#Divine Warriors MCD

[rattotheimperialcheesegod]

Irene having different dynamics with all the divine warriors where only half are romantic is the best timeline to me since its more interesting to see Irene have more platonic and family like relationships with at least half of the group instead of every single one of them being in love with her with no unqiue reason why, beyond her being the great and mighty matron

like what if kul'zak was like a father figure to irene, and maybe kul'zak even lost his own daughter and after being tasked to protect irene he starts to see her as his kid to take care of and is maybe the reason why she knows how to defend herself.

or enki and irene having a sibling dynamic, and it maybe showing off a side to irene being abit of a teaseing, playful younger sister to enki while we also see that Irene looks up to his intelligence and ambitions in his writing, and even goes to him for help because thats her older brother.

I think these kind of dynamics also don't just make irenes relationships more interesting but also gives you more insight on the other person at the same time!

Now, of course I said half of her dynamics with the others to be romantic, but that doesn't mean it still have to be boring...

like shad and irene, is that sort of tragic lovers dynamic, shes the light, hes the dark, forbidden to ever be together because of forces beyond their own control, thats always interesting if its well written, and at most it sorta is

but maybe we could have esmund and irene be a lot more of a one sided love dynamic, where irene only sees esmund as a noble protecter but respects him and sees him as a close friend, while esmund on the other hand is madly in Iove with her and states that plenty of times openly, even getting into fights about his devotion to her with shad or menphia

oh and especially menphia and irene could be a sort of a more saddening, love dynamic, with her and menphia being childhood friends, with a sort of love to bloom between the two at different stages of their friendship, menphia always being in love with irene while irene fell for her when they grew to be adults, but than something splits them apart with a later conflict, causing them to fight, and end up on bad terms

I find all these more interesting too since it actually makes me feel like irene isnt one note with every dynamic

but still including dynamics that are romantic, but not making them be the same copy in paste over and over and having there be variety

(This is me self promoting my rewrite, I do all these dynamics with the divine warriors)

[queeryutb]

enki the keeper and kul'zak the wanderer. the gays of all time.

thanks to my friends on the mcdbb server for help on the knick knacks! <3 y'all're great

[vampirewhohuntsvampires]

Collection of my Divine Warriors sketches... havent drawn/designed Shad, Kul'zak or Irene yet but trust it's coming. I'm gonna make a bunch of posts... have my own vision of a prelude to MCD, Divine Warriors style.

[dryya-doesnt]

Heirloom and Honor:

In which we feel the weight of our history and bear the burdens of our responsibilities.

This took… way too long… here’s the background only version w all the little Easter eggs and such.

Some progress images! From layout to finish.

This is my most ambitious piece to date…maybe my last fanart for a while haha 😞😞

Some lore thoughts going into this illustration — feel free to ignore:

I was thinking this takes place in S2 in the Zianna Ro’Meave rescue arc, where Garroth returns to O’Khasis after many years to rescue his mother…He comes across their oldest (historically, the first in Ru’aun) cathedral and finds it in a wrecked and pillaged state.

The pious folk have pretty much abandoned the cathedral following Zane’s disappearance for 15 years and the Tu’la invasion was the nail on the coffin. The cathedral is completely barren of life except for the few intact stained glass windows that recount the history of the Divine Warriors.

Around this time it’s revealed that Garroth is the current holder of Esmund’s relic— is he anxious? Lost? Jumpstarting his quarter-life existential crisis?

I hope that everything here in this illustration captures my vision and conveys it to you. This is pretty much a love letter MCD HAHAHAHA

[agua-cat]

Relic Holders

A lot of people start MCD Rewrites from the beginning. I say that makes COMPLETE sense. Unfortunately I am a man who likes results, I like to figure out the ending and etch the ocean to its original stream.

So, that's where we are today. I wanted to show you as of current the relic holders that I have for my Minecraft Diaries. I take a lot of creative liberties and really worked to make this world my own so I understand if it's not everyone's cup of tea ! <3

Disclaimer: Unfortunately, there's no Aaron Lycan in the rewrite, I know he has a lot of lore relevance but I never got too attached to his character and therefore I never considered rewriting him. Now, almost three seasons into a rewrite it feels a little late to include him. I hope you all understand and enjoy nonetheless.

Thank you for your patience!

I will tell you what relic they hold and in further detail break down their designs in different posts! Then, I will share with you the Divine Warriors and how I got to this point :)

THE RELICS AND THEIR HOLDERS

From Left to Right, Includes species they are :)

Laurence - Shad's Relic, Shadow Knight

Zane - Kul'Zak's Relic, Human

Garroth - Esmund's Relic, Human

Travis - Enki's Relic, part Demon and part Elf

Katelyn - Menphia's Relic, Human

Aphmau - Irene's Relic, Ex Goddess (if ykyk)

I'm really excited to delve into these designs and I've got a lot to say about the characters! I'm sorry if this isn't what everyone is expecting but I hope to make you proud aphblr!!

[wyverndreamers]

The Matron

[number-one-zara-fan]

Decided to draw Minecraft Diaries Tarot cards but can't figure out who'd be what, this is the current match-up. Begging for your opinion on this + I really wish I could fit KC or Levin and Malachi in somewhere

[gumbootillustrations]

divine warriors loredump!

so yeah, the divine warriors! admittedly, i'm fascinated by them - i rlly rlly wish that we'd gotten to see more of them + their powers/domains/abilities in mcd, especially considering that they're a driving force behind the plot. so, i've gone ahead and done some redesigns for the sigils (above) and expanded on the domains and abilities of the divine warriors within the context of ashes, ashes.

more under the cut!

irene retains her matron title. for her domains, i rlly wanted to lean into her being a deity of life and family; as such, her official domains are  life, light, healing, childbirth and parenthood, fertility, marriage, tradition, beauty, and romantic/familial/platonic love. menphia also has domains over aspects of love (namely over sexual/carnal/manic love), but i wanted them to sort of have an aphrodite ourania (irene) and aphrodite pandemos (menphia) sort of vibe. in terms of the abilites that her relic gives its wielders, its a lot of what's seen in canon mcd: lots of healing and light abilities, but also some dimensional manipulation and time manipulation stuff thrown in there for the shits and giggles.

for shad, i rlly wanted to play into him being both a mirror and a foil for irene. where irene creates, he destroys; where irene brings life, he brings death. his official domains are that of death, darkness, chaos, the afterlife, change, rot and decay, the Nether, bloodshed, and madness. although he's also a war deity like menphia (and, to an extent, esmund and xavier), he's mostly associated with the worst bits of battle - the blood, the rot, the awful awful deaths, that sort of thing. his relic grants its wielders a lot of destruction-associated powers like disintegration and rot/plague/death stuff, but also some shadow and blood manipulation as well.

like a lot of other folks, i felt like enki was the best fit for a knowledge deity. he looks after scholars, librarians, witches, and inventors; officially, his domains are those of knowledge, air, magick, prophecy, the weather, winter, reason, and lightning. from here, you'll start to see pretty much all the warriors having some sort of like. elemental association? is the best way i can put it. i've sort of based it off of the minor arcana of the tarot; the suit of swords, which is associated with air, is the suit of knowledge and the mental realm, which i thought was fitting for enki. enki is also one of the four seasonal divine warriors (the others being esmund, menphia, and kul'zak); he gets winter, mostly because of his centre of worship being in gal'ruk. wielders of his relic get air and weather manipulation powers, as well as powers related to memory and access to witchcraft (if they aren't witches already). they also gain clairvoyance.

esmund! again with the tarot symbolism; esmund is associated with the element of earth and the physical world, hence the mountain in his sigil. his domains are those of protection, earth, wealth, autumn, boundaries, earthquakes, guardhood, and the harvest. the domain over the harvest might seem a little left field but it makes sense i promise! i sort of saw esmund's association with the harvest not only being because of him being an earth deity, but also because i feel like being able to provide is a form of protection, and given the setting of mcd, i feel like being able to provide a good harvest is a part of that. this is also why he is associated with autumn. regarding the abilities that his relic provides, there's a lot of earth manipulation and barrier/force field creation stuff in there; his relic wielders are also freakishly stronger and more durable than those who wield other relics, sort of playing into esmund himself being a tank.

i changed menphia's title to 'the conqueror' because i thought it'd be a bit more fitting for her, especially considering how i'm working tu'la in ashes, ashes (more on that later). i also changed her colour scheme to more of a blue/copper theme despite her being a fire goddess - i thought it was neat, considering that blue flames are those that burn the hottest. her domains are those of warfare (the glorious bits), fire, soldiers, political power, summer, passion and courage, festivals and celebrations, and sexual/carnal/manic love. i'm still not suuuper sure on the abilities that her relic gives its wielders, but there's definitely some pyrokinesis and emotion/heat manipulation, along with some combat-specific foresight in there. i'm open to suggestions!

nothing much really changes regarding kul'zak. he's a nature deity and watches over journeymen and particularly sailors, given that he's a water/ocean deity; he's often worshipped by pirates. officially, his domains are travellers, water, animals, the wilderness, the cardinal directions and navigation, hunting, and spring. i really wanted to lean into him being a man of the wilderness and not really having a home in urban environments. as such, his relic grants its wielders a lot of wilderness-based abilities, like shapeshifting, water and plant manipulation, and camouflage, with a bit of teleportation in there for all your wandering needs.

xavier is probably the divine warrior that i've changed the most. first off, he becomes a divine warrior in ashes, ashes where he isn't in canon mcd. i also really wanted to lean into him being the founder of the jury of nine, hence his title - the justiciar. he's associated with the domains of guardhood (along with esmund), loyalty, metal and metalworkers, justice, balance and order, peace, brotherhood, devotion, and artisans. where esmund looks after the more physical side of being a guard (being your lord's shield and spear, aka the protection side of things), xavier looks after the more emotional side of being a guard - the devotion to your lord and the comradery that you share with your fellows. his relic's abilities capitalise on that, with its wielders being able to both amplify and nullify the magick of the people they're fighting alongside/against. there's also a bit of metal manipulation and a lot of supportive magick in there too.

and, as a fun little tidbit - a lineup of the divine warriors! (the layout is inspired by @star-boi0720 - the way you lay out your drawings like this is mint as 🤩)

i'm still not suuuper happy w kul'zak or irene's designs but i'll get there in the end i guess :)

[laurancezvahlslefteyebrow]

this is unacceptable

[goat-guy-tm]

Wowie those Divine Warriors are pretty cool. Hope nothing bad happens to them-

Would you believe me if I told you I didn't touch this for months and then finished it in one go pulling an all nighter.

[rattotheimperialcheesegod]

HELLO!! (friends art btw)

me and my friend draws have been collabing on a redesign of irene lately! its only a outline sketch but its really good and i loooovvee it so much!!

I'll get back into drawing soon and i will most likely be drawing this design! so be ready~!

[queeryutb]

from @twilight-skies' fic weather is bullshit (but you're alright)

[jurassiccraft]

Day 3: Divine

Based on Alphonse Mucha’s Summer

[iridiss]

Mystreet AU where all of the Phoenix Drop High staff are the divine warriors. MCD!Aphmau is a reincarnation of the last Irene, and she restarted the world when the final battle against Shad was going poorly, and Mystreet was created instead, with MCD!Aphmau being reincarnated into Mystreet!Aphmau. The other Divine Warriors (including the first Irene), were recycled into this school with no powers and new lives, completely powerless to the universal change that Aphmau has made. So now they’re forced to adapt to this new world and blend in, whether they like it or not, effectively trapped in this school until they can figure out what the hell happened, and somehow undo it. They all have retained most or all of their memories from their previous life. This makes staff meetings incredibly awkward

Shad is the principal, he runs this school very begrudgingly. He hates his job, but hey, he was able to lead an army in Hell! How much harder can leading highschoolers be?

Irene is the school counselor. The only one. She still has no emotions. This makes her not very successful at her job, but hey, she tries. The students are theorizing that she and the principal are divorced, or exes in some way or another, because of the incredibly grudge-filled looks they keep giving each other. They are forced to work in vague proximity with one another, and no one is enjoying it. They have to maintain workplace diplomacy and after learning what kind of world Shad is trapped in now, he realizes that he can’t actually kill her unless he wants to be arrested and thrown in jail forever. Which would suck ass, because he’s pretty certain the source of their new predicament is somewhere in this school alongside them, and if he wants any luck at getting out, he’s going to have to play along.

Irene and Shad are at least able to remain thinly diplomatic with one another. Shad and Esmund, however—never in a million years will they be civil with one another. They have gotten in very confusing shouting matches in front of the kids before. And yet Esmund never gets fired, (…i don’t think Shad has figured out that he can do that yet…) so the kids start to spread rumors that Esmund is hooking up with or used to be hooking up with the principal. Esmund and Shad find out, and all of the students get in ungodly amounts of trouble for this.

Enki tried to reconnect with his old friend Shad at some point. It didn’t go well. He left his office as quickly as he came in at the first sight of his glare.

It becomes surprisingly easy (and very existential crisis-inducing) to finally be able to tell Aphmau and Irene apart when they’re two entirely separate people standing in the same room. Shad realizes that this Aphmau is probably what caused this, but problem 1. She doesn’t remember a damn thing and is therefore extremely unhelpful, and problem 2. That’s A Child. That’s A Literal Actual Child. That’s some 13yo baby that is entirely innocent and bright-eyed and oblivious to anything and everything that went down in her past lives. And in my mind, Shad has a soft spot for children. Like, a HUGE soft spot, because he used to be a father and his daughter meant the world to him. He’d do anything to get her back and protect her from all the horrors that he could not save her from. Thats his entire villain motivation. Thats the entire reason why he hates Irene and becomes The Shadow Lord and raises an army and pillages the world and everything else. The Shad in my head would be physically incapable of hurting a child.

So I can see Shad calling Aphmau into his office very early in the first semester, ready to confront her and duel all over again…only to realize that, no, this is an separate, innocent child who remembers nothing and might even be an entirely different reincarnation of who she was before. Her memories might even be wiped, completely inaccessible and gone forever. He has an existential crisis, awkwardly apologizes and plays it off as some sort of joke, asks if she needs anything (putting back on his “I’m a normal human being” mask). She says she needs directions to her classes, so he scrounges up a random map and hands it to her and sends her off. He re-evaluates everything he’s known for the past 900 years.

Shad becoming strangely protective of 13yo Aphmau,,, this is just some kid,, he’s forced to re-evaluate everything and adjusts how he sees his students. From “oh good a new army I’m gonna have to mold from scratch /sarc” to “i…i have gone from zero children…to thousands…. thousands of children put under my care…i need to protect all of them at once” man goes mega mother hen mode, especially since his dangerous traitorous ex-wife is in the same building as them, he definitely sees her and the other divine warriors as threats to his kids.

Irene bringing Aphmau into her office as well, but she approaches things very differently from Shad. She cuts straight to the chase, and tells Aphmau she needs to remember. She’s done something terrible, and needs to reverse it and put the world back in order. She needs to remember her old life and become the newest Irene, take on all the power and the responsibility that being a Goddess entails, and set everything right. 13yo Aphmau freaks out, confused and lost. Irene lays the pressure on hard, and keeps pushing when Aphmau insists that she doesn’t know what she’s talking about. Shad opens the door, sensing she was here with her, and looks like he’s doing everything in his power to hold himself back from punching her square in the face. They have a very terse, carefully worded micro-argument, and Shad insists Aphmau must return to her classes, her education is more important than anything Irene has to stay to her. He gets very protective of her and basically professional-business-talk tells her to fuck right off and never speak to her again. Aphmau is still confused. He ushers her out, and awkwardly asks if she’s alright. She says…i…think…so???? What just happened??? Shad tells her to be careful around that woman, and don’t believe a word she says. She’s full of lies, anyway. Aphmau’s like. you mean the school counselor???????? It’s a very strange day for Aphmau.

insert the kids joking about how Garroth/travis/aaron/Aphmau must be related to certain members of the staff here

[opel164]

The art from tonight’s stream~! (Also, Shad wasn’t supposed to be lookin so confused but he does and I love confused villains so it’s fineeeeee)

[stellisketches]

The Destroyer