sorry for the lack of art, i've been spending my time taking a step back from digital art and doing a lot of traditional stuff in my sketchbook to help with burnout.
that being said... would you guys like to see sketchbook posts?
YOOO their lore is riveting holy shit!! id love to hear more abt the gods if youd like!
HEY THANK YOU SO MUCH!!!!! I'M SO GLAD YOU LIKE IT i've put years of love into these guys and it's so nice to have the groundwork out there finally :}
there are four gods here (i know we didn't hear mention of a fourth one yet nor their chosen one >_> still working that out). they essentially coexist pretty ok for the most part. none of the four are inherently good or evil (stating this clearly bc i know the lore post makes the progenitor look pretty bad. he's fine though). rest is goin under the cut cause i talk too much hope you don't mind
the star is based around venusian deities/archetypes - aphrodite/venus/ishtar/lucifer/inanna etc. uses she/he pronouns. her name is the star because she is y'know, venus, the morning/evening star and the brightest object in the sky other than the moon. she's the spinner's sister. she's a fertility/love god at her absolute baseline but also has an incredibly strong domain of personal justice and righteousness. she's a cyclical deity with two "phases"- the morning star, which is when he is sought for her verdant nature, this is when you'd go to her for matters concerning love, life, abundance, prosperity, fertility, change, etc, and the evening star, which is considered her "fall from grace" ushering the darker side of things concerning justice, victory, war, blood, lust, etc. the most actively invested in the going ons of the story out of the four gods, has always been very in touch with mortals. wants to see the wrongs of the story righted and will intervene as much as he can to do so. manifests in the story as either a maned lioness or a feathered serpent i can't decide which, maybe both?
the spinner is your fortune god! the star's sister. rules over fortune, fate, cycles, abundance, prosperity, luck, spontaneity, and general chaos as is the way of things. she/her. is pretty detached from everything happening because she has to be, general puppeteer of the story. while atheris may not be of her, she has a very large soft spot to him because of his devotion and pulls the strings in his favor. she creates the time loop that allows atheris to fix the mistakes he's made. tends to be aloof and distanced about the way things have to happen but feels no shame in ushering bad things upon those who deserve them. works very closely with the star as their domains in fate and justice have a large overlap although they don't get along the best. eccentric and strange and completely ineffable and almost impossible to understand. thinking about her too long will give you a migraine. has an undeniable presence whenever she's around. usually attributed to jupiter as the third brightest object in the sky. perhaps manifests as a hyena with an incomprehensible face garnered in pomegranates and laurels. they say that cicada song in the summer is her singing
the progenitor is literally like. the archetypal serpent. creation/sun god. he/him. the first one and the god of gods. carved the path for the others to follow. notorious seducer and persuader. him and the spinner are closely attributed to one another, they relied on each other for the longest time. nowadays they don't work as closely, but the progenitor still has his interests in her. is basically the personification of endless potential and creation, he offers this for you to take. what matters the most about the progenitor is how you take what he has to offer, which is why he culminates violently and explosively when atheris snaps. working with him is tricky but he is not entirely cruel. he'll kick you when you're down until you stop doing whatever what's gotten you to this point and will twist his fingers in your wounds until you change. does not make himself present to mortals very often so his appearance is surprising to everyone. very old very alien and no one knows much about his motives. common mythology is that he carved the gorge that the keys live in and now slumbers in the basin of the river. manifests as a giant black snake with iridescent scales
the reflector is the last of the four! personification of the moon. she/they. the most mysterious of the four, does not communicate very often or very well literally at all. is always watching very carefully and rumor is she has a lot more hands in the pot than you think she does. rules over the hunt/mystery/personal selfhood/introspection/crossroads/nighttime/everything you can't wrap your brain around. the wolves and dogs between the two clowders are particularly fond of her. she's known as the reflector for the way the moon reflects on water and her embodiment of knowing your own self. her nature is incredibly elusive and it seems they do this on purpose. however, she does care about those who follow her in her own strange way. weaver of webs. rumored to work in secrecy with the spinner in turning the wheel of fate but no one can say for sure. manifests as a giant wolf with a mirror for a face.
both the keys and the ridges follow each of the gods equally, there is no personal preference between the two despite their differences. however, the star finds herself personally invested in the lively hood of the keys due to the tragic death of their founder and thus the keys tend to see her as the highest and closest of the four. general worship is mostly old practice and the gods are far less involved in the present day than they used to be. however, when violence between the keys and the ridges comes to a head with nerros's assassination, this very quickly changes and they become directly involved. the star is the first to act, coming to lazarus above nerros's corpse, but the others follow not too long after
“this time i can’t pretend that we are friends, we’re not friends, friends don’t do the things we did, and the ones you’ve done since then makes me think we’ve never been.”
a remaster of this old comic with a less happy ending. their story has changed a lot since that first go round but i loved the idea of it so i figured i would revisit it. story details below if you’re interested
WE PROMISE FORGIVENESS, AND TEACH YOU HOW TO LOVE WITH HATE
WE SELL YOU SALVATION, THE WAGES OF SIN MUST BE PAID
WE SELL YOU A CAUSE, GIVE YOU A REASON TO FIGHT
MANUFACTURE RETRIBUTION AND DEVOTION OF THE ACOLYTES
hi everyone. here's the bad guy reveal you've all been waiting for :) meet borne, a weird white gsd coydog thing. he's an evangelical, exploiting the ridges' dwindling faith in the gods into fueling his war. he doesn't care about his struggling pack and acts with the intention to ascending to godhood himself. there is something deeply wrong with him...!
ITS FINALLY DONE. hi everyone. i spent a lot of time on this lol. please zoom in for quality and clarity because im sure tumblr is going to eat this but a little lyric comic thing for closed loops ft the game by vnv nation :) i just think it fits them so well. if you want to know what's going on here please please please ASK i would love to infodump
basic run down is rivalry between two packs - orange purple and red go to put it to an end but red has a mental breakdown and complete loss of faith and attacks purple who is orange's sister. their new conflict detracts from them trying to stop green, who is the bad guy. very rudimentary but would love to fill in more if u wanna know. smiles
god concepts for closed loops! godcepts, if you will. these are subject to change but honestly probably won't lol. god knows the progenitor and reflector have looked the same since inception. so.
feel free to ask questions about them if you want :) i care them greatly they are very personal. to me
dededos
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