Ed's Heresy Kill-Teams: Custodians and ruins

[Studio Silvernale]

*whew* I just read all 26 pages and I'm way impressed. Who are the guys on the base with the blue crystals? Those are my favorites.

[malika666]

What is that big gun? :O

[Brother Heinrich]

Good God those things are horrifying. Nice work!

[ChromeZephyr]

What is that big gun?

It's an Ion Rifle from Anvil Industry.

[Wolfmerc]

Man that Thing looks intimidating! nice work!

[EdT]

Really glad people liked Algaliarept so much; he was good fun to make! Interesting to make a Greater Daemon that's not one of the conventional ones, really; and I'm pleased that I was able to conceal his inherent Tyranidiness. Thank god for greenstuff, really...
 
Just to answer your queries, @Quixus, the stuff on the bases is this stuff, same as on the scenic base for the pilgrims; just just put down some glue and sprinkle on, shake off the excess, and then drop another layer of glue on to seal it. Seems to work rather well.
 
@Togusa-san, glad you liked them! You mean the traitor XIX Legion guys? I enjoyed doing their leader's tatoo and skin tone...
 
@malka666, what @CromeZephyr said! Anvil really is great for bits.
 
Now, on with the Pantomath's devotees...


13: The Pantomath and Trimorphe of Abalos

“Fair is foul, and foul is fair: Hover through the fog and filthy air.”
The being known as Algaliarept the Infovore, formerly the Pantomath of Abalos

In the years before the horror of the Great Betrayal and Schism, the cult sites and pilgrimage centres of Mars grew hugely as billions of faithful adherents of the Machine Cult made the journey from their distant Forgeworlds back to the birthplace of their faith. The sudden influx of off-world visitors caused great upheaval in Martian religion, not least to the holy sites themselves; some prospered and grew massively in prominence, but many of the older or less accessible destinations fell into a steep decline.

The Pantomath of Abalos was one of the latter variety. Located in the desolate frozen wastes of the Vastitas Borealis, the Pantomath claimed to predate even the Old Night, having been founded as a repository of knowledge by early adherents of the Machine God with forewarning of the apocalypse to come. The Pantomath itself was a mortal vessel conjoined with the ancient mechanisms that had been constructed deep underground the site; its pronouncements were esoteric and incompressible to all but the Trimorphe, three female adherents who acted as interpreters. Each specialised in a different field; The Spinner was responsible for all queries regarding the past, The Allotter interpreted events occurring in the present, while The Cutter delved into matters that were still to come.

Abalos always had a grim, unwelcoming and secretive aspect, not to mention an abiding association with heterodox doctrine of Akashic Scrying, and its relationship with the Martian synod remained an uneasy one. Few off-world pilgrims sought to consult the Pantomath, and those Martians who visited seldom publicised their sojourn. Even in the face of these disadvantages Abalos prospered, however; and this was because of its undeniable reputation as a highly effective, if faintly unsavoury, source of truth for the desperate. Senior Magi regularly consulted the Pantomath in private, and the Trimorphe often found themselves secretly summoned to the great pyramids of the Martian elite.

Around two decades before the Great Betrayal, something serious occurred at Abalos. The institution abruptly closed its doors to all outsiders, and all prognostication ceased. What caused this sudden shift remains obscure, but it seems likely that for some unknown reason the Pantomath had abruptly ceased to provide accurate or useful prophesy. For the next decade Abalos remained shuttered; then, records sealed by the Fabricator-General Kelbor Hal himself indicate that the Trimorphe left Mars for an unknown location, returning four years later under conditions of strict secrecy. Around this period, thaumatological sensors in the Lydda Forge detected a major buildup of aetheric energy in the region, although the reason for this was never discovered.

It is theorised that with connivance at the highest levels of the Martian Priesthood, the Trimorphe had recovered an artefact or technique to restore the Pantomath to its previous functionality; what is known is that flights between Abalos and the Forges of senior Magi resumed, although there remains a notable correlation between the visits of the Trimorphe and the subsequent disappearance of certain senior individuals within the Synod. When the Schism of Mars finally erupted, the Oracle of Abalos finally revealed itself as a key part of the traitor cause and the Pantomath emerged from its sanctuary to join the forces of the Fabricator General.
 
Whatever desperate act had been committed to rejuvenate the Pantomath had turned it into an abomination; a huge, disgusting mass of bruised flesh and metal that called itself “Algaliarept” and fed on information for sustenance, sucking the memories and knowledge out of everything that it touched and growing stronger in the process. The Trimorphe were equally changed, abandoning their former grim beauty and becoming as disgustingly debased as their master. The movements of the Pantomath are briefly attested to; it moved southwards to the great information repository of Da Vinci and devoured it entirely before moving on to join the fighting at Ipluvien Maximal, where it single-handedly annihilated two full regiments of Jovian Grenadiers deployed by First Captain Sigismund in order to block its advance. It was last seen outside the forge enduring a full orbital strike from VII Legion Fleet assets; yet reports indicate that it survived the assault, and continued as a favoured conduit between Kelbor Hal and the warp powers that he had devoted himself to. Its current status remains unknown.
 

[Pict Capture DM/845-31S-169] - The aetheric being calling itself Algaliarept
 
 
 
[Pict Capture DM/845-31S-170] - Trimophe member (1); the "Spinner"
 
 
 
[Pict Capture DM/845-31S-171] - Trimophe member (2); the "Allotter"
 
 

[Pict Capture DM/845-31S-172] - Trimophe member (3); the "Cutter"

 

 

[Pict Capture DM/845-31S-173] - The Trimorphe and Algaliarept, the former Pantomath of Abalos

 

[WilhelMiniatures]

Lovely converts!

The bases look a bit messy though. I would neaten up the base-rim a bit, and paint them black :)

 

Keep up the great work.

[HighGothic]

Lovely. Well, not lovely,  but you know what I mean...

 

My favourite is the cutter. Not sure why, but that sickle blade does look cool.

 

Wilhel is right about the bases, its the minorist of minor things really, but needs doing. Keep it up! 

[Olis]

Wow. Now I want to know what these 'grim beauties' used to look like...

[Xin Ceithan]

Simply brilliant.

[JackDaw]

Jesus man. Nightmare fuel right there. I think this might be your best work yet, from the concept right through to the execution. I mean, these are just.....yeah. Perfect abominations.

[Battybattybats]

Great background to suit the great models.

I would love to see Algaliarept go up against (Major Spoiler for Graham Mcneill's Gods Of Mars)

The Tindalosi Hound due to arrive on Mars

EDIT: Oh i forgot to say i love how well, with the Trimorphe all lined up painted, it really shows off the careful work you did with the rising sun-cog giving each of them a different phase of sunrise.

[EdT]

Thanks all. I'm really pleased with how they turned out!

 

@WilheMiniatures- completely know what you mean; I was keen to get these posted so didn't wait for the bases to dry. I've since gone over them and they're a bit neater. I shouldn't let enthusiasm get the better of me!

 

@Olis- This is actually really frustrating me, as I have a very clear mental image in my head of what they'd look like pre-corruption, and I can't for the life of me remember where it came from! Think something like this, but with an actual mask...

 

@Battybattybats- Now that would be a fight for the ages. I assume Algaliarept would probably win out by virtue of his daemonhood, but I imagine it'd be a hell of a struggle. The hounds were just nasty archaeotech rather than warp-corrupted, weren't they? Somebody really should make a model of one of them...

 

Now, a quite look at what I'm currently noodling away on (and yes I know I have some pilgrims to finish!). Remember the Head of Security I was fiddling with a while back? Well that guy's torso, Krautscientist's corrupted Kastellan, the new Fallout trailer and a concept I've wanted to do for ages all came together in my head and this is the very WIP, tacked together result. Obviously there's a long way to go on this, but it's a start... 

 

 

One question; should I extend the arms? They're rather short for the torso, and while the one wth the conversion beamer looks ok, the one with the hand looks rather stumpy. Problem is, if I extend one, then I should probably extend both; and then the conversion beamer arm is probably too long!

[Olis]

Personally, I think the arms look fine. ;)

[ElDuderino]

I think the arms are probably the right length, the torso might make them look a bit short. Maybe it'll look more proportional if you remove the lower set of ribs?

 

Oh and i love all your work, needed to be said:)

[Chaeron]

I don't believe that I could ever have enough likes to give you - this is amazing! Love the project.

 

I've wanted to do an AdMech army that spanned both - but this is giving me so much inspiration... It may lead me down this path!

[Battybattybats]

I don't think you'd need to extend both, you could go with just the hand arm longer i think.... but i'd not just extend the arm.. i'd make it EXTENDABLE! Put a great big piston (or four) in it so it can extend and retract it's arm in a piston-punch. I don't recall which of the myriad giant robot/monster films or animes i'm thinking of where there is the extensive use of an extending piston-powered robot fist like i'm describing but a quick google came up with this

which may be close enough, but i'm thinking of one with a series of pistons around the wrist. At any rate it'd add some length to the arm even built retracted, and what else says security than an extending piston-driven punching metal fist? Or... i hate myself for going here... the long arm of the law.... *groan*

[StoneSentinels]

Omg you need an elbow rocket! 

or the Hulk buster armour from AOU in the "go to sleep clip"  https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=XisqVhGVcFM (its loud!). Either way that could add the length if you need it. But I reckon its pretty much fine as is. Love the claw!

[EdT]

Thanks for the thoughts all! I've decided (for the time being) that I quite like the oversized torso look, which will make a little more sense when the head area is done, and also slightly recalls (in my mind at least) the protectotrons from Fallout. The hips won't be quite as buried in the torso in the final model, which helps stretch things a little.

I should say that this guy isn't the Head of Security any more; we'll get on to his background and my inspiration for him later, but suffice to say that this is an odd bit of archaeotech unearthed on Terra, and nothing to do with the Mechanicum.

@Battybattybats, I love your piston fist idea and have run with it- the brutality of the idea works perfectly with the background I have in mind, so thanks! Below is what I came up with- the idea is that the three rotary pistons drive the first forwards for an extra punch, rather than the big inline one on Big O (haven't seen that since I was thirteen and it was on Cartoon Network, btw ). I think this solves the issue, as it makes both arms roughly the same length and less comically short than on the regular Kastellan, where they seem a bit stumpy to me even using the regular torso.

[Battybattybats]

Yeah i'm glad to have provided you with that idea, that came up superbly!

I haven't actually seen any of the Big O cartoon, it just came up in my search. I may now have to find and watch the show.

[Half Goat]

these are looking truly awesome Ed,  but I hope you haven't completely benched your other astartes projects! 

[EdT]

(early warning- this is a bit of an essay but hopefully it might be interesting to see my thought processes before I start assembling and converting models)

 

So I thought I'd show a bit of a departure from the not-Kastellan today; I have a new project to get my teeth into (and yes, I haven’t forgotten about the pilgrims- I just fancied a change!). These guys will still be pilgrims, actually just of a rather nastier variety!

 

I’ve always loved the look and background of the Davinites, and am really surprised that I’ve never seen anybody do some converted lodge members. They’re a cut above the normal robed cultists, in my view; the old CCG artwork featuring them is really evocative. There’s so much brilliant imagery there- the bestial not-quite humanity, the way that they’re not only corrupt but utterly degenerate, but at the same time the fact that there’s a certain dark nobility to them, with the odd hint of post-apocalyptic super-technology thrown into the mix too.

 

I’ve wanted to do some Davinites for a while, but had never quite got round to it- then the other day I suddenly realised that the new edition of WHFB is just around the corner and that might mean the discontinuation of some models I’d had in mind for conversion fodder. Which was as good a reason as any to get started…

 

This group will be a Davinite Lodge Mistress and her acolytes/concubines, all of whom will be leaders of the Priestly or Warrior Castes in their own right. One thing I liked about the Davinites was their variation; the artwork shows several distinct cultural types, and the background (particularly David Annandale’s brilliant Sermon of Exodus) suggests that the various Lodges cut across Davin’s tribal groupings. This gives lots of opportunities for creativity.

 

With that in mind, I got to thinking about the number of acolytes and how I could make each one different. The answer to the first question was easy- it had to be eight, the sacred number of the octed. While thinking about basing options, I realised that this should also inform their placement; assuming the Lodge Mistress goes in the middle then the acolytes should surround her, each one corresponding to a point on the Star of Chaos. Each point would doubtless have its own symbolism in Davinite religion, which I figured would be helpful in working out which acolyte went where.

 

It occurred to me then that the humours might be a good guide; it had already been referenced by the Mournival, so I figured it would also be a thing for the Davinites too. Conveniently, the humours actually match up with the Chaos gods rather nicely; Choleric anger is obviously Khorne, while melancholy fits in quite nicely with the endurance aspect of Nurgle (although, admittedly, not the jolliness of many Nurglite worshippers). Hot blooded, spontaneous sanguinity seems to work with Slaanesh, while patient, rational and intelligent phlegmatism is reasonably Tzeentchy. The humours also have compass directions associated with them, and handily enough when you apply them to the Chaos gods you end up with the right powers opposing each other, so Khorne and Tzeentch are at opposite sides of the compass, as are Slaanesh and Nurgle. When mapped out on a diagram you end up with something like the below…

 

 

Many cultures also assign specific colours to each direction (for example, the reason why we call it the Black Sea is because Slavic Paganism has black as the colour of the south), so that’s another source of potential painting cues. In the diagram above though, I’ve just gone with the generic chaotic colours.

 

This gives me a good starting point as to the characteristics of each acolyte. The acolyte facing east would clearly be a warrior, while the south-eastern acolyte needs both Khornate and Slaaneshi characteristics; a bloodthirsty hedonist, perhaps? I'm also helped by the great artwork in the old Sabertooth CCG too, of course; this is a nice compendium of many (but by no means all) of the cards, and has been very helpful to me. Obviously I'm keen to try and reproduce some of the cultists shown here, and below are my first, very WIP efforts, on the left we have my interpretation of the Khornate Ivlen, while on the right we have Kenrich, who will be filling tne northern, Nurglite slot;

 

 

As you can see, they're still very WIP; Ivlen is considerably more done, and I'm pleased with how my repositioning of the model's arms makes his stance considerably more sensible, rather than the stock, YMCA-inspired pose. There's still a lot of greenstuffing to be done round the back however, and I haven't 100% decided on this head; I may go for one of the larger, more grotesque Gor heads I've ordered. Kenrich is still tacked together and will need greenstuffed shoulders, collar, and neck before he looks remotely done. He's also going to get some nice straggly hair coming down to hide any mistakes I make on the shoulders...

[malika666]

Is that an Evil Craft chainsword? :O

[deathspectersgt7]

[GhostMalone]

Another brilliant concept