Carnfiex Progress

I've been waiting a while to see what the green would look like on this monstrosity.  And I have to say, I like it.  I was also afraid I would hate painting the Carnifex the same way I hate painting Space Marine vehicles, but it certainly is a lot more fun than your typical boring flat surfaces.

Shooty Carnifex WIP

More Painting Progress

I managed to get green on 4 more gaunts and 3 warriors over the last week.  Being without power for a few days definitely put a damper on how much progress I was able to make.  Currently working on the fluff behind my 2nd unique Tyranid unit, which hopefully I'll have done this weekend.

Ignore the elves in the picture below.  Completely different project. :P

Progress!

Warriors

Character: Phaseshifter (Lictor)

Behwan sprinted through the forested region his tribe regularly hunted.  Four others were on this hunting party with him, fanned out to keep their prey in front of them.  He knew Dersim was to his left, about twenty meters away, and the others to the right, spaced similarly.  As he advanced, Behwan could hear the two thexiera stumbling through the trees ahead of them.  The big cats were native to the rocky regions, rarely coming into the forest.  Had he had time to think about it, Behwan would have wondered why these two had ventured this far into unfamiliar terrain, but the thrill of the hunt and the bounty it would provide overwhelmed him.

A shrill bird call rang out through the cooling evening air.  Behwan paused, and hefted his spear a little higher.  The hunt leader, Hewre, had just called for them to stop.  He could hear the sounds of the two thexiera growling just ahead.  Behwan bent low over a fallen tree, and tried to adjust his eyes to the moonlight coming through from the clearing where the cats had stopped.  When his vision could finally make out their shapes, he could see that they were both growling at the opposite end of the clearing while lowering themselves into a striking position.

Without warning, the smaller of the thexiera was rent in two, spilling it's entrails on the ground, and perishing before it could utter a sound.  The killer seemed to shift in and out of the visible spectrum while killing the second large cat with ease.  Behwan was horrified at the creatures’ ability to kill and camouflage itself, so he made to turn and run back to the village.  However, the war cry bellowed by the impetuous Awedan brought him back.  Seeing his fellow tribesman run to engage this new creature, Behwan hurdled the log he had been behind and echoed the war cry.  The other three members of the hunting party followed suit.

Not wanting to get in range of the monster’s massive talons, Awedan launched his spear.  All he managed to do was take a small chip out of the light green chitin that protected the beast.  Within seconds the monster had shifted next to Awedan and rendered him unrecognizable.  It then rounded on Bedlis, the fifth member of the hunting party.  While dispatching him, Behwan, Dersim, and Hewre fanned out to surround it, with the intent of keeping it at bay.  It turned and considered which of them would be the easiest target, ultimately attacking the smallish Dersim, using its scythe like blades to decapitate him.  Behwan and Hewre dove forward and both drove a spear into its flanks.  The deafening roar and the thrashing that followed caused them to lose their grip on the spears, and stumble back.

The wounded monster cut off its’ roar and stepped back to the edge of the clearing.  This was strange behavior for a creature that could have easily finished him and Hewre off.  Behwan nudged Hewre, thinking he and his tribesman might be able to use the apparent opening to escape, at least to warn someone.  The monster then seemed to blink out of existence.  Behwan froze along with Hewre.  The clearing was silent.  The remaining two hunters scanned then forest, but could find no trace of the beast that had killed three members of their tribe with ease.  After a few minutes of complete silence, Behwan turned to face Hewre.  Before he could speak, the monster leapt from concealment and pinned both tribesmen to the ground.

With a quick twitch, the hunters were silenced for good.

Phaseshifter is the main lictor scout for Hive Fleet Tizheruk, surviving a countless number of battles thanks to it's ability to shift the spectrums of light around itself, which can render it invisible to the naked eye.  It prefers to attack from concealment and will not reveal itself to it's prey unless it is ready to strike.

Making Amends

So, I've been seriously neglecting this blog.  Here are some progress pictures, to show that I am actually working on this.  I'm back on the hobby horse, and should have more fluff on Friday, relating to Hive Fleet Tizheruk.

16 models are washed with Gryphonne Sepia.

4 models have also caught a coat of Scorpion Green.

Hive Fleet Tizheruk

Hive Fleet Tizheruk is the name given to one of the small splinter fleets that made up Hive Fleet Kraken. Arriving in the sector at the tail end of Kraken's reign of terror, Tizheruk hovered on the outside of the main path taken by Kraken. The Hive Fleet eluded detection for quite some time, owing to its propensity to attack planets and systems with very limited communications resources. Tizheruk’s first contact with Imperial forces came about by chance. The Falcon Guard Space Marine Chapter (alongside numerous Amarok Imperial Guard Regiments) was hunting down remnants of Hive Fleet Kraken on Devlan III, to the galactic west of Okassis, when Hive Fleet Tizheruk appeared in system. A fierce battle erupted on the planet, as well as in the skies above. The Falcon Guard emerged victorious, noting that this had been one of the easier battles with the Tyranids they had faced since Hive Fleet Kraken had begun. Finishing their mop up duty on Devlan III, the Falcon Guard and Amarok Regiments moved on to pursue other Tyranid targets, assuming Hive Fleet Tizheruk had been dealt with.

This was not the case. What the Falcon Guard could not know was that this was just a tiny portion of Tizheruk, the rest of which had gone off on a divergent course in the galaxy.

The Beast Within

After their tours battling Hive Fleet Kraken were over the Falcon Guard returned to New Vinton and the Amarok Regiments returned to Amarok for resupply and conscription. As with any homecoming, there were a number of desertions. It being easy to make one self scarce in the hive cities, only a token effort was put forth to find them. In the months that followed, there was a noted increase in gang activity in Hive City Daikoku that was chalked up to poor working conditions amongst those in the lowest levels of the hive. By the time the Adeptus Arbites finally put down the small rebellion, similar uprisings (of which many were lead by the same deserters from the fight against Hive Fleet Kraken) were occurring in the other hives. Effectively shutting down all outgoing production from Amarok, the Arbites determined they could no longer handle uprisings of such massive numbers and help was requested from the nearby Falcon Guard.

A Shadow Appears

Upon first arrival on Amarok, the situation reminded the Falcon Guard all too much of Hive Fleet Kraken’s original appearance on Ichar IV. They overwhelmed the rebellions and followed their trail deep into the underhive. Each trail ended in much the same way; a cavernous room directly below a ventilation shaft, littered with the corpses of an untold number of hivers. The genestealers struck from the shadows, but were quickly repulsed by the Falcon Guard. Not content to believe the genestealer cult was dealt with, much of the population of the underhive as well as a large number of the workers was culled. Satisfied yet wary, the Falcon Guard left Amarok unaware that genestealers had survived in hostile environs outside the hive cities, particularly disasterous now that their psychic beacon was strong enough to draw the Tyranid Hive Fleet to the Malina System.

Concept and Design

Now that I have the celestial bodies out of the way, I figured I'd give a little insight and background into what I'm doing here.

Years ago, my buddy Aaron got me into Warhammer 40k and I started painting my first army, Ultramarines. I picked them because I'm not the greatest of painters, and they had the most artwork.  My interest ebbed and flowed, and it took me forever to finish them (they're still not technically finished, but damn close).

I wanted to come up with a project that interested me, and could keep me in the hobby for longer stretches of time. I liked the idea of coming up with my own armies and their own fluff.  But that wasn't enough, and I needed something to tie them together.  That's when I came up with this project.  I've spent time on The Lexicanum, Bolter and Chainsword and DakkaDakka doing research and gathering ideas, not to mention many conversations with other hobby minded friends.

The system itself is based (loosely) on the Mu Arae star system.  I wanted it to have a relatively realistic feel, like it could actually exist.  The other system I had considered using was Gliese.  You'll see that both those names appear as Tau and Eldar respectively.

My main influence, at least in naming conventions, is Inuit mythology.  This started when I was trying to find a name for my Hive Fleet, and stumbled upon Tizheruk.  It fit well, and so did Malina and Amarok.  Secondary influences are Hindu (Lava and Kusha) and Japanese mythology (the 7 hive city names on Amarok).  Names of people in system will also fit into those three cultures with some exceptions (notably, the Falcon Guard, although Hayabusa is "Peregrine Falcon" in Japanese.)

The only army that isn't designed by me are the Thousand Sons.  When researching splinter groups of Chaos Space Marines, I felt my options were limited.  I could have created a Space Marine chapter that fell to chaos (and I still may, because the idea intrigues me), but the Thousand Sons fit in well with why the Gliese Craftworld was even in the vicinity.

So aside from their imagery, I'm doing my best to keep all logos, icons, and pictures as creations by me.  I don't have a ton of artistic talent, but I can create some stuff in photoshop.  All the planets were done using photoshop techniques combined with cool textures I found (as well as some help from Grey_Death when I couldn't get my water or gas giant looking right).  All the army logos were created by me in photoshop as well (they'll appear when I start putting armies up).  Any painted models that go up will also be by me, unless otherwise noted.  Chances are I might pony up for some commissioned work on the centerpieces (for example, my Commissar will be commissioned, because I know I can't do it justice).

In the coming weeks, I plan on putting up army backgrounds, character backgrounds, general fluff, army lists and anything else that I think relates to this project.

If you've got any questions, feel free to pester me in the comments.

Kusha

Planetary Datafax: Kusha

Class: Uninhabitable moon, Satellite of Ezochi (Rotation - 43 standard hours, 0.18G, Mass - 0.015 TM)

Designation: Dead World

Population: None

Tithe Grade: N/A

Climate/Geography/Biosphere: Atmosphere - Kusha has an atmosphere consisting mostly of sulfur dioxide, sulfur monoxide, and sodium chloride, making human habitation entirely impossible. Even if the air was breathable, Kusha is home to more than three hundred active volcanoes and a high core temperature, resulting in an ever shifting landscape of lava rivers and cooled magma.

Governmental Type: N/A

Planetary Governor: N/A

Adept Presence: N/A

Military: N/A

Trade/Economy/Notes: Kusha was not always as uninhabitable as it currently is. Originally it was near-barren rock with a minute atmosphere and little in the ways of flora and fauna. Thousands of years prior to the first human habitation in the system, Eldar from the small craftworld Gliese landed on Kusha to dispose of a chaos relic they were unable to destroy themselves. Upon sealing the artifact away, the moon underwent the volcanic changes almost immediately, rendering it the dead world that it is today.

Lava

Planetary Datafax: Lava

Class: Semi-inhabitable moon, Satellite of Ezochi (Rotation - 43 standard hours, 0.3G, Mass - 0.002 TM)

Designation: Ice World

Population: Human-imperial, 10,000 estimated

Tithe Grade: Solutio Tertius

Climate/Geography/Biosphere: Atmosphere - Lava's atmosphere is comprised of enough oxygen to support human life, yet the moon resides outside Malina's habitability range, resulting in temperatures that are never above freezing outside of man-made habitations. Those same temperatures keep Lava devoid of any naturally occurring flora and fauna. All food sources are imported from Kintaro. The earth below the layers of ice on Lava are rich in many minerals and natural gasses, which are mined and collected, and then sent throughout the Imperium. Many of these minerals are highly radioactive, making the mining of them a tenuous process.

Governmental Type: Appointed Governor-Warden

Planetary Governor: Governor-Warden Dai Kobushi

Adept Presence: None

Military: Imperial Garrison comprising the 31st Amarok regiment.

Trade/Economy/Notes: Lava produces materials used in production on Amarok. However, the radioactive nature of many of the minerals mined on world has slowly forced the labor to be made up of various prisoners throughout the Malina System, as there are very few who would volunteer for this work. The relatively high crime rate on Amarok coupled with the relatively high rate of death in the mines provides a work force that is constantly turning over. The small security force that was originally deployed with the convicts was quickly overrun, resulting is mass rioting. Governor-Warden Dai Kobushi requested more experienced units for security, and the 31st Amarok was sent, on the condition they were fitted with Individual Radiation Shielding (something not afforded to the convicts working the mines).

Ezochi

Planetary Datafax: Ezochi

Class: Gas Giant (Rotation - 10.5 standard hours, 1.07G, Mass - 24.2 TM)

Designation: Gas Giant

Population: None

Tithe Grade: N/A

Climate/Geography/Biosphere: Atmosphere - The majority of the atmosphere around Ezochi is made up of methane (>95%) and the rest being a combination of oxygen, ammonia and phosphine. Even if the air was able to be properly filtered for human habitation, there exists no true solid surface to land on.

Governmental Type: N/A

Planetary Governor: N/A

Adept Presence: N/A

Military: N/A

Trade/Economy/Notes: N/A

Igaluk

Planetary Datafax: Igaluk

Class: Semi-inhabitable moon, Satellite of New Vinton (Rotation - 54.6 standard days, 0.23G, Mass - 0.02 TM)

Designation: Dead World

Population: Human-imperial, 1000 estimated

Tithe Grade: Solutio Tertius

Climate/Geography/Biosphere: Atmosphere - None. The only geographical features are a small number of large craters that dot it. Human habitation is only possible in entirely self contained mining operations.

Governmental Type: Appointed Governor

Planetary Governor: William Morgan Shepard

Adept Presence: None

Military: None

Trade/Economy/Notes: Originally given up as entirely void of usefulness, Igaluk was found to be rich in various rare metals, so mining operations were hastily set up on world. A skeleton crew of workers is sent every six months from Amarok to live on site and maintain the various machinery for mining.