An owl hooted off in the gloomy distance as Mir'q'arielle
steadily made her way along the winding forest path. At least she thought it
was an owl as she trod on through the shadows, it occurred to her that it could
just as easily be some form of spite or other fey spirit, or even other Asrai
communicating with each other in secret. Either way the Wood Elf thought it
best to keep moving. Though still daylight in the outside world (by her
reckoning at least), the canopy of this part of Athel Loren was dense enough to
block out almost any sunshine, casting an ominous and eerie darkened shade over
the wood. Anywhere beyond a few dozen or so paces was completely obscured by
darkness, and as was common in Athel Loren small beady eyes occasionally
glinted out of crevices and hiding places, and every so often something would
skitter or scamper across the path just out of sight. Nonetheless, the dusty,
twisting, leaf-strewn path was at least somewhat illuminated, and had yet to
turn in upon itself or vanish off at a dead end. It seemed that The Forrest was
at least allowing Mir'q'arielle to continue on her quest, for now at least.
And it was fortunate indeed that Mir'q'arielle continued to
be uninterrupted in her journey, for it was of utmost importance - she was to travel
to the Oak of Ages itself, and appear before Ariel, the Queen in the Wood
herself, and make one final attempt to reason with her and the rest of the
Asrai. One last attempt to peacefully reconcile the Meadows of Heaven with the
rest of Athel Loren, through diplomacy and negotiation. One last attempt to
talk sense into the rest of the Elves, to try and get them to see and realise
the danger and madness that was sweeping through the once great forest, and to
convince them to take action against it alongside the Meadows of Heaven.
The Asrai noble plucked a string of the Rhymer's Harp she
had brought with her from the royal armoury of the Meadows of Heaven, and
instantly its magic propelled her through another sizeable part of the forest
path in the span of a few short moments. Normally Mir'q'arielle did not travel
with one, but this was an important task and so she had been provided with one
and a small satchel bag to carry it in. The musical note's effect wore off and
she returned to her normal speed, passing through another stretch of the lonely
forest path.
At once, Mir'q'arielle's cloak took on a life of its own,
trembling and shifting as the Murder of Spites that called its folds and
feathers home suddenly rushed out to confront an unseen danger, Kaereon taking
flight in the same direction. In a blur of movement Mir'q'arielle spun around
to face the danger, only to face nothing but more shadows. A movement caught on
the edge of her vision sent her turning to the other side, but the obscured
shape twirled away behind her. She heard footfalls just behind her before the
mysterious assailant leapt over her head and somersaulted to her front in a
whirl of colour and streamers, before settling into the shape of a tall
athletic female elf with deep rich electric red hair, a long spear in one hand
and an elegant sword in the other.
"What such dull wits you've been left with
Traveller," the Elf said with a chuckle, "Your companions spotted me
quick enough, but even then its a wonder you've gotten on this far through the
woods. All that time spent picking foes off with that old longbow of yours must
have left you flat-footed."
Mir'q'arielle could not believe her eyes.
"Aemiria!" She exclaimed, "By Isha! We thought you were dead!
The horde-"
The Deathdancer laughed, and jumped and shifted as she
spoke. "It takes more than a few hundred servants of Chaos to slay the
Queen of Muses. By Loec's good graces, and the steel of his blades, I managed
to survive the battle, but was separated and some distance from the Asrai
lines. After much wandering, battling darkness at every turn, I managed to find
my way back to Athel Loren."
"Why did you not return to the Meadows of Heaven?"
Mir'q'arielle asked.
"I intended to, but the Elvenpath was secreted from me.
It seems that The Forrest wished a new and different adventure for me, for
instead I ended up journeying deep into the wood. At long last I arrived in the
heart of Athel Loren, in the area they now call Fyr Darric, where I visited the
great stronghold of my kind, the Feast Halls of the Wardance. It has become a
dark and twisted place, filled with sadism and wanton cruelty and malice. They
consider it now a game to have blood contests with captives, only to execute
them as slowly and painfully as possible. Such an appalling practice I would
expect from the corrupt and bitter Druchi, but not from noble Asrai, I would
like to think we're better than that. And that is but one of their many
degenerate sports. Alas, they are also extremely vigilant. I was kept in the region
for many many seasons, unable to leave."
"How awful. It must have been painful for you to see
the great bastion of your people fallen so."
"My people are the Elves of the Meadows of Heaven
Mir'q'arielle, never forget that. But it did fill my heart with sorrow to see
my Wardancer kin so depraved. Fortunately a few weeks ago, at least that's what
it feels like, I was able to escape my retainers and slip out of the territory
along with my Blades of Loec, which I was sure to steal away with me from where
they were being kept after their confiscation. I've been wandering the forest
ever since."
Mir'q'arielle stood, taking in everything she was being told
as the Spites returned to her cloak. "It is good that we ran into each
other then."
"Always good to have a travelling companion, but we
must make haste. My escape cannot have gone unnoticed. Fyr Darric's hounds must
surely be hunting for me even now. We must return to the Meadows of Heaven. I
have seen much of what Athel Loren has become, and much of the darkness
creeping through it. I must speak with the Wishmaster at once."
"We know as well Aemiria. I had set out to seek
audience with Ariel to rouse the Asrai to action."
"Ariel has grown as decadent and corrupt as any of
them. She has grown intoxicated with the accursed Dark Magic that they even now
practice with wanton abandon. I'm afraid she would not listen. I'm not sure any
of them would. The Wishmaster must be informed of the full extent of the
danger."
"Then we could send word with an Eagle. I have good
ties with-"
"No, some of the Eagles have ties with Argwylon, a
place of magic academia in the north, they could easily report us to them. As
noble as they may be, the Eagles cannot be trusted with this. We must travel
back and deliver the news ourselves."
Mir'q'arielle looked down. She had a long history with the
Great Eagles, to think they could not be depended on was difficult to bear.
"I see," she said. "Let us be off then."
"Excellent," Aemiria replied, "Lead on
friend. Along the way I will recount to you all of my thrilling escapades and
adventures I have had along the way."
"Only if you retell them again when we get there,"
Mir'q'arielle said, "I am sure the Wishmaster will want to hear all of
your tale as well."
So the other day I finally finished something that's been
sitting on my hobby space ever since I got the characters for my Wood Elf army
- my Spellsinger on a Unicorn. It was long, and it was hard, and working with
greenstuff is now one of the top contenders for 'most horrific excruciating
torture I have ever endured in this hobby', but I finally did it. And now here
she is, my Spellsinger, Ailyn!
When I first conceived the idea of my Wood Elf army I had
four very clear ideas about the characters I wanted in it. Two of those became
Maxamaron and Moni'qeth, my general and standard bearer. The other two were the
wizards I wanted in my army. I knew right from the get-go I wanted two wizards,
one with the Lore of Athel Loren, and the other with another Lore, which I
decided would be life (this was the days before the new Wood Elf book, so I
couldn't choose just anything, but Life fits in with my idea of Wood Elf
wizards acting as medics or healers in the Wood Elf army, and I also wanted to
make sure I could keep my warriors in top health. I care about them like that).
I also had a clear vision of exactly what I wanted them both
to be like. The typical Warhammer wizard is often somewhat flamboyant and extravagant,
and so I wanted one of my wizards to break away and be different from this
archetype by being quite humble and simple in their attire and the items they
used, an older wiser magic user that knew that adding gems to something doesn't
make it magical, it just makes it expensive - this would become Aneaeth
Ollissin, my Spellweaver. The second wizard, on the other hand, I wanted to be
much more extravagant, to contrast. At the same time, I knew as soon as I saw
it as an option that I wanted one of the wizards to be riding a Unicorn. I love
classic fantasy tropes and conventions, and it doesn't get much more classic
than a beautiful Elven maiden riding a Unicorn and wielding magic. Finally, I
knew I wanted one of the wizards to have red hair. I put these trains of
thought together to create a quintissential vision of a classical attractive
young Elf mage atop a Unicorn with flowing red hair, and this fitted perfectly
with my want for an extravegant wizard. It also lead to the nucleus of the
character backstory, she would be a young inexperienced, but gifted
Spellsinger, in contrast with the aforementioned wiser, older one. This younger
Spellsinger I decided to name Ailyn.
After scouring GW's model range for suitable female heads
for converting these two magic practitioners (I never liked the puffed out
'super saiyan' style hair of the official female Wood Elf wizards), it quickly
became obvious what model would be used as the basis for the younger
spellsinger - The Fey Enchantress from the Bretonnian range. Its a model I
deeply love (much like the rest of the Bretonnian model range), and even
knowing that it was a sacrifice for the greater good it was heard to cut her to
bits, but in the end I managed it by promising myself that one day I would put
together and paint up the Fey Enchantress in all her Bretonnian glory. Anyway,
the first thing I did was remove the Unicorn, replacing it with the unmounted
one (re)released for Storm of Magic, ever so subtly converted. My original plan
was to then cut away the Enchantress's torso and replace it with one from a
Spellweaver model, but that eventually proved far too impractical to do
(getting her off her Unicorn ended up being hard enough as it was!), so in the
end I resorted to my contingency plan of simply switching her goblet arm with
the staff arm from the aforementioned spellweaver model. I feel that most
wizards should have a staff, and even if they don't, I planned on giving this
one Calaingor's Stave anyway, so it'd be nice and WYSIWYG that way, as well as
helping to differentiate her from the normal Fey Enchantress model. The other
part of said contingency plan was the addition of vines along her dress to make
it look more Wood Elfish, which I think I did quite well on, even if one of
them broke off as I was undercoating her (which is why there's one leaf just
above her knee awkwardly floating there. Oh well, I don't think it looks that
bad). The next step was to fill out the top of the model's head. The Fey
Enchantress has a crown topped with a big fleur-de-lis, which I removed along
with all the other fleur-de-lisses on the model, but this ended up leaving a
big space of flat resin on the top of her head, so I had to sculpt something to
cover it up. I was going to go with leaves, but hair proved to be easier to do.
After that I added a daisy-chain around her head, its an element right back
from my original vision of the character, and I feel the idea of a lovely young
Spellsinger with flowers in her hair is very Wood-Elfish. I'd originally
planned to have the Unicorn be completely unadorned, a wild free creature with
nothing on it except the Spellsinger that was riding it. However, Spellsingers
come with a longbow as standard issue, just like any other Asrai character, and
there wasn't anywhere on the Spellsinger herself to put one, so I stuck it and
a quiver of arrows for it on the Unicorn, slung on with a leather loop
greenstuffed around the Unicorn's body.
The base is another holdover from my original vision (to
which the final model is actually extremely close to). In the background Ailyn
is so full of the power of the forest that life springs up and blooms wherever
she walks (or wherever her Unicorn walks when she's riding it), and so her base
is covered in flowers, both small ones made from grated up sponge (using the
very fine tutorial on this very forum) and larger ones crudely formed out of
wire and greenstuff, along with a single large bumblebee, again crudely formed
from greenstuff. Yes, I am fully aware that a bee that size would in fact be
the size of a large kitten, I do not care - it is clearly a magical giant bee.
I imagine a magical forest like Athel Loren needs plenty of magical
pollenators, and Spites only do so much. Besides, there are giant hawks and
giant eagles, why can't there be giant bees as well?
All in all I'm actually quite content with how Ailyn turned
out. I think I might have liked more flowers on the base, but I think it worked
out ok in the end. Anyway, background time.
Ailyn, Glamourweave Spellsinger of the Meadows of Heaven
In these darkened days, Ailyn is of an increasingly fewer
kind. The newest and youngest of the four mages that govern the Fey Glades and
the Celestial Heath, Ailyn is one of the last remaining members of the Kindreds
of Yenayla - the Glamourweave Kindred. A smaller Kindred within the Spellsinger
and Spellweaver Kindreds, the Glamourweave Kindred is known by many names;
Shaper, Tree-Singer, Skein-Weaver, Shadow-Walker, Changeling, Wood-seer,
Grove-kin and Wood-shaper are just a few well known titles they are known to go
by. Glamourweaves are extremely closely linked to Athel Loren, and are as much
Forrest Spirit as they are Elf, in a similar manner to the Wild Riders of
Kurnous. They are dedicated to maintaining the correct balance in Athel Loren,
and in times past they would often act as envoys to the older spirits of The
Forrest. Alas, as the Asrai turned away from the older traditions of Athel
Loren, the Glamourweaves, much like many of the other more specialised
Kindreds, largely died out, and in the present time in most of Athel Loren they
are all but extinct. The Meadows of Heaven, however, never abandoned the older
ways, and so the territory remains a haven for all Kindreds, the Glamourweave
included, and so a number of Glamourweaves continue to keep their Kindred and
its teachings alive, though as they were never a large Kindred to start with
they are few in number.
As well as this, Ailyn is also one of the last few who
practice the fabled Lore of Athel Loren. A strange and subtle lore, the Lore of
Athel Loren is a form of spellcraft that comes from magic flowing trough Athel
Loren's web of consciousness. This fey form of magic can be used to create
powerful glamours and illusions, or to heal even the most grievous of wounds
with a touch. An Elf using the Lore of Athel Loren can weave spells of
confusion and trickery to hide important areas, objects, or even entire armies,
and can cast dangerous blasts that can strip a target of its memories and wits.
This lore can even be used to access the secret and hidden pathways in the
world, even those inaccessible by Moonstone, allowing allies to move quickly
unimpeded by even the most daunting of terrain, or to disappear completely and
reappear somewhere else entirely. Most impressive of all of the powers
available through the Lore of Athel Loren however, is the ability to influence
and alter the growth of trees and foliage, whether it be to incite a tree to
grow into a beautiful structure or monument, or to cause entire groves to
uproot and shift to create new glades or pathways or seal off existing ones.
Many Asrai in the rest of Athel Loren no longer have a strong enough connection
to the raw mystical power of Athel Loren, with their connection having over the
seasons been corrupted by the use of Dark Magic, and so most territories in
Athel Loren no longer practice its use - even Argwylon, for all its vaunted
knowledge, retains little education or expertise regarding it. The Asrai of the
Meadows of Heaven, however, never took to practising the more unwholesome forms
of magic. Such forms of magic are illegal in the Meadows of Heaven, in the eyes
of the Asrai of the Meadows of Heaven, magic forms such as the Dark Magic, the
Lore of Death or even the Lore of Shadow are the magics used by the hated
Druchi and Beastmen, and consequently they consider the use of such lores to be
stooping to the level of those tainted beings, and thus abhorrent. As a result,
the connection between the Spellsingers and Spellweavers of the Meadows of
Heaven and the consciousness of Athel Loren is pure enough to still be able to
make use of the Lore of Athel Loren, and so its practice remains common within the
territory.
As a result of this, the mystical power of Athel Loren flows
through Ailyn's veins as much as Elven blood does, and she feels much of what
The Forrest feels. In recent times this has been the cause of great pain, as
she feels madness and corruption twisting through Athel Loren's glades and
trees. Her Glamourweave nature also gives Ailyn a close affinity to Forrest
Spirits, especially Spites, and together with the ancient Treeman Avyrrnhan she
represents the interests of the Forrest Spirits in the Meadows of Heaven,
speaking for their needs before the Wishmaster. This deep connection with Athel
Loren alone makes Ailyn a valuable member of the royal court of the Meadows of
Heaven, but it is not for this reason that she rose to her current position.
Instead, Aneaeth Ollissin chose her to become the fourth member of the ruling
council of the Fey Glades and the Celestial Heath, representative of Spring,
because of the immense magical capacity Ailyn possesses. Though still quite
young by Elf standards, Ailyn holds unprecedented amounts of magical ability,
perhaps rivalling that of even Ariel herself. She is however, still young and
extremely inexperienced, and currently lacks the skill and knowledge to use her
abilities to their fullest extent, and so the vast majority of this incredible
power remains latent and untapped. Nonetheless, she has already demonstrated
this exceptional talent - one of the first actions she ever did as a
Spellsinger was to inadvertently awaken the slumbering Avyrnhan completely
effortlessly, and it was this action that brought her to the attention of
Aneaeth, who since then has made it her task to take the young Spellsinger
under her wing as an apprentice, teaching her the ways and knowledge of magical
practice.
She also gave Ailyn the staff she now wields, one of
Calaingor's Staves. The Calaingor's Staves of the Meadows of Heaven, however,
are very different to the ones now used in other parts of Athel Loren. Where
the latter purify and strengthen a Spellsinger or Spellweaver's connection with
Athel Loren enough to make use of basic spells from the Lore of Athel Loren, a
Calaingor's Stave of the Meadows of Heaven enhances a Spellsinger or
Spellweaver's command over the Lore of Athel Loren, allowing them to Tree-Sing
repeatedly, commanding entire swathes of Forrest at once. The immense raw
magical ability of Ailyn has also brought a Unicorn into her service, the
magical creature being utterly seduced by the power within her. In addition,
such is the extent that the Spites of the Meadows of Heaven adore her that she
is escorted at all times by a Pagent of Shrikes.
In the days following the estrangement of the Meadows of
Heaven from the rest of Athel Loren, Ailyn has been increasingly pained and
saddened by the plight of the forest, and so she has taken it upon herself to
restore The Forrest to its true glory. In recent times she has come to spend
more and more time roaming the forest of Athel Loren, healing the damage done
to it and restoring harmony to it. She brings Daylight to Modryn, and seasons
to Arranoc, Atylwyth and Tirsyth, and does what she can to equalise the other
areas of Athel Loren. However, she is but one individual, and cannot be
everywhere at once, and such is the extent of the changes wrought upon Athel
Loren that the Forrest invariably returns to its disharmonious state when she
leaves. Even so, Ailyn continues her long quest, determined to do as much as
she can to restore the proper balance to Athel Loren, no matter how long it
takes.
Somewhat bizarrely however, Ailyn may not be alone in her
quest. In recent days rumours and talk have begun to spread about a startling
phenomena. Spites have reportedly been seen or glimpsed in vast numbers, entire
armies of them pouring through the Forrest. According to tales, this 'Spite
Crusade' works ceaselessly and relentlessly to undo the changes in Athel Loren,
healing corruption and mercilessly battling intruders, and even occasionally
striking out at Elves practising certain forms of magic. Most who claim to have
seen this also say that these Spite armies head in directions that have an
uncanny tendency to coincide with the direction Ailyn travels in, and all
apparently can be traced back to the Meadows of Heaven. The exact nature or
purpose behind this supposed 'Spite Crusade' remains a mystery. Some suggest
that they might be a secret weapon unleashed by the Meadows of Heaven to
dominate the rest of Athel Loren covertly. Others think that Ailyn's quest to
heal Athel Loren has created an example that the Spites aspire to emulate.
Others still claim that it is the work of Drycha, or that it is the first stage
in a rebellion against the Elf presence in Athel Loren. Some instead argue the
simple explanation that it is a natural reaction to some of the worst excesses
of the Season of Retribution (or the Season of Lunacy as it is known in the
Meadows of Heaven). Whatever the truth may be, the so called 'Spite Crusade'
remains largely unproven, the stuff of fancy tales told in Halls by travellers.
Still, talk and sightings of the phenomenon grow more and more numerous each
season. While the Spites may have good intentions at heart, if the 'Spite
Crusade' is indeed true it could have dangerous consequences for Athel Loren,
as its invasive activities, especially the reported attacks on Elves, could
give Araloth and the other Asrai opposed to the Meadows of Heaven and its ways
the pretext they need to make war upon the Meadows of Heaven....
And finally a short while ago my local Games Workshop store had its birthday, and to celebrate they threw a giffle giveaway where I won.... this.
In case you can't tell, its a Tau bundle including a Hammerhead, 3 Crisis Suits, a Firewarrior team and some Gun Drones. According to my estimates its roughly $265 worth of models for free. And it goes great with the Devilfish, Crisis Suit and Stealth Team I won in the Christmas giffle giveaway. Granted, this one didn't include bases for the models, so I'll have to get those seprately, but even taking that into account its still a massive discount off what it usually would cost.
Assuming there's another Christmas giffle giveaway, with a bit of luck I might end up with a small Tau army entirely for free. This pleases me.
Right then, back to more hobby.
Exunt
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