Huscarl to the Corpse Prince

[Hyaenidae]

After reading 'Savage Weapons', I profess that I have become a touch obsessed with the idea of restarting my Night Lords, with Sheng, the Night Haunters huscarl, as my Warband's leader. He just intrigues me...what is it that makes him so valuble to the Haunter? Is he just a political genius, capable of dealing with outsiders easier than his brothers? Or he simply one of the few that can break through Curze's madness and reason with him, kinda like Khârn and Angron? Of course, the one guy I'm interested in has very little fluff around him as of yet. This is what I've scrounged up so far...

 

He's been noted as not being the most capable fighter, more of a aggresive murderer than a swordsman, which is cool in my book. Not every Astartes can be Lucius or Loken, y'know? And murdering is what the Night Lords are best at.

He's Nostraman.

He rocks a Bolter and a Power Sword, from the sounds of it, a short stabbing sword.

He wears a black cloak, along with the usual Night Lords gear...painted faceplate, skulls and helms rattling from filthy bronze chains.

He's missing one of his hands from the forearm down, so he's probably using an augmentic nowadays.

There was no mention of him anywhere during any of the flashbacks in 'Blood Reaver', making me wonder if he died during the Heresy. Ah well, this is gonna be a Heresy-era army anyway...

No dang mention of rank or unit, other than Huscarl

 

And that's it. From what I've heard, he also appears in Dark King or the Lightning Tower, but I haven't heard either. If there's anybody that might have picked up any more info about him, please let me know. Much appreciated.

[Brother Nihm]

From what I've heard, he also appears in Dark King or the Lightning Tower, but I haven't heard either.

That would be Captain Shang: Equerry to the Night Haunter, not Sheng.

[Khestra the Unbeheld]

He's bald

He wears a cloak of black patagium, a name which suggests it's the skin from the wings of some sort of giant Nostraman bat

His helmet is winged, with an alien-face skull with a protruding lower jaw, prominently tusked, possibly Orkish

[Hyaenidae]

@Khestra: Thanks!

@Nihm: Ah...well...That's slightly irritating. :) So, there's a 'Sheng' and a "Shang', not neccesarily the same individual. I wonder if it was a mis-type, maybe? In 'Savage Weapons', it would make sense that the Haunter would bring his condemned champion and his Huscarl with him...still, this makes it a touch more difficult. bummer.

[Clewz]

Maybe he makes a good cup of tea

[Paradigm]

Sheng and Shang would sound identical after all. The spelling is definitely different though. Till you pointed this out I thought they were the same person too.

[Hyaenidae]

@Clewz: Well, yeah, there's always that... :lol: . Would the Haunter drink tea though? I figured it would be a cup of tears of the innocent, slightly warm. Probably no sugar, either.

 

@Fortnight: Frankly, I have a sinking suspicion they are one and the same. They both wear black cloaks, both hang out with Curze, and the name is so darn similar. I'm just gonna carry on with the mini build as such, unless totally and completley proven false.

 

Well, I think I have all the parts I need. For the short stabbing sword, I'm thinking a Gladius. His bolter is gonna be a Phobos pattern with scope, as it seems that Sheng/Shang is quite a wicked shot (Savage Weapons). Figured it would be cool to give him a weapon to fit the bill. The Cloak....not sure yet. I'm probably gonna make it out of green stuff, but I gotta try figuring out a way to make it look like the skin of a Nostroman bat (leathery, ribbed) without making him look like batman. As for the helm, I'm not sure if I want to go with the ceremonial helm (winged), or a painted faceplate. Opinions?

[Yogi]

Ceremonial helm is for ceremony... So I wouldn't bother with it. Unless your a great sculptor I'd look at stealing a cloak off another miniature.

 

I find it quite interesting speculating what sort of force he would lead. Equerries generally didn't command personal forces right? They are more likely to be overseeing some captain's company or something. But if he did have his own force it would have access to a great deal of shiny gear.

 

I've only really heard about him from savage weapons, were he seems kinda invisible next to Sevatar.

 

Sounds good though.

[Hyaenidae]

Ha, yeah, Sevatar kinda stole the show, huh? I was just wondering on the ceremonial helm, since NL's are known to wear them sometimes in battle (Xarl wore his once in Blood Reaver), and from what Khestra was saying, he wore one in The Dark King. Since he was equerry, I'm just wondering he would wear his formal helm more often, since he was the Haunter's voice. About the cloak, I'm not the greatest sculptor, but I'm aiming to get better, so I'd really like to give it a shot. Should I fail, I'll try to find one that can steal ,lol.

 

As for the force he'd lead, Khârn led the 8th assault company of the World Eaters, and Amon was the captain of the 9th Fellowship of the Thousand Sons, so there is presedent for an Equerry commanding a company. Plus, shiny gear is nice.... :lol: . Thanks for the input, yogi!

[Yogi]

Ah good points.. I was thinking of Malgohurst of the Sons of Horus who IIRC didn't command a company.. Oh well.

 

As for the helm. Sounds to me like your leaning towards the wing version. Which tells me you should take it. Also if he is the only one wearing such a helm he surely will look like the boss eh?

 

I just realised you are the MM guy. You do nice stuff I'm sure you can sculpt a cape. Hopefully if you make said army you will do a WIP log?

 

It would be cool if you could some how theme the underhanded murderous ways of sheng via the choices in his company. Things like infiltrate and Deep strike. Basically Nasty choices a bastard would take.. Sadly infiltrate and deep strike are not nasty, but hopefully you get what I mean. Maybe a WAAC sort of list with sheng as HQ.. Anyways Im rambling.

[Hyaenidae]

@Yogi: Not really leaning per se, but like you mentioned, it would help mark him out from the rank and file. And yes, the whole army will be focused entirely on sneaky, murderous actions and tactics, with the hopes that by the time our new codex comes out, these guys will really shine. Thank you for your kind comments on my Marines Malevolent, by the way, and I'll be starting a WIP log as soon as I finish up some last things with my MM's.

 

A last question to the unwashed masses before I start...This army will be heresy era (not pre or post heresy), would a mix of warplate be acceptable, since the NL's were kinda away from the front, cutting up the Angels in Black at the time? And what would be the newest armour mark available to them? I'm getting the impression that Mk. VI warplate was the new fad during the heresy, just rare. Suggestions (of all sorts) welcome please!

[Brother Nihm]

I've seen PH images of Night Lords wearing stuff up to and including Mk VI.

Maybe they took it from dead Dark Angels? :)

[Hyaenidae]

I've seen PH images of Night Lords wearing stuff up to and including Mk VI.

Maybe they took it from dead Dark Angels? :)

 

Ha ha, I'm glad we're on the same page, I was thinking the same darn thing, lol. Alright, so up to Mk. VI it is. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

[A D-B]

@Khestra: Thanks!

@Nihm: Ah...well...That's slightly irritating. :) So, there's a 'Sheng' and a "Shang', not neccesarily the same individual. I wonder if it was a mis-type, maybe? In 'Savage Weapons', it would make sense that the Haunter would bring his condemned champion and his Huscarl with him...still, this makes it a touch more difficult. bummer.

 

It's the same guy, no sweat.

 

Alright, so up to Mk. VI it is. Any other thoughts or suggestions?

 

Very little Mk. VI (if any) since they'd not have much access to it.

[Hyaenidae]

It's the same guy, no sweat.

 

Gnarly. Thanks.

 

Very little Mk. VI (if any) since they'd not have much access to it.

 

Alright, makes sense. How heavily would the Mk. V be used by the Night Lords, or would they still be rocking mostly Mk. IV during their war with the Angels? And as for the Dark Angels, would they be using Mk. VI yet, or are they still in the Mk. IV / V era? I want to make sure I get the trophies right, after all.

[Inquisitor Engel]

Very little Mk. VI (if any) since they'd not have much access to it.

 

I'm with this for the timeline, but there's a very, very evocative picture in the Night Lords IA of a beakie marine (though he also has the Legion shoulder pad on his left, which would be studded per MkVI standards) strangling some random Imperial Citizen. It is the picture that inspired me to start Night Lords.

 

And of course, Soul Hunter convinced me to actually work on them. :devil:

[Lord Ragnarok]

I've seen PH images of Night Lords wearing stuff up to and including Mk VI.

Maybe they took it from dead Dark Angels? :devil:

 

I still agree with this. Couldn't they scavenge it off of dead (or still breathing) loyalists?

[A D-B]

I've seen PH images of Night Lords wearing stuff up to and including Mk VI.

Maybe they took it from dead Dark Angels? :devil:

 

I still agree with this. Couldn't they scavenge it off of dead (or still breathing) loyalists?

 

Of course they could. But it's just not common in 100,000 guys, miles from resupply, to be scavenging from another 100,000 guys, who are also miles from resupply, especially at a point in the Heresy when Mk. VI is barely in existence, bar a couple of errors in the HH series (Battle for the Abyss...), or older (potentially out of date) art. There's very, very little Mk VI armour around at that point so early in the Heresy, especially so far from Terra and Mars.

[Lord Ragnarok]

I've seen PH images of Night Lords wearing stuff up to and including Mk VI.

Maybe they took it from dead Dark Angels? :rolleyes:

 

I still agree with this. Couldn't they scavenge it off of dead (or still breathing) loyalists?

 

Of course they could. But it's just not common in 100,000 guys, miles from resupply, to be scavenging from another 100,000 guys, who are also miles from resupply, especially at a point in the Heresy when Mk. VI is barely in existence, bar a couple of errors in the HH series (Battle for the Abyss...), or older (potentially out of date) art. There's very, very little Mk VI armour around at that point so early in the Heresy, especially so far from Terra and Mars.

 

Agreed.

[Brother Nihm]

It's the same guy, no sweat.

Damn you spelling daemons, you confuzzle us with your mischievous ways!

 

/conspiracy theory

Or, maybe, a small shipment of MK VI warplate was sent to the Eastern Fringe just before the Heresy - to support the Crusade effort.

The suits were to be assembled at Thramas and Heroldor (Forgeworlds) and then shipped out, but the Night Lords stole them during the attacks on these worlds!

conspiracy theory/

 

:D

 

bar a couple of errors in the HH series (Battle for the Abyss...), or older (potentially out of date) art

Didn't you hear, outdated artwork doesn't exist. There is only new & bad ret-cons that don't follow the artwork! (e.g. that old scout picture.. or 'Sister Sin' :lol: )

 

Of course they could. But it's just not common in 100,000 guys, miles from resupply, to be scavenging from another 100,000 guys,

Agreed, a decent estimate would be: a few suits, at most. Imho.

[A D-B]

I've seen PH images of Night Lords wearing stuff up to and including Mk VI.

Maybe they took it from dead Dark Angels? :lol:

 

I still agree with this. Couldn't they scavenge it off of dead (or still breathing) loyalists?

 

Of course they could. But it's just not common in 100,000 guys, miles from resupply, to be scavenging from another 100,000 guys, who are also miles from resupply, especially at a point in the Heresy when Mk. VI is barely in existence, bar a couple of errors in the HH series (Battle for the Abyss...), or older (potentially out of date) art. There's very, very little Mk VI armour around at that point so early in the Heresy, especially so far from Terra and Mars.

 

I just re-read that. Do I sound annoyed to anyone else? I think I sounded annoyed then, and I was trying to be helpful. I was even in a good mood when I wrote it. I remain confused.

 

 

It's the same guy, no sweat.

Damn you spelling daemons, you confuzzle us with your mischievous ways!

 

It's totally my fault, too. I thought Shang sounded a bit too Oriental/East Asian (i.e. Shanghai, and Mr. Shang, etc.) and a few people mentioned it to me at a signing, so I tried to alter it slightly when it was my turn to deal with the character (and when we saw his name in print properly for the first time. But here's a technical tale, gang: events (for the record, even mistakes) in audio dramas become canon, because they can't be edited later the way novels can, with later printings. So future printings of Savage Weapons will have the name changed back to Shang. No skin off my back, but for the record - since the thread was about getting the info - Shang is the correct name now.

 

Yes, a boring story, but I hope it was at least slightly enlightening.

 

/conspiracy theory

Or, maybe, a small shipment of MK VI warplate was sent to the Eastern Fringe just before the Heresy - to support the Crusade effort.

The suits were to be assembled at Thramas and Heroldor (Forgeworlds) and then shipped out, but the Night Lords stole them during the attacks on these worlds!

conspiracy theory/

 

Here's my problem. I try my bestest not to let my personal preferences ever bias me in terms of factions beating other factions (f'rex, my Word Bearers never totally stomp over other Legions, it's always pretty equal, etc.) or altering established meaningful canon, but I really, really, really, really like Mk. VI armour. So my natural temptation is to sneak it into the Legion, when I know that canonically it'd be a real stretch of the imagination for it to be there so early in the Heresy.

 

I dunno. There was an error (to be corrected in later printings) in Battle for the Abyss, where Mk. VI was mentioned, and I could (like Nihm showed) think of a way beakie armour could slip in realistically. I'd just feel a bit like I was fuelling my own self-interest, and that's bad juju for a writer working on licensed fiction. Of course, it's such a teeny-tiny thing that no one would notice or care, but still, it gives me pause.

 

Maybe... Maybe just for a few scattered champions...

[Hyaenidae]

I just re-read that. Do I sound annoyed to anyone else? I think I sounded annoyed then, and I was trying to be helpful. I was even in a good mood when I wrote it. I remain confused.

I've found that internet forums are like chaos, they turn good men into monsters, despite honest intentions. You didn't sound snippy to me, but feel free to remain confused.

 

It's totally my fault, too. I thought Shang sounded a bit too Oriental/East Asian (i.e. Shanghai, and Mr. Shang, etc.) and a few people mentioned it to me at a signing, so tried to alter it slightly when it was my turn to deal with the character. But here's a technical tale, gang: events (for the record, even mistakes) in audio dramas become canon, because they can't be edited later the way novels can, with later printings. So future printings of Savage Weapons will have the name changed back to Shang. No skin off my back, but for the record - since the thread was about getting the info - Shang is the correct name now.

 

 

Yes, a boring story, but I hope it was at least slightly enlightening.

 

Shang it is then. Thank you!

 

Here's my problem. I try my bestest not to let my personal preferences ever bias me in terms of factions beating other factions (f'rex, my Word Bearers never totally stomp over other Legions, it's always pretty equal, etc.) or altering established meaningful canon, but I really, really, really, really like Mk. VI armour. So my natural temptation is to sneak it into the Legion, when I know that canonically it'd be a real stretch of the imagination for it to be there so early in the Heresy.

 

I dunno. There was an error (to be corrected in later printings) in Battle for the Abyss, where Mk. VI was mentioned, and I could (like Nihm showed) think of a way beakie armour could slip in realistically. I'd just feel a bit like I was fuelling my own self-interest, and that's bad juju for a writer working on licensed fiction. Of course, it's such a teeny-tiny thing that no one would notice or care, but still, it gives me pause.

 

Maybe... Maybe just for a few scattered champions...

 

My turn for an apology. This army will not just be during the time of the war against the Angels, it is also carrying on through to the death of Horus, and beginning on Istvaan. Maybe along that time period, some more Mk VI will show up, but I wasn't planning on fitting out entire squads with this warplate. The breakdown I'm thinking of goes as such:

60% Mk IV

19% Mk V

19% Mk II / III

2% Mk VI

A few pieces of Mk I here and there for the fun of it (shoulder and chest plates)

I'm not sure if the Night Lords have gotten to the point in this time period, resource-wise, to start mixing and matching warplate, but I'm probably going to just for the sheer thrill of it. That should be about it with the armour, but please feel free to disagree.

 

I honestly have no clue when Shang dies, if he dies, during the Heresy. Hell, I don't even know if he is a Captain of a company, or if he's more like Malgohurst (sp?), but I'm going to carry on for right now as if he has assembled an elite strike force of the most blunt, OCD murderers in the Legion, and is acting as a headhunter unit to sow havoc and terror amongst they loyalists.

 

Since I have you here A D-B, two last things:

Concerning Shang for modeling purposes...which arm did he lose in his fight with Alajos?

-and-

Mazal Tov, married man! I hope you two have a long and joyful life together.

 

Thank you everybody for your help.

[esinhorn]

I would think at the time of Heresy the Astartes Armor Project was in full swing.

This is back before the Imperium/Mechanicus strutinized every piece of technology for 1000 years this was a time when R&D was much more in favor with The Mechanicus(ie nooshpere,robot manitples,ect)

The Armor Project was ongoing so it would be totaly reasonable that any legion you want would have say 1-5 suits or more likely pieces of suits for the Mechanicus to see how thier performance in the field.

So ADB you throw in that beaky helmet if you feel like it,maybe just mention it is a prototype maybe even some of the new fangled systems have bugs.

[Lord Ragnarok]

I just re-read that. Do I sound annoyed to anyone else? I think I sounded annoyed then, and I was trying to be helpful. I was even in a good mood when I wrote it. I remain confused.

 

I did not take it that way at all.