The dark King\lighning tower

[ChrisMurray]

I finally got around to listening to this audio book. I do however have a question. When was the dark king set? If it was before Istvaan then surely the night lords were deemed traitors and wouldn't have been sent by the Emperor to Istvaan to stop horus. If it was after then wouldn't they also still be traitors and killed on sight?

Overall I didn't really enjoy these stories. I assume they were written long before the current HH series of books as they don't seem in the same style or quality to me.

[zerodemon]

The official line is that it's set a while before Istvaan. NH took the Night Lords out of the reach of his more level headed brothers after attacking Nostromo. He was recalled by the Emperor to answer for his crimes, but then Horus rebelled and he was asked to aid in putting down the rebellion before returning to Earth for official reprimand.

I am a fan of these stories. I wish the Night Lords got more love. I love the discussion between Malcador and Rogal Dorn about who Rogal was scared of.

[SunTzu]

Amazing stories, both of them, IMO.

[Wyrmwood]

Yeah, I agree. For those who are reading this thread to find justification for purchasing the audio duology - just do it!

On the issue of continuity, there is nothing to indicate that the Night Haunter would fight for Horus over the Emperor at that point. Perhaps Dorn, realising that Curze was right all along, sought to keep him on the team and make reparations between them by allowing him to participate at the forefront of the war to pacify Horus, like a sort of vindication. That aside, some of their most devout brothers were on side to keep Curze in line, not least of these the ultra loyal Lorgar, the implacable Ferrus Manus, ever watchful Corax etc.

Alas, it didn't go as planned.

[Casper Hawser]

Theres a bit in the Outcast Dead that might explain why send the Night Lords question. It seems Dorn only wanted Night Lords who were in the Sol system to be involved in Isstvan so I guess a portion of Night Lords returned to Terra after the events of the Dark King and others went off with Curze.
Also the Dark King happens before Horus is named warmaster. And I didn't get why they didn't chase him down but I think we need to have a bit of faith with the main writers of the HH books that we will be illuminated in the end to the pieces that don't seem to fit at times or they'll turn out to be errors.

[FabricatorGeneralMike]

"What are you afraid of Rogal Dorn?" Both where top notch.

I think with ordering Kurze to Istvaan system is more of a " oh no horus rebelled, call in all the loyal legions in the area now"
"Even the Night Lords?", "ummm shure why not the Haunter might be a little nuts but its not like he's a traitor or anything"

Silly silly Malcador and Dorn.

[Zothos]

There is a large gulf between "That guy is scary and violent!" And "That guy is a traitor.".

Curzes methods were in question before Istvaan. Not his allegiance.

Besides, I would want the "batshit crazy scary" guy on my team if it came to quelling a rebellion. Wouldn't you?

[SunTzu]

Agreed; Curze obviously had issues but there wasn't really any indication that he was a turncoat. He might have come to the conclusion that the Emperor's methods didn't suit his own, but he hadn't declared war on him or anything.

[Casper Hawser]

Not a turncoat but he had almost killed Dorn then run off destroyed his home planet and run off again when the Imperial Fists and Emperors Children showed up to take him to the Emperor.
But I agree they don't seem to be in a hurry to find him I think the Emperor was more concerned with getting the webway project going once that was completed a rogue legion would be a lot easier to find and subdue.

[Fen]

Agreed; Curze obviously had issues but there wasn't really any indication that he was a turncoat. He might have come to the conclusion that the Emperor's methods didn't suit his own, but he hadn't declared war on him or anything.

Well...He actually killed both Dorn and Fulgrim men when he fled from "i-cant-remember-the-name" planet...

Maybe not a turncoat,but i don't see that sitting well with anyone...

[Damien 1427]

"What are you afraid of Rogal Dorn?"

Turns out, according to BL Live! 2012, it's spiders.

[SomeRandomEvilGuy]

Well...He actually killed both Dorn and Fulgrim men when he fled from "i-cant-remember-the-name" planet...

Maybe not a turncoat,but i don't see that sitting well with anyone...

When Angron was teleported to the Emperors ship he killed one of the Custodes, and then proceeded to destroy the upper-tiers of the War Hounds' command structure. The Primarchs were far too valuable for to be lost because one killed a dozen or so Astartes. After all, Curze killed members of a Traitor Legion as well as of a Loyalist Legion. Getting him onside would have been very beneficial, and he would have had no reason to love Horus' forces anyway (considering he confided in Fulgrim who then betrayed his confidence). If anything, Curze would have seemed much more likely to side with the Emperor rather than Horus considering Horus was breaking the law that Curze was keen to enforce, as well as Fulgrim have betrayed his trust.

[brother alinski]

I liked them considering they were the first audio dramas. They were edited down little bit for my taste (for example the random prisoner who picks up a gun and shots a Curze without blinking an eye, their was no suspense) but the plots were really cool and definably gave some interesting insite to Dorn and Curze.

[Fen]

When Angron was teleported to the Emperors ship he killed one of the Custodes, and then proceeded to destroy the upper-tiers of the War Hounds' command structure. The Primarchs were far too valuable for to be lost because one killed a dozen or so Astartes.

And right before killing those marines,Curze almost killed Dorn (with a good roll on sneak attacks from what little is told).
Again,that would mark him as "not so dependable" i think

[Sir_Turalyon]

I finally got around to listening to this audio book. I do however have a question. When was the dark king set? If it was before Istvaan then surely the night lords were deemed traitors and wouldn't have been sent by the Emperor to Istvaan to stop horus. If it was after then wouldn't they also still be traitors and killed on sight?

An cascade oversight by BL authors. Originally, Night Lords went rogue after events of the Dark King, destroying Nostramo then starting their own campaign of genocide. They were to be hunted down and disciplined, but Heresy broke out before Imperium could do anything about them. After Heresy they nominally sided with Horus, which meant they were still waging their own campaign, but were targeting loyalist worlds. They were not present on Istavan V and propably not during Siege of Terra.

HH authors changed that by making them present at Istavan V, filling in for Emperors Children who were one of Legions sent by Emperor but got rewritten into joining Horus before Istavan III. After that they got role in Siege of Terra and so on, their backgroung losing sense and coherency along the way.

[Athelassan]

To be strictly fair, that wasn't the HH authors, it was Alan Merrett in the Visions artbooks (probably the worst-written tripe ever produced by GW). A lot of the awkwardness in Fulgrim in particular comes, I think, from trying to reconcile the Visions text with common sense.

Prior to Visions, it was pretty much universally assumed that two of the three Legions destroyed on Isstvan V were the Lost Legions.

[Scribe of Khorne]

Prior to Visions, it was pretty much universally assumed that two of the three Legions destroyed on Isstvan V were the Lost Legions.

??? News to me. The Lost Legions have, until the random bits from the HH series, been essentially blanks, nothing whatsoever was known.

[Sir_Turalyon]

Ear;y background on istavaan v (from 2nd edition chaos codex) stated only that four of seven legions sent turned traitor, and three were destroyed down to five marines. It did not identify which three were the Loyal Legion, and later referred to these legions as "destroyed", which might cause the confusion. It also did state that Iron Warriors, Alpha Legion and Emperors Childern were part of seven Legions - meaning either Night Lords or Word Bearers were not present .

The loyal Legions were estabilished as Iron Hands, Raven Guard and Samalanders as early as Index Astrates, possibly earlier.

[DietDolphin]

An cascade oversight by BL authors. Originally, Night Lords went rogue after events of the Dark King, destroying Nostramo then starting their own campaign of genocide. They were to be hunted down and disciplined, but Heresy broke out before Imperium could do anything about them. After Heresy they nominally sided with Horus, which meant they were still waging their own campaign, but were targeting loyalist worlds. They were not present on Istavan V and propably not during Siege of Terra.

HH authors changed that by making them present at Istavan V, filling in for Emperors Children who were one of Legions sent by Emperor but got rewritten into joining Horus before Istavan III. After that they got role in Siege of Terra and so on, their backgroung losing sense and coherency along the way.

Actually in the IA article for the Iron Warriors they are there. The problem is all the IA articles are inconsistent and contradict each other as to which legions were present at Istvaan. Hell the Raven Guard IA article says it was the Word Bearer's, World Eaters, Emperor's Children and Death Guard that were the second wave.