Throughout both books there were minor tweaks to bring these things into line. As you’d expect, there are far more alterations to Dark Imperium than to Plague War . These additions are joined by a very special episode of Battle Report, which recreates the colossal clash between brothers Roboute Guilliman and Mortarion in a narrative play game.

Footsteps halted by his head. There was a poke on the breastplate of the Armour of Fate. Guilliman heard Mortarion speak, but he could not see, and he could sense nothing else but pain. The point at which the old ‘5 minutes to midnight’ 40k setting started to change was when Games Workshop started building up to the Great Rift, the huge Warp storm which has split the galaxy in two. Big events included the fall of Cadia, the troubled birth of Ynnead (the aeldari god of the dead), and the miraculous resurrection of Roboute Guilliman, Primarch of the Ultramarines. For the sake of ease I’ve referred to this whole era as the Gathering Storm. The vast majority of what I’ve mentioned so far has shown events from an Imperial viewpoint, but there are a few books which take a look from different perspectives as well. These are all set after the Great Rift has taken place.It is done. Mortarion is gone. His network is broken,’ Roboute Guilliman said. ‘The Plague Wars are over.’ Godblight works well aside from some moments early on that don't add much to the flow of the plot. Those particular segments on their own are well written and interesting, but much of it was also clearly meant to set up post Dark Imperium plot points (I'm assuming), so I'd expect it didn't add much to the plot of this book because we're meant to see it followed up on later.

We will soon be in the Garden of Nurgle, my brother. The veils are parting. I can see it already. Once you are dead, this world will fall within it, and become a jewel of decay. You have damaged my network, but not by enough, and at the coming of your death, one by one each of your worlds will pass from this place of cold void and uncaring stars into the Grand­father’s embrace. Guy: This is the climactic conclusion to the whole series, the moment we have been waiting for! Guilliman faces his brother Mortarion on the garden world of Iax, which the forces of Nurgle are busily transforming into a daemon world named Pestiliax. Most of the planet has fallen, but a few enclaves hold out, and it is at one of these that Guilliman and Mortarion will finally come to blows. If you’re a fan of Inquisitor Greyfax, this four-part audio drama is the next step in her story after Eye of Night. It also heavily features Saint Celestine, and has brilliant performances from Katherine Tate (Greyfax) and Emma Gregory (Celestine). I wouldn’t say it was essential to the ongoing story, but it provides a good look at the Ecclesiarchy and the Inquisition post-Great Rift. Technically speaking then, The Devastation of Baal probably also fits into the timeline at some point after the events of the Dark Imperium books (now that they’re being adjusted to take place earlier on in the crusade) and The Great Work …but for the sake of ease I’ve included it here.The Godblight was finally completed when Ku'gath was able to administer a portion of Guilliman's own blood gathered from an earlier battle on Parmenio. The disease was so strong that Ku'gath boasted it could not only kill a Primarch, but erase their very essence from the Warp as well. Highly contagious, upon exposure to air it would annihilate all in its path, Mortarion included. [2a] On Iax Mortarion was able to administer the Godblight and seemingly kill Guilliman, but the power of the Emperor unexpectedly manifested and restored the Primarch. [2b] Sources Daemon Prince • Furies • Soul Grinder • Daemon Engine • Daemonic Herald • Chaos Spawn • Chaos Beast • Mutalith Vortex Beast • Brute • Shrike • Behemoth • Imp

Great Unclean One • Poxbringer • Spoilpox Scrivener • Sloppity Bilepiper • Battle Fly • Beast of Nurgle • Nurgling • Plaguebearer • Rot Fly • Bloat-Fly • Clawbril • Hooktor • Molluscoid • Blight Drone • Plague Hulk • Plague Drone • Plague Toad • Pox Rider • Foetid Bloat-Drone • Feculent Gnarlmaw • Glitchling • Plague FlyKey to it all is how Guilliman feels about his ‘father’. It’s been fascinating getting into his head. In Dawn of Fire, we made the deliberate choice never to see things from Guilliman’s point of view, but much of the Dark Imperium trilogy does just that, so collectively we get to see the galaxy from all angles. It's the throwdown you've been waiting for, as Guilliman and Mortarion work out ten thousand years of pent-up resentment in a clash for the ages. All in all, Godblight does a fine job rounding out the trilogy and setting up the future of 40K. I'm curious how much of this will have long term impact on the setting and happy with where things are escalating. The time shift from being at the end of the Indomitus Crusade is also fine. As long as you know it happened you can get by reading this without needing to revisit the previous books (although I occasionally wish I did when I forgot who someone was...). Guy: I really enjoyed writing the interactions between the daemons. I love the very human nature of Nurgle’s Great Unclean Ones. They’re quarrelsome, affectionate, amusing, insecure, as well as being god-level spreaders of supernatural diseases! I had lots of fun with Ku’Gath’s plague guard, particularly the unfortunate Septimus, but that pleasure was eclipsed by writing the rivalry between Ku’Gath and Rotigus in book three. I can’t wait for people to be… infected by my enthusiasm for that. (Sorry.) A close second would be Tetrarch Decimus Felix, who I liked so much that I put him into Belisarius Cawl: The Great Work . Bloodthirster • Bloodmaster • Rendmaster • Sacred Executioner • Skullmaster • Bloodletter • Bloodcrusher • Blood Slaughterer • Brass Scorpion • Flesh Hound • Juggernaut • Blood Throne • Skull Cannon • Skull Altar