#editaurus

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Another Council of Warlocks commission done by @pespillo!!! It’s the fashionable duo Megarus and Editaurus:

Love how Ed’s web wings were done… The best part is the angle makes it look as if Meg is taking an impromptu selfie and Ed is a bit surprised but immediately rolls with it and poses because that’s just what they do. It even conveys a certain unspoken vibe I always imagined with them:

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Art Fight

An art gifting game

Finally created an Art Fight account and these are the current OCs up for attack! You have the Council of Warlocks…

And on the side: Tamara, Shogaken, and Fipik! I plan to add some more but Tumblr only allows ten images per post.

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Btw here’s some concept art for the Warlocks. In particular there’s a sketch showing how Kisonus’ jaws open up that I’m fond of.

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            Thinking of how the Council of Warlocks came to be and how they met… I’ve already gone over Viracious and his sister Thanasia, and their father.

            When it comes to Majikus, I’m playing with different ideas. I’m having some fun with the idea of her as more of a tragic, cursed antagonist. But I’m also playing with the idea of something a bit more banal and lame, because fundamentally she is a bit of a juvenile loser. Like maybe she was just her community’s equivalent to a middle-class citizen and so happened to suffer from some sort of oppression.

            When a lower-class rose up, she was sympathetic and resonated deeply with their cause, and so leapt out of her chair to help. Majikus proved powerful and bloodthirsty and helped decimate, but it seems destruction was her only contribution in the end. She definitely got some cheers for killing a dictator in front of a crowd.

            Her sister Spelaris was a lot more concerned; She agreed that some bastards needed punishing, but she didn’t quite trust Majikus and her unstable history, and was concerned she would get all of the wrong takeaways from this afterwards. With the themes I’m workshopping regarding allyship and whether you speak on behalf of a community, I think it would be interesting if, as a narrative foil to the Monster Realmers, Majikus started off as someone a little delusional;

            Like yes she did have something in common with these people, and yes she did help. But in the end there was a bit of a presumptuous attitude to her in placing herself as these people’s savior. And that presumptive attitude extends to Majikus dismissing the Monster Realmers as having no right to criticize the warlocks because they’re outsiders who don’t understand how this world works, positing herself as a representative of the Monster Realm.

            But if the MR is not a monolith, then in its context Majikus is still an outsider to the people she’s conquering, even if she’s a native to the Monster Realmers. From the perspective of a warlock victim, Majikus is marginally less of an outsider than the Monster Realmers, but at least these humans aren’t actively attacking people out of nowhere!

            Ultimately you can see how Majikus got the wrong idea, was taught the wrong less; Or it was the right lesson, but she didn’t learn anything that would balance this out. And after succeeding once, of course she decides that she just needs to do it again with all of these other people! She’s got some White Savior vibes, but in the sense of like… a White-Passing Savior. Like again technically a part of the community but there’s a distance that she’s ignoring and either way her actions isolate her from the group. In the end, maybe she really was just some bored loser looking for excitement.

            Editaurus is someone who started off from nothing, handling garbage alongside her father; Maybe her mother left, died, I don’t really know. She was the lowest of the low, but the trash means a lot of meat and bones and produce that could be salvaged into chimeras. Editaurus picked up a book and became a self-taught prodigy, making the most out of little, using her chimeras to make life easier for her and her dad.

            She became a classic rags-to-riches story. Editaurus faced classism and haters as she got a formal training at a school, and she only succeeded by learning to ignore the haters and just do as she always did. As an overnight sensation she became a renowned chimera caster, an eccentric artist who preferred to do her outlandish projects; But alas, funding had to come from somewhere!

            So she’d make a living sometimes by accepting commissions, but charging very high and only choosing that which struck her fancy. It became a mark of pride to have a one-of-a-kind chimera from Editaurus. She started a whole chimera line, all sorts of trends. Ed bought her dad a very nice villa that he moved to with some friends, and supplied a bunch of high-end chimeras that he ultimately kept as pets instead of performing their actual intended purpose. He’s one of those old-fashioned types. Every now and then Ed visits and her dad and his friends welcome back fondly the little girl who’s grown up now!

            Ed unfortunately ran into some controversy over the use of child labor and sweat shops… She dismissed the criticism, having not paid much attention to the process, and anyhow that’s just the price of art, baby! She worked hard and now so would they. But a lot of people disagreed and Editaurus found herself “cancelled” on social media with lots of angry protestors held at bay by her chimeras, maybe losing a few deals for it, to her resentment.

            Alas, her saving lesson, to ignore the haters, screwed her over here. Editaurus didn’t accept criticism because she felt it was probably the same situation all over again she had growing up! What could be different about them, this time?!

            We mostly know Meg’s; Before that Megarus started off as humble, and I’m not entirely sure how it happened, but… I’m considering he had a young and dumb cousin who got themselves into a contract with Mammon, and Megarus was always such a nice and supportive guy, self-sacrificial. So he took the burden, he took the contract as a good trade to save his cousin, while Mammon reveled in another addition that he also figured he’d forget about the next morning. But it was about the principle of keeping what he was owed, dammit!

            For such an optimistic guy with no hard feelings… Maybe Megarus started off actually kinda resentful. Maybe he resented his peers, deep down, as someone who was always self-sacrificial. But under this new job, Megarus got paid well, he found respect with a lot of other debtors. And he did his job quite well. Mammon ended up being reminded of his existence, and began promoting Megarus, giving him nicer things, but that also meant Megarus was ensnared further in his grasp.

            Kisonus has always been a jack of all trades; It fits with her as a shapeshifter. What does she have to say about her dad? Uhhhhh leave the subject alone. She was raised by her SINGLE!!!!!! mother who is a sweet if oblivious lady. She ended up with a knack for all sorts of talents and tricks, and ended up finding herself in a cycle of picking up a job, doing well, only for it to end for whatever reason as Kisonus moved to the next job.

            She accumulated a long list of jobs, a diverse experience, as her resume scroll became endless. Celebrity chef, shift manager, bartender, lawyer, stripper, delivery person, etc. Her shapeshifting and the nature of all these different jobs is a chicken or the egg situation; Did becoming a shapeshifter make these jobs easier, or did she become a shapeshifter to adapt? She’d seen it all. As her resume got longer, it became easier to nail a new job, and so Kisonus’ experience increased exponentially.

            (And on the side she was a cannibalistic serial killer but that’s somehow the least relevant part of her story lol.)

            But while her mother was always proud to take photos of Kisonus at her job each time she was hired, what became a source of pride, a collection, became a source of subtle embarrassment for Kisonus. Each time she hoped to find “the one,” not some girl but a job that would actually stick. A career, a purpose, to take pride in and know that’s what she wanted to do with her life! A college graduate with an existential crisis, a shapeshifter who could copy others but with no identity of her own. Jack of all trades, master of none… Surely better than master of one, right?

            So when she got the job application to be the warlock of the red magestone and she got hired! Kisonus felt a little excited and bragged about it as such to her mother. She had a good feeling about this gig. Maybe it’d stick, and she wouldn’t have to update her resume anymore; Her final job, absent from the list for good reason.

            Narellus we’ve also gone over. Hydrownus, after avenging his mother and slaughtering the village, began exploring and studying magic to keep getting stronger; For what reason, he didn’t know. Maybe it was to prevent something like this from happening, all over again… In the end, he visited the Spirit Currents, only for an incident to make him lose his memory, as he found himself in the Monster Realm once more. Adrift and without purpose, he found himself getting into trouble, until a wealthy arena owner offered to house Hydrownus as a prized champion known to slaughter all he faced.

            He saw nothing better to do, and so he agreed. That was his life, resigned to this inexplicable sense of being nothing but a destroyer… Until Majikus came into his life.

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It’s a shame I intend for Megarus and Editaurus to be absent from the Thanasia episode but tbh I think it’s got enough going as-is if it’s going to be within 22 minutes and there are more necessary scenes. I doubt there’s much they could offer that is particularly needed.

It’d be superficial in the end; Ed might resonate with Thanasia dealing with the Haters but her advice to not listen would ring hollow since it’s the same rhetoric she uses to justify the atrocities that Than is calling out Viracious over. Likewise, Meg would attempt to be a useless liberal centrist who wants to make Thanasia feel included and valid, let’s hear out both sides and that just pisses her off more as like Viracious he wonders what he did wrong.

I have considered the idea that Ed and Meg are the ones Viracious briefly rants to about Than standing up for her values for once; Again, Meg telling Vir to be nice and accommodate both sides’ feelings while ultimately agreeing with the warlock cause anyway. Ed having a defensive moment of empathy for Than and the literal/symbolic misogyny she’s facing, but ultimately her lecturing of Viracious, like Megarus’ HR attitude, belies the fact that they both agree the council itself has done nothing wrong.

However! I feel it doesn’t fit Viracious’ character to confide in any of his coworkers like that. He’s probably the snobbiest warlock, followed by Editaurus, and to him these are private matters of the family, this is his little sister’s struggles and putting them on display is rude. And I’ve already established at the beginning of the episode the irony that Viracious has a potential found family in the rest of the council, but his traditionalist ass cannot consider that and so he is left bitter and alone for it. Because yeah maybe Majikus was crossing a boundary by asking everyone to tutor her niece but maybe she still has a point that. They have each other. And I feel Viracious struggles with that the most because Ed values Meg, Meg is chill with everyone, as is Kis to a lesser degree, and Hyd and Nare have one another.

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Editaurus would get into a situation where she’s trying to work on a personal project in a public space due to extenuating circumstances and some stranger keeps annoying and distracting her by trying to make conversation so she just goes F it, whips up a tiny fly-roach chimera on the spot and jolts it to life, before watching in maddened anticipation as it dive bombs right into the stranger’s open mouth and causes them to choke to death. She deeply savors their struggling death flails and then makes a note to design a chimera symbolic of this entire experience later on.

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            Speaking of Warlock duos complimenting one another, each of the three pairs consists of a Warlock who is more of a ranged spellcaster, and another who is a lot more physical and hands-on. Majikus paired each Warlock like this, so they could cover one another and fulfill different niches as the situation calls for.

            Viracious relies a lot on minions, controlling them from a distance as any tactician does; He has his bone puppets that enable him to attack while sealed away completely. His undead and serpents act as guards, as does the natural environment, particularly the earth they spawn from. If uncovered, Viracious casts ranged spells and his Basilisk eyes see far, as do their abilities; Viracious is otherwise a pretty squishy wizard, and his skeletal spindliness gives it away. But he has a trick up his sleeve, using the Pink Magestone to reanimate wounded limbs and even organs.

            Kisonus tends to get up-close and personal with her natural claws, ability to transmute targets, and turning into creatures usually sicc’ed on others. She often has a smarter mind than said creatures to make full use of their abilities, and her transmutation can set up the environments they work best in, such as water. In her base form she’s naturally strong and vicious, and being up close is preferable too; She wants a taste of whatever she’s dealing with, not just to assimilate a sample to shapeshift into them, but for her own ravenous hunger as well. She wants people in her, can’t do that from a distance; That’s what victims are looking for!

            Editaurus creates chimeras, directs them from any distance, needs time before and even during a battle to set them up; She casts classic lightning bolts and webs, and can conjure life in the surrounding environment. She’d prefer to be more creative, just making a rock monster feels so bare minimum and droll… But whichever. It can be many chimeras, or one huge one whose reach is far despite relying on melee. The wings on her ankles flutter rapidly, allowing Editaurus to hover quickly. Mind you, she’s still a capable physical fighter, herself; Her own body is a perfectly-designed chimera!

            But compared to Megarus, Ed sticks to her relative niche; Megarus is a whole powerhouse, a super-fast beast even without the Orange Magestone. And that giant hammer he wields wreaks massive destruction. He’s always quick to close the gap and do things up-close and personal, which is where people fall before him thanks to Meg being proficient in melee combat and martial arts; His speed and precision can target weak points in bodies, and most witches are used to attacking from afar and relying on magic over their own flesh. Meg can use his Magestone to empower Editaurus’ chimeras, who fight for her. He’s a real whirlwind, conjuring literal ones to bring people closer, or to a chimera.

            Narellus relies a lot on her Blue Magestone, being selectively intangible, and making other things selectively intangible, makes it easy to play it safe. She specializes in illusions that can dazzle and disorient, and mind trickery. Ironically, she can actually get close and personal herself, because her selective intangibility renders her unharmed as she reaches a target, turns part of their body intangible, and then tears through the vulnerable pieces left tangible. But a lot of the time, her grace gives way to being more of a manipulator from afar, and whatever parts of herself Narellus exposes are fragile to make up for how hard she is to hit.

            Hydrownus gets his hands dirty, and bloody. His limbs can stretch due to being made of water, and being made of water makes him mostly immune to physical damage, with the Typhonus Motus protecting the internal tube and flask system Hyd relies on for stability, and to aid in funneling chemicals. He’s a master of different weapons, forming ice constructs around his staff; A giant club, a battle axe, a trident, etc. Hydrownus tears into his enemies, brutally tossing them around, burning and freezing or corroding; The worst is making the blood in your body concentrate in your head until it bursts. The pipes on his back can spew flames to propel Hyd forward as he forms ice skis to minimize friction; Sometimes a quick boost while jumping is all he needs.

            And then there’s Majikus, all by herself; And she doesn’t need anybody. Because she can fight up-close and personal, crafting energy weapons and constructs, even her greatest spell turns her into an invincible, super-strong, super-fast flier. And as the strongest Warlock, the jack-of-all-trades, she has a wide variety of spells and blasts to attack at a distance with. She can be both.

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            So there’s this bit about Viracious and Kisonus hating each other, questioning why Majikus assigned them together; Each concedes that okay, maybe it would’ve been hard to find someone suitable for the other at all. But surely they themselves, surely they’re better suited to another Warlock!

            Specifically Editaurus; Narellus and Hydrownus are creeps better left with each other, Majikus operates solo, and Megarus is alright. Vir and Kis both kinda admire and look up to Ed for her confidence and proficiency, in addition to magic they find similar to theirs; Maybe they’re just desperate to get away from their actual partner, though. Viracious talks a lot about how him and Ed are minion-mancers, they create and command armies, their constructs comprise the main bulk of the Warlocks’ army; It’s only natural!

            The source of the Warlocks’ constructs together and coming from a united place, to better collaborate their creations together and even combine them; Ed could find a way to mix in necromancy with her chimeras, and Viracious’ tactical knowledge would make full potential of Editaurus’ chimeras and their esoteric abilities. The Pink Magestone could even keep chimeras alive. Viracious considers himself sophisticated, like Editaurus.

            Kisonus has an argument for herself, however; Editaurus is an artist enamored with creatures, with life, and all of its many forms. And Kisonus is the perfect model to work off, to be inspired by; She can shapeshift into anything, even take a bite out of chimeras to become them, and help Editaurus test-drive her creations, provide feedback on what it’s like to be that chimera, etc.

            Likewise, transmutation and alchemy could turn raw materials for chimeras into other types of materials; This would give Editaurus more bang for her buck when it comes to what she’s working with, more freedom, so she doesn’t have to wait for a specific organ or limb when a pre-existing one could be turned into that. Combining alchemy to transform chimeras in ways that Editaurus herself couldn’t is much more useful, even incorporating inorganic materials; She’s already working with dead bodies anyway, what her works need is alchemy!

            I would not be at all surprised if Kisonus had a bit of a crush on Editaurus, whilst for Viracious he mostly respects and admires her as a visionary, someone with actual dignity. But in the end, Editaurus is uninterested in either of them, and bluntly makes it known; She prefers Megarus, agreeing with Majikus’ choice for partner (She would’ve figured it out herself of course, maybe already did before Maj came to the same idea).

            Editaurus puts it like this; Kis and Vir think they should pair with Ed because their magic is similar to hers, in their own ways. But that’s exactly why they shouldn’t be paired with her, because they’re redundant; Whatever they do, Editaurus already does better. She doesn’t need witches who are at worse at her own magic than her, what she needs is someone who does something she doesn’t, someone to add the variety that is the spice of life.

            THAT’s where Megarus comes into play, as more of a physical fighter whose magic relies on force. His spells stand out from Editaurus’, and thus cover for what few shortcomings hers have. Plus, she finds Kisonus and Viracious to be borderline sycophants in how they vie for her approval, or at least try to convince Majikus why they would be a better fit with her than the other.

            Sure Megarus is always a chill and agreeable dude, but he’s genuinely confident about it and good at conveying himself with sincerity, and it blends finely with Ed's opposite, outspoken nature that nevertheless comes from the same self-assuredness, two sides of the same coin. Megarus is someone who reminds Ed of the limitations of reality, and limitations breed creativity as he helps Editaurus make the budget work. And Editaurus appreciates sincerity, it is honesty and thus expression, art even!

            Kisonus and Viracious are stunned and embarrassed by this assertion, though not resentful towards Megarus for it, gratefully. Meanwhile Ed and Meg hi-five one another and go to get manicures.