Category: Fantasy

Fantasy -themed illustrations. Mostly character illustrations.

Temur Soxion

2014-01-26_02

Name: Temur Soxion
Race: Human
Location: Gruenroth (or where ever princess Leana travels)

Temur is the chief of princess Leana Baerwyn‘s personal bodyguards. He owes his life to king Werner Baerwyn and has vowed a life of servitude to him and by extension to his family. Temur has a history of violence back to his early childhood in the restless mountainous regions between Gruenroth and Zarnova. He was orphaned at an early age and adopted to a reclusive monastery located near the once bustling community of Ilven. The monastery was later ruined by a dangerous shadowy spider cult led by priestess Chya of Zarnovan origin whose influence is thankfully now shifted to warmer climates of Caheb. Temur spent ten years fighting against unspeakable creatures of Zarnovan source at the mountains and eventually joined Gruenroth‘s standing military at the age of 19.

He quickly rose in the ranks as he already had a decade of actual combat experience under his belt whilst most of his superiors lacked the power and skills to even subdue him. While the country is officially living a peaceful interlude in it’s history, the eastern mountainous regions are in actuality a veritable fountain of bloody skirmishes extending the entire border’s length of thousands of kilometers. And have been for quite some time. Total war is held at bay only because the region is just too damned difficult for either country’s armies to deal with (logistically or strategically) and the mountains also hide indigenous dangers hostile to all outsiders as well.

Years went by and eventually Temur commanded the entire standing army of eastern Gruenroth as a general appointed by the king himself. He was hand-picked by the king to his personal guard unit of elite warriors and gladly accepted the challenge leaving the army at an age of 40 and now holds a honorary title of Grand General of Gruenroth. He then quickly outmaneuvered his younger comrades and rose to lead the body guard unit nowadays simply known as The Soxions. When the king’s eldest daughter Lady Leana exhibited signs of interest to travelling the lands, the king appointed Temur to permanently body guard Lady Leana and on that mission Temur is still today. Lady Leana and Temur are good friends now sharing many common beliefs and a quirky, yet benevolent, sense of humor. Both also exhibit a similar appetite to righting wrongs – all in all this makes Temur content, pleased, proud and honored by his position.

Temur is deep, enigmatic, quiet, thoughtful and careful in his choice of words. He is the literal old wise man but also a warrior that can punch your lights out if need be.

Princess Leana Baerwyn

2014-01-30

Name: Princess Leana Baerwyn
Race: Human
Location: Gruenroth

Lady Leana is the eldest child of Gruenroth‘s current king Werner Baerwyn. Leana is a wandering spirit who finds it hard to settle down even though many expect just that from her. She spends around half her time travelling the lands of Gruenroth (and sometimes those of Argan and Akron as well) with a retinue of around twenty adventurers, cooks, servants and bodyguards. She uses her title to settle disputes, right wrongs and reports problems to her father’s trusted aide and political adviser Chalty Veron whom she considers more of a father than her actual biological father ever was.

Lady Leana is a competent and hardy traveler excelling in survival skills uncommon for women in general and she even hunts her own food by traps or by bow and arrow. She is therefore much respected by those who travel with her as she is the exact opposite of a narcissistic and pampered princess – say – like her two little sisters Lady Lucia and Lady Lise both of whom are content living a life of excesses in the king’s palace.

She has a very strong sense of right and wrong and she knows that her moral compass is the one she should be following in a world of injustice, violence, intolerance and hatred. She sees herself at a somewhat martyrish light although she has long since abandoned the need to shoulder the entire world’s wrongs. Some things she can’t alter and she accepts that. It still doesn’t stop her from trying. She speaks her mind freely and never voluntarily bow to men of authority even if she gains enemies that way. Mostly her father accepts her behavior as she does a tremendous amount of truly good things on her travels and the good far outweigh the bad. The king’s only concern is that he wants Lady Leana safely at home sooner rather than later because the future ruler of Gruenroth needs to be Lady Leana and not Lady Lucia or Lady Lise and the future queen must understand that governing a vast nation requires more than just survival skills.

 

Baron Benedikt Zolov

2013-06-24

 

Name: Baron Benedikt Zolov
Race: originally human (presumed deceased and is now some form of undead creature)
Location: Zolov, Zarnova

Not much is known about Baron Zolov as few mortals now dare enter the once-bustling trade town of Zolov that has been turned into a maggot-infested hive of undead abominations under the relentless rule of the baron. Located deep into the mountains in a hard-to-reach location almost 2 miles above the sea level, the town is not only remote, it’s positively secluded. The trade town was once an important way point for trade routes going over the mountainous regions between Zarnova and Gruenroth, but two decades ago things rapidly changed as baron Zolov simply took over the region backed up by Zarnova’s vampire queen Anya Voorish.

As Zolov’s residents were converted from living beings into hideous undead creatures, trade caravans no longer considered it a good idea to stop there and currently most of the trade routes using that region have faded into oblivion. The area still has good routes when one wishes to cross the mountains, but anyone familiar with the area would warn any and all travelers to simply avoid those routes and should anyone be fool enough to ignore those warnings, they most certainly would not rent their services as guides.

The exact nature of the former residents of Zolov is under debate and no reliable witness statements have been made in several years. In Gruenroth the whole idea of those undead creatures crawling on their borders is an unsettling one but so far the creatures have not expanded  their influence westwards of the bordering mountains. Baron Zolov maintains a stone fortress right in the heart of the old town – in a location that used to house a bustling marketplace. The fortress was built using the undead creatures as slave labor and much of the building materials originate from other buildings of Zolov rendering most of the entire town’s buildings as mere ruins further ruined by neglect and the harsh climate.

Baron Zolov is one of the vampire queen’s advisors in her ruling circle known as The Roskov Ring.

Anya Voorish, Vampire Queen of Zarnova

2013-06-25

Name: Lady Anya Voorish, the vampire queen of Zarnova
Race: Vampire
Location: Castle Roskov, Zarnova

The country of Zarnova has been under vampiric rulership ever since the fabled Theocracy of Phylar ceased to exist some 300 years ago. Phylarian remnants still remain scattered around the country and a number of Phylarian locations are still shunned by the undead leaders of Zarnova who – as the legend goes – can not enter those areas without burning to ashes.

Lady Voorish is the third undead monarch of Zarnova and her reign has lasted since the feared Lich Lord Tomas Vladovych mysteriously disappeared some 80 years ago. It is uncertain whether Lady Voorish had anything to do with the disappearance, but she was extremely quick to seize power and forcefully succumbed the entire elite of the nation under her rule in just under a week. Her rule essentially is just a direct continuation of what her predecessor set forth – albeit not as harsh and brutal.

Lady Voorish’s seat of power is at Castle Roskov some 15 kilometers out of the city of Wila, which is the capital city of Zarnova currently. The ancient castle is built in the deepest of forest away from the city itself and it is reachable by a single road only. The forest around the castle is unnaturally thick and menacing and many locals actually claim that the forest is not only unnatural but alive in that every soul claimed victim by the vampire queen grows a new twisted and ever-branching tree in the forest.

Lady Voorish has no grand illusions of world domination, but she also actively pursues a policy of border aggression in order to gradually extend the undead influence. While on good terms with the overseas countries of Nica and Zarkoi, Zarnova has no longer open diplomatic lines of communication with Gruenroth and Groam. Things have been steadily on the decline the last 20 years or so for the people living in the borderlands of Groam. Gruenroth and Zarnova had established trade routes over the mountains between the countries earlier, but Zarnova has not kept the routes safe for years and nowadays only the most daring of trademasters dare test their luck on those routes (the profits are phenomenal, of course!). Lady Voorish controls her country through a tyrannic ring of barons called The Roskov Ring. The barons are mostly of different undead varieties.

Anya Voorish is a powerful necromancer and mentalist herself – although probably still a has long ways to go to match that of her predecessor Tomas Vladovych. As a vampiric entity, Anya has seemingly easier access to necromantic magic and she openly wields her foul power to do her bidding. In fact she has reanimated corpses by the hundreds to form a daunting defense guard army keeping the Castle Roskov safe for her and rumor has it that there are rotting piles or corpses underneath the castle in secret chambers just waiting for the day that an actual undead army needs to be raised.

 

Queen of Akron, Lady Emily Erevan

2013-06-18

Name: Queen of Akron, Lady Emily Erevan
Race: human
Location: Mayhill, Akron

The young and beautiful wife of King Robin Erevan – Lady Emily Erevan – is immensely popular and well-liked throughout the kingdom of Akron. Her kind-hearted warmth and  empathy associated with her social sense and unpretentious demeanor have made her a true favorite among the nobility and commoners alike. The kingdom was blessed with a royal marriage only 6 years ago and while no offspring have yet appeared, the royal couple still has time to satisfy the demand for young princesses and princes. The queen comes from a wealthy family of nobles and merchants from Groam and while the marriage was arranged to simply strengthen the teetering and volatile relations between Akron and Groam, the royal couple have actually embraced each other and fallen in love.

Queen Erevan spends most of her time within the confines of Mayhill, but tours the kingdom at regular intervals both alone doing charity work and with the king as his equal. However, while she loves her role as a beloved leader, her attention span is not up to projects that require long-term planning and commitment. Testament to this are dozens of now-abandoned projects around the kingdom – like orphanages, cultural endeavors, non-profit businesses meant to employ poor people and shelters for wounded animals. Anything that eventually would require an annual donation directly from the queen, tends to get forgotten and buried.

The queen is the de facto role model in Mayhill and her words, demeanor and clothing are carefully scrutinized each and every time she steps outside the palace doors. She is well aware of that and enjoys the attention she is getting. Her influence to the matters of the kingdom is quite minimal and thus far she hasn’t shown any interests in the “serious” matters of foreign relations, taxation, upkeeping the armed forces, balancing the kingdom’s treasury or keeping happy the dozens of interest groups of the kingdom. She has, however, some power over the king’s decisions on matters more trivial – up to and including social matters, cultural matters and even those that concern the educational system – because the king simply wants to listen and please his queen.

 

 

Harun Q’han

2013-06-14

Name: Harun Q’Han
Race: human
Location: Callistra, Calishem

While the streets of Calishemian cities are generally safer than cities of say – Caheb and Ferria – at night things change radically. In Calishem it is generally accepted that once the sun no longer lightens the streets, the darker side of the nature needs it’s outlet. A balance of night and day, a balance of brighter things and darker things. That’s why visitors in Calishem are advised to stay within their place of residence during the night and avoid any unnecessary movement. The city of Callistra – while being a bustling port of trade – makes no exception and once the darkness sets in, you’re on your own. A person getting in trouble in the streets at night are more often than not thought as if they were actively seeking trouble and got what they deserved.

Of course the nights are far from pure chaos. City guards usher people indoors and generally look out for the safety of the city. Arsonists, thieves, murderers and madmen need as much attention at night as they do at daylight. Harun Q’Han is one of the thieves.

Harun is a founding member of Tima – a covert and secret thieves’ guild located in Callistra. The guild has members from all walks of life, but a common trait to them is their acceptance of their darker side – something most Calishemians try to keep suppressed as suppression of the spirit’s dark tendencies is the only barrier between a peaceful working hierarchical society and anarchic destruction. Harun is by far the best of his clan. His nocturnal activities include stealing from the rich, assassinations by contracts, wanton acts of destruction and sometimes even indulging into sexual depravities. But he is not all about being bad – true to his own teachings, he also embraces his lighter side and is generally a very polite, socially active and a kind man engaging in communal activities, popular past-times and games and even helps out at a local orphanage. Of course he doesn’t need a day job due to his lucrative nocturnal activities and it is more than feasible to think that he is actually scouting for new members and apprentices at the orphanage.

Thus far his clan of bad boys has been covert enough that it’s existence is not registering to the powers in charge of things. The clan members hold bi-weekly meetings in which they co-ordinate their efforts and share their experiences over dinners and drinks. This way Harun can also control his group by suggesting periods of inactivity in order not to attract too much attention. A successful strategy indeed since after every major heist, Harun’s group maintain a low profile at least until the previous investigations have been stopped and deemed ineffective.

Mayhill, Capital city of Akron

mayhill-finished_full

 

Mayhill is the capitol city of the Kingdom of Akron. Mayhill houses the king’s seat and is one of the most active trading cities in the kingdom. The city’s population is somewhere in the region of 7500 which makes it one of the biggest population centers in the kingdom. Mayhill is best known for it’s bi-monthly markets that briefly double the city’s population as merchants from all around gather together to buy and sell goods. The harbor of Mayhill is also big being able to accommodate a dozen ships at any given time. The riverhead allows ships much needed safety and the relative peace of the Bay of Akron makes even long stays possible. Mayhill has a standing military of 800 men most of whom are based on the old castle east of the city center. The military men are directly under the king’s control and can be deployed in hours. The men are also responsible for the city’s safety and heavily patrol the city at nighttime making the city rather peaceful and safe for commoners. The patrolling military men have the permission to use deadly force and in fact are rather quick to draw their swords when facing disorderly conduct.

Larissa, Witch Queen of Nica

 

2011-10-02

Name: Larissa
Race: Human
Location: Castle Aventyl, Nica

Larissa has been ruling Nica for two decades. She has mostly delegated the day-to-day matters of ruling to a coven of auxiliary bureaucrats named The Larissa’s Stone. The bureaucrats’ work is interrupted only on special occasions when Larissa wants something done regarding Nica. Larissa comes from a long line of witches and warlocks and her lineage can be traced all the way to the legendary Nica The Warlock who established the country after a decade-long war against the now extinct Theocracy of Phylar that on it’s peak about 120 years prior controlled the whole of Nica and Zarnova and some coastal areas of northern Groam.

Larissa’s rule has been relatively peaceful and the people of Nica have steadily been getting healthier and wealthier during her reign. But her enemies – on the other hand – have seen themselves through some pretty harsh years. The Witch Queen has enemies all around the country and abroad – people who or whose family members have been at odds against Larissa’s rule even years ago. Larissa has created notoriety in intimidating her opposition by automatically extending punishment to the relatives of any “wrong-doers”. This policy is extremely cruel but at the same time it’s quite successful in rooting out behaviour Larissa does not want to see in her country.

The Witch Queen’s lair is at Castle Aventyl where she spends most of her time. She has devoted most of her time to black arts of witchcraft and has a coven of two dozen witches and warlocks that she tutors and a large network of “friends” in other countries – many of whom run all sorts of strange cults, covens or other shady operations. She keeps in touch with her country by holding weekly meetings with The Larissa’s Stone and mostly just listens in and allows the council to decide on earthly matters. However, from time to time she takes an interest on some issues and may offer her “opinion” (meaning that what she says is first applauded and then passed without voting or further discussion). She has no actual strict direction she wants her country to go towards and consider the whole “ruling a country” -thing a bit boring and mundane. Sometimes the council makes decisions that counter previous decisions and leave commoners thinking “why did they rule that way last year and this way this year?”. Is Nica a country adrift or has Larissa some sort of hidden agenda she follows making it only appear she has no interest in earthly things?

 

 

Map of Akron

Map of the Kingdom of Akron.
Map of the Kingdom of Akron.

Map of the Kingdom of Akron details the roadways, general terrain features as well as the location of major population centers. The map is provided by Calishmen Guild of Cartographers. That fact is readily apparent by the scorpion emblem of Calishem. The map itself is however inaccurate as it does not show two counties at all. Those are the counties of Veyron and Inhal Corg that are the two southernmost counties bordering Calishem. Calishem and Akron have fought over those areas for centuries and while a long lasting peace is at the moment enduring and the areas are officially attached to Akron, it is not a guaranteed state.

Also the northernmost counties are not depicted in this map.