Hello my Lizard friends! As I said in my introduction topic: https://www.lustria-online.com/threads/im-back.26471/ I'm back here because of a contest of scenery construction, of an Italian forum dedicated to the subject, which I joined: https://www.capochino.it/forum/viewforum.php?f=65 This year the theme of the contest is free, and I decided to build a pyramid dedicated to Tepok, for Warhammer Fantasy Battles! The only limitation is the size: the scenery must measure a maximum of 60x60x60 cm. Why Tepok? I've always found it fascinating and mysterious, and while Sotek is a bit "inflated"; I think that this other Old One has still much to offer in terms of concepts. Now, in other forums I've posted in, I've started with a brief description of who Tepok is, and I've attached a photocopy of the Warhammer Chronicles 2004 page where Quoatl's background is described, but I don't think that will be necessary... However, I'll put some classical lines anyway, for those who have known Seraphon as an army, instead of a dragon XD Tepok the Inscrutable Spoiler The Lizardmen worship the deity Tepok as the feathered serpent god of the air and of sacred places and a powerful symbol of protection against harmful magic. The being is frequently referred to as “The Inscrutable,” a characteristic manifested in its followers, who have an air of mysterious otherworldliness. The feathered serpent totem-creature is believed to refer to the Quoatl, a mythical creature said to be a bizarre hybrid of serpent and bird. At times, the Quoatl is depicted as a huge snake covered with brightly colored feathers; at others, it is a snake with wide, feathered pinions. These feathers are invariably purple, deep blue, or a combination of the two, and it has been reported by returning explorers that some Lizardmen sport feathers of this color as a mark of rank or role. Most scholars refuse to believe the feathers are from an actual Quoatl, for surely such a creature must be extremely rare, if it even exists at all. A full-fledged spawning of a Sacred Host of Tepok has been reported on several occasions. The oldest such reference was found in a transcription of a single fragment of the long-lost Seventeenth Cycle of the Chronicle of Hexoatl. The transcript states that during the fifth configuration of the Fire Star (around the year 500 by the best calculations), the “Dark Ones” (Dark Elves) made an attack on the sacred Mirror Pool of Tepok. Decades earlier, a Sacred Host of Sotek had been spawned at Hexoatl, and this army marched to war against the Elves and fought a mighty battle on the shore of the pool itself. The Dark Elves were, according to the inscription, defeated despite terrible dark magicks unleashed by their sorcerous witch of a leader. Only through Tepok’s protection did the force survive her arcane onslaught by walking calmly through ardent violet fire to smash into the Dark Elf lines, slaughter every last Dark Elf, and win the day. The witch was thrown into the Mirror Pool of Tepok as a sacrifice to the feathered-serpent god of sacred places, and it is said that her screaming, cursing face is still visible there to this day and remains unable to break the surface of the perfectly calm waters. Interestingly, the Chronicle of Hexoatl suggests that the Children of Tepok will return at the next conjunction of the Fire Star to oppose once more the Dark Ones who would despoil the lands of Lustria. The configuration has recently occurred. Thus, it may well be that a Sacred Host of Tepok once more walks the land. Let's start with the size. After much calculation, the youngest Skink Priest in my army prophesied that the pyramid would have a square base, with each side measuring 47.6 cm. I'll need some empty space on the upper part, so the pyramid will have 5 floor, each 6 cm tall (1 for the floor, and 5 for the height of the walls above it). Each floor will be removable, as the pyramid will also be playable inside. To build it, I'll use 5 cm XPS, which will be cut with the aid of a Proxxon Thermocut 230/E, and a classical cutter. This was to show the size. The first thing I did, though, was to build a 1:20 model, to figure out the measurements. I've been buying a lot of our of production models on the web lately, including this temple guard (which I'm sure you'll recognize...) that happened to be painted purple on the back, so I put it in the photos as a good omen. In the next post I'll show you exactly how I used it. That's all for the moment, I hope you can enjoy, it and give me feedbacks and advices.
Thank you very much! As I said, I made use of that little pyramid to define my idea. I used DAS, which is a cheap putty commonly used in primary schools in Italy to do crafts. I made use of a couple of tools I made with XPS to check the size of the sculpt The floors of the pyramid were ket together with pins, so they can be separated if needed. Before the putty dried, I cut it at the level of each floor, and then I used more pins to keep the sections in place. And here we have it, a snake coiled around the pyramid! I'll use this model to get the measures for the "real" pyramid.
Great way to tackle this build. Study at the start is always helpful. Keep up the good work. Grrr, Imrahil
I deeply apologize for the absence. I've been super busy until a couple of weeks ago, and now I'm struggling to finish in time since the trophy deadline is Tuesday night. I will therefore not be able to update this forum as well. When the contest is over, and I will have time to do so, I promise I will make up for it by posting every translated step here. In the meantime, I invite you to follow the progress of the work through the photos directly from the forum that organized the event: https://www.capochino.it/forum/viewtopic.php?f=65&t=6222 You can also find the images in this post of my blog, even if it's not really a post at the moment: I'm temporarily using it only as a photo uploader http://darkhawkms.blogspot.com/2022/05/temple-of-tepok-part-2-construction.html Meanwhile, here are some photos of the state of work to date, to make you curious
wow, dude! Such a high level of awesomeness. The hollow snake is pure genius. Keep up the absolute great work Grrr, Imrahil
Thanks a lot guys! Unfortunately, I couldn't finish it in time for the competition deadline, and I had to withdraw. This project took more time than I thought it would, and unfortunately I didn't have much of it in the past few months, and it was impossible to do all that work in a few days (while getting very little sleep to work on it). Also, I was compromising too much with the details I want it to have, so I preferred to keep working on it slowly, without deadlines. This is the state it is currently in Soon I will resume as promised with the tutorial I started, and I will post updates as the work progresses.
Sad to hear about the withdrawal, but glad you want to do this build the justice it deserves. I am a very keen follower of this project. It looks incredible already Keep up the great work Grrr, Imrahil
I can't wait to see the final product! I've been interested in blending the old WHFB lore into an AoS force, and my fanfic background also ties my Seraphon to the worship of Tepok.