Ritual of the Damned Story

So I purchased my copy of Ritual of the Damned today, and I must admit...the story was pretty bad. Even I was disappointed, and you probably know how laidback or easy to please I am. Usually, anyway. But the story was so bad that even I couldn't bring myself to like it. There were so many problems, plot holes and weird stuff that I found myself shaking my head at what I perceived to be sloppy writing. No, seriously? What the hell?

Before we begin, we have this cool speech from Magnus the Red regarding "now is our time." and all that stuff. Admittedly, I love this quote and his grand speech. Makes him look badass. Pay special attention to this: "But we know time. We know the warp. We know its currents, its waves, its flows, its tributaries. Our power is almost limitless, our knowledge almost total." Because I will be coming back to this later.



So Ritual of the Damned starts off fine - it begins by covering the Planet of the Sorcerers, and how Magnus brings it to real space to orbit around Prospero. We all know this by now, especially after the events of Wrath of Magnus. Ever since then Magnus has rebuilt Prospero entirely, reconstructing libraries and restoring a lot of librariums of lost knowledge and scrolls, excavated hidden treasures, relics and texts that even treasure hunters missed out somehow on the ruins of Prospero throughout the ten millennia since it was bombed by the accursed Space Wolves, and basically brought his Legion's strength back up to unprecedented levels. Having learned his lesson from the razing of Prospero, Magnus refused to see another of his worlds undefended and burned by invaders again, and as you can see from the image, he woved all sorts of esoteric enchantments to protect Prospero and the Planet of Sorcerers from orbtial bombardment, invasions and other attacks. MAKE SURE YOU REMEMBER THIS INFORMATION - because we will be coming back to this later.



In order to reunite his Legion, Magnus sent his Rehati out to force a dozen scattered sects back to his side, and murdered the Sorcerers of these poor sects (he did not murder the Rehati, as opposed to the Bell of Lost Souls spoilers - they misread the text. The Rehati were sent to bring back these exiled or wayward Sorcerers of scattered sects and warbands, and it was these Sorcerers who were gunned down, not the Rehati). Details aside, Magnus then began the ritual to elevate an entire sub-sector of humanity to unleash their psychic potential.



Enter the Grey Knights. I won't go into too much detail here, but basically their Prognosticars saw all sorts of omens and protents leading to Magnus and his ritual, and they advised Grand Master Voldus to do something about it. Obviously he agreed and sent Captain Arvann Stern and the 3rd Brotherhood, including a number of Paladins and Purifiers. Knowing a single Brotherhood wouldn't be enough, they also approached the Dark Angels for help, and we know the Dark Angels hold a grudge (if you've been following the Warhammer Community articles) against Tzeentch and psykers after the events of Warzone Fenris. Again, the usual suspicions followed, the cliche "we can't trust the Dark Angels, but we'll just ally with them anyway." Silly, but okay.

As you would expect, the Dark Angels had suspicions of their own regarding the Grey Knights and were worried about getting found out, what with the Fallen and Luther's betrayal and all that nonsense. Honestly, a single Grey Knight reading their minds would have found out anyway if they really wanted to, but we can't have that because it would spoil the story. Don't ask me why. Whatever the case, the Dark Angels decided to set aside their paranoia and agree to help because their Librarians also foresaw these ominous omens and portents, and knew they couldn't just leave Magnus and the Thousand Sons to their own devices. Okie dokie. So Grand Master Azrael sent Lazarus and the 5th Company, plus a complement of Deathwing and Ravenwing. Apparently they are supposed to "assess whether the sons of Titan knew anything at all of Caliban's secrets" but that doesn't matter because this little trivial plot point is never mentioned again. Rolls eyes.



So the Dark Angels, coming from Imperium Nihilus, the Grey Knights coming from Imperium Sanctus, met above the Planet of Sorcerers. Just two ships. The Dark Angels strike cruiser (I think, doesn't seem to be a battle barge) Seeker of Redemption and the Grey Knights strike cruiser Purging Sword somehow sailed into Thousand Sons territory unchallenged and unopposed, and parked in orbit right above the Planet of Sorerers. Without any Thousand Sons vessels (where the warp is their damned fleet?!) protecting the planet. No orbital defenses, NOTHING. Don't ask me why, I am extremely confused over why in the accursed warp would Magnus - after the book stated so clearly that he wove all sorts of esoteric defenses and wards over the Planet of Sorcerers to protect it from orbital bombardment, invasion, enemy fleets and attacks, had absolutely no standing fleet or defense satellites or orbital platforms to challenge and stop just TWO freaking strike cruisers. TWO strike cruisers, yes. Made it all the way to the Planet of the Sorcerers - home territory of the Thousand Sons Legion where they supposedly rebuilt and restored their strength - without encountering a single vessel from the Thousand Sons fleet or any orbital defense.

What the frak. How?! What is going on here?! I just...I just don't understand.

Anyway, they parked above the Planet of Sorcerers and hung in orbit, and executed the plan. The Dark Angels would launch a feint and attack somewhere in Tizca, while the Grey Knights infiltrated the temple complex that "was a source of power preventing orbital bombardment of the planet" to destroy it and disrupt the ritual. Okay. That sounds fair (other than the completely idiotic fact that the Grey Knights and Dark Angels were allowed to approach the Thousand Sons's second home planet without any challenge, obstacle or loss). The Dark Angels drew out all the military forces and defenses of the temple complex, trying to divert as many of the Thousand Sons and their armies away from it so that the Grey Knights could secretly teleport into the temple complex to destroy it and disrupt the ritual. Standard "oh, lots of Dark Angels died even as they killed lots of Cultists, Daemons, Daemon Engines and mutants". The point is that they thought they succeeded in drawing the bulk of the Thousand Sons military forces away from Tizca but obviously in the usual Tzeentchian "just as planned" shenanigans, it was all just a sham.

While they did that, the Grey Knights teleported into the temple complex, and contrary to their expectations (and a classic "just as planned" from Tzeentch), ended up facing a great host of Daemons while they got lost and wandered about, completely lost. Only the sudden appearance of Matt Ward's abomination Kaldor Draigo saved them - he strode out of the warp, raising his Titansword and nullified Magnus's spell. Okie dokie. That was stupid as f, but whatever works, man.



Realizing that they were outnumbered and outgunned, the Grey Knights tried to hail the Dark Angels and ask them for reinforcement, only to discover that all psychic communication had been blocked out. Hah! Serves you right. However, here comes the pinnacle of bad writing and Deus ex Machina. Even though psychic communication has been blocked, Stern and his Interceptor Squads conveniently find some stupid empyric amplifier that would have the potential to boost a psychic signal. How frakking convenient. No, seriously, this is pretty bad writing. Number one: Why the f would the Thousand Sons need an empyric amplifier to boost their psychic signals? Number two: it's mighty convenient that the Grey Knights would stumble upon something that they just happened to need. Like seriously? Oh, our psychic communication is blocked...don't worry, the Emperor provides. Our enemy just happens to have a gadget that overcomes their own advantage (why? This is their planet, their home ground, why would the Thousand Sons even need this? They literally live in the Warp and draw raw power from the Immaterium. Sounds like they happen to have it just so the Grey Knights could take it from them...poor plot device). As you'd expect, Stern killed the Sorcerer, the Librarians contacted the Dark Angels, and through the sacrifice of the Librarians, they created a spatial corridor through the Warp for both forces to link up and unite for a final strike against Magnus's ritual - a corridor wide enough for their armored vehicles to get through.



And then they attacked the temple where Magnus was conducting the ritual. Now this...is just dumb. No, seriously. Magnus, you have a bunch of Space Marines running around in your second home planet wreaking all sorts of havoc, but instead of marshalling your forces to get rid of them, you're like, "naw, fam, I'm gonna leave them to my incompetent Sons to get rid of them while I focus on this Ritual." Why, Magnus? Why? It makes no sense - it shouldn't take much effort for him to pause or postpone the Ritual, go straight to the Dark Angels and Grey Knights, kick their arses and wipe them out, then return to conducting your Ritual.

Never mind. We'll assume that for some reason the Ritual couldn't be interrupted no matter what (though you could just pretend to hold the Ritual to trick the Grey Knights and Dark Angels to coming to stop it, beat them up, then start the Ritual after you chased them away or destroyed them). Anyway, the Dark Angels and Grey Knights attacked Magnus and his Sorcerers as they conducted the Ritual, and nothing happened, because of some barrier or whatever. And still Magnus and his Sorcerers ignore the invaders, leaving them to their hordes of cultists, mutants and Daemons and Daemon engines. Uh, okay... To be fair, there were so many that the two Adeptus Astartes Chapters couldn't overcome them and were on the verge of being destroyed.



So what does Stern do? Order a withdrawal and commence orbital bombardment.

Wait, what? Huh? Did I read that right? Yeah, I did.

After all that stuff in the beginning where Magnus did all sorts of esoteric enchantments and arcane wards to protect against orbital bombardments and lance strikes that he precisely never wanted his worlds to suffer from again, the Grey Knights still somehow succeeded in calling down an orbital bombardment.  Let's return to page 6. "Invisible conjurations surround the planet, sucking any munitions fired upon it into the warp and dissipating powerful lasers into harmless rays of light. Illusory hexes cause attackers to believe that their weapons have hit their target when they have, in fact, proved wayward. Portals absorb city-levelling barrages and turn them back on the firers. Other spells and enchantments cause weapons to detonate while still on-board attacking ships, or initiate the warp drives of enemy vessels, hurling them into the empyrean without shielding. Magnus has had one world destroyed by invaders before. He wll not allow it to happen again."

Guess what? It happened again. All those hexes, enchantments, portals and spells were completely and promptly forgotten by the authors and hand-waved away. The Grey Knights apparently use Kaldor Draigo's "immense psychic presence" (damned Mary Sue) to act as a beacon for the Purging Sword's lance batteries and macro cannons, and somehow this single beacon was able to disrupt and nullify all the various complex enchantments, wards and defenses that Magnus and the Thousand Sons wove around their world, destroy the temple and annihilated all the Sorcerers participating in the ritual along with the sacrificial victims and countless mortal followers of Magnus. The Grey Knights and Dark Angels suffered horrendous casualties in the process, but that didn't matter. They won, and ran away, but were forced to leave many of their Brothers behind to their horrific fate. Don't worry, those who mattered - Stern, Lazarus and Draigo - escaped and though they were filled with dread about what would happen to their abandoned Brothers...who cares? They won. As a side note, this is an interesting plot development for Kaldor Draigo. Seems like he has been reunited with the Grey Knights and is no longer disappearing back to the Warp again. Will he permanently return to the Grey Knights and fight alongside without that whole disappearing and reappearing trick?

And thus...the story ends there. Pyrrhic victory, as you would expect. Now I'm not mad about that. I expected that. It's the way this victory was achieved, the plot holes, the inconsistencies and glaring contradictions that annoyed me. This just screams amateurish and sloppy writing to me. Jeez, they should hire a Black Library writer to write this (Graham McNeill or John French, anyone?). Seriously? On one page it said Magnus made his planet impervious to orbital bombardment, but they lazily went and solved everything with an orbital bombardment by handwaving the enchantments away with a single stupid beacon. Also, after that awesome quote at the beginning with Magnus claiming that he could see the future and read the currents of time...how in the frakking warp did he not see that coming? He should have foreseen the failure of his Ritual, he should have foreseen the orbital bombardment. But no, "Such was their speed that Magnus barely had time to conjure a psychic barrier for his personal protection before the lance beams and macro-cannon rounds struck." What absolute BS is this?! He is a master of all magic, including Divination (or Corvidae), and you're telling me he never saw this coming? After those whole "this is our time" and "we know time" quotes at the beginning? He just left the Grey Knights and Dark Angels to run around doing their own thing just so he could focus on his Ritual? What was the point of making that awesome grand speech of having limitless knowledge and being able to read the currents of time if you're going to get outsmarted and defeated by the Grey Knights' last-ditch orbital bombardment eventually? Are you seriously telling me that the smartest and most scheming of all Daemon Primarchs (and in 40K) did not anticipate any of this and planned accordingly? Hell, evidently he planned accordingly, but all his esoteric enchantments and arcane spells were nullified by a single gigantic Grey Knights psychic beacon that somehow allowed the orbital bombardment to circumvent all the portals and hexes that supposedly turned orbital barrages back, dissipate lasers into harmless ray of lights, teleport munitions into the warp, and hit Tizca? And Magnus never saw any of that coming? And once again, where in the bloody warp is the Thousand Sons fleet?! Did they seriously just allow two strike cruisers to approach their second home planet, park in orbit and get in position for orbital bombardment, without challenging or even attempting to get rid of those enemy ships? Where are the damned orbital defenses, orbital platforms or even some semblance of picket ships?! And even after the Dark Angels and Grey Knights landed in Tizca, did none of the Thousand Sons Sorcerers even think to eliminate the two bloody strike cruisers hanging above their precious city? Seriously?!

What utter BS. I'm so astounded by the poor writing and bloody contradictions that I'm absolutely fuming right now. This has to be one of the most poorly written stories I had ever read. Generally I do like the stories. I'm all right with how Faith and Fury turned out, I enjoyed Blood of Baal, and I love a lot of the campaign books. I had no complaints with how the Vigilus campaign turned out, and unlike most people I didn't see a problem with Abaddon abandoning victory just to save his beloved Vengeful Spirit (no victory is worth the cost of that ancient, invaluable Glorianna-class ship). I actually loved and applauded Wrath of Magnus, and you know I raved over the Sanctus Reach campaign (my only complaint being that the Space Wolves had to come save the poor Astra Militarum as usual, but I was delighted when the Cadians showed up to rescue the Space Wolves from Daemons). I was even fine with the sudden appearance of Primaris Marines and enjoyed the Gathering Storm Campaign. But this thing right here in Ritual of the Damned is just utter BS. The inherent contradictions, sloppy writing, poorly executed plot devices (conveniently inserted psychic signal booster, for example) and ridiculous ending...I'm sorry, I can't defend it. It was just bad. Like, real bad. This was one of the worst writings I had ever seen. I won't claim that I can write better, but at least I won't resort to clumsily contrived plot devices, blatant Deus ex Machina, and Mary Sue characters, and I will do my best not to forget and then contradict what I just wrote a few pages ago.

Sigh...oh well. Make of this what you will. As an amusing aside, when I bought the book, the first thing I did was spend a couple of hours reading through the lore (probably less, it's pretty short, but I was distracted). When I lent the book to my friends, unlike me the first thing they went to was the new rules for Dark Angels, Grey Knights and Thousand Sons. I was more interested in the narrative fluff, and them in the gameplay. That's probably the difference between me and most Warhammer 40,000 players, and that's also the reason why I'm so bitterly disappointed by the terrible writing in this book.

They had better write a much better story for Engine War, or I swear...well, I honestly don't know what I will do, but most likely I'll just rant and complain here in my blog again.