Lost in the mountainous wilderness, the party spies a black dome not too far away, perched near the cliff edge of a deep trench. It is a large building with a stone frill around it. Oval and long in shape, it is made of obsidian, with the front 40′ smooth but the rest of its 200′ length covered in a latticework of chevrons, also of obsidian, that point towards the other end.
Read the rest of this entry »Ocran: Illustrated
Once a barbaric race of conqueors, the Orcans rampaged across the oceans of Elqua. Under the banner of the First Khan, the Cetacean Hordes invaded territories of the other races frequently and viciously.
Eventually the Khanate fell, due to the resistance of the other races and an internal change of philosophy of the Cetacean people. A schism formed between those that saw the Khanate’s effect on the waters around them and rejected that dogma, and those that clung to the old ways. This conflict of ideologies resulted in a split in the Cetacean populous, with the adherents of the old traditions embarking on a mass exodus form the Cetacean Ocean. Those that embraced the new ideals became the Orcans, while those that left eventually settled in the southern hemisphere and became the Narwahl.
Female Orcan and Male Orcan, by Naiche Washburn
The divergent Narwahl have lost their black and white coloration since those ancient times, while the Orcans lost their tusk. Naiche’s interpretation here is of a neutral, common denominator form: simply color in the traditional killer whale pattern and they are Orcans, or pencil in a snaggletooth to present Narwahl.
We’re only a third of the way through the portairs of the playable character races in the Endless Blue. Come back throughout the month of March to see more!
The Ice Cleavers
Funded by the Liga Synarr and using the Pecuniary Stream to aid transport, the Ice Cleavers calve great swaths from fee floating icebergs and bring the cut ice to cities to use. Mostly for refrigeration of food, the massive blocks of ice helped retard the decaying process that denaturing food accelerates.
The Original ice cleavers were cetaceans during the age of the Cetacean Hordes. Ice was a sign of the Khanate’s power over the environment. One of the Khanate’s accomplishment with their icy monopoly were the ice lenses. These were immense sheets of ice anchored over populated areas. The transparent ice would act like a lens and focus what little light penetrated the depth on the settlement below. These halo-like cones of light would also serve as beacons for travelers in the midnight dark of the Shelf.
Now there are two divisions of the ice cleavers: the northern group of Orcans, and a southern group of Narwahl. Both carve away at the polar ice caps and drag their prizes back to society. Specially designed pole-arms with a serrated edge and sturdy hook are the tool of the trade. to cut the ice free, then pitoned netting and rope would be used to pull the ice into the Pecuniary Stream. Since the stream originates north of the Tropic of Cetacean, it carries the cold arctic water southward, helping to keep the cut ice from dwindling away through melting.
There are rumors from the southern group that, after a particularly deep excavation into the antarctic ice cap, they spotted something frozen even deeper in the ancient ice. Something immense. Something dense. Something intact…
Rumors are also coming from the north. They, too, have found something in the ice, at least they think so. Rumors are spreading of “ice as clear as shore water”, ice that “cannot be cut”. And as quickly as it can be extracted from the polar ice, more freezes back around it, keeping it enshrouded.
In the fall of 2013, I had the pleasure of commissioning a series of nine digital paintings by Vincent Coviello (V4m2c4 on DeviantArt). Each image has a tight line drawing, a full color illustration (as seen below), and a final background composite. Many of the magnificent details in these drawings came from Vincent himself, and his input was spot on. During the whole process I could not help myself from checking my email compulsively for the newest sketch or update. I may have suffered a little bit of withdrawal when he finished the project.
Illustrations of the player races in the Endless Blue Campaign Setting.
This and some of his other work has been recently featured on IO9.com in the article “Can We Please Have More Diverse Dragon Designs Like These?” His hard work and talent are plain to see. It was a pleasure working with Vincent, and hopefully, someday I will again…
Societies Submerged in Shadow
Just as there are great dangers lurking in the dark of the ocean abyss, there are conspiratorial organizations hiding among the pisceans of Elqua. Spoken of in hushed tones, these manipulative groups seek power and wealth for their own purposes, and are quite willing to sacrifice anything, or anyone, that tries to impede them. They are the shadow societies of the Endless Blue, the moving dark that works for its own sake.
Sky Lancers – Death from Above
The most notable danger lurking in the Vastness are the ever-present sky lancers. These vicious creatures vigilantly fly over the water, bidding their time until some unwitting sea creature swims too closely to the surface. Spotting its prey, the sky lancer then dives downward at plummeting speed. It juts out its specially evolved horn and using the built up inertia of its dive to break through the surface of the waves and impale its victim.
The Colorful World of the Endless Blue
“A big blue marble in the Vastness” is an obvious image of Elqua, the world of the Endless Blue Setting. A world covered 95% in water, the seas appear as a single all-encompassing ocean. When so little land breaks the surface of the planet’s encompassing oceans, such expansive swaths of blue veritably swallow the world into a giant sphere of blue. But such a bias is unfair to the spectral wonders of the world, because Elqua is home to some of the most colorful vistas the mind could ever imagine.
Vitruvian Mer
Despite the distinct number of different sentient races inhabiting the oceans of Elqua, their morphologies all share the same common qualities. These commonalities are what is known as “the Piscean Form“, and carry over from one race to the other without fail, though with unique variations. These variants of the paragon form are used to classify the races — essentially defining what makes a species different from the others. Historically (and even currently) this separation according to race has led to contention and violence, but supporters adhere to the mantra that facts are indisputable and reality must be accepted.
Endless Blue 