The Twelve of Vorlund, Updated 5/8 The Lady

[Blackwolf]

Using this pic as inspiration (if anyone one know's who did this let me know so I can give credit etcetera to the artist).

        

 The first mini has been done,as seen here;  http://leadadventureforum.com/index.php?topic=42910.0


  I will be using an strange mix of Perry,Conquest and Fireforge to hopefully obtain the look,we shall see......

[Captain Blood]

I am sitting back and preparing to enjoy this Guy 

Let the inspiration flow!

[commissarmoody]

They look pretty Metal, cant wait to see them.

[Doomhippie]

Oh goody! That looks like it's going to be fun, especially knowing how great your pics are. Is there any background story on the 12?

[Blackwolf]

Cheers chaps,hopefully I can do the picture justice

I am sitting back and preparing to enjoy this Guy 

Let the inspiration flow!

 Your minis were the inspiration to finally get this project on it's way

Oh goody! That looks like it's going to be fun, especially knowing how great your pics are. Is there any background story on the 12?

 Sure is my friend,try and write something tomorrow

They look pretty Metal, cant wait to see them.

 Hah! More pysch than metal

[Blackwolf]

Just to keep it in the thread; here's the first mini (the pic has been uploaded a second time).

 The Emperor Karl I of Vorlund and Hinterland;


   



 

[Christian]

Wow, that looks great!! 

What will you be doing with these minis? (Aside from making them look gorgeous!)

[abdul666lw]

if anyone one know's who did this

The picture depicts (Glen Cook's) Black Company http://tobiasmastgrave.wordpress.com/2012/01/14/a-review-of-the-black-company-by-glen-cook/ (in the South, since the Lady is now the Lieutenant): it surfaces more than once in a Google search, but the author's name is neither given nor readable.

Is there any background story on the 12?

There's some, but I don't know if it is 'canonical', so I refrain to post a link (so much the more as it refers to the 13 of Vorlund: Karl and his 12 Companions, and shamelessly mixes inspiration from 'The Black Company' and 'Hellsing Ultimate'!). Besides, the very start of the background story -the initial Alliance between Emperor Karl and the Great Wolves of Vorlund- was alluded to in the defunct 'NPU - The Fortress' and seemingly was lost when this forum, like Atlantis and Ys, sank under the waves , thus the Wolf would have to post it again: it's sadly missed by all fans of Vorlund.

What will you be doing with these minis?

Certainly at least a series of very atmospheric photos in the Last Valley http://greywolf1066.blogspot.fr/, as usual?

[myincubliss]

This is the Black Company? Awesome, I didn't even twig!

I sporadically moan at my man on the inside at Orion to release the next omnibus in the UK, so I look forward to seeing more miniatures!

[Doomhippie]

Okay, I have ordered the books. Now let's see what happens. I love this anticipation of a nice thread.

[southheaven]

This thread looks pretty promising. I´m eagerly awaiting pictures of your Fireforge miniatures.

[Blackwolf]

 I have got to say; The 12 of Vorlund and the Black Company bear no relationship to one another other than the inspiration of the picture and the initial inspiration from Abdul,however I shall be ordering the books too

 A quick precis on Vorlund,Karl the 1st and the 12;

Drawing on the Pangaean Campaign I was involved with (set in the 18th century essentially an imaginations Europe during the WAS and the 7 Years War),I constructed some myth cycles about the part of Pangaea I played,Vorlund und Hinterland or it's real parallel Austria-Hungary. I played the Emperor Siegfreid and my wife the Empress Annabel.
     Now we go back to the 1450s in Pangaea, Karl is the first Emperor of Vorlund und Hinterland and the parallel Holy Roman Empire; he does this by some clever Androcles and the Lion twists using wolves,or more importantly the Great Wolf as the equivalence.In a an episode nicked from Tolkiens Hurin ("The dawn will rise again"!) where the future Emperor has his skin saved by the timely attack of a vast pack of giant wolves. From thenceforth Vorlund is associated with wolves,it's heraldry,the iconography and even it's leaders (the current Emperor/Empress is always 'The Great Wolf', and it is  rumoured  that the 12 great families of Vorlund are secretly werewolves.
  The 12 of Vorlund (or as Abdul rightly says the 13 including the Emperor/Empress) are the great families of Vorlund ,originating from Karl the 1st's 12 companions.
  Vorlund und Hinterland is a strange place(for the time periods that it existed ),emancipation of women,conservationist causes (wild animals protected) and a sort of benign feudal socialism all founded on a cabal of werewolves (and a strange place known only as The Last Valley,idea nicked from the Jame Clavell novella and film of the same name).
 Vorlund is basically my fantasy land
   The original stories I fear are lost to the internet as I wrote them online and never saved them ,shame,don't think I can write them again...
  And finally thanks to my mate Conrad Hawkwood who designed and ran the Pangaean campaign who provided the inspiration for the original myth cycles.

 Guy

 And now I'll get back to the minis

 Edit: Abdul has extrapolated on these stories and nowdays is the true loremaster of Vorlund and has in turn inspired me.....The story continues..!!??

[Doomhippie]

Too bad the stories are lost. But that adds to the mystery and flavuor. Like the beginning of the Lord of the Rings movies: "History became legend and legend turned to myth." Great spooky background with a lot of potential. I'll be following this thread closely... 

[abdul666lw]

The mythical continent of Pangaea http://www.drunkendragoonproductions.com/18thcentimagi-nation/viewforum.php?f=21 was intended to be, among others, the setting of a quasi War of Austrian Succession: the House of Vorlund being the equivalent of historical Habsburg. In the early 1740 the Emperor died, leaving only a daughter, Annabel. Yet, immediate war (on this theatre, at least) was avoided when the Prince-Electors chose Annabel's husband as new Emperor.
But the Vorlund rulers are known for their peculiar sympathy to wolves (according to the legend, young Karl saved a wolf cub; a few years later, when surrounded my enemies he was saved by a wolf pack led by his former protégé, now the Alpha male of the Great Wolves of Vorlund; even in the 18th C. their Alpha couple is a regular guest of the old schloss of Vorlund).        Then, Pangaea also sees *weird* encounters http://www.drunkendragoonproductions.com/18thcentimagi-nation/viewtopic.php?f=14&t=3; hence, when after discovering a lot of 'Horror / Pulp' adventures set in the 18th C.  http://theminiaturespage.com/boards/msg.mv?id=272011 I toyed with preliminary ideas to adapt the Japanese 20th C. 'vampires hunters' Hellsing to the mid-18th C. Vorlund was the obvious location for the 'good gang'. In Hellsing the Queen is assisted by a secret 'Convention of Twelve': the original legends of Vorlund suggested to have them as the descendants of the 12 companions of Karl who were 'wolf-bounded' after him. The image in the OP above provided inspiration for giving 3 of them a little characterization -Guillaume Cadfael de Baskerville aka 'Einaeugiger', Dorotea Senjak von Hoehle-Land Herrschaft aka 'Die Dame' and Eloois von Herdwangen-Schoenach aka 'Kobold'; besides, according to the Vorlunder traditions, Karl I's '1st companion' -and thus probably the first to be 'wolf-bound' after him, according to the revealing nickname- was Otto 'der Grauwulf', the direct ancestor of Annabel's husband and current Kaiser / Emperor of the Germans. These rantings can be found at the end of the flights of fancy about Hellsing transposed to Lace Wars time: http://www.drunkendragoonproductions.com/18thcentimagi-nation/viewtopic.php?f=49&t=120





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(Btw, for those intrigued by the idea of setting Fantasy / Horror games in the 18th C.

Austrian Grenzer facing Frederick's Free Corpse Frankenstein (from http://husarenritt.blogspot.fr/search/label/Weird%20Seven%20Year%20Wars).

(from  http://carpatland.blogspot.fr/2011/08/test-strange-aeons.html)
more there: http://emperor-elector.blogspot.fr/2011/09/encounter-by-full-moon-light.html#comments
and several relevant links are gathered there: http://www.drunkendragoonproductions.com/18thcentimagi-nation/viewtopic.php?f=13&t=81)

[max]

Interesting thread, will be following.
Funny, hinterland is a word i just learned in geography :p Your land doesn't happen to be by the sea by chance?