OK I have recently come out of the closet and admitted I used to Fantasy Roleplay and have even shown off a Orc but now that I am about to embark on a Roleplaying Campaign as the GM I thought I may as well let you all in on the campaign, well as much as the players may know at any rate.
Here is my take on The Children of the Light, or White Cloaks as they were known (behind their backs) these are straight out of The Wheel of Time though I have added the red shields with the bright sun emblem. My fantasy world is 70% Tolkien and 30% Jordon. I think this will work given how much Jordon lifted straight out of Middle Earth. Set in the Fourth Age I think it will allow me to bend Tolkien just enough so that it will work for those who know Middle Earth well.
The figures were bought at Derby the other weekend, sorry can't remember the supplier but they cost just £1 each and are rather nice castings.
I was looking for obvious Teutonic or Crusades like figures as that is how I have always seen them whilst readying the Wheel of Time books. I saw the figures on an early sweep but checked out other vendors before going back as they fit the profile well. I was pleasantly surprised at the price. I may go back next time and buy some of the mounted figures as the Children will feature heavily in the campaign.
The Children of the Light are a political-military force that is not restricted by Nations or Regions. Their aim is to route out all Shadow Spawn and bring evil doers to justice. Well their view of justice. They have widespread support from parts of most nations and their multi-national make up of the organisation makes it easier to cross boarders. If all the Children were to form up at one place it would represent the biggest single army in all Middle Earth. As it is it has many thousands of small formations (between a dozen and a few thousand) moving around the whole continent. Kings and Queens can not afford to disallow them access to their lands though on more than one occasion the Children have come into conflict with one Lord or another over matters that they have seen differently.
The Children despise magic and blame all the worlds troubles on those that have used or use magic. Indeed being caught using magic is enough to be called Darkfriend by them and subject to The Question. This brings them into direct conflict with Aes Sedai, the powerful all female magic users that have their own power-base. Whilst not in open war with the Whitecloaks the Aes Sedai do well to keep themselves at arms reach from the Children. Male Magic users are tolerated by society as long as they keep their skills to a low level, more powerful magic has been banned from men due to the corrupting power found in men. It is this basis that the Children see all magic as evil whilst other less fanatical only see strong male magic as corrupting. Still any man found using powerful magic is hunted down and stilled (the ability to cast spells removed) but if they resisted capture and in so doing harmed anyone they are beheaded AFTER being stilled.
Those familiar with the Wheel of Time will notice a few differences from the books, this is deliberate. I would ask that any comments made regarding the two worlds my campaign is based on do not have corrections or observations that could supply information to the players. Some of the information left out is deliberate due to changes to the world, others are based on what the players would know.
Several of the players read this blog so it could cause an issue or two ;-)
Oh Ian, I rather like these, they remind me of my old Timpo toys.
ReplyDeleteI like the shields, very jolly!
ReplyDeletenice looking figures and the shields look great
ReplyDeleteVery colourful chaps!
ReplyDeleteThat's a great way of getting some colour onto them, doing the sunburst on the shields as red and yellow. So, when are you going to treat us to pics of one of those guys with the crook motif?
ReplyDeleteI don't recall the Children as being the largest formed army in the books. The 4 borderland nations were each able to travel south with about 50,000 soldiers while leaving enough to garrison the borders - from memory the Children would be hard-pushed to get anywhere near those numbers, even with auxiliaries.
Nice paintjob, very eye-catching figures. I believe those are the 'mid 13th century foot knights' from Cureys Miniatures/1st Corps/Kingmaker (I can never work out which is which). I only know this because I bought some archers from the same range.
ReplyDeleteRegards,
Matt
Very nice paintjob, love the shields...
ReplyDelete@ Michael, I know what you mean, even if I was outraged when I first read your comment ;-)
ReplyDelete@ Phyllion, Jolly, not sure what I was aiming for at the time but I am fairly sure it was not Jolly LOL
@ Scotty, in fairness to the above comments I really did not have a clue how to finish them until I got the scarlet onto them and then I thought I know.....
@ Ray, well the shields are, beyond that they are a bit dull. I wanted them to have a bit of impact.
@ Tamsin, still need to get a Questioner, I think I have the figure but won't need him for a bit so can still continue to look.
In the Wheel of Time they are not, I am bending that to suit my campaign, they need to be big enough to be able to cross all boundaries.
@ Matt, That's the one's thanks for that. You can get three mounted for £9 which I may have to get at a latter date.
@ Phil, Thank's, nice and quick to paint up as well
Ian