Mortuary monuments

Nowadays we think of mortuary monuments as being limited to tombs, crypts, gravestones and occasionally commemorative statues, plaques or park benches. This is a fairly recent phenomenon, however. Many cultures have or have had mortuary practices that seem alien to the western mindset, whether collecting the heads of fallen foes to honour them, pickling the heads or other body parts of deceased kin so that they are always with their family, or collecting the severed hands of hanged criminals for magical protection, and that's just examples from Europe. One such practice, although rather less gruesome, arose in the 16th century and continued through into the 18th century: the mortuary sword.

Mortuary swords sound a lot more funereal than they were. What they were, and many still are, isn't a sword to be buried with, rather they were weapons (usually swords, but other types do exist) featuring a depiction of a deceased notable, and/or inscriptions in their honour. The most famous examples commemorate the various Jacobite kings who ruled the United Kingdom in that time, especially those who died violent deaths, and many scholars dispute the use of the term for memorials to others, but examples commemorating others do exist. I've even heard/read mention of some very late examples that commemorate Lord Admiral Horatio Nelson, but have been unable to find any evidence to shift that from apocryphal supposition to proven fact.

My point here is that, in the same way as European nobles and officers a few centuries ago would use their disposable income to commemorate the dead with customised hilts, blades, etc., often on ceremonial or dress weapons, rather than useful ones, perhaps, as gamers, we can do similar. Certainly, for the most part, gamers have sufficient disposable income to purchase miniatures, use said miniatures in a similar fashion as dress swords were used, and often cherish them. Perhaps mortuary miniatures are a way we can immortalise those we have lost, in a way that is specific to our hobby.

Again, i can tie this into the 40k squats, with their Ancestor-Spirits, and their depictions of the same on their vehicles and armour. Indeed, as I've argued in a previous post, a great cataclysm, such as the coming of Leviathan, would explain a lot of that, and would make the Ancestor depictions on their vehicles a form of mortuary monument. I've already taken this concept to the stage of application, and am currently working on a Griffon Mortar Carrier with gripping beast depictions on its glacis and dozer of Oscar, my late cat, while the knot work along the flanks is inspired by the pattern of his collar and the colour scheme of the vehicle itself (red with a white trim and details) is that of his harness, and the heavy mortar itself bears an approximation of his fur pattern.

I'm not saying that this is the future, and that this is how gamers should be memorialised, simply putting out the option of doing so, so that the memory of our fallen can be with us as we game.