Luke Skywalker In Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine

Another Chuubo's Marvelous Wish-Granting Engine Interlude by Rip van Mason

And here's the second and only other one so far!

Interlude II of IX – Horizon – From the personal journal of Glass Spider, playwrite

To HAYDEN SORROWS, she is always the vampire. I have seldom heard him mention her under any other name. In his eyes she eclipses and predominates the whole of her parasitic species. It was not that he felt any emotion akin to love for Natalie Coutourier. All emotions, and that one particularly, were abhorrent to his cold, precise but admirably balanced mind. He was, I take it, the most perfect guardian and tutor that Coterie Coutourier could envision, but as a care-taker he would have placed himself in a false position. He never spoke of the wishing heart, save with a gibe and a sneer. They were admirable tools for writing fiction about such three dimensional characters as the cast of the Harry Potter books, or for drawing humans into inequity or inspiring mad scientists to defy the laws of God and Man. But for the predators, the Old Ones, to admit such intrusions into their own admittedly delicate and finely adjusted temperaments was to introduce a distracting factor that would render them mortal. And yet there was but one woman to him, and that woman was the late Natalie Coutourier, an outsider of a dubious and questionable lineage.  I had seen little of my good friend, Hayden, in the past few years. With my apotheosis into a higher order of being approaching ever closer, an ever more incredible amount of minutia was made attendant upon me- assuring my mortal fortune, deleting records of my birth, placating the Seven Saints of Eternity, selecting stagehands and backdrop painters, hosting School talent shows, destroying the impious agents of Lee Scathing, teaching the choir new blasphemous chants and motivating my own human cultists to have the ritual completed on time- while Sorrows, who loathed all forms of religion and ceremony, buried himself in his duties, occupying his incredible faculties and exceptional powers of observation by offering his services as a youkai of private inquiry. From time to time, I heard some vague account of his doings: of his summons to the Disciplinary Committee for the inquiry into the history teacher that instigated the French Revolution, of his clearing up of the singular tragedy of the death of young Baldur and most recently mere rumours of the mission which he had accomplished so delicately and successfully for the Titov Shrine Family. Beyond these signs of his activity, which I merely shared with the rest of Horizon, I knew little of my former friend and master. One night, I was returning from a hunting trip into the sewer system, where I had found undue difficulty in killing the Mystery known as Unicorn, when my journey lead me through Fortitude and past the Blakely House. Remembering the once-commonly used ritual to bring myself to my companion’s door, I was suddenly seized by a need to present myself before Sorrows, and perhaps assure myself he was in no way working against my ascension. I chanted the ancient words, marked the borders of the lead gate with the petals of a tulip, rosemary for remembrance and a dash of ashes, bowed to the Guardian of the Threshold and bypassed the trapdoor into the Mausoleum of Shades, that nightmare realm of the dead, the mad and Those Who Burrow Below. As always, I found the small rooms within the rambling mansion unchanged. Sorrows’ Draco Malfoy posters were neatly hung in frames, his alchemical equipment in partial disarray, his typewriter mid-sentence on his latest attempt to master writing YA fanfic, his black valet’s outfit hung impeccably beside his crumpled bed clothes. Sorrows himself was unchanged, the tall, spare figure pacing his rooms in deep contemplation. Sorrow’s manner was not effusive but he was, on the whole, I think, pleased to renew my acquaintance. Ceasing his movements around the carpet, he gestured to a chair and a box of cigars. “It seems being an object of dark worship suits you, my dear Glass Spider,” he remarked, “I think your aura is distinctly more tinged with blasphemy.” “Sorrows! It’s not a matter I speak about.” “I fancy your plan for apotheosis is at hand, then? That would explain your frustrating dealings with those credulous nincompoops of the Cult of the World Tree. How did you get those pompous twerps onside, anyway?” “Old friend, I do say…” “Ah, they defy your naming magicks, but you seek to coerce them with the unicorn blood you were hunting for!” “Hayden, this is too much! If I was not completely certain I was immune to scrying, I should think you had been using potent divinations upon my person!” “Bah! Scrying,” his voice carried infinite disdain, “Who needs to see from afar when the evidence is right here? I see it, I deduce it. The matter is simplicity herself. Given your manner of dress is rather megalomaniacal, even for a member of the School Council, and you openly wear that shard of Hayashi glass in your forehead, it seems unlikely you are trying to hide your plans from the Headmaster, so you must have a cult backing you, in defiance of common practice of our pre-Christian kind.” He rubbed his long, nervous hands together. “You have a string of holy titles jotted down on your cuffs, a mortal habituation you have acquired despite your infallible memory for names. One of the names is clearly Yggdrasil - hence my observation you are consorting with the holy men of the Tree. And when a man comes in smelling of virgins’ blood with mud from the sewers on his heel, the distinct bulge on a sanctified dagger in the top pocket of his robe, proclaim me an idiot if I don’t declare him the conductor of a unicorn hunt.” I could not help but laugh at the ease with which he explained his process of deduction. “When I hear you give your reasons,” I remarked, “the thing always appears to me to be so ridiculously simple that I could easily do it myself, though at each successive instance of your reasoning I am baffled until you explain your process. And yet I believe that my spider eyes are far superior to yours.” “Quite so,” he answered, lighting a cigarette, and throwing himself down into the ghost of an armchair, kicking up a small cloud of dust. “You see perfectly, but you do not observe. The distinction is clear. My dear Glass Spider, if gods and demons wold put in that sort of effort, it would not now be this fallen human age!” I could not resist a smirk, “Not a human age for much longer, of course.” Hayden waved his hands airily, dismissively. ‘That is between the Seven and the Thirteen, I suppose. You know I have no time for politics. By-the-way, since you are interested in these little problems, and since you are good enough to chronicle one or two of my trifling experiences, you may wish to chronicle this.” There was something very strange in all this. Sorrows had never once asked for me to chronicle his adventures, and valued his privacy and the privacy of Blakely House above all other affairs. “You have probably never heard of Antiente Skulle?” said he. “Never.” “Aye, there’s the genius and the wonder of the thing!” he cried. “The liche pervades Horizon, and not even the School Council has heard of him. I tell you, Spider, in all seriousness, that I could continue to live in the quiet fashion which is most congenial to me, and to concentrate my attention upon training Mistress Natalie and writing Harry Potter fan-fiction if it were not for Antient Skulle!” Something about his pale, worn face told me that his nerves were at their highest tension. He saw the question in my eyes, and, putting his finger-tips together and his elbows upon his knees, he explained the situation…

These are a couple of pictures I drew several (holy crap years ago.  Sticking them on Tumblr to share them with an associate.

I was in an Exalted phase at the time so I did a bit of Homestuck/Exalted fanart.  That's John Egbert as the Unconquered Sun and Dave Strider as Ligier, the Green Sun, Fetich Soul of Malfeas.  I tried to do a Jade(As the Maidens) and a Rose (As one of the Deathlords) but couldn't quite get things working...  

I think the John is my favorite.  Lil' Cal Malfeas is a bit hard to decipher.

A Boy and His Star...

A quick doodle of Princess Hereford, of the Bear Fairies.  Don't ask,

The Vice Magus

Academics Skill: Average but people think more than that Sports Skill: Exactly as Incompetent as Expected Favorite Foods: Pierogies, Gyros, Outside Dust Blood Type: B- Animal: Pig Age: 16 An Interesting Fact About You: You’re probably the richest kid in the Walking Fields. Character Description ❀ You’re a Titov. In Town that usually says all anyone needs to know about the sort of unsavory fellow you probably are. And, honestly, that first impression isn’t really wrong. You like to imagine yourself as a Byronic hero, romantic and brave and wrestling with deep dark emotions. But, really, you’re mostly just a jerk. You think of yourself and your own needs more than you think of other people. When you’re feeling especially self-reflective, you blame your upbringing for how you are. And it is true that the Titov family magic and its associated curse tends to breed a sort of listless, amoral hedonism. But… When it comes down to it… yeah… you’re mostly just a jerk. ❀ You live in a vast gothic mansion down the road from the Light Seeker. Your family had it moved, brick by brick, from Horizon when they chose to leave the hustle-and-bustle of Town for the idyllic countryside. It’s a strange place. Outside dust tends to collect in the carpets and drapes, lending a psychedelic, phantasmagoric feeling to everything. You spend your days skulking around your domain, lounging on chaise longues, eating individual grapes sensually, practicing your magic to get anything that you want. ❀ You’re probably going to go on this quest for selfish reasons. You’re friends with the Light Seeker, but the habit of self-interest is a hard one to break. In your dreams, you’ve been hearing a whispering voice promising you power and magics. In the Outside there is a treasure... a True Thing, the voice says, and all you have to do is find it and claim it. Becoming a God sounds good to you, doesn’t it? Sidebar: Shake it Up! For an atypical Vice Magus experience, pick 0-2 of the following: ❀ Instead of Roderick Titov, you can be Zoey Titova, a girl ❀ Instead of Roderick Titov, maybe you’re... ✶ … Roderick Susanov, a rogue seer who was tempted by what he saw with his magic. ✶ … Roderick Yatskaya, a channeler guided by vast dark powers. ✶ … Leonardo deMontreal, a nightmare-scientist questing to complete his Incomparable Nightmare Engine. ✶ … Colbrand, the False Light, one of the Mysteries of the Rats who wants to become the new sun.

Sidebar: Playing as Colbrand, the False Light

Roderick is verging on inhumanity, you take it much further. You are Colbrand, the False Light, who is called Monstrous, one of the Mysteries of the Rats. Once, you were the thing that made all of the world worthwhile, the thing which even the swans agreed made reality true and good. And then you were lost… and, as it turned out, the world didn’t really need you after all. You do not want to be small and unimportant, you do not want to be unneeded. You look to the sky, to the void left by the sun, and you see the chance you’ve been waiting for for so, so long.

Here's the pencil sketch of that Fortitude Rat from before.

The Light Seeker

Academics Skill: Scholarly Sports Skill: Clumsy Favorite Foods: Rice Balls, Sugar Cereal Blood Type: O Animal: Rabbit Age: 15 An Interesting Fact About You: You’ve never been further from home than School. Not even to Fortitude! Character Description ❀ You're just a simple kid, living in the Walking Fields. You like going to school, playing football with your friends that live down the lane, reading books, and listening to radio dramas on the wireless. Your parents farm strawberries for a living, shipping them to Fortitude where they are made into jam. You've never been very good at farming,but your dad doesn't mind, he has another son and two daughters to help him with the fields. You're a bit hapless and clumsy, the kid who tends to lose things, including himself, at the drop of a hat… which you lost. People say that you're unlucky, but you always seem to make it out okay. ❀ In your heart, you dream of being a great hero, traveling out of Town on a ship to explore the far shores of Big Lake or setting out to the edges of the Walking Fields and beyond. But those are just daydreams. In real life, you've never been further from home than School. You've never even gone on a trip to Fortitude! You have visited Arcadia (awesome!) and Old Molder (spooky!) but never for long. You tell yourself that one day you'll have your adventure. It turns out, your lucky day is coming up! ❀ Your next door neighbor is Ms. Kseniya, a sad-looking jotun lady who likes to sit alone on her porch and watch the storms come in. She always waves when she sees you, but she doesn't smile much. On summer nights you and your friends visit her and she tells giant stories from the time before people came to Town. You can tell she enjoys the company, she tries to teach you some of the Old Words that the Jotun know,though you usually don't have much luck. Once she taught you a charm to keep away hydras; it has always proven effective! Sidebar: Shake it Up! For an atypical Light Seeker experience, pick 0-3 of the following: ❀ Instead of Tripp, you can be Susan Numidia, a Rider girl. ❀ Instead of being strawberry farmers, your parents could be… ✶ … woodcutters. ✶ … cattle ranchers. ✶ … retired pirates. ✶ … ex-soldiers. ✶ … dead.

❀ Instead of living next door to Kseniya, your mentor is… ✶ … Ms. Numidia, your aunt, who teaches you the art of hiding who you are. ✶ … Mr. Calazas, a former masked wrestler, who teaches you his patented leg holds. ✶ … Mr. Carneleon, the mailman, who teaches you about origami and the value of a hand-delivered letter. ✶ … The Headmaster of the Bleak Academy, who, against your will, teaches you things you should not ever have to know.

Sidebar: Playing Susan Numidia You’re not just an ordinary boy living on your parents’ farm… you’re an ordinary Rider girl living on your parents’ farm. Besides having eyes of night and falling stars and… well… you know… you’re different from Tripp in a few ways. You’re a bit grumpier than Tripp. You’re bored with the Walking Fields and with your parents’ peaceful rural life. You have a feeling in your heart that you have a destiny out in the Outside. It’s where you’re from, even if you’ve never even seen the Outside. You’re still going to find yourself falling into trouble, but you’re going to be pretty annoyed by it. Your mentor is probably your aunt Bogud, a Rider witch who tells you stories of the Not and the Old War and teaches you the Outsider secrets of hiding who and what you are. ❀ Susan usually has the Magical Skill Changeling instead of the Jotun Cantrips skill. That’s not necessarily true, it depends on your mentor, but usually Tripp is all about weird ancient magics he only sort of controls and Susan is more focused on strange Bleak subterfuges.

Quick doodle of a Fortitude Rat wizard I'm considering finishing up for wizardbattles. Maybe. Or not. I think I'm out of practice drawing wizards.

A quick doodle of... okay, it's Meenah from Homestuck, but it's, in this case, the image I'll be using for my character in an RPG who is also a fish-chick with a trident.  It's... complicated...  whatever.

Three!  Spheres!  Cataclysm!