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Miller's World - (Or, why I can't be happy with just one model)


I wanted to take a break from my massive dwarf army project. I was watching Trent from Miscast working through a Mordheim warband, and he planned to paint each mini after kitbashing it, before going on to work on another model. I thought that sounded nice after batch painting 36 dwarf slayers. So, I set out to kitbash a single model and paint it - no commitment, just enjoying working on a single model.

So I did that, and it was great. But then my manic hobby brain kicked in, and I wrote the following fluff for this mini, which prompted me to start working on more models... It's never enough for me to just enjoy painting a model. I have to spin that out into a lore, and a new game system, and several factions, before inevitably getting burnt out and going back to paint dwarfs. We'll see if that happens again, but for now, enjoy the background for this nifty model.

Miller's World 

Miller's World, more commonly known as Darkside, is a tidally locked planet on the fringes of the galactic cluster. One side bakes under the relentless bombardment of solar radiation, and the other side stares endlessly into the void. The powerful heat creates air currents that force all moisture over the dark side of the planet where it falls as heavy rain, creating a massive bioluminescent rainforest. The warm air currents also keep the dark side of the planet from freezing - as the majority of the dark side is quite temperate. 

Indeed, there is a buffer strip around the center of the planet that enjoys relative stability of temperature and light. This strip was once inhabited by an elite imperial garrison, as the world was strategically relevant for hundreds of years. The garrison has gone now, leaving abandoned buildings, equipment, and technology. The Darksiders avoid these old habitations, understanding them to be cursed or haunted. Though many do still salvage in these ruins for useful remains.

The people of Darkside, if you can call them that, are not a homogeneous or unified group. They are from a range of hominid groups that have interbred for generations. Their original descendants were prisoners of the imperial forces, who were left on the world when the military disembarked. They now make their homes in small tribal networks throughout the luminous jungles of phosphorescent fungi and the shadows between them. 

Occasionally, ships passing through the system will stop on Darkside for supplies, as there is an abundance of water and biofuel in the lush fungal forests. These ships return with strange stories about bartering with mutants in ancient imperial wargear, or of witnessing cultic rituals by firelight. Some ships land on Darkside and are never heard from again. Largely, this planet is forgotten by most in the galaxy, and whatever strange life and culture exist there, it has existed practically undisturbed for a millenia.


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