Western Style - More Artwork

Damn Jack Blain

Another possible entry for the Elthos RPG Rules Book.  Western Genre.

Damn Jack Blain was a Desperado who lived out on the fringes of the Black Sands Desert.  He made his living rustling cattle and robbing stage coaches with the Kestler Gang, until became their leader when he put Robert Kestler in his grave with a single shot through the right eye.  He ranged the desert country causing trouble for a while until he was gunned down by Kestler's sister, Jane.  She put a hole through his head, left him to be eaten by coyotes. 

Elthos Rules Book - The Philosophers

Another possible addition to the Elthos RPG Rules Book artwork... this one is intended to go along a left or right side border of a page.

I chose for this one a medieval theme to balance to the other themes that lately have tilted towards Space Genre. This drawing was inspired by a glance at a leaf decoration in The Book of Kells. It's intended to mimic the concept without attempting to duplicate the exact details of the style. I like the subject matter, which is the debate between Heaven and Hell, and raises questions therefore of morality and alignment.

Not everyone is all that interested in playing with alignment these days, but I think this is because the Alignment system as originally given was somewhat flawed in design, and lead a lot of games into something of a bog. I've worked out a system to handle alignment in Elthos, and I do think it works fairly well.

In any case, the purpose of this post is to show the illustration, not debate alignment systems. So there you have it. I think the next drawing will be one of plants, vines and fanciful insects, perhaps. We'll see. I never know exactly what is going to happen when I begin a drawing. I usually have an idea, and then wind up a bit surprised in the end at the results. This one is a classic case of that. I don't mind that method, by the way. Some artists know exactly... I don't. I like to be a bit surprised, too. I think its more fun in a way.

Space-Ranger X

Another Space-Genre drawing for the Elthos RPG Rules Book...



Somewhere beyond the edge of the Galaxy, Space-Ranger X is collecting samples of deep space artifacts that might lead Dr. Greenstone's team of Super Scientists to unravel the strange happenings near Oswaldia in the year 150NK... and determine the best course for the Elthos World's migration through the Cosmos...

Elthos RPG Rules Book Drawings

A few drawings that I made for the Elthos RPG Rules Book. We're working on final layout now.
What I really love about this hobby is how many different arts it brings together. Between the story writing, improvisational acting, history and science study, map making and artwork, well, its just a fabulously creative endeavor.

Petroglyph of Elthos II

Another petroglyph somewhere in Elthos. This one is rather a bit of a mystery, as no one knows the context of the story depicted. It is thought to be far more ancient than the first petroglyph but even this is uncertain. Further study is required.

Petroglyph of Elthos

This depicts, for those who are knowledgeable about such things, an ancient battle between the Scorpion God and the Monsters of the underworld, which the Scorpion God won with the help of an army of archers the God had cultivated for the war. The cultivation of this army was planned a very long time ago in the Dawn Age, long before the Elkron had created the races, while the world was still being formed during the Great Tectonic Wars. The Scorpion God was victorious and so he rules the underworld kingdom with Claws of Iron, and the Sting of Poisonous Death.

The Kobolds of Elthos

The Kobolds of the Red Hills are hardly known by the human world, and that's a problem.  It wouldn't be a problem, except that the Kobolds are annoyed, and so they're making it a problem.  The reason they're annoyed is because they prefer to be left alone.  But as it happens, the humans just keep expanding into new territories, and building new villages and towns out where the Kobolds have been wont to live for all these many eons.  Why it's just bound to rub them the wrong way, don't you know?

Kobolds come in two varieties.  They're either Woodland creatures that emerge from the hearts of old broken trees, or they're Earthland creatures that emerge from rifts in the ground.  In fact this is why Kobolds are known so well by miners.  The name Kobold, as you may have guessed, comes actually from the word Cobalt, the element, which in its pure form is a hard, lustrous, silver-gray metal.  You might think this therefore this sort of maybe makes Kobolds a kind of Elemental. And in a way you would kind of sort of maybe be right about that.  In the World of Elthos, they're even called parum elementarium by the Alchemists.  It is even said that Kobolds can transform themselves into Cobalt when they so choose.  Well, at least those that emanate from Earthland.  It is likewise said that Kobolds that emerge from the hearts of broken trees can turn into wood, and often do so during the day, looking for all the world like old mossy tree branches with funny faces.  At night both kinds of Kobolds transform into their 'little human' forms and, well, kind of run amok, really.  

Now among Kobolds there's not only two distinct branches of the family, but there's two distinct societies as well.  And the two do not get along at all.  One branch is called the Su'unkar, and the other branch is called the Shi'inkar.  The confusing part is that the two branches are not divided by whether or not they are Woodland or Earthland creatures, but rather instead by the philosophy of their Clan Elders.  And there's a whole lot of Clans among the Kobolds   

The Su'unkar are not really the big thinkers of the Kobold world.  They're more interested in the enjoyment of their meager material pleasures.  In fact, the Su'unkar call themselves "the soup eaters", on account of their love of soups.  Yes, they really do love soup, those guys.  And this reflects their disposition and inclinations about life.  They try to enjoy what they've got.  Now you might wonder where they got the idea of making soup from to begin with.  Yes, from the humans, of course.  In fact this is also reflective of their disposition and inclinations.  They like to imitate the humans, and in fact do try, more or less, to get along with them.  They call the humans "little brothers", and love to mimic human traits and society.  So these are the kinds of Kobolds that you'll find wearing vests and shoes and little hats with feathers and such.  They can usually speak a little bit of the human language, with a rather atrocious accent, but passably understandable to most people who have a little patience and time on their hands.  But even so, most humans won't really have much truck with Kobolds of any variety.  This is because they can be pretty damn annoying.  Kobolds love to play a little game they call "Tricks & Traps".  It's not an especially nice game, but they do think it's terribly funny.  Sometimes, even, people get killed.  But this just makes the Kobolds laugh all the more.  It's not very nice, actually.  But Kobolds view humans, really, as interesting little bugs that recently showed up in the world, and they kind of enjoy playing with them the same way human kids might enjoy playing with ants, or other harmless insects.   For them, it's really just a form of amusement.  A morose and dangerous form of amusement, but still... can we really blame them entirely?

On the other side of the divide we have the Shi'inkar.  Now these are the true thinkers, the wizards, the old ones and the formidable sorcerers of the Kobold world.  And they're frankly up to no good at all.  Running into them is most often a bad thing, and quite perilous.  Fortunately, there are actually very few of them, so the risk is small that anyone will actually see them.  However, that doesn't make them any less terrible.  They're kind of like the Su'unkar in that they like to play "Tricks & Traps", but in their case the tricks and traps are rather enormous, and slow moving, and sometimes take centuries to unfold... but when they do a whole lot of people wind up dying.  They're the source of all kinds of troubles for the human race over the centuries, though in most cases the humans never found out the true causes of their demise.  And oh my how those old and wicked Kobolds can laugh, and laugh, and laugh.  In fact it's said by some that the greater storms coming off the Oceans, the ones that are truly destructive, have in them howling winds that are the laughter of the Elder Kobolds.  So, yes, friend, you really wouldn't want to meet any of the Shi'inkar.   But if you do, just remember, whatever they're doing, you should try your absolute best to derail it.  Because whatever they're cooking up is meant to do you, your family, your friends, your town, your province, and your entire race as much harm as they can think up.  

Anyway, that's a little bit about Kobolds in Elthos.