Khalazdad Commissions a Portrait

[Khalazdad]

This contest has ended. Winners are chosen. Further related art belongs in Fan Art. Again, thanks to everyone who played. I'm proud to be part of this community.

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I want to commision a portrait. Of me. Because that's what despots do. I want to be remembered after I am gone - and I fear dissolution is the only possible outcome for me now.

Go to the Fan Art section of this forum and see how I see myself. Read all of my notes here. Study how I act in public. Then, using my basic image, decide what the Lord of Dark Reaches should look like. Draw it, paint it, photoshop it, do whatever you want, but make me look suitably... whatever a dark lord should be. Don't like my dirty habits? Clean them up. Don't like the bald pate? Add a head covering. Just make sure it looks like me.

Post your art here. A winner will be chosen arbitrarily, and the prize will be that the portrait will be integrated into my notes page. You will, of course, sign your work, and any details I like will become part of my character.

Judging will happen September 10th.

Below follows a tonne of character information you may want to review before you begin.

Khalazdad the Black

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Khalazdad is old, but appears middle-aged. He is mostly bald with an Egyptian Phaeroh style beard. His clothing is mostly rags, smeared with blood and dirt. He cares little for his appearance. Thre is something about him that doesn't seem quite human; perhaps its the shiny dark skin, prehaps the pointed ears, the black nails on his fingers.... a dozen cues that he is something Other. He spends a great deal of time reading, meditating, or talking to himself. Sometimes he has seizures, and strange things happen around him when that happens.

Nothing about him says this is a lord of Darkness. He seems like a dirty, poor, eccentric, short, portly old man.

And yet when he speaks, its hard not to meet his gaze. His voice is soft and unimposing; you strain to hear him and strain harder to make sense of what he says and yet something in you responds as if to a rousing speech from a master orator. When Khalazdad is excited about his topic his eyes glow a dull red - hard to see in the eternal daylight.

He seems to be a man without compunction or conscience driven only by a thirst to know everything. He has taken many very grave risks to just find things out, things that may seem trivial to others.

It is not known whether he is courageous or mad. He doesn't balk at the sternest opposition, fearing no mage or warrior in spite of his rather frequent defeats. Even when bested he seems pleased with his outcomes. He has a sly smile for these occasions that sometimes makes other uncomfortable.

I am leader of the Necrovion Sentinels. I am the High Chancellor. Those who ally with me are Dark Lords in their own right, governers of dark forces. The Alliance represents only the Council, you see, for we are much stronger than is visible in alliance numbers.

We are actively recruiting spies, sages and soldiers. Not everyone can sit on the Necrovion Sentinels council, but everyone can help in their way. Speak to Braiton, Uranar, Shoeps, Bad Sun Bath, Marvolo, anyone with the skull by their name. They will assign you work according to your merits.

I am the Father of Night, He Who Walks Amisdst the Shades Amongst the Tombs, the Breaker, the Bringer of Shadow. I am the half-dead, the Eater of the Weak, the Blood Drainer, the Master of Assassins, he who listens to the wind in the dark. My minions are legion, each chosen for their faith, dedication, and brutality. And none, NONE, disrespect or disobey. My orders are law.

If I tell you to prove your loyalty, you prove it. If I say to show respect, you show it. You spy when I say, fight when I say, study when I say, and die when I say.

If this is agreeable to you, then swear oath to me now. If not, begone. There are others who will serve as I command.

Khalazdad the Black

Speaker with Shades

High Chancellor of Necrovion Sentinels

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Khalazdad contemplates the House of Liquid Dust. He thinks he has seized upon something: Willow was impervious to harm; Khalazdad is not. Willow could not be transformed by the Dust because of his invulnerability; Khalazdad CAN be transformed and, because there is no light left in his soul, survive the experience. He stands up to try the door.

The door opens easily. Inside the House of Liquid Dust is only darkness. Khalazdad's eyes adjust slowly to the conditions. His lungs begin to burn as he steps blindly over the threshhold.

His first step kicks up dust which clogs his nose and makes his eyes water. Light should be streaming in through the windows but in this place there is only dark. Still, he can see the place is empty - just a rude wooden floor covered in inches of plain white dust. But the air is energized with something unseeable, something... evil. He moves further into the room, the first to do so for an age.

In the center of the room, he can see a space free of any dust. He gets a vague impression of a man standing in that spot - long ago, or perhaps soon. Its all the same in this place. He breathes deeply of the air that makes his lungs burn so. He begins to feel weak and strong at once - weak in body and yet full of forces he doesn't understand. Closer and closer to the center, and then he is standing in the bare place. He hears a voice, booming, hollow, dry as old bones: "At last you have come to this place. Long have I awaited it."

A transformation begins. Khalazdad the mortal is transfigured by the dark energy of Liquid Dust, made over into a melding of life and death, a being of living death, an image of the Deathmarrow. He begins to bleed from his pores, his eyes, his ears; he begins to shake and bite his tongue. Knowledge of ages floods into his head - too much to ever remember - and he knows the plan, knows why he has come to this place: not as a free agent, but as a tool of the Shades. And, remade, he leaves the House of Liquid Dust unnoticed.

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I was born on a world far from this one, as well all were. Which world I cannot recall. Things beyond the Pale are hazy but, in my current madness, some things have come clearer.

In this world my first memory is of being in a tomb. Not my tomb, but a great burial mound. Darkness was my constant companion, as the dead have no need of light. There were great treasures stored there. Things for kings to carry into the next life.

Three centuries I spent wandering this barrow. After a time, I began to hear the whispers of other beings in the darkness. One was clear: Nyarlat Hotep, the messenger of the Elder Gods. Living in their presence, he was quite as mad as they - as I could tell, as the other voices were echoes of their far-off whispers.

There was no escape from this tomb. And yet I could not die. Nyarlat Hotep had some use for me. He made me his thing, drove me to the same madness that infected him. I knew it not but would come to hate him for it.

I was brought forth from this place into the midst of a battle I understood not. I knew only that I had been freed from my prison into a cavern underground. There was light and it burned - oh it burned - but it also was good. It was change.

Men and Fey beings battled against huge spiders. The spiders were winning. My Master demanded I save the wretches, and I did, using magic I knew not knowing. And I travelled with these people for a time until they discovered the depths of my depravity.

This glimpse of a world long gone is one of only a few fragments. I know I am from an elder race, and have lived and died many times in many worlds. I think this world is one of many afterlives we all live, and one towards the end where Entropy makes our souls as dust. I know people from my race abhor the light and seek the comfort of darkness, and this place where light rules always is an offense to me, a kind of hell or purgatory. I recall being used badly by those who carried light in their hearts; hypocrites that served bloodily righteous gods not much different from the Elder ones.

All of this I would have known somewhere. It would be a favor to one facing dissolution to know my story was somewhere engraved. It is immortality of a sort.

OK, sound project complete for now. You can still listen to the voice of Khalazdad for inspiration if you want. Here's a cleaner version:

take_2_edit.wav

take_2.wav

sinsiter_guitar.wav

take_3.wav

sinister_2.wav

[Calyx of Isis]

You go, Dark Lord! This is so delicious. I love it! I hope you get something, er..., dark and evil! <G>

[Rex]

Rex Umbrae Killer (had my name change and now i cant change this one from killer2

I did this a while ago so it does not fill all of your desires but it fits okish

[Innundo]

Whats the smudging on the lower right corner where you put your initials? Looks like your erased something and texted in over top of it....

[GlorDamar]

Whats the smudging on the lower right corner where you put your initials? Looks like your erased something and texted in over top of it....

Yeah, and I just drew this one...

[dst]

It fits perfectly! Glor, you're a genius!

[Faraday]

Looks like the guy from Star Wars

[Lulu]

Khalazdad as a Puchu! Khuchu!

I think I did a pretty good job this time. Goodness knows I'm a sucky pixeler, but I'm proud--it's Khalazdad as I've always imagined him! The beard and some other things did give me trouble, but it turned out. . . wonderful!

By the way, if it's hard for some of you to interpret, this is the scene where Khalazdad enters the House of Liquid Dust, and the dust surrounds him, and blood starts pouring out of his pores. Gosh. . . it even looks like Khal's own picture. . . I'm so proud.

^his picture, might I refresh your memories

It's even complete with my mouse-drawn signature by my right hand (I'm left-handed). Beautiful.

But I'll be truthful; this isn't completely original. But isn't it a difference enough? n____n; Sucky pixelers must use their bases. . .

H-eh. . . and if the background looks familiar, well--don't sue me! Is it copyrighted?! Well, uh, it's, I disclaim it! Okay?

But it is beautiful, isn't it. . . @_@

KHUCHU! KHUCHU! KHUCHU!

[Khalazdad]

OK, things take a weird turn early in the event... LOL... Don't know what a Puchu is but it is amusing.

Keep this stuff coming!

K

[Lulu]

Puchu- extraterrestrial species in Excel Saga. Extremely cute.

[Glaistig]

... Do you think I was too flattering? /: Oh well.

[MRD]

WOW Glastig that is GREAT

[Chewett]

[Redacted]

Edited December 18, 2012 by Chewett
Redacted

[Innundo]

Yeah, Glai is funny like that

[Sol]

Well not exactly a portrait but... well... I can't draw, I can only do animations... ^^

Lol, This is my "mental image" of what you look like.

Well if anyone wants a animation like this done for them, PM me in-game or here.

EDIT: PM me the decripts too.

EDIT2: Well actually tell me here.

[Khalazdad]

This is within the rules, under the section "do whatever you want."

We're off to a great start. What a terrific community.

J for K

[Glaistig]

lol. im going to have to read everything that gla posts twice to check for hidden messages now

I don't understand. /: I thought I did a very good job, although maybe I skewed it in favor of cuteness rather than realism. Yami reprimanded me yesterday for calling Khalazdad pathetic, so I felt a bit generous. I even gave him a little hair on the forehead. Is it so horrible-looking people think I'm deliberately insulting him? Now, I may dislike Khalz, but I'm not that kind of rude person. I say what I think of specific persons when the subject is brought up, but I don't resort to low blows like that. I'll show you my inspiration to prove it!

I used Chiyo's head, ripped off from some random person's Photobuck album (now saved to Lu's):

Chiyo-chan from Azumanga Daioh is one of my favorite characters. <3 She's really adorable.

And I sort of modeled the torso after Dan-kun from Bamboo Blade (another image I used without permission, found with google image search):

He's the one with tears pouring from his eyes while the rest of the kendo club strip and dress him~ He's pretty cute, too, isn't he? Miya-miya, the girl with purple hair on the right (you can't see her face in this picture) is his pretty girlfriend, and she has rivals. I won't say anything more in case someone is in the process of watching the series and doesn't want spoilers.

[Khalazdad]

In many ways we are defined by our enemies. I grieve the loss of Wodin, who by opposing me made me greater. hate is the other side of love.

Your concept of your enemy also defines you. If only the weak come against you, perhaps it is because you cannot imagine holding off the strong. If only a loser would disagree with you, then perhaps only a loser would take the time, because you are projecting what you hate in yourself onto those with whom you argue.

I do enjoy the light-hearted teasing from my friends, but there is a serious side here too. Take these points to heart as you sharpen your pencils. Love the dark or hate it, how you respond defines you as much as me.

And in defense of Rex, who won't stoop to self-defense, its his IRL signature under the texted-in initials.

J for K

[Morquor]

I've drawn a picture of you Khalazdad, hope u like it.

I wanted to add the raggy details at the end, but when i finished with it, I thought this is cool this way...

180*266mm, Pencil (B, 4B, 5B, 8B)

P.S: I cannot scan, so i took a photo of it. As soon as school starts, I'll scan and post it

Photo remains but next time please use a smaller image size/resoloution thanks - chewett

[Aurinia]

I like the pencil art the most so far, I aplaud the artists who can make original work from scratch like that, I can't even put a straight line on paper

[Prince Marvolo]

Yeah, and I just drew this one...

it looks like that person from Lord of the Rings, Grima i think his name was...

[DiKra]

Yeah, and I just drew this one...

palpatine[/b]pencil.jpg]

it looks like that person from Lord of the Rings, Grima i think his name was...

:lol:

It looks like what it is, a photoshop repaired Palpatine.

[Chewett]

[Redacted]

Edited December 18, 2012 by Chewett
Redacted

[Minory]

Well not exactly a portrait but... well... I can't draw, I can only do animations... ^^

Lol, This is my "mental image" of what you look like.

Well if anyone wants a animation like this done for them, PM me in-game or here.

EDIT: PM me the decripts too.

EDIT2: Well actually tell me here.

=O Is that Bob?

[GlorDamar]

:lol:

It looks like what it is, a photoshop repaired Palpatine.

and DiKra wins the prize. That's not a real submission, but you have to admit, it's pretty appropriate.