Black Iron, Green Suns - the Rise and Fall of Forge Ikhar

[Xin Ceithan]

++++ Access requested: Inquisitorial reference: Ikhar Nor; Forge perdita....access pending+++
+++++ Asserting Encryption........ Link established. ++++
++++ Encryption vermillion profundis.... Encryption verified+++++
++++ Acessing archives .... ++++
+++ Vox recording recovered...Enabling Autoscribe...++++

In the Name of the Emperor. Beloved by all, Martyr to the Golden Throne
My Lord,
as you have requested, I have begun to comply data regarding the forces supporting the arch traitor Horus in regard as related to the current crisis. As you are no doubt aware, the relevant archives and data are ... incoherent and incomplete at best. Given your request, I labour to access the information on the heretical branch of the Adeptus Mechanicum related to the original subject. The Mechanicum seem to have intended to expunge the relevant information following the reconquest of Mars even more profoundly than the Council of the High Lords purged the archives of scarred Terra itself. While they have cited concerns of information I question being compromised by techno heretical coding and malefic scriptation, I cannot feel but suspect that their hides are still turning a deeper crimson than their robes when reminded that their ruling priesthood threw in with the Warmaster during the Insurrection. I have nevertheless been able to acquire some data which may yet be useful and have provided an overview which will be attached to this message.

Your loyal servant,

Torrad Nemoris




+++++ Vox recording ends...Autoscribe paused...++++
+++++ Opening Data sphere.....Autoscribe pending...beginning decryption++++


So, this is It. The start of my Mechanicum forces. Omnissiah and the Eightfold Path willing, the forces of Ikhar will march! Glory to the Warmaster! Death to the false Emperor!

[Xin Ceithan]

++++ Historical overview: Forge Ikhar Nor ++++++


Ikhar Nor

Located in the galactic northeast, Forge Ikhar was settled by Mechanicum Ark during Long Night and reunited with blessed Mars and the Imperium of Man during the latter days of the Great Crusade.
Located deep in the Urdagonian Reach, an area of frequent warp storm activities, it might not have been the primary choice of the Mechanicum expedition. What little reference exits in the archives of Mars may suggest that the expedition was forced to establish the later forge in the Ikhar system due to severe damage to the primary ark craft but data is non consistent. Given the extensive amount of data purging and cogitorcism purges following the liberation of Mars, the remaining data hints that initial members of the ark project chose to leave Mars due to differences regarding the use and research into technoesoterical areas which would later be proscribed by the Mechanicum of Mars and that expedition members chose exile rather than prosecution some time before their doctrines became officially anathema to the Magi of the red planet. Some practices seems to have involved research into the use Empyrean energies and it's use and technological integration, but such references are non-conclusive. Still, settlement in the Urdagonian reach might not been as random as presented upon rediscovery by the Imperium.

The seventh planet in a binary system, Ikhar Nor offered little stable landmass at the time of the initial settlement. Dominated by vast oceans and frequent tectonic and volcanic activity, it did provide ample deposits of metallic ores and rich quantities of rare isotopes due to stellar radiation. With a faster than Martian planetary rotation, it's atmosphere was wracked by storms and inherently toxic to unaugmented humans. Settlement sites therefore clung to three major archipelagos which compromised the peaks of vast submerged mountain ranges. Caging the volcanic heat in geothermal cores, the nascent forges followed the slopes into the deep, if Ikhar's oceans establishing submarine mining and processing sites which would evolve into Forgetemples over the centuries.

By the time of the Great Crusade, the major forges had expanded into near continental structures while pollution and terraforming had lowered the sea levels significantly.
Ikhar was a world of mountains made from blackened iron, rising from the dark polluted waters of it's oceans and whose twin green stars seldom pierced the storm clouds and their acidic downpour.

Manipulation of high energy and gravitational forces as well as hostile environmentadaption proved to be the key areas of expertise, driven by survival at first and fierce pride later. Since living conditions were less than optimal to the human form, technological adaptation became another key stone of Forge Ikhar. Both workforce and the developing Taghmata underwent intensive genenhancement and cyberadaptation and were assisted by cybernetica constructs in much greater numbers compared to more orthodox forge worlds. Hostile-environment and void adapted armor and frames remained the hallmark of Forge Ikhar up and we'll into the Warmaster's insurrection.

[Xin Ceithan]

Basic Mock up of my Magos ..

.. needs some mechadendrit /mechatendril addition and maybe some more green stuff robes ....

though I would like it to remain more industrial crustean in outlook

C&C welcome !

[captainblow]

That magos looks awesome, where is the body from?

[Xin Ceithan]

That magos looks awesome, where is the body from?

 

thank you ... this is a shamelessly kit bashed using a plastic Warmachine Cryx Warjack

[Sol_Invictus]

Very cool! The body reminds me of a Krogan from Mass Effect.

[Xin Ceithan]

I have been doodling to give my Forge some iconography...

the relation to the Warmaster should go in there and I was tumbling through some of Japanese feudal clan symbols while working on my knight ... with some binary scribbles.. and the lovecraftian set up in general...

i think i will settle on this ... The three eyes are representing the original founding forge fanes and the pillars of Omnissian enlightnment... the Kraken thingy is going to feature in the Taghmata / Knight iconography

and while we are on the subject...here is a quick mock -up on my (first?) knight in pretty early stages of lower walker weathering and assembly....

as always C&C is welcome. Warmly and with charged Volkites....

....edited after Typo autoscribe exorcism...

[Brother-Chaplain Kage]

Warmachine definitely has some good models, but I think there's a bit too much Cryx in that conversion.

[depthcharge12]

That an awesome magos!

[Xin Ceithan]

Can there really be too much Cryx in anything ?!

 

But I am planing on adding some more Mechanicum bling to it. I did want to show the Deviation to the more orthodox Mechanicum style though.

[Xin Ceithan]

So, it has been some time since the last update. While I am reluctant to have this thread become another -text-only-WiP, I am progressing faster with my fluff than my painting. Also I just seem not to take ages to take adequate pictures. Ah, well.

 

I did see the term "narrative WiP blog" used recently and think that this is what I am aiming for here.

Henceforth, this shall be a Narrative WIP thread!

 

 

So let's look at the opening of the narrative of Forge Ikhar's supporting Knight forces - the Ash' Kharii Domu.

 

 

 

Ash'kharii Domu -the House bound by Oath and Faith

 

 

 

Due to it's close proximity in the Urdagonian Reach by galactic standards the Koyoneto System was reached early in the expansion of the Forge Ikhar. The closeness to the Ikhar Forges has often started speculations if the resource rich moons of the Koyoneto gas giants and their more favorable original biosphere were not the intended destination of the Mechanicum Arks which gave birth to the Ikharian Forges.

The third moon of Koyoneto's fourth planet, Scarmos, itself part of a size able micro system of moonlets and planetoids orbiting a reddish gas giant, was not only rich in mineral resources but also boasted a high biodiversity among it's tropical climate and vegetation combined with a thin, yet breathable atmosphere. Yet earlier settlers lacked the extensive technological support to fully exploit their surroundings in larger scale. Archaeosavants see this an indication that the disaster that resulted in the settling of Ikhar Nor robbed the Scarmosian colony of it's main industrial and technological assets. Also, a pervading belief in technognosticism recovered from early colonization records seems to support the theories that the settlers of Scarmos were at least exposed to beliefs close the cults of the Age-of-Strife Mechanicum at an early time in their settlement's history if not outright part of a Mechanicum exploration effort in the first place.

 

Fortunately, the colony did have access to a size able contingent of knight / protoknight STC pattern walker units. Macro excavation and industrial rigs formed the first centers of human settlement. More akin to moving cities, these were ancient STC patterns made most famous perhaps by their distant STC patterns among the moving fortresses which would house the clan companies of the Iron Xth of the Legiones Astartes. The more smaller, more common walker patterns not only provided much needed help in establishing further settlements in the vast rain forests and mountain ranges, but also became critical to defending human settlements from the native fauna of gigascorpioids. The knight pattern walkers and their pilots thus became a pivotal influence in the nascent society.

 

Yet, the young colony was struck by disaster in the early centuries of it's existence. While the exact cause is lost to the tumult of those years, surviving accounts hint at a connection to increasingly occurring psychic phenomena as was so common during the Age of Strife. The results shaped Scarmos visibly and altered the world and it's inhabitants forever. A combination of geothermal eruptions, drastic axial shift and rogue nanocyte infection turned Scarmos into a hot, barren wasteland where drinkable water became scarce and the remaining plant and animal life mostly survived by developing a frightening symbiosis with the rogue nanocyte hives.

What few orbital or inner system forays had been established earlier were soon either raining down as burning debris or drifting into the void, frozen and forgotten. On a couple of moonlets with more life sustaining environments the survivors were more lucky even if their settlements would degraded into feral tribes. A few desperate souls braved the ire of those left behind and took the remains of the original expeditions craft into the void and into the warp. At least one of these attempts apparently ended in a warp core breach in Scarmosian near space, which added to the escalating calamities and isolated the system from the warp until Ikharian exploration craft reached the Kyoneto system later.

Under such adverse living conditions, stalked by biomechanical horrors and even more reliant on a shrinking pool of technological artifacts and Enginespeakers, the influence of the Knightframes and their pilots grew exponentially.

To those knowledgeable in inner workings the Knight Households and their tecnological mysteries, it is known that the mind link to the Animus of these Godmachine often encourages their pilots to seek out ever greater danger and crave legendary exploits. With the primordial power it conveys, it's pilot also risks loosing themselves in succumbing to perceiving one self as of similar godlike power and thus worthy and required of a corresponding respect and treatment. While their civilisation crumbled, the people of Scarmos withdrew into armored strongholds which were often centered around the operational center of a knight force. The moving cities became fortresses. Some stopped. Some fell. Some limped own, iron revenant a stumbling across the desolated landscape. From these mechanical carcasses, the majority of knight pilots and their families rose to establish themselves as feudal overlords. Conflicts increased and slights were answered by melts cannons and reaper chainswords. Feuding groups of knights soon resembled raiding tribes more than chivalrous armies. As time progressed and resources dwindled, these Knight warlords battled their own kind and their vassal tribes at least as often, if not more than the biomechanical gigascorpiods roaming wastes. Unchecked, this would result in the extinction of the Scarmosian human population within a few generations.

 

A small coven of Technosavants recognized this danger to the survival of their world.

More frighteningly, as often extensively cyberneticaly enhanced beings, they realized that their own end would probably occur even sooner if yet more resources and knowledge were to be lost. While they often held positions of importance and vital impact to the daily functioning of their strongholds, they likewise were not of sufficient influence or strength of arms to sway the hands of their glory drunken overlords and were often decried as doomsayers and traitors. Some were killed. Some banished to the wastes. Some left of their own accord. And some, a few, found ears and auditory receptors more open to their concerns. Slowly, these technognosic prophets established connections, traded secrets, earned favors. Since their primary concerns was in the upkeep of their cyberneticaly existence, they were often able to barter their knowledge of the human form, of cybernetic graft and agaptiv procedures or simply basic medical care as well as knowledge in the upkeep and repair of sources of power, food and water among the elite Knight tyrants as well as common wasteland tribes. Using a cell like structure as they spread across their decaying world to recover and hopefully rekindle the remaining sparks of technological enlightenment. Among themselves they used this image to create the moniker by which they later would became known - the Ash'kharii Domu. From the ancient form of their language this would loosely translate into low gothic as "the thousand [enlightened] sparks igniting the [blowing] dust into a wave of flame"

[drakarth]

Cool back story keep it up

[Xin Ceithan]

And now...finally ...pics!

Work continues on my first Knight. I missed the deadline for the Honour and Teachery sadly. But since this probably the largest thing i have worked on in a while and is such a looker, I didn`t feel it should be rushed. Looking back, I would chose less red but I figured it would be suitable to a Mechanicum oathed House and was ( and still am ) thinking of making the Taghmata more datk in colour (black, grey) so I went with the mostly red scheme here. Still takes ages to glaze and weather right. But I am quite pleased at how it is turning out....

The leg assembly is basicaly finished... it is just awaiting the weathering and basing...

The Main Torso assembly is also mostly done. Still some details are to be done once it is joined with the carapace armour and smaller parts so I can judge the working of the light better.

Also I am still undecided if I should leave the head optics bare or use one of the helmet options...

Here is an overview of the carapace parts....the stubber needs some work. e.g. on the aiming laser lights. the head armour is basically done.

The Shield turned out nice...I have assembled a bronze insignia (not yet fixed to it) which is supposed to resemble the triple eye / cog symbol of Forge Ikhar ( see the doodling above). It`s going take up most of the Shield area though ..maybe I will fix it on a sort of banner pole in place of the Carapace mount since the Taghmata Knights can`t equip these anyway?

And finally the Carapace....the aged red is finally taking a shape I was aiming for.....

I have also found a way to post pics a bit more efficiently ....that will help this threat be more picty in the futrure

Looking forward to your C&C !

[GhostMalone]

:cuss yes buddy this is a great start

[Battybattybats]

I really like that heavily weathered red and nice use of craft jewellery bits to make the emblem, i like that very much.

[Xin Ceithan]

Thanks guys!

 

I went the other way around this time and glazed the red upwards from a deeper shade to the highlights. Also, I commonly use the "salt technique" in weathering and this time painted the chipping by hand.

 

I used the jewellery bits as much for the more baroque look and added depth as well as my doubt in me being able to pull off a decent freehand cog symbol ;)