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KingsOfEvilArt — Shapemaster
#creature #monster #shapeshifter #twoheaded #shapemaster
Published: 2018-01-11 19:16:17 +0000 UTC; Views: 3231; Favourites: 199; Downloads: 42
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Description
Demigod's elite servant. Known for hate for other shapeshifters, although it remains unclear why. Some say he is the last of shapeshifter kings and utterly disappointed at the decline of power among his kind.
His weapon is the infamous Formkiller a flail designed especially against shape-shifters. The light coming from it disrupts the multi-potential flesh of a shapeshifter causing it to dissolve and melt. Himself he is not entirely resistant to its effect, however his supreme control allows him to use the Formkiller to destabilize his form and change it more easily and quickly, which he actually demonstrates all the time, even creating plants and burning candles out from his limbs.
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Comments: 46
Przypomina mi trochę Ascended Sleepera z Morrowinda, ale jest lepszy!
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You've probably meant Wayne Barlowe. Indeed his art had great influence over me in past years.
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The partially bifurcated vaguely reptilian muzzle is giving me vague vibes of Avernus's Khakassians and zarathus's Reformation .
Khakassian: The Khakassians are a species that is actually derived from Earth. Specifically, they appear to be the result of the meddling of an ancient precursor race that removed large portions of the pre-K-T Extinction biosphere and deposited it on a terraformed world hundreds of light years away. In the ensuing 66 million years life on the planet has diverged significantly, although much of it it still has a recognizably "dinosaurian" flavor to it.
Their homeworld, called Khakam in their dominant language (roughly meaning "People-Home") is a warm world, largely tropical. It is dominated by shallow seas surrounding small continents & large islands, mostly Australia sized or smaller. The shallow regions of the seas themselves though are nearly solid land, colonized by forests of a thick, strong variety of seaweed that extends well above the water in treelike growths; converting them to something more like a forest in a swamp than open water. The ancestors of the Khakassians used these "forested" regions to cross (slowly) between the islands and small continents of their world even before they had useful boats.
Due to many of the introduced species being bipedal theropods, as the intelligence of the animal world increased non-sapient tool use and environmental modification became much more common than on Earth since it was much easier for tool-using forelimbs to evolve. Many of the local animal species instinctively build dams, walls, even simple weapons despite not being sapient.
The Khakassians themselves are derived from such a theropod species, although their own evolutionary line developed an adaptation that never appeared on Earth. Khakassians and their animal relatives are all natural cojoined twins, with two heads and a doubled complement of limbs.
Khakassians are bipedal, leaning forward theropod-style with two legs, long necks and a long, fairly flexible heavy tail for balance. They have six arms; four adapted for manipulation, the third larger pair originally evolved as strong fighting limbs ending in a single huge talon. However as their ancestors evolved towards more sophisticated tool use the "fighting" limbs adapted themselves towards a less specialized role to aid in toolmaking. They now end in a bladelike talon, sawedged on one side, a bladed edge on the other and ending in a long point useful for puncturing in both toolmaking and stabbing. There is also a large blunt hooklike protrusion at the base, useful for grabbing and hauling heavy objects. Many Khakassians have these "utility talons" surgically replaced with stronger metal versions.
Their four hands have been described as having "four and a half" digits, with three fingers, a thumb, and a curved bony protrusion from the wrist (another fighting talon in pre-sapient days) that serves as a crude "false thumb" opposite the true one. Their true digits all end in partially retractable blunt claws. Their false-thumb while rigid can be flexed somewhat at the base.
Each of their two heads has its own mostly-independent personality, altogether they have strong instincts to cooperate with one another. They also have an internal communication link where their necks join; while it's not enough for them to "merge minds" or anything, it lets them talk non-verbally, exchange mental images and communicate a general sense of intent without having to talk out loud to each other.
They have good hearing and sense of smell, and vision generally superior to that of a human, extending farther along the spectrum with more colors. An interesting adaption is that one head always has eyes adapted for better night vision and a tapetum lucidum while the other doesn't. As a tapetum lucidum sacrifices visual acuity for better night vision and their heads can share visual images, this gives them the best of both worlds in many ways. Not coincidentally their heads alternate their sleeping cycles, with the night-vision-specialized head always awake at night. Both heads are often awake at the same time, but they never sleep both at the same time.
Khakassians have an impressive coat of feathers rather than bare skin, very colorful with large head crests and extendable tailfeathers. They have two styles of head crests, each signifying the gender of the head bearing it. Khakassians periodically shed their skin (and feathers), a period where they feel rather vulnerable and tend to hide themselves away. Like many such species though their bodies regenerate a bit with each skin-shedding; they can regenerate even severed limbs over enough cycles.
Khakassian gender is a little complicated due to their cojoined nature. As far as they are concerned they have three or four genders (they argue about it a lot) rather than two. Specifically, they can be double-males, double-females, or male/females; whether a male/female and female/male are the same thing or different is a matter of contention.
Double-females tend to be larger and more aggressive (in a non-violent way usually) and assertive, double-males significantly smaller, with the mixed gender(s) being in the middle. Khakassian society tends towards the matriarchal, with males attempting to impress females with displays of skill or cleverness. This also means that among the double-gendered the female head is usually the leader, while double-females are prone to inter-head bickering among themselves more than the other genders.
Rather than pair-bonding like humans Khakassians tend to congregate in extended families that raise their offspring semi-communally. While some individual Khakassians are more popular mating partners than others they don't really do the exclusive-mate thing. While double-females produce more eggs, the double-males tend to be the most "maternal" gender by human standards.
An interesting social note is that while as most species do they have a natural heat cycle, they learned early in their history to herbally manipulate it. This led them to develop in a more human style "interested in sex all the time" direction, both because it increased their effective fertility and because it just feels good. Naturally they've had all sorts of social/moral/religious arguments on the matter over the centuries.
The Khakassians are much less prone to intra-group violence than humans, probably because of their natural weapons; combined with their intelligence they make even "unarmed" Khakassian combat highly lethal. A fight that would end in bruises for a human would almost always end in both Khakassians dead or crippled. This doesn't apply to inter-group violence however; Khakassian tribal/national warfare was as enthusiastically bloodthirsty as that of humans.
Khakassians are semi-warmblooded. They are capable of keeping active in cold regions if necessary, but have a wider range of body temperature they can operate in, becoming sluggish rather than unconscious or dead in lower temperatures. Their internal thermostat is under their semi-conscious control, enabling them to choose whether they keep up their body temperature or let it drop to that of their environment; the latter condition leaving them sluggish but requiring much less food to maintain. They can also crank it all the way down and enter a state of torpor; barely conscious near-hibernation where they require little food. This is of great use in emergency situations, enabling them to survive long periods without food or water awaiting rescue; it was also of use in their age of exploration and early space age, enabling longer sailing & flight times with less food.
They are long lived compared to humans, but also have a more variable lifespan. Living in a lower-metabolism state or in torpor slows or nearly stops the aging process, so two Khakassians hatched at the same time can have significantly different effective ages. From their viewpoint however they don't consider it truly living to different ages, just a matter of living slower or faster; a slowed-metabolism Khakassian ages slower true, but they also think slower.
The typical Khakassian home looks empty compared to a human home at first glance; this is because human-style tables and shelves would get in the way of the Khakassian tail, and anything on them would risk being knocked off. Instead they take advantage of the fact that the Khakassian body design finds handling objects at ground level much less awkward than the human one. Their floors are covered with geometric plates, hexagonal or square typically with holes in the center. Besides serving as flooring, a claw or false-thumb hooked into the central hole lets them lift it up to reveal a storage drawer built into the floor. Khakassian tables are usually left bare when not in use and are low platforms a foot or two tall. Khakassian chairs are benchlike; horizontal curved & padded planks or rods. Rather than sitting human-style they rest in their chairs on their belly; when not in use the chairs are often tilted vertically out of the way or lowered into the floor.
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An excellent idea! But, this guy just has a split face
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what a cool character, his weapon is really interesting. Is it made via shape-shifting or is it something he built, separate from his anatomy?
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Haha, you've been on such a pterosaur kick that even your shape-shifter resembles one a bit.
This creature is a villainous overlord unlike even Sauron or the Skeksis. Nothing overtly evil about its form, just something extremely alien yet humanly cultivated in an impressive way. Another one of my most favorite designs by your hand and imagination.
Edit: Haha, I misread your last statement for a moment. I thought you said he could create planets from his limbs! Now that's a marvelous idea for a good old yarn!
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Yes, glad you noticed.
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Wow, that's really awesome thing to look at AND read about!
Magnificent work. = )
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I've to say, he looks badass. *_* The candles give such an interesting touch. His face reminds me of Predator's face a bit xD Not a bad thing, ofc. That's rather cool. xD Once again, awesome work! ^_^
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The face is made of two pterosaur like beaks
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You’re very welcome !!!
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Whoa, the concept is incredible!
I really like the design, and the touch with him showing off by creating the most complex forms like fire and plants with his flesh is amazing!
I love it
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Thanks. I thought that would be kind of original.
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It is, absolutely!
I'd love to see something like that in a good game or movie, but apparently most designers there aren't as creative
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Maybe some will finally do the right thing and hire me
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I really like this one's appearance and backstory! An anti-shapeshifter weapon is a really cool idea!
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Always, dreaming and awake.
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Why do I even ask? XD
Very nice job on this!
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