I really, really enjoyed reading Chris Wraight’s “The Lords of Silence.” I enjoyed it so much that I wrote a book report about it.
I was particularly impressed by one of the characters, Vorx: Siegemaster of the XIV Legion, leader of the Lords of Silence warband of the Death Guard. He is pictured on the cover of the book, at the top. Vorx blurs the lines of good and evil, while being honourable, caring, polite and considerate. So, I decided to make a model for him.
I started with the model of Sergeant Lorenzo, he’s a Blood Angels Terminator from the Space Hulk box set. I filed off all the Blood Angel decor and re-modeled his arms. His left arm is a Power Fist that I took off of a Plague Marine.
As with many of my models, there are LED lights in this one. I followed Chris Buxey‘s method for light-up-eyes again. I think this is better than the “I Scream truck”. And in the centre of the base behind the Nurgling and in front of Vorx, there are 3 flickering LED’s in a wad of cotton to resemble a fire.
I’d like to think I paid a lot of attention to details from the book:
On the cover of the book, Vorx seems to be a Chaos Lord, wearing Power Armour (or Artificer Armour) based on having a backpack. But, he is armed with a Manreaper scythe he calls “Exact.” There are no rules to allow a Death Guard Chaos Lord to wield a Manreaper, but a Lord of Contagion may take a Manreaper. And, Vorx uses a teleporter at one point in the book, and from what I understand, the only Space Marines that can use teleporters are Terminators. So, this is why I decided to model Vorx as a Lord of Contagion which wears Terminator Armour.
A Lord of Contagion with a Manreaper also takes an Orb of Dessication. I originally intended for Vorx to be holding his Orb of Dessication aloft in one hand, and his Manreaper in the other. But, I realized that the pose was quite similar to Abbadon. So, instead I decided to model Vorx wielding his scythe with both hands. The orb is that big glowing ball on his belt.
The scythe is a combination of a Kromlech Legionary Vibro Scythe and some sort of Dark Eldar staff. I connected them together using a piece of heat shrink I usually use for electronics. This is also my first attempt at non-metallic metal (NMM) which seems to be all the rage right now. I followed a method described in this video by Impending Duff. It is a wet-blend on the blades from Mornfang Brown to Cadian Fleshtone. To my pleasant surprise, Typhus corrosion is even darker than Mornfang Brown, so rather than using it for weathering, I used it to increase the gradient. And instead of weathering, I used Ryza Rust as another part of the gradient. I think the bright orange looks like “Power Rust” so I may use this technique a lot more.
In Vorx’s personal holdings on Eletgibia, now better known as the Plague Planet, he maintains an untitled book with the names of everyone he has killed. It’s becoming an impossibility long book, and gaining potency as a relic with h each entry. Vorx spent 8 weeks writing in it on one visit during the book. I have modeled that book on the base of the model on a sort of pulpit. The book is a bit from the Kromlech set “Chaos Books of Damnation” and the pulpit is from an AoS Chaos Warshrine.
At several points in the book, Vorx dotes on a particular Nurgling or “Little Lord.” He pets it, and even takes it for care when it gets injured. I have modeled this particular Little Lord on the model’s base, seemingly writing in Vorx’s book. The Nurgling is also wearing a mask, in an ironic, counterintuitive nod to the times.
On the agri-planet of Najan, the Lord’s of Silence captures an Astra Militarum officer, Captain Dantine. Using some wicked sorcery, they remove his heart. Vorx keeps the still beating heart in a pouch on his waist. Dantine is still alive, with his heart removed from his body as some sort of Poxwalker or “Unchanged”. I have modeled the pouch holding Dantine’s heart on Vorx’s belt using an Astra Militarum pouch bit. The pouch has a little bit of blood pooling at the bottom.
I got the idea for the stairs he’s standing on from Warmaster Horus’ model from the Horus Heresy. The stairs are made of stacks of cork board.
