Open main menu

Warhammer 40k - Lexicanum β

Shira Calpurnia (Novel Series)

The Shira Calpurnia novels by Matthew Farrer tell the story of Shira Calpurnia, a member of the Adeptus Arbites who is transferred to the Hydraphur system. This system is of major importance for the Imperium, being a major port of the Imperial Navy[1]. It is a place of high society, proper etiquette, countless intrigues, and assassins and murderers who hide behind the thin veneer of civilization.

An omnibus has recently been published by the black library incorporating all three books in the trilogy.

Novels

Crossfire

Main article: Crossfire (Novel)

Crossfire was first published in 2003. Shortly upon arriving on Hydraphur, Arbites Seniores Calpurnia is the target of an assassination attempt. Unused to the rules of Hydraphur high society she will not stop until she has caught and punished whoever ordered the attempt. To complicate everything a major religious ceremony and festival is due shortly. Are the two things connected?

Legacy

Main article: Legacy (Novel)

Legacy was first published in 2004. An extremely powerful and rich Rogue trader dies and his heir is obliged to claim his rights (and the Rogue trader fleet) on Hydraphur. Of vital importance is an extremely ancient Charter of Trade signed by none other than the Emperor himself, making this document also a holy relic in the eyes of ambitious clerics interested in claiming it. The senior leaders of the Rogue trader fleet present an alternative heir. And charged with the mission of solving the whole mess is Shira Calpurnia.

Blind

Main article: Blind (Novel)

Blind was first published in 2006. The Master of the Blind Tower - a vast fortification housing countless telepaths - has been murdered. Arbites officer Shira Calpurnia is trying to dig the killer out of Tower's shadowy and twisting halls. Dealing with the inevitable hostility, deception and intrigue is bad enough, but dealing with a station full of half-crazed seers whose minds stare into the Warp every day doesn't help, and doing it under the vindictive eye of an insecure Arbiter "minder" makes things tenser still. What makes it worst of all is that Calpurnia has to confront the one kind of weakness and failure she may not be able to deal with: her own.

Enforcer

Enforcer, released in 2010, is the Omnibus collection of the previous three novels.

Sources