in race equality. That's why all of my night lord skin capes are different colors. Yeah.

Yeah. Yeah. All right. Sure. Oh, there we go. First cough of the recording, excellent. So at this point, Kugath is dangerous close to any of his work

and he's got his nice human leather apron on. And he adds the final ingredient into the cauldron, Gilliman's blood. Nurglings are bouncing around giggling and happy to see what Kugat is doing and the completion of it means one thing. He needs to test it out. So let's see what happens, D.K. Let's have a look.

All right. The effects were instantaneous. A smoky circular wavefront blasted out from the point where the liquid hit the ground. Every nergling it touched was reduced to a sticky black smear. Their tiny soul screamed back into the warp, already corroding to nothing under the blight's supernatural effect. From the goo left by their demise of secondary. infections spread, skittering in all directions. Nurgling sneeze, mucus filled their eyes, blinded them, and they ran into each other, spreading the disease further. The devastation spread

quickly, overtaking all but the fastest nerglings, until everything around him was covered in stinking ooze. He squinted, looking with his demon sight into the warp, and saw that not one of the souls of the dead imps had survived. It works, he whispered. He whispered. It really works. Awesome. That's why you protect the primark. So he doesn't bleed one drop of blood and then he turned it to poison. This.

Yeah, that's crazy. All it took was one drop of his blood to make this. It turns out he's got the, I think he's got the potency, but that feels weirdly. We're just going to move on. Potency. Yeah, I don't know where that word came from. I'm not a big fan of that one. I'm not going to lie to something about.

that the feels odd. Yeah, I don't know where it came from and we're just going to move on. I think after reading what the disease did, talking about potency and blood does feel a little awkward. That's fair. Yeah. Now, it can't be like understated here. The god blight is of unfathomable power. It can kill quite literally anything it touches.

It can kill Gilemon. It can kill Mortarian. It can kill a planet. Literally anything. It is the perfect plague. It's weaponized death. and Coogath can't wait to tell Mortarian because he is so excited. Do you think Mortarian is A, excited by this, or B, doesn't really give a shit?

Get your answers in now? I'm going to go with doesn't really give a shit. Yeah. You know what, just to be contrarian, I'll lock in A. He's excited by it. Okay. I feel like your heart isn't in it, but I'll accept the answer anyway. Miltarian arrives and instead of being as excited as Kugath is, looks around and is basically like,

damn bitch, you live like this? Fair enough. He remarks about how big the cauldron is and is not impressed with anything else. Cougath shows him the god blight. Maltarian, not impressed. Not hyped. Just like, okay, sure. Cugat is not happy that he is not impressed and stresses that this is a big deal and

it's exceptionally dangerous and Mortarian snaps at him saying they need to be ready for an attack. Kugath says that he sent out a tattel slug to get more info and the slug believed that Gilliman has no idea what's going on, which is hilariously ill-informed given the whole point of the tattel slug is to gain intelligence to information and it basically just went, sure, yeah, he knows nothing and then got ejected. Great work from the title slug. Excellent name, not so good at finding out information it turns out. So Mortarian at this point is like, you did what? He tells Coogath that Gilliman knows a hell of a lot more than they think he does,

because strategy is kind of his thing. And now that the tattled slug is dead, I've read this so many times to try get my head around it, but it confuses me. But we're going to give it our best possum. Why? Gilliman probably knows that he was planning to learn his plan. so now they'll have to plan new plans to compensate for the plans that Gilliman is planned, knowing that those plans aren't the ones being planned anymore.

throws up. Ah, yep. Yeah. Sure. Why not? Absolutely. They need to prepare for war, and they need to defend the cauldron, which after all of that, feels like a very simple plan, but sure, we'll take it.

Now, we are going to shift hard over to the return of the Nova Marines. Their third company includes Justinian from the last episode, and they're being led by Lieutenant Adermo. They're on a covert mission to find something of major importance on the planet's surface far away from the conflict, and this mission is very covert. The ruined area of the planet they arrive in is in horrific shape, and the atmosphere is thick with rot. They need to keep moving, and they can't be followed. As they traverse through the fog, they find refugees from the horrors in a temple, including children. Now, this lot think they're saved. Dermo, on the other hand, reminds the others of their mission and that they cannot be followed.

He orders the Marines to a hillside and says that they need to wipe out everyone, because there can be no witnesses. Justinian refuses, saying that this is not the way to go about it, and D'Urmo tells him that he will do it in the name of the Emperor and of the primark. A bell tolling outside reinforces an undeniable fact that these people are already lost. So Justinian reluctantly loaves his helmet and fulfills his. orders. The gun-firing screams followed by silence while a bell continues to toll in the distance. They must be close to the source and so they need to keep going. There's a large building nearby something that could be the source of all of this, something that was once a place of healing, but was now a place of unfathomable rot, potentially the source of all the horrors on this planet.

Matt, Justinian's having a terrible time. I'm feeling bad for Justinian at this point. He didn't want to be separated from his gray shield brothers. You got sent to them to Nova Marines, even though he wanted to be an ultramarine. You got to knock the fuck out, nearly killed. Then Chuck got to watch a Grey Knight just body typhus. And then the next deployment is on, it's left-hand. It's like, okay, I mean, they can't come with us, so shoot the innocent civilians. What a terrible time.

Yeah, that's, oh boy. Might have preferred the Taddle Slug, Jesus. he's probably thinking he wishes he stayed unconscious at this point. I just, I just, I wish you that. Mm-hmm. Yeah. Not an uncommon sight if you want to be a grey knight, though. That's true.

Meanwhile, the crusade of the witness is continuing onward, and part of this crusade is the Cadian 4,021st regiment, Colonel Odromyre. As they traverse the now ruined landscape of Iax, Matthew continues to give sermons about the divine protection of the emperor, See, just won't shut the fuck off about the emperor. And he encourages all the other members to tell the stories in which they saw the emperor. Most tedious, like, group run ever. Their testimonies provide motivation as they go deeper into the hellscape,

and these affirmations burn bright. While encountering a horrific and absolutely gigantic rat monster that is just spewing babies out of its stomach, Matthew assures them again that the emperor will protect them. The creature keeps moving, and they're free to continue. And as they do so, the area around them becomes more and more swamp-like, and the horror of the landscape is becoming difficult to ignore. Also difficult to ignore are the numbers that were dropping left and right. But the almost jovial nature of the crusade kept marching on.

There was a large building nearby, something that could be the source of all this stuff, something that was once a place of healing, but was now a place of unfathomable rot. Sorry, sounds familiar, right? Maybe it's a little bit familiar. Yeah. Well, at first landing, the vibes are grim as the forces prepare for an inevitable assault. Felix is thinking about his purpose when he encounters Maxim. Maxim had crossed the Rubicon at this point, they call it the Calgar procedure, and now he's enhanced like Felix. They talk for a bit about the presence of chaos in these lands and then they hear the bells.

The traitors are here and they are going to attack. The death guard shells the city, which is fortunately empty due to the evacuation efforts. Felix watches this and imagines that this is what it may have been like to see the Imperial Palace being siege. A little bit of weird fan fiction from Felix there, but sure. Him and his battlebrothers are about to take out forces left and right, including the gigantic creature that Matthew saw and the forces in the city cheer. But the arrival of a pack of soul grinders. What a horrible descriptor.

A pack of them cuts the celebration short. The horrific machines rush toward the fortifications and the cannons struggle to keep up. Felix rescues a tech marine from one of the sole grinders and fights it 1v1, and before the monstrosity can land a killing blow on him, Gilliman cuts it into bits with the emperor's sword. Gelleman says that he needs to draw his brother out and they need to prepare. Fortunately, something is going to draw the demons away from this place, allowing for the two brothers to have a classic duel.

Can I interject? What's a soul grinder? Soul grinder is mechanical legs, sort of humanish, humanoid-ish body, horrible ugly head, and some mechanical stuff stuffed into the arms. It's like a defile of the waist down. Yeah, it's basically, it's an old defiler model

with a demon upper half, as opposed to like a demon engine upper half. Yeah. Yeah, should I posted the picture? And I was like, okay, I've definitely seen these boys and a roving pack of these would indeed no must. No must. Which, speaking of, Carrioth, did you see the new defiler rules? I haven't read that article yet.

Is it good? It's a little too good. I think this thing's good. This thing, this thing shoots like crazy. Hell, yeah. So, well, yeah, well, I'm doing a little bit of the Homer Simpson pulling on the, the neck tag thing like, this is going to have to be like

230 points because holy. Oh my God. Yeah. Anyway, we'll get to that later. Oh, he's so good. Every time I see it, weirdly, weirdly makes the Soul Grinder

a little bit like, descriptor-wise. The Defiler, the separate thing was the fact that it was demon engine but didn't have any fleshy bits. And now, now it does.

So it's got positive of the Soul Grinder. Oh, no, no, no, it didn't have any fleshy. No, no, no, it was mechanical. It just looked weird. God, that's a... That looks rocks. Doesn't the Iron Warriors version, though, have a bit fewer fleshy bits?

Yeah, I think there's, like, extra armor bits you can add to it, and it's got a proper, like, a iron mask sort of face on it as well. Which is quality. I love it. I'm going to end up with multiple. Regardless how good they are. I would get to nurse to shit. Well, they also have special rules for each Legion to...

They have special death guard, undivided, Empress Children's Outlander's Rules as well, which is very neat. Oh, God, okay, I'm going to have to read this one. We're done. Yeah, yeah, we'll do that. We'll do a little ending blurb we can do when we're done here. So, at this point, despite the horribly chaos-rusted equipment of the Crusade and the proposition from Ozrami that they form a defensive line, they actually decide to just rush the building for the glory of the emperor, as Matthew feels a divine confirmation that this is where the true suffering is coming from. At the same time, the Nova Marines are nearby planning to mark the location for orbital bombardment, but they're having trouble due to the atmosphere being so thick with rot. Of course, preparing for an orbital bombardment on a hospital,

and then suddenly seeing a church train and a bunch of tanks crashing into the side of it, would throw anyone for a loop. Even though the rot has spread through the tanks and other machinery, the train serves as a bright holy beacon for the Crusaders, and Oremire rallies his troops. He encounters a gigantic demon with a magnificent name, Torpus spleen belch. Oh.

Yeah, no, it's cool. We'll move past it. And it is clearing through his ranks. As it's about to whack Odramai with a flail, he yells for the emperor to protect him. And in that moment, the flail stops. And before spleen belch can figure out what's going on, he gets no scoped by a battle cannon and is completely oblige.

That's rocks. Nice. The Nova Marines contact the war train with a, uh, guys, what are you doing? How are you alive? What the fuck is going on? We're going to bomb this place, so can you please leave? And Matthew responds by saying that they are the emperor's angels

and they must guide him to the conclusion of this quest. So, the Nova Marines join the fray as Cougat emerges asking who is going to fight him. the title for this section is simply oh this isn't good the Imperium Yes the the mountain-sized great unclean one that just made a god blight disease

showed up and wants to 1v-one someone title of next chapter this isn't good title of next chapter he's behind me isn't he yeah at this point point then an overwhelming amount of enemy forces leave the capital to go and defend the

cauldron and gilliman's strategy to draw mortarian out begins he makes a calculated effort to send out the tanks and show a catastrophic amount of force before pulling everything back leaving him essentially standing alone three miles out from this city drawing out and igniting the sword he calls out to his brother he says you wanted to fight me well i'm here my fleet is ready to lay waste to your forces so do me a courtesy and face me Let's settle this. Mortarian descends, and with a voice described as melancholy and like death itself, says, Hello, brother, you accepted my invitation. He says that he's clearly set a trap. The tank surrounding the area full of librarians is a dead giveaway, and says that this whole thing was a trap to begin with,

so it's a level playing field at this point. Gilliman says that he hopes Mortarian won't run away this time. And Mortarion says, Fulgrim's already killed you once. It's my turn now, and I'm going to do a better job. Okay, it kind of rocks actually That goes insane They raise their weapons And the primarks charge into each other The two brothers fight While tanks containing members of the

Concilious Icarna stand by Keeping it mostly blade to blade Attempts to stop Mortarian's mastery Of the warp a futile As he's able to warp things around him Mortarian goads And says that Gilliman's honour leaves when they fight

and Gilliman says that there's nothing honourable about a battle between them anyway. The Godin continues until Mortarian knocks him down. He calls Gilliman a dead man brought back to life by Zenos magic. So how dare Gilliman call Mortarian corrupted? I do like that, amidst all of this, by the way, no matter what happens, the built-in message of the Imperial remains strong, even with those who fall to chaos, which is that Zenos are disgusting,

and if you're affiliated with them, you deserve to die. I mean, there's some, there's like, the institutional racism there simply refuses to be snuffed out even by serving horrific nightmare costs. Even when you fall into chaos, you still hate those, hate those Zenos. Yeah. Jesus Christ. I may be serving a literal death play god, but you've got Eldar tech. And it's like, that's not the same.

Yes Those are not equivalent brother You've been mutated to have Giant Moth wings And you're angry Because the Eldar Gave him a bit of armor

Yeah What is wrong with you This does feel a little bit Like And the projection Yeah Yeah Yeah

Definitely a false equivalency That does not exist So Mortarian says that essentially Gillerman is a relic of falsehood and he pulls out a little vial and says that he has a gift from Nurgle Gilliman says that he'll never be

turned and Mortarian jabs him in the neck saying that's right brother take your medicine Weird Does he really say that? Why is Mortarian being like a sass like a

Wasn't he always kind of just like a brooding asshole he still is but like where's all this coming from. Sounds like Gilliman just brings out the worst in him. I mean, it's in quotes. It's in quotes. When, you know, when Parson puts it in quotes, usually that means it's just verbatim.

So. All right. All right. Having done this, Bial pours out from Gillamon's mouth, burning the armor of the dead soldiers around him as well as the gleeful merglings. Mortarian had successfully administered the god blight. and Gilliman was dead. Ah.

Right. To be continued. Yeah. Definitely dead. Nothing more to read here. Me pointing at that one custodian who was bitching earlier, this is why. Or because you didn't want to do your job. God's sake.

See, more, Terry. You deserve Cougat. Cougat deserves a little head pat, doesn't he? He did a good job. You weren't even excited about it. Disgration. The word spreads through McCrague's honour. The prime arc is down.

Felix urgently called for evacuation and the custodies prepare for the final option, which is exterminators. Because of course it is. Using every method necessary, every single one. Nothing could survive on this planet because its survival could mean the death of Ultramar. itself. Culkin, however, is insured that is like unsure that this is the end and essentially

says, let him cook, because nothing can stop the avenging sun. He knows. He's tried. The Nova Marines attempt to push through the lines. The attempts to orbital bomb the place were ineffective, and they must go inside and destroy the artifact directly. As they push, Justinian encounters Matthew, who is still moving as if untouched by the rot itself. Edelmo faces off against Kugath directly, and Kugath is invigorated with confidence. Adermot calls for help and the Nova Marines rush to make their way to save him before he faces certain destruction

while being protected by the almost holy shield protecting Matthew. Gilman is dead and his body, along with Mortarian, is phasing and going towards Nurgle's garden. In Gilliman's final moments he remembers what it was like to see the emperor upon returning for the first time. He attempted to look at the corpse that sat on the throne, but the light was too bright. In this memory, he feels Mortarine's wordless presence by his side. He begged his father for help, and the terrible, awful thing upon the

throne saw him. It said the following words all at once. My son, 13, Lord of Ultramar, Savior, hope, failure, disappointment, liar, thief, betrayer, and Gillerman. It echoed the name Gilliman over and over again. His name echoed as many minds, sort of convinced as one, reached down to Gilliman, violating his senses as he tried to speak, minds with contradictory impulses and commands, to save his brothers, or to kill them, to obey or disobey. Gilliman screamed father before another series of words all at once. A son, not a son, a thing, a name, not a name, a number, a tool, a product. Gilliman kept begging, but the words kept coming. Father, not a father, thing, thing, thing, apotheosis, victory, defeat, fate, future, past, renewal, despair, decay.

The voices would eventually overlap and overlay and say something cohesive. Gilliman, hear me, my last loyal son, my pride, my greatest triumph. Getting that after all the other stuff. Mixed messages, dear Dad. kind of hard to pass all of that information in one guy. Yeah, I think it's, I mean, this is kind of the, oh, I'm getting all of my compassion away type thing. Or honestly, I wouldn't be surprised if it was just this is what Gilman wants to hear. Yeah.

Oh, true, true, because he's dying and it's just, you know, that is the comforting last words. he wants to hear from dad that he did a good job and that he's not a bad idea. I mean, these words burnt more than the poison administered by Mortarian. They were not a lie, not entirely. It was worse than that. The last words of his father were simply, my last tool, my last hope, Gilliman. What felt like a few minutes was several days when he emerged from the throne room. Valoris greeted Gilliman when he left, but remarked that Gilliman looked serene.

Mortarian watched on and stood over the body of his brother and said, Don't you see, you followed the wrong master while saying that they will be in the garden of Nurgle soon. And soon, Gilliman's pain will be over. Now, the title for the next section is, oh, this isn't good. Nurgle. Yeah, it's shocking. Also, that art of Mortarian hovering over the down Gelleman is so dope. that's so cool god

so even though adermo called for aid from his nova marines it was actually colonel o'dremyer of the 4,021st cadian regiment that saved the day he rams his tank into the side of kugath and rushes out of the top with his power sword I mean what a manoeuvre don't don't fire the cannon obviously you've got to get out there and go in one-on-one Now, if this wasn't impressive enough, I mean, it's a good start.

It gets better, though. He jams the power sword into Kugath's head, banishing him to the warp at the cost of his own life. No shit, that actually worked. What the hell? So, man, rammed Kugath, a great unclean one with the tank, got out, jumped up, power sorted him in the dome, and everything into the warp.

Damn, what a, what a badass. move. Wait, who trove this take again? Was this Matthew? No, it was Colonel O'Dremire of the 4,021st Cadian Regiment. Just a Cadian Garzman. Wait, it's just a

Cadian colonel. He rammed him with his time. What a fucking baller. God. Those Cadians are built different, man. Yeah, they sure are built different than those dumb steel, Armageddon's steel lesions. You ever seen any of those guys before? I haven't seen any of those guys before. I don't even

know anything that exists anymore. How silly. Oh dear. So yeah, I mean, Kugath, Cougat's gone. Admittedly so is the colonel. The colonel's also gone because it killed him. But that for an unargmented human driving a tank, that is a solid. maneuver. I'm going to give that a 10 out of 10. Yeah. Even if he did die, because, you know, he shouldn't be able to do it in the first place. So how he can mark him down? Cougas's already also pretty weak in because he's been fighting this whole time too, right? So it wasn't just, it wasn't like this Cady and Gar did all of the damage. It was more like

that was the coup de grace, right? Yeah, he didn't, he didn't, he didn't do a Calgar on a, um, uh, what was the name? What, d'ath? Lord of Sculls. Lord of Sculls. Yeah. It wasn't quite that. level. But still, so in the final moments of this conflict, Matthew reaches the quadrant on his hands and knees and says, for you, my emperor,

I perform my final service before touching it. He would scream in ecstasy, be engulfed with light, and a gigantic explosion would knock all the space marines in the vicinity into the safety of unconsciousness. From orbit, the crew of McCrack's honour would note that the

artifact was destroyed. They would go over the vaux to see if it was one of their attempts at bombardment that had destroyed it, but it wasn't. It was Matthew. The quadrant was in ruins, the warp was retreating, and the command for exterminators was cancelled. The destruction of the cauldron caused Noegel's garden to fade, and in this moment Gilliman's corpse would twitch. The armour of fate would restart, then Gilliman would look at Mortarian and rise. Mortarion would raise silence to kill him, but he couldn't do it. Gilliman's eyes were glowing, white and his skin was growing back. Horrible detail. The sealed house of Nurgle would shudder and the

presence in the house as powerful as the first would look through ever-shuttered windows at what was happening outside. Gilliman would hold out the Emperor's sword and it would burn brighter than before. He'd say that the Emperor is speaking through him now and Mortarian would wince as if he was a scolded child. Gilliman would say that he was his right hand, his general, his champion. A shutter would open in the house of Nurgle, and Mortarian would beg the grandfather for forgiveness. Nurgle was displeased. He would yank Mortarian with incredible force back into the house, and slam the portal shut behind him, trapping him inside with an altogether more awful god. Gilliman would yell that he spoke for the Emperor of Terror and that he was coming for Nurgle.

He will find him, and he will find him, and he will. will burn. The Materian was in balance and it will be once more. He promised that and then in an instance, Gileman woke on Iaxe, the sword buried in the ground. Colcombe would step forward and ask if it was done and Gilliman would say that it was. Mortarian was gone and the plague wars were over. Yay! It all worked out. Yay. So am I understanding right that Mortarian was ready to just like kneel before what he thought was big E and like, oh, yep, I did it wrong. Forgive me, let me back over. He was, he was extremely, extremely scared, it seems.

Yeah. He was Gelleman being all emperor-like, but also wanted Nurgle to forgive him so that Nurgle could come and rescue. Oh, okay, got you. For some reason, when I heard it, I thought it was like, oh, yeah, Mortarian was like, oh, sorry, Biggie. I did a big oopsie poopsie. Sorry, I miss heard that. I was like, whoa, that's kind of big, in it?

Like, are we glossing over this? Okay, got you. Where's that, where's that quote from Mulgerian? I did an oopsie poopsie. No, that was the quote from Cougat. Yeah. Definitely Cougat said that one. As a power sword got rammed into his ear.

Now, at this point, Gilliman finds out that Matthew is alive through means that are impossible to explain by medical science. He rushes to see him as the priest told those who saved him that he had a message for the primark. Matthew is a wreck, shocking, riddled with disease, and he is on the verge of death. And the fact that he is alive is, by all accounts, a miracle. And I've got a quote for you here, D.K. All right. Oh, a long one. Rejoice, Rabute Giliman, and give your praise.

Matthew's head sank further into the pillow, smearing the plastic covering with fluids. Praise be, the emperor's awakening. You must guide his return. You came back. He can come back. You have a fool's optimism. Matthew smiled a final time.

You deny the evidence of your own experiences. You know it to be true. You will find a way. Have faith in your father. and all will be well. Matthew's head rolled to the side. Gilliman turned the man's face back to him, though the smile remained his spirit had gone,

and the Primark thought he had never seen such a look of profound peace on any man. He almost left, then bent low to whisper to the corpse. My father is no God. It is men who do his work for him, as I must now. He uses people. He always has.

Gilliman stood up and with an unarmed hand reached down to close the dead priest's eyes. A little bit of a little bit of pettiness from Gilliman that. The tiniest bit. He deserves it. He's allowed to have it. Yeah. After everything Gilliman's been through, he's allowed.

And besides, Matthew's dead. He didn't hear the pettiness. It's fine. It's true. I let off a little steam, Gilliam, you've been through a lot today. Let's see you fucking argue with that now, priest, which walks out. The card outside's like, wow.

Oh, this is worrying if this is his adageing. And rudal. So Gileman would thank Matthew for his service and say that if his successor decides to canonize him as a saint, he will not dissuade them. Probably because he just doesn't want to talk to them more than anything else, but sure. As a quick note, by the way, Justinian is getting a ritualistic. tattoo for a job well done, being a submarine at all, the chaplain recommends a symbol of strength and victory.

Justinian instead wants a tattoo of the young girl that he killed while he was on his mission. Jesus. Jeez. All right. Yeah, I, all right. Okay. This guy's having a terrible time. God damn. The chaplain says, hey, don't you want

something defiant? And Justinian says that he wants something to remind himself of the grim nature of his duty. So, nice, nice closing statement on Justinian there. He's felt the entire, this entire thing, he's been miserable and unhappy. And his ending for this, this trilogy is to make himself more miserable and unhappy. Hell yeah.

Yeah, but that's okay. I'm sure, I'm sure the effect of Biggie taking over his body was not in any way, shape or form traumatic and or problematic. I hate the thing Justinian is just out at the beach it's like oh is that a tattoo of your daughter and Justinian just has his black wax I don't know which like him said oh god that's awful all right so

at this point Gilliman and Felix are talking candidly on the observation deck and they discuss Iaxe Even though it's been saved, the planet is still in horrific shape. The cost of war has been substantial, and though the plague wars have ended, there is no end in sight for the current conflicts. Gilliman says that he is planning to depart for the Imperium Nihilus shortly. Outside of the conflict there, he says that Call has reason to believe that the Necron's out there have a key to fix the rift, something that he wishes to see for himself.

He trusts Felix Withers Post and his mission regarding the 500 worlds and leaves to have a quick chat with the totally not AI call inferior. I love that we need to reiterate that every time we bring it up. It's not AI. We would never have AI in the Imperium. How dare you suggest we might have AI in the Imperium? It's just not all right. Stop asking about it.

You can't be. As he speaks to the inferior, it tells him that Call himself sends a message of congratulations for defeating his brother. Giliman asked him to tell Call to follow him to Nylas, and it says that Call is already heading to the eastern fringes to seek out an interesting device, the Feros. He then tells him that he is to report to Tetrarch Felix as he controls that region. Gilliman says that things have gotten complicated, and the inferior says, ah, a rare confidence. Pray tell, how? And Gilliman says, prayer is the crux of it. Though a blow was struck against Nurgle, Gilliman fears that it may not have been him who

did it, and it might have 100% been the work of the emperor working through the tarot. He asks the inferior if he believes the emperor is a god, and the inferior says, are you asking me, or are you asking call? Gilliman just says answer the question. The inferior says that the question is meaningless, and that he has no beliefs. Gilliman once again asks it to answer his question, and it says that if he were call, which he isn't, he believes that it is possible that the emperor could be restored, but what might exit the throne room is not the same thing that entered despite the intention. There's a great peril to this, and it concerns him greatly.

Gilliman asks what he means by peril, and the inferior says, because all gods are blights on existence, whether they call themselves gods or not. I think you should know that better than anyone. Don't forget it. That's good. That's fun. I like that line. That's good. That's a real. good conversation. That's, I like that. Baste. Cougath sits sombre in the wounded garden of Nurgle, utterly defeated, and who should come up to him but Rottagus. Rottagus, awfully cheerful, tells Kugath that Nurgle is truly

upset with him, ignoring his commands to fight in the war against the other gods, and kept meddling in human affairs. Rotticus did the same, however, and he says, you're probably thinking, why am I walking around all happy and joyful. Well, it's simple. My plans are better. My plans are bigger. You sought to snatch Ultramar while I sought to make it rot. Now to understand Rottagus's plans, we need to go back to McCrague during the events of the plague war. Fabian sits anxiously in the fortress unable to shake this fascination with the Library of Ptolemy when he sees just a little guy, a plague imp with a dirty robe and a little wand knocking on his window. He calls for help, but the fortress is big.

He breaks out the window to try to hunt it himself when he encounters plague bearers. Now, luckily, he's saved by sword brother, Ra, god, Razesh Lusern. Sure. Yeah, why not? That's the worst one, really got me. Yeah, Rasage Lucerne. Yep, yep, that's what I do.

Now, this is something he's done multiple times in the dawn of firebooks. Fabian, however, is feeling rough-ass for that encounter, and there's a fear he may have been infected because of his close proximity to the demons. The librarian Targirius believes that there is a malevolence presence here that they did not sense before Rottagus. As Fabian is brought inside, he can't articulate what he saw. Before the little imp vanished, it was pointing at something, which was a secret entrance to the library. While Fabian is recovering in the Mediqai facility, it gets rocked by demons as they attack it. Fabian has a vision of something huge

breaking into the library and calls the chief librarian immediately warning him that something has entered. Tigourius tells him to stay put but Fabian is already rushing over. He gets there first and the library is quiet. He once again sees the little imp with its wand before encountering Rottagos the Rainfather in all his noxious charm. He's not hostile to Fabian. In fact, he's calm and collected.

He knows that Fabian has a desire to learn and he has just the thing he's looking for, a forbidden tome that holds a secret that Gileman does not want to be uncovered. Hell, he says if he were mortal, he would also read that book. Fabian might even be a hero if he reads just that one book. Now in that moment, Tigerius arrives to face off against Rottagos, and in the midst of the conflict, Fabian hesitantly takes the tome itself. Rottigas stuns the librarian and turns his attention back to Fabian

and says he means him no harm. and simply says, enjoy your book, little reader, before Vadishik. Ooh. Everyone's got little, like, slings in this series. There's a lot of little quips. Yeah, a lot of little quips. That's the phrase, yeah, clips. Fabian calls for aid before taking a look at the book now in his possession.

It was a completely normal looking book with no author on the front cover, but it did have a title. The reign of Emperor Sanguineus, a history. The title meant nothing to him. As far as he was concerned, Sanguinius had never been an emperor anywhere. Like, was this a joke? He would have to read it more. Back in the garden, Rottigas smiles at Kugath and says there is more than one form of corruption. The knowledge of the ambitions of Gilliman and the empire he wishes to remain unremembered will infect him like a disease, a disease that will have to spread.

He says to Kugath that the next time they meet, he needs to refer to him by his new title. First, in Nurgle's favour. Someone got a happy ending at least. That's good for Rottigas, isn't it? Yeah, well, Rodigus is kind of a guy, you know, so... Yeah. Oh, man. So there we go.

Absolutely horrible times for everyone all around. Gilliman is still miserable and surrounded by priests. Kugath got royally fucked over by the emperor, apparently. Matthew is dead, which makes everyone happy. And Rottaker's got a promotion. All around, pretty solid. Yeah. Boy, that just sucks for everybody.

Well, again, I guess, but... That was, that was... Possum has done a really good job of condensing this book. It is, it's so dense. Like, this is a good 18-pager, and Possum has, you know, fully said, there's stuff that we've had to skip over, because they did the traditional,

Games Workshop thing of the first two books are paced where there are bits where you like did this need to be in here and then the third book is the same length as the previous one but contains roughly three times more content somehow which is you know that's just how they like to do pacing for whatever reason and this one was absolutely no exception slow burn to an absolute powder keg of content

yeah yeah damn overall though Like that trilogy, that trilogy's all right. Isn't it? Yeah. We've heard far worse. Let's be honest. Yeah.

I can think specifically. We watch from death. Ah. I mean, people, people were talking about how the Plague Wars trilogy was really good and how it really helps with the ultramarines and it gives great death guard. And, uh, yeah, yeah, shy's right. Guy Haley, let me tell you, you did a great job. with this one.

A lot better than you did in War the Beast. My, my, something, something, something about, um, you know, like, uh, time. The ability to have time to write a book and edits and storyboarding and not 12 novels in like, what, two years?

It was less than that, wasn't it? It wasn't like one year, but like, it's like six, three authors. I don't quite remember. It's crazy. But yeah, this, this, this, this, this, this, this, this would do a lot to help make the ultramarines seem more relatable, more, I don't want to say human, but not like the perfect little soldier boys that read from their silly little rulebook and always get everything right. Because, ooh, Gileman is not in a good way. Nova Marines, not really perfect either. Ultramarines in general, yeah, they strive, they struggle. So, yeah,

I dig it. I dig it, too. Anything that, like, gives that a little bit of extra, extra humanity to space marines because I think a lot of the time the thing that everyone focuses on is you know they they can't feel fear they're just relentless unstoppable and it's like yeah super soldiers yeah they did start out human

and there's got to be some of that left for them to be able to protect other humans and any time they focus more on that I find the book more interesting like it's almost the same thing as when we read red tithe some of the most interesting stuff about that book was the fact that what's his name. Was it Bayle Shah, the main character in that?

Like him remembering before times, like before being a space marine. That was some cool shit. And there was a lot of that in this trilogy, which is, I don't know, pretty good. Pretty good all around. Yeah. I enjoyed Plague war. Yeah. I was like, am I conflating Plague Wars with the War of the Beast?

Oh, God, the Plague War of the Beast. The absolute worst crossover episode. Oh, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no, no. This one was good. No, no, no, no. So I'm guessing that's going to do it for this episode. Oh, was I, was I muted? You were, you were very few.

Oh, man, I was going to talk about these new defiler rules with you.