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When the clash of swords echo,
When the journey chasing the past ends and,
The journey to know today begins;
One soul seeks another,
And pledges sworn friendship to another;
One mystery begets the next and,
The doors of fate are opened.
YOU ARE FREE TO SEVERE THE CHAINS OF FATE THAT BIND YOU.
There is a legend and a myth about one known as the Moon Child. It comes from ancient times full of tyranny and hardship. When Winglies, magical beings with wings of light, believed themselves superior to all others. These terrible people held rule over vicious creatures known as Virage and none could defeat them until there came an uprising of seven heroes. With magnificent armor and weaponry they held the spirits of dragons and thus command over the creatures and elemental magics. They defeated the great Melbu Frahma from ruling all...or so it was thought.
As ten thousand years later when nothing but fable was left and prophecy of the blessing of the Moon Child's birth history seemed to repeat itself. When a mysterious figure known as the Black Monster crosses paths with a young hero and the truth of the Moon Child is slowly discovered. As Melbu Frahma finds means to regain his power and attempt to use this destined Child to gain goddom and destroy all and recreate his own 'utopia'. The Dragoons must rise again to defeat this ancient, deadly Winglie. They must rise again to save The World.

Water. Water is an exuberant and youthful person. Never to be held back and always flowing forwards with their emotions, they may seem brash or even perhaps fickle at times but do not count out how loyal and loving they can be. It is their heart that drives them in the end. Towards passionate pursuit of their goals. They are free people who do not care to be caged and look for the next adventure over the horizon. With a bit of helpless flirtation to them at times, and a means to draw the attention of others.

Light. The archer and the soulful healer. Light is a person of kindness and caring with a heart ready to nurture and stern in its defense of those Light cares for. Ready and supportive, Light loves in a way that lasts beyond death to whatever is held within Light's heart. A last of a line, a particular spirit in its choosings as to just whom holds its powers. Light brings out the best in others and helps them to shine. And holds a most treasured secret.

Darkness. The mysterious and powerful. Darkness is an intriguing figure wearing the mantle of mystique. An ancient being that seems to hold more knowledge about past occurances and truths than one might expect from any other. With a persona that can sometimes seem harsh or dispassionate and cold, Darkness may rub others wrong but none can deny it respect. Darkness holds magics that can vampirically steal the life energies of foes to replenish those of allies and strikes fear into enemies by its mere presence.

Thunder. A driven but focused soul. Whether in the pursuit of power or of self-discipline, the main wish of this dragoon always seems to be their defining path. Thunder is wise and often quiet to sometimes being over-looked but when the time is right, simply strides forward and lays a proverbial hachette to others thickets of confusion. Tempered with a wry sense of humor at times but kind and a paternal figure to those around it. Yet when Thunder's ire is tested, you do not want to be on the receiving end of its wrath.

~*~

done for *AzraelEvangeline & =yami-caffeine's Mythology Contest : [link]


Holy mackeral tabbies! @.@ I got it done!!!!!!!!!! eeeeeee thank goodness!!!! I've had this sucker musing around in my mind from shortly after Erin and Gracie announced their contest! I couldn't resist trying to play on the Dragoon myth. I've ALWAYS loved guessing what sorts of characters would make good dragoons due to their differing personas. I instantly knew I wanted to cast Isilme and Amaia as Light and Darkness and Aiko HAD to be Water! lol Even after reading that he doesn't particularly care for deep water, Aiko is too perfectly water. He's so spunky and playful and has that light-hearted arrogance of "hey, I'm the best! love me!" just like Meru...he reminds me so much of her lol...So adventurous and seeming upstart and brash and frivolous and yet with so much character and true heart behind the exterior. One you can count on beyond doubt to help you..and to keep your spirits up because they just don't care to be down themselves . And Amaia makes an amazing Darkness....he once was a villain if I recall correctly and was "tamed" by Isilme to the side of good..and yet he can still be somewhat "dark". His ghostwalker abilities to cast fear into others is like some of the Darkness magic and then he has some vampiric abilities like some of the other magic. And with him being this whole mysterious being as to whom he REALLY is ...it's just like Rose. A guide from the past living again. And Rose was so in love it was like her soul resided with Zeig...and well, Isilme has Amaia's soul. [I tried putting the phylactry in the image ] and Isilme....well he's an archer...and he's kind and compliments Amaia. And since he's also one of the last moon elves...I thought that kind of complimented Shana's being the Moon Child...this strange extra phenomena about whom he is and whatnot...and Miranda held a position of power and royalty which he seems to kind of get to have being on a trusted council and all. And Shana and Shirley both loved sooooo deeply and true and full..like he loves Amaia. Thunder...well for one it's mainly held by martial artists so that lend me towards Antha of course. But too, Haschel was this kinda..parental figure and it seems like Antha keeps a lot of people in line. She's really wise, like he was, and powerful when needed to be. She just seemed a very good fit. I debated on whom a few others could be....thought Azrael'd make a good fire but she wasn't and option and figured Fallanar would be a good Wind but never decided too soundly...these four I knew for certain were perfect....and well it was already a large image to be trying to cram stuff in lol so I stuck with it
Amaia's pose was kind of hard to tweak especially with no direct reference other than knowing what I wanted in my head lol....Isilme was simply taken from a profile of a figure in my anatomy book then I repositioned the arms/hands and let his feet dangle since he's "flying". Amaia came from a mix of Cao Pi, Cao Cao, and old art I'd done of him lol....and Antha's from Zhang He...and my bro helping out with her hands lol! I really love how Aiko's dagger turned out....THANKS JJ for helping make it look even WICKEDERERERER lol And Amaia's face and hair looks cool...I'm glad people seem to think Antha looks pretty because some of her drawings she's so gorgeous!...Isilme seems persistent to give me issues but he looks pretty and I like how his armor turned out in the end .... the background was to represent storm clouds....as if often shown in the background or at least suggested...in Dragoon pics...and well when you mix Water Light Darkness and Thunder...what do you get but a storm? lol....and then yay for color splashes ..... oh and do excuse the pun on the title...but I do think I was insane for taking this on and lost some of my sanity on it lol...and they say the power of the dragoons' spirit is insanity based so hey! In the end this took a lot of work and I put a LOT of freaking time into it....so I'm sitting back now...and letting it do the rest of the talking....or I'll keep on rambling lol

Enjoy


ps. I'd really like to thank a few certain people especially for this! ~Aikurisu for his lovely "blade tutorial" good god, my friend, I'd have been lost without you! lol My dear, dear brother, ~PrinceAtokOfBasil for his constant council throughout from planning to finale. I must've asked him everything from what he thought of my choices for which Dragoon would be whom to hand poses to how things looked steps along the way to armor and blade design and how accurate characters looked...gosh I pestered him about everything as my "expert" ...if it passed his approval, I figured it was good lol . Thank you so much to Kristen *kmcgeijyutsuka for taking peeks along the way and helping me stay encouraged. Getting a "WOW!" from you kept me going, darling! Thank you Cari ~Iyadaethras for being my constant cheerleader. And thank you Mousie, =MadMouseMedia , for making me step back and find the fun and humor in it all by calling Aiko "that homie in the corner" lol! You guys..this wouldn't have blossomed without you!!!!! THANX!


Lineart roughly 6 hrs; whole roughly around 40hrs; drawn in mechanical pencil on three taped together pieces of 8.5x11" paper; painted in PSP7; roughly 40 layers in the end. And with lots and lots of love?

WIPs:
[link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link] [link]


Legend of Dragoon © SONY
Aiko & Isilme © Grace R.
Amaia & Antha © Erin G.
image © me, Val Barry


pps. I'll put the Critique option..mostly cuz I do need suggestions/tips on how to do armor and weapons and I put a lot of thought into this piece..and I know it's got issues but it's got some personal triumphs too so hey..