Current mood:	excited
Current music:	Kamelot - March of Mephisto

The Hellfire Consortium (Part One of Three)

As the three women stared at each other, there was a creaking, ancient sound, and the large table in the middle of the room started to sink into what had appeared to be blank stone. It moved astonishingly quickly and then reappeared with the Reverend Jacob Brimstone standing upon it.

“And welcome to the first night,” he said in a deep, low voice.

So begins my tale of the "Hellfire Consortium", my biggest shoot of the year and most ambitious ever!  These images were taken over a weekend last month and feature five of my favourite models.  Each model had an individual character to play in my Steampunk opera and all jumped into their roles with huge enthusiasm.  My friend demondaz played the evil leader of the group, Jacob Brimstone, a one time man of God now more interested in prolonging his own existence.  His "Hellfire Consortium" was completed by his beautiful but deadly partner Madame Moreau played by enlyyl and their adopted daughter, the mechanical genius: "Wrench", played by thevioletraven.  Into this madness comes our two heroines, belle_fille1982 as the feisty Amelia Braveheart and Lady Constance, heir to the Blackmore millions, played by giselle_bour 

I'm planning to post a separate entry on the Steampunk communities featuring each character in turn, in the coming weeks so keep watching.  Many thanks to my prop maker Paul, for making this shoot possible and for creating such wonderful devices.  enlyyl for letting us use her beautiful jewellery and budgie_uk for taking my ideas and turning them into something real!  They'll be more coming next week.

Images: davecharsley
Models: demondaz as the Reverend Jacob Brimstone, giselle_bour as Lady Constance Blackmore, belle_fille1982 as Amelia Braveheart, thevioletraven as "Wrench" and enlyyl as " Madame Twila Moreau
Words: budgie_uk
Props: Paul Smith
Jewellery: enlyyl

...tore his gaze away, his brain afire.

Moments later, he smiled. That same terrible half-smile that had preceded the burning of the nunnery, had come moments before he’d killed the child at its mother’s breast, had heralded the war between science and nature five decades past.

He summoned his compatriots and bade them look into the crystal... to look deeply... and become his once again.









Had visitors been allowed into the inner sanctums of Madame Twila Morau’s bedroom, they may have expressed something approaching surprise that there were no mirrors, no reflective surfaces of any kind.

One might have suggested that she wished not to look upon herself, but that would not be the case; she enjoyed seeing her reflection, but only in another’s eyes, usually as they pleaded for relief from the agony she had inflicted.

And then there was The Reverend.



And on the fourth night, they gathered by the Hellfire Chair.

The lights flickered in the background as, deep in their individual thoughts, they pondered. And while some considered the future, others were lost in a past that would not cease its grip for years to come...