Shadowborne Aristocrat

Quick color sketch of a female Shadowborn aristocrat. Well...as colorful as it can be. Those guys sure love their angsty black wardrobes. :P

Here's the male and female side by side.

Castor Skies and the Fall of Ayrunu

So, I haven't posted in a while, but I'm back! I have two more nations I want to get up, but first, I thought I'd toss this small (very small) excerpt from a short story I'm working on for Pathseekers. It's about the Fall of the Xuruian capital, Ayrunu, though the the eyes of Castor Skies. Castor is my first "hero" character. Think of him as a major player in the history of Triunia. Anyway, this is what I got so far.

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The man once known as Castor Noran looked lazily into the sky. It had been over fifteen years since he was accepted by the Xuruians, and moved to the capital city of Ayrunu. There he became Castor of the Skies or Castor Skies, which he generally used when signing books. That’s right, finally he was an accepted novelist, poet, and all around philosopher. It was his skill with the pen that finally persuaded the Xuruian leaders to accept his request to join their nation.

Clouds floated casually over the city as Castor remembered the struggles he went through trying to become an official Xuruian. They weren’t the type to let just anyone in, and Castor was the exact opposite of the people of this nation.

He was born in the nation of Aer. In fact, he was raised to be the next ruler of Aer-Ith along with his twin brother Cyron. Given Aer-Ith’s disposition to choose twin emperors, they generally groomed multiple sets of twins at al times to take the throne one day. Cyron and Castor Noran were at the top of the list before Cyron was killed in a mining accident that many believed was not an accident at all but a ploy to take Noran family out of the running for the crowns. Ploy or not, it worked.

Castor could not be a twin emperor without a twin, so like all not chosen to be the next ruler, Castor would be groomed to a duke or earl under one of the emperors.

Castor had other ideas. He was never one for royalty or nobility in the first place. It was never his choice to be an emperor, and his brother enjoyed the notion far more than him. Castor saw it as an opportunity to do something else entirely. And while it’s true that the nobility of Aer-Ith are far more into the intellectual world than the lower classes, not even they compared to the creativity level of Castor Noran.

His politics were seen as ridiculous, his philosophies as lazy, and his writing as fanciful and a waste by his people’s standards. So he did what very few Aers ever did, he left the mountains. He set his eyes on Xuru almost immediately; goggles on, of course, to protect his sensitive eyes from the sun. And to the dark skin Xuru, he was a joke—at first at least. They saw his pale skin and goggled eyes as the sign of a sheltered fool, which is how they saw most of the people from Aer-Ith. Xuruians were people who believed the sky was the limit—quite literally—and they saw the people of Aer-Ith as blockheads and laborers.

Castor stretched out in the green grass as he smiled, remembering the first days in the flying cities. For a nation that claimed freethinking and open minds, Castor saw them as pretty closed minded and ignorant on first contact. It was this he used to his advantage. He used words, images, and colors to show them the folly of their thinking. It was with that they recognized how far from the path they had strayed. Originally, the Xuruians wanted to become the world’s source of knowledge and art, but somewhere along the path they had become very xenophobic and stubborn. It was Castor Noran who held the mirror for them.

Since that day, so very long ago, he had became Castor Skies and never looked back. Ayrunu grew and her libraries were full of tomes from the entire world. They even had a section dedicated to Castor’s works and travels. He had become famous from the Shimmering Coasts to the depths of Ith.

And now he was able to relax in the mecca of art and knowledge, one that he’d forever be credited to opening to the rest of the world.

“Master Skies,” came a voice from above him.

“Eh?” Castor said as he awoke from his memories of yesteryear. He opened his eyes to see his butler Tylen Roves standing above him. “How’s it going, Roves? I was just enjoying the clouds. You know, dreaming of the past and how I came to be here.”

“Very good, sir,” said the older man in his very drawn out voice. He always seemed to be getting everything he could from each word. It’s why Castor hired him. “I was sent to warn you that the weather looks like it is going to be dreadful.”

“What? I talked to Hlotir earlier, and he said it was smooth sailing today. No need for sky shields or anything.” Hlotir Yymen was a Stormshifter, which to say was a specialized Airshifter. He studied the elements of the skies, and was generally good at predicting natural weather as well as creating it when necessary.

“Aye, I heard the reports, sir. However, look at that,” replied the butler pointing off to the left.

Castor sat up to see what the old man was pointing at, and even with his dark goggles on, he could tell the clouds to the far left of Ayrunu were darker then the rest. They were not just dark; though, they were black, and it was blacker than Castor had ever seen clouds before.

“That’s not storm clouds, Roves. Get inside and start packing.”

“Sir? What is it?”

Castor ran his hand through his fiery hair and replied, “I don’t know, but it isn’t any kind of storm clouds I’ve ever seen. Something is about to happen. Something big. Have you ever wanted to be part of history, Roves? Something that would be remembered forever.”

The butler paused for a moment and scratched his head. “What do you mean, sir?”
Castor looked back toward the approaching clouds and said, “We’re about to live it, Roves.”

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I totally want to write more. I really like Castor! Red hair, freckles, and all! Anyway, hope everyone here liked it! ^_^

Yokai: Take Two!

Received some feedback on the first designs and made changes accordingly. I think they're looking more dragon-y now.

Yokai

Just some doodles for the Yokai race. I took the tails off; they were too reminiscent of Draenei.

Race/Class Braindump

I'm gonna go ahead and just leave this right here. Feel free to comment or play off these ideas, or offer suggestions - these are just some of the things that have been knocking about in my head and I wanted to get them down on pixels.


More race possibilities:

Human (working title) - the default race in Triunia. Look like humans but need a different name and backstory.

Shadowborne - Dark, scaly, shadowy, corrupted race. Backstory already established.

Solari - Spritely elves with copper skin and golden hair. They love the outdoors and the daytime. Their home "city" is a giant tree that straddles the banks of a mountain waterfall. It is surrounded by a lush forest and acres upon acres of sunflower fields.

Technosapien - Modified "human race", derogatorily called "tech-heads". These beings have modified themselves using magitech. They travel in huge, creaking vessels that move over the land in colonies, kind of like how the jawas have their sand-crawlers.

Yokai - Japanese/Eastern-influenced race of people with dragon blood in their line, a kind of dragonfey but badass looking. Horns, tails, slit noses, reptilian eyes. Dragon samurai.

Phaunos - Humanoids that have goat legs and horns like satyrs. They live among nature as protectors of the forests and wild places of Triunia. An extremely fierce, tenacious people, they tend to run in small pocket tribes. They have wild hair and wear earth toned leathers and hides.


More class concepts:

Runemaster - Spell DPS class - Combines powerful runes to invoke magic spells. Tattoos all over body of various runes, wards, and symbols. Earns runes as rites of passage. Makes own clothing, sews on runes using magic thread. Very guarded way of magic. Master/student structure of learning. Their temple is found high in the mountains.

Wildheart- Summoner class - A wild person who has chosen to shed society, magic and tech to walk with the earth spirits. Powers come from the blessings of nature and the beasts only. Very connected to the land. Summons animal totems to aid in battle. Deals with animal medicine and nature spirits.

Soulmender - Healer class - Healers who use mudras (sacred hand signs) and astral sigils to bless and cure ailments. Acolytes of this religion travel far and wide looking for children that show inclination towards the healing arts. When one is found, he or she is taken to the House of Oma (their celestial goddess) and trained in the ways of the Mysteries.

Hexxer - DoT DPS & Status ailment class - Dealers in darker magic such as mind control, poisons, hexes and status ailments. Passed down as tradition usually in gypsy families. Those outside of the tradition learn by way of bartering, sometimes with their own power or soul.

Shadowdancer - DPS class - Needs description.

Oracle - Healer class - Upon entering the Order, initiates ritualistically blind themselves so they may use Second Sight magitechnology. Their headquarters is hidden in a secret location within the Baj'ravi Desert. They heal by taking away from their own life pool and giving it to others. They have an ability to build themselves back up so that they don't die from tapping someone else's health who isn't taking damage. Their philosophy towards life is very different from Soulmenders. While Soulmenders look outside to their goddess for strength, Oracles look within for discipline and to find perfect balance.

Warborn - Heavy Melee DPS/Tank class - The children and grandchildren of the 300 year Shadow Wars. From an extremely young age, they learned to fight the oncoming hordes of the Gloom. It is a legacy they continue to proudly and fiercely uphold.

Reaver - Fast Berserking DPS class - This dual-wielding class exists to inflict massive, insane burst damage against targets while needing a certain amount of downtime to recover afterwards. No backstory yet, but feel free to take a look at the history of real Berserkers for any ideas.

Siren - Utility class - Needs description. Bardic class.

Two New Classes

Drummed up two new class designs. You all have probably seen these on my Facebook, but I'm posting them here again anyway :D


Hexxers learn their art as it is passed down from generation to generation. Many practitioners come from families of gypsies or wanderers who have kept the tradition alive for many hundreds of years. When the Gloom descended on Triunia, the practitioners were amazed - and horrified - to discover how their power grew as the shadow over their world grew. Now that the shadow is receding, those who hex are determined to find new strategies to keep their powers alive - no matter the cost.

As a class, Hexxers use DoTs and status-impairment spells to thwart and frustrate their enemies.

Soulmenders use mudras (sacred hand signs) and astral sigils to bless and heal the wounded. Acolytes of this religion travel far and wide looking for children that show inclination towards the healing arts. When one is found, he or she is taken to the Temple of the goddess, Oma, and trained in the ways of the Mysteries. Soulmenders were an integral part of the Shadow Wars, though their numbers suffered greatly for the aid they offered.

As a class, Soulmenders use different mudra and sigil combinations, which combine to produce different healing effects.

Segenlie, The Barren no more.

Segenlie lays only a few miles north of Evernight, the new forged home to the Shadowborne.

Its land, once barren and only used for travel when no other route was possible due to the smoldering heat, began to thrive the further The Gloom's odd influence had spread, the more their land seemed to thrive. The rain above seemed to the precise amount to grow crops, the ground below would raise it's fruit and plants in return.

The Boarding nations of Ution and Bythennor sent their farmers, merchants, and artisans to Segenlie, accompanied by a small league worth warriors, to spread their allegiance to Segenlie now that it held promise and potential to become a place of prosperity.

Those of Segenlie accepted their offer, and forged a brittle friendship with the neighboring countries.

But the Segenlie's did not forget the years and years prior to The Gloom's arrival, for generations their people had begged the neighboring nations to assist in the growth of their crops, shelter, and lords forbid, some form of entertainment to remove their minds from their own devastation.

But the time of the Gloom had come, and 300 years later left, leaving Segenlie nearly has prominent as the countries of Ution and Bythennor combined.

When the Utionans and Bythenoor's sent their finest warriors to confront the The Gloom head on, Segenlie would claim they were far too busy catching their land up from centuries of neglect to assist the mighty countries.

Soon, after the first battalion's left, and would return only months later primarily in the cloth of the dead, it seemed with every funeral of the neighboring countries held, Segenlie attended less and less.

They were so focused on their own recovery, that the 300 years of the war had been the most prosperous in their countries recollection. But now that the war, and worst of all The Gloom has stopped spreading, as the shadows retreat the more the light of Triunia shines, they fear that they will return to merely a desert, a waste of land that would be forgotten as easily as they had been in the past.

That is when Segenlie invited the Lords of both Ution, and Bythennor, in promise to grant them the defenses and resources they would need to become what they once were prior to losing so many brave men.

It was that night, which would be known as the night of 'Emanio Umbra' (The Spreading Shadow) that the ruler of Segenlie, Lord Eike Secwar, had would could only have been the very descendents, that Ution and Bythennor's men had sent just under 300 years ago, slit the throats of their homelands current leaders.

It was that night, that Ution and Bythennor scrambled to close their gates and homes, just as the fear of The Gloom vanished, they had to recoil from becoming the open kingdom they wished to be. Because Segenlie had betrayed them. But that wasn't all that became.

It was that night, that revealed, through whispers and mummers, some believing it as they believed the sun to be bright, and others casting it aside like a rotten fish- That all the nations of Truunia would learn how Segenlie had been so focused on their goal of personal prosperity while the rest of the world was under siege.

Lord Eike Secwar, Ruler of Segenlie, was not a descendent of the one who went before the near kings, begging that now was the time for them to help build an alliance who would remain until the end of days, He was the same man.

The Gloom had an odd effect indeed on Segenlie.

The rain above seemed to the precise amount to grow crops, the ground below would raise it's fruit and plants in return. But oddest of all Segenlie's secrets, was that the land had returned the generations of torment to the men, women and children who cared for it the first chance it had to leave.

The people of Segenlie, did not age. This was their most personal secret, but not their most devastating.

The night after the events of 'Emanio Umbra' Lord Eike Secwar knew the Gloom's influence would lead their land sooner, so their was only way to hold it there.

By bringing those born of shadow, onto their lands.

Lord Eike Secwar sent a small battalion on a most severe mission to bring the Shadowborne refugees of Evernight to a place where they would know the joy and pampering better than they had ever dreamed of.

After all, what better way to reach out to another race 'suffering' the same aging change as your own, than to let them think they have found a new homeland.

'Those that become to feel at home within our land, will never question if they are slaves. Lord Eike Secwar told the twenty warriors disguised as prophets he had sent to Evernight to give promise of hope to the Shadowborne.

After their successful missions, they continues to 'recruit' more and more Shadowborne, as the lands of Segenlie continues to flurish, the king returned his gaze to that of Ution and Bythennor, or as he hoped to call them 'United Segenlie'