Vox Stellarum: Hara Barazaiti

[Master Umbra]

[...]

 

Also, since you are a linguist - you may find  this short-story I wrote a few months ago for one of the Haunting Harii of Hvergelmir to be of interest. It also features a linguist (sort-of), as well as the deployment of linguistic analysis in what we would, in Nordic circles of a thousand years ago, refer to as 'The Skald's Game'. 

 

[...]

And I did! I reassert my liking for your writings. It was such an interesting read! TBH, I've read way worse bits in BL publications. I wish I could come up with something like that for my spooky boys! Congrats!

[Zebulon]

You know, reading all your thoughts and influences I find myself inspired to give another go to writing up a new DIY chapter, with the benefit of what I have learned since the first one back in 2011. This time I will focus on more obscure classical knowledge and make my references more oblique, in the hope that by so doing I may better serve the cause of lore.

 

Re: Nemrut. It seems likely to me, but it depends somewhat on whether the original script is a syllabary (like Hebrew for example) and therefore whether it would have originally been written NMRT and the vowels filled in with a lack of certainty at some intervening time.

 

Edit: PS: yes I did notice your use of “Adrastus” :tu:

 

Edit edit: having found and read back through my old IA, it wasn’t *that* bad really. Not a patch on your writings, but it was okay. If you have the time and inclination, do feel free to take a look: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/233068-ia-storm-gauntlets/

Edited September 10, 2020 by Zebulon

[Ryltar Thamior]

See, if I can get more people doing more fluffcrafting etc. - I'll be pretty pleased :D 

It's something I used to really like doing back in the day (this is going back ten, twelve years now when I was still over on Warseer) - taking a read through well-crafted army logs that brought together modelling and writing as a real 'project' .. a window and a perspective in on another time, another world. 

There's still a few ventures that do this on here, but a lot of the guys who used to write like that seem to have wound up otherwise engaged or reaped by life :/ 

Happens to the best of us. 

EdT's *excellent* Horus Heresy Kill Teams thread is one example, the Hyenidae & BCK effort from awhile back is another. The Observer has also done a fair few around the place. 

Now in terms of advice - apparently for both of you - what I would say is that we often go about these things in *exactly* the wrong way. We start big when we should start small. We try and do Index Astartes articles. And that's a fairly *big* mountain to climb, even if it's a relatively short article. 

I dropped out on that when I was attempting to do one for the Ayasa BhutaGana [my 30k loyalist Iron Warriors] in the run-up to the Liber Challenge this year. Just wasn't up to actually doing the full-scale thing to a quality I was happy with. Partially because I was attempting to interject not only an 'authentic' sense of fluff for a band of Unification Wars veterans from Nepal / Gandhara etc. with added mythoreligious characteristics ... but also integrate war-lessons drawn from some slightly obscure battles of the Serbian Army in WWI as part of the set-up for why they were offiside with Perturabo and the legion hierarchy, condemned to fight in Mk.VI armour. It was a bit much to do all at once. 

We often forget that with the *actual* Index Astartes articles from days of yore (and I think I still have those *glorious* White Dwarf issues from ... nearly twenty years ago!) , the fluff often didn't just ... get done by various writers of those articles all at once. They brought together *another* decade's worth of previous fluff development ... they went from a whole lot of general ideas already in circulation to a much more specific presentation thereof. 

Now if I'd sat down and tried to do a thing for the Unyielding Adamanticores all up ... it'd look almost totally different, and almost certainly less 'resonant' , if I'd just written it all out of my head two years ago. Instead, I let it organically 'develop', piece by piece - and now I'm sharing a few pieces here and there. 

Similar approach may work for others. And maybe not with the two year 'marination' process :P - the Haunting Harii of Hvergelmir I managed to bring together the various elements that would eventually go into the finalized 'vision' *real* quick. And use that 'teaser' approach of a few quotes from both established 40k lore , and some stuff I'd happened across in the course of my research, while I got the 'feel' right and the actual details almost started filling themselves into place from there. 



 

 

[...]
 

Also, since you are a linguist - you may find  this short-story I wrote a few months ago for one of the Haunting Harii of Hvergelmir to be of interest. It also features a linguist (sort-of), as well as the deployment of linguistic analysis in what we would, in Nordic circles of a thousand years ago, refer to as 'The Skald's Game'. 
 

[...]

And I did! I reassert my liking for your writings. It was such an interesting read! TBH, I've read way worse bits in BL publications. I wish I could come up with something like that for my spooky boys! Congrats!

 

 

Legit :D - thanks again for kind words. See above for a few thoughts that may be relevant. You've got a huge talent for modelling , I took a look through your thread again last night and there's some really cool conversion work in there. Definitely deserves a comparable fluff treatment. 

Sing out if you want a hand. 

 

You know, reading all your thoughts and influences I find myself inspired to give another go to writing up a new DIY chapter, with the benefit of what I have learned since the first one back in 2011. This time I will focus on more obscure classical knowledge and make my references more oblique, in the hope that by so doing I may better serve the cause of lore.

Re: Nemrut. It seems likely to me, but it depends somewhat on whether the original script is a syllabary (like Hebrew for example) and therefore whether it would have originally been written NMRT and the vowels filled in with a lack of certainty at some intervening time.

Edit: PS: yes I did notice your use of “Adrastus”

Edit edit: having found and read back through my old IA, it wasn’t *that* bad really. Not a patch on your writings, but it was okay. If you have the time and inclination, do feel free to take a look: http://www.bolterandchainsword.com/topic/233068-ia-storm-gauntlets/

Legit - that's what we like to hear :D I took a look over your Index Astartes - wasn't bad. Although I can see what you meant about some of hte more 'overt' referencing. Like I say - start small, bring things together , then weave a tapestry from internally cohesive elements (ones that because you've repeated stuff start to sound more 'natural'. We might think that a scattered occasional namedropping of X Classical Place/Figure sounds like ... that ... but you do it half a dozen times in the course of an interlinked series, it starts sounding a lot more 'natural' - c.f how we now think of Valhalla. Could sound cliche ... but nope, we're all just like "oh, the frozen planet with the Guard regiment") , might be one way to go about it. 

I get what you were going for with the Sons of Aeolus vibe ... and amusingly, this runs smack into research I'd been doing that cropped up in relation to ... stuff relevant for this log. Specifically around a rather fragmentary set of references in ... drat I forget the ancient source. Might be Pliny - but *somebody* effectively had Boreas as fathering either two or three sons that formed a ruling or priestly caste for the Hyperboreans. Boreas also iirc fathered some *really goes fast* horses (a common theme for a Sky Father deific in a way - Poseidon fathers Arion with Demeter in such a manner, linking to a Hindu instance that I'm ... probably going to write an article on this evening now) 

Sing out if you want a hand. 

Now in terms of Nemrut ... the question would be how it entered into modern Turkish. It may simply be a direct calque from the Semitic languages - probably Arabic or something related thereto. I'm  not equipped to do Turkish linguistics or lexical work to determine if there's an independent standalone meaning for it other than the Biblical figure :P Although it's *also* worth noting that we're typing in English. And Anglicizations being what they are, it's not impossible that in Turkish it's just straight' -up "Nimrod" in pronunciation regardless of how we spell it. 

Oh, and speaking of Turkish linguistics ... good *grief* ... this is now slightly reminding me of what happened when one of the guys from our research institute (and also ane of the Vox Stellarum guys) read Master of Mankind and pointed out the bit at the Sakarya River ... which is hte modern Turksh name ... except I point-blank refused to accept that so spent half an afternoon attempting to find the oldest possible name for it , and then just gave up and calqued Sakarya into Proto-Indo-European [since that is The Emperor's native tongue] - and got somethign like 'Treaty of Unity' ...

Which I've *obliquely* referenced  earlier in this log with the "SakAryans" - although that , i meant somewhat differently, combining the PIE "Skw" as in "Shoot/Skewer" that forms the root of "Saka" / 'Scythian" with "Aryan" ... because rather direct historical reference there. 

ANYWAY. 

I DO actually have some more updates for this log to post a bit later once I've got my work done maybe. 

[Zebulon]

I appreciate your thoughts, advice and encouragement RT. Also, it really does make a big difference when people understand what you’re trying to do (cf. Sons of Aeolus). I definitely got excited by the thoughts that I was spinning together, but if I had taken a more narrative approach in the first instance that might have helped my ideas coalesce better.

 

I have read a lot more fluff (both canon and fan-generated) in the nine years since my adult return to the hobby and since that attempt at an IA. On the other hand, I haven’t written much creatively since. I think it could be time to give it another go, if I can find the time. I appreciate the offer of a hand, for sure.

[Ryltar Thamior]

The Manyu & The Ash-Clad



Grief manifests differently across the broad spectrum of humanity. Some mask it by taking it inward alone. Others don the mask of the Avenger - seeking to strike out with erinyeic fury upon those who inflicted the egregious loss to begin with. Still others come to a torpid form of acceptance of its burden, wherein the realities of their newfound existence slowly corrode away at their sense of self and purpose from the outside down through their skin. 

In many ways, the Adamantine Spoil has never recovered from the fall of Adamantia. Its culture still inwardly laments the previous great days of the Adamantine height - even if outwardly many have seemingly moved on and adapted and adjusted to their incipient lives as Men Amidst The Ruins. 

However despite the insouciantly determined efforts of the foreigner merkant houses to instill a sense of vigour in their now-colonial subjects, the better to inspire them to recreate the former glory that was the Spoil so that it might be financially leveraged for private gain ... there are always those who both cannot and will not let go of the Past. Even after some four millennia or more since Adamantia's great Fall. 

Some of these go further than others - transcending the more usual trajectories along the pathways of devotion 'midst the Adamantine Old Faith to become Zealots of various kinds. Eager 'revanchist' reclaimers of the Past and re-immanentizers of this aching vision into the present. Or roaring lamenters whose solution to being unable to let go of history is to enfold themselves in its cloak and thence reach out to grasp from the night the necks of those who once and would again lay them low. 

Two such orders who have begun reappearing in ever-escalating numbers not seen since the Verethragnan Wars in the centuries following the Fall, are the Manyu and the Ash-Clad. 

The Manyu



'Manyu' is a fascinating term in Old Adamantine - it simultaneously connotes a 'spirit' or a 'mind' (with which it is etymologically linked), as well as the 'active expressions' thereof. In the latter case, most usually in aggressive, negative form. It is 'wrath' and it is 'sorrow' - yet it is also 'piety' and 'zeal'. Such are the intricacies of the Adamantine Old Tongue. 



More intriguingly, it also connotes a veer-y specific form of destroyer-spirit in the Adamantine Old Faith. A Facing of the Spear-Lord Who takes the field when situations are at their direst, inspiring and imparting His power to the Adamantine war-host; and overtly terrifying any who might seek to stand against Him. 



The Manyu, therefore, take as their inspiration exactly this fearsomely formidable figure - both seeking to emulate His terrific impact upon the enemy, as well as His stirring-up of 'spirit' amidst those assembled in active-defence of the glorious Adamantine past. In this context, the Manyu referring also to the 'War-Mask' and its accompanying psycho-metaphysical state of investment wherein the Devotee becomes almost akin to those baelful spirits from Adamantine legends whose faces and facets they have drawn in. 



Upon the battlefield, they often take the role of commanders or shock-troopers; their specialization revealed partially by the choice of frightful visage which their War-Mask seeks to evoke. Through their strength of fate, faith and zeal they often seem almost superhuman in their proficiency, implacable in their advance, and impervious to the travails of doubt and shrapnel that might otherwise lay a lesser believer low. 

The Ash-Clad



The Ash-Clad are an order of renunciate warrior-mystics, so named for their practice of going into combat their skins slathered with the white ash of dead burned worlds and shattered memories. 

During the course of the Scouring of Adamantia, countless thousands of settlements, shrines, and clans were consigned to the charring expurgation of the Ekpyrosis Edict. The intent of those who sought to inflict such all-enveloping iconoclastic incineration upon Adamantia was that it should be burned down in spirit as well as in physical form. The heritage, culture, and mindset that had previously flourished there - and enabled Adamantia's flourishing in return - be reduced to ash upon the wind, never to rise again. 

And yet ash has ever proven more-than-ample fertilizer given time, and even the Old Adamantine for such products of devastation - Vibhuti - connotes also the congealment of a hidden power. 



The Ash-Clad are often thought of as those who have become so overcome with the heavy-weighing sense of their ancestors' grief-fueled mourning as to have left their lives behind for dwindling spans of turgid nihilism. And yet, almost the exact opposite is in fact true. 

Rather than renouncing their existences to dwell but dimly amidst the literal ashes of the past, they see their role as having eschewed their former identities in order to more fully immerse themselves in the Great Sacrifice that was and yet is Adamantia. To give voice and tangible, physical form to the Past - and thusly in so doing, to promulgate the opportunities for the future re-growth and re-vitalization of What Had Gone Before. Making overt, where possible and where justifiably necessary, that 'hidden power' which lies within the Ashes - and demonstrating that even in the literal charnal clouds of erstwile-forgotten memory, there yet lingers Hope. 



According to their creed, it is a difficult thing indeed to kill something which no longer has tangible existence - and which was mind-borne to begin with. All that can be done is kill the bearer. Not the thing itself. Adamantia Aeternia - The Sanatanadamantia - shall once more rise triumphant, re-immanentized, when the time is right. The Ashen-Clad shall ENSURE it is so ! 

Upon the battlefield, the Ash-Clad put to use skills often honed in previous lives of military duty, yet also marry this with the mystical facility afforded to them by their unquenchable faith in the power of their homeland. They are, after all, swathed and protected in Her Native Earth - the stuff, carbonized, of which the hardest Diamonds (Vajra - a term that can mean both Adamantium, and Diamond, and Thunderbolt, Weapon of the Gods ... for such the most gifted amongst them also see themselves as) is made. 

They often go into combat barefoot, reasoning that the closer their rootedness to the soil or deck-plating of their home (for even the decks of ships of the Spoil are often made from the metal sprung from stars and subterranean excavations also native thereto) - the greater their stability and empowerment from the Great Goddess Adamantia Herself to be. Similarly, their chests are bare , to signify that they have little to hide and nothing to fear - acting, themselves, as the armour of the Adamantine Dream of Resurrection, and placing their faith in the Ash of the Hearthworlds to protect them from harm. 

Prayer-ribbons and windings are often about their arms, bearing litanies of devotion and powerfully empowering vengeance ; whilst what little armour plating they permit themselves (often about the neck and shoulders only) is Adamantine Bronze in hue to recall the former Lords of Adamantia and Their martial-mortal auxilia, faithful even unto death. It is believed that continuing to wear such even 'midst the repressive clime of the Spoil in M42 is an act of courage - a nonchalant, yet pointed demonstration to whomever might happen to espy it and recognize the colour, that Adamantia yet lives ... even piecemeal an existence though it may be. 

The plates also form another purpose - should the protection of the Ash and other wardings fail him, and he find himself blown apart by blast or roiling plasma flare, all but the most mighty of energy discharges shall fail to sunder these completely. So there shall always be some measure of non-ashen remnants of the Renunciate-Revenant in question - the better to be recognized for his deeds when he attains the Afterlife of the Glorious/Ancestral Dead to sit alongside the Great Lords to whom He has given his life (and thence his second life also) in trenchant service. Chains about their torsos or even arms signify their Eternal Duty to the Realm, and the irreducibly interlinked comradeship of their order and people from lowest to highest, and from which 'liberation' would surely mean death. 



In addition to their ceremonial daggers of various forms and provenance , each Ashen-Clad also carries somewhere about his person a train of devotional scripture. For some, this is housed in the wrappings upon the arm; for others, it is tattoed physically upon their person, somehow shining through the White-Grey Ash. It may take the  form of engravings upon their weapons, metallum-parchment seals , or rare elements of Adamantine jewelry bearing the Runic or otherwise Sacred ligatures of the holy writ. 

For the more devout amongst them, it shall be all of these things; and frequently, a purple or adamantine-bronze book carried prominently at the waist , a half-eagle device upon the cover and a chain further link-aging the reliquary of religious recording to the Chains of Duty which rustle and jink about their torso. 

The purpose of this is dual-fold - to further strengthen their battlefield role as priests and chaplains of the Adamantine Old Faith when called upon; as well as to ensure that their person is armed and armoured not only via the rags, plating, and Ash together with whatever weapons they may happen to have conjured from the aether of discarded armourials that still dot the Spoil ... but also with the veer-y Heritage of which they are sworn to both embody and to promulgate and protect. 

As they themselves say, they are Twice-Wrmed when they Fight With Faith. 

[Zebulon]

A fine representation of an avenging Fury, and the ash spawn is well thought through, too. Funnily enough a good friend of mine wrote his thesis on the Stoics and ekpyrosis...

[Master Umbra]

Out of the two, the Manyu is my fav, what a kickass lady. The ashen one looks quite nice as well, with part of his background reminding me of God of War (I know this might feel like downgrading your awesome writing...). In any case, it never ceases to wonder how much creativity you put in these. Amazing stuff!

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Excellent works. I especially appreciate the effort you put in the Manyu. Is her name "Grail-kun"?

[Ryltar Thamior]

I thank you all, once more, for the kind words.

And, by way of footnoting slash me explaining that I'm actually drawing from my theological work once more ...

... if you were wondering where the name and much of the concept for The Manyu came from - there's this rather lengthy article I wrote a few months ago. Although I have, as per usual, engaged in a logical 'extension' of the concept in a few areas. 

And yes, *great* miniature! I'm genuinely surprised how well she came together - it's one of the Abyssal Cultists from the Blackstone Fortress range, but de-chaosified. I was worried that even despite the absence of heretic-starbursts they overall aesthetic would remain too anti-imperial. But I think I've managed to 'justify' what remains , and them purity seals and subtle Aquila pendants should also leave none in doubt as to her ultimate loyalties.

Except for the various outlander merkant houses attempting to vilify those opposed to them, of course.

As for the Ash-Clad ... well, for some reason when i was painting the miniature up, who was always intended to be a more hardcore Adamantine Old Faith devotee , I went with a light grey patina. I think I may have been intentionally attempting to imitate what you will find various Hindu Sadhus [somewhat coterminous in role with Sannyasins - Renunciates] daubed in - which is, of course, Vibhuti ['Holy Ash'] , so once again, I took something that already exists and which I have written upon, and 'extended' the concept to apply to what had happened in Adamantia. With, of course, appropriate linguistics to match - Vajra does indeed come to mean 'Diamond' in later linguistic development, and is a conceptual doublet for 'Adamantium' [c.f here for a perhaps interesting explication of how we know that with regard to the Harpe 'sword' of Perseus and occasionally Kronus ]. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

The Worlds of the Adamantine Spoil are places where the Past often sleeps unquietly. Especially when it has been actively disturbed by those who do not know, who would seek to know - and therefore cannot perhaps be expected to know better. 

However, upon some occasions when teams of interlopers seek to intrude upon the sanctity of the sepulchral spheres - the resistance they are met with is of a far more contemporary nature. 

This coin was recovered during the disastrous retreat from Chayapur - an abortive incursion upon the sepulchral spheres attempted by Yavanite mercenaries acting in the employ of an envious Darian lord. Had the operation gone to plan, the Yavanites would have followed the guidance of a captured Old Adamantine Gravespeaker's mind-snatched memories to a hidden cache of hoped-for loot - a barrow-bunker featuring the stasis-preserved armaments and accouterments of the Revanta Brigade. 

Once the facility had been located and secured from threats both internal and wild-wandering, a merkant-house assayer-team would be deployed to begin the 'recovery' of the treasures lying idly there within.   

As it was, the raid swiftly turned into a rout. 

Details of what had transpired there were adjudged to be unreliable in the extreme, and a likely result of severe battlefield stress or some form of psychic disruption. Survivors reported being fired upon from multiple, improbable angles - raven-featured revenants suddenly looming from shadows only to thence dissolve away into darkness just as quickly; dedicated pursuits and enhanced augury-scopes revealing only solid walls where surely they should have come from. 

Yet these were not the elements which cast the testimony of the survivors into such disrepute - for all of the aforementioned had been broadly substantiated via guncam footage and the unblinking-eyed omnisight of the reconnaissance servo-skulls sent in with the Yavanite soldiery by their masters. 

Rather, it was the repeated insistence by those who had returned that they felt they were being 'herded' and deliberately allowed to fight their way out from ambush after ambush, all the way back to their landers. For what possible reason could such tenacious and seemingly implacable dead-defenders of a tomb supposed to be long-forgotten have for letting its would-be desecrators flee? 

Especially bearing the stasis-bier of a single former incumbent of the Tomb, ripped in haste from one of its atrial walls just as the successful prosecution of the original mission brief was ruled non-viable. 

However, it was the bier and its contents that ultimately propelled both the operation and its outcomings from mere inexplicability through to outright debacle. And from thence, further, to poignant tragedy for at least some of those involved at its inception. 

No sooner had the bier been transported into orbit and brought aboard the Darian vessel which had carried both mercenary and mercantile-scientist alike to this dead-end world, than the hungry eyes and hands of the Assayers were upon it.  

Eager to examine their prize, the newfound possessors of the Revanta's remains deactivated the bier's containment-field and began the find's disassembly. They had been hopeful of a far greater haul, yet nevertheless held out hope that this single preserved warrior, laid out in state in his ancient armour and panoply of war, could provide sufficient wonders to justify the cost of the expedition mounted to get him. Or, at the very least, contain adequate quotients of trinketry and precious Old Adamantine artefacts of enviable workmanship to flog upon the antiquities market to bored nobles for quick treasure. 

At first, the prospects seemed somewhat remote but not entirely foregone. Initial, visual inspection confirmed that the corpse in question bore all the exterior hallmarks of a Revanta in funerary repose. His armour appeared commensurate with the style of a noble burial of the relevant period, and it was even hoped that his wargear might conceal some of the exotic functionary for which the Guhyakas were justly famed. 

Spectrometry readings, however, were initial cause for bafflement - as they appeared to indicate that the metals in question were of far too recent a forging, even accounting for the stasis-gap; and were in any case of the wrong minute variations in elemental composition to have come from the known worlds of the Spoil. 

Further and more intrusive analysis revealed that the armour in question was not even a semi-functional ceremonial warsuit - merely a veneer of one, in the manner of a theatrical prop for a corpse that is supposed to lie unmoving as part of the set-dressing. This was held to be a bitter disappointment, although perhaps not entirely unexpected with the benefit of hindsight. At the stage of Adamantine history when the Barrow had been sealed, even ceremonial armour would have been in short supply due to the hard-pressed defensive needs of the realm. 

But worse was yet to come. 

Archaeogenetic analysis of the body inside the armour suggested quite strongly that the dead young man upon the bier was not of the Revanta at all - indeed, not even of any of the Adamantine peoples on file against whom his samples could be compared. Rather, the closest match appeared to suggest that he was Darian. And of a relatively recent or even contemporary population - several thousand years younger in ultimate origins than should have had any right being in an ancient Adamantine tomb, let alone clad in what had, at first, seemed to be a relic suit of a rare regiment's ancient armour. 

It was not until some time after the return of the Darian vessel and its ill-valued cargo to its now-fated master, the jealous lord who had sent it forth, that the full depth of the unfolding design had became apparent. 

Seeing the face of this assumedly long-dead Adamantine Son with his own eyes, he felt a faint glimmering of recognition begin to stir. He saw something of his own features within the stasis-preserved countenance of the fallen soul. Hearing that the genetics of his now-property confirmed a Darian origination for the specimine, he self-flatteringly pondered the possibility that some errant ancestor of his had somehow managed to inveterate themselves into an elite Adamantine military formation. 

He thusly ordered further genetic testing done, offering sample from his own blood in order to produce the most accurate possible reading of the distance of both years and generations between himself and this dead young man who lay before him. 

He was not prepared for the result - which suggested a generational difference of precisely one, and that the lifeless body afore him to be his own presumptive son. 

"But that's absurd! Even were your tests somehow accurate, I have but one legitimate heir, and he has been off hunting in my estate on the far side of this world for the past eight weeks. I shall summon him forth home so that he, too, may marvel at your analysts' stupidity", said the Darian Lord. 

And so, the Darian Son was summoned home - and so the Lord was duly shocked to hear that his only heir had gone missing some weeks afore.

It was with mounting horror that the Darian Lord began to place things together in his head - and the realization crept upon him like the apocalyptic sun dawning upon the last days of the world. 

Namely, that his son - his only begotten son capable of carrying his legacy forward in time - now lay before him upon a stasis bier. 

And that in his venture to steal the dead sons from Adamantia, their past - his living son of Daria, his future, had been stolen from him in turn. 

Immediately, the Old Adamantine Gravespeaker's cell was made for. The small, highly secured and surely utterly impenetrable from the outside oubliette into which he had been thrown as the tongue-loosening psychotropics and psychic trophics had begun to wear off following his initial interrogation regimen - the same one that had thrown up the visions-of-memories which had shown the riches of Chayapur to begin with and congealed the plan in motion. 

The cell was found to be empty. The raucous laughter which had previously been dismissed as the delirium-induced ravings of a now-ravaged mind still echoed, however. It becoming rather rapidly apparent that the Grave-Speaker had never really been broken at all; nor the Yavanite mercenaries dispatched to search for his recollection of regal reward ever likely to have turned up anything other than this single, solitary stasis-bier with its unwelcomely foreign occupant. 

Foreign to the Revanta, Foreign to Adamantia, and now foreign also to the realm of Life rather than Death. 

In his lamenteous grieving, the Darian lord overlooked one small further trinket - which was eventually spirited away by an Inquisitorial agent who had been distantly monitoring the Adamantine antiquities trade upon the Darian frontier in search of just such an authentic and worrisome find as this. 

It was a small coin. Its message scuffed and faded with the passage of the ages. Forged of bronze Adamantium, and bearing upon it the insignia of a female Gryphon , Her Paw upon the Law-Wheel device , standing watchful sentinel in guard - wings spread, beak razor-rounded, and ears pointed forward to match with keen raptor-eyesight in order to advancedly-detect any attempted incursion into the sacred grounds under Her Domain. 

The message was clear - even if the Darian lord did not manage to appreciate it in its numismatic mechanism of conveyance to him. 

"Vengeance". 

Appropriately, a metallurgic analysis would later reveal that of all the materials recovered upon that stasis-bier, this single small sigil was the only authentic ancient Adamantine artefact amongst them. 

A kernel of the Past , preserved into the Present , protecting a Future. 

[Zebulon]

Ooh I like that a lot... though would it have been cool if the coin had been found placed in the heir’s mouth?!

[Ryltar Thamior]

Figured I should post some more miniatures before I head off on my next bout of worldbuildery and artefact posting ... 

Now, each of these three groups are not my handiwork. Way back towards the start of this project, I handed Umbral a few Necromunda sprues after we had talked about some of the conceptry for Noble Houses and such , and he went to work ... 

I was *supposed* to do fluff-treatments to go with before I posted them - but we'll see those in due time. 

First up ..



These  shall be conceptually linked to the Gelonian Sauromatriae - and the Haunting Harii of Hvergelmir ; 

In a happy ... resonancy [we have that happen often - we throw around concepts, go do them, I dig up something showing we're .. unconsciously picking up on something authentic from history in my area of expertise] , the blue subdermal tattooing is something with some precedency in iirc Herodotus' writing about hte Scythian sphere. 



A Noble House , and also Harii aligned, as you can see via colouration - and the subtle Serpent Staff of the nobleman in the back, a mark of favour from their unseen masters ... 



Dockworkers, in orange high-vis vests - the space-ports of the Pinnacles are, of course, quite bustling; the harpoon is for ensnaring floating cargo that may have come loose .. 

Anyway, hats off to Umbral for all of these , both the building and the painting. 

And regular service may resume shortly. 

 

[Master Umbra]

I somehow forgot to comment on the coin story. It felt a bit Lovecraftian at times! Totally mind-blown at your creativity, really. As for the last update, they look quite cool! Althought the pic editing makes it a bit hard to catch conversion details.

[Ryltar Thamior]

I somehow forgot to comment on the coin story. It felt a bit Lovecraftian at times! Totally mind-blown at your creativity, really. As for the last update, they look quite cool! Althought the pic editing makes it a bit hard to catch conversion details.

Oh wow. High praise, indeed. I have high regard for Lovecraft for his skillful use of ... drat, I am not sure how to put it succinctly. Basically, the sort of stuff which bypasses the prefrontal cortex and hits you directly in the further-back brain - and yet accomplishes this via some quite complicated use of the English language. It has been some years since I actually read any of his prose, but that is an interesting idea to aspire to - because, of course, he managed so well via *not* setting out the actual details to things and making much out of veiled allusion and letting the reader's mind wander in the darkness all by itself. 

 

A scary thing, wandering alone in the dark. Especially when it is in *somebody else's mind* that you are meandering. 

 

Now, as applies the 'coin' piece ... it had not been intended as much more than a paragraph or two. It's just that ... at some point, it started writing itself, and took on a life of it's own. It was just supposed to be a sort of token carried by some Adamantine Dead Stars or Old Faith zealot sorts, recovered by one of the 'outsider' groups like the Inquisition or a nervously watching merchant operation, who would then surmise the meaning of the iconography. But, of course, one thing lead to another at 03:00 in the morning on a Friday/Saturday night. 

 

There are various allusions in there to various mythology, of course - some of which I'll be 'fleshing out' in plastic in the near future. 

 

But in the mean-time, in case anyone's interested and via way of footnoting ... here's the article I wrote on the *actual* coin, a few days prior, that lead to it being in my head to begin with. 

 

---

 

Now, in terms of the photographing ... yeah, fair point. I haven't yet managed to work out how to do group shots of more than three or so miniatures in a way that don't lead to such detail-loss. It probably didn't help that there was full sunlight. 

 

When I come around to actually writing up the backgrounding and situation for these three groups, I'll do individual or smaller-group (2-3 miniatures per photo) shots from a few angles so that things are more visible. 

 

Thank you once again for kind words, on all fronts. 

 

[Ryltar Thamior]

“But grant me, Bhratr, but one prayer:

Now when I here shall die,

My body take to Adi-Ma and there

In Adamantine Stars let me lie!

 

“My Lion's Head with steel-chain band

Upon my heart be placed;

And put my gun into my hand,

My sword gird round my waist!

 

“Then quietly I’ll lie and hark,

A sentry in my tomb,

Till I the Manticore's roaring mark,

And hear the cannon’s boom.

 

“Then when War-Gods ride across my grave,

And swords will be clashing hard:

And armed I’ll rise up from my grave,

Adamantia to guard!”



- Excerpt from 'The Two Grenadiers', traditional Adamantine folk-ballad. 

[Ryltar Thamior]

"Take refuge, king of kings, with They Who Are the Lords of Adi-Mata; for better is the Anger of the Adamanticores than the Blessings of other Gods."

- taken from the 'Testimony of the Wind Lord as to Ancient Days' ; detailing the Adamanticores' intervention in the abortive Consecration of the Lord Dexter, circa late M37. 

[Bjorn Firewalker]

Fine work on the Adamanticore.

[Master Umbra]

Great updates! As always, great conversions and even better presentation . That last guy is as badass as it gets!

[Zebulon]

Great collection of Orlock heads on those Grenadiers! :tu:

 

What’s the derivation of that fine looking artificer armour? Am I right in thinking he’s truescale using some cataphractii legs?

[Ryltar Thamior]

Great collection of Orlock heads on those Grenadiers!

 

What’s the derivation of that fine looking artificer armour? Am I right in thinking he’s truescale using some cataphractii legs?

As to which? I mean, the heavy flamer operator I included for scale purposes is clad in Mk.III [truescale] built from cataphractii legs, yes. 

 

Although if you meant the main miniature in those four shots ... no, the base miniature for that is Heresy-era Guilliman :P 

[Ryltar Thamior]

An Extract from the 'Testimony of the Wind Lord as to Ancient Days', a mytho-historical text of the Adamantine Folk Religion. 

In former times there was a Lord to the West - not of Darian stock directly, but their relative nonetheless; and alike to those later folk in prominence, pride, and prestigious alliances with the Great Powers of the Imperium through the Ecclesiastical sphere. 

The Lord was called 'Dexter' - for that had been as he was perceived by both his folk, and by his supporters in far-flung high places. "The Right", "The Righteous". 

And so it was Decreed that He should take possession of the worlds of his surrounds, to act steadfast as their guardian and their guarantor against iniquity, poverty, and despair. These worlds included those of Adamantia - although none had consulted with Adi-Mata's own Guardians upon the matter. For none dared approach Them with such calumny as to suggest that Their Own Regimen was insufficient in Their Appointed Task. 

Instead, it was hoped that the Rule of Lord Dexter should merely enfold Them with his sovereignty - and gradually come to inculcate within Them a tacit acceptance of Their own place within the universe. As servants, not masters; and as cogs within a greater machine who could one day safely be removed entirely by those who were the mechanism's true masters. 

Now, Adi-Mata's Appointed Warriors are ordinarily aloof from the petty pretensions of this or that human baronet off upon Their fringes; knowing that true power doth not require the permission of lesser beings - and that Eagles do not concern themselves with the opinions (nor the edibility) of Flies. 

Such it likely would have, should have, remained. Certain within the broader Imperial authorities of Church and State getting 'their man' with a nominal claim over the worlds nowadays referred to as The Spoil, and a consequent curtailment - even if only on paper - of the Adamanticores' suzerainty. And the Adamanticores Themselves continuing in the solid administration of Their Realm, the true bulwark of the region against unuttered further perils. 

But it is ever the case of the ignorant and the arrogant to feel ungrateful for the toils of their nurturers and their protectors - especially when the voices within their ears and the clouded mirrors of their mind insist that they, and they alone, are the true masters of their fate. 

And so it was that the Lord Dexter - with appropriate prodding from certain Ecclesiarchical and Inquisitorial whisperers - began to resent this demesne apparently beyond his effective reach of tangible dominion. 

A Coronation was prepared, to be faciliated via the ancient Horse-Sacrifice Rite which bestowed the symbolic value of Kingship - indeed Imperial mandate in the archaic sense - over the Stars, the Stellar Realms Between Them, and the Worlds; every space within the particular defined boundaries of the Horse's Trail. 

Invitation was not sent to the Adamanticores to attend as Witness - but rather, notification delivered that They should make ready to worship Their new implicit overlord following the Rite's successful completion; and rejoice for the new rule of law and stability which he and he alone would guarantee for their realm and others nearby it. 

Such things may seem strange to the inhabitants and the authorities of the Wider Imperium, but were considered more normal within the strange ways of the western margins of the Jambudvipa region. Impressively powerful regents considered to be appointed, sanctioned, and hallowed by the God-Emperor Himself and ruling upon His Presumptive Authority. Although always with the attendant risk of, as had occurred some scant centuries before, a man becoming corrupted by the recognition he was accorded and choosing to believe that he - not He On Earth - was the true God of the situation. 

The Lord Dexter's capital was made ready for the Rite of Consecration , representatives of the major powers of the region and middling factotums of the broader Imperium called together to bear witness and stamp and seal their Approval upon the Decision. Barons of Bakkhara, Cardinals and Satraps of Xsaca, Yavanite Mercenary Lords, even representatives of at least two nearby Astartes chapters - and other, more shadowy figures besides. 

Of these, only One dared speak up in Warning - the Inquisitor-Priest Da Dhi-Chita, the so-called Thunder Sage; who spake thus: 

"The man who worships what ought not to be worshipped, or pays not reverence where veneration is due, is guilty, most assuredly, of heinous sin." 

Seeing that the cryptic injunctive had not found its mark within the prideful countenance of the Lord Dexter, he refined his concern to a question:

"Why do you not offer proper homage to those who guard your realm, and who are the living instruments of the Divine Imperial Will? Where are the Lords of Adamantia among us here today?" 

To which the Lord Dexter answered: 

"I have already many defenders and stabilizers present - I have no need for the strange self-declared sovereign ways of Adamantia's Lords here. They are but extensions of My Will as their soon-to-be hailed Lord; and in any case, there are other Astartes present here among us to represent the Chapters. I am girded via the strength of these forces - and other besides. I recognize no other Living Instrument of the Divine Imperial Will, and shall brook no dimming of the glories of my lustre." 

The Thunder-Sage shrugged and sighed; turning to take his leave he spake thus in his departure: 

"The invocation that is not addressed to the God-Emperor, is, for all, but a solitary (and imperfect) summons. Inasmuch as I behold no superior Living Instruments of the Divine Will in the Dvipa than the Unyielding Scions of Adi-Mata - this Consecration shall go uncompleted." 

And with that, the Thunder-Sage threw his cloak's hood over brow and vanished. 

Yet within Adamantia Herself, brows had wrinkled in consternation. For whilst it was one thing to tolerate via lack of punitive action the pretensions and self-appointed titlings of effete mortal nobles in the regions beyond Adamantia's shores - the declaration by the Lord Dexter that it was not the Adamanticores who should provide security and stability to the Dvipa entire ... but rather, the Lord Dexter who should provide these not only to the worlds of the Dvipa but even to the Adamanticores themselves, was severe insult. 

Further, it was identified that certain of the forces who had facilitated and stoked the curious currents of the Lord Dexter's rise were those who had looked with envious eyes upon Adamantia's sovereign treasures and wealth of civilization for centuries; the remnants of the Age of Apostasy 'midst the Ecclesiarchy, and jealous Tech-Priests, suspicious Inquisitors, greedy Merkant Houses, and even other Chapters alike. Were the Lord Dexter's bold claims to be allowed to stand, and his brow crowned as the rightful regent of the entire region - it should surely spell only some matter of time afore his pretended potency over Adamantia Herself be put to some visceral and wasteful test. 

And so it was that the Adamanticores determined to meet deceptive pomp with regal divine power. 

Emerging from the Catacombs beneath the far-flung Region of Ghosts, there came a mighty warrior. Clad in Adamantine armour the colour of apocalyptic light dimly glowing through the dust-clouds at the end of the world. Armed with massive blade fully the length of a man wreathed with eagle wing's splendour and flashing like the glinting laughter of the Moon in straight-smile; and with thunderously roaring bolt-weapon seemingly the size of a squad support heavy armament, wielded as if it were a machine-pistol. 

His height saw him tower over even other Astartes by a span of several helms; his breadth and overall mass were as akin to a Mountain amidst mere men. Winged Lions bearing Thunderbolts were upon his greaves; and an Eagle upon his chestplate. Small and painstakingly artificed representations of the Patron DemiGods were about his belt; and a string of roundels bearing the escutcheons of notable organs of Adamantia were 'midst his pteurges. 

Ascending from out of the Darkness and into the Light afore the Lords of Adamantia, He took to one knee; right-hand fist clanging over His left cuirass pectoral with the ringing peal of sonorous thunder in warrior's salute. He then spake but simply:

"What is the Will of Adamantia?"

His Lords answered Him in turn: 

"Attend Upon The Rite Of The Lord Dexter - And Uphold Our Honour Thereat." 

Behind His Mask, the Mightily Crouched Mountain of a Marine smiled. And then, like a Lion rearing up to begin its chase, He stood and started off down the causeway to the vessel which had been made ready for such a purpose. 

It is said that upon the World of Dexter at the peripheral heart of these matters, the Arrival of the Emissary of Adi-Mata was not immediately noted; for the inhabitants and assembled guests of the Lord were pre-occupied by the unusual meteorological phenomena thence occurring. A loud and tumultuous roaring filled the sky as the Sun turned black with horror; stars seemed to cease their shining and the fires of the prepared sacrifice lost their lustre. The Ground began to shake, and thick dread welled up from within as the Light turned to a bronze-tinged Dusk at just afore Noon-Time.

Then from the Gloom emerged fearful forms - their armour reflecting both the colours of the darkened sky and the twisting embers guttering in the fire-pits of the now-spoiled rite. The metal of their armour glinting as their determination, and the tinctures of their face-plates dispelling any hope of warmth or placability from their demeanour. 

Some of the Lord Dexter's ceremonial guards went for their weapons. They were unceremoniously punched out - the advancing adamantium-armoured giants not even bothering to unholster their own formidable wargear. Some subtle psychic or perhaps psychological impetus stayed the hands of others - an implicit warning not to endeavour to interfere in this unfolding, unfurling mythic moment in train. 

At the head of this host of Shades strode one who towered over even the other demigods to His coterie; an avalanche in anthropomorphic form making directly for the gaudily golden throne seated above and slightly behind the main fire-pit. Walking through the still-smouldering remnants of the pyre as they blustered back into life , the figure was addressed by the Lord Dexter: 

"Declare, Mighty Being, Who Thou Art."

The Mountain Spake in Stern Reply: 

"I am not King nor Servant, nor am I come hither for sport, nor curious to behold the Emissaries of the Imperium's Great and Powerful:

Know that I am come to ensure that the Honour of Adamantia is Upheld. 

And that it is the choice incumbent upon ye as to how that fact shalt be Realized here today. 

Choose, Rightly."

Now the Lord Dexter was no fool. He held an arrogant streak - and had felt himself assured as the center of a stellar domain to address even the insouciant barbarians of the realm's fringes as their utter imperial lord. Yet while it is one thing to talk down to perceived techno-savages from a distance measured in light-years and armed men between you and them ... it is quite another to attempt to find your tongue when the speaking is instead to be done *upwards*; into the steely eyes of a walking testimony to the unadulterated immanent superiority of Man.

And as he reflected upon the circumstances which he found himself in, he realized the true saliency to the lion-greaved monster's presence there that day. He had been directed to issue proclamation to the fiercely independent realm to the east stating that it and its neighbours were now under his protection, his potency, his might. The reasoning for this which had been explicated to him by the honeyed voices in his ear had been that it had less to do with the Adamanticores themselves - and more to do with bringing the stellar domains and fiefdoms who neighboured them out from under their claw; back into the wider, whiter light of the broader Imperium in the ongoing clarification of such things even centuries after the terminus of the Age of Apostasy. Countless worlds had looked to their local Astartes worlds if they should be so lucky as to have one in their midst, as the bastions of stability amidst a failing Empire. They had often proven reluctant to return once more to the proper authorities - both that of Administratum and Ecclesiarchy proper. 

Yet in issuing forth this statement he had implicitly stated that the Adamanticores, Adamantia was inferior - unable to look to Her own defence , let alone provide protection and support for others. For the Astartes and for Adi-Mata this was nothing less than a direct stab at their raison d'etre. And to raise a weapon against such sorts, even - perhaps especially - the weapon of words was not a strike that could be allowed to go unanswered. 

Thus, this Omen made of Adamantium and Power had come amongst his court. To demonstrate quite tangibly that it was They - not he - who were the true power in the region. Capable of giving tangible falsehood to his claims of being the paramount protector via virtue of penetrating to the heart of his capital even when all eyes were pointed toward him. Perhaps that had been the problem - that all eyes were focused inward, and therefore too few stood sentinel in watch. 

However this monstrous meeting had occurred - and it truly was monstrous in the old sense of the term .. a De-Monstratum from The Gods - it was clear to Dexter that his next words should define both the ensuing course of his reign, his rule, his life - as well as their approximate near-future duration. He chose wisely. 

"Scion of Adamantia's Untold Glories. I Thank Thee for Thine Presence And Thine Service. For In Truth, There Couldst Be No True Consecration Of The Power Of The Plenipotentiary Rite Without The Lords Of Adi-Mata Here. Thou Hast Been Guided Here To Display The Realities Of Our Existence. "

He turned to face certain of his backers in the throng of lesser Imperial functionaries: 

"That Where Individual Humans May Err - It Is The Greater Power Which Yet Stands Aloft And Untrammelled By Our Shortcomings. Ready To Correct, To Straighten, To Rule And To Regulate." 

He turned back to the fiery apparition Who stood afore him: 

"And that power is The Emperor's And The Emperor's Alone."

The figure nodded. This was an acceptable compromise - each of mortal lord and divinely empowered demigod could legitimately draw auctoritas from this. And more to the point, the Adamanticore, as Astartes, could be held to be the more direct embodiment; whilst the Lord Dexter's appointment could still be upheld as an act of the Divine Will.

"And Thus, We Are Called Here Together - For That Is The Sacred Spirit Of This Day. An Act Of Unity Of Purpose In The Protection And The Restoration Of All That We Truly Hold Dear.

In This, We Shall Look To The Lords of Adamantia To Uphold And To Vouchsafe Their Dominion - And Act As Sword And Shield For Those Of Us Blessed By Their Benevolence."

The Lord Dexter was, as ever, a canny political operator. He knew that he had come severely close to signing his own death-warrant by failing to carry out the act of marginalization of the Adamanticores' feudal claim that he had been promoted specifically to facilitate. He hoped that the flash-alliance he was negotiating here should effectively see that death-warrant ripped up, torn to pieces amidst an Adamantium gauntlet veer-y much like the one holding eagle-winged Moon-sword in front of him. Hence why it had to be spoken out loud, now, in front of those figures eyeing his back with all the precision of laser-guided throwing-knives.

"We Should Be Duly Honoured Were Ye To Provide Honour-Guard To This Court - To Stand As Testament To The Unbreakable Strength Of Our Concordat Of Shared Loyalty ... And To Ensure That Adamantia And Her Lords Are Never Again To Be Overlooked." 

Translation: So that I see this day out, and the next one after that, and so on, without suffering an untimely accident necessitating my replacement by somebody more willing to stare you in the face and attempt to tell you you're irrelevant, he thought. 

The Sunlit Giant drew back, seemed almost to *wink* at the Lord Dexter, before casting His Hand aloft and shouting with a voice bearing the characteristics of roaring thunder - "Svaha!" 

"Take refuge, king of kings, with They Who Are the Lords of Adi-Mata; for better is the Anger of the Adamanticores than the Blessings of other Gods."
 

- taken from the 'Testimony of the Wind Lord as to Ancient Days' ; detailing the Adamanticores' intervention in the abortive Consecration of the Lord Dexter, circa late M37. 

[note: i've deliberately directly borrowed a few things - and indirectly borrowed others - from a certain section of Hindu scripture (in English translation) that is a personal favourite ; I say this because I wouldn't feel quite right .. indeed a bit of a plagiarist , were this left entirely unacknowledged] 

[Ryltar Thamior]

Found the time and the inclination to put finishing touches on the building of this elegant gentleman. 



It's one of those cases wherein the miniature came together out of a combination of necessity, bright ideas, and transposition. I'd basically run out of Cadian legs - or, for that matter, regular human-sized legs all up (i.e. smaller than storm troopers), particularly of a modern/future feel. The few that I had left included at least two of the above, and it seemed an interesting opportunity for somebody a bit dramatic in posing perhaps, probably a bit 'regal'/'noble'. 



Meanwhile, for some reason the concept of the anarchic interplay of tech-levels in an obvious visual manner was playing in my head - specifically, swords-and-shields in a sort of Men-At-Arms style vibe, as wielded by gentlemen in obviously modern/future uniforms and armour. I'd done a bit of work to try and bring this to life on some unfinished 'drafts' - but had been having an issue with the shield-arm posing. Although noticed that the dagger-wielding counterpart arm to the Empire free company sword arm, could make for a pretty cool arms-extended posing, that would go especially well with the legs and the right twist to the evidently armoured torso. 



The next step was working out a head - that's what *really* informs the characterization of the miniature, and through its posing, brings it to life. I'm a great fan of the Necromunda heads ... except for one detail - the *#&$ing neck assemblies on most of them! Makes it a *serious* chore to manually rebuild a neck that's got the appropriate length and other features for a reasonably realistic anatomy. It's additionally a bit complex with the Storm Troopers torsos due to the depth of the neck socket. Although this CAN make things a bit easier when utilizing some of the Necromunda neck bits and pieces .. *some* of them anyway. 

A Van Saar head seemed an excellent vibe for an older Adamantine noble - martial haircut, with a sense of well-groomed class ; older visage ; and an excellent moustache [Looks a bit like a combination of my own features and those of my paternal Grandfather, as it happens - the latter being something I've drawn from for one of the Adamantine operatives much earlier]. Which meant the question was now how we got the head onto the body. Ordinarily where things get difficult. 

But somehow ... I had the flash of inspiration to use the female Van Saar neck - which was easy to trim away to the requisite height and footprint .. and wouldn't you know it ... one clip was all it took and it was pretty much ideal for where I wanted the head to sit in relation to the rest of the pose. 



The final stage concerned waht to do about the insert for the backpack on his armour's back. I'd considered constructing a backpack, or a simple satchel, but things didn't seem quite right. Besides, I reasoned that the gentleman would probably have a burly companion or three (probably the Life-Guard I'd built awhile back with the impressive barbarian piercing) to do the heavy lifting, whilst he went more for an unencumbered (as unencumbered as one can be in such massive cuirass ) , so that didn't seem quite right. 

Something I'd done aaages ago on some Guard conversions , was in-filling that space with the bottom section of a Cadian rebreather. When putting it in for a test-fit, pre-cutting off the rebreather mask, I really liked the vibe. Although as this placed the rebreather mask over his posterior ... it uh ... yeah, no. 

Casting around for waht could go there instead on the other end of a tube, say as a cannister or other supply of something for his functionality, I hit upon the Delaque parts that are ... pretty much exactly that. 

I might add a small length of carved sprue to the rear of the cannister to further show it's linked to a belt .. but other than that, I think he's good ! 


 

[Ryltar Thamior]

The Hero Trita 




"SING FORTH OF MIGHTY TRITA - THE THRICE-BLESSED SAGE-SEER OF THE PIERCING FLAME
[...] 
ARMED WITH VIP-AYAH-AGRA [1] HE SLAYETH THE FOE IN BURNING RADIANCE"  

- Excerpt from Old Adamantine inscription found above the vacant 'Tomb of the Tricephal' 

[1] Translator's Note: 'Vip-Ayah-Agrah' is a fanatastically complicated Old Adamantine kenning of uncertain precise meaning. 'Ayah', the easiest of the elements, should render as 'Metal', potentially a weapon in the sense that 'His Steel' may mean a blade; however might also refer to' 'fire' or 'agile/nimble/dexterous' - as it is rendered as part of a compound word here, we cannot make out which of 'Ayas' or 'Ayaas' is specifically intended; 'Aya', as in 'motion', may also be meant. Or, as is so frequently the case with the intricate complexity of imagery of Old Adamantine scripture, all at once. 

'Vip' is even more complicated - either referring to the quality of a learned man ['Vipa'], a priest ['Vipra'] or its active expression via speech ['Vipaa']; or the quality of agitation, shaking, vibration, trembling - likely as the figurative expression of being imbued with some form of empower. It may even refer to the capacity of bringing about 'Death' ['Vipad'] or Tearing Asunder ['Vipatti'] Again, it is likely somewhere in betwixt all of these. 

'Agra' refers simultaneously to 'high', 'summit', 'point' or 'tip' (of a mountain or a weapon), an 'inception' (as sparks to a flame), and 'leading' [whether the quality of a leader, or the leading edge of a weapon], a 'sharpness', a 'projection'. 

It is therefore possible that the Trita to whom the inscription refers was a fabled swordsman - his blade maneuvering as deftly as the poet's tongue, and seeming to take on a life of its own moving as swift and destructively as fire. However, iconographic depictions of the figure in question have occasionally seemed to render this Trita as a heavily armoured warrior wielding a literal flaming sword; artistic shorthands for 'speech' or 'thought' similarly encountered in association. Ordinarily, this would appear to suggest a mythologization - the subject of the carvings and relief sculpture taking on supernatural characteristics as the figurative language of legend becomes the evocative and literally interpreted conceptual syllabry of myth. However, the dating of many of these instead suggest that this symbolism was extant in the late-M37, early M38 range that should have been roughly contemporaneous with the actual, living Trita if he ever existed. 

Some three and a half to four thousand years on, it is next to impossible to determine whether 'Trita' represents a folk-memory of a historic warrior of the Adamantine region; or a folkloric demigod who never truly had a mortal life. This is especially the case, given Inquisitorial Seal upon the vast majority of primary recordings of the culture of Adamantia immediately prior to its Fall. 

- from 'A Career In Ruins - The Life's Work Of Say Vakr'



[flash=250,210]

 

"7 Through His wise insight Trita in the cavern, seeking as ever [a visionary thought according to the ways of His distant forefather / the Chief Sire's intention] , 
Carefully tended in His Place of Generation, [calling the weapons kin / speaking His own familial weapons], goes forth to combat.
8 [Well-skilled to use the weapons of His Father / knowing His ancestral weapons] , Adamantya, urged on by the Lord Striker, attacked."

- Excerpt from 'The Hymns of Adamantia - A Reader' 

[space wolf]

I love how gritty everything is. Well done!

[Zebulon]

Another lexicological tour-de-force! Bravo.

 

Sing, Muse indeed...