VALDOR: Birth of the Imperium by Chris Wraight | Warhammer 40k Lore

We're out of sequence, but who cares when the book is this good? Valdor: Birth of the Imperium gives us a look into the end of the Unification Wars, and asks the big questions about exactly how much free will anyone in the Imperium of Warhammer 40k really has...
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Copyright: Unless noted in the video, all images © Games Workshop 1987-2022. Title music is 'Black Rainbows' by Karl Casey @White Bat Audio
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[@lewisdavies9998]

The Warhammer tea could be called Uni-tea, and it could be really expensive, and when people ask why, you could say "the emperor says we should have unity at any price."

[@CaptainChazz]

Custodes are artisanal free range Space Marines.

[@ryanomalley3705]

the emperor bought them at whole foods

[@theophrastusbombastus1359]

It's a completely different process It's like comparing free range eggs with factory farmed milk

[@adrianchalice]

Thunder Warriors were Wish Space marines, if you don't mind the mixing of metaphors

[@WilCatRhClPPh33]

Ararat is where Noah's Ark ended up. Mount Sinai is where the stone tablets came from.

[@PsychoticFruitfly]

if you buy into those particular fairytales.....

[@dekai7992]

I do like that fantasy places from mythology end up in modern fantasy stories, though.

[@TrippyTheShroom]

I swear the atheists are more obnoxious than the holyrollers.

[@thanksskeletor4812]

@@TrippyTheShroomit's gotten that way hasn't it

[@seanaustin2965]

Yep, the place where the ark, which saved humanity ended up, is the same place where the thunder warriors end up abandoned. A very nice metaphor I thought.

[@maxst-louis8620]

"There's always people bickering about the location of the Imperial Palace" Mira: Well if you want a beacon of hope it should be high Ian: Right, we'll flatten the Himalayas and put a city on it, madness. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be 😂

[@marjoe32]

You got to be realistic - Logan nine... wait wrong grim dark 😂

[@StigPrice]

I actually saw two people arguing about the location of the palace and the golden throne. One said it was in England where warhammer world currently stands... The other said the Himalayas (which is where the lore says it is)

[@josephgarvin3998]

@@StigPrice The England thing comes from ~2nd Edition stuff that suggested that 1) the throne itself was directly above Nottingham and 2) the dungeon was rooted in the deep remains of what used to be Birmingham (because 1st and 2nd Ed lore writers loved to give Birmingham a kicking every now and then). I think even then it was meant to be tongue in cheek

[@StigPrice]

@@josephgarvin3998 yeah there's a planet called Birmingham in the lore...it's not a great place to live lol..

[@stewartthorpe2533]

Who on earth could hate Mira? Impossible!

[@Mr_Quimper]

"The Primarchs were sucked-off into the Warp". Is this the story arc, where we see Ian becoming a worshipper of 'She Who Thirsts"? 🤔😁

[@brothernemiel6465]

And this event will forever be known in lore as "The Great Sucking"

[@IVIaskerade]

They always say "she who thirsts" but never what she thirsts for 🤔🤔🤔

[@jimitheJive]

that tea break phenominal, arguably the best thing I've seen on youtube.

[@tonydotnottingham]

If you do start tea reviews, I cannot say enough good things about Lee Rosie’s tea, independent and based in Nottingham, sadly their cafe is no more, but their online selection is *fantastic*

[@Liberater4589]

I think its really interesting that the emperor says "I will become something LESS than human" its like he knows how powerful he will become but despairs at how it will separate him from his humanity and to me shows how empathetic he is toward humanity and understands what it would mean to lose it

[@justincoates4582]

It leans in to the criticisms the other Perpetuals made of him, too. He was warned that what we was doing would end in disaster, and it did. His lack of humanity is what led to Monarchia, the abduction of Angron, the council of Nicae, and ultimately the Heresy.

[@Yurt_enthusiast7]

Might be a way to manipulate Valdor and sounding humble

[@michaelsimpson3711]

One thing about the thunder warriors that’s never mentioned is that they are a really on the nose historical reference. The ill disciplined, brawling, street fighting gang that were useful in a despots rise to power. Who then have their leaders killed by a more professional successor force (who would be better suited to fighting along side a standing army and outside the context of a struggle for power). That’s the story of the Thunderwarriors in 30k, as well as the Stormtroopers of 1930’s Germany, who when they fulfilled their usefulness were supplanted by the SS during the night of the long knives. There is even a lightning reference in both the of there names.

[@dekai7992]

Never occured to me, but you're right! Dang, and I'm German.

[@glandhound]

The analogy falls apart a bit when you consider that in the night of the long knives, the SA were all military veterans who got assasinated in the cover of the night by inexperienced civilians wanting to play war.

[@StickWithTrigger]

@@glandhound i think youre confusing night of the broken glas (in 1938 civilians attacking jewish populations) and night of the long knives (in 1934 Hitler rounding up and killing the SA)

[@MrZauberelefant]

​@@glandhoundremember that the whole generation had experienced war and that most of the SS involved were vets like their SA counterparts. The underlying conflict was that Röhm envisioned a people's army, led by himself, based on his thugs, while Hitler needed the Army and their professional officers to go to war. Same goal, different roads, and like all despots, solved with murder. Also, the analogy fails because the SS was part of the SA at the time, organisationally, not a separate entity. Police was also involved in the purge, as were army units. But yeah, Warhammer rhymes a bit with real world events

[@glandhound]

@@StickWithTrigger No, the SS are the inexperienced civilians wanting to play war.

[@latrodectusmactans7592]

Chris Wraight is one of my favorite authors for 40k. He tends to have a melancholy style that for me really defines the setting. I highly recommend his Vaults of Terra trilogy, which focuses on Inquisitors investigating a mysterious threat on the Throneworld.

[@dekai7992]

True! He really gets the tragic paradise lost vibe so well. Like, at every turn, the 40k verse is defined by decisions made with good or at least human intentions that ultimately end up ruining what they strove to create. It's like ancient Greek or Shakespearean tragedy. It's why this verse has such a profound impact, on me, at least.

[@tombouric]

Wrath of Iron is also a solid recommend by him. And if you want to get into AoS, Gates of Azyr is an older book (literally the first) and it has a bit of weirdness to it, but it's a really good read despite that. Chris Wraight's an al-Wraight lad.

[@ImrahilToChaos]

@@dekai7992 Yeah? What would you call the War of the Beast then? Kinda seems like the setting isn’t always this tragedy and deserves to be seen as ridiculous sometimes.

[@dekai7992]

@@ImrahilToChaos The Imperial victory in the War of the Beast serves as the turning point, the peak from which the Imperium falls, drunken on its perceived invincibility.

[@cookietinsewingkit]

100%. Sea of souls is the only decent Dawn of Fire book because of him

[@merci_ann]

Bastard Scale Update! Petronella viva is not here! Lucius: 27 Fabius: "blown up the scale"/contested by Ian Erebus: 12 The Lion: 9 Bequa: 9 Fulgrim: 8.5 Wsoric the Demon: 8 Brynngar Sturmdreng: 7 Julius EC: 6 Zadkiel: 5.5 Marius EC: 5.5 Solomon EC: 3 Unification Wars Emperor: 3 Everyone else in Descent of Angels: 3 Valdor: 1 Iacton Cruze: 1 Thanks for remembering to specify the numbers! Love you guys!❤

[@beowar]

How does the Emperor see the Primarchs is a very interesting question. In the Dark Imperium trilogy, Guilleman remembers when he was before the Golden Throne and The Emperor referred to him as no more than a tool. He starts thinking back and admits that he can never remember the man he considers his Father ever referring to him or the other Primarchs as his sons.

[@garyknight3018]

It’s a good episode when I drove an extra 10 minutes around my neighbourhood to make sure I got the bastard scale completed :)

[@matthiasoc7141]

Ian, that insight that the Emperor only lets the Primarchs call him "Father" because that lets him re-gain some of the control he lost when they were "sucked off" is really interesting. It's going to sit in my brain for a bit while I run through the implications.

[@merylstrep5933]

I don’t know if it was for the sake of Mira, but I’m pretty sure the Emperor refers to the Custodes as his sons and says something like “the Primarchs call me father but I don’t know why because the custodes are my sons”

[@Kolyarut]

There's something about Chris Wraight's style I don't quite gel with normally, but I absolutely adore this story. The nascent Dark Angels powering up their armour in the ambush is one of the iconic moments in the entire franchise for me (up there with the first encounter with the Thunder Warriors revving their chainaxes back in The Last Church), and I identify with the protagonist of this story - the law is only just insofar as it produces justice, and if the system produces injustice, it cannot be justified. Her discovery by the end of the story that despite her best efforts justice was just a façade is heartbreaking and insurmountable. Having her ideology broken and having to remove herself from the world is in some ways a worse fate than the people getting shot by boltguns.

[@BertramMoranda]

"I've seen sea lasers on C-Span" ahahah

[@BoringAngler]

No one outside the US should have to watch C-Span.

[@rodin9836]

One of the great Warhammer books, glad Mira liked it !

[@Alpharius]

I think Mira would really enioy the short story "Dreams of Unity" which is really the best story on the Thunder Warriors and their being tragic characters.

[@SC1ENCEP1E]

Love this book. The audio production on audible is phenomenal

[@LokkenUK]

Steven Pacey is amazing - would recommend the first law series by Joe Abercrombie that he narrates. Probably the best narration on audible.

[@rossallan7679]

One of the best audio productions for sure!

[@dekai7992]

You've just made me buy it.

[@j1gsaw]

​@@LokkenUKI'll second that

[@perfidy1103]

I was shocked by how good I found Valdor to be. I bought it because i wanted to learn more about the Custodes, and there are relatively few Custodes specific books (funnily, Chris Wraight wrote one of the others), but it's actually really cool. I love how things are even less 40k than in Horus Heresy. Earth still has lots of non-Imperial stuff remaining, the High Lords still have liberal ideals, and the imperial project feels fresh and new. I honestly rate Wraight as one of the best Black Library writers now. His stuff is a step beyond basic action stuff (which can be good too).

[@Dimetropteryx]

Loved the book. Really a major work for the Thunder Warriors. There was Master of Mankind, The Outcast Dead, Dreams of Unity and even The Last Church, but this book shed the most light on what they were and how they were organized. I also thought it was fun that Ushotan's legion was named as the fourth legion, the Iron Lords, which is shown in the middle of the siege of Maulland Sen, and he essentially turns traitor out of bitterness. It's basically Perturabo and the Iron Warriors, right down to the legion number and their specialization.

[@rpgquestboard]

Loved this book. So much background lore that I'd wanted to know for decades.

[@MM-um3ts]

Ian i have one recommendation for you: Please dont rush through these books so fast! No need to hurry! Please, i think we all love the details and thoughts about everything even the tangents! For me it always feels like you rush through and drag Mira with you.

[@HistoritorJimaldus]

Such a great book for early imperium lore, I don’t think any imperium-focussed book is set earlier chronologically

[@cookietinsewingkit]

Came for the book review, stayed for the tea review.

[@acidicil9382]

We need the Tanna tea from Cain!

[@mennorach]

One of my favorite books from BL. We get to see the Thunder Warriors, even if only for a brief moment. I'm actually scratch building a force of Thunder warriors with a friend. We are going to use the BetaGarmon Blackshield rules for them if they ever end up a on a gaming table. Love the book clubs, keep them up :)

[@sfoxhound]

just found this playlist and its bloody brilliant not only to have ian shooting out info and background but also mira's pov as someone new to the world makes me feel less overwhelmed and daft for not knowing whos a whatsit mecanicist etc

[@Yurt_enthusiast7]

Man I wish GW comes around to make a game set during the unification wars and make the Emperor the exterior threat to the other factions

[@Aaron-io8vw]

Mount Ararat is where the ark landed after the flood.It's in Armenia.. Interestingly this mountain was apparently a holy site in the local religion long before Christianity existed(Armenia was one of the first countries to convert an mass to Christianity during the Roman period) The mountain where Noses brought the tablet a containing the ten commandments was called Mount Sinai/Mount Horeb and is located in the Sinai Peninsula between Egypt and southern Israel . There is a Catholic convent of Nuns located their since the medieval period. It is possible that in 40( setting the Emperor may have been the inspiration for Moses and/or the histrovial figure of Hammurabi the two famous ancient law givers

[@JersyCityDevil]

35:50 I actually had the same thought as Mira when I first read the book last year. Was pretty sure it just signified the 1st Legion.

[@shadowxps]

Wooooo Parable of the Sower reference. That’s awesome cause I thoroughly enjoyed that book. Would love if Mira talked a little bit more about it.

[@DaSkwire]

The scoring on Bastard Scale is like the scoring on QI.

[@christopheraaron1255]

The audiobook of this is fabulous. Those cut away interview bits are done as tape recorded sessions. It's fantastic.

[@marcwittkowski5146]

27:10 fun fact: when everything goes to sh*t in "Legion" and the influence of Chaos suddenly grows, theres the smell of wyrmwood on the air as well.

[@sean4929]

When Ian said 'Brilliant' after pouring the tea, that was the most British thing ever.

[@Lemonhead209]

Loving the Tea moment, very civil : )

[@studentjohn]

The tea is a great addition to the format :)

[@adampriestley7732]

Y30K bug! Brilliant. Actually laughed out loud.

[@therefromhere]

And Ian completely leaving Mira hanging 😂

[@nicholasleon7819]

brian cranston emperor is something i never knew i wanted but now that i know its all i want

[@filteredjc4653]

😂 you're right, he'd be amazing

[@glandhound]

Stephen Hawking would have been awesome too.

[@filteredjc4653]

@@glandhound 😂😂😂

[@KirthKain1011]

For a little more thunder warrior lore , the outcast dead is great.

[@ropable]

I am SO GLAD that I just read Penitent the other week or that would have been a heck of a spoiler

[@-Thunder-Warrior-]

"For Unity!"

[@leovalenzuela8368]

I give you the most British thing to ever happen on a British YT channel about a British tabletop game. 24:50

[@aaronh.2496]

Would love to see Mira and Ian’s take on more Warhammer the old world fiction. Maybe graham mcneils lords of the lance?

[@DavidBain-mh1oz]

Best duo in 40k

[@DivebombMovies]

absolutely one of my favourites from the horus heresy series. such a great story. chris wraight writes stories that should just be straight adapted into the upcoming amazon film/tv series. birth of the imperium could be like the first film before they start doing horus heresy stuff. his other recent book sea of souls is like the perfect introduction to the warp and a bunch of other basic 40k concepts, a bit of a event horizon style story, which is also really easy to imagine as a feature film.

[@TheRealOrous]

Really looking forwards to what Mira thinks of The Last Church. If you both like this pre-30k stuff, you'll like that one, I think.

[@miramanga]

Finished this story yesterday. I have…feelings

[@cacarey01]

One of my favourite Warhammer books. Not like other books because it's not all violence all the time. I think the first shot fired is like 10 chapters in.

[@pgael7196]

You do know that sooner or later you'll both have to make a review of the Night Lords Trilogy, right ?

[@HistoritorJimaldus]

Mira announced that when she reaches 10,000 subs she will read it!

[@HistoritorJimaldus]

25:10 it’s Warhammer 4-tea-k 😜

[@Ed-Irvin]

Please put more tea in Book Club

[@DomoKuchikan]

This is still my favorite 40k book!

[@im2randomghgh]

More bookclub! It's gonna be a good day :) especially since Valdor is such an interesting book!

[@craigzinkta3988]

Great presentation guys. Love this book club chatty-channel. 1000/100 👍

[@thisoldwarhammer]

this was excellent... I really enjoyed this episode...

[@euansmith3699]

Mount Ararat is where Noah's Arc ends up after the flood. 👍 Ian and Mira make great guides to the Grim Darkness. They strike the correct light tone for this subject. 18 Varieties of Warhammer Tea? Some of the Chaos Ones are going to be a bit challenging.

[@andrewdowler4479]

Great review video, loved the Valdor novel, and Chris Wraight is one of the best HH authors. Also extra bonus points for Review n Tea :)

[@hunacean]

Love this book. I think Chris Wraight slowly overtaking Abnett as my favourite 40k author.

[@cacarey01]

Amazing book. Chris Wraight is one of the Greats!

[@HahaDamn]

I think Mont Ararat is the place where the Ark lands

[@bobbler42]

Sanguinininius is a hero to a whole chapter of courageous East Finchley Boy Scouts, the Bluebottles.

[@SF-wx1bu]

Cracking review of Valdor, one of my favourite books (more character and less bolter porn). The Last Church - Would love to see a book club review of this short story.

[@Mortys_Toilet_Attendant]

Second The Last Church suggestion! It’s also pre-unification so can be read without spoilers. It’s also a proper short story.

[@TVs_Brent]

Loving this one. Its a great little book and im glad youve read it

[@rekar5768]

My first 40k book. I love it very much. It setups what Imperium will become really well.

[@johnstrelley3917]

I think Mira should read The Last Church - that should quench her Emporor thirst!

[@HistoritorJimaldus]

She has now…

[@marklathouwers3650]

Mira's Y30K bug joke! :) :)

[@gilledgar2243]

Listened to this book just earlier this week :)

[@kiltedcossack]

I'll say what I always say: Love both your channels, love your team-ups, love the action plot summaries. "In a world where Ian and Mira review WH40k books!"

[@DevotedpupaVODs]

I would say Alpharius’s primarch novel is kind of Valdor’s sequel and mostly set on this era

[@ning8833]

Great review

[@alexandrebelinge8996]

ah oh ah oh no I haven't read this one but can't stop watching ....ahhhh ! :) love bookclub !

[@lexman7179]

This book sounds like Hot Fuzz if Jim Broadbent won.

[@philipbrowne63]

Mount Ararat is in modern-day Turkey and is where Noah's Ark came to rest after the flood (Genesis 8:4). The Hebrews received the two stone tablets with the 10 commandments on Mount Sinai (Exodus 19), also called Mount Horeb (Deuteronomy 4:15)

[@TheLaminatedbrick]

Loved this book as well.

[@semitangent]

Regarding the bit around 11:00 - hearing you say how the Emperor gave up his own humanity to save the Imperium reminds me so much of the fourth Dune book! You know, the one literally called "God-Emperor of Dune"? There you have a similar plot device where a benevolent dictator goes so far in his benevolence that he makes his subjects hate him with the goal that if they ever become strong enough to kill him - this almost omniscient and omnipotent being - they automatically became strong enough to endure the future he saw in his visions, thereby actually fulfilling the dictator's goal of making humanity strong.

[@glandhound]

It's a pity that all that FTL is impossible without special navigator mutants...

[@bobbydavy88]

I just love watching these when, having read (listened to) the book, the memories come flooding back. The excitement about Valdor being in the 40K verse is also infectious at the beginning - wish it never got spoiled for me *sad face*

[@jurriaandejongh8677]

Amazing episode. :)

[@misterjones7248]

One of my favourite reads

[@michaelstevens5712]

Lovely as always, you two! The more of these I read, the more I think the real magic trick of the Heresy is assembling such a killer's row of inspired, motivated authors. I'm very curious to see what Wraight gets up to now that the Heresy and (seemingly) his other two series are finished because it seems like BL has correctly pegged him as one of their premier authors. On the topic of "is it fair to consider the Emperor the father of the Primarchs?", I don't think there's a perfect answer and I'm suspicious of the answer He himself gave. I suspect the best answer is going to come from Horus's Primarchs novel because of just how much he values the time he had with the Emperor as the only primarch.

[@Yandarval]

Big Es pre Golden Throne throne, is probably right on top of where the peak of Everest was/is. As thats the level of hubris E has.

[@cj-done]

Enjoyed this book a lot. Have you considered doing Watchers of the Throne? The first book particular is excellent!

[@_walruseater]

I LOVE how much Mira loves learning about the Emperor because I feel the same way

[@Mortys_Toilet_Attendant]

As mentioned by others - if you want a whole story of The Emperor in a one one with one other character - read The Last Church.

[@HistoritorJimaldus]

It’s in the next Heresy book :) Mechanicum is already read

[@benjaminwenham7759]

Just started listening. Here for best girl Uwoma Kandawire 40k' only good cop!

[@singtothesilence]

The objectively most moral human character, given that she isn't implicitly or explicitly supporting a bunch of space nazis and is basically introduced with "soldiers should not be in control, a state is not meant to be merely the backend of the military".

[@earnestwanderer2471]

40k themed tea? Would Nurgle be nettle tea?

[@lamicrobio...engros5427]

came for the book, stayed for the tea ^^

[@Mysaladdays-go6cc]

yes! Warhammer and tea!

[@MJ-ob8vk]

Mt. Ararat was where Noah's Ark lands after the Flood recedes. Mt. Sinai is where Moses gets the first tablets of the Ten Commandments

[@HistoritorJimaldus]

‘Allegedly’ 😂

[@codysing1223]

My favorite female character in Warhammer 40,000 is Nasturi, Her relationship before Corax was a beautiful one, like a mix between a friend, a admirer, and almost the mother.

[@joesatchton212]

I am the farthest thing from a W30K and W40K lore expert. I have read all of the now concluded Horus Heresy and associated books/novels/novellas and that saga was what I started with and have been digging through in random order the 40K books. 100% accurate or not, this is how I think of the main Terran classes presented in the books: Emperor = President, Prime Minister, Top Dog of all Malcador [with Erda for a time] = Chief Of Staff Valdor [and his successors] = Head of the Secret Service Adeptes Custodes = Secret Service, Emperor's Security Thunder Warriors = Terra-bound, imperfect soldiers, fodder on the ground for uniting a fractured Terra, Space Marines beta versions Primarchs = The Emperor's Military Generals Space Marines = Galactic Soldiers serving under the 20 [18] Primarchs Primaris Space Marines = improved, v2 Space Marines High Lords of Terra = Congress, Parliament after the Emperor's emtombment on the Golden Throne

[@stewartthorpe2533]

🎉🎉🎉 Book club video time 🎉🎉🎉🎉

[@im2randomghgh]

Given how excited Mira gets for the Emperor, would you guys consider doing The Last Church?

[@DivebombMovies]

they are just about to get to the first anthology of the horus heresy anyway, tales of heresy. book 10. which includes the last church.

[@HariSeldon-rb8pr]

The Light Brigade was the 500, the custodes have a bit of the companions about them

[@CygnusMaximusXIII]

Mount Ararat is, traditionally, where Noah's Ark finally landed. There is (obviously) no archaeological evidence to support the tradition. I think they chose the place to be the end of the Thunder Warriors because of the symbolism of it as a place where humanity is reborn (first via Noah and his family, second the end of the Thunder Warriors and beginning of the Astartes/Great Crusade).

[@adapax77]

Remind me to send Mira a samovar so you can have afternoon tea together like Valhallans 😅🫖☕️

[@Mr_Quimper]

Jurgen - "Thought you might like some tea sir?"...

[@valenotp]

I'm always confused as to why the Emporer disposed of the Thunder Warriors. Imagine if he kept them on ice and only woken when you needed for a discrete combats or massive war or a unforseen disaster. Imagine if they could be thawed out to fight the Tyranids or necrons or orcs. Seemed like he wasted a highly valuable resource.

[@HistoritorJimaldus]

They’re weren’t too many left, they were getting too unstable to control, and there were no facilities to freeze them - and the Astartes were about to pop out and they’re more effective as an army

[@glandhound]

Well, they were old soldiers that got genetically engineered with Ironically they were too susceptiple to warp influence which resulted in several unnecessary atrocities. Also as they started as baseline adult humans, they were already ruined by 'the human condition' and had too much free will. This is the reason the Emperor's future soldier projects always started with infants (in case of custodes) and preteen boys (astartes), essentially people who still had their 'innocence' and not jaded by the difficulties of life. After recruitment they were 'brainwashed' and hypno-indoctrinated so that the baseline soldier already knew everything they needed to know and were dedicated to the cause.

[@XIIIUDSP]

How was there no reference to Tanna when you were mentioning Tea?

[@patrickking3124]

Please read ascension day. Its excellent.

[@marjoe32]

More tea breaks please

[@miramanga]

Agree!