Neophids

Welcome to the Zeo Genesis Concept Art Showcase, where we give you a behind-the-scenes look at how we craft new models and factions!

This series focuses on our new faction, the Orgh! Possessing advanced technology, vast intelligence, and an intense drive to conquer and survive, even a half-grown Orgh boasts the agility, durability, and destructive power of a zeoform. The faction consists of the dominant, lizard-like Orgh species and their many servitor species, who have become bound to the Orgh through history or conquest.

For this episode, we spoke to Narrative/Worldbuilding Lead Gav Thorpe, Concept Artist Dan Morison, and Concept Artist Graey Erb about creating the Neophids, the younger form of the Orgh species.

Neophids - The Background

Gav Thorpe: As they fulfill a similar role/niche to the “tactical” zeos of Pact and GuardCorps, the smaller of the two Orgh-types has to look lean and dangerous, with about the mass of a Rakke or Stormer. They are the adolescents of the Orgh species, full of competitive zeal and energy, trying to outdo each other. 

They display some of the technology of the Orgh, with distinctive “Blaze” weapons and armor, but combined with more of the barbaric, bloodthirsty nature of the aliens. Zeo Genesis showcases fast, dynamic (kinetic!) action, so we imagined these creatures leaping from rooftops and dodging and weaving through hails of enemy fire to prove their courage and get at the enemy. They retain some of the Orgh trappings of civilization and advanced society, even though they have become cut-throat combatants.

Neophids - Initial Concepts

Dan Morison: The Neophids are the younger, more energetic members of the Orgh hierarchy, with the most to prove. Their forms haven’t yet filled out with the Antarch muscle mass, so they’re less hunched and have longer tails, larger bone-crowns, and a lithe frame.

As the Neophids’ are at the forefront of the action, trying to prove themselves, those who survive bear the scars of their engagements— missing limbs, eyes, cybernetics, and so on.

The Neophids armor is a mix of looted bounty from their various conquests, challenges, and infighting, mixed with tribal effigies, trophies, clan markings, and other unknowable alien trinkets, representing the Neophid climbing the hierarchy. Each piece gives a Neophid a personal identity as it makes its way out of the clone-brood. 

They originally had all-encompassing body armor, but that got replaced with a more hodgepodge collection of looted or “earned” armor. This allowed for a bit of texture difference between them and the human factions.

Neophids - Refined Concepts

Graey Erb: When we started refining the Orgh as a faction, one of my first tasks was to take some of the existing sculpts (based on the original designs from Dan Morison), refine the shapes, and add some details that really gave the Orgh a distinct visual look as a faction. 

The purpose of this first sheet was to develop some decorations or extra pieces we could add onto the old sculpts to unify them in that way, and to try a couple different avenues to see what resonated with the rest of the team so that I could use that as a jumping-off point for the rest of the models. 

Some of the glyphs used for the Orgh in their original sketches were inspired by Meso-American motifs, and that informed the first few takes, but we also knew that these creatures should have a brutal hunter aesthetic (including ridged armor and trophies), which clashed with some of those shapes a little bit. In this case, a lot of elements on this first sheet actually made it to the final designs!

While the armor seemed like it would work well, I wanted to keep some hints at the Orgh having a distinct, nuanced culture that was more than just smashing things. The knotwork and metal decorations worked into it felt like a good way to imply intelligence and maybe even a bit of nobility to the Orgh while still being innately binding and restrictive—a form of violence as decoration. 

The scarification was another way to push this idea a bit more literally. It made sense to me that as the Orgh age and grow they collect these injuries as another form of trophy, possibly even using them to accentuate the cybernetic enhancements they use to get back in fighting form.

After some revisions and getting the decoration style nailed down, it was time to dial in on specific boxes! The Neophids here are the youngest and most lightly armored of the Orgh proper and needed to look like they could get into the fight quickly. 

These sketches are based on the idea that the Orgh “earn their metal” as they age and prove their worth. Since these Neophids are at the bottom of the ladder, they have very little actual armor. As they fight and prove themselves, they take trophies from their kills, replacing the studs and bones with armor plating until they are promoted to heavier troops…if they’re lucky, they may even make it long enough to become an Antarch! 

The last step was to work up medium and heavy armor variants to finish out their roster! At this point, most of the armor shapes and motifs had been figured out elsewhere, so designing them was less about exploration and more about just applying what I already knew about the faction aesthetic to make something that felt like it belonged.

Things like the crystalline helmet crest, the maze-like tubing decorations, and the knotwork arrangements will be recurring themes across the range as we dig further into the Orgh showcases; something we’ll get into more with the Neophids’ larger brethren!