Wood Elves

Finished - Yalin

About her:

• she’s a member of a semi-nomadic race called Onikin and the middle daughter of one of the chieftains
• she’s very strong and has traditional magical tattoos to enhance her strength
• she’s very boisterous, active, friendly and loud
• she likes to annoy Sharad by calling him bunny
• her main goal in life is to travel the world and see everything that is to see
• she loves to visit her family and tell them about her adventures
• despite not looking the part she’s a math genius and can solves complicated equations almost entirely in her head
• due to being an Onikin she can drink alcohol like water without getting more than a little tipsy
• her hobbies are hunting and taking care of her equipment

Lineart - Yalin

I think she turned out the best in lineart as well as in colour

Finished - Tarrin

About her:

• her full name is Mountaindaughter Tarrin of the Firebeards with Mountaindaughter being a title akin to princess
• she’s the eldest daughter of the King under the Firemountain and one of the most eligible bachelorettes among her race
• while she was first in line to inhered the title of King under the Firemountain she decided against it and transferred the right of inheritance to her younger brother
• her family still hopes she’ll return one day to take the title but they still support her
• she’s interested in archeology and has written already a few essays and a book about her peoples history
• her biggest goal in life is to retrieve the knowledge lost in the last sundering of her people
• as Mountaindaughter and member of the Firebeards she’s also an ordained priestess of the God of Fire, called Opantikaras, and well versed in fire-magic as well as in healing spells

Lineart - Tarrin

This is actually the first time I really like the way I drew her

Finished - Marive

I like how this turned out but I had somewhat a difficult run with colouring

About him:

- he’s an alder just like Sharad

- is afflicted with a nasty curse that makes him immortal but heals every wound (even minor scratches) at a hundred times the amount of pain caused at the moment of infliction (e.g. a paper-cut feels normal at the moment it happens but once the adrenaline has subsided the curse heals the wound, causing it to feel like the whole hand gets very slowly amputated and electrocuted at the same time)

- the curse can be mitigated by being instantly healed

- the curse has also screwed with his pain perception, making him able to stay (much to his dismay) conscious while receiving major wounds

- he has still full-blown nightmares fulled by another curse set on him, which he keeps in check with a medicine Cerine always prepares for him

- he’s a little over 2000 years old, which his for alder/elves in his setting very old and almost the highest age they can naturally reach

- also, due to the curse, he spent about 1800 of his 2000 years in a trauma-madness induced stupor, out of which Cerine healed him 70 years before the main-story takes place

- he’s the son of the last King of his kind but keeps it a secret from everyone except Cerine

- he’s rather small of an Alder, something Sharad likes to tease him with

- he has a major crush on Cerine but doesn’t act on it due to very low self-esteem

- his real name is Marigond with Marive being his nickname, which is also considered a proper name with Rive being a nickname to both

Lineart - Marive

getting his hair right was a pain

Finished - Sharad

This is the first time I managed to give him the kind of expression I imagine him always to have

About him:

• he’s an alder, which is the same as an elf (in English it’s okay to call him an elf but not in German as I cringe every time I hear the word elf in my native language and don’t know why )
• he lost his right ear in an accident he caused but was saved from wrose by Yalin (who calls him bunny every since, much to his annoyance)
• he colours his hair to draw attention to his missing ear because he likes to make the story how he lost it into a big tale to entice people
• he’s about 200 years old, which is very young for his kind (in human years he’s about 19)
• he’s arrogant, self-assured and loves to annoy/tease people he cares about
• he cares a lot about his friends but has his own way of showing, which often causes confusion or misunderstandings
• he also loves his horse Mayflower and dotes on it by baby-talking to it constantly in his native language
• he doesn’t speak his native language very well (his syntax is very much word-salad)
• likes to drink, flirt and sleep around with anyone up to it (at least when he isn’t on a job with his friends)
• he often seems rather shallow but there’s more to him than he lets on
• Shira is his nickname (like Vanya is the nickname to Ivan in Russian)

Lineart - Sharad

I’ve so many OCs, should I ever manage to give every single one (who has an actual drawn design/concept) a portrait, I haven’t even drawn a quarter of all of them

or even less

Writing about characters and integrating them into stories is so much easier then to give them designs not only fitting their setting but also their character

Anyway, there will more info about Sharad on the finished version

Reassigning Fantasy Accents:

Gnomes now sound like James Earl Jones.

Vampires now talk like Deep South, inbred from inbred and inbred again, get off my land, no fancy book learning, rednecks.

Fairies/Pixies are from the Canadian maritimes (similar to the Minnesota accent but a little more british/scottish)

Goblins are from Newfoundland.

Min-su’s daughter, Ayano. She is the goddess of theatre and considered to be one of the muses

"Make me love myself

So that I might love you

Don’t make me a liar

Cuz I swear to God

When I said it I thought it was true…“

Miko the God of lightning. Son of Min and Ari. Not to be confused with the God of thunder, his missing twin.

I have a little story in my head that started with quadruped dragon tribes and somehow ended up not that at all. It could kinda’ sorta exist in the Filamentry world but maybe not, dunno yet. These are two of the three main characters, and they use a sort of magic, but it’s not as abstract or as flashy as Spectria (Filamentry’s magic system).

They’re basically arc welders/metalworkers that conduct their own electricity. Initially they were types of weaponsmiths that made spectral weapons that could slay their phantasmical enemies, but I nixed that in favor of something more simple, as I have a terrible habit of making things way too complex and confusing. Using innate skill and specializing in a corner of magic that deals in electricity, the green-haired guy can generate alternating current, and the bug guy generates direct current. The conduits are their hands, and they generally use big ol’ welding rods or plasma cutters. Naturally they can run out of juice if sustaining a high current for too long, and they release heat via just puffing it out, as shown. Their aprons are mostly uniform and utility - they can endure the superheated vapors and UV light, though green-hair had been permanently blinded by an arc flash early in his career. They can accept an electric shock, but only if they’re ready for it. Creating an actual arc between hands and the work piece is difficult, so it all involves contact. I want to emphasize that it’s not like… Zatch Bell or Static Shock powers with lightning bolts arcing all over the place. It’s quick, loud and blinding, and too uncontrollable for combat (so far!). Green-hair is the more powerful of the two, but bug guy can store the energy he creates, unlike his cohort.

They’re allied with a faction united under one purpose - driving off the ghost-like race that means to take hold of their villages. Green-haired guy and bug guy (don’t have names for ‘em yet) work at small military outpost building and repairing their faction’s warmachines. Occasionally they’re sent to salvage abandoned enemy vessels.

Get off your ass and help me!

Both characters are typically good-natured and prone to laziness. There’s never been much thought put into the politics of war, between them, and I see them mostly as blue-collar goofballs that are best buds. But the story isn’t just about them! Trouble begins when one of the enemy’s phantom soldiers unintentionally possesses green-hair. More about him next post. :P

Not entirely sure it warrants pointing out since it’s a bit cheesy and not relevant to the story, but green-hair is very slightly inspired by an electric eel (which is apparently not an eel!), and bug guy an oriental hornet that can naturally create a charge. Bug guy is basically Dan Avidan from game grumps. I wanted to do curly hair on a male character for a while. X)

A while back I did an oc secret challenge with Heliodore, one of my characters for a story I’m trying to develop. I still like most of this drawings tbh!

Alterra Flavor Cravings: Kalapuken

Hi everybody! Dave here. Our next Flavor Cravings entry doesn’t actually come from the Monster Manual, but they do hold a special place in my heart. I’ll be on the lookout in the next couple months to find the ideal expedition where they would be a perfect fit to add some fun and flavor.

Art by Matt Holmberg(@orwin-dm) used with permission

From the initial draft of the Kalapuken description:

Kalapuken: For the small and slippery fish folk known as the Kalapuken, the bigger something is, the more attention it deserves. For thousands of years, Kalapuken have sought out and revered the largest creatures in Alterra’s oceans, such as krakens, leviathans, and sea serpents. Once found, a school of Kalapuken may follow one of these enormous creatures through the seas for generations. Now in this new Age of Exploration, Kalapuken have been drawn to the large ships that carry explorers and traders to the many continents of Alterra. In very remote locations, Kalapuken may mistake sea vessels for actual sea creatures, and try to follow them (often becoming angry when they discover the truth.) In routes that are traveled more frequently, the Kalapuken have become more accustomed to ships, and some schools have learned that a slow or sinking vessel makes very effective bait for attracting one of the monsters of the deep they love so much.

Alterra Flavor Cravings is a column that shares a look into the iterative process for worldbuilding and lore for the Age of Exploration game. Just like any iterative process, feedback is always encouraged, so please let us know what you think!