+SECRETS UNTOLD+ :: The Primogenitor :: Edges of Reality ::

"What is time, in the grand scheme?

What is distance, is delay, is destiny?

What indeed."

"Throne damn these ships."

Lars Amstradt's escape pod shot through the silent void, mere moments before the ship he had

just escaped was pulled apart by the immense form of the Primogenitor. Falling towards the hulk,

with nothing but the echo of his own ragged breath to keep him company, Lars took stock of his

injuries: a Las-shot wound to the left shoulder, severe bruising of the lower torso, likely

at least one broken rib. Survivable, certainly, but unpleasant nonetheless.

The pod's cogitator had calculated what seemed a safe enough landing site. There was a small break

in the rust-stained hull of the Primogenitor, leading into an area that still looked to have

some functioning systems within. Lars had hoped there would be an atmospheric cleanser unit nearby,

but this did not seem promising. Thick black smoke streamed from several ruptures

in the walls surrounding the site.

"Throne damn these machines."

There were a handful of turrets somehow still operating at various points along the surface.

The pod had taken a glancing hit from an autocannon, sending it through a wall just south

of its intended destination. Lars pulled himself from the wreckage and examined his surroundings.

The atmosphere here was thick with carbon, dense clouds of soot slowly clogging the filters on his

void-suit. Something was odd about the floor - as if the strange triangular tiles beneath 

his feet had burst out from below.

Searching for a route back to the surface, Lars followed the only corridor in sight along a twisting

path that seemed at times to loop around into itself in impossibly tight spirals. Lars tried to

convince himself that the sounds he was hearing were just the creaking metalwork of the ancient space

hulk, creaks and rumbles drifting down from the corridor ahead, and not the grinding of metallic walls

restructuring themselves just out of view. After several minutes of walking he came to another doorway,

opening out into a room entirely covered in the same tiles that he had seen earlier.

"Throne damn this place."

The room was bare, near-circular, and strangely large. It may once have been some kind of storage, but

was now barely recognizable among the triangular tesselation jutting from between broken walls and floors.

In the center was a conical capsule, inert but for the soft glow of what seemed to be an engine,

or perhaps an exhaust for some alien mechanism hidden within. What filled the air just further in,

however, was something entirely other.

There was a thick cable running out from a port in the side of the capsule, trailing up into a

horrific sentinel of welded flesh and metal. Lars could see three organic spines hanging from it, pockmarked

with narrow lesions and holes that made his skin crawl. It hovered silently in the center of the room, as if waiting, expectant.

It focused its single gargantuan eye on Lars.

"Throne damn it all."

++
++

Junior Officer Lars Amstradt, Battlefleet Solar, Eastern Vanguard

Assigned to Primogenitor First Response

Missing in Action

Abandoned Turret

The Dolmen Apparatus

Spindle Drones

++

++

THE PRIMOGENITOR CALLS

((Here it is, my completed submission to Iron Sleet's third Invitational event))
((I had intended to upload this on the weekend, but as you can tell, things got away from me))

((My new favourite technique, discovered while painting these))
((Is using contrast paint over layered stippling for a deeply textured and grungy surface))
((The splotches of the base colours combine so well with the random brush marks from the contrast))
((And yet it's all one fairly solid tone, with a good selection of colours))
((Plus some extra options from varying the underpainting))

((The parts choice for Lars was heavily inspired by the Indigan Praefects conversion seen here))
((The body, head and arms are from the same kits, whereas the legs and backpack are different))
((And I had wanted to paint the Spindle Drones from Blackstone Fortress ever since the game came out))
((This event gave me a nice reason to do so, and inspired the main form of the Dolmen Apparatus itself))
((That name, for anyone curious, comes from a piece of older Necron lore))
((The Dolmen Gates were a system of portals used by the Necrons to travel through the Webway))
((Since their lack of Psykers prevented normal warp travel))
((While the name itself relates to Necrons, I had more intended the Apparatus to be of the same source as the Spindle Drones))
((Whatever that source may be))

((I am very much more happy with how these models came out than how the photos did))
((I wanted to experiment a bit more than usual with lighting and composition))
((But some of it feels a little bit "fake"))
((Maybe getting a smoother background would help, so there's no visible seam between the back and floor))
((But especially the picture of Lars walking past the turret feels a bit forced))
((I could probably have positioned the models a bit better there))

((One worry I had while building these was that the parts might stick together after having been painted))
((That happened a bit with the magnetized weapons on my Death Guard Dreadnought))
((But luckily in this case the varnish provided enough of a solid surface to avoid that))
((Maybe it was just a case of letting it dry for longer))
((Or perhaps the squishing action of the magnets forced the painted surfaces into contact more than was needed))
((I'm not entirely sure))

((I am also assembling a second batch of four models that I plan to submit to the invitational, if I have time))
((I have encountered an issue with one where the parts I'm using for shoulder pads leave a fairly large gap underneath))
((And I'm currently thinking through how to fill that up a bit))

((Current Projects: Kharadron Overlords, Primogenitor Submission 2))

Parts list, Officer Amstradt:
-Tempestus Scions Torso
-Freeguild Greatswords Legs
-Neophyte Hybrid Arms
-Skitarii Vanguard Head
-Sicarians Antenna
-Kastelans Datasmith Body Front Panel
-Various Styrene Rods and Tubes
-3d Printed Base

Abandoned Turret:
-Taurox Prime Turret, Hatch and Extra Piece 70/71
-Alchomite Stack Spacer Piece F5
-Decorative Gears
-3d Printed Base

Spindle Drones: from Servants of the Abyss or Warhammer Quest: Blackstone Fortress

Dolmen Apparatus:
-Carnifex Devourers, Deathspitter and Tentacle Arm Piece
-Stealthsuit Marker Drone Lens Array
-Crisis Suit Shield Generator
-Necron Destroyer Lower Body
-Old Mega Bloks Canister of some kind
-3d Printed Base
-Misc Other Found Part (eye piece)