The Gathering Storm Part II: Page 85 Designer interview

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**casvalremdeikun**

Darth Bob wrote:
I wonder if Biel-Tan being at the forefront of the next book is any indication that they're either going to finally give us some plastic Aspect Warriors sometime this year.

That would be cool. I am hoping they phase out most of the Finecast kits for every army. Limit it to just Character kits.

**the_scotsman**

Darth Bob wrote:
I wonder if Biel-Tan being at the forefront of the next book is any indication that they're either going to finally give us some plastic Aspect Warriors sometime this year.

It's the craftworld the most people know about with no special character models so they can blow it up while going "YEAAAH PLOT ADVANCEMENT SO AWWWWESOOOOME."

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

the_scotsman wrote:
Well, it certainly fits with GWS portrayal of the ancient intelligent cutthroat race of eldar to have them be the most gullible trusting morons since the fething Navi doesn't it? "Well who are you then?" "Why, don't you recognize me, it's Ynnead, savior of the Eldar race and not a chaos daemon at all!" "Ah yes of course you look trustworthy, come with me I was just going to invite the most intolerant and alien hating factions of the imperium over for tea in the webway."

If I'm right in thinking, Ynnead 'believers' are broadly considered a bit nutty by many Craftworld Eldar? Could make for interesting background dealing with that one,

**Lord Kragan**

Cosmic Schwung wrote:
Love 'em. I'm guessing Ynnead has infused the emissary and sword dude with souls which is why they're dripping with soul stones. Only thing I don't like is the Yncarne's sword. Large and ornate as it is, it still looks like a regular eldar sword.

Azreal13 wrote:
The way trademarks work, I'm pretty sure GW could have protected it already, it's futile, which is the real kicker. There's also plenty of people use the new Guard name, I certainly see AM used in place of IG often enough.

They did, they've had it for ages. Whatever reason they had to come up with the new name, I presume it wasn't just to have something they could trademark.

Oh wait, really? Sooo... do we assume they forgot they had it trademarked (which honestly it's within the realm of possiblitiy, it's Gee-dubs) or we can safely say there's no "malicious" (read. they just wanted to be pretentious about it) intent?

Automatically Appended Next Post:

the_scotsman wrote:
Darth Bob wrote:
I wonder if Biel-Tan being at the forefront of the next book is any indication that they're either going to finally give us some plastic Aspect Warriors sometime this year.

It's the craftworld the most people know about with no special character models so they can blow it up while going "YEAAAH PLOT ADVANCEMENT SO AWWWWESOOOOME."

For all we know they could get a slap in the wrist like the Space Wolves. Oh yeah, they destroyed the outer areas and damage a wing or hab-block, but everyone's fine!

**Medium of Death**

So if the Yncarne is an Avatar of Ynnead does it need the equivalent of a Court of the Young King to be formed?

Does an Eldar need to essentially sacrifice himself/become one with its essence?

I suspect the process is different slightly because the Avatar of Ynnead has an Eldar Forged weapon unlike the Wailing Doom.

**silverstu**

GoatboyBeta wrote:

Yeah now I've come down from shiny new models buzz I'm really interested in what the background is gonna be.

Will book two be a direct continuation from book one? Or will it cover the same time frame from the Eldar perspective?

Biel-tan is an interesting choice. If I was going to pick one of the big craftworlds to use in a plotline involving the 13th black crusade and Ynnead, Ulthwe or Iyanden would IMO have been the (maybe too)obvious choices. Biel-tan is not noted for heavy use of wraith constructs and is further away from the EoT then Earth.

Biel-tan means the Rebirth of Ancient Days- they believe in re-establishing the Eldar Empire by force and the birth of Ynnead is seen as the start of new Eldar empire so it makes sense the fight back starts there- although by the use of the word "fracture" I'm guessing it doesn't go too smoothly..
I hope they take this aesthetic and applied it to future eldar releases, i'd love to see the Aspects and an Avatar of Khaine done with the exotic/esoteric look ramped up a bit like these new models.

**Lord Kragan**

Medium of Death wrote:
So if the Yncarne is an Avatar of Ynnead does it need the equivalent of a Court of the Young King to be formed?

Does an Eldar need to essentially sacrifice himself/become one with its essence?

I suspect the process is different slightly because the Avatar of Ynnead has an Eldar Forged weapon unlike the Wailing Doom.

Honestly, I think the Avatar has already been formed, and it's a one of a kind. Eldrad's ritual didn't go quite well, so I think it's within the realmo of possibility that the avatar is all that came out. Dunno, but I can see it happen.

**streetsamurai**

relooking it, but is it me or the horn on the avatar is not well integrated to the model ? Might only be the angle, but there seems to be no transition between the horn and the skin

**Mad Doc Grotsnik**

I think it's armour, rather than a growth.

**Lord Kragan**

streetsamurai wrote:
relooking it, but is it me or the horn on the avatar is not well integrated to the model ? Might only be the angle, but there seems to be no transition between the horn and the skin

It seems okay to me.

Now that I'm thinking about it, didn't Cegorach in the old (and by old I mean 2nd edition) lore of the harlequins trick, instead of fighting, slaanesh into giving him the souls by kind of becoming She-Who-THirsts or something like that? if it's something along those lines, the model's design is a bit of a call-back.

**TheIronCrow**

Lady Malice!

The Crimson guy could be Ahra, as the sword of Ynnead. The pre fall armour makes sense.

As for the Avatar, I'm not digging it. I was picturing something a lot less Slaaneshy. But it could just be the colour choice.

**TheDraconicLord**

Mad Doc Grotsnik wrote:
I think it's armour, rather than a growth.

It is. You can check it out in the video.

TheIronCrow wrote:
As for the Avatar, I'm not digging it. I was picturing something a lot less Slaaneshy. But it could just be the colour choice.

Oh no, it really isn't just the colour: if you look at it's armor, it's like a deamonette; one side is a female breat, the other a male's.

**streetsamurai**

yep. Glad to see that it was only an angle thing. That model is fantastic.

**H.B.M.C.**

General Kroll wrote:
It's got two new models...

FW doesn't count, and you knew damned well what I meant.

**Lord Kragan**

TheIronCrow wrote:
Lady Malice!

The Crimson guy could be Ahra, as the sword of Ynnead. The pre fall armour makes sense.

As for the Avatar, I'm not digging it. I was picturing something a lot less Slaaneshy. But it could just be the colour choice.

Was actually picturing him with ANY slaaneshi influece at all? I for sure didn't (nor really expected him). Still not terribly fond of the model, concept per se, rather than the aesthetic. I like it but not too much.

I do wonder how he will look with different palettes, though, may make it more palatable and appealing if I see different art.

**Morathi's Darkest Sin**

shinros wrote:
Also

MDS: So are those names for the two Eldar, or honorific titles.. if the latter I'm still thinking Yriel and Malys.

Warhammer TV: They're new characters, though other heroes of the Eldar may have a part to play...

I still think it might be an attempt of misdirection, but at least he responded to me.

Loving all three of these models.. will be preordering for sure, adding them to my Deathwatch Eldrad and his Harlequins. Hoping for new plastic Aspect Warriors at some point, Veilwalker as well.

**streetsamurai**

I'm starting to wonder if we'll ever get plastic aspect warriors. These models are way past their expiration date.

**Messiah**

Red Corsair wrote:
Darth Bob wrote:

Well considering Ynnead is the god of the dead, and Soulstones are repositories for the souls of the dead I would say it makes complete sense that his most devoted followers and his Avatar would have an inordinate number of them.

The Avatar, sure. But when the other two literally have twice the stones that the Avatar does, kind of overdone.

Really? Because I count at least 20 in his swirly thing.

Also, does the Avatar of Ynnead have its (female) breast on the other side compared to the slaaneshi models? That would be neat.

**Lord Kragan**

Morathi's Darkest Sin wrote:
shinros wrote:
Also

MDS: So are those names for the two Eldar, or honorific titles.. if the latter I'm still thinking Yriel and Malys.

Warhammer TV: They're new characters, though other heroes of the Eldar may have a part to play...

I still think it might be an attempt of misdirection, but at least he responded to me.

Loving all three of these models.. will be preordering for sure, adding them to my Deathwatch Eldrad and his Harlequins. Hoping for new plastic Aspect Warriors at some point, Veilwalker as well.

Yeah, considering that GW is shaping out to be giant trolls I buy it. Not 100% sure, but I buy it.

I'd like for a troupe master model to be HQ, main reason I haven't started harlequins is because I find their detachment to be something obtuse.

**Cosmic Schwung**

GoatboyBeta wrote:
Yeah now I've come down from shiny new models buzz I'm really interested in what the background is gonna be.

Will book two be a direct continuation from book one? Or will it cover the same time frame from the Eldar perspective?

Biel-tan is an interesting choice. If I was going to pick one of the big craftworlds to use in a plotline involving the 13th black crusade and Ynnead, Ulthwe or Iyanden would IMO have been the (maybe too)obvious choices. Biel-tan is not noted for heavy use of wraith constructs and is further away from the EoT then Earth.

I'm guessing it'll be over the same time period as the first book. This is me about to go off on some daft and rambly speculation. I'll hide it so no one is subjected to it unwillingly.

Spoiler:

**Davor**

Carnikang wrote:Cheeky gits. Hopefully its something interesting, to say the least.

So is this something interesting?

Jackal wrote:Look on the plus side.
If this does receive sigmarification, we can fall back to 30k lol.
We know that one is safe storyline wise for a long time.

Well GW can always say that the Warp brings in Tyranids and Orks and what ever else in because of the new warp storms from the Fall of Cadia. So who knows, maybe the story line could not last long if GW ever so decides to change 40K. This would be the way to do it. Just like I see from Star Trek: First Contact.

That said, what is an Avatar? Is it a ghost or spirit or god? I thought they were suppose to be huge. He didn't look so big in the video. What am I not understanding?

**Medium of Death**

So Mayls keeps some of her Dark Eldar colours and gear. So presumably The Visarch has kept some of his previous identity too.

The inside of his cloak is blue with yellow runes. So Alaitoc or Iyanden?

He doesn't have a spear so I doubt it's Yriel.

I wonder if Khaine's gate has collapsed meaning daemons could flood into Commorragh, perhaps these calamitous events began the process that birthed the Avatar?

Maybe the host of the Avatar is/was Vect.

**Chikout**

I think this 40k release is setting up a Slaneesh release. There are hints in the aos tzeentch book that Slaneesh will be found. It would make sense for them to do another crossover release, as they have done with Tzeentch.

It is also pretty great that of the 8 40k minis shown so far this year, 5 are female and none of them are overtly sexy.

**shinros**

Chikout wrote:
I think this 40k release is setting up a Slaneesh release. There are hints in the aos tzeentch book that Slaneesh will be found. It would make sense for them to do another crossover release, as they have done with Tzeentch.

It is also pretty great that of the 8 40k minis shown so far this year, 5 are female and none of them are overtly sexy.

Yup that giant spell tzeentch is weaving it's related for slaanesh for sure and they note one of the cults knows the true details of slaanesh's absence, they even say tzeentch is related to it as well at the very start of the tome. Perhaps it's a location a spell? Cause even tzeentch can't get past Malerion's

shadow magic nonsense.

Anyway ontopic: I can easily see them setting up the slaanesh release the story in 40k and AOS seems to be heading that way similar to tzeentch. I also recall fulgrim wants to create an avatar of slaanesh in the black legion supplement.

**Azreal13**

Davor wrote:

That said, what is an Avatar? Is it a ghost or spirit or god? I thought they were suppose to be huge. He didn't look so big in the video. What am I not understanding?

An Avatar is a manifestation of something/someone, a representation. So your character in a video game is also your avatar. In the Eldar case, they are physical representations of their gods.

**Davor**

Thank you Azreal. It was the Eldar case I ment. Thanks for answering. Now I understand. So not a god but a representation. So if this Avatar dies, the god is still alive correct?

**Azreal13**

Correct, in fact, Avatars (of Khaine, the usual one) don't actually die IIRC, their shell returns to the Craftworld and the sliver of the god that was powering it departs until the next time.

**Melissia**

Looking good. Especially like the red guy's shoulder-mane...

**Mario**

Medium of Death wrote:So if the Yncarne is an Avatar of Ynnead does it need the equivalent of a Court of the Young King to be formed?

Does an Eldar need to essentially sacrifice himself/become one with its essence?

Well, this avatar has quite a few spirit stones, maybe all of these were sacrificed in its creation? Or maybe these are spirit stones from already dead eldar that are just needed for the manifestation of the avatar (like other contructs)?

From here: http://wh40k.lexicanum.com/wiki/Spirit_stone

It is believed by some Eldar that when enough Eldar souls have been gathered within the Infinity Circuit's of the Craftworlds, a new god will emerge; Ynnead, Eldar God of the Dead. It is hoped by Farseers that this god will be powerful enough to vanquish Slaanesh, freeing the Eldar from their doom. Spirit Stones are also an Eldar vehicle upgrade that allows the spirit to control the vehicle in case the pilots are incapacitated, in a similar way to the Power of the Machine Spirit.

**Medium of Death**

Is this our mystery man in red?

Bechareth is a former Incubus that was left behind during a skirmish with the forces of Craftworld Alaitoc. He surrendered and was allowed to undertake the Path of the Warrior and became a part of the Deadly Shadow Striking Scorpion temple. Bechareth is a symbolic name, meaning "Spirit on the Wind", a term for those that died without a spirit stone to guard them

Spoiler: