Grey Knights find fighting besides Sisters of Silence really shit. Not surprising of course, but even in the presence of 4 Sisters they are still extremely capable physical warriors. And at the very least they don't seem to suffer much more than acute discomfort, whereas other Psykers can start to bleed and even die. Chekhov's Gunman: Pretty much every High Lord whom Guilliman deposes later turns up as an Imperium Eterna agent.

Scene of Wonder: When Tieron goes to Luna to investigate the disturbance there, he walks in on the aftermath of the massive battle between the Imperial forces and Chaos, with none other than Roboute Guilliman in the centre. The way he describes it, he sounds like he's losing his mind throughout the whole encounter.Odd Friendship: Valerian considers his and Aleya's frienship to be this. He's an immortal Custodian thousands of years old, Brainwashed to have no strong emotions except absolute loyalty to the Emperor; she's a firebrand Sister of Silence whose nature as a blank means she has trouble with any interpersonal interactions. They make it work anyway. Almighty Janitor: The Chancellor of Senatorum Imperialis. On paper, their job is to make sure that all the actually-powerful High Lords meet together on the regular, and to handle the paperwork for said meetings. In practice, they not only have spies in almost every branch of the Palace, but they act as the liaisons and mediators between the Senatorum's various primadonnas, allowing them to influence the politics of the entire Imperium. Big Bad: In The Regent's Shadow, Irthu Haemotalion, who leads the Imperium Eterna after Guilliman removes him from his position as the Master of the Administratum. When the astronomicon went out, it doesn't seem to have been an obvious mechanical failure. Tribune Heracleon (leader of the Emperors personal guard) reported that everything was working within normal parameters. Still the Fabricator-General himself went to see what was happening.

Fire-Forged Friends: Aleya and Valerian first meet during the battle for the Imperial Palace and immediately begin to fight together; they cement their friendship by making a Last Stand together above Vorlese. The story is split through three characters, a Custode, the high council's chancellor and a sister of silence. The Custodes depiction is a good insight into these usually mysterious warriors and his perception of the world around him. The chancellor has a great political story and also serves to show how normal humans are dealing with the events of the book, something which is usually quite interesting as normal 40k books are space marines with no fear. The Custodes have these two distinct groupings for their theology focused the Emperor. and spend countless hours studying, discussing and debating amongst themselves. They are the speculum certus and speculum obscurus.The Heavy: In The Regent's Shadow, the Minotaurs are the most visible antagonist for most of the story. Valerian was part of the 4,000 Custodes warriors which took part in the Second Battle of Terra against the forces of Khorne, during which he met the Sister of Silence Tanau Aleya. Valerian, Aleya, several Sisters, and a squad of Grey Knights managed to take down a Bloodthirster in the battle. As they were about to be overwhelmed, Captain-General Trajann Valoris led a charge from the Lion's Gate that swept across the Chaos forces. [1d] General Harster, who's on Terra to assemble an army to relieve the besieged Cadian system, departs before the plot truly unfolds. And it's unclear what happens to him, given Cadia has already fallen by the time he leaves.

Two Lines, No Waiting: Three, technically; the chapters cycle between points of view of Tieron, Valerian and Aleya. In The Regent's Shadow, Tieron is replaced by Jek. Q: What’s your process when Games Workshop add new lore to things you’ve written or are writing? For example, the major changes in the most recent edition of Warhammer 40,000. The next is about "what is unknown" and what he didn't get a chance to explain, like what his intentions of the Imperium as it currently stands.The second book features Tor Garadon, an Imperial Fists captain last seen shepherding the remnants of Cadian army in the "Gathering Storm" campaign. First Person Snarker: As Aleya has always been something of an outsider to the Imperium's structure, her points of view are full of her poking fun at the nation's various insanities. Great Offscreen War: While the story is largely a political drama, there are no less than four different conflicts mentioned as happening offscreen. So when I grabbed this book I was hoping to relive that. Instead, almost every conflict in the entire book was described something like: