Ciaphas Cain Book Order

[Sharon Harris]

• Julien is a man's name.
• And? People end up with weird names.
• It's probably supposed to be Julienne, with the extra letters discarded. "C[a]iaphas" and "Bro[c]klaw" probably follow the same kind of logic.
• But if you discard those letters, you get the Masculine form of the name (Julien is the French version of Julian).
• It's the year 40,000 and there have been a couple of apocalypses along the way. Some language drift over names is to be expected. Hell, there are names that have switched between masculine, feminine, and unisex drastically over even the last century.
• Pink and blue used to imply the reverse genders they do today- pink was similar to red, the color of blood, so it represented masculinity. That was a change that happened in less than a century in our world, and it's been 38 thousand years since now.
• Also, the Adepta Sororitas are supposed to be analogous to real-life nuns, and some nuns take masculine names as part of their religious custom. See here.

• I've always thought it as being pronounced "Yergen" like the common German name Jrgen, in keeping with the sort of pseudo-German theme naming of the Guard. But I'm wondering why, if this is so, there's nothing to notify the average reader, who wouldn't pick up on it, of this. Is there an official pronunciation that will hold me off until Dead in the Water?
• He's Valhallan, so the Scandinavian pronunciation "Yrr-en" might also be appropriate.
• Despite their name, Valhallans are very clearly supposed to be Soviets expy IN SPACE, so the Russian pronunciation would probably be more accurate
• I've always pronounced it "Jergen", mainly because it seems that, given his lack of hygiene, naming him as a reference to a brand of soap (Jergens) would be the kind of ironic Stealth Pun that Sandy Mitchell would make.
• The "Dead In The Water" audio drama uses the German "Yergen" pronunciation, so I think that we can consider that the proper way to say it. Of course, the spelling naming him like the soap brand probably is a pun as well, though purely a written rather than spoken one.

• The lack of information about Cain's childhood is suspicious in its absence. The fact that he was educated in the Schola Progenium suggests that he was the child of Imperial servants, either military officers or someone in an official civil position, and records of them should exist somewhere just to allow him entry. Unless there was some special circumstances that got him in, but even that should have a record noting why. Further, when he was admitted to the Schola, his file should at least indicate where he was picked up, and by whom. He may have been recruited away from his hive of origin, but given the mobility oppertunities for someone, especially a child, born into the lower to mid levels of a hive city, it is unlikely he could have gotten far. It is also possible that what records do exist were sealed or removed by order of the Inqusition, but if they were to do that they would at least put falsified files in their place, as Cain's large public profile would only draw more attention to the missing documentation. Given the Right Hand Versus Left Hand operation of the Inquisition, Cain's association with Inqusitor Vail, and the fact that she is publishing Cain's memiors (for distribution only within the Inqusition,) it seems likely that some other Inqusitor would get curious enough to start digging, and finding nothing at all would set off more alarms than finding something bland.
• The Imperium has been known to forget about entire planets due to rounding errors. This is no big deal. That being said, I have a theory of how the son of two cowardly troopers could become a commissar (assuming Cain wasn't lying about their status): Cain's luck is inherited. In other words, his parents were trying to run from something, got killed, and looked like they died heroically for the Emperor.
• Also it's worth recalling that Sholas described in codexes as a places that does mind-scrubbing rutinely. Gaunt remembering his family and saving heirlooms is actually a big canon error. So it's quite possible that Cain isn't actually _knows_ anything about his family, making things up for his convinience, basing them on assumptions, and with bureaucratic hell Administratum is it's possible even Vail doesn't have time or beliving it's important enough to drop everything and actually dig hard, not just routine checks when something new arise.

• Uh, I know that this is a Crapsack World, nobody understands technology at all, and this is minor nitpick, but Cain takes it as AMAZING when the Tau have like, night vision and thermal sights on their vehicles. 40 centuries into the interstellar future?
• Cain's adventures happen mostly out on the Eastern Fringe, which is sort of the ass-end of the galaxy and is much less developed or densely settled. With less infrastructure, the night vision gear you might see Stormtroopers or elite light infantry getting issued elsewhere are nonexistent.
• Tau blacklight tech is something distinctly different from thermal sensors. Imperial Guard units do have thermal sensors (referred to as "heat-see").
• You also have to keep in mind the wide gulf in technology and beliefs about technology between the Imperium and other races. To the Imperium, anything more hi-tech than the stuff they have now is heretical "technosorcery" since they don't understand the science behind it, whereas it's just equipment to the other races.
• I think that they do have such devices, the Imperium is just very... particular about them. In a lot of the cases with the Tau's technology, what the Adeptus Mechanicus (and anyone educated about technology from them) is horrified by is less that the Tau's technology is advanced, and more that it is so advanced without showing the proper obsequious to the Omnissiah in its construction. They tend to think of their own devices as operating on a kind of animism, believing that it has a soul and is allowing its user to make use of it, while Tau constructs are soulless constructs. The idea that a construct could take the place of "techno-magic" is terribly off-putting to them.
• maybe he was still getting used to the idea that these xenos were this advanced ( night-vision is probably very advanced tech, and cain is (almost) just as xenophobic as the rest of the imperium).
• Correction: the setting is set 400 centuries into the interstellar future, not 40. 40 centuries would be 4 millenia, when it's the 41st millenia (nearing the 42nd millenia/already the 42nd millenia).

• This has been bothering me since starting reading the series but why has Jurgen not been promoted to a job as a quartermaster? The guy is so skilled at scrounging that he could probably find those Baneblades that General Stubbs lost! I get that he wasn't well liked by the Valhallans but I'm pretty sure they would get past that if Ciaphas Cain HERO OF THE IMPERIUM vouched for him.
• Short answer: Because he's Cain's personal aide, and Cain likes it that way. 'Nuff said. Slightly longer answer: The very fact that Jurgen is anything other than a low-rank soldier serving in an artillery unit is a very fortuitous fluke; he was an undesirable soldier assigned to an equally unappreciated wet-behind-the-ears commissar as a practical joke. Both his personal hygiene habits and his pariah gene (which both make him unsettling to ordinary humans) would probably make him repulsive enough to most other people to effectively can his chances at promotion through normal channels. The fact that Cain's personal aide is a blank keeps Cain shielded from adverse psyker influence or probing, his obstinate personality and repulsive countenance are handy at keeping at bay anyone Cain doesn't want to talk to, his dedication to his work alleviates much of Cain's workload, and finally there's that melta that he always carries around. Amberley Vail also prefers that Jurgen stay with Cain because it makes things convenient for her as well; whenever she suspects she needs a blank handy, she can just pick up Cain, and Jurgen naturally always accompanies the commissar. It would be perfectly natural for an Inquisitor to ask for a HERO OF THE IMPERIUM!! to help her out, and the fewer people who know about Jurgen's secret, the better.
• Another thing to bring up, is that he skims off the top, and keeps things to himself. He'd make a TERRIBLE quartermaster. He would, however, make a great BLACK MARKETER. Which is likely the position he held, unofficially, in the old regiment.
• Although given the general nature of the 40K universe it seems likely that most quartermasters skim a bit off the top and no one really cares unless they get too blatant about it. In fact Jurgen basically says as much in The Smallest Detail expressing surprise that the quartermaster thought he'd bother to report a bit of pilfering.

Why hasn't Vail gotten her own book yet?

• This is purely me wishing for things that probably where never planned but why hasn't Amberly gotten her own spin off? It would be awesome.
• She's too busy editing Cain's memoirs to write her own.
• All the best parts are State Secrets. She could could tell you about them, but then she'd have to kill you.
• Tell that to Eisenhorn and Ravenor. Actually, though, it's probably Mitchell who's too busy churning out those gosh-darn Cain books.
• Probably because a book on Amberly Vail wouldn't be as interesting because she tends to act like a competent Inquisitor, where as Eisenhorn and Ravenor would be a whole lot more boring stories if they didn't make the situations they were in about a thousand times worse by making lots of rash and inept decisions.
• Not a book, but Mitchell wrote a Vail short story.

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