Arc 9 Notes - The Horsemen

Arc Nine: The Horsemen

Chapters 351 - 405

I've been envisioning this arc probably since the beginning of the novel. I already knew for a very long time that Lucifer's choices would be the catalyst for drastic change in the story. And more specifically the catalyst for drastic change in Freya.

Without giving away anything too spoilery, I went through dozens of iterations as to how things would play out during the Devastation chapters.

For example, there was going to be a whole subplot about Regeneration Stations, and them getting destroyed or neutralized by the Empire. It's a strategy that would have outright prevented any immediate respawns in Hegemony territory.

It would also have tied the thematic significance of the Avicii Raptors and Ventrii Stalkers. Some may or may not recall that Ventrii Stalkers attacked Avicii Raptors by destroying their nests rather than facing them head-on.

And during that massive fleet battle, there was going to be a revelation of that sort of strategy being used by the drogar Empire. As in, they would wipe out Hegemony fleets and the system's Regeneration Station at the same time.

That would in effect cripple the Hegemony fleet, disallow their fighting forces from respawning, and cripple their combat potential at the same time.

But I decided to nix that aspect of the story because it simply wasn't all that important, especially compared to all of the larger emotional beats laced throughout. More importantly, I just didn't have the space to add them in.

Speaking of which, even though I had been imagining and planning out how it was all going to go down, I still didn't get everything I wanted through. I mean, Devastation Pt 5 was meaty as hell. Despite that, it was still only about half of what I wanted to initially write.

Honestly, I wanted to drive in just how impactful that moment was for Lucifer (no pun intended). Their evolution and choice was always the most important point in the book. In essence, it's the climax of the entire story, where everything changes.

And the Horsemen finally take to the field.

I'm sure many of you are fairly familiar with the Judeo-Christian interpretation of the Four Horsemen, which is what this arc is roughly based on. Although there aren't direct analogues to each of the actual riders, there are a number of characters in this arc that do represent certain aspects of each one.

But let's go through the Four Horsemen themselves, and take a brief look at their symbology.

Conquest is usually depicted as a rider on a White horse while wearing a crown and wielding a bow. The various interpretations of this rider usually centers around the spread of a political or religious power (such as Christianity itself, with the rider representing Christ).

For the purposes of this story, Conquest is simply about gaining power through violent means. The symbols of the crown and the bow are all we need to understand its significance.

Numerous characters in the book represent this aspect, such as Retholis, Konleth, and Orsethii. Each of them has a need to conquer others, and bring them under their heel.

Retholis has always desired the Imperial throne, for example. And he literally shed blood to get it.

War is usually depicted as a rider on a Red horse, and wields a sword. Historically, people meant for this horseman to represent civil war and religious persecution, but that's a distinction that has little impact in the modern world. We could discuss its relevance on the Roman Empire, and how it tore itself apart, but that's neither here nor there. All that matters in this book is that warmongers destroy wholeheartedly.

The analogues in the book would be Orsethii, Freya, and Eris. All of them are in this war simply to battle it out against everyone else around them. They're in it simply to cause war on others, and little else.

Orsethii is single-minded in her destroy-everything attitude. It's all she really wants.

Famine is usually depicted as a rider on a Black horse and carries balance scales. It basically represents the fact that massive amounts of conflict destroys economies. Basically, as the war escalates and grows, so too does the cost of everything else.

But this cost increase isn't so much because of a simple lack of resources - it's because the ruling class squeezes out every last dime from the working class. You know, to fund their war. While this is more specifically about unjust oppression and falsified scarcity (modern-day inflation is a direct analogue to Famine), its general principles and symbolism also works.

Eris, Gravoss, and Lady Felrahn all represent Famine in multiple ways. Their war is that of attrition, interrupted supply lines, and preservation of the elite. That's the true heart of the concept of famine.

Lady Felrahn was much more willing to preserve her base of power than save her people, for example.

Death is usually depicted as a rider on a sickly horse. Traditionally, this person wasn't a skeleton and didn't wield a scythe. All that's pop culture doing its thing over time. No, traditionally this person simply rode his horse, and literally brought Hell with him. His goal was pretty simple - kill everyone. Perhaps more specifically, Death symbolized the destruction of empires.

Remember, the four horsemen aren't the boogeymen of 'regular' people like you and me. They exist as a forewarning to the death of all civilization through the collapse of the ruling class. All the Horsemen herald a systemic armageddon more than anything else.

In any case, Freya represents death most in the book. Or at least, she's the most obvious. I even gave her a near-direct quote from Tombstone - "You tell 'em I'm comin'! And Hell's comin' with me, you hear?!"

In her current state, all Freya truly wants is for the Empire to burn.

But all the other characters I've mentioned in this note also have this aspect. A few such as Eris want the Federation to be dissolved. Others such as Gravoss want the Hegemony to be dismantled. And then of course, there's Godeater, who rightfully represents a kind of oblivion for absolutely every living being in the galaxy.

I suppose we'll have to see how things unfold in the next arc.

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As a side note, I'm now streaming on Twitch. Come look for me using my username - CeritusOrbis. Drop in, say hi, give a follow. We can chat about the story, smoke some herb, or you can just watch me get demolished in a game.