#anubii

[saltineofswing]

Here’s some old art of HAWKMOTH, a character I have played with a bunch but that never made it onto Tumblr. Hawkmoth is ‘prodigiously and perhaps even detrimentally clairvoyant’, to the point of spending most of his life literally just walking around and stumbling into food, shelter, and problems that need solving at exactly the most opportune time. Don’t ask him when you die. You’ll get a serious – and, probably, correct – answer.

Hawkmoth is a member of the clandestine Order of the Moth, an order of oracular servants of the Road’s native-born god of time Thysan Thaumeta – which is, literally, an enormous moth. If the moth dies, time ends. So, pretty important to have a small town’s worth of well-trained guardians to protect it. Their compound, high in the dense forests of the Green, is miles away from any outpost, town, or settlement. They are insular and weird, but not unfriendly or unhelpful. 

Hawkmoth is the most powerful clairvoyant of any of them, to the point of finishing people’s sentences, answering questions that haven’t been asked, or providing portents of future events to people out of nowhere. He sees a multitude of timelines, often simultaneously, meaning that he can aggregate the likelihood of a certain event happening relatively easily. Mostly, this power works in regards to his own day-to-day life, although he can extend it to others especially if their ‘path’ crosses his own in a meaningful way. He spent most of his life eschewing any kind of agency, and simply went along with whatever his powers told him would happen.

He usually doesn’t act on his premonitions because, usually, his premonitions also include what he is going to say or do. So for a long time, he was so reliant on his powers that he just assumed he would be in the ‘right’ place, at the ‘right’ time, to say the ‘right’ thing, for whatever outcome he predicted was most likely, in every situation he found himself in.

His powers also mean that he is an absolute fucking demon in combat – he knows every move you and he are going to make the second you unsheathe your blade, and he knows every opening in your guard, and he has the ability to play the fight in his head a hundred times before you even know you’re going to be fitting. Hawkmoth is still bound by the limits of his physical body, but as long as his opponent has an exploitable weakness, he can find it – all the trial and error he needs to do is already done, in a version of events that won’t happen because of Time Bullshit.

Hawkmoth befriended August En-Zaied during the events of the Wild Hunt (see: Godslaughter), after his time-based powers allowed him to overcome Ganzrig Khalgar’s luck-based powers and he defeated her. When the Home Team defeated Glory and their slain allies were brought back to life, Hawkmoth vowed to help August return Ganzrig’s ashes to her family back on their homeworld of Ismes. But when he left The Road and was separated from Thysan Thaumeta, he lost his clairvoyant powers almost entirely (basically giving him a brain aneurysm. He walked it off). Eventually, with the help of August and his family, Hawkmoth grew to develop his own agency and decision-making abilities. His powers of clairvoyance returned, and Hawkmoth was able to save the En-Zaieds from certain doom. Now, Hawkmoth is less like a robot operating on a script, and has been accepted whole-heartedly into August’s family.

[cryptidshy]

Rough sketches I need to develop more.

[saltineofswing]

This is the refsheet I did for Ozzy for Artfight a couple years back! I thought posting some of the reference stuff I compiled for that would be a good way to ease myself back into posting to Tumblr. Some more info Under da Cut

Ozzy designed his armor to combine Vitrioncalar and ‘modern’ design sensibilities; the helmet is actually the third iteration – the first was destroyed by Jovix-Cailo, the second was destroyed by Lumarchus, the Prince of Wolves, one of the four figureheads of the New Regency, a Vitrioncalar ‘resurrective-traditionalist’ faction that Ozzy is currently embroiled in a super-fun three-way civil war with in his home timeline.

His new prosthetics incorporate an alloy that Ozzy developed because his arms kept exploding whenever he used his powers at full force. It uses a combination of Vitrioncalar metallurgy and engineering principles that Ozzy developed himself! He’s really been trying to squeeze his actual passion (engineering, especially prosthetics and medical engineering) into his ‘official’ job (Leading a rebellion against an authoritarian state) everywhere he can. Mostly, it hasn’t worked. 

He does, however, have a massive living pyramid-ship full of cybernetically-enhanced evolutionarily-uplifted lizard-men. So, that’s pretty cool!

[saltineofswing]

I CAN’T READ MY WRITING!

As Osmanthus embraces his power and embraces his Vitrioncalar heritage, he must also embrace the responsibilities that come with them.

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SMOKETREE CENTAUREA, the Wildfire Star, is a revolutionary who loves the spotlight and is used to being the hotness. So what happens when, amidst rising societal tensions, Osmanthus Quince challenges his popularity...?

Smokey is set to be Ozzy’s ‘rival’, of sorts, in our new campaign under @salavante’s watchful eye. Right now we’re doing a little mini-session in which I am DMing a small adventure for him so we can feel out the source of some of his animosity for Ozzy after a mission goes particularly sideways. Where Ozzy is a ‘Storm’-elemental specialist, Smokey is what you could call a ‘Wildfire’-elemental specialist, with an affinity for Fire, Earth, and Entropy. He’s not a bad dude by any means, but he’s used to being the golden boy – and Ozzy, seemingly reticent to step into the spotlight and poorly-suited to the work of a heroic insurgent, is exactly the type of dude that grinds Smokey’s gears.

[saltineofswing]

When Smokey has to go out on a mission, whether for the Witch Queen or the Resistance, he has a group of folks that are kind of his go-to guys. Cormorant, Hogweed, Al, Ten-Speed, and Yuuna are a frat party from hell but they get the job done.

CORMORANT is a Zealot and an Ice-elemental Supremator, found as a baby by a cult to the Shade God of cold and darkness but rescued by the Witch Queen’s covens. Now, she is a dedicated follower of Wynraeth. She’s traded one zealot’s devotion for another, but Wynraeth doesn’t mind. She’s a little bit crazy most of the time. When she’s in a fight, she’s a lot a bit crazy.

HOGWEED is an ‘Imperfect’ Anubii, and is probably best described as ‘that asshole friend you keep around despite his shitty behavior’, meaning he’s an obnoxious class clown and a loudmouth bully. But don’t comment on that extra eye on his forehead, his extra left pinky, or the mottled off-color skin on his left arm – he can dish it out but he can’t take it, and Smokey kinda keeps Hogweed around because Hogweed makes him laugh... and when Hogweed says something douchey, Smokey can admonish him and feel superior.

ALANDIGOS ‘AL’ KWAIATSIN is a prodigy from the Shade’s Shagraati Clade, a Desperado and expert survivalist. Likes the desert the best, but capable in any environment. Easily overstimulated by loud noises, doesn’t speak much. The type of guy who enjoys the value of quiet. Al is also an excellent campfire cook, and often leaves the headquarters of the Covens in order to ‘fortnight’ in the wilderness on his own.

TEN-SPEED, or ‘Bike’ to his friends, is Smoketree’s best friend and something of his lifeline to the modern world. Smokey isn’t super great with technology, nor is he super appraised of popular culture – Ten-Speed, on the other hand, loves TV and is a deft mechanic on top of his potent Earth-elemental Supremator powers. Ten-Speed is a laid-back guy who knows everybody who’s everybody in the Witch Queen’s Covens.

YUUNA is a member of the Uluth, a race of powerfully psionic beings who flourished on Mindrunner where they died out on the prime Road. Though the Uluth are part of the ruling class, some Uluth like Yuuna see the treatment of Anubii in their society as wrong. Yuuna is a member of the Witch Covens’ clandestine ‘intel’ arm, the Circle of Silence. Smokey likes him because he’s not as stuck-up as some of the other eggheads in his coven, and because he’s not shy of explaining ‘complicated’ concepts in easily-digestible terms.

[saltineofswing]

My Holiday Gift to my Best Lad @salavante of a pair of lost kids who would have been royalty in another place and another time. Instead they just got real big spooky eyes and are technically ‘related’, but also sort of technically the same person from two different dimensions?

It’s complicated.

[saltineofswing]

Inktober, Day 1: Nightlance

Jonquil’s signature move, as it were. Not the type of guy whose bad side you wanna be on- unfortunately for most, whatever type of polygon he is it’s mostly bad sides.

This is a companion piece to my darling’s illustration for the first day of Inktober of this galoot’s brother, Daigh (to be found here).