Latet Verum; The Truth Beyond the Page: Kaldor Draigo

[Megad00mer]

Kaldor Draigo. Warp-Wanderer and Supreme Grand Master of Chapter 666, Grey Knights. It was he who struck down the Demon Primarch, Mortarion, and in a great battle against the Demon Prince M'Kar, he found himself trapped in the Warp. Yet he endures, heroically battling the forces of Chaos within their own realm. Even the Dark Gods themselves cannot defeat him. On occasion he is able to escape that realm of insanity and offer aid to his chapter, but always, inevitably he is cast back into unreality, wandering the Warp and fighting great evil with every step.

This is the heroic tale we were all told. Of impossible battles won and legions of demonic foes defeated. A tale of unending purity and strength of will. But what if this is merely one side of a much more sinister plot? What if Draigo is a hapless pawn in the great machinations of Chaos?

I present to you, another side of the story. Truth? Fabrication? That's for you to decide. Does truth even exist in the nightmare of the Warp? A debate for another time.

Let's begin with Mortarion. Daemon Primarch of the Death Guard Legion. Mortarion killed the previous Supreme Grand Master of the Grey Knights, and Draigo was appointed his successor. Draigo then struck Mortarion down and carved the name of his predecessor onto the Primarch's diseased heart to honor his master and greatly insult the Lord of the Death Guard. This story seems impossible, or at best highly embellished for how could one man, even a Grey Knight so easily vanquish a 10 millennia old Demonic Primarch? Perhaps because Mortarion wanted it so.

What if it was all part of Mortation’s plan? What if it was merely the first step in a much larger plot to bring the Grey Knights low? What if the act of carving the name into Mortarion’s heart was itself a ritual Draigo was coerced or tricked into performing? The Despair he felt at his former lord’s death, the Rage fueling his actions, the Pride in besting such an impossible foe. All distilled into a mighty and hugely symbolic act. The power of rituals and symbols when it comes to the workings of the Warp is immense. The slice of a blade across flesh, the patterns of blood spilling from the gash and proper words intoned. These are the ways the power of the Immaterium is manipulated. Perhaps that’s just what this was. Mortarion allowing himself to be laid low as part of a much grander and complex scheme. Perhaps, the tale should should be told thusly;

“Draigo, seeing the slayer of his former Master, charged the Lord of Death with a shouted curse. Mortarion saw the opportunity. This was the moment foretold. With a nod he signaled his fetid cohort to stay back, spread his skeletal arms wide as if in welcome and allowed the fool his moment of “glory”. As the deed was done, he couldn’t help but smile, a thin line cracking his emaciated visage.

Next let’s bring our attention to Draigo’s imprisonment in the Warp. Whilst most mortals would die a rather gruesome and imaginative death within seconds of unprotected exposure to the Warp, Draigo seems unbothered by his presence in unreality. Legions of Lesser Daemons and Greater Daemons have been sent against him and he always triumphs. At times he is able to escape the Warp to lend aid to his Chapter but is always pulled back into its roiling depths. And so he wanders the Warp, always fighting. Always alone. This leads to many questions.

How can a man, even an Astartes of the Grey Knights, survive for so long in a universe that is anathema to his very existence? How does he eat? Drink? How is it that the Dark Gods themselves can't simply crush him like an insect? The will of a Space Marine, even Draigo is nothing against the power of a god in it's own universe. Is Draigo simply that powerful? That seems to be the way we have heard the tale told. But I present a different theory....

What if Mortarion’s heart was the means by which he was able to be trapped in the Warp, or survive within it? What if the Warp isn’t merely a prison, but a lab? A lab set up by agents of the four powers.

Every battle Draigo wins, every Demonic fortress brought down or ancient evil slain, ultimately means nothing. You can’t truly kill a demon and this is no more evident than within their own realm. The destroyed fortresses all rebuild themselves. The Demons slain? Reborn. The victories he attains are all hollow for nothing is absolute there. He’s fighting an eternal war, alone, within the very heart of the ultimate enemy and every action, every step is meaningless there.

Of course the gods could destroy him with no more effort than one scratches an itch, but they are allowing him to exist and endure. They are watching him like a child watches a bug in a jar and as the years become decades and the decades become centuries, his mind will only be able to take so much. Even the herculean will of the great Kaldor Draigo can’t remain unbroken forever. He has a front row seat to the ultimate power of Chaos itself and the utter futility of standing against it. His brief respites where he is allowed back into reality only twists the knife in the wound. Yes, he may save a world from Demonic invasion, but when he returns to the Warp, he sees the demons he slew are still there, even more hungry to destroy and corrupt. While one world was saved by his hand, ten more have become charnel houses of horror and misery. Nothing matters. Chaos is inevitable. His entire reason for being is a cosmic joke.
And when his spirit finally breaks and his mind shatters, the Dark Gods will have a mighty new champion indeed and the perfect means to destroy the Grey Knights themselves.

Of course this could all be the ravings of my lunatic mind, but then again.....

Excerpt from "The Truth Beyond the Page", penned by Curator Megon Dominas, formerly of the Administratum. Declared Scribere Insanium and sentenced to Servitor duty: 993999.M41

[Katharon]

I would remind the OP that the warp is not directly inimical to life. Plenty of regular humans live within the Eye of Terror and with the warp on a daily basis, including Chaos Space Marines (some of whom have never suffered from mutation except by choice or a result of failing their chosen deity), but do not suffer immediate death. I think perhaps that you are focusing on the extremes of what the Warp can offer in terms of a death realm for the living.

[Nabterayl]

40K Thucydides points out that undoubtedly most of the activity that goes on in the Eye of Terror is farming ;)

[Mr.Pickelz]

It is also important to remember that the mere presence of a single Grey knight (doesn't matter if in Power armour or Terminator) acts as a competing force against the warp. So much so, that when a Grey Knight attacks a Daemon of the Warp, he does so on different levels. The Nemesis Force Weapon that the Grey Knights employ act as channeling beacons of their psychic powers and therefore enhance and help direct their anti-warp presence into their attacks (aka force weapons). So for Kaldor Draigo to be in the warp and not corrupted, he would have to be very powerful, even by GK's standards,(pretty much a mini Primarch) and be completely in control of his anti-daemon/warp psychic powers in order to be a big thron in the side of all daemonic presence, maybe not a big enough one for a God to take notice or care, but for the smaller named ones, he's very annoying.

Also, i would find it funny if Draigo's presence in the warp is scripted by Tzeentch, like a hidden poker card that he can direct against the other gods. It is known to all gods what the Grey Knight's agenda is, so for him to be prancing around the warp, constantly attacking/destroying stuff, it probably helps Tzeentch out, in one way or another.

[DarkLink]

@OP Have you ever hear the term 'purple prose'?

A couple of things. First, Grey Knights are anathema to warp entities, not the other way around. Second, the real danger of being in the warp is having Daemons kill you. Third, sometimes a cigar is just a cigar.

Draigo's fluff actually has some elements of this in it. Daemons can't really kill him, but they really don't care about him that much either, at least not the Chaos Gods. Draigo's stuck somewhere he can't get out of, and no matter how many Daemons he kills, they just respawn. You can make up your own fluff out of spite for Mat Ward all you want, but really this is basically just Sisyphus with a twist.

[bfmusashi]

Just a few points, because some details are a bit off. Nowhere does it say Draigo took on Morty alone, only that his first action after becoming Supreme Grand Master was to carve whats-his-face's name on Mort's heart. I understand why people think this as much of the book is 'one man, against all the odds' but it was probably a team effort and the GK are not above being petty jerks in the book. Just ask Iremn'ath.
His walking the warp is a little tricky, but anything with the proper wards can avoid infestation in the warp. As to the violence of existence there, yes, there's the space hulk issue, but it's home to several material races as well, such as enslavers and those giant wasps so there's precedent. Time does and does not exist in the warp as causality is mutable so Draigo's supplies are not really an issue.

[Crevab]

Um...
"Alone and unaided, Draigo smashes his way through Mortarion's bodyguard, strikes the Primarch to the ground and carves Geronitan's name on the Daemon's vile heart"
p.15

[Nabterayl]

Still a team effort, I'm sure - a scenario in which a GK strike force allows Draigo to reach Mortarion and Friends in the first place, and in which Draigo bulls his way past the Friends to engage Mortarion, after which his own bodyguard engages them to keep them from smashing him in the back, still fits that description. And while we don't have rules for Mortarion, I think odds are good that GK rules would allow Draigo to defeat him. Maybe it wouldn't be a very likely series of rolls, but I'm pretty sure it wouldn't be a string of 6's.

More to the point, I think, being 10,000 years old and a daemon doesn't make you immune to younger warriors except according to the law of dramatic necessity, which is clearly being used to cut the other way here. You can't really play the realism card against something like this, because in a more realistic vision of 40K warfare, random stuff happens. Then too, if the realism card is on the table, everybody has a weakness. If somebody told me that the chief daemon hunter of the Imperium managed to defeat one of the chief daemonic foes of the Imperium in one-on-one combat, well ... that's improbable, but hardly inconceivable. I mean, he's the chief daemon hunter of the Imperium. Defeating daemonic foes is what he does, and what his kit is geared towards. It's not like he managed to defeat an armored regiment by himself or something. That would strain my credulity a lot more than defeating Mortarion (conversely, if Mortarion were to single-handedly smash his way through those same hundred and fifty Russes and a Baneblade or two, I would be surprised, but not overly so).

[bfmusashi]

Um...
"Alone and unaided, Draigo smashes his way through Mortarion's bodyguard, strikes the Primarch to the ground and carves Geronitan's name on the Daemon's vile heart"
p.15

Well, that is certainly different than what I described. Not sure how I missed that, but Nabterayl has a point too. It could be a case of Draigo hitting them and distracting them while other GKs go "haha Nemesis Force Shank" in their little daemon backs. Not aid, but also not them holding him down while Draigo got his calligraphy on. Last time I can remember throwing Grey Knights at Mortarion though I think force weapons automatically killed him.
It begs the question, why does Mortarion have a heart? Why did Angrath have a heart? What is going on in the warp where daemons are all "I need a body boss, one with a really big heart so I can understand Christmas in Whoville?"

[DarkLink]

Drawing aggro counts as aid. Given the excerpt, I think the most reasonable statement is that the rest of the Grey Knights fought off other Daemons while Draigo solo'd Mortarion and his bodyguard. And since this happened outside the warp, Ward-haterz can't pull a 'but it was all a dream' excuse.

[Anggul]

It's much easier to stop trying to justify Ward's ridiculous spehss mahren ramblings. It's a shame because I really enjoyed reading the Necron codex (except for Crypteks, they don't suit Necrons and just seem like a Haemonculi rip-off), it's just that he seems to get carried away into the realms of stupidity when writing about Space Marines. Give him Necrons to write about and he does a rather good job.

I for one am happy to continue pretending Ward's backstory for Draigo doesn't exist. I just think of him as being the Supreme Grand Master of the Grey Knights who is in realspace like any other Chapter Master and kicks face because he's the best of the best the Imperium has.

[Nabterayl]

(except for Crypteks, they don't suit Necrons and just seem like a Haemonculi rip-off)
I liked the cryptek in Hammer and Anvil, actually. Felt very Space Egyptian to me.

I guess where I don't get onto the Ward-and-space-marines hate is that I don't see any ... implications from any of it. I feel like people object to the fantastical feats of arms that Ward writes for certain space marine characters because they feel like it's establishing some sort of overall power level for the character. But it only does that if you bring that assumption to the literature. Otherwise, it's just an incredible thing that happened, and people write about it because hey, it was incredible and improbable. Audie Murphy single-handedly defeated a company of German infantry and their supporting armor, but that doesn't make him some kind of superman. The ability to defeat over a hundred guys in battle just doesn't translate into the ability to take on even ten guys in a fist fight (even the idea of a person "having the ability" to do everything they have actually done is kind of problematic). The idea that Draigo, or Calgar, or whoever has had his power elevated to over 9,000 because he's done X, Y, and Z feats of arms doesn't seem warranted to me. They're just the guys who have survived while virtually every other member of their chapter has died around them.

[bfmusashi]

You can write about Audie Murphy like Nabterayl or you can write about it like this: http://www.badassoftheweek.com/murphy.html No offense intended to Nabterayl, but the second option sells books.

[DarkLink]

You can also remember where this is a universe where genetically engineered soldiers fight wearing neigh-invulnerable powered armor that gives them super-strength and carrying hammers that can smash tanks to pieces while carrying fully automatic rocket launchers and blasting out psychic powers that can also break tanks in half. One regular human being isn't going to defeat a dozen others simultaneously in single combat. That explicitly happens plenty of times in 40k fluff, though.

[Nabterayl]

You can write about Audie Murphy like Nabterayl or you can write about it like this: http://www.badassoftheweek.com/murphy.html No offense intended to Nabterayl, but the second option sells books.
Well, that's kind of my point. It's the same man, and the same facts. Badass as hell, sure. Still not some kind of warrior god. Worth remembering that you can write it both ways when reading 40K history that is clearly written in the second vein, particularly the incredibly abbreviated sort you find in codices.

There aren't that many things in 40K that change the basic facts of combat, unless the reader brings that assumption with him or her (which is fine). The few things that do explicitly change the basic facts of combat, like a space marine's ability to selectively shut down certain aspects of his psychology, are always pretty explicit.

[bfmusashi]

I figured, but it was late and I didn't want to speak for you :)

[Mr.Pickelz]

I would like to point out that Draigo does have the only Grey Knight Storm Shield to exist... Partnered with his Nemesis Force Sword, this would give him a 2+ invul save against Morty and his crew. The thing that irks me the most is how he purified a Bloodthirster's weapon and uses it against daemons, all by himself...

[DarkLink]

Crowe's a chump. Carrying around a Daemon Weapon in order to prevent it from turning others to Chaos? Please. Draigo made his new Daemon Weapon into a holy relic.

[bfmusashi]

I would like to point out that Draigo does have the only Grey Knight Storm Shield to exist... Partnered with his Nemesis Force Sword, this would give him a 2+ invul save against Morty and his crew. The thing that irks me the most is how he purified a Bloodthirster's weapon and uses it against daemons, all by himself...

The Titan Sword or Sword of Titan or whatever isn't a Nemesis Force Sword so it does not modify his invul. The Bloodthirster's axe is also a Bloodthirster, so it's just him beating another daemon into submission.

[BrianDavion]

over all I think if I was tasked with writing the GK 6th edition Dex I'd DEFINATLY take it a bit more down to earth with Draigo.

[Learn2Eel]

No chance of that, guess what popped up today;

http://www.games-workshop.com/gws/catalog/productDetail.jsp?catId=&prodId=prod2380010a

Yep! GW are NOT retconning the incredibly controversial "Draigo carves a name into Mortarion's heart" story. :rolleyes:

[Cap'nSmurfs]

I imagine they'll add some nuance to the codex story, though!

[bfmusashi]

I imagine it's not that Morty got jacked that upsets people, it's that it's a throwaway line.
'then new guy totally jacked Mortarion the Skinny Daemon Prince'
'I'd really like to hear more about that'
'Sorry, there's no time, I have to spend a page talking about how metal he was defending a planet from M'kar, the Jerkbag'
'Wait, what is Mortarion's heart? Like an organ? Why does he have organs?'
'Now he's fighting a Bloodthirster barehanded!'
'C'mon man you could put a little detail into this'
'Sorry, codex is over, buy my book!'

On a related note, why do the Grey Knights NEED to name a Supreme Grand Master or all is lost?

[Nabterayl]

Okay, not gonna lie ... I'm never going to listen to that. But if anybody does I'd love to see a summary here. The teaser blurb makes it sound like basically the entire chapter is at least in theater when Draigo "single-handedly" takes on Mortarion and his bodyguards.

Also, bfmusashi, because the book says so ;)

[DarkLink]

Like I said, there were Grey Knights on the field, just elsewhere on the field according to the codex.



On a related note, why do the Grey Knights NEED to name a Supreme Grand Master or all is lost?

Chain of command. It's important. But in reality, all chains of command are specifically designed so that you don't have to hold elections mid-battle. Someone would automatically get promoted, even if it was just temporary until they could hold their little election safely.

[Nabterayl]

Yeah, somebody would have to decide how to adapt the battle plan so you didn't fall back on eight grand masters having a vote on strategy.

Which is why you would have procedures set up so the eight grand masters didn't have to have a vote on overall command, either :P

But I prefer to think that some Grey Knight tome says, "In the event that the Supreme Grand Master shall die, you must appoint a successor, or ALL SHALL BE LOST."

[DarkLink]

I like to think it says "In the even that the Supreme Grand Master dies, his successor is the first Knight to carve his name into a Daemon Primarch's heart. Pics or it didn't happen."

[Anggul]

I would be pretty happy with all eight Grand Masters being in charge at once.

'Sir... the entire chapter seems to have suddenly learned how to hold on to something important and how to counter-attack.'

'By the Emperor, it's as if all this time being more elite, faster or more heavy than their brothers was rendering them incapable of picking up important things. Together we have cracked it! A couple of units each brother Grand Masters, they shall never push all of us off of the objectives!'


This is how I imagine 40k happens.

[bfmusashi]

Chain of command. It's important. But in reality, all chains of command are specifically designed so that you don't have to hold elections mid-battle. Someone would automatically get promoted, even if it was just temporary until they could hold their little election safely.

I have to question this point though. They talk about how fluid the Grey Knights are in their command structure throughout the book and how rank doesn't matter as much as ability. It seems weird the biggest guns in the chapter (who serve manly as diplomats and big daemon killers) would fall into bickering while Mortarion's going all Dynasty Warriors on some guardsmen.
Bonus points if it's really just Draigo pulling a Cheney and just tells everyone he's the Supreme Grand Master and the other Grand Masters are like 'okay.'
And the more I think about it the more that line bothers me. Is fighting an immortal death god not high enough stakes for a short story or is this just putting it on extra thick? If it's extra thick what do you think the chance are we'll get Draigo telling Mort "ah, but I am not left handed" and other great one-liners?

[Nabterayl]

Well, no matter how individually capable the Grey Knights may be, they'd still need someone to coordinate the battle plan. They aren't psychic ... well, they are psychic, but they don't share some sort of hive mind. Especially if eight grand masters are present, the force is presumably quite large - something on the order of the entire chapter. Even if all eight grand masters are strategic geniuses, you couldn't have the chapter following eight brilliant but different plans. Somebody would have to take charge, if only to make sure that the entire chapter doesn't get annihilated in detail.

My opinion of 40K fiction's ability to take 40K seriously is ... not high, especially when it comes to space marines, so I'm voting for a short story that lays it on extra thick.

[DarkLink]

And the more I think about it the more that line bothers me. Is fighting an immortal death god not high enough stakes for a short story or is this just putting it on extra thick? If it's extra thick what do you think the chance are we'll get Draigo telling Mort "ah, but I am not left handed" and other great one-liners?

I'm betting Draigo will grab Mortarion by the wrist and start punching him while saying 'stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself'.

[bfmusashi]

I'm betting Draigo will grab Mortarion by the wrist and start punching him while saying 'stop hitting yourself, stop hitting yourself'.

I'm loving the story that's being written on this board.

[DarkLink]

It also makes Draigo one sneaky *******. All the other Grey Knights are like 'hey, I can be Supreme Grand Master', and Draigo's like 'hey, I think I saw him over there', and they all charge off while Draigo sneaks away to fight Mortarion. That's why he was really all alone in that fight.

[Nabterayl]

Nah, he's just socially oblivious and nobody likes him. The other grand masters all told him that he could be supreme grand master if he single-handedly finished the mission, hoping to get rid of him.

[bfmusashi]

Everyone's all sarcastic when they read his title, "Oh, it's Supreme Grand Master Draigo."