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staino — Barbarian Hero

Published: 2014-01-16 20:46:45 +0000 UTC; Views: 6264; Favourites: 110; Downloads: 0
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Description Keir is strong, brutal, and intimidating. He’s a skilled warrior and I have encountered few braver. But he has one weakness, well in my opinion any way, despite his gruff disposition, Keir is a good man. True, it’s to my advantage to have a friend that’s honest and, for the most part, loyal. But In my line of work as a… ne'er-do-well rogue, Keir’s behavior can be rather maddening. Several times he’s endangered my operations so that he could indulge himself in defending the weak or to pick a fight with someone cruel, or even just a bit abusive. He’s hard to work with needless to say.

I used to wonder why my savage friend behaved this way, but Keir doesn’t talk much about himself. One knight after a successful job restoring a kidnapped girl to her wealthy father, the two of us sat drinking to our success at a local inn. We drank and we drank and finally I asked Keir why he behaved so… decently.  And much to my surprise he responded.

“There was a boy, who loved his father. They lived in the woods and the old man hunted and trapped to survive. He cured hides for sell. One day, men came, rough men from the mountains. They were interested in the furs and sought to take them without payment. The old man fought them, killed two of them with arrows, but they grabbed the boy.  He could not help his father.”

“They killed the father?” I asked.

“No. As I said he was old. His heart stopped. So the furs were taken and the boy was left.”
Keir’s features became soft, a distant look in his eyes. “That boy wasted his life with anger, seeking revenge…. Revenge that in the end he never found.”

“I’m sorry Keir. You can’t blame yourself. There’s nothing you could have done. Your father had a weak heart and you were just a child.” My words felt feeble.

“No, you misunderstand me. I was one of the men from the mountains.”

Keir stood, paid for his drinks and stumbled off to sleep in the stables.  We never spoke of it again.
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Comments: 61

staino In reply to ??? [2016-06-14 13:11:40 +0000 UTC]

Thanks! I appreciate the compliment.

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Spacegryphon [2014-10-20 22:27:44 +0000 UTC]

Hyborean Age Walter White!

"I am the one who chops (heads off)!

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staino In reply to Spacegryphon [2014-10-23 23:06:07 +0000 UTC]

Hmmm, a terminally ill tribesman starts out doing some naughty things to set his family right at the end of his life then eventually desegregates onto a full on barbarian monster..... I dunno could work.

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Spacegryphon In reply to staino [2014-10-28 14:05:33 +0000 UTC]

Don't forget the mighty black wizard, who threatens the barbarian's family, gets his face ripped off by the hero!

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staino In reply to Spacegryphon [2014-10-30 23:48:29 +0000 UTC]

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inkeverlasting [2014-02-08 16:26:11 +0000 UTC]

Background story is excellent, as usual. As for the drawing, I particularly like the chest scar detail and the shackle round an ankle. There are stories there!

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staino In reply to inkeverlasting [2014-02-09 04:02:41 +0000 UTC]

Wow, Thanks! This guy is a walking history of violence. His skin evidence of his adventures. I added the shackle to let you know this guy is never far from trouble. I'm happy you noticed!

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Keydan [2014-02-01 21:40:59 +0000 UTC]

I had a char who literary looked like this, but had a belly. Parody on barbarians, Bloodsteel Gorevenger

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staino In reply to Keydan [2014-02-02 02:00:54 +0000 UTC]

Bloodsteel Gorevenger!
Sounds cool! My goof-ball barbarian is Dribblegurn Bloodurge.

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devduck01 [2014-01-25 17:37:28 +0000 UTC]

As a folically challenged person myself...I approve of the virile and powerful depiction here...damn if it aint like looking in a mirror...with my glasses off

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staino In reply to devduck01 [2014-01-27 18:11:58 +0000 UTC]

Ha!
Thanks for taking the time to look at my drawing and for commenting. I'm happy to be the chapion of the follicly challenge.

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caesar120 [2014-01-23 16:30:18 +0000 UTC]

Well, Blaine, this character carries all the usual trademarks of Coolness I've come to expect from your characterizations...including the back-story! But..."...men of the mountains"? I am left with the impression that this guy's nads are more than a wee bit chilled. *shrug* Just a guy thing.

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staino In reply to caesar120 [2014-01-23 17:51:02 +0000 UTC]

Yes, my barbarian wears a loincloth that leaves things free and easy. Is this guy showing a lot of skin? Is his outfit impractical for a cold mountain lifestyle? You have to have a motivation to steal someones collection of cured beaver pelts. 
And hay, I'm known for drawing a certain kind of lady. Well, knowing you, a six foot Valkyrie warrior maiden in scanty armor with a cleavage you could ski down. It's only fair mate, I draw a bloke in his fur lined skivvies.

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caesar120 In reply to staino [2014-01-23 20:14:23 +0000 UTC]

Well...fair is fair.

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NennaFox [2014-01-19 11:34:09 +0000 UTC]

yay! More Staino work <3  Nice as always. Love all the small details.

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staino In reply to NennaFox [2014-01-19 14:30:13 +0000 UTC]

Wow, thanks!

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Nefermeritaset [2014-01-19 07:52:15 +0000 UTC]

Good story, and great picture ! I love all the fur ! Are they the furs they took from the old man ?

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staino In reply to Nefermeritaset [2014-01-19 14:29:41 +0000 UTC]

Thanks!
They are not the furs he took from the old man. Too many bad memories. They are a new set.

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Nefermeritaset In reply to staino [2014-01-19 15:40:00 +0000 UTC]

Much better this way.

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Treyos [2014-01-19 03:18:36 +0000 UTC]

Nice twist on the usual tale cliche.  As for the drawing... well, looks pretty good, but the dude needs some pants.  Makes me cold just looking at him.

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staino In reply to Treyos [2014-01-19 05:07:13 +0000 UTC]

Yeah, it's a problem. When the wind blows just right you can see stuff. (shivers) Eeeew!

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Treyos In reply to staino [2014-01-20 01:09:23 +0000 UTC]

What has been seen cannot be unseen!

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Harkon72 [2014-01-19 02:35:30 +0000 UTC]

Looking great!

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staino In reply to Harkon72 [2014-01-19 05:14:36 +0000 UTC]

Hay, Thank you!

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KTHunter [2014-01-18 20:06:18 +0000 UTC]

Another great pic.  Love the story.

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staino In reply to KTHunter [2014-01-19 05:16:13 +0000 UTC]

Glad you like the story!
And thanks for the Fav.
Opps! I did it again.

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CrystalSabre [2014-01-18 18:51:05 +0000 UTC]

Interesting story.  He wanted to atone for what he was a part of.

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staino In reply to CrystalSabre [2014-01-19 05:21:01 +0000 UTC]

Yes, I think that sums up his motivation. How could he ever give back what he had taken?
I must admit, most af my male charaters are a bit self-loathing. Just like me. Yay, for me! ahem...

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CrystalSabre In reply to staino [2014-01-20 18:28:08 +0000 UTC]

Surely, you're not like that?!

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staino In reply to CrystalSabre [2014-01-22 19:08:02 +0000 UTC]

Well, a little.

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CrystalSabre In reply to staino [2014-01-25 19:24:39 +0000 UTC]

I guess I am a little, too, then.

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NonieR [2014-01-18 06:37:27 +0000 UTC]

I hate to ask, but are you a fan of Sir Terry Pratchett's Cohen the Barbarian?

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staino In reply to NonieR [2014-01-18 07:22:35 +0000 UTC]

No, never read of it.

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NonieR In reply to staino [2014-01-19 05:42:31 +0000 UTC]

Cohen the Barbarian.... Well, Pratchett riffed on just what yer usual Barbarian Hero would be like when the guy's been around for eighty years or so; after all, what could possibly kill him? Cohen's still got the unbreakable will and unbeatable skills, but, um, fewer teeth and a tendency toward hemorrhoids. He still conquers empires; he still gets the girls (even if they have to help him with his charleyhorse once or twice); he still leads the Golden Horde--okay, the Silver Horde nowadays. You get the idea.

But--and this is why I love Pratchett so much--Cohen *isn't* just a spoof; he's also the real thing.

--Nonie

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staino In reply to NonieR [2014-01-19 05:58:23 +0000 UTC]

Heheh cool.
After you mentioned Cohen I asked my buddy Aaron, he's a real Pratchett fan. Gave me a bit af an education on the character. Yeah, my guy resembles does Cohen a great deal, only my barbarian is a few years younger. Give him time he will have the hemorrhoids eventually.
Thanks much for letting me know about this guy.

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SongsOfBeitar [2014-01-17 10:27:25 +0000 UTC]

For my opinion, read previous comments. Yes, including the ones about his mustache.

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staino In reply to SongsOfBeitar [2014-01-17 17:06:40 +0000 UTC]

I see!
Well, thanks for stopping by and for checking out my drawing.

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MensjeDeZeemeermin [2014-01-17 02:46:11 +0000 UTC]

Great details, and the art does a wonderful job with the text of making a vivid, fascinating character believable and interesting.  Quite a bit more here than the usual, except from you.

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staino In reply to MensjeDeZeemeermin [2014-01-17 03:01:48 +0000 UTC]

Thank you for the thoughtful comment.

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Arteaus [2014-01-17 00:30:39 +0000 UTC]

All of my feels have been exploded. You win sir. You win.

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staino In reply to Arteaus [2014-01-17 01:46:59 +0000 UTC]

I'm glad to have had an effect. I feel like I'm banging my head against the wall artistically this week and I does me good to know, as you put it, that you "all of your feels have been exploded". I'm absolutely out of ideas. A drawing of a bald barbarian with a mustache and the story about his self-loathing drive to help the downtrodden was all I could come up with. This is what it must have felt like for Stan Lee when he came up with Striparilla.

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Arteaus In reply to staino [2014-01-17 16:42:38 +0000 UTC]

You know me. I always enjoy when someone takes a normal artistic convention and turns it on its head. As for the philosophical and metaphysical implications of the characterization of the heroin "Striparella" I...I'm just making stuff up and using big words at this point. I got nothin'.

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staino In reply to Arteaus [2014-01-18 07:57:03 +0000 UTC]

Hay, even when you got nothin' it still makes me smile.
Congrats on the engagement. Oh, ye who is soon to be a son-in law!

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Arteaus In reply to staino [2014-01-20 01:32:51 +0000 UTC]

Well thank you my ser. That's very good of you.

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Armstrong7 [2014-01-16 23:23:17 +0000 UTC]

Backstory with a twist! Nice read to go with your excellent picture.

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staino In reply to Armstrong7 [2014-01-16 23:28:37 +0000 UTC]

So nice of you to say! I appreciate your compliment. Thanks.

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Nicolaas-G [2014-01-16 22:44:56 +0000 UTC]

That is one mighty fine barbarian with one mighty fine moustache! Love the ax too and really awesome details. One question though if I may...there seems to be a shackle around his one ankle...how does he take his Jean Paul Gaultier design sandals off to wash his feet...now everyone knows that barbarians might not groom too often but they are quite partial to the washing of feet since that incident in 754....the one no one talks about (prolly coz they drank and drank too and no one remembers...the one that included the copz)

Love the story that you brought to life with this. Absolutely amazing work both counts...you had me in that smokey inn with them listening to the idle banter, the clinking of tankards and goblets, the bloke snoring it off under one of the tables and all the while thinking and wondering if the rich bloke's daughter was a blonde or brunette or if only one might hope...a red head...and eating cookies

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staino In reply to Nicolaas-G [2014-01-16 23:18:32 +0000 UTC]


Oh, yeah that thing on his ankle. I forgot to take that off. He's a free man now. Woops, sorry.
The boots are designed by a Hyborian age cobbler named "Gizzic the Nimble". Does mighty fine work considering he doesn't have any thumbs.
Sigh... The daughter was blond, busty, and and of age. O.K. are you satisfied?

Oh, and excellent description of the patron filled inn.

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Nicolaas-G In reply to staino [2014-01-16 23:45:13 +0000 UTC]

It's all good I've been a fan of the Hyborian age since I got my hands on my first Conan comic back in the late 80's and then all the books followed, I absorbed them...breathed them in like the freshest air...time to take them out of their dust covers and read them again...:Aww:

Gizzic is truly masterful! I'd order a pair but for the postage and the postal service not ever delivering things here...we think monkeys might be involved and such a fine pair of footwear should not be sent via mail like that...one should sit and have a tankard of mead and have them custom fitted with a wench on one's lap and a joint of fine roasted meat in the other hand listening to bards and minstrels murdering an ode to someone and waiting for the first fight of the night to break out...now that's how one gets a fine pair of boots...the old fashioned way...from someone with the same size foot lying passed out on the floor and whilst you're at it you might relieve afore mentioned personage of any other valuables for later use in more mead, ale, meats and wenches Now that is the life


Sadly no, I'm partial to red heads, fiery hair, fiery temper, smallish of bust and large of adventuring appetites...it's no small wonder they gave her back for the cash instead of selling her to some Kalamshite merchant for double that


Spent many a happy hour in inns like that  

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staino In reply to Nicolaas-G [2014-01-18 07:41:08 +0000 UTC]


Um... (speechless).  

Well, O.K. I'm the writer... so she is a pretty read-head, lean and built for speed. Independent, intelligent, and headstrong. Don't know how the bad-guys caught her. Her freckes lowered her value on the secondary marked so they were forced to ransom her back to her father. The price, a cocoanut tree. A rare coconut tree that, is, um rare, and stuff.
Ah, crap. I have nothing.

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