While he is portrayed as a devious monster in The Bindings of Fate, it wasn’t as if he was born to be evil.  I don’t believe in things like that – in humanity anyway.  You’re the product of a lot of different things, and while a moral compass might be broken from the start, there’s usually some other components of your life that lead you in the wrong direction.

So, like her earlier work on Schirner, RedPear gives us a version of Juramentado that has a little more humanity.

This one struck me a bit like he could have been a baddie in a Street Fighter game.  Akumamentado, perhaps.  But our necromancer isn’t as fierce looking as this chap.  Nefarious, yes, but Juramentado is a more like a weak-bodied, middle-aged wizard than a fighter with a broad body and a bad streak.

We moved in the right direction with this sketch.  Juramentado was a little more mischievous looking here, and began looking the part of your favorite supervillain.

And of course, what better way to give him some extra character than to give him the evil mustache and goatee.  Now he just screams that throaty “mwahahahaha” we all know and love.

Look at that!  This is one of RedPear’s most impressive works to date, and I could not be happier with it.  She captures the eerie power of this character, and she does it in a way that makes him seem as though he could have been good.  It makes me want to lean on the way Marvel does things from time to time, and write some alternate reality pieces where Juramentado fought for the side of the heroes.

And as always, you can’t truly appreciate the work that she does without seeing that extra little splash of color.  Her work already has so much personality, but with that extra pop…

Juramentado was done very well, and I can’t wait to show you some of the other work we’ve done throughout these past several weeks!

The post Art: Juramentado appeared first on Tellest.

While our last two pieces had some solid footing in logic – we wanted to post orcs and goblins to highlight their differences, and give a good look at the enemies in Awake – our next pair is going to be of a more animalistic nature.

Today, we’re bringing to you the concept pieces for the gnolls.  Very much a trope of classic fantasy, the hyena-like race doesn’t change too much in Tellest.  The big differences come from more recent fantasy adventures, like World of Warcraft.  In that title, the gnolls are minuscule little buggers who are easily dispatched.  You wouldn’t want to run into a gnoll (or worse, a pack of them) in the middle of the night.

The first thing that we wanted to do was establish their physical presence.  Gnolls are tough as nails, and they’re easily one of the stronger races on Tellest.

Still, we thought we could go stronger… darker.

This version of our gnoll has a little more personality.  That whole not being naked thing definitely works out for him.  He’s a little more jovial, too, yet that somehow doesn’t make him seem any less sinister.  Plus, this one has a mean ol’ bushy tail.

Since we knew we had what we liked, it was time to move onto the pose selection.  This was the one that we decided against:

I always regret saying no to any piece of art I get, but I know this one would have looked absolutely fantastic.  We simply decided that we wanted to stick with the dynamic look of the other more savage races that we had presented thus far.

You’ll see the pose we chose, along with the rest of the process in a few weeks.  It’ll be a Thanksgiving treat!

The post Art: Gnoll Concept Pieces appeared first on Tellest.

General description

Misconceptions

For the typical citizen of Tellest, goblins are naught but a tale woven to frighten children into their best behavior.  Generally, in stories, they are described as skittering, slavering little creatures that feed on children’s teeth or steal toys or treats in the middle of the night.

In reality, a goblin is far, far worse…

Physical Appearance

Goblins are slender beings of average size that could easily be confused with an orc to the untrained eye.  The most telling feature that separates the two is a goblin’s pointed ears.  Their skin color can vary between shades of grey, green, black blue or white skin.  They never have blond hair, instead most often having black, grey or red hair.  They’re very sneaky, and tend to dwell in dark places.

Due to poor hygiene, goblins do not tend to live as long as many of the other humanoid races.  That, coupled with their dangerous habits tends to lead to an untimely death.

Clothing and Adornment

Though goblins are more discrete about show, they are still similar to humans in dress.  They tend to be a little more casual about what they wear, and they don’t care for colors as much as a typical surface dweller.  Of course, the quality is usually quite deteriorated.  Those who study goblin behavior equate a wealthy goblin’s clothing with a poor human’s.

Goblins tend to tattoo their bodies and faces, sometimes with incandescent inks that allow them to glow in the dark.  Ears and noses are often pierced, usually with the belief that it would allow them to smell better, or see more clearly in the dark.

Relations to Other Races

No one knows for sure where the goblins originated from, but various races have their own theories.  Orcs tend to believe a theory that they evolved from two ancient brothers who were at war.  While the taller, broader brother found victory, and earned the right to see the sun, the smaller one was forced beneath the ground.

Several of the other goodly races, and a few of the darker ones, tend to believe in the concept that goblins were the result of a union between elves and orcs, and that neither side would give them peace.

The goblins believe that they were forged from living ore, which they also attribute to their affinity toward the underground, and mining.

General Personality

Personal

Despite the fairytales that people tell their children, goblins are not mindless monsters that seek menial comforts in baubles or trinkets.  In fact, they are wildly intelligent, a fact that is only offset by their primal nature.

Goblins are quite vicious.  Their place in society is usually determined by their strength, which is usually proportionate to the level of comfort they are afforded.

Because of the general hierarchy, however, the intelligent goblins that know they’re intelligent but can’t physically muscle their way up the ranks have it just as easy within a subgroup of their people.

Relationship

Similar to some of the more barbaric and nomadic cultures of humans and orcs, when a goblin wants a mate, he’ll typically take it.  More than many of the other races though, a strong goblin will have the propensity to take multiple companions, and it isn’t unheard of for a female goblin to be discarded, sometimes in a more permanent fashion.

Still, some of the more banal goblin tribes have a more relaxed monogamy amongst their people.

Family

Because of the risk of death amongst their mines, and the true threat of an early passing due to physical ailments, many goblins treasure their young.  They aren’t as unwitting as some would believe, and they’re very protective of them.

In some of the more primal tribes, the value on a child may be gender specific.  Within some of these sadistic societies, it is common practice for a son to take on his father’s mate when he passes, assuming it isn’t the same mate that gave him life.  Goblin daughters, meanwhile, are considered lowborn, and must find a way to climb up the social ladder without any help from their families.  Because of this, many goblin females can be just as vile and brutal as their male counterparts.

Society

Within the more cruel groups that tend to nomadically traverse the larger areas of the underworld, goblins are very animalistic in nature.  The static groups of goblins are typically much more organized.  People have their places, despite a lean on old habits of violence.  There are tasks at hand that goblin citizens will openly fulfill, including blacksmithing, tailoring and mushroom agriculture.

Similar to dwarves, the most prevalent industry for a goblin is the mining of precious metals.  Even within the goblin mining companies, sometimes there is a class system.  Often, a well-known surveyor will take the richest veins for themselves, and only a threat of violence is known to hold them at bay.  As such, the strongest miners are typically the richest.

Behavior toward Other Races

Due to their physical similarities and the social stigmas surrounding them, goblins despise orcs and elves.  Most tribes are located far from them, but organized groups of goblins will not shy away from the surface, and have often come to blows against them.

More than any other group, the goblins are at war with the dwarves.  This is typically due to the shared resources of the two groups.  Because both races aspire to mine – the dwarves usually from above and the goblins below – they contend over the same resources.  However, while dwarves typically value veins within, goblins would rather pick through debris than suffer their competitors to walk away with anything.  Thus, the dwarves are known to call them knockers because of the noise they make before they bring down a mine.

Still, there are some circumstances where a goblin will not act with hostility toward the goodly races.  The more benevolent of the race may sometimes lead miners away from danger or toward a wealthy mineral deposit.  Usually, that behavior is rewarded with the last bits of a biscuit or some fruit.

There have also been many instances when children have been snatched from their homes when there is a known presence of goblins nearby.  It is theorized that they use them for slave labor, and raise the children as their own.

In line with that notion, gremlins are used almost like fodder to the goblins.  Sometimes the two races are confused as a portion of one greater race, but that is not the case.  The gremlins are valued for their work ethic and their intelligence.  Goblins also tend to rely on the strength and companionship of trolls, ever their larger, fiercer cousins.

Language

Speech

Goblins began to adopt the common language centuries ago.  Because of this, they lost a good deal of their original speech, though there are some linguistic hang-ups that occur because of their varied dialects.

Penmanship

Though most of the goblins tell their tales aurally, writing is becoming a more integrated source of record keeping.  It originally became fundamental in engineering and mathematics, but certain goblin storytellers and scholars have noticed the benefit of the medium.

Religion

Personal Beliefs

Unlike many of the so-called evil races of Tellest, the goblins believe in all of the greater gods.  Though they worship Nerot and Cebrum at their forefront, akin to the lagano and gnolls, for instance, they also place a great deal of faith on Galvan and Obsam, the two brothers known to represent good finding and craftsmanship. 

History

Myths and Legends

Many of the goblins are aware of the legend of Romus Youngblood, and thus, the part that the goblin Rellix had on it.  Despite the fact that Rellix’ actions would have saved Tellest from an influx of demons, goblinkind loathes him for banding together with what is perceived as the goodly races.

Beyond that, there aren’t very many instances where something of extreme merit is passed down in goblin culture.  Rather, they will talk about events with more vague details, such as an instance where the goblins would poison a dwarvish mine with tainted ore that, when smelted, created noxious fumes that killed many smallfolk.

Technology

General Technology

Due to the great intelligence of many goblins, their level of technology is rapidly increasing.  However, based on their culture, much of this equipment is used within their mines.  They do have sprawling underground water systems to aid them in cleanliness, along with some other contemporary ideas from the surface world.

Magic

Goblins very rarely pursue the magical arts, but when they do, it is almost always in some pursuit of fire.  They believe that Galvan and Obsam are beings of fire that fuel their forges, and make their tools and weapons stronger.

Military/Combat

Military Structure

Goblins rarely take to organized combat, but when they do, it is typically well formed.  Rather, they use ingenious tactics to hit their enemies with surprises attacks, and in smaller numbers.

Weapons and Tools

It is said that goblins have focused largely on humans for their style of combat.  As such, they have grown accustomed to all sorts of weaponry.  However, most seem to prefer smaller swords, which aid them in close quarters combat underground.  They also favor compact crossbows as a means to dispatch their enemies from afar.

Wars and Enemies

Over the course of history, the goblins have waged many wars.  Among the surface dwellers, orcs and elves have endured the brunt of the confrontations.

Within mines across the lands, dwarves have taken to arms against goblins, and the gnomes are typically involved by proxy.  Many times, when the goblins are victorious in battle, the bodies of those that have fallen cannot be found, and it is difficult to understand what has transpired on the battlefield.

The post Goblins appeared first on Tellest.

General description

Physical Appearance

Lagano are any of a variety of anthropomorphic reptiles.  Colloquially, they are referred to as lizardmen.

There are three major distinctions of lagano.

Sea lagano are the smallest variety, typically smaller than most humans, and have subtle coloring.  They are usually blue, beige or pink, evolved that way to blend into their underwater environment.  They typically have fanned tails and occasionally webbed hands and fingers.

Standing about equally or slightly taller than most humans, marsh lagano are dark green or blue, and occasionally grey.

The largest variety of lagano is the vicious jungle lagano.  They are similarly colored to the marsh lagano, but they are huge, standing a full head or more over most humans.  They can also have an even deeper tincture.  It is not unheard of to see black or brown lagano.

Clothing and Adornment

Among the lagano, many wear fairly little clothing.  Jungle lagano, in fact, have no shame, and often remain naked unless they are going to battle.

When the reptilian race is donning various garments, it is usually ritualistic.  They’ll wear necklaces of small skulls or teeth, perhaps bands of feathers on their heads.  Loincloths are typically the most that they will wear, beyond belts that they can use to hold various containers.

Rather than clothing, lagano prefer to alter their bodies.  Some opt to dye their bodies with body paint, while others choose a manner more permanent, and tattoo their flesh.  Lagano clerics have even been known to sew horns onto the heads of their greatest warriors.

When preparing for battle, the race isn’t adverse to any specific types of armor; however it is considered taboo to wear leather into a fight.  Mostly, they will depend on padded cloth.  They also sometimes don chainmail, though because of their environments, this is usually a rare choice.

Relations to Other Races

While there have been some direct comparisons between lagano and the various dragonkin that populate Tellest, nothing definitive has ever been set in stone to prove the relationship between either race.  In fact, their similarities haven’t made them any friendlier to each other, and various times throughout history, they’ve come to find each other on opposite sides of the battlefields.

It is also spoken of in whispers that the underwater race of sahagin might have evolved from lagano that spent too much time beneath the depths.  Even sea lagano typically dwell in underwater caves, but they cannot breathe water as the sahagins can.

One of the most prevalent myths of lagano origins is that they were the “elves that were left behind.”  Within their societies, and even in the way the strain presents in their culture, so much is similar between the two races.  Yet, there is no love lost between the lagano and the elves.

General Personality

Personal

As different as their appearances, the diverse types of lagano have varying temperaments.

The sea lagano have often been linked to merfolk, and sometimes even confused with them.  They are curious and forgiving, by far the most benevolent of their race.  But they are also prone to shy away from danger.  These lagano are the most devoted to family and society on a deeper level, rather driving forward as a primal force.

Mainland lagano are somewhat less lenient.  They are typically more violent and aggressive, but there have been various groups of marsh lagano who have been known to be friendly to nearly every race they have been confronted by.

Jungle lagano are vicious and driven by blood frenzy.  They will openly invite confrontation whenever they can, and they refuse to wait for anything.  Their impatience can often lead them into trouble, which leaves them slightly more disorganized than the other kinds of their race.

Relationship and Family

For the larger lagano, prowess ultimately governs which mates are chosen.  However, opposed to many other races with primal mating rituals and hierarchies, the male lagano are not the only ones who must show their potential.  Female lagano are just as important to gauge in the grand scheme of things.  Once the greatest of the tribes are established, they are deigned to mate for life, or until either is deemed too weak to continue.  Because of this, it is not uncommon for one of their kind to take another mate once the first can no longer serve their purpose.

Smaller lagano are a curious lot.  Not much is known about them, but sailors tell of stories that they’ve heard from merfolk.  According to the tales, some lagano are monogamous, and live their whole lives with one another.  Others are more sexually open, living in polygamous societies.  These social entities tend to avoid contact with the outside world.

Lagano tend to be very absent in the growth of their young.  This may be, in part, because lagano are one of the few humanoids of Tellest that lay eggs, rather than give birth to a fully formed child.  Because of this established biology, lagano are known to give life to more children at once.

Unfortunately, rather than strengthening their race, they utilize this early phase of development to strengthen the individual.  A lagano isn’t brought into society until they’ve dispatched their siblings, and are the sole survivor of their litter.

Society

As previously indicated, the lagano live in societal structures that are very similar to that of the elves.  Rather than splinter off into sub-tribes to spread a semblance of an empire, they continuously strengthen their immediate habitat.  Their borders spread organically in this manner, rather than through settlement.

Still, the variety of lagano directly affects the depths of that base model society.  Variants of marsh lagano, for instance prefer to colonize the marsh on various compass points of its outset.

Within each of the societies, a strain is often present, or at least some kind of evolutionary trait.  The Goanna tribe of Nanland, on Lustra, for instance, has a bite that is venomous to many other races.  They will smear their blood on their weapons to administer the same effect.  There are also societies that demonstrate regenerative abilities, and the means to camouflage themselves.

Behavior toward Other Races

Lagano are typically neutral of other races unless they infringe on their borders, or their desire to expand.  Across much of Tellest, however, many of the tribes have banded with packs of gnolls and the greater numbers of the goblins.

For the gnolls in particular, the reptilian race had their concept of religion between them.  Cebrum is one of only two gods that are worshipped, although the two races have their different views of him.

Of all the goodly races that the lagano are at constant odds with, it is the elves and the humans.  It may just be that they are encountered far more often than many others, like orcs or dwarves.

Language

Speech

Silent, but very well informed, lagano are intelligent enough to speak, but wise enough to listen more often.  They can very easily pick up on the languages, as well as the mannerisms of other races.

Larger lagano are quite vocal compared to the smaller varieties, however.  With hisses that sound like roars, they can be unsettling.  Despite this, they have no difficulties controlling their voices, beyond an odd lisp here and there.

Religion

Personal Beliefs

Like gnolls, the lagano herald a great deal of their faith from the god of death, Cebrum.  There are similarities in the way they worship him as well.  Weakness is meant to be snuffed out, and as such, lagano warriors become messengers of the dark god.  They are delivers, who carry out Cebrum’s will.

So, too, are they worshippers of Nerot.  The god of war inspires many of their battles, and though they see him as a human, they revere him implicitly.

Ritually, lagano will partake in the eating of flesh.  Warriors that they kill on the battlefield are typically consumed this way, however they are wary of doing the same with the so-called weaker willed, including mages and clerics, who depend far too much on their magic.  This flesh eating carries even through their race.  They see it as a way to strengthen their resolve, as they embody the strength of the fallen opponent.

History

Myths and Legends

The lagano are well known on Ippius because of fairytales that have been passed down through generations.  One of the islands of the isle nation is home to the lagano.  Norkoth was named after an evil warrior that went against the humans of Ippius.

Not much credit can be given to the validity of the myth, because very few people will choose to brave the small island.

There have also been rumors about the existence of a tremendous healing spring that the lagano guard.  Legend holds that it is hidden somewhere in Lustra, but because there are so many different tribes of lagano on that continent, the mythic origins are hard to come by.  The most prevalent believed location is somewhere in Yadain, but no one has been able to put any truth to the suspicion.

Among the lagano people, they hold several people their heroes.  The reptilian folk of Norkoth revere the island’s namesake for uniting them.  Dirang is a name that is passed down among several of the lagano tribes, harkening back to a glorious hunter who shot down a golden serpent from the sky.  Adnotia was the only survivor of his tribe, which was decimated by a great flood.  When he integrated into a neighboring society, he was able to protect them all from famine with the skills he had developed.

Technology

General Technology

Lagano do not actively seek to advance their technology.  Of the racial groups upon Tellest, they are among the least known to employ tools in their day to day activities.  This includes the constructions of their domiciles.  More often than not, the lagano will dwell in caves, or crude huts in the swamps or jungles they call home.

Magic

It is fairly uncommon to see lagano as practitioners as magic.  They view the arcane arts as an excuse to be weak.  Another large reason that the reptilian race absconds from the arcane is that various evolutionary traits or the presence of the strain among their society is typically enough to empower them.

However, they are not so foolish as to completely discount ritual magic or divine intervention.  Lagano clerics are not unheard of, and tend to be just as vicious as their warrior brethren.

Military/Combat

Military Structure

The jungle lagano have a very strong military presence.  They are incredibly organized, and fight viciously.  It is often said that if all of them mobilized at once, the world would collapse under their weight.

Marsh lagano tend to distribute their forces toward defensive measures.  Home is very important to the race, and they don’t tend to leave it if they can avoid doing so.

Weapons and Tools

All lagano prefer spears and barbed weapons.  Though body modification is usually performed for cosmetic reasons, the greatest warriors among many of the tribes are given horns that are meant to aid them in battle.

Wars and Enemies

While the lagano are positioned to involve themselves in wars across the globe, their battles are fairly small in scale.  Usually, their numbers are so overwhelming that retreat for their enemies are the only options.  Even with that in mind, however, they tend to stick to their own territories.  Rarely, members of tribes will find themselves aligned with gnoll or goblin raiding parties.

The most famous wars have been with humans, and the most notable of them was the one on Ippius.

The post Lagano appeared first on Tellest.