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Odraani naval gun crew capturing the joyful moment of returning home from a successful pirate hunting mission!
From left to right:
Bei - Grünza - Enzzelmaiz - Kazal - Medolovonza
The location - Odraani dreadnought crew quarters - and scenario - crew in uniform - made things tricky, buuuut I'm super happy I managed to pull this off!
Still, think because I 'know' these characters and have a bit of emotional connection to them, I had a larger energy/mojo pool to finish et! The whole inking, colouring, lighting took about about were done in about 10 hours, so I'm really proud of myself ;w; If only I could be this productive all the time aa.
THE STORY
CW: Death, Murder, Suicide, Mental Illness
From left to right:
Bei - Grünza - Enzzelmaiz - Kazal - Medolovonza
The location - Odraani dreadnought crew quarters - and scenario - crew in uniform - made things tricky, buuuut I'm super happy I managed to pull this off!
Still, think because I 'know' these characters and have a bit of emotional connection to them, I had a larger energy/mojo pool to finish et! The whole inking, colouring, lighting took about about were done in about 10 hours, so I'm really proud of myself ;w; If only I could be this productive all the time aa.
THE STORY
CW: Death, Murder, Suicide, Mental Illness
If you like what you see, please consider ing me on Patreon!
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Was super challenging, but really happy how it came out! Knowing the backstory for them deffo helped to give it bit more life too .3.
Awesome work Darb, this looks so fantastic
Thank you!!
It is a such amazing drawing, very well maded. Ya put into it alot of your free time , effort and your heart into this art and it just show how fantastic this turned out!
Keep it up with this amazing work and have a good one! ^^
Really enjoyed working on this one, as daunting having 5 people in pic was! I usually have a little story in mind for each chara when i draw them but this time the story was all written up ;3;
And yeahhh ... poor babs, they deserved better ;3;
From left to right: Bei, Grünza, Enzzelmaiz, Kazal, Medolovonza
The MC of the story is unseen as they took the photo here
I have found my lower jaw permanently affixed to the floor.
An amazing work. Kudos to you.
Means a looot!
...I'm OK, I'm just gonna need a moment...
But thats how disasters be ..
Hopes yous oki tho .3.
...what are these tags?
It's always scary to think stuff like this happens cause of stuff like Byzantine Generals problem and other seemingly mundane stuff.
Yeee ... being so reliant on fragile tech and being at the mercy of the forces of nature/space
I'm gonna need some time to recover after that one xwx very very well written though, I really enjoyed it!
Story tags be like: Murder, Suicide, Death, Coffin, Coffin, Cemetry, Pidor
Space is scary no matter what.
Don't let our whining make you think that your work shouldn't be as dark as heck. Write what you want to write. <3
Aaa I'm not sure I have a knack for it, feels like this was a case of 'lightning in a bottle' .. but I'm happy it left such a huge impression on the readers ;3;
I look forward to your next Odraani tale!
(and hopefully the families of the departed don't take it too hard... ;_;)
the poses an comp is all so perfect ;3;
and the story is so damn good *chef kiss*
such a well written dark thriller/sci-fi horror? im not good at asg genres xD but its just epicly done! thanks for sharing with us all <33
*throws mug on ground* ANOTHER!
Would be/ have been fun to explore more of their personalities, relationships with each other a bit more ;3;
Aaa I'm not sure what the genre is either haha ... I don't know much about writing in general so I have no idea what am I doing .w.' <3 But I'm so happy it turned out be an interesting read ;u;
ANOTHER??? I SHOULDDDD
Seeing the story tags: " . . . Ah."
i mean they were heck of a squad ;3;
... but yeah, space is perilous
The pic is really meant to be a bittersweet reminder of things could have been
I tried to make places lived in, clothes worn in and people being caught in a random moment <3
But after reading the story, it's like looking at ghosts... O.O
Yeeee ... wanted to have the pic be thought starter, what could have been if all went well, what people could have done differently, and what these guys were like before the everything happened .3.
Just hope they are all at peace.
Loved the story too, reminded me a lot of Aniara, if you've ever heard about it.
There's one I have all 'sketched' up, just need to sit down and write it; it's more of a crime novel thingy buuut I fear it a little.
Glad you did! <3
And yeee, saw a recap of it and it kept me awake for a bit x.x Stories with isolation, hopelessness and helplessness hit me hard, on a different level
I adore this pic. I will truly never get over your eye for fitting details both in your characters' designs and your bgs. There's just so much to look at and ire, and both your chars and the settings they're created within always feel so real. <3
The short story you attached to this is genuinely gut-wrenching, compelling, and everyone within it makes it feel so horrifically believable in the best of ways. Everyone's little dynamics with each other - the slow degradation of the ship, the state of the crew, and the lingering dread that comes with all that and only gets worse as time goes on. Finally, the last action report: "None. Clean it, scrap it, inform all the next of kin" basically. Ouch.
Really drives home the feel of "better times long gone" that radiates off the pic. Like a snapshot of a time before a group of friends drifted apart, it hurts the soul. I love the artwork, of course. Everyone's expressions suit their personalities, I feel. Bei the dad, he looks so hyped; I can imagine him planning to show this pic to his kids once he gets back home. Kazal totally looks like a bro, and I love the way his tail is all-but-wrapped around Medolo's. <3 I get the feeling Enzy's just kinda there in the back, like, having to do this but having much more important stuff he wants to get back to. Generally distant as ever, I suppose?
huffs Okay, that was alot! Anyways, had a lot to say, found all this extremely compelling. Love it, Ms. Darb! Thanks so much for sharing this and the lovely little crew. ^u^
I really love your observations ;3; 'Better times long gone' is EXACTLY the vibe I wanted to achieve with the picture ;3; Kind of a painful nostalgia, 'what could have been' and such.
Wish I thought of that name because it's perfect ;u;
And yeah, we have a bit of an insight of the massive difference of the personal and global odraani behaviour ... - first few weeks - friendly, caring personal relations vs the cynical, cold, matter of fact bureaucracy that is the whole faction ...
Love your description of the gang; all of them are really accurate! <3 Enzzi is kind of a loner, a bit socially awkward nerd for example ;u; Grünza is also similar to Bei, excited to go home to see his BF ;3;
Aaa thank you again for the review! <3 Means a lot I drew/wrote something that motivates such thoughts ;w; <3
Glad you enjoyed the read <3
/the last entry
But man thia one is leaving an imprint on my mind
Aaa im flattered my writing did so ;3; <3
Fandom has a ton of fluff and icing art, but so little in the way of lasting memorable content.
And yeah, would be lovely to have this story reach more people, but then again, I'm not sure I could deal with a the public eye and scrutiny ... @.@
No more hope of ever reaching home.
Silent and sickly, slumped against the hull
Went to sleep forever... and then there was null...
Self proclaimed leader, wandering forever these accursed floors
Could imagine this like part of the navy folklore in a way, part of telling the story to new recruits on their first voyage
What a grim and tragic fate.. V._.V
The level of detail that you've put into this picture is awesome, really beautifully done!.
Someone described it as 'better times long gone' and its a perfect summary of what happened. A moment where everyone was happy, feeling proud, excited, only to enter a downward spiral soon after.
<3
It was a pretty disturbing read from the point things began to take a gradual descent into chaos aboard. Very sad how it ended up, but I was hooked the whole way!
Awesome story and i liked the unique format too!.
I was a little confused by the incident in the infirmary at first. But it looks like to me, that this conspiracy thing was going on long before the narrator was made aware.
Wait.. Weren't there several other ships ing the jump to their destination?.
That story though, whew! I do not envy their situation in the slightest. Just goes to show the inherent dangers of space travel. I'm hardly delve into survival horror, but this art work was a good lure. "Can't judge a book by it's cover" as they say.
Drawing is cute and fun though. Will we ever get to see Amme?
The story: D:
(For interest: 39 digits of pi would suffice to calculate the circumference of the known universe to the width of a hydrogen atom. We can round that down to 30, right?)
I did a tour of service in the military. While I realize many like to ire and fetishize the various organizations and units, far too often it's missed that the base goal of such groups is to exert their will over others. With dire consequences (killing) and with equipment whose purpose is to be built cheaply, and work within an acceptable level of failure and loss.
This means out of 4 stasis enabled heavy dreadnought cruisers, one might not make it. And due to the training and mission of those on that dreadnought, A minor systems misalignment will have the crew fall back onto training which won't serve them particularly well in the face of such a failure.
A very well told story Darbaras.
For example, I have no idea if the upper brass really deserved that gruesome end they suffered. The mutineers were at their wits' end and lost their faith on the authority who's not doing enough to keep morale in check, and had to vent their pent up anger completely ignorant that they're just hastening their likely inevitable demise.
A very thought provoking piece of literature indeed...
If its non-canon then that would explain her continuous reappearance in your art.
Those arts are pre-Null
1/ this might be my favorite story I've found on this website! Like it is a masterpiece in my eyes!
2/ so this is my only question I think I have for you, since the last log from the mc is day 6134, how did they die?? Did they kill themself? Also Dame, there poor wive is going to react badly to there death.. :(
A tragic end for the Odra and their fiance
God damn it, typo Dx
Also thank you for replying to my first ask! :3
1/ was the mc audio/written logs ever found or did they simply decay/get destroyed?
2/ what the heck was that time dilation?? I one crew mate said 6-7 days equals around 1-2 seconds..so was the ship traveling in freaking milliseconds?? I'm just trying to figure out how appearing six seconds later equals 12,114 years..
I'm just wondering and be thankful if anyone could answer my questions for this amazing story! :3
2. Yes, time dilation is part of the Odraani's faster than light jump gate technology for their vessels.
Vessels traveling through the gates will undergo spacetime stasis where they arrive in the destined jump gate after a week or two and up to a few months in exceptional cases; in the poor Kamrili's case though a critical gyroscoping input error in the navigation computers which mafunctioned the ship's coordinate values, causing it to remain in stasis exponentially longer.
2/ ohh okay, that makes sense! I guess I was just trying to put logic/math to calculate that amount of years
Also lol I just saw what your you wrote instead of shift XD
I think I only got three questions left and that will be all for now :)
1/ were the ghosts/hollow husks the mc seeing real or just simple madness?
2/ two part question, first, I'm guessing something major happened between log 4984 and log 6012 to make the mc change so much.. and second, I'm surprised there were even three people still alive before they got gunned down by the mc in log 6012.
3/ I think you said something about this, but I do hope one day we can see a pic of the mc in the final days!
2. Can you imagine being trapped in a cold, dark, corpse strewn ship with no food left for years on end? I'm surprised they didn't off themselves even earlier and just shuffled on for well over 17 years
3. We can hope... but there is a pic that gives a pretty good picture of a crew in his last days (https://mobile.twitter.com/EliseHeider/status/1587174507134984196)
2/ once more a very good point, also I need to ask this, the body the three crew were eating..that was the mc last friend body wasn't it? Because he moved them into the flight deck area after he died right?
3/ oh dame o.o
Pic is really well done but Dame..I feel horrible for them..
Pray for the Kamrili
Ps thank you for answering all the questions I had! I hope your day is going great! :3
Carry on being awesome!
Still gives me an idea of a non-canon cross over, so that one of their versions get to tell the tale. Because FTL-Travel and the time-travel are complex topics and one thing i understood so far, is that they are linked in motion. The Fate of Kamrilli 12000+ years later can't be changed, but just imagine another stellar-empire finding chrono traceses,to tunnel and pull the only 7 days old Kamrilli out of stasis 12000 years later. All the adventures they could have, with the ultimate goal to reach the Brallü not 12000 years late, but just a late week. There still would be a paradox of the 12000 year old Kamrilli and the 7 days late Kamrilli, because both ship would be existing in the same time and space, still think thats better out come for them.
I got that idea from another sci-fi empire that had to deal with giant time-stopping space jellyfish, where they saved the ship by tracking chrono traces, as they called it, to tunnel from the old derelict ships to the only days or months old ships, that were trapped in time by the said jellyfishes and save them. They had the paradox of old derelict ships and only for few days trapped ships, but figured out that timelines branch out so that all outcomes are equally true. I didn't understand the technology fully, but it's something about gravity particles trapped in a accelerator tunnel, that drills with its mass through short time differences. And that the process is energy intensive.
Thanks for reading this and thanks to Darbaras for making the art and story.
And then just now I actually went and read the story.
Good god. Starting out wholesome, ending in nightmare fuel, it's amazing.
.
Splendid work both with both the story and artwork! Really contrasted and elevated the written work along with it.
What I expected: https://youtu.be/k1-TrAvp_xs?si=l1i72U8MGc1JMd2j
What I recieved: https://youtu.be/hG6HHExLDzY?t=1190
Holy bisquits. That's dark as hell itself, and masterfully written. Space is no joke, one mistake, and...
The spirit of *good* old fiction is strong in here.
Brought District 9 to my mind even, as in sort of a prequel to it, how over such long time everything can crumble apart, sanity gone, decay. I liked the incident report attached too, the whim of fate, which on the outside is a mere snap, a freak accident of a moment. Disturbing!
And glad to see so much activity here, so many interested in taking a look at them and their story!