Thunder Beasts

I rarely post on the forums, and never on this subforum, but recently my project of making a custom breed has reached the stage when I can present an art, and so I decided to post it here.

I am a Warhammer 40K fan and have been working on a concept of an Adepta Sororita cavalry unit. Thunder Beasts are the name of a gene-enhancer horse breed used by Sisters of Battle of my original Order.  The details of this AU are in my main Tumblr under this tag and in this side-Tumblr I made for the main character of this AU.

Thunder Beasts characteristics
They have conformation similar to Baroque type and remind Spanish breeds such as Andalusians and Lusitano. They are large, 190 cm in withers on an average, but very agile and tough.
Base colours typical for this breed are Black, various types of Bay (Blood Bay, Wild Bay, Seal Brown), Liver Chestnut, and all kind of Grey (Steel Grey, Dapple Grey, Fleabitten Grey, Rose Grey).
Modifiers that are accepted for this breed are Cream (usually single copy of the gene), Dun, Roan, Sooty. Silver and Flaxen also quite common in the breed genetics. Pangare occurs but usually is quite rare. Pearl is the rarest modifiers in this breed; Champagne gene is inactive in this breed.
Leg and face markings are allowed. Bloody Shoulder is the most sought after marking.
No White, Pinto patterns, Leopard complex allowed.

And here is the first art of this breed, a Thunder Beast stallion named Lobo, who belongs to the sister Kallista, the main character of the Golden Spear AU. He is Silver Grullo.



In future, I'll be making a colour chart for this breed, and some art for tack and armour.
All art I make for this project is being posted at my dA under #thegoldenspearau tag

UPD.

The origins of the Thunder Beasts

Flying Angel Project
“Flying Angel Project” had its origins in centuries-long work the Blood Angels Chapter has been doing in search of the cure of their gene-seed defect. The author of this project, Magos Biologis Hylonome Sagitta from Furgemuma forge-world, was invited to join the Blood Angels’ work and chose to use a different approach to the problem. Instead of dissecting and studying actual Blood Angels’ gene-seed, which has always been in short supply and required careful management and planning that impacted negatively on the pace of the research, Magos Hylonome decided to study the steps the Emperor made while creating the original gene-seed.

She understood that she was absolutely no match for the Emperor’s genius, but her goal was not to repeat His work in all its uniqueness but to understand its basic principles. She had started with a set of test animals, from lab mice to large breeds of cattle and several breeds of horses, mostly from the Rynn’s World. Over a span of several decades with help from the Blood Angels Apothecaries’ knowledge, Magos managed to create gene-seed-like pseudo-implants for those test species. The main difference from Space Marines gene-seed was that these pseudo-implants were genetically modified and improved natural organs that, although being a pale shade of Space Marines’ implants, were transmitted hereditably from parents to offsprings. Especially successful were modifications created for two species: cattle and horses.

Both gene-enhanced species were stress tested. A small stock of the cattle was hand over to local tribes of nomads-farmers and was observed to adapt well to the hardships of deadly Simisola savanna and way of life of the local populace.

As for the gene-modified horses, Blood Angels Chapter Command used them in an experimental cavalry unit. This was where this new breed got its name - Flying Angel Destrier.

Breed characteristics

Conformation
These horses were heavily built, with a distinct phenotype of a riding horse. Their average height in withers was 230-240 sm. They had strong short backs, very muscular necks and thick legs, which allowed them to carry a Space Marine in power armour. Pasterns and hooves very strong. Head with large eyes and distinct convex profile.

Colours
All range of colours, excluding Champagne, were present in this breed, but a majority of horses were grey. Bloody Shoulder marking was very common in this breed, getting “the Angel’s wing” nickname from the Space Marines.



The fate of the breed
After the death of the Magos Hylonome, the experiment with Blood Angels cavalry unit was gradually terminated. The remaining Flying Angel Destriers, along with unmodified horse stock, were let out to the wilderness of Simisola, in hopes that local predators would get rid of them. However, these herds survived. Flying Angel Destriers had proved to be very good herds defenders. During several centuries passed since the ending of the Magos Hylonome’s experiment, Flying Angel Destriers interbred with unmodified horses from those herds. They passed many of their gene-enhanced traits to their offsprings who, under harsh conditions of Simisola’s savanna, formed new native breed of horses that later has become known under Thunder Beasts name.

Height comparison
Here is the height comparison between a Flying Angel Destrier, a Thunder Beast, a Space Marine, and a Sister of Battle. The Sister of Battle's height is about 6 ft.



More at my dA.

Last edited on 2017-11-14 at 01:52:58 by Rook

Cool! I love it!

Thank you, Rainy. :) Soon I'll add more.

Updated the first post.

Wow, I love these! They're very imaginative! (;