Oldori

Oldori is another fictional language I have created for another world setting (used for my game project, Battle Chess), whose name I have lost in some text file in a particular portable storage medium. Inspired by the Arabic system of writing, Oldori is written from right to left, and different marks around the original letter to indicate stress and tone.

PLL - Darkbrood and Erghit

Erghit

As Hizuran is Light, Erghit is Darkness. Erghit, the Trench of Shadows, the Blinding Void, Home of the Darkbrood, lies at the north of Hizuran. If one would look down into Erghit from one of the peaks, he cannot see anything but a dull black. The blackness is not natural, but due to a high concentration of black mana that floods the entire trench, so thick that walking in it is almost like walking in water. The black mana is usually inert, though one in it can feel it running through his body, chargin g it with power. If someone attempts to cast a magic spell, then the surrounding area combusts in a black flame.

Erghit is a long and winding valley, though the valley walls under the sea of mana are smooth and featureless. The temperature is a freezing cold because no warmth could be obtained from the black mana.

As dangerous as Erghit gets, Many adventurers enter Erghit in search of power but never return, forever indulging in black mana. Mages - usually mystiks try to channel the black mana for personal use but most fail terribly, often killing themselves in the process. The successful ones survive to be great mages with a corrupted heart.


Darkbrood

A 'darkbrodd' is a general term given to someone from Erghit, native or not. 'Native' darkbroods aresaid to be descended from fallen gliders, gliders who forsake their honor in quest of power. Native darkbroods and gliders do have a certain resemblance in their short stature and hollow bone structure, though their hair, skin and eye color are completely different.

All darkbrood have dark skin (not tanned, but greyish) and dark red eyes and hair. THey seem to be able to communicate telepathically, but only with fellow darkbroods in a very short distance.

Other pics from Anime Week

The other half of what we've done, these are drawn by coffeeping and shaded by me.

PLL - Merideans and Katulis

Katulis

The underwater kingdom of Katulis is located in the sea between the east and west continents. It is not clear how far the borders of Katulis extend, but considering that the merideans are the only intelligent underwater race, they pretty much own the waters.

A land traveller may enter Katulis from Port Katulis West or Port Katulis East, each on a different continent, by bubble-shaped chariots. Katulis West is located in the coastal city of Navi, while Katulis East is a port city on it own. Said traveller might not be too eager to step out unprepared of the chariot when it reaches its destination, but the water in certain regions are surprisingly breathable. The boundaries of these regions are marked with high fences and permanent warning wards to protect land travellers from wandering too far.

The buildings of Katulis are carved out of natural stone and coral, the most expensive houses being those carved from cliffs. The palace is in an inverted coral reef.


Merideans

The merideans are an underwater race. Unlike the mermaids and mermen in The Little Mermaid, the merideans aren't just humans with a fish tail and gills. The merideans have bluish-green tough and scaly skin, and their hair - well, they're more like long, soft scales.

Merideans have a long and tapering tail like that of a snake. They move around in water with their arms and tail movements. Some merideans possess the magic of turning their tails into feet for walking, these merideans are usually merchants or diplomats.

PLL - Greyvians and Greyvelt

Greyvelt

Down south of the eastern continent lies Greyvelt, the sunken forest, home of the greyvians. Greyvelt isn't much of a sight. Think the forests of Kurast in Diablo 2, only much wetter. There might be some ruins of ancient kingdoms somewhere in the jungle, though most of Greyvelt remains undiscovered.

Greyvians

A greyvian is most easily noticed by his skin color, which is grey with a hint of green. Greyvians also have long tails with short fur. The rest of the body hairs are similar to a human.

A greyvian prefers to wear little because of the wet climate. Their clothes are made of rough cloth and woven grass.

Greyvians either live in wooden houses on trees, or stilted houses on the ground.

The preferred weapon of the greyvians is the whip.

PLL - More on Mystiks

It's been quite a while since I've introduced the races of PLL, so here are the Mystiks. For an example of what Mystiks look like, look at Eloneth, he's not too far down there.

Anatomy

Mystiks are more of a cult than a race, though members of the cult are usually shunned by fellows of his race. As the mystiks aren't a race, there is no common defining physical feature except the marks of a mystik. A mystik's mouth is sewn up with mylweim threads as a part of an 'oath of silence' he is bound to. The mystiks will have access to his powers as long as the seal of threads is not broken.

Mystiks also have a unique mark on their foreheads as a window to telepathic communication. Mystiks receive the mark during the rites of initiation, where the laying of hands by a mystik priest would cause the mark to magically appear.

Mystiks are mainly mages. There are mystiks fighters, but they still use their magic when fighting. A mystik can draw his magical powers from any natural landscape, though rock formations are the most potent sources of power. Mystik magic is probably the strongest form of magic in the world, thought the great power takes a toll on their lifespans.

Society

Mystiks are found everywhere on the world, though they're most concentrated in their sacred city of Breiben. The social structure of the mystiks are unknown, though the most high-ranked mystiks manipulate the lesser mystiks telepathically from the stone towers of Breiben.

Fashion

A mystik prefers simple garments and drab-colored clothing. He will most likely be also seen in a hooded cloak when walking in public. A mystik prefers his accmade of stone - stone bracelets boost their powers by quite a big notch, and they do not hesitate to cover both their arms with stone bracelets in order to be more powerful.

Some mystiks put themselves in physical restraints - chains, bandages - in order to limit their magic use.

Diplomacy

The mystiks live in a highly isolated society, and most other nations prefer not to think of its existence. However, some anti-mystik vigilante movements operate independently to hunt down mystiks and lynch them.

Unnamed glider prepares to strike

Another sketch. Didn't really like the pose so didn't color it.

Eloneth colored

Did this at the Anime Week booth. I'll be putting up more pics from Anime Week.

Eloneth posing

Foshizzle.

Anime Week '05...

Starts today.

Ohitsujiza-kun finished

Finally, all six done.

Click on the pic for the wallpaper version.

Ohitsujiza-kun sketch

Coming out pretty fine. I put him in a sleeveless shirt to save me from the troubles of drawing the damn creases. One of the few times I have a reason to put them in sleeveless. Other times just because they look cute in it. But anyway, sleeves can be a pain sometimes. I mean, most of the time. And pants too.

Shishiza-kun

By the way, this is a rather cool effect. Don't think I've seen it in other Flash movies before.

Yagiza-kun

Whoa, screw making up for last week for now. I'll handle that once I get over with Data Structures and other crap.

Here's lineart of Yagiza-kun. Not exactly satisfied with the horns. Gotta fix that.



.
.
.

And it's done.

Kaniza-kun - Final stage

And it's done.

Kaniza-kun - Stage 2

And yes, I'm aware that multiple stages of the same picture counts as only one.

Sasoriza-kun

If you think his pose looks too suggestive, he probably is. Colored version coming up soon.




(Half an hour later)

And it's done.

Kaniza-kun

Ahh.... in the lab now, for Open Day. I very much would like to continue on Sasoriza-kun but they don't have Photoshop here, so I started on the sketch of Kaniza-kun. My tablet's an attraction.

Oushiza-kun finished

There. Sasoriza-kun is next.

Oushiza-kun

I wonder what I was doing for the past few days. Gotta make up for them.



Part of a collaborating series Ping-ping and I are doing for Anime Week '05. Uncolored version. Will be coloring it... ah, after lab test.






Shit! Lab test!

WIP to WD - Lucoth shaman

Two days ago I showed the concept sketch of the LUcoth shaman I'm drawing for my friend, here's how it looks like now:



Ah, I'm very proud of myself with the cavern. Now I just need to shade the guy properly, finish up the aura and draw some bright crystals in the background. That should take about an hour or eight.

Four hours later....



Almost done...


And.... done

Character sketches - Samu

For my modelling assignment, I chose to do Samu-kun, one of the few random characters I drew. Here's an original picture of him, that's about all that I drew him.



Front and side views, with his hands up and down. Be doing other views.


Damn, Anime Week is coming in two weeks' time. I better start drawing something decent for it.

Card of the Day - Magifice Blast

Magifice Blast
1U
Instant
Counter target spell.
Mimic 1U (Any other player may pay 1U when you play this spell. If a player does, put a copy of this spell on the stack. That player may choose new targets for that copy.)

A 'hard counter' should cost at least two blue mana without drawbacks, that's what the guys at Magic E&D use as a rule. Mimic allows your opponent to copy this spell, which means that he may use the copy to counter yours.

For a more detailed explanation on the role of counterspells in the game, see my article on counterspells.

Intermission II - A brief history of counterspells

I'll start of with a brief introduction for those who read my blog and don't play Magic. Experienced polayers may skip the next two paragraphs, but it's advised that you read it as well becuase hey, I didn't write it for nothing.

Anyway, there are five colors in the game of Magic - white, blue, black, red, green in that order. Each color represents an aspect of magic itself, it shouldn't be too hard to see what each color does - white is the color of healing and protection; blue is the color of knowledge and cunning; black is the color of death and greed; red is the color of chaos and destruction; and green is the color of nature and life.

Counterspells are, well, spells that alow you to 'counter' your opponent's. When a spell is countered, it is rendered null and void. It does nothing. It's a spell that has gone to waste. The creator of the game decided to put counterspells in blue, the color of trickery. Your opponent spends all his resources casting a bigass spell and wham, your counterspells blows it away. Counterspells are probably the most annoying cards in the whole game. Try to bring a deckful of counterspell to a tournament and you'll be beaten. Physically.

The hated ancestor of counterspells is guess what, Counterspell (People back then aren't as creative with names). For two blue mana (the primary resource in the game, for those who don't play. Just take it like 'money'.), it puts every other spell at risk. Blue wasn't that much of a popular color back then mainly because it's lacking effecient big creatures that actually win you the game. (Side note - For a more complete description about the rules of the game, check out EWA's Secret Lair.) I suppose Counterspell didn't have much attention payed to it as well.

Another blue counterspell that came alongside Counterspell was Spell Blast. Spell Blast was even less well-received becauae of it's )often high) variable cost. Most of the time, it's caster has to spend more than three mana to actually counter anything.

Ironically, Spell Blast's superior counterpart, Power Sink, came along in the same set. Power Sink was basically a race of resources, whoever has more mana wins. If your opponent can't pay what you invested into the Sink, he loses.

The real power-counter didn't come until three years later, when the Alliances expansion was released. Force of Will was the first 'free' counterspell, free in the sens ethat you needn't use any mana to cast it. It instead use an alternate resource - your life and the cards in your hand. Even at five mana, Force of Will was the more popular choice because you can play it as a trick up your sleeve when your opponent sees that you have no mana (money, remember?) available.

Alliances also brought in the 'cantrip' counterspell Arcane Denial. A 'cantrip' spell is one where supposedly, you don't spend anything to cast it. The spell comes along with 'draw a card', which means that the spell somehow replenishes itself. This was another preferred counterspell because it costs only two mana, gives you a card, although it gives your opponent two. It was another fourteen months until another 'cantrip' counterspell, Dismiss was released in the Tempest expansion.

The second expansion of the Tempest block, Stronghold (Side note: Magic expansions are released in 'blocks' of three - One big and two small expansions.) featured another popular counterspell, Mana Leak. Mana Leak counters a spell if your oppoent can't pay 3 mana, which is quite a lot in early game. Some expert players play just one copy of Mana Leak as a psychological tactic. By Leaking one spell, his opponent would be more careful in casting his spells, thus saving up more mana for future Leaks and slowing his progress.

The Mercadian Masques block, published in 1999, had a few 'free' counterspells namely Thwart, Daze and Foil, though none were as hyped as Force of Will.

All the while, the original Counterspell was reprinted in base sets and expansions frequently. It was last seen in the 7th base edition, and after that only lesser counterspell variants like Mana Leak and Memory Lapse were reprinted. The Magic R&D team has tried to reduce the power of counterspells, especially those 'hard counters' - counterspells that don't have failsafes like Mana Leak. One of the better recent counterspells is Hinder, a hard counter for 3 mana though it has to put the countered spell back into the library (the deck); and Disrupting Shoal, another 'free' counterspell that may be alternatively played by discarding a card from your hand.

Thanks to Magic R&D's wisdom and insight, couterspells have been brought to a power level where they should have been. In conclusion, I shall quotet he immortal words of a blue mage, "In response, I tap for two blue."

WIP - Lucoth shaman

Two days ago I showed the concept sketch of the LUcoth shaman I'm drawing for my friend, here's how it looks like now:



Ah, I'm very proud of myself with the cavern. Now I just need to shade the guy properly, finish up the aura and draw some bright crystals in the background. That should take about an hour or eight.

Card of the Day - Abject Refusal

Ah heck, why not I just spend a week talking about counterspell variants. Here's today's variant:

Abject Refusal
2UU
Instant
If you control an Island and this is the only card in your hand, you may play Abject Refusal without paying its mana cost.
Counter target spell.


All out to deny eh? It's free counterspell over again. I can't remember we having any since Foil except for Disrupting Shoal.

To those that think this is too good... well, maybe, but a blue mage wouldn't want to be caught without cards in his hand. Finding ways to make your hand empty to play this spell is the wrong way to play it. It's good when it's free, but it's dangerous too.

Concept art - Lucoth shaman

Drawing more stuff to compensate for my MIA-ance over the last wekeend. Well technically it's not a complete drawing, but it's something to show how the drawing drawing would look like when it's complete. As far as I've seen those guys in Wizards do it, its eems to be like this.

Anyway, this is a picture of a Lucoth, a subterranian race an online friend of mine created. Here's his description of the Lucoth:

[Lucoth are] vaguely reminiscent of insects in appearance, but also tall and elegant. The Lucoth city is a matrix of hexagonal cells, much like the inside of a bee hive. Lucoth society is strictly regulated, with every Lucoth working toward the greater good of the hive. This suits them just fine as they have little sense of individuality. To a Lucoth, excommunication from the hive is a worse fate than death.

Card of the Day - Cynical Remark

Cynical Remark
2UU
Instant
Meld 2 (You may pay 2 when you play this spell. If you do, you may play a card with Meld 2 from your hand without paying its mana cost.)
Counter target spell.


Another counterspell variant. Meld was one of the cooler mechanics I came up with, but somehow just didn't take off. Maybe I need more spells with Meld.

I came out with Meld after the idea on 'convenient spells'. In fact, the whole block (Parallel Worlds) was based off 'convenience'. I don't think there was another set with so many other ways to play a spell.

Overbleedage

Well... I was being lazy.

Game design document

Planning to develop my trading card game idea further, so I was scribbling the first draft of my game design document on scrap paper. Now that I'm typing it down my first draft nicely in WordPad (I try not to use microsoft Word whenever able), it's just so hard to put down the rules in formal terms. How the hell do you describe 'moving a creature' without using the word 'move'?

n any case, this is addictive. It has been taking up my drawing time. If anyone is interested in joining the developent team, tell me.

Card of the Day - Stag Antlers

Stag Antlers
2G
Enchant Creature
Enchanted creature gets +2/+2.
Enchanted creature can't be blocked by creatures with power less than it.

Man, I haven't been drawing for a while now, busy doing... other stuff. I'll ony be able to get back to drawing tonight.

Anyway, the reason why I brought up drawing and this card is because this was the first card that I illustrated on my graphics tablet. That was in May 2004, when I first joined DeviantART. Looking back at it, the pic sucks now. I won't post it here, but those who are intrerested can go to my DeviantART gallery.

Card of the Day - Self Deception

Self Deception
U
Instant
You gain 5 life. At the end of turn, you lose 5 life.

I must be on drugs when I made this. I remember myself thinking hey, wouldn't it be cool if we had a one-turn mini Illusions of Grandeur? No. Maybe it does save you by delaying your death for a while, but in general it's pretty much useless.

Three years down the road, I created the set 'Fortress', which is based on life. Maybe it'll find some use there.

Card of the Day - Eternal Glade

Eternal Glade
Land
Eternal Glade untaps during each player's untap step.
T: Add 1 to your mana pool.

Nothing too interesting this time, just a land that taps for vanilla and untaps each turn. Well, some mana acceleration during your opponent's turn is pretty nifty, but... this card is just unnoticable. anybody can think of anything that takes advantage of the untapping?

Card of the Day - Unnamed

[unnamed]
1W
Instant
Discard any number of cards from your hand. You gain life equal to the total converted mana cost of cards discarded this way.


And now... my submission for You Make the Card 3. It's unnamed because I created it just for the contest, though I might as well put it in one of my sets.

Dreamscape - Creepy twilight

Scene from a dream I had just a few hours ago. I dreamt that I was riding on this bus on an empty road. There were very few empty buildings on the two sides of the roads, though there were quite some flashing neon signs for some reason.

I looked out of the window. The sun has already set, though there are still streaks of light at the horizon.The way that the horizon clouds were like as just... surreal. The whole sky was greyish but the yellow was beautiful. This picture does no justice to that scenery.

Card of the Day - Diverging Lens

Diverging Lens
4
Artifact
Creature and enchantment spells cost you 2 more to play.
Instant and sorcery spells cost you 2 less to play.

This was my submission to You Make the Card 2. It's a very old card I made, like four years ago (before PLL). Of course, there's a Converging Lens that does the opposite.

Quickie

I have this nifty wooden model on my table, gave to me by a former teacher. I don't use it at all, just putting it on my table for visitors to play with. And do they come up with weird poses.

Here's the current pose:


Didn't finish the feet because ran out of canvas. The shading was kinda tricky, I had to use a very very light shade of grey to shade it. Digital art programs are tricky.