This is Dissimbre, The Immortal Sword, Lord of Slaanesh. Not all that hunt vampires do it for honour or faith or justice, some do it for pleasure. Vampires are anathema to Slaanesh: cut off from the touch of Chaos, all their twisted decadence, corruption and depravity is forever out of reach to the Prince of Pleasure. They are like precious jewels, locked away from his grasping fingers. Like wonderful dolls she is forbidden from playing with.
Slaanesh is does not like being denied. She is resentful of vampires, and she is a spiteful god – when the mood takes her – so she created a weapon to use against vampires – Dissimbre, called The Immortal Sword, a Lord of Slaanesh with one purpose, to destroy that which his master is denied. The Immortal Sword is both the man and the weapon, a daemon blade that drinks the blood of Vampires and imprisons their essence, leaving their souls screaming inside the ruby-like blade of the weapon for eternity.
There is a twist to the tale however, because legend has it that Dissimbre was once a vampire himself, a vampire knight that turned to Chaos in search of more power, at a time when vampires were young and foolish. Though Slaanesh could not claim the creature’s soul, he had ways to exert his influence and gifted the young vampire a suit of bone armour. But the armour was bonded to the vampire and the helmet could never be removed: the vampire was left unable to feed, cursed by immortality, and with no choice but to do the bidding of the dark god. Dissimbre was set to purpose to kill his own kind, using the daemon sword which somehow allowed him to feed through bloodshed.
Slaanesh was delighted with his new toy, for a while, but in the centuries that followed the god grew bored and Dissimbre was neglected, left to endlessly walk the Old World in search of vampires. And so in time, he too has arrived at the Throne of Bones.
This model was made at a time when everyone was making Realm of Chaos inspired warbands, and I had an idea to jump on the bandwagon and Slaanesh is obviously the cool Chaos god. The model languished, unpainted for a while but PDH kept reminding me of it. When I originally made it, I wanted it to look partially sci-fi, in the way that the original chaos range did – inspired largely by a fantasy sorcerer model I always loved as a kid that inexplicably had a power pack on his back. As such I think Dissimbre could be used in 40k on occassion, perhaps in Vorr’s retinue. But I did want to make him look as fantasy as possible, because I get a lot of pleasure taking a 40k model and making it Fantasy – something that is more often done the other way around.
The cloak is supposed to be rubies, I imagine he makes a noise like a hundred glass bottles clinking together when he walks, and the pose seemed suitably arrogant, like he is beckoning someone to fight him, or like he is orating (I originally thought he could be reciting poetry, but the slightly shoe-horned backstory doesn’t fit that so well, considering he is a pretty darn worn out vampire inside the armour).
He is made from the Necron character Nemesor Zahndrekh (I love working with Finecast). The head is from a Dark Eldar Wrack, spliced with a helmet from the Slaanesh Hellstrider cavalry. The sword is from the 40k Chaos Lord from Dark Vengeance. The roses are from the Empire Battle Wizard set, the belt is made from a Witch Elf head and some other bits. The legs are also from the Hellstrider set, although the upper leg is greenstuff and the lower leg is two Hellstrider legs spliced together for height. The original version in the WIP was too short and oddly proportioned.
Glorious. Love the rich glassy reds of the cloak in particular. A lovely contrast with the armour.
Thanks, I stumbled upon that glass red by mistake when painting Vorr, I managed to remember the recipe.
He’s absolutely wonderful! My favourite thing is how the model seems to channel some of the legendary vintage chaos models of the yesteryear (the – utterly fantastic – helm, in particular, reminds me of some of the old WFB chaos champions) while also boasting all the strengths of a modern conversion. The way you’ve incorporated flowers into the model is simply brilliant!
The model on this page called ‘Fungoid body, staff, and globe of change’ is the model that most inspired me: http://solegends.com/citcat912/c20267rcchtzeentch-01.htm
I love that model, randomly he has a power pack and power cables on his back. So cool though. Quite a few elements could also work for Tzeentch I guess, although my idea for Tzeentch is totally different.
Yeah, that was the first model I thought of as well. I never much cared for the strange mushroom body, but I always loved the helmet. Which made seeing the slightly updated look on your model all the sweeter! :)
Jake.
Your take on the prince of pleasure is glorious and astounding. The miniatures are grandiose in design and character. They scream with excess and the will of slaanesh in ways i could only dream of, these miniatures capture the essence of she who thirsts better than any one elses. I am particularly envious of your style and imagination, I feel my characters are mundane in comparison. I cannot wait to see these in person.
I am so glad i kept on nagging. This champion is everything i expected it to be and more. The ruby cloak is beautiful and the bone armour complements it perfectly. I do hope he gets a harem of beasts to traverse the old world with.
Thanks, although I think you unfairly compare my guy – a ridiculously OTT lord – with your guys, who seem much more low-key. Maybe you should do a version of Salia Veeta in full battle regalia, Slaaneshii leaders are such peacocks.
I love the various fantasy Chaos lords people made last year. Did anyone make a fantasy Khorne lord? There should be some sort of Chaos Lord Royal Rumble.
Excellent – I love the face in his stomach armour, very reminiscent of Roman armour which would have the face of the Gorgon as a symbol of nobility.
Ah I didn’t know that, good bit of trivia. In truth I thought it hinted at something obscene, and I used a similar female head on Friendless.
I can just see him giving last rites, or spouting mocking poetry to his foes in an Edgar Allen Poe-ish manner.
And the pale knight, never flinching, still is sitting, still is waiting
On the fettid grounds of this rotted floor;
With mine eyes that all the seeming of a demon’s that is dreaming,
emitting a bale stare that shall bend and break thine soul to its core;
And your form like that of shadow shall lie broken on the floor
hidden from Her desires – nevermore!
I love that Slaanesh is just as kill-y as Khorne, but does it all with economy of motion, poise and lightning speed. I imagine he fights like an anime character, like there is just a ‘psshiiiing’ sound and his victim slides neatly in two.
I mostly imaging Corvus Corax going around reciting that poem, over and over, everyone getting secretly sick of it but not wanting to upset him.
This mini has some many great details, talking both modelling and painting, it’s astounding. What I like best is that it absolutely fits the Slaanesh background while avoiding almost all of the usual stereotypes. It’s a bit of a re-invention really. That’s what I like most about conversions.
Cheers, I think the trick to avoiding stereotypes is to get ideas from sources other than GW, from the same sort of places GW writers do. Also a vampire that hunts his own is a huge cliche. He’s a bit Vampire Hunter D and Skull Knight (with the sword), plus quite a bit of a Malazan character. Also the name ‘Knight of Flowers’ stuck.
Are you referring to the Kingdom Death Flower Knight?
And despite the model being a vampire, it doesn’t immediately strike you as one, as, again, you avoided the usual tell-tale stereotypes for this archetype.
One more thing I have to comment on: I like how you painted the rubies. I always prefer effects (metals, shiny surfaces, or in this case gemstones) using the real colours, instead of techniques that aim to simulate the real thing. Stuff like NMM always reminds me too much of 80ies airbrush paintings for me to take it seriously…
Kingdom Death has been an inspiration with my Slaanesh miniatures but I was actually referring to a character from Game of Thrones.