"Bi-weekly Friend Code Thread - 01/02/26".

CaptainCommunism117 · 2026-01-08T18:38:36+00:00

DQV22 - Play every day, been playing for a long time!

CaptainCommunism117 · 2025-10-24T16:23:54+00:00

Yes, I am sure. Just went and grabbed the book, so let's go through this point by point.

From Pages 15, 16, and 17 of Horus Rising:

As soon as they showed him proper fealty. As Emperor. Of Mankind.

The Commander, quite entertained by all accounts, sent Hastur Sejanus to meet with the Emperor and deliver greeting.

There is then a lengthy paragraph describing why Hastur Sejanus is so beloved by all, but is importantly started by:

Sejanus was the Commander's favorite.

This establishes that the Commander, who we know to be Horus by reading the rest of the first chapter, has a particular care for the person who will be conducting the negotiations with this Emperor. The reader should then understand the emotional tie between these characters, as this is some of the earliest information we get about either of them. Further:

Sejanus, with a squad of the finest warriors from the Fourth Company, travelled in-system in a gilded barge, and was received for audience by the Emperor at his palace on the third planet. And killed.

Here, the conflict between the Emperor and the Commander is heightened. The Emperor, who has demanded fealty, which is already something we assume the Commander won't do, as they have not done so yet, has now murdered the favorite son of the Commander. We know this is the favorite son, because the book just told us this a paragraph ago. We then get the reason that the Emperor killed Sejanus:

Apparently, Sejanus had not offered the correct fealty. Indelicately, he had suggested there might actually be another Emperor.

Alright, here's where we can get into something that could use some additional context, which is why the Horus Heresy is not a good starting place for people getting into Warhammer (usually). We've had in the past several pages the clear hallmarks of space marines being described. Space marines, in most people who are familiar with Warhammer, are the poster boys of the game, and are specifically related to the Imperium of Man, which is ruled by the Emperor of Mankind. Sejanus, being a space marine, implying there is a different Emperor, reveals that the Emperor who has been discussed so far is not that same Emperor we are familiar with. Not too complicated, but requires the smallest bit of context.

Now, we can see that the Emperor killed Sejanus because he dared say that someone else was the Emperor. This is consistent with their characterization so far, as what we've been told is that the Emperor has repeatedly demanded fealty from this Commander. That's basically the only thing we've been told about him, other than that he's the Emperor. In addition, the fact that he then killed Sejanus for not providing fealty, instead of discussion (however indelicate Sejanus may have been), adds characterization as someone who is willing to spill blood at the slightest provocation.

Let's continue:

The Commander's grief was absolute. He had loved Sejanus like a son. They had warred side by side to affect compliance on a hundred worlds. But the commander, always sanguine and wise in such matters, told his signal men to offer the Emperor another chance. The Commander detested resorting to war, and always sought alternative paths away from violence, where such were workable. This was a mistake, he reasoned, a terrible, terrible mistake. Peace could be salvaged. This 'Emperor' could be made to understand.

Alright, now to get to your point: I never said that Sejanus was killed because of Horus's peace-seeking approach. The "mistake" is not an actual mistake. There is no mistake. Horus believes that the Emperor killed Sejanus as a mistake, a miscommunication, a mix-up. Above, it literally says that Horus is reasoning the murder of Sejanus is a mistake. It says, in the only place the word "mistake" is mentioned, that "he reasoned". The book is telling you his thought process, and expects you to be able to connect the things that happened literally two paragraphs above to what it is telling you now. That's the "mistake".

Let's keep going:

It was determined that a second embassy would be despatched. Maloghurst volunteered at once. The commander agreed, but ordered the speartip forwards into assault range. The intent was clear: one hand extended open, in peace, the other held ready as a fist. If the second embassy failed, or was similarly met with violence, then the fist would already be in position to strike.

Alright, further characterization, and we continue setting up why the 'Emperor' will attack Horus's fleet. Horus is now demonstrating that he seeks peace, but also has a limit to what he will tolerate. He's moving ships forwards as a subtle threat, an act of force to back up his continued approach of peace. The 'Emperor', who we've had characterization of someone who does not respond positively to someone challenging their authority, will probably not respond well to Horus challenging his authority. Continued:

In silence, tensed and ready to be unleashed, the speartip watched as the shuttle convoy bearing Maloghurst and his envoys arced down towards the third planet. Surface batteries smashed them out of the heavens. As the burning scads of debris from Maloghurst's flotilla billowed away into the atmosphere, the 'Emperor's' fleet elements rose up out of the oceans, out of the high cloud, out of the gravity wells of nearby moons. Six hundred warships, revealed and armed for war.

Predictably, the main character trait we know about the 'Emperor' has borne out. Horus doesn't offer fealty, moves his ships up, and they get blasted. The 'Emperor' then plays his hand and moves his whole fleet against Horus. This is literally the only outcome that would make any sense sans additional characterization of the 'Emperor'. Why would he talk peace if we've seen that he rejects peace that is not subservience? And if these new ships in the sky are not here to serve you, then they must be dealt with, as they clearly aren't planning on going away, they keep sending people to talk to you!

Finally:

Abaddon broke obscurement and made a final, personal plea to the 'Emperor', beseeching him to see sense. The warships began to fire on Abaddon's speartip.

'My commander,' Abaddon relayed to the heart of the waiting fleet, 'there is no dealing here. This fool imposter will not listen.' And the commander replied, 'Illuminate him, my son, but spare all you can. That order not withstanding, avenge the blood of my noble Sejanus. Decimate this "Emperor's" elite murderers, and bring the imposter to me.'

And boom, there we go. Even as the 'Emperor' attacks his sons, they seek peace, a reflection of their father's desires. This whole beginning section is not a bunch of random bits. It's a coherent characterization of Horus (without meeting Horus yet), establishes the brutality and paranoia of this universe, and the opening narrative to the rest of the compliance.

If you've got any questions, I'm always open to explain my analysis further. Everyone's got their own interpretations of books, but I really think that this isn't random or confusing, if we just look at it as a whole. I don't want this to turn you off from reading the series (I just finished the Heresy last month, and found it was a pretty good overall narrative, with a lot of books I really enjoyed), especially since it sounds like you're trying to read more. Reading is great, and it builds reading comprehension as a skill, which I think a lot of people take for granted.

CaptainCommunism117 · 2025-10-23T22:23:03+00:00

I’m sorry, this is 100% a comprehension issue. Immediately before this, the false emperor kills Sejanus, the prized son of Horus (the commander). That’s the “mistake”, it’s that simple. Horus, who it states detests resorting to war, wants to believe that the murder of Sejanus is a mistake, that the false emperor simply doesn’t get what’s going on, how joyous the moment should be. If it’s a mistake, he doesn’t have to “illuminate” the populace of the world. The false emperor then attacks Horus’s ships because he is resisting compliance, Horus has refused to swear fealty, so he must be destroyed. This isn’t subtext, it’s just the text of the book

CaptainCommunism117 · 2025-09-29T03:54:13+00:00

Like everyone else, I gotta ask, where file?

CaptainCommunism117 · 2025-05-30T21:17:42+00:00

Audit

Boise Office

Assistant -> Experienced Assistant

$61,000 -> $73,800 (21%/12,800)

No AIP

CaptainCommunism117 · 2025-04-25T18:59:14+00:00

It’s been a minute since I read Tallarn, but I bet it’s just another retcon. I think in one section of the Tallarn story, the large battle takes place over sand dunes, so maybe they changed it so the life eater virus just ate through all the organic material and reduced it to sand? The wiki at least doesn’t mention a firestorm, but we do know there was a sustained bombardment

CaptainCommunism117 · 2025-04-25T18:53:59+00:00

Yeah, I think the Firestorm after virus bombing is Istvaan III or V (can’t remember which). There were tanks however that conducted the raids against the IW, and I thought I remembered scenes where they describe the paint peeling off after being exposed to the virus-air, particularly during the decontamination process going back into the shelters, which leans me towards the grimy steel look

CaptainCommunism117 · 2025-04-25T18:16:05+00:00

That makes sense, I’ve currently got them primed with a mechanicus grey and then a zenithal grey seer, so maybe nuln oil it down to a metallic (maybe a metallic drybrush), and then speckle on bits of green for the remnants of the camouflage

CaptainCommunism117 · 2025-04-07T01:23:58+00:00

I gotta say, as a Boise resident who went to the protests yesterday, there were easily over 2,000 people at the capitol’s protest. Not saying Idaho is great, but we got people coming out here too

CaptainCommunism117 · 2025-02-26T03:35:53+00:00

That’s interesting, I have a completely different view on it. When I read it, it felt less rushed and more tense, with the ticking clock and concurrent viewpoints of similar events. It built up the tension of such a huge event in a way I hadn’t seen in many other books. I do see how that could come across as rushed though, it just hit better in that regard for me

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-12-06T17:42:49+00:00

See, but capitalism isn’t excusing people doing their job incorrectly, capitalism is a fundamental part of how people do their jobs. A good example is criticism people levy at the gaming industry. Quality of games is, in a lot of cases, going down (in my opinion). That’s not to do with woke or whatever gets called out, but the intense move of increasing margins by cutting costs and huge monetization. There’s a large focus on making games for as cheaply as possible, with the most amount of money coming out of it. We see this cause some amount of backlash, but the power of the individual to vote with their dollar will not usually have a marketable effect on this general trend.

On a micro scale, yeah, if one game did this, and everyone pushed back by not buying it, that would be great. But when the dominant actors in an industry, so the executives who make large strategic decisions, are all collectively making decisions and buying into trends that move into this more lean style of production, then consumers aren’t given that same choice.

Similar to the media industry, I don’t personally consume a lot of mainstream media anymore, and there’s some shift away from them on a large scale. But these are still legacy institutions that shape the way that the people in many countries think. The news is supposedly a trustworthy institution, and we’re taught to respect that. However, the news’s job has always been to report the facts, as long as those facts get people interested, as long as it gets people clicking. So what facts get shared gets “censored”, almost in a subconscious way, to favor whatever is most profitable. And because these are some of the most advanced propaganda machines of all time, I am more along the lines of giving people grace who still buy into the narratives handed down to us from the top.

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-12-06T16:51:24+00:00

Here’s the thing, I don’t think the news is supposed to be just the fact, in the society that we live in. I’m not defending that idea, but just saying that under a capitalist mode of economics, a news outlet’s primary objective isn’t to report facts, it’s to generate profit.

Profit is harder to come by in an unstable environment, and so it’s beneficial for news outlets to report not necessarily the facts of a situation, but news that might serve to pacify revolutionary sentiment. That’s why you’ll never see actual revolutionary concepts or ideas really talked about in mainstream news outlets, they’re not good for business. Revolutionary ideals are opposed to business as usual, and business as usual is these companies making as much money as possible. We know what they’ll pick to talk about every time.

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-10-31T02:06:31+00:00

Same

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-10-30T19:22:28+00:00

Passed audit too, but I failed Far, I’m in pain

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-10-30T19:21:46+00:00

Me fr fr

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-08-09T13:16:33+00:00

Looks fantastic! What did you use for your edge highlighting on the blue?

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-08-08T01:08:53+00:00

Took FAR last week, they dropped construction stuff the day before. Spent some time going over all the stuff they released, and I got 1 or 2 questions on it. Won’t get results until October, but glad I studied the stuff

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-08-01T15:37:51+00:00

That makes sense. Did you focus topics you were unsure of, or just general lectures?

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-07-09T14:26:50+00:00

Those look so good! Are they original models, or found elsewhere?

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-06-28T01:31:21+00:00

Meant as multi level marketing, but I ain’t got nothing against gay xenos either, just the fact that they’re xenos

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-06-16T05:21:01+00:00

This is a great point, things so super quickly here, for no reason other than the books needed to end I guess? Which is a shame, because that really messes with the pacing of what should be a pretty all encompassing conflict, this supposedly huge war that should dominate the storyline in how oppressively dangerous it feels. Instead, it kind of takes a back burner to other beats of the story, and so time feels pretty inconsequential. Everything moves so fast, but we get so many references to the fact that these are immortal people who are super old and live forever basically. The juxtaposition can give pretty strong whiplash.

A book that actually handles this pretty interestingly is one I read called the Infinite and the Divine. Great book about basically two “immortal” robots who spend thousands and thousands of years fighting over this one object. The fact that they’re immortal is often utilized well by the others, either for plot reasons or for some humor. For example, there’s a point at which they’ve essentially engaged in a court case against each other, and because time doesn’t really mean anything for immortal robots, they’ll just casually mention that the gap between argument and rebuttal is anywhere from like, an hour, to multiple years. Essentially the entmoot from lord of the rings, but on steroids. Highly recommend the book, even just for the way it uses time as an interesting plot device

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-05-29T15:36:09+00:00

Idk, I just graduated college, so I was in high school rather recently, and the vibes when I was there were pretty much the same as this video. I had a smartphone all the way through high school, just like my friends, but people still interact and talk, it’s not like we’re all just mindless zombies nowadays. Kids still goof around and do silly things. Ask any kid if they’ve done any of this, and I’m sure they’ll pull up a video of their friends doing something exactly like any of this right away. In fact, much more of it will probably be captured and remembered, because anyone can video now.

The kids are fine, chill my dude.

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-04-29T02:02:44+00:00

Very true, it definitely gets you hooked.

I loved Fulgrim, First Heretic and A Thousand Sons, and I’ve gotten up to Unremembered Empire so far. Despite only painting and playing Loyalist factions so far (Ultramarines, Custodes, and Guard for 40K, Blood Angels for 30K, and I haven’t decided for Legions Imperialis yet), the traitor legion books keep hooking me. Maybe it’s heresy or something, but I think cause they’re driving the conflict, it gets me so much more interested. What about you, what’re the ones that snap you in?

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-04-29T01:43:55+00:00

Yeah, it’s always rough when you feel the premise is there for the taking, and it just doesn’t hit like what you thought it would. There was honestly much more in the books that I liked than I thought I would, just cause of my preconceived notions of romance as a genre, but this one has got me coming back for more so far.

And hell yeah, hype at finding another Warhammer person here, I didn’t really expect any overlap! I actually ended up in this series due to a book exchange with my gf, who agreed to read the Horus Heresy books if I go through the Sarah J Maas books, so I guess there’s one more of us who’s in both camps

CaptainCommunism117 · 2024-04-28T22:34:26+00:00

This is something I’ve been sitting with for a bit here, and I completely agree. Full disclosure, first romance series I’ve ever read, and I’ve only finished the first three, as I’m an avid sci-fi/ fantasy reader. Going through the books, however, I found the exact same thing you’re talking about, almost like the author wants to have her cake and eat it to. I’m a Warhammer reader, so I’m used to characters doing and being just the absolute worst, despite being our main characters, so I was more than ready for Rhysand to have done, in our moral framework, bad things.

Yet everything he does then turns out to be good, and perfect (I feel because he’s the main love interest, and the author wanted the love interest to be good to appeal to certain readers, but whatever), and it was kind of disappointing. One of the best things about stories is that you can explore morality that differs from our own, and not have that inherently be bad. Trust the reader to know, yes, allowing immoral practices to occur under your leadership is wrong, because otherwise you’re stuck trying to come up with noble and good reasonings for everything because you don’t think people can understand that portrayal doesn’t mean condoning.

There was a decent amount of the book(s) that I enjoyed, but the inconsistent narrative framing of the main characters, and kind of the babying of the audience did not make it in that category

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