Holy Opposites

File: Axiopistos.png (74KB, 1500x2100px) Image search: [Google]

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Normally, I would dump a great deal of the story here, to drum up interest, but I will only do so if it interests people directly, since the story is so long.

I've also commissioned artwork for the story from several /tg/ drawfriends, and I'll be uploading it to the gallery.

See Eversor's take on one of the two perspective characters, specifically the church's head Paladin, Axiopistos.

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The cloak badges of the two perspective Paladins.


When I was writing this story, I wanted to put as much emphasis as possible on the villains, since I feel that fantasy villains are often quite hackneyed and one-dimensional. The villains in this story have their own backgrounds, their own personalities, and their own agendas, and their internal struggles get almost as much pagetime as the heroes'.

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I also wanted to examine the topic of religion in a setting like the FR, which has immense importance placed upon religions and deities, so I made the party of Paladins, mostly so I could examine the relationship between them and the less militant parts of their church. The Aasimar's grandfather runs his church, and he's a major player in the story.

Him in his early days. Also a /tg/ pic.

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I wound up changing the appearance of the fiend-blooded Paladin significantly, but this was her initial appearance.

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Another /tg/ drawfriend picture. I think I wound up getting more art of the Grand Cleric than the deuteragonists.

>>51482558
>that kid-at-the-candy-store expression
I'm surprised she's not drooling.

>>51482656
Yeah, she loves her new gear.

File: Cavria.png (57KB, 1500x2100px) Image search: [Google]

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As I upload more pages to the wiki, I want to take the chance to talk about the story a bit.

Paladins get a bad rep around /tg/, and I totally get it. The player class attracts assholes, there's no question of that. It's a hard class to RP well.

I wanted to show at least a few of my own favorite takes on the class. Axiopistos is the classic Paladin, concerned with love, justice, and just generally doing as his Goddess wills, content in the certainty that she won't lead him astray. He has a bleeding heart, no doubt, but he can force himself to act when confronted with the ugliest horrors, and he always fights to keep his priorities straight. Beyond that, however, he is a man, and he has his own shit to deal with, quite beyond his job. He has a family, he has a little sister and parents, and they have their own thoughts about how the church is run.

Cavria is the convert. She didn't start out in the service of Ryaire, and when she entered it, she did so under some duress. She learned to love Ryaire's rules, and worship her for her ownership of her portfoilo (Child sacrifice victims, early death, mourning parents). She has a strange and traumatic youth, but she powered through it with Ryaire's help, and now she has lent her arm to the cause. She's just as sure in her faith, and less sure in herself, but she's also, paradoxically, more sure that people like her are needed because of it. She has a far less securely positive opinion of the human decency than Axio.

>>51482213
Neat. I'll check this out.

The text in that image is unreadable though.

>>51483270
The text does require squinting, sadly, thanks to the frankly ludicrous requirements on cover dimensions on the NaNoWriMo site. I suspect I'll get around to commissioning a larger version someday.

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I've finished uploading the first quarter of the story, by the way, navigable by the footer template.

This is Aresh, the Half-Eladrin Axio befriends early on.

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A spooky Balor, menacing a person.

Yeah, this shit gets dark.


See you all later, and I hope you enjoy.

Thanks for that OP.

Have a bump on me.