[Factions Ep. 3] [Cragmoloid - I7 - Ankus] [Q12 - Nanth'ri - TT] Microscale Boarding Action

[Moff Wibbles]

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NANTH'RI SYSTEM - IMPERIAL INTERDICTOR PACIFIER

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Sensor Technician:  "Sir, we've got an ID signature match on that Marauder cruiser. It's the Ebon Tusk, a known pirate."
Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "Good work, young man. Listen up, crew! I want that ship intact. Close to maximum range and focus gravity well generators on that ship. We're not letting it escape, understood?"
Bridge Crew: "Understood, sir!"

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Gunnery Chief: "Sir, she's faster than we are. At this rate, we won't catch her in time."
Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "Understood. Overload the disposable capacitors, shunt the power into the Ion cannons. You may fire as soon as you have a solution."
Gunnery Chief: "As ordered, sir. Overcharging the Ion cannons now."

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Gunnery Chief: "Direct hit, sir! Her engines are failing. We've got her! Tractor crews locking on now."
Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "Good. Bring her in, and prepare a boarding party."
Agent Blas: "At once, sir."

 

SOME TIME LATER, WITHIN THE PACIFIER

 

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Agent Blas: "I repeat, mass casualties in hangar bay! The crazy pirate decided to board us right back!"
Navy Trooper: "Keep firing, we can't let it-AAAGH!"
KX Droid: "Halt, you are in violation of Imperial laws #4561-B thro-*BZZZT*"

(Some time later)

Agent Blas: "It is done - the creature is knocked out. Requesting medical droids to the second TIE Bays...and some KX droids to move the prisoner. It's massive."

Some time later, in the brig of the Pacifier...

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Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "What information do we have on the prisoner?"
Agent Blas: "Convict #56171-Aurek-C. Given name Trasc. Alias Captain Goldtooth. Says in the dossier that its species were found  to be in violation of the Dangerous Species Act. Kinda like the Wookiees and Gigorans. It was put to work assembling components for the DS-1. Escaped a year before the Battle of Yavin. Been a pirate ever since."

Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "Interesting. And on the Most Wanted list, too. Few mere pirates earn that much ire. Why's this one special?"
Agent Blas: "Specifically targeted Imperial citizens, sir. Known to take civilian ships, torture the inhabitants then sell them on to Black Sun. Local Moff took it personally."
Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "Thank you, Agent. You may wake the prisoner. I would speak to it."

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Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "Captain Goldtusk, I presume?"
Goldtusk: "Seen many Cragmoloids with gold tusks, have you?"
Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "A fair point, captain. I have questions. You will answer them."
Goldtusk: "You may mislike the answers you recieve, Imperial. But yes. I will answer."

Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "You've plagued the space lanes in this sector for years, but you only ever target Imperial citizens. Why?"
Goldtusk: "Are you unaware of my people, Imperial? Your Empire enslaved our entire species. Forced them to work in your factories. Strip-mined our homeworld."
Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "Ah, so you wanted to stop us. Why not join the Rebellion, then? Why become a pirate and slaver?"
Goldtusk: "I didn't want to stop you. I wanted to hurt you. The Rebellion are...idealistic. They believe in things like sentient rights and not torturing prisoners. Soft."

Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "You hate us."
Goldtusk: "I learned from the very best. I learned to fear. I learned to hate. I learned of pain and humiliation. When I escaped, I shared what I learned with so many."
Inspector General Krelac Drenil: "You've become a monster, captain."
Goldtusk: "I became what people like you made me, Imperial."

The Inspector General had nothing further to say to the prisoner. His expression carefully netural, he turned and left, heading back down the corridor to the bridge. As he marched, he gave orders. A creature like Goldtusk was too dangerous to be left alive. It had escaped custody before. It could do so again. He owed it to the Empire to ensure that the danger it posed was...removed. Permanently.

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Inspector Gneeral Krelac Drenil: "Assemble an execution detail."

Agent Blas: "Yes sir."

 

Spoiler

BEHIND THE SCENES:

Hello all! Thanks for checking out my build. As the Triumvirate cracks down on crime, they encounter many fascinating and, indeed, terrifying creatures. Captain Goldtusk is a monster of the Empire's own creating, and now one that that the Triumvirate have to deal with. I decided to make this a two-stage build, in order to play around with both challenges and test myself a little.

The first part was a little microscale diorama. I have never actually built outside of Minifig scale before, so this was an interesting learning exercise. I fortunately have a model Interdictor from the miniatures game Star Wars: Armada. I used that as a guide for my build. I tried to emulate it as best I could, from all angles. Like the real Interdictor, all the guns are in the equatorial trench, and like the real Interdictor, the ship is lacking in the terraces and greebling you see in the classic Imperial-class.

For Captain Goldtusks's ship, I wanted something that was to scale and workable as a pirate vessel. The smallest ship I could think of, that I had parts for (by the stage I was ready to tackle the Marauder, I'd already built the rest of the props and an Imperial fleet, so I was almost out of bits), was a Marauder Corvette. At the scale I was working at, simply getting the shape right was a challenge. I am happy with the result. I have the oversized turbolasers, the rear wings, and the shape of the front section intact. It's black, because edgy pirate ship (and black was all I had left).

The black stand was pretty simple, as was the planet itself. As they're just basic backdrops, I won't be including pictures of them here.

 

For the rest of the build, I assembled a corridor and prison cell that would interlock together nicely. The prison has a (human sized) bed, and is based on the prison cells seen in Star Wars: Rebels. I'd have carried the black grille over trans-red plates throughout the flooring, but didn't have the parts to do so. I'm content with the compromise I made. Greebling was kept to a minimum, since a prison cell should be bare, without anything that the prisoner could potentially use to escape or assault their captors.

The corridor was a little different. I wanted to make it somewhat cleaner looking, since Imperials would routinely be patrolling through the place. The blue ray shields provided a contrast to the red flooring of the cell, and I was able to use the backs of parts in order to include hints of the conduit and piping that powers the whole system. The build is designed with a single viewing angle in mind, but can be viewed from the sides as well.

To save parts for my fleet, I simply used the top of these builds for the boarding action. Why not? They weren't going to be viewed from above in the interrogation scene anyway, so it made sense to leverage what use I could from them.

As for the Cragmoloid himself, I went through a few attempts before I had a result I was really happy with. I wanted it to be as easy to pose (and with as much articulation) as a minifig, despite including no actual minifig parts in it. The only part of this I feel I failed at was the wrist articulation, though the fact that the shoulders move on two joints makes up for this. Seen here in his battle armour (orange, the same colour as his old prison jumpsuit) and his massive energy axe, he is as intimidating as I could make him. Cragmoloids are approximately three meters tall, but his armour is designed to make him look even bigger and more imposing.

I wanted his armour to be vaugely reminiscent of samurai outfits. I feel his helmet and oversized shoulder pads reflect this.

The character is actually force-sensitive, and has his eyes closed because he is using a primitive form of battle meditation in combat. This was entirely story-based and not due to a lack of open eyes at all. Honest ;) 

It was always intended for him to be deprived of his armour when taken prisoner, and without it he is still imposing, but also looks slightly vulnerable. Still thin from almost two decades of forced labour. His tusks are gold - Cragmoloids often were hunted for their ivory. It made sense that the Empire would remove the tusks from their prisoners for resale, especially if any of the guards or wardens were corrupt. Goldtusk used his stolen riches to forge new tusks, reclaiming his honour (in his eyes). Were it not for his trunk, his head would be quite well articulated and poseable.

EDIT:

This creature is a Cragmoloid from Ankus. 

 

Their height is listed at three meters. I got as close as I could to this height without sacrificing his articulation or important details. Here he is seen with the other people and droid who took part in our story. The KX droid is 2.16 meters high, for reference.

We also have some recurring characters. The Inspector General is a long-time follower of Grand Prince Serion, and is entrusted with command of his leader's Interdictor Star Destroyer, the Pacifier. Like the Grand Prince, he participated in Operation Cinder, albeit reluctantly. He is an ISB man through and through, and has a network of ISB agents to do his bidding. He is currently tasked with policing the space lanes around Nanth'ri, a strategically located planet vital for the security of the Triumvirate. The Inspector General is well-liked by his men, and has the rare trait of understanding when a failure is outside his subordinate's control.

Agent Blas is his right-hand man, his enforcer. A ruthless and highly skilled combatant, the Agent manages to subdue Captain Goldtusk after a running battle through the Pacifier's TIE bays. This battle might be one I actually build in the future, if people would like to see it.

 

Anywho, that's enough from me for now. I hope that people like my build. If anyone has any thoughts, constructive criticism, or ideas for future builds I could make, please do leave a comment below.

 

 

Edited November 4, 2019 by goatman461
Forgot to add a pic/link. Cheers Bjorn.

[Darth Bjorn]

Great story! And the Cragmoloid's armor is a nice touch to make it bulkier... Great job on the Interdictor as well... 

Remember to include a link to the species in your post: https://starwars.fandom.com/wiki/Cragmoloid

And an image:

 

[Moff Wibbles]

Cheers, will edit those in now.

[MKJoshA]

Great microscale ships! I think your Cragmoloid could use some beefing up, but overall a decent likeness.

[Basiliscus]

Lovely multi scene story you have going on here! The writing is really poignant, and I like that the empire have made the monster they probably expected!

I'm not 100% sold on the alien body, it feels a bit unwieldy at this scale, although I do understand building at this scale isn't easy.

Good job!