#25 - J. Robert Oppenheimer - Black MagePhysicist, Political Activist, And Father Of The Atomic Bomb,

#25 - J. Robert Oppenheimer - Black Mage Physicist, political activist, and father of the atomic bomb, J. Robert Oppenheimer has become a kind of modern Faust figure. Though he participated in the construction of the most destructive weapon ever used in war, Mr. Oppenheimer felt that the proliferation of nuclear weapons could be prevented by the United Nations; in fact, he believed that he could control where his invention went next, and who used it. As many inventors have found, there simply is no way to put the genie back in the bottle. Black Mages tend to be the go-to damage class in RPGs, using elemental affinities and raw strength of stats to nuke enemies from afar. In general, the Black Mage can be seen as an equivalent to the Sorceror or Wizard, but much more straightforward in its approach to dealing damage. Given the way Mr. Oppenheimer’s research was applied, and his own ecclectic and often unsubtle means of expressing himself, I felt a Black Mage would be appropriate for him.

04 of 05 - Modern Compendium: Deity Family, Part 1 - Deity Cupid

Surprise, two Deities in one month! Blame February for being so packed with interesting stories. ^^

The god of desire and affection, Cupid’s modern interpretation is both surprisingly close to and far from his ancient sources. The ancient Romans saw him as their own version of the Greek Eros, son of the goddess of love, a troublesome young man whose only weakness was his own love-inducing arrows. As Christianity replaced the Roman pantheon, Cupid was re-interpreted as being symbolic of both heavenly and earthly love, a niche he occupied even as Renaissance painters transformed him from a lithe young man to a chubby, rosy-cheeked baby. 

Cupid entered the modern mythological lexicon as the embodiment of Valentine’s Day. There is a legend that Saint Valentine, who was a bishop in pre-Christian Rome, would wear an amethyst ring engraved with Cupid; a message to Christian couples that he was a priest and could marry them without arousing Roman suspicion. 

Thanks to this association, Cupid survived the destruction of the Roman pantheon and entered modern cultural mythology. All of this works out quite well for Cupid; he’s more or less lucked into one of the most powerful families in the Compendium. If nothing else, this disturbingly chubby man-baby would have access to powerful Charm-based status effects and a signature attack in Cupid’s Arrow.

For more info on this and every other demon in the Modern Compendium, have a look at our big honkin’ Data File, right over (here).

04 of 05 - Modern Compendium: Kishin Family, Part 2 - Femme Sigewif

Woo. Okay, this demon would’ve been done a week ago, but I’ve got a thing about bees. The first design, which was more, er, bee-centric never got finished. Because of reasons. >_>

But anyway! Sigewif is actually one of the older figures in the Modern Compendium, being derived from the Valkyries of old Norse mythology. The Sigewif is mentioned in numerous Old World poems, used as charms by beekeepers of a certain mindset. These charms were usually intended to keep bees from swarming, the lyrics themselves being pleas for the calming of the Sigewif, a name which translates directly to “victory-women.”

Although the Sigewif is not a particularly well-known figure in modern mythologies, I’m afraid this is another rule of cool positioning; the idea of a Bee Valkyrie is just too awesome to avoid. Even for me. So the Sigewif ends up near the top of the Femme family, wielding a few powerful and useful physical attack skills.

For more info on this and every other demon in the Modern Compendium, have a look at our extensive and nearly bee-less Data File, right over (here).

#28 - Peter Jennings - Scout I have a definite soft spot for Peter Jennings. When I was a kid, he was my Edward R. Murrow, the epitome of respect, trustworthiness, and class. In many ways, seeing him doing the news every night really kindled my interest in history, politics, and current events. As a reporter, Mr. Jennings was a pretty impressive guy; a high school dropout, he rose through the ranks to become one of the big three newscasters of the 1980s and 90s. Personally, though, I think the best work Mr. Jennings did was as a foreign correspondent. He cut a dashing figure in a tan vest, and his utter unflinchability was amazing. Its this skill in unfamiliar terrain that led me to cast Mr. Jennings in the role of Scout. Though more common to Real-Time Strategy than RPGs, the Scout tends to be a fast, frail character, sort of a midpoint between the Ranger and the Rogue, and often uses terrain-based skills.

This blog still gets followers every now and then, so I thought I'd start crossposting my art blog so that there's actually something here. :P

Modern Compendium: Deity Family, Part 1

The yearlong Compendium is off to a running start, and we’re ready to introduce the second family we’ll be completing in 2015; Deities! 

The Deity family of demons is made up of mythological figures that represent western holidays; we started off with Father Christmas around this time last year. These demons are fascinating to me because people don’t really think about where holiday traditions come from, even though some of the deeply ingrained cultural rituals we have are downright weird. 

February actually has a couple of interesting holidays knocking around in it, so this month will be full of surprises. Keep your eyes open!

Thank You!

Now that the 30 characters challenge is over, I find I've got a surplus of artistic ambition. Which is awesome, 'cos that's the whole reason I started doing it in the first place!

At any rate, I'm going to try to do a theme every month from now on, but since this blog was only meant to archive work from the 30 characters challenge, I thought it'd be a good idea to start a new one. So if you're interested in the further adventures of "stick it in a blender and art what comes out," take a wander over to http://thematicconversion.tumblr.com/ and enjoy. ^^

Also, I'd like to thank everyone who followed/liked/reblogged/threw kittens at my artistic fumblings this month. You're all awesome. :D