#twolad

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Some sketches of angels from my different worldbuilding projects.

At the top, the something like screaming, dying fire living on the wind is an Angel from the World of Light and Darkness, the fallen Light-born of the stars. They are eternally suffering and eternally living tragedies.

To the left, the something made of ink and voices and dreams is an Angel of the Songbird of the Layered Earth, someone who has lost themselves to the allure of everlasting creation.

To the right, the something cursed with sight beyond the broken sky is an Angel of Æther (not Aether, Æther) of a different part of the Layered Earth, someone who carries a fragment of the crazed, invading magic in their eyes.

#worldbuilding #layered earth #the world of light and darkness #twolad #sketch #angel design #angel #celestial #eyes #lots of eyes #eldritch #fire-on-the-wind is the most obviously screwed up but everyone here is suffering to some extent #sight-beyond-the-broken-sky can perceive the feelings of other things #which are mostly suffering given the post apocalyptic world they live in #ink-and-voices-and-dreams is nothing but a need to create #at least theyre probably having a good time

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See those fine lads named @danielhowell  and @AmazingPhil IRL on their upcoming world tour this coming 2018! #HeaderForDan #headerforphil #InteractiveIntroverts

#daniel howell #phil lester #interactiveintroverts #danandphil #amazingphil #itscathygee #twolads #worldtour #headerfordan #headerforphil #phanart #phanime #drawing #digitaldrawing #animu #anime

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Some doodles of not quite dragon characters to christen a new graph paper pad

Top to bottom, there’s Khelik Yu-ren, an Aquiste alien from Layer Zeta, An Echo from the Trees in the North, a faerie from the World of Light and Darkness, and Onyx of the Winds, an old, unattached creature born in the margins of my notebooks

At the bottom is a sketch of their relative sizes (for reference Khelik is about six feet at the top of his skull) so yeah Onyx and An Echo are massive fellows

Close-ups below

#worldbuilding #layered earth #the world of light and darkness #twolad #creature design #creature drawing #sketch #dragon #i hold dear all of these weirdos #onyx is the oldest #shes been kicking around since the first days of the pandemic

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The god of Noxio, the element of smoke and poison, most often known as the Trail of Scent that Crosses the Land. He is the child of Terra and Aether, and the patron of criminals, traitors, the condemned, and the forgotten.

#worldbuilding #the world of light and darkness #twolad #creature drawing #creature art #post it doodles #margin beasties #hes the trickster god of the pantheon #in the present at least

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All of the primary element gods together! Next up are the secondary elements, who happen to be the kids of these four: Alloy of metal, Sonar of sound, Voltar of electricity, Cryic of ice, Noxio of poison, and… well, the last god used to be called Deslot, and he represented lacking, but that might change. If anyone has a good idea for a deity that was birthed of Fire and Water, throw it my way.

#worldbuilding #the world of light and darkness #twolad #creature drawing #creature art #post it doodles #margin beasties

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A few magical fellows. From top left going clockwise, there’s Tengu of Aether, Naiad of Hydro, Salamander of Pyro, and Wampus of Terra. Script is Wronong Haseiw, and was created by and belongs to @thecrazyneographist.

#worldbuilding #sketch #my art #art #pencil sketch #the world of light and darkness #twolad #doodle

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The god of Sonar, of sound and travel, most often known as the Song Cried Out by the Roaring Sea. The child of Aether and Hydro, they are the patron of musicians, actors, those without voices, and those without freedom.

#worldbuilding #the world of light and darkness #twolad #creature drawing #creature art #post it doodles #margin beasties #used to be a much spiker sort of fellow #still kinda spiky though

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The last of the World of Light and Darkness primary element gods. She is the god of air, the element Aether, most often known as The Wind that Lifts Our Spirits and Wings. She resembles a mix of a bird, a bat, a flying serpent, and, in certain interpretations, a flying squirrel. Possessing three horns that fly straight back like the wind, she is the patron of artisans, freelancers, wanderers, the homeless, the lost, and those without family.

#worldbuilding #the world of light and darkness #twolad #creature drawing #creature art #post it doodles #margin beasties #her design probably changed the least from my original concept #just toned down the number of feathers

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cracks knuckles

Alright, I’m in a worldbuilding rut, so it’s time to dump some old stuff from my Reddit account. My first proper post about the World and Light and Darkness, as well. Nice bonus.

Here are the flags of the nations of the World, and a little bit of info about each. It’s rather long and contains a lot of bright flags.

First are the Elemental nations. Elementals are thought of as feisty, known by the rest of the world as bloody warriors and passionate artists, treacherous backstabbers and mighty kings. In reality, they are a fundamentally divided people, but possibly the most diverse in terms of culture. They are native to Lyardia, the eastern continent from which the sun bursts forth every morning. Their appearance is as varied as their nations: their hair and eyes and Tears (skin patterns that signify magic connection) can be every color under the sun, from pure white to deep red to vibrant green or yellow. Though they do not live long lives, with the oldest recorded Elemental being 135 years old at death.

Let’s start in the south. The Republic of the Divided, officially named the Solar Republic, is the southernmost nation of elementals. Both figuratively divided by constant war, and literally by the Serpent-Head River, the great Split-Solar Desert has a long history of never being United. But Prime Minister Drake Farclay is doing his best, essentially keeping the capital of Emelenora out of harm’s way single-handedly. In addition to its many mangrove forests and half of the Setting Sun Mountains, the Republic holds some of the most holy sites in all of Lyardia: the Spires in the Dust and the Foothills of the Fallen are known stalking grounds of Angels.

Moving north and off the west coast, one will come across the United Island Nation. A small country lead by Chancellor Emilia Van Bellow, the Nation has nonetheless come to prominence thanks to their accepting many thousands of refugees from the Conquest, including many of the surviving Element-Born Dragons. In addition to the many ancient libraries and religious institutions of the Dragon’s Church located within the nation, the legendary Sunken City of Flickering Lights have provided the Islanders with such ancient and fanciful knowledge as the Nomad Tribes and the gift of prophecy.

Back on the mainland, it’s impossible to ignore the largest and most powerful nation of Lyardia: the Kingdom of Raicuth, under King Dominic Unican. Cutting the continent in two, all of the Flutter Plains belong to this young and mighty nation. Though the land was once populated by tens of tiny city-states and independent fiefdoms, all were untied, or conquered, under the banner of the Unified Church of the Elements, and the doctrine of the death of all Dragons. An agricultural powerhouse, Raicuth produces most of Lyardia’s food, and has the largest standing army.

Last but certainly not least is the northernmost nation, the Kingdom of Polaris. With the boy-king Shrike Cardinal, the Spearhead, most everyone who visits this land finds it strange. The whole thing is like a factory, with citizens molded into perfect gears from age six. Everything is primed for production and efficiency, from the court system to the navy to the very structures of families. From the Conquered Steppe to the Polar Islands, down the Boundary Mountains and north to the Polar Islands, everything in Polaris does its job.

With the east covered, let us follow the sun west to the continent of Baru, the land of the elves. Long-lived and pointy-eared, the elves are seen as wanderers and scholars, fighters of ancient wars and curators of knowledge unknown even to them. Their history is long and mostly forgotten, filled with fanciful beasts and epic heroes, goddesses in volcanoes and at the bottom of the ocean. Thin and ropey like reeds, the average elf can walk ten leagues in a day and ride twenty on deer-back.

First, let’s take a look at the largest and most organized of the elven nations, though ‘nation’ is certainly a strong word for the United Townships. Haphazardly spread across the southern Verdant Plains, its people are tree-hearted farmers and fighters. Technically ruled by Chancellor Norris Mackir, the successor-state to the Kingdom of Climbing Vines is very relaxed and far less militaristic than its predecessor.

In the center of the continent, there is a far less organized and far more scholarly group that inhabits the Landrise Mountains: the Unlost People. Earth-eyed descendants of the ancient Empire of the Lost, its people are solitary scavengers, digging up history and rarely gathering for anything beside the old holidays.

Off to the south is a strange group, more a solidified idea than anything else: the Raging Sea. Populated by rebels and non-conformers and lead by their founder-president Warrien Kallen, the Sea seeks to become a real nation, like those in the east and the south. They live isolated on Hideaway Island, refusing to communicate with any elf that does not bear the blue Tears of a tide sibling.

The other two continents are united under single nations, and each is an example of successful, but different, forms of government. There are the dwarves of Ravai, sun-sensitive and thought of as shut-ins who do nothing but garden and create, and the Shattered People of Kracon, the bestial-looking thropians, foxes, centaurs, merfolk, and long-bodied dragons.

First, the Dwarven Federation. A small but mighty nation in the very north of Ravai, its seven-member Council oversee the beautiful and strange Garden of Life, the origin of every dwarf’s symbiotic plant. Traditionally allied with the elves in the south of Baru, this nation is a peaceful and productive one.

And secondly, there’s the Sacred League of Xuanteng, also known as the Confederation of the Stars, is home to the longest-lived, and arguably the most powerful, beings in the world. The most modern nation, it was in the Sacred League’s many islands that some of the most influential inventions were first conceived: the printing-press, the steam engine, flash-powder, and countless sciences were birthed from the minds of foxes and long-bodied dragons. Its centaurs are among the best musicians in the World, its merpeople build the best ships, and its thropians are the fiercest warriors. At least, according to the League.

falls over onto a soft chair with a huff

bloody hell that felt good to write. More coming eventually, about cosmology, the creation myth, gods, terrorism, literature, and the seasons.

#worldbuilding #digital art #the world of light and darkness #twolad #i guess those are the tags for this one #vexillology #kinda? #i mean theyre flags so #I left the world of light and darkness to smolder for a few years #but the spark just came back #so im just going with it #get ready for a lot more dragons and a lot more sense #hopefully #i mapped out the whole bloody magic system a bit ago but i lost the paper it was on #going to try and find it or at least remember kinda how it went #its full of all sorts of nonsense like aspects of aspects of very nebulous concepts #for example #the god of performance is an aspect of the god of song is an aspect of the god of birds is an aspect of the god of storms #is an aspect of the god of wind is an aspect of the god of air is an aspect of the god of starlight #for reasons

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Day one of No One Asked November. Starting off with some downright ancient worldbuilding and ancient art I haven’t touched in a year. Click the image for better quality.

This is Song Played by the Wind, one of the first Sky-born dragons. When some of the Light-Born (creation beings of the stars) descended from the Celestial Firmament where nebulae dance and comets die, they shifted their many-limbed, many-eyed bodies into simplified shapes. Song Played was among the first to settle on a permanent form, shrinking his wings and closing his eyes to create the intricate patterns that adorn his body. He is revered as one of the Four High Saints by the element-born dragons, alongside Howling Strength of the Current, Paradox of the Force of Gravity, and Blazing Torch that Leads. Song Played is the High Saint of Aether.

#worldbuilding #twolad #the world of light and darkness #most of the lore i just made up on the spot #look it’s been years since I wrote anything new about twolad #it started as a pandemic project and just spiraled from there #dragon #dragon art #digital art #not a sketch for once #no one asked november

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More art for the World of Light and Darkness! This is the god of Pyro, the element of fire, most often known as the Martyr who Burned for All of Our Sins. He resembles a mix of a bighorn sheep, a unicorn, a goat, and a horse. Possessing three horns with splintered ends, he is the patron of victims of crimes and accidents, the innocent, the falsely accused, freedom fighters, and revolutionaries.

#worldbuilding #the world of light and darkness #twolad #creature drawing #creature art #he was always my favorite among the element gods #still is #post it doodles #margin beasties

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Revisiting an old, old concept from the dusty depths of the World of Light and Darkness with this WIP. Also actually trying to do colored digital art again.

Angels are one of the five Fallen races, descendants of Celestial-born who left the Firmament and became mortal. Their cousins, the Long-bodied and Element-born dragons, descended willingly to help and guide the various people of the World in the ways of magic and fate, sacrificing eternity for their love of Creation. But the Angels, alongside the Demons, were cast out of the Firmament for their actions. The Demons were once Dark-born, the Celestials of Empty Space, who nearly destroyed the Created World in the distant past. Their siblings the Angels were once Light-born, the Celestials of Stars, who tried to replace the Firmament with the Created World. Thusly they were cast out, and their grief at loosing their immortality warped them into caricatures of their former selves.

Angels have the forms of Light-born taken to the extreme; nothing but wings and eyes and raw warped magic. They lack mouths or proper limbs, vocalizing through jagged movements and moving like fire on the wind. Their half-corporal bodies seem to stretch and shrink not at the will of the Angel, but at the will of Fate. These pitiful, horrible beings can be found drifting among the desert sands of Ravai and Lyardia, their forlorn cries sounding something like trumpets and the crashing waves of the sea. But they are not to be trusted. Angels cannot control their urge to create, and anything they come into contact with will warp beyond imagination. It is said that when the first Angel Fell into the desert, it created towering spires and everlasting sandstorms in its despair.

Their former Dark-born counterparts, whom I may or may not ever draw, are similarly bent and twisted reflections of their former selves. Spiked and fanged, they are nothing but claws and mouths and the lack of light. They have no eyes nor proper body, feeling with endless tongues and stumbling about with tearing talons. These Fallen live in the icy north of Baru and Lyardia, hissing something similar to cracking ice and untuned harp strings. As the opposite tragedies of Angels, Demons have an unrestrained need to destroy, twisting and erasing parts of Creation at the will of Fate.

But when they Fell, some of the new Angels and Demons actually managed to keep fragments of their sanity. Knowing that their kind were doomed to wander endlessly, never satisfied and never at rest, they resolved to create something that might be able to restrain them from total destruction. And so the Fae were born, living embodiments of the disparity between Light and Dark. They are shifting, inconsistent mortals that may appear however they please, though most look like combinations of Demon and Angel traits. Because the Fae were born, they will die, but their mortality also keeps them freer from the strings of Fate than their immortal and everlasting parents.

#worldbuilding #the world of light and darkness #twolad #digital art #art wip #angel design #going for a mix of biblically accurate and incomprehensible lovecraftian terror with these folks #demons will probably be the same way #just with more teeth #its been bloody ages but the high fantasy bug bit me again and i cant stop thinking of these tragic horrors beyond mortal comprehension #guess what kids the eldrich abominations have depressing backstories

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As promised, more nonsense from the World of Light and Darkness. This is a page from perhaps the most popular book in the Elemental kingdoms, only surpassed by royal histories and the Cælestia, the words of the Light-Born and Dark-Born creator-beings. This book is titled The Essential Book of Mischief, and this volume has come to define childhood antics and misbehavior.

Writings like the Essential Book are widely promoted around the central Lyardian Kingdom of Raicuth, as it is believed that if a child ‘gets out their spirit’ at a young age, they’ll become mellow and easygoing as an adult. As such, children under the age of 10 are unable to be prosecuted for any crime less than armed robbery, and youths under the age of 15 are unable to be prosecuted for any crime less than theft.

Transcription of the poem below the cut.

A Mocking Rhyme for Young Children and Other Rascals

Do you hear the great beast calls

Screeching noise on high?

Do you hear the birdies sing

Flying through the sky?

Dartfeather will bloat your face,

Ambush Swan to break your case!

Dazzler-Fowl’s quite nice it’s true,

But Thunderbird wants to eat you!

That’s just life in the South Forest,

A place that’s everything but blessed!

Reigning Deer shall stomp your grain,

Direwolf will be your bane!

Sphereweaver to eat your steer,

And Wampus Cat may drink your beer!

That’s just life in the Shadowcast,

Really quite fun but sadly fast!

Snowdrifter to raid your fish,

Mountain Troll will break your dish!

Lightning-Horn shall sink your ship,

While the Night-Blights start to rip!

That’s just life in the Tundra North,

All things shall go downhill henceforth!

Naga-Snake to crush your house,

Shining-Bull will spit your spouse!

Whisper Moth will fray your rope,

With Bell-Echos stealing your hope!

That’s just life in the Split-Desert,

Only comparable to dirt!

#worldbuilding #digital art #my art #the world of light and darkness #twolad #poetry #rhyming poetry #rhyming poem #i think thats a dubious claim but nothing else fits

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Fixing up old Light and Darkness concepts. His name is Torch that Leads the Way Past the Dark, he’s the first of the Flame-born dragons, and this was the only time I ever drew him.

#worldbuilding #the world of light and darkness #twolad #sketch #digital art #dragon art #dragon #creature design

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All of the secondary elemental gods together! After this point, their kids and thusly their domains get much, much too complicated to write out in full. I’m gonna take a break from the World of Light and Darkness and return to some less old, still very dusty concepts from the Layered Earth until I can figure out how to properly draw the eldritch horrors that are the Celestials.

#worldbuilding #the world of light and darkness #twolad #creature drawing #creature art #post it doodles #margin beasties

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The god of Vaporae, the element of steam and change, most often known as the Drifter in the Mists of the World. He is the child of Hydro and Pyro, the patron of gamblers, moneylenders, those who sell goods, and those who live on the road.

#worldbuilding #the world of light and darkness #twolad #creature drawing #creature art #post it doodles #margin beasties #last of the secondary gods! #the celestials are up next but they’ll take a while. and much bigger post its