The Heresy of Hieros: Torbenos' Narrative Project

[Torbenos]

The Heresy of Hieros

 

 

 
 
 

"A judgment, terrible to sinners, but desirable and sweet to the just."

 
 
A world of fire and faith, Hieros has for millenia been a bastion of loyalty to the Ecclesiarchy. A civilized Shrine World named in the honour of Saint Hieros following the 7th Black Crusade. A landscape of towering cathedrals and other holy temples, it has since then been the home of a myriad of cults proclaiming their service to the God-Emperor of Mankind. Byzantine politics and obscure rituals are commonplace here,  where faith and politics are one and the same and ones' pedigree is not decided by blood but zeal. The Planatery Govener goes by the title of Duke and is as of the 42nd Millenia Dalerius Crowley whose influence in truth is dwarfed by the various High Priests, Prophets and other religious figures that hold the power on Hieros. 
 
All of this was before the Cicatrix Maledictum, on Hieros known by many names, chiefly The Dark Seal said to herald the End Times. The world was cut off from the Imperium of Man like many others and suffered for generations, ravaged by daemonic incursions and famine as it lacked the industry to feed itself, untold millions died. When the blessed Light of the Emperor reached them oncemore the Imperial forces found them in the midst of a civil war against the heretic. It was swiftly crushed and an official envoy of the Adeptus Ministorum has been put in place as the head of the world's myriad of cults and temples. An impossible position for they are endless.
 
In such trying times prophets, saviors and saints, all unrecognized by the Ecclesiarchy, rose up to prominence and founded various cults in the name of the God-Emperor. Their pratices are as varied as they obscure, rituals and wards to drive off the daemon praticed on every corner in the wake of the Time of Weeping Skies. Many of them militias and gangs as much as religious congregations, forced together to defend themselves and strengthen their convictions.
 
Yet rumor persists that not all heresy was stamped out when the world was returned to the Imperial fold and Inquisitor Regulus has been dispatched to learn the truth of it. Having arrived mere months past the Inquisitor swiftly made his home at the Imperial Citadel, the home of Duke Dalerius together with his abomiable band of criminals and heathens.
 
In the shadow of temples the purge of Hieros begins.
 
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Welcome to my narrative hobby project for Warhammer 40.000 inspired by the many great ones seen around B&C and elsewhere. This will follow Inquisitor Regulus's mission to seperate cult from heresy and stamp out the lingering taint of maleficarum left from generations lost to the Imperium.

 

 

I imagine Hieros as a great sprawling landscape of cathedrals, churches, temples of various shapes and forms both familiar and exotic. A place filled with strange faith, all proclaiming themselves to the Emperor but obscure and foreign to the  Ecclesiarchy. How does one weed the righteous from the heretic? A task left to the High Priest and the Inquisitor. The cults themselves in their endless numbers declare religious war on eachother constantly and the cities of the planet are prone to conflict. Many of the once great wonders have been ruined and left to decay over the last generation as depseration and starvation drove many a citizen to flock elsewhere. 

 

My hope is to be able to create fun and intresting miniatures to depict the various strange cults and groups found on Hieros and get to play with the many forms that the Imperial faith may take, especially after the dark times following the Great Rift and generations long seperation from the Imperium. 
 
The first miniature to present will be Sir William Marshal, one of many enforcers found in the employ of Inquisitor Regulus.

 

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Sir William has become a known figure amongst the priesthoods of Hieros since the arrival of the Inquisitor. Mere days after making landfall he breached the gates of The House of Sterling Star at the head of a regiment of Ducal Guards and burned it to the ground with every soul inside. Since that night his sudden appearance has become synonym with the Inquisitor's judgement, despite this he has grown to be one of the more public faces of Regulus' retinue, his affluent past making him right at home with the religious elite of the planet. As keen to placate and spoil him in the hopes of earning favour with his master as they are afraid of him looking into their affairs, for no man is without transgressions.

 

A warrior cherub is his constant companion, some claim it to be tied to the Inquisitor. Whispering orders and serving as his eyes and ears beyond the walls of the Imperial Citadel. By what has been gleamed during the banquets and rites he has attended the rumours makes him the lost or banished scion of a Knight House of unknown renown. What, if this is true, has found him in service to the Inquisition is unknown.

 
 

Edited February 26, 2022 by Torbenos

[Brother Dallo]

Looks like a very strong start. I'll be following this project with interest.

 

Keep up the good work.

 

Dallo

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The model looks great! The backstory you wrote is impressively detailed, and shows grand ambitions for worldbuilding; you must take care these ambitions don't go too wild, or the world you built will collapse under their weight (see J. J. Abrams' works to understand the consequences of poor worldbuilding).

[Boytoy]

your setting sounds amazing. im intrigued to see what your inquisitor's retinue will look like.

also, your art choices are spot on. where did you find them?

[Ryltar Thamior]

Nice writeup, nice miniature, nice art, nice vibe. 

Will be looking to see wehre this goes :D 

[hushrong]

Great start to a new project! Hieros sounds like a place loaded with intrigue and I look forward to seeing who else you build up from this back ground!

[Torbenos]

Brother Dallo: I am glad you liked it, I was hoping to be able to come up with something that allows me a lot of creative freedom while still fitting quite well into the Warhammer narrative and I've always found the malleability of the Imperial Cults intresting. The line between faith and heresy is a thin one and one decided upon by the whims of the powerful.

 

Bjorn Firewalker: Ha! I'll endeavour to not run into such traps. In truth I am hoping to manage a style that leaves a lot to mystery, it is afterall a world and a society which has been left in the dark and much is unknown about them. Even the things written down by the Chroniclers may not be true anymore, if they ever were.

 

Boytoy: High praise, hopefully I'll manage to maintain such good impressions through out most of this. As for the art it's simply some appropiate googling, sci-fi church art, sci-fi temple art and so on will get you quite far. But it is a spesific aesthetic which I am looking for which I may run out of at some point. We'll see!

 

Ryltar Thamior: Thank you for the kind words. Hopefully it'll be going somewhere well! My painting skills aren't quite up to scrap compared to many such wonderful projects which we see around here. But I am hoping to be able to contribute some fun conversions and a little story to this little reclaimed world of real-space.

 

Hushrong: Intrigue, espionage, dark ritual and foul heresy! Although perhaps not in that order. I looked over at your Black Legion thread earlier today and it is excellent and inspirational. I am still quite new at the dangers and wonders of chopping and glueing together pieces that were not meant to so yours and many like it are excellent for ideas and references.

 

My problem so far is one which I have had before and that is how to make a model feel suitably Warhammer 40.000 when a lot of my base pieces are taken from the Fantasy range.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Torbenos

[hushrong]

Intrigue, espionage, dark ritual, and foul heresy sounds like a good time. If you are really looking for some cool conversion work I would highly recommend Vairocanum and Krautscientist's logs. They have been steadily putting out some awesome conversions. Another one to check out is lamby's log too. There are many more out there but those are the top three that come to mind that have an inq28 background.

 

The new guy is also looking good. I say him having an auto-slugger definitely makes him 40k. I think stuff like bionics would definitely set the two realms apart. Imagine if that guy had one of the small 'servo' arms from the adeptus mechanicus kataphron set. Maybe some 40k pouches and grenades could work too. There is a plethora of bits to be used but the more I think about it, the style for a lot of fantasy just works well with 40k.

[Torbenos]

Verus
Vat-Grown Enforcer

 

 

 

 

 

++++5143M42++Hieros++Pietrun+House of Pyres++++

 

It was with a pit in his stomach that the young man pressed the code to open door, 13-56-88. With a faint hiss the metal slid to the side opening the way into the House of Pyres. Before them was a dark hallway, the odd flourescent light every ten feet or so marking the way. Looking over his shoulder he only saw the hulking frame and that one eye, the bionic gleaming red like the gaze of some infernal spirit. 

 

"W-Will that be all, my lord?" he stammered, hoping that this was as far as they would take him. He had been snatched up by the Ducal Guard a few days before only to be convinced to open this door, somehow they had known he had gotten it from his cousin. He had only been to the House once before, when he was invited to the rite of joining.

 

"No." the man said before he prodded him in the back with the butt of that enourmus rifle he wielded, painted stark red, like blood and he staggered forward. The boy didn't know anything about him other than he served Inquisitor Regulus and that he was bound to do anything he said or be branded a heretic. So he showed the way through the hall, the giant had barely spoken all this time and at first he had thought him an it, some mind-addled servitor bearing a message, but that was before he saw the weapon.

 

A left turn, a right, for awhile he feared he might have forgotten the way. It was a maze here with the smoke of ashes and burnt flesh lingering in the air. They passed several alcoves filled with the urns of the dead and doors from beyond they could hear the soft chanting of the priests. But they kept on, until they reached the gate to the inner sanctum. He knew the High Priest and his many blessed daughters dwelled within, he also knew they were not his daughters.

 

The gate was not locked, merely marked with holy scripture to ward off the daemonic and the wicked. For no human soul would dare to intrude upon the High Priest in the very House of Pyres. The giant pushed it open with ease and the boy saw the High Priest, an old man clad in a satin robe lying on a bed sorrounded by beautiful women in various degrees of undress and intoxication. He only had a moment to see the fear in the old man's eyes before the gate slammed shut and he heard the lock turn.

 

And then, after a few seconds, the first blast.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Torbenos

[hushrong]

Great fluff and another great mini!

[Torbenos]

 

 

Hidden Content

 
 
 
++++5143M42++Hieros++Pietrun++Imperial Citadel++++
 
Lieutenant Garnon Larassian was outraged as he read the short document upon the data-slate which ordered him to turn over command of the Ducal Guard to the man before him. It was a disgrace and offense to their traditions, the guard itself almost as old as the position of Duke. But the glaring seal of the Duke down in the corner brokered no argument as to the validity of this order.
 
"And who are you, Sir?" he finally asked through gritted teeth. The man infront of him was clad in the dark green carapace of a Scion regiment, ornate and high-tech with his face hidden behind a fully sealed atmospherical mask and helm. It was a needless question, of course, the data-slate had informed him that it was to Specialist Varian Furon that he would turn over command. The remark was merely pointed, as if to put attention upon the fact noone on this world knew who this man was.
 
"Varian." there was a faint crackling sound to his voice as it came through the vox of his helmet. "I will require your men gathered at sixteen hours to be adressed, Lieutenant. There will be some regimental changes." his tone curt and direct, if he felt any amusement as the Lieutenant's disgruntled expression he did not show it. "Changes." Garnon demanded "Of what nature? Our purpose is an ancient one, Sir. It is our sacred duty to watch over the Imperial Citadel and My Grace Dalerius, as you are well aware." Surely not even the Inquisitor could demand such ancient traditions to be tossed aside at a whim.
 
"Times are changing, Lieutenant. Best get with the program." Varian noted, his tone firm. "The Order of the Sterling Star was declared Hereticus Traitoris and your regiment has been commandeered by Inquisitorial decree to execute the sentence. At sixteen hours." for a moment Garnon stood baffled and that was enough for the Scion to decide this conversation was over as he turned to walk away.
 
This was prepostreous, the Duke did not involve himself with the politics of the cults, and for good reason. 
 
++++5143M42++Hieros++Pietrun++Imperial Citadel++++
 
A rather basic conversion for this one, just a weaponswap for a Scion from Hotshot Lasgun to a boltgun. Will have a small number of Inquisitorial Stormtroopers in service to Regulus. Also started playing with using my leather jacket as a better backdrop for pictures, although I am still learning how to get the phone to focus properly. In a week or so I should have a cathedral piece which might allow some fun games and/or pictures. Edited May 20, 2018 by Torbenos

[Torbenos]

I've been finding the variation of this project more appealing than the uniform nature of my Ultramarines recently. My second ETL vow (a Land Raider among other things) sits staring at me on the desk. But I've put some paint to the Stormtrooper above.
 

Edited October 12, 2018 by Torbenos

[Torbenos]

Virgil the Pilgrim

 

 

As is befitting an Inquisitor of the Ordo Hereticus Inquisitor Regulus maintains not only men of violence in his retinue but also men of faith, and few have suffered more for theirs than the twisted wretch known as Virgil. The son to pilgrims it is often said he has not had a home, but is driven by a holy purpose to set foot upon the soil of Holy Terra, a divine purpose which was given to his great-great-grandfather who was the first to set out upon their holy quest. In a gilded container upon his back he carries the bones and ash of his ancestors who failed to reach the sacred world, in the hopes that they will be forgiven and brought into the Emperor's light should he succeed where they were found unworthy.

 

Among those that travel with Regulus in these dark times Virgil is said to have served the longest. Few claim to know how they came into contact but Virgil makes no secret of the fact that the Inquisitor has promised him passage to Holy Terra in exchange for his zealous service, and the fact nearly half a century has passed without them having grown closer to the heart of the Empire has not dulled his zeal. A veteran of countless battles against the cultist and heretic he lost his eye and much of his face to the abominable claws of a mutant a number of years ago during the Culling of Strathaven. Not a warrior by birth experience has forged a simple man into something dangerous and unstable, his only desire that most holy and the will of his master.

Edited February 26, 2022 by Torbenos

[Torbenos]

The forever required if basic addition to a retinue.

 

[Torbenos]

[Torbenos]

Thaddeus

Preacher of the Imperial Creed

 

 

 

 

 

Thaddeus is a man of faith born from the blessed spires of Hieros itself. Having emerged from the Dark Nights with his beliefs only tempered by battle against the terrors that prey upon blessed mankind he was one of the first of the holy men to submit to Inquisitor Regulus upon the presentation of the inquisitorial decree. Many did not trust these warriors that came down claiming rule over their creeds, many more were unwilling to relinquish the power they had made their own in the chaos of a generation lost to darkness.

 

Thaddeus however, a preacher of the Cult of Saint Odilia was quick to bend a knee to the Imperium oncemore, some claiming out of true conviction while others in hindsight say be but bet on the right horse. In the months since Thaddeus has come to earn a prestigious if perilous role as Regulus' advisor and guide through the byzantine corridors and codes of the  cults and creds of Hieros. The Cult of Saint Odilia, largely for this was the first of the native churches to be granted an official approval by the Inquisitor and deemed wholly within the confines of the Imperial Creed.

 

 

 

A little group shot, I think they're starting to become a neat little band. Trying to be a bit more original in my hobbying has been a fun and rewarding exerience.

Edited October 15, 2018 by Torbenos

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent work. Is this a regimental standard bearer, or a Ministorum priest bearing a reliquary?

[Torbenos]

 

Excellent work. Is this a regimental standard bearer, or a Ministorum priest bearing a reliquary?

 

 

 

A priest carrying a relic in this case!

 

Threw together a fanatic militia fellow with an easy headswap. Pretty basic as I get back into things.

 

[Torbenos]

Dug out some servitors from the Techmarine kit to paint up as they fit in well in most urban envrioments.

 

 

 

Also did the finishing touches on the first Inquisitorial Stormtrooper for the retinue.

 

 

 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

The storm trooper looks good.

[General Strike]

Nice, what bolter did you use for the storm trooper?

[Torbenos]

Nice, what bolter did you use for the storm trooper?

 

It's a Space Marine Scout bolter. I had a few leftover from making my CCW scouts.

[Torbenos]

Got a little surge of inspiration after having finally finished the first stormtrooper so threw a few more together.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

[Vazzy]

Nice! They're simple conversions but they convey a lot of character! The bolters really work well!

[Torbenos]

 

"We are just bad code. But look at the thing you've built .. it's beautiful.. rational.. intelligent. By design."

 

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

++++5143M42++Hieros++Volka++Factorum Omnicrom++++

 

++Factorum Omnicrom Shipment++DELAYED++3TSM++

 

++Factorum Omnicrom++COMMUNICATIONS++DARK++1TSM++

 

++Factorum Omnicrom++ENFORCERS DISPATCHED++

 

+++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++++

 

The pit was packed. It had always been packed, pushed together between the many manufactory lines. The deafening hammering and whirring of machinery relentless. And now it was silent, and Vayek found it almost eerie where he stood, packed shoulder to shoulder with his crew, one among thousands. Their usual guards had been replaced by new, stranger figures. Clad in red robes and their visages hidden behind cycloptic helmets. Vayek even doubted they were human, a fine whirring sound emitting from them whenever they came close. But there was no mistaking the rifles they carried as they stood sentry up along the walkways, easily scores of them spread around the workers.

 

They had come suddenly less than an hour ago and swiftly taken control of the factorum, halting the machines and shooting the guards dead. The Overseer himself, or rather the carcass which remained had been strung up in the air with metal wires for all to see. His cybernetics strangely missing leaving big gaping holes in the man’s body. No sorrow was felt for him however, all too many having lost their own limbs or worse during the dangerous work in the pit. For nearly an hour now they had stood silent, waiting. Some afraid, were these people here to kill them all? Blow up the plant? Some suggested they were sent by the Church of Man’s Corpus who had long been feuding with the Director whose strange faith in some machine god stood at odds with their and many cults’ beliefs. Meanwhile others could hardly foster the will to fear, their spirit since long broken under the guards’ boots.

 

The factorum comms crackled suddenly, the noise sharp and painful to the ears. It having been adjusted to be heard over the deafening sounds of the machines. A few seconds later it was adjusted and the voice behind it spoke in a strange metallic tone suggesting some manner of cybernetic voice module.

 

“Workers of Factorum Omnicrom. You have been delivered from your false masters. The perversions of your work halted.”

 

That only earned strange looks from the wide eyed filthy masses gathered beneath the glowing eyes of the armed figures.

 

“We will move forward with truth and purpose. Even now the soul of your charges cry out for purity. Your work will be put on the path of sacred data, Your flesh is weak. We know it. But in your sacrifice the Core shall be awakened.”

 

Edited February 13, 2019 by Torbenos