u/greg_mca

Context: Magnesium-Elektron Ltd (today Luxfer MEL Technologies) was a British magnesium alloys manufacturer founded in the 1930s, partly owned by and using the products and processes of IG Farben, the German chemicals giant which at one point was the largest conglomerate in Europe and the world's biggest chemicals manufacturer.

At this time magnesium manufacturing used ores and minerals from salt lakes and solution mining, as well as from rocks such as dolomite and magnesite. Magnesium as a metal is super reactive so it can't be extracted by heating like with iron. You first need to produce magnesium chloride, which then needs to be electrolysed to make the pure metal. IG Farben's process was to grab magnesium oxide (for example from crushed and calcinated ores) and then blast it in a 1000°C furnace while pumping in chlorine gas (called the Chlorinator), which was then scooped out as a molten soup and electroplated, recycling the gas. After all this was done you got magnesium metal, pretty strong and very light, perfect for aircraft. Most of the industrial developments had come from Germany, and by 1938 nazi Germany was making more magnesium than every other country combined.

Anyway in 1939 the UK declares war on nazi Germany, and within weeks German subs are already sinking ships around Britain. MEL was in a bind, as they no longer had reliable supplies from abroad, were cut off from IG Farben, were in a country actively fighting the company whose stuff they were using, and British demand for aircraft production was only increasing. The thing is though that magnesium isn't actually that difficult to find, it's the 4th most common element on earth, the 8th most in the crust, and the 3rd most common element dissolved in seawater (after you know, the sodium chloride). The hard part has always been separating it out.

Enter the Dow process, pioneered by Dow Chemical in the US, who worked out that mixing calcium oxide and seawater allowed insoluble magnesium hydroxide sludge to be separated, which after the addition of hydrochloric acid, produced your electrolysis precursor. In this way, by 1941 MEL could produce magnesium metal by pulling it right out of the sea from the comfort of wartime Britain (well, Hartlepool and Manchester), making thousands of tons across the war for all sorts of industries. Nowadays magnesium is the third most common structural metal, used for everything from car parts and pyrotechnics to temporary prosthetics and laxatives.

TL;DR during WWII a British magnesium manufacturer was cut off from their supply, but got around it by yoinking metal straight out of the ocean and using it to build planes

Inspired by u/kendy2552 and their recent posts, I decided to get a move on and paint this lone crisis suit that I recently got off ebay (WIPs at the end). Since I had a lot of time to think while painting, I came up with lore for my new custom commander:

Name: Shas'el Bork'an Lor'ma Shamasa

Title: sub-commander Tidewind of the Coldmoon (sometimes translated as Seawind or Cloudmoon)

Location: Currently assigned to Nor Yari Pacification Contingent, T'olku sept command

Datasheet: Enforcer or crisis commander

Battlesuit model: older style XV8, potentially modified to XV8-02 or XV85 standard

Wargear available: flamer, plasma rifle, 2 burst cannons, missile pod, battlesuit support system, weapon support system, shield generator. Deployed in a fashion similar to Brightwind, Blinding Spear, and Soul Cleanse configurations.

Image 6: Tidewind's XV8 and their current infantry uniforms, reflecting their current deployment on Nor Yari (left) as well as the uniform they wore on Go'shol (right).

Props to the 10th edition codex's name generator for getting me through the hardest part of the writing process. In the last image I couldn't decide between scarab green or temple gate teal, so painted both with highlights before settling on the darker shade.

Background:

Born on Bork'an under the name D'tano, El'Shamasa had a fairly orthodox early career. Recruited straight into the fighting on Yngirheim as part of a Bork'an rifle team, their unit served well for 3 years and then spent a year with a contingent in the Burning Moon War before reaching their first trial by fire. As Shas'ui, they spent a year leading strike teams, where they were drafted in as reinforcements during the Bosrai Clash, then transferred to a longer deployment in the Go'shol Patrol, temporarily taking on the role of pathfinder leader before rotating out and choosing the stealth team route. It was during this time they began formulating their own tactics, gaining the title of Coldmoon for their preference for Kauyon and stealth, specifically using nighttime weather patterns to insert units undetected into optimal ambush locations amongst enemy positions, as well as fighting in frozen terrain. After 2 years in this role, they opted for the conventional path and took up the XV8, in which they passed their trial by fire to reach Shas'vre.

It was at this point that the now Coldmoon's career took a turn. Their superior was promoted to Shas'el and requested Coldmoon join their crisis bodyguard, also giving them time to focus on tactics. In addition, after 4 years on Go'shol, their Bork'an cadre was earmarked for an expedition as part of the third sphere expansion in 998M41 to establish a colony on a human outpost the tau called Kran'orl: a rarely trafficked frontier planet and trade waystation on a quiet shipping route on the northwestern fringe. The initial landing and occupation went smoothly, but a year in, the expansion ended and the great rift opened, isolating the expedition from the ethereal council. Raiding and pirate activity rose sharply, and human forces on the planet started an insurgency, leading the ethereals present to form a Coalition and order a pacification.

Kran'orl is a verdant planet with rugged terrain and harsh seasonal changes, marked by dense forests, plains, and mountains dotted with small settlements on its main landmasses. This made it easy for various enemies to hide, even with its limited technology and industry, with the fire caste securing settlements and hunting pirates on and off world. It would be without contact with the empire for over a decade. During this time Coldmoon would spend time as a crisis bodyguard and then ethereal bodyguard, refining their tactics and staying loyal to their cause all the while.

They were promoted to Shas'el by the ethereals in the field after several years, and then formed their own cadre for pacifying rogue elements in the planet's wilderness as an independent command. During this time they gained the title of Tidewind, based on their tactics for slow infiltration with regular units followed by sudden sharp actions to decisively disrupt strongholds, similar to how rolling fog banks suddenly turned to gale force winds along the planet's coasts. These tactics eschewed most battlesuit units in favour of infantry and stealth units to keep a low profile, with heavy hitting tanks and broadsides being brought in once the shooting began. El'Shamasa became an expert in Monat as well as Kauyon, and preferred to command from a distance without a bodyguard, seeing their role as a coordinator for contingents of the undersupplied coalition.

After 12 years in pacifications isolated on Kran'orl, full contact was reestablished with the empire proper, bringing trade and relief. El'Shamasa had gained a position of prominence, commanding contingents, monitoring trade, and keeping the peace, and even holding rotating temporary command of the fire caste in the coalition as a Shas'o, valued for their levelheadedness, practicality, and organisational skills. Other commanders still had seniority, but Tidewind is happier being a follower anyway. Upon reestablishing contact however, the ethereal council refused to ratify the Shas'o promotion, only officially recognising Tidewind as Shas'el. After reintegration, and praise for their loyalty and keeping the command together, Tidewind was transferred off planet to Nor Yari, a mountainous world under T'olku Sept command, which offered a similar cold climate and pacification role that Tidewind had experience in, with infantry heavy tactics and stealth at the forefront.

Tidewind was transferred alone despite commendation from the expedition's ethereals, but was able to bring their trusty and scarred XV8, built to high Bork'an standards to an older no longer produced pattern. As a commander, the battlesuit has been upgraded with a better reactor and hardwired systems. Originally armed with a plasma rifle and older style of flamer with a multi tracker and hardwired drone controller, it has also at times been fitted with burst cannons and missiles, with target lock and shield generator systems, plus an ejection system. Upon returning to the empire, representatives from Bork'an upgraded the plasma rifle to a plasma accelerator as an act of recognition from their home sept. Tidewind has been quite taken by the new XV95 and XV22, reminiscing that they would have taken that route if they'd known about them when they left on their expedition, but for now are still wedded to the XV8, and to a lesser extent the XV25, despite some regrets.

Tidewind has repainted their battlesuit's sensor suite and some armour plates in T'olku green, as befitting their new unit, but has pointedly not painted over the remaining original Bork'an markings (including the original winter mountain forest camo scheme); reminders of their previous rank and role, as well as some personal messages from their old cadres painted in places that do not interfere with regulations. Their new command, alone, is just beginning

I really sped through painting it the first time (it was my 2nd eldar model) so I wanted to redo it without stripping the original paint. I also dug up a banner from my bits box that I'll use for marking out who my warlord is in games. I gave it a larger base to use as an autarch, though with crucible of champions I could also create a believable custom loadout (craftworld warleader, aspect heavy armour, chainsword, either pistol, and either strategist or outcast). The warleader rerolls suit the paired weapons