May 20
Heraldry again
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seen from China
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Heraldry again
Vantage
“What separates all our minds is none of us will ever live the same life”
- Vantage, Halfy & Winks
I finally finished this drawing of all the Divine Warriors. The colourful text is ugly but it’s to represent all the Divine Warriors’ pov on Shad and Shad’s pov on Irene. I did my best and you can disagree with my choice of song. Finding one for Kul’zak was the hardest. Kul’zak’ song is Waltz in E-Major, Op. 15 “Moon Watlz” by Cojum Dip. Esmund’ song is The End and the Beginning (feat. Greta Salpeter and Brendon Urie) by Forgive Durden. Irene’ song is Vantage by Halfy & Winks. Shad’ song is What Could Have Been (from the series Arcane League of Legends) by Sting and Ray Chen. Enki’ song is my beloved Always Gold by Radical Face. Menphia’ song is Heart of Stone by SIX and Natalie Paris.
My designs of the Divine Warriors.
Past version + a ver. with evil Shad. Man Shad has changed lol.
I got lazy with Kul’zak’s design. Was sick of drawing armour.
I tried to think up of headcanon lore for them but I don’t have much.
Irene the Matron
Goddess of light, health/healing, life, fertility, abundance, peace and motherhood
Region: Ru’aun, Phoenix Drop
Symbols: The purple spring leaf and unicorns
Song inspiration: “Thought I would be satisfied seeing you content at the other side. But somehow I thought these crazy thoughts that I deserve to be loved, I deserve to know love, we deserve to live in love. I wish there's no end to our time together.”
- Bulbel, Mili
“I’ll take your hand and guide you through all the steps one takes to move on to a place, a world unseen to us all. But it’s okay, we’ll be together, my friend.”
- What Will You Leave Behind (End Titles), Maude Plante-Husaruk & Max LL
“Though I’m about to wreck, you still have your life ahead. All things that lose their way can find it again. There is no inertia in the ocean.”
- Adrift, Stray Gods
Shad the destroyer
God of the Nether, shadows, destruction, death and vengeance
Region: Nether, Falcon Claw
Symbols: Red spears and the wolf
Song inspiration: “There was a boy who shared your bones, your eager blood, your affinity for love. He had it all in his hands and he watched it all turn to sand.”
-Holy the Sea, Forgive Durden
”Could this be the day I have waited for when all my hard work doesn't go ignored? Maybe she was right, they will realize I can change the world, open up their eyes. They know I am more than some eager blood. Not some average bones, I believe in love. I just want to prove I deserve this gift. I will change this world, maybe this is it.”
-Life Is Looking Up, Forgive Durden
“The mind plays tricks, you are confused. The man you seek is long gone, dead and cold, a story told by those he trusted, those he loved, and those who then moved on.”
- I Know Those Eyes / This Man Is Dead, Brandi Burkhardt & Thomas Borchert
“Watch out for the wicked ones who call themselves beloved ones.”
-Holy the Sea, Forgive Durden
”You're a fool to think this princess could ever really love a couple of poor boys like us.”
-The End and the Beginning, Forgive Durden
He and Irene were created as opposites, representing the two sides of the moon. Where there is light, there is darkness. They both need each other to exist but they can never truly love each other.
They basically have Celestia and Luna’s story. Shad hated how Irene was so much more loved. He hated how she bloomed with her divine powers while he thought they were a curse. Because of them, the villagers saw him as a monster. He was tied to the darkness against his will. But just like a moth to the light, he could not look away from her.
“The moon will sing a song for me. I loved you like the sun.”
He thought that by joining the Divine Warriors he’d finally be seen as a hero, that he’d be recognized for his actions. But Irene was always number one. With that resentment already growing, the Divine Warriors betraying him was the thing that unleashed all his rage. He became the Shadow Lord and created the Shadow Knights to kill Irene.
Falconclaw was probably the only village that didn’t see him as an evil divinity (aka worshiping Shad the destroyer and not the Shadow Lord).
On that note, Shad probably hated to be called “the Destroyer”, reinforcing his image as “the bad one”. But he accepted the relic for Irene. “I will make this curse my blessing.”
Esmund the Protector
The only one who doesn’t have an FFXIV equivalent.
God of mountains, ice, guards, law, order and miners
Region: O’khasis
Symbols: The Violet sword and the bear
Song inspiration: “I’m sure that she would care to hear your argument as to how your presence is the reason she is sick. But I suppose it’s in vain, since her life is ending when I thrust this blade into her heart a-thumping.”
-The End and the Beginning, Forgive Durden
(Except Esmund would stab Shad, not Irene)
“Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones, and I will try to fix you.”
-Fix You, Cody Fry
He fucking hates Shad. He copes by saying it’s because he’s evil but he just wants Irene to love him.
Enki the Keeper
God of time, nature, wisdom, knowledge, moon and arcana (magic)
Region: Gal’ruk
Symbols: The blue hourglass and the owl
Song inspiration: “The mountains seceded, the light and dark depleted. We lost Adakias, but regained our science. Our world was finally reunited. So this is my cue, of where to leave you. Now it's your story to retell and pass on because an idea is only relevant if it's being thought upon. So remember, never surrender ‘cause the unrelenting constancy of love and hope will rescue and restore you from any scope.”
-The End and the Beginning, Forgive Durden
“The rest is up to you to do with what you’ll do, to learn and love and laugh ‘til the cycle circles back. I’ll just separate, weigh anchor, disengage, divide and disappear, and see you in the mirror.”
- Genesis, Forgive Durden & Casey Crescenzo
“You really are the chosen one, the calculated sacrifice. Please listen to my last words before I fade away. This is my gift to you: Live for your love every day. Please don't let your tired heart stop beating.”
- The End and the Beginning, Forgive Durden
Enki was also jealous of Irene’s love for Shad but he didn’t feel good betraying Shad. His death was his repayment for what he did.
Kul’zak the Wanderer
God of the stars, wind, wanderers -wandering merchants, bards, rogues, travellers, drifters, …-, freedom and prosperity/money
Symbols: the green walking stick and the elk
Region: Tech’ens
I’m basing off his whole personality of the one and only thing he’s ever said in the whole series: “Imortality? Hm, that doesn’t seem so bad.” So I made him a greedy bastard. Where Irene is the healer and leader, Shad the lancer and dps, Esmund the tank and Enki the support mage, Kul’zak is the rogue. He’s not completely selfish but he’s definitely the most selfish of the Divine Warriors. He helped Enki and Esmund cuz he thought it’d be fun.
Day 21: Legacy
Heraldry I guess. For the divine warriors families.
Day 7: Deceit
Explanation down below.
I didn’t have time to do the lines.
So the idea is a hardcore headcanon based on one sentence Enki says: “The fates won’t be happy about this.” I gave “the fates” lore. (Yeah maybe I should’ve kept that one for the lore prompt. Oh well, it’s too late.) It’s an all-knowing entity whose goal is absolute balance between good and evil. So when it saw Shad just chilling with Irene, it was like “wtf”. —Because the idea is Irene represent light and Shad represents darkness.— So it gave Enki a vision of Shad losing it and becoming the Shadow Lord. At first, Enki didn’t believe it because Shad is his best buddy but Kul’zak saw him having the vision and told Esmund. Esmund confronted Shad and it ended with the Shadow Lord being born, just like the vision foretold.
The entity was already playing with Shad’s mind so being stabbed by his friends is the thing that broke him. So I guess the “deceit” is the false vision that created a betrayal or friends turning on each others.
“Air dissolves where one game is designed. Something’s elegant find. So the program goes. Fate decides how these columns align, birth by chess or benign, every moment.”
You know that one scene at the end of The Last Unicorn vaguely reminds me of Irene. Someone should animate that. I’ve tried but it ended up looking like arse.
“No. Unicorns are in the world again. No sorrow in me will live as long as that joy. Safe one. And I owe that to you.”
I’m working on crests for each of the divine warriors families.
This a really random thought. But on the subject of magick, I think Enki’s island on the Gal’Ruk seas would be the most knowledgeable in magick. Or if we’re thinking of Gal’ruk as a Viking-ish island then maybe Enki moved to Ru’aun to learn more about magick and opened a school there. Or both. Maybe maybe the Gal’ruk habitants’ knowledge in magick was limited so he tried to travelled around the world to learn everything he could. But anyway, Enki is definitely the deity of magick. DESPITE ALL OF THAT, I think that Menphia and Tu’la being the fierce land of the warriors, they’d be the one to come up with tool enchantments. Especially weapons.
Man I’m itching to draw something medieval fantasy again…
Let the Love Shine
“Children are taught that love is a reward,
only something you receive once you’ve grown into the picture perfect image
of the picture perfect child.
Little do they know that love is allowed even if they fail.
Perhaps, if he had learned this, he wouldn’t be destined to die.
But instead to love,
and be loved in return.”
- cupofted
This was originally an audio for JRWI: Riptide but I thought it quite fits my interpretation of Shad. He was destined (hehe) to be, not the hero but the villain. He had no choice in the matter. Still, he tried so hard to be a hero, someone worthy of Irene’s love and the villagers’ praises. He tried so hard to be perfect, and yet, he kept being hated. Being hated for his dark powers, for his love towards Irene. He wasn’t so different from the other Divine Warriors, it’s just that Fate had decided at his birth that he was meant to be the darkness of this world. (No not literally ALL evil like Esmund thought but an emanator of darkness, Irene’s foil. Her opposite.)