That's a Meargh, the sterile matriarch of a clan of Fimir, the beaked, cycloptic, reptilian giants of early Warhammer Fantasy Battles and WFRP. I didn't really know these weirdos existed until I read a mention of them here. A few minutes of research revealed that they were intended to be the WFRP equivalent of Runequest's Broo, a signature "Holy crap! That's messed up!" critter, if you will. The Meargh is the only female Fimir in the clan, so this race reproduces by impregnating human females. Like I said, messed up. One of the notions in the back of my head for my Wessex campaign is that human expansion is causing an extinction level crisis in monsterdom, so I may use just one sad, lonely Meargh, all the menfolk of her race long gone.
Monday, June 27, 2011
check out this crazy hag!
That's a Meargh, the sterile matriarch of a clan of Fimir, the beaked, cycloptic, reptilian giants of early Warhammer Fantasy Battles and WFRP. I didn't really know these weirdos existed until I read a mention of them here. A few minutes of research revealed that they were intended to be the WFRP equivalent of Runequest's Broo, a signature "Holy crap! That's messed up!" critter, if you will. The Meargh is the only female Fimir in the clan, so this race reproduces by impregnating human females. Like I said, messed up. One of the notions in the back of my head for my Wessex campaign is that human expansion is causing an extinction level crisis in monsterdom, so I may use just one sad, lonely Meargh, all the menfolk of her race long gone.
Even in D&D land, everyone needs a little lovin'.
ReplyDeleteI loved the Fimir. Another relic of a time when Warhammer was much more interesting than it is today.
ReplyDeleteFimir are also the coolest (and biggest) monster of the old HeroQuest game. HeroQuest is perhaps the best intro to RPGs ever created.
ReplyDeleteOh man, they'll be perfect for Wessex.
ReplyDeleteHopefully the re-introduction of the Fimir into Warhammer will be a good one, too.
JasonZavoda, I quite agree!
ReplyDeleteAs I recall, there's a full page drawing of all the Fimir variants in the original WFRP.
http://www.bloodmoonminis.com/store.html
ReplyDeleteBlood Moon Miniatures sells some familiar-looking "Bog Raiders"...
That looks like one of Frank Ernst's surrealist creations from the '30s.
ReplyDeleteI like the idea of the matriarch outliving the males.
ReplyDelete@Adelaide Gamer...Max Ernst
The Fimir are one of my all-time favourite races. I've ported them into OD&D because of their unadulterated awesome.
ReplyDeleteThis is the bible on them:
http://www.warpstone.org/issues_pages/issue25.htm
Legion: Have you posted your port of them anywhere?
ReplyDeleteSomebody said the magic word, hell yeah heroquest!
ReplyDeleteIt was practically the Basic Set of the 1990-ish era. AD&D was even introduced to me as "heroquest without the board".
Anyway, I find it a little weird that you haven't heard of fimir until recently 'cause they were literally in the first dungeon I ever played!
But for the record, the gargoyle (knocking off the balrog by wielding a whip and badass sword at the same time) was waaaaay bigger and cooler than the fimir.
The original Warhammer Fantasy Roleplay rulebook has a nice writeup on the Fimir. They are gloriously f'd up, a big influence on the way I think of monsters in RPGs now, and were a big reason why I fell in love with WFRP back in the day.
ReplyDeleteBut for the record, the gargoyle (knocking off the balrog by wielding a whip and badass sword at the same time) was waaaaay bigger and cooler than the fimir.
ReplyDeleteWell, to be fair, the HeroQuest "gargoyle" is a Warhammer bloodthirster, and it's the bloodthirster that's borrowing from the balrog.
Never even knew Fimir had been dropped; Hero Quest is definitely a great introduction to adventure gaming, though!
ReplyDelete(As a side note, I always figured the gargoyle was a statue of a bloodthirster).
Poor old Fimir, wiped out by studio infighting (the sculptors got the scale wrong; the writers got the blame) and the expansion of Beastmen, Skaven and Dark Elves(!) into their conceptual niche.
ReplyDeleteLooks like I'll have to change their write-up in Small But Vicious Dog (WFRP B/X).
If not for their appearance in HeroQuest, no one would know that they even ever existed - being an esoteric legend, like the Zaots - and even still, most HQ fans still dont know much about their background.
ReplyDeleteFimir are really cool creatures - it's be good to see them back in some sort of capacity, even if it was something like the "supporting-act background and models"
ReplyDeleteMy girl is looking pretty good there. Currently working on some more fimir. Would love some more of the older models though
ReplyDeleteBuilding my own Fimmy clan right now... nearing completion in fact! Only for GW to bring them back, offends me argh! :)
ReplyDelete