Mikonese Saga Open Submission Art (Antagonists)

[JasonPratt]

This thread will be dedicated to notes and art on the antagonists of _Cry of Justice_. These are less likely to be cover art material (unless they happen to be in a scene otherwise being used for cover art). But they could be good choices for internal art (where scenes or characters are sketched as they show up in the story), or for artbooks--or most importantly for website material.

Technically an antagonist need not necessarily be a bad-guy (or vice versa--some of the CoJ protags do evil things on occasion for instance); but as it happens in CoJ they're all villainous--though like many villains they sometimes try to justify their actions in terms of ethical appeal.

NOTE: for general physical characteristics of most Mikonese humans, please refer to the notes in the Main Protag thread for Portunista (as Dama). Unless otherwise noted, all antagonists look like regular Mikonese humans.

Business things thread: http://www.christiananime.net/showthread.php?t=41642

General plot thread: http://www.christiananime.net/showthread.php?t=41649

Main protag info thread: http://www.christiananime.net/showthread.php?t=41668

Secondary protag info thread: http://www.christiananime.net/showthread.php?t=41695


As before, each character will get his own post. I'm presenting them roughly in order of first appearance in the novel

[JasonPratt]

Gemalfan -- a former apprentice of the Cadre (like any other mage in Book 1); much like Portunista in the sense that he has built up a small brigade while looking for more power than he currently has. He features as the leader of the opposing side in the first large action scene.

Visual cues: actually, I don't give him much detail, so you're free to innovate around. Keep in mind he isn't that important to the plot (much less in the world at large); but he is a habitually cruel man, and I would suppose this to show in his face (though not necessarily).

Clothes: ditto.

Weapon: he's a magus, so he doesn't use any.

Fighting style amounts to 'sit up here and give orders while jotting attacks to help support my troops on occasion.'

I ended up trimming out a lot of what detail he had, during early edits, for pacing issues. But even though he isn't all that important, he does feature in an early action scene with some interesting visual elements, so I figured I ought to account for him.

[JasonPratt]

Artabanus -- a man in his mid to late 20s, whose competency and self-control give the impression of one much older; Artabanus is the experienced and totally confident commander of a group of companies hailing from the eastern nations of Mikon (primarily Krygy, his own original home). Inheriting command of his troops from his former Cadrist mistress, Lilia, Artabanus has proclaimed himself to be the new Arbiter of this Era--the one sent by heaven after every Culling to re-establish order among the nations. His idea of heaven, however, is rather more self-serving than most other people's...

A ruthless and inventive commander, who maintains an iron control over his troops, Artabanus also is skilled at jotting magical effects during battle. (Technically he would only count as an apprentice, compared to a full Cadrist; but since the Cadre have evidently all died, or progressively disappeared, Artabanus doesn't recognize any superiors.) His troops, and vendors (noncombatant support), are effectively loyal to him; but primarily through fear (mixed with grudging respect): he isn't reluctant to simply kill whomever disagrees with him. (While he does allow his lieutenants, Noth and Alt, some degree of autonomy and advisory status, he notably expects them to "tell me what I want to know.")

Visual cues: as someone puts it later in the story, he looks a lot like Dagon, except even more arrogant! His self-confidence is such that this will make a difference in his bearing and facial expressions, too--until that confidence is shattered over and over during the Macro-Fight Sequence in the last part of the book. {g} Then he starts to look panicked and broken and desperate. Arty is a fun villain to break to pieces. Unlike Dagon he does have a moustache, and I expect a fairly full one. Also like Dagon (and most Krygians--moreso than Dagon, come to think of it...) his features trend toward the hawkish. His build is large and impressive, again much like Dagon's (and indeed like many Krygians.) When he's on the ball, his gaze is piercing--and more than naturally so! I expect his eyes get kind of buggy when he's losing, though. {gggg!}

Clothes: a "regal" fighting jacket; the rest of his clothing will look rather upper-class, too, but militarily competent. (Hey, he needs to look like the judge of right and wrong... {shrug}{g}) I recall he wears a cloak in his first scene, probably much like the armored scouts he's hanging out with at the time.

Weapon: he carries a competent knife, as any man would who walks the woods, and isn't above using it if he has to. But of course he's a magus, so his weapon is mainly his magic (and, y'know, the hundreds of well-disciplined troops who follow him. {g})

Fighting style is typical for a magus/commander, but he's competent (and egotistical) enough to be in the front ranks, so long as he has a plan to work out.

Arty's two lieutenants, Noth and Alt, don't have a lot of description to them. (Alt is bigger than Noth.) They shouldn't look thuggish; they're both intelligent men of skill, though hardly flashy combatants. No shields, but standard swords. Minor amounts of armor. They'll need a bit of _practical_ visual flair so that troops can recognize them as the ranking subcommanders in the middle of a fight at some distance. Like most Krygians, they probably tend to look a bit hawkish and bearish.


Arty's troops are very well disciplined, well-armored and well-armed. Even his scouts are well-armored (for their jobs), though they'll also have cloaks. They lack mobility, but they'll stay in formations very effectively, reinforcing one another in good coordination.

[JasonPratt]

Praxiteles (aka Gamin) -- Praxiteles is a skinny wretch in his early-mid 20s, although he sometimes seems rather older with his urbane disinterested superiority. The fact that he has junctioned with the Rogue Agent Gamin might help this impression--except the junction hasn't taken too well, and the two personages tend to squabble a lot. Also, Gamin is a paranoid egomaniac with delusions of grandeur. This makes the behavior of 'the Mad One' (as his troops call him--though never to his face) a hostile unpredictable mess.

Praxiteles used to be an apprentice to the sorcerous Cadre, but somehow survived the terrible attrition of the Cadrewar--probably by running and hiding at the first opportunity. Seeking power in a hurry, he readily agreed when the Roguent Gamin offered a junction, allowing the demon an opportunity to apply the power of the Dream to the material world. Now the two are stuck with each other. Neither one is happy with the deal--although Gamin considers the trouble to be worth being the first of his kind to take advantage of the evident opportunities of the most recent Culling. (Usually when a Culling happens and all klerosa vanish, the Agents of the Independent begin raising new klerosa immediately to help the Arbiter of the new Era restore order. This time, however, the Agents are keeping mysteriously silent--and the new Arbiter hasn't yet appeared.)

Praxi-Gamin has used his demonic power to draw a ragged band of desperate soldiers into his wake; and chose the eight most brutal and ruthless fighters to be his hanikim (in a typical burst of egotism he renamed them after the eight slopings of the year.) Normally Praxiteles would be searching after the knowledge and power of his superiors; except he now considers himself to be superior to any of his ex-superiors (so to speak). Still, Gamin knows of something one Cadrist was researching, that might guarantee his supremacy among other Rogue Agents (whom he knows will soon be trying to make their own claims on the world.) He will sacrifice anything (belonging to others) to achieve this advantage--

but something he fears terribly, seems to have arrived before him.

So he will play his opponents against each other, and strike them down while they are weakened and distracted.

And then he, who was last, will be first.

Visual Cues: think skinny, greasy wretch. Or, for those of you still in or not-long-out-of high school: remember the evil geeks? The dirty nerds who were probably making lists of people to kill while daydreaming about how great it would be if they really could summon a demon to give them super-powers?

Great. There you go. {g} Prax isn't a cool geek or a benevolent-if-eccentric geek or a sad geek. Though, he _is_ kind of sad in a way, because despite the awesome cosmic power he can now freely abuse, he's still just a miserable lonely person, progressively coming apart at the seams mentally. He and Gamin (whose name I borrowed from an old realworld word meaning 'scamp') closely resemble each other in personality, too--which is why they get along with each other better than with anyone else (though still not terribly well.)

Don't underestimate him, though. Praxi-Gamin is by far the strongest villain in the first book. That inherent power, and instability, and just a touch of pathos, is something to strive for in his visualizations.

Clothes: Gamin is never seen, spending all his time in 'possession' of Praxiteles. (When not occasionally absent for some unexpected reason...) So don't worry about drawing him.

Prax spends all his scenes in what he considers to be a royally purple robe, a little too big for him--something he probably stole from a pile of ash that used to be one of his superiors. (The parallels between this and the robe Portunista finds are intentional. Prax and Arty represent chaotic and lawful evil, respectively, to put it in AD&D terms; more thematically, they represent the two ways Portunista could trend the more selfish and domineering she becomes.) If Praxiteles is wearing much of anything under this robe, that's probably a fact better left unexplored... {wry g}

Weapon: Prax was originally a Cadrist apprentice, and has now junctioned with the Rogue Agent Gamin; so he don't need no stinkin weapons. {g} In fact, he doesn't even need to jott anymore (unlike the other magi in the book) to work his magical effects; he just does them.

His hanikim bodyguards are kind of generic; so you can do pretty much whatever you like with them. Cruel, not too bright and slightly smaller versions of Othon will be fine. They do wear armor, but not in good condition. Their weapons can be just about anything melee, but not too interesting: I originally was intending to have them fight off against Portunista's subcommanders at the climax, but 'ista kinda got rid of them first herself. {g!}

Prax's troops are "scraggly, dirty and desperate". They aren't organized, well-armored and armed like Arty's troops. They're more of a mob.

[JasonPratt]

Bomas -- a man in his late 20s, whose confidence gives him the authoritative bearing of another ten or twenty years; Bomas is one of the last of the juacuara: a special night-skinned race of men (all male), born occasionally to normal Mikonese parents, who are significantly taller, stronger, faster, smarter and more agile than the average human. (Check on Seifas' entry in the Main Protag thread for more info.)

Until recently, Bomas (like all juacuara) belonged to the Hunting Cry ('Guacu-ara', from which their more informal description derives)--a religious/military organization dedicated to preserving the peace by the threat of lethal force. The Cry, however, was annihilated during the recent Cadrewar. Being the first targets of any magical or mundane attack didn't help them any. Neither did the fact that their Matrons--who were normal Mikonese women serving as klerosa for Macumza, the specially sanctioned Agent of the Hunting Cry--vanished along with all other klerosa during the Culling which preceded the Cadrewar. Without their central authorities, the chapter houses were unable to take a united stance--meaning, among other things, that corps also fought against corps.

After this essentially genocidal onslaught, Bomas has come to some unorthodox conclusions about What It All Means--and about what the handful of surviving juacuara should do now, to save humanity. (Unfortunately, he doesn't have a very high opinion of most of humanity...)

Bomas is a supremely confident, even arrogant, fighter; who enjoys testing the limits of other people, including their patience--searching for weaknesses, and exercising his own cleverness in a deadly game of daring. He's the sort of person who would enjoy the sport in systematically hunting and slaughtering a few hundred enemies; if it wasn't such a waste of his time.

Visual Cues: check on Seifas' entry, over in the Main Protag post. Bomas (whose name means 'thorns') will look older, more seasoned, more ruthless. Yet he can have a lot of honest (if oppositional) humor, too--not _good_ humor, exactly, but he's confident enough in himself to be able to appreciatively evaluate other people without much self-delusion. He can be wry, but is rarely cynical. In his own way, he can even be idealistic. (Though his idealism just happens to feature himself becoming king of the world and instituting a genocidal breeding program...)

Clothing: much the same as Seifas--it was standard for the Guacu-ara in any non-winter season.

Unlike Seifas, Bomas wears a polished wooden ring, dark brown, set down upon his forehead like a crown.

Weapons: Bomas favors the close-in weapons of bluesteel talons (mounted on leather wristbracers); each set of which has a crosspiece joining them together about 2/3 of the way down their length. (This is not only for structural reinforcement, but also for helping catch incoming weapons.) I was thinking in terms of some kinds of eastern martial arts weapons, not Marvel Comics' Wolverine, btw; if you use those as a reference, you'll be safe. Bomas enjoys testing himself by dodging a blow rather than parrying (although he's also very good at catching and breaking an incoming weapon). Unlike Seifas he has no problem doing some acrobatic leaps when the situation seems to call for it.

Unlike the other two main antags, Bomas doesn't have any troops per se, nor bodyguards.