The centerpiece of
my cathedral,
my Order, "
The Tale of Verity" and "
The Rise of Ophelia" is the statue of an allegorical depiction of Verity defeating the Seraph. Raised by the Emperor himself during the Great Crusade, the statue becomes an object of veneration and the culmination of the first extra-Terran pilgrimage route, the Ophelian Via Imperator. It sits not only on the very peak of the mountain, but also atop the Vault which is Verity the Six-Winged Seraph's body.
I had left space for the statue in the circular center section of the cathedral; I'd cut a 10" diameter hexagon section in the interlocking bases for it to sit on. I had plenty of height - the two-level walls are 6.5" tall and on the top of that is a tall dome. I wanted to use as much of that space as I could without it seeming crowded, depicting a gargantuan statue.
I'd described the statue as an "allegorical" depiction and as showing Verity as she would have been without cybernetic augmentation. These were deliberate choices - firstly, from a modelling perspective there are few enough models of female Tech-priests available and
none of them in a larger scale. Similarly, I didn't want to have to try to create not only a large Necron construct, but one in a larger scale. But the allegorical depiction was important to the narrative, too - a Tech-priestess fighting a Necron would not become a symbol of religious devotion. It would be too-grounded in the "real" for the inhabitants of Ophelia.
I wanted to show a winged snake, similar to depictions of Quetzalcoatl and other "
feathered serpents", fighting a warrior-woman in armor similar to that worn by the Sisters of Silence and Custodians; these are his household troops, and the Emperor would honor Verity by showing her wearing that armor.
eBay helped me out a great deal. I was able to find a
resin model of a rattlesnake - about lifesize, I guess - intended to be put in your garden (I am not sure why - perhaps to scare off rodents?) I also purchased the
Safari Twilight Pegasus for its wings, and a
Wonder Woman action figure (6" tall, 1/12 scale). I deliberately chose this figure as it had a sword with a wing-design crossguard and eagle detailing on the plastron - both classic Imperial motifs.
I wanted to show the statue on the main peak of the mountain, with the Vault visible through a hole bored in the rock beneath it. I cut out a wooden base and marked roughly where the snake would sit. To ensure it would stay firmly in place while any glue dried, I drilled and countersunk some holes for screws.
Now I needed to reposition the snake's head a little - the pose had its head facing too-forward and too-low; there wouldn't be enough room for Wondie underneath! I cut the neck in two places.
I had some fun posing the components in a little "dragon slayer" vignette . . .
. . . but then it was back to work! I rotated each section of the snake one "scale" so the molded detail lined up. The snake itself was hollow (rotocast resin, I suspect) and to ensure I got a solid join I drove screws into the inner walls and poured resin in through a large hole I drilled in the back. This was where I was going to attach the wings, so it didn't matter that the scale detail was drilled away.
I attached it to the base using scraps of 3mm expanded PVC as fillers so, when I applied texture, the statue would appear to be sitting on it, not in it. I cut away the tail before I did this, so I could reposition it curling around Wondie (to give the figures more interaction). With that done, I set about posing Verity.
I don't have pictures of this process, just the final pose. I didn't have to really cut very much - the figure has a lot of freedom of movement. I cut the neck to tilt the head back (and trimmed off some of her hair so it could tilt back further). A wedge of scrap PVC glued between her neck and chin forces her head into the correct angle. I trimmed the left hip socket very slightly to allow a little more movement and cut half-way through the fingers of her left hand so it would grip the snake's jaw. Her thumb fits into a small hole I drilled in the snake's snout, and I shortened the snake's tongue so it wasn't licking her face!
To hold the joints in place once I had posed them the way I liked, I used some thin superglue - it flowed into the cracks and held the plastic very firmly. Her feet are pinned in place and the sword goes straight through a hole I drilled in the head.
I cut the tail up, removing small wedges so I could bend it tighter. It had the same hollow construction as the rest of the snake, and so I used brass rod and modelling putty to strengthen it. I used expanded polystyrene foam to bulk out the wooden block Verity was standing on (to make it look more like a mountain peak) and positioned the tail sections running up it. I'd already cut the rattle off, and will sculpt a tip on the tail wrapping around her.
Finally, I pinned and glued the wings in place. They are VERY small for such a large creature (even by the standards of fantasy creatures) but that is similar to many depictions of such things in older art.
So that is where she stands now! A few spots on the snake need filling, but it is pretty much finished. The major work is the armor on Verity, which I think I can do with plasticard and putty.
Comments welcome!
=][= Danforth Laertes
