Johhny The Squid Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Hey Guys! Felt creative, so I decided to write up my interpretation of the "Shadow Aelfs" that've been rumoured for so long. Will come up with units and rules and so on at some point. This was partially inspired by Melcauvc's amazing work on the Firebellies and Ironweld. ------------- A dark fog descends over the battlefield. The soldiers are suddenly gripped with an ineffable sense of dread. They look around, uncertain of what this strange phenomenon is. Dark shadows dart through it, as a strange and unearthly giggling can be heard. And then, as if out of nowhere, a legion of terrible Aelves bursts from the fog. Massive Draconian figures slash and tear savagely, tentacled monstrosities lumber around, cruelly gobbling up any stragglers. Shadow Daemons frolic through the gore, chirping half-truths and attacking the defenseless, over the loud prayers of armoured Aelves to their dread God. And just like that, they disappear back into the fog. Ulgu is a cruel and deceitful realm. Every being is out for itself, for no weakness can be tolerated in a realm where danger can lurk around any corner. Only the most cut-throat of creatures can survive. The realm is like this partially due to its inherent nature (Shadows are untrustworthy things), but the biggest source of its pro find duplicity is none other than it's ruler; Malerion. Malerion is an entity as old as Sigmar and the Everchosen themselves, and was once an Aelf named Malekith. He was a great and powerful Witch King in the World-That-Was, and was bound to the sorcery of Ulgu. This meant that when it was destroyed, his essence survived well into the Age of Myth, when he resurfaced under his new name. He was initially little more than shadowy mist, but from the sheer amount of spite his withered soul carried, he manifested in a new and terrible form. It was not long before he began to explore the realm, and he would soon find his mother and old enemy, Morathi, who was too changed. They fought briefly, before settling on a truce. They took joint control of the realm, for they knew that one would never be willingly ruled by the other, and joined Sigmar's growing pantheon. It was around this time that the two joined Tyrion and Teclis in locating the Aelf souls, for they too desired fellows of their race to rule. Once they found out that Slaanesh had consumed all the Aelf souls, Malerion is said to have entered a rage so great and palpable that it manifested in the form of a fog of mystery that would always accompany his chosen. They captured Slaanesh, and each took their share of souls. Malerion, instead of choosing the last to be devoured like Teclis, or the most honourable like Tyrion, Malerion took the most deceitful and cruel Alef souls that dwelled within the Dark Prince. These were the murderers and slavers, and they were incidentally the last souls available. The Gods went their separate ways, but Malerion was bitter. He felt shortchanged, for he was effectively given the scum of their race. The spite that he carried for Tyrion and Teclis all the way from the World-That-Was had abruptly resurfaced, and he would have his vengeance on the two for being so arrogant. He retreated to his dark tower in the center of the realm, and began to experiment upon the souls. Using fell magics, he brought forth the inner evil within them, turning them into horrific scaled things that barely resembled an Aelf. These beings were the first Druuchior, which can mean both "Unknown" and "Unnatural" in Aelvish. These creatures, despite backstabbing each other at every twist and turn, managed to establish a crude civilisation. They were Malerion's answer to Tyrion's heavenly and "pure" creations, and he was determined that one day he would use them to get his revenge. When the Age of Chaos began, they were relatively unharmed, due to Ulgu's very nature helping to repel the invaders. However, some Chaotic Corruption did indeed begin to take root by the time the Age of Sigmar came around. Again, they did very little except build in strength and numbers. Little more changed until the Necroquake, when Nagash began his assault. They realised that with such a large amount of raw magic and instability, now would be a perfect time to reveal themselves, and to finally unveil the terrible truth of what lurked in the shadows. ------------ So when thinking of this faction, I thought of a few key themes/ideas: MONSTER HEAVY: With Ulgu being such a mysterious realm, it would only make sense to take advantage of the numerous gribblies hiding in the shadows, such as the Shadow Daemons mentioned in the DoK Battletome, plus the Druuchori themselves being so monstrous. THE EVERMIST: To represent the most that accompanies them all the time, they could have something like the "Forgotten Nightmares" rule the Deepkin have, or something as simple as -1 to hit for ranged weapons. SPELLHEAVY: Since the Aelves are such a magic-focused race, and Malerion was once the Witch King, it would only make sense that they have a lot of Wizards, mainly with spells about trickery and deception. MALERION: The big scaly M himself would obviously be a big centrepiece model If there's any ideas or feedback you have, I'd be happy to hear! Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melcavuk Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 Looking good, eager to see what you can come up with. I'd suggest playing up the subversive, shifting and deceptive nature of Ulgu, whilst Forgotten nightmares works for Idoneth would be cool if you had a way to debuff enemies with shadows in the mists, noises coming from darkened corners etc. Really playing up a fear based debuff army that defeats an enemies morale before blade ever reaches skin, would also do well in concealling just how many Aelves malerion has beneath his command, able to play with shadows in the mists to make his numbers seem far more than truly he has. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
DantePQ Posted February 22, 2019 Share Posted February 22, 2019 I think it doesn't add up to who Malerion is now and transformation of Malekith in the Old World. If it's what your goal is then so be it Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johhny The Squid Posted February 22, 2019 Author Share Posted February 22, 2019 8 minutes ago, Melcavuk said: Looking good, eager to see what you can come up with. I'd suggest playing up the subversive, shifting and deceptive nature of Ulgu, whilst Forgotten nightmares works for Idoneth would be cool if you had a way to debuff enemies with shadows in the mists, noises coming from darkened corners etc. Really playing up a fear based debuff army that defeats an enemies morale before blade ever reaches skin, would also do well in concealling just how many Aelves malerion has beneath his command, able to play with shadows in the mists to make his numbers seem far more than truly he has. Thanks! And yeah, maybe something to do with bravery could represent the fear of the shadows. And maybe the whole “more numbers than he truly has” could be represented by an endless spell or something. 7 minutes ago, DantePQ said: I think it doesn't add up to who Malerion is now and transformation of Malekith in the Old World. If it's what your goal is then so be it That’s absolutely fair enough. Malekith is pretty well-liked , and it is a big change to his character, so I can see why. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johhny The Squid Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 Done the first Warscroll: Druuchori Shadereaper: The Druuchori are the product of Malerion's fell experiments upon the Aelf souls taken from Slaanesh. Their inherent inner ugliness was mixed with the potent Shadow Magic of their creator, leading to each and every one being Spiteful and Cruel to the extreme. Whilst the majority are happy to lurk in their obsidian towers, some feel a pull towards the field of battle, to take that cruelty and inflict it upon the enemies of their creator. These Druuchori are pitted against others of their kind, and the strongest are given a Shadereaper Scythe, a weapon that's blade is forged from lethally enchanted metal. These cruel warriors take to the battlefield, hacking and slashing away at enemy troops gleefully. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melcavuk Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Thats a robust unit with minimal damage output, even their boosted damage on a 6 to wound may end up seeming meagre for the points cost required for 3 wounds a piece flying unit, what is their desired role on the battlefield? Also what is Shadowstone (if you're after Ulgu realmstone its said to be threadlike essense that is elusive in nature as though the thinnest fibre hanging on the air) Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johhny The Squid Posted February 23, 2019 Author Share Posted February 23, 2019 17 minutes ago, Melcavuk said: Thats a robust unit with minimal damage output, even their boosted damage on a 6 to wound may end up seeming meagre for the points cost required for 3 wounds a piece flying unit, what is their desired role on the battlefield? Also what is Shadowstone (if you're after Ulgu realmstone its said to be threadlike essense that is elusive in nature as though the thinnest fibre hanging on the air) I modelled their stat line after the Melusai in the DoK Battletome. They were meant to be a semi-elite skirmishes, preferably meant to pick off weaker troops so that the Wizards and Monsters can take on the other stuff. And as for the Shadowstone, I meant the realmstone, but that is obviously not feasible. Will go back and fix that. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melcavuk Posted February 23, 2019 Share Posted February 23, 2019 Melusai are 2W, 5 up save, 3 attacks a piece plus one specialist attack Currently yours are 3W, upto 5 up save, a single attack a piece. To reach a similar statline I'd drop the wounds to two and atleast add a second attack possibly two but with the damage boost two might be a touch trong. Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Johhny The Squid Posted February 24, 2019 Author Share Posted February 24, 2019 Thanks, will do. I'm relatively new to designing new units from scratch, so bear with me Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
Melcavuk Posted February 24, 2019 Share Posted February 24, 2019 30 minutes ago, Johhny The Squid said: Thanks, will do. I'm relatively new to designing new units from scratch, so bear with me Not a problem, my primary concern was that the points cost of the resilience meant that with such a low damage output they were unlikely to find a niche in which more numerous single wound models didn’t rapidly outclass them Link to comment Share on other sites More sharing options...
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