Tag: character

Mia Miles

2005-10-19

An illustration of a runner character for the Shadowrun role-playing game setting (and similar science fiction settings).

Mia Miles is a techno-savvy street samurai able to run solo missions for rich clients. She has shown a remarkable calmness and control under heavy pressure and some even say that she is in fact a cyborg and not just an augmented human being. While her professional self as a combat-oriented runner has earned her a solid reputation, her personal life is a complete and utter mess with both ex-girlfriends and ex-boyfriends popping up at the most unfortunate times. Her ability to keep and nurture relationships is at the level of a prepubescent and her most vengeful ex-lovers/ex-companions consider her pretty much just another sociopath with little or no regard for the feelings or well-being of anyone else other than Mia Miles herself.

Work on this particular illustration was begun in 2005, then forgotten, revisited and altered in 2013 and 2016 and finally decided it’s now ready to be published.

Harold Nyqvist

2006-08-05

A character illustration for the Call of Cthulhu 90’s role-playing game setting, but I guess this can go without issues to any modern game setting (like Vampire) or even Shadowrun and similar sci-fi settings.

Harold is of Swedish descent and speaks English with a distinct accent. He is a man who rarely smiles or laughs anymore due to his renewed sense of the world. He has seen and experienced a little too much for his own comfort and while he is prone to self-preservation like any man is, there is a streak of nihilistic fatalism growing in him that manifests itself whenever Harold is involved in anything reminiscing danger. His change from a sportive and out-going young adult to a more somber and nihilistic man has been cultivated by several encounters with unnatural creatures and events – of which he is reluctant to say a word. He no longer has a day job, he suffers from recurring nightmares and has begun to sleepwalk and he is once again single since he has generated severe commitment issues borne out of his experiences and general pessimism towards his own fate and that of the entire world as well.

Most often found hanging around in The Fishing Bears pub, he has recently moved to a shabby small two-room rat-hole nearby. He has a few regular mates – one is a disabled veteran, one an alcoholic laid-off insurance salesman and one an ex-con trying his best not find his way back into prison. Not a violent man per se, Harold is still nowadays regularly involved in all sorts of altercations up to and including paid-for hired muscle feats in the ranks of a local crime boss. “Everybody’s gotta make a living, right?”, says Harold if questioned by his contacts in the underworld.

When drunk, Harold can be cooed into speaking and should he find his rants are actually listened to, he will continue to speak about his experiences until he passes out. He speaks of strange winged barrel-shaped fleshy creatures among us that he calls the Elder Things. He speaks of the desolate wastes of Leng and of the streets of the sunken city R’Lyeh. And of strange creatures inhabiting the places. His talks are mostly simply disregarded as mad rants borne out of incoherent dreams that has escaped from the locked world of nightmares.

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.