To take a break between artfight attacks, I tried to do the GTA VI girl trend with Indaren but I messed up the pose haha. Hopefully it's still recognizable??
This was a doodle I started while listening to "We Own You" by Waitress, which has the line "my nails are drenched in blood from shaking hands to win the game" and I thought about the blorbo, as I usually do. I like to believe that, in the timeline where the Nerevarine doesn't leave for Akavir, they were involved in allowing the Ingenium to be built.
Anyways, no WIP Wednesday because I posted my WIP on Sunday, so you're getting the weekly Indaren drawing.
We cannot end the week without the weekly Indaren drawing. You must look at my blue boy.
I was thinking about how well-adjusted I made him for someone who went from half-starved street urchin to Grandmaster of a Great House in like a year. So I decided to make him much worse.
This was partially inspired by this detail from The Roses of Heliogabalus. As a matter of fact, I have another sketch of this same drawing that copies that same pose. I like that one for a more "suffering from success" theme, but I think this one is better for the more self-destructive aspect. The bad thing is that I have to render all this gold now.
Name: once had a first name but now goes by his last, Indaren. Later known as Hlaalu Indaren.
Age: ~270 by 4E 201
Born: 24 of Hearthfire, 3E 357
Occupation: As of 4E 201, Indaren is retired and living in Anvil. Before his retirement in 4E 5, he was Grandmaster of House Hlaalu and Hortator of all five Houses. He was deeply involved in post-Tribunal politics.
Background:
Like all Nerevarines, he was born to uncertain parents on a certain date. He spent his early life in the streets of Bravil among other Dunmer orphans, pickpocketing and rat hunting. This little group of friends grew ever smaller as they were imprisoned or fell ill. Indaren was always deemed a bit strange by others because of his weird habit of sometimes speaking in Ald Chimeris and having strange dreams about being a general. Of course, at the time he doesn't know what a Nerevarine is, and he is convinced the snippets of Nerevar's past life he gets are things he imagined. One day, he is caught stealing from the marketplace and imprisoned. From there he is sent to Vvardenfell to fulfill the prophecy.
Indaren was born female but at one point he decided that he/him sounded good. He stopped using his more fem-sounding first name and decided to go by his last. This was so long ago he barely remembers it.
Once in Vvardenfell, he has a very rough time adapting, specially since he doesn't know how to read or write. Caius quickly teaches him and sends him off to fend for himself. Indaren survives this trial by fire, mainly out of sheer luck, and slowly starts behaving more and more like his previous incarnation. Stealth is dropped in favor of open combat, he starts to wear medium armor instead of light, and he begins to earnestly worship Azura. By the time he meets the Tribunal, he remembers enough that he feels very awkward talking to them. Of course, defeating the Sixth House is much more important at the moment (and he also has complicated feelings about that!). Throughout it all, his fear of disappointing Azura drives him on.
Once Dagoth Ur is defeated, he becomes very active in the role of Hortator. While Hlaalu is his chosen House, he tries to keep all the Houses united the best he can. Even though he was raised in Cyrodiil, he favors a slow independence from the Empire. Morrowind's resources should be administered by the local people and not by the East Empire Trading Company. His views put him at odds with Hlaalu Helseth a lot, especially when slavery is banned. Indaren sees this move as Helseth trying to obliterate his opposition in Dres rather than a genuine move to free slaves while keeping Morrowind's economy stable. He brokers some deals to implement the measure slower but the Oblivion Crisis comes before he can properly execute his plan. During that time, he becomes a little bit more active as Hortator of House Redoran and helps fight the Daedra.
The ending of the Oblivion Crisis comes with a bigger problem than keeping plantation owners happy: Vivec disappears and Baar Dau must be dealt with. While the Ingenium is approved by the Grand Council as a whole, Indaren votes in favor of it and he attends the first execution to keep the engine fed. From 4E 0 to 4E 5, he tries to spend most of his time in Narsis and as far away from Vivec City as he can. The guilt is all-encompassing: he helped get the Ingenium approved, he fulfilled the prophecy and indirectly caused Vvardenfell to be in danger again even though he promised Azura he would keep Morrowind safe.
Then Baar Dau finally falls on one of the many days Indaren wasn't in Vvardenfell. The events then ramp up very quickly: Red Mountain erupts and all of Morrowind is affected in one way or another, he tries to pull together the remnants of Houses together without much success and in the end just has Redoran and half of Hlaalu. The Argonian invasion occurs and is only defeated because the Redoran leadership is much more competent than Indaren. In these very fraught couple of years, Indaren increasingly feels like he is a disappointment to Azura and a very poor excuse of a Nerevarine. Once Morrowind is out of imminent danger, he writes a letter apologizing to the Grand Council and returns to Cyrodiil.
Notable Relationships:
Crassius Curio: the vilest situationship known to man. A relationship that saw the two sides of the power imbalance; first as Crassius being the person who Indaren needed to win over to be voted Hortator, and then as Indaren being Grandmaster and a very, very powerful ally Crassius intends to keep in his pocket. It absolutely did not help that from 3E 428 to 4E 4, Indaren was an absolute menace to society and felt like he could essentially do whatever he wanted.
Nerevar (?): As the Nerevarine prophecy gets closer to being fulfilled and Indaren gets Moon-and-Star from Azura, the little bit of Nerevar that clings to him gets more brazen and starts to actually show up and give some very unwanted advice. Indaren isn't quite sure if that is THE Indoril Nerevar that he sees or just his imagination. Either way, oftentimes, they're the only ones who truly get each other. Probably because they're the same person.
Atheryn (another of my OCs): Post Oblivion Crisis, Indaren needs someone loyal only to him that can get into places he is too well-known to go to. After seeing a match with Vedam Dren at the Vivec Arena, he meets Atheryn Caemor, the incumbent Grand Champion. Indaren always had a weakness for Altmer men, so he hires Atheryn on the spot. Their relationship deepens in the years between 3E 433 and 4E 5 into a friends with benefits type. After the Red Year, Atheryn is very impressed by Indaren's commitment to Morrowind and his combat prowess and chooses to remain by his side without being paid. From then on, they become something that can only be described as a bonded pair. They go everywhere together.
Strengths:
Capable fighter: Indaren is very good at a couple of things and fighting is one of them. His chosen weapons are spear and short sword in the true Nerevar fashion.
Chill: Indaren has a very "easy come, easy go" mentality that is probably what kept him mostly sane all these years. It was through sheer luck that he got anywhere. He loves power and most of all he loves fame, but he knows that he can't cling to it.
Loyal: He is very loyal to his oath to Azura and the concept that he might have failed Her during the Red Year drives him into near isolation. Even afterwards, he remains loyal to his defunct House by keeping "Hlaalu" in front of his name. He is also very loyal to Atheryn.
Flexible: Once he finally understands Dunmeri customs, he endears himself both to the native Dunmer and to the Imperials by switching between the two cultures. Before that, Indaren did not question his role as Nerevarine once and decided to just roll with it.
Weaknesses:
Bona fide hedonist: maybe it's the ghost of Nerevar and his world-class rizz, maybe it's having lived in Bravil; but once Indaren becomes wealthy enough and gets disease immunity from corprus, every brothel and tavern from Suran to Narsis knows his name. He has shown up to the Grand Council and the Hlaalu Council more hungover than not. His adventures have gotten him into some very awkward situations and almost killed in one occasion.
Kinda incompetent: Indaren spent most of his life fighting by himself, so he is not good at leading people to battle. He did well enough in the Oblivion Crisis because the Redoran already knew what to do, but he did terrible in the Accession War. His strategies were terrible and he was easy to overwhelm. By the end of the war, he had stepped back and let the Redoran Archmaster deal with the planning.
Chill: Indaren takes very few things in life seriously. This gets worse with his corprus immortality: he can't die of old age anymore! He has literally all the time in the world! This makes him misjudge how urgent things are and sometimes he comes off as irresponsible to his more serious acquaintances.
Chaotic: Indaren works in mysterious ways and that's not always a good thing. Not everyone is Azura's specialest little boy with plot armor and having no plans have resulted in some very big problems for him. This is part of what makes him incompetent as a general. "Hit it until it dies" is not a valid battle strategy for a group of five hundred soldiers.
No Interest In:
Children: I have a headcanon that corprus is like a very aggressive smallpox and can make you infertile once it reaches the internal organs. Indaren would probably be a terrible father regardless.
Ruling: Funnily enough, although he loves power, Indaren prays to Azura every day that Helseth won't die so the Grand Council won't put him in charge. He already saw Nerevar's memories of ruling over the First Council and he doesn't want to do that in this lifetime. He's happy enough having influence without being in charge of a nation.
No Concept of:
Honor: As friendly as he tries to keep things with Redoran, Indaren doesn't really get what this "honor" stuff is all about. To him, anything is fair game in order to accomplish your goals.
Character:
Fuck it, we ball
In battle:
Mainly spear, the short sword is there as a sidearm in case he somehow gets disarmed or has to fight in very close quarters. The very little magic he knows are utility spells, so he fights purely melee. His main strategy aside from "hit it until it dies" is to be fast to overwhelm and dodge.
Distinguishing Marks:
Big red eyes, a very angular face and a very prominent widow's peak (he's my pfp <3).
VERY tall with long legs. Is a whole head and a half taller than all humans (except Nords).
Trivia:
He loves sujamma
He's exclusively into men. He prefers elven men, usually Altmer.
He loves jewelry
He's got a horrible, horrible Bravil accent both in Cyrodiilic and Dunmeri. Thankfully it's mostly gone by 4E 201
He was a member of the Morag Tong but left once he became too well-known in Morrowind. Is still friends with Eno Hlaalu
His favorite food is the Hound and Rat recipe from the Redoran Cooking Secrets book.
Was part of the Thieves' Guild but also left once he became too well known. The jobs from the guild were also starting to affect Hlaalu so he stopped taking them.
I've been working on a small comic about Indaren post-Morrowind events, the effects of having gone through all that, and the Red Year (my boy would never get up and leave everything to go to Akavir). These are some silly doodles I made while deciding how much bling the Hortator of House Hlaalu should have on them.
So while I am still struggling through the Tribunal Triptych, I thought I would share what usually goes on when I make big stuff like this.
1. Scribble Stage
Layout of big elements (for example, I really wanted Nerevar to be visible in the tapestry and I wanted some common themes like the spear) The moon and stars I copied from another artwork I had made for my Steam library. I make my borders first as a separate layer because my ideas usually begin with the frame I want to use.
2. First Sketch
I usually have multiple sketch phases where I try to make the scribble look like something legible. I began thinking about making more of the tapestry at this stage. I also began the process of tracing over the Daedric inscription on the tapestry.
3. Line Art
The biggest part of my art style. I spend multiple days on this stage. This image is the compliation of many line art layers because there were many things I had to go back to while lining this. For example, my Nerevarine was already techincally colored by the time I started to work on the tapestry in the back and the fonts. The Daedric inscription in the border (Many fall, one remains) was actually made at the very end because it was originally going to be in plain text but I couldn't find a good font for it.
4. Flat Color
I color my artwork like a coloring book, that's why it takes me so long to finish anything. There was a color test in the second sketch phase where I decide what colors I want to use.
4. Base Render
I am not a big fan of rendering but I know it saves lives. Here I used divide and multiply layer setting to make the light and dark areas. This is where I realized the colors were too saturated for my liking (multiply will usually do that).
5. Finished Piece
I tossed in a bright purple layer with pin light on it to make the yellow less eye-catching. I love textures so I finished this piece with a paper texture I had sitting around in my files. And there! That's the whole process for a big illustration like this one.
