Aeldari Exodite army and codex project

[CancelledApocalypse]

One of my long term projects has been creating a unique Exodite army and army list, complete with expanded lore and some new ideas to make them viable as both an offensive as well as defensive force. I've already put together much of the force and done a fair amount of kitbashing and modelling. I've also written reams and reams of world and faction building, unit descriptions, tentative rules and even pieces of fiction to fill a (currently very messy) codex with. The idea is to build on what scant lore there already is surrounding Exodites, but also to take it in a different and hopefully interesting and unexpected direction.

 

I'm going to post models and paintjobs here and, if there's interest, maybe snippets of world building fiction. I'd love to hear comments, feedback and criticism, even if you have wildly different ideas about the Exodites than I do.

 

I'll start off posting a character I created and painted some time ago, a Worldseer (think Exodite farseer) by the name of Gan. He was originally intended to be an Exodite proxy to Eldrad, but now he has lore - and far reaching plans - of his own. In fact, there's a lot going on within the maiden worlds of the exodites that the rest of the galaxy knows nothing about...

[CancelledApocalypse]

And here's a second model I've just completed, an exodite dragon knight lord. This one comes from a particular faction, or rather clan, within the Exodites that I'll get more into later (if anyone's interested, of course).

[TrawlingCleaner]

The Conversion work and paint jobs on these are truly fantastic. Amazing work Apocalypse!

I'd definitely be interested in reading some of the lore you've got, Exodites are so rad!

[mandaloriano]

Really nice work @CancelledApocalypse. Always wants an exodite army since 2nd edition. What do you use in the conversion?

[CancelledApocalypse]

10 hours ago, TrawlingCleaner said:

The Conversion work and paint jobs on these are truly fantastic. Amazing work Apocalypse!

I'd definitely be interested in reading some of the lore you've got, Exodites are so rad!

 

Thanks! I might have to post some bits of writing at some point, then, or maybe dm links to the codex working document for people that want to have a look.

 

3 hours ago, mandaloriano said:

Really nice work @CancelledApocalypse. Always wants an exodite army since 2nd edition. What do you use in the conversion?

 

Thanks very much, and same! I've been waiting for GW to release a proper exodite army since 2nd, too. The Worldseer is actually a 3rd party model I got on ebay, to which I added a chaos terminator lord cloak with a bit of modification. The dragon knight is a drakespawn from the current dark elf kits, with old plastic guardian legs, dire avenger exarch body, head and left arm, a seraphon scar-veteran shield and the second generation metal shining spears lance. The avenger head had the crest clipped off and replaced with an old high elf dragon rider crest (I think - it's been a while since I did the conversion).

[Magos Takatus]

Wow, this is a great start. The gradients on the Seer's cloak and the rider's shield are both very pleasing. That is some major and subtle conversion work at show. Thank you for sharing.

[CancelledApocalypse]

4 hours ago, Magos Takatus said:

Wow, this is a great start. The gradients on the Seer's cloak and the rider's shield are both very pleasing. That is some major and subtle conversion work at show. Thank you for sharing.

 

Thanks Takatus! The conversion work wasn't all that difficult. Filing down the connection point on the terminator lord's cloak was fiddly and time consuming, but the rest of that model was simple enough. Barring the crest on the dragon knight and a bit of a bodge job with greenstuff on the shield, everything went together really nicely on that one.

 

Bit of background on societal and force organisation: my Exodites are split into four clan archetypes based on the regions of a maiden world in which they live - plains, forests, mountains and deserts. Each clan archetype remains consistent across the majority of the maiden worlds (more info on why exactly that is later). The clans are: Mae'borne (forest clan), Oshtan'na (plains clan), Lith-Alar (desert clan) and Yuroc (mountain clan).

 

Side note: these clan names are based on the festivals of the celtic wheel of the year, in much the same way that Biel Tan, Saim Hann, Yme Loc and Lugganath are based on Beltaine, Samhain, Imbolc and Lughnasadh. Mae'borne comes from Mabon (autumn equinox), Oshtan'na from Ostara (spring equinox), Lith-Alar from Litha (summer solstice) and Yuroc from Yule (winter solstice).

 

Each overarching clan is made up of many smaller clans or tribes, each tribe is led by a tribal chieftain and these chieftains all owe fealty to a regional clan lord of all the tribes (of the same archetype) in their area. In turn, these clan lords support a worldwide leader known as an Exodite King or Queen. These kings and queens are actually elected in a form of exodite democracy, but due to their long lifespans, they can rule over a maiden world for many centuries at a time before they die or are killed or otherwise removed from their position. The Exodite King or Queen is elected from within the ranks of the various Clan Lords and the remaining Clan Lords then form a loose council that supports the King or Queen.

 

Anyway, that's a lot to read, here's a pic of more conversions, this time regular Dragon Knights from the Oshtan'na plains clan. They're my next project for painting and will have similar colours to the lord, but obviously a lot less flashy! I'll try to get some pics of other clan's units in the coming days and weeks...

[40hitter]

Awesome project man. Nicely executed so far!

[CancelledApocalypse]

Thanks for the compliment 40hitter! More is on its way...

 

I've been working on an Exodite queen based on Astreia Solbright. I've had the Astreia model for ages, wanting to convert it into an exodite character (mainly because I love the look of the dracolines), but I hadn't been able to figure out a way to make an aeldari looking rider - the dracolines have much wider bodies than drakespawn/cold ones, and there aren't any easily converted eldar or elven 'rider' legs that are wide enough apart. I thought about using Astreia herself and altering her to look aeldari, but nothing I did looked any good, so I gave up on that idea. I think I've finally solved the problem by using a shroud runner body and appropriately curving/bent Scourge legs. The added benefit being that my character now looks like she's wearing sabatons.

 

So, here's the (not quite finished) result - Exodite Queen Anand Starfall, formerly of the Mae'borne forest clan, now known as the Ash Queen. The arms and weapons are from the Banshees kit and the head is from the Sisters of the Watch kit. The holstered long rifle is from the new Eldar Rangers kit and the knife is a Drukhari accessory.

 

Having a quasi-feudalistic society, Exodite kings and queens typically rule over an entire maiden world on their own. They sit at the very top of the Exodite heirarchy, only equalled by Kings or Queens from other maiden worlds, and are akin to an Autarch or Archon from the Craftworlds or Commoragh, respectively. I'll post more info on Exodite Kings/Queens and possibly a short story for Anand soon...

 

Edited Thursday at 02:43 AM by CancelledApocalypse