Art on deviantArt: Tribal shankeh, Northeastern Blades, Plasmats

More speedpaintings of different subjects are published on deviantArt now: a portrait of a tribal shankeh, the Northeastern Blades - a powerful set of artifacts -, and the plasmat concept. You can also learn more about them in their respective blog articles about shankeh, artifacts, and the plasmats.

Elementarians: Plasmats

Plasmats are the elementarians of fire and the south. They are made of hot air, made visible by structures of molten dirt - the enormous heat tranforms any material into precious stones, and plasmat gems are said to have great supernatural properties. Their shape is a bulky legless torso with a flat head and strong arms, the size changes fluidly between several and several dozen meters. It's the plasmats' choice what they burn. They have a good feeling for earth's heat and often travel to new volcanoes to greet them.

"Overcoming weaknesses is a principle of the south, and my plasmat teacher really made it a point. When he sent me into the world, I felt like I had been thoroughly reconstructed."
— Crowned Aslahenaed of Brighthold

Plasmats are seen as harbingers of change and are counted among the good omens. They are also muses and can light the spark of inspiration in both leaders and artists, who seek them out to be taught. Plasmat mentors are relentless, but very successful, and all their apprentices have done great deeds. It's said the rhu'khach had been under their blessing.

"I heard a plasmat is on his way to the Gorngon plateau. I guess soon it won't be so flat anymore."
— Ferha, messenger

Artists' notes
I am rather fond of the name plasmat. I was looking for nice, innovative names for elementarians, and classic dryads and stone giants were nicely completed by fleeters and plasmats, I think. Teaching great heroes is a bit inspired by the centaur that taught Hercules - mythical creature teaching mortal.

Elementarians: Dryads

Dryads are the elementarians of the west, the element of life. Several meters tall, with overly long arms, numerous fingers, and roots for legs below the knee; dryads are perceived as female. Their skin is bark, they have twigs for hair, their mouthless face shows bright eyes and a grim expression. A dryad fiercely defends her hometree, but can live without it. Unlike other elementarians, dryads hardly ever speak and are considered the most powerful of them.

"It is not by accident that we call a devastating event or a tool of destruction "a dryad's word". The last time a dryad spoke, all of Gdera heard it. We should be thankful that the ominous treeladies rarely utter anything."
— Mbagu Greeneyes, western wizard

While dryads are not evil, they are the least predictable elementarians and busily pursue their unfathomable plans. They appear in destroyed forests to restore them, or even destroy artificial structures themselves. A traveling dryad is reason to abandon settlements. A resident dryad, however, guarantees rich harvest, intact woods, and good health.

"The sitting dryads in Clom Vah's great voice hall have legs. Since they usually don't, one cannot tell if he statues really are dryads - many mages tried to find out. Without success."
— Rachneei Injira, gderan citizen

Artists' notes
Dryads are wonderful mythological creatures. I wanted to keep them close to the easily angered Greek originals. However, there's only one dryad per wood, not per tree. They're the reason words are so powerful in Genius Loci - I had drawn a mouthless dryad and wondered if they could speak at all, and what that would be like.

Elementarians: Stone giants

Stone giants are the elementarians of earth and air. They are around eighteen meters high and seemingly made of stone, but change appearance all the time - so slowly it's barely noticeable while it happens. At least part of them is floatstone, and a cloud of rocks, sand, and dust floats around their feet. Their heads are stumpy cones with holes for eyes, and giants move with the seemingly slow pace of all enormous creatures. They are mostly found around Sawa's volcanoes and in inner Lozir, although some are said to roam the Singing Ryaq.

"It took us fifteen years to puzzle out what the giant meant by "the blue will help, but must first turn white". Spirits know where he knew them from. If you want advice, ask the voices, they're way clearer about things."
— Goffi Celinad, merchant

Stone giants are kind and friendly, but ignorant towards most things that last less than forever. They are sought out for philosophical advice, but have a habit of speaking in riddles, and are hard to get to assist. There seems to be some form of communication between all giants; they carve great drawings into the ground most appreciated by dust sailors.

"And the giant decided to topple the insolent spirit's mountain. When he came to the peak, it fell and buried him, and neither spirit nor giant were seen again."
— lozirian tale

Artists' notes
One of my early creations, I like the stone giants for their zen-like friendliness. Their ground drawings are nice inspiration for environmental paintings, and I have always liked the Nazca drawings, hill-sized chalk pictures in England and such.

Elementarians

Elementarians are four kinds of supernatural beings closely associated with their respective elemental principles. These are the dryads of the west, element of life; the stone giants of the east, element of earth and air; the plasmats of the south, element of fire; and the fleeters of the north, element of water. While they personify their forces, they are not slaves to it, and if the core principle of fire is new beginnings, a plasmat can still be stubborn and set in tradition.

"My mother's storage was inhabited by a gold fairy. Once I saw him put up paper cutouts of elementarians, and act as if they met and discussed. I wonder to this day if he played or relived a memory."
— Ji-Bo Yi'Amako, trader

All elementarians are tall and require huge living spaces. They are not races, but groups of individuals - their societies, are largely unknown, if they even exist. They do get along with each other and don't struggle when they meet; just like the four elements are but parts of creation that cannot stand alone, but are strongest together.

"Sabriena of the Ground was the most attuned to elementarians in magic history. She documented meetings with all of them, and it was her who found out about stone giants' names."
— Gaurakamat Inkstrider, mage

Artists' notes
I felt an additional explanation of the elementarians was in order since every fantasy setting handles its elemental forces differently. The four elementarians are as mentioned not slaves to their principles, after all, they aren't element-als, but element-arians. Big difference. I don't even know if there any elementals yet or how they would be, but probably dumber.

Elementarians: Fleeters

Fleeters are one of the four kinds of elementarians, associated with each of the elements. Fleeters personify water, the power of the north. They are of jellyfish-like consistency, but very large and can walk on land, although they prefer to swim. Fleeters are playful, enjoy the company of river spirits and children, and are the first to help when a dryad enters the lands. Helping the dryad, that is.

 "A fleeter lives in our river and attends our summer's end festival each year. And every year it floods the entire city hill in its excitement, and is then crestfallen to see that we don't like our homes to swim away. It always helps to clean the next day."
— Grehja Sumin, Sawan craftswoman

Fleeter water is said to have healing powers, and fleeters often settle disputes (compromise is a principle of the north); they also innocently rearrange the landscape they live in, making them the elves' nightmare. As all waters, they wash out the ground, and fleeters are filled with tiny specks of gold that make them glitter.

"The fleeter of Chirahoni river ended a speaker war before it reached its peak. The people of that land are so grateful, the fleeter can easily be considered the wealthiest of them all."
— Dret, historian

 

Artist's notes
Fleeters had a wide range of inspirations, from the Nightwalker of Princess Mononoke to centaurs some thing I saw in a "Tales of the Darkness" comic once. I wanted to avoid a too dragon-like appearance and overworked the concept a few times. It may still not be done, but I definitely like their character.