Author Archive: Gregory
Hello, everyone.
My name is Gregory Gibbons, and I've been drawing for a long, long time. Check out my website to see some of my gallery stuff, and my little flash games, too.
22 – 30 … And the rest!
So sorry to have let this build up like this, but contract work is feast or famine someties, and I had to eat!
Elaso was named by a little boy who found the whelp in a small shoal by the sea. Elaso is a special type of Arachnidian, but fortunately is very young, and able to learn a more peaceful life, if taught by the kind hearted.
Verdalisa is the youngest of the Mystaran dragons- barely a hundred years old. She is also the first young dragon to be born in memory of the lesser races. The secret is, the other Dragons don’t know of her existence yet…
This incarnation of the Goddess Athena seeks to guide the Oberian warriors sent to Apollosis. She knows they walk into Hel itself…
The Wake of the Blue Fire was  spelled doom for those that thought the passing of the fires was a blessing. The necrotic surge in power has meant that the strong willed don’t even die of mortal wounds… and that the dormant corpses of the long deceased can be reanimated with ease… though with what souls or spirits to embody them?
The Wine Knight Ivrion has a penchance for debauchery. His protectors and Hall Guard all have a certain… shall we say, charm?
The vanquished angels and devils, or, if you will, the purest good and the vilest evil souls, cannot enter Heaven or fall to the Pits, the Outer Planes are cut off from the world of men. Somewhere, deep in the earth, the combined demonic forces have given way to a terrifying possibility…
The Potter’s Floumph is a house spirit that mischeviously moves about crockery and other items in a bid to garner attention and food from the home owner. Pedoule is a more volatile Floumph, and will take away jugs, pots, glasses and dishes, and drop them off of tables!
The gods and icons of Death walk the world of the living, and Shi is no exception- a Demon Queen from the distant land of Jadin. Her cult practices orderly funerary rites and observations… and aggressively seeks clients.
These advanced batlike creatures hail from the caves and burrows around the forests of the North Cruth. They are quite intelligent and excellent trackers, but operate only at night. They can understand the speech of men, but cannot talk aloud, and must sign, their voices set to a pitch beyond hearing.
And there you have it, all 30 characters! I had to skimp on the coloring near the end, and lock down a specific look to the art, but it was still a great time.
– Greg Gibbons
21 – Aetherius
It is hard to be an atheist in the lands of Oberon, but they exist- they are either untouched by the divine, or believe that the divine are themselves simply powerful yet attainable positions in some sort of cosmic hierarchy- taking the mystery out of it all, in a fashion.
An example of such a being is the stone animus that calls itself Aetherius, a guardian slate golem that was created as the Blue Fire began to fall- and somehow achieved a state of being that not only included self- awareness, but the ability to shift his structure between different minerals. A being made only to serve … and now, he commands the mindless forces his master (who has been… disposed) once did.
20 – Skaaven TombRat
A creature born in filth, no creature is more craven nor cunning than the Skaaven, the rat folk. Perpetually locked in a war with an almost as cruel but definitely more vicious race, the Kobold, most Skaaven know only this war, and their hold on the northern lands, including Oberon’s Land, was long ago loat to their rivals.
All, save a small tribe of rat- folk in the Thunder Rift- the TombRats. They long ago forgot their race’s feud, their goal as all- encompassing as it is surprising- the TombRats dwell in the cursed catacombs and haunted barrows of the Thayatin settlers, a dangerous place to call home for the living. And that’s what the TombRats do best.
They hunt Vampires.
19 – The Forest Blacksmith
Kellophis is a Vinlandian Satyr that has worked with metal since the fall of the Blue Fire. His skills have set him…
man. I’m waaay behind.
18 – Kaery Firremani, the Zephyr Knight
Kaery is one of the Zephyr Knights, an esteemed branch of the Morninglord’s service. She has been a knight for three years, and now she is after proving herself, while the rest of the Dawnguard and the First Light has failed, in tracking down the baby.
The baby is all important to the Morning Lord. That was the last communication with their god that the DawnPriests had. The Priests all had their own interpretations of the last words. Politics gave way to infighting, then war. Factions wandered far, their intentions varied, and sometimes alarming. But all that doesn’t matter to Kaery.
All she cares about is finding the baby and delivering it to the First Light. At all costs.
17 – Alag’Har
Alag’Har is of the Blackscale Lizardfolk tribes- enormous brutes the size of ogres, with black and green scales lightening to the tail, crocodilian features, and vibrant red neck frills that flare out in combat, or when excited. He is a young member of the race, barely ten years old, but already a keen learner, and very cunning.
Alag’Har has developed a strange obsession among his people. He loves the culture of humans- cooked food, soft beds, well spun cloth… and the heft of human weapons. His surprisingly friendly disposition has confused many a peasant and swamprat alike.
How he will fare in the lands of men remains to be seen…
16 – Xaldar the Night Serpent
Xaldar is the progeny of Dendar, the original Night Serpent. How she gave birth, given the fact that she is the Queen of Nightmares (and the only one of her kind) has beings all across the multiverse terrified and puzzled. Xaldar is a manipulator of desires, who speaks in dreams and trances, but seeks for freedom in the world of the living, much like his ancient and devious mother. For her part, Dendar, who has destroyed both the planar naive and the champions of the Astral realm, and ultimately seeks freedom from the Beyond as well – seems to be almost proud of her son, matronly and advising, if not bullying and cruel.
In this age of ‘end of the world’ prophecies coming to light, this one was not supposed to be Dendar’s fate- She was to be the Eater of the World, Leviathan, the Great Destroyer, in the faith of the Chultish and the Chulquean.
She was not supposed be the Virgin Mother…
15 – GoldTail, Gnoll Ranger
GoldTail was told that his father was a king, that he was meant to rule the Gnolls, and crush the Elves that had long ago repressed the Gnollish race. Where his father went is a mystery that most Gnoll whelps don’t care to solve- it happens to almost all of them. And although the Packbitch’s devotion to his father is definitely unusual, GoldTail doesn’t believe any of it.
GoldTail is an exceptional hunter, and has benefitted his tribe well, defending the pack from Elven Gladesmen and Goblin Waag Guerillas alike. His skills in the woods put Fae to shame… and he hopes one day that the elite team of assassins led by the enigmatic Gnoll known as ‘The Grey Dove’ will one day notice his efforts.
14 – The Emerald Dragon
The Emerald Dragon is not a god, nor is it an Immortal Mystaran Dragon. Rather, the Emerald Dragon is a green dragon, normally a vehement and cruel creature, that was asked a question by a diety. What that question was, and which diety gave the dragon counsel is much debated, but the dragon became lost in thought and contemplation. And through some form of enlightenment, has remained silent and calm to this day.
13 – Kennet Mak San, Pictish Warrior
A reimagining of the look of Robert E. Howard’s Pictish warriors, brought under the influence of Bran Mak Morn under one banner in the face of Rome’s might. Kennet was one of hundreds of Picts brought from the Highlands to stand firm against the assault of the Roman advance- his skill with a greatsword, and the story of his aquisition of a Tuathe necklace while young, making him an outstanding folk hero, even under the shadow of their legendary King.
12 – Ettercap Brute
Creatures believed to be of some mix between the blood of ancient Ergothian captives and the Nul are the Ettercap- vicious hunters and sadists. They do not serve the Nul, rather they eke out their own futures in the deeps of the UnderDark, and in the Malpheggi Swamps, and the BrokenLands- wherever they could find darkness. They are opportunists and craven, and bear grudge to the fae- borne of an ancient misunderstanding when they first emerged into the light.
11 – Nulish Ambassador
In the past, the people of Nul that live below the mountains hated man, and small mining towns and remote colonies of settlers often disappeared mysteriously over the winter season, leaving empty huts and silent squares come the thaw. Absent in the memories of the people of Galacia is an idea of what they even look like- just that they own the depths, and even the stout folk of the Dwarven Houses stay in mines that encroach on no caverns or natural vaults, their dour fortresses and strongholds designed to repell the deeps as much as surface aggressors.
The sudden passing of the Great Doom, a catastrophe that mirrored the passing of the Rain of Blue Fire in other wrealms, has given hope to the masses that the madness of the previous disaster has given way to better times, that the people of Galacia will now rise from the ashes, each heart singing and proud, each voice raised in joy.
From out of the black of the cthonian depths came a voice as well… and as the terrified deep miners stared in awe and terror, that voice claimed a desire to parlay. The People of Nul, for the first time recorded, sought counsel.
10 – Richter Corvin, The Demon of Barovia
The elder Prince of Ligothia, a territory on the outskirts of Barovia, haunted as the survivor of a war that he never actually attended. What befell him during his supposed time in the Barovan Conflict remains a mystery, but he returned dead inside, turned to drink and prone to bouts of night terrors and almost catatonic despair. His father, Duke Alfonz of Ligothia, already displeased with his oldest son’s laziness and arrogance before the war, passed the family inheritance on to the second child in an unprecedented move. Richter, in a fit of rage, murdered his calculating and callous wife that very night and fled the kingdom.
Some said that, as he fled uncontested by the superstitious guards of the palace, he loped along the main street on all fours, a sheet of his wife’s blood raining from his jaws, off into a sudden bank of fog…
9 – Janilla, the Lost Maid of the Mountains
Her story is unknown save for anecdotal encounters describing a ghost- like maiden in the Western Cruth and the Anisat Mountains. One of those stories speaks of an ethereal woman, or a group of women, that were found standing amongst the remains of dozens of destroyed Ghul Warriors, the signs of a great battle all around. The woman, or women, seemed dazed, disoriented, wounded. But before the chroniclers could approach them closer, the woman, or the women, sliped away… each of the chroniclers claims a diferent story. But they all agree that the maid, or maidens, looked as you see this one now.
Her being sighted on the abandoned roadways leading to Scarabus has led the learned of that town to send word to the guilds and places of learning, that something is afoot.
It seems that the Cruth is, of a sudden, releasing all of it’s horrors in the passing of the Rain of Blue Fire.
8 – Remorhazan Elder
The Remorhaz is a brute of a monster, an insect-like behemoth that generates intense heat through it’s blood and hunts the arctic wastes of the far north Cruth. They are on the decline- hunted and destroyed for the danger it represents. But deep beneath the iron ice of the Chillvault Glaciers, the real Remorhaz still exist- a race more advanced than the hapless suface dwellers know of, and far more dangerous. Once the Drow Houses and the Dwarven Strongholds of the north Cruth found out about them, and forged a pact- the first of it’s kind- to purge the world of the only clutch known of the Remorhazans, a mere two dozen in number.
Before word could be sent to any of the colonies of the southern lands, and in terrible allignment to the coming of the crippling Rain of Blue Fire, which rendered the attackers without magical aid, the Remorhazans were assaulted in their cavern by the elite of the Drow and the hardiest of the HammerMarch, hundreds upon hundreds of warriors and wardancers.
The retaliation was immediate and explosive. Each 20 feet tall and as strong as rock, capable of immense acts of agility and possessing obsidian claws, molten innards and deceptively large brains, the small tribe of Remorhazans slaughtered the armies and pursued the routed back to their homes and strongholds.
To this day, the miles upon miles of the north Cruth nearest the ChillVault Glaciers lay uninhabited, ruins haunted and scorched, a testament to the might of the Remorhazan Elders.
7 – Sandra The Glimmersneak
Ah, the deceptive Sandra Ilandac. A master of illusions and a thief of no small renown, she loves the hunt for the forbidden- be it ancient treasure from a forgotten vault, or the crown jewels of a Royal family. Her mastery of slight of hand and sorcerous trickery has experienced a… setback, when the Blue Fire began to fall. But through cunning (and perhaps some stolen sorcerous artifact of antiquity), she perseveres.
6 – The Alchemist Revealed
Hundreds of feet long, and as black as desolate night… the last of the great Mystaran black dragons.
The Alchemist is missing a hind limb from an old encounter with a clan of giants that, naturally, didn’t survive the encounter- when disguised as a human, it has a slight limp that it’s shifting abilities can’t quite correct. Over decades of supernatural modification and the ingestion of special elixers, the Alchemist can produce a wide variety of potions and tinctures from it’s bile and breath, like an artist can paint images or a singer many notes. As one of the most successful non-Shemnitic merchants ever to live in Medecca, the resources it has access to are monumental, almost like a Visir.
To leave the desert and wander into Oberonn’s Land can only bode ill-well…
5 – The Alchemist of Medecca
The Alchemist has gone by many names over his illustrious tenure as the greatest of medicinal healers, herbalists, and brewers of potent elixers- the general assumption being that he long ago discovered the secret to making Ambrosia, the Elixer of Immortality. The truth, however, is far less romantic… and darker.
For the Alchemist, now wandering the Steppes of the Cruth and far, far from home, is an entity possessed by greed and jealousy, jealousy of his siblings and their triumphs real and imagined over the countless years they have all been apart. It tires of the constant droning of the masses of the markets of Medecca, the whining and neediness of humanity, and wishes to leave it all behind. It has made it’s fortune through hard work - an unheard of feat among it’s kind – but always the vile anger seethes just below the surface of it’s leathery smile and polite, if somewhat detached, demeanor.
An image of the Alchemist revealed will come tomorrow.
4 – The Umbromancer
The rain of Blue Fire has ended, at long last, and the sun has once again kissed the surface of Oberonn’s Lands.
But it was a cold and passionless kiss, devoid of life. The gods still walk the earth, more and more like tigers trapped in a cage with each other. And sorcery among mortals is impossible, lighting the invoker on fire or driving them mad… or both. To make things worse, if that were possible, is the fact that the sun no longer has any effect on the undead. There seems to be a powerful tie to the darkest of energies, and even though magic among mortals has vanished, foul rites to make the dead walk still flourish among the depraved… and no soul may pass on to the afterlife, as the gods who hold dominion over such things are all fallen.
The Umbromancer was born out of an echo of a memory from an ancient portal that was forever closed by the return of the sun. His power is the sum of that portal’s ancient energies. He now exists to find the reality of that memory, the thought that gave him life. A vista that consumes his mind… a place called the White Kingdom.
3 – In’Irdac the Weak
Never before has a Draegoloth abomination been ‘cured’ of it’s nature. A terrifying half- fiend brought about by the darkest and most favoured of Lloth’s matron mothers, in congress with an embodiment of deception and terror, a demon Glabrezu summoned in a blood sacrifice. When born, the abominations serve their mothers, or their own whims, and are seen as gifts- cold, calculating and murderous gifts- to the Houses of the mothers.
Rysaloth In’Irdac was a Draegoloth given to becoming a posessor of mortals- a being that could move from body to body, hiding it’s hideous form in the aether of the ghostly wrealm as he pulled the strings of the unwary. But in the act of becoming such a fiend, something went horribly wrong. The demonic half of Rysaloth went on to become a full demon, unfettered by Drow pettiness and small- mindedness… or a soul.
In’Irdac was left on the mortal plane, a Drow-Â weakened, terrified, with none of his previous might. His desperation to rejoin with his other half is consuming him…
2 – The Animus
The stones there had once been a part of something great- the ring itself was enormous, more like tectonic plates than mere stones. And the “when” of it wasn’t even worth questioning- not when the stones were there before the first human eyes to fall on them. Even the Fae grew silent at the mention of the Old Ring.
Whatever they were, they must have liked being what they once were. Some of the stones were proud to just stand and remember their past. Some of the stones were content to sink into the earth, to forget and be forgotten.
But anyone, be they merchant, farmer or wanderer, approaching the Old Ring would have to contend with the Animus- the stones that remembered to guard.
1 – Glaistag Andaea
Andaea was a druidess, as so many of her kind have a close connection with things fae and green. To find her forest devastated by fires has torn her apart. Were the fires set? Who would do such a thing to an ancient grove such as this?
When a branch snaps and she looks warily about, at the charred wastes, her original instinct to flee is replaced by something darker, braver, and angrier.
2012 Challenger: Gregory Gibbons
Gregory Gibbons here.
I’ve been missing drawing… it’s time to get re-aquainted.
A big shout out to Tyler, for sounding the challenge once again.
Let the games begin!
Gregory – 30 characters in 30 days.
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I had a blast! ( The gallery above is just a single link to my
pics- that way you can peruse the lot of them at once.)
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If you like my stuff, check out my website: www.theserpentsage.com
Thanks to Tyler for making this possible.
#30 – Kassan Ske, the God of Rage
To say that Kassan Ske was ever a mortal being is to imply some sort of mundana or knowable status to a being that, while existing on the known planes, was a veritable force of destruction.
Called ‘The Red Slaughter’ by his Heralds, Kassan Ske was a fiend made flesh- an experiment gone shockingly awry- an embodiment of ogrish brutality, draconic fiery terror and the full corruption of pure, abyssal evil. Worse, he brought out these same traits in his followers and soldiers, making them all abominations, capable of vicious brutalities on the battlefield- and no remorse for the weak or defenseless. His ascension was as inevitable as the march of his forces. It will take the combined efforts of the forces of good to keep his hideous machinations in check.
#29 – The Worm Queen Nicrotis
She dreamed of the world above, and had ever since she fell. She curled, shivered, in anticipation of the weakening of resolves, the clouding of memory, the passing of time that weakened the bonds. For when she was forgotten utterly, no power would oppose her, and through our dreams she would seep, into our flesh, to erupt forth in glorious, bloody rebirth.
And then the feasting will begin.
#28 – The Queen Sylph
The Vault of the Sky was rent asunder in a titanic spellduel, and many spirits, some imprisoned by the forces of good, some self- exiled to endless meditations were catapaulted back into the known spheres. Queen Vilansys is one of the freed entities, a Sylphen princess and master of sorcery. Her motivations now that she is back in the outer spheres remains a mystery, andno Sylph has come forward with knowledge of her from the annals of time- be she friend or foe, criminal or benign?
… Yup, that’s a rainbow.
Sheesh. My next picture better be as dark as Cthulhu’s stool, or I’m getting way too soft.
#27 – Great Old One
… I’ve got nothing.
My idea of God?
He’s Cthulhu- esque, but not demonic enough, really. Could be another Great Old One, like a relative, maybe. One that didn’t fall when the Elder Gods threw the other Old Ones down, so not necessarily a malevolent being.
I’m sorry, normally these are all thought through… I’m just run down by a wicked sinus problem.
#26 – The CandleKin
The CandleKin are will-o-wisps, somewhere between the aether and the world of the living. In the light of the dying sun, they can wisp from shadow to shadow, the light of their souls beguiling and terrifying lone wandrers and farmers. They taunt the living, frightening, but not able to cross over to wax harmful… unless the victim is of sorcerous blood.
The magi are their victims, and through their victim’s supernatural connection can reach across the void, assuming a corpse-like, ghoulish shape, and strike with hellish fury.
#25 – Xylhopi
In the time after man, our world will pass between several ages of freedom from any tyrannical ruling races- the meek shall once again inherit the earth, nature will take it’s course, and after millions of years, most of the remnants of mankind’s rule will be gone.
Then shall come the Xylhopi.
Of course, such a name as this means nothing to a race of creatures that has no verbal language.The closest parallel to their biology would be highly intelligent giant cuttlefish, but their own philosophies seem to have them set up as travellers from long ago, finally returned home. Their flight and other powers are from their psionic minds- they cannot die, and are immortal, like the hydra- a natural evolution to the highest order.
#24 – Sylph Conjurer
Nyallah is a sylph- an entity closely tied to the fae. Her beauty is otherworldly, her form dictated by her mood and the winds as much as by any laws that bind true flesh. As such, she is able to readily allow magic to flow through her, making her an amazing channeler of sorcery.
#30Characters Chatter…