Erioch Uncovered

By SirRunOn, in Deathwatch

Or at least the most preliminary version.

erioch1_by_sirrunon-daabxg0.png

Not bad at all.

Some refinement pointers as this work progresses...

1. While Watch Fortress Erioch does strongly " resemble" a Ramiles-class Star-fort, it is not a straight-out model. Remember: not even the Deathwatch themselves know who actually built WF:Erioch, so there should also be some portions that are outside the STC Ramilies model.

2. WF:Erioch was built about a large asteroid-encased structure, the Omega Vault. So at its center there should be signs of its asteroid-rock core.

3. The Hunting Grounds also comprises an large expanded "spur" of WF:Erioch.

4. Another external visible feature: The Tower of Brass. This is another external "spur" of WF:Erioch, which, as the label implies, is a brass-coloured/-plated structure.

Hope this helps.

Edited by pendrake71

Notes taken. Starting with the Ramilies base is to help. I'm trying to get one of the better images of Erich from the death watch book to try to figure how all those extra parts fit together.

You will not find any actual images of Watch Fortress Erioch. Any direct information about WF:Erioch is purely textual (DW: Core Rulebook, DW: Rites of Battle), or stock images from old WH40K content. Heck, there is even very little images for Ramilies-class Star-forts themselves.

One additional note about the asteroid-rock core that is The Omega Vault: it is very big . Keep in mind that The Omega Vault has been operating across multiple millennia, yielding up its contents from behind vast vaults, behind multiple thick layers of metal, arcane mechanisms, void shields, and stasis fields; all of that means lots of spatial volume taken up. Thus why WF:Erioch was built (by unknown builders) around the Vault as its core starting-point.

Edited by pendrake71

Also the colors are a little bright.

Not sure if joke...

I'd love to make it brighter but isn't it supposed to be ensconced in black marble?

Or do you mean the glow from the windows. I thought the whole thing was hard enough to see.

No joke, i meant

those red yellow green orbs were just too bright. I see the fortress as b3ing as dark as possible, remember it's supposed to be secret.

It's space.

It could be painted neon green and full of burning screaming loud people serfs dancing swan lake and still be considered stealth if you weren't close enough to see it out the window.

But I get your point. Dark colors are sneaky.

Isn't this supposed to be erioch?

AjLwSKw.jpg

I thought so too. It's what I was going off of.

There's a lot more going on underneath than a normal Ramilies, but that image and it's marker in the front inside cover look very similar.

Scale is the difficult part to think of when you're looking at a ramilies. No one ever says exactly how big they are. I've been working under the impression that the lower doors lead to bays for dry docking raider class ships. There's plenty of room in there for a gigantic vault.

Btw, a Cobra is narrower but taller and just as long as a Star Wars Imperial Class Star Destroyer by comparison so I believe this station could dry dock eight ISD'S at once.

I have a feeling the brass tower is just one of the normal towers on the station, however looking at the tiny inside cover drawings it's also possible it rests atop one of the main docking arms to allow easy and slightly more secretive ingress and egress.

I figure the heavily extended lower vaults from the images either contain the omega vault, or that is in the core and the more massive understructure contains the training grounds.

The image posted, from the DW: Core Rulebook, is merely an (old-)stock WH40K image. It is not an original image specifically depicting WF: Erioch. The majority of images in the Deathwatch book-series are (old-)stock images, with a scant minority of artwork specifically created for Deathwatch.

In terms of scale, a standard STC Ramiles-class Star-fort is massive. They are capable of fully-servicing multiple Imperial Battleships at once, as well as squadrons of smaller capital ships and legions of fighters. Roughly shaped in a square-diamond, each quadrant possesses equivalent firepower equal to an Imperial Battleship for lances, macrobatteries, torpedoes, and fighter complement(s).

However, Watch Fortress Erioch is NOT a standard STC Ramiles-class Star-fort. The books say that it only off-handedly resembles one in design.

As I posted before, there are several distinct features that are visible from the exterior that make WF: Erioch stand apart from a standard Ramiles-class Star-fort.

1. The Omega Vault ... The internal vault itself is metal and mechanisms, but the vault's outer portions are layered and insulated by super-dense asteroidal rock (ostensibly to protect the vault from the void). WF: Erioch was built around The Omega Vault by its mysterious builders; and the vault is very large in of itself (at least capital ship sized). Thus why some asteroid-rock parts of WF: Erioch's "core" should be visible from the exterior.

2. The Tower of Brass ... As described in the books, the central residence(s) for Inquisitors is a large blade-like "spur" jutting out of WF: Erioch, plated in (apparent) brass ; visible from the exterior.

3. The Hunting Grounds ... The one part that is wholly the works of the resident Deathwatch rather than any mystery builders (innovated by Ultramarine Watch Captain Prascus), The Hunting Grounds are another expansion "wing" which is also visible from the exterior, due to the centuries of expansion.

As a side-note: there are also several defunct capital ships (part of The Hunting Grounds) that are permanently "attached" to WF: Erioch in order to simulate Space Hulk expeditions/hunts.

Edited by pendrake71

Honestly this is what I was working on this for.

Watch Fortress Artarret

artarret_by_sirrunon-daamtz1.png

Gotta find a way to get that glow out of the cannon barrels... derp...

Still, I'm working on one to get the ideas for the other. I've got to find an Inquisitorial Symbol and paste it all over the place.

What software are you creating this with?

I'm not sure if I've said in this thread that I didn't create the original model, just bought it offline.

That model was completely uncolored/textured, so that's what I've been doing until now.

Trying for that tower of brass.

erioch2_by_sirrunon-daaos2g.png

Doesn't exactly feel like I can give the brass much polish and manage to keep the colors muted though. Just grabbed a tower offline. Haven't quite figured out how to mass edit the crosses into inquisitorial symbols yet.

I've noticed all the major modeling websites sell models based off of someone else's IP. You'd think there'd be a lot more trouble around.

Looks interesting to me. But then again I don't know anything about this kind of thing.

If you want to get good results but aren't loaded, get Blender 3d.

https://www.blender.org/

BTW it's FREE so i'm not linking to a commercial site.

Edited by Professor Tanhauser

Oh btw,

Someone tossed this in if anyone's interested in it.

tau_air_city3_by_sirrunon-dab0jzq.png