"Do not fall into doubt and fear as before, but open your eyes to life and glory again"
"Janarius"/???
This post is subject to change as the character and campaign march onward.
Race: Breton Vampire (Noxiphillia Sanguivoria)
Class: 6 Grave Cleric/2 Undead Warlock
10 STR | 14 DEX | 14 CON | 8 INT | 18 WIS | 13 CHA
Nicknames: Jan, Fish-Flayer, Crustacean Crusher & Dragonslayer (given by Flyodr the Striking), Mosquito (Given by Aurelian), Little Priest (given by HER)
The 31st of Suns Height, 4th Era 201 marks the day the man who is now Janarius awoke, entombed as one of the dead and with no recollection of who he was or the life he had before he awoke. Three things drive him forward in his attempts to remember who he was before he was buried. The FAITH in the god whos amulet was found wrapped around his neck, the flamberge dagger and HER unknowable will, and the ache in his stomach that refuses to be SATED by normal means.
Addition 1: Bits of his past have begun to return to him, of his family, his brothers demise, mother's disdain, and the ultimate moment where he unknowingly bore witness to the birth of the first vampire, her slaughter upon his people and ultimately, his turning. He has a word for his condition, VAMPIRISM, and the answer to his hunger, BLOOD. Now he carries his brothers name, Janarius, in hopes to continue to dig up the answers he needs, before another incident like that of Shriekwind Bastions can occur.
Paleblood will guide your way, embrace the changes and be consumed...
As a direct turn of Lamae Bal, it made sense in my mind that "Janarius", would more likely than not, be able to take on the form of the Blood Scion. After four months of workshopping and teasing, he was finally revealed to the party after our "dunmer friend" tried to offer him his foul blood and he had (yet another) crash out of the century.
A bit more on the design process/philosophy below, aka How Cina Designs a Monster:tm:
The original design for the Blood Scion was, and honestly still is, unappealing to me, and I had made my thoughts known on this as early as late January. When put next to the other secondary form vampires have that are present in the Elder Scrolls games, the Vampire Lords, something about them feels uninspired. From a game dev perspective, I can understand why they look the way they do, it prevents the need from needing to reanimate a ton of things so they could do what the game designers set out for them to do. What we're left with though is something I'm simply not a big fan of and had a hard time imagining Janarius becoming.
Fortunately, who gives a shit about canon? We're artists here, we can design whatever we damn well please! Early hammering out began, mainly just to get vibe/colors down
If there's any aspects of the ESO Scions I do like, its the colors and the legs. It makes sense in my mind that if Lamae is trying to mimic the Vampire Lords, that the Blood Scions would take on a warmer color pallet to contrast with the VL's cold tones, so that was an aspect I wanted to keep. As for the legs, well, its the most monstrous aspect of the Scions that I like, and one that could easily be pushed to fit our needs. The head is there too, yes, but to me it looks too similar to the VL's facial structure, which as an aspect I did want to change.
Many animals have been, jokingly or otherwise, used to describe Janarius, and the two that were ultimately used to inspire this design were bats and snakes.
Scion Jan is overall sharper and much more angular in comparison to his humanoid form, overall being much more calculated, and potentially cruel while in this form. Many more of his physical features are more snake-like as well, chief among them his jaw structure, which is able to open much wider than before and where the hinge-like structures in his teeth become much more pronounced and deadly, meant to dig in and assist in keeping prey trapped while he has his fill of blood, alongside much more... pronounced structures that weren't set in place til much later in the design process.
The more bat like features come into play in several more areas. The ears, the fact hes got much more hair on his body that normal while in this form, and to some extent, the mandibles. Is there a better name for them out there? Yeah, Im sure there is, but it feels appropriate for them since ultimately their purpose is to keep food close and restrained. There were early debates to give him non functioning wings, but those were ultimately scrapped in my desire to keep Janarius feeling distinct from the VL's.
The mandibles are actually a very recent addition, inspired from concept pieces of Detlaff from the Witcher 3: Blood & Wine that one of the players sent my way after they found out a bit earlier than everyone else about our plans. They make sense to me, especially once I saw how they moved and functioned in the game. Ultimately one of the defining aspects of Janarius as a character is his insatiable hunger, and his inability to be truly satisfied no matter how much he consumes. Why wouldn't this form made with the intention to be an apex predator not have something more to it to ensure it can do the job it was ultimately set out to do? Plus, I think they add to the intimidation factor greatly.
While there are other aspects to it that exist, I think it would be for the best if everyone else at the table figured them out in time :^) For the time being, here is the final full body, and some tracks that I get jiggy to whenever I'm doing work involving this monster
Finished this one up a while ago, just struggled with an actual god damn name for the piece. Got the itch to play with gradient maps and this was the result of satisfying that itch. Glenmoril will always be on the brain, and I will not apologize for that, I have no idea how to elaborate further without diving into deep lore
Came to my attention that this one never got put up here, so here we go hehe
Typically Im not big on the lineless/more painterly style, but I was having fun with the colors, listened to Vals Sailor's Bargain track, and went ham.
