Zone Secundus: Bibliognost of the Church of the Red Athenæum

Greater Invocation of Disgust

When Games Workshop released the Sister of Battle Special Character Aestred Thurga, Reliquant at Arms, I knew the kit would be perfect to create another model for our growing Church if the Red Athenæum (mutant, heavy, gunfighter) for the Zone Secundus setting. Instead of using Aestred, the power armored Sister of Battle in the kit, I had my eyes set on the older, less armored companion: Agathae Dolan, Hagiolater. Dolan’s non-combatant design and older age seemed ideal for the Red Church, an organization that is populated primarily by down-trodden Imperial citizenry. The look largely mirrors that of Ehret Filipovic, Chief Bibliognost from our first Church of the Red Athenæum warband for the Pilgrym event. With this in mind, I decided to convert a bibliognost for the Secundus warband, and thus Klaasje Akhmatova was born!

I added a small sheathed dagger and a skeletal hand to her belt. Who knows how many more bones are in her backpack?

Bibliognost of the Church of the Red Athenæum

Since its foundation, the Church has placed great emphasis on recorded history; particularly pertaining to the ideals that the Great Crusade was built upon, ones that faltered during the dark days of the Horus Heresy. One of the Church’s primary concerns is deciphering the Will and Vision that drove the Emperor's Great Crusade. This Imperial Truth died with the Emperor’s mortal frame, and was replaced with superstition and the vain political maneuvering of the High Lords of Terra. A Librarian Guild exists within the Church which occupies itself with uncovering as much knowledge of this time and the principles that ruled it, such that the Church might more accurately espouse His principles. They prize the works and recordings of Remembrancers from the early days of the Crusade, which champion the Emperor's thinking and ideals. They also search for accounts of the final duel that ended the Heresy, the fight that brought their savior to His knees and ushered in an Age of Suffering. With this knowledge, they can more accurately live out His suffering.

Her lower left arm was replaced with the bulky augmetic from the plastic Death Korp veterans.

Most of the conversion work for the model was focused around replacing the model’s banner and the arm holding it. I replaced the lower part of her left arm with the crude augmetic one from the new plastic Death Korp veterans. I love how you can see the outline of it underneath the sleeve; quality augmetics are hard to come by in Zone Secundus. I created her new banner with a brass tube crowned with a skull and some bones. Using foil from a wine bottle, I created a few parchments to adorn the banner. I also trimmed off her oversized holstered pistol and replaced it with a dagger and a skeletal hand (possibly her’s or maybe that of a Saint?). Finally I carved a few scars on her face and trimmed down the size of her boots (It is getting harder and harder for me to look past the oversized feet of GW models...).

The parchments on her banner were created with foil from the top of a wine bottle.

From left to right: mutant from the Red Church, Klaasje Akhmatova, and True-scale Space Marine.

- Adam Wier