Tuesday, 30 August 2011

Whiter shade of pale - an Albino Beastman, and a short story

Sup dudes and dudettes, today is an...interlude, of sorts, to my main project.

This is a model I've been wanting to do for a long time, roughly about 2 years. I went through a Mordheim stage, and always wanted to do a beastman list. There was mention of albino beastmen in their rules, and since then I wanted to make an albino beastman.

Unfortunately, at the time, I couldn't make the skin work to a level I found satisfactory. So I decided to go with shadow grey skintone and pale hair (ironically, the scheme I've not taken across to my daemonettes). However, recently, since I've mixed astronomicon grey and tallarn flesh 50:50 and made my pale skin tone, I decided to have another go. And it came out ok!

Here's a little blurb about my beastmen:

As followers of the Dark Powers, Beastmen young are often at a higher chance of being born with physical mutations more than most other of the races of the old world. Some of these are beneficial, like horns of diamond or unnatural strength, whilst some can be a hindrance, such as tentacle tails. Some, however, are neutral mutations, which physically do not have any effect. However, mutations are a sign of blessing of the dark powers, whatever form they take, and may lead the fortunate individual to gain the unreserved respect, and eternal jealousy, of their peers.

Albinoism is a common mutation in all animals, including humans. The host will have unnaturally pale skin, with shock white hair and a pinkish red hue to their eyes. It is not uncommon for beastmen young to be born an albino, even though their parents have shown no traits of Albinoism. This birth is often thought a blessing of Slaanesh, who's followers are renown for their pale complexions and silvered manes.

However, the disadvantages of an albino in the clan often outweigh the positives. Albinos often find their youth and adolescence tough, even for a beastman. Their fellow calf's will bully them, jealous of their mutation. Their elders will be harsher on them than most other children, as a blessed child is destined for greatness, and sparing them the rod of discipline will do them no favours.

When hunting with the tribe, their white coat will make them stand out in the woodland, making them a liability for the group. Some of the tribe will even find their pale skin reminds them of human kind, making them intolerable of the albino to the extreme.

Often, in the more unfortunate cases, this leads to the death of the albino, in mysterious circumstances whilst out of the hunt, or in a drunken knifefight after a raid. In most cases, this ends in the albino leaving the herd, attempting to find his own way in the world. Most of these head north, towards snowier climbs, where their pales fur will be advantageous.

They find that they are unnaturally pulled together however, and there is a tribe in the north of pure albinos. Led by Paler-than-snow, the Whiteherd tribe is the largest of these collections and believe themselves the blessed of Slaanesh, brought into the world to do his bidding. They think of themselves as the elite, better than other beastmen for their blessing and true survivalists. Many are extremely skilled at arms, having to defend themselves throughout their lives. Their cloth is dyed purple from the juices of the highly poisonous deathberries the grow north of the empire. Deadly to humans, it is often drunk as an extremely intoxicating liquor by the beastmen, whose continued exposure to them not only proves their mettle but also builds up their tolerance to it.

Often the raiding parties will head south again, wiping out settlements and other herds of beastmen as they go, looking for other albinos to bring to their cause and settling scores that particular members of the whiteherd may still have with their erstwhile tribes.

Onto the piktures! This model was original a bestigor in mordheim armed with twin clubs. He has converted hammer and a broken horn and shoulder pad, making him a little bit tougher than the other henchmen of the gang. Now, he just looks a pissed off beastman ready to pulp his foes with his twin set. The ground will probably just hve grass added to it, snow would just white out the model too much. The loincloth was painted purple, because, to be honest, no other colour would add a cool contrast to the pales already on the model. And I like purple.









My eventual aim is to have a beastman army to go along side my daemons, but this will very much be in the background. Once I learn the rules fully I'll probably start, but I already have a giant which matches their scheme.

Let me know what you think!

1 comment:

  1. cover it in devlan mud! Failing that some dip to add alittle depth

    ReplyDelete

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