Akelians originated from The Heart of Dragons, where they are a closely related race to the Agwilicans. The only big difference between the two races is the color of their skin (and maybe having hair, but I'm not quite decided on that yet). In Silver and Gray, this meant that two of the major races had little difference between them, and a change felt to be in order. Pereal Kerrow, the Ecliptic Angel representing the Akelians, has a water theme to his magical abilities. Going off this, I came up with making them an aquatic race. They're still going to be air-breathing, land-dwelling beings, but with a strong affinity for the ocean.

In the past 8 months, I've been slacking off a lot, but not completely! One thing I've been working on is more 3D modeling.

You might notice that I experimented with putting horns instead of fins on the Agwilicans, and I think I'm going to stick with them.

Now this time with decent clothes! Actually modeling the outfit in 3D helped me realize what parts did and didn't actually work outside of a 2D drawing. This is Raeja's summer uniform. The breastplate is mostly there for symbolism and this gear is definitely not suited for any serious combat.

After being pretty much ignored for years, I've finally decided remove Seraph Squadron from the active projects. I thought I'd do a sort of retrospective for it.

Seraph Squadron was originally named 'Geotrooper' and was the oldest project that was still active. I even started writing out the story, and it reached 14,000 words in length before I gave up on it. Eventually I set an RPG project I had going called 'The Gate War' to take place in Geotrooper's distant past. The stories evolved into the Ecliptic Angels series, and The Gate War was renamed Silver and Gray.

The central protagonist of both stories was the Human Ecliptic Angel, going by Weles in Silver and Gray, and Trian in Seraph Squadron. Reading back on the old story, I see he was pretty emo. He had this whole identity crisis thing going because he felt a desire to do something great and didn’t know what that thing was. He had forgotten that he was an Ecliptic Angel after so many millennia. He joined the Seraph Squadron, was sent to investigate a problem on planet Seros, and wound up crashing on the planet and fighting alongside the Agwilicans native to the world.

The bad guys started out as the… Cyberpirates. Their goal was to destroy the planet Seros by converting it to energy and then using this as fuel for their giant mothership. Eventually I realized the stupidity of their name, briefly changed them to the enigmatic “Fleet 16”, and then when the connection to Silver and Gray was established, renamed them to the Gray Army. They were originally led by "The Grand Command", who was later set as the same villain from Silver and Gray, Soceri Antreades, which effectively was Trian’s evil twin. When Elehura came along, Soceri became the Demon King of Paradise. By this time, though, Seraph Squadron was languishing in the archives.

The symbol for the Alliance of the Eclipse was originally a crescent moon. It took a while for that to get fixed.

A few of the other notable characters that were in the story:
Korus, Trian’s Agwilican landlord and friend. She tried to keep his spirits up and encouraged him to join the Seraph Squadron
Djar, one of a couple of resistance fighters Trian meets on Seros. He was mainly a tool to spout some exposition about the invasion.
Archcommander Sphare, leader of the Seraph Squadron. Briefed and sent Trian on his mission to Seros.
Vexie (pictured right), a Pritar mechanic for the Seraph Squadron. Learned how to fly from video games, had trouble fixing a radio on the ship Trian flew, which later caused communication issues.
Yoseka Balron (pictured left), another Pritar mechanic. Partially based on a girl I had a crush on. Eventually found her way out of this game and became one of the Seraphelines.

Goodbye Seraph Squadron. I don’t even remember when I first began drawing things on graph paper related to you.

At the center of Paradise is the Temple of Heaven, and its lone inhabitant is the Angel Tatyakore, a great slate-skinned Agwil that watches over the holy land. She came into existence long before other living things came to be, and watched over the water that brought life to Focal, the world connected to Paradise. In a time when civilizations had taken root on Focal, Tatyakore presented three holy artifacts of power to a trio of men who had found their way into Paradise. These three would go on to unite the world under the banner of the Mudrahal Empire. Later, two of the three returned the artifacts to her in order to stop the fallen Emperor's tyranny.

Sometime later, a band of power-hungry people came to Paradise and attacked Tatyakore. They succeeded in pinning her to a wall with numerous weapons. With her out of the way, one of her assailants claimed the Spear of Authority and became the Demon King of Paradise. Tatyakore would remain prisoner for many years, until the adventurers Muhar and Maria came to face the Demon King.

Tatyakore then found her role reversed, now keeping watch over the chained demon. Eventually the Demon King found a way to escape, and began a campaign of destruction that resulted in the six Ecliptic Angels being summoned. Tatyakore was bound to Paradise, so she could not directly intervene, but she instead acted as a spiritual guide for the younger Angels.

In the Ecliptic Angels series, there is no regular race of Agwils, making Tatyakore the only one of her kind.

I got back to work on the 'Pi Tri' project, making some nice progress. Pi Tri has its own webpage, which you can see here.

Click the picture for the full image.

This is a pinball game I designed in a program called Visual Pinball. It's what you could call a bingo-style game. You get 9 shots a round, and the goal is to make 3-in-a-row or better on the field of holes at the top of the game board.

I decorated it with the Legendary Prerarts from The Heart of Dragons. All 11 make an appearance on the table.

Here's a design layout of the board so you can see the pictures better.

Click the picture for the full image.

Click the picture for the full image.

Some changes to Slyvette's look. I'm trying a new eye design for Pritars, which can also be seen in Yoseka's entry below.

In the original design for Slyvette (probably drawn a decade ago), she carried a scythe-type weapon called the Catscratch. Now she has a new weapon with a shorter blade resembling a cat's claw.

See this article for a little more info about this character.

Well, it's been a while since I updated, and even before then they've been few and far between.

Lately I've been testing out a 3D rendering program called Blender, as an alternative to using the Unreal Engine from UT2004 to make my architecture stuff. I've done some test models and have primarily been trying to convert my map of Central Agwilcress. Blender offers a much better lighting system than Unreal, though it's not a real-time system. It's taking time to get to a point where I have presentable pictures of the project. I've also put the models of Raeja and the Demon King into Blender. It was actually these character models that led me to try Blender, because Unreal was doing hideous lighting on them. I'll probably get a picture of Raeja in her provocative Shadow Suit up here sometime.

I've barely done any 2D character drawings lately, my most recent update to Yoseka being the exception. I tried out a different look for her, especially with the eyes. By the way, she's supposed to have auburn hair and tawny eyes, if you get that reference.

Yoseka Balron originally lived in the area known as Blue Forest. During the conflict with the Kaudlin Empire, the lands south of her home had already been conquered and colonized by the human invaders, and Blue Forest was next. The inhabitants of the area were greatly outgunned, but the nation of Imbrala brought military aid to the area in the form of weapons and training and gave Blue Forest the chance to defend itself. Yoseka joined the newly formed Pritar military alliance and defended her homeland. She became highly recognized for her courage and tenacity during the conflict. After the war ended in a cease-fire, Yoseka was invited to join the Guild of Undead Neutralization, and because of her combat record and skill, she got into the most elite unit of the organization: SHOT-GUN Group One, the Seraphelines. Yoseka is the Weapons Specialist of group and usually operates the heavy guns like the Caliko Automatic for support fire.

Salmandano is the oldest of the Legendary Prerarts. According to the stories, he was born with striking red markings on his body, resembling flames. This fiery symbol hinted at his secret power: immunity from heat and burns.

Each Legendary Prerart is linked to a famous feat, something exceptional they did that best represents their special trait. As for Salmandano, he discovered a magical orb that constantly generated fire and brought it back to his village. It’s said that this fire burned there for generations, providing light and warmth for the village. The legend says that Salmandano would often dance with the orb, bringing awe and joy to those who watched.

Being the oldest of the legends, from times even outdating most known Agwil history, it is impossible to know if Salmandano was a real person or a complete myth.

Following up on my 3D modeling of Raeja, I expanded out to another character, this time a guy... okay, not really a guy either, more of an androgynous manifestation of evil that possessed a guy.

See this article for a little more info about this character.

The Universal Plane experiences phenomena known as the Gates. These spatial distortions pull material from other universes into the Plane. Gates have a suspiciously high rate of bringing people into the Plane, including Aeon and Cheles Lumarole. Gates also bring materials such as rock, soil, and water needed to expand the territories of civilizations.

Most gates are small, ranging from the size of a small boulder to that of a house. However, some very large ones have occurred, including the immense Abyss Gate.

Abyss Gate appeared very long ago, and was observed to have pulled the very edges of the universe inward towards its spherical form. Over great lengths of time, the outer shell of the Gate dissolved, allowing entry inside. Eventually the Dragons colonized the Abyss and gathered the scattered material within to create a great island at the center of the Abyss. This island would later be consumed by the Poison.

The edges of the remaining shell are known as the Gashes. They are holes in the space of the universe. Due to their impervious nature, inhabitants near the gashes often use them as protective walls. The Gashes are slowly dissapearing, but are expected to last the equivalent of tens of thousands of Earth years.

The Planar Council Nation is located within the bounds of the Abyss Gate, as well as Antiktes, Island of the Sorceresses, and another island inhabited by the Tanteru race. It has been observed that smaller Gates appear at a much higher frequency within the Abyss than outside it. This has helped the Planar Council Nation build a large and diverse Planar immigrant population.

I've been working on a 3D model for Raeja recently, and I'm particularly pleased with the facial features. I started this project particularly because I wanted a better idea on how to draw Agwilican faces. I also made a decision for the marks on the forhead to be dark green, as opposed to a lighter shade. Raeja is also going to have markings on her back:

Still a work in progress, of course. I still have lots to do on the tail, wings, and feet. Feet... they seem to be unusually difficult to draw or model. I'll probably work more on her markings as well. I'm using a modeling program called MilkShape3D, and added the final lighting for the pictures in UnrealEd.

Ah, but who is Raeja? In The Heart of Dragons, she is the personal protector of Dominesa Kylal, the secondborn daughter of the current ruler. She is a member of the Syrsia, the royal guardians. Her strength and devotion was recognized by her Nazyran people and the royal family, and was given the honor of her guardian role when she was very young. Though her job can sometimes feel like full-time babysitting, she has diligently kept up her strength and combat training. Nesa, Raeja, and her sorcerer boyfriend Anjil make up the trio of main characters in The Heart of Dragons.

A view up the hill towards the Ayra Katrin Library. The structure in the foreground on the left is part of a partially underground complex. It may or may not be a train station. The building with the blue rounded roof behind that is part of the Civic Hill complex. Civic Hill and Civic Square house many administrative departments for the Agwilican government. Further behind that is the city center wall.

Closer view of the Ayra Katrin library. My newest addition to the city is the elevated walkway in front of the library. You can see in the previous picture that it terminates in a bit of a pillar.

This is the view into the city heart from the end of the elevated walkway. You can see partway into the 'train station' in the foreground.

• Front left - Hessai Gwinot, a magic user.
• Front center - Hessai Jutwah, a weak crawling monster.
• Front right - Hessai Thropale, a common fighting unit.
• Middle left - Hessai Turalmo, a heavy armored fighter.
• Middle right - Hessai Spheroid, a powerful magic user.
• Back left - Hessai Farpil, a flying monster.
• Back right - Hessai Tobisat, a floating creature.