+ inload: #PolyphyRises – Ecce +

+ An invitation +

+ You may have noticed that the top bar of this blog is getting increasingly crowded. Recently I have added an invitation to join in with the Court of the Sun King by populating Cepheus. Have a look, and if you'd like to join in, I'd be delighted. +

+ If you're on mobile, there'll be a little button at the top right to click to move away from the Active Feed and find the project tabs, but if it's playing up, try this [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+] to take you right to the heart of the action. 

+ I'll be adding a few prompts or kicking-off points every so often, but do feel free to do what you want to on the backwater world. +

+ The first of these loose ideas is as follows:

A handful of Sky

All of the figures in my project are identified by card in a mythical traditional Cephean deck; the suits of which are Beasts, Cups, Collars, Hands and Suns. Roll a D6 to discover the suit.

Suit

• 1 Cups – symbolising enjoyment, civilisation, comfort.
• 2 Suns – symbolising glory, life/death, royalty.
• 3 Hands – symbolising manual labour, intrigue, integrity.
• 4 Beasts – symbolising nature, horror, fruitfulness.
• 5 Collars – symbolising acceptance, resignation, clarity of sight.
• 6 Tarot – a unique creation.

Next, roll a D20 to find a number. Numbers above 10 are face cards – above 14 and the suit becomes inverted: start counting back down – sixteen is thus the Queen inverted. Inverted suits begin to represent the inversion of their symbols. Inverted hands, for example, symbolise corruption, idleness and polemicism.

+ Feel free to use this or ignore it for your first Cephean figure(s). +

+ If you'd like to use a hashtag, try #PolyphyRises to tie back in. +

+++

+ Ecce: the Sun King's coterie +

+ A (long-delayed) continuation of an inload covering the WIP stages of the figures [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+], the Eight of Clubs and Four of Suns mark another two members of the Sun King's own group, Ecce. Dernledger (the regular human) is the finished version of a concept mooted in the very first inload of this blog [+noospheric inloadlibnk embedded+]. He represents the Soldier archetype detailed there. Along with the Rubricist and the Autoscribe, that's three of the figures completed... +

+ I don't think the final paintwork is my best work, but sometimes it's better to leave things as they are and move on. In the grand scheme of things, I think they're perfectly acceptable, and have a little robust charm. +

+ What I am pleased with is that Dernledger seems to have captured the spirit of the Court of the Sun King project. Ruffed and uniformed, he's also dirty, desperate and slightly lost-looking. +

+ Threack is similarly brutally opulent – mostly due to the gloriously baroque sculpting of Bob Olley. His sculpts are always a pleasure to paint, rewarding a wandering and playful painting style. +

+ A hint of Adam Ant, Bladerunner and Sláine pops up with the addition of facial paint. Freehand details like this can suggest the wearer's culture – Threack might be dressed up like a fourpenny rabbit, but his tattoos and choice of weapon are facets of his own upbringing. Stuff like this helps me feel the figures – however minor to the story – have their own part to play, and often lead down a rabbit-hole of inspiration. +

+ The Sun King's sigil – a blazing, rising sun – is also marked on the new figures. Both the sigil and the warpaint are motifs that have popped up on other members (known or unwitting) of Ecce:

Two of Beasts: Thorna Tempest [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]

Four of Cups: Vanya de la Oawadh [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]

King of Collars: Sebastian Ottavus Arcimboldo [+noospheric inloadlink embedded+]

+++