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Description

(You may need to zoom into the artwork to get the full quality out of it)

When the Chosen Demigod Lansius succumbed to the curse, he acquired the legendary weapons and attempted to burrow into the Bellow through the chest bone (petrabone) of the Throne, presumably to reach the Sun imprisoned within. But no matter where or how he burrowed, the deeper layers proved too durable. Eventually repelled by the great mechanical beast, Horu-Ka, he instead headed upwards to the Vault, where he tried to rob the key from the Vaultkeeper; he failed and died. Regardless, many valiant Demigods also died trying to stop him.

Lansius’ actions remain a mystery to the surviving Demigods. All they knew was that it somehow involved the Sun.

After the Conflicts of Ordnance, the many deep tunnels and canyons Lansius left behind were titled “the Opens'' by mortals; a quite literal nickname, for he exposed so much of the chest bone. The exposure of rich marrow from the chest bone’s many holes allowed plant life (which mortals had brought over from the Garden) to rapidly settle, and in as little as a century, enormous lush fields and rivers dominated the Opens. Mortals often mistake the Opens’ name to be a reference to its vast greenery. But those who have known the Opens before the Conflicts of Ordnance have known it by its true name: the Midlands. And perhaps (very debatably, actually) no one holds that knowledge better than its fabled (but also quite real) warriors, Skenja and Elder Ranpu: mythic residents who've occupied these lands long before the conflicts began.

For eons, they've only been considered a duo. As of recently, however, quite a party has formed...

Members of the bunch:

Skenja: A Young Demigoddess as iconic as the Midlands themselves, although her current form is merely a modification of her true form. Originally, she was just a mindless object: an ever-stretching scroll of paper - impossibly thin, and impossibly sharp. It was the mysterious craftmanship of the first ever Chosen Demigod that brought her to life.

As a legendary weaponsmith, Skenja contributed vigorous efforts during the Sun War. But despite her efforts, she was notably weaker than her Young Demigod brethren. This led some of them to mock her for this, and they made Skenja feel like she was an embarrassment: a scrap of paper that wasn’t deserving of being called a Demigoddess.

Even though there were many Demigods who cared deeply for Skenja, she became too obsessed with those that insulted her, and craved to prove them wrong.

And so, she began folding herself: a technique she discovered that would increase her strength.

Each fold halved her size, but made her twice as strong; her strikes became more potent with each compression. Another fold to double that power further. Then another, and another, until she had folded herself some hundred times over. She now possessed the strength to slash straight through mountains.

But so many folds had shrunk her into a diminutive size. No longer was she an enormous, ever-stretching piece of paper. Now, she was the same height as a puny mortal. But that size difference gave Skenja a whole new perspective on life.

Demigods tend to be colossal beings, so the mortals were shocked to witness Skenja at their height. They were intrigued, yet warmly welcoming and kind. An entertaining banter followed between them, and Skenja concluded she felt more at home amongst the mortals' little villages than her own Demigod brethren.

Soon, she stopped caring about the Demigods that bullied her. The mortals were her brethren now.

Fortunately, Skenja’s absence had also made the Demigods stop caring about her too, and so they stopped harassing her - all but one: Manekitami, her sister. Still intent on bullying Skenja, Manekitami delights in tormenting mortals solely for the purpose of infuriating her, going many lengths to remain her target of ire.

As of currently, however, Manekitami seems to have disappeared from the Midlands…

Elder Ranpu: Famously titled as the Ceramic Samurai (as well as other obscure names), Elder Ranpu is a legendary Midlandry figure. He is one of the oldest beings in the Foundation, having retained vague memories of his days during the Sun War. But unfortunately, he has forgotten most of it. After all, Elder Ranpu isn’t a Demigod, but an Ageless Mortal: he still suffers from some senescence.

Despite his bottomless senescence, Elder Ranpu’s inner flame still burns as bright as the day he first picked up the blade. With his “unrivaled sword-fighting technique”, he has remained nigh-impossible for anyone to kill. But he will never attack out of malice - only to defend with good reason. Elder Ranpu is very valiant, and aims to save the lives of those who do good and lack strength.

Though stories may paint him as a wise and intelligent hero, he’s actually kind of dumb. His words are often hilariously unthoughtful, and he sometimes gets a little bit too cheerfully overconfident. He makes up for it with positive force, but sometimes it just looks like he’s showing off. All things considered, he means no harm.

Lune: A young nun from a Solvum village that was ambushed by Clade Assassins, leaving Lune as the sole survivor. Elder Ranpu took full blame for having affiliations with the village, and has now taken Lune under his wing, who he now accompanies with Skenja.

Lune is incredibly patient, thoughtful, intelligent, and kind. But her frailty and gentleness is a weakness that concerns both Elder Ranpu and Skenja, who don’t necessarily agree with what to do about it. While Elder Ranpu encourages her to pick up some defensive moves, Skenja is absolutely hesitant about it and has created an entire pocket world for Lune to safely retreat into when outside dangers are present. Skenja keeps this pocketed “painted world” nestled within her papercraft body.

While Lune does indeed feel safe in the painted world, she often feels unproud knowing that she is defenseless. One day, she’ll pick up a weapon, and prove to Skenja that she really can possess power. But, alas, until that day comes…

Zhugami & Zhumeshi: Skenja didn’t just create the painted world by herself. For the painted world to truly function, it needed many hands. Thus, Skenja constructed two servants that would help in its creation: Zhugami and Zhumeshi, who currently reside within it.

Zhugami is a living bundle of lineart. Almost amorphous when in movement, she is extremely anxious and has a very bad habit of tightly hugging and wrapping her entire body onto walls, corners, concaves, and occasionally Lune (usually by accident) from hearing the faintest noises. Sometimes, she will even do it without any provocation. Skenja specifically designed Zhugami this way so that she would continually hug and apply pressure onto the weaker points of the painted world, strengthening its structures and improving maintenance.

In contrast, Zhumeshi is a slouchy, grumpy blob of ink. He regularly smokes from his ink pipe, and occasionally uses it to blend the dense, black ink into spectrums of colors that become new additions to the painted world. His role in the painted world is to simply expand its structure, and Skenja designed him in a way so that he enjoys doing it - so much to the point that he becomes infuriated with anyone interrupting his “work”.

Both Zhugami and Zhumeshi are perfectly capable of leaving the painted world. But Zhugami is too scared, and Zhumeshi is too unbothered. Thankfully, they are good friends with Lune, and have had more than a few conversations with her.

Horuka: The only character not shown in this artwork. Horuka is the literal combination of two unfortunate souls, Horu and Ka, along countless thousands of other souls entrapped in a legendary draconic machine that was designed to slay the Demigoddess Manekitami. But things took a different turn when Manekitami outsmarted it by diverting its attention into battling a corrupted Lansius. Were it not for the intervention of Elder Ranpu, the now-singular entity known as Horuka would have caused a devastating rampage across the Foundation. As of current times, Horuka often visits Elder Ranpu time after time, but is usually spending his days basking in the clouds, far beyond the visibility of settlements below.

Random Fun Facts:

- Skenja's name is literally just Sketch and Ninja combined.

- Ranpu means lamp in Japanese.

- Although Lune can fly, she is better at gliding.

- Zhugami's name is a mispronunciation of "tsukami", meaning "grasp" in Japanese.
- If you thought cubism/minimalism was the main inspiration for Zhugami, you're (partially) wrong. The main inspo was Neon Noodle.

- Zhumeshi's name is a very slight mispronunciation of "sumi-e", which is a kind of ink painting.

Description

(You may need to zoom into the artwork to get the full quality out of it)

When the Chosen Demigod Lansius succumbed to the curse, he acquired the legendary weapons and attempted to burrow into the Bellow through the chest bone (petrabone) of the Throne, presumably to reach the Sun imprisoned within. But no matter where or how he burrowed, the deeper layers proved too durable. Eventually repelled by the great mechanical beast, Horu-Ka, he instead headed upwards to the Vault, where he tried to rob the key from the Vaultkeeper; he failed and died. Regardless, many valiant Demigods also died trying to stop him.

Lansius’ actions remain a mystery to the surviving Demigods. All they knew was that it somehow involved the Sun.

After the Conflicts of Ordnance, the many deep tunnels and canyons Lansius left behind were titled “the Opens'' by mortals; a quite literal nickname, for he exposed so much of the chest bone. The exposure of rich marrow from the chest bone’s many holes allowed plant life (which mortals had brought over from the Garden) to rapidly settle, and in as little as a century, enormous lush fields and rivers dominated the Opens. Mortals often mistake the Opens’ name to be a reference to its vast greenery. But those who have known the Opens before the Conflicts of Ordnance have known it by its true name: the Midlands. And perhaps (very debatably, actually) no one holds that knowledge better than its fabled (but also quite real) warriors, Skenja and Elder Ranpu: mythic residents who've occupied these lands long before the conflicts began.

For eons, they've only been considered a duo. As of recently, however, quite a party has formed...

Members of the bunch:

Skenja: A Young Demigoddess as iconic as the Midlands themselves, although her current form is merely a modification of her true form. Originally, she was just a mindless object: an ever-stretching scroll of paper - impossibly thin, and impossibly sharp. It was the mysterious craftmanship of the first ever Chosen Demigod that brought her to life.

As a legendary weaponsmith, Skenja contributed vigorous efforts during the Sun War. But despite her efforts, she was notably weaker than her Young Demigod brethren. This led some of them to mock her for this, and they made Skenja feel like she was an embarrassment: a scrap of paper that wasn’t deserving of being called a Demigoddess.

Even though there were many Demigods who cared deeply for Skenja, she became too obsessed with those that insulted her, and craved to prove them wrong.

And so, she began folding herself: a technique she discovered that would increase her strength.

Each fold halved her size, but made her twice as strong; her strikes became more potent with each compression. Another fold to double that power further. Then another, and another, until she had folded herself some hundred times over. She now possessed the strength to slash straight through mountains.

But so many folds had shrunk her into a diminutive size. No longer was she an enormous, ever-stretching piece of paper. Now, she was the same height as a puny mortal. But that size difference gave Skenja a whole new perspective on life.

Demigods tend to be colossal beings, so the mortals were shocked to witness Skenja at their height. They were intrigued, yet warmly welcoming and kind. An entertaining banter followed between them, and Skenja concluded she felt more at home amongst the mortals' little villages than her own Demigod brethren.

Soon, she stopped caring about the Demigods that bullied her. The mortals were her brethren now.

Fortunately, Skenja’s absence had also made the Demigods stop caring about her too, and so they stopped harassing her - all but one: Manekitami, her sister. Still intent on bullying Skenja, Manekitami delights in tormenting mortals solely for the purpose of infuriating her, going many lengths to remain her target of ire.

As of currently, however, Manekitami seems to have disappeared from the Midlands…

Elder Ranpu: Famously titled as the Ceramic Samurai (as well as other obscure names), Elder Ranpu is a legendary Midlandry figure. He is one of the oldest beings in the Foundation, having retained vague memories of his days during the Sun War. But unfortunately, he has forgotten most of it. After all, Elder Ranpu isn’t a Demigod, but an Ageless Mortal: he still suffers from some senescence.

Despite his bottomless senescence, Elder Ranpu’s inner flame still burns as bright as the day he first picked up the blade. With his “unrivaled sword-fighting technique”, he has remained nigh-impossible for anyone to kill. But he will never attack out of malice - only to defend with good reason. Elder Ranpu is very valiant, and aims to save the lives of those who do good and lack strength.

Though stories may paint him as a wise and intelligent hero, he’s actually kind of dumb. His words are often hilariously unthoughtful, and he sometimes gets a little bit too cheerfully overconfident. He makes up for it with positive force, but sometimes it just looks like he’s showing off. All things considered, he means no harm.

Lune: A young nun from a Solvum village that was ambushed by Clade Assassins, leaving Lune as the sole survivor. Elder Ranpu took full blame for having affiliations with the village, and has now taken Lune under his wing, who he now accompanies with Skenja.

Lune is incredibly patient, thoughtful, intelligent, and kind. But her frailty and gentleness is a weakness that concerns both Elder Ranpu and Skenja, who don’t necessarily agree with what to do about it. While Elder Ranpu encourages her to pick up some defensive moves, Skenja is absolutely hesitant about it and has created an entire pocket world for Lune to safely retreat into when outside dangers are present. Skenja keeps this pocketed “painted world” nestled within her papercraft body.

While Lune does indeed feel safe in the painted world, she often feels unproud knowing that she is defenseless. One day, she’ll pick up a weapon, and prove to Skenja that she really can possess power. But, alas, until that day comes…

Zhugami & Zhumeshi: Skenja didn’t just create the painted world by herself. For the painted world to truly function, it needed many hands. Thus, Skenja constructed two servants that would help in its creation: Zhugami and Zhumeshi, who currently reside within it.

Zhugami is a living bundle of lineart. Almost amorphous when in movement, she is extremely anxious and has a very bad habit of tightly hugging and wrapping her entire body onto walls, corners, concaves, and occasionally Lune (usually by accident) from hearing the faintest noises. Sometimes, she will even do it without any provocation. Skenja specifically designed Zhugami this way so that she would continually hug and apply pressure onto the weaker points of the painted world, strengthening its structures and improving maintenance.

In contrast, Zhumeshi is a slouchy, grumpy blob of ink. He regularly smokes from his ink pipe, and occasionally uses it to blend the dense, black ink into spectrums of colors that become new additions to the painted world. His role in the painted world is to simply expand its structure, and Skenja designed him in a way so that he enjoys doing it - so much to the point that he becomes infuriated with anyone interrupting his “work”.

Both Zhugami and Zhumeshi are perfectly capable of leaving the painted world. But Zhugami is too scared, and Zhumeshi is too unbothered. Thankfully, they are good friends with Lune, and have had more than a few conversations with her.

Horuka: The only character not shown in this artwork. Horuka is the literal combination of two unfortunate souls, Horu and Ka, along countless thousands of other souls entrapped in a legendary draconic machine that was designed to slay the Demigoddess Manekitami. But things took a different turn when Manekitami outsmarted it by diverting its attention into battling a corrupted Lansius. Were it not for the intervention of Elder Ranpu, the now-singular entity known as Horuka would have caused a devastating rampage across the Foundation. As of current times, Horuka often visits Elder Ranpu time after time, but is usually spending his days basking in the clouds, far beyond the visibility of settlements below.

Random Fun Facts:

- Skenja's name is literally just Sketch and Ninja combined.

- Ranpu means lamp in Japanese.

- Although Lune can fly, she is better at gliding.

- Zhugami's name is a mispronunciation of "tsukami", meaning "grasp" in Japanese.
- If you thought cubism/minimalism was the main inspiration for Zhugami, you're (partially) wrong. The main inspo was Neon Noodle.

- Zhumeshi's name is a very slight mispronunciation of "sumi-e", which is a kind of ink painting.