Is brilliant.

Metal riffs + synths including 8 and 16-bit chiptunes, mixing rock and pop structures with playful lyrics = love </microreview>

I think I like the overall flow of the album Redeemer (The Undeground Edition) better, but this album has a much stronger thematic harmony between the songs. In my mind, the synths fall a bit short of the stuff they were doing in the beginning of their career, but that lack is absolutely overshadowed by the catchy melodies crafted into EOTW.

Listen to it on Spotify.

Living Saint Amanda Isolde

Sometimes I get dragged into roleplaying groups. Sometimes I have to whip up character concepts in a matter of hours. Sometimes I produce gems of unmistakeable genius.

This is a quick sketch I made of Amanda Isolde, a Living Saint of the Imperium and Princeps of the experimental archaeotech Titan “Drustanus.” It is based on this piece of stunning art I found on the interwebs (I don’t know who the original artist is, but credit to him or her).

Amanda Isolde was born in the middle of a warzone to Lady General Maria Isolde of Dimmamar. Lady Maria hoped to raise the child herself, but died in the war, sending young Amanda to the Schola Progenum.

There she quickly stood out as a child of great willpower and determination, not to mention aptitude for combat (the young men of the Schola learned soon not to cross her). At age 15 she was selected by the Adepta Sororitas, and became a Battle Sister of the Convent of Katherine the Divine. During the Vayart Crusade she became a Living Saint at age 17, displaying a wide range of divine powers and leading whole armies into triumphant battles.

At the final battle of the crusade, at the siege of Red Arcadia, she lost her mind. In a murderous rampage of holy rage, Saint Isolde annihilated the entire enemy force, as well as nine tenths of the Imperial force she was leading. It took three whole days before an Inquisitorial team could capture and contain her. By that time she had immolated the city of Red Arcadia and alone destroyed the transport ships attempting to flee her wrath.

As she was a Living Saint, neither the Sororitas or the Inquisition dared kill her, even though it would have been the safest choice. Still, she could not be allowed active duty or even to move freely beyond the warded confines of her cell. Even after most of her Emperor-given abilities abated, she was still prone to bouts of violence, having little trouble killing even the most adept of guards.

She was not the primary candidate to pilot Drustanus, or even the secondary, but after the machine had killed two blood-compatible candidates, the Mechanicus decided to test her. It was to be her salvation.

It’s said that the first time she was connected to the machine, they couldn’t disconnect her for a whole week. They say she stole a pistol from a tech adept and used that to maim anyone who attempted to remove her while she wrestled with the mind of the God-Machine, but none of the adepts working on Drustanus carried weapons. Either way, after a week she spontaneously disconnected from the machine, apparently a changed woman. She remained mentally unstable, but finally able to control her homicidal tendencies. Some theorize that there was an exchange of minds between the pilot and the machine once Drustanus and Isolde had accepted each other, others believe that she found a place to focus all her aggression in the boiling mind of the Titan.

Whatever happened, she has been accepted.

So, now that I’ve made a complete comeback to the world of social media, what content can I populate this bottomless hole with? Well, for a long time I’ve been thinking of posting some sort of daily sketch thing, so that might finally happen. It will probably not be daily, but I have some stuff lying around that could qualify. Also, I have a bunch of WIP stuff that’s not complete enough to show off in the portfolio but I would still like to display, so some of that might get posted in the near future… some teasers for you, and some motivators for me.