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!