Deathwing (Anthology)
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Deathwing is a short story anthology of tales set in the Warhammer 40,000 Universe, edited by Neil Jones and David Pringle (although the Black Library website states that it was edited by Marc Gascoigne and Andy Jones).
It was originally printed in 1990, but was reprinted by Black Library with three new stories in 2001, with the original stories revised to adhere to the current background.
Contents: 1990
The original lineup of stories (edited by David Pringle alone) was:
Deathwing
Authors: Bryan Ansell and William King
Veteran Dark Angels Captain Ezekiel - also known as Cloud Runner - returns to his homeworld to recruit new brethren for his Chapter...only to face an insidious enemy. Dare Cloud Runner undergo the Rite of the Deathwing and leave his mark on history?
Devil's Marauders
Author: William King
The thirty or so survivors of A Company, 5th Thranxian Regiment - also known as the Devil's Marauders - are in a race against time...and a race against death.
Warped Stars
Author: Ian Watson
Jomi Jabal is sixteen years old and like many boys his age is full of questions about life, the universe and girls. Unlike many other boys his age, he has a helpful friend able to answer any and all of his questions. His friend speaks directly into his mind, and plans to come to see him soon...
Lacrymata
Author: Storm Constantine
Romance blossoms between the Navigator and Astropath of a fairly ordinary freighter, but a love expresed in the warp can never be just ordinary.
Monastery of Death
Author: Charles Stross
It's time for the world of Hito to join the Imperium. When the diplomatic envoys sent to a make sure this happens are an Imperial Assassin and an Imperial Judge, do the inhabitants of Hito really have any say in the matter?
Seed of Doubt
Author: Neil McIntosh
When the corruption of Chaos can gain purchase in so many ways, is there any room for doubt? This notion is put to the ultimate test by the crashed survivors of an Inquisitorial retinue.
The Alien Beast Within
Author: Ian Watson
Imperial Assassin Meh'Lindi is tasked with her most demanding mission yet; one that may destroy her very conception of self.
Contents: 2001
The amended 2001 lineup (edited by David Pringle and Neil Jones) included the above tales as well the following new stories:
Pestilence
Author:Dan Abnett
When a mysterious and fatal malady sweeps through the Genovingian system, Imperial recollector Lemual Sark is determined to track down any information that may aid in stopping the pandemic.
Suffer Not the Unclean to Live
Author:Gav Thorpe
A tale of Karis Cephalon. Mutant uprisings and Imperial corruption are on the minds of both the Ecclesiarchy and an Inquisitorial agent.
Unforgiven
Author:Graham McNeill
Brother-Sergeant Kaelen leads his battle brothers in a Jump pack assault on the last stronghold of the heretic leader known as the "Prophet" on the Dark Angels' recruiting world of Valedor. As the Space Marines begin to take casualties from the rebels' fire, Kaelen recommends that they take cover and await reinforcements, but his superior, Interrogator-Chaplain Bareus, says they must press on and confront the Prophet, even if the whole squad perishes in the attempt.
Breaking into the inner fortress, Kaelen is sickened to recognize scenes painted on the wall as blasphemous parodies of the fall of Caliban. He is even more horrified when the squad is confronted by "The Angel of Blades," a monstrous man-machine (similar to an Obliterator) that kills most of the squad before Kaelen leaps onto its back and rips out its organic heart. They are then confronted by the Prophet, and his bodyguards. Bareus grimly names the Prophet as Cephesus, a Fallen Interrogator-Chaplain. Cephesus, who ordered his men to ensure that Bareus reached him alive, attacks with his own Blades of Reason, mortally wounding Bareus and adding the Chaplain's Blade to his collection. Kaelen attacks, and is badly wounded, but while grappling with the Prophet, inadvertently rips off the Rosarius protecting the Fallen. Without this protection, Kaelen is able to impale Cephesus through the chest with a massive blow from his power fist. On seeing their leader dead, the rest of the cultists flee in terror.
With his dying breath, Bareus passes his Crozius Arcanum to Kaelen - his way of "recommending" that the Sergeant join the Chaplaincy and ascend to the Deathwing. Limping outside, the sole survivor of the mission force, Kaelen is met by a Terminator Sergeant in an arriving Thunderhawk. Asked for his name, Kaelen simply responds, "I am Deathwing."
Setting
- Angellicus, capital city of the Cathedral world Valedor.
Characters
- Dark Angels
- Heretics
- Cephesus, Fallen Angel masquerading as a "Prophet"
- Casta
- Angel of Blades
Additional Information
Pringle, David. Deathwing. 2nd Edition, Nottingham: Black Library. 2002 0-74341-171-4
Related Publications
- Black Library
- Inquisition War (shares the common characters: Grimm the Squat, and Callidus Assassin Meh'Lindi)
- Deathwing 2nd Edition ISBN 0-74341-171-4
