Terran Morale Officers radiate an aura of pure passion. One might say that it is their core, and what drives them to sacrifice and die for others. However, theirs is a passion clad in reforged into armor fear, armed to the teeth with their uttermost fright brought to heel by much training and emboldened will.
In the academy on Sirius Prime, the grizzled old veterans advise:
“Your anger must be colder than the depths of space.”
There is a youtube audiodrama "Star Wars vs 40K" by A Fan with Too Much Time that dives into this, especially in the theorycrafting between episodes. The psykers of the 40K Imperium are seen as indistinguishable from Sith in the Jedi's eyes, forcefully taking the warp/force into themselves until the breaking point.
The difference is that the Imperial psykers had to contend with temptation from their earliest moments. While passion is their dynamo, it is their eternal peril as even a moment's laxity will doom them. When they felt big, they also felt eyes of judgement upon their actions.
As such, they leash their passion by being as selfless as possible, to their own detriment. Granted it is a case study of one man, but an implied broadstroke in background.
What Sith are missing is something like a higher purpose, a noblesse oblige. Their normal creed seeks power without purpose, for the most part. A self referential authority against morality. Jedi are at their worst with only restriction, Sith with only freedom. The best Jedi are selfish in their do-gooding, rules be damned, and the best Sith seek power only as a means to a decisive end they couldn't otherwise accomplish. Ying Yang, a speck of the opposite motivating the bulk.
Also something about the rule of 2 Sith being an ancient Sith that possesses the successor in a snowballing of powers? It checks out. Rule of 2 Sith are incapable of changing course, it's one extremely careful narcissist.
Fully concur though I wouldn’t exactly describe the Jedi who say rules be damned as selfish. The greatest of examples of these Jedi in the modern era are pretty impressive such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kyle Katarn and even to an extent Luke Skywalker.
It's getting more and more relevant with every year as the only large, old, and ongoing IP that is explicitly right/reactionary/anti-woke no matter what the current authors wish. It ranges from goofy Judge Dredd to Paradise Lost in its writing, has a cosmology ripped from Moorcock, and history from Dune and Star Trek. It amalgamated the scifi of the eighties in every way, good and ill. Honestly it is amazing you do not know of the setting much.
I just spent a long while debating myself what exemplifies the 'peak' of 40K, at least to me. A quote, a confrontation, a codex? Then I recalled what brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat. If you learn nothing more about any of it I hope it is this.
Sanguinius, by many measures the greatest of the 20 Primarchs, on the eve of his martyrdom.
Terran Morale Officers radiate an aura of pure passion. One might say that it is their core, and what drives them to sacrifice and die for others. However, theirs is a passion clad in reforged into armor fear, armed to the teeth with their uttermost fright brought to heel by much training and emboldened will.
In the academy on Sirius Prime, the grizzled old veterans advise:
“Your anger must be colder than the depths of space.”
I would say that armour made of fear is brittle and likely to fail.
Armor made from one's own bested fears is the strongest armor of all.
Oh well that’s different, totally agree
I again think I wrote something and I didn’t. I am sorry about that.
Eh don’t apologize, the important thing was we cleared up the confusion, hehe.
“There is nothing stronger than a sword reforged, mind emboldened by the living truth, and soul ablaze with life-saving intent!”
Great quote
One day I hope to finish that book project too.
Same
There is a youtube audiodrama "Star Wars vs 40K" by A Fan with Too Much Time that dives into this, especially in the theorycrafting between episodes. The psykers of the 40K Imperium are seen as indistinguishable from Sith in the Jedi's eyes, forcefully taking the warp/force into themselves until the breaking point.
The difference is that the Imperial psykers had to contend with temptation from their earliest moments. While passion is their dynamo, it is their eternal peril as even a moment's laxity will doom them. When they felt big, they also felt eyes of judgement upon their actions.
As such, they leash their passion by being as selfless as possible, to their own detriment. Granted it is a case study of one man, but an implied broadstroke in background.
What Sith are missing is something like a higher purpose, a noblesse oblige. Their normal creed seeks power without purpose, for the most part. A self referential authority against morality. Jedi are at their worst with only restriction, Sith with only freedom. The best Jedi are selfish in their do-gooding, rules be damned, and the best Sith seek power only as a means to a decisive end they couldn't otherwise accomplish. Ying Yang, a speck of the opposite motivating the bulk.
Also something about the rule of 2 Sith being an ancient Sith that possesses the successor in a snowballing of powers? It checks out. Rule of 2 Sith are incapable of changing course, it's one extremely careful narcissist.
Fully concur though I wouldn’t exactly describe the Jedi who say rules be damned as selfish. The greatest of examples of these Jedi in the modern era are pretty impressive such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Kyle Katarn and even to an extent Luke Skywalker.
I don’t know anything about 40k so hope you dont’ mind my not commenting on it, if I did I’d sound stupid. All I’ll say is interesting lol
It's getting more and more relevant with every year as the only large, old, and ongoing IP that is explicitly right/reactionary/anti-woke no matter what the current authors wish. It ranges from goofy Judge Dredd to Paradise Lost in its writing, has a cosmology ripped from Moorcock, and history from Dune and Star Trek. It amalgamated the scifi of the eighties in every way, good and ill. Honestly it is amazing you do not know of the setting much.
I just spent a long while debating myself what exemplifies the 'peak' of 40K, at least to me. A quote, a confrontation, a codex? Then I recalled what brought a tear to my eye and a lump to my throat. If you learn nothing more about any of it I hope it is this.
Sanguinius, by many measures the greatest of the 20 Primarchs, on the eve of his martyrdom.
https://youtu.be/MtZYq2BVVjM
Interesting, that’s quite a bit of range