After thirty thousand years, warfare had come full circle.
The sheer scale of humanity's conflicts disregarded the corrupt reliance on automation as seen in the Dark Age of Technology. Mankind was back down to sword beating against shields and men entrenched with their rifles, where the gods of myth were Titan war machines and Baneblade tanks.
In his calmer moments, Kharn felt honoured. He was living through a second age of legend, where the future's mythology was being written around him with each new victory. The World Eaters were the descendants of ancient phalanxes; the spiritual sons of shield walls in lost kingdoms. They were echoes made manifest, conjured from battles that broke down into bronze bladed duels between thousand heroes, once formation was forgotten in blood, the sweat, and the curses of two armies grinding.
They weren't soldiers, fighting in packs through conquered streets. They were warriors, drawing blades to fight in the moments where courage and endurance threatened to meet madness. Those moments never made it into the sagas.
But he saw no great art to warfare. At least, not beyond the momentary aesthetic pleasure inherent in a in a sight so unbelievable that it drowned the senses: a city aflame, perhaps, or an orbital pict-view of armies so colossal they blackened the very land over which they were killing each other.
And yet, he loved war. He loved the brotherhood, fighting side by side and back to back with warriors he'd die for, and who would die for him. He loved the momentary surge of life he felt each time a foe fell before his axe. And, as proud as any man without ever tainting himself by vainglory, he loved war because he had a gift for it.
The true strength of the Emperor's Space Marines was in their genetic coding. Not their strength, mighty though it was; not their discipline, for many lacked that virtue almost entirely; not in the armoured fist of their massed armour battalions, which in truth could be crewed by lesser men with little difference.
No, their strength was a testament to the Emperor's shrewd foresight for conflict, for he made warriors that could endure more than any other mortal. Secondary organs compensated when primary hearts and lungs grew tired. Wounds that would leave a man or woman stunned or crippled scarcely slowed a legionary at all. They were children harvested from a natural life, grown purely into creatures that were able to tolerate pain and damage beyond measure, and still keep going.
The Emperor, for all his supposed faults, understood war had come full circle. In his Imperial wisdom, he'd bred soldiers to win those ancient wars that would be fought again in the future.
So Kharn screamed. He screamed as he severed the head of a defiant, uniformed academy guardsman, and he screamed as his tore a female officer in half on the backswing. He screamed as he felt exhaustion that would cripple a human, and he pushed through it, again and again. An Ultramarine rose up before him, bolter and gladius ready. Kharn took the legionary's arm off with a chop, kicked his chestplate hard enough to send him sprawling, and looped a weapon chain around the wounded warrior's throat. He strangled the Ultramarine, embracing him from behind to throttle the life from him, roaring and howling and frothing all the while.
This excerpt really shows what Kharn is all about. He's not the mindless brute, at least not yet. Kharn is intelligent and introspective, to the point that he knows the historical weight the heresy and his part in it have. He is on par with Sigismund's "only war" quote, in that while Sigismund predicts the fate of the Imperium, Kharn predicts the future of Chaos- warriors, not soldiers.
This seems to be the central difference between chaos marines and loyalist marines. Kharn's description of the warriors is very self-centered and revolves around tangible things- extra organs and enhancements. Not the intangible attributes often assigned to soldiers- courage, discipline, etc. The warriors Kharn mentions could go on to become the brutal, self centered chaos lords of 40k, raiding Imperial ships for supplies, weapons, and resources.
What I like most about this is the importance Kharn places on endurance and brotherhood over strength. While the nails make the World Eaters bloodthirsty savages, Kharn seems to think the best attribute they have is the ability to keep fighting, and to do it happily for their brothers. Endurance is a trait that usually lines up with the Death Guard, but the World Eater's also have legendary endurance. Enough to swing an axe over and over until an entire city is lacerated.
This excerpt really encapsulates the brotherhood, camaraderie, and character of the World Eaters. It also lends to the theory that Angron's aspect of the Emperor was brotherhood. The nails strip the World Eaters of their unity, rending them down into berzerkers that will kill each other as happily as any enemy. Without the nails, Angron would have led the legion down a completely different path.
Submitted June 29, 2019 at 01:03AM by KingOfTheDust https://ift.tt/2X9jW51
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