Birthday present I made for @shadowmelter, from like a year and a half ago but I just recently finished (oops)
Lore below:
Drew her character Malphas, known as a "proto-tiefling". I don't know how close it is to dnd but in this canon teiflings were created when demons took over the material plane during a conflict known as the "Thousand Years War" (long story) and ran experiments on mortals which included creating beings that were half demon- half mortal, the original tieflings. To be slaves for demonkind that were more capable than the mortals they subjugated.
Malphas was discovered imprisoned in an ancient demonic laboratory, and he was supposed to be used in ritual near the end of the war, but fate had other plans. In Mod au, he remains a proto-teifling, but in a previously cancelled campaign, he was sealed into a wooden a puppet named "Biggs" and was left in that same demonic laboratory for thousands of years to be found by the Syndicate later. He was soul bound to her other character Higgs. Biggs was the sacrifice made to create the conduit, (the doll) and when Higgs accepted the doll, Higgs was possessed by Ashtaroth, who became awakened when Higgs became mad/upset. Higgs was known as the "vessel" for the demon lord Ashtaroth, and was chosen by the Syndicate because of his prodigal knowledge and Artificing ability.
But in Mod au, Malphas was spared that fate and was never turned into the puppet that would become the conduit for Ashtaroth, and instead found tens of thousands of years later by Madame Fox, the leader of the Syndicate's demonology sector. He has no memories of who he was before, but only speaks Abyssal, which Madame Fox has been studying her whole life, which allows her to speak to him and earn his trust.
Despite her being evil as hell, he does hold some kind of fondness for her, but that's a story for another time.
Very cool comic about my proto-tiefling, Malphas. ❤️
