I forget if this was asked already or not, but what are Seth’s thoughts and views as well as relationship with Magnus? Pre and post heresy?
Ooohh that's a question that's been on my mind for a while! Things might change as I continue to write his fic and if anything pops into my head as I do, but for now:
Pre-heresy, he was never close to Magnus like the higher-ranking officers were, but he did admire him quite a lot. He found the whole thing about searching and preserving knowledge, digging deeper into the history of compliant planets, and even the optimism that Magnus had in finding a solution for everything and how he carried himself very inspirational, hence what he does in his own little library. And there was also the fact that he managed to 'solve' the Flesh Change, and just how easily he handled the Warp, at least from what he knew at the time.
The only issue was that Magnus' Primarch status, power and extreme confidence were a bit intimidating to him. Seth always considered himself a bit of a lesser sorcerer and thought he wasn't worthy enough to actually approach Magnus deliberately, so they didn't interact in length. He worked really hard to develop his abilities and discipline as to not disappoint him too much if he ever had that chance, but never really gathered the courage until it was too late. Seth was just very insecure, a little too careful about everything, and he sometimes regrets not taking the chance to speak with Magnus more before the fall.
Post-heresy, it's... complicated. He was with his Legion all the way between the Burning of Prospero and the 13th Black Crusade, but there was a lot of back and forth going on in his mind.
He knew they had broken the orders from Nikea, but he thought the Imperium's reaction was entirely overkill given that Magnus had always had good intentions. But also, like Ahriman and all the other sorcerers, he couldn't understand why Magnus just accepted it and allowed Prospero to burn down at the start of the attack. That passivity was part of the reason why his true brother died during the Burning, but because of his lack of confidence and the fact he is mainly a telekine (and technically responsible for the kine-shields), he always blamed himself way more than Magnus for not being able to prevent that particular incident.
He also felt that something else was horribly wrong when the tutelaries went bad. His true brother was of the Corvidae and Seth trained with the Athaneans for a bit, so he knew the importance of discipline, emotional control and of not going too deep into the Warp. He had a feeling that perhaps they knew far less about the Warp than they thought, and that maybe Magnus also did not know as much as his confidence would let on either, or he had simply failed to teach them.
So the admiration did shatter quite a bit, but he also rationalized that the same might be true of the Emperor. But where Magnus genuinely wanted to understand things and was just arrogant enough to think he had reached the top, the Emperor just seemed to be deliberately secretive. In the end, he was so angry at how the Imperium had ravaged Prospero without a second thought, that he fully committed to Magnus' cause.
As time went on, though, he grew progressively more exhausted of the constant fighting, scheming, and things just getting worse overall (e.g., the Rubric). He missed what his Legion used to be like, and once he accepted that all the revenge plots would never make things go back to how they were in Prospero, he was just fighting in auto-mode. There was no emotion behind it anymore. It's not that he lost respect for Magnus' abilities or ambitions, but more that he realized there's only so much one can do against the nature of the universe. Magnus is powerful, but he's just one Primarch who is just as fallible as any of them.
He doesn't hate Magnus, but he just felt he had to figure out what he was living for for himself instead of being constantly under someone else's wing.
Now, he doesn't know in detail how Magnus' New Kingdom is going, but he's lived long enough to be cynical of all these big ambitions that sound too good to be true. If Magnus wants to find a solution for the Flesh Change and reverse the Rubric, that's fine with him. But he knows things are never straight forward in the Warp, and he wasn't going to sit and wait just to see another hope shattered. So he's trying something different.
If Magnus showed up asking him to return, he wouldn't know what to do. But if he's honest, he doesn't think he's being missed much, so he's just doing his own thing for now. Although he does sometimes wonder if even 'his own thing' is just part of a bigger plan, then tries to distract himself with book-based escapism and terrible ideas (like boarding an Imperial vessel). (≖ᴗ≖)
And I've yapped too much, I'm sorry! I've been trying to rationalize all this in my head too and it's good to write it all down, so thank you for the ask! ♥︎
Tagging: @trackerkitsune @washeduphasbeen for Seth yapping, no pressure! ♥︎
