Daemonhosts – the Sacred & the Profane part 1

I’ve been toying with the idea of putting together an inquisitorial war band for quite some time now, primarily for use in games of a Kill Team kind of size, but with a view to potentially getting involved in the INQ28 scene.  The three people that read this cry for help on a semi-regular basis may recall that I put together a couple of rough 3D sketches of a Vindicare and Eversor assassin a couple of months back.

This week, I’ve unearthed the old bits box and gotten to work on the first of (probably) two Daemonhosts. At this point I should probably explain my vision of Daemonhosts in terms of my war band.  What I am hoping to convey, is the idea of a Daemonhost as a somewhat subjugated creature.  From the Warhammer 40,000 mythos, we know that a Daemonhost is a daemonic entity that has been ritually bound into a corporeal form and kept under tenuous control by an inquisitor (usually) through the application of warding which may be in the form of tattoos, scars (amongst other more esoteric methods), psychic powers, and sheer will.

It stands to reason that demonic possession is not going to be a positive experience for your typical individual. It’s a loss of control. In the case of the creation of a Daemonhost, the possession is almost exclusively against the will of host, and the binding of the daemonic entity will almost exclusively be against the will of the creature (although who are we to know? For the motives of the daemon are beyond mortal ken, and thus are opaque to our primitive understanding).  I theorise that in a normal case of daemonic possession, that for the host, it would be similar to being trapped under ice, but within their own body. In terms of a Daemonhost, the daemonic entity would also experience a sense of being trapped within the host with no immediate means of escape. The Daemonhost is seemingly enslaved on two levels. How much the Daemonhost (both as host and daemonic entity) suffers would be entirely in the hands of its master, who will force the creature to do their bidding, and might mercilessly reward resistance with punishment.

In the case of this particular Daemonhost, I have portrayed it as shackled at the ankles, no doubt by ritually blessed chains. It is also carrying a huge basin of blessed or Holy Water as an additional means of control that the inquisitor has devised. The basin has no flat bottom, and thus the host cannot put it down. The weight it carries is immense, both physically and psychologically. It fears to spill the water for it will be punished for wastefulness. It fears to spill the water, for it will spill onto the Daemonhost and inflict excruciating pain upon the entity imprisoned within. In turn, one would imagine the caged entity would in turn thrash and tear at the host body itself.  In the pictures, the Daemonhost appears as though it might be pausing to rest, and temporarily alleviate some of the weight it is forced to bear.

I would like to express my thanks to Tim (Fulgrim) at The Tears of Istvaan for his advice on constructing shackles, and to Tom at this very blog for providing many of the parts that went into this miniature.