31 Days of Inktober

Quick Warning – lots of images ahead. Turn off mobile data if you’re using it! The images aren’t that big, but if you’ve got a small amount of data like me (I only have 100MB a month), you’ll want to save it.

So I decided to give Inktober a go. One picture a day for the entirety of October. It’s not like I need any more things I need to do, what with my 500 words a day, keeping this site going and all my real life stuff that has to be done in a day. Basically, Inktober is one drawing a day, done in some form of ink. I don’t know whether using pencil to start off is allowed, but I assumed not and drew thirty one drawings in a black biro that I got in a pack of 5 from Lidl for €1.25. I could have used a nice pen but I don’t have any. Well, I have some nice gel pens but they get smudged so easily.

There are supposed to be an official set of prompts, one for each day, but I didn’t like them. Things like “fast” and “slow” just seem, I don’t know, boring. So I made my own set of prompts – elementally powered beings, beasts and monsters. The elements are based on both the classic Water, Earth, Wind and Fire sort of thing, as well as elements taken from Bionicle, generic elements and a handful that I use in the Phoviverse.

So here we go. Thirty one pictures, all described to you. The sources are all mostly the same. They’re mainly Phoviverse beings (individuals and species), but there are a handful of other beings too.

Day 1’s theme was water. So of course I drew some sort of mermaid creature. This is an off-shoot of the Temthan species, an incredibly varied species of reptilian beings – that learned to live underwater. This is a female Neraid, evolved to live near coral reefs. They were isolated enough that mainstream Temthans couldn’t destroy them all in one of their many racist genocides. Yes, Temthans are dicks.

A Thraki is the Phoviverse’s equivalent of a Wyvern type of dragon. They’re considered among the best magic users around, but prefer to be left alone. Most Thraki specialize in an elemental magic (commonly fire, ice or electricity) as well as a secondary ‘utility’ magic such as Illusion or Restoration. Thraki can often be found on the Thanatia planets of the Thanatia solar system. No, they didn’t name that solar system. Thraki don’t quite seem to be related to any other reptilian or Temthan race.

The Crystal Nuggle Beast is a domesticated species used by Vohra to dig tunnels when they don’t have access to normal equipment. They are generally no bigger than 2m long, but if treated well, they can grow to the size of a small elephant. Wild Nuggle Beasts tend to live in small colonies, feeding off pools of underground methane and other normally toxic gases. Nuggle Beasts often have glowing spots across their bodies, and Vohra will attach lanterns to their tails so they know which way they’re facing.

The Tontai Temthans of Tzoongla (try saying that five times fast) use massive six-winged birds called Aetai to travel through their treetop cities. In times of war, they are kitted out in flexible rubber armour, laced with pieces of wood and carved in elegant patterns. Tontai Warriors use incredibly long spears and hooks to tear enemies apart from a distance, but normally the Aetai’s claws and beak will get the job done.

Vrekans are an off-shoot of the Panvok genre of beings. While most Panvok are known for their armour-plated heads and bodies, Vrekans have a much more avian form, built more like the massive killer birds of prehistoric times than the likes of modern birds. Despite these bird-like traits, many Vrekans wear a lot of armour and protection, mainly to protect their rather flimsy bones. This particular Vrekan is part of the Ice Spine tribe, which happily live on the top of mountains in isolation.

Day number six deviates a little, with a weird picture of Pohatu, Toa of Stone. Poor bugger got turned into Tahu V3 in the new generation of Bionicle, but he did look genuinely very cool. Generation 1 Pohatu will always be best Pohatu, and this image combines both.

Many sub-species of Temthans are not particularly civilized. Groups of beings known as Thanatians – feral Temthans – are regularly dumped on words with small amounts of civilization, growing and adapting and evolving into their own societies, before the Temthans come along and reclaim them as part of their empire. Most Thanatians have a leader with an elemental affinity. Those with the Light affinity are considered holy and often become revered by their fellow Thanatians.

Psivee-En, often known as the Defiler, is the last of the Trehavok, a Panvok race capable of manipulating shadows. He was frozen in a cryopod after the Trehavok were defeated by the Rethans over five thousand years ago. Just as his sentence ended and he was revived from stasis, Psivee-En was informed of the extinction of his kind and attacked several Rethan guards, causing him to be imprisoned inside a traditional cell for a further twenty years. He was released two years ago and disappeared into the Thraki territories of planet Portalia.

“A universe without any form of Stasis will only burn itself out.” Kenos, often known as the Lord of Nothing, the King of the Void and best known as Stasis, is the personification of the empty space between spaces. Kenos believes that any universe needs to have something to slow down the constant forward pushes of Time against the ‘Endless Cycle of life, death and rebirth, and acts as a stabilizing force to extend the life of a universe and stop it from using up all its energy completely. He constantly fights with Kairos, the personification of Time, trying to slow things down.

Kairos, the Whenvern, is the personification of time and forward movement. Often calling himself the Dragon God of Time, Kairos’s duty is to preserve forward motion within the universe, neutralizing time paradoxes before they can happen and destroying time machines before they can be built. Kairos only ever speaks in the present or future tense, and will always deny mortals the right to see clearly into the future.

Who said the element of Life was always in the hands of good people? Not me at least. Medic’s ability to defy the Grim Reaper is pretty damn impressive. After all, he revived Sniper after he’d been dead for 12 hours.

Sometimes, Death is too busy or too tied up to kill everything. Sometimes people devise ways to avoid Death. That’s where Arkay comes in. Arkay has the ability to murder literally anything, and specializes in taking out those who try to escape Death’s cold grasp, often in incredibly gruesome ways. Despite his rather cruel job, Arkay’s quite a nice lad and he absolutely adores playing video games and listening to human music.

Whenever magic goes wrong, Enegarchs appear. Enegarchs are destructive beings that are known to cause huge amounts of damage to everything around them in a desperate attempt to disperse any gathered energy they have. A side effect of this is that Enegarchs can randomly teleport around before dispersing and evaporating into nothing.

Kinisis embodies space and gives life to everything within the universe, including Kairos and Kenos. While religions more commonly associate Kinisis with the cycle of life and death, the Lady of Everything normally acts as a personification of the universe itself, protecting it from colliding and merging with other universes. While Kinisis is said to be a happy being, she has little time for the constant meddling of the Gods of Time and Stasis.

Fluffy, sentient, herbivore mammal beings aren’t that common in the major parts of the Phoviverse. Mainly because they all get eaten by carnivorous beings before they get the chance to evolve sentience. The Armoni are one of the few exceptions, a completely peaceful race of goat-like beings that live in large, crystalline structures in a small corner of the Temthan empire. The crystals hum with a certain tone that makes violence nearly impossible, allowing the Armoni to live in peace.

Kayhydrakes are mtuliheaded hydra beings, a former Temthan race who destroyed themselves in war. Those who were left became feral, before being domesticated by Temthans and used as guard dogs. The bite of a Kayhydrake makes one go insane, sending them on a horrible, chaotic murder spree that often ends up with the victim taking their own life.

For Creation, I just made a sort of symbol using Kairos, Kenos and Kinisis.

I always thought that Tahnok-Kal would get on rather well with anyone with electricity powers, then end up crying on their shoulders whenever he sees some sort of sibling-like interaction because all his brothers got blown up by evil Toa. Volt on the other hand is just slightly miffed that he could be great, if only he had a few buffs.

Oh hey, it’s Mag. I still don’t really get how to play her.

Vohra are little 1m tall beings who spend most of their lives as children, living in huge nests and utilizing a mixture of genetic manipulation and biotechnology to spread across the universe. Each Vohra has an elemental ability, but the most powerful Vohra have the ability to locally alter gravity. Many of these Gravity Vohra get turned into nest guardians called the Kalsa Warriors, and defend their nests in times of need. Kalsa Warriors also do more menial tasks around the nest, such as tending to the Vayra Queens of their nests and fixing problems normal Vohra are too dumb to deal with.

“HELP! WE’RE BEING ATTACKED BY GIANT LAVA LIGHTNING FIRE FERRETS!” was the last message sent by the USS Explorista, a human ship exploring a small solar system and looking for new planets to settle on. While these beings are not related to ferrets in any way, the way they move is somewhat similar and rather unnerving when you realize they can’t be calmed down with a bucket of water.

Thrakiwolves are a predatory mammalian species that live in packs over the mountains of planet Kolasi. You’d think they’d be quite small, but because of the low gravity on Kolasi, these vicious scavengers can grow to 3m long, with a wingspan of over 7m. Both Vohra and Temthans see them as ill omens, but the local Thanatians see them as great pest deterrents.

Is that a SECOND Bohrok-Kal? Yes it is. It’s Lehvak-Kal, the Vacuum-powered Bohrok. He got blasted into low orbit for the crime of wanting to fulfill his destiny, and he got the best view ever of the recreation of Spherus Magna.

I was actually going to draw High General Elkay Theanon of the Rethans for this one, because of his unique vacuum-elemental alignment and his ability to survive the depths of space, but Lehvak-Kal does a better job of that.

Kenos is a powerful being but he’s also manipulative. His minions are known as Deitics, god-like beings with the ability to shapeshift and an allergy to silver. The Lanex are a collection of metal-suited Deitic beings that eventually managed to escape from Kenos’s grasp and settled down on their own. They now trade with Vrekans and Rethavok in the Retha Solar System.

Kindyna is one of the Sixteen, a group of elite Thanatians with multiple elements. Unlike most Thanatians, Kindyna has rather smooth skin and tendrils for hair rather than traditional spikes and horns. While not exactly cruel, Kindyna will go to any length to make sure she can achieve her goals, and her psionic powers make her life a lot easier.

Tromeros is another member of the Sixteen, often kept hidden in the shadows and only brought out when the Sixteen need someone terrified into submission. No one knows why he has non-Thnatian feet, but some believe Tromeros sawed his feet off and turned the bloody stumps into hooves to make him more terrifying. Tromeros denies these claims and says he was born like that.

What happens when you cross the ferocity of a wolf with the anger of a bull with the intelligence of a raptor with the physical excellent of an adult kangaroo then throw on some horns for good measure? You get a Banikan. Banikans are terrifying, permanently hungry monsters that roams the plains of the Thanatia planets. They are a race considered so dangerous that not even Kairos or Kenos mess with them. They’re so volatile that Death often has to send Arkay to kill them. Some of them can even use magic. The key to speaking to a Banikan is to show that you’re completely harmless, and to approach them very carefully from the front, so they can see you.

Lykins are rage-powered wolf beings with bad eyesight but an amazing sense of smell and hearing. They work similarly to the Hulk – the angrier they are, the more powerful they become. But different types of anger do different things; for example, vague annoyance will make them more aware of their surroundings while stress will make their senses more acute and anxiety increases their stamina. Luckily, Lykins can be calmed down somewhat easily by presenting them with food and gems.

The Temthans are obsessed with love, drugs, food and sex. While their religions have changed multiple times over the years, they have always had some sort of Cupid-like naked guardian angel who ensures that everyone gets laid. Agapi is one such guardian angel, worshiped at the Grand Temple of the Dragon Gods. Non-Temthan visitors are advised to wear protective suits before they enter her sanctuary.

Temthaic Fidavok are a snake-like race of beings that live in the clouds of Synefa 2. The gravity of this world is so dense that clouds can be stood on by most beings, and that the little tiny wings on their heads are large enough to allow Temthaic Fidavok to fly. Because of their reptilian appearance, they were believed to be a new Temthan subspecies, but later studies concluded that they were the result of a Deitic experiment gone horribly wrong and that they are more closely related to the now extinct Trehavok of all things. Fidavok are incredibly toxic beings and are most notable for their poisons that instantly blind threats. They are also known for the Iliaphobe Poison, a toxin that makes victims allergic to sunlight.

Fysy was one of the first sentient children Kinisis created, and is believed to have given birth to the first sentient race. While little is known about her life, a common Temthan fairy tale vividly describes how she died, by redirecting a river across a planet and letting the waters wash over her. She apparently rose from the water, wrapped in star-filled blackness, before disappearing in a flash of light so she could serve Kinisis forever.

And that’s all of them. All thirty one. Phew. You can tell which ones I cared more or less about, or the ones I didn’t have time for.

As for whether I’ll continue to draw every day? Probably not, but I will continue to draw in black pen. I found it to be really nice, and when I was in the right mood, some of these pictures came out really nice.

Coincidentally, this also counts as my 500 words a day. It’s closer to 2500 words, but that’s not the point.

Anyway, if you want to learn more, the Phoviverse is a good place to start. Alternatively, message me on Steam or Discord or send me an email, ask me something Phoviverse-related and I’ll go on about it for hours.