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Description
Finally getting some storytelling done, AND finally combining concept art with cartoon art, it was about time :'D So yeah once again a photo-bashed painting, and wowie! A decent conceptual depiction of Arryn Hall! Wooh!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: if you don't want to read the whole thing, scroll down to the small part at the end of it to inform youself about what's happening in the picture~ Have fun!
previous events:

***Raphaels POV (Point of view)***

The plains always represented safety. At days the cold wind would howl over the wide and open terrain and carry the smell of earth, grass and animal with it. Through open windows the smell would crawl into every corner of the room, spreading a feeling of belonging, and home. I called these fields of taigan plains my place of safety since the day my friend Cardiff and I had arrived here, and we knew what laid ahead of us when our gazes touched these lands for the very first time. Not only the old wooden pile of a building that spreads a rotting and earthy scent everytime it rains, but our future inside and beyond these walls. This was ours now, and all our lives would forever be linked to this place, human as well as animal. But one day the wind stopped carrying the smell of home towards my room, the plains didn't smell safe and soothing, and the air simply smelled like any other earth, grass and animal. It was a cloudy day, and it was the day I stopped feeling safe, not just me, but every living soul on my ground was in danger
To set the furthers events in my memory back in motion I have to start at the very beginning. A normal day, with regular work ahead of us and normal every day problems. An entirely normal day, like the ones who go hand in hand with every normal and relaxing day before it, yet it was the dawn of a personal war. After a short night of more or less good sleep I went downstairs towards the great hall, just like any other day, and joined my friends at the solid stoned firepit in the middle of the riding arena, a relict of long gone times where this gigantic hall was used by warriors to drink themself beyond valhallas gates. "Mornin' sleeping beauty, your royal breakfast is in its usual condition; cold" Cardiff embraced me in a always cheerful mode. I mumbled silent curses while checking the pots of coffee and beans over the stove and realising they where both cold as ice. "You boys got any more wood layin' around somewhere?" I asked both of them, Cardiff and Vilkas, who where sitting on chairs next to the outgoing fire, my voice still husky from my sleep. "Nah, gotta go now. Need to chop'som wood up behind the house, and the animals weren't fed yet anyways" Cardiff stated without even looking at anyone specific, and with that he walked around the fire and towards the gate to the front door, still talking to me, "Could you do that?". I threw a look at Vilkas, who was still sitting in his chair, hands folded around a cup of coffee, "Wasn't that your job?"asking him, I remembered giving him the task of the morning feeding at least two weeks ago. "You slept in late, too, alright?", Vilkas excused himself. I rumbled and rubbed my face with the insides of my hands. Great! I hadn't got much sleep because there's simply too much work for all of us to cover, and it seems some of us can't even complete the importand tasks. With no coffee and no breakfast I was forced to start my day at work. I paced to the room under the stairs leading to my room, picked a fur covered artillery saddle and a bridle and went back to the great hall where I searched for my fleabitten grey friend. We tended to let the horses we were currently using the most run around freely in the riding arena, and there I found my horse in a corner, nibbling on the last remaining strays of hay from yesterday. I stroked the bridle behind his ears, lay the saddle ontop of his back and set my feet in the irons. After heaving myself ontop of the stallion we made our way towards the smaller hall that follows into the great hall, which we paced walking, then trotting and finally galloping. I had no time to loose. To my relief the main gate was open wide enough for us two to canter through and pass beneath the wooden pillars on Arryn Halls entrance. Now riding on the open plains I searched for the big pile of elks that where running around freely. Even though a herd of more than 300 animals should be easy to spot I couldn't find them right away. It took me half an our to find the herd bleating and grazing behind two or three hills. I let my stallion gallop behind the herd, and with a few shouts and collissions the mass of bodies began moving towards our way back home. The feeding racks where on the field in front of Arryn Hall so I had to lead the herd back home. It took a while for the entire herd to move from one place to another, but I managed. After a while a mounted Cardiff joined me after spotting the herd on the horizon, and while I arrived, dismounted and went to work, filling everything up with hay, he checked on the herd in the back. Soon the summer would come, I thought, and feeding the herd extra will be unnessecary again until the winter comes back around.
Absorbed in the physical work I had hardly processed my thoughts properly when Cardiff shouted my name. I threw the hay on the ground and looked up, elks immediately rushing towards my little pile of hay. Cardiffs mare danced around, and from this distance it was hard to tell if she was spooked or not, but when Cardiff waved and shouted once again I finally found my way back up into the saddle. My grey stallion and I raced uphill to see what's causing Cardiffs alarming shouts and when I had finally got close my mind immediately shut itself off by the scene that was presenting itself to me. Between the walking animals laid a molested body of a bull. It looked bloody, but the other elks where shielding it from my view. Both Cardiff and me began to shoo off the animals, unable to tell what was happening. Gored elks were something we'd seen many times. Things like that happen easily with all these wolves running around, but this one seemed foul. And I imediately knew why when I saw the body in all it's might. The poor thing was skinned, clean cuts were made to seperate the hide from the flesh, the fur itself was pushed inside the animals abdomnial cavity, and the intestines where fighting with the big intrudor for the rare space, which caused some parts of the gut to fall out. Yet he strangest thing was the condition of the body. The jaw was ripped open wildly, open enough to fit in its own hide which seemed to had been used to burn the animal from inside out, leaving charred fleshy wounds down the throat, all the way into the womb where the burned remains of the animals hide where visible. Only cruel men could be able to do this, and we were both equally horrified.
Our horses dragged the burned body on a rope into a shack besides the main building and by the end of the month it wouldn't be the only corpse of a molested animal of it's kind filling that shack.

Somethings about to start, there's someone who was leaving us horrific messages, threads even, and It could no longer be ignored.
By the end of the summer we set up guard shifts and mounted patrols all along the grounds of Arryn Hall, and when the first human corpse was found on our properties I was forced to call in the Royal Cavalry.
--

Months had passed since these events and the fields of Arryn Hall became an uneasy place to be. I knew myself safe inside and behind the thick wooden walls of our little fortress, but even with the Cavalry on patrol at any time and no matter the weather outside, I still couldn't know my animals or the citicizens of the near villages safe, and that made me feel sick. We identified the human corpse as a villager who hepled me buy these lands five years ago and it was worrying to know that he had to die for a cause we haven't even identified yet. That was 6 months ago, and nothing happend afterwards . It was no relief, but a reason to loosen at least some safety rules. It was almost November and we had to train for the White December soon or we couldn't leave. This year we where even two teams to participate in the endurance race, so Arryn Hall had to be on high alert in our absence. You simply don't say no when Vidar himself invites you to a suicidal race through the russian Winter, and I had to trust my Cavalry to keep my people safe in the december.

--
It was a cloudy day when Ragna and I went out to practise shooting. That day being a day close to december should make him cold and icy, yet it was pretty warm in comparison. The snow we had had melted days ago, and the cavalry had a hard time with the wet mud on its patrols. "Steady now, you don't want to miss in your position" I corrected her aiming besides me. From our place we could see the elk herd perfectly well, and Cardiff and his horse did a great job keeping the herd on one place. " Trust me, I got this, Sir" She assured me, and with a perfectly placed aim she shot the old cow we had spotted three days earlier in the herd. The weakly Elk sunk to its knees without a sound, and we could see Cardiff trotting towards the body. I laid my hand proudly on her shoulder. "Well done Colonel, you just assured us of our meal for the next three weeks." I couldn't help but feel touched when I saw a smile form on her lips. "Now back to the shooting racks".

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

art, story, and characters by valachhim 2015
textures used for the background

Description
Finally getting some storytelling done, AND finally combining concept art with cartoon art, it was about time :'D So yeah once again a photo-bashed painting, and wowie! A decent conceptual depiction of Arryn Hall! Wooh!

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

Note: if you don't want to read the whole thing, scroll down to the small part at the end of it to inform youself about what's happening in the picture~ Have fun!
previous events:

***Raphaels POV (Point of view)***

The plains always represented safety. At days the cold wind would howl over the wide and open terrain and carry the smell of earth, grass and animal with it. Through open windows the smell would crawl into every corner of the room, spreading a feeling of belonging, and home. I called these fields of taigan plains my place of safety since the day my friend Cardiff and I had arrived here, and we knew what laid ahead of us when our gazes touched these lands for the very first time. Not only the old wooden pile of a building that spreads a rotting and earthy scent everytime it rains, but our future inside and beyond these walls. This was ours now, and all our lives would forever be linked to this place, human as well as animal. But one day the wind stopped carrying the smell of home towards my room, the plains didn't smell safe and soothing, and the air simply smelled like any other earth, grass and animal. It was a cloudy day, and it was the day I stopped feeling safe, not just me, but every living soul on my ground was in danger
To set the furthers events in my memory back in motion I have to start at the very beginning. A normal day, with regular work ahead of us and normal every day problems. An entirely normal day, like the ones who go hand in hand with every normal and relaxing day before it, yet it was the dawn of a personal war. After a short night of more or less good sleep I went downstairs towards the great hall, just like any other day, and joined my friends at the solid stoned firepit in the middle of the riding arena, a relict of long gone times where this gigantic hall was used by warriors to drink themself beyond valhallas gates. "Mornin' sleeping beauty, your royal breakfast is in its usual condition; cold" Cardiff embraced me in a always cheerful mode. I mumbled silent curses while checking the pots of coffee and beans over the stove and realising they where both cold as ice. "You boys got any more wood layin' around somewhere?" I asked both of them, Cardiff and Vilkas, who where sitting on chairs next to the outgoing fire, my voice still husky from my sleep. "Nah, gotta go now. Need to chop'som wood up behind the house, and the animals weren't fed yet anyways" Cardiff stated without even looking at anyone specific, and with that he walked around the fire and towards the gate to the front door, still talking to me, "Could you do that?". I threw a look at Vilkas, who was still sitting in his chair, hands folded around a cup of coffee, "Wasn't that your job?"asking him, I remembered giving him the task of the morning feeding at least two weeks ago. "You slept in late, too, alright?", Vilkas excused himself. I rumbled and rubbed my face with the insides of my hands. Great! I hadn't got much sleep because there's simply too much work for all of us to cover, and it seems some of us can't even complete the importand tasks. With no coffee and no breakfast I was forced to start my day at work. I paced to the room under the stairs leading to my room, picked a fur covered artillery saddle and a bridle and went back to the great hall where I searched for my fleabitten grey friend. We tended to let the horses we were currently using the most run around freely in the riding arena, and there I found my horse in a corner, nibbling on the last remaining strays of hay from yesterday. I stroked the bridle behind his ears, lay the saddle ontop of his back and set my feet in the irons. After heaving myself ontop of the stallion we made our way towards the smaller hall that follows into the great hall, which we paced walking, then trotting and finally galloping. I had no time to loose. To my relief the main gate was open wide enough for us two to canter through and pass beneath the wooden pillars on Arryn Halls entrance. Now riding on the open plains I searched for the big pile of elks that where running around freely. Even though a herd of more than 300 animals should be easy to spot I couldn't find them right away. It took me half an our to find the herd bleating and grazing behind two or three hills. I let my stallion gallop behind the herd, and with a few shouts and collissions the mass of bodies began moving towards our way back home. The feeding racks where on the field in front of Arryn Hall so I had to lead the herd back home. It took a while for the entire herd to move from one place to another, but I managed. After a while a mounted Cardiff joined me after spotting the herd on the horizon, and while I arrived, dismounted and went to work, filling everything up with hay, he checked on the herd in the back. Soon the summer would come, I thought, and feeding the herd extra will be unnessecary again until the winter comes back around.
Absorbed in the physical work I had hardly processed my thoughts properly when Cardiff shouted my name. I threw the hay on the ground and looked up, elks immediately rushing towards my little pile of hay. Cardiffs mare danced around, and from this distance it was hard to tell if she was spooked or not, but when Cardiff waved and shouted once again I finally found my way back up into the saddle. My grey stallion and I raced uphill to see what's causing Cardiffs alarming shouts and when I had finally got close my mind immediately shut itself off by the scene that was presenting itself to me. Between the walking animals laid a molested body of a bull. It looked bloody, but the other elks where shielding it from my view. Both Cardiff and me began to shoo off the animals, unable to tell what was happening. Gored elks were something we'd seen many times. Things like that happen easily with all these wolves running around, but this one seemed foul. And I imediately knew why when I saw the body in all it's might. The poor thing was skinned, clean cuts were made to seperate the hide from the flesh, the fur itself was pushed inside the animals abdomnial cavity, and the intestines where fighting with the big intrudor for the rare space, which caused some parts of the gut to fall out. Yet he strangest thing was the condition of the body. The jaw was ripped open wildly, open enough to fit in its own hide which seemed to had been used to burn the animal from inside out, leaving charred fleshy wounds down the throat, all the way into the womb where the burned remains of the animals hide where visible. Only cruel men could be able to do this, and we were both equally horrified.
Our horses dragged the burned body on a rope into a shack besides the main building and by the end of the month it wouldn't be the only corpse of a molested animal of it's kind filling that shack.

Somethings about to start, there's someone who was leaving us horrific messages, threads even, and It could no longer be ignored.
By the end of the summer we set up guard shifts and mounted patrols all along the grounds of Arryn Hall, and when the first human corpse was found on our properties I was forced to call in the Royal Cavalry.
--

Months had passed since these events and the fields of Arryn Hall became an uneasy place to be. I knew myself safe inside and behind the thick wooden walls of our little fortress, but even with the Cavalry on patrol at any time and no matter the weather outside, I still couldn't know my animals or the citicizens of the near villages safe, and that made me feel sick. We identified the human corpse as a villager who hepled me buy these lands five years ago and it was worrying to know that he had to die for a cause we haven't even identified yet. That was 6 months ago, and nothing happend afterwards . It was no relief, but a reason to loosen at least some safety rules. It was almost November and we had to train for the White December soon or we couldn't leave. This year we where even two teams to participate in the endurance race, so Arryn Hall had to be on high alert in our absence. You simply don't say no when Vidar himself invites you to a suicidal race through the russian Winter, and I had to trust my Cavalry to keep my people safe in the december.

--
It was a cloudy day when Ragna and I went out to practise shooting. That day being a day close to december should make him cold and icy, yet it was pretty warm in comparison. The snow we had had melted days ago, and the cavalry had a hard time with the wet mud on its patrols. "Steady now, you don't want to miss in your position" I corrected her aiming besides me. From our place we could see the elk herd perfectly well, and Cardiff and his horse did a great job keeping the herd on one place. " Trust me, I got this, Sir" She assured me, and with a perfectly placed aim she shot the old cow we had spotted three days earlier in the herd. The weakly Elk sunk to its knees without a sound, and we could see Cardiff trotting towards the body. I laid my hand proudly on her shoulder. "Well done Colonel, you just assured us of our meal for the next three weeks." I couldn't help but feel touched when I saw a smile form on her lips. "Now back to the shooting racks".

______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________________

art, story, and characters by valachhim 2015
textures used for the background