Broken Mirror - Bygone Era

 

Broken Mirror - Bygone Era

Side A Feat. Goddess Nikey

My self-image is just as murky as a reflection in a worn old mirror. Broken and weathered by time's toll. There's a weight upon me. I will carry it eternally, even as the world dies and the ground below me falls away. At this moment, I wish to come to terms with it. My dull reflection carries it, too.

Happy Pride!

 

Grim Redesign!

 

 Decided to explore Grim's CHR design again! I gave them a more naturalistic look with two afro variations. I haven't developed more updated lore on them yet, but I like the idea of them being an immersive daydreamer like myself. They were Plural/System (system origin is unknown) in their old lore, but I don't think I'm equipped with the knowledge to handle such a sensitive topic for a character. Maybe with more research at a later time, I will explore this for them again.

Removing their original monster design changes their old lore a bit. They live in Astoria, a place where stories come from. Characters in this world are in a never-ending search for a story to fit in. Grim is studying to be a protagonist, but they are a glitch character, a character that fits in no genre. Their old design has parts implying they are a combination of different characters. They look human but still had monster traits. They look genderfluid and can be interpreted as either male or female. They mostly see themself as non-binary and consider themself human.

The important theme in their old story was that all characters must find their one true story or else they fade away. To do so, they must be in a strong community, participate in stories with other characters, and keep developing themselves. For Grim, they not only need to do all this for themself but for their headmates as well. They and their headmates must work together to find their story.

Here are the old sketches of them from last year:

Some sketches and thoughts for a character redesign for my old character, Grim.

Part 1

Part 2

Part 3

Part 4

If you are Plural or a System, let me know what you think of this character!

Speedpaint below!

 

 

World of Relics World Anvil Wiki Updated!

 

Hello, World!

Check out my wiki for World of Relics

So, I decided to upload some of my world-building articles on World Anvil again. While they are all still WIPs, I still want to share what I have so far! I'm also very open to critique for improving any grammar, spelling, or writing errors.

Biology of Living Objects is a bit of a long read, a consequence of my writing style, so I might later split it up into two sections.

I really like Animalcules. It's a shorter read and it's neat!

Make sure to see the content warning list in Welcome! Read First!

Another Smol writing thingy

Sharing this post from tumblr about my writing:

May, 2, 2022

I think one of the most creatively frustrating things about writing is that I have a really good emotional scene in my head that I want to put down on paper. But to get to that scene, I need to make context (worldbuilding, timeline, character behavior and arcs, etc) around it so that I understand what made that scene so important in my head. And it takes a while to get there and build up to it.

Maybe I should just write the scene down as-is without all the context or put more focus on the characters??

May, 22, 2022

So that little tidbit grew into several drafts that further developed some character and world-building stuff that I was stuck on for the past few months. Really proud of myself! It's still in my ultra super rough draft with 1001 grammar mistakes but I finally got it out of my system hah hah!

Also, note to self, make a map of the Realms now so you're not doing guesswork while writing!

Taken some screenshots of my super rough draft below with some world-building context notes! It's a bit long, lol. Quick CW for discrimination.

From my chapters super rough draft, Trial of the Century:

 Democritus ask Doomgreater what does that entail for her sentence. Death by magical burnout. Gwuenevere will be forced to burn through her own magic until it consumes her, then when she is revived, she will remember the pain and horror of it all. According to her records, she never faced death. It will be her first, a dose of reality to shock her. Gwuenevere speaks up, telling everyone that she had already faced that reality months ago when she tried her first spell. While she did not die, that experience only taught her about her limitations back then. It never convinced her to fear magic, only to respect it and learn more about it. Doomgreater’s punishment will only solidify her convictions. She will not be driven by fear. She knows exactly what she is doing with her powers and she will understand them to the fullest no matter how many times she die. She will not be restrained by fear.

Democritus moves. 

A massive metal fist slams directly in front of Gwuenevere, cracking the marble below. While Luther is taken aback by this, backpedaling away from Democritus, Gwuenevere only made a small flinch at it. Then she looks up at the massive war-torch metaiudex. Democritus ask her if she fears them. She shrugs, of course she does. She spent this entire trial and investigation afraid of how she would be sentenced by them. But she is willing to face it. It’s her trial and they are the judge. Democritus looks at her thoughtfully. She is a foolish object. The laws are there to protect her, yet she still wants to pursue magic? Why? Is her life as a mere altrix enough?

(Gwuenevere is judged by Democritus for practicing magic as a fragile object. Gwuenevere (cloak) uses she/her, Democritus (Metaiudex monolith war-torch) uses they/them, Doomgreater (war wrecking ball) uses he/him/Greater, Luther (broadsword) uses he/him)

For some context in this segment, fragile objects are more vulnerable to damage, both from their environment and from their own magic. Due to this, all fragile objects must wear a magical suppressor to keep their internal magic at low levels. The suppressor must be worn at all times and for the remainder of their lives. However, Gwuenevere found a way to overcome this after experiencing an accident that nearly killed her. This discovery paved the way for her to develop semi-permanent core strengthening techniques. This also later enabled her to practice magic with spells that would have killed her.

In the Mundane Realm, fragiles are by law never to practice magic. If their kingdom allows it, low-level magic may be allowed, but higher levels are not permitted. These restrictions were put in place centuries ago after the Relic Wars, a war between Relickind over who controls the living objects in the Mundane Realm. After the war, objectkind won their independence from Relickind, but suffered the loss of many object groups, including the extinction of living weapons. To ensure the survival of objectkind, all surviving kingdoms after the war must make sure that all objects yield multiple kernels at the end of their lives. Basically, the longer the object lives, the more kernels they yield at the time of their true death. Dying too early will only yield one kernel, but dying at the end of their lives will yield multiple.

Centuries later, the Mundane Realm is populated by a mixture of hardy and fragile objects. All hardy objects are given priority to materials for revival and repairs. This is because most hardy objects would become refits, replacing the extinct living weapons and other rare hardy objects that died out centuries ago. Refitted objects are living objects with modified cores that are stronger and more durable than other non-refitted objects. Both non-refitted and refitted hardy objects has plenty of freedom in their kingdoms. From the multitude of careers and public offices to serving as a war-object, hardy objects are given vast advantages due to their greater durability and prominence in society.

From my chapter super rough draft, Amelia's Draft: 

But, Amelia continues, it’s something they needed, right? Gwuenevere shakes her head. No. She found ways to protect herself from her own magic, so much so that she has no need of a suppressor. She will not be forced to give up. Amelia is shocked by Gwuenevere’s passion. They wish they still have it, but doing so now... They stop. Amelia realized what had happened to them. They were trained to be afraid of their own power. Magic is dangerous to fragile objects, but Gwuenevere’s discoveries would change everything. They need not to be afraid anymore. Amelia gives Gwuenevere their support and promise that they will keep her discoveries a secret.

While these restrictions were once created for good centuries ago, they later fostered negative stereotypes about fragile objects. Many hardy objects see fragiles as physically and mentally weak, requiring brave hardies to defend them from the horrors of wars. Some hardy objects also think that fragiles are not capable of much due to their lack of magical education. Fragiles were seen as “in the way”, weak, feeble, broken (for low durability objects made of soft or brittle wood, stone, or metal), and vapid. They are taught to fear their magical potential by their kingdoms, the hardy objects further reinforce this point of view.

The old restrictions still controlling fragile object lives are the following:

For the entirety of their lives, Fragiles must wear a magical suppressor to keep their magic under control to prevent damage to their cores, while hardy objects don’t need to wear a suppressor to stop their magic from damaging their cores.

Fragiles must work “safe jobs” including recordkeeping, becoming an altrix of an abbey, serving certain low-risk establishments, etc. Any job that is deemed too rough for a fragile is not permitted. This includes any public office, as it is a requirement that a hardy object must have some experience as a war object to participate in politics. Not all safe jobs are the same in each kingdom. One job that is considered safe might be declared unsafe in another kingdom.

Fragiles are permitted for low-level magic for basic needs, but cannot pursue higher feats of magic. Hardy objects have the freedom to move up in their magical education and pursue magical careers.

Fragiles must stay in the villages of their home kingdoms of their hatching unless evacuations are in order. Travel is deemed a hazard for many fragile objects by many kingdoms. Hardy objects have freedom of movement between villages and kingdoms at any time.

 

 
 

Completed Sylvania the Elven Ground Staff

 

She is finally complete!!! Sylvania the Elven Ground Staff in the style of World of Relics! Inspired by Sylvania of the Spirit Keep from RAID Shadow Legends.

Happy 31!

 

I just celebrated my birthday yesterday! I really wanted to post this drawing of Menathrenna yesterday, but it took a bit longer to complete!

Thank you, everyone, for following me and my art! I am grateful for your support! Thank you!

 

Working on Sylvania the Elven Ground Staff!

 

Working on Sylvania the Elven Ground Staff #WIP!

I was inspired by a sponsorship ad in Lifering’s exit interview episode I have seen a while ago on Youtube.

Her war-object design is based on Sylvania of the Spirit Keep. I incorporated a few elements from her elven design, such as her chest plate, hip guards, and pauldrons, into her staff from the game.

I had some troubleshooting on her staff design. Polearms usually have a blade at the end for a long-range strike, like halberds, spears, or tridents. The blade-like protrusions on the head of Sylvania's staff don’t look like they are made for striking from the side.

 

 

For something that looks close to her staff weapon in Raid, I was able to find the Fangtian Ji, a Chinese spear from the Song dynasty (960–1279AD), designed for striking opponents directly or knocking them off their horses with the spear tip or side blade. (see also the Dagger Axe for a better context of her design).

Sylvania does not do this in the gameplay footage in the ad, she just strikes the ground with an AOE attack. So, I think it’s a staff weapon for casting powerful magic.

In this design, I exaggerated the blades and lengthened the spearhead. It made her look very intimidating in my style. A powerful and high-ranking war-staff!

Gwuenevere and her First Spell

 

A short mini-comic about Gwuenevere casting her first spell at 32. It did not go well. 

Ink and ink wash for the majority of this sketch. Acrylic paint and ink for the crystal.

 

And a special blurb that inspired this below! Warning, it's a bit rough, so mispellings and typos abound! CW for self-injury, body horror, and near-death.

Update on Pyroblast the War-Torch (Paintbrush II fanart)

I sketched out their facial and head anatomy. I like a naturalistic style with my object characters, so I added a slight curve on Pyroblast's head. I also gave them a fuller pompadour bristle style, too!

 

Wing anatomy was something I was stuck on for a bit, mostly because I was bouncing between robotic wings vs a more naturalistic bird-like wing. While designing this, I realized that polearm war-objects like Pyroblast would need some protection on their wing joints and shoulder. So I added a pauldron over the should joint that overlaps with the start of the wing and a segmented couter(?) at the elbow. I also added segmented bands over the metal primary feathers of Pyroblast's wing. 

 

As for the material makeup of a polearm's anatomy: Both flying and ground polearms are made of strong light metals and wood. The wings of a flying polearm are made up of aluminum/thin steel sheets (still researching this) enchanted with spells to strengthen them for combat, flight, and high temperatures. Pyroblast is a Heavy Class General Dread-torch, so their materials need to handle stress from high heat from their fire magic, extreme turbulence from the dynamic flight, and from any attacks from other Dread-torches.

Lower rank war-torches are mostly for aerial attacks on ground armies, while Dread-torches are castle destroyers. Castles would need defense against Dread-torches, either from using Dread-torches of their own (provided from their kingdom's capital, usually for heavily targeted castles) or using other means of anti-air defense.

I'm thinking about using this design for future flying polearms set in the Mundane Realm. For RFR, I might use a more simplified style to show how the first flying polearms still kept most of their original weapon shape before the Inversion Event.