Less than Human

Again, I'm going to be posting about obscure Black Library stories...well, not all the time. I mean, sometimes I'll write about the famous ones that everyone's going to talk about (like The Iron Kingdom) or something, probably because I want to share spoilers about what happens in the Knight World. I'm a Knight player, after all. But sometimes, I'll be discussing stuff that happens in the more obscure stories such as Less than Human, by Steve Lyons. It features - you guess it - the infamous Death Korps of Krieg.

Steve Lyons is a great Black Library writer, and he has been around for a very long time. Surprisingly enough, he's not as well known as say, Dan Abnett or Graham McNeill. He's more like a Sandy Mitchell, you know, where he's known for writing Astra Militarum stories that become favorites with Imperial Guard fans. Everyone knows Sandy Mitchell because of Ciaphas Cain, even though he's often not mentioned in the same breath as Dan Abnett and Graham McNeill and Aaron Dembski-Bowden or even Guy Haley. Similarly, Steve Lyons is known for the more...uh, obscure Imperial Guard novels - old timers might remember his Death World and Ice Guard, but what he's really, really famous for is his Death Korps of Krieg novels.

Everyone remembers Dead Men Walking? I do. That was the second Warhammer 40,000 novel I read right after the Ciaphas Cain omnibuses (Defender of the Imperium, Hero of the Imperium), and boy, oh boy, because I was reading the humorous and hilarious - as well as parodic - stories of Ciaphas Cain, I didn't expect to be hit with a large dose of grimdarkness in Dead Men Walking. Actually, I believe I wrote a book review on Dead Men Walking all those years ago. Holy Terra, it was back in September 2015, about 7 and a half years ago. Time really flies. Oh, and the review also included Ice Guard, which fits because they are both by Steve Lyons. Additionally, he wrote several Death Korps of Krieg short stories, including Left for Dead and The Strong Among us.

Yeah. More recently, Steve Lyons wrote Krieg last year. I didn't write a book review for it, though I really should. I did actually post about it last year, if I'm not mistaken, because I absolutely love it, and there was a passage in there that I wanted to share. Spoilers ahead, so stop reading if you don't want to be spoiled. Basically, Krieg details the origins of the Death Korps of Krieg, where the Colonel and the regiment that was sent to recruit from Krieg found themselves involved in a civil war against politicians who wanted to break away from the Imperium. He and his allies were forced underground where they continued their war, but eventually they were about to lose, and he ended up nuking his world. Centuries later, the Inquisition arrives, along with a Lord General and Munitorum staff because they needed to tithe Krieg and they found that they were all waiting for them with fully trained and equipped regiments.

The Colonel requested that they be sent to the most toxic warzones because they have been trained and bred for it, and they wanted to atone. Apparently, when the Inquisitor asked for his name, he was puzzled. Because Krieg soldiers do not have names. In any event, the Lord General is relieved to have a world providing fresh regiments of guardsmen to a beleaguered Imperium, and so they decided not to investigate further, despite the Inquisitor's doubts.

The origin story is written in flashbacks, and in between, they also talk about the Death Korps of Krieg fighting alongside the Cadians to take back a world from the Orks in the Octarius sector. Apparently, the Orks found a cache of atomic munitions, and the Krieg were sent to reclaim it or detonate it to prevent it from falling into enemy hands. Right, those munitions were coincidentally directly under a hive that the Orks have captured, and despite the Imperium's best efforts, they have yet to capture it despite shelling it to oblivion.

Not wanting the nukes to fall into the hands of the Orks, the Imperium sent the Death Korps of Krieg - a strike team (well, Kill Team, I guess?) to either reclaim it or deny the Orks. Long story short, they find it, blow it up and obliterate the entire hive, including the Orks. The atmosphere becomes radioactive and the Cadians and other Kriegsmen were evacuated from the world. There's a female Cadian guardswoman who was influenced by the fatalistic attitudes of the Krieg, and...she dies from radiation poisoning shortly after getting off the world. Grimdark.

Now, why am I sidetracking from Krieg, and why am I talking about Less than Human? Again, spoilers ahead, but yeah. I thought it was interesting because this time, instead of playing the whole Krieg memes straight, Steve Lyons present a very different aspect of them. Most Warhammer 40,000 people adhere to the cliches of the Death Korps of Krieg being suicidal, throwing themselves forward and basically drowning their enemies in bodies. Other than the trenches and shovels, you know, because of the whole "Cult of Sacrifice" thing. While the Kriegsmen are happy to give up their lives for the Emperor, they aren't as...reckless or wasteful as the memes make them out to be.

Less than Human details a story on some backwater world where the Death Korps of Krieg are tasked to take it back from the T'au. Instead of charging suicidically into combat with shovels, they actually plan ahead and slowly capture territory inch by inch, meter by meter. What the Death Korps of Krig have in abundance is patience, and they are willing to spend years slowly consolidating their gains instead of charging forward recklessly and throwing away lives wastefully.

Unfortunately, the Munitorum aren't happy with the pace of their progress and they attempt to speed things up by sending a Mordian regiment in to hasten the conquest. The Mordian Captain, a lady, doesn't like the Kriegsmen much, and she plans to destroy the T'au in 48 hours. Like, whoa, lady. Chill. Anyway, she orders the Krieg to charge in before her Mordians support them from the rear, thinking that they would gladly sell their lives, but the acting Captain of the Krieg basically tells her that he already has a strategy in place. Instead of wastefully throwing away his men's lives, he has his engineers dig tunnels toward the T'au encampment and plots to blow up the ground underneath them, thus securing a relatively bloodless victory. For the Imperium, I mean, and not so much for the T'au.

Unsurprisingly, the Mordian captain refuses that and orders them to just charge. The Krieg acting captain tries to protest, and this is where it gets really interesting. He points out that the Krieg understand the value of each human life. It is expendable, yes, but they aren't wasteful. They are efficient. If they can obtain victory with less casualties, then they will do that.

This, of course, goes against all the memes and cliches that people make about the Death Korps of Krieg online. They are not some caricatural, one-dimensional maskless zealots who charge in because you tell them to. They are certainly extreme, but they aren't...incompetent and wasteful. They know good tactics, they will reduce casualties to the minimum if they can, and they don't just commit suicide for paltry gains. They are loyal to the Emperor and will sell their lives dearly for the Imperium if necessary, but they recognize the value of each expendable life and how best to spend it, rather than recklessly throwing away soldiers' lives for the sake of it.

I believe this is one of the best and most impactful themes of Steve Lyons's Death Korps of Krieg stories. Much like what Aaron Dembski-Bowden did with his Black Legion series, he turns characters notorious for their memes and cliches into something with depth.

Anyway, the Death Korps of Krieg appear to be fleeing from the T'au, and the Mordian lady captain rages at their cowardice, surprised yet affirming her beliefs that their notorious reputation is overblown and exaggerated. As it turns out, the Kriegsmen were actually feinting, leading the T'au straight to the guns of the Mordians. While the lady captain is pissed that Mordian lives were lost, she realizes that she was about to sacrifice the Kriegsmen to the T'au guns and she has no right to complain. The new Krieg acting captain - because the previous one died during the charge - even informs her coolly that their feint and impromptu strategy - the field commanders saw an opportunity when fighting and took the initiative - reduced projected casualty rates by 22%. So the Kriegsmen don't throw their lives away for nothing. They choose the most efficient and least wasteful way to obtain victory. Also, there's a cool bit where they actually acknowledge that a Krieg life is worth just as much as a Mordian life - all expendable, but not to be expended wastefully.

Oh, and here's an interesting tidbit. The Mordian captain believes that her homeworld, Mordia, has fallen. Those of you who have caught up in the lore would be aware that Mordia and the Stygius Sector around it has been conquered by Tzeentchian forces, led by Magnus and his Thousand Sons. Apparently, Mordia was the only world that had yet to fall, with the Mordian Iron Guard fighting hard to defy the armies of Tzeentch and Chaos, and they were relieved by the Crusade of Iron, led by the Iron Hands and their successors. Last I heard, the Iron Hands and their successors have helped the Mordian Iron Guard lift the siege and they are fighting back to retake the systems in the Stygius Sector, but the captain's pessimistic appraisal of the fate of her homeworld has me a little worried. I guess Mordia has fallen, despite the Iron Hands and their Xth Legion successor chapters' efforts? Damn.

Oh, and I thought I should summarize the short stories that appeared in Tales for the Loyal Guardsmen last month. You know the eShorts bundle with five stories? Less than Human happens to be the fifth one.

The Reward of Loyalty is about an Imperial Guardswoman, being the only survivor of her company, being under attack by the Death Guard and Nurgle zombies. After running into a Death Guard who happens to be an ex Dark Angels fallen into chaos, she watches as her company is butchered, and despite the arrival of five Dark Angels Intercessors in an Impulsor, they get killed except one, and their anti-grav transport destroyed. The last surviving Dark Angel jumps into the Tauros that the guardswoman grabbed, and they drive away from the Death Guard Terminators. Or Dark Angel traitor Terminator (after he had a short talk with the last survivor). In any event, they drive here and there, then attempt to meet up with the surviving regiment and the Dark Angels veterans who came with the Intercessors - ivory-white Deathwing Terminators and an Interrogator-Chaplain. They eventually meet up, and the Deathwing Terminators and Interrogator-Chaplain help the Intercessor and guardswoman defeat the Death Guard, capturing the ex Dark Angel who fell to Nurgle. But it turns out that they couldn't allow outsiders to know their secrets, so they tell the Intercessor to kill the guardswoman, but he objects to it...only for the Interrogator-Chaplain to execute him by shooting him in the back of the head. Apparently, the Intercessor failed the test to join the Inner Circle because he prioritizes the life of a loyal servant of the Imperium over some stupid secret over the Fallen. And then the Interrogator-Chaplain kills the guardswoman. Very grimdark, and...yeah, the Dark Angels are basically secretive bastards in this one. No wonder they have all these traitor Dark Angels memes.

Hell Fist is a continuation of Justin Woolley's Catachan Devil - hopefully you had a chance to read that one. I did, and long story short, it's about a team of Catachans sent to infiltrate a jungle planet to take out a bunch of Orks known for their brutal kunnin'. Basically Ork Kommandoes headed by Sneakyguts. Colonel Haskell Aldalon and his veteran squad have to escort Trooper Torvin - the sole survivor of the poorly trained Skadi regiment - back to where his regiment was ambushed by kunnin' Ork Kommandoes and basically decapitate the leadership. Catachan Devil is about Torvin's growth as he earns the respect of the Catachan Jungle Fighters, kills Orks, and joins their regiment permanently despite being a "soft-worlder." Oh, and there's this thing with Haskell's daughter being in the same squad and her trying to earn the recognition of her father while not wanting to have it easy just because of nepotism.

Anyway, they succeed, and the short story Hell Fist follows on from there, where two Orks are training to be Kommandoes...only to be ambushed by Haskell and his squad and killed. There's also a flashback where Haskell and his squad ambushes a much larger Kommando squad who were reconnoitering to take out the hive city and its defenses, springing a trap and killing lots of them before melting back into the jungle through the clever use of smoke grenades. And the Orks think Hell Fist can actually turn into smoke. Heh.

Blood Sands is about a Sentinel squadron crossing the desert to locate a Genestealer Cultist hideout and plant an ident beacon there so that the missiles can strike the place and destroy them. During their journey, they encounter ambushes from Genestealer Cultists and even purestrain Genestealers at a supply outpost, and even though no one should know about their mission and the route they take, they keep running into ambushers and traps, leading the Sentinel pilots to suspect that the general or Commissar heading the mission is a traitor. So after planting the indent beacon, they return to the command center and try to figure out who the traitor is. Unsurprisingly, it was the general, and the Commissar kills him before taking over command and launching the missiles to destroy the Genestealer Cultists' base. The fight has only just begun, and the commissar requests that the two surviving Sentinel pilots requisition a new Sentinel squadron and get back to the desert to continue the war.

The Sum of its Parts is a story chronicling the long life of a Leman Russ tank, Sebastian's Lance. It was first manufactured on a forge world, where the Tech-priests decide to assemble it instead of leaving to the servitors because all of the servitors had been repurposed to repel an invasion (I think from Dark Mechanicum traitors, it's alluded here but not specified). So the tank is built, and they left an eptigraph on it, which is really touching.

NO BOLD ACT IS TOO SMALL TO BE WITHOUT CONSEQUENCE.

By the way, the forge world gets destroyed from orbit by the Mechanicus fleet because they deemed the resources required to take it back aren't worth it. Grimdark, as usual.

Anyway, the tank is passed around. First, it's passed to a Cadian regiment and saw fighting through a few wars where its tank crew emerge victorious, growing from whiteshields to veterans. After that, the tank is then passed to Catachan Jungle Fighters, who discover it in a world being raided by the Drukhari. Even though the Catachans aren't trained to be tank crews like the Cadians, they make use of Sebastian's Lance to kill a couple of Hellions and achieve victory on the world, especially after they capture one of the Hellions and interrogate it for key enemy positions before bombarding them. Nice. Then it's sent to an armored tank regiment where the crippled tank commander takes it as his command tank and lead it to victory against the Orks. In the final engagement, he uses his command tank as bait, luring the Orks to an ambush, only for them to get smashed from behind by the full might of his armored regiment. Unfortunately, both the commander and Sebastian's Lance perish in the combat, being blown apart by the Orks before they were exterminated. They recover enough of Sebastian's Lance to put it in a museum, only for a collector to bring it to a world that is then victim to a Genestealer Cult uprising. Funnily enough, a Genestealer Cult squad steals the tank from the collector's garage (?) and drives it around to help bring the world down, only for the Tyranids to descend.

The Genestealer Cultists then realize their horrible mistake, that the Star Gods - the Tyranids - they worship aren't who they thought they would be. Not saviors or deities, but...ravenous entities out to devour everything. They end up driving Sebastian's Lance right into a warzone where the Iron Hands battle Tyranid organisms, and having a change of heart, they shoot the hull lascannon right into a Carnifex or something. Though it doesn't kill the huge monster outright, it wounds it enough for the Iron Hands to butcher it mechanically. They then kill the cultists - what remains of them, anyway, after the Tyranids damaged the tank - and then one of them places a beacon on the Leman Russ tank for it to be recovered as thanks and respect. The Iron Hands think it's a warrior, and they recognize that it fought well, helping them against the Carnifex.

The Great Rift tears the galaxy apart, and the logistics barge that Sebastian's Lance is being transported in is then requisitioned by the Munitorum and an Astra Militarum command staff to try and reclaim the galaxy. One of the logistics clerk who finds the Leman Russ tank marks it as good to go, and parts from other tanks - such as a precious Carnodon tank - are cannibalized to make Sebastian's Lance fighting fit. The clerk is promoted to driver, and he drives Sebastian's Lance, but in the orbital drop to reclaim a world, an accident happens, and the entire crew save for the driver is killed.

The clerk-turned-driver wakes up alive in the wreckage of Sebastian's Lance and he turns it into a fortress in the no man's land, and his act of defiance turns him into a hero. When he is rescued by relief troops, he is the sole survivor of the administrative division sent to staff the logistics barge, and he's promoted. He buys an administrative posting, but he brings one last remnant of Sebastian's Lance back with him, a peice that he treasures more than the medal they gave him - something he pawned when he returns home. Instead, the inscribed plate of steel that was once part of Sebastian's Lance stands proudly on his desk.

No bold act is too small to be without consequence.

That, along with Less than Human, are my favorite short stories. Well, I like Blood Sands too, as well as Hell Fist, which showcases the awesomeness of the Imperial Guard.

In any case, I do recommend that you guys buy the eShorts and read the stories for yourselves if you enjoy the spoilers. Yeah, I might have told you guys what happened, but that's only to whet your appetite and get you to actually buy the books. Speaking of which, the price increase next month only applies to plastic and resin models, as well as other stuff, but not to eBooks, codex and novels. So continue buying Black Library novels instead! They are cheaper, save more money, and in a way, uh, more educational? Reading is a good habit and a great hobby, and it's why I got into the whole Warhammer 40,000 hobby in the first place. So yeah, I encourage you guys to buy more Black Library novels!

And before you call me a Games Workshop shill, I'm not. I'm just as annoyed at the price increase as you guys are, and I currently lost my funding in my PhD program, so...no source of income for me to buy new models. Also, I'm returning to Singapore in the near future, so I've to find a way to send my models and armies from Minneapolis back to my original home. So that means cutting down on purchases. Ugh. Never mind the space, I need to worry about finding alternative sources of funding. Damn. Point is, the price increase hits hard, especially in this time of crisis. I can afford books, though, so yay, but asking me to spend US$60 on an Arks of Omen book? And 5 of them? Yeah, sorry, but nope. Not in this economy and not in my current financial situation. Furthermore, the Arks of Omen books - as much as I love the lore, and I really enjoyed what happened in Angron - are kind of thin. I'm not paying 60 bucks for 80 or so pages, not when I can buy like 4 full length novels with that kind of money.

I'd rather save that for The Death and the End and The Iron Kingdom. Hell, even if I buy those two novels together, they're a bit over half of what I would have otherwise spent on a single Arks of Omen book. Good God. Anyway, enough waffling from me (I've been too influenced by Valrak), and have a nice day.