The Beauty and The Beast on a pilgrimage

“Beauty belongs to the sphere of the simple, the ordinary, whilst ugliness is something extraordinary, and there is no question but that every ardent imagination prefers in lubricity, the extraordinary to the commonplace” 

Ancient Terran ― Marquis de Sade, The 120 Days of Sodom and Other Writings

The Original Pilgrym teaser model revealed. This was going to be my faction until the XX Legion made their intentions clear. An Achingly beautiful Inquisitor, and a Gang of twisted, hulking, ugly beasts. I’ve had so much fun building them, and they may end up being recruited – or not. Pilgrym is not a series of great ideas together, it is hoping to be a collection of the right ideas! And not too many of them which is definitely my problem in life and hobby.

I had a clear goal for two models united in composition (see the triangle formed by their basing and weapons) but full of contrast in their aspect. The beauty and the Beast (1st of many monsters in the retinue)Both models ended up being quite extensive conversions, with plenty of sculpting involved. I’ve kept sculpting the mutant who is not yet ready in the picture.

Inquisitor Sigríður of Ordo Hereticus & Séamas Ó Manannáin, Twist Heavy

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Migs

31 thoughts on “The Beauty and The Beast on a pilgrimage

  1. Ooooh, nice! Don’t remember to tweak the text on the steps. I doubt ‘CTHONIA’ is a name that’s still mentioned on Terra. Since the Heresy, the Traitor Legions and anything related to them isn’t really public knowledge, I doubt they would have the name of the arch-traitor’s homeworld engraved in Terran architecture. Unless the character is walking on that same old ruin Horus was walking on and some radical Inquisitor decided to keep that staircase somewhere on Terra…

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      1. The rest of the stairs are indeed just fine, it’s just the Cthonia that really stands out. If you do decide to do something about it, you could try to put a different word there, but I can imagine that would be rather tricky. Another option would be to cover it up with a little bit of rubble, which wouldn’t be that far fetched considering we’re dealing with a ruin here.

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  2. Very nice ol’ boy. I’m thoroughly enjoying all of the Pilgrym articles and this is no exception. I’d meant to comment on your XXth, I think your new duo look ace (though I think the originals are still great) and the narrative was a blast to read. Have a great one.

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  3. There are never enough mutants in the employ of Inquisitors.

    One of the reasons I always liked the old Rogue Trader Imperial Beastmen was the idea that they knew they were seen as flawed in the eyes of the Emperor, yet still fought under the Imperium’s banner in hopes of redemption. A very melancholy unit who deeply loved an authority figure that would never love them back until they died for him. Not that every twist fights under the same mindset (frankly, the beastmen were somewhat brainwashed to do so), but I love the concept that various mutantkind seen as monsters by the Imperium, defy the roles assigned to their kind, and fights in the name of the society that hates them. A kind of defiant nobility in that.

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    1. Thanks. That was the premise of Shaddes Offe Greye too, but Inquisitor Haag was such a sinister freak, it never carried the impact this lot will have, where I’ve picked the prettiest female face and am going to push the Mutants as far to classic Necromunda mutant direction as I can.

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  4. These are fantastic. I love the contrast between the big brute and the delicate beauty.

    I was really intrigued when I saw that shot of her back earlier this month. Thought it was an exotic sniper rifle, but the blade is perfect. The head and the cloak – both interesting and yet contrasting parts, but they fit so well here…

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    1. Thanks Jakob. She is a pretty unique conversion now( I ended up doing a head swap late and will eventually show the old one). I’m happy about the really novel and rare combination of parts and shitloads of careful carving away and rebuilding and sculpting. Plan is to further highlight the contrast between her and the mutants in painting.

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  5. The models are excellent work and scrupulously planned though I prefer the XX Legion (the Pilgrym space marines look like the Astartes, Angels of Death pure or fallen, ought to look and so rarely do (I dislike the GW Marine model and I notice your marines are all conversions). The very delicate, almost inhumanly delicate build of the lady Inquisitor reminds me of many Blanche paintings.

    On the name hunt again, Sigrithur is, I think, Sigr (Victory, German der Sieg) and frithr (beauty). I can’t get the accent on the ‘i’, the acute marking the long vowel which separates ‘frith-ur’ (peace) from ‘freeth-ur’ beauty. Victorious and beautiful, a very appropriate name for an Inquisitor designed to be a handsome woman in her splendour on Holy Terra.

    Seamas O Mannanain I could draw nothing out of – Seamas is John, O Mannanain is son of Mannanan mac Lir, an Irish sea-god. Sorry for barrack-room etymology, though the names mean a lot of fun looking on Wikitionary to get the meanings out of languages I know nothing of (Old Norse, Irish).

    Another delight to study.

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    1. Thank you sir! Her name is Icelandic. And the Twists will have Celtic inspired names. Both also play on the daughter/son naming culture and hopefully turn the group into a family of mutants type of thing. Rejects united. There will be a very subtle pirate/marine undercurrent to them and I wanted seafaring names 🙂 I don’t want it to be obvious and over the top, but just a flavor, a twist if you will. Thanks for the analysis. I tend to think pretty deep on these subtle things and its great to have folks recognize that.

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  6. The Twist is my favorite! You have captured sense of sluggish, heavy movement on him really well with the banner and all. And the face, damn scary, a lot scarier than a average GW daemon or similar.

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    1. Thanks. Do you know the classic Necromunda Outcast mutants? This is the imagery I’m after. While carefully avoiding any Orky or Skaveny feel, which others have already done stunningly beautifully. Like PDH’s mutants a few years back.

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      1. Had to google those out 🙂 This less-orky appearance better brings out the “what it is to be a Mutant” -concept, to be loathed and shunned all across Imperium. Great stuff!

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    1. Much appreciated mate! You are definitely the Twist King of the inter webs. I’m going to come at it from a different angle, but enjoy yours tremendously.

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  7. Sorry to chip in again — To clarify, I prefer the Alpha Legionnaire from a plot point of view but don’t mean to say that either one or tother is less beautiful (or hideous in the case of the mutant), they are both masterfully done.

    This may just be scruples on my part.

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  8. These are both great miniatures. I love that the Twist has a heavy stubber, in that I have a fondness for solid slug weapons as opposed to lasweapons. And while it is a very large weapon, the Twist looks like it would be capable of carrying and using it (I am usually pretty mindful of weapon size, as GW tends to oversize them all).

    The inquisitor is an excellent conversion and amalgamation of wonderful parts. She is truly unique. What can you tell me about the disc below her left foot? Is that part of the ruined stairway? Presently, I think it looks a little awkward. And for a critique, I think her sword is a little bit too big. I very much like the sword, but I feel that it looks a little too large to easily handle.

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  9. And to comment on the characters themselves, I found the passage from Marquis de Sade pretty intriguing. And am pretty interested in what your thoughts are about the background for these characters. While I have not read it, 120 Days of Sodom is supposed to be a pretty abhorrent novella (abhorrent in its content, not quality of writing). Did his writings help to inspire this group? Is the Inquisitor a libertine?

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      1. Alright. I thought the quote from the novella that was sampled here sounded fairly well worded, so I figured maybe at least the rest of the writing quality was good. Thanks for the insight.

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  10. You continue to impress me, this looks to be the start of a great gang. The inquisitor is great, the cape helps to give her a bit of substance without taking away from the frailty of her body. There just aren’t enough female parts for these types of conversions though…
    The mutie is cool too, although judging by his face I can’t imagine he’s got much life left in him! Horribly tumorous

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  11. Huzzah! The multitude of characters colliding on Terra will be epic! I can’t even recognise half of the bitz used here, and the characters look real. I think one of the most impressive features is how I instantly started to imagine these in different colours. Will be rwearding to see if you have any similar visions.

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  12. A beautiful duo, like yin and yang. It would be wonderful to see them painted.
    I agree with what Toni said about imagining colours, my first thoughts were of cool tones for the inquisitor and warm for the mutant to contrast them subtly. But I can’t wait to see what you come up with.

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