How would you theme an army from Hysh?

[The Brotherhood of Necros]

I love how the realms influence the nature, the culture, the religions and the military of the factions living there. 

I am thinking of setting my next army (Seraphon) in Hysh and am wondering how I might represent that in the miniatures. 

It feels like quite a high-concept realm compared to, say, Life or Fire. What are your thoughts?

 

[Gitzdee]

Just throwing in some ideas.

Seems like the AoS version of heaven. A quick search revealed that the people of Hysh often use the Serpent of light as a symbol. I would reflect that in the minis. Maybe as a sort of tattoo. Its also a place of wisdom, this could be reflected by using a few wizards. To further go along with the light theme u could use a bright paint scheme. Something like this reptile? Could even use more white with turquoise accents.

Found this one on Warcom.

[Gitzdee]

If i had enough time and money i would make a black and white paint scheme with Gold parts and magnetize all the feet. That way u could make a bright base for Hysh and a dark base for Ulgu and u would have both. Could actually do this with other armies.

(Might have to do this some day, but i have too many projects already)

[Pizzaprez]

There was a focus on armies from Hysh in an issue of White Dwarf (i forget the number) and they had a few ideas. Lots of gold/white and undead things tend to burn

Seraphon tend to play with other ideas associated with the realms' magic: preferring to fly around in spaceships and summon constellations instead of living "in" Azyr or using storm magic. 

I'd consider what "else" you could focus on in Hysh. The primary faction is concerned with perfection, meditation, enlightenment, and communing with the living magic behind the realms. In the novel Neferata: A Dominion of Bones, a Khorne chaos lord from Hysh uses the realm's magic to create a gargantuan fortress-laser, burning/melting the space around his domain.

Glancing at the Hysh wiki page, it seems like Hysh falls into one of three things: Spiritual Enlightenment, Literal Enlightenment, and banishing Daemons. 

I think a focus on multiple wizards could draw successful comparisons to the mage-cults of WHF, as could lots of "light" colors in your army's heraldry. For the lizards themselves, I'd probably recommend looking at real-life desert lizards for inspiration! You could also go literal with the "Serpent of Light" and try your hand at kitbashing the old Coatl once they rerelease the old plastic dragon for TOW; painting it bright and luminescent. Could count it as a slaan!

If you wanted more, you could buy Luminark or two and use the lenses throughout your army as a motif. Serpents are also associated with Hysh in general, and quite a few lizardmen units have access to 'em!

I love the idea of really emphasizing a home-realm for Your Dudes! Offers tons of creative opportunities!

[The Brotherhood of Necros]

Thanks so much, @Gitzdee and @Pizzaprez! 

I really like the idea of emphasising a home realm, too. I think it’s one of the great things the setting has going for it. 

My faction will be dedicated to Tzunki, Lord of the Water, from a temple-city deep under Hysh’s Girdlesea. (The attached snippet from the Seraphon battletome inspired me.)

So obviously my head first went to lots of big aquatic lizards/sea monsters. Then I thought “that doesn’t actually speak to the realm they’re in. If anything, it seems Ghurish. How would the influence of Hysh change or influence the theme?” 

I loved reading about the spirits of Hysh and their relationships with the Realmlords. With Tzunki being deeply associated with the water, couldn’t my faction have come into contact with such spirits, deep under the sea?

“Long before the Arch-Mage and Celennar first communed, a different kind of spirit found cause to take a new form. Far below the bright Girdlesea’s geometric tides, Ulmor the Benthic Thought heard sounds that were not of his water realms. Echoes in the deep, of minds enlightened by Hysh and Azyr both, yet cold and old as his abyssal home. When Chaos came and the oceans sickened, he observed the rituals to which these toads clung, and when their minds found his, he too was roused. For though they were tiny compared to the vastness of his unending seas, he recognised a kindred spirit inside their offspring; the blessings of one who in times past might not have been wholly unlike him. As the shadow of entropy poisoned the waves, he rose in a shape known to the lizards, and his light banished the darkness, and the depths resounded with the hisses of their serpentine tongues: Tzunki.”

I’m feeling really inspired by this and am working on converting the spirit (a counts-as Kroak) as we speak.

I really love what you were saying about the fortress-laser and Luminark, @Pizzaprez. I think leaning into the geometric side of the realm would complement the Lizards really nicely, what with all their pyramids and orreries etc. It‘s giving me nods to columns of monolithic pillars (Dagon much?) and shipwrecks/flotsam floating in circular patterns, as if caught in a current moving to a particular design. Perhaps some of the units that are usually represented by beasties like the bastilodon or spawns of Chotec could actually be Old One ships/tech/pyramidal structures of some kind, activated by Hysh’s learnings?

A light colour scheme also seems a must, @Gitzdee, and I think that’s really interesting when you consider that that ocean depths are often untouched by light. It’s a different spin on the abyssal theme, so thank you 🙏🏻 

As you can probably tell I’m getting lots of ideas so thank you both for commenting! 

 

[NinthMusketeer]

Its always fun to take those paragraph-long lore snippets and build the army from them, excited to see what you come up with!