It is with great sadness that NOVA Open and the NOVA Open Charitable Foundation (NOCF) learned of Nathanial Taylor's passing. Nate began attending NOVA Open as an event organizer with the Horus Heresy team in 2015. This community, in particular, is clearly reeling from this heavy loss and we offer them our heartfelt sympathy.
We also remember meeting him in the early days of the Foundation Lounge, when it was situated in a 3-room suite at the NOVA Open convention. Nate arrived, loud and proud as was his wont, carting a huge donation of his Rhode Island beer, raising hundreds of dollars for charity. He was an iconic one-of-a-kind in kilt and beard and passion which endeared him to all.
Generous to a fault, Nate took on a solo raffle project in 2020, becoming a member of the Artist Consortium, when he created "Ignis Caeli, the Warbringer Nemesis Titan." Nate's excellent talents were responsible for this model being among the Top Ten raffles that year, raising over $5,000 for Fisher House Foundation. The masterpiece was won by Aleksander Madrid and shipped cross country to Concord, CA. Nate was so proud of Ignis that he loaded the Warbringer, in its massive KR Case, into his car during the summer of covid, hand-delivering it from Rhode Island to NOCF headquarters in Virginia. Those present at the delivery were regaled with a grand recitation of the maniacal details surrounding the building of this massive model, enjoying the comedic talents of Nate's dry wit. The NOVA Open and NOCF represent just two small segments in Nate's life, but these pieces underscore the thousands of people he was able to have an everlasting positive effect upon. It is an understatement to simply say he will be missed as he truly leaves a hole in the fabric of this great community. NOCF took videos of Nate unpacking Ignis Caeli in Virginia that day, as well as a video showing off his incredible Warbringer Nemesis. We hope they will be appreciated and memorialize this side of Nathanial Taylor forever: THE UNPACKING "IGNIS CAELI" With our sincere condolences to Nate's family and friends, and to those around the world whose lives he touched.