Tuesday 8 November 2016

40kthulhu: Chapter 1 - The Object in the Bazaar

CHAPTER 1 - THE OBJECT IN THE BAZAAR
It was the morning after the sandstorm and the air was thick with tiny particles suspended in the air of the low-G zone. This was what had given rise to the vibrant trading hub at Urkar, just a few leagues distant from ancient Kahire. Merchants, smugglers, traders and many others besides made the most of the gravitic anomaly with both atmospheric craft and space-borne shuttles. In spite of the low visibility, the air above the landing pads was stacked high with craft, impatiently waiting their turn to land.

I had travelled to Urkar at the behest of my old professor, Kendry Mascharino. He had been sent a message from one Soloman Wyld, a junior holo-vid recordist for one of the Magnum Popula publications. According to Wyld, he had recorded some unsettling images at desert ruins near Kahire. Knowing my interest in unusual phenomena, and my studies in the subject, Professor Mascharino had been good enough to charter me an air-car south.
 
 
I had arranged to meet Wyld later that morning at a kulfee house just off the bazaar, but I rose early with devotional prayers ringing in my ears from the public broadcasts across the Urkar dawn. I resolved to orientate myself in the city, and discover the bazaar first-hand. After first tucking my small Boringen pistol into my waistband as security, I gathered up my old flight jacket from my stalled career as a pilot, and headed into the early morning haze.
 
 
 
In spite of the early hour, the alleys and thoroughfares of Urkar were busy - I assumed to allow the city's denizens to avoid the forthcoming heat of the midday sun. The citizens of Urkar were of many backgrounds and creeds - robed desert dwellers, long-legged off-worlders, masked devotees and many more besides.


The bazaar, when I reached it, was a riot of colour, sounds and scents. Had I desired it, I could easily have purchased narc-sticks, vuln oil, a pet timerind or bolts of beautifully embroidered cloth.
 



One stall in particular took my interest - there among the pots and lamps were a number of fragments of older things - things from the desert; things from the ruins.

 
A shard of blue pottery displayed a white eye. I saw a foot broken from some ancient statue. But one item in particular made me shudder to look upon it. A piece of dark black stone; slick as if covered in the residue of some unknown sea creature. The stone was oval, and sat snuggly in the palm of my hand. It was deeply incised with an image hurt my eyes, even as I looked at it: an image of a shapeless form and tentacles too many to count.
 
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40kthulhu - An Explanation

You might well have read the blogpost so far, and wondered just what the hell is going on! Over the next 6 months or so, myself, Asslessman (of Leadplague) and Gretchin (of Greenstuff Gretchin) are engaging in creating a collaborative project which draws heavily on the 40k universe and the Cthulhu mythos. Hopefully this approach will allow us to create a setting for our games, as well as some interesting and unique characters to use in them.
 
Each character we produce is planned to be based on Cthulhu character archetypes - academics, private investigators, gangsters and so on. They will inhabit the world of Providence - a world of regressive technology and rumoured dark cults. You can read the full fact file on Providence over at our project thread on the Ammobunker forums.
 

Introducing Kitty Hawke

My first character, and the narrator of my story arc, is Kitty Hawke, following the long tradition of plucky young women getting mixed up in situations rather more dangerous and sinister than they suppose.
 


I had originally planned for Kitty to be a Private Investigator, but after completing her, she looks more like an adventuring type, so Kitty is now more of a free-radical Adventurer.



The blue flight jacket and orange accents on the boots and goggles were my attempt to ensure Kitty was recognisably a sci-fi rather than pulp figure - hopefully the colours have done enough in that regard.

 
 
As for the model - Kitty is a conversion based on Citadel's old Venus Bluegenes model from the Rogue Trooper line:
 
 
Venus Bluegenes. Pic taken from Collecting Citadel Miniatures Wiki.
 
 
Oddly enough, I never rated the Venus Bluegenes model, but after I decapitated her for my Maniax mercenary, I quite liked the torso.
 



I added a pulp scale head from Statuesque miniatures, and then sculpted a flying jacket over Venus' original torso (simply cuffs at the sleeve, a left-side section, then the fur collar).



Phew, hopefully that's all clear! Keep an eye on the various blogs for new instalments in the 40kthulhu project.

22 comments:

  1. She's wonderful, really, and those scenic shots with the back story ? Top hself stuff. You've set the bar high for us now !

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    1. Thanks JB! I have to say I really enjoyed the whole process - making the figure, painting her, writing the story (and attempting to use Lovecraftian language), putting my terrain down and making the scenes. Hopefully this is a project we can all enjoy!

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  2. The photo storyboard with the pulp horror dialogue really sets the tone well.

    Top notch.

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    1. I spent a little while thinking how to present the setting, then Asslessman suggested doing chapters - it seems to make perfect sense for the project. I suspect we can each do our own story arcs and have them intersect or run parallel to flesh out the setting. I did consider doing some FX on the photos, but in the end decided a simple vignette border was sufficient!

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  3. Really engaging intro story Axiom! I like your conversion work, as I always do :)

    I should get involved in the Ammobunker at some stage. I've looked at it a few times over the years, but as of yet haven't taken the plunge. God knows there's more than enough on there to keep my interested for a very long time :)

    Are you guys planning on having a three-way game in person?

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    1. Ammobunker has plenty to offer. A lot of the Inq28 output is very inspiring, even if perhaps too much is slavishly Blanchian.

      We certainly hope to do a three-way something. Will it be in person? Distance and different countries don't help, but I'd love to do it.

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  4. Fantastic read and a VERY well done conversion.

    Your pics really do draw one in.

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    1. Thanks very much! I've been developing my 'staging' of photos over the last couple of years. I've gone from having barely any terrain, to having a decent selection plus NPCs and scatter terrain. Its pretty rewarding to put stuff out and take pics!

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  5. I can't wait to see this progress. 40k of perfect for mythos infestation!

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    1. I suspect our protagonists may encounter the odd gribbly ;)

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  6. Wow, very atmospheric, and the conversion is (as always) great.

    Cthulhu and certain interpretations of Chaos do seem to go well together.

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    1. I'm pretty excited by this project - as you say, plenty of scope for interesting chaotic nasties lurking in shadows!

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  7. Great conversion just enough to make her SF. Fascinated by the project perhaps enough to try my hand as I had too much of RT and cyberpunk in my younger years. Off to the Ammobunker with me!

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    1. Keep an eye on things, hopefully it will strike the right vein!

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  8. Great interdiction for Ms. Kitty Hawke. I love how you take old mins and make them new while at the same time making them more then the original sculpt initialed.

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    1. Thanks very much! I really enjoy playing around with things. For some reason Kitty was a significant improvement on the original model. I didn't really rate the original sculpt, but now I'm a little in love with Kitty ;)

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  9. Clever conversion: perfect for the character you've come up with.

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