A wee little sprite set of the Baldur's Gate 3 companions!

Bigger version under the cut:

Also while you're here you can gaze upon my evil Tav and his evil purple gf.

Impressive Wave Rock, Hyden, Western Australia: Located in the Wheatbelt town of Hyden, this gigantic rock formation stands 15 metres high and more than 100 metres long and was caused by erosion over the years. It makes for a great selfie spot, and a climb to the top will reveal incredible views of the surrounding landscape and bushlands. Extend your trip by embarking on a walking tour and camping overnight. Wikipedia

Some art I decided to make for @chocodile's character, Hyden! He and the world of Amaranthine have captivated me so much and I enjoy it very much!

Some alternates and the pose reference are under the cut:

Revenge on @chocodile of Hyden worst guy of all, now extra little!

@chocodile fuckit unruly sickly newborn/baby hyden sketch hours tonight

The Visitor - Behind the Scenes

"The Visitor" is my first big story of mine that saw the light of day. In this post, I'll be explaining my thought process behind why and how I made it. In a future post, I'll be explaining my Arhulian species, and my character Niadris in more detail. But for now, I'll be on to explaining my creative process. Firstly, a few months ago I got back into tumblr after finding the blogs of @chocodile and @kwillow. Their characters, their art, their stories. They moved me, they inspired me! Drawing was never my strong point, (I had to enlist @aryeonos to graciously sketch my species reference for me <3) but descriptive writing is something I can do! So through that, it was the avenue I expressed my creation. That said; Ary being my editor and proof reader really helped me achieve a level of polish I don't think I could have accomplished on my own. <3 The Amaranthine characters are so rich and vibrant, I just wanted to write for them. Their personalities just seemed really fun to write for, as well as gave me a clear picture of how each character would behave in a story. A solid baseline for my weirdo badger-pede to contrast with. So I poured over Kwillow's and Chocodile's art pages for information about the characters and the setting. I wanted to respect the lore and setting as best I can; as well as the fact, the more information I had, the easier it would be to write.

Feelin' A Bit Drafty In Here

In a very early pre-draft version of the story (where I was still ideating over it), I thought I would try to tell the story from Niadris' perspective, but Aryeonos felt it would ruin a lot of the mystery and suspense surrounding Niadris, as well as deprive me of character interaction moments for the rest of the cast. So I redid the entire tone and course of the story to focus on the Rising dawn quartet, (sans snoozing bunny) with Niadris being the add - an apt decision since the cast literally considers them an intruder! In the new story format, I thought about Theo being so nerve wracked by Niadris that he would try to poison them, only for it not to work, and for Niadris to then reveal their life-sensing ability to Theo and tell him that they are not mad because always knew where he stood as a veiled threat. The story would have had a more adversarial tone; but then after doing some more lore spelunking, I learned that Theo prefers to handle confrontation openly and honestly as opposed to taking the scoundrel's way out.

So after learning that wasn't a very gentlemanly move, I decided to shift gears and redo the story (again) to what you see today. After that, I looked up the other characters for pertinent lore and information about them. I was already pretty familiar with Hyden, and Theo was the first character I discovered since I'm a diehard rat/skaven fan and always combing the internet for rat characters!

Then came to Alex and Ridge. After having my "cast" in hand, I figured out what to do with them. In the current iteration of the story, I wanted Niadris being self-conscious of their frightening appearance (they've certainly been screamed and shot at enough) and opt to meet the cast in a way that does not end in violence. Hence the Arhulian observing the cast for a long time and then making their carefully planned move. Likewise, first impressions are very important, and Niadris trying to approach the situation in a delicate manner (whether or not it worked) was one of my central goals in depicting them, and Arhulians as a whole. They are far from mindless brutes... Switching back to the the Amaran quartet, they are not my characters obviously - I'm just writing for them - so I tried to make educated guesses on how'd they react based on the information I had at hand. So keep in mind these are my personal head cannons of these characters!

Character Dynamics

Hyden - Due to the way the story was structured, he was not utilized very much. Which, is a shame on one hand, but on the other, it leaves my options open for how he would react in a future story. He could be just as lost as the rest of the cast, then shift to be deeply fascinated by the unnatural being that is Niadris. Treating them like magic buddyTM Ambroys 2.0. (Though he may find it much more difficult sink his roots into Niadris, as they are far sharper, and not blinded by idolism like Theo.) Or, alternatively, Hyden being a time displaced scholar could know something about Arhulians the present day cast does not, and is trouser-browningly terrified. But that is as much as I'll reveal for now. We'll see what way the coin falls. :) Theo - Theopolis North was the most fun to write for. Poor little Rat man pinballed through many different emotions across the story. Firstly, fear. Secondly, he's even more unnerved by the fact Niadris can go toe-to-toe in his smartassery which means it's intelligent. And that's extra dangerous in his eyes. I thought about writing Theo being even meaner and more hostile, but I decided Theo has a few reasons to keep himself reeled in. 1) Theo - though a poorly adjusted meanie - has enough sense to know that trying to stress-test this thing's patience would not go in his favor if the matter escalated. Especially with a thing that could throw him across a room or eat him alive. Unmetaphorically. Best to let a sleeping dragon lie so to speak. 2) I've noted that Theo appears to be a dire misanthrope, so a thought occurred to me that Niadris is just so alien they just end up in a loophole of sorts. And I decided that is a funny dynamic, and I'm going to roll with that. :) 2.5) Theo's aggression seems to be heavily rooted in his own insecurities. Niadris is somewhere between socially illiterate to too logically minded to care. So in a way, from theo's perspective; that's big wall that isn't there for him. 3) As much as it agonizes him to admit, the alternative is telling this thing to sod off, resulting in them just roaming about unaccounted for entirely. At least this way, he can keep an eye on them... 4) Granted, he does not want to admit it outright and 'encourage' them, Theo is personally intrigued by Niadris. Although he hasn't quite put it together it yet; Arhulians are intelligent, sentient, beings that definitively exist outside of "ascension". The implications would be defining to say the least. Theo's name would go down in the books for sure... And lastly, this being gives him a sense of deja vu he tries not to think too closely about. Henceforth, I laid down the roots of what may be the beginning of a very odd "friendship" as hinted at in the closing paragraphs of the story.

Alex - From the lore I got on her, she jumped out to me as the most rational and calm-minded of the group. She's a cool, collected soldier. Her perception is sharp (and unlike Theo, it's not calibrated in entirely the wrong direction via paranoia). Her nature as a sniper means it's natural for her to sit back, absorb information, and think about a decision before making it. Because of this, it felt natural that she'd fall into the role of "team mom" because she's the most level-headed and surprisingly enough, the most socially adjusted of the group. Especially since her competition is: 1) Hyden; a washed up noble that doesn't know what century he's living in - whose social resume is bossing around servants and bullshitting noble asses.

2) Theo; a misanthropic, paranoid, bulgy-eyed weirdo that's a reclusive shut in. 3) Ridge; Likely the best of the three. But if I remember the lore right, it's heavily implied that Ridge was in jail for some time, so I'd wager that has not done his social skills any favors. So with that in mind, Alex is the glue desperately trying to keep (the now) quintet from unraveling.

Ridge - Of the four characters here, Ridge has the least information available that I could find, so a lot of his character is implied from his surface level details, like him being big and brawny, that he had spent time in jail, and is at the very least in a non-hostile relationship with Alex. With all that said, I guesstimate he has the least amount of emotional baggage and personality extremes, so I felt that Ridge would be the best fit for a layman character. Niadris - Beyond what I already mention here, I'd rather keep their inner workings hidden, as they are both a mysterious, and a still developing (both in-universe and in a meta sense) character...

What's Next?

Without giving away too much, the logical path forward to the story is that Niadris is playing it safe as they have never been around multiple people for an extended period of time before. So they take on a passive role to learn and observe the... odd group dynamic the rising dawn quartet have. There will be a great deal of funny character moments and learning experiences for all involved! Over time, Niadris will start to make their own waves as they get accustomed to the group, and begin manifesting their own wants once they feel comfortable exerting their own social pressure. Likewise, everyone is wary of the big, scary Arhulian. But on the other hand, their value as an asset is undeniable! And they would be a pretty definitive tie-breaker should a schism arise... Various parties will likely be setting plans into motion to try and vie for Niadris's loyalty now that this wild card has scuttled their way into the group. With the groundwork of Niadris' and the Arhulians' introduction laid, I have to spend some time thinking about the path forward; as this is the point where things can really diverge, so I must decide what direction the story is going to head in. So alas, I don't really have an ETA in mind for the next chapter of this fan-story.

Short Creek Road, Hyden, Kentucky.

art fight attack for @chocodile of their silly definitely not evil guy

I love @chocodile's corrupt priest gentleman, so I just Had to draw him for artifight

Some misc sketches

Redrew a scene from Succession with @kwillow and I's guys, as ya do. Tom's mentor-slash-deranged tormentor relationship with Greg reminds me a little bit of these two.

Wave Rock, Hyden, Western Australia, Australia

George Bakos

Tai couldn't stand looking at the heartbroken look in Marina's eyes as she confessed to him her fear that she would never find any Sim to love and be loved by. Would she miss out on her chance to reach her Golden Anniversary with the Sim of her dreams?

Tai knew that a relationship would complicate his life, which should currently be focused on trying to work as hard as possible so that he could put his son through college? Nevertheless, he couldn't let Marina think that she was unloved--he knew the truth about his feelings.

He hugged her tightly, and with that embrace they both knew--they had fallen in love.

The night progressed quickly as Tai went back to Marina's apartment--only to emerge from it a few hours later to return to his own apartment, hoping that no one in his household had missed him. Marina was surprised at his sudden departure but knew that he had family duties, and she couldn't expect to keep him all of the time. But soon she hoped, they would be able to be together always.

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.

📍 Wave Rock, Hyden, WA