Critical Systems Digital

Electronic Worlds

Council Lord Kemadrel

Posted on June 5, 2022 by CSD

Kemadrel is one of the three Council Lords of Sha Rephart. Like the other two Lords, they are an immortal native to the Voidplane. They are also known as the most personable of the Lords, and are often found visiting with citizens as they wander Sha Rephart island on their free time. They also act as a leader of the Sha Rephart military force, though in an unofficial capacity.

Kemadrel is a member of the Voidplane native race called the Tanteru. One trait of this race is that they are quadrupeds. Kemadrel has to wear special leg and back braces in order to stand upright, and has mechanical gloves to overcome the limitation of their paws, most importantly the lack of opposable thumbs. They decided to go through the trouble and discomfort of using these prosthetics to better fit in with the majority of mortal immigrant races.

So… apparently the image above is the last version previously posted of the character, quite likely around the time when I set this website up over ten years ago. Oh boy, the Sharpheart page is in dire need of a major revision.

I wound up removing the fangs, mainly because… why would an immortal being that does not eat need teeth? Another shared feature being applied to the Voidplane natives is they do not have noses or nostrils. They do have mouths though they do not need to breathe. They can inhale and exhale for the purpose of speaking and have a sense of smell (though not taste) in their mouth. Kemadrel’s eyes are also now shaped to be more like those of the Lurin such as Council Lord Lunark.

Eventually I have to update the third Council Lord’s look. They are of a dragon-like race that needs a Voidplane native makeover.

Yet More Sheshai the Purifier

Posted on December 14, 2021 by CSD

Hey, I got it to where I can pose her limbs a bit better!

I reached another milestone for the novel – I read the entire thing out loud to my wife, partly as a way to entertain her and partly to hunt down any remaining typos or other structural issues, which I have come to believe make themselves more apparent when spoken out. I only made a few additions or alterations here or there; no new plots or characters. I may be ready to call its current state my final draft. I guess the next step would be to find some ‘beta testers’ to go through it and get some feedback from outside parties. Where exactly do you go to find willing readers for a not-for-kids fantasy adventure starring anthropomorphic characters? Well, where I won’t regret going…

I also added a new page for Sheshai the Purifier to the site to go along with Agwilika Rhe, Elehura, and Sharpheart, so check that out. In there I added an image of another character, Besuri, and I’ll go ahead and post it here too:

Still needs some work on the fur, like figuring out how to handle the matted and uneven areas better.

Ah why not, another character model – Adri of the Grepir:

My first attempt at an avian character model. I’m going for a gigantic songbird vibe for the Grepir race. I debated a long time on what colors to give Adri, but settled on blue highlights because no other character has that hue in their natural colors.

Ten Years – Reija in a formal dress

Posted on October 13, 2021 by CSD

Today is the tenth anniversary of criticalsystemsdigital.com and its existence as a WordPress site. It is not, however, the anniversary of CSD or the existence of a CSD website. Prior to this current and long lasting iteration, the site was hand-coded in HTML, with some interactive pieces made in Macromedia Flash (rest in peace). I didn’t keep a full copy of the previous website, but I did keep a copy of the content text, and the first “post” was dated in October 2006. But that wasn’t even the first version… I have an early CSD logo image from 1999, so CSD being the name representing my creative output is over twenty years old at this point. I vaguely recall using “Critical Systems Inc.” as a name in a BASIC program I wrote waaaay long ago… so yeah, I’ve been doing this a long time.

But back to this particular milestone. In recognition of it, I remade the first image I ever posted on this site iteration:

The original was a 2D vector image made in Flash, before I went full open source and moved to Inkscape. At that time I already had started 3D modeling and had one made of Reija, but never modeled out this particular dress.

Miryin

Posted on October 5, 2021 by CSD

I put some more work into Miryin’s model and tried my hand at Blender’s hair particle system again. You can see a major change I’m trying out here: giving the Felcae race a different lower face, making it more like a Gwil snout instead of a Pritar-like nose. In fact, the old nose was simply copied from a Pritar model and widened a bit. Here’s what that looked like:

The Felcae having facial features closer in resemblance to the Gwil (now adding the snout to the similar horns and ears), as well as the Felcae and Gwil both being herbivore races, suggests they have a closer genetic relationship to each other than to the other races. Note that the Gwil, whose name originates from the term “Dragon Children”, are not a race of reptiles, but mammals that evolved to not have any hair or fur. Felcae have their own genetic anomaly, having evolved to not have mammary glands.

Anjil

Posted on September 6, 2021 by CSD

Anjil is an adept user of magical powers. He is a member of the Ayra Katrin, an organization of the best sorcerers, scholars, and engineers of the Seven-Star Nation. Anjil has shown exceptional talent and has risen up in the Ayra Katrin ranks quite quickly. He has even been able to teach his girlfriend Reija some magical abilities.

I used to have a blue and silver color theme for the Ayra Katrin (as seen in his staff… guess I might have an update to make), but changed it to golden yellow. This was mainly to differentiate them from the the Kylal family’s primarily blue (with teal and silver accents) color theme. The Syrsia royal guardians and the national army have a red theme which you can see in Reija’s uniform.

Oh, and to follow my recent theme of looking back at the history of characters, my oldest existing Anjil picture circa 2001:

Sheshai in uniform

Posted on September 5, 2021 by CSD

In recognition of finishing yet another read-through of my first novel, I’m going to post more of the titular character. This time she’s in her actual House of the Hand uniform. I recently did some dental work so now she can show some teeth when smiling. I gave her some somewhat large incisors, which at least to me makes her even more adorable.

The full view of her uniform. Strapped to her legs are lurakal flasks, which are crystals used to store magical “charms”. Typically, the charm is made of concentrated purifying power, effectively acting as a purifying bomb to clear out unliving evil creatures when things get out of hand. Some have found ways to create different types of charms.

Sheshai needs some shoes. I also still have to learn how to work with outfits so they properly move with the body when posing, so she doesn’t have to stand there with her arms straight out…

Seros

Posted on May 4, 2021 by CSD

Seros is a member of the Gwil Fire Clan, a rare subgroup of his race with red skin and markings reminiscent of flames. He was sent by the Order of the Eclipse to investigate reported disturbances in the holy land of Elehura. He is accompanied by his sister Nuzoko on the journey.

The Order of the Eclipse is a special organization founded through a collaboration of the Great Houses. Its members specialize in multiple disciplines of the Houses. For instance, Seros trained in monster slaying from the House of the Shield and magical abilities from the House of the Eye. Nuzoko loves to tease her brother for specializing in fire-based magic.

Seros is old-school. It is going on 25 years since I conceived the character. And yes, I have a copy of what may very well be the first drawing I made of him:

I guess I’ve made some progress on my skills over the years…

The Legendary Prerarts: Buridamer and Kemidamer

Posted on April 24, 2021 by CSD

These siblings are the newest of the legends. They lived with the Agwilikans and Akelikans and took up residence in the forest city of Priagros, the city with the highest mix of Prerart-Agwilikan-Akelikan demographics.

Buridamer became deeply interested in the music his cousins were producing and tried his hand in making songs. Over the years, his compositions became quite popular and respected. Musicians started to play his songs regularly, including full symphonic performances in the capital city of Cresselecapera and the military headquarters of Agwilcress.

His sister Kemidamer was also interested in music, though in her case she would contribute to the art using her singing voice. Buridamer mostly worked in instrumental pieces, but Kemidamer convinced him to collaborate on lyrical songs that she could perform. As her brother’s recognition grew, so did hers. However, if someone wanted to experience her singing, they would have to visit Priagros, as the two siblings rarely ventured outside their home city. And visit they did; people would travel from far and wide for an opportunity to experience a concert of the Prerart siblings.

At the height of their careers, the Second War commenced. The two were mostly uninvolved in the fighting, except for one key event. A division of Akelikan Army soldiers were pinned down but unwilling to surrender or attempt escape. The siblings arrived and led a performance of their most emotionally charged songs. The sweeping music and Kemidamer’s sublime voice impacted the demoralized soldiers so much that they surrendered moments after the completion of the music. A majority of the soldiers defected, and the remaining were allowed to return to their homes after being disarmed. This event became the famous feat that propelled the two to become the legendary songwriter and singer of the Prerarts.

When the Lucan Hill Theater of Agwilcress was built, the architects included statues of Buridamer and Kemidamer overlooking the stage.

Council Lord Lunark

Posted on April 24, 2021 by CSD

Lunark is one of the Council Lords of Sha Rephart. Like the other two Lords, they are an immortal native of the Voidplane. Lunark’s race, the Lurin, are shapeshifting beings able to develop alternate body forms. Lurins cannot change form on a whim, however. The ball Lunark is sitting on in the picture is their “nest”, and they must enter it in order to metamorphose into another form. With study and practice, Lurins can develop forms convincing enough to fool others into believing they are a member of a non-native race. Pictured in the above image is Lunark’s “natural” form.

Lunark was responsible for developing a magic technology known as Tokens – objects that can be used to manifest tools, creatures, magical attacks, and more. This made utilizing magic easier to use and portable between users. Control of this technology also brought Sha Rephart to prominence in its corner of the Voidplane. The most popular Token format by far is a piece of paper, allowing for the creation of Token spell books. Lunark continues to be one of the best “Dreamers”, the people who design Tokens.

Lunark’s 3D model has slowly been in development. Here’s how Lunark looked previously in 2D from about nine years ago:

Yezukai’ay

Posted on February 23, 2021 by CSD

Yezukai’ay is a character I came up with about six years ago, but she was hard to place so I had yet to post anything about her here. She came from a standalone story that I haven’t pursued and will likely end up wherever abandoned story ideas go. However, I just couldn’t forget such a cute character! Maybe she and other elements of that story will wind up somewhere else, most likely in the Elehura universe.

The item strapped to her back is a scribe’s case. I completed the 3d model for that part just a few days ago. In her original story, she was the personal assistant of the protagonist and handled writing things down and delivering messages as needed on their behalf.

She is a member of the ‘Suyen’ race. They’re closely related to the Gwil, but have some differing traits. They have dark gray skin and… whatever color those eyes are. Did I make her dress the same color on purpose? They are also quite short. Yezukai’ay is about 135cm or 4 foot 5 inches not counting the horns. Just in the last few days I also added the drooping ears and shorter paddle-shaped tail to differentiate them more from Gwils.