Unit Spotlight: Deacons of the Old Faith

...and when the Faithful returned to the ancient barrow-cities of Modrach, it is said that the dead rose willingly from crypt and tomb, as loyal to their masters in death as they were in life. Yet there were some in the barrow-cities who still lived, faithless, uncaring of the vows they had sworn to serve Her even beyond the grave; these few were scoured from their dens and hiding places, and in their unrepentant sin they were bound to great dolmens on the Plain of Reverence, and there did mighty Caernyris, first among the Faithful, enact the Dream of Severance upon their mortal flesh, fragmenting and binding their souls eternally to the will of Her Faithful...

-Anathenensis XIX, by the scholar Gestumblindi

Bound to the will of the priests of the Old Faith, these tormented spirits are ever in the vanguard of the legions of the Dark, wraithlike, driven insane by a thousand torments and howling for the blood of the living.

 

Concept:
For this week's unit spotlight we're focussing on some powerful servants of the Dark: the Deacons of the Old Faith. These guys represent a classic archetype in several real-world mythologies: restless, tormented souls driven mad, unable to find respite in the afterlife, hunting the living out of an unholy thirst for vitality.

In the world of Ne Cede Malis, the archetype works pretty well, although these are not ordinary restless spirits, of course. I liked the idea that these guys were not believers in the Old Faith in life, and were instead some of the last denizens of ancient Modrach to hold out against conversion. As we know from our own history, more militant faiths bent on expansion often accept death as a viable alternative to conversion; so I played with the idea that the Deacons were the last holdouts against worship of the Eight-Legged Goddess and subject to horrific torment in their final hours, before being reanimated by the Dark's servants. Driven insane and warped beyond recognition by the powers use to resurrect them, the Deacons would be a vanguard of sorts for the Goddess' armies, dressed in the robes of penitents and covered in minor relics binding their unwilling spirits to the will of their masters.

Models:

As far as miniatures go, the Dreaguth from Mierce Miniatures' Jutes line worked perfectly for the Deacons. I assembled these without any conversion. Much of Mierce's range fits my mental image of how I wanted the ancient empire of Modrach to look (at least - how it looks after being swallowed up by the Dark) so these were an easy job. Whilst Mierce is pretty expensive, if you can catch them on one of their frequent sales they're closer to Games Workshop prices.

On the tabletop:

The Deacons have seen use in a lot of different systems! At the moment, they're most commonly used as Creatures (or Flying Creatures) in an Undead Legions army in SAGA Age of Magic, where they are a terrifying prospect - three of them is a threat no opponent can ignore, and they're a great hammer in an army that's all about anvils.

Elsewhere, they've been used as Barrow-Wights and Enchanted Guardians in Undead and Empire of Dust armies in Kings of War, and will see further use in some form or another when Warhammer: The Old World releases. They've also made excellent proxies for Shadow Knights and Wraith Knights in Rangers of Shadow Deep and Frostgrave respectively.