Adon turned the mace over in his hands. It was a huge thing, a blunt, brutal thing. A spiked metal ball atop a two-handed, leather-wrapped haft. There was no elegance to it, no finesse. There was no particular care in it’s forging and there was no art to wielding it: it was solidly made and if swung with sufficient strength it would get the job done. The ball was as heavy a weight as he could swing, the leather was to stop the handle getting slick with blood. It was unremarkable, save for it’s size and weight and now it was covered with scratches, dents and poorly effected repairs. But he felt an affinity to it, crude though it was, and had carried it for as long as he could remember. One of the few items he had never pawned or traded for a hot meal and warm bed.
Once he knew the origin of every scratch and scar on its surface: every dent or scrape told a story of honour won or a battle fought. But now the damage just represented a life of violence, there were no stories any more. There was no honour, just struggle and hardship.
Adon is a former Blue Whale Knight that now makes a living as a pitfighter and hired sword. The Blue Whales were a lesser knightly order, recruited as children from the orphanages of the Empire for their physical size. They largely served aboard merchant ships where they would be stationed in small groups as a safeguard against pirates. Pirates, generally lightly armed and armoured were unprepared for these giants in full plate, as heavy armour was a thing rarely worn at sea where it would be a death sentence should the knight be swept overboard. Though moderately successful as an order, the Blue Whale Knights were disbanded due to an unsustainable rate of attrition.
I was really looking forward to this fellow and you haven’t disappointed. With the topknot removed he actually looks more like a whale himself, which is a really characterful touch. Your writing is very nice and lends itself beautifully to the miniatures. You’ve been a big inspiration with my own Mordheim project and Adon is no less inspiring. Is he the last of his order?
He does look a bit like a whale, the helmet is similar to a humpback whale’s mouth which is a happy coincidence really. I figure there are plenty more Blue Whale Knights around, probably in a similar state to Adon, but I won’t make any more.
Simply brilliant and inspiring. Your creativity never ceases to amaze me!!
Long time reader, first time poster. I just wanted to say that Adon here is an absolutely beautiful piece of work. Been watching this particular thread for a while now since you started him, and I love the final version. I agree wholeheartedly, this errant knight turned pit-fighter fits his order’s descriptions perfectly. A true hulk of a man among his sea-faring kin! The designing and conversion of the armor really does make him look whale-esque, which goes great with his heraldry and back story (awesome freehand work by the way). Really shows the character’s personality and affinity for the “crude but effective” methods of battle. And that is what I love most about skirmish wargames like this, especially when there is a no holds barred approach to the background of the game setting and warband characters, when it comes down to it, anything goes! Again, beautiful work as always, I think Anon may be my new favorite work of yours after Hawkmoor and the Murder Gholam. Can’t wait to see more from you.
Thanks, I appreciate the comment. I think I need to make a couple of regular-sized human adventurers for Adon to tower over. I’m glad that the whale symbol is going down quite well, I had loads of trouble painting it as I foolishly only decided to add it after I had already used varnish, and I just couldn’t get the paint to stick to the model at all. Live and learn.
I don’t know why but after I read his background for the first time, Adon seems like he would be a jovial fellow. A brutal, stout and unwavering force when in a fight to protect against the Empire’s enemies at sea, but off the field he would be a kinder, more friendly person, the kind of guy you could befriend and trust on the battlefield and in a port town pub when on shore leave. A man of simple tastes, a troubled and war scarred past, but goes about putting the needs of others before his own, which could be his driving motivation behind what he does for his order and his current crew mates. I’d love to see more with this character, maybe a short story of one of his latest or greatest engagements.
I did write a character profile about him a while ago but I don’t think it adds much.
I think Adon is quite resigned to his fate – wearing plate at sea was almost suicidal, and now without an honourable calling he is quite lost.
I like detailed character backgrounds but I am also planning on using a lot of these characters for games and the players might want to have some say over their personality. Still quite early stages yet, but I’m hoping to play some Throne of Bones this year, maybe Adon will find some new purpose.
I love this guy Jake – He is so perfect – the whale theme swimming through the nurgle theme with ease. if you make anymore of these bulwarks – the filter teeth from the blue whale make a good face plate theme..
He wouldn’t happen to be an homage to a certain character from Beserk would he?
Either way, this model looks great and I can’t wait to browse through the rest of your stuff!
Yeah for sure, a bit of an homage! Berserk is the best.
Hey Jake! I gotta say I was inspired by you again…
http://foxandgoat.blogspot.com/2016/06/universal-heroes-blue-whale-archers.html
Very cool. I love the Blue Whale Knights, they do seem a thing of the Old World though, when whales would have been suitably awe-inspiring. If they were in Age of Sigmar no-one would bat an eyelid at whales, what with all the godbeasts and such.
Hey man! I am inspired again by this awesome model! I made a second Blue Whale Archer (Ishmael) to go with my first (Galen) who perished…
http://foxandgoat.blogspot.com/2016/08/call-me-ishmael.html
These guys have really been growing on me… I think I will be pursuing a whole warband. Here Ganymede Widdershins, my third Blue Whale Knight:
http://foxandgoat.blogspot.com/2016/11/serene-annihilation-blue-whale-knight.html
Jake! One last one! I really want to know what you think of this guy – he represents what I think is the natural evolution of the Blue Whale Order having been consigned to Mordheim’s insanity for too long: the Blue Whale Colossus – Atlas, rise!
http://foxandgoat.blogspot.com/2016/11/serene-annihilation-atlas-gemini.html
I love this model, I was sharing it on Twitter. Good to see the Blue Whale Knights living on, in a way.
Jake! A whole warband of them this time, with rules for my upcoming Endless Whispers campaign:
http://foxandgoat.blogspot.com/2017/01/endless-whispers-blue-whale-knight.html