The Four-Points of Death

The Grim-Reaper type characters from The Static-Lands Saga.  From Ilkhan mythology, but not mythology believed by all.  These characters were breifly outlined in the story "The Last Dream" and the dog-character was featured in "Overridden."  This is thus-far. I am thinking of more stories featuring this particular mythology-of-death.  

The Hart of Gold - He takes souls to a favorable afterlife, to the cliff leading to a mysterious place called the Celestial Forest.  Acrylic and ink (with some glitter) over watecolor paper painted with a "tea" I made from dead maple leaves.

The Wandering Cat - She deals with ghosts / spirits caught in a wandering state.  Clients who didn't believe in the afterlife and are surprised to find themselves there are common charges of hers.  Very snarky. Based on the family cat.  Acrylic and ink over marble-print paper (that I had leftover from some papercraft project).

The Diamond-Eyed Dog - He deals with people who are destined to be reincarnated.  Suicides are common charges of his.  Acrylic and ink over watercolor paper stained with roobios/red-bush tea.

The Lady of Chains - She takes people to the bad place... not "hell" as we know it (and as another, extinct religion of the Static-Lands knew it), but the Barrens - an empty desert were cruel, petty souls are destined to wander, alone with their shame and their thoughts for eternity or until they change enough to find the direction out of that place - whatever comes first.  It may not be burning sulfur, but you still don't want to see the Lady when you die.  Also known as the Scavenger (and the horse is "Andreas" which is a very weird little reference I'll explain if you ask nicely), this character has actually been recycled from an earlier work - a fantasy novel I wrote some time ago but am no longer happy with.  I still liked the character, so I repurposed her.   Acrylic and ink over watercolor paper stained with soy sauce. 

I may make a print available at my Deviant Art space as soon as I reconfoobulate my print-sale information there.  Sorry about the small size here - my print-setup size is a nice, big 16 x20.

Static-Lands Working Map

Click for a larger view... I think.  I did save it small for viewing online, but it's not supposed to be tiny...

A working map of the Static-Lands.  Photoshop textured with a scan of actual paper I tortured and tea-stained.  I folded the paper so that it would look like it had been a map folded up all tiny in some traveler's back pocket.  I would have handdrawn it, but since I have only written about a few places around the Static-Lands and have only a few more in mind at the moment, I knew I had lots of empty land, so I drew it digitally.  I have a master Photoshop file that I can change.

It was inspired by the map in the PS2 game, "Shadow of the Colossus."  In that game, you start with a map that is covered in clouds, save for the Shrine of Worship - the central save-point/starter location.  As you travel the land, saving around little shrines and slaying the Colossi, the clouds on your map part, showing the locations you've been. I thought it was pretty genius, so I used a similar idea for my story map.  My map is covered in clouds.  As I write more stories and start naming new locations/getting to know my own land, I can go back into the Photoshop file and dispell sections of the cloud layer to reveal/draw them. 

The master Photoshop file is much larger - therefore, if am called upon to put anything into print, there is no problem as long as I have copies of that file and Photoshop handy to bring them up.   This JPEG is just the low-res version.

Locations so Far

The Land-of-Always-Day

Fortissimo - Grand capitol city of the nation of Vale.  Really not as big to the country as it appears on the map (the map is rough-locations, it's not to scale). Cited in several stories so far.

The Desert - Farthest charted part of The Land-of-Always-Day, home of the fiercesome, vulture-like Vule people.

The Edgewoods - Not named in story - just the area where Theresa of "Incurable" lives.

The Gloaming Lands

The Institute - Something planned for a story I have yet to write, "The Soulpainter."  It is the ruin of a defunct old "hospital" that was... not about healing the sick. Created by the government of Vale in its dictator-days, it was where healthy undesirables were taken for things such as forced organ donation to their "betters." Also, a zombie uprising happened there.

The Land-of-Always-Night

The "Last Land" - A story I am writing now involves a tribe of pacifists who retreated to this place in the mountains to survive and to keep themselves from warfare.  It's a rather pleasant place surrounded by graggy mountains and rocks as sharp as glass.  Yes, the Panzau *really* wish to be left alone to be at peace. 

The Old Tower - I'm thinking this may be where peace-activist Vinchente LaPaz lives. Also might be the place where the lady wizard who screwed up the night and day cycle used to live.

I realize that I forgot to include the location of the Green Plateau, which was mentioned in one of my stories. I can always draw it in there when I update the map.