Tuesday 25 August 2009

Vela The Performer, The Mad Puppeteer, Sorcerer of Elazar

A special treat for you. I figured I'd let you see the first draft of this character.

Once a great performer in the Altdorf theatre, his true name since forgotten. He possessed some magical talent that charmed the minds of his audience in a harmless way, indeed he knew not of this gift of his. Like all performers he had many patrons in the nobility, it was the way of the rich to try and enhance their standing by supporting the arts. This one performer though had a patron of a different nature altogether.

One night after a grandiose performance of a play entitled ‘The Merchant of Marienburg’ the performer returned to his quarters to find all the usual lavish gifts left for him by his supporters. Amongst them was a curious glass case within which stood a scarecrow marionette. Intrigued the performer reached into the case and picked out the strange puppet.
The next day he did not show up for the play and when the angry theatre owner went to his quarters to rebuke the performer he found a scene of devastation. Untouched in the destruction of the quarters was a glass case and next to it a card signed ‘Elazar’.

The performer next turned up deep in the northern wastes where he’d wandered aimlessly until he was picked up by a Diatchi raiding party who took him captive. As is the way of the Diatchi and most of the other Kurgan races they made some of their captives fight to the death. Those they deemed blessed by the gods were spared and given a new life amongst the tribes. So it would be for this man as Elazar had developed a great love of his star performer and would see no harm come to him. He slaughtered a number of stronger slaves, showing a startling sorcerous ability that earned him the fear and respect of the tribesmen. They spared his life and he took the name Vela. It soon became clear that he was inseparable from the strange marionette that he carried with him. He spoke to the puppet and often fought with it. Worse for the tribesmen he often embarked upon strange performances for their ‘enjoyment’ sharing the lead roles with the being of wood and string that accompanied him. However, when at war he proved to be an invaluable ally. The puppet seemingly a focus for his power and his sorcery. Capable of controlling the minds of his enemies and making them do his bidding; his brand of warfare has proven invaluable in the wastes. An insane megalomaniac and egoist, Vela is now a favoured servant of Elazar and his presence can be found alongside the champions that his daemonic patron favours at that time.

Special Rules
Eye of the Gods

Sorcerer of Elazar:
Vela is a Level 2 Sorcerer who chooses his spells as normal from the Lore of Slaanesh. His Mark makes him Immune to Pyschology.

Daemonic Patron:
Elazar still watches over Vela, taking great interest in his career and keeping him from harm. Vela is immune to Killing Blow and Poisoned Attacks.

Insane Puppeteer: The Northmen respect Vela's power and know that he is truly loved by Elazar but an insane southman with a puppet doesn't inspire their confidence. Friendly models can never take advantage of Vela's leadership even if he is the army general.

Magic Items
The Marionette:
This scarecrow marionette was given to Vela as a gift by his patron Elazar. The marionette is a focus for Vela's sorcerous power and a tool for his power of manipulation. The marionette has its own cruel intentions though and longs to break free of its controller. Indeed, at times the puppets will wrestles with Vela's, trying to reverse their roles and trap Vela within the confines of wood and strings. The puppet allows Vela to add D3 to his casting roll once per turn. This cannot cause a miscast or irresistible force. However the malevolent spirit of the marionette attempts to assume control and Vela must test for stupidity in his next turn whilst puppet and master battle wits.
The puppet also allows Vela to modify any rolls on the miscast table made by any wizard on the battlefield. Vela can modify the result up or down by up to the result of D3. This doesn't cause Vela to have to test for stupidity in his next turn.

Vela The Performer, The Mad Puppeteer, Sorcerer of Elazar
195pts


M

WS

BS

S

T

W

I

A

Ld

Vela

4

5

3

4

4

2

5

2

8


Equipment: Hand Weapon, Chaos Armour, The Marionette

Special Rules: Eye of The Gods, Sorcerer of Elazar, Deamonic Patron, Insane Puppeteer


Now WoC players and the eagle-eyed amongst you may have worked out already but this character is just a perfectly legal build of chaos sorcerer. I've just re-written his background and rules in a different order to create this character. He is in fact:

Chaos Sorcerer
Mark of Slaanesh
Level 2 Wizard
Infernal Puppet
Bronze Armour of Zhrakk
Conjoined Homunculus

He's a rather useful support wizard and I'm looking forward to getting a mini to represent him finished. It's a rather ambitious conversion (well by my standards any way) so I'm hoping it will turn out alright. Any feedback you have on what I've written here would be greatly received as this is just a first draft and corrections are almost certainly going to be needed.

5 comments:

noeste said...

Hah, I love his fluff! Can't wait to see the model, really looking forward to it.

Elazar The Glorified said...

Glad you like it. I'm quite pleased with the character and so far the mini is coming along well. My only worry is I have a very high expectation for this one so I'm going to have to try not to be too much of a perfectionist or I'll never get him finished!

Big Jim said...

Nice I like what you are going for here. He's not way over the top as many created characters usually are.

I too can't wait to see what you do with the model.

Jim

Anonymous said...

Great bit of background! It was like reading a GW character profile, only more interesting! Nice work my friend

Elazar The Glorified said...

Thanks guts. Glad you both like! I'm quite proud of the character and he seems to have been well received so far! Can't be bad! :D