We’re back with another delve into the annals of Black Library, showing you where to start your adventures in the worlds of Warhammer. This time, we’re in the 41st Millennium, and it’s the turn of the Emperor’s Children to seize the limelight.
The Emperor’s Children were once counted among the greatest Space Marines, but their dedication to perfection would be their undoing. These warriors descended into degeneracy, embracing the corrupting influence of Slaanesh. Stealing the spotlight is what the Emperor’s Children do best, and none more so than Lucius the Eternal. He’s a supernal duellist – Lucius is both blessed by Slaanesh themselves and has skills honed over ten thousand years of war. Worse still for any who face him, even if they emerge victoriously, they will merely be cursed to become his new host. In death, Lucius takes over the body of anybody who feels even an ounce of satisfaction for managing to kill him.*
In Lucius: The Faultless Blade, he finds his armies exhausted by unending war and must turn to a one-time ally to replenish his forces.
This book is an excellent introduction to the personalities of the Emperor’s Children – each of their number is a twisted manifestation of the madness that grips the III Legion. Driven entirely by his ingrained desire for self-improvement, Lucius will cross any line in pursuit of his ambitions.
No mention of the Emperor’s Children is complete without their most infamous scion, Fabius Bile. Where others are obsessed with swordsmanship or prowess in the torture chambers, Bile is singularly committed to creating the perfect being through all manner of horrific genetic meddling.
In fact, so despicable are his experiments that even his fellow Traitor Astartes shun the Legion’s former Chief Apothecary, forcing Bile into self-imposed exile deep in the Eye of Terror.
Primogenitor is the first novel in a trilogy by Josh Reynolds that follows the geneticist’s journey during the 41st Millennium. An unexpected message from a former student pulls Fabius Bile back into the galaxy and sets him off on an uncertain quest. If he finds what he’s looking for, Bile might just be able to avert the one thing he fears – his own inevitable death.
In book 2 of the series, Clonelord, Bile finds himself forced back into cooperation with former friends and current enemies from his own Legion. They put aside their differences to acquire a vital relic from the mysterious world of Solemnace.**
Once again, the clashing personalities of the Emperor’s Children come to the fore, and it’s not hard to see how they so readily turned on their Loyalist brothers during the Heresy.
The trilogy concludes with Manflayer, which sees Fabius seek help when his masterpiece is threatened by a dark force of haemonculi. That any of the III Legion – let alone Fabius Bile – is willing to suppress their ego speaks volumes for how important his Homo Novus, or ‘New Men’, project is.***
Finally, what better place to learn about the nuances of the sons of Fulgrim than by reading all about their primogenitor – the Primarch of the Emperor’s Children.
Graham McNeill’s second novel in The Horus Heresy series, Fulgrim, tells the story of the Phoenician’s gradual descent into decadence, hubris, and moral corruption, sowing the seeds for his eventual fall – and that of his Legion. The novel also features Lucius and Fabius as they once were, 10 millennia earlier, before Slaanesh got their beatific hooks into them.
You can get the ebooks of all these stories – and many more – on BlackLibrary.com now, while many audiobooks are ready to download on the Black Library Audio app and Audible. Don’t forget you can also order physical copies from Games-Workshop.com, and your local Warhammer Store will have a few shelves of Black Library books to flick through.
* And, given his skill, even the most stoic can’t help but feel a twinge of pride at having bested him. Find out how Lucius traps souls in his armour in the short story ‘Pride and Fall’.
** If you recognise the name, you might know that a certain ageless historian is not best pleased with this incursion.
*** We don’t want to give you any spoilers, but suffice it to say that this project could well be the magnum opus of Fabius Bile’s 10,000-year research into the mysteries of genetic potential.