The Subsector Project

  Themes are super important in fan works. This shouldn’t be a surprise to you, themes are important in every work, yet I believe it bears repeating due to the current media landscape (not to mention the state of reading comprehension in today’s world).

Game of Thrones showrunner David Benioff famously once said: “Themes are for eighth-grade book reports”. I cannot think of a worse position for a purported writer and storyteller to take, so it’s important to me that you, dear reader, know that he’s wrong, and that it is actually important to include themes in your creative works. We all saw how Game of Thrones turned out, so I assume you already know to some degree, but I digress.

Without themes, stories become pulp, insubstantial and unfulfilling to read. They leave you wanting more, a meal you can sink your teeth into. Sure, maybe they’re inoffensive, maybe they’re fun to read every now and again, but they cannot sustain your brain or your soul. You demand complexity, even if you don’t consciously understand that.

I know some consider all Warhammer fiction to fall into this “pulp” category, and some certainly does, but it is not required to do so. Science fiction, as a rule, is very efficient for exploring ideas from the real world, and completing character studies in an utterly unreal or pseudo-real setting where reality would be inefficient for storytelling.

To be more succinct- there are infinite ideas to explore through writing, and as a writer, you should at least try.

Let’s turn to Voya Rock.

  My purpose behind The Sentinel of Voya Rock was twofold:
1. To build Bemu- I think that an agriworld is a great setting for a calamity, and I want to explore that through a number of lenses.

2. To broach a discussion of the relationship to divinity.

This second point probably deserves a deeper dive- 40k frequently voices critique of organized religion as it relates to Catholicism and evangelicalism more generally, but I haven’t seen it broach the subject of more “liberal” and modern religious movements which emphasize less rote recitation, and more personal relationships with religious figures.

Can you have a personal relationship with the Emperor sans all the idolatry and litanies? I understand that the mysticism is somewhat integral to the setting itself, but I wanted to explore that question through the lens of an outcast- someone who still believes, but for one reason or another, isn’t able to stick with the regimen of constantly burning candles and gilding effigies.

I can’t say for sure who the Hunter is at this moment. Perhaps an old soldier exiled, or lost on patrol, who simply never returned to their regiment. Maybe an interrogator or minustorum priest who fell from the graces of their order, and departed in disgust.

One thing is for sure- his devotion has never faltered, and he treats everything he has as a gift from the Emperor. Will that faith survive the first encounter with the enemy waiting for him on the plains, issuing forth from the spacehulk? (Probably Orks!)

Maybe, maybe not.

We can expand this theme to other stories set on Bemu, perhaps intersecting with the Hunter until we get a clearer picture of what’s going on. That’s what I love about building a world one story at a time- it gives us room to breathe, and to expand when and where we see fit.

So much room for activities, so much more to explore!