Love It!!!

Love it!!!

So I attempted to make Gurgin using the ElenaA's Windswept Oc Maker picrew! Some compromises had to be made so consider this a bit of a mashup of various incarnations of Gurgin since I couldn't accurately make his canon self the way I see it.

Hairstyle is kind of modern AU I guess with the shaved side but this was the best way to get the right shape (and even then it's reversed). Thank goodness I could do that strand across the centre of his face or else I would have given up straight away. His hair should be a bit more lank really but whatever.

Eye colour is Wolfsnake AU, more or less. I gave in to temptation and gave him the slit pupils for snaky vibes, though they're not super distinct here because of where I put the highlight.

The blood drop earrings are just for fun; let's say his Master gave them to him.

Nosebleed is from Sacrifice AU, poor guy.

(Hilmes looking disdainfully at the newly forged crown being offered to him - Chapter 128)

I'm also incorporating this panel into my chat language for when I will look a gift horse in the mouth

So somehow the whole story got a bit out of hand. After I reworked Kayra a bit with Picrew(I based myself on the beautiful picture of @tired-reader-writer and changed her eyes and hair and why is her hair so difficult???a bit to make her earring stand out better. I also changed the design of this one again.) I decided to make another OC or to finally give them a face (I will probably rework them again but for now I am very happy).

https://picrew.me/en/image_maker/1855819%23google_vignette

The first one is Amalia. She is also a slave in Shapur's household and Kayra's best friend since childhood. She was born into slavery and knows no other life outside of slavery. She is a rather quiet person and carries out her tasks conscientiously and properly. She can become very strict if tasks are left undone or not completed immediately. Over the years she has worked her way up to the position of housekeeper (is that what you call it?) and is now basically the boss of all the slaves. She married another slave from Shapur's household and together they have a daughter.

The next one is Nasha, Amalias daughter and nine years old. She is a complete tomboy and is always giving her mother a headache because she rarely behaves like a young girl and certainly not like a slave. She loves her mother's stories about Kayra and idolizes her (so it's no wonder she's temperamental). Even though she doesn't know Kayra personally, she is her biggest fan and hopes to be able to travel with her someday. She loves Shapur and Isfan and keeps trying to persuade them to take her hunting (after all, she made Shapur promise that she could go with her when she turns 13). She will play an important role in the story.

The next one is Ashina (the name means the she-wolve). In my AU she is Isfans mother and for Kayra like a substitute mother after she lost her own. I tried to give her a few characteristics of Isfan, like the color of her eyes and hair. I have to say that I'm pretty happy with how Ashina turned out. I think she radiates something simple and yet beautiful and motherly, just like I imagined Isfan's mother would be. Of course, that's my idea and everyone can have their own and implement it. That's the great thing about fictional characters.

The next one in the list is Yamin. His name means the just. Unfortunately, he will play a tragic role in the story and will encounter betrayal. Even if, from his perspective, it is justice. I don't want to give too much away here, just that he is also a slave in Shapur's household and is two years older than Kayra and was or still is in love with her. Just like Amalia, he was born into slavery and worked his way up under Shapur and now holds a high position within the household, which has also allowed him to ally himself with the Lusitanians. But as I said, I don't want to give too much away.

The next one is Lady Ziva! Dhe is Shapurs mother and I try to make her a little bit dark and I think she has something witchy about her. She looks beautiful but I try to put a lot of jewelry on her to show that she is more the material type and I think when I look at her and then at Ashina I think they are two sides of a medal.

Both beautiful women but Ashina is more natural, she has more lightness. Ziva on the other hand has some dark aura around her something heavy. (Don’t know if this makes sense).

I am not quite sure with her eye color. For now I decided to gave her the eye color similar to Shapur.

So the next one is Shapurs grandmother Halima. Her name means the gentle/the friendly one and that was her nature too. She was the exact opposite of her daughter-in-law and her youngest son. In my AU, Shapur inherited most of his traits from his grandmother, in addition to some of his uncle's characteristics. He also had the closest relationship with her. She was his confidante and advisor. She was the good soul of the house and was also friendly and respectful towards the slaves. She immediately took Kayra into her heart and immediately recognized that she was different from the others and made sure that she received a good education.

And the Last one is Lord Mert and he is Shapurs and Isfans uncle and the older brother of Lord Shapurs father. He was an commander under King Osroes and also Shapurs and Kunards teacher. Sadly he died really early when Misr try to invade Pars. He was a very good and cheerful person but also very cheeky. He didn’t get the chance to meet Isfan but he loves Shapur as if it was his own son. He never married and so after his and his brothers death Shapur became the new heir of the family. Also Shapur never really got over his uncle's death, probably because he was closer to him than to his own father and his uncle took better and more loving care of him.

In fact, I haven’t drawn for a long time and it’s quite difficult to recover, but I’m trying. Here is part of Jaswant's face from my work "Stray rain". Here he is exhausted, cold and anxious.

Wonderful work as always. I love the position the hair and how the clothes are floating

@innerchorus As promised I worked on the coronation WIP! :D

The last picture

He grows so much this is giving me so much vibes.

Arslan Senki Chapter 128 (Part 2)

What a top choice, contrasting Arslan, the ruler Pars needs, being unable to draw the sword that would prove his right to rule, with Hilmes, who is choosing to brute force a coronation ceremony in order to give his position legitimacy.

While Arslan freely admits that his bloodline gives him no claim, Hilmes is still trying to maintain the lie that he is the son of Osroes. Ugh, watching him falter over this line during the ceremony was hard. He is far from at his best here, but I still have sympathy for him despite all that he's done.

However he needs to BE NICER TO ZANDEH, DAMN IT.

Things in Ecbatana... are not good. We get an overview: dry wells, Andragoras's growing army outside, closed gates, dwindling food, friction between citizens and soldiers, all combined to insinuate that it's only a matter of time before Hilmes's control of the city is overturned.

And a coronation won't fix this, (and nor will a crown patch up the emotional damage that was inflicted on him by Andragoras's big reveal) but what else can Hilmes do right now?

Ashamed to say I laughed at this. His face...

Man, Zandeh really is trying his best in this chapter. He and his men were the ones who went scrounging up golden coins to melt down in order for Hilmes to actually have a crown to wear after Guiscard stole the real one, but Hilmes isn't in the mood to appreciate his efforts.

(That little guy is with him in this scene, looking nervous of Hilmes's reaction! Feels like Zandeh also knows Hilmes isn't going to love what they've done, but as he says, it's the best they can do for now.)

The fact that Zandeh adores Hilmes and can't wait to see him crowned yet is willing to tell it to him straight: calling Sam away from defending the underground waterways to attend to coronation ceremony is a bad move.

Fucking ouch. At least he didn't tell Zandeh to go and watch the passageways himself!

'The ceremony was a miserable, spare, and unsatifsying one' 🙃

Starting out strong.

My boy is so happy!

When Hilmes starts talking about 'King Osroes's legitimate heir', things start to go to shit. He falters, Sam and Zandeh can see something is wrong (and while Zandeh is puzzled, you know Sam knows) and then after failing to get the words out twice Hilmes rips the cloth off his scar and fucking commits to that lie.

I wanted a mask-free coronation for Hilmes but NOT LIKE THIS 😭

Sacrificing Innocentis to the gods isn't going to make that lie any truer, but Hilmes is just grasping at anything that will give him even a whisper of security right now.

Zandeh is very into it, lmao. I love him but am unsurprised to see his rough treatment of Innocentis. If I recall correctly he was excited about the idea of killing him before.

Filing this away under 'things that should not be hot'. (Also noting that he removed his armour for the ceremony 👀 and that he's abandoned the idea of burning Innocentis alive in favour of a different method.)

Also... how blind can you be, Hilmes? "Thus will I show what happens to those of other lands whose ambitions threaten the peace of Pars!"? Pars is your own country, and you facilitated that. Pars would likely still be at peace if not for you and your ambitions.

Anyway, Innocentis, who is likely delirious with fever from his wound, asks for sugar water, which enrages Hilmes so much he's about to strike him with his sword, when who should burst in (no doubt through those poorly-defended waterways, sigh) than Team Arslan?

(The coronation ceremony is taking place 10 days after Team Arslan set out for Mount Demavant. Chapter 126 says they 'rode East along the Continental Highway for several days' until they encountered Don Ricardo, so it seems a little more time has passed between the events of the first part of the chapter and those of the second).

This fills me with fear because no way will Hilmes withdraw.

Anyway, there's a panel of Team Arslan entering the room where you can't see what weapon Arslan is holding. Rukhnabad, you there?