This miniature started a few months ago as a special character for my Chaos Space Marines army. They are (or at least were supposed to be, back then) a bit of Slaanesh-themed and in Wh40k fluff Slaanesh devotees are often drawn from the higher layers of societies, bored aristocrats and blasé heirs - those kind of people you would see on TV series like The Bold and the Beautiful or the Gossip Girl (or Dangerous Liaisons, for those of you who prefer books). The fact that those kind of people are often depicted in Wh40k art as wearing baroque or rococo clothes gives a great opportunity here. This is a kind of aesthetics - with it's emphasis on form rather than essence or purpose - that really fits Slaanesh cultists. Moreover, since aristocrats from that certain moment of history are often imagined as libertine or at least hedonistic, with Versailles being viewed as a kind of orgiastic vanity fair, baroque clothes and hair-styles are even better for Slaanesh. To put it simple, a viewer seeing a dandy with a powdered peruke and silk jacket will rather associate him with the Prince of Pleasure than, for example, Lord of Decay.
So, after seeing many nice illustrations in Rogue Trader and Dark Heresy rulebooks from Fantasy Flight Games, I've decided to make a baroque Astartes and take advantage of what was said above. Inspiration striked especially after seeing this picture in one of the rulebooks:
The peruke on the guy in power armour seemed like a really great idea. I've started working on it right away, but then it turned out that I was not satisfied with his face (sculpted and casted by yours truly). Then I realised one thing - what looks more baroque than a guy in a powdered wig? Well, clearly, a masked guy in a powdered wig on the masked ball (orgies included)!
While aiming at something evil-looking, I chose a bird mask, modelled after famous plague doctour costumes and many examples of Venetian carnival masks.
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Which, if I may humbly say so, was a really good idea, defining the whole miniature concept and making it slightly more sinister (especially since without a mask it looked more like a metal band musician). Since we're talking inspiration here - when I think about it, I come to a conclusion that the first inspiration for the beak mask came from the work of Franciszek Starowieyski:
In fact, I believe that Starowieyski's imaginary creatures fit Wh40k universe pretty well (some of them even look like if they were torn from the domain of Prince of Pleasure himself) and even if not, they surely can be very stimulative. It is also worth noting that the colour pallete that Starowieyski used is a bit similar to what you may see in John Blanche's art - and really what can be more 40k than Blanche style?
Let's get back to the beak guy. The next thing to design is, of course, his armour. Now, I have to warn you that we're no longer talking about an actual miniature of mine, but we're rather venturing into the realm of pure imagination. While this might not be historically acurate, one of the things that matches the best my vision of a baroque (power) armour are the works of Filippo Negroli, the famous armourer from Milan. These were heavily decorated parade armours with probably little to none protection value, being first and foremost the pieces of art itself. The common elements here are human faces, floral patterns and bizzare creatures. While most of them would rather fit a pure soul of a loyalist Astartes, there are some that would surely allow you to blend yourself into the crowd of villains. Thanks to the Metropolitan Museum of Art, we can view many of Negroli's (and some other Italian armourer's) works in a free book, Heroic Armor of the Italian Renaissance: Filippo Negroli and his Contemporaries, available for download here.
Among the others, we have here probably the first known to me example of an armour with a bat wings motive (which is heavily used in many fantasy art, especially in depicting vampiries):
There are plenty more; I encourage you to skim throught this book - if not for the sake of inspiration, then just out of historical curiosity.
By the way, the Palatine Blades by revered Steve Whitehead from Forge World seem to catch very well this kind of a decorated armour aesthetics. They might even be considered more baroque, due to some irregularities and asymmetries, and it fits the fluff of Emperor's Children really well.
Now let's get back to the reality. What is the status of the beak guy now? Well, to be honest, not much have changed. Since I was really content with the mask and the wig, but was not really sure how to approach the subject of armour details - I've tried to sculpt those few times, but in the end I've always cut it flat again - I've decided to cast it in resin. There was another reason to do so. Recently, I am becoming more and more fascinated by Inq28 community and I am inclided towards doing myself an inquisitorial retinue. It seems to me that the bird mask and the powdered wig may find their place there very easily. So it seems that now I am going to make at least two bird masked characters. One will be the Chaos Space Marine and the other - maybe some Radical in power armour? Maybe I am even going to try doing it in the true scale?
This is how the first cast looks:
I am surprised that the mould came up so well - the casted part does not need almost any work (in terms of gap filling etc.).
Lastly, I've made some changes in the shoulder pad from the previous post. The lower parts of the body are now less flat, more chubby - as they should be in the first place. I've even used some left-over silicone to make a new mould and cast it again. The face is still ugly as hell, but I don't think it is possible for me to do any improvement here with my present skills - it is just too small. Here goes the new pad:
I will try to keep you informed about any progress on those miniatures. Legs for the chaos Astartes are almost done, I will try to post some pictures of them later.
I hope you have found this post a good read. If you have any suggestions or ideas on how to improve the masked marine or perhaps you know some relevant inspiring art - don't be afraid to comment. I will really appreciate it!
P.S. The titular inquisitor is named after Charles de Lorme - the famous plague doctor, who allegedly created the beak mask costume for the purposes of his work. It seems like a good name for an inquisitor.
