Ahriman is probably the first written character I really connected with. Not inherently bad (compared to other spacemarines) his story is great.

I had a similair journey to where I was gradually listening to the heresy in order via audible but after thousand sons I had to know more about Ahriman. I perhaps would have read crimson king before the omnibus just for chronology but I don't recall much reference to that story in the omnibus. It's really exciting to see someone else learn and understand this character for the first time.

You should totally check out the Fabius Bile series. I was bought the Omnibus by a friend and devoured it within a week or so. Bile remains the creepy fleshcrafter you know from HH but develops him to become far more interesting and manages to make you sympathise with him (to an extent).

@glandhound

25 күн бұрын

Ave Pater Mutatis

Thank you doing this. You and Arbitor Ian are my goto for all things lore.

@miramanga

27 күн бұрын

@@markhayward9764 oh Emperor! The responsibility. Ian is definitely 5000 million percent more qualified than me.

@markhayward9764

27 күн бұрын

...and you are definitely 5000 million precent more qualified than me... The responsibility is indeed huge. Use your power wisely :)

This is the introduction we got to Ahirman in Codex Chaos 2E. (1996) - Which also introduced Abbadon, Khan and Fabius Bile (Well technically Bile had a very brief quote attributed to him mention in Slaves to Darkness 1988) "And what are the achievements of your fragile Imperium? It is a corpse slowly rotting from without while maggots writhe in its belly. It was built with the toils of heroes and giants, and now it is inhabited by frightened weaklings to whom the glories of those times are half-forgotten legends. I have forgotten nothing and my wisdom has expanded far beyond mere mortal frailties." - Ahirman, Chief Librarian of the Thousand Sons Ahriman was amongst the foremost of the Thousand Sons when they set their feet upon the long path of learning the secrets of magic. Like his Primarch, Ahriman had become obsessed with arcane mysteries as he fought through the galaxy on the Great Crusade. He had encountered isolated cultures where magic had re-emerged as the dominant form of power after the machines had died. Magnus the Red's thirst for knowledge was imprinted into all of his sons and they pursued the quest with equal fervour. Towards the end of the Great Crusade the Primarch compiled a truly monumental tome of sorcery called the Book of Magnus, sometimes known as the Book of the Thousand Sons, filled with arcane lore from across the galaxy. As Chief Librarian Ahriman was keeper of this book on the Thousand Sons' home world of Prospero and he studied its inner mysteries extensively. His power gradually grew and expanded as he grasped the subtle nuances of magic discovered by wise men across the galaxy over millennia of study. Like all of the Thousand Sons Ahriman came to believe that the untapped power of the warp could be harnessed for the good of mankind. Only weakness of mind and spirit prevented ordinary men from controlling the warp utterly. Over time the most powerful and influential of the Legion's Brethren began to think of themselves as a sorcerers, and they devoted more time to uncovering the mystical secrets of the universe than to fighting the Emperor's wars. But the Emperor could not tolerate the gradual shift of the Thousand Sons towards Chaos. He knew no man, or Primarch, could master Chaos. The Legion's warning that his most trusted Warmaster was plotting against him seemed to confirm the Emperor's worst fears that the forces of Chaos had insidiously corrupted the whole Legion and now sought to fragment the newborn Imperium. The Emperor unleashed the Space Wolves Legion on the Thousand Son's tranquil home world of Prospero. Ravening, grey-armoured assault squads of Blood Claws seized Prospero's neglected orbital lasers and missile batteries within hours of their arrival. After that the Thousand Sons were almost bombarded out of existence. Delicate towers of vast antiquity were smashed to rubble by energy beams from above, vast libraries of incalculably precious works burned beneath a rain of fusion fire. Stunned by the magnitude of their betrayal the Thousand Sons saved what they could and fled, breaking through the Space Wolves' blockade in their surviving ships to seek sanctuary with the Warmaster. The Thousand Sons soon dedicated themselves to Tzeentch, the Power of Chaos who is the greatest master of magic. He became their patron god and as they fought their way through the Heresy Magnus and the Thousand Sons used their dedication to Tzeentch to avoid the deeper corruption suffered by the other Traitor Legions. After Horus' defeat the Thousand Sons escaped to the Eye of Terror. Only then did the other aspects of their patron's nature begin to impinge on the Thousand Sons. The first visible signs were the grotesque mutations which began to manifest themselves among the battle brethren. Ahriman and the other Sorcerers were even more horrified when some of their own number began to warp and change. They had failed to master Chaos - instead Chaos was mastering them. Ahriman was determined that the long path to knowledge they had trodden would not end in madness and abomination. He formed a secret conclave consisting of many of the most powerful sorcerers that had resisted the insidious spread of mutation. Secretly, he began to study the Book of Magnus again, seeking some way to prevent the Legion devolving any further. In time he prepared the Rubric of Ahriman, a spell so potent that it would unleash forces far beyond the sorcerers' control. If it worked the Legion would be rendered immune to the warping effects of Chaos. The cabal of sorcerers refused to help Ahriman at first, but when Magnus himself was elevated to the ranks of Tzeentch's daemon princes it became clear that the last vestiges of humanity were being driven from the Thousand Sons. Soon they would be nothing but mewling Chaos Spawn robbed of all their hard-won knowledge and power; the destruction of their home world, the Heresy, it would have all been for nothing. At last the sorcerers agreed to join their power together and a terrible cataclysm of magic was summoned about the Planet of the Sorcerers. It is said that even the daemons fled before the roaring maelstrom of magic Ahriman and the others sent against their world. Crackling clouds of multi-coloured energy descended from the skies and enveloped the great silver towers of the Thousand Sons, forking bolts of blue and yellow lightning struck down the corrupted Space Marines one after another. No sorcerous protection or physical defence could keep the powers at bay. The storm of magic raged for an eternal night which could have been days or centuries until finally Magnus himself used his unearthly powers to end it. In the aftermath it was clear that the Rubric of Ahriman had both surpassed his expectations and failed horribly. Those of the Thousand Sons with sorcerous powers had either survived and had their knowledge and powers greatly augmented or they had been utterly destroyed. The battle brethren whose powers had been slight or nonexistent had been changed. Their armour was sealed shut as if every clasp and joint had been welded together. Inside the heavy shell of ceramite and adamantium the physical bodies of the Chaos Space Marines had been reduced to a handful of dust but their spirits remained, trapped inside their battle armour for all eternity. The battle brethren had been reduced to little more than automata but Ahriman was satisfied, the physical corruption of the Thousand Sons had been halted even if it was at a terrible price. The cyclopean eye of Magnus soon fell upon Ahriman and his cabal as the culprits. The daemon Primarch was furious and summoned Ahriman and the others before him in order to destroy them utterly. But, as he raised his fist to crush the unrepentant sorcerers Magnus heard a distant, sibilant voice: "Magnusss, you would ssmash my pawns too readily." Tzeentch, Changer of the Ways had guided the plot to its fruition for its own purposes. Who can say what the most enigmatic of the Chaos Powers planned to bring about? Whatever the dark god's reasoning Ahriman had been its unknowing puppet. Magnus was secretly pleased by the arcane skills exercised by his cabal. But still they had to be punished, and so the daemon Primarch banished Ahriman and the others from the Planet of the Sorcerers for all eternity. He doomed them to wander the Eye of Terror and beyond in an eternal search for perfect understanding. Over the millennia Ahriman has sought out magical artefacts, ancient arcane books, talented psykers and any aspect of sorcerous knowledge or power. He has led raids specifically to acquire such things, even going as far as to attack museums and the private collections of antiquarians, much to the mystification of his victims. In many instances magical artefacts are acquired by local Chaos Cults, and Ahriman merely comes to take them away together with any humans who might make promising servants. It often comes as an unpleasant surprise to a Cult Magus to find that his efforts to summon help from the Thousand Sons merely result in losing his sorcerous artefacts and most of his coven. Untouched by the warping influence of Chaos these ten thousand years, Ahriman still believes that Chaos can be mastered with knowledge and cabalistic strength. Deep in his black heart Ahriman believes that he can find the final pieces of the puzzle within the hidden dimensions of the Black Library of the Eldar. The Eldar fear him greatly and live in terror of him finding his way into the ancient labyrinth of the Webway. Somewhere within its secret ways lies the Black Library, a vast repository of arcana from across space and time which details the Realm of Chaos. Most recently Ahriman has been seeking the psychic spoor of Inquisitor Czevak, one of the few humans to have entered the Black Library and lived. Should Ahriman succeed in capturing Czevak his arcane powers would mean there was little the Inquisitor could do to conceal the path to the Black Library from him. Ahriman would hold the keys to the vast accumulated wisdom of the Eldar race about Chaos. Such knowledge would make Ahriman a new and deadly god.

@miramanga

27 күн бұрын

Wow!! Thank you!

What a pleasant bedtime story.

My heart honestly goes out to all of these magical dusty bois. They all seemed so well and good till they werent. I also wasn't expecting 70% of the book to detail a massive conflict that, in my humble opinion, rivals the battle of Istvaan III in tragedy and depth. Honestly hope Lemuel and the rest are safe.

You should do a mini of the Emperor pushing one of those multi-prams... 20 wide with each baby primarch in the appropriate color blanket.

Just finished reading both The Founding trilogy about Gaunt’s Ghosts and Hero of the Imperium- Ciaphus Cain. Both very good. Now reading the Minka Lesk trilogy by Justin D. Hill. It’s interesting how very different the presentation is between the three books.

Have not read this TOME as yet....typically not a fan of 1000 sons, but did enjoy some of the HH arch....agere to hear your thoughts

You have a book set in the eye of terror - The Talon of Horus by ADB! 😊

In Thousand Sons, there's a moment where Lemuel Gaumon (with his special abilities) actually witnesses the Tzeentch daemon living inside Magnus. It's the first time he sees Magnus, everyone else thinks Magnus is beautiful but Lemuel (only seeing the daemon) thinks Magnus is horrible. My favourite part of the book however was when Magnus hides in his room for weeks after he breaks the webway gate that E was trying to build. He shows his character when he decides to wait out the fleet he knows is incoming and ensures his planet gets wrecked when the sane thing to do was just meeting the wolf fleet in space and giving himself and his legion in and followed the due process. Then again, youtube has quite a collection of those videos where drunk drivers claim they did nothing wrong and fight with the cops when they get arrested. A similar situation from a purely human perspective. We all make mistakes.

@miramanga

25 күн бұрын

@@glandhound 🥹🥺

The alternative to the Imperium is getting eaten by Tyranids, pounded to pulp by Orks or winding up a nurgling, pink horror, daemonett with crab claws or a howling red murder hobo. I’ll stay loyal.

I love 40k .. read Book A ... For context Read this trilogy lol :) edit it is on my TBR for 2025

First heretic, omg youl love it, looking forward to your reaction, book 14 wow I always thought it was earlier like book 5 it was my first heresy novel, and it set the mood perfect, 17th youl love to hate em😂

do a stream of rouge trader!

@miramanga

27 күн бұрын

I did try, but the game didn’t work too well on my set up. I have to see if it is a PlayStation game otherwise I’m a bit bit stuck!

Mmm. Ahriman's pretty dull to be honest. John French is a decent enough writer, but the books really have nowhere to go. Ahriman doesn't really have an arc. He just keeps doing the same thing over and over and over. That might be billed as grand tragedy, but it also gets pretty monotonous book after bloody book.. He doesn't ever seem to experience doubt that he's doing the right thing, despite all evidence to the contrary. He never learns any lessons or overcomes some grand character flaw. Comparisons with the Bile trilogy are not going to do these books any favours. Mira, I know you have an entirely rational dislike of Fabius Bile, but I urge you to try the Josh Reynolds Bile books. They are SO good-for me they're perhaps the nearest thing to literature the Black LIbrary has put out. Reynold's BIle IS a monster, but he's a very human one, full of hubris and regret like Ahriman, though unlike Ahriman, over the books we see Fabius become capable of something very close to-dare I say it-unselfish love and self-sacrifice. To take a cartoon villain of the 40k canon and turn him into such a compelling character is an astonishing feat of writing . To me, Bile's by far the superior creation. Plus, who could not enjoy the wit of a character capable of interrupting a demon as it introduces itself with "Silence figment! Names are for the sentient."

@glandhound

25 күн бұрын

(English) John French has redeemed himself a bit with his Cypher and Sigismund books. Also, in AoS the Hollow King books are what I consider his "new" writing style. There's absolutely no "fat" in those books, everything moves the story forward along. I figure French got so much flak from Mortis, that he reconsidered his whole game. I wish the Black Library didn't do dirty to Josh Reynolds, he had no business thinking of killing off Bile, but he also should have had the chance to finish his own book instead of having it rewritten by the publisher. Josh Reynolds pretty much figured out what AoS books should be like and by the time he got into 40k, he had his game to the tee.

@IamLertimo

25 күн бұрын

​@@glandhound I agree the Cypher book was pretty good. That's one instance where we didn't really want any character reveals or development! That would have ruined the mystery of the Cypher character-and to avoid providing any real insights into Cypher's character or the truth of his identity while still delivering an engaging story is a pretty impressive feat by John French. Personally, I was bored to tears by the Sigismund book. For me, it suffered from the same problem as the Ahriman books, which is that French's characters never seem to experience any kind of transformation (although his foreword to the Ahriman Omnibus suggests he thinks they do).