WELCOME BACK KAMAU (and let's hope that Eagle's bad dreams were nothing more than that)

First page

me after spending over 22 hours drawing this

holy shit how many people just liked and/or reblogged this-

also, the comic is back on and I'll be posting more art like this, art from the comic pages, and occasional voice acting stuff from my team frequently!

Special shoutout to the Patreon anon who wanted to know more about how Yusra and Asfia became honorary Talons! This has more insight on her as a character and her home life. There is a focus on domestic violence, so be aware of that. Of course Amatus makes an appearance, as well as cute, chubby, baby Asfia!

ima's got it all: an endless army of faceless goons, a collection of rare and powerful slaves, non-stop sources of entertainment, the biggest ship, the most opulent and lavish sense of taste, she can dance and got hands too. she's the big slime. her bodies got siege warfare numbers man. not just a village. there is no dispute here. she is the biggest threat we've seen yet. and she hasn't said a damn thing.

she does what all of the real-life royalty have inevitably done in order to keep their positions and rule over their subjects. sacrificing lives, destroying and separating entire families, plundering and enslaving on a mass scale, is all part of the job. your enemies' lives are forfeit. the rules are simple: if you are of no use to the crown, you will die. resist the will of the crown, and you will die. if you're not a killer or conqueror, if you do not expand your territory, use every advantage you can acquire, manipulate your enemies and their weaknesses, you are not prepared to win a war. you will lose.

this is the kind of person who will succeed in combat, but risks everything else in pursuit of their domination, by definition. empires are lethal abominations that demand human sacrifice and warrant massive ecological destruction and disruption, all in service to the whims of exactly one person. kingdoms and military dictatorships are responsible for a scale of devastation that has never been witnessed before in human history, and has not been surpassed since. final boss shit. a true leviathan.

it makes for some compelling drama. i can't think of a better opposite for spear or fang. spear is pretty clever, and obviously capable of producing plenty of brutality on his lonely, but he's no martial artist either, as evidenced by ima, a military tactician, holding shit down and whooping his ass a good few times solo dolo. fang is a clever girl too, and also a tank, but she's clearly still not equipped to lead an army, much less fight one alone, or employ psychological warfare.

even kamau, despite his gargantuan build and resilience, will not sacrifice his love and empathy for another in order to win. he's fighting not to dominate, but to protect someone he cares about. spear, fang, and mira all know what that's like, and are all just as trapped. it's tragic -- but that's what war is like. in contrast, the queen has allegiance to no one but herself. her authority is indivisible, her rule, absolute. what weaknesses?