Creating the Ashenfar

Quicker than I expected. I modelled, topolized and created the basic set up for the Death Knight armor in less than a week. I'll be doing soem test rigging before I texture, add fur, glows and displacement/UV maps to see how it works, so far so good me thinks. The real challenge though will come with the more human models. I hope you like it so far.

Creating a Villain

The challenge for any story set in an already established story is to make sure the chain of events not only corrospond with the historical events of fictional lore, but the timelines fit in as well. The first film is by far the most challenging, covering Cham's birth through his unorthodox induction to the Sentinals of Aessina through to his role in the The Battle of Mount Hyjal. Ravenstien by this point is still a mindless ghoul under the command of the Lich King and Archimodes and is by no means a considerble force to be reckoned with, so Cham and his allies must contend with something different, so I decided to make a new villainess for the first film, a fallen Night Elf come acolyte of Archimondes, Delena Shadowcall (who's name will play a major role in the trilogy). Sowing the seeds of mstrust between the Alliance and the Horde, the Sentinals of Aessina find themselves having to amass an army to fight hidden enemy in the midst of a an even greater war engulfing Azeroth. Delena is the ace in Archimondes deck, and is equal in power to the Lich King, having amassed an army of Naga and Fallen Highborne under her will. Her heart so full of hate for her exile from Ashenvale and the Sentinals of Aessina, Delelna will stop at nothing to see the forest of Ashenvale, she once vowed to protect, burn in an eternal hell fire, as promised by her masters, with her as queen over the cursed land.

The rise and fall of a Champion

The Story of Cham Ashenfar is told from the perspective of the Death Knight Ashenfar, the Champion of the Shadows. Creating the villain of the story who is also the hero is an exciting prospect and told extreamly well in the Warcraft lore, from Nerzhul, to Medivh, from Arthas to the Lich King, the Orc's of the Burning Legion to the Orcs of the Savage Horde. The entire world is full of the corruption of heroes and the redemption of the most vile villains. But such falls are not merely a turn to the dark side, but carefully laid out tapestries that detail every detail of the hero's fall from grace. This is no simple choice, but a raging torrent of events and choices that culminate in the character's fall from grace. Cham Ashenfar is no different, but the choices he makes are not what one would consider the fall of a hero, but should have raised him as a true martyr and hero of the war of Shadow. It turns out that even his ultimate sacrifice was little more than a piece in the puzzle that defines his ultimate demise. Where as Arthas made his choice to ally himself with the Scourge in order to "save" his land, Cham's is more a tale of a destiny he could never escape. The difference between the tragedy of Arthas and the Tragedy of Cham Ashenfar is that one had a choice, the other did not.

Creating the villain of the piece is always fun, Ravenstien is next on the characters to be built, but Ashenfar is close to my heart (he ought to be I play him in the game). I wanted to do something more with the charcter than a simple Death Knight Tauren. Everything about had to exemplfy his dedication to total evil. I sharpened his teeth to razor teeth, to show his monstrous transformation from nature loving Cham to demonic Ashenfar. His one working will glow a papable sickly green, and his wounded eye will ooze green blood and wriggle and writhe with a maggot infested wound. His fur will be darker than his previous self, with a slighty sickly steam faintly glowing around him, and his stature and armor will exemplfy an overwhelming demonic stature, only the darkest champions can portray. Very much inspired by the Chaos Space Marines of Warhammer 40k, Ashanfar will be portrayed as a Shadow Lord to be feared.

I am currently working on short Machinima movie to storyboard the first 5 minuites of the film, which will set the tone for the trilogy.