smellyrottentrees

he/him. writing and art brainrot exclusively for my novels. find me on insta and blvesky under the same name.

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Some more information:

You are welcome to interact with posts no matter how old they are! Unless, of course, it’s something time-sensitive like a poll.

Please ask questions! I need nothing more than an excuse to infodump. I may become vague if I feel a certain topic contains spoilers, but I will make it clear that is the case if it is so.

Don’t be afraid to say hi! I’d love to make writer friends, especially in the high fantasy and mythological genres. And if you also make art for your writing, all the better!

I don’t reblog many things unless I have my own input to add, but feel free to reblog my work, especially if you have a comment or addition to something I’ve said.

If you want to see art unrelated to my story, as well as process photos, check out my insta under the same name.

Please do not use my artwork as a profile picture or banner unless you have commissioned me specifically for that work!

My WIPs and Characters

Main: Ga’avan the Mighty

Character List: Am’asy, Kys’so, Yetova, Arroti, Khoram, Jalur, San’ary, Khet, Kassa, Varasy, Nasee

Secondary: The First Emperor

Character List: Kyall, Fastar, Akasyr, Sharisa, Lereya, Garat, Gerall

Short Stories

The Red King

Hello, all. I have a short excerpt that I created recently as a worldbuilding exercise that I am eager to share. Consider this to be partici

OC Boundaries

Fanart: YES, with credit.

Shipping: Only canon, do NOT ship with your OCs.

Kinning: I would strongly prefer if you did NOT.

Fanfic/writing: I would prefer if you did NOT. Or, at the absolute least, TELL ME about it if you do it and keep it SFW!

Drawing your OCs with mine: I would prefer if you did NOT.

NSFW of my characters?: DEPENDS. You can only draw as NSFW as I draw—look through my feed for guidelines, or ASK. I am not opposed to TASTEFUL artistic nudity or violence.

Cosplaying: DEPENDS—with credit and permission, most likely I will say yes.

Headcanoning/theorizing: Go right ahead. TELL ME your headcanons, you might end up being right.

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Arroti.

The flowers pictured are calla lilies, hellebore, and angel’s trumpet. I used my botanical oracle deck to decide which flowers to use and that’s what came out first. Technically Arroti’s symbolic animal is a tiger (or, in some rare cases, a half-bull half-tiger) but the leopard works better.

I’m actually not that happy with this piece. I think in my brain it was more vibrant but in practice I hate bright colors. Go figure.

I listened almost exclusively to Tool’s 10,000 Days and Ænima albums while working on this. I’ve been on a real kick lately.

Anyway, work for the summer starts up soon. I suppose I’ll be disappearing again until I randomly find time to make another piece, probably two or three months from now.

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The Kite Woman Teaches Man

Ti’Peleht se’Tem Pele’a

I made another piece of mythology, this time the "creation" myth of humans. While myths will vary, this one is generally the most common.

When at last all of the gods had gathered Themselves, it was clear They were in need of some direction. Many ran astray across the world, causing disorder and making messes, like children in need of supervision. But none among Them stood definitively above the others, and so it was proposed a contest should decide who among Them was fit to lead the rest.

But what to do? They consulted the eldest of Them, the great goddess of the endless wheel, Erreti, who had already declared Herself unwilling to rule. She cast Her beautiful dark gaze upon the Earth, and spoke softly, that all the others were made to gather closely around: ‘See all the beasts who live on the ground, senseless and dumb. Make gifts to them, that they might share in some of Our power and beauty, and the best of these beasts will earn their patron the title of Queen.’

So it was that all the gods rushed to the Earth to stake Their claims on the amorphous, helpless beasts that populated the world. They set to work just as quickly, infusing the beasts with magic and shaping them in this way and that, fashioning horns and hooves and scales and fur and wings and tails, giving some poison or bright patterns or speed or teeth or claws or strength, to make the best of all the beasts. Many of the first were not so great, and were cast aside as practice items: the snake, beautiful and clever but limbless, slithered off into the bushes to make a name for itself; and the kite, a swift bird, ascended to the skies to dance on the wind, but was otherwise deemed unremarkable. The good lady of the Storm, Khoram, made the peafowl, giving it wings and great beautiful tails with many eyes to see into the land of the spirits; the light moon Nasee created the blackbuck, giving it great horns that stretched up toward the sky, and the speed of a shooting star; the dark moon Elyzo created turtles, with shells that both protected them and mirrored the beauty of the moon; Yetova created monkeys, clever and strong; and when Erreti saw what fun the others were having making all Their beasts, even She stepped down to make a beast Her own, in Her own image, and set loose the first cattle to roam and graze as they pleased.

Soon there were very few beasts left untouched by the gods, and They began to worry. It is only natural to think there is always someone better than oneself, after all! The clever lady Yksi looked upon Her kite, and began to pull at Her hair in frustration: She, above all, desired to win and become Queen. She searched high and low across the Earth, as the others descended into the Oceans to see what They might make of the beasts which swim, daring to venture as far as the Great Beast’s lair.

There She found Man, just as helpless as all the rest, but possessing in them a goodness She had only known before in the gods. She saw in them greatness that had persisted in spite of the terror of Chaos, and rescued them from His lair, guiding them into the sunlight and warmth of the greater world. She set about teaching them many, many things: She taught them of fire, of tools and toys, how to hunt and how to protect themselves against the cold of night, of music and dance and language, and all which makes Man wonderful. Most of all, She taught them to love, and all of Man was good to one another, and kind, and generous, and the goddess was very proud.

She boasted that She had fashioned the best of all the beasts, and so She should be ruler above the rest. The others gathered round to set Their eyes upon Her students, and agreed that She had indeed created the best of all the beasts: clever and companionable and very much like the gods Themselves. ‘She will be a good Queen, as She is the most clever Herself,’ the gods decided. And so it was that She wore the great crown in Fate to rule over all, eternal Mother of Man.

But there was one among Them who felt slighted by Her work: the great beast, the First Death, Chaos. And in His outrage He came up to the Earth and spoke to Man, a gentle and whispered song of deceit, and set into his mind a wicked Knowledge, that which only the gods could understand. He taught them of war, killing, envy, and hatred, all the things which are the worst of Man. He taught them of judgment, of good and evil and all the forces living inside the godly form, and drove them mad with the Knowledge of the Beginning, the End, of all realms and universes, all that which the mortal mind and soul cannot contain, as it is small and simple and composed of only a spark of godly energy.

Man began to destroy itself, running about for days without end, screaming and crying and clawing at flesh until blood ran thick and only bone remained, killing one another and themselves and howling blindly and incoherently in any direction. The rivers ran red and the ground became stained, and their cries were heard even in Fate. The goddess returned to the Earth and could not believe Her eyes, as all Her brilliantly formed beasts had been reduced to raving, staggering, mutilated things. The other gods were quick to doubt: ‘Is this what Her power has made of these beasts?’ But She insisted it was not Her doing.

She captured one of the Men and touched his brow and knew at once what had occurred. She went to find Chaos and demanded He undo what He had done, but He was unrepentant. He would not help find a cure for their madness: ‘Let Us see who is fit to rule now,’ He snarled, a cruel smile on His face. Yksi could not ask the others, either, as They would never trust Her again if She could not fix what He had broken; She hid away for many days and nights to conceive a spell that could bind the terrible Knowledge, to rid them at least of the madness. Then She descended again and gathered what remnants of Man remained, and buried the Knowledge within each soul, that it would only be unleashed upon death to preserve their feeble mortal minds.

At last She was able to seal the Knowledge away, but She could not remove it from them: it had been imprinted upon them as all the good qualities She had placed within them, and so Man has been doomed to an eternity of sin and misery. She returned and restored Her honor among the gods, and Chaos was stripped of His powers as punishment for His crime.

But what of Man? What shall be done to save those who have done nothing but suffer? Nothing, nothing at all: let the mortals find their own way, as the gods have. So mortals kill and steal and cheat, helpless against the terrible Knowledge. In spite of this, it is whispered like a song on the wind that if one can face the Great Beast, who has been banished to His island of Death, He will grant them release from this Evil, but only at a great price.

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Sharisa.

I really, really want to spin off my main story and give this guy His own tale to tell. He’s a very nuanced character with a lot of interesting lore and I’m very attached to Him (obviously).

Anyway, you can tell in this drawing that He is indeed a son of Chaos. Dead, dark eyes and a look that could kill. Hell, He always did have “crazy eyes” if you look back on my other pieces. A mortal could pick it out shockingly quickly… but they wouldn’t be able to place the sense of danger they feel coming from Him.

I added His prayer beads to this outfit as well as some tattoos I was considering in older versions but wasn’t bold enough to explore at the time.

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Arroti.

He is depicted lifting His veil, an accessory only seen in religious artworks, with a snake at His feet and plants all around (black henbane, wormwood, yarrow). The corners of the work feature spiritual and alchemical symbols for the earth, water, and death, as well as an ax, the skull of a two-headed calf, and a bull’s horn. Behind Him are the two moons Elyzo and Nasee.

I feel I should explain His character better with this revamp. He is one of the primordial gods. That is, His beginning is entirely unknown and He holds a vast resource of power that even New World gods would struggle to conceive. His sister was the first Life, and He, the first idea of Death. As new gods came around He surrendered His reign over the mortal earth and was all but forgotten on His little island. Once, He was the first and only god to be worshipped. A forsaken god, still as powerful and mysterious as ever, yet without a place at most altars today.

This piece was inspired by the covers for the Angels series by Rafael Nicolás, which were drawn by Hyde Angelus.

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Arroti.

Finally rendered the sketch I did a bit ago. Learned that I dislike drawing body hair. But I’m not gonna make a grown man hairless.

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Arroti.

I liked this sketch a lot. Might never render it, but not all art is meant for that. I like making Him look feral, it’s better-aligned with what He represents as Chaos.

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San’ary Character Reference

This is him when he’s about 18. He used to be a lot skinnier and a lot more pitiful. Now he’s filling out (still has more to grow even after this, though!) and looking more and more like his father. Forgive the fact that I can’t draw feet. It’s something I need to work on. I’m really proud of all the scars I remembered to give him (I always forget about his shoulders).

Gods, he really does look like his father.

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I promise I’m still alive guys, just busy and tired as hell 😭

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Simple OC Ask Game

Thanks for the tag, @willtheweaver!

I’ll answer for Am’asy and Arroti both (MC and personal favorite). If you’d like to see this for other characters, don’t hesitate to ask!

1. What is something your OC would never purchase for themselves, but would (secretly?)be delighted to receive as a gift?

Am’asy: A nice dress that she can wear without worrying about it getting ruined.

Arroti: New clothes in general.

2. Is your OC ticklish? Has anyone ever dared to find out?

Am’asy: Yes, and Kys’so takes advantage of it often.

Arroti: Yes, but He would never allow anyone to find out.

3. How easy does your OC find it to apologize?

Am’asy: Not easy. She tends to find it difficult to admit she could be wrong.

Arroti: Easy—but only if He believes He actually was in the wrong.

4. When did your OC first see a dead body? If they have not seen one yet, how might they react to doing so?

Am’asy: When she was a young child, and it was fairly traumatic for her as it had been her grandfather.

Arroti: Unknown. He responds with utter neutrality, unless it was someone He was fond of.

5. Does your OC have any recurring dreams? Have they told anyone else about them?

Am’asy: Usually nightmares of being hunted by a leopard through her family’s grain fields. She would only admit something so silly to Kys’so.

Arroti: It is unknown if He dreams.

6. Is your OC stingy with their money (or other resources)? Or are they something of a spendthrift?

Am’asy: A certain level of frugality can be expected of her, living off a soldier’s allowance, but when she does have extra money she likes to splurge on snacks.

Arroti: He only takes as much as He needs of anything, but will not hesitate to share with others. So not stingy so much as… focused on subsistence.

7. Does your OC have a sweet tooth? Or do they prefer to avoid sweets and sugary treats?

Am’asy: A small one. She likes carb-heavy foods.

Arroti: Not particularly. He prefers salty or umami flavors.

8. Is your OC easily provoked by insults or mockery?

Am’asy: Yes. She has some pride and gets irritated easily.

Arroti: No. He is, however, provoked by threats of aggression, no matter how unlikely it is they would do any harm to Him.

9. Where is somewhere your OC has visited that they would not want to visit again?

Am’asy: Ny’zasaji, the jungle queendom under Yetova’s control. She would claim it worse than Deri if you asked.

Arroti: If He could avoid the Furajyan imperial palace, He would. He doesn’t fit well in it.

10. Is your OC somewhat flirtatious?

Am’asy: Not knowingly.

Arroti: When He wants to be.

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Do any of the swords in your wip have a symbolic meaning or are they of importance to the storyline?

Culturally, many warrior/soldier families pass down swords. As far as the gods’ and angels’ weapons go, a number of them have interesting lore in the future, but have no severe significance to the storyline thus far. The only one with long-standing significance is Khet’s dagger.

Some weapons are symbolic, however, like Arroti’s ax being symbolic of His practical but also very dangerous nature. I like to try to match weapons to personalities—Jalur’s is rather garish and well-decorated, because he is a maximalist and loves to collect trinkets. San’ary’s is simpler, understated, because he doesn’t like to stand out in a crowd. Things like that.

In the future I may try to develop it more, though, because I love weapons dearly as a form of symbolism.

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It's my 1 year anniversary on Tumblr 🥳

…..

Wow, didn’t realize it had already been this long.

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Seven Sentence Sunday

Thanks for the tag, @willtheweaver!

I’ll offer something from my first draft of GtM2.

“I had seen a few in the armories of certain kings and queens. But this one was massive, would reach past my waist even if I rested the tip on the ground. Heavy hardly began to cover it. My arms trembled slightly as I studied it. There was no question of my inability to wield it. The handle was wooden, with a leather grip, and the pommel had a red horsehair tassel tied to it. It was not comparable to the ostentatious, ornate weapons that Furajyan and Insu’mej warriors used.”

I love swords, guys.

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Sketch of Akasyr.

I don’t mind this one so much. Different style than usual. Mostly I just wanted to share that I changed His weapon. It’s a Kampilan now instead of a machete. More refined. I’m also still working on developing a writing system. Lots of kinks to work out in that area.

Anyway, my posts continue to flop dramatically on here and Blvesky, for some fucking reason. I guess it can’t be helped.

Expect me to make more writing posts and less art over the summer as uni lets out and I go back to work.

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Arroti.

Dropping this here first to test the waters. I don’t usually draw gore-type stuff, usually only a little blood at most. Ironic considering how much I drew it when I was younger.

Not terribly happy with how the heart turned out. Not terribly happy with the piece as a whole. But someone else might be.

Anyway, I’ll log off before my cold medicine kicks in. It’s late.

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Khet.

This is a redesign of his outfit. I was tired of the simplicity and felt it didn’t properly represent his character as a whole. Plain black is the garb of most central Furajyan priests, but Khet, being aggressively anti-monarchy and traditionalist and from the northern mountains, would never bow his head and wear it. The Naghu’al priests love color and nature and all that is beautiful and divine.

The embroidery on his sleeves, collar, and shoes features motifs of flowers, flowing natural patterns, divine symbols, constellations, and animals; using dyed thread and painted beads. His scarf is more geometric, like the common daily wear of non-clergy members. Generally he would wear boots, but he travels south often, so I thought slippers would be more appropriate. Still, he keeps his veil—although less concealing than that of central Furajyan priests.

If you want to see more redesigns or just character concepts like this, let me know!