Monday 1 November 2010

Rogue Trader - The Space Rock Opera [Act 1: Amazonia Gothique]

"Carving out an empire across a billion shattered star
systems, one super being stood supreme. Biting the
hand that shaped him Dominator's new order reigned
with a grip of iron, dissident's were executed or
imprisoned on maximum-security lunar compounds."



1988 Dominator Album by Cloven Hoof, cover 'Amazonia Gothique' by John Blanche.




1986 White Dwarf, magazine cover 'Amazonia Gothique' by John Blanche.

"Sentenced to burn exiled in purgatory.
A man made cage, in a distant galaxy.
But tonight we leave, so spread the word around.
Breaking out, never to be found.
Over the top, past security.
Through the fields of energy."



1986 sculpt by Micheal Perry based on 'Amazonia Gothique' by John Blanche.

"Renegade forces  of the world unite.
Imprison our captors,  freedom is in sight.
Storm the watchtower, tear down these walls.
Nothing can stop us, heed no master's call.
In the night, the sirens wail.
Imperial Storm troopers,  on our tail"


cira 2010 some emo/scene bird

ZOMG! Hair is LARPing 0_o
Gimmie Kozmic Akse!


I've always imagined Amazonia Gothique to be Blanches contribution to the Eternal Champion mythos. Whilst not, directly Ilian The Champion of Garathorm (the only literary female Eternal Champion), Blanches Amazonia Gothique is a transcendent figure, she stands like some orbital moon with her huge white 'fro eclipsing a raging sun. She stands at the centre of a cosmic event. The Major Hero, possibly a Champion of Slaanesh (Realm of Chaos:StD).

Dominator by Cloven Hoof is a rather hackneyed sci-fi flavoured piece of hair-metal, in all honesty the art director probably picked the John Blanche at random, there's no celestial goth/emo girl character. But the storyline could make the basis of a pretty cool Rogue Trader 40k / Gamma World campaign or a stage musical written by Ben Elton.

6 comments:

  1. Thanks for that cool music/gaming/miniature entry. It made me think of Frazetta's "Death Dealer" painting that is a Molly Hatchet album cover, a Ral Partha mini, and the mascot of the U.S. Army's III Corps (they have a life-sized statue at Ft. Hood).

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  2. I used to work with a guy in Wolverhampton for a few months who was clearly a metal fan and one day heard that he was a in a band that had been quite big. So we found out his website and it turned out he was the bass player for Cloven Hoof!

    So of course, my first question was "how did you get that White Dwarf cover artwork for your album?".

    He'd never seen WD (I sorted him a spare copy out as a gift) and said they'd commisioned the painting several years before but either the album had been delayed years or had been intended for an earlier record and so it had appeared as a WD cover first. Either way he claimed it was them first, Dwarf second.

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  3. Incredible Blanchesque illustration. Did you know the story behind this one? About the masive use of the femenine body image to sell fantasy and how John look for a more serius way to paint girls.

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  4. No idea to introduce this icon character to Warhammer world

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  5. @TopKat - thanks I'd not seen the Fort Hood sculpture, truly amazing.

    @Coopdevil - nice story, wish I had rock'n'roll connections like that!

    @Mabden - very interesting, women were generally portrayed as more passive victims or prizes.

    @Dreadaxe - hi! I've no idea about modern Warhammer, but the rules for Champions of Chaos from Realm of Chaos would be a good start for a Warhammer character.

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  6. I hadn't seen the Fort Hood Death Dealer either. Awesome.

    I had forgotten there was a mini for the Amazon as well. Very nice. I do get that Eternal Champion vibe from the painting, too. More than a Chaos champ, though Jes sculpted a lot of great Chaos champions around the same period.

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