Recent Endeavors
There is not much to report in the field of visual art. One more portrait has made its way from demo sketch to completion, and that is one of warlord Brenugan Kuto, seen here:
That's warpaint. And blood. Stands to reason, as his name translates to 'bloody raven of the skies' from Golboren to English. The sketch for Boda's portrait is done, although when I open the file back up, I may find that it's lacking and redraw it. I had gotten pretty unmotivated, but after being socially active in the real world for a few days and making some real world progress, I'm already feeling my creative juices flowing.
The Earth God
I realized while formulating the iconic creation mythology behind the organized pantheon of the world of Drumlore that, after signing over one of my Gods and his affiliated races to my cousin's fantasy realm, I'm missing a God for the element of Earth. This wasn't problematic until I decided to unfold the mythological creation of the planet step by step by element, and decided that the first element would be earth. John and I bounced some theories around, and here is what we've come up with:
Where the Hiidren formerly dwelled (puntastic), they tapped into an ancient sealed away chamber containing a demoness, if you will. She was Lokshadimae, Shaegon's former wife, cursed to be a wretched, malformed demon. She had became a matron-saint demi-god for the Barda, who fought the Hiidren. Demons formed in her wake and emanated from her presence, as her bleeding residual power gave them what they needed to manifest.
That old idea now becomes this:
There is a chamber (admittedly closer to the surface world now) within the Folstrom mountains, where Hiidrom formerly existed. This chamber, when fiddled with, angers strange demonic entities, or gives you a really bad case of goosebumps. This is where the Earth God resides. The Earth God differs from the other members of the pantheon in that He does not want worship. In fact, He detests the grand illusion portrayed by the other Gods and chooses to sleep away His eons in peace and comfort.
The fact that one exists that knows the truth of their illusion that does not wish to take part in it threatens the rest of the pantheon. The Gods each build their power over time and periodically attempt to break into the Earth God's Sanctum, each with different motives. Some wish to kill the slumbering god to dispose of the one voice that could put an end to their web of lies. Some wish to kill the slumbering god to steal the hypothetical fountain of power that he guards within His sanctum. Some wish to directly consume the slumbering god and take what power from his body that they can. Sometimes the minions of the gods fight at the doorway, vying to get to the sleeping one first. Sometimes, the minions of the gods even work together.
No outcome ends well for the Earth God. The Earth God, however, was wise. He knew when he slumbered that the pantheon would eventually find Him. He has safeguarded His sanctum with an impenetrable force that even the world's most powerful Magi cannot comprehend. Lurking around the Earth God's defenses lie an unseen army of Watchers from the realm of spirits: the domain of Balki.
In His stubborn disregard for the dishonesty of the rest of the pantheon, the Earth God earned the admiration of Balki, who presides over all things spiritual. He, too, held disdain towards the pantheon and its ways, but sought to undo their web of lies from within. Out of respect for the sleeping one, he sends his best minions to watch over the Earth God and keep the other gods from interfering with His resting.
The Earth God will have no followers. I have a feeling that he may have been a noctuid once. Anyhow, I expect a short story if nothing else called The Earth God's Sanctum or The Earth Keeper's Sanctum. In this story, an intrepid group of god-fearing heroes penetrate the barriers of the sleeping god, although not by skill or fluke. They soon discover that the Earth God intended to show them the truth of the matter. Who knows how the heroes will take it when they realize that they, in fact, are the horrible villains being played by a higher power, and that no matter what choice they make in their new situation, they're angering a God. They might wet themselves. We'll have to see.
I need to name eleven deities and sub-deities now. The pressure is on.
Also, Sas-Akra is promoted to being a god of knowledge. The Annals of History hq has been moved to Sas-Akrana somewhere. He'll be one of the only gods to openly promote the study of magic. He'll be much less strict than Jhordone about it.
About to crash, pooped author is pooped.
Matthew D. Hammond
That's warpaint. And blood. Stands to reason, as his name translates to 'bloody raven of the skies' from Golboren to English. The sketch for Boda's portrait is done, although when I open the file back up, I may find that it's lacking and redraw it. I had gotten pretty unmotivated, but after being socially active in the real world for a few days and making some real world progress, I'm already feeling my creative juices flowing.
The Earth God
I realized while formulating the iconic creation mythology behind the organized pantheon of the world of Drumlore that, after signing over one of my Gods and his affiliated races to my cousin's fantasy realm, I'm missing a God for the element of Earth. This wasn't problematic until I decided to unfold the mythological creation of the planet step by step by element, and decided that the first element would be earth. John and I bounced some theories around, and here is what we've come up with:
Where the Hiidren formerly dwelled (puntastic), they tapped into an ancient sealed away chamber containing a demoness, if you will. She was Lokshadimae, Shaegon's former wife, cursed to be a wretched, malformed demon. She had became a matron-saint demi-god for the Barda, who fought the Hiidren. Demons formed in her wake and emanated from her presence, as her bleeding residual power gave them what they needed to manifest.
That old idea now becomes this:
There is a chamber (admittedly closer to the surface world now) within the Folstrom mountains, where Hiidrom formerly existed. This chamber, when fiddled with, angers strange demonic entities, or gives you a really bad case of goosebumps. This is where the Earth God resides. The Earth God differs from the other members of the pantheon in that He does not want worship. In fact, He detests the grand illusion portrayed by the other Gods and chooses to sleep away His eons in peace and comfort.
The fact that one exists that knows the truth of their illusion that does not wish to take part in it threatens the rest of the pantheon. The Gods each build their power over time and periodically attempt to break into the Earth God's Sanctum, each with different motives. Some wish to kill the slumbering god to dispose of the one voice that could put an end to their web of lies. Some wish to kill the slumbering god to steal the hypothetical fountain of power that he guards within His sanctum. Some wish to directly consume the slumbering god and take what power from his body that they can. Sometimes the minions of the gods fight at the doorway, vying to get to the sleeping one first. Sometimes, the minions of the gods even work together.
No outcome ends well for the Earth God. The Earth God, however, was wise. He knew when he slumbered that the pantheon would eventually find Him. He has safeguarded His sanctum with an impenetrable force that even the world's most powerful Magi cannot comprehend. Lurking around the Earth God's defenses lie an unseen army of Watchers from the realm of spirits: the domain of Balki.
In His stubborn disregard for the dishonesty of the rest of the pantheon, the Earth God earned the admiration of Balki, who presides over all things spiritual. He, too, held disdain towards the pantheon and its ways, but sought to undo their web of lies from within. Out of respect for the sleeping one, he sends his best minions to watch over the Earth God and keep the other gods from interfering with His resting.
The Earth God will have no followers. I have a feeling that he may have been a noctuid once. Anyhow, I expect a short story if nothing else called The Earth God's Sanctum or The Earth Keeper's Sanctum. In this story, an intrepid group of god-fearing heroes penetrate the barriers of the sleeping god, although not by skill or fluke. They soon discover that the Earth God intended to show them the truth of the matter. Who knows how the heroes will take it when they realize that they, in fact, are the horrible villains being played by a higher power, and that no matter what choice they make in their new situation, they're angering a God. They might wet themselves. We'll have to see.
I need to name eleven deities and sub-deities now. The pressure is on.
Also, Sas-Akra is promoted to being a god of knowledge. The Annals of History hq has been moved to Sas-Akrana somewhere. He'll be one of the only gods to openly promote the study of magic. He'll be much less strict than Jhordone about it.
About to crash, pooped author is pooped.
Matthew D. Hammond
