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Black Library

2018-12-13T03:40:07Z

2601:546:8200:EA8D:ED48:40A6:9D30:AF09: /* List of Black Library writers */ Added links for David Guymer, John French, and Robbie MacNiven. Added Paul Kearney to the list (Author of Calgar’s Siege (Feb 2017) & Calgar’s Fury (Oct 2017).

''"Stories may meander, but they all end the same. I have seen the authors. They are terrible."''- Magnus the Red
[[Image:Black_Library_logo.jpg|thumb|right]]
The '''Black Library''' is the book publishing arm of [[Games Workshop]], responsible for releasing fiction set in the [[Warhammer Fantasy Battles|Warhammer Fantasy]] and [[Warhammer 40,000]] universes (and, until [[Fantasy Flight Games|FFG]] took over, the corresponding [[RPG]]s). It shares its name with the Black Library within the 40K setting, which has more to do with forbidden [[Eldar]] lore than dodgy novels. The quality of BL output tends to be quite variable; they've put out many books worth reading (such as those that give us a glimpse into backstories-HH books, for example) but also many that are quite terrible (eg something that is supposed to be a major event for the characters but is otherwise ignored).

==Is this [[Canon]]?==
While the Black Library has published good books from good authors, some works are of [[C.S.Goto|dubious adherence to canon]]. There exists a certain controversy among the readers as to whether the works of BL can be considered canon, and its employees are not helping the case, either. Marc Gascoigne, former publisher and editor for the Black Library says on the matter:

:"Keep in mind Warhammer and Warhammer 40,000 are worlds where half truths, lies, propaganda, politics, legends and myths exist. The absolute truth which is implied when you talk about "canonical background" will never be known because of this. Everything we know about these worlds is from the viewpoints of people in them which are as a result incomplete and even sometimes incorrect. The truth is mutable, debatable and lost as the victors write the history...

:Here's our standard line: Yes it's all official, but remember that we're reporting back from a time where stories aren't always true, or at least 100% accurate. if it has the 40K logo on it, it exists in the 40K universe. Or it was a legend that may well have happened. Or a rumour that may or may not have any truth behind it.

:Let's put it another way: anything with a 40K logo on it is as official as any Codex... and at least as crammed full of rumours, distorted legends and half-truths."

George Mann, the current head of the Black Library, has elaborated further in interviews:

:"In further conversation, George emphasized that Black Library’s main objective was to 'tell good stories'. He agreed that some points in certain novels could, perhaps, have benefited from the editor’s red pen [[C.S.Goto|(a certain multilaser was mentioned)]] but was at pains to explain that, just as each hobbyist tends to interpret the background and facts of the [[Warhammer]] and [[Warhammer 40k|40K]] worlds differently, so does each author. In essence, each [[::Category:Writers|author]] represents an “alternative” version of the respective worlds. After pressing him further, he explained that only the Studio material (rulebooks, codices, army books and suchlike) was canonical in that it HAD to be adhered-to in the plots and background of the novels. There was no obligation on authors to adhere to facts and events as spelled out in Black Library work."

They have a regular submissions window so you can submit your <s>fanfiction</s> work and get a job as a freelance writer. Like any business, they prefer to hire staff with an established track record, so the commissions tend to go to existing tie-in writers or ex-GW staff, but anyone can apply for the job. Fa/tg/uys have, as yet, been unsuccessful, leading to hilarious [[Nerdrage]], [[Black Library Submissions Window|as they have yet to realise that they will never get the job]].

==The Quality Issue==
As mentioned above BL books sometimes suffer from a quality issue but this is not doing it justice. Part of the problem is the mix of talent. Some of the writers are experienced and skilled professional novelists. Others are ex-staff members and friends of GW staff who happened to be in the room at the time. Some of them are both.

While some books are either very well written or perfectly decent reads, others are pure trashy slash and burn books to fill your need to read about beheadings or copious amounts of blood and what little plot is present exists just to satisfy your bloodlust.

Such a state may be perplexing at first but you have to understand the BL often releases books in cooperation with GW army releases. There is a new Eldar update? Better bring out a novel about the Eldar then! GW often have a few army updates planned in advance, plently of time get a new novel rolling in time for the army release. Other books are sometimes bought out to satisfy the needs of fans of one of the more popular factions (space marines for example) for a story about their favourite warriors.

BL understands though that there are fans of just the fluff (such as the people that read this wiki) and so demand a little more then just the normal bloods and guts sort of writing. So they bring in competent writers to draft some stories with actual weight and dignity.

A good way to judge the quality of a read is by the author. Dan Abnett, Graham McNeill and Sandy Mitchell occupy the leading pantheon of great 40k writers and you'd be hard pressed to find anything by them to be half baked. Well, your mileage may vary on McNeill's more recent work. John French, Aaron Dembski-Bowden, Guy Haley and Christ Wraight have ascended to the pantheon in recent years, though AD-B can be very polarising around these parts.

At the other end of the scale you've got C.S.Goto, who writes very compelling toilet paper and Matt Ward who writes tumblr fanfics and then publishes them as Codices.

==In [[Warhammer 40,000]]==

In-universe, the Black Library is the repository of the [[Eldar]] Empire's collected knowledge of [[Chaos]]. It is guarded by the [[Harlequin]]s and White Seers and is hidden in the [[Webway]], because that knowledge could be used for great [[heresy]], although now and then, the Harlequins let someone check out a book if it is [[Just as planned|important that they know something]]. The only people the Harlequins will allow to enter the Black Library are those who have "conquered the Chaos within them" and have the requisite membership and card. [[Ahriman]] has attempted to enter the Library for some time now; unfortunately, he has yet to succeed and stir some shit up. [[Eldrad]] keeps denying his library membership application.

<strike>Doesn't seem to be guarded that closely, since Inquisitor Jaq Draco could just walk in, steal the Eldar's book of Prophecies and walk away with it.</strike> <strike>The Harlequins let him in. He just didn't know it then boasted everywhere about it.</strike> Listen, you can't just walk into the library in the bad part of town and then parade around saying you've been to the 'black library.'

==List of Black Library writers==

In no particular order, for very obvious reasons. Note that some of these authors are not employed at BL any more.
*[[Dan Abnett]]
*[[Graham McNeill]]
*[[Sandy Mitchell]]
*[[Aaron Dembski-Bowden]]
*[[Ben Counter]]
*[[James Swallow]]
*[[David Guymer]]
*[[John French]]
*[[Guy Haley]]
*[[Lucien Soulban]]
*[[Rob Sanders]]
*[[Henry Zou]]
*[[Nick Kyme]]
*[[William King]]
*[[Ian Watson]]
*[[Gav Thorpe]]
*[[C.S. Goto]]
*[[Christian Dunn]]
*[[Robbie MacNiven]]
*[[Chris Wraight]]
*[[Paul Kearney]]

==See Also==
*[[List of Warhammer 40,000 novels]]
*[[Black Library Submissions Window]]
*[[Warhammer Adventures]], Black Library's first and hopefully last attempt at children's literature

[[Category:Warhammer_40,000]][[Category:Publishers]][[category:Black Library]][[Category:Games Workshop]]

Shadowsun

2018-12-12T18:26:14Z

2601:546:8200:EA8D:ED48:40A6:9D30:AF09: /* Gallery */ Added a link to If The Emperor has a Text-to-Speech Device on the picture of Shadowsun & Kitten.

[[Image:ShadowsunNov.jpg|400px|thumb|right|"When Farseer Macha isn't quite badass enough."]]
'''Commander O'Shaserra''', better known by the moniker '''Shadowsun''' (See also Undyne The Undying and prepare for a Battle Against a "True Genius of Kauyon"), is a commander in the Fire Caste of the [[Tau|Tau Empire]] and one of their best tacticians and stealth operatives.
Most tsundere of [[Tau]] generals, according to fanon, despite actual canon describing her as a cold-hearted manipulative bitch. [[/tg/|Fa/tg/uys]] masturbate furiously over pictures of her with large breasts. [[Warhammer 40,000]] [[fluff]] states nowhere that Tau females have breasts and there is little evidence to support the notion, but that doesn't stop [[drawfags]] from constantly adding tits to them. Or neckbeards from crying when they see them, for that matter.

==Origin==
Even as a young Fire Caste warrior, O'Shaserra showed great promise as a military leader in the academies of the Tau Empire. Eventually she, as well as two Tau named [[Farsight|Shoh]] and [[Shas'o Kais|Kais]] ([[Warhammer_40,000:_Fire_Warrior|yes, ]][[Dawn_Of_War:_Dark_Crusade#Dark_Crusade|that Kais]]), were among those selected after a meteoric rise through the ranks to study under the esteemed [[Commander Puretide]], a legendary leader and tactical genius celebrated everywhere in the Tau Empire. With him, the three of them trained together in competitive and aggressive combat and tactics, and quickly proved themselves as Puretide's top three students. As such, they were made force commanders upon completing their training. Together with O'Shovah, who would eventually become known throughout the Tau Empire as Commander Farsight, O'Shaserra played a key role in the defense of the Dal'yth sept world during the [[Damocles Crusade]], during which Farsight's daring counterattacks against the invading [[Imperium|Imperial]] forces gained him much attention and esteem. However, many of them would likely have failed if not for O'Shaserra's patient efforts to coax the humans into opportune positions for Farsight's aggression.

When the old and incontinent Commander Puretide eventually died, an effort was mounted by the Ethereals to preserve his strategic brilliance for the sake of posterity. As part of this effort, they decreed that O'Shaserra, along with her fellow star Puretide disciples, would be put into a cycle of cryogenic stasis, with one awake and two asleep at all times, so that each of them could continue to serve the [[Greater Good]] far into the future. It was decided that Farsight would be the first to remain active, and O'Shaserra and Kais dutifully began their artificial slumber, trusting their comrade to do both their mentor and the Empire proud in their absence. However, Shadowsun was awakened almost two centuries later only to find that Farsight had given the Tau Empire a huge middle finger and become the leader of a group of renegade colonies on the Empire's fringe, space which was now designated as the Forbidden Zone. (See [[Farsight|Farsight's]] article for details and his side of the story.) Moreover, the Fire Caste was now divided over the issues of Farsight's motives and loyalty, with some still supporting him and others denouncing him.

==Recent Engagements==
Commander O'Shaserra soon learned that she had actually been awakened prematurely due to a fuckhueg Ork invasion, the biggest the Tau had ever seen, and she was needed to help repel it. The Ethereal Aun'Va had initially planned to reawaken her in preparation for the Empire's Third Sphere Expansion campaign, but the new Ork threat hastened his plans. As expected, Commander O'Shaserra once more proved her value as a leader as she quickly proceeded to blow the shit out of the Ork forces with the armies at her command, using similar tactics (patience and stealth) to the ones she found effective against the Imperium during the Damocles Crusade. This war against the Orks became known as the Great War of Confederation.

O'Shaserra earned the nickname "Shadowsun" when, in the K'resh Expansion, [[Troll|she arranged her fleet in orbit in front of the local star in order to cast an eclipse-like shadow over an Ork base]] at the heart of their forces. Under the cover of this darkness, she subsequently infiltrated with some of her own forces and crippled the Ork leadership, [[Just As Planned|cutting the head off the snake and delivering a killing blow to their war effort]] before the [[Derp|Greenskins]] even knew what the hell was happening. Shadowsun personally sought out the main Ork Warlord and fusion blasted his dumb fungal ass into a pile of boiling slag. The rest of Shadowsun's army then attacked, ambushing and exterminating the rest of the confused and fleeing Orks.

After her victories in the Great War of Confederation, as well as a confrontation shortly after with a [[Tyranid]] splinter fleet from which she also emerged victorious, Shadowsun had become a hero throughout the Empire in the way that Farsight had been before her. Aun'Va declared that it was time for the Tau Empire to get a-conquerin' again, and the Third Sphere Expansion was officially underway. Shadowsun was chosen to spearhead the campaign and see if she couldn't get some more [[Greater Good]] up in this [[Noblebright|bitch]]. Before embarking on her epic conquer-spree, however, Shadowsun needed to get something off her chest ([[Derp|derpy derp derp]] generic tit joke [[Derp|derp derpy derp]]). She ordered an Empire-wide communication to be broadcast from the Mont'yr Battle Dome, where Commander Farsight had once trained. After delivering a rousing speech, she took aim with her fusion blasters at a big statue of Farsight and blew the thing apart in front of the entire Fire Caste, making perfectly clear to them just what she thought of O'Shovah and those who betray the Tau'va. With the Orks and Tyranids defeated for the time being and the Imperium distracted by other conflicts, Shadowsun has since been steadily expanding the borders of the Tau Empire. Diplomacy with the Farsight Enclaves, when she reaches them, [[RIP AND TEAR|seems unlikely]].

==The 3rd Sphere Expansion==
Shadowsun had the honour of leading the Tau Empire's Third Sphere Expansion, crossing the Damocles Gulf and attacking several Imperial Worlds. Although the Tau continued to make use of diplomacy, seen in the capitulation of the Lagann System, Shadowsun also engineered a number of military take overs. One part of her grander military offensive was to sacrifice the entire Zeist Sector, and all Tau living within it, to [[Cato Sicarius]] (as she probably realized she wouldn't stand a chance <s>against his plot armor</s> against him in combat) although its never made clear how much was actually gained from this move making it seem, at best, of questionable effectiveness.

The first major conflict of the 3rd Sphere Expansion came on the Hive World of Agrellan, a minor Imperium world, where Shadowsun lead the forces of the Tau Empire against a combination of Imperial forces including House Terryn, White Scars, Raven Guard and Catachan. Despite stiff Imperial resistance Shadowsun secure the planet for the Tau Empire, though an effective rearguard action allowed most of the Imperial forces to survive the battle and relocate to the nearby Knight World of Voltoris.

Shadowsun would pursue her foe to Voltoris but, ironically, end up falling into an enormous ambush which saw her army crushed and her own life almost ended. Shadowsun was forced to flee and the entire Tau Empire gave up on any attempt to conquer Voltoris, seeking to instead bypass it and head for the nearby world of Prefectia in the resource rich Dovar System.

On Prefectia Shadowsun fought a combination of familiar Imperial foes and even managed to ambush and slay the Raven Guard Chapter Master in a Ghostkeel Battlesuit (which for some reason she can't use in the game). Deprived of their Chapter Master, and with the Tau Empire on the offensive, the Imperial forces abandoned Prefectia to the Tau. Celebrations for Shadowsun's latest victory were short-lived, however, as the Imperium were already preparing a retributive strike against Agrellan.

When the Imperium struck Agrellan it caught the Tau by surprise, trapping both Shadowsun and Aun'va on the planet, whilst the Tau Fleet fled to gather reinforcements. Conflict broke out on the world itself, due to powerful shield generators preventing the Imperium from simply flattening the Tau from space, and Shadowsun was driven back, defeat seeming inevitable. However, at this moment, Commander Farsight and his forces arrived, managing to sneak completely undetected through the Imperial Blockade, and intervening to save Shadowsun and Aun'va. Although relations between the rogue commander and his former peer and superior were still frosty, they put aside their differences in order to confront their mutual foe. Working together Shadowsun and Farsight managed to confound their Imperial opponents, although an Assassin squad did manage to slay the Supreme Ethereal Aun'va and to critically injure Shadowsun, confining her to a Space Ship for the remainder of the conflict. The Imperium, operating on a deadline, determined that they would waste no further time against the Tau's resistance and began a general withdrawal, with only the White Scars resisting the command. Before completing their withdrawal, however, Mechanicus forces within the taskforce scorched Agrellan, killing all life not beneath a shield generator and set fire to the entire Damocles Gulf region.

In the aftermath of this bitter stalemate Shadowsun is weakened, the poison in her system leaving her ill, but she thanks Farsight for his aid by permitting him time to leave despite the orders of her superiors to capture him. Since then Shadowsun has presumably been stuck on Agrellan, with the 3rd Sphere Expansion grinding to a halt after capturing only 2 known planets.

==The Fourth & Fifth sphere expansion==
After the fourth sphere expansion tore a giant asshole in the universe (due to Tau trying proper warptravel with their new AL-38 Slipstream Module) the fourth expansion fleet was deemed lost. Some years later, however, it turned out the giant asshole was indeed a wormhole, leading to a region of frontier Imperial space. The fifth expansion fleet was sent through and encountered the remnants of the fourth sphere expansion fleet, huddled around what they called the 'Startide nexus' and three colonized planets. Shadowsun fought a few battles alongside the fourth sphere armies, but quickly opted to pull them back when she was using auxiliaries, as they had turned into genocidal fuckwits (probably due to them witnessing their auxiliaries being mutated in the warp).

After some time, the [[Death Guard|fat, bloated dickbag marines of Nurgle]] noticed a direct path to the heart of the Tau Empire, which they chose to exploit. Commander Tsundere is currently desperately fighting them to stop a Nurgle army from going through the Startide nexus.

==On the Tabletop==
Shadowsun spent several editions being rather irrelevant, since she was originally designed for the ''Cities of Death'' supplement and was specialized for getting in close and frying things, then jumping around walls and buildings to avoid getting charged. Naturally, when there ''weren't'' walls and buildings, she suffered from being the one Tau model that wanted to be ''closer'' to her enemies. With the new codex, though, she got a bunch of buffs, mostly being able to actually join squads of other suits and make them invisible as well (which is now Shrouded and Stealth for a trolltastic +3 bonus to any cover or 4+ in the open) and an ability that grants re-rolled 1s to nearby squads, that make her a much more attractive choice. (Gee, I wonder [[Riptide|what popular Tau model desperately wants to avoid rolling 1s...]])

===8th Edition===
[[Warhammer_40,000/Tactics/Tau(8E)#Special_Characters|Here's her Tactics entry]].

She doesn't directly buff Stealth Suits, but still synergises with them well - they can catch wounds for her on a 2+ if they're nearby, she can bring two shield drones for wound catching that have a 3++ to make everyone a bit more durable and a command drone to improve one unit's accuracy, and she's got all the same infiltration and camouflage abilities they do. Her dual Fusion Blasters also add a lot of punch to an infiltrating XV25 squad (and on top of that she can declare '''Kauyon''' twice per battle to reroll misses for nearby units at the cost of preventing all movement for even more firepower), but she is pretty darn expensive - in fact, she costs slightly more points than most Stealth Suit squads all by herself. If you're going heavy on the XV25s though, you'll probably still want her along.

==By the way==
Despite being next to each other alphabetically on this Wiki, Shadowsun has nothing to do with the cyberpunk game system [[Shadowrun]].

==Gallery==
<gallery>
Image:Commissar Shadowsun.jpg|I'd let her improve my morale, if you know what I mean
Image:Tsundere dance copy.jpg|Probably a more fluff accurate version of naked Shadowsun, though the nose needs more work.
Image:Commissar Shadowsuns Goods by morganagod.jpg|Dat treacherous xeno ass.
Image:tau_firecleavage.jpg|Sweet [[Weeaboo|weeaboo]] [[Heresy|heresy]].
Image:OG_Shadowsun_sexy_model.jpg|Good lord, someone really crafted a model based on that drawing.
Image:NOT CANON.png|[[TTS|THIS IS NOT FUCKING CANON]]
Image:DSC02051 - Copy.jpg| Sweet Emprah, somebody actually made ''ANOTHER'' model of her, though the eyes need more work.
</gallery>

{{Tau-Characters}}