@bloodilymerry I may have made a small gift for you
No fantasy series is truly complete without having a nice cinematic shot of the entire party, so that is exactly what I did. those fucking damned paladins and co., headed out onto the next big thing.
Now, it's up to you to figure out who's who! >:)
uhhh flat lineart and production notes below since I loooove to yap and this kind of took me longer than I'd thought:
I *do* wish I'd spent more time researching outfits, but I figure this is directly after they kicked primacron's ass-ish so most of the choir has pretty plain stuff on (with some artistic liberties made for embellishments...) if I got some of their racial/class traits incorrect, uh, my bad.
had I researched their classes and fitted them to appropriate armor, this would've gotten finished sometime in 2028...
still managed to fit a decent amount of motifs into their designs I think, though I started giving up near grudge and gridlock
most of the ghostly choir in there's got echoes of my own humansonas for them
I had to redraw ultra magnus's face about four times before I decided I liked it. that seems to be a running theme; I can never decide how to draw him.
scourge's fur shawl thing is directly stolen from yet another scourge/sweeps fan. thank you to @/flameofthescorpion for the excellent sweep lore
Highfire's wings are based off the blue-and-yellow macaw, since macaws are famously long-lived and also known for their intelligence and Highfire is an elf wizard. also because who doesn't like macaws?
I enjoyed drawing exactly two of those trees, and then the rest were a lot less fun. you can kind of really tell
scourge and siblings were supposed to be much bluer, but i fear the rendering/color export settings lost most of the blue. maybe a more experienced me can one day balance out the blue and natural skin tones a bit better
on a similar note, I stole their blue hair idea from one of my favorite characters in my favorite webcomic Heir's Game (shoutout to Heir's Game)! The idea is that it looks like pretty normal black hair in average-light conditions but has a blue undertint to it in direct light, which they are currently in
The funnest part was drawing everyone's hair (especially Highfire's) and Magnus's hammer. and drawing a big variety of faces/face shapes. at least I *hope*
Least funnest part was trying to fit in the perspective and fourteen-ish subjects in a relatively small space. also coming up with a color scheme and realizing every single person wears blue and brown in some capacity except cyclonus and grudge. also trying to finish up and realizing I forgot to shade background accessory number 29034838
I would've gone out a bit further back (since the backdrop has a LOT of empty space) but at that range you lose too much detail to the inking to draw any meaningful features. see: Tailgate in the back (oops)
if I could fit more people in that space, it would go to the rest of the Wreckers, Scourge's extended family, and perhaps a dead automaton cameo or five. but they would be very compressed and small
instead you can think of all that filler space as a place for the title instead perhaps :>
this fucking thing started lagging out my computer near the end and also was too big to fit as a png on tumblr. oops.
Thank you for writing such a fun and compelling au, those fics did genuinely make my mornings when getting out of bed was a total chore. I had such a blast reading and cheering on Cyc and company and theorizing/making incomprehensible noises/sobbing over the ghosts. Well, here's to all the adventures that come after!
TF Fantasy AU: Ultra Magnus, Scourge, the Sweeps, Cyberwarp and Orcs in general
So! My favourite fantasy species - the orcs. As I mentioned in the Grudge entry in the previous post, the some orc tribes got mind-controlled by Exarchon. And they remember. Just like they remember about the band of adventurers who defeated Exarchon.
Scourge and the Sweeps
Hunters/Rangers (Gloom Stalkers)
Neutral, probably.
Don't really have racial enemies - they have favourite prey instead. Galvatron hired them because it was cheaper than hiring a team of orc warriors. Galvatron can't read orcish, so he didn't realize he's hiring four brothers whose job is to bring deer to the camp and not experienced bounty hunters.
Anyway - the Sweeps and Scourge are really good hunters. They're excellent at tracking. It even would translate into being decent assassins/bounty hunters, they're just not terribly enthused about their new boss.
And then their new boss releases Exarchon.
Now, the Sweeps aren't terribly intellectual. They're clever and good at what they do, but they slept through most of the stories about ancient foes and what not. So they just vaguely remember that they heard the name somewhere and it's bad news.
So they sneak of to find their little sister and ask her.
Cyberwarp
Witch
Neutral good
Magical jack of all spells - knows some healing, some offensive spells, some wards and some buffs and debuffs.
Has a mace she calls a staff. But it's a mace.
As in RiD 2015, she's the weirdo do-gooder, who'd like people to get along, and not hurt others, etc, etc. but isn't very effective about convincing her tribe about being peaceful. Admittedly, she's also running against better arguments about not being peaceful than in RiD 2015 - you can't argue with "humans have those damn mages that see us as fodder for mind control, so we should make sure they're afraid to do that", can you?
The brains in the family and the one who actually remembers the various legends. So when her brothers show up and mention Exarchon, she knows what they need to do. And for once in her life, she's not getting talked down - the legends say that one of the warriors who defeated Exarchon survived and they're damn well going to find him, and tell him to get off his ass and save the world again.
Ultra Magnus
Warrior
Lawful good.
Has a big, big hammer.
Personality-wise, basically G1 Ultra Magnus. Kind, self-sacrificing and will deny he's leader material. Kind of serious, but can occasionally get snarky (or even, dare I say it, passive-agressive).
He hears about Exarchon through the tribal grape-vine and sets out to find out more about the people who defeated him last time. That leads him to the ruined monastery where Cyclonus is living - about at the same time when Scourge and the Sweeps show up there.
So now Cyclonus has several strapping orcs telling him he needs to help them stop Exarchon again. Convincing him is not that hard, really. It's Cyclonus after all and his violent impulses are still there.
Cyberwarp! Though an elite Decepticon warrior, she would much rather live in peace than continue the fighting.
She was introduced in RID15 and has only appeared in the story Last Bot Standing since.
I think she has a really neat design and like that it doesn't scream "girl robot"! Also, I love a bot that isn't fully on board with their faction's ideals.
The Autobots ask Knockout for a huge favor. And for reference for a few things, please read the Cybertron OVA. That will definitely provide you context.
"You want me to do what?!" Knockout screamed at Ultra Magnus as he scrambled to get more energon for Wheeljack.
"Inform the council of the current situation and convince them to lend us the Nemesis!" Ultra Magnus ordered.
"Magnus, there's a lot that needs to be considered here!" Knockout reminded, "Didn't you just pass legislation with them to dismantle the fragging thing?!"
"Knockout, the threat here is extremely dire and we need more resources here and now!" Ultra Magnus declared.
"Well, I need something to show them in order for them to even consider stopping their dismantling of the ship!" Knockout retorted.
"I will send the footage over to you! Just be sure to call the meeting on my behalf!" Ultra Magnus shouted.
Knockout groaned in frustration before storming off. "You owe me big time for this!"
==
Later
"What is the meaning of this, Knockout?" Cyclonus demanded as the council remained seated, "We were just about to end this session when you so rudely contacted us to remain in our seats."
"I know." Knockout raised his servos in surrender. Knockout saw the familiar faces: Windblade, Cyclonus, Cyberwarp, Jazz, and Skybite, but Predaking was not seated on the council, "Where is Predaking?"
"Predaking had matters to attend to with his own people," Windblade explained, "We will debrief him on possible laws and legislation when he returns."
"Well, there is something that Ultra Magnus is requesting you halt," Knockout began as he pulled out his datapad, "He's asking that you halt dismantling the Nemesis."
"Excuse you?!" Skybite slammed his servos on the table.
"Why would Ultra Magnus ask something like that?" Cyberwarp exclaimed in confusion.
"K.O., the thing has been approved by popular demand," Jazz reminded, "Using the parts of the ship to help rebuild parts of Cybertron would make construction go faster. Many Cybertronians are unhoused right now."
"Yes, I understand but there has been conflicting information that has...manifested that Ultra Magnus is trying to...let's say confirm." Knockout swiped to the live feed and displayed it on the screens installed up at the top of the ceiling. The council watched in horror and discomfort at the sight of grotesque and skinless beasts walking around and trampling everything in sight.
"What is this?" Jetfire asked.
"Wheeljack and Arcee got themselves caught up in a massive extinction event and the humans there managed to use the Jackhammer to send us an S.O.S," Knockout explained.
"...I don't mean to sound crass-!"
"Cyclonus!" Cyberwarp exclaimed.
"This world has nothing to do with us! Why are the Autobots needlessly putting themselves in danger for a specific world we have never even encountered?!" Cyclonus demanded.
"Because we have multiple optic witnesses spotting both Optimus and Megatron on the scene!" Ultra Magnus spoke through the data pad. The Commander then adjusted the cameras, and the council saw Optimus on the ground in his previous form, firing at these Colossal Titans to get the humans to safety.
"Optimus?" Jazz sat up from his seat, stunned to see his friend alive.
"Multiple witnesses, you included, stated Optimus Prime had perished, giving his life to allow the Well to work again!" Cyclonus retorted.
"Well he has been active on this world for four years!" Ultra Magnus added.
"Have you managed to confirm that this is Optimus Prime and not a deceiver of any kind?" Windblade asked.
"Mannerisms and actions so far dictate this is Optimus Prime!" Ultra Magnus answered.
"What of Megatron and his status?" Windblade pressed.
"Currently assisting in eliminating this 'Colossal Titan' threat!" Ultra Magnus answered.
"We can't entertain an idea like this!" Jetfire declared, "Optimus, I can't say for certain, but allowing the Nemesis to be in close contact with Megatron! Not to mention the actual justification that we have to provide everyone else as to why the Nemesis is being carted off to another world."
"This world is facing an extinction event!" Cyberwarp pointed at the screen, "Are we really just going to let another species die?!"
"There are many factors to this that we have just been introduced to, but how in the Allspark are we supposed to explain both Optimus and Megatron being alive?" Windblade demanded.
"And working together!" Ultra Magnus added, "Optimus and Megatron are working together to eliminate this threat, and this threat just started running!"
The council and Knockout looked up at the screens above to see the Colossal Titans were running, just as Ultra Magnus had said.
"There will be questions. How will you operate such a massive ship?" Windblade challenged.
"I have some Decepticons that want to be pardoned and work of their time," Knockout chimed in, "Helping stop an extinction event on another world should help clear some of their records."
"I just contacted Predaking! He agreed to assist in eliminating the threat!" Ratchet informed.
"Agreed to-! What did you offer him?!" Skybite demanded.
"We'll talk about it later, just bring the Nemesis!" Ratchet shouted.
The council looked at each other and began whispering among themselves. Knockout waited patiently, but the medic was still rather nervous as to what they would decide. Their talking ceased, and they immediately turned their attention to Knockout.
"Have the Nemesis returned with minimal damage. Ensure the Decepticons you contact have little chance of going rouge. As for Optimus and Megatron, they will be addressed later once the crisis is averted," Windblade listed.
"Thank you!" Knockout immediately rushed out of the council room before activating his comm. link system. "Dead End! Shadowstriker! Want to work off some of your debts?!"
(Well, these are all the perspectives that I've provided for the Guren No Yumiya chapter. Now onto the unknown territory!)
