My Favourite Thing About Living On Shitty Terf Island (tm) Is All The Shitty Old Men Who Look Like Boiled

Very correct!

To add to this, bandits could also be:

- desperate farmers during a bad harvest

- rebels funding their cause

- mercenaries between contracts

- soldiers on campaign, both ally and enemy

- noblemen’s thugs sending a message

- refugees who are completely out of options

Banditry in fantasy and fiction has unfortunately become a sort of shorthand for “low level humanoid enemies you don’t have to feel bad for killing” but it heartens me to see people investing creatively in their settings “bad guys” backstories.

An example of how bandits in fantasy are disconnected from the way real bandits worked is Marion du Faouët, a woman bandit from Brittany in the 18th century.

Bandits in a lot of fantasy are full time bandits. They have no other job, and usually live away from the rest of society.

Marion du Faouët, aside from being a highwaywoman, was a mercer, selling, selling fabrics & cloth.

Because yeah, turn out that there isn't a special group of people called criminals... there is no "criminal society VS honest society", the two are part of a whole.

And fantasy stories should work more on that : seasonal bandits that do crime when they can't do their job. Fishers who do some pirate stuff on the side. Thief guild member that have legitimate job on the side, not just cover.

Instantly thought of this when you showed me.

shout out to the guy on team money reefsliding himself into the next life at mahi mahi xD

WoD’s Demon: the Descent took this idea and made a really interesting game with it. It has more in common with the Matrix than Supernatural and the many takes on faustian bargins and trying to blend in with humanity as a kind of celestial-robot running off the tracks are brilliant!

the reason i love the comparison between angels and machines (robots, transmission towers, trains, computers, etc.) is that it gets to the heart of what angels essentially are: divine machines. they’re mechanisms through with the divine is able to act, created with a purpose and “happy” to fill it simply because they were made to do so. they have more in common with a machine programmed to run on algorithms and make calculations based on input commands than they do with humanity, even if they bear a human visage - an attempt by the divine to help bridge the gap. angels do not need to be eldritch monstrosities to be terrifying, because they are already alien to us simply by being angels. for an angel to choose to deviate from their purpose and achieve free will is to fall because in order to have free will they can no longer be an angel, because an angel is defined by its purpose. much like the stories we tell of robots that gain sentence, only to discover that they can never truly be human, but neither can they go back to being a machine, angels who fall become something else entirely, purposeless and adrift and alone. it is a tragic sacrifice.

Otto Toppic, Medicated Vampire/Medic

Another D&D OC I made a while back, managed to play her in a game of Sambaroum of all things, quite fun.

Idea behind her is that through great application of SCIENCE and a *lot* of drugs she keeps her vampirism in check. or at least stops her from eating her patients.

A new cool art from my wonderful partner @xx-k1tsun3-k1d-xx , Check it out!

current hyperfixation + the current shitshow in this joke of a country

AAAAA

A movin' doodle of husbans (@xx-k1tsun3-k1d-xx) favourite beastie doing what they do best.

Screamin'

The Witches Oven

My slavic thaumaturge characters very important oven!

I think my favourite thing about drawing stuff I'm unfamiliar with is the rabbit hole you can fall down of learning, both in how to draw the stuff and its history and background. I now know considerably more about eastern european rural home design than I did before!

I haven't thought of a name for the character yet, but I know her Domovoy (house-spirit that lives in the oven) is called Uncle Ugol. You can see him peering out of the stove.

Golem in the Rain

A first attempt in a long while of a proper full-colour piece with shading.

I've always liked Golem's, I think I was introduced to them via RPG video games but Terry Pratchetts depiction of them really put them in my heart. There's always something so powerful and yet sad about them.

KSS KYUR MUB MUB KA MUB BLI SKA

The endlessly endearing Mr. Mub Mub, as voiced by the irrepressibly energetic @baronharkonnen (SpeakerD)

I love how genuinely alien the Xenians and other aliens are in half-life, from their biology to their mannerisms to their speech quirks. SpeakerD does a fantastic job of conveying the true alien grasp of social interactions in a way that is both funny and very empathetic.

The species in HL also have some interesting means of making art too, which is what I tried to get at here. I like to think if Mubby wanted to make a self portrait, it would look a little like this.

Observers Guide to Kobolds #2

Art & Crafts, with Illustrations!

Fig 1:

Kobolds are a very kinestetic species; the sense of touch being very important to engage with their art & crafts. Colours are appreciated, but are not as important due to their poor eyesight. A lot of their wearable crafts also server dual function as a fidget toy; helping control the species natural high anxiety and energy when focus is desired.

Fig 2:

a) Statuary and self representation is mostly used in instructional art, and funeral markers. This piece is the latter, and a rare example of a hollow marker with a piece of the owners bones inside.

b) Assorted glass, gem and painted stone beads. Most kobolds will have at least a small collection of interesting small stones, and do not discern precious gems from common stones. As long as it catches the eye, it goes in the bag.

c) Decorated sling shot. Shot from slings will often be re-used if successful in their first conflict, and will be decorated with various iconography to convey their luck or battle prowess. This example depicts "bloody teeth" possibly depicting a kill.

Fig 3:

a) Common storage pot. Pottery is a well practiced skill in Kobold communitys, with labelling often being a primitive braille- allowing important vessels to be found even in the dark.

b) Drinking flute. Due to the misalignment of the top and bottom of this flute it seems that it was an early piece fault by the creator rather than an intentional design choice.

c) Eating plate/low bowl. Kobolds do not require cutlery, as their teeth and claws are often of utility enough during meals. plates and bowls will over time be worn down by a flurry of scratches, requiring new crockery to be made.