James WRR's Rank & File Month 3: The Saga of Sirfell

Hello again, devotees of Slaanesh.

For my third Rank & File month, I dove in and painted, arguably, the most interesting squad in my growing Emperor's Children army.

Well, I tell a lie. It's not really a squad at all. Instead, it's the motley warband of my Champion: Sirfell Thrice-Blessed.

The model for Sirfell, who I'll introduce you to shortly, has been with me through two previous armies and at least three unique paint schemes. He's a real venerable figure in my hobby journey, and so deserves a proper saga.

Indulge me as I bring you the tale of Sirfell Thrice-Blessed — his origins and his battles — in the style of Realm of Chaos: Lost and the Damned's example champions. 

Of course, none of the followers in this warband were actually randomly generated (sadly we no longer live in the era of mail-order bitz), but some of the rewards for the followers and Sirfell himself were. You know, for fun!

In any case, I'm pretty pleased with how Chaotic this warband ended up. Nice and varied. Enjoy the saga of this sadistic weirdo...

The Saga of Sirfell Thrice-Blessed, Champion of Slaanesh

 

Through the inky black my vessel flew,

The stars, distant. My only warmth the radiance of plasma engines.

Ensign, was I, bearer of colours, among blackness, steel and brass.

The great warship bored me into despair.

Until the Winds buffeted our sails and our keel flooded with roiling star-stuff.

 

THE BEGINNING: Sigmund Goyer was once an ensign of the Imperial Navy, travelling the stars alongside Rogue Traders and warlords. He had lived his short, dull life onboard one capital ship, The Song of Saturn, rarely seeing conflict. After all, the sudden appearance of The Song in a sector was usually enough to still dissent. He craved excitement, life, colour… until the ship’s Gellar Field dipped, only for the briefest of seconds, during a routine Warp jump.

 

Swift were the Angels of Darkness, so beautiful their twisted forms.

The Song was boarded and captured before a defence could be mounted.

Creatures, lithe and vivid, skittered through the plasteel bulkheads as if they were silk.

I saw now my escape, the power of the World of Winds.

I debased myself in front of the Angels. And was marked in return.

 

THE TAKING OF THE SONG: The Song of Saturn was boarded and seized by renegade Space Marines of the Emperor’s Children legion. All human resistance was quickly put down by sword, bolter and daemonic claw. Only six score of those who prostrated themselves in front of the invaders were spared, and those spared would find little comfort. Sigmund, taken by the displays of bloodshed, offered his devotion to whichever power had delivered him unto these Angels. And so, he became Sirfell — the galaxy’s newest, lowliest Champion of Slaanesh.

 

MARK OF SLAANESH: +1/+10 Willpower

FIRST GIFT: Musk

FIRST ATTRIBUTE: Vampiric

INITIAL FOLLOWERS: None

 

How naive was I to assume the Children of the Emperor would be kind.

In their service I distinguished myself, inflicting all manner of pains upon my shipmates.

I drank their blood, discovered it rich, and felt myself grow strong and limber.

Alongside one of the forsaken Angels, and a pack of loyal beasts, we hunted through the decks for sport.

 

THE SCOURING: Sirfell discovered great joy in acts of cruelty, seeing colours in spilled viscera that he had never seen before. A twisted renegade by the name of Gorelove — an outcast even among his own outcast kin — took a keen interest in Sirfell’s hunt. 

 

SECOND GIFT: Characteristic Gain: +1/+10 Will Power

NEW FOLLOWERS: Chaos Renegade (Space Marine) with Prehensile Tail and Beweaponed Extremities, 2 War Hounds

FIRST FOLLOWER REWARD: Vividly coloured skin for the War Hounds

 

I ran with the beasts, hound and man, gorging myself on thrill.

After days of chase and slaughter, I fell deathly ill.

My skull felt like it was splitting asunder.

After a fitful slumber in the Angel’s velvet sheets, I awoke to discover myself changed.

I fashioned a hood to hide my honoured form.

 

THE CHANGE: Having let too much blood spill out in careless patterns, Sirfell found that his new god was as vengeful as it was kind. He awoke to discover that his head had grown long and distended, his once pleasant features stretched like rubber over his elongated skull.

 

SECOND ATTRIBUTE: Overgrown Body Part 

NEW FOLLOWERS: None

SECOND FOLLOWER REWARD: Poisonous Bite for the Hounds

 

The ship moved on, with a new name and new God.

We were carried through the void by the Dark Prince, and landed upon a feral world.

Feathered they were, these people. Arrogant and violent. Good sport. 

Their shaman eventually saw sense, and pledged herself to my service.

Slaanesh blessed me with a new voice to replace my distorted one.

 

THE BREAKING OF THE FEATHERED ONES: The newly renamed vessel, Storm Siren, was transported to the orbit of a forgotten world. In vast, equatorial jungles lived a primitive human civilisation, magic-obsessed and matriarchal. With little technology, they proved easy prey for the Emperor’s Children, and for Sirfell’s budding warband. A shamanic leader, in exchange for the safety of her tribe, offered her gifts to Sirfell. The Champion received a cursed haemonculus from the shaman, which began to speak for him in hisses and whispers.

 

THIRD ATTRIBUTE: Manikin

NEW FOLLOWERS: Psyker

THIRD FOLLOWER REWARD: Bestial Face (Insect) for the Psyker

 

With the Feathered Widow as a guide, I journeyed to lands of metal, stone and snow.

Before me, a castle, a test of strength and favour.

Calling forth daemons and eager blades,

I threw down the pretender.

 

THE SIEGE: The tribes of the jungle were not the only humans to live on the planet. Old, old magic had been at work there, bringing with it the taint of Chaos. North, along the bitter seas, Sirfell discovered crumbling castles and grand ruins, home to barbarous man and beast alike. Sirfell’s warband and a host of summoned daemons laid siege to the largest of these strongholds, drawing the support of opportunistic warlords and princelings. Two of these warriors eventually pledged themselves to the Champion, and the castle fell.

 

THIRD GIFT: Fiend of Slaanesh as a Hunting Beast

FOURTH ATTRIBUTE: Warty Skin

NEW FOLLOWERS: 2 Warriors of Chaos

FOURTH AND FIFTH FOLLOWER REWARD: Mane of Hair for the Psyker, Manic Fighter for one Chaos Warrior

 

So this is what I had been missing.

The taste of conquest. The adoration of the strong.

But a lord must be learned.

Something whispered from the heart of this world. 

My Widow gave it a name “Tzaa’entsh, the Shaper”.

I studied the runes and took council.

Slaanesh protects me from malefic influence.

 

THE CALL: Having become the lord of the land by right of conquest, Sirfell relished in life’s luxuries. But something was not well in the world. Another Dark God held sway, and it was jealous. Sirfell withdrew into study, learning ways to combat the influence of Tzeentch.

 

FIFTH ATTRIBUTE: Magic Resistance 

NEW FOLLOWERS: None 

SIXTH FOLLOWER REWARD: Powerful Legs for Psyker

 

I grew bored of castle life and its primitive decadence. 

I returned to the stars with the Angels of Darkness, commanding a new respect.

I was gifted a shard of Slaanesh himself, a living scourge with which to tear reality.

And put it to use against the Greenskin invaders.

 

BEAST FIGHTS BEAST: Sirfell and his warband returned to the Storm Siren. Having grown in power and esteem, he was gifted a Daemon-possessed weapon. Out of nowhere, the vessel was attacked and boarded by a roving band of Orks, drawn to the ship’s psychic spoor. The battle was intense, and much of the Storm Siren destroyed. But Sirfell emerged victorious. Having proven himself a fearless warrior in front of the Greenskins, a number of them begin to call him “Boss”.

 

FOURTH GIFT: Daemon Weapon in the shape of a flail 

NEW FOLLOWERS: 9 Orks

SEVENTH FOLLOWER REWARD: Tentacles for an Ork

 

The Siren has been changed as I have, beautiful and violent. 

But she has suffered greatly.

It is time to move on, to find new hosts for Slaanesh’s blessing.

Battle after battle, I fought as a Child of the Emperor, an Angel of Darkness but a man.

My bestial followers fell like leaves. But I found I cared not.

They offered their souls to Slaanesh as I.

But who else could possibly compare?

 

THE PATH TO GLORY: Sirfell grew to command great influence among the Emperor’s Children, joining them on battlefields across the galaxy. His Orkish followers proved too impetuous, however, and six were killed in skirmishes on the Forge World of Londres. Upon this world, a deal was struck with daemonic smiths: six souls for a suit of silk stronger than steel. Sirfell left garbed in the armour of Slaanesh, and a renewed vigour. The path stretched onwards — death or glory, both, were in sight.

 

FIFTH GIFT: Chaos Armour

NEW FOLLOWERS: None

EIGHTH FOLLOWER REWARD: One Ork becomes a Magician

 

RENEGADE WARBAND

Sirfell Thrice-Blessed
Human Minor Hero, Renegade dedicated to Slaanesh
Chaos Gifts:
Fiend, itself with Hypnotic Gaze, Cloven Hooves and Scorpion Tail
Daemon Weapon, in the shape of a flail, with the bound Lesser Daemon Tiq’kull’dom’skrell, itself with Temporal Instability, Scorpion Tail, Transparent Skin, Iron Hard Skin
Chaos Armour
Musk
Characteristic Gain
Attributes: Vampire, Overgrown Body Part, Manikin, Warty Skin, Magic Resistant
360

The Void Widow
Human Psyker
Force Rod, Blind Grenade
Attributes: Bestial Face of an Insect, Mane of Hair, Powerful Legs 

40

Slikkit Slakethirst
Chaos Warrior
Shield, Great Axe

Chaos Gift: Face of a Steed of Slaanesh
Attributes: Crest, Iron-Hard Skin, Manic Fighter 

50

Brutus the Stainless
Chaos Warrior
Shield, Great Axe
Chaos Gift: Chaos Armour
Attributes: Albino, Irrational Fear 

40

Leon Gorelove
Chaos Renegade
Bolt Pistol
Gift of Slaanesh: Horns of Slaanesh
Attributes: Prehensile Tail, Beweaponed Extremity
40

His Master’s Hounds
2 Warhounds
Attributes: Vividly Coloured Skin, Poisonous Bite 

40

WAAAGH! Rumppuz
3 Orks
2 Bolt Pistols, 2 Power Axes
Attributes: Tentacles, Magician
50

TOTAL WARBAND POINTS: 

620