Hello chaps, carrying on my humble efforts on the Rogue Quest project that Asslessman and Axiom kicked off, I would like to present my second entry. As a reminder, the brief is to build a six-strong adventuring party for Rogue Trader/Confrontation, where each member portrays one of the classic dungeon crawler tropes:

• Barbarian
• Bard
• Cleric
• Fighter
• Magic user
• Paladin
• Ranger
• Rogue/thief

For my second effort I decided to go for a magic user, and I admit that I was really torn on which way to go… I have a number of old RT psyker models to choose from, and I even have the entire Marauder Psyker Gang for Confrontation on the lead pile, but I really want to use this project as an excuse to paint the more unusual models in my collection… In the end I went for the excellent Slann model from the Colony 87 range (funnily enough, from a Kickstarter by Jon/Axiom!).

When I first saw the model, I immediately thought of him as a merchant or trader of some kind, but I started to look at him in a different light following a bit of light reading. In RT, Space-Slann are a thing… they are the Old Ones – former rulers of the galaxy, probable creators of many of the main species, and all-round mysterious & powerful doods. In Rogue Trader, they basically comprise of the ‘proper’ Slann that have withdrawn to an area ‘north of the galactic pole’ with all their mystical jizz-jazz, and the primitive remnants of their once-mighty empire in the galaxy ‘proper’. The ‘primitives’ had models back in the day, but I don’t believe that this was the case for the more civilised kind, (what with them being all reclusive and aloof…). The Colony 87 sculpt doesn’t look like a primitive to me, so the thought of him being a powerful mage from the more civilised and powerful Slann popped into my head… Ometeotl the Mage is the result:

I didn’t feel the need to modify the model in any way (nice job Jon!), so really this was a straight forward base & paint. I went for fairly muted blue body suit and a rich red cloak, and had a play with inks and metallics for the various mystical bits & bobs that he’s carrying. I thought long and hard about the flesh tone, but ended up settling on a really bright yellow & black spotted motif, followed by a good coat of gloss. There is mention of brightly coloured Slann as being ‘often extrovert, talented or especially noteworthy in some way’. I wanted to play with that idea, using the skin tone to suggest that Ometeotl is a frog with a great destiny…  Here’s the fluff:

“Ometeotl is young by the standards of his race, scarcely more than 3000 years old by human reckoning, yet for all his youth, Ometeotl possesses great power and foresight. His early centuries were spent meditating and practicing his skills in metaphysical manipulation in the vast temples of his people, safe and secure in the self-imposed isolation of the Slann. Yet, while most of his race were intent on looking outwards to new galaxies and dimensions, or forwards through time itself, Ometeotl always felt drawn to observe the galaxy that his ancient race had helped to create and mould. At some point, he decided that his mystical observations were no longer satisfactory, and he petitioned the temple elders for permission to live amongst the short-lived creatures below, for he sensed a critical turning point was approaching the galaxy as a whole. To his surprise, he was granted this permission almost immediately – in fact, the priests had long known that Ometeotl had a destiny to fulfil beyond their temple-world, and had been waiting for him to realise it himself. Their only problem was how to contain and limit the awesome power that Ometeotl possessed, for the galaxy was in no way ready to be reintroduced to the god-like ability of the Slann. Ometeotl suggested that he might have his powers artificially limited to reasonable levels through the use of arcane technology, and so a limiter was fashioned and incorporated into his flesh. Reassured, the priesthood agreed to Ometeotl’s request, and he was projected through unknown dimensions to re-emerge almost instantaneously in another part of the galaxy.

And so, Ometeotl found himself on a frontier hive world known as Jarman’s Folly, at the edge of the Imperium of Man. Almost immediately, the innate suspicion and xenophobia of the local denizens made life difficult for Ometeotl – humans were a fearful, greedy species, and many attempts to relieve him of property and life were made. With regret, Ometeotl was forced to use his powers to defend himself on several occasions, and although his powers were limited, they were still vast by human standards. He soon learned to stick to the more cosmopolitan areas of the hive, such as the spaceports, where exotic races were less remarked upon, but unfortunately, news of the strange xeno and his magic was soon spreading among the hive gangs. It wasn’t long before a notorious witch-hunter gang came looking for Ometeotl, intent on killing the alien as an abomination against the Emperor. Ometeotl managed to evade the hunters for many weeks, but was eventually cornered in a busy part of the port. With heavy heart, Ometeotl drew on his powers once again, and used them to destroy the humans utterly, all the time aware that such a public display would undoubtedly draw more unwanted attention. He went into hiding again, but sure enough, local authorities and Imperial agents were soon scouring the port for any sign of Ometeotl.

Fortunately, a young human ‘Rogue Trader’ called Arturo Lamina managed to find Ometeotl first, and convinced the Slann that he could help him to escape the planet in exchange for a few ‘favours’. Left with little choice, Ometeotl agreed, and followed Arturo to his landing craft. The Imperial authority carried by the Rogue Trader allowed them to leave without incident, and they soon docked with Arturo’s voidship and were underway. Ometeotl thanked Arturo, and in return Arturo asked the Slann to examine an exotic object that he had retrieved from the underhive on Jarman’s Folly. The moment that he held the object – a green crystalline cube covered in ancient Slann script, Ometeotl knew that his fate and that of Arturo were intertwined. Ometeotl agreed to study the artefact, on the condition that he could join Arturo’s crew. Arturo agreed – he had heard about how effective the Slann had been in dispatching his puritanical hunters in the space port, and ever the pragmatist, he knew that the mage’s powers would be a huge benefit to his ambitions. At the same time, Arturo also felt the call of destiny…”

So, there we have it – another Rogue Quest adventurer completed, and another cool member of my Rogue Trader crew in hand. Hope you like him folks, I might do a human next ;-)