Clever Girl... - Wink Wink, Nudge Nudge

[jokaero weaponsmith]

Wow Greyall another fanatastic Mark one.

Thanks for the link to my work I know I've been dormant for a little while now awaiting some bits and pieces and time to finish my Mark One.

Was inspired by your first mark one, but this new mark one of yours is just wow.

Had a similar idea for a dreadnought hand but after seeing this I must see if I can replicate this for next mark one if that's alright with you?

[disease]

the mark one stuff is just fantastic

[Greyall]

@Jokaero: Go ahead, mate, honour me =) Your Iron Hands MkI had that awesome idea for the breastplate, and that overall more layered look that both took some inspiration from MkII Power Armour and made it more dynamic.

 

Of course, a big 'thank you' for each and every one I haven't thanked yet.

 

And Brother Heinrich, I'm holding you to that project, man.

[Greyall]

Here we go, then:

HEY HEATHENS!

http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs70/i/2014/114/4/b/raven_guard_skinwalker_by_greyall-d7frrsk.jpg

‘Saboteur? Alpha scum, perhaps’, Murthen made a point of accentuating the bile when mentioning their sister-Legion, to
the point that it sounded actually worse than the following insult.

‘Not likely’, Relok replied, ‘I know it pays to be prepared, brother, but let’s analyse the more probable possibilities, first. It’s not a breaching squad either, the locator
system passed its maintenance earlier today and would’ve picked multiple invaders.Raven Guard makes the most sense.’

‘So soon after they were culled at Isstvan?’ There was glee in Murthen’s words, now. ‘You think Corax has gone insane and sent his chicks in suicide missions?’

‘At least them I can see fooling the best cogitator’

Crassio Relok was proud to say he was usually right in his assessments. It wasn’t that hard, really – Perturabo’s teachings of practicality were usually right. Even in a galaxy full of xenos horrors and seemingly unexplainable phenomena, the simplest explanation was often the most correct, and the most practical solutions often the best. Still, he would’ve preferred a different sign that he was right about the Raven Guard other than Murthen’s blood suddenly spilling onto the screen in front of them.

He spun immediately with a chop, his other hand going for the meteor hammer’s activation mechanism, but the attacker was already on the other side of the room – impossibly, for someone with no ranged weapon in sight.

Usually, it would’ve taken him 0.5 seconds less to have his weapon activated and ready, but this…Legionnaire…was something different from all he had seen.

The Raven symbols were everywhere, but his helm was a bone-white raven mask with no visible optics other than two small point of white light deep inside his eye-pits. In his right hand there was a long blade, seemingly made out of rock rather than metal, its upper surface a dark green, the blade itself a perfectly polished – if jagged – silver. And he wore…feathers…

The meteor hammer smashed into the machines were the Raven was perched, but it was as if the invader had never been there. Relok adapted, spinning the hammer closer to him to deny the short-range advantage of the blade wielder, but his adversary didn’t attack. He simply stood, head cocked like that of a curious bird. The ridiculousness only angered the Iron Warrior even more.

Relok aimed for the head, lightning-fast. When the Raven ducked the strike, as anticipated, he altered the trajectory with a twist and went for the abdomen. The Raven evaded that too, but now he attacked. His left claw ripped Relok’s helm as if it was paper, his flesh splitting even faster, his right eye exploding from the heat of the disruption field instantaneously. The Iron Warrior growled…there was no visible circuitry on his vambrace to indicate it was a power weapon...still, he should’ve seen that coming from the sharp looks of it.

Crassio Relok, then, died in frustration. He was trying to bring his hammer up again when the Skinwalker spoke. Not with sound, but directly to his mind. Not with words, but with images of dread, of Iron Warriors dying under a burning sky, a hideous hybrid of man and bird feeding on their entrails. The look of the thing was a pain in itself, added to that of the gruesome, jagged cut the Raven’s blade left in his neck. As he bled onto the station’s deck, Relok felt both blood and soul leaving his body...to make room for the dreadfulness of an agonizing death.

________________________

For all of Corax’s adherence to his father’s vision of an illuminated mankind, he wasn’t above adopting totems and symbols, their curtness in conveying a message, both to his sons and their enemies, pleasing to the Raven Lord. Still, there is reason to assume the creation (or awakening, as whispered amongst the XIXth Legion) of the Skinwalkers wouldn’t have been possible before the grief of Isstvan V and its effects on the shadowy Primarch. In them he put the Legions' animalistic side, its viciousness and cruelty immense, yet focused, as ever with the Lord of Deliverance. For the Skinwalkers, or Sons of Ruyn as some called them, were directed - and indeed spent over the course of the Heresy - at the most vile of traitors, those whose faces Corax recalled from the Massacre.

An old legend told to the children of Kiavahr’s slavers tells of Ruyn, born both of man and raven, specifically the giant species that inhabits the planet’s storm-struck peaks. The story tells how both of them wished fervently to know each other’s world, something impossible, and resolved to do so through the eyes, ears, taste and touch of a son, an extension of them. Their offspring, though, was a hideous creature, shunned both by humans and avians, and who never came to know anything but a damned existence, his looks causing dread to all who looked at him.

The legend, written to teach the nobility’s children not to mix with slaves, was, as he always did with adversities, taken by Corax and forged into a weapon. The Skinwalkers, numbered little above a dozen, were taken from those most rage-filled survivors of the Isstvan Massacre, though it is rumoured that wasn’t the only criteria. They embodied – both in armour and mind - the dread of those betrayed by their own, and were exceptionally cold and known for dispatching their targets in two or less
lighting strikes. Wielding unique lightning claws - usually concealed under feathered adornements - and blades of powered Kiavahnium, a mineral known both for its sharpness and hallucinogenic effects once it enters the blood stream, the Skinwalkers left blood-dried victims, usually a single great wound in their bodies and, some rumoured, still gibbering in muted voice long after they expired, something the Kiavahnium alone couldn’t have caused.

Note: The fact that he shares a pose with FW's Khârn is purely coincidental, I assure you

[GrandMagnus]

That is *bleeeping* awesome! Now thats a Raven Guard I like, brutal and tribal.

[MagicMan]

Awesome! Kinda aztec-y.

[Barabbas Sogalon]

Wow, that's the most awesome Raven I've ever seen. Holy...

[Quixus]

And his battle cry is "corn"

[Nomus Sardauk]

Angel's wings, those eyes are deeply unsettling... Just like the Skinwalker picture that inspired it, so I'd say a job damn well done Greyall. Heathens is gonna love it. :)

[Greyall]

Muchas gracias, brothers, thanks for viewing and commenting.

I have a gift for Noctus Cornix, next A monarch, now ruined...

[Tyrannicide]

Nightmare mode: ENGAGED.

 

Christ, man, I think he has a real shot at making Traitor Marines soil themselves. 

[fivepointedstar]

Awesome work Greyall. I like how you made the weapon, the blade kinda reminds me of Typhus's sythe blade. Something the traitor would fear most as his souls about to be reaped.

[Ace Debonair]

By the Throne, that's creepy.

 

In all the right ways, of course.

Marvellous stuff!

[Aqui]

Awesome stuff as usual, although his helm/mask reminds me of Sachiel from Evangelion.

[Hyaenidae]

Perfectly intimidating. He's immaculate, Greyall. Stunning work. :)

 

For those who didn't see the inspiring piece that began this monster...

http://www.quileutes.com/wp-content/uploads/2009/06/navajo_witch2.jpg

[Heru]

I remember a monster / villain in an old kids learning tv show (it wasn't a cartoon) that looks a lot like your skin-walker Greyall. I'd find a comparison image but I can't for the life of me remember the names of any of those old shows (one had an alien that crashed on a beach *Earth Warp* and another had this weird sand goblin guy who granted wishes *The Sand Fairy* or something).

 

 

Edit: Charn from Through the Dragon's Eye...

[Demus Ragnok]

Wowza that is one freaky lookin' dude.

[Messor]

I wish...I wish so much I could see that fellow on the tabletop. I wish he had a novel. I would buy it. That's fantastic work, Greyall, these last two have been among my favorites so far.

[reckoning]

Jaw dropping as usual. Im pretty sure Ive said those words in this thread before.

 

A pattern is forming...

[Conn Eremon]

My god, yesssss. I have been waiting for this one, and you did not disappoint.

[Son of Carnelian]

NIghtmarish. I love it! It's such a damn shame you didn't get that position at GW. I would pay through the nose for a unit like him.

[helterskelter]

i think we should kidnap a 3d cad professional, 3d printer and persuade him to design and make greyalls work. just a thought i'll throw out there.

[disease]

i think we should kidnap a 3d cad professional, 3d printer and persuade him to design and make greyalls work. just a thought i'll throw out there.

 

man, i would be so poor - and that's just from the mk1 terminators. If others went into production, i'd probably have to move to a smaller house.

 

 

EDIT - there's a guy on here who was 3d printing deathwing, and subtle discord has amazing casting skills....  I sense a collaborative effort of biblical proportion?  :D

[Trysanna]

i think we should kidnap a 3d cad professional, 3d printer and persuade him to design and make greyalls work. just a thought i'll throw out there.

man, i would be so poor - and that's just from the mk1 terminators. If others went into production, i'd probably have to move to a smaller house.

EDIT - there's a guy on here who was 3d printing deathwing, and subtle discord has amazing casting skills.... I sense a collaborative effort of biblical proportion?

I can barley afford what minis I have! I'd have to start selling organs to pay for that.

Love the new Raven Guard. That helmet is a brilliant idea, and I think it would look awesome to have a squad with that theme. Perhaps Forge World will take note.

-Tarvik

[Greyall]

I'm just returning from holidays, you can imagine how nice it is to find your appreciation here, brothers. To be honest I had a few doubts about integrating the "wildness" of the Skinwalkers with the 'bluntness' FW has set for 30K, where most units are very down-to-earth. 

 

The Sachiel-style helm was deliberate, it's a very creepy design. My previous concept was even more alike and 'strange', with a wing-shield.

 

That you guys can imagine and would like to see my concepts on the table is perhaps the greatest compliment I can get. Thank you very much. Cheers, all.