Uh
I think the whole Orthus Offensive thing shows that she is neither of those things
On top of her not doing anything else of note other than recruiting us
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Please, we all know it stands for âStuff We All Getâ.
And why game studios habitually hire 18-25 year olds with no life or writing experience to write the most generic sludge instead of someone with some writing chops is beyond me.
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Looking at the gameâs official credits, I donât think any of the writers are that young. The credited Lead Writer however is particularly renowned for some notably bad lore and terrible characters in their 40k codex work starting in 5th edition, and even Abnett as Principle Writer has his share of abysmal writing (e.g. Brothers of the Snake, Ultramarines movie) alongside some masterpieces.
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TBF he also worked on Vermintide and that game was pretty good with itâs writing.
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I mean yeah, swagger is a clown and a two-faced obvious spy but he does bring some interesting details nearly by accident. While most everything he says and does is untrustworthy, he does inform us of two important details during the mission:
1: He is desperate to make some headway into getting into the inquisitons good graces by impressing whoever is overseeing the mission. He literally gives away the game the moment rannick talks to him by implying grendyl game in a report above rannickâs clearance, as an interrogator is so damn high up the list of inquisitorial agents rannick is almost assuredly on the list for replacing grendyl should worse come to worse. Swaggerâs so eager to try and out cloack-and-dagger the inquisitorâs man he vastly undersells who heâs talking to and rannick catches it instantly. With hadron heâs little better, trying to impress her with his knowledge of the omnisiaahâs works, which leads into the next point.
2: Heâs actually pretty well versed in the admechâs works in the area. For an abandoned admech managed facility heâs âfoundâ (and admittedly sold info to the 6th, though he seems to have decided heâs messed up there and wants us to correct his error without admitting the error at all) heâs very intimately informed on how to operate everything inside of it from manufactury to the defensive emplacements. He really shouldnât have that knowledge, regardless of how good an information peddler he might actually be. Prffft.
So the real matter on the chopping block is who is he actually working FOR? Well, thereâs a number of options here and Iâm going to start with the silliest one because i like when a 40k plot gets silly.
CHAOS: Swagger as an agent of chaos might not make a lot of sense given heâs throwing free assistance to the ordo hereticus, who kill people like that on identification, but hear me out. Heâs a slimey two-faced sleaebag who canât keep himself from making obvious flasehoods and clearly scheming something. Working for Tzeentch would be as natural to him as an ogryn scratching his buttcheeks. As a tzeentichi cultist embedded in Atoma, heâs got a whole lot of vested interest in getting a nurgle plot to take over and cheat him of his schemes stopped. using secrets gleaned from his master to make nurgle look like a sucker is even better than hurting the imperium, and if he can endear himself to the atoman nobility, admech, or even the inquisiton so much the better! That said thereâs less insane options here.
Atoman nobles: We know the noblity has the run of things on Atoma, but we donât know all that much about said nobles, aside from the fact theyâre all infighting (all nobles are so thatâs not news) and they all apparently donât know how bad things are down where weâre fighting hordes of plague zombies and giant rotting ogryns with plague furnaces powering them. One of the noble houses might have secret knowlege of a segmantum technically under their control but outside of their ability to repair without risking losing it to other nobles. Having swagger lure the inquisition in to affect the repairs needed for them to pull the clout they need to cemet their position and get the honor of âResotring moebian steelâ under the noses of the other houses and the admech would be just the kind of scheme imperial nobility love.
Adeptus Mechanicus: Swagger knows WAY more than he should about running this place. Some of it is the sort of thing only a techpriest should know. and while itâs mostly forgotten, some techpriests DO specialize in âSocial engineeringâ. Swagger being one of the admech of atoma trying to restore the foundryplex and directing the work to hadron directly to help ensure it is put under the cult of marsâ control instead of the Atoman nobility (and failing to realize that the inquisition is able to outmanuver even a techpriest in montioring vox channels) would be seen as a great service to the omnissiah, and having accidentally given the place away to a chaos army instead of simply a disgruntaled military coup that he mightâve wrangled into giving more power to the admech for his help, a way to atone for letting so many gooey people touch the place.
Of course, thereâs other options but these are the ones that fit the players we have on the board right now. The question is simply who holds swaggerâs leash. And i guess what was he hanging around to do in the time before grendyl could send a team to properly lock the place downâŚ
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I can not believe you wrote all that seriously no way i can take âswaggerâ seriously for any theory crafting
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It was more of a general statement in relation to the gaming industry at large. Not sure whoâs behind the bulk of the actual voice line writing here but regardless of who they are it seems clear to me that theyâve been influenced by the writing trends of the past decade and didnât think about how to form these characters on a particularly deep or interesting level and just opted for the generic, quip-riddled, excessively ironic style we all know.
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Jakal, you and I spend a lot of time disagreeing, but this is a good post written in earnest that makes a solid, honest, and very well supported argument for some incredibly meta narritave play here. If youâre correct, then Swagger is intensionally trying to get us, both as our rejects and as players, to underestimate him and that could very well extend to his name.
Am I putting money on it? No, not at all. I made a thread about Swagger positing as much. But if youâre right, if Fatsharkâs writers really are that solid at execution and itâs not just âOh heâs simply The Coolest Elfâ or whatever, then Iâm fully prepared to eat my hat and give the writers their full due.
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oh no, i think heâs a damn clown, donât get me wrong, but as a part of the narrative he introduced some interesting details. he does his job, but in spite of what he acts like his job is to try to suck-up his way into the good graces of someone on grendylâs crew, and get them to remove the 6th from the foundryplex he sold them on before he figured out theyâre actual nurgle cultists.
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My money is on the opposite. Iâd bet that whoever wrote this character genuinely thought they were making something clever and original, having no idea that they were regurgitating a stereotype that people have been mocking for decades, possibly since before they were born.
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Oh, mine too. But Jakal still makes solid points.
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I still think they should have doubled down on the silliness by having none of the NPCs take him seriously. Would have been funny. Or make it so heâs actually two gretchins/ratlings in a trench coat.
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That wouldnât be very Warhammer. Part of Warhammerâs schtick is that you have the cheesiest subtle as a brick names and characters being played straight.
Thatâs why the Blood Angels is led by a dude named Sanguinis and why Space Wolves and their work-related naming schemes exists. Or Canis Wolfborn. Or Inquisitor Obiwan Sherlock ClousseauâŚ
But sure, Swagger is too muchâŚ
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Hrm, to be fair, some of these were intended to be more tongue in cheek than others. Obiwan Sherlock Clousseau was referenced in the original RT book from the 80s where they also sent people to gulags for late library books, but that was almost an RPG more than a wargame, and the dude hasnât reappeared since then.
The Space Wolves however just kindaâŚtook things too far. Up until 5th edition they werenât too bad, and great feats were like those of Ulrik the Slayer, renowned because heâd beaten three Berzerkers in close combat. ThenâŚwe got Canis Wolfborne, Wolf Guard Champion of Wolf Lord Harald Deathwolf of the Space Wolves, wielding his Wolfclaws and Wolf Tooth Talisman atop is Thunderwolf, who could apparently solo other Space Wolves as a naked feral child.
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Isnât Warhammer in general tongue in cheek overall?
Remember in Fantasy all the Lizardmen names were puns and Nippon were named after cars.
And I may be wrong, but wasnât the angry berserk primary named Angeron or Angronnius or something?
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Angron. Whose primary characteristic is that heâs angry.
Thereâs also my favorite. Ferrus Manus. Of the Iron Hands. Who has iron hands.
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