I’ve been looking through references of old distressed style, cracked and textured paintings for this one as well as for their posing. This piece is during their time within the Astral Planes fighting alongside one another against Vlaakith’s forces. Solus Aximand (Tav) has gith inspired armor with a githzerai tailored robe, dawning a battle worn breastplate, a gold or possibly just brass. Lae’zel is wearing the modded in equipable armor worn by Githyanki in-game (I looked at some Pinterest references for her armor), the two in this particular piece wear more scavenged armor due to previous wear and tear of whatever they wore before. Traversing the battlefields of the Astral takes its toll, the two can fight on for hours and days without much rest, that is until now. Not that keeping up with time really means much at all, considering their locale. They continue to war together, fighting as one and instinctually as they have when they fought side by side in Faerûne. The only difference is the enemies they face alongside Githzerai allies.
I’ve been looking through references of old distressed style, cracked and textured paintings for this one as well as for their posing. This piece is during their time within the Astral Planes fighting alongside one another against Vlaakith’s forces. Solus Aximand (Tav) has gith inspired armor with a githzerai tailored robe, dawning a battle worn breastplate, a gold or possibly just brass. Lae’zel is wearing the modded in equipable armor worn by Githyanki in-game (I looked at some Pinterest references for her armor), the two in this particular piece wear more scavenged armor due to previous wear and tear of whatever they wore before. Traversing the battlefields of the Astral takes its toll, the two can fight on for hours and days without much rest, that is until now. Not that keeping up with time really means much at all, considering their locale. They continue to war together, fighting as one and instinctually as they have when they fought side by side in Faerûne. The only difference is the enemies they face alongside Githzerai allies.
Reblogging this oldie of Solus Aximand and Lae’zel, I know it's old, but I wanted to send it through the algorithms again, I do still very much cherish this piece. I definitely need to do another, I have many in the works, their still in their construction phases.
Sheesh this one took forever, but it’s done and was well worth. Im going to drop below the first half of her origin short story I’ve been writing alongside painting this, the second half is very much still in the works. I’m still playing around with descriptive and sensory details for the second half, it’s a jumbled mess currently. I'll post the next part underneath Dranzeir & Meraxi's completed painting.
G’nir’rah’s origins part 1
["Purging Malachite Ghosts"]
This is a G’nir’rah origin short tale, prior to her arrival in Faerûn.
Outside the cracked cobblestone window, mists bled into nebula white starlight, murky blotches of purple speckled with stars. Far-flung jagged islands of obsidian drifted faintly in silence like fractured memories, a distant waterfall twists a stream, trails into an adjacent pond below. Scattered remnants of bleak pebbles meander leisurely. A faint scent of pine carried whispers of worlds long dead. Serenity here was a lie. G’nir’rah oddly, found comfort in serenity, just as she knew the exhilaration that followed a kill, the familiar brisk hush behind her eyes, darker than astral night. She soused in it, to draw the silvery vitality of ghaik, those of mental-devour and the distant, familiar life-fluid of traitor kin, all in the name of Vlaakith.
Her mission was simple: cut down the Githzerai’s Emerald Rider, Dranzeir. That psionic hunter had already assassinated whole Kith’raki detachments in these haunted amethyst seas. The Githzerai prowling the spaces intend to fight with war-dragons of their own. Vlaakith’s Emissary, “Inquisitor Vulk'ite’thadomee”, G'nir'rah's personal jhe’stil, relays that their Queen would tolerate no rival dragon-riders. G’nir’rah and Crèche Thel’Kiir, an elite phalanx of saboteurs and scouts bred in the barren expanses of the orchid seas, were chosen to exterminate the Emerald menaces. Territorial battles amidst the purple seas had culled them to a handful of grim veterans, but in the Astral Plane, grudges outlive stars and these Githyanki war-ghosts strangled entire fleets with specialized whispered strikes. G'nir'rah continues her investigation, the sudden appearance of the Emerald Rider and the Githzerai splinter group spreading like a plague throughout Thel’Kiir's phantom expanse.
“Hiding again… Is retreat all you know…?” She hissed aloud, a breathy whisper.
G'nir'rah's boots pad lightly down the ebony hall, rays of light speared through the windows of the cloaked corridor, motes hung motionless in the gloom. No sound, but the slow thrum of G'nir'rah's heartbeat. Every corridor she's passed thus far was empty... Just a few feet from the last. She paused, nostrils flaring at the ragged pulse of her prey. Her quarry’s mind, torn and leaking into the ether. She could hear them breathing, frantic with stifled muttering, their fear sharp, pungent. The antecedent battle of wills left G’nir’rah victorious, she savored the very taste of it. A savage grin curved her blood-speck lips.
Silence hung for a breath... an eerie stillness.
Instantaneous, a bolt of white-hot mind-fire flares from the last corridor hurling towards G'nir'rah. She snaps back, turning torso as it flies past her, pale flames searing across her breastplate. Behind it, a barrier ripples into existence in front of her.
The githzerai Emerald Rider, Dranzeir, bursts into view, robes billowing and plastered to blood-sweat-slick limbs, hair streaming behind her. She lunges herself into the light's exit, a scream echoed ahead, her voice a desperate crack.
"Meraxi! To Me!"
Thunderous beating wings answer her plea. Meraxi's scales shimmer grace amidst the starlit void as the dragon banked onto the nearest ledge. The Githzerai Emerald Rider rushes outside, vaulting off the island's ledge. Vexed, G'nir'rah's eyes narrowed, jeers.
“Chk, Istark…”.
She shatters Dranzeir's barrier in relentless pursuit. G'nir'rah makes her way outside on the platform, the Emerald Rider had already taken wing, though not far. Their silhouettes poised amidst the purple void.
"GRAZAIREHAE!" G'nir'rah bellowed ferociously.
A tumultuous roar shook the planescape, hulking dark and crimson scales blazed against the Astral light as Grazairehae lunged like a living battering ram. The Emerald Rider Dranzeir peers over her shoulder, jade eyes wide with alarm, just as the red dragon's massive frame smashed into Meraxi's side. Sending the two hurling into a floating island. The Shockwave of the collision shattered drifting obsidian chunks; a black hailstorm of stone showers into the endless expanse.
Meraxi's massive wings faltered in the Astral currents in attempt to regain control, still in flight she broadens the distance between them and the red dragon. Dranzeir fought with the straps to reposition herself.
Meraxi’s voice a telepathic hiss, like that of grinding bone, echoed in Dranzeir’s mind.
"Hold fast Rider…”
Dranzeir grits her teeth, knuckles whitening around the harnesses, each short breath burning acid. Dranzeir responds, her voice tight.
"I cling to you still, Meraxi, I will not slip into the void. Nor that istark’s maw..."
Her heart was racing, but she steadies herself. A distant roar rattled the islands, yet the relentless Githyanki war-dragon is nowhere in sight.
Meraxi murmurs in telepathic gravitas, “His fury is but blind rage, too slow to match emerald cunning.”
Dranzeir glancing over her shoulder, “Even adrift upon wings, I perceive a clash with the war dragon is inevitable.”
Meraxi inquisitive, “Do you hear it?”
Dranzeir looks forward in question, the slight profile of Meraxi’s head visible.
Meraxi continues, “Observe how his cries clang like steel on glass, harsh, brittle and bound to shatter. A true psionic shield hums with purpose, his mind, little more than an echo chamber of wroth.”
Dranzeir, “You sought to weave words into that tempest of frenzy?”
Meraxi responded as if she were grinning, “Twas but the planting of crystalline barbs in his mind, each jest a sharpened facet intent to crack his resolve.”
Dranzeir, “I’ve no doubt your examination on the war dragon’s mind was keenly felt. Yet we must depart while currents favor our flight, lest these battle-spaces become our tomb.”
Meraxi beating her wings through the quiet expanse, “I agree, we must flee, your melody rings as cracking diamond, nearly dim. Tell me, Rider, how deep did her mental clouts shatter your will?”
Dranzeir, masking the chagrin in her eyes, “…The fractures run deep, she failed to unseat my resolve, my mind remains whole. Her fury is fierce, but not profound.”
Meraxi in telepathic hum, “Mm, so you claim.”
Soring through crowded debris of drifting meteors and abandoned land masses. Dranzeir risks several peeks behind her as they enter a new sector of stars. Colossal calcified remains of giants coast aimlessly through the indigo expanse. The sound of Astral tides whipping past Dranzeir’s serrated ears. It was quiet, quiet enough to meditate, to heal the gaping psionic wound lashed into her mind. To rebuild the barriers the githyanki managed to raze. But Dranzeir couldn’t bring herself to enter such a state, paranoia taunting her of something that lingered still. She tightens her grip on the straps, Meraxi flies beneath an odd misshapen rock, it was larger than the others. As Meraxi passes, Dranzeir kept her gaze on the rock, until it disappears, swallowed by misty nebula in the distance.
She turns her head forward again, taking a deep breath, but before she could close her eyes there was an abrupt roar, accompanied by a force that jerked her body. Meraxi wails in disbelief as she tries to regain her momentum from the impact. The crimson war dragon, wings outstretched, astral rays spear at his back, mouth agape, a monstrous silhouette, channeling a growing gyre of fire, before hurling it at Dranzeir and Meraxi.
Meraxi screeches a missile of sonic breath that pierces the hurling ball of flames into a ring of fire. Grazairehae in swift pursuit dives headfirst through the ring towards Meraxi. Drumming roars knocks the void around them, booming claw against scale in rhythmic echoes.
G'nir'rah and Grazairehae continue their pursuit of Dranzeir and Meraxi with broiling ire. Grazairehae was a massive dragon, swift for his size and close behind. Meraxi spots a ruined island above them, banking under shattered isle. She unleashes a gem-bright keening roar of sonic force at the barren island, a blaring reverbing crack from impact, splintered obsidian into razor meteors. The shards rattled against her flanks, then speared into Grazairehae’s crimson hide below her. He snarled, undaunted, chomping down on larger chunks, G’nir’rah ducks, psionic sparks flickering at her fingertips, obsidian shards exfoliating upon her barrier.
Ahead, Meraxi’s gaze catches a second island, though her flight comes to an abrupt halt. Grazairehae’s maw bit deep into her tail. Scale and dark ichor spurting into the astral void, her wings thundered. Dranzeir’s grip on the harness nearly slipped; her brow furrowed in calm fury.
Meraxi glaring down at their assailants, inhaled, her ribs expanding with energy for a second, crystaline wail. Before she could, Grazairehae beats his wings, yanking her downward into a vicious collision, claws raking and embedding gem-green shoulders. His strength overpowering her, massive claws began to heave, to pull and crush Meraxi’s hide. Sonic breath died in her throat, light sputtered at the jaw.
Grazairehae and Meraxi were interlocked in a maelstrom of claws, maw, flames and sound waves. Meraxi slicing into Grazairehae's hide with precision, enduring his relentless onslaught. Screeching frequencies of the emerald-dragon stupefied everyone within the clash. Though the riders’ senses impaired, bitter ichor gushing into their mouths and snaking from their ears. The deafening ringing underneath muffled roars and perpetual shrieks as their visions blur.
Grazairehae's jaws slam shut on Meraxi's wing, steel-crystal scales crunching under pressure hefty fangs. Then chomps into Meraxi's shoulder, breath flaring hot, pouring flame into the gristled wound. She screeches, driving her claws into Grazairehae’s underbelly, psionic energy rippling along her flanks in a desperate mind-blast. Grazairehae grunted, tightening his grip and redoubling his fiery onslaught. The flames bathed and swirled around them in hues of orange, yellow and red. Sonic currents pulse from within the spiral engulfing fires, like the accretion disc of a black hole. The interlocked Astral battle streaked through the ruined floating isles like a Comet. G'nir'rah tore loose her saddle straps leaping from Grazairehae's back to Meraxi, crashing onto the Emerald dragon's hide. They continue tumbling through shattered islands of rock, the loud rasp of talons scraping stone. Meraxi’s wounded wing faltered, the uneven propulsion sent both dragons and riders in a spiral of granite and astral dust.
Dranzeir met G’nir’rah upon the emerald dragon’s back, steel-edged psionic blade in hand, her other gauntlet clutching Meraxi’s buckled rein. They slashed at each other with bleak precision, G’nir’rah’s long sword carving red furrows across Dranzeir’s abdomen, her disciplined riposte ripping at G’nir’rah’s shoulders. A gout of blood spattered on Meraxi's hypnotic shimmering scales. As they fought, roiling flames wash over them like molten balm, tendrils of fire lashing at their scarred leathery flesh. G'nir'rah grips one of the straps to balance herself before making a decisive swing, tearing into Dranzeir's shoulder, blood spurts as her arm went limp. Shifting wildly through the expanse, the Dragons further straddle the riders around violently, as they both cling to Meraxi's loosening straps.
Grazairehae roared in triumph, swinging one massive claw to rend Meraxi’s injured wing free. The severed limb spun off into the void like a dying comet. Meraxi’s roar turned into a cracked whisper as they whirled downwards. Dranzeir’s stoic resolve cracked as she witnessed in terror and rage watching the dismembered limb disappear into the purple murk of the void. G'nir'rah watches as if somber, then turns to Dranzeir, a taunting of grinning daggers tugs at her lips.
G’nir’rah sprang towards Dranzeir, silver blade gleaming, Dranzeir met her charge, lifting her weakened arm in defense. Falling through fractured islands, with a tail of flame and emerald energy, the Dragons hit a meteor, straps slip from G'nir'rah's grasp. She sinks her silver sword into the emerald scaled hide anchoring herself against the chaotic currents of the violent descent. Dranzeir is strapped to Meraxi bracing herself for the imminent crash landing, the obsidian island hurling closer to meet them.
Only Seconds before impact, G’nir’rah and Dranzeir exchange hateful, strained glares.
Their bodies slammed into jagged rocks, snippets of blurred imagery, sounds of deaden thuds, cracks, snaps and segregating of muscle and bone after impact, rolling violently as scraped flesh and shattered scales gouged craters and carved bloody trails with each brutal collision against the merciless rough shale.
Then, the swallowing of Silence...
[]
If you've read this far, you have my humblest thanks, you champion you!💚💙🐸
"Go on then, try to conquer the Hells. Shop around, beg, borrow, and steal, Raphael. Exhaust every possibility until none are left." — a conversation that could probably happen between Raphael and Mephistopheles in the past, the topic being Raphael's ambitions.
~
I tried to project some features of the devil we know on his father to show that even though they're related, they're still very different monstrosities. Also I picked the blue color for Mephisto for artistic purposes (okay he is canonically red I suppose, let's just consider it an option)
