First published in issue 14 of Black Library’s Inferno! Magazine way back in 1999, Barrington J. Bayley’s short story The Lives of Ferag Lion-Wolf is very much an ‘old 40k’ story – it’s still in keeping with the setting in tone, even if some of the details are a little out of place these days. Tzeentchian champion Ferag Lion-Wolf – traitor Space Marine, slayer of monsters, ruler of five worlds in the Eye of Terror – is on the cusp of ascending to daemonhood. As he greets a rival with honeyed words and false smiles he can’t help but boast of his prowess and god-given favour, but the Changer of Ways is a fickle master.
Reading a Barrington J. Bayley 40k story is like stepping back in time to when the setting hadn’t quite settled into its current form, when authors could throw all manner of weird sci-fi themes and ideas into the mix, when there could be an Imperium of Chaos in the Eye of Terror and renegade Space Marines talked of the Horus war. It’s 40k in an earlier, stranger incarnation, but for all its oddities there’s a lot to enjoy in this tale of overweening ambition and sneaky Tzeentchian schemes. It’s fascinating to see what’s changed and what’s stayed virtually the same in the setting, and while this is very much a short story it’s clever, entertaining and deliciously appropriate.
See also: my review of Battle of the Archaeosaurs by Barrington J. Bayley
The Lives of Ferag Lion-Wolf is available in Inferno! 14 (1999), Dark Imperium (2001), Let the Galaxy Burn (2006) and There is Only War (2013). Header image is by Karl Kopinski, copyright Games Workshop 1999.
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Always enjoy your reviews of old school Black Library, Michael. Its made me realise this was probably my favourite era of 40k, end of 2nd edition with the beginning of Black Library and into 3rd ed. So many grandees influencing the setting from developers like Andy Chambers; artists like John Blanche and Paul Dainton; and authors like Dan Abnett, all having a creative influence. A frontier kind of vibe.
I’d argue too, it was the most ‘grim-dark’ era, as I got more of a sense of cosmic horror and the frightening abyss of space that was the 40k universe. We only had snippets of lore so they read more like broken, aural history handed down the generations. Primarchs were distant half forgotten figures. Humans were huddling amongst the byzantine ruins of a crumbling empire. And as we didn’t know everything, the universe seemed like more of a mysterious, scary place than it does now. Old, failing Astartes rather than perfect Primaris (anyway, thats a whole can of worms for me right there). Less, is definitely more in a way.
As a side point, I remember the C’tan were only alluded to and seemed much more sinister than they do now.
Some of it was completely crazy though… Codex Orks 2nd Edition!
Anyway, keep up the good work! Hopefully we can all meet up in a year or two at a BL Weekender.
Tom
Hey Tom, good to hear from you. Yeah these old stories definitely did have a frontier vibe, that’s a good way of putting it! I have a lot of fond memories for these early stories, but I do also enjoy the more modern stuff now that 40k knows what it is more than it did back then 🙂