The cavalcade of grim Space Hulk extravaganza never ends!. Another batch of extraordinary entries shedding their dark light to the deepest corners of The Primogenitor. Take a long look at these fantastic pieces, enjoy their immersive backrounds and have a great (,especially hobby)weekend.
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Artist: Sunfire / RodasReach.blogspot.com
“I am damned: it is a truth that I cannot escape. It is the greatest pain I have ever borne,
but it is also the truest sacrifice I have ever made in the service of the Emperor and the Imperium.”
– Inquisitor Lord Godella Morn
The Renegade stalked through corridors of blasted metal and ruined stonework,
dedicated to dying gods and dark vassals alike. There is no warmth here, even in flames.
The Soldier stood beside, ever ready, ever vigilant, her oath of damnation dancing
like fire behind cold and dying eyes. There is no faith here, even in oneself.
The Spectre passed among familiar strangers, statues crumbling under the weight of millennia,
names on tips of tongues or dragged screaming from history. There is no truth here, even in memory.
The Daemon watched them all, no eyes to see, no mouth to speak, no mind to truly
understand the gravity of its own actions. There is no peace here, even in death.
The Primogenitor calls.
Artist: @darkmasterwoo
What sins have we committed?
Lo, we suffer.
Why must we be punished?
Lo, we endure.
How can we be redeemed?
Lo, we are penitent.
What must be done?
Now is the time for testing upon us.
–
Song of Questions, Except from the Sacred Chants of the Penitent Thorns
Our home is gone – no, no, not gone. Taken.
Alabaster marble twisted and broken.
Sweet holiness swallowed in an instant
By the twisting darkness of that Shadow Empyrean
Where madness dwells.
Why? We know not;
And yet, are we not sinners, all of us?
I know not how to find answers that cure a bleeding heart
Yet the Emperor of Mankind has judged. His Will is executed.
And – sisters! – we must redeem ourselves in his service.
Carry the past in your hearts and upon your person
Take what you can of our spiritual home
The shrines, the relics, the very stonework;
Wear it with humility and with the shame that is appropriate.
For it is a symbol of our failure, and a beacon of our hope;
Now is the time for testing upon us.
–
Canoness Esdra, In Divinas Lacrima
We wandered the void for long
Without purpose. Without hope.
Scourging our souls, mortifying our bodies,
Crying out for guidance from our Emperor.
I rejoice! Our fervent prayers are answered
Behold, from the darkness, a sign:
A vessel – no, for that is too humble a description –
A hulk, larger than any vessel; larger than a world
It is an invitation: Here we shall find our true home.
Thus, we follow our thrice-blessed scanners
Sanctify our arms,
And don the fragments of our former home,
Wearing them as holy armor, tempered in loss.
We are the Penitent Rose
We wear shame as others wear pride
And our faith shall be our salvation.
–
Writings of Candelaria, Sister Repentia of the Penitent Thorns
Sisters! This day, our wandering ends. Our journey begins!
Hold your humility close, your suffering closer.
For, like barbed thorns stepping upon the stem of fate
We march to reclaim the wilted petals of our Penitent Rose!
–
Saint Krisanta, Mother of Bloody Tears – Battle Sermon, en route to the Primogenitor
Artist: Lucas aka @doc.lu
Shatra Quin – Astropath
Once in service of the noble Rouge Trader Dynasty Var Antel, the Vessel she was deployed on got dragged into the hull of the Primogenitor. As the crews lone survivor, Shatra Quin is hiding, fighting an clinging on to her live while she tries to make her way to the outer hull to get a message through. A message of great importance to whole Empire o Men. Maybe the whole Galaxy. But what chances does a mere human soul stand against the ruinous powers of the warp.
Artist: Tube
+ + +
Sound had replaced sight aeons ago. Touch heightened to sense the contours of fingerprints. Only vibrations and frequencies of the body and the soul remained.
It had felt the Seiren Song. Song of the Primogenitor in his soul when the Empyrean spat it out. They had made haste to the hulk. Within were promises of new experiences, and it had felt the Slllisk within, calling for release and war.
Slaves of the false throne, dead machines and others had been there when they arrived. Filled with purpose, they had dived into the hulk, like a pink howling blade thrust through its rotting blackness. They had broken the tomb, its wraithbone shattering under the beauty of their choir, resonating until bursting. Amid the ruins, they had met it, Slllisk the Wraith-taker, whose ascension they had wrought in the glorious days now nigh-forgotten.
They had brought with them instruments of beauty, which it had accepted, daemon-bone fusing to make it whole. Grey, dull, brothers of old, too cowards to let go of their shackles to the false Emperor had engaged them, Void Hounds they called themselves. First in was a carrion brother, stuck in his dreadnought coffin. Their dirge had been swift, with Slllisk composing an elegy for the fallen slave in his prison, offering him sweet release, and a last chance at pain and emotion. With newfound vigour, they had burst forth, sending out calls to their true brothers. Such excess it promised.
+ + +
Artist: ZariArt
Artist: Andy aka @nomad_predation
++INCOMING REPORT SUMMARY++
++CLEARANCE LEVEL: OMEGA//L2++
++OPERATIONAL UPDATE: OPERATION MARTYR’S MOUNTAIN [STRIKE FORCE GOLGOTHA]++
Operation MARTYR’S MOUNTAIN was one of the 73 missions launched by the Ordo Malleus following The Primogenitor’s emergence from the Cicatrix Maledictium. Inquisitorial Strike Force Golgotha, led by Inquisitrix Josamund Chen, consisted of her personal retinue supported by a company of inquisitorial stormtroopers and a detachment of Adeptus Astartes of The Exorcists chapter. A reclamation team from the Weeping Eagle rogue trader dynasty [Classification: Dynasty Minoris] joined the strike force after a successful petition to Inquisitrix Chen, offering their expertise in hulk salvaging operations. They requested that, in turn, SF Golgotha provide support in their reclamation of their lost flagship [Vessel: Broken Thunder] that was scuttled upon the hulk.
Upon breaching the hulk’s outer hull, the strike force was immediately set upon by daemonically-corrupted xenos [Species: Unidentified]. Though a beachhead was successfully established, SF Golgotha was badly mauled and Inquisatrix Chen was killed in one of the many xeno counter attacks. It was during one of these skirmishes that a small group got separated, when an arterial passageway collapsed. Consisting of two of the youngest Weeping Eagle scions and four of The Exorcists (pictured here), they were able to reach Broken Thunder before contact with them was lost. SF Golgotha ultimately withdrew from The Primogenitor after 32 days (standard Terran), suffering 65% casualties.
Those lost are:
Almoner Sgt Machen – Squad Leader, 4th Squad, 3rd Company. Member of the Enochian Guard.
Scout Sgt Bosch – Squad Leader, 8th Squad, 11th Company, Member of the Orisens of The Howling Wind and The Unbroken Circle.
Brother-Initiate King – Squad veteran, 4th Squad, 3rd Company. Member of the Orisen of The Porcelain Skull.
Brother-Initiate Shelley – Incinerator operator, 4th Squad, 3rd Company. Member of the Orisen of The Molten Brazier.
Tersax Weeping Eagle – Scion of the Weeping Eagle Dynasty, 54th in line of succession.
Drewen Weeping Eagle – Scion of the Weeping Eagle Dynasty, 75th in line of succession.
A return mission, direct to Broken Thunder, has been requested by the Weeping Eagle dynasty with support from The Exorcists.
It has been 27 days since contact was lost.
++REPORT ENDS++
++THOUGHT FOR THE DAY: AN INQUISITIVE MIND, WITHOUT CENSURE, BEGETS HERESY++
Artist: @wisbym
Artist: Liam aka @6luspainting
++ History: The Night of a Thousand Rebellions ++
The Castellors (Shield Bearers in Low Gothic) were a fleet based astartes chapter active in the
Thrallus system at the edge of the Segmentum Pacificus. After their near complete annihilation at
the hands of the traitor astartes The Warp Drakes, during The Night of a Thousand Rebellions in
992999.M41, the chapter was reduced to a single company, with the Thrallus system itself left
burning in the renegade’s wake.
Unable to rebuild due to the loss of gene seed repositories, the remnants of the Castellors chapter
were condemned to a slow death, adrift among the stars. As the only senior officer remaining,
Captain Tor Basileus ascended to the rank of Chapter Master and decreed that the dying chapter’s
final act would be to seek absolution in vengeance.
Basileus proclaimed that the chapter was now indefinitely committed to the hunting down of the
traitors responsible for the destruction of the Thrallus system, offering the remainders of the
Castellors the chance to die the honourable death that their battle brothers had been denied.
Repainting their armour black in mourning and swearing oaths of vengeance, the Castellors now
roam the borders of the Segmentum Pacificus in the hunt to drive their hated foes to extinction.
++ Present: The Primogenitor ++
Following the emergence of The Primogenitor space hulk from the Cicatrix Maledictum the chapter’s
astropath’s began to receive distress signals originating from what appeared to be a Castellors ship.
It is apparent that The Martyr’s Hand, former flagship of the chapter and missing for over a century,
has become entombed deep within the massive void conglomeration. Scout ships sent ahead of the
main Castellors fleet have reported sightings of Warp Drake forces active in The Primogenitor’s
destructive wake.
Hopeful that repositories of precious gene seed and sacred chapter relics may remain within The
Martyr’s Hand, along with the opportunity to engage in battle with their elusive foe, Chapter Master
Basileus orders a strike team of astartes, under the command of Captain Anselm, to board The
Primogenitor in an attempt to reclaim the lost treasures of the chapter.
++ The Martyr’s Hand ++
My entry for The Primogenitor invitational represents a small contingent of Strike Team Anselm,
those Castellors astartes sent aboard the massive space hulk in search of their flagship The Martyr’s
Hand, which they are led to believe is entombed within.
I wanted to challenge myself to paint these miniatures in a grittier and grimdark-er manner
compared to what I usually do, employing extensive use of weathering powders and dark, drab
colours. I also wanted to produce atmospheric photographs of my entry, so constructed a make-shift
light box of sorts from an old t shirt and stacked boxes, to make sure I could capture the
claustrophobic and eerie nature of The Primogenitor
Represented in my entry are Captain Anselm himself, an astartes warrior clad in ornate armour,
armed with a power fist and bolt rifle. He is modelled to be looking into the eyes of a discarded
helm, painted in the red heraldry his chapter displayed before their great betrayal and near
destruction at the hands of The Warp Drakes renegade astartes.
The Martyr’s Hand can be seen almost as a time capsule, a ship somehow preserved in a state from
before The Night of a Thousand Betrayals. It represents a glimpse into the Castellor’s past. They are
a chapter fixated on what they perceive to be a great sin, their absence from the great betrayal that
left their chapter on the brink of extinction.
Anselm is modelled on the legs and torso of a Cataphractii Terminator, along with parts from the
MKIII Space Marine kit, as well as an assortment of Grey Knights bits added to convey a more
medieval tone to the chapter’s aesthetic.
Alongside Anselm are two indentured slaves, bound to him until their death. Artemus, a chapter
thrall, carries a lit brazier and a wooden club, whereas Dathur, an astropath, is unarmed, carrying
only a staff. I wanted to include mortals in my entry to emphasise the sheer size of an Astartes
warrior, as well as to give an insight into the culture of the Castellors chapter itself. Numbering
around 100 marines, the “chapter” is merely a company that has slowly been chipped away at over
the last century and a half since The Night of a Thousand Betrayals. Because of this, mortal slaves
are relied on more and more as functioning members within the chapter.
In this case Artemus, the chapter thrall, accompanies Strike Team Anselm to carry The Witnesses,
the skulls of former battle-brothers of the Castellors chapter and those of civilians of the Thrallus
system, slaughtered by The Warp Drakes. The Witnesses, much like the Astartes’ black armour, act
not only as a reminder of their shame, but are also carried by members of the chapter to witness the
vengeance enacted in their name and honour. Through purging, the Castellors believe they can be
absolved in the eyes of their fallen battle-brothers and the God-Emperor himself.
Dathur enters The Primogenitor as a means for Strike Team Anselm to communicate with Chapter
Master Basileus, aboard the flag ship ad Purgatorem, once The Martyr’s Hand has been located and
the origins of the distress signal determined. The Castellors small fleet, meaning to steer clear of The
Primogenitor until completely necessary, awaits Dathur’s astropathic message at the edge of the star
system. Anselm and his fellow battle-brothers are aware that the distress signals supposedly sent by
The Martyr’s Hand are potentially a trap, and there is a high possibility that The Primogenitor will
become their tomb. The strike team must endeavour to keep Dathur alive if they are to signal to
Basileus what lurks within The Primogenitor, ensuring they escape the massive void-ship with their
lives, and sanity, intact.
Artist: Kris aka @ikkarus.frost
+++ Intercepted Distress Call +++
+++ Source: Vessel “The Primogenitor” +++
“They have taken the Bridge and the Second Hall.
We have barred the gates, but cannot hold them for long.
The ground shakes…
Screams…
Screams in the deep.
We cannot get out.
A Shadow moves in the dark…
We cannot get out…
They are coming.”
+++ Transmission Lost +++
Artist: Masse aka @mortiotus
Artist: @juhotorma
Artist: @simonelsen
Title: Those Who Betrayed Their Father
Cyrus removed his helmet, his optics were shattered, he looked around. The entire deck was
wrecked. He could see dead bodies everywhere, adepts as well as brothers.
Samiel appeared in his visual range, he seemed unscathed.
“Well it seems that we are alive brother”
Cyrus nodded “I guess it is your doing Samiel, should I thank you ?”
“I did what I could, but I could only protect the two of us from the crash, said Samiel while gazing
upon the destruction, and we should hurry, I don’t know if the vessel core is damaged”
Cyrus agreed once again “Let’s get out of here, we might even find some of our brothers alive on
the way out.”
As they started to move through the ruin that had become the “Honour of Caliban”, Cyrus tried to
remember how they had ended up like this.
They were fleeing an ambush from their former brothers, made a translation into the Warp,
hoping to lose the Ravenwing into the treacherous currents of the immaterium. But the hunters
were good and possessed fast ships, made for such pursuit chase.
Before long, they were closing the distance; Cyrus had to make a desperate gamble and ordered
a transition out of the Warp to escape them. Such a re-entrance into physical space was at best
hazardous, at worst well, here they were.
They materialised too close to what seemed to be a dark planet or moon, he could only see it for
a short moment the twisted and malevolent orb before its gravitational attraction grabbed their
vessel and smashed it on the surface.
And now they were stranded, alone on this tainted hulk…
Samiel chose that moment to interrupt his thoughts “I can feel the Warp is raging like a roaring
ocean. Wherever this is, the foul gods attention is upon us…”
“Great, first the sons of a father we betrayed, now the Arch Enemy….”
Samiel stopped and turned to Cyrus, “you are right, it might be the end of our wronged path, but
smile brother, I’d rather die fighting the never born my sword in hand than bloodied and broken in
the hands of the loyal sons”
Cyrus grinned “always an answer for everything right Samiel ? some things will never change…
Stop smiling and hurry, there is a whole planet waiting to hear the song of our blades, and if it our
last song, let’s make it loud…”
“I think we are far enough now, the ship hasn’t blown us to pieces. We can assume it’s safe”
“Safe ? laughed Cyrus, I always loved your optimism Samiel. Safe maybe, but still alone, the vox
seems to be broken, that or all our brothers are dead…”
“They are not, I have just tried to contact survivors. Though the Warp is turbulent, I think I found
Ouriel and Abariel. They are a few miles North of our Position”
…
“Ouriel are you alive ?”
Ouriel growled “those pods are solid aren’t they ? lucky for us we were near one before the crash”
Abariel kicked the door out and the two marines deployed to secure their landing site. No sign of
life.
They were in what seemed to be and an orbital station, or at least something that was imperial
long time ago and had spent too much time in the Warp.
Before they could decide on their course of action, Ouriel stopped
“Abariel, Lord Cypher and Samiel are alive, they ask us to keep our position and wait for them.”
Abariel barely reacted “Do you know anything in this universe capable of killing Samiel ?”
Ouriel did not answer
“No surprise then… Let us wait for them and see if we can die better together than alone…”
Artist: Matt of Warlords collective
Artist: @_catharthegreat
Clones of clones of clones, the gene warriors employed by the Rogue Trader Baron von Vor are so genetically degenerated they are barely more than a malformed spine jutting from a clustered nervous sytem. The raw gene mass is put into hand made machine frames purpose built for exploration, surveillance or combat – creating fearless, if somewhat witless, advanced combat servitors.
.
They enter derelict ships and stations in small teams, to retrieve valuable tech or knowledge.
.
The Primogenitor is just one more ship, one more exploration mission. Here we see a squad of gene warriors, barely a few weeks old, moving deeper into the bowels of the massive space hulk.
IRON SLEET 
Stunning work by everyone.
Cheers,
Pete.
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This gets heavier with every update. So glorious.
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Great great work! Those last two entries are killers.
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These are amazing.
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Wonderful work everyone! Stunning…
Amazing to realize how big a narrative is unfolding in the Primogenitor 🙂
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Interestingg read
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