Skrelm's Reblog Collection

So im not super set on anything but my general idea is: he at some point had a partner or sibling he was exploring hell with, but in some fight their tank exploded killing them and injuring Petrol, which left him missing and arm and leg and his side sort of open. He would have self repaired and eventually put together what he is now:

what wave of scouting do you think he came in on? were he and his sibling/partner one of the early waves, a middle generation, a later wave, or the end times wandered in times?

Have you since decided if it was a "sibling" or was it a partner of some kind?

What about what kind of time period he was built during?

Did he try to partner with other streetcleaners after the fight?

Does he stick to the upper levels? does he go deeper? regularly?

how far down has he gotten? and how far down did he and his teammate get? what level do you think he lost his teammate on?

Does he go out on ventures a lot or at all and deep or not too far?

Does he hunt other streetcleaners or dose he try to help them since he has no other competition with them really or does he just not interact with anyone if he can help it? (given he has a blood source from his angel companion)

Does he get along with any other type of machine generally?

Does he sell his parts or services to retrieve parts? What might he want as payment if so, like a trade or blood or intel?

How is his relationship with the terminals? do they like him? Does he like them? Do they have anything to say about his accompanying an angel? Does he even have to interact with them given his angel companion can help teleport him throughout hell?

Is his angel partner Helios often around or do they only show up off and on? like are they they kind of "never more than 10 ft from each other probably" team or "i see them twice a week and usually they're holding strange and esoteric nightmares beyond human comprehension and i ask them to do the dishes for once" type partners

How long (rough ball park type math) have helios and petrol have been partners?

does petrol speak with any kind of vocal quirks or does he have a large or limited vocabulary? did he take a swordsmachine's voicebox or maintain his own?

Is he one for jokes?

The WIP saga for those curious

"Why?" Wanted to see if I could

On Stained Glass Art

I did my best to replicate the religious purpose of stained glass windows through medieval Christian history, that being to convey Biblical stories visually to illiterate churchgoers. I also attempted to replicate historical & stylistic techniques, with mixed results- the main difference being a wider range of hues, and the detail limitations of my canvas (an insane thing to say about a 5000x7000 pixel canvas but this is not a medium for the sane)- and frankly, the limitations of my patience, because unlike medieval artists I am not being patronized by the Catholic church. Most of my digital stained glass replica art up to this point has been using purely the glass textures, but this sort of stained glass window was often intricately painted.

Unnecessarily Long-Winded Explanation Of The Whole Window

Okay I need you to understand that I am not pulling the rest of this post out of my ass, shout-out to Signs and Symbols in Christian Art by George Ferguson.

One of the difficulties with this whole concept was that, due to the medium itself, I'm trying to represent Minos's story from the perspective of the Church/Council, who condemned his actions and would've wanted this to be seen as a cautionary tale about defying heaven. (This is difficult because I think he's cool and awesome.) This is why the story stops with his corpse, and doesn't (explicitly) include his prime soul.

It's difficult to make it visually/aesthetically clear that his actions are meant to be condemned and his death was justified. I probably could've framed it differently, drawn him in a way that makes him look more sinister rather than in a way that would feel very reverent if the story stopped at panel 3, but I honestly like the ambiguity of this version. The story is interpreted very differently depending on whether you have empathy for the husks, or believe it's a perversion of justice, an act of defiance against God, to see them happy and thriving. Minos looks like a hero. He looks like someone to be revered, respected. And from one perspective, that's the cautionary aspect.

That being said- I was kind of interpreting this as a piece whose creation was ordered either by Heaven or by those sinners who were still believers, but ultimately made by the residents of Hell? I dunno man. So while the ultimate story is the same, there are some subtle aspects that don't entirely align with the Council's agenda:

Husks in the bottom windows: I don't actually have a direct source for this, but from what I've seen after looking at a lot of references, this sort of context-less alcove was usually used for saints, angels, etc- generic Good imagery that could be used without requiring much context. Replacing that imagery with husks: make of that what you will.

Caged dove: Birds in general can be used as a symbol for the soul. The cage is made of the roots of the tree of life for a very deep reason, that being because it's badass. The most 'overt' reference to his prime soul.

The raven, moon, sun and phoenix: There's a sort of double-meaning between viewing them in isolation vs as a whole. Individually, I think they kind of align with the story of Heaven: the raven, a symbol of death, referencing God's disappearance between panels 1&2; the moon followed by the sun referencing Heaven getting their shit together afterward, night becoming day; phoenix carrying along the same theme of being reborn from the ashes of God's disappearance, or whatever. In tandem though, they're symbols for the Magnum Opus in alchemy. I wasn't really sure about including these because I didn't want it to be a hollow gesture purely for the sake of aesthetics or "haha look at me I watched the dev stream" but I think there's enough here that while I may be reaching, I am grasping something. The parallel isn't 1:1, but I think there's enough of a common theme in Minos and Sisyphus's stories of transformation, transcendence, a sort of immortality of the soul (until u kill them lol)

The rest of it, from the top-down and then left-to-right:

Heart: tree of life.

Goats: Goats are a symbol in Christianity for sin in general, lust specifically. The fig branches they're eating are also symbols of lust (sometimes portrayed in place of apples as the unspecified forbidden fruit in the garden of Eden, with fig leaves being what Adam and Eve cover themselves with afterward). Broken chain + decapitated because just a goat wasn't heavy-handed enough.

Snakes: Apart from the obvious 'Minos has snakes', ouroboros is a general symbol for eternity, cycles of creation/destruction, another alchemy connection. The skulls are there because I needed something to be there and skulls are cool.

Panel 1

Heart-shaped window: decorated with thorns, which represent grief, tribulation, and sin, and are also on Minos's face

Top of panel: shows Heaven while God's still kicking. Everything is in order, Heaven is keeping an eye on things. (I kind of had to balance game accuracy with stylization, but the fact that we haven't seen too many individual angels made me lean toward more traditional portrayals of them here.)

Minos wears a purple robe, a color associated with royalty (as well as sadness and penitence), and holds the scales of justice because he's still doing a good job as Judge of Hell at this point. The throne is just there symbolically to emphasize his position as a king / authority figure. The sky in the background has a bunch of souls floating around because that's what happens in Dante's Inferno and I think the artistic depictions of it are cool. Frankly it looks kind of fun. It's gotta be fun to be in the vortex for at least like the first 5 minutes right?

Foreground has sinners confessing their sins to him and then facing punishment (in a more metaphorical/stereotypical depiction of hell)

Panel 2

Heart-shaped window: decorated with olive branches, a symbol for peace as the Lust Renaissance begins.

Top of panel: Heaven in turmoil after the disappearance of God. The sky has gone dark, angels are distracted and facing away from Minos.

Minos in a green robe, symbolizing charity, regrowth, the triumph of life over death. He kneels among the people of Lust, less a supreme authority/judge and more a benevolent ruler and guide. Husks building Lust's city and helping rescue other sinners from Wrath in the foreground.

Panel 3

Heart-shaped window: figs = lust again

Top of panel: This one I'm still not 100% certain on because the Hell/eye connection is still kind of shaky in its specifics. I do feel fairly confident in that eye motif symbolizing Hell; this specific depiction of it was taken almost directly from the stained glass pieces in 1-4. The angels looked away but Hell sure didn't! This and Minos's corpse are the only proper, intact eyes in the whole piece, mostly in keeping with the rest of the game because I still have no solid idea what (if anything) the lack of eyes in Hell means thematically.

Minos stands among the finished city of Lust at the height of its renaissance, assuming the role of benevolent ruler and protector. The yellow robe is a symbol of treachery/betrayal (Judas is often portrayed in a yellow robe). He holds part of the city in his hands; I've seen this a few times in stained glass with religious authority figures holding a miniature churches. The heart is just... yeah he's giving life to the city or whatever, also it looks cool.

Foreground has husks living their best lives, they have clothes now because it's cold. One holding an olive branch (symbol of peace), the other writing, and of course the lesbian skeletons. You cannot tell that the skeletons are lesbians, but I'm telling you the skeletons are lesbians. The snakes are down here rather than on his arms as a sort of extension of himself protecting the citizens. In the greenery around them are poppies, which apart from their associations with WW1 and sleep/death, can also symbolize luxury, fertility and extravagance.

his toes are wet but try not to think about it

Panel 4

Heart-shaped window: Lilies are associated strongly with the archangel Gabriel.

Top of panel: Angels get their shit back together, notice what's happening in Lust and descend on it like angry wasps

This one's probably mostly self-explanatory, Minos being killed by Gabriel while attempting to reason with him. Only thing is Minos' black robe, representing death/mourning, and the fact that he's holding (or rather dropping) an olive branch.

Panel 5

Heart-shaped window: anemone flowers are associated with death/mourning.

Top of panel: The Council formally established and watching over Hell.

A Streetcleaner who lost its Flamethrower and newfound person-hood is not a good combination. Unable to itch the deep rooted need to Burn things, it's grown to be very cranky! Over time she's collected spare parts and the means to defend herself, equipped with a basic piercer revolver and core eject shotgun. As well as many Streetcleaner fuel canisters.

Jealousy and rage brought it to hate, hunting down other Streetcleaners in hopes to find a compatible flamethrower, to finally sate that urge; but success has yet to be had. She collects their canisters for extra explosives. She's gotten quite skilled at blowing things up without damaging herself. Though it'll never be the same as setting things ablaze. She has also upgraded herself to be quite efficient at taking down other Streetcleaners and smaller machines, and has adapted to being more stealthy when not setting the sky alight with "Fireworks" Her name is a title adorned herself with. And one she shall wear with pride. It is hers and no one can take that from her.

A machine with lots of Big Feelings, and no time to explore any of it, nor understand it. Fuel is finite, after all.

Biggest question: what do you mean by "find a compatible flamethrower" what is your head canon on that? Is it just a "psychological" thing? is it that each generation/model has specific interface requirements to be able to track and regulate their flamethrowers and she can't find one of hers for some reason (rest of them are further down, she just has bad luck, she was a small experimental team batch,)? Is there something else entirely that you've got in mind?

Did she try to continue to partner with other streetcleaners at first and as the jealousy grew she withdrew or tried to take theirs and caused a falling out with her team? or something else entirely? (how about we just assume that goes without saying at the end of all my rambling questions so I don't keep typing it. lol)

where does she live? Does she stick to the upper levels? does she go deeper? regularly? how far down has she gotten? what layer do you think her 'base camp' is? (I always tend to headcannon that streetcleaners tend to be mostly upper level beings in general, like mostly limbo, lust, and gluttony maybe greed) Does she go out on ventures a lot or at all and deep or not too far?

what wave of scouting do you think she came in on? was she one of the early waves, a middle generation, a later wave, or the end times wandered in times?

What about what kind of time period she was built during?

What was she like BEFORE she lost her flamethrower and started to spiral?

How is her relationship with the terminals? do they like her for being so entertaining in her jealousy? do they try and warp her to other layers near other streetcleaners on purpose to see her get set off? Does she resent them? Does she like them because they are even more wretched than she given they are bound in place, able to watch but never act which is worse than her condition as she can still act even if she can't burn?

will she ever work with other streetcleaners for something these days, like on a rare occasion or something? Or does she ever tolerate one for a while at least if she dosen't feel like putting in the effort?

Does she purposefully go looking for streetcleaners to hunt or its just if you happen to cross her path you're locking eyes and entering a pokemon battle you can't run from?

What does she do when she's not hunting / doing maintenance? does she have a job/role she's created for herself? does she do more with her mechanical tinkering?

Does she get along with any other type of machine generally?

this design is a blend of V1's machinery, mannequin, and bone... I took *cough* a couple liberties with the description haha. if Venus-1 is characterized by exposed muscle, Juno-51 is a creature of latticed bone; while Venus is reptilian, Juno is insectoid! I imagine it does have a few organic parts, though, most notably the eye - a true eye, not an optic - which can emit destructive hell energy. the upper set of arms features longer retractable blades, boasting much greater reach but typically only used in combat, while the lower set of arms is set slightly towards the front and has much shorter blades to accommodate everyday use and in close-quarter fights.

some rapid-fire details!!

the front of its veil tells the story of the end of humanity and the birth of Juno. zoom in if you dare...

its head is an "upside-down" pentagon because mannequins have upside-down heads :)

yes there are 50 butterflies. (though you'll have to take my word for it)

I'm torn over the veil as a "hood" vs a wedding veil... both are valid I feel, bc veiling can be a religious practice or a marriage tradition (Juno being the goddess of marriage). maybe Juno pulls back the veil when beginning combat?? look man I'm just an artist I have no idea what's going on, I just draw pretty picture when the voices demand it of me

total time: 8hrs 38min (though a lot of that was designing)

though we haven't had a very good first impression of Juno, I'd like to think that, just like with Venus, it's a big sweetheart deep down ;u;

bonus! here's the initial sketch:

also this is probably the visually coolest OC yet so check out the other Juno designs artists have made! we are blessed to have so many artists for this fic.

chaoticneutralstupidity

erqixi

mosstoheaven (with a version 2)