Space Fleet Commander

Yes! Hello! I’m still around!!!

if i had to absolutely narrow it down, i think the modesitt book that i love the most (aka left me a sobbing mess by the end of it) is soarer's choice, which iirc is the 6th book of the corean chronicles. contrary to the majority of fans, i haven't read a ton of the recluce series, so the first series i really got into was that one, which... i read over a decade ago by this point. i do plan to read more recluce eventually, though.

but i do think my favorite series overall is the imager portfolio because i love the magic system and the politics, and i just finished rereading the first three books. i'm actually reading scholar for the first time now because rhenn's last book was the last modesitt book i read before taking a long and unplanned reading hiatus.

so far, i'm honestly a little impressed that quaeryt's got less compunctions than most modesitt protagonists to kill. usually in self-defense, but i'm ngl i was quite pleased he got rid of those two patrollers in nacliano. i'm roughly 40 chapters in so far and curious to see where it all goes!

I've been wanting to do something with Vlad Tolenkov for a while. I think I was just unsure about how he should look like. Since there's ZERO official art of him and I'm the only one who draws him/likes him. It's really different for 'creating' a character that already exists, isn't yours yet has no life or design placed into.

But I'm very proud of this. Took some inspiration from Castlevania. I added the Lolth touch at the end and I love it. Being Lolth's advisor and lover after all.

Quick Facts:

He was Human.

Is a Vampire Lord

He's a Wizard that uses Necromancy

Lives in a realm called The Nightworld where it's night 24/7

The Nightworld is connected to the Demonweb Pits. That's how Lolth came across him

Is part of the Union Of Eclipses. A group of Vampires who worship Kanchelsis. The God of Vampires.

burnt out pyromancers emitting steam and smoke

tired cryomancers shivering with visible foggy breath

weary necromancers looking ill and hearing voices

About the project

Idea Generation

Larger Image

Various styles were generated for Gurgeh based on a Moodboard of images that determined the primary look for ‘The Culture’. This consisted of images showing tight fit clothing, with mostly angular designs. Hopefully, this look should meld well with their high tech culture; and should also contrast with the Azadians, who are described as lagging behind in terms of their technological capabilities.

Larger Image

Several head sketches were drawn out based on the minimal description of the character. He is described as a middle aged looking bearded man with a fairly long and curled head of hair. Since ‘The Culture’ consists of humans with a fairly lengthy life span, this was difficult to gauge. The bottom left design proved to be a popular vote in the end, based on feedback from several people.

Final Concept

A base sketch was required to get a decent anatomically correct representation of the character. ¾ views were drawn out to show the sides as much as the front and back. This will be done for each of the main characters at least. Side characters will mostly be roughed out and more open to interpretation.

Larger Image

Edit: Tweaked some things based on feedback. Here’s the old version for comparison. Mainly the arm and lower body had a few problems.

A crew of enchanters maintaining the perpetual flames that run the turbines that generate electricity, covered in ash and grime and stinking of hot chilies and rare mushrooms used for the enchantments

A wizard specializing in construction, casting feather fall on every worker, and enchanting every hammer to drive nails in straight, animating the living clay that makes up the core of the crane

An elderly wizard and her apprentice who transmute fragile broken objects. From furniture, to rotten wood beams, to delicate jewelry

A battle magician, trained with only a few rudimentary spells to solve a shortage of trained wizards on the front who uses his healing spells to help folks around town

Wizarding shops where cheery little mages enchant wooden blocks to be hammered into the sides of homes. Hammer this into the attic and it will scare off termites, toss this in the fire and clean your chimney, throw this in the air and all dust in the room gets sucked up

Wizard loggers who transmute cut trees into solid, square beams, reducing waste, and casting spells to speed up regrowth. The forest, they know, will not be too harsh on them if the lost tree’s children may grow in its place

Wizard farmers who grow their crops in arcane sigils to increase yield, or produce healthier fruit

Factory wizards who control a dozen little constructs that keep machines cleaned and operational, who cast armor to protect the hands of workers, and who, when the factory strikes for better wages, freeze the machines in place to ensure their bosses can’t bring anyone new in.

A wizard tailors who transmutes cloth into fully made clothes without seems and leaving behind no scraps

A wizard who works in public transit, timing out teleports with detailed schedules, time magic, and enchanted communications, sending dozens of people to far away cities for a day or work or leisure

A team of wizard gardeners tend to trees grown far outside their native range, and ideal climate, encircled with runes and fed potions to grow none the less

A wizard sits in their office in the aqueduct, re-casting the spells that allow its precious water to flow to the city uphill

A wizard fisher casts water repelling spells on the sailors and the stairs, keeps the hoist on the anchor from rusting, casts balls of heat that keep everyone warm below decks. Their real job is to herd fish together so they can be caught in single huge nets, and keep them cold as the boat returns to land.