The Lichemaster's hat...

[Fimm McCool]

I know it has been blogged about on several occasions, but has anyone actually found out what Kemler's 'iconic' symbol is actually supposed to be?

(used without Stone Cold Lead's permission, but it's a very pretty paint job and I'm sure he won't mind!)

The hat and Miller's painting have it looking like a skull surmounting some kind of thorny growth.

Blanche's painting shows the same device looking more like a kind of crab holding a skull in its pincers.
Has anyone got insider-info on what was behind this curious symbol?

I'm basing my undead army on Kemler's horde and want to use a variant on this device but I'm not that keen on the chunky, crab-looking take. I'm thinking of going thorny/spider looking but would be interested in any background to the Lichemaster's logo before I make any decisions.

 

[Stormbringer]

I don't know the answer, apart from "Maybe because it just looks cool?", but what I really like is the title of this thread.

THE LICHEMASTER'S HAT needs to be the title of a Warhammer scenario. The Lichemaster has lost his favourite hat and goes on an epic quest to find it...

 

[Zhu Bajie]

Some more / clearer images:

(via Oldenhammer in Toronto

I'd always assumed the motif was as a stylised egyptian scarab with its legs and mandibles holding a skull rather than the sun (or dung) - so carries forward the symbolism of undeath and rebirth, which is very appropriate for a Necromancer, but also, I think, shows the early 'egyptianism' in GWs thinking about the undead.

Also worth mentioning these beauties:

Plug for treps: http://vialudibunda.com/bases-and-acces ... lenie.html

Also, isn't the amulet Kremler wears almost exactly the same as the Amulet in Talisman (and I think it appears in Heroquest too).

 

[Fimm McCool]

Thanks Zhu, that's very helpful. Was speaking to Tuomas Pirinen last night about Krell and he confirmed that Krell's name and background is highly Egyptian influenced, so the scarab makes sense here. Luckily my wife did her degree dissertation on the symbology of the Egyptian scarab so I have lots of reference to hand, I just never connected it with the symbol on Kemler! Now you mention it it does seem a bit beetley!

I remember Nico's great Lichemaster shields, but actually I'm more a fan of the spindly 'spider' looking motif than the chunky 'crab' variant on the shields so I'll probably do my own.

I'll check out the amulet, that's an interesting lead...

 

[Fimm McCool]

Also, what's that written on Kemler's Tomb Blade?....

 

[Zhu Bajie]

Krell, egyptian? What, him with the horned Viking hat, and with Krell being a reasonably common German last name? Lol. Maybe the later versions gave him a more Egyptian background,I don't know, the originally he's just an undead chaos champion.

Regards the amulet (and the sword holding pose that Tony Ackland used) it's worth looking at this image by Druillet.

It's almost like that day Kremler held aloft his magic sword and said "WHERE IS MY HAAAAT!!!"

Don't know what the runes on Kemlers sword are supposed to mean, they're not Futhark (3 are similar, but the others aren't) and they aren't the runes from the WFB2 book. I think they translate as " (c) Micheal Moorcock's Black Rune Sword Factory 1961".

 

[Fimm McCool]

Krell, egyptian? What, him with the horned Viking hat, and with Krell being a reasonably common German last name?

Tuomas said that he envisaged Krell as being the name Nagash gave him when he appointed him as a lieutenant. I'd thought it was a reasonably northern tribe sounding name for a chaos champion but apparently the Egyptian reference is there. I'm not sure Pirinen was around at GW when the Lichemaster stuff was first conceived though. Given the likely origins of Kemler's names I'd have thought Nikolaus Krell, a German elector count, who was beheaded for heresy is a better candidate for the chaos champion's heritage.

The Krell are also the race from Forbidden Planet who wiped themselves out by giving life to "creatures from their id".

 

[Stormbringer]

It's almost like that day Kremler held aloft his magic sword and said "WHERE IS MY HAAAAT!!!"

 

[Zhu Bajie]

I'm not sure Pirinen was around at GW when the Lichemaster stuff was first conceived though. Given the likely origins of Kemler's names I'd have thought Nikolaus Krell, a German elector count, who was beheaded for heresy is a better candidate for the chaos champion's heritage.

Yeah, Pirinen wasn't around back in the day, and the whole Nagash bollocks came about a decade later, so can't have any relevance. I don't know about Krell being named after a really obscure Calvinist, maybe, but I think they would have made reference to his beheading. Could just be sounds like "Krull' or just a made up fantasy-sounding thing.

You know, there's some funny stuff in Terror of the Lichemaster - the Bogle family are named after characters in The Waltons, the whole Micael Jacsen thing.

 

[Fimm McCool]

You know, there's some funny stuff in Terror of the Lichemaster - the Bogle family are named after characters in The Waltons, the whole Micael Jacsen thing.

That's what made me wonder about the origins of names, characters, symbols etc. I mean, I could just go ahead and do a Lichemaster army and it would be good enough, but imagine how great it would be to dig up some gems of previously un-realised nerd-dom in the process?

 

[Zhu Bajie]

Ranlac is an anagram of carnal.

Use the knowledge wisely.

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

You know, there's some funny stuff in Terror of the Lichemaster - the Bogle family are named after characters in The Waltons, the whole Micael Jacsen thing.

No offense, but that sort of stuff (and more) makes me question the sanity of seeking out serious (Sirius? ) historical references for every detail in lighthearted WFB materials.

 

[Zhu Bajie]

You know, there's some funny stuff in Terror of the Lichemaster - the Bogle family are named after characters in The Waltons, the whole Micael Jacsen thing.

No offense, but that sort of stuff (and more) makes me question the sanity of seeking out serious (Sirius? ) historical references for every detail in lighthearted WFB materials.

None taken. I agree, there's very little to be taken particularly seriously. There are instances of deliberate parody and satire and those can show biases (McDeath is a good example) which are interesting, some of the pop-culture references might be a bit obscure.

 

[ZeroTwentythree]

Especially obscure to those overseas, which is why I did appreciate finding your McDeath article a while back. It revealed an entire layer of the campaign that was unknown to me.

 

[Fimm McCool]

No offense, but that sort of stuff (and more) makes me question the sanity of seeking out serious (Sirius? ) historical references for every detail in lighthearted WFB materials.

Who said anything about serious? I'm all for the comic element! Some people take this hobby too seriously in my opinion.