Octokron Ethernauts Gallery and Lore (Patreon)

Every month Battle Yak Miniatures will release a new Battle Pack, featuring 3D printable miniature files! The June Battle Pack is the Octokron Ethernauts, an engimatic army of deep-sea dwelling beings with advanced technology launching attacks on the surface world!

Become a Patron now and gain access to the Octokron Ethernauts.

Enjoy this gallery of Octokron Ethernauts miniatures and a glimpse into the lore behind the faction!

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My people, we are on the cusp of great change.
I make this promise to you; we will survive this. My dream will survive this.
My dream will not be lost to the devouring deep.
Instead, it will change, and grow stronger.
Change only comes through hardship.
My people, I say to you again; we are on the cusp of great change...

-Oscarino Octavius, Grand Maestro of Octogopolis Prime

Rising from the dark depths of the ocean, the Octokron Ethernauts prey upon the unwary ships of the surface world. Wielding arcane technology and driven by alien motivations, they travel the abyssal currents of the deep sea in great metallic ships that strike without warning, the only sign of their approach strange lights glimpsed beneath the waves. Once they have seized what they desire, they vanish just as suddenly as they appeared, leaving ships empty of both cargo and crew, stolen away to some unknowable fate at their captors hands.

The Ethernauts are humanoid in form... for the most part. But it is impossible to determine their true race, as every time these mysterious marauders have been sighted they are clad head to foot in thick, rubbery suits. Most frequently encountered are the Ethernaut Dive-Drudges, whose lanky frames are weighed down with all manner of technological advanced equipment.

Their weapons crackle with harnessed lightning, while backpacks belch a burning chemical reek like ozone. Even these bulky garments cannot conceal, however, the subtle wrongness of the Ethernauts, their proportions malformed and movements ungainly, as if whatever creatures they were have been twisted in unnatural ways. Even their language is barely discernable, a sloppy watery gurgling, muffled by their concealing breath-masks and the misshapen features that lie beneath

Supporting their smaller brethren are the hulking Octokron Drudgenauts, towering brutes clad in the same all-concealing garments as the lesser Ethernauts. Some monstrous application of unknown science birthed the mighty Drudgenauts, bloating their forms and frames from whatever kind of creature they were before. The Ethernauts garb their hulking kin in powered equipment and armor, turning them into walking labor engines. They also make frightfully effective ship-breakers, tearing through even the thickest armored hull with their great strength and advanced weaponry. The rubbery suit cladding the Drudgenaut writhes and ripples as the hulking beast moves, hinting at hideous changes wracking their flesh beyond simply swollen physique.

The source of much of the Ethernauts strength is the mysterious substance known as Aquaplasm. Arcanists studying aquaplasm determined that it was a form of liquified vril essence, suspended in elemental water. Highly rare in nature, the Ethernauts have developed some means of producing the substance in vast quantities, enough to empower their entire society. Aquaplasm is also considered terribly dangerous, for it carries many mutagenic properties, twisted the flesh and blood of those exposed to it in innumerable frightful ways to reflect the traits of water-dwelling creatures - no doubt it is the very reason that the Ethernauts exist in such strange and unnatural shapes. Nonetheless, refine aquaplasm is the lifesblood of the Ethernauts, the power-source for their weaponry and a stabilizing balm for their altered bodies. 

The Ethernauts place great value upon aquaplasm, and those ethernauts who fall in battle are not simply abandoned to the enemy or the elements. Specialists known as Aquaplasm Reclaimers are employed by the Ethernauts specifically to harvest residual aquaplasm from the corpses of their brethren, using siphons and pumps to extract the precious fluid from every vein and organ, leaving the corpses of their fallen little more than dessicated husks crumbling in their rubbery suits. Should the Reclaimers be accosted by the enemy in the prosecution of their duties, their siphons can also suck out the internal vitals of the foe, though such worthless waste matter is of no use to the Ethernauts, and is ultimately discarded.

The Ethernauts dwell in the sprawling sunken city of Octogopolis, far beneath the ocean waves, but it was not always this way. Once, their wondrous city stood in the open air, a technologically advanced utopia to rival even great Guildernstern itself. The masterpiece of the brilliant scientist Oscarino Octavius, Octogopolis was founded upon the principles of using technology to serve the people, free from the exploitation and consumerism choking the industry of other advanced nations and city-states. Many of the city's technologies arose from Oscarino's own mind, and with the rich resources of the surrounding islands Octogopolis grew swiftly. Soon, refugees from many other civilizations flocked to the growing metropolis to begin new lives away from the war and strife of the world's conflicts.

With the technology Oscarino had created, the labour needed to expand the city and support its citizenry was easily accomplished. The masses were fed, housed, and clothed, with vat-grown algae-based foodstuffs, rapidly assembled prefabricated dwellings, and rough-but-functional clothing. It was not a life that allowed for much in the way of comfort, but Oscarino's genius and technology ensured that no living soul went without the basics to maintain their health and well-being. Those who were able to work laboured to supply the bare necessities to all in exchange for greater privileges and luxuries for themselves. It was Oscarino's dream that his way of life would spread to enlighten and enrich all the world's nations, changing it for the betterment of all.

As Octogopolis expanded more, it eventually stabilized, and soon the citizenry knew not just peace, but happiness as well. Shipping lanes were established to bring in additional goods from other nations, protected by Oscarino's ironclad ships and loyal militia troopers.

It is not clear what, exactly, caused the terrible disaster that changed the way of life for the people of Octogopolis forever. Some say it was sabotage from hostile nations. Others say it was Oscarino's own hubris, that in the city's heedless desire to grow the island itself sank under the city's immense weight. Others speak of the rumours that had spread before the great disaster, that the undersea drilling into ocean caverns had unearthed something, some ancient power, some dire threat that had lashed out at the invaders and wrought its wrath upon the city. Whatever the truth, the great city of Octogopolis and the island it grew from sank into the sea after a devastating series of quakes rocked the region.

But the city had not destroyed. Beneath the waves, the city survived, ravaged but still barely functional. Much of the city had been designed to be watertight, and in the sunken structures thousands yet endured. Oscarino himself survived, physically intact, though the state of his mind was another matter. The true nature of what had triggered the great disaster, the sinking of his masterpiece city, the loss of so much life... all of it served to unhinge his brilliant mind. 

Trapped within the sunken ruins of his dream, thousands of survivors clamored for salvation. Finally, Octavius seized upon a solution. There was not enough time to effect egress to the surface; the city was breaking down too fast, flooding too quickly. The only way Octavius and his people would survive to rebuild is if they could breathe water. The mutagenic effects of aquaplasm, the power source for much of the city's technology, were well known, and the citizenry had always been kept heavily shielded to avoid exposure. For the survival of Octogopolis, that would now have to change...

Beneath the sea, Octogopolis is reborn. Reconstructed and retrofitted as an underwater stronghold, it swarms with mishapen humanoid figures in bulky armor wielding arcane weaponry, always building, always expanding their dominion. The city spreads across the ocean floor, underwater spires towering up from the gloom, and structures biting deeper and deeper into the earth. This is the nation of the Octokron Ethernauts, would-be masters of the oceans, and more besides.

At the heart of it all, it's brilliant creator still orchestrates its eternal growth, and still dreams of changing the world...

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