mortem tyrannis: многоочитии

Not all daemon princes are ascended from human stock.

ꙮ, associated with + + + XIVE CO77UPT3D + + +

Probably not the Three-Eyed King in Yellow worshipped by cultists shuffling through reeking sumpwater at the rotting base of their hive cities, but an ancient and puissant creature nonetheless. Ordo Malleus archivists have determined that ꙮ brought about the fall of at least one pre-Imperial civilisation on Terra, and there are indications that the multi-eyed horror has been known for millennia, across many pre-Dark Age human peoples - called variously многоочитии, or 百々目鬼, or ^dŠul-pa-è-a, one of the so-called 𒀭𒐌𒐌𒁉𒀭𒈥𒆪𒉿𒅀𒀸 (trans. 'Dark Heptad'), seven fell lords of ruin that serve the Plague-God-that-Must-Not-Be-Written. The truest way to name this creature is the single character ꙮ.

Its blank eye enervates, overwhelms. Before it, healing stops, regeneration ends. Life drains away.

I don't like how anthrocentric the daemon ranges of Warhammer are. I know that humans are the focus of the setting, but to really bring across a sense of ancient horror from beyond the dawn of time, it would be nice to see the outcome of other species who have fallen to chaos. I mean, other than  as victims of genocide to ensure that primarchs fall to Chaos.

The galaxy is old, and full of psychic species seeded by the Old Ones. Some of them should fall to Chaos! Surely not all of them were built on the same four-limbed standard - we've seen Slyth and Zoats and Loxatl - so what happens when these guys make it all the way? Why is everyone a former space marine?

butt

Anyway, so I got Westfalia's Flying Virus Monster back in the day, because a literal embodiment of the novel coronavirus strikes me as a very funny way to add a demon prince to the Death Guard project. Also, it works as an ascended member of O. tyrannus, which we've previously seen here. I have another member of this species (also from Philip Hynes) - when I eventually paint him, I'll see if I can put together an Index entry for The Rubricist.

The sculpt is okay, but the mould lines are a bugger (you can see I haven't been totally successful), and one eye snapped off in transit, which put me off for the longest time. My recent experiences with Green Stuff have made me more gung-ho, so I slapped something together late last year and, well - here we are.

the eyes! the eyes!!

This fellow marks the first miniature painted in 2025, and the fourth-last miniature planned for the Death Guard. Wait, no, fifth-last now. Dammit.

Lord of Poxes. (c) Games Workshop, 2025.

That guy rules.

+ + + PAINTING + + +

I also kept notes on how I did the flesh as I painted, in case that's of interest.

I was mostly inspired by DiTerlizzi, the master of all things Beholder and Beholder-Kin (excuse me, I mean eye tyrant), as well as wanting 1) a vaguely Blanchian vibe and 2) a relatively bright, unnatural colour, as daemons should feel jarring, I think. I didn't really get #2, but it's still brighter than all that off-white Death Guard armour!

Skin: Vallejo Dead Flesh all over > recess washes (effectively all over!) with Fuegan Orange > thinned Sepia wash (forget ratio) over the entire miniature > 2:1 Dead Flesh: Elf Flesh layer > added a bit of Elf Flesh to get closer to 1:1 layer > another Sepia glaze (2:1 Lahmian Medium: Sepia this time) > 1:1 DF:EF > 1:2 DF:EF > add more Elf Flesh so nearly pure Elf Flesh.

Hair: Mummy Robes to basecoat the hair (but roughly, leaving bits of the accidentally washed hair) > some Mortarion Grime around the roots of the hair (though I don't think it's showing!) > Sepia over the the lot of hair > layer on 1:1 Mummy Robes: Off-White > layer of pure Off-White.

Back to the skin: Very careful recess shading of orange especially around gums and deep recesses to bring back up the orange a little - not that it worked.

Glaze whole miniature (except eyes) with 2:1 LM:Sepia.

Skin: Final layer of pure Elf Flesh on skin - in the end, I just did this on the protein spikes and a bit around the 'lumpy' bits at the back and his face.

Hair: Final layer of pure Off-White. Used some sepia where I was a bit enthusiastic.

Teeth were basecoated Aggaros Dunes and then had bits of Ushabti Bone / various whites and blends and allowed to be glazed whenever I was glazing sepia. They look a bit too pesudorealistic for a demon, but so it goes.

The eyes were trickier. I won't go into it, except to note that the dead, white eye in the centre was just brought up to a smooth Vallejo Off-White, then a roughly circular layer of Apothecary White contrast, then the centre filled in with Vallejo Mummy Robes. It's fairly close to DiTerlizzi's Death Tyrant, I think.

doing freehand this small? sucks.

Most of the eye designs are from DiTerlizzi's ocular overlords, with one inspired by this weird Blanchian guy, this contact lens, and of course one classic demon-red eye. Can't beat the classics.