-= The Golden Throne =-

Gothic science fiction.  Say these words to anyone with an interest in Warhammer, and no matter how long ago, how fleeting that interest was you will undoubtedly conjure from the subconscious an image of a pointed arch surrounded by a baroque behemoth of a futuristic church, emphasis on the industrial.  Warhammer has taken this visual theme over the top so far, it is almost cliche to make light of it. It is it's own inside joke, Gothic for it's own sake.  Let's consider however the real genius behind the story of the Emperor. Examine that "Gothic" behind the "science fiction" and one can see the irony in the visual of the Gothic, being so excessive, overtaking the depth of the Emperor's tragedy. While we might think it frivolous, being so accustomed to waves of visual decoration, in reality the Imperium and the story of our entombed hero is Gothic in every sense of the word.

Building the Golden Throne Part 9 - The End Times

Unfortunately no deep thoughts to stimulate the right brain today.  Just a quick update amid frenzied work - the Throne is about halfway finished.  It will be completed in time for the convention, but with three other projects to complete before next Tuesday final photography may not be up until afterwards.

However feel free to follow on social media as live updates of getting to and goings-on of the convention will surely be posted.  More details will be posted soon, time permitting.

Building the Golden Throne Part 8 - Trial By Ordeal

"Thou art a subject of the divine, created in the image of man, by the masses, for the masses." Spoken by a tinny speaker and plexiglass screen of god in THX 1138.  The image of the creator in science fiction is usually a technologically overgrown and encrusted version of the 17th century, both visually and liturgically.  A grand empire is a common theme, held together by a massive character often with two sides to one coin.  In THX it is an image of god, stylized and classical, but behind the curtain a mass of wires and reels of tape with canned responses (perfectly timed by Lucas) to only be less than awkward to these sedated people. In Warhammer, the image of the Emperor for the people, is a massive effigy of the Emperor surrounded by a grand palace.  While behind the scenes only a very select few, or perhaps only the Emperor himself know the dark truth, and keep the last masses of his cells alive.

Building the Golden Throne part 7 - Salvation and Doom

I was first introduced to Gothic architecture at around the same time as miniatures.  In High School I was part of a class "knowledge bowl." Sort of a spelling bee but for facts.  I joined the Gothic section, which was the arts offering, and began to memorize different architectural elements of different cathedrals.  What ended up being more fascinating however, and would always slowly take my attention away, was the visual message and the "why" behind them more than the "how."  I have over the years expanded upon that, and also come to understand something - these buildings are very much taken for granted.

Building the Golden Throne Part 6 - Good Dramatic Bullshit

"Good dramatic bullshit" - Ridley Scott

I hesitate to use the phrase just as Mr. Scott did in the interview I have seen so many times over the years.  He didn't mean to make light of the work or thought put into the visual work of his legendary 1984 Apple commercial, he was simply commenting on the process.  His reluctance was from an understanding that an average practical mind would want to understand how things work.

If you take any of my loves and influences - assemblage art, science fiction model making, creature effects - the truth is that there is much more fretting over the look than practicality.  Many people over the years have taken the famous Star Wars lightsaber and Millenium Falcon and tried to back-engineer them with their imagination.  It is a true testament to the intricacy of these models that it can be done, but there wasn't as much a question of "how would this work?" when making a model as a statement of "this looks good visually, and it could work."

This has been true through all the great science fiction movies of the past, from Metropolis to the new Star Trek; good design is a mix of aesthetic and a great deal of skill in improvisation. The answer to the question of "what does this hose on the Millenium Falcon do?" might sadden a professional Engineer, but it doesn't stop his imagination from creating it's own story, and that is the essence of"good dramatic bullshit."

Building the Golden Throne Part 5 - Imperatores In Memoria

"For famous men have the whole earth as their memorial." -Pericles

There is a good bit of existing background on the Throne, but luckily for me a lot of room for creativity.  Not only in the aesthetic, but also the story.  I will save a lot of my writing on the background of this for when it is finished, but for the time being I will say I have always believed the Imperium is an alternate reality where military, technology, science and religion veer off last century or this one, where some horrible fascist regime wins one of the two World Wars, or another in this alternate near future.  This should for now explain all visual references and themes, and in the literal sense I see the "crown" of the throne being particular very important memorials from the surface that have been recovered.  Very important people in the lineage of the Emperor that he would want to keep and would be seen as relics by those who important enough to lay eyes on the throne.  Sort of a family tree if you will, honoring the people who laid the building blocks for the Imperium.  

Anyway, enjoy the images for today.  Scale is roughly 1 meter wide (same as the throne) and a couple feet high.  Watch for Waldo, for scale. 

Building the Golden Throne Part 4 - Big Things Have Small Beginnings

"I have never yet heard or seen anything serious that was not ridiculous" - Horace Walpole

Mr. Walpole is a comrade of taste and method in a different time and place to me.  The first true Gothic author, he would often live and create in an obsessive way, for the sake of it wanting to exist, for a need to create and a want to see something in reality.  Walpole had a taste for different and extreme; many of his creations were grand not only in skill and method, but size and scope, for sake of size and scope.

"I sat down and began to write, without knowing in the least what I intended to say or relate."

Much like Walpole at his desk improvising the first novel in the Gothic sense, I sit in my own Strawberry Hill, a secluded place not of traditional function but re-purposed to my own enjoyment and pursuits, filled with my own creations and dreams. Late into the night planning and throwing a million ideas to the wall and waking up to see what has stuck.  A Gothic structure in the architectural, in the literary method.

Some would look at Walpole and see an eccentric with poor and unconventional taste.  I see a man too confident and driven to care of anything but creation of things great in skill, and as importantly scope.

He was a based brother of the arts, and this project is dedicated to him.