The Captain

The galaxy is not as empty as one might imagine. Shipping lanes guiding cargo ships and luxury floats litter the connections between civilized planets. And where there is loot capable of being taken, there is those that would try to take it. 

A few pirates stand out from the rest and their names are whispered in fearful tones when they are near. One if these men is the legendary mercenary-turned-scourge captain Seridais. He was the man who acquired for himself the first fully operational mech known as the space kraken, but even before then he was already well known as an incredibly dangerous character. 

Another is one of Seridais many lost and forgotten children. Joseph Baxter was born to a poor tavern maid. He was raised without any knowledge of who his father was or what he did. He was constantly bullied from his peers and often fought with people far older than him. But Joseph was not an idiot. On the contrary, he was incredibly intelligent and believed the only way to truly defeat any opponent was to outsmart them in every way. So he studied everything he could get his hands on, even going as far as stealing thousands of books from various libraries. He was already a natural engineer and mathematician and had a passion for history, but he quickly became just as good as almost anything else one could name. At the age of twelve he had already designed and built several operating firearms based on stylisations from various planets core histories. By the age of sixteen he had designed a more compact, efficient, effective oxygenerator and was making frequent trips into space in jacked crafts. Everything he did had been honed to an artwork; writing, crafting, flying, fighting. He had a comprehensive understanding of physics and was capable of creating energy weapons that harnessed the natural flow of a planets magnetic force, with devastating results. 

His mother died when he was nineteen. While Joseph was away on one of his illegal ventures to the nearest moon, some of his bullies, turned enemies, took his mother and raped her with intention of holding her ransom in an attempt to make Joseph leave permantly. When Joseph found out about his mothers kidnapping he went to the rendezvous to free her. He mutilated the men, many twice his age, with nothing but a steel pole. During the fight he was trying to protect his mother from harm, one thing he wasn't entirely practiced at. She was shot and the bullet went through her and into Joseph, mortally wounding her and slicing Joseph's side open. After the last man had died Joseph returned to his mother who explained who his father was and why she had kept this secret from him before she finally died. 

Joseph left. His soul turned cold and deadly. He joined a band of pirates and quickly rose ranks, eventually leading a mutiny and claiming his first ship. He immediately killed the rest of his crew and sold the vessel, using the money and all his recently accumulated loot to buy parts to create his own unique ship. The Dergrosse. The most advanced vehicle in the history of the galaxy. The first of its kind. 

He wanted to kill his father. So when he found out Cassius beat him to it he was furious. During Cassius reign many pirates became a sort of 'police' in Cassius employment. But Joseph remained firmly against him, rallying his own band of ships and equipping them with (less advanced) technology to give them an advantage over Cassius ships.

Finally the two came across each other. Cassius underestimated Joseph's technology far too much, the cost being that it nearly killed him. But Cassius was far to strong still and soon overpowered him. Just before he went to strike the final blow he stopped, and instead offered Joseph his hand. Not as a servant, but as an equal, as one man might greet another man that he respects. Joseph approved and accepted the hand, becoming a mutual ally. They were not friends, and the feud would continue, fueling Joseph's study and design to new heights like that of which should not exist for many years to come. 

On that note, he decides to look like this. 

So... Am I a bad person yet?

I recently watched REC. I like that. Especially the freakyness at the end. And it got me thinking. 

"What if I found some images of anorexic people and put new heads on them? My style heads?"

"I dunno man, that sounds kind of offensive. People might not like you screwing with shit like anorexia."

And so it was decided amongst my self to do it. Photoshopped their heads off and threw some sketches in there. 2 made the cut. The next step is to colour them and make them look a little more like they belong in the picture. 

Another Abyssal mutant

Before you say it, yes this is heavily dead space themed. I had a couple of necromorphs in my bed and I was trying to learn a thing or two about their design and style. I though I have doused my fluffy white tail, I have emerged... Enlightened. 

A bit more of Widower fun

A color scheme for my darling widower on the iPad. 

Frontline

The Widower

The Widower is a result of illegal tampering with the abyssal virus, mainly blood from the Widow, hence it's name. 

Arzeus Black, a dark Mage and one of Cassius ten kings, was illegally experimenting on prisoners on Cassius space ship, using his magic and various strains of abyssal toxin. His aim was to try and recreate some the abyssal monsters that had evolved naturally into what they are, with mixed results. The subjects that got close to resembling a creature died quickly and the ones that survived either looked nor acted nothing like what they were supposed to or were simply brain dead, often both.

However, Arzeus came very close to successfully creating a Widow. It wasn't as smart or as strong and only loosely resembled one but it was alive and not brain dead, which was a success so far. The reconstructed Widow became his whole project, abandoning or putting on hold any other creatures that might lead to success and focusing on making the false Widow more Widow-like. He infused limbs taken from a real Widow into it, as opposed to human limbs, and used some of the real Widows royal venom to try and make it naturally 'heal' itself. 

Royal venom is the serum inside a special sac in the Widows head. It uses this venom on eggs (it's just deadly poison to any non-Widow, even other Arachnids) to create princess Arachnids, it's heir should the Widow die. If these princesses grow too large they will escape and make a new hive, lest their mother eat them for becoming a threat to her reign. 

The venom nearly killed the new creature but Arzeus saved it by forcing the fluids around its body and keeping electricity flowing to the brain using his magic. The energy coursing through the creatures body put its cells into over drive and the thing nearly popped in front of Arzeus right there, but after a moment it settled. The thing had forcibly created its own new limbs, organising them into a more symmetrical figure than any Widow. It had also doubled in size and was now the size and length of two school busses. 

He found that the creature, dubbed 'Widower', was driven mad with rage at the scent of Widow blood. It wasn't as smart as a true Widow but was stronger than Arzeus could have imagined and still had an intelligence many other abyssals lacked. It's venom was not like that of its cousin though. If infected by the Widower victims wold turn into an unstoppable juggernaught, whether they be human or animal or abyssal, it did not matter. The juggernaught would die a few days later. 

For a time Arzeus used this creature as a game attraction, forcing other prisoners to fight it for the entertainment of the crew, all the while Arzeus had full control over it thanks to a stunning piece of technology on the creatures head. 

But one of the more important prisoners, Cassius most dangerous enemy as it were, escaped and broke the sister device Arzeus kept at all times. He then freed as many prisoners as he could and then broke into the Good Doctors supply storage and stole a large amount of widow blood, spreading it about the ship. The Widower was driven into an uncontrollable rage at the omnipotent stench of Widow and broke out of its holdings, which was supposed to be nigh indestructible. 

The Widower raged about the ship, destroying everything and leaving very little survivors. The prisoners had taken almost all the escape pods, dooming the crew to a painful death at the hands of a raging monster or throwing themselves into deep space. The remaining shuttles were taken by Arzeus and any of the other high ranking men. 

The ship was still floating near its last achievement, a planet called Fiorisha, which they had infested with abyssal mutants that now all but controlled the planet. The ship began to fall and crashed on the planet leaving no survivors save for the Widower. It then started its hunt for food. 

The Widower is drawn to the scent of Widows, and began hunting them on Fiorisha. It is driven by the need to feed and reproduce, base instincts for most abyssal drones, but for the Widower it is more difficult than just finding humans. It will attack a Widow hive, turning the Arachnid drones into its own temporary juggernaughts, and taking the nest, eating what it will. It then infects the Widow. Instead of turning into a juggernaught, the Widow collapses and begins its transformation into a new Widower. Many of the drones collapse and die after a few days, giving the new Widower a rich first meal. The new Widower will then repeat what it's father did, hunting down other Widow nests and creating another Widower. The heads of the Widows it infects are taken and used to adorn its own head. A Widower with more skulls atop its crown has killed more Widows and you should stay well away from it. You should really stay well away from all of them actually. 

But that's not quite the end. The Widower venom in the princesses does not outright kill them. When the venom wears off the princesses will leave and make new nests as new Widows, giving the Widowers an ever replenishing food source. 

They are an apex predator of the abyssals, and will kill you if you get in their way, but won't hunt or give chase if you get far enough away. They are near impossible to kill but one of the easiest to avoid.  

The Wandering Victim

This here is called the Wandering victim. One of the sad survivors from Cassius scientist experimentations. They were trying to make a naturally armoured soldier by infusing him with crab genes, but the organs and tissue they were implanting were taking so long to adapt machines had to be installed to keep he subject alive. 

This meant no anaesthetic or pain relief, as that would screw around with the healing process and make in incomplete, temporary final product. 

The pain drove the subject insane but not before the strength from the genes kicked in. Emergency poison was injected to kill the creature but the crab DNA rejected it, though it did leave the arm severely swollen. 

The creature escaped and started its mindless search for food, more crab-like than human.

Mr Wilkinson

Mr. Wilkinson is the nickname for these creatures called The Abyssal Creta. They are silent and smart and will often watch you for hours figuring out how best to kill you. You will never know they're there unless you look for them. Once you've spotted them don't act like it. They're not that smart. A good shot to the head will knock hem off the wall or ceiling and allow you time to escape or finish it. 

They act almost like wraiths, using old blankets to conceal themselves in the shadows and making almost no noise. If they're not aware of you they'll make a faint chirping sound, like a cricket with a sore throat. 

The colour version was done on the iPad with sketchbook pro. Aw yea!

The Widow

Doctor Janiss was a scientist who specialised in venom and toxins from insects. She worked in the same complex and for the same man who funded the abyssal project and was one of the many who mutated into hideous abyssal variants when the abyssal virus broke out. 

Around the same time as the abyssal project, doctor Janiss was working on a similar project. She was using starfish geno to try and regrow limbs on a human. She had only got the serum to an experimental stage when the abyssal virus broke out, nevertheless she did what many other HODs did and trusted in her own experiments to save her life. The theory being if she was infected in say the arm to immediately sever it, where she would soon grow a new one. 

But the serum wasn't stable and the abyssal virus was too effective. Whilst for a time she remained uninfected, the starfish serum made her grow extra limbs of the one she removed, which was almost always her arm (as one raises their arms to defend one self). 

Eventually the virus caught her in the back, a spot she couldn't simply remove. The virus doubled the growth rate of limbs until doctor Janiss was made of almost nothing else. Her mind was lost to the virus, taking a backseat as the virus steered, slaughtering other survivors and creating a terrifying new breed of abyssal mutant. 

She developed the ability to turn certain elements within her victims into a stringy web-like substance, and she built herself a nest within a section of her warehouse, a tall room, taller than it was wide. Her brood would go and collect victims for her and she would eat what she could without killing them, then infect them and turn them. Others she stuck to the walls of her lair and laid eggs in their stomachs, which would hatch into small, grotesque looking creatures that guarded the nest and made for extra food if the doctor was in need. 

After all of this, she still remains one of the most intelligent mutants, difficult to kill, as they all are, and sadistically deadly. She was promptly named the widow by Cassius. His most effective use of her is allowing her to infest an old galactic cargo ship and crash landing it on a planets biggest city for maximum effect. 

All of the Abyssal Arachnids have excellent sight but poor hearing. So don't worry too much about crunching sticks, just try not to tickle her web and stay out of sight. 

Below are variations of the drones and workers the Widow creates. None will kill you and none are capable of actually infecting you. They are however equipped with a very potent tranquilliser so as to take you back to their queen alive where she will, well, as above. 

In this image the cheeks have split and allow the Arachnids head to open to a full 90' so as to fit even a whole hu,ans head in it. This works the same way as putting a towel over a fishes head, lost of sight the victim will struggle less, allowing for easier take downs. A venom sac has grown on the creatures neck and eyes have developed along the head under the cheek bone. The creature has lost it's binocular vision, now only capable of seeing sideways. 

The Space Kraken

Designed as a war ender. The anti spacecraft AI “Kraken” was only in plans for many decades after the war it was intended for came to an abrupt end.

The blueprints found their way into the hands of the lord of planet S’loaeus. He was renowned for having too much power and not enough sense.

The lords father had been scorned in the war and lost his life. The son, Lord Diagloi, decided to rekindle the war in an attempt to seize vengeance on several planets.

He began creating Krakens, employing separate companies around the globe to manufacture different pieces and assembling them on one of his moons.

He wanted 10. An armada that could easily plow its way through the galaxy and back. If he had succeeded in his venture it would have meant the end of inter planetary relations. Diagloi would have owned space itself.

Fortunately he was caught halfway through the construction of the fourth Kraken.

The Committee of Stars, the united leaders of the galaxy, had hired a group of well known mercenaries led by a fearsome man called Seridais. Claims had been made that the Seridais had made deals with the devil for power, but of course nothing could be proven.

Seridais and his mercenaries easily overpowered Diaglois and his troops, destroying all war related construction, including the near complete Krakens.

They captured Diaglois before any of the Krakens were made operational. He was promptly transported to the Committee and sentenced to life in Vlodrik prison.

Seridais recovered the blueprints to the Kraken, the only blueprints, and went rogue, becoming one of the most feared pirates in the galaxy.

When the Diechearion king came to power he employed Seridais as a privateer. Seridais’ spies quickly learned of the Kings head scientist and war engineer. A Fiorishian named Professor John T. Reasdou.

John was developing the EV2 for the King, the Kings own, land bound, super weapon.

Seridais approached John and offered to pay him handsomely to construct a weapon for him. He asked that if he supplied the blue prints how much would the Professor want.

Looking at the blueprints, Johns eyes lit up. He had heard rumors of this creation before. Seridais warned him not to keep any record of the blueprints or creation, for fear of his life. It was to be Seridais’ weapon alone.

            John offered to upgrade the mechanism for a higher pay. Seridais agreed.

            And so the professor began developing the Kraken, adding in extra pieces for efficiency, not recording any of it.

   He added a fully operational nano-med factory and weaved ‘chi’ through its armor making it near indestructible.

Finally it was complete. It had taken almost a year to create it. It was released in zero g and guided into a special harness in the rear of Seridais ship.

With the funds from the pirate, John was able to finish his long term project of the Primary Drones.

Lance the Assassins Angel

Lance is Cassius right hand man and Cassius only real friend, even if they don't talk about that. Lance is a cyborg as the result of a series of unfortunate events. 

He and his wife and two kids were tramping in the mountains (where exactly I'm not sure) when they stumbled upon a large fence in the middle of nowhere. A new looking fence. Complete with armed guards who took no time in dropping the family to sleep. 

Lance woke 6 years later in an unfamiliar place to unfamiliar face, and brimming with mechanical, technological advances. Cassius had released him. Lance tried to kill Cassius, believing him to be the one who attacked his family seemingly moments ago. Cassius explained that he had found Lance in a cryo pod in the merchant hold of a space pirate ship, captained by the notorious Captain Seridais. Cassius was on board pretending to be the captains new advisor (this was before he had started his reign of war) to scope him out as his apprentice. The captain was satans choice as Cassius new apprentice, but Cassius didn't approve of this choice. 

Cassius found the cargo hold and paper version of Lances bio. He liked the look of this guy, so he freed him. 

Together they ransacked the ship, as an affront to satan that if he wants Cassius he can't control him. That didn't sit too well with satan, but that comes later. 

Cassius wanted Lance as his apprentice, so, on Lances request, he took him back to earth to try and find his family. They went to the place were Lance was abducted only to find a burnt out old derelict building. Deep inside, underground, was a generator still running off solar energy. It powered projects that the scientist must've not wanted to short out in a power cut. One of the rooms held a series of tanks, mostly full of dead, half melted humans floating un unclean liquid. 

He found the corpse of his daughter in one tank near the end. Cassius just stood back and watched with interest. Something caught Lances attention from the far end of the row of tanks. A movement. It was a hideously deformed creature, still alive. It seemed that, without the scientists to oversee the mutations, the subject would just continue to mutate until it died. 

Lance checked the tag as the creature stared him down. It was his wife. As you can imagine this didn't go down well in his brain. 

It was then that the armed forces (who still owned the property) decided to show up and try to kill the intruders. Cassius stood by and watched as Lance released his mindless wife and helped her slaughter the soldiers. Once they were all dead, Lance executed her. They then left to find Lances other daughter, they tracked her down to the local orphanage to find she was safe and happy. 

Cassius persuaded Lance to join him in purging the universe of the scum. Now that Lance had nothing else to live for he agreed and, under Cassius tutelage, became one of the most dangerous characters in the galaxy. 

Aswell as his extensive advantages from his mechanical side, Lance became a skilled assassin and warrior, training with all of Cassius ten kings in some of the most advanced fighting styles and with the most advanced weaponry in the galaxy. He the beast of the land from revelations, that terrible beast that can call down fire and say Cassius name to the galaxy. 

The Voice

Remember those times when there's a distinct voice telling you to do something or not do something? That's these guys. They have the ability to speak in your mind and almost all creatures in the galaxy don't understand that, or don't even know they exist. They can move within a crowd without being noticed, despite being nearly 10ft tall. Occasionally when one is spotted he is mistake for the grim reaper. 

Due to their unique abilities, Cassius found the loyalty of a group of them who had been excommunicated from the home world. He uses them as spies or even assassins sometimes, and the one pictured below, at a magnificent 12.5ft, is one of his ten kings. 

The Dulachi

The Dulachi are a race of creatures that evolved from raptors several million years ago. They are advance at fighting, some of the most feared warriors in the galaxy, protected on their home planet of Gimca, the centre of the galaxy. They have been critical in fighting against many evil men, including the diechearion king and Cassius. 

Below is only a few of them.

General Mecha

General Mecha is on of the diechearion kings main leaders, and later one of Cassius ten kings. He is dangerously powerful and has the ability to transform himself into mechanical things, that is, reconfigure a car for example that he might merge with it to hide or pass through it harvest it for healing purposes. 

He commands an army of basic soldiers (the green dude) and mechanical diechearion, who work as a hive mind chained to Mechas will. Each have the ability to mechanically merge themselves with any machinery. 

Cassius the cursed assassin.

Cassius, the cursed assassin, is a cruel and dangerous creature. His story is long and sad. 

Cassius grew up an orphan on planet Sharnia, a planet that does not take kindly to weakness. Living on the streets in such a formidable environment forced Cassius to learn to survive by his own merits. He quickly learned that he could make enough money to live by killing other homeless people and selling whatever belongings (including their very flesh) to planetary travellers as souvineers or exotic delicacies. 

His first contract came from a drug peddler who witnessed one of his murders. Seeing how efficient and clean Cassius was gave the peddler the idea to use him as a debt collector and pay him next to nothing. Cassius killed him after he saw how much the man was making and how little he was receiving himself. 

This happened three more times in many cities, giving Cassius an advanced knowledge in many races languages and cultures, including religion. He didn't much care for gods and demons, but satan had other plans it seemed. 

Cassius eventually became a hired assassin, killing for money, no matter who the target or what the outcome. One day he took a job from an anonymous client to kill one of the most dangerous criminals on the planet. Cassius pulled it off with ease, pretending to be one of his victims. Cassius killed him in the same professional way that was his calling card. 

Cassius then pulled his blade on the creature standing in the shadows, he demanded why he had been asked to kill this man. The diechearion king threw him across the room and stepped from the shadows, announcing that it was a test, to which he had passed, and a mother, far more rewarding contract was in store for him. With the acceptance of the contract would come limitless power. The power of hell. 

Satan had made the king a demon lord general, which meant that the king could bestow upon mortals his own power. But the king overlooked something. He trusted satan too much. Satan was setting the king up for his downfall. 

And so after a time Cassius the cursed assassin betrayed the king, aiding his target in killing the king, then trying to kill the target also, but the target split Cassius in two and tossing him into the abyss of the burning ship they were on. But Cassius wasn't finished yet, he revived, fulfilling the prophecy in Revelations (bible) of the beast of the sea that was mortally wounded but survived. Satan was making Cassius the bringer of the apocalypse. 

That didn't sit right with Cassius. Not the bringer of the apocalypse bit, but the servant of satan bit. You see satan had ordered Cassius to take an apprentice, but when Cassius met the one who was to work under him, he saw a replacement should he ever turn away from satan. He saw an executioner should satan need him. So he refused. Satan grew angry with Cassius, so Cassius turned away from him and vowed to fight him until he couldn't anymore. 

And satan could do nothing to stop him, for, not being able to tell the future himself, he had overlooked something. A highly improbable situation. The kings demonic power, he not being originally demon, meant that satan had no control over the power that Cassius now wielded. And Cassius power was strong, capable of slaying demons and angels alike. 

Cassius started a war, not against the galaxy like the king had, but against spirituality. His theory was that the universe is so screwed up because the spiritual realm keep interfering. He sought to banish god and satan from the universe, back to heaven and hell, and leave the mortals to their own devices for a change. 

He believed that satan was a cruel, malicious creature who would take every opportunity to ruin the lives of mortals, so he had to leave, and that god was too just to do anything to fix the problems that satan was making. Evil people would be put in power and innocent would suffer and god would sit back and not help because if he broke previous promises he had made to the people he wouldn't be a just god anymore. And if he wasn't a just god he wasn't a worthy god. 

So Cassius stole the bag of souls from the reaper, aswell as the blade of the dead dark, the blade set aside for satan to use in the end war. Cassius old target took up the fight against him, with the blade of the ever light, the blade set aside for The Lord in the end war. Cassius also took the bag of souls from the reaper so that any who died with Cassius mark on them would not go to heaven or hell but to a place Cassius had set up for them, where they may be of use again and one day revived to aid him in the end war, of which he intended to participate. 

Cassius has the ability to control darkness, and has his own brand of dark magic that he imbues certain high ranking soldiers with. He can disappear at will and is the most dangerous tyrant the galaxy has yet known. His cruelty is so worse than any before him because Cassius truly believes what he is doing will have a better outcome. It's not just mindless destruction or an ego trip. He wants peace. Peace from the conflict of good and evil. 

Peace so he doesn't have to kill anymore.