Day Two
Garro: Knight-Errant
Before the speakers came in, some enterprising soul changed
Laurie Goulding’s name to ‘Saul Tarvitz’ on the Powerpoint document. We all
chuckled.
In attendance were Laurie Goulding, John French and Jim Swallow. This seminar was partly to promote the new 20 minute
audio drama ‘Garro: Ashes of Fealty’ which was a new exclusive drama for the ‘Garro:
Knight-Errant’ audio drama pack. We were told it ties into ‘Flight Of The
Eisenstein’ more overtly than the other Garro dramas. It was described by Jim
as a story of “faith versus reason”, focusing on Garro’s apothecary comrade who
is trying to find a cure for Nurgle’s Rot. It also will go into the story of
the loyalist Death Guard on Terra who were on the Eisenstein and weren’t named
Nathaniel Garro. Jim assured us there is a longer plan for those characters,
they haven’t been forgotten, and things will not go well for all of them.
On the subject of Knight Errant dramas, John French then
brought up ‘Grey Angel’. John saw Garro as Jim’s character, so rather than
doing a Garro story he decided to write a character who’d been done by other
authors before. At the time, Black Library also wanted to pick up the trailing
Caliban thread.
This led into a general discussion of the Knights Errant as
an ‘organisation’ and it was emphasised that Garro isn’t necessarily that
central to the way they work – they don’t just follow him around in a line like
baby ducks. Answers to questions like “How many are there?” and “How long have
they been around?” and “Does Garro know them all?” are probably going to be
kept deliberately vague.
Malcador sees his operatives as tools. There are things Malcador is surprised by – he’s not
omniscient. (Case in point, the end of ‘Garro: Shield Of Lies’.) Jim said Garro is trying to find himself and find his
purpose. That can create tension between he and Malcador, which is fun to
write.
Malcador isn’t necessarily the villain. He definitely isn’t
a straightforward, upright guy, which can make him appear to be villainous, in
comparison to Garro. Jim likened Garro to Captain America (which I think kind
of embodies his appeal).
Q&A
Q: Will the Knights Errant be featured further in the Heresy
series?
A: Yes. (laughter) (I’m not sure what the person who asked
this question was actually expecting.)
Q: Will we get more explanation/exploration of Malcador’s
backstory?
A: At some point, the writers and editors for the Heresy had
a meeting with Alan Merrett about the Sigilite’s definitive backstory. It was
“too far”. It’s got some stuff which may never be used in the Heresy series. It
was described as “chillingly awesome”. The authors also spoke on how they
thought Malcador was a useful ‘Emperor substitute’ character, since it’s not
possible for the Emperor to show up and say stuff most of the time.
Q: When you write recruitment stories for the Knights
Errant, do you prefer it to be a Loyalist or Traitor Legion?
A: There are lots of warriors in the Traitor Legions who are
starting to think “I’m not really sure about this ‘stapling a baby to my hat’
thing”, so the Traitor stories are often more fun as there is that additional
conflict. Someone said they’d love to write about a loyalist Legionary who
doubts their commanders and ends up switching to Horus’ side.
Q: Are there any plans for a Macer Varren solo story?
A: Jim: There are no plans, but it’d be fun. World Eaters
are great to write, as they’re so raw, and Varren is just an angry Gerard
Butler. (Laurie remarked he looks a bit like Gerard Butler on the ‘Sword Of
Truth’ art.)
Q: Any more stuff about the secret base on Titan
forthcoming?
A: There are plans to do more with the Titan storyline,
though it might be a while before we see that.
Q: Any plans to do a Saul Tarvitz story? (groans)
A: It’d be really fun to do a flashback story, but there’s
no (or very little) chance of bringing the character back to life in the
current Heresy timeline. It was always the plan to bring Loken back from his
apparent death; they have no such plans for Saul. Besides, Tarvitz did a
significant job already, in slowing the Traitor advance and helping Garro flee
to Terra. He fulfilled his role and perhaps bringing him back would cheapen
that. However, it’s still fun to do ‘what if’ scenarios: How would events have
differed if Saul and the loyalists had failed on Isstvan III? ‘Warmaster’ shows
that Horus feels the events around this time are an endless series of mistakes
and missed opportunities for his cause – but his ability to turn them around,
to use them to his advantage…. Well, that’s why he’s Warmaster.
Q: If the Heresy series was being written on a blank slate
and the ending wasn’t an issue, would you have changed the outcome?
A: Apparently, when this was starting out, Tony Cottrell
asked “Why don’t we have Horus win? They won’t expect that.” However, they can
confirm that’s not going to happen. Jim: “Yes, I enjoy destroying your sweet,
sweet hope – your tears taste so delicious.” Laurie: “That was a bit sinister.”
Q: Will there be a Garro miniature?
A: They hope so, and they’d all like models for all the
Knights Errant.
Q: Will there be any Knight Errant operatives from the Alpha
Legion?
A: How do you know there aren’t now? (nervous laughter) The things
which are appealing about the Alpha Legion are the things which make them very
hard to fit into the Knights Errant. It would be difficult to trust any Alpha
Legion warrior who was claiming to be a loyalist, and Malcador is not a
trusting person anyway, so… probably not. However, when you think about it, the
Knights Errant are a lot like the Alpha Legion, in that they wage war in the
ways available to them, and not always in the most obvious way.
Q: In the wake of ‘The Watcher’, will there be Ison
appearances in future Knight Errant stories?
A: Yes, that will be built on. Also that nearly-dead Space
Wolf may be repurposed and show up later on. The Knight Errant organisation,
such as it is, is a lot bigger and a lot more eventful than the stories take
in, so there are a lot of stories like this happening all the time.
Conclusion
With the seminars finished, I slunk away into the night
(well, mid-afternoon) deciding to forgo the closing ceremony.
How was the Horus Heresy weekender? Despite my general
dislike for interacting with strangers, and general belief that some of the
Heresy fans out there are complete monsters, I did enjoy myself for most of it,
though I found it really tiring. If you’re thinking of going, I advise you go
in a group of likeminded friends if possible – it’s much easier to cover a lot
of ground with two or three of you checking out different things at different
times. If I hadn’t felt a pressure to show up and pay close attention to every
seminar, I might have been a bit less shattered when the night rolled around
and been more intrepid in seeking out scoops from the BL authors, or getting
into “bare bants” at the evening’s entertainment (the way this was scheduled
and referred to quite coyly throughout day one made me think it was Laurie
Goulding doing some Heresy-themed cabaret or something).
As for the people in attendance, they were fine. There was
behaviour on display which I find massively annoying on forums (and in real
life, as it turns out) like jeering when a character or Legion was discussed,
or proudly stating that the novellas are a waste and money, but that stuff was
fairly uncommon. I don’t love crowds, but it was rarely too claustrophobic an
experience. I’ve learned by now that just because I share an interest with a
big crowd of people, that doesn’t mean I’m going to feel a warm, fuzzy sense of
kinship to them, and the Heresy Weekender was no different; I had some
enjoyable (if short) conversations but I suspect I didn’t form any bonds which
will persist throughout the ages.
For my intended purposes (mostly to get some exciting Black
Library news and early releases) the Weekender was not a massive success. I’m
tempted to try the Black Library Weekender later in the year, as I understand
that has more of a book focus, but… ultimately, I think if Black Library really
want to promote the Horus Heresy series in novel, rulebook and miniature
format, they could stand to talk in a lot more detail and a lot more specifics
about what is coming up. The fact I barely heard the words ‘Deathfire’ and
‘Crimson King’ at all over the whole weekend seems like an oversight.
It feels like this would be a perfect place to drum up publicity
and enthusiasm for the 2015 schedule. Maybe they have yet to iron out what that
actually is, but talking candidly about what everyone’s working on or even not
working on, and what will be released this year, seems like something they
could emphasise a bit more.
At least there was no “only available at this event!”
shenanigans with Black Library here. With ‘Tallarn: Witness’ released as an
ebook this week (think of how long most of us had to wait to read ‘Serpent’ and
‘Spirit Of The Conqueror’) and ‘Blades Of The Traitor’ available in ebook
format right now – and probably print format within a few months – it looks
like Black Library have decided to distance themselves from ‘event only’
shenanigans, going instead for ‘event early’. That’s great, and I really mean
that. I’m glad everyone will be able to read the stuff I went to that event for
in a few months, rather than a couple years. (Of course, I’d be happier if they
had floated a release date for ‘The Imperial Truth’ and ‘Sedition’s Gate’
standard editions.) But the fact BL have sidestepped this but opened themselves
to a new type of ‘exclusive’ scumbaggery is disheartening. In my opinion the
pricetag for ‘Tallarn: Ironclad’ isn’t outrageous at all by itself… but I’m
worried when they describe it as a ‘novel’. I’d rather say “Hey, a new Limited
Edtion novella came out which cost a bit more and was a lot longer” than say
“Hey, a new novel came out which was a lot shorter and a lot more expensive.”
They’re kind of pushing me towards the second one, sadly. As for introducing a
‘location specific’ book – fuck outta here with that shit…
I doubt I’ll be at the Weekender next year. Still, it wasn’t
a total loss. ‘Tempest’, the Ultramarine minis, the Scars sequel, the Alaxxes
novella, Gav’s mysteriously absent ‘Raptor’, not to mention the curiously
undersold ‘Deathfire’ – I’m happy the next several months will most likely be
exciting ones for Heresy fans.
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