Decided to go the traditional rough sketch route when it came to getting some tulum “wake up” visuals out of my head
mm wanting to get better at depictions of that exposed muscle and parts of mummified scalp with thin hair remnants regrowing >:Tc
LOVED drawing out the bat girl Alex for the first time tho, very fun design to play around with
Notes of interest: Did not expect seeing such odd variety in coatimundi skull research especially when it came to length and tooth protrusion!
Characters: Hyden and Alex @chocodile, Theo @kwillow
Rambling prose context read below!:
Main gist: (keep in mind this is all limited to whats revealed so far about the shadow in main amaranthine verse so AU fun otherwise)
Group research expedition into some far off location with the hope of some leads into combating/eradicating The Shadow goop problem plaguing the world, courtesy of Hyden (most likely due to credible reports of it behaving uncharacteristically in one particular area and amassing consistently there over the years despite complete lack of population density that it would normally be voraciously seeking out to feed on).
This eventually leads to the group winding up somewhere far underground (we’re talking Atlantis: The Lost Empire movie level montages of occasional dynamite use to unblock passages and paths that were assumed nonexistent until closer inspection).
Until the expedition finally reaches a very well-sealed chamber (magically and physically) they decide to forcefully open and it appears to be much like an ancient tomb complete with decorations and murals.Obligatory cautious and eerie exploratory sequence that obviously leads into a raised focal point of the room, a stone-carved container structure complete w/ heavy stone well cap.
Cue The Shadow goop absolutely bum-rushing into that chamber in overwhelming mass to the horror and subsequent confusion of the group, as its’ singular point of interest is breaching the stone-carved container.
Surprise!
As everyone there already assumed, It’s a coffin!
Bigger surprise!! Hey, wow, that’s weird The Shadow kind of looks like it’s reanimating whatever remains were in there!!
Hello Tulum! :•)
asjdlkasjda oof thanks to a thumb adjacent hotkey on my mouse I lost about 3 pages worth of writing here I did in explanation regarding Tulum, her situation, and why her circumstances probably aren’t technically a case of Necromancy among other detail oriented things I can’t be bothered to redo from scratch again right now. LMAO If you’re curious uh feel free to reach out or reply asking more about those details;;
tldr bad short read: Mega specific series of contractual magic spells by an ancient eldritch deity tied for use with a specific individual’s (Tulum) base DNA for stupidly rapid controlled cellular regeneration/tissue growth/grafting/healing etc without repercussions of rejection or body shock. Caveat is that it only works when there is immediate proximity to biologically appropriate building block material to be used to make flesh. (ie, people fodder or the shadow sure sucked up a surplus of donor folk parts that would work for that sort of thing, huh? )
But that doesn’t account for the concept of the soul necessary in the body (soul in this context = consciousness, collection of individual’s stacked memories/experiences, basically all the pivotal formation points that made that person themself)
So before all that fun biology specific magic, this ancient eldritch being involved with Tulum first and foremost has a not really repeatable by anyone but themself magic involved in the ownership and perpetuity of Tulum’s “”soul/spirit”” via power of what dominion they have.
While Tulum is a character inspired by a combination of various Mayan civilizations of differing locations, timelines, and beliefs; The paired OC with her I keep referring to as the eldritch being/deity is a reflection of that who is inspired by Maya Mythology, rituals, and deities (particularly The Descending or Diving God)
I just haven’t fleshed him out too well yet beyond some basics as I’m still mulling over how they get on with one another;; but there’s, definitely some good messed up romance build there i keep knee jerking back to.
I have a very serious medical condition called “obsessed with giving rabbit characters I enjoy obscenely obese off-model dewlaps even if male rabbits don’t usually have them”
Case and point, @chocodile ‘s lovely war criminal bunny man OC Hyden! Very fun, having a great time enjoying their world building and story regarding him!
The mission: learning how to sketch hyden well enough to soon be able to depict him in dewlap so on point that when adding red robes it’ll be a pseudo royal robe collar trim + lean SO HARD into narcissistic king motif territory B’)
Me: hmmm, baby hitting too far into cute territory again gotta hit the dial back on the happy anime eyes JUST so to get back into natural pug rat territory
Brain definitely hasn’t been in cringe over drive the past few days fixating on a character for amaranthine verse that’s basically just mildly reworking tulum the coatimundi because even most of the old aspects about her work VERY WELL WITH “The Shadow” scourge in the verse aaaa
Definitely. Not.
(⬇️some of the old art and friend art in question 👀💦 ⬇️)
