User:Saberwyn/Ciaphas Cain

Ciaphas Cain is a military science fiction series written by Sandy Mitchell and set in the fictional universe of Games Workshop's Warhammer 40,000 tabletop wargame. The series includes novels and short fiction, and is published by Black Library.

Background and setting

• The novels follow the career of Commissar Ciaphas Cain of the Imperial Guard

• The novels are presented as extracts from a collection of Cain's reminisces, confessions, and reflections, which have been edited by Vail for publication to her fellow inquisitors. Although the novels are written from Cain's first-person perspective, Vail's editorial presence allows Mitchell to provide additional background and expand on plot-impacting events (particularly those outside Cain's immediate sphere of experience) by adding material from other sources and providing commentary through footnotes.

• Cain's career is divided into five main eras
  • his service with the 12th Valhallan Artillery, where he first meets his aide, Gunner Jurgen, and begins to develop the reputation for heroism that follows him throughout his career
  • a period of several years attached at brigade level
  • joining the 597th Valhallan regiment, around the same time he meets the Inquisitor Amberley Vail and begins working with her when circumstances demand it
  • Working with the staff of Lord General (whatsisface) as an independant advisor
  • Retiring from active duty and serving as an instructor to commissar cadets, although he is recalled to duty on several occasions in the final years of the 41st millennium.

• The novels and short stories are not published in chronological order, although each trilogy of novels maintains its own internal chronology.