The twisted herald moved its head ponderously side-to-side as it surveyed the ruined battlefield, its tattered antlers lending weighty inertia to its movements. Ragged were its breaths as it tasted the tang of fresh blood in the air.
Its interest piqued by a scent lingering in the breeze it strode languidly through the corpses. Despite its mutated form, it had lost none of the grace with which the Eldar are blessed. A characteristic thrown into sharp relief by the discordant metallic scrape of its blade across the flagstones.
Reaching its quarry, it unfurled an elongated forearm towards the wounded Guardian below, caressing its spattered cheek. The herald spoke in a deathbed whisper, so hoarse it was barely audible. "You are not long for this world," the herald confessed. "This need not be the end, my child. Come. Be with Mother Isha. She waits for you."
After kicking off with my Ynnari, I thought I'd show you another of my unfinished warbands :S I do have some that are at least mostly done, I promise!
I've always thought that the idea of Chaos Eldar offered too much raw opportunity to pass up, but due to the claim Slaanesh has on their souls it has to be treated carefully. 'Oh, these guys just decided to worship Khorne' doesn't quite cut the mustard for me. However, much like Cegorach is able to snatch the occasional soul from the jaws of Slaanesh, so might other more powerful entities. These stolen souls are a prize, a taunt to Slaanesh of owning something that is hers by birthright.
However, they should also serve a purpose. With this warband, I hope to start setting the scene for my worldbuilding of my particular corner of the galaxy, far out on the Eastern Fringe. Long-ago ravaged by Nurgle, and with the turmoil of the Maledictum, the Plaguefather has set his sights on The Scar oncemore.
A couple of thoughts on the model itself and its fluff. Firstly, there not being much precedent for Chaos Eldar (of three of the Ruinous Powers at least) gave me pretty free reign to define what they might be like. My thinking was that Eldar mutate...differently...to humans. Whereas humans become corpulent and sore-ridden, the Eldar become sallow and emaciated, limbs elongating and distending. Famine to humanity's bloat.
I also wanted his wraithbone armour to rot realistically, but unfortunately for me bone doesn't tend to succumb to rot. So, what I settled upon was osteoporosis, a gradual hollowing and pitting of the bone structure, weeping fluid from exposed holes.
The last thought is related to that somewhat. I have a bit of a theory that a race's warp-gods don't just represent certain emotions, but in some way they are that part of a race's consciousness. For instance, Khorne both represents and is the living embodiment of wrathful murderous thoughts (mostly from humanity). So, what happens when your warp-gods are murdered?
Those aspects of your racial consciousness embodied by those gods are torn from your mind, leaving behind only those who survive. For the Eldar, all that is left of their formerly glorious consciousnesses is bloodshed (Khaine), trickery (Cegorach) and excess (Slaanesh). They're minds are fragments of what they were pre-Fall.
To link this to the Malari herald, there is one more Eldar God who survived the Fall: the Weeping God, Isha. Mother of the Eldar, and source of compassion. Not dead, but trapped. So, the Eldar are still capable of compassion, but only for fleeting moments where her influence shines through. However, Malariel above is far closer to Isha than any of his kin. So, as far as I see it, he is one of the only Eldar who truly feels compassion. Compassion as only the Eldar can feel it. Truly, his only desire is to save his kin from the hunger of Slaanesh. He has found a way, and he only wishes for you to join him such that your soul may be saved as well.
Anyway, enough of my rambling. Hope you like him!
No comments:
Post a Comment