Brother Azkaelon

I find, when I make minis, I almost always come up with a story and identity of the miniature, it is part of my way of doing things. The character of the mini is the driving force of the projekt. It is what makes it come alive, the soul so to speak. Even with very fast builds and paintjobs, if the soul is there, it works, it comes alive. At the same time I occupy my mind with such stories of the miniature while I paint, so I don’t get bored. In that way the minis evolve, what starts of as a spontaneous single mini just because I had a good idea can easily evolve into a whole warband or even a small army in its most extreme…

The following projekt started just that way, as they are now, they can easily be used as player characters in a game of Inquisitor or NPC’s for characters to meet and interact with in an encounter. I need only add a handfull more models to this warband and I have a redemptionist gang for Necromunda. All because of the stories I thought of when making the first character…Brother of the Faith Father Azkaelon Redemptionist Preacher of the Apocalypse and the congregation of the pure and inocent.

Not much is known about the father’s past until he led a prison revolt and through divine intervention or maybe extreme powers of persuation managed to convince the authorities that he and his brethren were wrongly accused of frauht, gambling and theft. In fact it would be a grievous sin against the god emperor of mankind himself to keep them in jail…

It is also said that he used to be a gambler and a sinner but he saw the light in prison and was set free by the emperor himself to start a mission and spread the word of faith and redemption across the imperium.

Some people wisper that he is a fraud and and  a gambler still just preying on peoples fears and getting richer and richer from donations… Those voices tend to go silent suddenly.

One thing is for sure Brother Azkaelon has an incredible gift for persuation and is an extremely gifted speaker. People who would have nothing of his faith are known to have donated all their possesions and joined his congregation after just one speach.

He wears the crown of fire to show how he suffers for the sins of people and only his pure heart saves him from getting burned, yet he feels all the heat from the fire he says.

He has started congregations in many systems now and apart from his trusted aide Rachel nobody is alive now to tell the tale of how it all started

Brother Azkaelon and his aide Rachel

Rachel, Azkaelons aide always recording his words of wisdom always interpreting them for those too dimwitted to understand. Always the echo when Azkaelons voice alone is not enough. Her light voice weaving in counterpoint between Azkaelons thunderous preaching of doom and brimstone making the words even more powerful. In reality she is his mother having gone through countless rejuvenat treatments, so now she looks young enough to be his daughter. She is the brains in the operation while he has the talent of convincing speach and charisma. He mostly says what she tells him to.

Brothers Demeter, Fritz and Huron. They are made to carry heavy things on their backs for atonement. The weight and time they must carry those burdens vary according to the severity of their sins. Demeter and Huron carry rather light burdens, their sins aren’t too bad, like thinking dirty thoughts on Demeter’s part and Huron have been caught stealing from the collect, a bad thing but nothing that can’t be forgiven especially when he gets humiliated by having to collect peoples donations! If on the other hand he is caught stealing again, the punishment will be very severe, brother Azkaelon will make sure he never steals again!

Brother Fritz on the other hand, he must carry his own tombstone and the heaviest flamer in their arsenal. Once when he was newly joined to the cause and still very full of himself, he tried to wear Azkaelon’s crown of fire. Maybe Fritz thought he could take over the power and usurp Azkaelon’s position or maybe he thought he could start his own sect, nobody knows but himself. He got so badly burned by the crown that he practically lost his face. Azkaelon cut out his tongue as punishment for taking the crown and wanting to take over power. Fritz took to wearing a golden mask because he could not bear the look of his scarred face, thereby comitting the sin of vanity. He must carry the tombstone as long as he wears the mask and keep carrying it for as many days he wore the mask once he has taken the mask of, so Brother Azkaelon has sentenced him!

 

Hannibal, the newest member of the congregation, not yet a full brother. He has given over all his earthly possesions to Azkaelon but he still has to testify to all the sins of his past life and do pennance for those before becoming a full brother of the redemption.

 

I really just started out making a redemptionist preacher, and I just started thinking up these stories. I started thinking of what his henchmen would look like and what their different functions would be in his hierachy. Super fast converted and painted. I also used these to experiment with light effects like the torch wich is Hannibal’s only light source and how the crown of fire shines on all Azkaelon’s brethren. I learned a lot about alternative light sources doing these, and even experimented with flourescent paints.

The journey of Brother Azkaelon and his congregation of the pure and inocent is not over, I have built a couple more maniacs to join his ranks and I am thinking of a special pulpit for the reverend to preach from…

In time when I use these minis in games of Inq28 their story will evolve and when I add to the warband it will evolve even further. I’m actually getting curious about where my own minis will go.

 

To be continued… some day…