Secret War (fanfic)

""My jaw set slightly at his mention of “faith.” Faith was an utterly idiotic concept that never, ever, fit within the realms of reality...""

- Attelus Kaltos

A Warhammer 40,000 fan fiction from the perspective of a young assassin apprentice "Secret War" has drawn inspiration from many sources but most the prolific being the Ravenor series by Dan Abnett.

After his mercenary organization is hired by a rogue trader to hunt down a highly influential gang leader on the Hive world of Omnartus. Attelus Kaltos is embroiled even deeper into the complex and convoluted world of the hired killer. Soon he finds that not all is what it seems and that his enemies and allies are not at all what he believed them to be, that this is the mission which will truly test him mentally and physically and change him, for the better or for the worst, forever more.

"Secret War" is still a work in progress a work and can be found Here.

""Because Elandria," I sighed, "I don't want you to die, it's because I know what you have been through." I paused trying to swallow back the lump in my throat, "and I know that you never had any choice in the matter, no choice to be what you wanted to be, to do what you wanted to do. That-that any real choice in your life was stolen from you when you were so young a-and you didn't deserve that Elandria, no one does, I-I want you to live so you could one day have your own life to escape this crap, to, to." My left hand clenched into a tight ball while the right gripped my sword's hilt all the harder, "and that maybe in your new life that I'd be able to be part of it, that I'd like be by your side to help you through I-I.""
 * Alliterative Name: Karmen Kons who's also
 * Anguished Declaration of Love; although the word "love" isn't used Attelus to Elandria:

""Well either way your fighting me now and either way you are going to pay the consequences!""
 * Author Appeal; There seems to be allot of effort to detail the faces of each female character.
 * Badass Boast; could be this or Narm but Attelus says this before the fire fight with the as yet unnamed man;

""Shame about the face.""
 * Ascended Meme; an in-universe one after the as yet unnamed captured throne agent refers to himself as "No one of Consequence" Attelus, Karmen Kons and even Darrance refer him so.
 * Belligerent Sexual Tension; Between Attelus and Elandria, Lampshaded buy Darrance and even earlier by Garrakson.
 * Berserk Button; don't betray Glaitis and don't call the Mimic "pet" as Attelus found out the hard way.
 * Which Attelus intends to exploit if given the choice.
 * Big Bad;
 * He is also a Outside Context Villain, for Attelus, and the reader, anyway.
 * Bishounen; Darrance.
 * Bond One-Liner; After shooting a mook through the head Attelus says and also as a shout out to;


 * Breaking the Fourth Wall

"Attelus: "Do. You. Have. Any idea the crap. I have been through to find you!""
 * Career Killers
 * The Casanova: Olinthre implied by Attelus although
 * Character Alignment; Castella Lethe is Chaotic Neutral Glaitis is Neutral Evil actually being mostly about assassins allot of the cast are Neutral Evil.
 * Chase Scene: A brief one when Attellus attempts to escape Edracian and his Mooks.
 * Now with a far more intense one with
 * Chekhov's Gunman; a few; medicae Feiult, Major Olinthre and perhaps colonel Barhurst.
 * And Vex Carpompter.
 * No One of Consequence.
 * The Chessmaster; Glaitis, Taryst and Brutis Bones.
 * Why Edracian, OF COURSE!!
 * Chess Motifs; Edracian and  seem to love to call Attelus their "pawn".
 * Cloudcuckoolander; Castella Lethe is knee deep in this trope.
 * Cold Sniper; Hayden Tresch which is Lampshaded by Attelus.
 * Crowning Moment of Heartwarming
 * Crowning Moment of Sadness:
 * Expy; both Garrakson and Elandria are Expys of Wilkenson and Latashe from an earlier story and one could say that Attelus is an expy of Company Master Remiel the main character from an another old fiction about the Dark Angels.
 * Forceful Kiss: Karmen Kons does this to Attelus,
 * Hero Antagonist; Brutis Bones is looking more and more to be one of these.
 * Heroic BSOD
 * He Who Must Not Be Seen: Brutis Bones, and
 * This Is Sparta;
 * This Is Sparta;

"“Yeah, yeah keep it down Tor,” said Garrakson, “by the Emperor I swear you and Taryst should have a competition to see which of you can chew more scenery.”"
 * Deadpan Snarker; Castella Lethe, Glaitis has a few too.
 * Vex, the Mimic, No One of Consequence, Torris, practically everyone.
 * Died in Your Arms Tonight;
 * Disappeared Dad; Serghar Kaltos to Attelus.
 * Face Palm
 * Fate Worse Than Death; apparently if you betray Glaitis your fate won't be pretty.
 * Final Speech;
 * Could be also a Crowning Moment of Heartwarming she also call him out on his idiotic paranoia in not believing Castella earlier.
 * Foreshadowing: A drinking game could be made for the amount of times this trope is used allot of what has happened has been foreshadowed before although it's not hugely obvious.
 * Fridge Brilliance
 * One example is when Attelus attempts to
 * Also
 * Four-Temperament Ensemble
 * Garrakson is Phlegmatic.
 * Elandria is Choleric (though she really isn't at all a leader)
 * Attelus is Melancholic.
 * Now Torris has recovered he seems to be Sanguine.
 * Exposition Intuition: Attelus' genre savviness tends to come off allot like this but it is mostly subverted in that he isn't always right.
 * Gambit Pileup; Everyone has their own agenda and it is still only the icing on the proverbial cake
 * Genre Savvy; almost everyone but medicae Feuilt is by far the most genre savvy.
 * Glaitis, perhaps even more so than Feuilt.
 * Guns Akimbo; Attelus plays this trope straight when storming the Twilight Bar.
 * Perhaps justified as he uses it only in extremely confined areas, in hand to hand combat
 * Grey and Grey Morality; very much so far.
 * Heroic Sacrifice;
 * Honour Before Reason; as stated in the above Genre Savvy
 * Hot Mom; though she isn't a mother, Glaitis certainly is this trope.
 * Ironic Echo
 * It Got Worse.
 * Jerkass; Darrance.
 * Killed Mid-Sentence; The Honour Before Reason Mook.
 * He was also Too Dumb to Live; also as lampshaded by Attelus
 * and
 * Killed Off for Real;
 * Lampshade Hanging; taken to the point that the protagonists even name the trope.
 * Large Ham; Taryst, just Taryst.
 * And now Torris as Lampshaded by Garrakson

"Attelus; Pretentious, I can almost smell the pretentiousness in the air."
 * And now Inquisitor Edracian who is also quite unhinged as well.
 * Mama Bear: Castella Lethe is hinted to be this to Attelus
 * Take That; a not too subtle one toward Twilight.
 * The Man Behind the Man: Or Woman behind the woman or
 * The Sixth Ranger: a subversion as that Torris was originally in the team he was badly injured, confined to a hospital bed during most of the story so far, but now he is up and about when it's
 * Obvious Trap; subverted (maybe) Glatis thinks that
 * Offhand Backhand; Attelus does this to one of Edracian's Mooks.
 * Offstage Villainy: Glaitis, Taryst and Brutis Bones seem to get this treatment, though who is really the villain isn't quite clear yet and maybe justified as it is always in first person perspective and all of them being Chessmasters who seem to work exclusively through subordinates.
 * Oh Crap: Attelus when Garrakson sees through his Batman Gambit.
 * Posthumous Character: Attelus' mother in a dream.
 * Properly Paranoid; Taryst,
 * It was more of a Batman Gambit as Glaitis' plan hinged in Taryst sending in his psyker to the Twilight bar.
 * Attelus too.
 * Mangst:
 * Manipulative Bitch; Glaitis, just Glaitis.
 * and Attelus is becoming a Manipulative Bastard, as Lampshaded by the Mimic.
 * Mauve Shirt:
 * Actually most of the supporting cast could be interpreted as being Mauve Shirts.
 * Nice Job Breaking It, Hero;
 * Torture Always Works; averted with No One of Consequence
 * Manly Tears: Attelus sheds tears before
 * And when
 * Mood Whiplash: One example from one moment Attelus is lamenting how much of a Crapsack universe it is and in the next second, making not to subtle joking ignorant innuendo with Elandria.
 * No-Holds-Barred Beatdown: Attelus gets beaten very brutally by the Mimic, so much so that even he is surprised he didn't come out of it worse.
 * Playful Hacker; Vex Carpompter and due to Garrakson's training becoming a Badass Bookworm.
 * Red Herring;
 * Red Oni, Blue Oni; Elandria is the Red Oni, though while not exactly being straight on the archetype Attelus is most certainly her Blue, though it is an example of the Red Oni being more villainous but Your Mileage May Vary.
 * Roaring Rampage of Revenge: Averted (so far)
 * Secret Test of Character: Attelus being an apprentice Assassin is always being tested but usually he is Genre Savvy enough to know it
 * Secret War; Uhm...
 * Shout-Out; a few.
 * When in a particularly devious mood Attelus uses the Verbal Tic, Yesss.
 * another along with the Take That to Twilight.

"Attelus; No it means what it means “some semblance,” I’ll think of something, I’ m…Adaptable. Elandria; Adaptable? Is that what you are calling it now?"
 * One conversation between Elandria and Attelus goes like this.

"Attelus: “well that's anti climactic, who the hell are you anyway?” Man With No Name: “No one of consequence.” Attelus: “I must know.” Man With No Name: “Get used to dissapointment.”
 * "Some semblance" is also a line used allot by the Spoony one.
 * In the latest part Attelus is ambushed by a group of well dressed axe wielding Mooks sound familiar?
 * and this exchange of dialogue earlier

Attelus: “Hmm, okay.”"

""Tathe was his name and he actually had a son working inside the regiment as a commissar, apparently his father forced him into the scolar progneium when he was young. Delan Tathe was his name he was an arrogant little punk, but very skilled with a blade, you kind of remind me of him actually.""
 * and Attelus says
 * Inquisitor Edracian seems to be a Shout-Out machine; he looks over his shoulder at the captured Attelus shouting "Of Course!" and also is fond of saying "Inconceivable!
 * Attelus uses the quote, "there are no miracles, there is only men,"
 * Self-Deprecation; Feuilt's What the Hell, Hero? speech could also be taken as a Take That to the author and the plot Secret War as a whole.
 * Shower of Angst.
 * Smug Snake: The Mimic, is this to an extreme, although he/she/it is more effective than the average Smug Snake,
 * Stealth Insult: a backhanded compliment to Attelus from Olinthre goes like this;


 * Subverted, as Attelus quickly realises that it's this trope and Olinthre didn't seem to do it on purpose.
 * Unexplained Recovery:
 * What the Hell, Hero?; Attelus gets a harsh one from Medicae Feuilt after his highly selfish and paranoid reaction to
 * Also how most people react this way after his treatment of Vex.