Fabius Bile – Clonelord is not only a well written novel, but is actually has surprising implications for the lore of 40K.

The novel is written in the backdrop of not only the previous Fabius Bile book, but also in the shadow of what occurred many millennia ago in Talon of Horus. That story marks the last time the Emperor’s Children were mostly unified under one banner, under Fabius’ leadership based out of the planet of Harmony. At the pinnacle of Fabius’ glory, he actually succeeded in cloning Horus, in a fanciful attempt to bring about the resurrection of the Horus Heresy. At the time Fabius learned the curious fact that the primarchs had the ability to share their collective memories through their DNA.

Fabius is now much older and wiser. The rot in his own gene seed has forced him to succumb many times, but due to the wizardry of his science he has been able escape permanent death by transferring his consciousness to clones of himself.

A heavy concept in Fabius Bile – Clonelord is the idea of perfection. Perfection in this context can be read more akin to the existential question of purpose. Existentialism is a word that is commonly misused, but in my interpretation it is fundamentally the question of an individual deciding what his or her true purpose should be in the context of an uncertain, fleeting universe.

The Emperor’s Children present a number of potential answers to this question. In the Reflection Crack’d, Fulgrim makes the argument that through greater experience (including both pleasure and pain) one evolves towards greater complexity and therefore moves closer to the true purpose of the universe. Contrarily, many members of the Third may secretly long for a second chance to relive their glorious pre-heresy past, where the Emperor’s Children were loyal to the master of mankind and were untainted executors of the Great Crusade. Most like Eidolon at least strive for the goal of dominance and hegemony within the Eye of Terror, or strive to achieve their own sense of fulfillment or martial perfection.

Thoughts of perfection are of course always tempered by potential awareness that this could be an ephemeral or even unachievable goal. Some of the Third are not blind to this possibility, arguing that like the Phoenix the natural process is to strive towards perfection, to fail in a fiery blaze, and then be reborn stronger.

Fabius in particular has one of the most interesting opinions on the matter. Ironically his vision may actually adhere closest to the original vision of the Emperor. In a universe dominated by chaotic deities, Fabius is something akin to an atheist. He actively denies the existence of gods, as anything other than a confluence of psychic effluvia. Through experimentation he has developed a new strain of humans, his “New Men”, which he believes to be superior to normal men. The New Men can promulgate themselves, can hunt Astartes in numbers, and are resistant to the worst of Nurgle’s pestilences. He appears to envision a future in which real humanity dominates the universe, standing on its own two feet without the need for gods, space marines, xenos or even himself once his time is up.

Fabius Bile – Clonelord is essentially the backdrop to see how strongly Fabius is committed to this vision of perfection. He will face temptation from many sources, even including a nearly irresistible form of Fulgrim himself .

I give Fabius Bile – Clonelord **** out of five.