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The Gloomforest Spawn: An unofficial AoS faction

Discussion in 'General Hobby/Tabletop Chat' started by Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl, Aug 21, 2018.

  1. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    As many of you know by now, I really dislike some of the Sylvaneth models, specifically the Tree Revenants, Spite Revenants and Drycha Hamadreth, as I think that not only do they fit in with the rest of the army, but they also lower the appeal of it in my view (alongside Alarielle), and cause me to dislike the whole army even though its only these specific models I really dislike - the rest of the models are quite nice. After grousing and grumbling about this like a Dwarf Longbeard both on and off the forum for quite a while now (and I humbly apologise to all those of you that have been caught in the crossfire of my Sylvaneth hate), I have decided to do something constructive with my hate instead and have proposed an new unofficial army idea and an unofficial rework of the existing Sylvaneth faction. First the changes to Sylvaneth:
    • Change the name and backstory of Alarielle the Everqueen to Ariel, Queen of Ghyran (I prefer Ariel to Alarielle and this would synchronise with Warhammer Fantasy lore better as Ariel was queen of the Wood Elves, and is thus more likely to be queen of the forest spirits, while Alarielle was queen of the High Elves. Ariel also has wings in Warhammer Fantasy, so it would make a lot more sense if she had wings in AoS as well, whereas Alarielle had no wings and suddenly sprouted them in actual AoS lore).
    • Bring out a new Drycha miniature that resembles the Branchwraith (which was the original Warhammer Fantasy Drycha) to replace Drycha Hamadreth, who looks nothing like the original Drycha.
    • Include two or three new units in the Sylvaneth army that more resemble Dryads, Kurnoth Hunters and Treemen, to keep to the originally established look
    And now for the new army. I have always viewed the Tree and Spite Revenants as mutated, evil versions of Sylvaneth, so I was thinking of the new army that featured them as being either a Chaos or Death army. I've plumped for giving them the Death Grand Alliance as I've been thinking that they could be a black parody of Sylvaneth in that they resemble dead trees and inhabit dead forests in Shyish and possibly Ulgu, compared to the Sylvaneth who resemble living trees and inhabit living forests in Ghyran. I've called them the Gloomforest Spawn to give them quite a sinister name and yet also give them some sort of similarity to the Sylvaneth. I've also contemplated making that Drycha Hamadreth character another Mortarch of Nagash, indeed the Mortarch that enforces Nagash's will over the Gloomforest Spawn, and have chosen her title as Hamadreth, Mortarch of Pain, dropping the name 'Drycha' entirely as she bears very little resemblance to the original Drycha. In any case, let me know what you all think of this unofficial faction idea - I imagine all you Sylvaneth fans will have plenty of feedback for a topic like this!
     
  2. ravagekitteh
    Skink Chief

    ravagekitteh Well-Known Member

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  3. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    Actually no, I haven’t read that article yet, I just thought of it this morning and thought it would be a nice idea. That article may well be worth a read though - it may give me some inspiration!
     
  4. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Interesting idea!
    I agree with Drycha and the Spite-Revenants, I don't like them either. Tree-Revenants are... borderline for me. They are not that great but I can accept them.
    I like the story about Alarielle's "rebirth" as what she is now. With her loyal Branchwych protecting her cocoon until she could spawn. It reminded me of Kerrigan in StarCraft.

    My wife has painted a Sylvaneth army so I have the Battletome because I might play them in the future (my wife doesn't play).
    And indeed the outright evilness of Drycha and the Spite-Revenants is something that bothers me.

    For me Sylvaneth should not be really good or evil, but a force of nature. They belong to Order because even the 'chaotic' parts of life follow rules and there is always a balance in place that has to be kept.
    And for the most part the AoS lore gets it right IMO.

    But back to your idea:
    Twisted, dead trees, yeah. A dark Sylvaneth faction, probably allied with shadow Druids (dark Wood Elves/Wanderers so to speak).
    That could work. Allied with Death since that is the natural end of everything and the only way to beat Chaos...

    Looking forward to what you will come up with. :)
     
  5. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    Well I've been thinking of some more ideas about the Gloomforest Spawn, and have developed a little bit of background about the mythology of the Gloomforest Spawn. Whereas the other Death factions openly support Nagash, I thought it would be fun to have the majority of the Gloomforest Spawn as being unaware of the fact they are serving Nagash specifically, and that they only know they are serving their god, the Triple God (their god of Death, Decay and Renewal). Only Hamadreth, the Mortarch of Pain, openly knows that she is manipulating the Gloomforest Spawn to serve Nagash, and disguises herself as being the premier priest of the Triple God. The rest of the Gloomforest Spawn have never seen Nagash, or even heard of his name, unusual in Shyish, but they live far away from Nagashizzar in their desolate Gloomforests over the far side of Shyish and also in Ulgu.

    Just a little bit of fluff that I thought of today. More coming soon! :writing:
     
    Warden, ravagekitteh, Aginor and 2 others like this.
  6. Paradoxical Pacifism
    Skink Chief

    Paradoxical Pacifism Well-Known Member

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    interesting!
     
  7. Aginor
    Slann

    Aginor Fifth Spawning Staff Member

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    Isn't that something of Nurgle as well?

    But yeah, the idea of a nature-based faction _thinking_ that they are just burning everything down to "produce the fertile ashes for a new world to grow from" could be a good target for the Supreme Leader of the Undead to trick them into working for him...
     
  8. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    I thought Nurgle was more specifically disease and plagues, whereas decay and renewal are both part of the natural process of Death, which is Nagash’s speciality.
     
    Warden likes this.
  9. Deed525
    Stegadon

    Deed525 Well-Known Member

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    Agreed with the disliking of the said models (first time I saw them I instantly though - tree body suits) a bit meh, they also seriously lack variety. The other models on offer though look great.

    Interesting ideas - I like it a lot.

    Running along with the ‘decay’ theme - that could produce some very nice model concepts indeed.
    Instantly I started thinking; rotting/mould covered plants, that could easily be transferred to ‘death-like’ plant models - the summoning aspect to the army would also co-inside with the theme (ie) localised treelands/terrain could be warped with decaying magic and ‘re-figured’ almost like nagash’s style of creation with his bone structures - think a miss-mash or diseased trees held together by force of will and vines.

    I resent you converted a tree wraith that I themed around an old swamp hag - she looks a bit necromancery - could also work with the theme.

    I’m an obsessive greenstuffer, if you wanted I could have a bash at creating some models for you if you wanted? (I have plenty of dryad bits n bobs floating around - as I like the models)
     
  10. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    Here's my first Warscroll idea for Blight Revenants, the Gloomforest Spawn version of Tree Revenants.

    I made it using the Warscroll Creator here: https://runebrush.pa-sy.com/warscroll/

    Let me know what you all think!
     

    Attached Files:

  11. Warden
    Slann

    Warden Tenth Spawning

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    Really really cool fluff ideas right here.

    I thought the same; Nurgle is the lord of decay. Maybe in addition to the faction being secretly manipulated by Nagash, there is an additional faction secretly trying to subvert the plan and bring them into the fold of papa nurgle? Plots within plots!
     
  12. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    I always find it easier to imagine how a faction lives and fights by listening to inspirational pieces of music, and I've found a cracker for the Gloomforest Spawn from a favourite gameshow of my childhood - Trapped:
     
    Warden likes this.
  13. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    An interesting idea, but I feel that Chaos already has so much stuff whereas Death has so little in comparison, and Death also has very little diversity in its forces whereas Chaos has plenty.

    The reason I choose to maintain the Spawn's Triple God as the lord of decay and renewal as well as death is because decay can only be brought about by death, and renewal can only occur once the old has first died and then decayed away (e.g. new plants growing from the ashes of old plants after a forest fire), so the three occur one after the other. Furthermore I wanted the Gloomforest Spawn to have a Pagan aspect to them like the Sylvaneth but the opposite way, so I devised the myth of the Triple God (mixing the ideas of the Triple Goddess and Horned God from Wicca) and cast Nagash in this role as being, according to the Gloomforest Spawn, the one lord of all these things, although the Spawn do not realise Nagash is their Triple God.
     
  14. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    Hello again all, I have another Warscroll for the Gloomforest Spawn for you to have a look at, this time for the Spite-Revenants.

    Once again any feedback or profile tweaks would be greatly appreciated.
     

    Attached Files:

  15. Deed525
    Stegadon

    Deed525 Well-Known Member

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    I can’t get the damn files to load :/ very irritating as I really want to see !
     
  16. ravagekitteh
    Skink Chief

    ravagekitteh Well-Known Member

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    I can access them through iBooks - here they are: (I hope you don't mind me doing this @Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl)

    IMG_0850.PNG IMG_0851.PNG
     
  17. Deed525
    Stegadon

    Deed525 Well-Known Member

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    Ah, thanks
     
  18. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    That’s odd - I can access them by clicking the title of the PDF (i.e. Blight Revenants/Spite Revenants Warscroll.PDF) when on my laptop and my iPad. I tried attaching them as JPEG images but the forum wouldn't post them up properly for some reason.

    @ravagekitteh No I don't mind you doing that - I imagine that'll be easier for everyone too, so thanks very much for doing that mate. :)
     
    Paradoxical Pacifism likes this.
  19. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    I've tried using the good old Snipping Tool to take a screenshot of the picture and it works a lot better as a zoomed in image, so here you are:
    snip 1.PNG
    Snip 2.PNG
     
  20. Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl
    Slann

    Lord Agragax of Lunaxoatl Eleventh Spawning

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    And before I forget, here's the next Warscroll I've devised. This one is for the Bloodcopse Ravagers, the protectors of the rulers of the Gloomforests. Each is a towering monstrosity that is utterly obedient to the Bloodcopse elders, and their presence is revered as a sure sign that an Armiger or even a Preceptor is attending the battle. Ravagers have an uncanny ability to absorb Wilderessence, the raw power of the Gloomforests that is infused into each and every Gloomforest Spawn, from nearby Gloomforests to allow them to regenerate the normally unliving bark from which they are made.
    Bloodcopse Ravagers Warscroll.PNG
     

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