Tag Archives: Warhammer 40k

The third and final part of Voices of Fate (collected together in Ahriman: Exodus), and the last of the accompanying short stories in the Ahriman series, King of Ashes sees John French take a look through the eyes of Magnus the Red, Primarch of the Thousand Sons and father to Ahriman. He relives his first steps into the warp and the first fateful meeting with the two powers that will shape his life, and he also recalls the moment of Ahriman’s failure, the fateful results of the Rubric and the damage done to his sons. The parallels are clear, he sees his own pride reflected in Ahriman, his own flaws inherited by his greatest son.
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Hand of Dust, the second in John French’s Voices of Fate arc (collected together in Ahriman: Exodus), sits between the novels Sorcerer and Unchanged in the wider Ahriman series and sees the Thousand Sons sorcerer in reflective mood. Standing among the ashes of his Legion on long-dead Prospero, he reflects on memories of events that have seen him on the path to what he believes will be redemption. His first, horrifying glimpse of the flesh change, the moments immediately after his banishment at the hands of his father Magnus, these are the memories that he returns to before he bends his will to the next great stage in his plans.
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The first chapter in John French’s Voices of Fate arc that accompanies his wider Ahriman series (and is collected together in Ahriman: Exodus), All Is Dust is a micro-short told from the fractured perspective of Helio Isidorus, once a proud Thousand Sons legionary but now reduced to a hollow existence as one of the Rubricae. Lost in a haze of half-remembered pain, it takes the intrusion a voice from his past for him to stir into a strange semblance of life, his flesh and blood no more and his will slaved to Ahriman’s.
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John French’s The Tale of Ctesias arc concludes with Ahriman: Gates of Ruin, in which Ctesias has been tasked with finding a way to reach the Antilline Abyss and leave the Eye of Terror. How else would he do this, other than torturing the information out of a daemon? When his mission succeeds he leads Ahriman and his brothers to the titular Gates of Ruin, but what they find there is not quite what they expect, and Ctesias finally understands just why Ahriman needs him and his particular talents. Continue reading →

The fourth story in John French’s The Tale of Ctesias arc is Ahriman: The First Prince, originally released as an excellent audio drama (see review here) and now available in prose form within the Ahriman: Exodus anthology. Following on directly from Hounds of Wrath it sees Ahriman bargaining for Ctesias’ soul with Be’lakor, the first Daemon Prince of Chaos, while Ctesias lies on the verge of death. Ctesias bartered his soul long ago in his quest for power, but Ahriman is prepared to go to unusual lengths to save his brother.
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Part three of John French’s The Tale of Ctesias from Ahriman: Exodus, and set between Exile and Sorcerer, the short story Hounds of Wrath sees the uneasy pairing of Ctesias and Sanakht tasked with discovering what caused the destruction of one of their ships. As they go looking for answers in the bones and echoes of the ship they instead find daemons on the hunt for Ahriman. Fleeing from this newfound peril they are forced to put their differences aside and work together for once.
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