Thursday 7 September 2017

We're off to see the Nomad Prince...



"No," the figure explained patiently, "you misunderstand. I hold no formal title. There is no governance or rulership among us Outcasts. 'The Nomad Prince' is little more than an epithet. Still, I suppose I am as close to a figurehead for my people as we have, if only due to provenance." 



I hear that his house were once exodites, fleeing the Old Empire. 

I hear they became lost along the way. Not physically lost, but 'lost' as a state of mind. They have been wandering ever since.



The Nomad Prince? Vainglorious navel-gazer. Does little more than tempt away the young and naive with fabulous myths of exploration. There is nought but a lonely death awaiting the Eldar out among the stars. I half expect that come the Rhana Dandra he'd spend his time philosophising rather than pick up his spear to fight.



Have you never stopped to wonder about this place? Why this particular reach of the webway is filled with sand? It's not sand, cousin, it's glass. You stand amid the ruins of Karaehe, the great glittering city. Miles upon miles of transparent towers, wondrous to behold. Shattered and ground to dust by the fell energies of the Fall. 

You can still find bones in the sand, if you look.

Since the Croneworlder one winged Vampire-Lord guy I've been looking to Fantasy for characters to mirror in the 40k universe, with a suitable grimdark twist. A lot of named characters in Fantasy have been changed into generic up-spec characters in the jump to AoS. This guy is based on the Fantasy Araloth, who in AoS has been turned into a character called a 'Nomad Prince'.


I've used bits of his kit in my Nomad Prince, and tried to mirror the pose with more Eldar bits as well. He's also called 'Araloth of the Hooked Blade', so I thought it would be fitting to replace his eagle with the hooked claw I had spare from the Tenebrael Shard kit (especially as it mimicked the pose).

Lastly, the background for Araloth is that he was a bit of a coward until he came across an elf maiden being assaulted by a Slaaneshi daemon. He slew the daemon, and the maiden revealed herself as Lileath, stating she had a plan for him. Since then, he's been the bravest and most untiring champion of the wood elves.

In the universe of 40k...Lileath is dead. The Nomad Prince never had his pivotal moment. A lifetime of wandering as an outcast has expunged his cowardice by necessity, but he never developed the untiring desire to fight for his people. He simply wanders his own path through the ashes of his civilisation, earning the disdain of my craftworld, the warlike Angvai (who are quoted above).

I feel like there's a ton of potential in 'dark mirrors' of Fantasy/AoS characters in 40k, but I must admit I don't know a great deal about the Old World (or the new one). Any ideas?

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