#arkusazzo

[fnrrfygmschnish]

Arkusazzo, and how her design changed over the past 20ish years.

A while back I did one of these for Joguo, but since the oldest Joguo drawing that I had a scan of was from 2008, his wasn't nearly as "complete" as this. Even though I made him up around 2001, Joguo was never really a character I drew all that often until 2008 when I started working on Alleghany Hell School and expanding on his backstory and family a bit more.

2004

The Weird Early Design!

I'm not sure exactly when I first made up Arkusazzo, but I know it definitely had to be after the summer of 2003 and was probably before the spring of 2004. This particular drawing is from a notebook I had in late spring/summer of 2004, but I know I had drawn her a couple times in a previous notebook before that.

This early design was, uh... very different from later versions. Some of the basic features are present of course (dark hair, blank glowing red eyes, wearing a robe with long sleeves) but there's a lot of other random bits that are not present in any later design.

Her looks weren't the only thing that was different. She didn't have any real backstory yet at this point, and was only vaguely defined as a guardian of the "Tree of Arkusazzo" who would lash out at anyone she saw as threatening the tree in some way.

There's some sort of symbol on her robe's chest. No idea what that was supposed to be! I think I used it as an identifying symbol for her in the 2004 notebook this drawing came from (every character in there was arranged into a fighting game style "select your character" screen kind of setup, and all of them had an associated symbol next to their names... which meant one got made up in the moment for anyone who didn't already have a symbol.) But I'm not sure what it was supposed to be. Kinda looks like a spiky skull face sort of thing...? I dunno.

I'm also not sure exactly what her color scheme would have been at this point, since I don't think I ever actually drew her in full color (I tended to draw with mostly black pens or plain pencils back then, only occasionally breaking out the colored pencils.) I'm pretty sure the three random blobs floating around her head were black, white, and gray and her eyes were glowing red, but it's hard to say what color her robes might have been originally.

The weirdest part of this design, of course, is the three random blobs floating around her head. One has a single eye, one has two, and one has three. A lot of her attacks listed in that old notebook involved one, two, or occasionally even all three of the blobs either launching at opponents or firing energy blasts. I think I remember that each one was associated with a fragment of her name ("Arku," "Saz," and "Zo") but I don't have that old notebook on hand to check for sure. Looking back now, the blobs having her name fragments... kind of implies that maybe the humanoid body isn't actually "Arkusazzo" at all, just some unknown person being controlled by them like a puppet? I don't know if that's what my 17-18 year old self was going for at the time, though. It's entirely possible that this was a "draw neat character design now, come up with actual story for it later" situation, which happened a lot back then. And still happens every now and then even now, haha.

2008

New Hairstyle! Actual Backstory!

2008 was the year when I first started working on Fnrrf Ygm Schnish: Alleghany Hell School. Between that and ideas for an RPG Maker XP project (titled Legend of the Barfoo) that never really got off the ground, I ended up expanding on Joguo and his story, establishing him as a ninja from a clan that had been exiled from their homeland and settled in southwest-ish Virginia a couple centuries ago.

And along the way, Arkusazzo ended up becoming a totally different character than before... and became a major part of the backstory of the Gouen-Zu ninja clan, rather than a random oddball from out of nowhere with no connection to anything or anyone else in my various story ideas. The "Tree of Arkusazzo" was now a tree that the demon known as Arkusazzo was sealed away inside by one of Joguo's distant ancestors, rather than an ancient giant tree of vague importance that she protected.

I think this was around the time that I established that every now and then, Arkusazzo's seal would grow weak and she would break free from the tree she was imprisoned in and go on a rampage, and that this had already happened at least once before Joguo was born (with Joguo's father performing the seal that time.) I can't remember if I had already come up with the idea that she was, in fact, Joguo's great-great-great-great-great-grandmother (and the ancestor of his who sealed her away was her husband) or not... but I want to say that I'd already decided on that backstory detail by the time I gave her the "meatball/dumpling" hair buns, so probably. Since she was planned to appear as an optional boss battle later on in Legend of the Barfoo, it seems likely that I'd already decided that her going mad and rampaging was a side-effect of some unknown power within her clashing against the power of the Uggy Barfoo when she stumbled across it and picked it up.

I'm noticing now that her robe's trim (at the bottom and on the sleeves) seems to have little bells or some other decorations hanging from it, which is kind of a neat detail that seems to have been dropped at some point after this. There's also a lot of excess detail on the trim of the robes, which has gotten simpler and simpler with every further iteration of the design. It's not shown in these drawings (since her hands are either hidden in her sleeves or not present at all), but she already had the claw-like hands in her 2008 design rather than normal human-like hands as in the 2003-2004 version.

I suspect there might have been another "in-between" design that I don't have a scanned drawing of somewhere in the 2006-2007 timeframe -- similar to this one but without the hair buns, since I'm pretty sure I redesigned her robes and made her hair longer before I added the buns to her design. But until I have a chance to dig through my community college notebooks and possibly find it... it's hard to say for sure.

2016

Simplified Robes! More Backstory!

This isn't really the "2016 design" so much as the "maybe 2014ish until 2022" design, but the drawing I had as an example just happened to be from 2016. Not much has changed looks-wise, aside from the excess detail along the trim of the robes being toned down from the 2008 version. I think this might have been around the time that I came up with the idea that she is actually very small (5'00" in height) but she often appears much larger and more imposing to observers due to the state of fear and panic caused by... being anywhere near her when she's broken free and started rampaging again.

I mostly picked this drawing because it shows off her "tentacle hair" more than any of the other full-body drawings I had -- there were some 2008-era drawings that featured her using her hair as prehensile tentacles, stretching it out and wrapping it around things and using it to strangle people and stuff along those lines.

As for the "more backstory" part... if her status as Joguo's great-great-great-great-great-grandmother hadn't already been decided upon by 2008, it definitely had by this point! Sometime in the later 2010s I actually drew an entire family tree of the Gouen-Zu ninja clan, with "Arkusazzo, but before she went all glowy-red-eyes and started wrecking everything around her" at the very top alongside Joguo's great-great-great-great-great-grandfather Gaitou Gouen-Zu.

...I still haven't come up with what her name actually was before she became known only as "the demon Arkusazzo." Maybe I never will. That might be one of those things that I just leave unanswered.

2023

Redesigned Outfit! Blue Hair!

The biggest change here, of course, is that for the first time her outfit isn't this vague baggy "wizard robe" sort of thing but instead actually has more of a shape to it. Sort of kimono-ish, I guess. The random red gem attached to the chest area on the gold trim of her robe is gone. She's got a belt for the first time, with dangly rope-ish bits where it's tied! And red bead bracelet thingies!

And, uh... no eyebrows? Hmm. I can't remember if that was an intentional change (the 2003-2004 design doesn't have them either, so maybe I figured I'd bring back that feature? but then again... that might have only been because I hadn't even started drawing most characters with eyebrows yet back then!), or if I was drawing her last year and just outright forgot to give her eyebrows but didn't realize until it was too late so I decided to just go with it.

The blue hair, on the other hand, is definitely an intentional change! Previously she'd always had pitch-black hair, but at some point in the late 2010s/early 2020s, I had come up with the idea that the reason why Joguo's hair is naturally blue is connected to Arkusazzo. Rather than just shrugging and going "Arkusazzo's just so weird that if some of your DNA comes from her you might inexplicably be born with blue hair," I ended up deciding to make Arkusazzo's hair actually be blue so the connection is more obvious.

I think this drawing is the first time I've ever drawn Arkusazzo with her feet visible. Or one of them, anyway. Previously they'd always been completely hidden beneath those long robes. She goes barefoot everywhere because thanks to her unexplained superhuman strength/durability (which she had even before going berserk), nothing she might step on is going to hurt her feet in any meaningful way anyway. And also because, y'know... having gone into a mindless rage, she's not going to stop and think "maybe I should at least put on a nice pair of fuzzy slippers before I go out to slash and tear down everything around me." 😅

[fnrrfygmschnish]

Finally got around to coloring this one! I think I finished the drawing last week or so and even had it inked by then, but for some reason didn't want to scan it in until after it was colored in.

I've drawn Joguo fairly often over the years, but I think this might be the first time that I've done a full-color version of Arkusazzo in a loooong time. Maybe even the first time in a decade, since the last full-color Arkusazzo drawing I can remember for sure was when I was in college.

In the past I've always drawn Arkusazzo with pure black hair, rather than leaning toward a very dark blue like she has here. But I've also mentioned that Joguo probably gets his naturally-blue hair from her (she's not just the ancient demon sealed in a tree behind his house, she's also his great-great-great-great-great-grandmother!)

So I figured I should probably actually give her at least partially blue hair the next time I drew her in full color, rather than putting it down to "Arkusazzo was just really weird and nobody quite knows what the heck was up with her, so her descendants can inherit some inexplicable, unpredictable weirdness from her. Anything goes. Maybe some guy born into that family 200 years or so later might end up with blue hair!" 😂

[fnrrfygmschnish]

Opened up my notebook to draw something new... and instead stumbled across this page, which had a finished pencil drawing that I'd just never gotten around to inking and scanning before I went into a bit of an art slump over the past couple months.

So... pulled out one of my pens and fixed that!

This is the home of the Gouen-Zu ninja clan, located somewhere up on a hill overlooking Clifton Forge, VA (where they relocated around 200 years ago after leaving their original home in Japan following Arkusazzo's first rampage, which they took the blame for after her sealing her away.)

Some things about it are... very much like they would've been when the place was built.

Other things, like the garage and the paved driveway leading up to it, are more recent additions. There was once a stable for horses located about where the garage is now, but that got destroyed in the early 1900s, and when cars started to become more of a "thing" the ninjas eventually adopted them.

[fnrrfygmschnish]

Here’s some SUPER OLD (~2008) drawings of various characters I made up! Top left: Nyaedil, an energy-draining alien lifeform who lives on a decaying old world orbiting a red sun in some distant region of the 40th Nherbi (aka the universe as we know it.)  Nyaedil is capable of feeding off of the life-energy of other beings, but their preferred food source is Num Power... Top right: Uraaiynu, half-Burijeoo leader of the hidden city of Yagziknia, located deep within a cave system somewhere in southwest Virginia.  Her mother Meija was part of an early Burijeoo plan to infiltrate Earth’s society and prepare for an invasion, but she abandoned the mission after falling in love with a human. 2nd row left: Hooji Mofos, Guardian of the Barfoo responsible for watching over the Middle East and some of northern Africa.  Unlike many Guardians, he inherited his position and powers from his father rather than being chosen directly by J’daahi Bunprego.  Shown here surrounding himself with an aura of Barfoo power and launching through the air. 2nd row right: The Yagyu Blade, a weapon wielded by Kekyu Arghenplaffer.  It is capable of cutting holes in space for transportation purposes, as well as allowing its wielder to communicate with the strange gooey creatures known as Yagyuoo. 3rd row left: The Great Anbell, one of the odd little yellow critters inhabiting the temple where the Num Coin was hidden away.  It was chosen by J’daahi Bunprego to protect the temple, and when he infused it with a small portion of the Barfoo’s power it grew to incredible size. 3rd row right: Uraaiynu in her human form.  The Burijeoo use transformation magic in order to blend in with other species; this is the form Uraaiynu takes on the rare occasions that she has to leave Yagziknia and go to the surface. 4th row: Thunotsu, the first Kihlah Master of the Zunajin species.  He specializes in techniques which generate electricity, such as the electrical barrier shown here. 5th row left: It’s SEA SLUG MAN!! The local superhero of Clifton Forge, VA (though he’s been sighted as far away as Brazil.)  Famous for capturing and locking up the notorious “Mr. Molester” back in the ‘80s, he’s also taken down a couple of Beefoe crime lords and, with help from the janitor-superhero Captain Scud, a Santa Claus impersonator who was using ice magic to rob banks. 5th row right: Arkusazzo, bane of the Goueng-Zu ninja clan.  She is in fact the great-great-great-great-great-grandmother of Joguo Goueng-Zu, driven mad 200 years ago after she picked up the Uggy Barfoo and something within her clashed with the Barfoo’s power.  She was sealed away in a tree after rampaging across Japan for years, but the damage was done -- the Goueng-Zu clan was blamed for the destruction and forced to leave their homeland forever, settling in southwest Virginia.

[fnrrfygmschnish]

Back in 2017 I randomly decided to fill in some more of the gaps in the Goueng-Zu family tree (previously only Joguo, his dad, and his great-great-great-great-great grandparents up at the top of the page were known) and ended up with this.  Everyone who's fully colored is still alive (as of ~2003 when Fnrrf Ygm Schnish: Alleghany Hell School takes place), while the black-and-white ones are dead.  After writing all this stuff up, I kinda want to fill in even more of the gaps -- mostly Gaitou's son, his wife, and their kids since they were the ones who fought Arkusazzo for the first time since the clan's move to America. === The great-great-great-great-great grandparents -- More than 200 years ago, a mysterious girl married a young ninja named Gaitou Goueng-Zu, who had recently inherited the leadership of the Goueng-Zu ninja clan.  One year later, they had a son; the next year, she was searching about for a gift for her husband and ended up finding the Uggy Barfoo.  Though depleted of most of its power, there was still enough that the stone caused a reaction with something within her and drove her mad.  Now with glowing eyes, strange powers, and having lost the ability to think clearly, she rampaged across Japan for three years, only stopped when Gaitou was able to trap her within a tree using the Goueng-Zu clan's sealing ninjutsu.  Despite actually being the ones who ended her rampage, the clan was blamed for all the damage Arkusazzo caused and exiled from their homeland  Gaitou, along with his parents, aunts, uncles, and his young son, took the Tree of Arkusazzo (at the time only a sapling) and traveled far across the ocean and eventually settled in a small town in southwest Virginia.  The Tree has remained in the backyard of the Goueng-Zu residence ever since. The generations in between -- For decades, the Goueng-Zu clan lived a relatively quiet life tucked away in the mountains of southwest Virginia.  Gaitou Goueng-Zu and his son had built a house (and also a secret ninja training facility) in the hills overlooking the town of Clifton Forge, and it was there that Goueng-Zu ninja trained in the ways of their clan's signature techniques in case the day ever came that Arkusazzo would break free from the tree kept in that very home's backyard.  Arkusazzo first escaped in the year 1862, when Gaitou had grown very old, but she did not catch the Goueng-Zu clan off guard.  Gaitou had raised his son to be a master of the Goueng-Zu style of ninjutsu, and the woman he married agreed to train as a ninja from that day forward as well; as the elderly Gaitou watched from a safe distance, a group of younger Goueng-Zu ninja (including Gaitou's son, his wife, and their two children) combined their forces to re-seal Arkusazzo into the tree less than an hour after she escaped.  Had the Goueng-Zu clan failed here, the American Civil War might not have earned such a prominent place in the history books -- even the devastation of that war would pale in comparison to the degree of damage that Arkusazzo would have caused rampaging all across the country with no one to oppose her. Bairei and Koharu Goueng-Zu -- Joguo's grandparents, parents of his father Ran Goueng-Zu.  Arkusazzo broke free twice during Bairei Goueng-Zu's lifetime; the first time he was only a young child, watching the battle unfold from a distance as his own father clashed with the demon for several hours before finally succeeding in sealing her away.  The second time, he had grown old; he fought Arkusazzo alongside his young son Ran and his brother-in-law Akinosuke Hosuda.  Akinosuke fell in battle and Ran was unable to create a strong enough seal to hold a being as powerful as Arkusazzo for long, so Bairei was forced to step in instead.  He succeeded in re-sealing Arkusazzo, but the strain of using such a powerful technique cost him his life.  Koharu lived on for many years afterward, eventually dying of old age.  She was the only one of her generation to have lived long enough to meet Joguo, the current heir of the Goueng-Zu clan. The Hosuda branch -- Bairei Goueng-Zu's youngest sister Moriko married a man named Akinosuke Hosuda, and for a time it seemed that finally the Goueng-Zu clan would begin to grow, that Arkusazzo breaking free might become something less dangerous now that more and more ninja would be around to fight back and restore the seal when needed.  The Hosudas had two children, named Ishiro (a family name from the Goueng-Zu side) and Takako, and their parents began their training at a young age.  Unfortunately, the two of them died in battle against Arkusazzo when she broke free of the Tree in 1966; Moriko was caught by surprise by the demon shortly after she escaped, which led Akinosuke to fly into a rage and attack Arkusazzo himself while Bairei and Ran rushed to join him.  Akinosuke Hosuda put up a tremendous fight, but eventually he was worn down and overpowered by Arkusazzo, dying from his injuries moments after the demon was sealed away.  Following this tragedy, the Hosudas' two children distanced themselves from the ways of the ninja, moving far away from the Goueng-Zu's hometown of Clifton Forge and settling into much more ordinary lives.  Wanting nothing to do with things that would remind them of the ninja or their confrontations with Arkusazzo, but not wanting such things to simply go to waste, they gave Akinosuke's trademark green scarf and all of his ninja tools to the Goueng-Zu branch of the family before moving away. Ran and Kazue Goueng-Zu, and their children -- Ran Goueng-Zu, having failed to seal Arkusazzo during his first attempt, doubled down on his ninja training and ended up becoming one of the greatest masters of sealing ninjutsu that the Goueng-Zu clan had ever known.  He married a woman named Kazue in the early 1970s and together they had three children -- Kiyoko, Joguo, and Ishiro.  Kiyoko was the oldest, born shortly after their marriage; she was incredibly skilled in the ways of ninjutsu from a young age and quickly took to wearing the green scarf that had once belonged to Akinosuke Hosuda.  Ran and Kazue were convinced that she was the one who would someday discover a method of defeating Arkusazzo for good, not merely sealing her away in the tree again and again.  Joguo was born in 1986, and just three years later the Goueng-Zu family had a second son, who they named Ishiro.  Another tragedy struck the Goueng-Zu clan when Arkusazzo broke free once again in 1993 -- Kiyoko, who at this point was 19 years of age and engaged to be married later that year, attempted to take on Arkusazzo alone, but found that the demon was far more powerful than she had expected.  Ran arrived just moments too late to save his daughter, but his training had not been in vain -- despite being so enraged that he could barely concentrate, his very first attempt at the old Goueng-Zu sealing technique instantly forced Arkusazzo back into the tree.  It was at this point that the green scarf was passed on again, with Joguo either wearing or carrying it with him almost every day in memory of his sister.  Joguo worked harder than ever on his training in the years that followed, while young Ishiro began the first stages of his own training shortly afterward.  Ishiro would always attempt to emulate Joguo, going so far as to practice ninja techniques far too advanced for someone of his age.  This unfortunate habit led to his death -- after a particularly acrobatic flip went horribly wrong, he ended up in a coma, eventually passing away in the hospital bed.  It was at this point that Joguo began to slack in his ninja training, feeling partially responsible for what had happened to his little brother.  As Joguo entered high school and his interests shifted so far away from ninjutsu that he forgot all but the most basic version of the clan's sealing technique, Ran and Kazue feared that there might not be a suitable heir to the Goueng-Zu clan -- that when Arkusazzo broke free the next time, nobody would be able to stop her...