Of Bees and Dragons

After a couple of days of struggling with getting an older tablet to work on the old desktop that I've set up in the basement (which is about 20 degrees cooler than the rest of the house) I think I've managed to set up something that is at least workable.

I was hoping to use my old Yiynova tablet, as its a larger and at least more modern one than my old Wacom was, but I forgot the absolutely arcane rituals you needed to perform just to get it running.  Including command line hard-scrubbing old Wacom drivers out of your system (literally going into hidden folders to delete any and all traces), and subsequently trying to get ancient builds of its Windows 10 drivers to work.  Ultimately they just won't run on this machine I'm afraid, and alternate driver sites are impressively sketchy enough that it threw up red flags on searches.

It did finally make me consider putting some savings towards another tablet.  I'm not looking forward to that kind of expense, but with weather like this hitting, it's shown that I need a setup in a colder part of the house to keep being able to produce art.  I can't go weeks without getting any work done, and since this ancient house I'm in was built to insulate and trap heat in colder winters, even working at night means the studio hits about 30C.

But my kvetching about tablet troubles and temperatures wasn't the main reason for posting.  I'd like to start posting some tidbits about the weird world going on inside of my windy little skull.

I always feel tentative about posting about my world or characters.  I feel like its an imposition.  Like I'm that annoying guy at the comic store that insists on telling you about the Dungeons and Dragon characters he's made with all 18's, or that dude who won't shut up about his favourite anime when he wasn't asked.

But I guess one of the bonuses of posting online in 'blog' format is that people can easily ignore it, and scroll on past to the art stuff (which I'm hoping to have more to share in the next week now that I'm not actively just sitting there on fire).  So indeed, if this prattling about people in my head isn't your thing, no hard feelings, there will be more wild adventures of sketched people in the coming month.

Cinders

Of any of the little ghosts squeaking around in my cranial attic, Cinders is the most prominent.  The constant companion who seems able to peek over my proverbial shoulder and see into time and space of whatever I may be up to.

She first came into existence probably about a decade ago.  At the time, a bat-winged cartoon mare with (I believe) a unicorn horn.  But she took shape as herself the more my mind's eye was able to focus and make out detail, like someone emerging from silhouette to fully realized person.

Her life's journey would be a long and complicated tale, something I'm saving more for a comic or visual way of telling the tale.  But I can at least talk about who she is now, and a little about here life.

Rawr neigh rawr.

Cinders is a rarity.  Not in the sense that she's a tired 'chosen' trope, but that her bloodline is partially descended from a now extinct people known as the 'Indorai'.  Indorillian bloodlines stemmed from those with a connection to the draconic 'mother' of the world.  Myth holds that Indorilithia, the 'Heaven's Flame', mother of all dragon-kind sacrificed her heart soul and body to keep the world she held most cherished from being destroyed by a lover driven mad with power.  

In doing this, the world was infused with her essence.  Great tides of arcane energies surged like lava through underground and ethereal pathways, infused itself into stones, crystals, and nature itself.  This essence, over time, could find it's way into mortals of the realm, born with characteristics of draconic aspect.  While old tales would state that this was by specific will of Indorilithia herself, others theorized that it was purely by chance.

Cinders is one such person who was glanced by this 'draconic arcana'.  Though for Lorrnathi people to have any tie to Indorillian bloodlines was, until her birth, unheard of.  Thus she was thought of more as a demon than dragon for a part of her life.

While the manifestations of Indorillian bloodlines are different for most individuals, commonly it means they tend to have at least an affinity for the arcane.  In Cinders' case, she was immune to the effects of cold weather, as well as resistant to the sub-elemental planar arcana of both water and frost.  She had an affinity for nature and the spiritual, and later learned abilities pertaining to witchcraft.  Something she used, largely, to make nature more healthy, and have conversations with bees.

These days, she describes herself as both 'neigh' (lorrnathi) and 'rawr' (draconic) but a rawr of kindness.

The Herd

Despite quite a solitary existence early on in her life, she's now blessed with a 'herd' family of her own.  Lorrnathi folk have a knit type of Polyamory brought about from early days when their people often wouldn't survive long.  The familial culture has survived to this day, and in her case means she has a husband, Berrand (Aegencaldi Lorrnath), a wife, Sherdaylyn (Orthiennese Lorrnathi), another husband, Aodhan (Aegencaldi Lorrnath), another wife, Hollythistle (Lathreidi Lorrnath) and four children.  Anders and Ahani, sired by Berrand, Annabelle (a Haunish girl) adopted after finding her by a roadside, and Terenos (Reixa Lorrnath) who's parents had passed away at sea, and was adopted into the family.

Her family life is, as can be expected, quite full.  But she considers the many creatures that inhabit her planar realm as her 'children' as well, from lost spirit, to sparrow, to a raccoon who's learned to open the cupboards.

The Haustrforn

A massive tree who's roots dig deep into the earth, and branches wend and knot their way nearly towards the clouds.  Known as 'Eternal Autumn' in Old Lorrnathi, the Haustrforn serves as the ancient Indorillian tower of primal sorcery for Cinders, and is the heart of her immortal realm.  

The great tree is set on an equally tree-filled island in the middle of a lake in the heart of Lathreadon, the Lorrnathi lands of Valhaadrune.  The tree is visible to mortal folk from Glaedhurst and even as far away as Allr Olker, though any who travel to the isle can never seem to reach the tree itself, instead emerging from the forest to the other side of the waters, no matter the direction taken.

The Haustrforn itself can only be visited by those that Cinders sees fit, or finds interesting, or even just seems kind enough to be friends with.  Her realm is a demi-plane, formed from her will, and is ultimately a place of peace.  No weapon can be drawn, and those intent on assaulting the great tree never seem to emerge from it's shores again, rumored to have been consumed by 'roving pumpkins', trampled by an ill-tempered, rune-covered moose, or perhaps swallowed by the tree's branches whole.

The tree taps into a deep line of arcana.  Meaning magic seeps through it's whole structure.  Rooms that wind their ways within it's great trunk and branches are heated or cooled as much as the occupant might wish.  Lights will glow, or go dark on command, and small mice will go shopping amidst teeny-tiny 'stores' set up by Cinders herself.  While a great deal of arcane power could be summoned forth through the invisible sigils and runes lined within it's bark, such power is never needed, for even the tree bends its will to the small 'neigh-rawr' that gives it's roots a home.

Those who are counted among friends and get to visit the isle have always noted a feeling of contentment.  The sound of birdsong, leaves rustling, and at certain times the musical hum of nature and the world itself accompany them.  It is a bastion of rest, and quiets the worries of one's heart.

And that does it for this small sample of the world, and one of it's denizens.  Cinders, her family, and the Haustrforn have much more story yet to be revealed, but as I've stated, I'd like to save a little for an illustrated story.

And now to head into the lands of driver-downloads and drawing on tiny screens.  Stay safe and cool folks, I hope the sun isn't angry at your part of the world like it is with mine.  I'm guessing my home province owes the solar entity money or something.

-T.J.