Fae-Ray Anthem

Ganesha is lord of obstacles. He paves the road for success in all endeavors and so comes first in worship.

Graha Brihaspati, planet Jupiter, is most excellent guru of the gods. The most benevolent of planets, bestowing wisdom and bringing positive karma fruition and certainly worthy to take the place of a mortal guru.

Hanuman is the paragon devotional service. Rama is the paragon of dharma to whom Hanuman is devoted to. Worship of one is also worship of the other. Thusly promotion of all virtues is achieved. Hanuman's blessing brings the absolution of Graha Shani, planet Saturn, who is justiciar of negative karma. When one’s moral character has already improved, karmic punishment becomes unnecessary.

Sudarshana is the divine, living weapon of lord Vishnu.  Refuge in him and his divine flame will purify and protect one from all negative energy and entities.

Pratyangira is the wrathful form of Shakti devi whom reverses all black magic and evil eyes thrown at her devotees. Devourer of evil spirits, all enemies, both physical and incorporeal, will be vanquished.

Dhanvantari, Physician of the Devas, ensures Health.

Kubera, Lord of Fortune, ensures Wealth.

Kamadeva and Rati are the divine couple of love and sexlife. Worship of them brings beauty, fertility, and good relationships.

Swapneshwari is the goddess of dreams. Petitioning her ensures sounds sleep and grants auspicious dreams.

Adipara Shakti empowers all prayers.

She is Saraswati. One achieves knowledge.

She is Durga. One achieves balance.

She is Lakshmi. One achieves prosperity.

She is Kali. One attracts that which is the true desire.

Hari Hara, Shiva and Vishnu, is the Ultimate Reality. Oneness is the truth of the Brahman. The Lord lives in the heart of the devotee. The devotee lives in the heart of The Lord.

For instance, I think no one would have blinked twice if Night Elves had launched with shamans, its just that Blizzard toyed with the idea of making Shamans/Paladin faction exclusive at first (ultimately proving incapable to balance). Night Elf fans love to have their cake and eat too, taking one off comment from Grom Hellscream about being “more savage than High Elves” and looking at some concept art displaying this idea more thoroughly. In any case the line between Shamanism and Druidism has always been thin in their themes of balance and reverence for nature (heck we got fire elemental druids not too long ago).

In particular I thought it appropriate for Night Elf totems to carry their theme of animals since we saw exploration of “animal totems” with every Night Elf being assigned a spirit animal (in concept art) and every Druid formerly belonging to a “totem”. The totems also literally root themselves in the ground like plants, since we carve things when you can grow them?

Next is the Paladin of Elune, much like Blood Elf “Blood Knights”, Tauren “Sun Walkers”, or Zandalarri “Prelates”; I don’t consider a stretch that the armored, bow wielding, priestess we saw in Warcraft 3 would have been just as relevant to transfer into the “Paladin” archetype as they were for the clothing wearing “Priest”.

In fact I think this would have more properly balanced the initial release with 3 Horde Shaman to the only 2 Paladin races available. But Blizzard was still particular about Paladins belonging only to the lineage of the Silver Hand at the time (even Dwarves were a stretch) and hadn’t yet budged that their powers could come from anything but “The Light”.

But that brings us to the Undead Paladin, or more appropriately an “Anti-Paladin/ Dark Knight” as seen the corrupted nature of her armor and former symbols of holiness. Again working off the principle that the classes weren’t at first faction restricted, I believe Undead would have been the first choice for the Horde at launch. Remember that the idea of Troll Prelates/Freethinkers and Tauren Sun-Walkers wouldn’t be fathomed for several years. For the sake of balance, I believe Blizzard reluctantly gave Undead priests and would have preferred they use only shadow if they had the time to give every spell an alternate but equal “flavor” (like simply changing spell effects to shadowy magic). But since Undead can canonically wield the Light, gloves are off. 

Now its at this point I could go on a long technical diatribe about The Light and the fact we’ve actually seen a lot more undead paladin ncps than priests, but I would have actually liked them to wield “Unholy” Light like we see with the fallen crusaders in Icecrown and skip the whole debate.

For the character in particular, I also added stitched-on elf ears and bolted-on metal elf eyebrows. Another dream of mine in Classic was Forsaken elves. Not the pale, beautiful, “turn me into a necrophiliac” dark rangers or death knights seen today or the want for the Vampiric San’layn as an “allied race” in the future. Simply I would have liked for the feature option to give Forsaken long ears, much like what we seen in the Wretched models. What with having Scourged 90% of the High Elf population and all. Though this Undead’s past as an elf is suspect.

Lastly we have a Troll Necromancer. I think Necromancer and Warlock should have stood as faction specific “mirror” classes at Warcraft’s launch. Necromancers belonging to the Horde and using Frost (”Chill of Death” theme, like Death Knights) and/or Nature (disease/unholy, again like Death Knights) to contrast shadow/fire of warlocks.

Obviously summoning undead minions instead of demons (Banshee/Succubus, Crypstalker/felhound, Abomination/Doomguard ect.) but sharing the same gear. It simply seems like necromancy would be slightly less taboo for the Horde than the corruption caused by warlocks, as well as something the Forsaken Liches, Orc Necrolytes, & Troll Witch Doctors were already well suited for.

As for the character himself, I took the opportunity to “trollize” the classic Warcraft 3 necromancer look, including adding some Hakkari influence to the staff.

Though the organic species likely died out or were even destroyed by their creations, gems continued to build a universal empire. But they then ran into the “Brainiac Problem”, where without creator driven context to their actions they became a corrupted plague on upon the universe.

The “natural” state of the gem species, including even the diamonds, is one of notorious inflexibility with a machine-like lack of adaptability, creativity, and curiosity peppered with a seemingly infinite tolerance for boredom and averseness toward amusement. It would never occur to most gems to use a shovel if they weren’t given one and even as they scoop with their hands, they certainly wouldn’t question the necessity nor safety of digging into an active volcano.

Ignorance is perhaps one of the most defining characteristics of gems. Whether its Peridot, a scientifically coded gem, being completely ignorant of the phenomena known as precipitation, or a Diamond still unable to fathom that organic lifeforms requires sustenance; gems are astoundingly ignorant about everything not within their direct sphere of assigned duties.

All of this culminates in a pointless and crumbling empire with a leader who can’t be bothered to leave her head for literally anything. Gems seem to be under the impression that the Diamonds created the species with the question of the Diamonds creation not even being fathomed. Of course, ontological inertia greatly disfavors the theory that such complex lifeforms merely burst into being. So what happened?

Well I’m not going to bore you with some fan fiction, but I will say it all clearly centers around White Diamond, the Skynet, the IAM, the Brainiac, who may be the only one with reasonable knowledge of the creators before becoming corrupted and obsessed with her superiority over all things. Though that change might have happened within a micro-second; build a computer with knowledge that “its perfection” and it might not take kindly to the purpose of serving inferior beings. Indeed, making the “reasonable” assessment that inferior beings cannot produce superior beings (and therefore their claim and dominion over her is a lie). Instead preferring the theory of emanation or diffuse of qualities into lesser forms (as seen in her opinion/creation(?) of other Diamonds and the gem race as a whole).

In conclusion, if anything more comes from Steven Universe, I hope it revolves around “The Mystery of the Makers”. As Steven will inevitably try to reform the Gem way of life, which of course conflicts with both there current corrupted modius operandi and whatever their original purpose was (certainly Steven wouldn’t be a fan of any surviving makers re-assertion of servitude, contrary to whatever he may childishly tolerate from the Diamond Authority right now).

For this picture, in the center we have Gautama Buddha who in the Hindu tradition; which has reconciled the Buddha as an Avatar of Vishnu (though not without contention). This incarnation put an end to animal sacrifice and guided those who refused to believe in God to still worship him in the form of a mortal man.

To his right is a more Asiatic Buddha. Buddhism can look a lot like a Christianity in the sense that the exact nature of even Siddhartha himself varies wildly. Was he just a man who achieved enlightenment or was his physical form actually entirely illusory and a projection from highest heavens? Did he actually achieve enlightenment or was this a facade by the "Universal Buddha" to show us the way? Was this Universal Buddha ever actually like us or eternal Universal Compassion itself? The Buddha is said to have stated such and such but oh wait in this sutra there is actually the real, true final teachings he hid for five hundred years until humanity was ready. Buddhism has it all too.

The there is the Buddha of the West. He is Hotie, the Budai, a semi-historical buddhist monk from the Tenth century. He is not Shakyamuni, the Historical Buddha, though he is often mistaken for such. Thus what westerners think of Buddhism is often in ignorance. It is the aesthetic for the college hipster. He carries the cannabis pipe, as Buddhism is known for "relaxing and expanding the mind" despite intoxicants  going against the most basic of Buddhist tenants.

The hipster wears the secular Humanist "Happy Human" symbol on his shirt. Satisfied with the "atheist religion", apparently ignorant of the great host Buddhas, Bodhisattvas, Yidams, Gurus, samsaric deities amongst others beings that Buddhists who live in Buddhist countries petition for aid. Some however, do make serious attempts to "modernize" Buddhism. More than just removing the myths and miracles; in their atheist rhetoric, all spirit and divinity must disappear. Only philosophy & psychology to remain. I have even seen the self-coined term "Dark Buddhism", which attempts to combine the Self-less Buddhism with the All-Self teachings of Ayn Rand.

I once beheld a series of pictures from 18th century Europe on Hindu idols. It was very interesting as they were clearly made by a person who was hearing these accounts second hand and likely had never even seen an Indian man. European peasants prostrating before an elephant headed statue who held a spoon. Greco-Roman priests speaking around towering jagged rock, discernible as a Shiva Lingam only because it was stated to be. Frankly such approximate depictions of another culture by another culture have great value all their own.

So much like the Hellenization of Egyptian deities seen in the Mediterranean or the synchronization of this very pantheon throughout Buddhist Asia; it peaked my interest to commission a piece where several Hindu deities were properly integrated into a theoretical polytheistic Europe.

Starting off with Ganesha, perhaps the most recognizable figure in the Hindu pantheon. His girth and status as the Lord of the ganas gives him the air of an Earl or Archduke. Replacing his usual bowl of modak sweet rolls with something more recognizable to locals, grapes. Ganesha is often seen with a crown, so it was doubly important to place him in one that was both of the European aesthetic while transforming its Christian features. The same came be said for the Globus Cruciger he holds in his trunk.

Enthroned is Lakshmi, goddess of wealth. Usually sitting cross legged in meditation upon a lotus, changing this to a throne was the obvious step. The sacred shankha conch shell held in hand changed to a genius found in Europe. We also start the trend of converting the ethnicity to that of the locals.

Rama is next, donning a princely woodsman attire. The typical depiction of a bare-chested man with kilt and sandals tempted a more Greco-Roman approach, but wanting to keep thematically consistent, this was discarded. Still a remnant of this survives in the Laurel Wreath Crown upon his notably knotted hair befits the ascetic king who dwelt in the wild.