Totally Classy Stuff

Sol is one such case, as her technique involved bloodletting, general sacrifice and entrail reading in order to boost the intensity and clarity of her visions. Do this enough, say in a time of strife when you must make many many divinations to satisfy the needs of your people, and ones body may begin to struggle to make its own blood, instead adapting to be reliant on that of others. The expanse of ones soul outstrips their body, organs rearrange and atrophy as a strange form of hematophagy takes hold.

Early draft I have of the whole piece. I used to have the figure on the floor leaning against the mural on the right side. Changed it to the left side so they would blend in with the other worshipers better, and as a cue as where they currently are in life: waiting in line for the final union rather then already there amongst the chosen ones (also lmao look at how awful I drew the melcahim clan symbol it sucks so bad, shut up leave me alone it was from memory):

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Getting a feel for Mel:

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Sketches for the human worshipers:

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Scrapped Idea (born from putting two layers of sketches on top of each other by accident), where I thought of superimposing the bodies as they become more melded together. I ended up discarding it because of the work/headache it would bring lol. I didn't want to put too much on my plate (had already failed at that at this point), but I still think it's a neat idea so I'm including it:

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Some mushroom studies (finally got to use these rake brushes I have been hording for yeeeeaaaarrsssssss):

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Lineart evolution. There's not much difference between the 2nd and 3rd but I included them both because you can see from the white spaces on Mel's legs I was still figuring where to jigsaw piece all these people (don't be like me kids, actually plan this stuff instead of going with the flow, to spare you your sanity):

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Artist’s Commentary

As soon as I saw the main theme of the zine, “Nature and cultures of Nosgoth”, I knew pretty much immediately that I wanted to do something set during the golden age of Kain’s 1.000 year old empire. Since it’s such a big time span and all pretty much left to the players’ imagination, it’s fertile ground to imagine what the world and its people might’ve been like.

I toyed with some Rahabim marine biologists and Zephonim weavers working on tapestries, but eventually settled on doing something for the Melchahim. Their connection to corpses and the element of “earth and dirt”, and their state of perpetual decay seemed perfect for the “Nature” part of the theme.

The “Culture” part of the theme made me think of murals, and on the importance of murals (stain glass depictions too) throughout the series, especially in Soul Reaver 2 and Defiance. So much of the games hinge on a quest for knowledge, of trying to dig out the truth behind this world and its people, and how we, like the protagonists depend on and look at murals in order to deepen our understanding, to figure where we stand in all of these conflicts.

And perhaps even more importantly, we depend on them to come to the conclusion that even though the murals all contain a grain of truth, they are all in the end, never the whole truth. They are told from a specific point of view, even as they challenge what we once held as fact and expand our knowledge. They range from propaganda to half truths, from misinformed to romanticization.

And so I came to the idea of making a mural, both reliable and unreliable, like all LoK murals. Something that challenged the “inherent violent cruelty” of vampires towards humanity and offered a more favorable symbiotic relationship, but nevertheless also not free from bias and idealization.

Since the Melcahim’s whole deal is that their mortal flesh cannot sustain their immortal soul for long, I wanted to depict the decay and rot of the body, the having to continuously “borrow” flesh from others, not as a weakness of their clan but a strength that elevated both parties: human and vampire.

Once I had considered all these elements I finally settled on the image I wanted to depict:

A human vampire follower of the Melcahim kneeling/sitting before a mural that depicted vampire-human relations in a positive light of mutual gain, yearning to join the ranks of those depicted.

Starting with the mural, I had Melchiah sitting on a throne-like structure of plant-life. I made his body symbolically bigger than the other figures, akin to the size difference-following hierarchy you see in Egyptian Murals (where gods and pharaohs are typically bigger than the common people), and the body-type a mix between strongmen, sumo wrestlers and ancient fertility goddess figurines from the Palaeolithic (like the Venus of Willendorf). I exaggerated his proportions in order to differentiate him from the way the human societies we see in the games depict great men/leaders/gods.

I originally had him facing forward, more in line with traditional depictions of rulers sitting on a throne, but eventually changed it to what you see now in the final piece where he is more directly facing his followers, right arm extended towards them in a welcoming/giving fashion, and a serene expression on his face, giving the relationship a more caring and personal touch.

For the rot and decay element, the link between the two parties, I had different types of fungi lifeforms, mold colonies and mushrooms, growing and sprouting form Mel’s body. I gathered references for different types and even included some poisonous species deliberately in an attempt to include all, even the “bad” ones as a little nod to the overall feeling of the piece, I.e. to show that there’s no such thing as an inherently “bad” species, they all have use and serve a purpose and can coexist.

I wanted to depict Mel’s perpetually decaying body as fertile ground for new life. Here, rot would be not a “bad” thing, but a sacred and divine element, integral to nature’s rituals of life and death, transformation and rebirth. Without it there can be no renewal.

From very early on I wanted to use the Clan’s symbol somewhere, and after experimenting a bit it seemed the most appropriate to have it surrounded by this torrent of fungi.

I had the final destination for this torrent be several containers held by the human followers in reverent fashion, and to be used as food or medicine (much like our own real life uses). The rotting flesh of their Lord thus serves to provide nourishment and the continuing good health of the human followers.

Following the ones holding the containers, I then depicted a lineup of fellow worshipers, in a sort of procession heading back towards Mel. Originally I thought of just having a couple of figures hug him with hands and arms disappearing into his skin. But I also thought about having dozens of followers all interlocked in a loving embrace and giving shape to Mel’s legs, forming the base and essentially being the very foundation of his body. I almost wrote it off due to the amount of work it would take, but that image compelled me and I thought the visual was too cool to pass down so I stuck to it and the result is what you see here.

I tried to sprinkle a variety of different body types and ages pretty much from the start to give the feeling that all bodies were welcomed, that in this Clan’s eyes, all are equal in flesh, no matter who you are. I also wanted the human worshipers to be all nude to contrast with something that you would see, say, in the Sarafan Stronghold or in any regular church. I wanted this to feel more pagan-like in contrast with the more traditional values and depictions of those other places (same design philosophy I explained above for Mel’s depiction).

With the health and well being of the followers assured, they essentially return the favor to their master, now feeding the body that fed them. The act of “joining” with Mel is portrayed in a positive light, full of loving embraces and entwined bodies, all content, all fully giving themselves up of their own accord.

Like their Lord, who endures the rot in order to continue to be elevated, the worshipers will also sacrifice their blood and flesh in the hopes of also being elevated via becoming one with him. With the fusion of bodies the circle is closed and begins anew. Both overcome the frailty of the flesh together and become something more each cycle.

Outside the mural, on the bottom left, we have another figure sitting at its base. From very early on I wanted this nameless figure lost in religious longing to be the focus of the piece, or, to be more precise, the one that informs the tone of the piece (the mural might be slighted distorted, slightly idealized, it might be symbolically true rather than literal, but the belief and feelings of the follower are real). I also depicted them alone in order to make it more personal and intimate.

I added a lamp and made it the only light source so as to immediately draw the viewer’s attention in their direction, and something the eyes keep coming back to as they travel around the rest of the piece.

Humanity (at least regular folk, not counting the human Pillar Guardians) doesn’t make much of an appearance in the series all things considered, so I wanted to include them more in this, to give them and their complex feelings towards vampires a bit of time in the spotlight.

I like to think the mural itself was made by human artists (but I’ll leave it up for the people to decide).