For those who love the cast of the NL trilogy as I do, I encourage you to read the Fabius Bile trilogy, which has some of the most compelling characters in the entire setting.

There’s Arrian Zorzi, the World Eater apothecary who’s mastered the nails with a series of auto-injecting sedatives and relaxants. He’s a soft speaker and one of the calmest, more lucid marines in the setting. Knows his place but isn’t afraid to speak his mind and is the only character who really seems to earn Fabius’ real respect. Yet he’s still very much a World Eater, considering he holds conversations with the skulls of his dead brothers chained to his belt.

Then there’s the Word Bearer demonologist Saqqara, who exemplifies the strengths of his Legion in a way many BL authors tend to overlook. He spends much of the series questing for his purpose in the Gods’ vision. He’s meditative, stoic, absolutely resolute through faith. He doesn’t trust demons, but he values the truth of the cosmos and sometimes even convinces you that he’s got a point. He serves Bile because there’s a bomb sewed in his chest that will detonate if Bile dies or chooses to trigger it, but you get the sense that both he and Bile enjoy their long-winded debates about Gods, science, and the state of the galaxy.

I could go on - there’s Oleander Koh, old school Emperor’s Children who wishes we could all be one big family again… another EC marine who is an absolutely awful poet but everyone has to deal with it because he’s strong enough to kill anyone who groans.

Ok I’ll stop now. Seriously check out the series though.