I Got You, Little Bro (Grimdark WIP) (Patreon)

Hello!

More Grimdark updates are here!

The majority of the Grimdark WIPs are not on Patreon anymore.  But community members can still access the latest WIPs as mentioned in previous posts.  Just to be thorough, community members will receive an email with the access information as well. Please leave any comments/feedback/reactions on this post like you would normally do. Thanks!

First the surprise poll winner - a diorama for Huron Fal and Temeter. For context, this is an event in the Horus Heresy, specifically Book 4: Flight of the Eisenstein. Part of the book covers the time when the Traitor Legions were trying to cull the loyalist elements from their ranks. This became a long drawn out campaign on Isstvan III where the traitors tried unsuccessfully to kill the loyalists in open battle. Horus, impatient with how slowly this phase of his Heresy was taking, basically said 'Screw this, Virus Bomb the loyalists!'.

Virus Bombs or Life-Eater Virus as the name implies are one of the worst ways to go out in the Grimdark universe. They are basically flesh eating bacteria on overdrive and even a few microbes can liquify a Space Marine in moments. Virus Bombs are also one of the ways the Imperium conducts Exterminatus which will cull an entire world of organic life.

Anyways, what you need to know is that Huron-Fal (a Dreadnought) and Temeter (a captain) were both loyalists of the Death Guard Legion. Temeter had received garbled warnings of an impending Virus Bombing and tried to get his men into bunkers to weather the assault.

Huron-Fal urged Temeter to enter the bunker before the bombs exploded, as his Dreadnought armour would protect him from the virus. But Temeter refused since so many of his Death Guard were still trying to reach the safety. Seconds later, the bombs exploded and Temeter gave the order to seal the bunker before he collapsed, the deadly virus having breached his damaged armour.

As his Battle Brothers who did not reach the bunkers died around him Huron-Fal gathered the dying Captain in his arms. This was when Temeter noticed that Huron Fal's armour actually had a crack in it. When the Captain asked why Huron-Fal had lied about his armour, the Dreadnought simply stated it was his prerogative as a Veteran to do so, as the virus continued to liquefy their bodies.

This is their final passage from Flight of the Eisenstein:

'‘Veteran’s prerogative,’ came the reply. ‘We’ll go together then, shall we?’ Huron-Fal asked, embracing Temeter’s body to him, moving swiftly away from the bunker. It took every last effort from Temeter to nod. Blinded now, he could feel the tissues of his eyes burning and shrivelling in his head, the soft meat of his lips and tongue dissolving.

Huron-Fal’s systems were on the verge of shut-down as he stumbled to a safe distance, skidding to a halt. ‘This death,’ rasped the vocoder, ‘this death is ours. We choose it. We deny you your victory.’

With a single burning nerve impulse, the mind of the warrior at the heart of the Dreadnought uncoupled the governor controls on his compact fusion generator and let it overload. For a moment there was a tiny star on the battered plains outside the Choral City, marking two more lives lost within a maelstrom of murder.'

So yeah, this was easily one of the most epic moments in the Horus Heresy and after thinking about it, I can definitely see why the community voted for this scene. 👍 Like I mentioned in the last post, Loyalist Dreadnoughts are some of the most awesome characters in the Grimdark universe. 🏆

Speaking of which, I was playing around with the Contemptor proxy and came up with a version you could use for the Patron Saint of all Dreadnoughts. Because Rylanor is awesome, a credit to the Emperor's genetic science and a perfect example of what an Emperor's Children should be. Fulgrim is...none of those things.

On the Ork side of things, we have their equivalent of the Death Star. Roks are basically asteroids hollowed out by Ork Mekboyz and then stuffed with whatever overpowered toys the greenskins can get their hands on. Like all Ork inventions, their construction is haphazard, bizarre and shouldn't work. However, Rok designs are so random, enemy ships have no idea what their structural weak points are so Roks just keep fighting at maximum efficiency right up to the point they explode or disintegrate into a cloud of rubble.

They are also used as 'drop pods', transporting millions of Orks to whatever planet the Warboss decided to invade. A perfect example of this is during Third War for Armageddon.

So I basically designed my Rok as the Ork version of Unicron although I will admit it reminds me of the Bullet Cat meme. 😅 Ork fans, am I on the right track? Do you want any other Gubbinz for the Rok?

Next up are pose updates! I got a bunch of requests relating to the Lord of Iron so I'll work on those. Fantasy polling will also be up next week so please have your suggestions in within the next few days. Thanks!