If could couldn’t tell, the bottom two pages got the majority of the page’s effort put into them, because they’re basically the most important. Logically mages would have their own myths and legends – it’s just something that humans do by default, like body art. Speaking of which, I’ve been working on fleshing out Nereid society a bit more, and I’ve basically come to the conclusion that nereids hierarchical structure isn’t just a normal sort of pyramid. I’m not sure if I’ve talked about the nereid priestesses / caretakers outside of the nereid page (which needs a rework ASAP since I worked on their FAQ with the newer lore) and in a nutshell they’re the ones who work hard to make sure everything about the nereids’ existence and lifestyles stays under wraps. They work with the queen, but don’t have any other power relationship with her. It’s heavily implied that these were the people Akila happened to get on the bad side of and got kicked out. However, when I made them, I had a problem. They had to, anatomy wise, look identical to other nereids – so no different colored skin or extra eyes. However, I wanted them to be distinguishable from any normal nereid (as they’re of a rather high status), but I couldn’t go with the generic fantasy and historical idea of uniforms or special regalia, as nereids don’t wear clothes. (The queen has a crown, but that’s the only exception.) However, I think I may have found a solution. I’m sure some of you remember that rainbow flashing nereid design with the pretty colored lines around it, and I realized that the priestesses could just have some sort of painted markings. Iron oxide has been used for this purpose by cultures worldwide, and there’s no reason iron wouldn’t exist in some form where the nereids live, so I went with that. I redrew the classic “Akila on a bed” art to give an idea of what a nereid priestess could look like. Because I don’t have any decent art of a tentacled Nereid outside comic panels, she has legs and arms as opposed to the tentacles an actual nereid priestess would have. Regardless, the skin coloration is the same, and a pattern on a human limb could be painted on a squid’s limb anyway. Akila is still hard as nails to draw, even with all my works of her, but she’s fun to make art of as I can be a bit more loose with anatomy as she’s not 100% human.

See you next week.

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

~~Kcilc no eht tra fo Alika no eht deb rof terces sunob oediv.~~