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Fall From Grace: The Lightning Bearers

Lord_Caldera

By Lord_Caldera
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Lord_Caldera Battle-Brother

Lord_Caldera

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* * * * *

 

How had it come to this...how...how...how...

 

This single word reverberated through him, becoming the refrain of his existence as life burned around him. The question was all but no answer was forthcoming. Not from inside him, not from his father or brothers. Where were they? He couldn't feel them anymore with his Sight. The vox was dead static. Were they as alone as he in these final hours?

 

Were they lost, like him?

 

Wth no one to guide them?

 

With no more lifelines to cling to?

 

Anguish rose within him, and with it came panic and fear. It was not something he was used to, not something he was supposed to feel. He tried to meditate, to rise above himself but the swirling smoke and clashing bolts of ethereal lightning surrounding him viciously dragged his consciousness back to the present.

 

He felt dizzy and nauseous, the sensations rearing suddenly and impossibly out of his forgotten youth.He couldn't see, couldn't See, and he stumbled and fell heavily. A lens crazed on his helmet as his head cracked against the stone floor. A kaleidoscope of un-colors danced before his eyes and he retched. He had touched the warp before many times, but it was never like this...how...?

 

The smoke seemed to coalesce around him, probing at him, seeking an entrance, but he couldn't move. His body and mind had gorwn too weak. His brilliant blue eye widened in horror, just for a moment, before the black vapor found the shattered lens and poured through it into him. His body flailed, pale armor clattering against the ground, and then stilled. Smoke leaked lazily from burnt seals and drifted slowly away from the corpse, tinny laughter echoing around the empty chamber.

 

A single screaming voice accompanied the laughter, growing fainter by the second until its single anguished utterance died away in the wind.

 

"HOW...How...how..."

 

* * * * *

 

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/f8e902a3-6129-4290-848c-514bf09b53c5.jpg

 

Unknown Legionary, II Legiones Astartes

 

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Athrawes Venerable Brother

Athrawes

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Real cool stuff man! I've been looking forward to this since you shared your WIP photos. I can't wait to see the Legion done right. If I had the converting chops, I'd have wanted to do them true scale. From the pictures, I know you can paint, I know you can make awesome true scale marines, and now I am truly excited.

 

For the Stormborn brother!

Lord_Caldera Battle-Brother

Lord_Caldera

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* * * * *

 

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/7cc9dfdd-feaa-45ab-96f3-8392556762a0.jpg

 

At its core the II Legion differed little from its fellows. The Legiones Astartes were psycho-indoctrinated into a lifetime of war and issued the very finest equipment available to pursue the Emperor's Great Crusade. The Lightning Bearers set off from Terra in the same Mk II plate as any other Legion and carrying the ubiquitous large-caliber Phobos boltgun. The early discovery of their primarch Icarion had its effects on the culture and demeanor of the Legion, as all would in time.

 

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/3c752274-982c-4251-9f28-282753603ee1.jpg

 

Madrigal's culture descended from the Asiatic tribes of Old Earth and the ancient aesthetic still held sway in the memory of Madrigal, imprinting itself on their equipment and decoration. Calm and precision were focuses of training, not power, and in the heavily psychic II Legion clarity of mind was very valuable indeed. Nonetheless psychic members of each squad were issued a specialised Akira-pattern psychic hood to aid them in focusing their powers and protecting their brothers.

 

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/7a696663-be2d-4dc9-937a-fc7f0d7e2ca8.jpg

 

* * * * *

 

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/1c825852-ad69-4523-9af1-db3b6cb5f2f7.jpg

 

WIP Legionaries

 

* * * * *

 

Thanks for the support guys, I hope I can keep you all entertained.

 

@Athrawes: I'm glad you approve of this project! It's been so inspiring watching the Lightning Bearers develop and I only hope to do well by your legion. If any fluff that comes out of here clashes with you let me know! I don't want to overstep.

 

 

Welcome to my (very slow) log for my take on Athrawes' wonderful Lightning Bearers Legion, who have certainly earned their place in my own headcanon and I'm sure in many other fans as well. This is definitely my most ambitious undertaking so far, having piddled around the last several years doing nothing really of note. It's my second attempt at a true-scaled army, and really my first "good"-aligned force since I started the game ten years ago. I'm hoping to include at least a small amount of fluff with each update in the vein of many recent narrative-driven 30k projects on here. C&C are of course welcome and encouraged. Please enjoy!

 

-Jamie

Lord_Caldera Battle-Brother

Lord_Caldera

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* * * * *


 


Still and outsider. Even here. Even now.


 


Elsiah ran through the crumbling palace, weaving his way between shattered pillars and vaulting fallen masonry. The palace burned around him and thick smoke swirled, concealing infinite potential hiding places for enemy troops. But, as always, Elsiah watched the other members of his squad just as much as he scanned his surroundings for threats.


 


Where he dodged and leaped and scrambled, they seemed to run through and over craters and rubble as if they weren't even there. The hulking figures  moved easily. They placed their feet just so and shifted their bodies precisely enough so that their momentum and balance were always perfectly preserved.


 


Grace. That was what the remembrancers had called it, those very few who had managed to attach themselves to the elusive II Legion fleets. The Grace of Madrigal.


 


Grace wasn't the right word, though. It was too clean, too mundane. The way they moved, the way they interacted with the world, was altogether more unnatural.They held their heads high through heavy fire when other men would seek cover and seemed to dance between bullets as they passed. Their weapons were held loosely and their eyes never focused wholly on any given target and yet they fired with unerring accuracy...


 


Uncanny.


 


That was the word for it. It was uncanny how they kept their balance in the harshest terrain, how they executed squad tactics flawlessly they had never drilled before. It was alien, and even after having served alongside them for so many decades Elsiah still felt no brotherhood with them. There had always been respect between his Terran brothers and the young Madrigalan legionaries, but rarely comradeship, and now the original Legion was all but gone. His brothers were dead, and their memory lived on only in him.


 


He fought with his squad now, lived with them, trusted them, but he was not one of them. Even now at the end of days while Madrigal burned he stood apart from them, but he would fight with them, for he knew there were no more loyal servants of the Emperor. Especially now that He had come for their lives.


 


* * * * *


 


Elsiah, last Terran of the Lightning Bearers 5th Company


 


http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/6df8d953-e8bf-4f1b-bc55-285a9db096c1.jpg


 


http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/adb30a30-484a-4b47-ae54-7061794d84d5.jpg


 


http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/cf851cec-0b16-43ac-89bd-26ca2e207315.jpg


 


* * * * * 


Soric Veteran

Soric

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Posted
I really like how you've differentiated legionnaries from Terra and Madrigal not only in your fluff but in the minis themselves. Specifically I feel the personal armament in terms of their close quarter weapons (i.e. katana for Madrigalans and ordinary combat blades for Terran) is a suitable if unintentional identifier for the difference in cultures. In short, nice little details you've managed to work in there and I hope you keep the sons of Icarion coming.
Lord_Caldera Battle-Brother

Lord_Caldera

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@ Soric: I used the combat blade on Elsiah exactly for that reason. I'm glad it translated so well! I think with a few other small clues he will really stand out once his squad is complete.

 

@ Dosjetka: Cheers! I'm planning on using the Alien Temple bases from Secret Weapon. I think they evoke enough Asian feeling while still being totally different from anything real.

Lord_Caldera Battle-Brother

Lord_Caldera

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Thanks a lot for the support guys. I've been working on bases and I think I've hit it. I tried to get this effect:

http://bntile.com/wp-content/uploads/2011/10/tile25-670x380.jpg

 

I'm really pumped with how the tester turned out:

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/caf2979f-61d7-4b03-be6f-9b673826394d.jpg

 

And I think it works well:

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/33ce1c03-7575-456e-8eb1-d3c6409bffaa.jpg

 

* * * * *

 

Early days

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/6fec52a4-5ff1-4b82-9675-79c73a809764.jpg

 

* * * * *

Lord_Caldera Battle-Brother

Lord_Caldera

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@ The Observer: I primed grey and then sponged on bleached bone in patches. When that was mostly dry I sponged small areas with scorched brown and white to mimic the marbling. Then a spot wash with yellow, and a wash over most of the base with orange. Then I picked off small patches with a wet brush to blend everything in. A wash of brown in the recesses finished it off. Pretty quick and easy actually!

 

@Luna707: Cheers! I did some truescaling a few years ago with my Night Lords but with cataphractii legs so perfect and Apologist's GKT torso method the time seemed right to have another go.

  • 2 months later...
Lord_Caldera Battle-Brother

Lord_Caldera

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* * * * *


 


The Etherium swirled about him, tides of the past, present, and future drifting across his consciousness. Tendrils of immaterial energy caressed his mind with their offers of knowledge and power, but they were fleeting things with no substance. He could feel greater entities lurking beyond but he was the eye of the gentle storm, guiding the paths of immediate possibility to fruition. Fleeting visions flashed through his mind's eye of bolts fired in anger, bolts fired in sorrow. All of the dead so many dead were confused and tormented, lashing out across the skein of time in their final throes. Forgotten oaths and the weeping of shattered children echoed in his mind, overlapping and clawing at his concentration.


 


The emotions swelled in a crescendo that threatened to overwhelm the peace he had fostered in his meditation and he pulled back, wary of drawing the baleful stare of something greater than himself. Rinn closed his immaterial eye and opened his physical ones, returning slowly to his natural senses. He blinked at his squad guarding him and shook his head.


 


"I saw little. There is too much agitation to read the Sea clearly." Seta grasped his outstretched hand and hauled him to his feet. "For now we must merely be vigilant." He sensed the disappointment bleeding from the others' minds into his own but paid it no mind. He was disappointed himself, and he urged their auras back into balance. They would need coordination in the battles to come, and he broadened the psychic link between them just in case.


 


Suddenly Rinn gasped and fell twitching to the ground as a spear of hatred seemed to lance into his mind. The barb lasted only a brief second but left him gasping in pain at the premonition. He rolled over onto his knees and quickly probed the path they trod to trace its echo. There was hatred, yes, but nothing was ever that simple. The pain had been sharp with focus, iron-clad will aiming it towards them, and with vindication flavoring it. Behind the vision was the silhouette of a winged sword.


 


"The First," he retched. "The First are coming for us."


 


* * * * *


 


Rinn, Augur of Gima Squad, 5th Company Lightning Bearers


 


http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/98d4eaff-31fb-400a-91c6-0ab2510588d0.jpg


 


Rinn bears several pieces of newer-issue equipment, including the distinctive Ryza-pattern MkIV helm. This variant saw testing with several legions but was only recently adopted as standard issue by the Lightning Bearers shortly prior to the Siege of Madrigal as MkIV armor started to replace MkII. Rinn also bears an Akira-pattern psychic hood, so named for the forge-moon of Madrigal on which it was developed. This device was far more subtle than the bulky frames employed by standard Librarians within the Legiones Astartes, and served more as a focus for reliable scrying and intra-squad coordination than as any appreciable defense against psychic intrusion. The focus of the II Legion on the dangers of the Immaterium served as a superior deterrent.


 


http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/04614725-761c-4835-ba67-6447f26a1086.jpg


 


Rinn holds the title of Augur in his squad. This role was typically granted to a legionary who had proven himself to be a subtle and cunning weaver of fates. Only those who could consistently and safely read the skein of time were allowed to direct their units in battlefield conditions, and the Augur often acted as a second to the squad sergeant. Augurs were a sort of exemplar for their brothers, proven warriors on the physical and psychic planes who possessed the calm and focus to guide them on the righteous path.


 


http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/20bf963f-d0d1-47c7-8616-c97db7fad3e2.jpg


 


* * * * *


Lord_Caldera Battle-Brother

Lord_Caldera

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@Dosjetka, cheers!

 

Progress has been predictably slow as I've been focusing on other projects, and I suffer from a lack of motivation in the summer heat to come. But I'm hoping to have a quick 500 points done in the next few months. I have a couple more Lightning Bearers nearing completion very soon, but for now just this wip will do.

 

http://i274.photobucket.com/albums/jj254/lord_caldera/2488e718-2e76-41eb-8489-a8e329e83903.jpg

 

Every army needs one!

 

Jamie

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