Fumito Ueda : Tsutomu Nihei : Fritz Lang

In expectation for Necromunda's re-release , I thought I would indulge myself in some beautiful but fictional built environments that in my mind link in part towards a hive like setting. I started by playing The Last Guardian by Fumito Ueda

 A vertical narrative journey that starts in the dark below and ends in up in the light above. The towering minarets put me in mind of  Necromundas Palatine hive spyres , i came away thinking about spire warfare ,as mentioned by Bruticus as a possible scenario for the new necromunda , a few years back on this blog.

I also couldn't help thinking about how high up the spires are on the palatine , twelve miles high in places, narratives of flying spyrers gusting winds and lack of oxygen all sprang to mind along with the notion that upspire nobles must know very little of those below in the almost mythical dark. I had fantasies of builders adorning the the spires in rivalry to other houses, and how workers might live on the outside of the walls , cantilevered on gothic pinnacles clinging to the underside of massive flying buttresses.. majestic windows housing nests of workers like bats in the belfry. 

 The last guardian

I found artworks of  Tsutomu Nihei    online a few years ago , and although intrigued by his bleak architectural style i never got around to reading his manga Blame! I recently made the effort after watching a netflix animated version of it  though. I was shocked at how many similar tropes to Necromunda were within Blame. A sprawling built environment with no natural light  built by AI aeons ago, fragments of distopic civilization that barely remembers its own history, struggling on in a never ending battle for resources.
 
 I felt reminded about the expansionist Terra and the dark age of technology. STC's and the war with AI.
The vast architectural  scope is similar to 40k  and borders on science fantasy as opposed to science ficton.
The manga style is minimalist black and white , and put me in mind of early 40k artworks by Pete Knifton,
Dave Gallagher and Gary Harrod.

 Pete Knifton,

Dave Gallagher

 Gary Harrod

Blame!

                           

Netflix Blame!

Finally I found a perfect version of  Fritz Langs Metropolis on you tube ,one that incorporates the 2010 missing reels , but also uses the original recreated orchestral score. along with English subs!

watching this movie in its entirety is demanding but worth it. This movie is the prototype for so much science fiction and distopian fiction . The parralels to the palatine are obvious , its class system being vertically stratified  a flood in the lower most levels and the serfs toil in thankless servitude in vast factories for the greedy elite, who indulge every whim in abject luxury high above the workers.. There is even hidden religious cults in lowest most regions of the original city.

I came away reminded that for me class division is a per-eminent reason I am drawn towards the myth of Necromunda.

Necromunda homo sapien veriatus gang

Aye up folk, with the release of Gor half horn from forgeworld  I thought now would be a cool time to share a project I have been working on for a few weeks.

I have always thought of Necromunda as being the game that exemplifies humanity in 40k. I thought I would put that idea to the test with a project based around all forms of humanity on the planet. Starting of with a group of outcast veriatus sapiens.. who consider themselves at odds with most human settlements.  These are mostly hive predators .. who live as parasites on the both mutants and regular homo sapiens.

I kept the group small as its a small project, and resisted adding a scaly as I think they sit better within a scavvie group.  I reckon this group lives above the sump but still within the hive bottom  and below the undercity / underhive. I would like to add more groups within the Necromunda setting  that represent differing social status's, these being second from the bottom.

  Death stalks the labyrinthine chainwebs of the hive bottom

Barra venomfist

 The ogryn. A forgeworker outed by the Redemptionists during a purge.

Taking his cue from the spiders that haunt the hive, the ogryn has drawn a small following of homo sapiens veriants to his cause. Not the brightest of the bunch, he has changed his predatory hunting practice to a more patient ambush tactic following the advice of the diminutive harpoon hunter.

he carries a toxic needle punch, a small modified webber and collection of eyepieces that form  a makeshift night vision headdress

Gave Meatshield 

A disgruntled figure born up hive but smuggle low. He now sees himself as the monster the hivers see. Going to great lengths to act as the bogeyman of their nightmares. 

Stubb

Quite and resolute, he reveals little of his history, but his martial skills speak for themselves.

Knave 

A ratling thief  who had his hand chopped off for burglary.

Knave often acts as a wounded lure for his predatory friends. 

 The chainwhale

A hivebottom area of chain production now collapsed into a maze like web of danger after several hive quakes. A hazardous shortcut to the hive city for those in a hurry and ready to gamble their lives.

 The outcasts have set up many traps along the route uphive  where they lay in wait for victims foolish enough to get lost in the dark.