1. The raptors in this story are just normal Space Marines with jump packs. In every other CSM Story I've read, Raptors were mutated, grotesque things and I thought this to be the definition of a raptor! Is this up for interpretation?

There's the thing. GW sort of revamped the Raptors in the 6th Edition Chaos Space Marines Codex. Siege of Castellax just happens to be the first book to reflect their new background. That's not to say the old depictions are invalidated - just think of those as the new Warp Talons, which are somewhat more degenerated versions of the Raptors.

2. The Iron warriors despise mutation? Again, in Storm of Iron and several other Iron Warrior short stories, they were seen with Chaos war engines, Khorne Beserkers and other stuff. And the goal of the warsmith in Storm of Iron is to become a Daemon-Prince! Has the fluff about them changed in past years?

Iron Warriors despise mutation, not Chaos itself. Khorne Berzerkers are not mutants, they're just regular marines with simpler priorities. Chaos War engines are actual constructs to showcase the Iron Warriors' mastery over both technology and the Warp. Daemonic ascension is a reward for repeated successes that further the cause of the pantheon.

Mutations, on the other hand, are not a reward or the result of skill or choice. Usually, they're just random quirks of the flesh exposed to Warp energies. Occasioanlly, they could also come as a punishment from one of the Chaos Gods. Either way, the Iron Warriors see them as a sign of weakness. And if there's one thing Iron Warriors can't stand, it's weakness...

 

Iron Warriors despise mutation, not Chaos itself. Khorne Berzerkers are not mutants, they're just regular marines with simpler priorities. Chaos War engines are actual constructs to showcase the Iron Warriors' mastery over both technology and the Warp. Daemonic ascension is a reward for repeated successes that further the cause of the pantheon.

Mutations, on the other hand, are not a reward or the result of skill or choice. Usually, they're just random quirks of the flesh exposed to Warp energies. Occasioanlly, they could also come as a punishment from one of the Chaos Gods. Either way, the Iron Warriors see them as a sign of weakness. And if there's one thing Iron Warriors can't stand, it's weakness...

Yeah ok, that makes sense. It is just totally confusing to me that this was never mentioned before, in no other Iron Warriors Story I have ever read. Since Graham McNeills Iron Warriors we all know that they despise half Bloods, but hate for mutations is new to me.

For example in the Anthlogy Treacheries of the Space Marines, the first Story is about an Iron Warriors Warsmith who has 2 Obliterator-Bodyguards. In another Story in the same book the Iron Warriors go to war with a battalion of the same. Until now, I expected the Iron Warriors to appreciate anything which is useful to destroy their enemies, but apparrantely I was mistaken...

 

Haven't read the book yet but I'm pretty sure that they're ok with the obliterators. It's stuff like two heads, a cluster of eyes in your mouth, tantacles instead of hands and other such stuff that they despise. Those are mutations that give you nothing except a butt ugly look. Obliteratos are walking weapons platforms.

 

In the book, the IW aren't okay at all with obliterators....Spoiler ahead!



They have banished their only Obliterator to a prison and another Space Marine who is infected with the Virus is disregarded as weak. Which is ironic because in the end the infection will only make him stronger!

 

But that is just it. It's a virus. If you catch it then what's wrong with you? Why was the virus able to get a foothold in you? Answer: You are weak. The Obliterator Virus may make them stronger but it's a sign of genetic and mental weakness that the virus was even able to infect you in the first place. And yes it makes you stronger but it also makes you into a barely and rarely controllable monster who has no loyalty to anyone/anything.

So yeah it makes a Space Marine stronger, but the trade-off is that marine can no longer be trusted and will likely kill his allies out of a rage or because he thinks it'd be amusing.


LotN

 

Obliterators are also most likely a controlled evolution rather than random mutation. They seem to have the obliterator virus strain under control...

 

1. The raptors in this story are just normal Space Marines with jump packs. In every other CSM Story I've read, Raptors were mutated, grotesque things and I thought this to be the definition of a raptor! Is this up for interpretation?

Some Raptors are like that but not all. Just because one group of Raptors is a degenerated cult of monstrosities does not mean that another group automatically is. It's all about the amount of time they are exposed to the Warp and many other factors. Besides Captain Rhodaan and Squad Kyrith are Raptors of a sort, but not the same roving warband-type as Lucoryphus and the Bleeding Eyes in ADB's Night Lords trilogy. Rhodaan and his men are more like the jump-troops of the Grand Company that have taken the designation Raptors because it fits.

2. The Iron warriors despise mutation? Again, in Storm of Iron and several other Iron Warrior short stories, they were seen with Chaos war engines, Khorne Beserkers and other stuff. And the goal of the Warsmith in Storm of Iron is to become a Daemon-Prince! Has the fluff about them changed in past years?

Older book, older lore and again just because that group accepted mutation does not mean another has to. Honsou and Barban Falk were fine with having mutants, berserkers and other such rabble in their ranks because they didn't care. Andraaz and Rhodaan do care, they want purity in the ranks and do not want to command rabble. And as for Daemon Princes, comparing them to mutants is madness. They are two COMPLETELY different things, one is immortality and unlimited power, the other is deformation and genetic weakness.

The first half of the book has left me disappointed: I expected some epic batttles of hundreds or thousands of CSM against orcs. What I got are 64 Space Marines who don't seem chaotic at all, the only thing they do which seems evil is plotting against each other. Ok they tread their human population like shit but I've just read the fantastic Iron Hands novel Wrath of Iron, in which the "good" SM aren't the nicest guys either....

Where would the fun in that be? Then the battle would be a forgone conclusion and it wouldn't at all challenging for the Iron Warriors to mop up the Orks and it would make the slaves in the story pointless. The 3rd Grand Company may not embrace Chaos as open-handedly as some others but that again is all down to the recurring Warhammer 40k theme that just because one group, e.g Honsou's warband, does one thing does not mean another group must do the same.

And what the hell do you mean not enough evil?? In the first few pages Rhodaan orders a slave dunked into a cauldron of molten metal because he said the word God-Emperor. And Skintaker Algol who always wears a fresh covering of slave skin, still bloody, over his armour. And their callous abandonment of janissary troopers and slaves to the Ork hordes and their execution of any slave who even looks the wrong way. These guys are plenty evil.


LotN