Re-Listen February 2024 as part of a Heresy Omnibus+ complete readthrough of the Horus Heresy series, as additional to the Shadow Crusade II The Underworld War (https://www.heresyomnibus.com/omnibus/vi-shadow-crusade-ii-underworld-war):

This was completely new to me when I listened to it a month ago and I've been going through it so much with my chronic physical and mental conditions flaring that it was completely new to me today, as was reading the below review, which I stand by.

I don't have a huge amount to add, other than the fact I upped this to full marks because I enjoyed it so much and had a big silly smile of Chaos Undivided, but always divided again one another on my face while listening. Having the added context of the Shadow Crusade I-II and everything around it (apart from the Betrayal at Calth duology I finally relented and got on Audible as I'm going to be all over the place and left behind if I wait for me to read the words), from Monarchia though the Battle of Calth and the Underworld War to Macragge's Honour and finally hear of Sicarus where the graphic novel leaves off, it's a fun coda on this arc with the Dark Cardinal discovering and scheming to take control of the Daemon World that will be the Legions home until the galaxy burns like Monarchia, Calth, and Colchis did.

It's kinda impossible to like Kor Phaeron or even enjoy hating him, which is my relationship with Erebus, especially after reading Bearer of the Word and the sheer abuse, manipulation, and neglect he unkeashed on his adopted son, Lorgar, but it's fun to see him jump from the Frying Pan of Ultramar into the pink and azure fires of Tzeentch.

I have generally been astounded with how well the infernal emmisaries or the Darker Powers play nice for the sake of the Heresy, but it's hilarious to see the chosen and self-selected of Chaos and/ or specific gods of the Warp hold no loyalty for their kith and kin, let alone anyone under another profane banner.

I think the most significant things about this story and the constantly swirling threads of fate in the Dark Millennia is that there are no Skyrim training wheels in this Galaxy. You are free to fuck with any possible future, regardless of how long and how specifically laid out certain futures seem to be. Unravel and crochet the threads of fate all you like and keep on living through sheer power of will and the eternal struggle to be the biggest arsehole in the galaxy. A particularly hard title while the Emperor lives, but not one you can ever allow yourself to rest on your laurels. The Dark Cardinal and the primary Dark Apostle will bicker and slap fight for that title for eternity, which is just lovely.

The other thing is that this is a significant mark on the chronology of the Heresy with the Traitors moving beyond a jaunt or two into the Eye of Terror and a picnic on Cadia, to actually having their own Daemon Homeworlds within the Eye. It must be especially galling for the other Traitor Extremis who didn't get a chance to make themselves a nice pillow fort to come back to after the Emperor swings them around and casts them in the Eye, as one of the old, old lore descriptions of the Battle of Terra once said. With this epoch were also start to see more recognisable Daemons from the game and the fantasy and magic levels rise significantly, especially with the way the Tzeentch Champion Kor Phaeron bargains with could easily be straight up a Chaos figure from the Old World or the Mortal Realms.

Lest we forget that in the Realms of Chaos we are all Slaves to Darkness!

***

A thoroughly enjoyable Kor Phaeron and the Word Bearers audio drama reinforcing the fact that it's a Chaos eat Primordial Annihilator galaxy out there and that foretellings and prophecies mean very little in the Warhammer universe (or, maybe, there's a whole Eightfold Goldberg Machine of prophecies cultivated as purposeful deadends and nudges towards true and or preferred outcomes, like the complex labyrinth of oubliettes of a daemonic duck's vagina).

What can I say (I mean beyond profusely apologising for the above simile)? One of my favourite characters in all of Warhammer is the Ritual Anathame. I am a certified stan of the Perfidious Relic that started all of this heretical hullabaloo...and the Anathame is pretty cool too (got Kor Phaeron's bony, metal arse!). But seriously, I genuinely am fascinated with how fundamental to the story the fancy dagger is, from the corruption of Horus, all the ways back to the opening or this epic series, through everyone's favourite creepy uncle, Ererbus, doing his Dark Materials Subtle Knife thing and, presumably as its been a while, being involved in the sacrifice and summoning on Calth, to whatever else lays in store within Kor Phaeron's gnarled fist. It is the fulcrum from with the Darker Powers exert the most influence on the mortal realm above and beyond Kor Phaeron, Erebus, and even Lorgar.

As a lifelong heretic and adopted granddaughter of Nurgle, I always love seeing some Chaos and Daemons, especially when I get to witness Pink Horror pop into multiple Blue ones (I'm behind on the latest editions of the tabletop game and I totally get that the idea of needing three models for one is unnecessarily bulky and expensive, but you can't tell me that bonus wounds are anywhere near as satisfying as Daemons splitting into more Daemons!). I am endlessly amused by the Undivided in Chaos Undivided, the eclectic approach of the Word Bearers and other agents of Chaos without a favoured god, has absolutely nothing to do with solidarity, only a willing to use all tools and pawns to their own ends. KP and the Sunshine Warband lay waste to a host of local Tzeentch-worshipping cultists and their pink, blue, and purple pals in pursuit of knowledge of their missing Primarch (something I didn't have context for, but was much less disorientating than the random Legions hanging out and doing stuff in Heart of Pharos).

Just a short, sweet, well crafted audio drama that scratched that mythological *epic* aspect of the Horus Heresy itxh that is one of my favourite aspects and the main thing, beyond the actual planning, collaboration, and *general* quality of the writing, that elevates it above general Warhammer stories.

I am clearly a traitor extremis and biased, so your mileage may vary. ( )