#menphia the fury

[gumbootillustrations]

UGH I FUCKING FINALLY FINISHED THIS

so yeah, have the divine warriors of the second war of the magi!!

more deets n closeups under the cut :3

aph!! i like to think that although the incarnations of the divine warriors r generally pretty similar, they do have some minor differences. for example, whereas the matron of the first war of the magi (irene) had one of the sets of wings on her head covering her eyes, the matron of the second war (mcd!aphmau) has both of them held back. this is bc whereas irene had lost her humanity (and therefore the ability to connect with mortals), aph hasn't - and, therefore, her eyes are open to the struggles of humanity. additionally, i took a lot of inspiration from honkai impact 3rd for these designs - in aph's case, i was inspired by elysia's herrscher of human: ego battlesuit and how it looks like a wedding dress (which a lot of folks have interpreted as an expression of her love for humanity, which is smth i want to convey w aph).

i think my favourite part of aaron's destroyer form is his seal (the thingy behind his head like a halo). i wanted to rlly play into the whole destroyer/devourer aspect of his abilities and domains, and i thought a black hole would fit perfectly! it also sort of (unintentionally) plays into how i see the dynamic between the matron and the destroyer and how they're both mirrors of each other; whereas the destroyer, well, destroys (and his black hole devours everything in sight), the matron creates and nurtures (seen in how aph's seal is almost like a white hole). i also wanted his armour to look a lot like the armour that shadow knights wear, albeit without all the spikes and spines and whatnot given that he isn't a shadow knight himself (shad's destroyer form from the first war probably looks a lot more similar to traditional shadow knight armour).

i'm lowkey suuper proud of how travis's keeper form turned out (even if i had to go back right at the end n fix it bc i forgot to add his tail 😭). i wanted this form to sort of be a mix between a high mage and a rogue: whereas the keeper embodies knowledge and magick, travis himself is a prankster who relies on cunning and trickery to gain the upper hand on his opponents. as a result, he's the only one who doesn't automatically manifest a weapon when he shifts into this form - instead, i feel like he chooses to rely more on magicks and witchcraft during combat.

katelyn's design was lowkey the hardest to pin down. originally, i wanted to go for something that was suuuper inspired by roman armour and had a copper and teal/turquoise colour scheme, but it wound up feeling too magical girl-ish and i scrapped it. i've retained the roman inspirations, but i headcanon that her flames are so hot they burn blue, so i settled on a blue-and-white colour scheme w some purple elements. i think my favourite part is her gauntlets! i feel like she uses them as an extension of herself/another pair of hands to punch with. the blue elements also lean into menphia's association with the moon - in ashes, ashes, tu'la is based on the roman empire and, as a result, is where werewolves originate from, and with werewolves having such close ties to the moon.... yeah. i'll probably do a post on tu'la later on at some point.

my blorbo

garroth's design is probably the one that's changed the least, but i'll still need to update his ref sheet anyway. i don't know if i conveyed it very well but the sort-of wing-things on his back are slabs of earth that can be shaped into a shield - originally i had him holding a shield but i wanted him to look a bit more divine warrior-ish so i retooled his design.

the boy! i was tossing up between having vylad or dante fill the role of the wanderer, but i settled on dante as i feel like vylad fits better as a sort of weird guide sort of figure within the narrative. plus, i have a real soft spot for dante and wanted him to remain in the limelight a little bit - i love his dynamic with garroth and laurance and i wanted to explore that further. i sort of wanted to play into his whole red-and-blue colour scheme that we see in canon diaries, but bc kul'zak is a nature deity (specifically of the wilderness), i wanted to incorporate some greenery into his design. i hope i've done an okay-ish job here - overall i'm pretty happy tho, but i can't promise that there won't be any tweaks in the future.

this is a redhead laurance propaganda spreading blog and i Refuse to apologise for it. i'd like to think that laurance's original colour scheme is similar to his justiciar form - lots of beautiful reds and golds and oranges to match the flames of his father's forge - but after he comes back from the nether with a Severe fear of fire he switches to the greens and browns that he's known for in canon. eventually he slowly begins to reclaim his fire and returns to the golds and oranges that he's introduced with (haha colour symbolism go brrrrrr).

but yeah. the special interest is special interesting. let me know if u have any questions!

[shadowqnights]

PART ONE of a MCD headshot page collection - DIVINE WARRIORS & CO., AND MAIN CAST. for rewrite reference and also enjoyment :3

[warlocks-and-phoenixes]

[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.

[irenes-journal]

After nearing two months of work on and off, I finally completed this! This is the artwork that is discovered in s2 ep86 of MCD, and was kinda a pain to try and recreate lol. Some creative liberty was taken with the colors, (either to make it more readable to give the divine warriors each a unique color) but I tried my hardest to make it similar :) under the cut off is the original from the series and a close up!!

(Original piece created for season 2 episode 28)

Close up of the divine warriors :)

If anyone is curious about the dimensions for the canvas I used, it is 1 x 3 feet (or 30.48 X 91.44 cm)! It doesn’t match the original perfectly but it’s close enough lol. I just spread out the red space to be larger. The colors are also warmer/brighter because I wanted it to have more of a “new” or restored feel to it!! It’s not perfect but hey, I think I did pretty good

[laurancezvahlslefteyebrow]

The Divine Warriors and their sins

Irene: Pride .. Holds herself in a high position, self appointed leader.

Shad: Envy .. Jealous of Irene and the praise she receives, jealous of the life she’s lived, self pity king.

Esmund: Sloth .. Doesn’t often use his full abilities, preferring not to get involved.

Menphia: Wrath .. Quick to anger, slow to calm.

Enki: Greed .. Keeper of more than just knowledge.

Kul’zak: Gluttony .. A taste for wine, mead, ale, you name it.

Xavier: Lust .. Irene is his entire being, everything he lives and yearns for. He exists to love her.

[xielians--lver]

I have all the Divine Warriors deaths in mind. I'll eventually draw somethings about them but here you go.

Shad: Never truly died, as we know. Which is funny. God of death yet she continuously tries to live. He wears clothes not meant to be buried in a casket. But ones made to attend the funeral because they are alive. Even after becoming who he is today, her "armour", although reaks death. Shows how he will kill to live.

Irene: She never really died, just "disappeared." (or something I haven't thought that far). Much like Shad but different. God of life yet she tries every waking second to die. All those that she has loved, have been met with a tragic end. Her clothes resemble that of the body laying in the casket. Even in her new form she can't help but wonder when her death would come.

Menphia: She died while saving the one she loved. Enki. In the fierce fight with Shad she was the first to go. The one to make the sacrifice that saved centuries of people. Menphia wasn't one to make sacrifices, she was a selfish woman. Yet, Enki and Irene were important to her.

Enki: He set fire to himself inside his library. It was suicide. He took all the knowledge with him. No one knows why, as they never found his journal.

Kul'zak: He died doing what he loves best. Getting drunk and dancing on a ship. He death was peaceful, and calm. Mature if you will. Much like himself.

Esmund: He was mauled to death. Perhaps it was Xaiver, the boy he helped build into a man. Xaiver was the first Shadow Knight. But who knows. It was a gruesome sight. Despite Esmund's eagerness to protect those. He seemed to have failed at protecting himself.

[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)

[wyverndreamers]

in honor of Hades 2 i offer THE OFFICIAL most underrated divine warrior in a style study attempt

[that-one-i-think]

Another thing to help me characterize my Divine Warriors - Vices

Shad: Bloodshed - After becoming the Destroyer he was always hungry. He craved to consume and destroy everything in his path, whether it be people, animals, or towns.

Irene: Attention - While attention in itself isn't bad, too much of it can be bad. Irene was subscribed to "Any attention is good attention" and was how she became the most worshipped god. She encouraged it so more people would come to her for help. She was a fixer.

Enki: Power - The man was a hoarder of knowledge, and in this world, the quote "knowledge is power" is directly inspired by Enki. She was the Keeper, and they constantly wanted more.

Menphia: Booze - She was the fury, the one who constantly got into fights. The definition of a warrior, but as a warrior, she often killed people in her bouts of fury that she never meant to. This led to her taking moments to... calm her mind with a stiff drink.

Esmund: People - This man was a self-sacrificing maniac. He desperately wanted people to love him and, more specifically, Irene to love him. He wanted to wrap everyone in his big strong arms so no one would ever be unsafe again.

Kul'Zak: Smoking - After becoming immortal against his will, he took up the habit so he could at least feel like death. After all, a smoked fish is a dead fish.

[mcd-brainrot-hours]

worldbuilding (kinda) hc:

menphia didnt have any kids so before she passed, she declared that each time a fury died, a fight to the death would be held between candidates would be held in the gladiator ring. whoever emerged victorious (think of the hunger games) became the holder of menphia's relic.

as time progressed, this became one of tu'la's biggest events and turned into a spectacle of sorts. the tu'lan royals throw parties and flaunt their wealth during parades in which the king would show off the possible furies, menphia's gladiators.

as fate would have it, aphmau and gang end up in tu’la just in time to watch it unfold, maybe even participate in.

[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 :)

[shadowqnights]

some more divine warriors and a few of their gods . irene and menphia as well as some other figures in my rewrite , some forms for the nature gods that predate the divine. raiya, ai and dei'lune .

[gonedreaminggg]

i am currently on a divine warriors rampage i need ppl to talk to this about

we have BARELY any information on any of them besides Irene and her goddamn confusing relationships 😭

it literally makes my head explode so i'm thinking of making a shared doc with the community where we can log all of the info on the divines. INCLUDING OCs because i've never seen a lame divine warriors oc. cooking up a storm with my own right now.... 😏

I'll reblog this post PLUS make a separate post when I have the doc ready and PLEASEEE give me ideas on how i should go about this

AND TELL ME ABOUT YOUR OCS 😈😈😈

[goat-guy-tm]

Every divine fell in some way. It was bound to happen, no one figure could be holy and pure forever. Each shaped the soul of the divine in some twisted way, something that changed them completely.

Enki's ravenous thirst for knowledge, to become all knowing no matter the cost.

Irene's loss of all emotion and draining of compassion for those under her.

Drae'lic (Shad)'s loss of his own soul and spiral into beasthood.

Menphina's abandonment of those closest to her.

Esmund's thirst for power and control, his want to become stronger than even the other divine and gods that came before them.

Kul'Zak's sudden dissapearence after watching all his fellow divine rip each other to shreds.

The divine's flaws were covered up, twisted and changed to seem more holy. After all, no one wants to admit the god they devote their whole life to is nothing but a desprate, scared, bloodthirsty child.

[rattotheimperialcheesegod]

I DON'T HAVE A PROPER ARTSET UP RN SORRY--

So i did some hairstyle sketches on enki, esmund and menphia for the past (esmund may change alittle later on if i get a better vision of his hair in my head, may have to look at other hair again)

Menphias hair length is a big thing btw, it being short in the beginning is important when it comes to it getting longer over time with her spending more time with Irene and with how her hair BEING her helmet

OH AND--MENPHIAS A MEIF'WA

not too original i know but i just think its neat and i didnt like that all the divine warriors/gods were all fucking humans so i just made all of them be an sortment of races

Esmund is the only human

Enki is a Daemos (he has his horns hidden)

Menphia is a Meif'wa

Shad is a Fearolc (werewolf)

Kul'zak is a Elf

and Irene is...unknown...