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Description
This thing took three months! ...The actual file is twice the size! 8D; (Enabling prints because, damn it, I'm PROUD of this thing! That basically NEVER happens. XD) I tried to do proper light sources and shading for once. Not sure if I succeeded, but I had a lot of fun with it, anyway. And now I have a favorite way of coloring that doesn't make me want to punch myself in the face! That's a plus, right? ...Okay, well, technically I was already favoring this coloring style, but now I've got it figured out in a way that works for me. Instead of it just being this big ol' frustrating ball of zero cooperation that only ACCIDENTALLY looks halfway decent in the end.

Anyway.

Illustration for yet another novel-in-progress, which takes place around the same general time as The Spirit Marauder. Which has spawned an entire universe that I hadn't exactly been anticipating, but...oh, well! This story gets to be a part of that universe, now, too. It even helped form and solidify a lot of the worldbuilding. ...Er. Universebuilding? Either way, it gave me an excuse to bring out my old Cosmic Castaways characters, which had only ever been used for roleplaying before now, and to retool an old Mary-Sue character into something usable! It's especially fun to be able to use the Krylochans for something again - especially now that I've got a more sensible framework for how their race functions figured out. It's also fun to use old Mary-Sues and turn them into proper, three-dimensional characters. (Fun fact! One of these characters used to be the Princess of the Saiyan race. Additional fun fact! Telling her that now would end up with her rummaging around in your guts with a very sharp object. OBVIOUS HINT AS TO WHICH CHARACTER IT IS IS OBVIOUS.)

Large character list, from top to bottom, left to right:
Warlord Fars (pronounced 'Farce' lol), Valor/Valoridius, Coulton Roe, Zukira Somner, and Maxwell Douglas. Though technically the last two are supporting characters, throughout the main storyline, their actions have the most impact on the two leads - Valor and Coulton. Naturally, Warlord Fars is the main antagonist (despite generally cooperating with the other characters).

Small character list, from left to right:
Krylochan side - Ramus Dovati, Rina Dovati, Anni Alassae, Tajím Wexler, Elita Yvori, and Markine. Human side - Angelie Yakovlev, Bruce Mortin, Helena Mortin, Becky Kalamau, Seung-Jun Kwon, and Jacob Whitaker.

Naturally, there are some key supporting characters that aren't pictured, but...meh. *shrug!*

The novel's actual title is still up in the air. 'The Starlight Killer' is technically the most fitting, and is probably what I'll actually use when it comes down to it, but I really like 'Star Valor'...even though I can't actually use it due to plot reasons. XD; The genre is also kind of a mess? Mystery/sci-fi/fantasy/romance...wth a decent helping of alien politics and my typical brand of humor splashed in? ...Yeah. I don't even know.

Plot is convoluted, and involves three separate storylines which converge later on. Occasionally much later on. And sometimes split off again into side stories. Because I like to make things difficult for myself! Speaking of difficult, I created three different and fully functional time systems and calendars for various alien civilizations (with seconds being the only shared measurement because I'm not THAT inherently cruel to myself), as well as a converter which allows me to determine what an Earth time and date would be equivalent to on any of the involved extraterrestrial calendars. Why did I do this? ...Plot reasons. 8D Speaking of plot, and boiling it all down to the rough basics...

The arguably 'main' storyline focuses on Coulton Roe, an FBI agent who has only recently completed his training in Quantico, working alongside the rest of his team under Helena's leadership in New Mexico. Upon being joined by an operative with unknown objectives, Maxwell Douglas, to deal with what seems to be a run-of-the-mill spree killer, the team finds themselves up against a solitary soldier from an entirely different planet. Forced to bring the soldier down, and left with little more than his dying claim that others will be coming, they can only assume that they may be facing the threat of invasion. Days later, the first enemy ship is shot down and destroyed...but no others arrive. Not sure what else they can do in the meantime, the team resumes their prior duties, soon stuck in the trying process of tracking down a serial arsonist who, using very peculiar methods (and with rather unclear motivations), strikes every single night - though only ever at night. Worse still, as time goes on, the arsonist seems to garner support from a group of copycat killers, making the case all the more difficult to solve. The investigation is detailed alongside Coulton's meeting and subsequent bonding with Valor, a naive and scatterbrained vagrant, who is thought to have crossed the US border illegally to escape an abusive situation, and seems to be searching the state on foot for the friend who helped him to escape.

The secondary storyline begins with the Krylochan empire eagerly anticipating the birth of a new sun snake, a powerful creature that may help give them the edge they need to finally overwhelm Warlord Fars, a tyrant with whom they share a grudging alliance - solely because their respective empires would be completely destroyed if they fought. However, the sun snake inexplicably goes missing before it even hatches, and in desperation to find it, even with ongoing conflicts with shapeshifters and the armies of a race which forced them off their original homeworld, the Krylochans take the advice of their goddess, Markine, and approach Warlord Fars for assistance in the search. Even as he aids the Krylochan regent, Tajím Wexler, and said regent's extensively grumpy bodyguard, Elita Yvori, in seeking out the lost sun snake, two Krylochans stationed in the Warlord's territory, Ramus and Rina Dovati, accidentally stumble upon a secret that he keeps hidden away from everyone save his right-hand assassin, Zukira. The existence of the mysterious young servant named Dee has them wondering what else Fars might be hiding, and the two of them work together with the aim of exposing the warlord's weaknesses, only for a much greater threat to emerge; an immortal energy being bent on destroying every living thing it comes across.

To avoid spoilers, which would probably be obvious with the way I'm summarizing shit right now (with at least one spoiler no doubt already obvious to anyone who pays any amount of attention), I'm not going to say anything about the third storyline, so...I think that about covers it. I should technically be writing this thing for NaNoWriMo, but my brain seems to have very specific ideas for how the story should go, and I don't want to deal with it freaking out at me over rushing into the writing process. Last time that happened with a story, I ended up stuck in the revision process for about three years. >_>; I'm still having to revise The Spirit Marauder, actually - but it's looking a lot better for it now! It helps that now I actually have a universe with set rules to work with, and the involved planet actually has a proper culture and backstory so that it's not just 'The World of Random Furries'.

This is a long-ass description but I give no shits. I AM THE KING OF RAMBLING

Description
This thing took three months! ...The actual file is twice the size! 8D; (Enabling prints because, damn it, I'm PROUD of this thing! That basically NEVER happens. XD) I tried to do proper light sources and shading for once. Not sure if I succeeded, but I had a lot of fun with it, anyway. And now I have a favorite way of coloring that doesn't make me want to punch myself in the face! That's a plus, right? ...Okay, well, technically I was already favoring this coloring style, but now I've got it figured out in a way that works for me. Instead of it just being this big ol' frustrating ball of zero cooperation that only ACCIDENTALLY looks halfway decent in the end.

Anyway.

Illustration for yet another novel-in-progress, which takes place around the same general time as The Spirit Marauder. Which has spawned an entire universe that I hadn't exactly been anticipating, but...oh, well! This story gets to be a part of that universe, now, too. It even helped form and solidify a lot of the worldbuilding. ...Er. Universebuilding? Either way, it gave me an excuse to bring out my old Cosmic Castaways characters, which had only ever been used for roleplaying before now, and to retool an old Mary-Sue character into something usable! It's especially fun to be able to use the Krylochans for something again - especially now that I've got a more sensible framework for how their race functions figured out. It's also fun to use old Mary-Sues and turn them into proper, three-dimensional characters. (Fun fact! One of these characters used to be the Princess of the Saiyan race. Additional fun fact! Telling her that now would end up with her rummaging around in your guts with a very sharp object. OBVIOUS HINT AS TO WHICH CHARACTER IT IS IS OBVIOUS.)

Large character list, from top to bottom, left to right:
Warlord Fars (pronounced 'Farce' lol), Valor/Valoridius, Coulton Roe, Zukira Somner, and Maxwell Douglas. Though technically the last two are supporting characters, throughout the main storyline, their actions have the most impact on the two leads - Valor and Coulton. Naturally, Warlord Fars is the main antagonist (despite generally cooperating with the other characters).

Small character list, from left to right:
Krylochan side - Ramus Dovati, Rina Dovati, Anni Alassae, Tajím Wexler, Elita Yvori, and Markine. Human side - Angelie Yakovlev, Bruce Mortin, Helena Mortin, Becky Kalamau, Seung-Jun Kwon, and Jacob Whitaker.

Naturally, there are some key supporting characters that aren't pictured, but...meh. *shrug!*

The novel's actual title is still up in the air. 'The Starlight Killer' is technically the most fitting, and is probably what I'll actually use when it comes down to it, but I really like 'Star Valor'...even though I can't actually use it due to plot reasons. XD; The genre is also kind of a mess? Mystery/sci-fi/fantasy/romance...wth a decent helping of alien politics and my typical brand of humor splashed in? ...Yeah. I don't even know.

Plot is convoluted, and involves three separate storylines which converge later on. Occasionally much later on. And sometimes split off again into side stories. Because I like to make things difficult for myself! Speaking of difficult, I created three different and fully functional time systems and calendars for various alien civilizations (with seconds being the only shared measurement because I'm not THAT inherently cruel to myself), as well as a converter which allows me to determine what an Earth time and date would be equivalent to on any of the involved extraterrestrial calendars. Why did I do this? ...Plot reasons. 8D Speaking of plot, and boiling it all down to the rough basics...

The arguably 'main' storyline focuses on Coulton Roe, an FBI agent who has only recently completed his training in Quantico, working alongside the rest of his team under Helena's leadership in New Mexico. Upon being joined by an operative with unknown objectives, Maxwell Douglas, to deal with what seems to be a run-of-the-mill spree killer, the team finds themselves up against a solitary soldier from an entirely different planet. Forced to bring the soldier down, and left with little more than his dying claim that others will be coming, they can only assume that they may be facing the threat of invasion. Days later, the first enemy ship is shot down and destroyed...but no others arrive. Not sure what else they can do in the meantime, the team resumes their prior duties, soon stuck in the trying process of tracking down a serial arsonist who, using very peculiar methods (and with rather unclear motivations), strikes every single night - though only ever at night. Worse still, as time goes on, the arsonist seems to garner support from a group of copycat killers, making the case all the more difficult to solve. The investigation is detailed alongside Coulton's meeting and subsequent bonding with Valor, a naive and scatterbrained vagrant, who is thought to have crossed the US border illegally to escape an abusive situation, and seems to be searching the state on foot for the friend who helped him to escape.

The secondary storyline begins with the Krylochan empire eagerly anticipating the birth of a new sun snake, a powerful creature that may help give them the edge they need to finally overwhelm Warlord Fars, a tyrant with whom they share a grudging alliance - solely because their respective empires would be completely destroyed if they fought. However, the sun snake inexplicably goes missing before it even hatches, and in desperation to find it, even with ongoing conflicts with shapeshifters and the armies of a race which forced them off their original homeworld, the Krylochans take the advice of their goddess, Markine, and approach Warlord Fars for assistance in the search. Even as he aids the Krylochan regent, Tajím Wexler, and said regent's extensively grumpy bodyguard, Elita Yvori, in seeking out the lost sun snake, two Krylochans stationed in the Warlord's territory, Ramus and Rina Dovati, accidentally stumble upon a secret that he keeps hidden away from everyone save his right-hand assassin, Zukira. The existence of the mysterious young servant named Dee has them wondering what else Fars might be hiding, and the two of them work together with the aim of exposing the warlord's weaknesses, only for a much greater threat to emerge; an immortal energy being bent on destroying every living thing it comes across.

To avoid spoilers, which would probably be obvious with the way I'm summarizing shit right now (with at least one spoiler no doubt already obvious to anyone who pays any amount of attention), I'm not going to say anything about the third storyline, so...I think that about covers it. I should technically be writing this thing for NaNoWriMo, but my brain seems to have very specific ideas for how the story should go, and I don't want to deal with it freaking out at me over rushing into the writing process. Last time that happened with a story, I ended up stuck in the revision process for about three years. >_>; I'm still having to revise The Spirit Marauder, actually - but it's looking a lot better for it now! It helps that now I actually have a universe with set rules to work with, and the involved planet actually has a proper culture and backstory so that it's not just 'The World of Random Furries'.

This is a long-ass description but I give no shits. I AM THE KING OF RAMBLING