Hey Gang!
Currently working through a 30k Dark Mechanicum force that I'll be using in what ever events I can squeeze my way into down here in OZ.
So the fluff behind this is it is one of the lesser Forge-Fanes of Incaldion. So it will have some ties to the Legio Fureans, but will be it's own indepenant force that on occasion gets seconded to support the Legio as an ad-hoc Secutarri detachment.
So a tiny bit of fluff..
Incaldion, known mainly for being the home of the Legio Fureans, or the more common cognomen the “Tiger Eyes”, A legio that is well known for it’s almost animalistic titans and rites and rituals that border on heretical.
While all Forgeworlds are nominally united like the kingdoms of old earth, showing a unified outward strength, internally they are still wracked by petty power struggles, with different factions vying for prestige and wealth within it’s hierarchy. Resources that any of these internal fiefdoms and baronies produce are by and large earmarked and taken for use in the maintenance and creation of more god machines for the Legio Fureans.So while Incaldion is indeed a mineral rich planet, with resources in abundance, the Tiger Eyes with their, some may say wasteful or too-forward attitude toward war, expend most of the important materials to keep functioning, this leaves many of the less prestigious forge-fanes and castellen-manafatorum city states in an almost ongoing cycle of destituness.During the dark 50 odd years Incaldion endured up to being brought into the imperial fold still shows in the sensibilities of many of the Incaldion fiefdoms and baronies.The Forge-Fane Thrilliart exemplifies this hard scrabble mindset.Thrilliart to this day remains one of the poorer fiefdoms on Incaldion. During the half century of pure strife prior to the Crusade arriving, Thrilliart was one of the forge-fanes that for reasons unknown dealt with a larger than average percentage of xenos and pirate invasion forces. Like many other Forge-Fanes, Thrilliart’s core infrastructure was sunken well within the planets mantel, its external battlements and entry to its cyclopean mag-elevator were more than open to attack. Some have questioned the ruling Magos of Thrilliart’s decision to keep it’s out battlements occupied, where as many other Forge-Fanes would and did simply detonate the mag-elevators chutes, cutting themselves off safely from the turmoil above.Defending the external entry to the mag-elevator decimated Thrilliarts already stretched martial resources. The limited tech-guard and cybernetica units, while stalwart and almost indefatigable, slowly started to buckle under the sheer onslaught of xenos raids. This war of attrition would lose Thrilliart and all its holdings if it was to continue unabated. It was a junior Lachrimallus Magos that suggested instead of wasting their dwindling flesh-stock and slave labour force for servitorfication or being invoked into the adsecularis covenants, that they instead use the enemies battle casualties against them. This was met with shock and disgust from the upper echelons of Thrilliart’s ruling magi, but some of the more forward thinking and war like Magos argued that the cold logic and lexatagic numbers did indeed lend the idea some merit.Even while Thrilliart’s external battlements weathered the storm of repeated xenos raids , a dogmatic schism was brewing within the heart of the the Forge-Fane.For weeks Thrilliarts external defenders dwindled due to lack of supply and support from the heart of the forge-fane until, with no pomp or aplomb, the giant mag-lev elevator docked into the external battlements. But oddly striding forth out of the opening was no serried ranks of Skitarri, indomitable clades of Castellax or even the lumbering Thantar, it was a pair of Magi. They were as different from one another as possible, even within the vast remit of the Mechanicum. While one of the Magi was built into a scuttling abeyant, festooned with surgical equipment, bionic-implantation paraphernalia and fluid vats, the other one was a striding symbol of war made metal. Following these disparate magi was a whole host of monotask medical serviorts and larger cortex controlled conveyancers stocked to the brim with armour, bionics and weaponry.The two Magi, without so much as a binaric cant to the only remaining Myrmidon Lord, they commenced their gruesome task. Any freshly dead or mortally wounded xenos they found around the battlements where quickly gathered up by the servitors and set to work upon by these two Lachrimallus Magi. Within hours there was an army of the dead and dying standing jerkily to attention within the external battlements, side by side with their former enemies. When the next xenos attack came it was repelled with almost silent gusto, the new tech-thralls charging out into their former comrades, butchered in droves, but proving disruptive enough for the actual defenders of Thrilliart to capatilise on the confusion and repel the invaders with minimal losses to the actual taghmata units. When the enemy attack broke off, the sinister magi sent out their servitors to gather the enemy dead and dying as well as any serviceable technical parts from the previous iteration of the adesecularis, to again be turned into semi-living cannon fodder for the defence of Thrilliart.Over the next 40 odd years the Thrillart forge-thane lent into its new Lachrimillius specialisation with gusto. Developing an oddly similar but derivative parallels to Thallax, that relied, or at the very least where prepared for quick burn out of the organic parts. The builds of the heavier classes of Cybernetica, mainly the Thanatar escued their bipedal forms to instead consist of 2 or 3 pairs of legs, to better allow load bearing of the heavy weapon systems as well as allowing them some limited climbing ability in case of issues with the mag-elevator. Due to the heavy reliance on Tech-Thralls they also developed the ingenious (and some say heretical) Thrilliart Acclimator…
More fluff to come as I get units sorted!
Any way, I've painted up 3 Thallaxi to try and get my scheme down pat. Wanted a bit of Blanchitsu about it, but also wanted them to have some cues to being from Incaldion, while not just being Taghmata painted as baby Fureans titans.
So with the conversions of the Thallaxi I wanted them to be a bit different to the bog standard bros. I figured they had jetpacks so why are they always standing feet planed on the ground, thus I converted two of them to be actually moving via jet pack as opposed to just standing there. I added the shields, top knots and chainmail to try and de-tech them and feral them up a little. The faces I put in there as thats what I essentially imagine is in the Thallaxi helm (maybe sans skin) any way, and figured by 'removing' the face plate we can have a little bit of the true horror of cybernetica (and dark mechanicum) showing through .
Next up, mainly so I can have a big gnarly combat character (and chew up a lot of points for a beginnning army) I have my Scoria counts as:
Arch-Vasiliás Varrak-Tar Majoris, Castellan of the Thrilliart Forge-Fane
I've tried to tick off all the kit that Scoria is rocking or at least have some items that can hand wavium it away. I wanted him to clearly be both a Flesh-Crafter, but warrior also, hence his pose.
Just a shot from the back. Again I've went the chainmail and some robes to lend the look to being slightly more primitive and chaotic.
This is probably my favorite pic of him. What I'm going for in this picture is he has, while fighting, come upon an enemy (hell or friendly) casualty on the ground who isn't yet dead and can probably be of some use to his Adusecularis Covenants! So I imagine that big ole syringe is going to be sucking out useful bodily fluids or prepping the poor 'recruit' to receive a Thrilliart Acclimator (fluff in the works
). I imagine though while he is doing that, his photon thruster is blamming out destruction and if anyone gets close he will swap the Noval Pike (voidian sceptre) to some primary hands for fighting.
Any way, will get some more pics up when I can, Varrack-Tar Minoris (the homonculux) is done as well as a big wad of Secutarri!
Hope you enjoy and C&C always more than welcome (on any or all of it!!)
Cheers,
Nick
Edited by TheTrans, 20 January 2020 - 11:11 AM.