Corax – Author’s Notes
All stories end. Whether they end with events satisfactorily concluded, or in anticipation of things to come, or hinting at great themes and thoughts, or perhaps leaving a faint sense of disappointment, they all end. Corax, and in particular the novella Weregeld, is not the end. Not THE END of the story for the Primarch of the Raven Guard and his Legion. But is is one of the ends. The end of the second act of their story (the conclusion of the first act being the disaster at Ravendelve as described in Deliverance Lost).
It is my final installment concerning the Raven Guard for the time being, though I am sure Corax and his warriors, both his close companions and those more further flung, will continue to appear in the tales of others in the coming books and stories of the Horus Heresy.
(That is, strictly speaking, not quite true. I have penned two entries for Black Library’s advent releases this year, one of which concludes the story of Librarian Balsar Kurthuri and the other picks up events for Marcus Valeruis as they pertain to his actions after the events of Weregeld. But they are more truthfully extra epilogues that would have got in the way of the proper ending as included in the collected novel.)
If you are an existing fan of the Warhammer 40,000 universe, you may well know how matters end for Corax. For those that do not, we shall keep this (and the comments) spoiler-free. It is no surprise to anyone that Corax’s journey does not end in a land of smiles and bunnies, for his is a tragic tale, and tragedy must end with sadness and loss.
It is one of the great challenges of the Horus Heresy series to weave these stories for both the initiated and the ignorant. For those that know nothing of the background, or perhaps having some inkling of the scope of the setting but not the individual threads that make up the history of the Imperium, every event is a revelation, every entrance and exit from the stage a stepping stone into the darkness. For those that know what is coming, we must use their foreknowledge to add poignancy, tragedy and drama to the unfolding events and, if we can get the words just right for a paragraph or two, maybe even let them forget they already know what is going to happen, to fool them into hoping or dreading that their current understanding is in error.
Most of all, though, the novels, novellas, audio dramas and short stories of the Horus Heresy series allow us to experience the events portrayed through the characters themselves, rather than as abstract tracts of historical ‘fact’. We witness the betrayal, suffer the wounds of the Primarchs and their sons, and cheer or grieve at their victories and losses.
And so it is to this element that I turned my greatest efforts for Weregeld, concentrating upon the personal journeys of characters introduced in Raven’s Flight and Deliverance Lost. Branne and Agapito, brothers divided by the massacre at Isstvan. Navar Hef, victim of the Raptor corruption, embodiment of the curse laid upon the Raven Guard. Marcus Valerius, touched by a greater power, but to what purpose?
And Corvus Corax, Lord of the Ravenspire, saviour of Deliverance. It is his story, his journey that has informed all others and with which this titular collection is primarily involved. Where one has always lived in the shadows, can one ever escape the darkness?
If you’ve enjoyed this blog post, you may also like to read my Author’s Notes for Asurmen: Hand of Asuryan, Angels of Caliban, Warbeast, The Emperor Expects, and The Beast Must Die.
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