Oaths of Damnation is author Robbie MacNiven’s first piece of work for the Black Library in five years, following the Age of Sigmar short story in the Gods & Mortals anthology. This time he’s back in the 40K universe with a tale of supernatural evil that’s currently available in hardback and expected to release in paperback this July.
The Story
The tale centers on the Exorcists, an unusual and reclusive Space Marine chapter that answers the question, “what if we made a 40K version of the Hermetic Order of the Golden Dawn?”
As part of their training, each aspiring Exorcist must undergo daemonic possession, the spirit allowed to remain within their body for a period of twelve hours before being cast out. Those that survive the process see their souls shattered, which to the Exorcists is a feature, not a bug. After all, what are souls but vulnerabilities when facing the corrupting creatures of the Warp?
Of course, not all initiates pass the test, and those that fail are called Broken Ones. Herein lies one of the Chapter’s most heretical secrets. The Exorcists maintain a secret prison filled with daemon-possessed Broken Ones. When an initiative fails the trial, they load up the miserable wretch with as many daemons as they can squeeze in, then consign them all to a living purgatory.
Like any plan, it goes pretty well until it doesn’t, and when a Broken One carrying a particularly nasty daemonic spirit escapes custody, it’s up to Almoner-Lieutenant Daggan Zaidu and his squad of elite Hexbreakers to track it down and recapture it before it falls into the wrong hands.
Those wrong hands include a band of Word Bearers led by a Dark Apostle who sees the Broken One as his key to daemonic ascension, so the race is on. Can Zaidu and the Exorcists recapture the Broken One, or have their troubles only just started?
Déjà Vu All Over Again
As I read Oaths of Damnation I couldn’t help but notice some parallels with MacNiven’s first novel for the Black Library, 2017’s Carcharodons: Red Tithe. Both center on reclusive and enigmatic Space Marine Chapters, feature a driven team leader (Zaidu, Bail Sharr) paired with a venerable mystic (Torrin Vey, Te Kahurangi) leading their forces on an underground pursuit against the forces of Chaos Space Marines.
Now to be clear, I’m not saying that Oaths of Damnation is derivative. In fact, it’s a perfectly serviceable by-the-numbers story that moves along at a brisk pace. The first 50 pages alone set a terrific table with a bit of horror, sprinkle of mystery, and loads of adventure. Going to a war world to track down a daemon is a fine premise for a 40K action story, even if it wasn’t quite as engaging as Red Tithe’s prison setting.
Oaths is also helped by some solid villain characterization in the form of Artax, one of the Word Bearers in pursuit of the Broken One. MacNiven teases out depth of character in him by having him be a Word Bearer amidst a crisis of faith.
“I have witnessed our masters, the ones we worship, time and again, given flesh and form by our praise and the spilling of our blood. There has never been a moment when they have seemed like anything other than predators, drawn to kill us and consume us. There has never been a moment I have felt kinship with them.”
Mordun said nothing, and Artax made himself continue.
“Take our so-called flock as an example. They are prey, and in some desperate attempt at self-preservation they have reimaged us, their predators, as gods. We do the same every time we converse with the beings from beyond the veil, or enter into pacts with them. They hunger for both our souls and our flesh and blood, and nothing will change that.
“Any power they offer is only power to act at their behest. And that is no true power!”
Antagonist point-of-view passages in Warhammer stories can be a mixed bag, but it’s a good sign when you find yourself looking forward to seeing how both sides of the narrative play themselves out.
Overall, though, the story isn’t the best part of Oaths of Damnation- and here’s where MacNiven truly shines.
The Exorcists
The true highlight of the book is MacNiven’s take on the Exorcists, and it is scintillating. Consider this early introduction:
The primary chamber was vast, a cavity at the core of the Exorcists’ fortress-monastery, hollowed out and filled with the sum total of knowledge acquired over four thousand years spent warring with the daemonic. Arcane grimoires, cursed tomes, Ecclesiarchy doggerel and the ruminations of generations of the Chapter’s own Librarians and mystics filled the shelves, stacked under, alongside and above briefing transcriptions, tactical-goetic summaries, combat divinations, gene-files and star cartography.
No other Chapter was so wedded to theomantic esotericism as the Exorcists. Knowledge was power, and they knew its value. They had made the Basilica Malifex one of the greatest repositories of occult information in the segmentum, hidden from all but the Chapter and a select few members of the Ordos.
Just as the Carcharodons were seasoned with a Pacific Islander flavor, MacNiven weaves a blend of Babylonian-Sumerian naming conventions and Aleister Crowley mysticism to splendid effect. When you recall that the villain of The Exorcist was an Assyrian demon named Pazuzu, you can see the vibe that MacNiven was aiming for in this story about daemonic possession. He weaves it skillfully, giving the Exorcists a richness and depth from their libraries to their rituals to their cults. Some is explained, much is hinted at.
Ultimately I found it was this lore-building dynamic that kept the pages turning most. MacNiven plays very well in the space of Loyalist Chapters that are somewhat Chaos-coded, morally ambiguous and scrapping to survive at the edge of the universe.
If that sort of thing is up your alley, Oaths of Damnation will be a welcome addition to your library.
No possession required.
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