Faith and leadership among the stars

Another wee bit of converting for the salvage team tonight. The first item isn't exactly a member of the team itself, but more someone they may meet along the way.

Alexander over on the Ammobunker forum suggested my salvage crew should visit a certain accursed place, the Yggddrasill Arkke. While I like the idea of my crew of scum on that awesome set of terrain, and am quietly flattered someone would think they'd fit in such an excellent setting and showcase of modelling excellence, background-wise I wouldn't let them near that place without a priest!
And so the seed was sown... Could it be possible to combine the imagery of a Void Suit with that of an Imperial preacher?
Both have a rather dominant visual style to define them. The Imperial preacher, as a miniature, relies heavily on his priestly robes for visual identification. Which could potentially clash heavily with the void suit as an all encompassing, heavy, enviroment-sealed suit. As I thought about it a bit, it was a challenge I just couldn't let go. Would it be possible to make a visually and thematically strong miniature, that simultaneously read clearly as both an Imperial Priest and a Void suit?
It was immediately clear I could go two ways about this: Realistically, by making a standard Void suit, and hanging it full with the priests religious accoutrements, treating the suit as a sealed, contained unit. Or the dramatic way, by allowing (part of) the Preachers monastic robes to be worn outside the void suit. Naturally, I applied the maxim "Story before rules" here as well, and chose the dramatic option.
So I present to you,the first steps in the creation of an Itinerant Preacher:

As you can see, he's far from finished, but this shows the basic direction I want to take with him. His feet will be sculpted into Void Suit feet, and he will naturally need to be slathered in religious bling. Currently I'm thinking of giving him a religious icon on a staff in his right hand, and have him pointing a pistol of some make in his left.
I'm seeing this character as a wandering priest, bringing religiosity to the backwoods of the Imperium. As he usually travels mostly from between space stations and deep space mining facilities he has accustomed himself to permanently wearing his Void suit. The familiar gear also aids in getting accepted, and heard, by the locals. He's no big-wig, just a man of faith (potentially a semi-ascetic with a vow of poverty) with the will to preach and a need to wander.

As I was looking for parts, and waiting for glue to dry, I also did a test-fit for the salvage crews Crewboss:

As you can see, being the boss gets you the fancy gear. The gorget-style collar is just a mock-up to see if I like the idea. If I do go ahead with it, the lower edges will get a bit of an arch to them, and I'll try and sculpt a bit of a central crease to the collar itself, giving it all a bit more of a gothic flair.
For the abdomen armour, I'm thinking of either a more fancy version of the articulated belly plates from the light Void suit, or either a peascod or gothic shape plackart. (Disregard the small Bretonnian shield, it's a discarded idea...) His kneepads and toecaps will also get a central crease, to give it that more of an armoured, noble look to them.


As the Preacher is a representative of the Ecclesiarchy and the Crewboss is, well, a greedy showoff, they will both get a more high end powerpack than the rank and file spacers:

 Not nearly finished, but you can see the inspiration/reference in the top of the picture... These two will however be a more workaday edition of the SoB powerpack.
Although, I'm thinking of giving the Preacher a regular, bulky, powerpack after all. Background-wise it would be easier for him to have it serviced at all the backwaters he visits. And it would give me more surface area to model stuff onto him, like a back-up longarm on the side of his pack, and random gear, to tie him in a bit more with the classic metal GW Imperial Preachers.