Chapter 1: Page 50
This week, the fight continues with a severe head-butt dealt to Hardin! Seems a serious matter, but his compatriots seem nonplussed by the turn of events. Quite the contrary, it’s almost as if Ashtor and Rathik aren’t even paying attention, with Ashtor even letting slip mention of Felis slave blocks – a phenomenon that many displaced Ermehn living within the Four Kingdoms have had to deal with.
The Felis may consider themselves among the most cultured and forward-thinking of the races in the land, but old traditions die hard. With no draft animals existing within the continent, many kingdoms still rely on slave labor to complete their great works.
While digging around the archives, I noticed that Rachel had done an early concept piece of Rathik and Ashtor watching this very fight. The creation date on the piece? January, 2010!
It’s rather amazing to see the elements that stuck around all these years! Ashtor and Rathik’s general design motifs stayed the same – while the character on left, who will be formally introduced later on – has a much different design now than he did back three years ago.
This week we don’t have any fan-art to show, but I’ve got two great things I need to send your way. First off, what I can only describe as the finest example of a real-life Tesque battle!
And second, a piece that Rachel did a little while ago after reading the beginning of SaraaLuna’s “Ice Burn” Western Deep fan-fiction – the visual imagery of a lone Canid patrol in the most hostile parts of the Northern Wastes served as the motivation for this bonus piece:
I’m loving Ashtor already. He’s such a sharp-tongued, sassy old guy. I’m assuming Hardin is going about to gather a force of warriors around him for whatever plan he has in store for the Canid. It’ll be interesting to see what plan he has when he puts it into action.
Ooooouuuuch >_O That doesn’t look like it felt good.
Also, for some reason I love the way that Rathik’s mouth keeps getting drawn whenever he talks XD But I wonder, is Hardin building an army, or just a small group? The way Ashtor talks it sounds like the rest of that other tribe around them don’t look like very good fighters, but also that Hardin’s only looking for one…
Looks to me like Hardin’s trying to create an expert team here. It really makes me wonder how he met the five of them in the first place and what he had to do to convince them that to join him. By their tattoos they are from completely different tribes.
And hey, are the Ermehn the only race to be in the slave trade or does that include the other races as well? And how do they gt into slavery? Prisoners of war? Indentured servitude?
If I had to guess, only the most villainized of the races would be pulled into slavery (most likely prisoners of war).
Wait – a moment ago they were slashing away at each other with knives, and now he’s going for a *head-butt*?? If I have any immediate criticism of this week’s page, it would be that – although I will readily admit up front that we are still in the opening stages of looking in on the Ermehn and their culture, so it may well be that the goal of this fight is not to kill your opponent at all, in which case this less-lethal move makes sense. As ever, I will be sitting and watching and following most eagerly, waiting to see what happens. (Also, excellent commentary, rumination and speculation by those above, so I shall mostly agree without reiterating.)
Suprised no one’s commented on Rachel’s bonus art yet. Very nice, and most evocative. But, I must ask, since no link was provided last week to Saraa’s fanfic, might we be able to have that please? I’d be interested in reading that tale, and it will help hold me over whilst awating next week’s page!
Oops, nevermind – I just realized that you did provide that link *this* week. Thanks!
Sometimes in a wicked close-quarters battle, a head-butt can be an effective strategy to daze your opponent before going in for the kill! This is especially true when your head is closer to your opponent’s unprotected cranium than your dagger.
And you can thank Rachel for dropping SaraaLuna’s fanfic link in! I’d forgotten to do so twice now, so I’m glad she caught that.
Enjoy the story – I know I did! :)
The headbutt is there because it supports the fact that this is a no-holds-barred, anything-goes sort of brawl. Something about having them continually use their knives throughout made the whole thing feel too organized. And as Alex said, a chance to take your opponent’s head out of the game can’t be discounted!
Ouch, that must have hurt. Headbutting someone is never a pleasant experience. And everyone really does need to checkout “Ice Burn” it’s just as incredible as the comic we all know and love.
Now my head hurts….
Headbutt! The fight is getting really dirty now. I only have one problem with the page – from the way the action lines on Hardin’s head is drawn, it makes it appear as if it’s him headbutting his opponent rather than the other way around.
It was quite a revelation reading this to find out that slavery is practiced in the Four Kingdoms. While this is many ways a brutal world with values much different from our own, it was still surprising to hear that it’s so widely practiced, particularly by the “enlightened” Felis. I’ll be very interested to find out more about this… institution in the future.
Also, if Ashtor has seen better fighters on Felis slaveblocks, that seems to imply he’s travelled far and wide. His character steadily deepens…
For some reason I really enjoy the look of the screaming Ermehn that takes center stage in the third panel.
And man, I forgot to comment about Saraa Luna’s fanfic last week! I know that she’s a good writer, and I definitely look forward to reading Ice Burn! You should be proud that a devoted fan has taken the time to explore and add to your world in this fashion. It was very kind of Rachel to do a pic based on it :)
Also, the real-life Tesque fight was AWESOME!!!