haha, thanks! i came on this morning and saw i had 30 some notifs, almost had a heart attack until i realized 20 of them were “like” notifs 
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so… finally got some inspiration this morning and worked a bit on a new Dark Templar unit,
The Herald
the most elite of scouts are promoted to Heralds, carrying a dark templar standard on their back (sat it to the side for the picture) these units are masters of the bow/crossbow, many using magic versions of those. unlike scouts however, Heralds wear an ornate heavy platemail.
and here’s one of the magic bows that heralds like to use,
Shadow Bow
rather than using actual arrows, shadow bows use magic
there will also be a female version of the herald armor, just didn’t feel like making the conversion right now, and depending on whether i get them finished, i might show off a new Templar character later today.
(and for anyone wondering, this (along with another “secret project”) is what was distracting me so much during Allie’s stream this morning… 
)
that’s it for now guys, hope you like it!
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Nice work, crab. Keep it up.
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It looks great! Some really great progress, keep it up 
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alrighty, finished up the new character, though they could do with a bit more touching up,
The Crimson Herald
even more mysterious than The Assassin, no one really knows if the Crimson Herald actually serves the templar. as his name might suggest, the crimson herald wears a dark red version of the ornate herald platemail and a helmet that shrouds his face, he only wears black cloth, essentially going “backwards” with the Templar colors. it is unknown what weapon type he prefers as he has never been seen fighting, he only ever seems to carry the tattered templar banner and come with a foreboding message.
Judgement will come to your town, just as it came to the city of the Templar…
well, the description started to get longer than i wanted it to, and i didn’t even say all that i had planned 
his message/dialogue could be a lot better, but my creative juices are starting to run dry for the night 
i feel like i might have gone a bit overkill with the tattering on the banner…
also, thanks for the kind words guys, it really did help me finish the crimson herald (along with a bunch of other things) tonight. 
that’s all for now, i started on a new random non-templar related character today, so maybe i’ll show that off tomorrow.
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finished the random character,
Spider Queen
though no-one really knows why she hates living things, everyone knows to fear the Spider Queen. using magic, she created an army by mutating spiders into unnatural sizes. if bitten by one of her spiders, the victim will become infested and eventually turn into one of these unnatural spiders. however spiders are not her only weapon, she is also quite skilled with a sword.
one day my children will feast upon you and the ruins of this world
her special sword,
Blade of the Arachnid
i started off with the sword for this one, and then had the idea to make an entire character based around spiders, which resulted in this. there’s still a lot of stuff that could use some work (such as “spider legs” on her back) but as this was more of just for fun i don’t think i’ll worry to much about making it perfect.
if/when i get back into modding i might make a spider queen campaign, but that probably won’t happen, unless someone else is interested in helping me with the code side of things, then i might make it…
also, still i’m not sure about magica’s rendering, when i updated awhile back something changed and i don’t like the look of the renders as much anymore…
anyways, that’s it for now, hope you like it!
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Loving the spider queen. it is a very unique creation LD
Come on ya’ll let’s hear it for out favorite crab.
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Once again, well done, Crab. I’m really enjoying you progress in creating these. Keep it up! I want to see you modding these in the game someday. 
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I just stumbled across this thread recently, and, WOW. Those characters strike a really fine balance between adding new concepts, and sticking with the original design and concept choices…
You’ve managed some very impressive levels of detail and characterisation, while sticking to the original “rules” used in the standard hearthlings. Where you deviate from the rules, it’s a clear intentional deviation – one born of knowledge rather than ignorance. That in itself is a key sign of someone who has mastered their idea.
As a side-note, are you aware of the Minecraft mod Thaumcraft? Your Templars could have stepped straight out of that lore; although Thaumcraft itself borrows from many inspirations (particularly the Discworld novels, Lovecraftian horror, and Victorian science-y, Steampunk-y themes)… That should be taken as a compliment, not an accusation of ripping-off of anyone’s designs though LOL! Thaumcraft is famous for its attention to detail and how gorgeous it looks, and I get exactly the same awe looking at your models.
This post is inspiring, setting the bar high for the modding and modelling communities… if this is the standard we’re seeing still very early in Stonehearth’s life, I can’t wait to see the calibre of mod content yet to come. I would say that it’s going to be amazing… but frankly, it already is!
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Why waste time with spiders when you can work with crabs? Crab queen!
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thanks, glad to hear it’s a more unique creation, i was worried it was going to turn out to much like a “generic evil lady” kinda thing. 
thanks, hopefully i’ll get back into modding soon! 
wow, thanks so much, i’m honestly kinda speechless at such a compliment… i didn’t think my work was “setting the bar high”, but i’m really glad to hear that someone else thinks it does 
and while i do know of thaumcraft, i haven’t played/looked into it enough to know all about, crazy to know that my Templar almost look like they could have stepped out of that mod!
trust me, i tried crabs, but crabs don’t work well for the style i went with there 
maybe i’ll complete and show off the crab garb later today 
thanks for all the kind words guys, i gotta say, we’re lucky to have such an awesome and supportive community
that’s it for now, i’m looking into animation stuff now, so i might have something cool to show later today, but probably not…
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Well, I tried what you would consider just a “minion”
If you (or other readers) want to try some crabs… You know, there is a certain biome mod laying around that would really benefit from them, just saying.
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a lot of nice new stuff 
keep up the creativity!
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Beautiful! 
Love the bow ^^ -and that torn banner looks ghostly, I think it looks great! (=
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Plz make some of this stuff into a mod for alpha 18 
Wow, just wow! I love your weapon and armour designs for the Dark Templars. Do you plan to put them into a mod - maybe as craftables? Thus, my Hearthlings could heed to the call and join the many ranks of King Dresmond - or found their own order 
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thanks mate i had lots of fun designing them, though i do need to go back to them and play with colors more someday (as @malley and @Ludocrat had suggested)
i’ve been playing around with the idea if making them into a mod, they would be their own unplayable faction similar to the goblins, with a rather large campaign. however i don’t think that will ever happen as i personally feel i wouldn’t be able to do justice to the storyline in a campaign mod…
maybe i will just make them into a mod as craftables as you suggested though.
only a fool would ever bend their knee to a heretic like Dresmond, true dark templar would never fight for him, even if it meant exile and death. forming their own order is exactly what they would do, dethrone all the heretics, bring back the rule of the vulture!
there, a small bit of very vague lore for you
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If you ever want help developing the story (or someone to throw ideas of ever-increasing complexity and ridiculousness at you until something sticks), I’d be happy to make my ramblings available.
However, I read that as “I don’t see a way to make the awesome story I’m imagining work within the currently available options for a campaign mod”… in which case, I can only hope that the options you need get rolled out soon and that you find both the time, resources and motivation to make it happen.
If the story you’ve developed is anywhere near the same level as the models, I reckon you’d have an amazing contribution here. Again, I hope that you get the opportunity to make it work
Hmm… a group of exiles gone rogue to reclaim the throne from a mad ruler. A fight against tyranny and terror. They form a new order in secrecy. Train and prepare in a hidden mountain village (including a monestary of course), until the day they are strong enough to challenge the despot.
Does this sound fitting and lorefriendly to you, @8BitCrab?