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Great stuff all around. That giant purity seal looks wicked.

EDC

Mechanicus Family Photo. I sold off a lot, but still have a ton of work to do to "finish" (lol) the army.

Looks pretty solid to me

Good job there as always.

Finally got to work on my sphere of influence for campaigns/stories. The first three empires and two microstates are written.
Unfortunately, "Tenebrate" is not an original name. This will be fixed at some point.

"The Abremax sector, an area theoretically part of the Imperium, but often forgotten, and always ignored. Now, a veritable "wild west" of wildly different cultures and forms of heresy. The rest of the Imperium Nihilus dropped off the map a hundred years ago. That fething place, pardon my language, Magos, vanished a millennia ago."
- Rogue Trader Nicklaus Coepernica, to Magos-Malagra Maximine-01110001
Sector Map:

The Abremax Sector is one of the furthest-flung Imperial sectors, isolated from its neighbors by strong perpetual warp-storms, void-anomalies, and treacherous nebulae. By 980.M40, before the rest of the Imperium Nihilus was cut off from the true Imperium, the Abremax Sector had gone dark. Astropathic communiques were swallowed without being received, and messenger vessels vanished.
The sector was presumed lost, and swallowed in the Imperial bureaucracy. In the absence of Imperial intervention, the culture of the various worlds forming the formerly loosely Imperial sector changed, forming an unrecognizable cluster of independent worlds, petty empires, anomalies, and warp-touched - or xenos-corrupted - worlds.

The Benevolent Collective-
"Hello. You have entered Benevolent Collective space. Please remove yourself from the area as quickly as possible, or prepare for swift annihilation."
- Benevolent Collective "Customs" Message

The Benevolent Collective is a strictly isolationist, highly centralized group of systems, located in the "Northwestern" area of the Abremax sector. The capital world is home to an ancient Dark Age AI processing core, which has spread its influence across the Collective. Tech-heresy is rampant across the Collective, as the empire's Governor, under the control of the AI, ordered the purge of loyalist Mechanicus personnel in 125.M41. The AI took direct control in 130.M41, mass-implanting the human populace with neural augmentors. These neural augmentors are capable of communicating with each other, in effect creating an empire-wide human hive mind.
Due to the influence of the AI, Collective technology is far more advanced that most baseline Imperial equipment, and presents a serious threat to the reclamation of the Abremax sector. Heavy usage of automated combat drones and thermonuclear weaponry has been reported, from observations of the Collective-Neocadian war in 947.M41. Exterminatus orders have been secured against all corrupted worlds in the four Collective star systems.

The Neocadian Imperium-
"Cadia stands above all of you! She blesses us! Remember the holy writ!"
- Colonel Demian IV to the assembled Cadian 561st-7th

The Neocadian Imperium is the closest thing to a group of loyal Imperial worlds in the Abremax sector. The capital world, Neocadia, was settled by the 561st Cadian Regiment in 499.M38, and maintained a proud military tradition. When the warp-storms initially cut the Abremax sector off, Neocadia made contact with surrounding Imperial loyalists, and formed the modern Neocadian Imperium. The Neocadians worship the goddess "Cadia" as a sort of war-goddess, the true nature of Cadia lost over the milennium of isolation. Equipment like that used by the Cadian regiments of old is scarce, and difficult to produce, and so is regarded as a form of divine blessing by High Command. The Neocadians have gone to war with the Collective several times, all attempts resulting in humiliating defeat.
The Neocadian regiments follow Imperial Guard organizational structure, with tanks of local manufacture replacing standard Imperial tanks, in most cases. Each regiment has the title "Cadian 561st", which is followed by its true regiment designation number. The name of the 561st is said to bring good luck to those who march under it.

The Tenebrate-
"There is no "human" or "Abremaxian". There is only we, and not-we. Not-we will perish."
- Tenebrate response to an Ecclesiarchal League contact-message

The Tenebrate is a race of hyperxenophobic, highly-psychic xenos, native to the "southern" reaches of the Abremax sector. The Tenebrate possess a high-strength psychic link that allows telepathic communication between each member of the species, regardless of distance. This phenomena grants credibility to a popular theory amongst xenologists - that the Tenebrate are actually warp beings, that use artificially generated bodies as "puppets" to influence the material world. Dissection of Tenebrate corpses provides evidence to support this theory - all Tenebrate are completely identical, lacking any form of genetic material. It is unknown how new Tenebrate bodies are created.
The Tenebrate are omnicidal, attacking any form of non-Tenebrate on sight with vicious psychic attacks and high-yield weaponry. All forms of non-psychic cloaking are nonfunctional against Tenebrate.
The Tenebrate lack any form of self-identity beyond a word roughly analogous to "we", and so have been given a standard Imperial species name identifier until more is known about them.

Micro-empires of the Abremax Sector

There are two micro-empires in the Abremax sector, both made up by two star systems, and bordering each other. They generally maintain good relations with each other, and have formed temporary alliances in the past to combat the ever-present Purifier threat to the "south".

The Dual-Imperium

The Dual-Imperium maintains a proud traditionalist culture. The capital world of Nievenna seats a hereditary monarch, who alongside a council of qualified lords, controls the empire. The Imperial Army regiments of the Dual-Imperium are equipped in regal, almost primitive-looking dress, with wood-stocked lasguns and las-locks.

The Dual-Imperium is notable for its especially dogmatic Mechanicus personnel, thanks to whom the empire has maintained a relatively stable technological level. Leman Russ tanks, Chimeras, and the rare second-generation Baneblade are a common sight in the Dual-Imperium's armies

The Sovokon-Etrinet Alliance

The Sovokon-Etrinet Alliance is a loose union of the former Imperial colonies in the Sovokon and Etrinet systems. The Alliance is primarily notable for its Grand Archives, a construction maintained by its famous Union Institute. The Grand Archives contain information on galactic history, some splintered records dating back to early M28.

The Alliance is first and foremost a scholarly state, with the objective of hoarding as much knowledge as possible. The Mechanicus remnants in the Alliance are generally progressives, who make use of compiled records to make improvements on standard tech. This practice is frowned upon by Dual-Imperial Mechanicus personnel, and is responsible for the slow rate of technological cooperation between the two microstates.

Neat! I really like your little corner of the galaxy. Lots of kickass ideas

I especially like the Tenebrate. For the life of me I can't remember where it's from, but they remind me of something I read on TV Tropes about a species/race that actually turned out to be the exploratory bodies of an extra-dimensional being. Each of them described themselves as 'fingers', and they were all different protrusions of the same entity into our reality. Because this extra-dimensional entity was the only creature in its dimension, it didn't really understand that our dimension was full of individual beings. It thought that each person was simply a 'finger' of another all-encompassing entity, and was very confused as to why they kept saying hello to one another. This not being 40k they weren't omnicidal, they just thought that it would be fun to play along and say 'hello' back. It did have a little difficulty understanding that killing each 'finger' wasn't ok, seeing as it just thought it was the equivalent of clipping off a strand of hair from some other dimension-scale being.

As an aside, check these out I think you're the kind of person who would enjoy them. It's the examples at the bottom of the page that provide the most inspiration

Ah, thank you for the three hours of reading <3

Here's the second Xenos race - Chaos Xenos, and literal Starfish Aliens.

The Abremaxian Purifiers-

The Abremaxian Purifiers (as they are called by the United Ecclesiarchal League) are a race of chaos-corrupted Xenos, sworn to the god Khorne. and formally known to the Divisio Biologis as Hundresh. Hundresh biology differs from most known species, individual Hundresh specimens lack distinctive "cells", instead being formed entirely of a sponge-like biological substance, saturated with the Hundresh equivalent of blood, and surrounded by a tough exoskeleton. This sponge-like substance is formed from tough, woven fibers, made up of raw biomolecules. This grants the Hundresh exceptional physical strength and toughness. A substance ressembling neural fiber is woven into these fibers, granting the Hundresh their intelligence and reaction time. If a Hundresh specimen is bisected, and left in an environment where nutrients are available, it will grow into two seperate Hundresh.

A Hundresh specimen resembles a large ball of thick and thin tentacles, and varies in color from blood-red to dark purple. Hundresh are omnivorous, absorbing liquids through pores in their exoskeleton, and dissolving solids with powerful secreted acids. Often, Hundresh will be observed with mutations, due to their nature as Chaos-worshippers. These mutations will take the form of external blades, horns, armor plating, or extraneous mouths.

The name of "Abremaxian Purifiers" exists for two reasons. Firstly, the Abremaxian Purifiers are omnicidal, seeking to "purify" space in the name of Khorne, by slaughtering all observed living things, including plants, fungi, animals, and even their own wounded. Secondly, the Purifiers are native to the Abremax sector, and only recently developed spaceflight, by utilizing daemonically infested vessels. Efforts to contain the Purifier threat are ongoing.

Almost done Dual-Imperium Army soldier. Going for an Austro-Hungarian look. Too bad I couldn't find any stahlhelms/pickelhaubes...
Mostly all there is to do is fix the chest discoloration and miscasting.

Ultramarines Razorback. When I come back from my vacation (tomorrow to August 21st), I'll post it up on eBay. Until then, limited updates.

Nice work on the Guardsman and Razorback.

Love the aesthetic of the guard.

EDC

Second to last fluff block.

The United Ecclesiarchal League -

"Venerate Him in all of His forms, as we are united in His worship. Through His might, we are given our mandate. Purge the heretic, and the witch, no matter the shape of their false, alien gods. No nonbeliever may stand against our united fury."

- Grand Cardinal Sobysk III, sermon to the 4th Pancern Brigade

The United Ecclesiarchal League is the premier human power in the Abremax sector, and the empire ultimately responsible for the current semi-contained state of the Purifier scourge. At its height, it contained twelve systems, prior to the Tenebrate Manifestation, in what is now Tenebrate territory. Despite its diminished state, and hostile empires surrounding it, the League's fanaticism has not faltered, and it remains a match for any single attempt to crush it.

The League has differed significantly from the Imperium, over its millennium of separation. Grand Cardinals are elected by landowning citizens of the League, and confirmed by the League Overcouncil, a group of representatives from each League world. This has lead to political snags, and great top-level inefficiency, when popular, yet ineffective Grand Cardinals manage to claim the position without being denied by the Overcouncil.

The League Army is organized into brigades, roughly equivalent in size to a mid-sized Imperial Guard regiment. Armour, artillery, and infantry are often mixed in brigades, rather than kept intentionally overspecialized. Pure armour or infantry brigades do exist, but are rare and elite formations, often used as support for mixed brigades. The League equips the Army a mix of las and projectile weapons, and uses roughly Imperial-equivalent equipment. Instead of the Leman Russ battle tank, the League Army uses various patterns of the ZB81 Hussar battle tank.

"Wings" attached to backpacks and armour are commonly used by League soldiers. These "wings" do not allow flight, but rather contain devices that enhance the sound of the metal or wooden "feathers" shifting, creating deafening, demoralizing sonic shockwaves ahead of a League charge. League genetors have been known to graft severely wounded volunteers to semiequine cyborg "centaur" bodies, which are equipped with wings and used as shock troops. These soldiers are known as "Krykonie", or "Pegasi".

That sounds like a good place for my space marine custom chapter to recruit from!

Awesome! Love the idea of the semi-equine winged 'pegasi' servitors nice little tie-in to Hussars as well.

when we get models and story time all in one go

I have returned to the continental USA, ready to get back to work!

Vacation was lovely, saw lots of nice things, the coolest of which were the lava glow from an active volcano, and a lighting storm from above on the flight home. Here's some infiltrators.



I had this song stuck in my head while assembling them - wonderful song. May have to sneak some Serbian influences into a model somewhere...

Big fan of Sabaton. Nice work on the infiltrators.

Well that sounds phenomenal very jealous

Looking forward to some Serbian influences creeping in any ideas so far?

Chetnik caps, mostly, and some nice light grey uniforms. Maybe as a Guard auxiliary unit? I'd have to look around some more for ideas.

Infiltrators will be painted when I'm done with this mountain of work.

Hmmm, i like the idea of a Guard auxiliary unit i've always wanted to do something creepy and gothic with Guard.

I wonder if you can look into Serbian folklore for inspiration for creepy support servitors and suchlike

 Ynneadwraith wrote:
Hmmm, i like the idea of a Guard auxiliary unit i've always wanted to do something creepy and gothic with Guard.

I wonder if you can look into Serbian folklore for inspiration for creepy support servitors and suchlike

From some casual browsing, I found Domachi and Psoglav. Domachi are house-spirits (servant-servitor for a commander), and Psoglav is a man with horse legs and a cyclopean dog-head. Sounds like a Hunter-killer Servitor to me!

A headless Guardsman - I'm still sculpting the šajkača. (NOT Chetnik cap, I messed up my research)

And, here he is. The colour is a little bit light (the historical Serbian uniform is a tad darker), but I'm happy with him. Red skirt trim to represent the red collar tabs on my reference image. The hat is sculpted by myself out of GS (poorly).

Neat! Love the ideas for folklore servitors so far

Really liking the dude as well especially his ornate lasgun. Would make a great Vostroyan conversion that

I really dig his pimp slapping bionic arm . The hat looks cool also.

Ooh looking good.

Needs a big bayonet to be fully ww1

Thanks guys, I really apppreciate it

I had a wonderful birthday today, here's an objective marker!


I challenge you to tell me what the design on the shield is from.

I like the custom Guardsman, want to see more!

Also, happy late birthday!

I swear, I enjoy making new lasgun designs more than I enjoy painting endless Skitarii.

That lasgun looks like an MP5. Now you need to do a P90 one as well!

Ooh neat! I like that consider it an idea stolen for future use

ZergSmasher wrote:That lasgun looks like an MP5. Now you need to do a P90 one as well!

That may be beyond my skills, but I shall try. Xaxaxaxa cyka blyat rush B p90.

Ynneadwraith wrote:Ooh neat! I like that consider it an idea stolen for future use

Thanks! I'll do a proper Guardsman with one, to see what it looks like on a model.



Infiltrator WIP. Almost done with a new squad. Only 10 more to go.

Should do a bull pop Las gun and have some variety