Lachrymose Entry

[Lachrymose]

PHYSICAL DESCRIPTION
The Dredfel are nearly twice the size of the average human. They have legs similar to those of a horse, but they walk upright like a man. Their long, powerful arms are enough to rip a man’s limbs clean off his body, and their large tails, horns, claws, and teeth all act as effective weapons in the midst of combat. In addition, Dredfel are excellent predators, as they have heightened senses of smell, sight, hearing, and taste.

Their thick fur protects them not only from the coldness of their natural climate, but it is also thick and coarse enough to act as a natural armor, providing some protection against man-made weapons, which is why Dredfel aren't known to wear man-made armor. Because their attacks are heavily reliant on their great strength and speed, any armor would simply weigh them down and strip them of this advantage. In addition to their dark fur, the Dredful have white hair growing from their head, which suggests they may have at one point descended from humans. Dredfel also use the hair of their defeated enemies to make rope, which they tie around their arms. If their arm is deeply wounded in battle, these ropes help to prevent them from quickly bleeding to death by keeping the blood flow relatively low.

Anyone unlucky enough to come face to face with a Dredfel would be wise to know that they have little tolerance for magic spells. Although some Dredfel are capable of casting very basic spells, their ability cannot compete with that of more intelligent humanoids, and their thick fur provides little resistance to powerful spells. However, don't think that successfully hitting a Dredfel is an easy task. Despite their large size, these creatures are extremely agile, as they not only use their legs for mobility, but they utilize their arms and even their tails to maneuver in combat, making them a difficult target to strike. They are well aware of this advantage, and because of this, they specialize in barrage style attacks, evasion, and counter attacks.

Because of this, a Dredfel will rarely attack head on, nor will they typically stand in one place to attack. A fight with a Dredfel usually consists of the adventurer struggling to even face the Dredfel, who will try to attack either from the side or from behind. It is also common for them to provoke you to attack, only to dodge to one side and strike you while undefended.

Should anyone brave enough to challenge a Dredfel actually defeat it, he or she will find that their strong horns can be very useful for creating powerful weapons with superior durability.

BACKGROUND
The Dredfel are a powerful and savage race. Although rather brutish, these creatures are by no means unintelligent, although their intellect is nowhere near comparable to that of humans. Their savage nature spawns from their religiously motivated existence. The Dredfel believe that earning the favor of their god, Umbra, is the ultimate goal in life, and is the only way with which to ensure their safe passage into the afterlife. In order to earn that favor, they must make sacrifices. Because they acknowledge humans as their most formidable opponents due to their intellect, they believe human sacrifices to be more valuable than any other creature (except for Dredfel sacrifices, as they believe themselves to be the chosen of Umbra).

The Dredfel feel that to die in battle is to die without Umbra’s favor, because once a Dredfel has made enough sacrifices to ensure their favor, they are sacrificed themselves, upon which they will enter the afterlife. Therefore, the Dredfel keep the skulls of their victims as a means of recording their achievements in order to prove they’re worthy of being sacrificed. Because of their religous fervor, they will never surrender, they will never show mercy, and they will never stop killing, as to do so would be to deny their very purpose in life.



WHY I CHOSE THIS CREATURE
I found it relevant to discuss why I chose to create the creature as I did.. I’m tired of seeing the same orcs, goblins, dwarves, etc. that we see in so many RPGs nowadays. However, the reason they’re used so frequently is because they’re good concepts. They give you the sense that you’re in a fantasy world, and they have a very traditional RPG feel to them, which is a good thing. What needs to be changed isn’t the concepts, nor the traditional feel, as doing this is difficult and would most likely result in some kind of preposterous creature that, although unique, would just seem very out of place, perhaps even comical. I don’t want to see flying pink and purple colored alien-like jelly bean monsters just because it’s “original.”

I created this creature so that it had a very natural feel to it, nothing crazy or too ridiculous, and my goal was to make it fit within MO’s theme (which I believe to be somewhat dark). However, it’s unique in that it doesn’t exist in any book, game, or movie, so when you see it, you still get the feeling that you’re seeing something new, yet you don’t suddenly lose the feeling that you’re playing a fantasy RPG.

Sure, we’ve seen lizardmen before, but we’ve never seen Sator. We’ve seen human characters before, but we’ve never seen Tindremere. We’ve seen beastlike creatures with tails, hooves, and horns before, but we’ve never seen Dredfel. We’ve seen many traditional concepts before, and we’ve grown to be comfortable with them, but we also get bored of seeing the same races and creatures over and over. What we need is something new, something we haven’t seen before, but something that won’t deviate too much from what we expect when we play a fantasy RPG, otherwise we risk losing that feeling we get that’s unique to fantasy RPGs like MO.

I created Drefel out of my need for something new, but my desire for something familiar... something that fits.

[Landor]

Looks awesome, can't wait for the description

[Archaaz]

Very nice, indeed. You are quiet the artist. I, too, look forward to the description.

[Jake]

wow, that's very good!

The only criticism I can think of right now is that the monster's face looks too out of place, compared to the hair. I know you mentioned it, but the face looks like it was just planted on top of the long hair, rather than being in the midst of it.
Maybe you could add some small hairs dangling from his forehead and around his ears... otherwise he will look too clean-cut

[Grumpy]

For some reason I don't get why this creature has white hair on his head and brown hair on his body? When you add the description it would be nice to hear why details like that were included. Not to forget, why is he showing us the skull? Just to look cool or is there actually a reason behind it.

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by Grumpy

For some reason I don't get why this creature has white hair on his head and brown hair on his body? When you add the description it would be nice to hear why details like that were included. Not to forget, why is he showing us the skull? Just to look cool or is there actually a reason behind it.

eh, well, the white part is hair, and the brown part is fur. other than that, there's not really any rational explanation, but maybe i can come up with something. as for the skull, i added a description that explains everything.

actually, the hair is white because my original design was based roughly on krampus, which is the evil version of santa claus. here's my original base drawing: http://img218.imageshack.us/img218/9918/9202008111741ambc5.jpg

i'm horrendous at drawing, but thankfully my photoshop skills are slightly above amateur.

but anyways, i'm thinking about adding horns to stay true to my original design, but i'm not sure. any opinions would be great.

[BlackOrc]

Yeah. The drawing itself is so much better than I could do, hah.

Untalented artists shouldn't really be critics, but here's what I think:

The overall design is just, unexciting. There is nothing that jumps out at me. Nothing that makes the drawing special. With a humanoid creature such as this, a good idea may be to draw on some clothing, trinkets, cultural items, etc. Right now it's just a bit plain is all.

Could have leather skin armour on the legs. Items hanging off of his horns, maybe one of the horns is broken. Nose ring. You get the picture.

Anyway, besides that, it's an excellent drawing. It's very impressive, now it just needs the details to push it over the top. ;D

[Lachrymose]

added background, and i think i'm satisfied with it now. orc, i'll probably come up with something to spice things up a little bit, i just wanted a background to show the environment before i did anything else.

[catmorbid]

Nicely drawn, the background really spices it up, and the idea is ok, though nothing groundbreaking.

[oophus]

Put the creature in some armor or clothing and it will rock

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by catmorbid

Nicely drawn, the background really spices it up, and the idea is ok, though nothing groundbreaking.

thanks for the honest input. to be completely honest though, i was trying to go for something that builds off traditional RPG creature elements but is still different than what we've all already seen, rather than something that totally goes against the tradition but feels somewhat out of place. i feel like that's sort of what MO will be, in that it's got a traditional feel to it, while offering something new, rather than just pitting you up against the same old orcs, goblins, kobolds, etc. i want it to be unique in that there isn't anything quite like it, but i didn't want to create anything along the lines of a 6 headed flying rhinoceros that shoots lasers out of its eyes, that, although creative, just doesn't seem to "fit" with the theme of MO (but i could of course be wrong).

[dawnofdeath]

Nice Personally I would like it to have a little longer fur. To make it look more like a beast. Hm and maybe a different hair color than white, something that match a little more perhaps. Other than that I think it's great. Don't really think a beast should wear too much armor/clothing even if it's somewhat humanoid.
Also why does a beast have abs?

[Lachrymose]

yep, i don't want it to have armor.. the idea is that it's fur acts as natural armor, but other than that it relies on speed, strength, and size, which alone makes it a difficult enemy. heavy armor would just slow it down.

as for the hair.. why do poodles have fur that's white with black spots? why do some cats have black bodies, but white fur on their stomachs? if someone can come up with a scientific answer, i'll truly be impressed. until then, i like the white hair and dark fur (although i'll update the description a little bit just to help explain things a little).

Originally Posted by dawnofdeath

Also why does a beast have abs?

why not? ;P

[dawnofdeath]

Originally Posted by Lachrymose

yep, i don't want it to have armor.. the idea is that it's fur acts as natural armor, but other than that it relies on speed, strength, and size, which alone makes it a difficult enemy. heavy armor would just slow it down.

as for the hair.. why do poodles have fur that's white with black spots? why do some cats have black bodies, but white fur on their stomachs? if someone can come up with a scientific answer, i'll truly be impressed. until then, i like the white hair and dark fur (although i'll update the description a little bit just to help explain things a little).

why not? ;P

Fair enough oh fur as natural armor? I guess you mean against cold?
Hm isn't the scientific answer that it's a mix of different "races"? like a black and a white cats get kittens it will get both colors since they share DNA. Oh well that is beyond the point.

[Lachrymose]

Originally Posted by dawnofdeath

Fair enough oh fur as natural armor? I guess you mean against cold?
Hm isn't the scientific answer that it's a mix of different "races"? like a black and a white cats get kittens it will get both colors since they share DNA. Oh well that is beyond the point.

perhaps this creature is a mix of different races as well? (hint hint, look in the description)

and actually, the fur is composed of thick, coarse bristles, so it provides protection against actual attacks and weapons. of course it doesn't provide as much protection as metal armor, but it's substantial enough to prevent deep cuts from swords and it cushions attacks from blunt objects.

[catmorbid]

I think the concept fits MO pretty well. The creature has this realistic feel to it, albeit being clearly a fantasy creature, and that's exactly what I think MO aims for in general. I think it's one of the best entries so far, but it quite doesn't have that "wow!" feeling to it Or maybe I'm just being picky =D

[mikesanimation]

Dammit lachry, you're making me look like $%@%! I could have sworn you said that you can't draw. Well technically it's not drawing sooooo...

Amazing though. I love it.

[Conny]

Nice work!
Especially the background looks like u made it in watercolour (painting), really gives a nice and exciting effect to it.

Also nice work on the fur, must have taken quite some time to make?

[Rathius]

Originally Posted by Lachrymose

as for the hair.. why do poodles have fur that's white with black spots? why do some cats have black bodies, but white fur on their stomachs? if someone can come up with a scientific answer, i'll truly be impressed. until then, i like the white hair and dark fur (although i'll update the description a little bit just to help explain things a little).

I believe I read/saw somewhere that the coloration in animals, in general, comes from the amount of oxygen that they get while inside the womb. A lack of oxygen, if I remember right, is what produces the darker spots in the coat.

[Chunkmuncher]

Amazing work there! A truly mysterious creature. Actually I think the creature would become more "alive" if I knew less about it... Nonetheless a very good description

This could be a winner.