If that comes up empty I could likely draw something similar, closer to Stuart’s vision.
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My vision is pretty f***ed up I have to admit. That said @Sysane I’d love to see what you could come up with.
With the work being done on Beyond the Dead Lands I’m now also pondering whether there might be Zhen Ghesh in the Black Silt Sea region (maybe one of the Tidestones was hit by the obsidian flood and some of the Ghesh there rose as obsidian covered undead).
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Haha. You want share some details or should I iust go with something similar to KT’s undead leviathan?
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So ‘modern’, living Ghesh are pretty much Orca-looking whales. Obviously not Orca because Orca are dolphins, not whales, but a similar size, albeit leaner, with meaner teeth and spiked ridges along their flippers and fins. Some will also have life shaped grafts and the like - armoured plates over the top of the head and flanks are common among the warrior caste.
The pre-change Ghesh were a range of whale types - everything from Blue Whale analogues (The Withered King is the only one left), down to Belugas. The only types of these other whales left are the undead Darkened Masters, who have a single Athasian Dolphin among their number. They’re the totally screwed ones.
Essentially when they wrought the lifeshaping ritual that changed the Ghesh, they didn’t have anything like the Pristine Tower to focus the energies. They became undead empowered through a cascade of life energy that they can’t shut off but are also kinda ‘burning’, with their tissue being constantly burnt off (and rising up into nothingness) and regenerated in a perpetual state of agony.
They aren’t literally aflame, more the positive energy fuelling them is being annihilated by the negative energy inherent to their undead state. If that makes any sense? Almost like a vampire in the sun, but they’ve got a wellspring of energy within them that does nothing to stop the burning, but does regenerate them as quickly as the sun can do its work.
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That is twisted (you sick fawk). So they’re more like smoldering husks vs. meaty oozing corpses?
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Perpetually tormented smouldering ambulatory husks. That nevertheless are high, if not epic level characters. Which causes no end of trouble if/when one of them loses the battle of ages and goes insane.
Gotcha.
If I were to draw one which would you prefer the living orca-like ones or an undead? If undead, what whale type should I use as a base?
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Hmmm…if you think you could do the undead ones I’d say go for it - maybe a humpback whale?
That said, an image of a living Ghesh would be fun as well. I guess, whichever you prefer - you’re the artist!
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