1044 replies to this topic

[Athrawes]

The Lost and Forgotten: Building the II Legion

 

The Lightning Bearers

 

Warrior mystics of unparalleled grace, The Lightning Bearers II Legion Astartes are masters of the psychic arts of divination, superlative in their ability read the ebb and flow of time and the battles around them; always exerting their influence in careful measure to enact harmony on the systems they observe. They are the Emperor’s sword cast in starlight, like his numinous Lightning, they bear is vision of humanities unity.

 

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Imagist Archive: II Legion Astartes

 

(Pictured above are Legionaries of 9th Company. Note: Variant Helmet pattern on Mark III armor. This is Believed to be a prototype developed as a intermediary Mark between development of Mark III and IV Pattern Power Armor.)

 

 

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Gallery of The Finished:

 

 

Warriors of the LIghtning Bearers explore the Webway. (Painted by Ibrahem Swaid)

 

Icarion, Primarch of the Lightning Bearers, II Legion Astartes. (Painted by Ibrahem Swaid)

 

(Icarion Painted by Disarmonia)

 

(Icarion Miniature, Sculpted by Francesco Antonio Pizzo)

 

Raiden Athrawes, Sentinel 9th Company, Lightning Bearers Legion. (Painted by Ibrahem Swaid)

 

Raiden Athrawes, Sentinel 9th Company, Lightning Bearers Legion.

 

(Raiden V. 2.0)

 

(Lightning Bearers Consul)

 

Chosen Legionaries, 9th Company Lightning Bearers Legion.

 

 Assault Legionaries, 9th Company, Lightning Bearers Legion.

 

Volta Terminators, Lightning Bearers Legion

 

Tactical Squad, 9th Company Lightning Bearers Legion.

 

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This board has been one of my great Inspirations in starting a 30k army and so this is my attempt to give back to the community.

 

This project will likely be my last venture into the Warhammer 40k Universe. It’s a labour of love that I have been

working on for some time, and now I can finally put paint to models.

 

During this project, I plan to Create and flesh out the history (in the style of the new Forgeworld Horus Heresy Books) and fall of one of the lost Legions. I will strive to create something which hopefully fits into the setting and lore surrounding these most tragic and mysterious of Legends.

 

I decided to base this Legion (and Primarch) off of The High Priestess of Tarot Arcana. This fits in well with the established Background and the website: Major Arcana-Primarchs has proved immensely useful in establishing this Legions History and Theme.

 

 Everything else flowed from that decision and I hope that this thread becomes worthy of the lost Legions Legacy.

 

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Edited by Athrawes, 19 November 2015 - 03:38 PM.

[Brother Chaplain Kage]

Nice use of the Justaerin heads on these guys.

[mrun0riginal]

Love it.  I look forward to seeing some of the 'fluffier' bits of the army. Specialised units, lore and, of course, the primarch.  Colour me interested.

[Altis]

Great stuff! Keep up the good work

[lokkorex]

this will be interesting.

 

i like your take on the 2nd, cool to see someone finally step up with the courage to tackle a Project such as this.

 

looking forward to more progress.

[GrandMagnus]

Nice, have a like.

[Nomus Sardauk]

Very nice, I paticularly like the use of the Justaerin heads and the Legion icon. Sergeant Dax is my favourite so far, may I ask what helmet that is he's wearing? It looks familiar but I can't quite place it.

 

Keep up the good work brother, a great many eyes are upon you now, we shall be watching.

[MagicMan]

Awesome. 

 

Its funny because the missing legions are such a perfect opportunity to go crazy with ideas and creativeness, but almost noone does. Will be keeping an eye on this.

 

Nice painting too.

[Armorum Ferrum]

Will be checking this out, looking forward to see what you come up with ! Great colour scheme !

[Athrawes]

Excerpt from  “An early History of the Great Crusade: Volume ***Redacted***

 

Near the galactic center, located in the maelstrom zone lies the planet Madrigal. Madrigal is a world of storms, but this was not always so. Milliena ago, Madrigal was a colony of Mars. By the standards of todays Mechanicum auditors, it is credited to have achieved the approximate status of Ultima Forgeworld.  

 

In its earliest days, Madrigal; consisting of a large population with the psyker mutation, began to forge its own reputation as a center of Void navigation and ship construction. Its lunar shipyards are said to have been the envy of Saturn in its golden era.  But, as time dragged on and the psyker mutations became more erratic and widespread, the projects within Madrigals forge-vaults become secretive affairs, esoteric and haunting.

 

It was in this time-shrouded era, that madrigal was believed to have fallen under the thrall of a machine lord recorded only as the Thunder King.  Accounts from this time make reference to terrible, unfathomable experiments being conducted in the Thunder Kings vaults. While the natures of these experiments have been lost to the ravages of time, the consequences are laid bare to Imperial record.  At the culmination of some heinous work, the surface of Madrigal became an irradiated nightmare of atomic fire and warp-spawned horror.  So great was the psychic outburst of the planets death, that a large tendril of the warp anomaly known to imperial cartographers as the “Maelstrom” was pulled hazardously close to the planets orbit. Whether this was the goal of the experiments or some unforeseen side effect, the result remains the same.  Every two Centuries (by Terran approximation) Madrigals orbit brings it passing through an (in system) warp disturbance.

 

Horrendous as this event was, life on Madrigal was not completely extinguished. The survivors of the Thunder Kings cataclysm found refuge high in the planets extensive mountain system; above the dense rad-storms, which clung to Madrigals surface.

 

There, the surviving Magi looked out from their mountainous Islands across a sea of storms and vowed to never allow such warp-knowledge to surprise them with destruction again. It was here that the first sky cities; anchored to the mountain fastnesses, were constructed. And within them, the first seeds of the of the mystic colleges were planted, eager in mourning, to once and for all quantify and understand the nature of the Warp so that its power is never abused.

 

It was to this world that one of the Emperors sons would be flung, the arrival of Icarion would forever change the fate of Madrigal.

 

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Thanks everyone for the interest in this creative endeavor. As this project is delving into unknown territory, I would be very open to suggestions on areas of the background that could or should be tweaked to better fit in with established lore. As the Lost legions are such a sticking point for some, the only way I can think to do them justice is to make their representation and history as period appropriate as possible. 

 

I've always wanted to try and answer the great question of "What happened to the lost legions?" And I hope, that if done well, this log might inspire some other modelers to tackle the difficult questions of the Heresy, maybe even create their own Legion II or XI.

 

@SanguiniusReborn, The head on sergeant Dax is from the Death-shroud Terminators. And thank you for the compliment on the Legion Crest.

 

Honestly of all the little bits and pieces for this project, the three most nerve wracking to get right are the color scheme, the name of the Legion and the legion crest. I feel that If any one of these three things are faulty, then the project is doomed to fail.

 

Hopefully, I've come close to striking at those three things in a way that makes the II^nd fit in with the established Legions.

Edited by Athrawes, 28 February 2014 - 01:45 AM.

[deathspectersgt7]

This looks good wish you well on this.

[Hyaenidae]

Clever stuff, man. Looking forward to seeing more.

[Stormborn]

This looks interesting and you are very brave in taking up the challenge.  Like the heraldry and colour scheme. Have to say the Primarch's name is absolute genius!

[disease]

this is really interesting, I've subscribed. Where are the proto mk4 helms from?   (if not already said)

[BrotherCaptainArkhan]

Quite a coincidence you chose the same name for their homeworld as my Sons of Tyr, and the 'thunder' theme also seems to play prominently in your background. Interesting The history of the planet also seems to be identical to the one of mine. Great minds...?

 

edit: Since I'm getting messages saying this sounds sarcastic, that isn't the intention...I'm registering surprise that your background is thematically so similar to mine. Your painting/modelling skills are awesome, I'm just a little taken aback by the similarities, tis all!

Edited by BrotherCaptainArkhan, 20 January 2014 - 10:59 PM.

[Athrawes]

Icarion The Stormborn

The Master of The Thunder Legion, The Guiding Star, The Second Son, The Storms Eye

 

(Pictured above is an Imagists rendering of Icarion, Lord of Madrigal, Scion of The Emperor, Primarch of the II^nd Legion, bearing  his Spear Thunderchild.)

 

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This is the current state of the concept art for the II legion Primarch, Icarion. At the moment, I'm thinking of using Lorgars body as a basis for the final sculpt.

 

As I have come to understand the lore of the Primarchs, it seems that every brother has his own foil/equal. Icarion is intended to fill the roll of Magnus' foil. Following my theme of basing him off the High Priestess of Tarot Acrana, Icarion is deeply psychic.  The only one on a level with Magnus. However his method is entirely different; whereas Magnus directs, the Icarion observes. Magnus uses the Warp, but Icarion understands it. Icarion is intuitively capable of predicting the motions and interactions of systems as a whole, and guiding them hollistically. 

 

 

Feedback is of course appreciated. 

Edited by Athrawes, 21 January 2014 - 08:42 AM.

[RoguePanda]

I really like this project! talk about bold and inventive - the concept models and art are great. 

[Dragonkin Arenis]

This looks like it's going to be a very unique project, and I look forward to what you're going to come up with.

 

What's the idea for the "theme" of the Legion? By that, I mean which great civilization will they be based on?

[Grizzly_bear]

Wow bold attempt and looking great so far.

[Mr.selfdestruct]

What an awesome idea!  I had never seen the Primarch/Major Arcana comparison before, but fantastic job deriving the personality of an entire legion from it.  

[DuskRaider]

Deathshroud helms on Astartes bodies look brutal. Now I know how I'm doing my Veterans, thanks!

[Slyen]

Consider me intrigued and following.

 

Kind of makes me want to try my hand at making a Crusade army based around the XI...

[Athrawes]

Volta

 

While all Legionaries bearing the Primarch Icarions geneseed exhibit psychic gifts (most commonly in the form of precognitive visions and future scrying), the Volta master this gift to the level of art form. Chosen as neophytes by the Legions Magisters, these fated aspirants are put through grueling trials and rigorous studies until they become peerless in their ability to predict and observe the world around them. Their final initiation before donning the mantel of Volta is the ritual blinding; freeing them from the burden of false sight so that their minds eye can truly focus.

These gifted Astartes are able to foresee the swing of a blade or the trajectory of ordinance through a technique know as Battle-scrying. So talented are they at avoiding the blows of enemies and pinpointing their own, the Volta  forsake close combat weapons entirely; choosing instead to march to war bearing a pair of arcane weapons from the II Legion armories. Though blind, these psychic gunslingers aim is nevertheless eerily accurate.  Because of this, Volta are naturally drawn to the fulcrum of a combat zone, to the exact moment where one crucial decision or blow can swing the tide of victory.

 

Though their role on the battlefields of the Great Crusade as elite troops and bodyguards are valuable, it is as a councilor that the Volta truly shine. Many a compliance has been rescued from disaster by the well-timed advice from these mystic advisors.

(Pictured above are a battle squad of Volta, arrayed for war in their Cataphractii plate modified for psychic warfare)

 

(Pictured above are Legionary Kstrom(Left) and Magister-Sergeant Fulcran Naga(Right).)

 

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These are my work in progress Volta terminators. I haven't decided what to run these as but most likely they will be used as a bodyguard for Icarion, once I get around to building him. There will be more regular Terminators for the legion down the road but I was just too excited to begin planing the Primarchs guardians.

 

@Dradonkin Arenis: The cultural "theme' for the Legion is broken down like this in my head. Stylistic embellishments on armor and Madrigals culture most closely resemble "Bushido" and Feudal Japan. However, the prevalence of Madrigals Storm-cloud Sea (and though you don't see much of it now) 18 and 19th century naval tradition will play a huge role on the shaping of the Primarch and the culture of Madrigal before the coming of the Emperor. 

 

As a Hint for avid history fans who are interested in the trajectory that the Legion might take towards their end, the Primarchs name Icarion is another of the greek character Icarus, and their story will be somewhat related. 

 

As always questions and comments are encouraged.

[Brother Pheidias]

Like others have said, a very brave choice, but I applaud the boldness in this case. Too many times half-baked, and frankly, often quite bad, ideas have been pressed forward by people attempting to shoe-horn in some personal perception of the missing Legions. Your effort, however, does the official background credit, both in the amount of thought put into the project, but also in the practical execution.

I salute your effort, and subscribe without a second thought!

[Phalanx Warder]

A lofty challenge to be sure but one that you seem more than equal to.