Fragments of a medieval headworld in making
The following content is not suitable for all audiences."IN NOMINE" is a closed headworld by BlueHunter & Shep.
Please do not use our characters or any other material you find here without our permission.
Thank you.
Last updated: 14th February 2026
IN NOMINE is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Updates
While the website is in progress, I set up this little page to show updates and where to find them.
202614th February
- A couple or refinements in text
- A bit of information about hygiene and dungeons added
- Comic section overworked120 readers of the comic on Webtoons and 15 on Comicfury?! Thank you so much!
IN NOMINE is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Table of Content
Welcome!
Here you can find all published concepts and information about the headworld in development. All information you find on this website is merely conceptual and not set in stone.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
About
Many of you have wondered: What is all this about and how did it all start? So let me start ... May it answer a few questions!
How it started
Many of the appearing characters, their actions and many other matters taking place in this headworld and story do not represent the creators' views or are endorsed by them. But it's adult fiction after all and I want to play with the medium to my liking.
It must have been somewhen in summer 2018 when my partner discovered the power metal band Powerwolf for himself. At that time I was not familiar with their music and just had started listening to them when he introduced me to their music. I really liked their themes and melodies; you can say the music just clicked with me and made me pretty euphoric. I had been out of house when my partner wrote to me on Telegram and asked: “How about we work on a medieval headworld?” The idea excited me and we quickly filled our chat with possible character ideas …The headworld combines our love for anthropomorphic animal stories, but on a medieval fantasy stage. The tone of the project is for a mature audience and leaves plenty of room for darker scenes and stories, that hopefully stirrs up the reader as much as “Plague Dogs” or “Watership Down” by Richard Adams did to me. And as the series “Berserk” by Kentaro Miura has stuck with me for what feels like forever, it did its influence for the character creation, too, and set an atmosphere to work with. I like the challenge to combine real animal behaviour and blend it with a human mind, as it poses many challenges and problems to solve.Over time this universe became a place my mind likes to travel to and discover new stories, which aren't necessarily have to become canon.It’s motivating to read the comments and feedback from others who not only enjoy our characters, but our little stories as well. Some even briefly relate to one character or another and it’s making me speechless and proud in a way? Thank you so much!
What is the story about?
While there is not “the” story for now, I rather focus on individual characters and finding out more about their lives, relationships to others, ambitions and struggles; little story snippets so to speak. Some storylines feature the past and show characters that will not truly be featured in the main story, but are important to create tangible characters. For now there are smaller individual storylines in progress that will one day fall into place and create the main plot for us to tell.What I can share now is that we'll be telling about intrigues, survival and rebellion of characters placed in a medieval inspired setting. It will not truly focus on faith or religions, but faith does take a role in power dynamics dynamics here.
What is my motivation and goal?
Comics, it's absolutely comics! Let it be smaller printed chapters for the start or a bigger printed issue in future.I always had stories to work on. While I started my work on “In Nomine” purely for my own enjoyment, other people seemed to enjoy the artworks and content. Sadly I’ve only been able to sparsely work on the headworld over the past years due to lack of time, but I’m doing the best I can. And as of now, things are picking up!
Why "semi-anthropomorphic characters"?
I'm fascinated by the genre of xenofiction, stories with a feral-minded-narrative, and call nature one of my biggest inspiration. Yet I want to pick up my art the way I started creating characters in the first place: Semi-anthropomorphic.A center point of this story is that many characters, namely those living in "King Herold's kingdom" (Placeholder name) suppress their "inner animal" for whatever reason I decided. In contrast are those animal folks that live in the forest under their animistic belief; even highlighting their feral nature in special ceremonies.If I were to draw these characters in a different anthropomorphic stylization, this story would not work out for me, as I personally associate planti- and digitigrade characters with a higher grade of anthropomorphization; many of the conflicts In nomine would fall flat, and the story would be a whole different one. The characters' animalistic essence would disappear. The use of semi-anthropomorphic characters allows me a more complex story-telling, which wouldn't work in any other way to me.Demetrius for example is a highly conflicted character that tries to suppress his inner being by faith. Ida on the other hand is much more societally-detached from the point of view of the commoner of the main kingdom; is feral in nature, even often walking on all fours, showing much more fox-like behaviour than the priest for example - yet she has the same level of perception and awareness of course. I want to create a different kind of conflict and tension; a world where one spark could cause a catastrophe; an animal to snap out of his mind and to return to its true nature.In the end many of my characters are simply animals fighting their nature: Just as many humans do: Suppressing their primal / nature bound instincts / roots / in a forming modern society.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
World and lore
Daily life
&
Societies
Biology
&
Anatomy
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Lore & World
Lore
(Highly work in progress. All kingdoms, localities and other places are yet to receive their final name.)
For decades the two neighboring kingdoms lived in negotiated peace: King Denario - a widely respected elderly wolf - possessed wide heathlands, a fertile hill region and swampy, impassable outskirts in the West. King Herold – a borzoi still young of age and a rather inexperienced heir to the throne – ruled over the “Hound’s Lands”, a small region, bordered by a mountain crest to Denario’s territory of reign, east of the wolf’s territory. Bordering to the Hound's Lands in the east lays King Zudar's territory. Neighbouring kingdoms, such as the Isle of Birds ruled by the King called the Bonebreaker, existed in neutral relations.Though, the focus of this headworld is set on the regions in the West. Both kingdoms distinguished themselves in many regards, one main contentious point was the question of beliefs: While King Denario was a devout supporter of an animalistic belief deeply rooted in nature, King Herold was born into a kingdom that supports a monotheistic religion – even by the sword, although he in secret never called himself a believer. Before his enthronement, a treaty of alliance had been discussed by his deceased father to exchange wares and strictly respect territorial lines.Even with trading connections to the Bonebreaker’s fishing fleet, King Herold struggled to keep his population fed due to mismanagement of his own; his lands possessed mineral deposits and not as much lands to cultivate on. Due to the rise of volcanic activity, the climate began shifting heavily out of balance and got colder, agriculture became more difficult by the year. As more and more riots began to spread throughout his realm, his population looked with resentment and growling stomachs to the well-fed nobility at their top.
The borzoi had to search for ways to reinforce his position of power before his own people successfully turned against him. The religious differences increasingly displeased the young and desperate king to the point, that he began plotting an ambush which he deemed reasoned. Old story about werewolves – rooted in the animalistic belief the population in the West lived out - began spreading and gained popularity again. Ultimately, his citizens were presented a new scapegoat to unleash their frustration and blame their problems on.And so it came that one night, he sent out his soldiers and knights in the Great Raid. King Denario and his family had been surprised in their sleep and got slain immediately. King Herold, waiting in safety, was presented the captured king, which he took pride in decapacitating. It was said no wolf of this family-line had survived. That night, the Hound’s Lands banner got its second star for taking over a second kingdom.Citizen of the fallen king were told to assimilate to fit his society, or got killed on the spot. Those, that could flee escaped West into the swamps - the "Devil's Moss" - King Herold had no interest in taking or even entering due to superstitions. He willingly accepted these wounded and weakened outcasts living in the woods as a backup plan to feed on - in case, they hadn't succumbed to their injuries. Needless to say, the lives of those that had fled changed drastically. As the borzoi took over the lands, he began spreading agriculture to the hilly area and lands outside of his city wall at which he installed guards to protect the farmers.
Over time, King Herold reinforced religious differences to strengthen his reign, while underestimating that the higher local clergy gained power as well, which eventually would weaken his own influence and weaken his borders against King Zudar's dominion - a fact the exiled bastard son of said king did not miss. He, swearing fidelity to his new ruler, posed an effective hand and strong contrast to his otherwise idle king. To show gratitude to his new loyal guard, King Herold raised Eladio to nobility.
Here the "main story” takes place:In the persisting turmoil the Great Raid left two kingdoms disrupted, increasingly dissatisfied folks look for ways to survive. Thereby a couple of individuals - for now called the Rebels - are on the raise, scheme, and try to weaken the Church's and King's rain to ulimatively topple their rulers. Meanwhile a couple of residents of the outcasted population in the "Devil's Moss" become increasingly discontented and try to overcome the scarring exclusion they had to endure, looking for shared commonalities and ways to heal; forming forces that slowly arm themselves to attack and end King Herold's feared reign.
Timeframe
Even if this headworld strictly needs to be distanced from real life events and many conventions, for a very vague timely classification, it can be said that the events of this story loosely take place somewhere between 1350 – 1500 AD. The chosen time frame does correspondend to our calendar. I call this headworld medieval "fantasy" as I'm taking absolute creative freedom.
Localities, Kingdoms & Territories
(Highly work in progress. All kingdoms, localities and other places are yet to receive their final name.)
The main place of events takes action in King Herold’s Lands and his neighbouring territories, the former land of King Denario, that now derogatorily is called the "Devil's Moss", due to the nearly unwalkable terrain and legends surrounding the area - that generally is prohibited to get entered by the general public.King Herold’s kingdom is located in a rather hilly area, which is surrounded by a plenitude of smaller streams, which all flow into the Western Sea. The German Rhineland-Palatinate with its largely spread cultivated hillsides for winery and its specific local architecture comes close to the visuals of said kingdom.
The further one travels west past the fields farmers of King Herold work on, the more impassable and denser the fauna becomes. Swamps become wide spread, birch and spruce forests prevent a fast pass through. Here the territory, the "Devil's Moss", of the murdered King Denario begins and seems to be endless. Agriculture becomes impossible, the animals roaming their forests and swamps mostly became collectors of everything the forest provided, staying out of view from King Herold's eye.At the most Western point, the forest opened up to the Western Sea. The Western sea bares strong resemblance to the shores of the German Baltic Sea, but as currents as powerful as the North Sea.
Climate
The headworld mostly focusses on a small geographical area in which a mostly West-European climate dominates. Due to a raised activity in volcanic eruption the climate heavily shifted out of balance and got colder. (It can be loosely compared with the Little Ace Age in our 16th century.)Winters became long and harsher; summers became slightly colder, rainy and often lack longer periods of warming sunlight. The lack of harvest due to unpredictable shifting weather imbalances let to famines and eventually to rebellions, too.The climate conditions on the islands, which mostly the bird folk populates, intensified. In order to keep up the large supply of food (especially crops) for the own population, the trade of wares and food with other kingdoms was reinforced.
Fauna and flora
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Societies
About nocturnal and diurnal rhythms
Every animal has got its own genetically coded rhythm: In this case the nocturnal, diurnal, crepuscular or social rhythm of activity. Animals in charge of society - in the case of King Herold’s Lands: King Herold, a dog - , dictate which rhythm of activity is predominantly lived out in their lands. As dogs are highly social animals, they adapted to their packmates / animals they’ve been closely living with. Due to this adaptation, the level of activity in King Herold’s lands turned principally diurnal, and many animals such as sheep, cats (as crepuscular animals), horses, cows can be found living here. Animals, such as foxes, badgers, deer and the like, that have to adjust to their king / their leader, often are prone to heavy tiredness due to their change in routine. Though by time, they often adjust.However in the former lands of King Denario, the rhythm is mostly nocturnal, as his pack of wolves ruled the lands. Animals, typically being associated with a nocturnal rhythm and lifestyle, enjoyed the hospitality and called his lands their home.
Herbivores, omnivores and carnivores
Herbi-, omni- and carnivorous animals enjoy a more or less equivalent treatment in society in theory: A cat does not hold more rights than a sheep for example. In fact, it does not matter which animal occupies an office in the end, as it just needs to inhabit the suiting qualities to do so. For example, the role of the abbot or abbess has been filled by cats, horned heaths or foxes the like. Though, it often is of great personal interest to take over a role to personally influence its structures to own advantages in regards of food supply for instance if possible. A sheep as an abbot likely will reinforce a more vegetarian diet to his subordinates.Though, often compromises have to be made.
Hibernation
Animals - such as bears - do not really hibernate in winter, but become way less active during the cold period, and are in need of more food than usual. Birds, that are migratory for us, will not travel to warmer regions during winter, but rather keep their housing warm and cozy.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Punishments
Public spectacles and punishments
Pyres
Death by burning is a public capital punishment method in which the convicted gets burned alive by the stake in front of a large audience. It's a spectacle for the viewer and a severe warning to adhere to law - to not fall victim to treason or heresy. A judge always is present to read the convict's charge, a sacrifical priest gives the person a last blessing, giving them a last chance to redeem themselves in front of their God - before the pyre gets ignited.Subsequently - or sometimes at the same time as the fire consumes the body - the gathered bystanders celebrate with loud music, food and beverages.Due to the waste of vital resources as the convict's body gets burned to ashes, it's one of the less often used types of punishment.
Public executions
One of the most common and popular ways of punishment are public executions, in which an executioner takes the accused one's life by sword. Execution by sword, drowning or hanging ensures that the body of the deceased can be further processed and consumed amongst the population. Though, often the remains of the hanged are displayed for a long time as another grim reminder.Only the executioner - that is forced to live outside of the city due to his "dirty work" - is granted a license to process the body in various ways to sell it back to the population for a small obolus.
Dungeons
It is rumored that there are hidden dungeons located under King Herold's castle, where prisoners are kept for interogation, which should be kept out of the public's interest.
Poisoning
Poisoning is a silent and effective way of killing opponents with sly, without having to be at the site. If not choosing one of the more common poisons, it is of advantage to know each animal folk in detail to choose the fitting one. Poisons do not always have to be ingested to be of effect.Cats for example shall not come in contact with lilies as all components of the flower can be lethal - even the water lilies have been displayed in shall not be drunk.
Shame masks
Generally said „negative animal imagery“ always highly depends on the kingdom and its ruling class that’s looked at. These masks usually depict the family of animals of rivaling kingdoms - and their negatively read qualities or stereotypes - in a poor manner. Shame masks are used to openly punish those, that have behaved a negative way or committed a crime. Travelers from neighboring territories may do not understand their symbolic intend, as they likely have a different social background.To give it a more pictorial example: Wolves are used as one of the most negatively affected animals in spoken and metaphorical language in King Herold’s Lands, firing brutal legends and myths about “werewolves” even more. Though, in return, dogs – as the ruling class of King Herold’s Lands – are seen as spineless, inbred cowards, by the outcasts living outside of the kingdom's walls.
Animal stereotypes are on a case to case basis, though, some animals tend to display a certain behavior / personality more often than others. As kingdoms consist of tight-knit groups of various animals living on a small area of land which are strictly depended on each other, it is condemned to display other animals in a bad light. Masks are used for public humiliation and to ridicule the heads of those territories / kingdoms at war with.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Social order
Hierarchies
About Gender and expression
Openly living LGBTI+ characters are the norm in this heardworld. Characters that fall under this spectrum are accepted and respected without question. Couples can be of any species, gender expression and sexuality. For the clergy however it is prohibited to form any kind of sexual or romantic relationship, as they are living under the rules of celibacy.Characters that turn out to be trans tend to display behaviour typically associated with their expressed gender. Scents however may irritate members of their own species as it often cannot be properly read.In cases of animal species that display a high sexual dimorphism, chances are they adjust when the higher hormone levels allow them to, e.g., growing / losing antlers and the like. The tone of their spoken voice usually adjusts too, while the tone of their feral vocalizations usually remains more or less.Gender expressions and sexes are as diverse as the variety of animals that live in the kingdoms are.Author's note:
Homophobia and transphobia have got no place and business in my mind and won't be any subject in this story.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Clothing
Animal folks have been wearing woven and sewn clothes for many generations already. They often are dyed with natural pigments for either showing belonging to a family or clan, or simply for preference
In every kingdom it is common for the crotch area to be covered by cloth. Only rarely - often for reasons such as a more effective, silent stalking - clothing is not worn.
Leg braces made out of durable leather helps animals to balance out their weight and ease their ligaments. A "shoe sole" helps in covering natural scent paw prints would leave otherwise.
Butchered animals are not wasted - their remains get used in every way possible: Food, leather, pelts and tools.
Some animals can be seen wearing the pelt (in the form of fur collars or the like) of enemies they were in feud with
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Military
Weaponry
To make up for size differences or to gain an advantage, most animals carry weapons.The clergy of the Church however is strictly prohibited to carry any sort of weaponry.
The nightwatch
After nightfall a special group of law enforcement - weaponed with halberds and usually dressed in black - appear on the street to look out for criminal activities, dangers such as fires, monitor suspicious individuals or bands, suspected for theft and robberies and other forbidden activities. The nightwatch always guards the city gate, too.
The nightwatch screens folks leaving pubs, and keeps close watch to areas predominately build with brothels to ensure order.It generally is forbidden for anyone (without a blessing to their cause) to leave the city walls after nightfall. The nightwatch usually will not stray away from the city gate, and rather hold position. Farmers are exempt from this rule, as they usually live outside of the city walls, in the direct vicinity to the gate, where their farmlands are located.Though, directly adjacent to the farmland lays the soft border to the former territory of King Denario, now taken over by King Herold. This rather fallow land blends into a dense forest area, which gradually becomes soggier, before opening up into a swampy marshland.It is strictly forbidden for anyone to leave to enter this “soft border” past nightfall, and entering this forest border only is permitted to a few selected individuals at all.After curfew a band of dogs, the huntsmen, are ordered to roam said borderland and the forest. They’re hunting and killing everybody without a warning who dares to disobey the king and his spoken curfew. To them it doesn’t matter if those individuals are originating from the Hound’s Land, or roaming animals from different territories.
The huntsmen
The huntsmen are dogs entitled to strive the otherwise prohibited surroundings of the Hound’s Land at night or even enter the Devil's Moss forbidden to society, to look out and hunt animals breaking the King’s law. They’re usually armed with crossbows or bows.They’re a law enforcement group appointed by their territory’s ruling Count. In his name they speak justice and are to be understood as an instrument of fear and terror, keeping the King’s citizens in order.Albeit is said they humanely kill their victims with one shot before dismembering them for their pelts and meats and beheading them for gruesome display on the city walls, reality shows that the dogs chosen for this rank do not care about formalities.
Docking & Cropping in the military
The cropping and docking of ears and tails in the King's military is of practical, as of societal use. While tails and ears could be hurt in battle, the cutting of these is another step to submit to the King. It is not mandatory for soldiers to get cropped.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Religions & Myths
Belief in King Herold's Lands
In King Herold's Kingdom followers of this monotheistic religion believe in an afterlife. This religion is practised in "the Church" or a multitude of slightly differentiating orders located in monasteries or abbeys.Only in superficial regards of liturgy, vestments, clerical hierarchy and architecture it is based on Christianity - simply due to personal background. It is not meant to mirror beliefs in real life.
Saints & Relics
Saints are admired and are celebrated on special dedicated days.Their mortal remains often are carefully preserved and decorated in gold and gems of various kind of color. Especially a Saint's skull is said to be prized. But any bone, claw, horn, antler and tooth can be used, too. For the relic's protection - and the protection of their Church - they are carefully buried under the altar and are not accesable by the public. Only on special days, the allocated clergy can extract his Church's relic from the catacombs to celebrate their Saint.Church or parish specific saints can be found adorning stained glass windows.
Tales & Myths
To come.
Werewolves
After King Herold’s Great Raid, wolves are said to be extinct in the Western Lands. Though, scare stories about feral behaving “werewolves” remain firmly established in the minds of his citizens and often are used as spooky bed time stories parents tell their young. Herold popularized the myth by slaughtering King Denario, who he claimed was a werewolf.Werewolf blood is said to only run into the family line of Denario's. Other than the "Devil's sickness" , it cannot be transmitted by bite or body fluids.
(The artwork above is a commission for Fenris2311.)
It is said that a wolf needs to be decapitated by the sword and his head needs to remain impaled to ward off their cursing nature. Warding off a werewolf is said to be possible with a silver cross, though, it has not been confirmed yet.„Werewolves“ in a different point of view can be found below.
Belief in King Denario's Territory
The animistic belief in this territory shaped by nature and spirits. Special landmarks or natural phenomenons are said to be in connection with guardian spirits or are inhabited by them.
Sacret places
The oak tree. To be continued.The birch circle. To be continued.
The sea
The swamp
Spirits
Spirits are not visible to the eye, but it is said that they can be seen from the corner of your eye by times. But upon double checking they are gone - or so you think.
Birke | Berkana
Berkana, also known as Birke or Birch, is the guardian of nature, fertility and protection against evil, protecting the wide spread swamps and primeval forests the outcast folk of former King Denario live on.They are said to live in a dense birch forest, that is surrounded by an almost impassable swamp. To honor them, a circle out of birches was planted; it's the sacred circle in which the priest performs rituals. It is their duty to keep the spirits peaceful and well-disposed, often by leaving little offerings. Birke is said take the shape of the animal's species that is in their service - a fox, in the current priestess Ida's case.In special ceremonies marks and prayers, in form of symbols, is superficially carved into the bark of the birch circle by a the priest with their cremonial dagger, hoped, they'd be heared. The bark simply peels off with time and seasons and regrows.The spirit cannot be seen, but its presents can be felt: According to legends, its ever watchful presence causes unwellness to intruders, making them feel panicking and getting lost in the swamps, or even preventing them to put a feet into the foreign land. With the help of spirits in favour, such as Berkana, King Herold and other imperal mights did not conquer the lands, but rather call it impassable.
Esche | Asche (Ashes)
Asche represents destruction, smouldering conflicts, loss, bad blood and disaster.They are the counter part to Birke; the two often are portrayed as rivaling spirits. This being has got a pitch-black dusty coat and ash colored markings and paws, the face is without depth, the glare pierces through you. The tail and paws leaves ash trails, wind is able to blow their coat away like dust.Tree ash is washed off of animals' paws immediately to ward off attracting this spirit, when entering the Birch circle's center. Ashes of deceased animals in burials are used as face paint for the time of the ceremony though.Seeing dusty paw prints in the forest or the hallucination of smelling burning wood without an actual fire nearby reminds you of the presence of this being and that they are near, watching every step you take.If the birch forest gets disturbed or vandalized, Asche is said to appear and take over the lands.
Blutesche (Blood ash)
If Asche is stirred up even more, the tree's scars begin to smoulder. It is believed that carrying items made out of birch bark can protect from and ward off Asche.
Tales & Myths
About "werewolves"
In this headworld magic does not exist, but under certain circumstances wolves "snap out" of their mind for a certain time. Wolves practise their own nature centric belief and behave wilder than many other animals around them, though, their mind is just as anthropomorphic as for any other animal that developed from their wild ancestor. This state of mind of mind however is likely seen as a direct connection to nature, and thus ultimately to nature spirits.Special mushrooms and special herbs used in rituals only known by a few cause a short-timed loss of reason, which leaves the user in a mental state in which they simply turned wild; feral. Ida the vixen is in charge of the ceremony, as she grew up with wolves as one of their own kind.The wolves "snapping out" temporarily return to their very animalistic nature, they'd be unable to use their reason and cannot really reflect on their actions. To the unknown viewer, the sight of a “werewolf” causes fear inducing terror. Even if “werewolves” – outside of their natural grounds – are merely a myth and stuff of legends, farmers hire guards to protect their lands in case legends could come out true.Regardless, the belief in werewolves leaves enough space to create spook stories the villagers tell their young … and is one of the biggest separating conflicts between kingdoms. (More here.)
In the artwork above Hedda is shortly before "snapping" out of her feral mindset. In this state she does not use the “universal language” anymore, but expresses herself just like wolves normally would do. Though, it is not advised to perform this ritual too often, or the behaviour and mind-set get stuck.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Movement
Ways of walking
Bipedal walking
The usual form of movement is the bipedal walk, though it requires good balance and musculature on both hindlegs. The walk can be smooth, a blend of normal walking and hopping, or jumping, depending on the individual and their species.Very young animals still crawl on all four but learn with age and experience to adjust to the society they live in. This usually happens around the age of 1 1/2 years.Tails are used to keep balance. Animals with cropped tails often need more practise to stay upright, or they make use of stabilizing leg splints.Quadrupedal walking
The quadrupedal way of walking the fastest way to move forward when the animal in question is properly trained, as steps and jumps cover a greater distance, but carries the disadvantage that hands cannot be used to carry items, such as weapons, for example.Due to evolutionary differences between animal species, it's not possible for all individuals to even switch to quadrupedal movement due to stiffened shoulder joints, different anatomy, stiffened hips joints or weakened chest muscles that came with age and lack of practice. Back muscles need to be trained and kept in shape as well in order to bear the pressure. (Demetrius for example would not be able to walk on all fours anymore due to his age, lack of early practice and weak physique.) Sometimes it simply is not possible due to the way limb proportions developed while growing up and shoulder blades becoming too large to switch positions at ease. The switch of walking usually requires a short time joint luxation in order to perform well or switch back to the bipedal walk to use arms and hands in a humanoid way.Knights and soldiers are specially trained to maintain strong endurance to be able to switch movements within seconds and to maintain a mix of both if needed: A fast chase on all fours with a sudden switch to a strong upward jump to pull up in a tree for example. While on all fours, weapons would stay sheathed or carried in the mouth, but would be able to get drawn immediately when switching the stance.
Animals working in the underground are typically able to use boths ways of movement, as they need to perform well in all terrains and situations.It's personal preference (and a question of weight and mass) whether the animal in question would walk on their knuckles or rather finger tips and palm. Tiberius for example is too heavy to walk on his palms, whereas lighter dogs to so with ease.Animals, that do not wear clothes or only do so lightly, can move faster and more silently within this way of walking. In some cultural circles or kingdoms, it is inappropriate to display this way of movement, as it is seen feral and uncivilized and thus is frowned upon. And as always, there are exceptions: Bands of rather unsocialized animals roam through the woods and prefer to their very own preference.Knights and soldiers are specially trained to maintain strong endurance to be able to switch movements within seconds and to maintain a mix of both if needed: A fast chase on all fours with a sudden switch to a strong upward jump to pull up in a tree for example. While on all fours, weapons would stay sheathed or carried in the mouth, but would be able to get drawn immediately when switching the stance.
Of Wings & Paws
The pressure to develop and adapt changed the anatomy of many animals; the need to use tools not only made the upright bipedal walk a necessity, hands and paws had do develop, too.While members of the formerly feral living mustelid family always had a fifth toe and only had to adjust slightly to form a functional hand, members of the canidae family had to develop a fifth finger digit from their dewclaw. Many rodents such as rats, or generally primates had the advantage of a functional hand or flexible thumb.Birds felt the pressure to use tools as well. While they didn’t manage to "grow hands", they made use of their wings, besides using their beaks or claws. While the wings and feathers are not as strong, they still can use light tools. (We make use of artistic freedom here, it’s a fantasy world overall and think the use of wings as hands suits the scheme.) Wings however grew too small and lost their ability to be used for flight over time. In case that an individual's wings remained to be larger, they can be used like a parachute or for slightly higher jumps upwards.The development of functional “hands“ was a huge convergent evolutional process and pressure. Over time, animals of most biological classes reached a somewhat balanced-out level of hand functionality.Artist's preference
It is my stylistic preference to draw anthropomorphic animals with more human-like hands, while my partner prefers a more paw-like yet fully functional hand approach. Both are equally acceptable. The same goes for wings: While we both prefer “wing hands“ for our characters, others may draw them with claw hands or even with hands and wings simultaneously.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Age & Size
Life stages & life spans
In this headworld the human stages of aging is to be taken as the general guideline, or else the maturing rate of all animals living together would be too difficult to bring together, balancing out rat folk with dogs for example would be an extremely impossible case.Leaving out defining factors such as availability of resources, living circumstances and the like, every animal potentially could reach the same old age, though some species naturally tend to grow older than others.The stage of aging is categorized into the following categories: Child (0-12 years), Adolescence (13-18 years), Adult (19-59 years) and senior adult (60 years and above).Unlike the common age of marriage in the late European middle ages, the age of marriage in this headworld is raised to the age of a minimum of 18 for the author's personal preference. It is not a necessity to find a partner below the age of 18, as the general duration of lifespan is slightly increased.Despite depending on many factors, reaching the age of 40 and (and slightly above) was no rarity. Though, it goes without saying that those animals, that were free of tough physical exercise, naturally had a better chance of growing old ( e.g. the clergy. For instance, the cardinal Jean-Baptiste is the currently oldest living character with the age of 75.)
Hard working commoners like farmers often did not age past 35 due to their hard labor. While the nobility has got access to the most nutritious foods around and did not have to split their meal portions as much, they swore fidelity to the king and had to stand up for him in fights or declared wars. Knights always had to be on guard for their king.
Sizes
The sizes of the anthropomorphic animals of the world of "in nomine" are losely based on their real life counterparts - but on two legs.Due to sexual dimorphism displayed in many species, most female animals do not grow as tall as their male counterpart.A size lineup. Not all characters are represented here, this sizing chart gets updated by time:
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Offspring
While the gestation period of mammals varies from species to species, it usually takes about nine months till offspring is born. Female mammals can go into heat up to three times a year and the number of young varies greatly and depends on their species.Upon reaching the age of 40, it typically is not possible to bear young anymore.Egg laying animals, in comparison, are able to lay their fertilized eggs much faster and up to four times a year. Unfertilized eggs however can be laid a couple of times a week.
Hybrids
While couples between any animal species can be formed, hybrids usually cannot be born. A few of the rare exceptions would be mules or hinnies, Żubrońs or ligers. Hybrids such as "fox wolves" do not exist.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Language & Communication
The need of understanding each other
As animals began forming large interspecies communities for a multitude of reasons, a uniform language began to develop. Depending on outlying areas or isles, different dialects are spoken.
However, every animal still is able to communicate in their species own tongue or body-language. Animalistic hissing or snarling, for two examples, as exclamations or for emphasis are widely accepted on their own. Longer communications are seen as forbidden and are to be avoided. Songbirds however are appreciated for their species-specific songs, melodies, and ballads, and may sing freely in their tongue.
Body language often is used in combination with the uniform language. Sometimes a blend of body-language, universal language, and animalistic vocalization is used simultaneously. Signals of appease such as a nervouse licking of the nose, can be seen subconsciously used by dogs and their relatives.In comparison to verbal and body language, scent plays a minor role nowadays, but still is used to express health or mood.
Scent marking
As written above, scent marking plays a minor role in communication nowadays in comparison to verbal language. The individual animals' natural scent marks became weakened throughout generations, but still kept their distinctiveness which can highlight certain emotions, such as fear, or function as an indicator of health or put an emphasize on hormone levels.Take a dog for example: The scent glands in its paws still leave a distinctive scent track with each step taken. For ambush manoeuvres it is advised to wear a somewhat boots-like paw covering, so tracks by smell are much harder to read.To read more about territorial marking, go here.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Evolution
Every kingdom, tribe, and religion or faith takes a different approach to explain the evolution to their modern forms, though with some common features. While every being has always been sentient, an anthropomorphic evolution path has been linked to the development of upright walking and the usage of complex tools over many, many generations.
The "Old form"
While the feral counterpart to the presently living anthropomorphic animals (wolves in this example) have long gone extinct, new subspecies have developed further, which at no time existed in a feral form (as in dogs). Simultaneously on a separate evolutionary path, wolves have persisted to the modern day developing an anthropomorphic form that could be regarded loosely like a subspecies of its own, as with other animals such as foxes, deer, etc.At no time and in no case the feral form of an animal can be found simultaneously with their anthropomorphic evolution.While the standart form of movement changed to a bipedal walk, instincts are rather active and sharp still while remaining almost unchanged. Though, animals belonging to a kingdom or community succumb to rules of (their) society now. Click the following links to learn more about communication and the diverse forms of walking.In myths and tales animal folks still are heard to speak about their ancestors, their "old form", and depict such in art. Dogs - with a bit of the artist's or storyteller's creative freedom - can be be feralized, too.
About dog breeds
To abstract the issue of the development of certain animal breeds - or generally domestication without the human interference - dogs make a good example to illustrate the point: Dogs have adapted to different circumstances, tasks and challenges. On top, different habitats and climate have encouraged a fitting mate choice, ulimatively leading to different, diverse dog breeds. One could consider this to be a form of self domestication.
About pelts and families
Just as dog breeds developed as explained above, pelt variations and mutations naturally took place as well. Foxes will be used as an example now: As foxes are fairly common amongst the cast, a wide variety of pelt colorations can be seen, many of which show color mutations.Factors such as a better living standard and food availability further induced changes not only in the individual animal's size, but in their fur length and structure as well. Take Ida and Vitello for example: While the vixen lives a harsh life in uncertain wilderness with times of feast and famine, she grew rather small and compact, and her fur is rather short. Vitello on the other hand is descendant from a family of rather large foxes with access to a rich diet, and has inherited a long fur coat.While for example red foxes with their wild color variation are fairly common, silver foxes remain more close-knit and are not as common to be seen around, simply due to their relatively small numbers. In a way, pelt variations are often an indicator of belonging and a way to determine ancestry within families.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Diet
The code of diet differs from kingdom to kingdom. Remote and solitary areas are known to be without order and regulation and should be avoided if without company or appropriate weaponry. The following rules are established in King Herold's Lands:
Direct cannibalism in the same taxonomic genus is strictly forbidden. For example: A dog shall not eat another dog. However, it is allowed in the same taxonomical family: A dog can eat a fox (when its meat is offered in sacrifical butcherings etc. initiated by the upper class) without fearing consequences.
Animals are no longer able to stomach rotten / decaying meat and thus need to process it as fast as possible, if not dried or salted to preserve it.
Commoners (peasants working on fields; often animals with strength such as cows and donkeys or smaller "farm animals in our perspective" ) were protected by the nobility (in this kingdom: often by dogs) in trade of providing tithe. In general it is a cooperation between animals of all diets that try to live and provide for each other. But those that failed to provide tithe a multitude of times, often were in danger to end up puninished fatally.
Animal folks cook and bake as people in medieval times did. Dinkel wheat, rye and oat were the crops processed the most, fruits, berries, mushrooms and some vegetables were served on the tables, too. Often folks sold their picked up berries, fruits and mushrooms on daily markets to better their money.
A common food for the poor was a bread typically made from rye. Porridge made from always varying oats, often got served from peas for nutrition.
Fish, insects, crustaceans and the like are not anthropomorphic in this world, they cover the animal protein strictly carnivorous animals such as cats need -
"You must not eat your neighbour", with a few exceptions:
Prisoners and executed folks (usually from enemy kingdoms, outlaws and wanderers) were butchered and served amongst the ruling upper class and the (higher) clergy.
Rats and mice. Due to their small size they're the perfect animals to spy on others - killing individuals entering your home stays unpunished. Cats seem to take pleasure in this task and enrich their diets.
On special occasions, chosen individuals were ritually killed and served to the poor. Meats of carnivorous animals usually weren't deemed "as good".
Families who couldn't afford to bury their deceased on the guarded churchyards had to fear their loved ones being unearthed.
If only everybody played by those rules, though: Well hidden from society's eyes, a black market exists in the underground. Animals too old, diseased, or young get abducted and killed for their meats. At the bottom of society, nobody can fully in trust each other; there always is a distrust between different animal groups, smaller animals usually are at risk and are in need of protection.
It is not spoken about, but families in struggle / inexperienced mothers sometimes are said to kill and eat their young in order to survive.
It is the common practise that carnivorous animals suffer from hunger due to the strict rationing of meat, if they do not have the possibility to obtain fish. Those animals often go over weeks without and have to cover their menu with other groceries, such as bread and vegetarian soups.
Some birds, such as chickens, sell their unfertilized eggs on markets. Not only do they enrich the diet of their fellow citizens this way, they also enjoy a certain protection as a food supplier, and will be guarded more strictly
Ritual sacrifices
On the first Sunday of each new month in Herold’s Lands, individuals get chosen to “provide for the kingdom” and get butchered in large ceremonies held by the local clergy and approved by the king: It’s usually decapitations or hangings. Hangings take place on an old oak located in the nearby forest, while decapitations are shown on the market place after a sermon had been held. Afterwards, heads are displayed on a small side-alter in the church, before these get buried.
Use of byproducts
Nothing is wasted. Butchered or killed animals are used completely: Meat for food, fur or leathers as clothing, shoes, leather tools, parchment, bones for tools, sinews for strings or glue, fats for soap or candles --- the list is endless.
Alcohol
Alcohol in all its different forms of beverages, such as wine, mead, liqueur, fruits brandies and the like, are widely spread throughout all levels of society and admittedly make an important component of daily life. Additionally, it is and often is more safely consumed than stale water. With time animal folks were able to stomach alcohol better and grew kind of a resistance to it.Though some alcoholic beverages cannot be handled by every animal species the same: The canine family for example generally has got troubles stomaching wine, as grapes are toxic to them. Consuming grapes can lead to kidney failure. (Idea to Fopfox, thank you!)
Eating fermenting, slightly rotting fruits or leaves can lead to various stages of intoxication. Ruminating animals carry the unique adaptation to stay intoxicated longer, as their process of digestion lasts longer.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Behaviour
Biological references
Despite most animals being anthropomorphic (except fish and insects for example), they still carry their distant and extinct relatives' instincts and characteristics, albeit often in weakened form.
Blood - Prey drive and flight reflex:
Depending on the individial, the smell of blood can awaken the animals’s prey drive and otherwise suppressed aggression, or trigger a reflex to escape. Depending on the animal in question, prey drive is a trait looked down at, as it is seen as uncivilized. In many regards, it is a struggle to not give in to his instincts.
Though, in some cases a strong prey drive is desired: Soldiers patrolling the borders often favored when displaying a high prey and killing drive
Cannibalism:
Straying animals in secluded areas do not consider themselves bound to any laws by authorities. Unfortunate travellers often fall victim.
As stated at another point, unexperienced or stressed mothers sometimes commit infanticide
Juvenile migration:
Some animals feel the calling to explore and roam when hitting a specific age.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Diseases & Pests
It is only natural that diseases and occasional pests occur when large groups of various animals crowdedly live together in communities. Due to poor hygienic measurements to keep streets clean there have to be specialists to fight diseases, pests and remove the dead. The dead who are known to have died of infectious diseases were silently removed on two-wheeled barrows carried by ox in the early morning hours to get burned.Monasteries were the center of medical practise and wisdom. Known herbal remedies and potions, as well as religious rituals were used to help curing the sick or to remedy their pain.
Devil's Sickness
Too often the true cause of illnesses could not be determined and only be guessed, the “Devil’s Sickness” (rabies) being one example. As common medicine or bloodletting isn’t of help, animals infected are said to behave uncontrolled, showing aggressive and profane behavior, ultimately leading to a “feral appearing mind” and infecting those around them.For protection, “rabid behaving” animals are caught and brought to an isolate island to control the outbreak which “could infect those of weak spirits”. As those who are battling the illness react heavily to holy water, they’re said to have made a deal with the devil. Exorcisms sometimes are performed as a last try. Though, no records proved them to be effective.It is said that everything taking place on the isle, stays on the isle.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Characters
Detailed character profiles can be found here:
Many profile are yet to be filled out, many more need an update still. I will take care of it when time allows me to.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Comic & Story Fragments
Comic pages
Scriptorium
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Comics
I hope to illustrate larger comic strips one day, but for now I enjoy doing shorter strips to explore visual storytelling :)For the best reading experience - on a nice custom designed design - I suggest reading the comic pages on Comicfury. I however update both websites for the convenience of the reader.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Scriptorium
A collection of very short and loose story fragments, more or less sorted in order. None of these are necessarily set in stone lore-wise and rather are seen as "loose pieces of a larger picture yet to come"; some stories might even be outdated by now, but still will be collected here. Take these as conceptual fragments. Some do not even have to become canon!
In past
Present
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Parish garden
It was a warm afternoon and the sun had reached its highest. At this day, Demetrius didn’t feel like walking past other animals after mass and escaped his responsibilities as a newly ordained priest. Quietly he followed his mentor into the sacristy after he had ended mass. Without a word, the fox sneaked outside of the room again and creeped into the parish garden.
The little garden was surrounded by thick wall and was located in the centre of the small by size, but highly populated diocese. Jean-Baptist, the pastor of the local church, didn’t bother for such profanities and thus Demetrius made it his task to care for this little private place and called it his own sanctuary. Even if the tom-cat was ever so hard to please, at least the job to keep the garden in shape seemed to go without complain.Demetrius didn’t enjoy the company of others too much, even more so as he wasn’t used to it until now as he had kept to himself studying books – or rather was forced into this isolation. Talking to others often brought conflicts and misunderstandings that could have been prevented if communication, boundaries or self-expressing hadn’t been a problem. He didn’t mind the strict upbringing of Jean-Baptist at this point as he preferred his own company when it was possible. The step outside church into the garden felt like a calming exhale right now; just to be on his own and enjoying the sun shining down on his fur.
Besides being alone in said church itself, the young cross fox enjoyed to read under the old apple tree here or keeping the growing flowers and herbs in shape and order. He took place under the apple tree, crossed his arms behind his head and made himself comfortable.For a while he closed his eyes and listened to the chirping of birds that decided to sing melodies in their own tongue this day. Beautiful, but fast paced rhymes, the fox ‘s eyes felt heavy and he almost had given in for a short sleep. He took a deep breath again and inhaled the diverse fragrancies the flowers dispensed: Roses, rosemary, thyme and wild growing flowers he had planted together, all odours mixed up in a nice blend. The air was full of pollen, shining in the strong light. The wind was brushing through the crown of leaves above him in a relaxing rhythm as well. Demetrius just let time pass and finally was able to relax after a long while. He touched the soft grass beneath him and smiled contently.
A sudden loud chime of bells broke the silence and Demetrius got up in an instant. Before he was about to leave, the rose bush caught his interest again. He took a scissors from an old wooden box next to him, kneeled down before the bush and began trimming the leaves and cutting off roses. The peace didn’t last long and soon he was interrupted again when the heavy sacristy door fell into its lock with a loud bang. Demetrius flinched and expected Jean-Baptiste to run outside the building to command him for a new task, the scent however wasn’t his. Vitello, a silver fox a few years older than himself, entered the back-yard with an startled smile. Surprise was written all over his face.
“Oh, I didn’t expect to meet anybody here at this time!”
“My thoughts exactly.”
“Nice to meet you too, Demetrius. You seem to be in high spirits today.”
Demetrius snorted. Vitello left the little alley, stepped right into the garden and plucked an apple right off the tree.
“What are you doing here?”, the cross fox asked warily but didn’t take his face off the rosebush that he was cutting still, more concentrated than before as his expression tensioned up. The other priest didn’t seem to mind, a challenging smile appeared all over his face.
“I’m just getting an apple, as usual. I don’t like to see them going to waste here if nobody feels like eating them, you should try one yourself they’re very delicious”, the fox paused and took a generous bite, “But what are you doing here? About to gift me one of these flowers, huh?”
“What?”, Demetrius snapped and looked the intruder with a perplexed expression. “They’re meant to be for the altar!”
“Of course. But I wouldn’t have minded it if they had been for me.”
“Be careful who might’ve been listening to your words without your knowing, Voss.”
“Adapting the language of him by now I see “ - this sideswipe didn’t go unnoticed, but Vitello moved on and set down into the grass - “but you may be right. However that goes, today is meant to be a peaceful day and-”
“Be aware, the gossips on the streets aren’t in your favour. I’m sure you have heard it by now.”
Vitello’s honest smile had drained away by now and he sighed deeply. “I’m aware. But do you know that they’re exactly the reason why I’m suitable for my position? I’m closer to the common folks than I’m to my so-called own kind. I follow the rules I deem right but take one or two liberties … just like them.”
“That’s exactly your problem.”
“In return, you worry too much what others think about you.”
He had enough. Demetrius was about to leave the garden, as Vitello got up again tried to reach out for him: “I’m sorry that I offended you, it wasn’t my intention. Mind to stay for a little moment?” Demetrius wasn’t too fond of his invitation but he decided to lean in the alley. With defensively crossed arms he looked at the other fox’s face that brightened up again.
“Thank you. I truly appreciate it. ”
“So what’s the matter then, Don Vitello?”
“Why don’t you call me Vito instead? It won’t be the last time we meet and we’ll work together in future, and I’m sure that we won’t need this unnecessary barrier between us. We’re equal. I know we didn’t really have to deal with each other before, I’m sorry if this first meeting rather was defined by how others perceived us. People see a silver fox and assume we all tower us above everyone else. In this kingdom, they see a cross fox and think you’re solely an outcast ... ” The deeply amber coloured eyes of Demetrius flared up for a moment.
“You got my attention.”
The silver smiled in response. “Thank you. I was merely a silent watcher so far, but you’re very hardworking and barely get any credit for it. I just want you to know this. Take this little garden as an example, you’ve kept in in shape yourself. Don’t let others keep you on a tight leash … You’re more than that.”
“You like to talk quite a bit.”
“Likely so”, the silver fox scratched himself embarrassedly, “but I’m happy to finally have gotten the possibility to do so today.”
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Invitation
Even when the sun began setting for the day, its warm and bright rays wandered over the hill tops and casted wide shadows over the valleys of King Herold’s Lands. The daylight would not last much longer but for the brief moment, the vineyards were peacefully illuminated in a golden light. Slowly the cold evening air began creeping through, but the slate plates that could be found all over the vineyards saved the warmth and were warm to touch. Even if located only a bit higher than the city, the noise from down below could not be heard as much anymore. At this moment of sunset, two foxes dressed in black soutanes were on their way to the old abbey which was picturesquely located in the heart of the vineyards.
“Such a beautiful sight, don’t you agree?”, Vitello cheered with a content smile as Demetrius nodded slightly in reply, but did not answer. “I almost was certain you would not agree to this invitation, but I’m glad you did. Researching in the library on my own always is time consuming, thanks for keeping me company and wanting to help out. Carrying all those books I need down the hills tomorrow is way easier when working together."
“Sure is. As you insisted – but you know the clergy around the abbot is not too keen on seeing me visiting for some reason, and yet you want me to be around once again”, the cross fox replied in a firm but reflective voice.
“You’re my guest and are invited to help! Their irritation is not about you and not your concern, don’t worry too much please. Jean-Baptiste had started a quarrel with the abbot earlier last year and the whole deal intensified. Only your connection to him could temperately cause for mild bother, if at all, but the issue is over once the tom handles the issue. Your superior will not be around this time and everything is going to be alright.” The appeasing answer did not seem to convince Demetrius much and the fox closed his eyes pensively; his features became sharp but let a touch of vulnerability shine through. Vitello immediately noticed Demetrius, who glanced in the direction of the church he helped out briefly, but decided to grand him the moment of silence.The warm gravel crunched below their paws and their steady steps were the only noise to hear. With every step the two did, the abbey outlined against the evening sky closer. Demetrius still avoided direct eye contact and remained silent, but Vitello was used to these situations by now. When a fresh breeze swept over the two and nearly blew Vitello’s hat off him, he finally found a reason to speak up again: “As beautiful as the vineyards are, I never get used to this climbing up. I’m not getting younger these days, but age sure does me well, huh!” But to his surprise, Demetrius took the word on his own: “Will I be able to visit the cloister on my own? I’m not too keen on the company of others and would like to not cross paths if not necessary.”
“Oh, if this is what is occupying you …”, his moss-green eyes lighten up again, “I’ll speak to the abbot myself and ask him if it’s possible for you to read at the fountain in peace, but I cannot promise it to you.”
“Appreciated, thank you.”
“But you’ll eat together with me at the refectory, right? My sister is one of the nuns responsible for preparing the food at the moment, and she’s got a skill for preparing fish of all kind! But most importantly, and this will raise your mood for sure: You can choose between wine, cider, mead and beer and can get more than you can possibly stomach, if you like to of course! There is always a lot to choose from when guests are invited!“.
“I mean, why not”, said Demetrius with a faint smile while looking at Vitello, who in return, elbowed him lightly and grinned: “I knew you’d say yes! But of course, I have to return the favor of you helping out somehow.”
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Interrogation
The thick walls couldn’t hold the warmth of the summer anymore and cold air creeped in through small cracks in between the stones of the old masonry. The changes of seasons had been getting harsher in recent years, patches of fog laid over the lands like a corpse covering shroud now. The humid November winds brought sickness and an energy draining cold that slowly crawled through the limps before they overpowered their victims and put them into an eternal lasting sleep.
The silver fox almost had finished work for the day and prepared to leave the church. He longed forward to rest for the night when he finally were at his cozy den, so he could read a book or warm himself in front of his small fire place and let work rest for a few hours ...
Before being able to leave, he began blowing out the candles. With each extinguished flame the small church darkened. Even if the little flames didn’t seem to warm up its surroundings, the fox noticed the late autumn's cold intensifying after the flames were gone. For some reason the absence of light and the smell of dying flames put him in a melancholic mood.
Even if his fur coat had grown thick over the course of summer, he began shivering. His paws got cold and began to hurt; at least he couldn’t see his breath raising as little clouds in front of his face. He wasn’t in the position to complain, the priest felt remorse for those, that didn’t share his privileges to have a constant and enriched diet. He had decided to mostly cut ties with his family, but his bad consciousness remained. He sighted and felt a sharp breeze tousling his fur.
Click.
'It almost feels like I’m buried in a coffin of ice as of late ... it’ll only get colder from now on ...', Vitello thought with a shaking head and began blowing warm breath into the palm of his paws. The priest was about to enter the altar room again, as he began to feel watched. His hackles rose, he didn’t need to turn around when he realized who sneaked into the building; he was able to separate this smell from a thousand.
"Good evening, Voss." The throaty voice of the grey tom-cat echoed through the empty halls in a spiteful tone. The massive cat barred his pointy fangs in a mischievous smile. "I almost didn’t expect to meet you here this late."
Vitello didn’t turn around but cracked his knuckles in return. "What is it? You seem disappointed, almost like you were expecting somebody else instead of me?”, the tom huffed, “The door wasn’t closed and I-"
"No, I didn’t. I was just about to leave. Are you always going to creep up on me now?", replied the fox with a firm voice, when his heart began racing again.
"My, how comes you think this way? Something told me I should pay your church a visit to make sure everything is in order. I honestly wondered when I noticed that the door wasn’t locked ..."
The silver fox’s tail began twitching, his eyes narrowed. He felt the piercing stare of the amused looking tom-cat resting on him, awaiting any kind of reaction, while the air around him felt heating up. His body tensing up but he tried to stay calm.
"I appreciate your concern Father, but as you can see, everything is in order, I know how to do my work. Good night."
Jean-Baptiste began chuckling and stepped closer. "Good, good, it came to my old ears that it may wasn’t the case. But I’m glad that we’ve got at least one decent fox to do his job. You and your dear sister ... I know why the small people look up to you two. You must feel so enlightened to descent from a noble family, yet work as a humble servant of God or so ... it seems ...", he paused and began walking around the baptismal font, his smile died down, "I met Demetrius on my way and sent him home right away. He should dedicate more time to the paper work I entrusted him with instead of wasting time. I’ve been too soft on him."
Vitello flinched.
It didn’t go unnoticed.
Even if the cat walked on silent paws, each step he made only worsened the tension the fox felt.
"What do you really want? Is this going to be an interrogation?" His knuckles cracked again, his pointy claws showed. The tom-cat's smile widened, he seemed to have the fox cornered and exactly where he wanted him to be.
"What makes you think it is?"
Vitello rose his eyebrows, made a swift turn on his paw, walked past him and headed to the altar hall. "I know what you’re after. I’ve got enough of you and told you not to enter my church again and yet you disobeyed. You don’t trust us foxes, think about us as greedy opportunistic predators, who tower us above anybody else - but don’t you worry, at least we serve well and treat others kindly." Vitello's usually friendly looking face seemed emotionless in a sudden, until he was struck down by another realization.
"Wait. Is this why you keep Demetrius small by all means? To tie him to you as your voiceless servant, from whom you don’t need to fear that he’ll challenge your rank as he’s a bastard fox after all? You’re utterly disgusting ... But be sure, I’ll have my influence as well. You can’t win here."
Jean-Baptiste opened his mouth, but Vitello had angered himself realizing connections, he didn’t give the cat any opportunity to answer.
"When you’re at it, why don’t you confront the Bishop yourself and tell him about your accusations or are you afraid he finds out about your tendency to needlessly let commoners get killed so you can satisfy your gluttony needs?" The fox didn’t pay a look to the baffled priest but felt him dangerously arching his back in disdain, "Don’t you dare to attack me on this sanctified ground!", ordered Vitello when the tom-cat's tail twitched rapidly, his eyes dangerously fixated on him in a withering intensity. "I, I don’t know what to say. How dare you to insult me like this, I ..."
"You’ve got nothing against me."
"Oh no, I have my ways", Jean-Baptiste huffed and smoothed his puffy fur coat again.
The fox crossed himself in front of the alter and bowed down, before he looked at the cat again and made a movement with his head and pointed at the portal. The cat did alike, moved past him and opened the door. Before he left, he turned around and nodded to the fox with an insidious smile.
"I’m glad to know where we are now. Thank you for this debate and your generous insight of your perspective of affairs ... it’ll come in handy."
"Good evening."
The fox kept his posture, but as soon as the heavy door fell back into the lock, he fell on his knees. The priest started sobbing heavily and clawed his hands into his face, while he tried not to scream. His tension fell off, tears began running down his face and stained the ground.
The cold church really felt like his grave.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Disease
"Excuse me for a moment."
Vitello turned around hastily and left the forest glade at a smart pace. The griffon looked after him with a puzzled expression, but quickly shifted his focus of attention as his patients began hammering against their iron cages and started screaming obscenities infernally again. The muzzled animals foamed at the doctor and tried to sink their claws and teeth into the thick coated bird, but the griffon kept his posture and seemed unimpressed. Their condition always seemed to worse with the sinking sun.
The fox didn’t feel well. His stomach started aching painfully, his head and ears drummed as if someone knocked a heavy rod over his head again and again in craze. Dizziness overtook him and forced him on his knees, but before collapsing completely he could find a last grip clawing into a tree next to him.
'What is going on ... ' He began struggling for breath and started panting heavily while his tongue felt swollen and hung from his mouth.
"Going to relief yourself, Voss?"
„Yeah, yeah!"
The silver fox barely could stand on his shaking legs anymore but tried to pull himself together not to act too suspiciously. He felt a feverish sensation flush through his body. With a glazed expression he turned around checked on his companion, the bird however seemed not to pay attention to him anymore.
'Keep calm, be quiet ...It’s just exhaustion.' For a moment the priest remained motionless. His shaking knees seemed to recover, slowly he put more distance between himself and the doctor and hided in the woods.
The cold evening light shone through leafless branches, the forest seemed lifeless, abandoned, to him even god-forsaken. It was a little remote island in the middle of the endlessly seeming sea. Even mammals that partially lived in bigger bodies of water couldn’t have left this volcanic wasteland without drowning; nor most smaller birds that didn’t trade their ability to fly for being capable to use their wings as hands could have made it. Once brought to this island, the only way to leave it again was to be put at the stake — suicide was no option. At least for him.
Two months ago his life seemed brighter, despite his effortless struggles to blend in. Two months ago, he was living in his little den that more closely resembled a slowly falling apart shed, but yet it was cozy and comfortable enough for his needs. He had his routine, his tasks when needed as a priest, a community to care and pray for. He shook his head and clenched his teeth ... A pair of eyes; cold, distanced but curiously welcoming him; fervently. Warm fur. Suddenly a paler amber colored pair of eyes appeared in his mind; he howled and clawed his chest.
'Keep calm ...' He tried to concentrate on the mossy and rich evening air instead; he smelled the wet and decaying wood, inhaled the odors deeply and hoped finding his center again when he suddenly sneezed out loudly. Swiftly he rose his paw to cover his muzzle, but he couldn’t prevent the loud sneeze that made the griffon turn around.
"Shit."
"Everything alright?"
Blood.
With widened eyes he starred at the smeary blood that dropped from his paws. He felt it running out of his nose and frantically tried to smudge it away with his sleeve, but couldn’t wipe it away completely. The griffon hurried towards him, but Vitello still was kneeling turned away from him and tried to avoid eye-contact.
"What is going on Voss, you’ve been acting weird lately ... What are you hiding th-"
"It’s nothing!" The priest snarled and bared his teeth. His eyes carried the expression of frenzy. The vulture stepped back in horror and even though the fox couldn’t see his face, he knew how he’d look like. He rose his rod and tried to bring distance between himself and the fox.
Nobody moved, a heavy tension could be felt in the air, nobody said a word.
"I told you it’s nothing."
Vitello wiped his face another time irritatedly and ran back to the meadow again. He was too familiar with the course of things on this damned island and knew his fate was sealed.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Stranger in the woods
For hours Ida and Enzio had been strolling through the forest in search for food to pick when the sun slowly began setting behind the overcast sky. Their friend Tik, a tawny-furred hare, had gone ahead on his own already. It had been a successful evening search so far, their wooden baskets were filled with all kinds of goods their forest had to offer: Mushrooms in bizarre shapes and different colors, blackberries, acorns and other nuts, herbs for medicine and tea. After returning home later this evening, their small clan would welcome the two with a cheerful face to celebrate their rich harvest and invite them to sit next to them by the fire. It wouldn’t take too long for winter to spread its cold hands relentlessly through the lands and cover all life under a heavy layer of snow. Any preparation to dry and store food was of importance, medicine and tea would ease yearly spreading sickness and help lift their spirits while defying death.
Ida always enjoyed to get chosen to comb the forest together with her mate for any little treasure to find. The forest, even if appearing nearly silent, surrounded her with faint distant noises which forced her to sharpen her senses, stay alerted and focused. She felt free, alive and in control of her surroundings. Ida could not envision a life on evenly paved ground for herself, she was a creature of the forest.
Without saying a word, the small coal vixen looked at Enzio and exchanged a content smile. The black four-horned sheep returned the gesture with a coy wink: “Hey, better pay attention to the ground as well, there’s another at your feet”, he softly spoke, making Ida discover and pick up a small colony of chanterelle mushrooms she almost had missed. “I wouldn’t have missed those”, she muttered under her breath.
Fresh evening air began sinking down the darkening forest, mossy patched beneath her paws became damped, leaving small paw prints filled with water after every step she made; the played music and every day noises her band causes became more distant the further the two strolled around looking for food. Instead of casting growing shadows on an evening’s clear sky, the clouds only allowed a diffuse spreading of light and the forests darkened swiftly.
With a stern glare, Enzio suddenly paused: His nose quivered while his ears scanned the forest for strange noises. Ida followed her mate’s example immediately and went for the seax’s handle on her belt: “Wha-“, she stuttered in the same go, when she immediately was interrupted by the sheep’s soft but strict whisper, causing her to shut instantly. No cracking branches could be heard, the damp air carried no foreign scent. After a while of staying put, he released her: “I thought I had sensed someone, but I cannot detect anyone around us – but nor can I perceive Tik anymore. He must been way ahead of us now.”
“Doesn’t hurt to stay watchful”, she replied and shook herself in tension, “Galti had told me about packs of hunting and scouting dogs trying to roaming through the outskirts of the forest lately, though, they always avoided to cross the swamps and left without finding traces of our hideout. But given the time of the day, I don’t know if they have the guts to approach us after the dark.”
“It would be wise of them not to try, unless they … ”, his facial features hardened again, “We should look for Tik and go back home. Our baskets are overfilled today.”
“But before we do, could I briefly check the fish-traps I placed in the pond close-by? I’m sure the others would be happy if we did.” Enzio nodded briefly and continued his way through the now lightening forests: The pine wood forest opened up and made space for a mixed forest, predominately consisting of birch trees. Daylight was vanishing even quicker now, Enzio’s vision started to decline at dusk and it began to exhausted him.
“I’m just looking forward to sit next to the fire with you and warm up again. Wading through these puddles for so long, it stiffens my limbs.” “Alright, alright. Wait here and I’m back in a moment”, Ida replied hastily, grabbing her long cloak in order to cross the forest easier, swiftly jumping through the underwood without Enzio slowing her down. Meanwhile Enzio moved onward and began looking for traces of their friend.At the shore of the pond, the vixen looked out for her trap, which she quickly pulled out of the water. Her thrill of anticipation vanished as the trap was empty this evening. With slight feeling of defeat, she took a handful of water, drank and refreshed her face, when suddenly the feeling of being watched resurfaced. Her flight defenses kicked in instantly, but she forced herself to remain frozen.
‘Enzio …’
To her ill luck, she stood in the open and kneeled down in hope not to get seen. Only a few meters further, she would have better luck to hide in the sparse bushes. Cautiously, the young vixen got down on all four and tried to move onward without causing a sound. Her cloak, falling to the side again, interfered with her movement and nearly made her crack a branch. Crossing the heather felt like taking ages, but she managed to seek shelter behind a pine tree to catch her breath. Not daring to make a sound, she remained still and tried to look out for Enzio in the forest that was covered in the dark already.
A cracking in the undergrowth, a good distance from her, caused blood to rush through her ears. Enzio had been right, they hadn’t been alone, and it surely wasn’t their friend.
‘Who ever this is, they have started crossing the marshland already and dare doing so at twilight…? This new, this is … bad. It doesn’t feel like a pack of straying dogs is here. Whoever this is: They must have watched us for a while remaining almost invisible. Enzio, where are you?!’
“Ida, Enzio …?”
Ida’s ears perked up both in relief and surprise when the loud voice of her friend broke the silence. She, as Enzio, remained silent. Her instincts told her to observe the situation for a little longer, before breaking cover. Tik’s steps however became louder, “Hello, where are you? I’m not in the mood for any games, you kn-“ he couldn’t end his sentence anymore: His painful scream of anguish cut loudly through the dark before blending in with a deep, guttural growl: A large scheme had dashed out of the forest and sank their teeth deep into their victim. Before Tik had realized the circumstance, he lifelessly hung from the fang of a giant beast she could not recognize in the raising fog of the approaching night.
The situation, albeit only in short distance, overwhelmed Ida, who started curling up and covering her ears and face. Until now it had been windless this day, but when the wind had turned, it sent chills down her spine a second time and made her pumping heart skip a beat. The growling beast got up from all fours and stood upright, his sharp ears pointed upwards and scanned for noises, dangerously close to her direction, turning silent once again.
‘By the Gods, no …’
Tiberius.
After all this time, he finally had found them.
She knew she couldn’t call for help, or else he would get to know of the secret hideout he was looking for. Tiberius paused for a moment, sniffed intensively and suddenly turned around. He walked dangerously close to her poor hideout; the dim light let his grotesquely large body appear in even more frightening. With a muffled noise, the hare’s mauled body fell to the ground. The mutt was sparsely dressed, only a belt was worn around his hips this time; a sheathed sword almost as large as her own height, was lighting swinging with a sense of foreboding with each step he did. The force he would be striking it in battle was beyond her imagination.
“Vixen, there’s no use in hiding. I can smell you strong and clear.” His unsettling voice, cold, unfazed and absent of any thrill, was even deeper than she remembered it. Ida fought against a raising dizziness and started praying.
“If you show yourself, I will not-“, this time, it was the dog who howled in surprise. An arrow missed his massive neck only by short and burrowed deep into his shoulder muscle. With a cold stare and no further blinking, he tore the arrow from his flesh and leaped into the direction it was shot from.
“Damn it!”, Enzio hissed and hastily tried to reach for another. Before he was able to aim at him, the dog already had landed right in front of him. With the blink of an eye, Tiberius had wrung his arms around the overwhelmed ram in a headlock, preventing him from using his horns against him. Enzio started panicking and hopelessly tried reaching for his dagger, when the dog, even larger than himself, intensified the strain on his throat.
“I’m not out for you”, the shepherd-mastiff mix growled, before Enzio finally managed to kick the dog’s knee while simultaneously ramming a horn across his face, the dog stumbled backwards and let go of his grip for a moment: “You fucking idiot!”, he cried in pain; blood running down his face and blurring his vision. Enzio got loose, managed another hard kick, hurting the dog in the groin this time. Tiberius growled with clenched teeth and eyes wide opened, but he could not hold the ram any longer: Enzio was able to slid out of Tiberius arms. Unable to move, he fell to the ground, clenched his hoofed fingers around his throat and started grasping for air. Ida still hidden, could not move her eyes off the events taking place right in front of her in terror.
“Ida … go, NOW!”, he managed screaming a last time before his words ended up in an unrecognizable gurgling fit, grasping and coughing for air. His words brought her back to her senses to only witness the worse turn of events.
“Ida …”, Tiberius wiped the blood of his face with a growl, got back to his feet and unsheathed his sword: “Watch.” The vixen screamed, the dog’s face lit up: Enzio looked around, tried to escape in a jump – when his neck was hit by such a force, his head was chopped off in one clean hit, turning over and landing on the mossy ground below. His body slumped down right next to it. Ida leaped into the air and started running as fast as her legs were able to. Tiberius immediately picked up the chase, his body cut through the forest, braking smaller branches with force. The vixen looked around frantically, searching for opportunities to hide while not revealing the whereabouts of her clan. Branches cut her clothing; her long cloak tangled up in thorny vines, tore, the distance between him and herself was cut drastically shorter. It all had been happening way too fast: She only was out with her partner and a friend providing for her family, until it all crashed down in a moment. Ida knew about an abandoned badger’s den located under a heavy cairn which she could reach, but to her luck, the forest started to get thicker and impassable for her pursuer, she only needed to keep up her speed and ability to dodge trees on her way.
Tiberius breath became louder, more erratic: Trees started blocking his way. The petit vixen turned around and caught her breath, her heart was hammering in her chest, before she forced her shivering legs onwards, straight into the darkness in direction to the old den. The dog was foaming, cutting branches off with his sword now.
***
Ida did not know how long she had been running, when the finally was able to locate the cairn in complete darkness. The felt for the entrance between the large stones in darkness and started sliding down the unknown tunnels. The moment she crawled into an almost crashed down chamber, she lost consciousness and passed out.Tiberius had quit his search for this day, picked up his harvested bodies and returned home.
Artwork above was done by Shep!
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Deus absolve me
The following story snippet is a cross-over between Kalassin's story and In nomine. The artwork below was a commissioned by her, too.Read more about the world of Animas here.
Y:
The night had been over for an hour of sunshine. Ylva's limbs were stiff from staying in the same position the whole night. Shortly after the moon had passed its zenith, she had slipped into the church and sat down in the confessional. She had been traveling for a long time for her last assignment and had finally found herself in foreign lands. It seemed like a sign from the gods that this church was not far from the place where she had completed her mission. The church was deadly silent in the night, and even now, as the bustle of the city began to surround it, there was a sacred tranquility that she did not dare to disturb. The priest who took the confessions was also walking on soft paws, so Ylva did not notice him until he was near the confessional. The curtain from the room next to hers opened and someone sat down with a slight sigh.
"Deus absolve me, quia peccavi," she said softly and crossed herself. Her mother had taught her that in many churches of other countries it was common practice to do so and so she had made it a habit. After all, she never knew where an order would lead her.D:
Demetrius tried not to show his astonishment at the sudden appearance of the troubled sinner early in the morning. he neither heard opening nor closing the heavy oak door that morning.
He did not ask questions, pulled the purple curtain in front of his compartment and straightened the robe. His fragid gaze was now straight ahead, his paws clad in white velvet gloves resting folded on his lap.
"In the name of the father, and of the son, and of the holy ghost, amen," he finally replied in a firm voice.Y:
"Amen," Ylva answered in a quavering voice. She had already taken so many confessions and yet she was always nervous again. It was not because of the worry that someday a priest might denounce her. He does'nt have much evidence of her appearance or person. Advisedly, she sat with her black face patch to the grid and kept the rest as well as possible in the shadows of the corners. He would not even notice if she disappeared after the confession. She would take care of that. What caused her neck fur to break into nervousness was her own conscience and the principles of her belief, which she betrayed over and over again through her actions. Her heart clenched as if she wanted to punish her for what she was doing now.D:
Demetrius could feel her tension and winced with his whiskers. The resentment over her unauthorized nightly intrusion into his church now gave way to curiosity.
"What is troubling and oppressing you that leads you to me before god?"Y:
"Tonight I took a man's life," she began slowly, swallowing hard that it was hurting in her throat, "I don't know much about the person, only what they tell me about him, he beat his workers. He was rich, but he worked hard every day. But also he was a drunkard and had a lot of brawling. And at least he had a wife and children ... ", her voice had gone down with each word, as she thought now of the two puppies, which suddenly were standing in the door to her father's study. Rigid and scared. Ylva had seen them from the window where she had fled after her actact. A boy and a girl. Brother and sister. From now on fatherless.D:
The fox narrowed his eyes to small slits, bared his teeth, and went inside himself for a moment. He really had not expected this mornings development. He heard how the jackalwoman was heavy breathing and imperceptibly tried to cast a glance through the grating on her. She seemed to be struggling for her composure.
"Well, what led you to go ... astray and caused you to this transgression?"Y:
The words and voice of the priest made her shiver for a moment. Astray. She had never wanted to get lost, but the gods had planned something else for her life. "It was an assignment, I don't know any details about the reason for the death of the man, only that he had something to do with the death of a woman." Her voice had grown hoarse with tears running down her cheeks. She raised her hand to her chest and grasped the fabric of her clothes. The guilt and the regret ached in her heart. Inwardly, she knew that the murder of this man was a new stone on her own grave.D:
Sighing softly Demetrius shook his head and seemed then more composed than before. It almost seemed for a moment, as if a fleeting smile had rushed over his lips before his expression became more serious again. "You confess your guilt for having taken the father of two children?"
He could see through the grid how the shadow of the Jackalwoman silently nodded and a movement around the area of her eyes made him assume that she was pinching them together: "Yes, I confess my guilt." At that, her voice was clear and strong, whole unlike than before.
"What may have been the motives for this act at least - who am I supposed to be allowed to judge it? that you have found your way to me and repent openly repentance is to be sign enough. You will need your time to be at peace with yourself but I think you are on the right track, may the merciful lord give you strength and accompany on this journey. "
The change in his voice seemed to disburden the jackalwoman, because she let out a clearly hearable breath.
"Nevertheless," Demetrius continued, "I would advise you to at least financially support the family- even through a small donation from unknown."
"Thank you, father." She still seemed depressed, but he could see in the shadows how she let go of her vest and heard her exhale deeply again. The crossfox nodded and finally started to pray. After completing his absolution he dismissed her with a cross sign from confession and looked after her as she left the confessional. He hadn't lost sight of her, but suddenly she seemed to merge with the few visitors to the church and it was like she was swallowed up by the earth. He sighed again and left the confessional.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written on this story by BlueHunter & Kalassin
Sleepless
It’s been awful years. I never dared to imagine that a little event as incidental as this one would stir up and poison a whole Kingdom's mentality. The news spread around like a wild fire and it’s gotten out of control now ...
Maximus left way too early on his mission and it’s seemingly all up to me now. I’m afraid I can’t make the grades, but he entrusted me with his position in his absence … and I must trust his judgment. I must act before this place meets its downfall into corruption, even if it means that the stakes have to start burning again so the order can be re-established. I’m tired …
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written on this story by BlueHunter & Kalassin
Pantry
It was a fog-shrouded wet morning in November. Demetrius looked around nervously as he made sure that nobody had seen him when he knocked the doorknocker against heavy oak door in front of him. The path behind him was empty still, the nearest houses were hiding behind a fog covered, fenced field. The banging noise made him wince; birds began croaking in the distance. He however couldn’t hear anything from inside of the secluded farm house, but knew that his guard dog was there. Tensed up, he began playing with his hands, pressed them together and folded them. The air was humid and filled with the inviting smell of burning firewood; smoke was raising from the farm’s chimney. He had to be there.
While taking a deep breath he knocked again after a moment that felt like an eternity. Suddenly he heard a clattering noise from inside the building. The fox quickly jumped a step back and tried to maintain his composure and put his arms on his back, a broad smile appeared on his pointy face. The door opened and a pair of cold eyes stared down on him with a frown.
“Good morning”, the priest greeted and smilingly flashed his teeth. Steamy air filled with the aromatic smell of cooked meat blew right into his face. The large shepherd dog nodded him inside without changing his unreadable, staring expression. Demetrius stepped inside as the large dog closed the door behind him. When the door clicked shut, he was smitten by the haunting feeling of being trapped.
“It’s early in the morning still and you’re already hard-working I see …” Demetrius attempted to take a glimpse into the kitchen and tried to look around the massive dog’s body. The dog however moved in front of the fox again, but for a glimpse of a moment Demetrius was able to see a kettle with something, that looked like horns, boiling over a fire place.
“It’s nothing”, Tiberius snorted scornfully and closed the kitchen’s door. Just now Demetrius noticed the freshly tanned black wool pelt slung around Tiberius’ neck.
“I understand --”
Demetrius decided not to dig deeper into the subject but deemed to remember told stories of a four-horned ram that was said to be around a witch in the darker, isolated regions far into the forest in rebel’s territory.
“A personal feud? Not that it matters to me ...”
Tiberius turned around and walked towards a door that opened to stairs leading down into the basement. He grabbed a lantern, lit the fire and ordered the priest to go downwards first before he closed the door again. The age worn eyes of the fox had to adjust, but the smell of hung meat overwhelmed him. When Tiberius followed him, the shine of the lantern lit sausages hanging down the ceiling. Gutted bodies of all sizes spiked on meat hooks filled the small room. The room was even colder than it had been outside.
“Ah, you’re very diligent in your craft I get remembered again. Nothing goes to waste I see ...” Demetrius knew that he likely was the only one to have ever entered the pantry – and made it out alive again, the uneasy feeling remained still. The fox looked around more and noticed that some carcasses looked dangerously small. He couldn’t remember any executed animal of this size that he had ceded to him. Tiberius snarled; the fox’s expression was a tad too curious for his taste.
“Since when do you care, hm?”, the dog rumbled and looked into Demetrius’ eyes with a poignant stare again.
“Easy there! I’m not here to judge. Wherever you obtain your meat or bodies, it’s none of my business ... You know, I’m only here to get my smoked ham.”
“That’s the correct answer.”
Tiberius rose his hand. The requested piece of ham appeared in the light beam above the priest’s head, his eyes reflected the lantern’s light with a malicious expression.
“That’s exactly what I’m looking for. Thank you.”
“Here.”
Demetrius almost crumped down to the ground when Tiberius handed the meat over to him. His stubby claws pushed through the leathery gloves when he tried clawing into the ham. The smoky smell made his mouth water. When he felt his feral instincts kicking in again, he forced himself to stay focussed.
“Excuse my manners. What do I owe you?”
“The same as usual. Make sure yer fat ass cat doesn’t always claim the biggest chunks of meat for himself or else he ends up in my pantry as well one day.”
The fox nodded: “Of course. There’s a execution scheduled for Saturday. The body is yours to please.”
With shaky legs he followed the dog up the stairs again. Tiberius grunted and implied him to leave. “Peace be with you”, said the priest with a strong voice and stepped outside.
The nagging feeling of slowly losing his authority overpowered him and made him feel dizzy. The fox sighed heavily and was glad to have made it out alive. With a firm grip he pressed the clothed bundle against his body and walked home again and hoped not to be caught.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
Strike a pose
The following short story was written by Sidior to give context to the above artwork I drew for him. The story illustrates a possible meeting between Gunnar and an unnamed artist, who seeks out the town guard to portrait him in his art - the atmosphere is on the steamy side here ;)Thank you so much!
The young painter was waiting anxiously. He still couldn't believe himself. How did he know, just asking would work? When he approached the mighty stallion after the duel, he simply asked him "Sir Gunnar, your performance was beyond amazing. But oh, where are my manners! I'm a novice painter who wanted to depict the most heroic and good-looking folks of Herold’s Land. And you definitely caught my eye! I'm willing to pay so you could pose for me". Gunnar, feeling very proud of the praise he received, replied- "No need to call me sir, I'm just the town guard. Your proposal seems very enticing, I won't lie. I won't even ask for monetary compensation, exposure in art is enough for someone like me" he said snorting while flexing his bit bicep.As they started walking down the road, Gunnar wondered "which kind of pose are we talking about? Me standing fiercely while holding my sword? Or perhaps I have to look courageously towards a fantastic view!". The artist quickly replied, blushing a bit- "uhm ... my idea was ... how do I say this ... you don't need your sword. Nor your armor. Actually, you don't need to wear anything at all. You see, I like representing warriors in their full natural might, that's why I chose yo-" The smaller artists got suddenly interrupted by Gunnar laughing out loud and giving him a strong pat on his head: "Oh you want me to pose nude for you? You could've said this before! I have no problem with that, at all! You're doing a huge favour to me and everyone here by immortalizing my perfect body in one of your artworks!" The artist adjusted his hat clumsily while blushing even more, and replied by just nodding to what Gunnar just said.They then went to artist's studio, where the scene was already prepared. A huge bed for the stallion to lie on, with a canopy behind him and the room dimly lit. Yeah, the atmosphere was quite suggestive. "You can undress in the other room" said the artist. But Gunnar simply replied with a "nah, I'm good" and started taking off his armor. With every piece of armor removed, the room became warmer and warmer, and he could notice more and more how truly muscular Gunnar was. He finished by dropping his loincloth on the ground, and said smugly "is this good enough for you, Dear artist?" The artist, being lucid and paralyzed at the same time, gave again a simple nod of approval. Both of them weren't bothered with the casual nudity of the scenario. The artist already saw many naked bodies before for the same reason. And Gunnar had no problem showing off his sculpted body to someone. But his extreme masculinity and might truly overwhelmed the painter. "You can lie down on the bed now. And strike a pose which you think represents you" instructed the artist and started his painting …
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
In the heart of the night
A shadow rushed quickly through the darkness of the alleys. Even though the streets were mostly empty, a few bustling rabbles were milling about, hiding from the eyes of the street guarding night watch. Giacometti, his hood pulled low over his face, blended into the shadowy shapes of the night. With his goal firmly in mind, he approached the cathedral in the center of the city. He knew that Demetrius was sleeping in the small parish house bordering the church …The high stone wall that surrounded the parish garden was crossing his eyes already. He was about to jump over the wall, as he heard a murmur of familiar voices in the darkness behind him. With a swift jump the fox bolted up, grabbed the edge of the wall and pulled himself up smoothly. The volume of the conversation increased, but still remained hushed to a whisper. In a crouching position, the fox crept along the wall and hid behind the gable of the rectory, where he pulled his hood low over his face.
Suddenly it hit him: the outlines of the approaching dogs became clearer, the pale moonlight gave the figures their grimaced, distorted faces: Maar and Karst, the leaders of the feared Huntsmen, which was a law enforcement unit subordinate to Lord Eladio, were approaching Demetrius' Door. On Maar's belt the fox could see the outlines of a heavy hammer, for which the ruthless dog was known. The lavender fox crouched lower and held his breath. The brothers exchanged one last look, before knocking on the heavy oak door, when the wind picked up and blew Giacometti's hood away from his face. Fearful of having to act immediately, the fox drew his dagger and held it ready - but luckily for him, the wind only blew the dogs' sharp scent into his face. He tried not to wrinkle his nose.
The dogs knocked again, growling dangerously frustrated, before Demetrius finally reached the door with a tired look to his eyes, as he looked through his peephole. "Come back tomorrow. No more confessions for the day”, said Demetrius in a gruff voice and closed the small window.
"I warn you not to ignore me.” Maar growled and let his hand slide under his cape, "Lord Eladio wants to speak to you."
"Eladio?!" the fox snapped harshly and bared his long fangs, "And this really cannot wait until tomorrow?"
"Open the door and follow us. He wants to see you now". The cross fox paused and reluctantly decided to unlock the door. He glared at the dogs with a scowl on his face.
That's good, Father. We'll escort you." With his neck fur bristling, the fox joined the two dogs, took one last look towards his door, and followed the Huntsmen towards the castle into the heart of the night. For some more time Giacometti remained on the roof before he was sure no to get caught. He jumped into the parish garden to try to get into the house through a window he knew wasn’t closing properly. Through painting and fresco work he knew where Demetrius stored his important documents...
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
The king’s guard escorted the priest and his liege dog at each step through the golden hall. On their way through the sprawling room, nobody dared to speak a word. Neither the guards, nor the king knew exactly what the cross fox intended to bring up.
“Disarm yourselves.”
A giant and heavy armored black dog walked towards them and took the snarling shepherd dog’s sword. While doing so, the schnauzer noticed a wide smile flashing over the fox’s dark and pointy muzzle. The cross fox held his hands behind his back, followed the handover in an amused manner and confidently continued his way towards the golden throne. His lithe and lissome physique seemed even slimmer in his waving soutane – unlike his frowning, massive companion, who stood right behind him and still made an intimidating impression, despite being unarmed.
“Reverend, you have asked for an audience with the King?”, Gregor raised his voice, squinted his bushy eyebrows and stared at the two visitors with a piercing expression.
“Yes I did, if you allow me …”, replied the priest, walked past the guard dog and took another step up the stairs. The king’s cold eyes rested on every move he made; his posture was difficult to read, only his clenched hands revealed his disfavor. “Your Highness …”.
Tiberius had kneeled down below the stairs already and looked at Demetrius with widened eyes.
“Bow down before your king”, snarled Gregor warningly, but the fox didn’t seem to bother. Instead he made a waving gesture and opened his hand to the king.
“Allow me to differ. I only bow down in front of the Lord, otherwise I couldn’t call myself his servant … “ The white borzoi didn’t bend his brow and stared at him in disdain. “Your Highness, it’s a honor to me. I came here to speak about recent events concerning the rebels. There has been an increase of encroachments lately …”
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
Little Bird
The setting sun dipped the hills in a vibrant red light with her last warming rays of the day as the air started to cool down, smelling damp and earthy. Judith took a deep breath and inhaled the fresh scent of the approaching evening. It had been a peaceful day, but she knew that she had to be cautious. Her paws felt sore from the day’s labor, her back ached from hours of getting up and bending down. It had been a successful day on the field, now the baskets filled with freshly pecked grapes needed to be taken to her monastery to be processed. As she tried to rub her grape juice stained hands clean, the bells of the church located in the valley below began ringing. Her ears pricked up.
She should be there any minute.
Judith looked around carefully, a serious, impatient expression laid on her face now - but her bird wasn’t in sight. The other Benedictine nuns were bound up in their work still, the vixen noticed contently. As she the vixen didn’t want to attract the other’s attention, she dedicated herself to work again but remained in a state of tension and paid attention to every leave rustling and sudden air twirling movements.“Hey, hey!”
She always underestimated the child’s ability to creep up on her. The black cat leaned on the warm mural and looked at her with a challenging and feisty grin.
“Get down, you must not be seen …”, noted Judith with a soft voice as she put on her basket. The smirking cat hit behind the grapevin.
“I’ve got quite the news for you, but it won’t be cheap … It's about your highly cherished friend, Demetrius.”
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
Tournament Training
The following short stories were written by Steppenfire to give context to the artworks shown here that I drew for him. The story illustrates a possible meeting between Gunnar and Steppen, and later on Elodie.Thank you so much!
The winter snow lasted an unusually long time this year ...Here and there, the first snowdrops and crocuses made their way through the frosty ground as harbingers of the approaching spring. Meanwhile, the farmers looked anxiously at the barren fields. Behind closed doors, they vented their anger at the nobility, who had demanded the leftovers from the larders weeks ago ... Everything that was not yet infested with mould or vermin had to be handed over to the duke.
Under these impressions, the strangers from the north had also been observed with suspicion and incomprehension: an aristocratic travelling party of around one hundred and fifty people, moving along the rural road like a colorful snake - flanked by soldiers, who were particularly numerous around an elaborately decorated palanquin. Although news travelled slowly here, everyone knew who was being carried by servants ...Ida, one of King Herold's daughters from the Hound's Lands, was accompanied by members of the court to marry Gregor, the eldest son of Duke Leopold of the House of Fuchsfeld.
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As was customary among the nobility, this was not a marriage born of love. Ida and Gregor had never met before. Emissaries from both houses had met months ago on neutral ground to sound out the possibility of an alliance between the two noble families, which was to be sealed by this marriage. If for Herold it was an opportunity to extend his influence far into the south and secure trade routes with the lands beyond the mountains, for Leopold this alliance meant securing his power. Reports of warlike hordes from the south and east, who had already plundered many a city, literally forced him to look for an ally who had already won more than one battle ...
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Over a month ago, the wedding party had set off with many wooden carts and backpacks... and after this long, arduous journey, one evening they finally caught sight of the towers of Falkentrost Castle, which rose imposingly on a hill above the town of Weitwacht below. Now, two weeks after this arrival, preparations for the wedding were in full swing ...
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A big celebration had been promised to the lowly folk to keep them happy despite the levies ... Dancing, singing, free beer and the chance of bread and dried meat thrown into the crowd here and there from the town's stocks during the festivities were intended to make them forget the suffering of the barren season … just as much as exciting, splendid tournaments.The highlight of every show fight was the clash between two horse soldiers. Whether in a ritual joust, in which two opponents tried to knock each other over with lances, or in a fight with sword and shield: when the strength of two battle-hardened stallions clashed until shields burst and iron bent, the cheers of the crowds were certain.
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One of these stallions was Gunnar, a guard soldier from Herold's kingdom, who was assigned to protect the travelling party with his men. His tall, muscular figure, which towered over all the others, was warning enough for any bandits or angry peasants to keep their distance.
Among the soldiers at the barracks in Weitwacht, Steppen, a black horse of no less impressive stature, was chosen to compete against Gunnar during the tournaments. As a Friesian, he was somewhat smaller than Gunnar, the Coldblood … but size was rarely the only thing that mattered in battle ... Both horses were skilled in duels and, despite their muscular build, were elegant in their movements as they crossed swords agilely and confidently, circling their opponents as if they were dancing around each other.
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Even before the festivities began, Steppen and Gunnar had introduced themselves to each other... Together they had decided to use their free time to practise together in preparation for the exhibition fights. Both knew that the better they knew their opponent's strengths and weaknesses, the greater their own advantage when they had to prove themselves in front of hundreds of spectators. Such tournaments were not just about personal honour ... everyone was fighting for the honour of their coat of arms.
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Even on this cool evening, as the sun slowly approached the horizon in an impressive sunset glow, the two stallions met in front of the barracks for another training session..."Good evening Gunnar..." Steppen greeted the stallion, whose mane tied into knots made him look unusually noble for this region "... Well rested and refreshed after yesterday's training?"Gunnar gave a short snort and grinned amusedly ... Since the day they first met, the two soldiers had been living out their rivalry through friendly banter and teasing each other ..."Good evening ... Yes, I slept soundly ... after having a good work-out on a training dummy. I saw our training as more of a warm-up exercise ..."Steppen countered this remark with an amused snort and moved to one of the wooden stands with the blunt training swords.
"Well ... I guess you always pick opponents of the same calibre, huh? I hope our practice dummies haven't been too tough on you ..."
And Gunnar just put the shield down with another gentle smile to reply: "If they were guarding the city gate, I'd probably have fewer worries about your city as a resident ...""Enough with the pleasantries …" the black stallion said with an equally friendly expression as he handed Gunnar the practice sword ... "There are still three days until the start of the tournaments... How are the preparations in the camp going?""Everything is ready and eager for the wedding ..." replied Gunnar, before looking thoughtfully over the snow-covered fir trees behind the wall ... "Hm ... It’s unusual not to wait until summer for such festivities when it's warm and the larders are full ..."
Steppen briefly followed his gaze, placing the practice sword on the back of his neck while holding onto it with both hands. "Romantics would probably say that the wedding couple were so distorted by love and longing that they couldn't wait any longer to get married ...""Ha … Yes! Exactly ..." Gunnar snorted ironically "... We both know that their fathers can't wait to unite our houses for their own personal gain. I've seen the princess grow quieter and quieter over the course of the journey ... What can you tell me about your Gregor?"Steppen was surprised that Gunnar, as a soldier, seemed to be so concerned about Princess Ida's well-being. But he answered him in a calm tone: "I can't say I've played dice games with him... but they say he's quiet and well-educated. Leopold is not unpopular with the people, although I hope he didn't overstep the mark when he had the peasants' stocks emptied for the wedding feast ... So all I can tell you is this: I don't think Gregor is a mean asshole""Well ... I guess that will have to suffice in the circle of the nobility" Gunnar mused calmly, which only caused an amused "Hmm!" to escape Steppen's throat.All at once, Gunnar picked up his shield again to place it in his left hand... "But enough words... we should make use of the remaining evening light"Steppen nodded "Let's go then ..." and tightened the leather straps around his head protection.The ground of the barracks forecourt, covered in fresh snow and ice, crunched lightly under the iron-tipped hooves of the two stallions as they took up their positions.
"You forgot your shield..." smirked Gunnar, pointing his sword at the wall where the shield decorated with the town's coat of arms stood leaning against the barracks."I'm fighting without a shield today ..." the black stallion snorted back, earning an amused "Brave … or stupid!" from his opponent. "I can defeat a unicorn without a shield ..." joked Steppen, symbolically tapping the metal of his headguard once more to make fun of the iron horn that adorned Gunnar's head plate at the same spot.And then the combat training began ...The two stallions rushed at each other with agility ... Sword clashed dully against shield ... then iron against iron as Gunnar went to strike and Steppen was only able to counter at the last moment.
Using his strength, Gunnar pushed his opponent back and immediately followed up with more hits.Steppen, smaller but also a little more agile, dodged the first blow with his upper body and let the blades cross again with the next strike while holding his sword with both hands."Well, shouldn't I get you a straw doll instead?" Steppen snorted at Gunnar as their two heads approached under the metallic screech of the iron rubbing against each other. "Does your poor province still have that much straw left?" Gunnar countered just as provocatively, until both stallions pushed away from each other again and circled each other, snorting and prancing.
The faster their powerful hearts pounded ... the faster the blood rushed through their veins ... the more spirited the duel became. The sound of the hard clashing iron became more and more rhythmic, accompanied by the dull echo of the prancing horseshoes, which whirled up the snow beneath them to the long, waving tails of the horses.
It was Gunnar who landed the first hit when Steppen tried to strike a powerful blow that was blocked by Gunnar's shield. Even as the black stallion staggered back, Gunnar followed up with his sword hand already raised and used the free space to drive his training sword into the side of the gambeson protecting the Frisian's body."Ahhh ..." was all that came out of the stallion's throat as he briefly dropped to his knees before Gunnar helped him up again. "That's what happens when you don't use your shield ..."But spurred on by this criticism, Steppen immediately picked himself up again, snorted his frustration away once more with puffed out nostrils and tapped his chest with his sword "Just a lucky shot... Go on!As if fueled by the desire to make up for this mistake, Steppen now pranced up and down in front of his opponent all the more agilely. He skillfully dodged the powerful blows, with which Gunnar seemed to literally cut through the air, by pulling back his upper body ... allowing Gunnar to exhaust himself for a few moments before he himself raised his sword again to strike his opponent's shield and sword with no less powerful blows.Gunnar moved his right hoof back to counter the blows and prepare his next attack. But instead of taking advantage of Gunnar's open guard as he held his arm up to block the blows, Steppen backed away from the final blow, forestalling Gunnar's plan to push him sideways with his shield. The Frisian used the brief moment of irritation to land his first strike on the chain mail of Gunnar's shoulder."Ohh ..." Gunnar gasped briefly and gritted his teeth in pain "... I didn't see that one coming ...".
"Now we're even," Steppen commented curtly and gave Gunnar time to collect himself.
⚜
The two stallions measured their strength in ritual combat until the last ray of sunshine. Warm breath poured from their broad nostrils like the smoke of dragons from the legends told at court in front of the open fire. And sweating under their thick gambeson, the steam literally rose from their muscular bodies in the light of the torches that still illuminated the barracks square.Each had been able to score hits on the other... both had used the training to study the other's tactics... to find out weaknesses and strengths which they hoped to exploit at the next training session tomorrow."I think... phew... that... should be enough for today," puffed Steppen, visibly exhausted... and Gunnar's tiredness was also written all over his face... "Yes... I think... I'll pass on continuing with the training dummy today..." replied Gunnar, exhausted.After Steppen had brought the two practice swords back to the wooden stand, he put his hand on Gunnar's shoulder and said: "Come on... the castle pub is still open... I'll buy you a beer..."."I certainly won't say no to that..." Gunnar replied with a smiling nod and placed his shield next to Steppen's.As both opponents left the training ground side by side, Steppen said cheerfully:
"Maybe you can tell me something about the crest of your house... it looks very... martial..."
"Sure..." said Gunnar "... if you tell me something about your name. Steppen? Unusual, even for this region"
"Oh, you know... that's a long story..."
⚜
The air in the large courtyard of the barracks was icy, illuminated only by the flickering light of the torches in the twilight of the setting sun. Meanwhile, thick snowflakes floated down from the darkening firmament onto the white ground, which made a dull crunching sound with every step.Smoke rose from the chimneys of the living rooms of all the houses in Weitwacht, which were closely packed together within the well-guarded city walls. Inside the windows of Falcon's Solace Castle, which sat mightily and protectively on a hill above the city, torches and fires illuminated the stone interiors.Steppen and his training partner Gunnar – two soldiers from different houses who had gathered here for a royal wedding – used the remaining evening light to warm up in a training fight, until their bodies, packed in thick gambesons and training armour, seemed to steam in the winter air.
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Exhausted but still walking with pride, Gunnar strolled towards the barracks gate at the end of training, while Steppen was still bringing the training swords and shields back to the armoury room.At the same time, a small group of five canid soldiers, led by a chevalier, a female knight, came up the earthy path to the barracks to ask the stationed guards for admission ...Gunnar looked at the strangers leaning against the wall near the gate and tried to recognise their crest."My name is Elodie... Chevalier, on behalf of King Lucien du Sablier. We are travelling through and will spend a few days here... and would like to have our weapons ground by your armourer ..."‘King Lucien du Sablier?’ it occurred to Gunnar... He knew that name... The ruler of the House of Frères de l'Obsidienne. King Herold was allied with this noble family, whose coat of arms showed a black horse on a silver background and lived far to the west. However, he was surprised that soldiers - and then only in such small numbers - had strayed into this part of the world at this time of year.Elodie handed the guards a letter, whereupon she and her men were allowed to enter the barracks...When Steppen walked out of the barracks door, the strangers were already coming towards him. The black stallion eyed the soldiers no less surprised than Gunnar had been before... but just as he was about to turn to his training partner, his gaze met Elodie's as she passed by.Steppen couldn't say if and when he had seen a female knight before, but he immediately lost himself in the cold blue of her eyes... her gaze so sharp, full of pride and yet so unfathomably soft, as if she saw a side of him at that moment that he himself had not known.For a moment, her gaze also lost itself in the chestnut-coloured eyes of the stallion. Was it the surprise of meeting a Friesian here of all places? Was it the aura that emanated from the powerful fighter?
For an instant, their hearts seemed to beat slower, along with time, as if the sound of footsteps and the flickering movement in the air stretched into the endless space of this encounter.
One look, one feeling – and the mood changed. The chevalier and the soldier, two souls who had recognized each other through the random dance of glances... as if fate had led them to this exact moment.Both looked after each other without stopping... before each looked ahead again. Elodie dismissed her men to the forge... while Steppen looked at Gunnar, who turned away from the wall. "So... ready for the beer?" he snorted impatiently.The two horses trotted down the small path towards the city... but Steppen, who still couldn't quite shake off the feeling of admiration for the foreign beauty, asked "Tell me, Gunnar... do you know what kind of soldiers they were? Or rather, who the female was who led them?"Gunnar snorted and said "I don't know her name, but they come far from the west... from the House of Frères de l'Obsidienne""Hm ... far from home" Steppen mused thoughtfully..."Yes ... they'll probably stay in town for a few days... that's all I heard.... What's up? Don't tell me you've got a crush on her?" Gunnar suddenly laughed at the top of his lungs. He hadn't failed to notice Steppen's glances at the yard and his curiosity about the foreign warrior spoke volumes for him...Steppen just put his hand on Gunnar's shoulder and said "My dear Gunnar, you are allowed to drink anything but you are not allowed to know everything ... I always welcome your opinion ... as long as I ask you!"Gunnar snorted slightly and added, amused "Well, it's really none of my business. But if you really want to try your luck, walk past the monastery or the inn tomorrow... they've probably found accommodation there. But don't get your hopes up... A knight and a simple soldier... be glad if she lets you polish her armour"Steppen couldn't get the image of her face out of his head, though, and just replied calmly "We'll see, Gunnar ... we'll see ..." before they both reached the tavern ...
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
Crypt
With hands folded on his back he had been walking in circles for he doesn’t know how long. Nervousness began startling him. His leather shoes pressed against the polished ground, sending the sound of muffled steps through the poorly lit crypt while he wandered around.The undercroft barely was illuminated, only the the stained glass windows shone brightly in red and purple colors but didn’t lighten up more than a few meters into the otherwise dark room. The air felt cold, humid and carried a mouldy scent. It almost felt like he had entered an earthy den and didn’t set a foot in a monastery, the outside world seemed far and locked away however; the sacred had excluded the profane.
'How very appropriate for this place to remind me of being buried alive. How appropriate of you. I didn’t expect any less ...' His expression was a mixture of scorn and amusement, he didn’t want to give her any credit yet he felt like returning home.
Even if time felt like an eternity, it satisfied his curiosity to stroll through rooms that had been prohibited for him to enter all his life so far; for him it felt like gratification. But with the time passing by, the cold began numbing the old fox's limbs and the lack of light made his eyes ache.
Tap, tap, tap.
The sound of his own steps began annoying him. He even started suspecting that a trick was played on him or he had been lured into a trap. It had been too easy so far.
Tap, tap, tap.
Suddenly, a change of scent. Demetrius sighed in relief and tension alike, his complexion turned harsh instantly, his eyes seemed to blaze up. The noises outside the walls got louder, he could hear the arguing but flustered voices of the nuns. The fox turned his back to the portal, approached the altar and let his paw slide over the linen cloth.
"This cannot be ..."
Now she had found his scent. A smile flashed over his muzzle but died down immediately. The door handle was pushed down and the heavy door opened with a squeaking noise that made his ears twitch.
The abbess entered the crypt, opened her mouth in disbelief, gasped. Immediately her pupils widened and fixated on the fox that stood right in the light beam that was hitting the altar.
"Get ... out", she ordered him in a determined voice as she frowned.
"No time for formalities Mother Superior?", the priest wanted to reply but was interrupted as other nuns tried to enter the crypt as well. She carefully pushed them outside again.
"Is everything alright –"
"Don’t worry, it’s nothing."
Judith gave the young nuns a confident smile and closed the door again. As the door fell into the lock, silenced took over the place again. Demetrius was presenting his back still.
"Demetrius", her voice sounded brisk, "what are you doing here, how did you come in and first of all: What do you want?" The silver vixen tried her hardest not to lose her posture, but the cross fox finally turned around and fixated his piercing gaze on her.
"I have to admit, you’ve got yourself a nice home. The windows are nicely crafted, the cross -"
"Answer my question or I'll get -"
"Ansgar to walk me out? I beg you, honestly. He’s the one who let me in."
Her green eyes widened in disbelief. "You have no permission to break the peace here", the smaller vixen approached the taller priest still with a frown on her face as she bared her long and sharp claws. Demetrius hissed in a response.
"I’m not here to fight with you again, I’m not a fool. I only came here as I wanted to talk to you in private. You didn’t leave me a different chance to do so", the fox stepped closer, lowered his head while looking her directly in the eyes.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
Gassengeflüster
"Have a safe way home!“
“You too my friend.”
With a cheerful sneer the fox nodded and waved the almost hidden, elongated scheme goodbye. Right after, the marten vanished between the winding alleys of the town, walking on covered feed and leaving no scent, before the animal blended in with the night.It must have been past midnight, Giacometti thought, the streets seemingly had emptied. Only a few rats minded their own businesses, quickly traded secrets and goods, separated and disappeared in small, almost assessable holes in beams of houses that slowly showed signs of age. Faster than the blink of an eye they disappeared as well and entered their tiny parallel town that was hidden to the bigger animal folk’s eye. Only God knew which plans they were scheming. Not that he minded them, no.
‘Oh well’, the lavender fox sighted and spoke to himself. His long and pointy fangs flashed in the bright lantern’s beam and he felt himself drawn to the light like a moth in the dark night. ‘The night still is young …’. While daily life on the streets slowed down at night, the little shady tavern at the corner pulsated from life after dawn. A fox such as him, not necessarily working a mundane profession still felt the most awake at night.
“TAVERN TO OLD BADGER'S DEN” was written in capital letters on a weather-beaten shield right over his head. The name however felt misleading as the innkeeper had a rather rough temper and wasn’t the most pleasant, welcoming company, his beverages however were the strongest in town … the folks gathering there surely weren’t the most welcoming contemporaries either but they knew about many happenings taking place in town, poorly covered deceits or feuds and relationship issues and most of all: a drunk, loose mouth surely talks a lot …With every step the fox walked towards the shabby shed, the music and laughter got louder. ‘One or two beers or meads shall work for tonight’s—’ “AYE!”, the fox gasped loudly when his shoulder suddenly was pierced by needle sharp claws.”
“Evening!”, the black cat smiled and slung her elbow over his shoulder, “Didn’t hear me coming, ya?”
“You … certainly perfected you sneaking up on me. Good job”, the fox praised her under short breath and caused the dark animal to smile even wider.
“Have you heard the news already?”, Lerke blurted out into his ear, pierced his gaze and teasingly waited for an answer. To the cat’s satisfaction, the fox shook his head.
“Well, well … you know … the cardinal …”
“What about him?”, he wanted to know but the cat began shaking her head as well. She playfully looked at her claws, moved her paws and suddenly seemed intensively fixated on her own movement. Giacometti slowly got impatient, just as Lerke had planned.
“You know news like this won’t come cheap, fox. Would you have some dried sprats by chance?”
“You little piece of shit. No I don’t have any foods with me right now.”
“Oh too bad – a few coins will do just as well. Don’t try to make me believe you’re broke, you were about to get drunk tonight.”
“What do you mean, ‘I were’?”, the fox checked confused but the cat’s stare only intensified.
“Yes you ‘were’ as you’ll hand me your pretty coins over now so you know what I saw. The fox sighed defeated and reached into his pouch.
“Fine, you won, now tell me about your news in the quiet corner over there …”
“You painted your eyes nicely, suits you, it’s only for your best if you don’t look into your mug too deep tonight …”
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
Gassenhauer
With a satisfied grin, the lavender fox wiped his muzzle clean. The news about the assassination of the cardinal was a welcomed personal reason to celebrate. Giacometti felt a warming glow to his face and rested himself on the bar’s counter for a moment.
“’s everything alright, Fox?”
“I could not do any better, thanks bud”, the fox chuckled and buried his muzzle down in his crossed arms. The badger nodded grumblingly and turned around to serve his other guests. The tavern was heavily visited this night and Giacometti watched the bustling. He liked watching interactions between others, inspecting situations and reflecting how to gain from it. On top of it, there was a vixen around he eyed with, that had an alluring shine to her orange pelt. He considered approaching her, but with the glimpse of an eye, she had vanished amongst the other animal folk and was not to be seen anymore.
Giacometti ordered another mead, “On us!”, the fox jumped on the counter and raised his glass. The animals around did not hear the news about the assassination attempt so far, but he kept the reason of his personal joy for himself only. Loud cheering and roaring below him, but the innkeeper tried to whip him off the bar by baring his teeth, but in response, the tipsy one cheerfully put his arm around his head and resisted the attempt; by now, the fox had completely lost track of time. If he had known how the night would have ended, the lavender had not ordered another round to drink for himself and had paid more attention to Lerke’s remark.With an angered snort the badger shoved the drunken outside and slammed the door shut again. “Pah, until tomorrow you old shit”. Slightly agitated he left, tried to pat his clothes clean and turned around as he felt himself being watched, but only the vixen from earlier leaving as well was to be seen. She had noticed him and winked him to follow into the dark heart of the street’s labyrinth.After a short while their ways parted again.
Giacometti paused for a moment and let the whole day sink in for a moment, when he suddenly felt watched again. A flitting scheme crossed the streets and disappeared into the dark again. Not that it was unusual for prowlers of this area to remain cautious and unknown at any time, but the fox suddenly was hit by a wave of unease and tried to reach for his sword. Lerke’s words came before his eyes again. Too late - the fox was an expert at fencing, but the alcohol had slowed down his movements, his body did not react to his instincts accordingly anymore. Giacometti was able to reach the hilt of his sword, but before he could react and defend himself, he was forcefully slammed against a wall by a cloaked, heavy figure. A sharp hot pain immediately followed. The fox painfully screamed not of pain, but surprise. By the force of the impact, he could not grab his sword anymore and it fell out of reach. The unknown person pulled the sword out of the fox’s stomach and stepped back. Immediately the wounded animal reached for his wound and slumped down to the dirty ground.
“Wha-, who-“, unable to process the situation, he stuttered with widened eyes in disbelief, and felt his clothing getting soaked by hot blood. He did not feel pain, but adrenaline started rushing through his chest and ears. Giacometti expected the unknown animal to attack him a second time, but he remained still. Though, with each of his adrenaline rushes, his clouded senses cleared up again, the fox dashed forward on his knees and reached for his sword. The figure in black stepped back and turned around:
“A message from Eladio. Do not forget him another time – if you’ll ever have another chance left.”
“E- Eladio … He …?!”
Giacometti clenched his jaws together and instead of attacking the scheme, he rightfully decided to press his paws on his wounds to try stop the bleeding. The fox’s vision started to blur, his body started to numb and get cold. A puddle of dark blood gathered in the street’s gutter.
“I only came here to deliver his warning. Shall your pack gather your cold limp body off the streets, I could not care less. If you’ll make it or not, either way, you learned your lesson.” With these words spoken, the unknown scheme left the fox to die. Giacometti tried to keep calm while supressing his raising panic, but his heart kept on racing. As he was about to lose consciousness, Giacometti sent a sharp howl into the night and pleaded it was heard in time.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
A hasty decision
The overwhelmed vixen leaned against a city wall and tried to calm down herself. Her breath was erratic, her lungs felt piercing from all the exhaustive parkour she had to endure on her way. For a couple of days that felt like an eternity, she had been on her feet, crossing and leaving her familiar grounds of the “Devil’s Moss” behind, always being attentive not to draw any of the King’s roaming guards’ attention towards herself when carefully approaching the unknown Hound’s Lands. The aching hole in her heart drove her onwards.
With patience and knowledge of the terrain, she was able to bypass the Huntsmen, whose scent lingered dangerously within the air close by at any step. Their presence felt like a stepping on a thorn: One wrong step and a nasty infection could slowly spread to your body; or worse. The thought of seeing his blood pour of his body in hot streams pushed her forward.I will rip you to shreds, you bloody old bastard, you will pay for it with your dear life …And still! In consideration of her daring endeavor and way, which suddenly felt like within a blink of an eye, her plan turned out a reality: She was stunned to realize she even made it close to King Herold’s outer city walls after all!Oh Berkana, I need some rest.She looked down herself and realized that she urgently needed clothing to blend in. Larios had told her there was a large forest situated south of her viewpoint, she only needed to cross wide fields, to find herself in a little settlement that laid before the capital. The deeper she would walk into the forest, the more careful she needed to be; some of the population living amongst the trees there do not care for social rules too much she was told.Ida sighed exhaustedly.
One of those poor bastards surely would borrow her some clothing and a little bag of coins at the end of the day.***Newly dressed up, the coal vixen entered the closely located sleazy tavern and called it a long day. The young friar had advised her to try sneaking into the capital at day; the guards are said to be even more cautious at night. The facility was loud, crowded and close, but it seemed like the perfect place to hide for the night.Rising up at the early morning hours, Ida nibbled on some dry rye bread and mentally prepared for the day. Not necessarily well rested, she left the tavern and headed East; crossing wide fields, soaking in all impressions of her surroundings that could be of importance.And there it was: The guard post of the city! Ida gulped, and approached with caution. Two town guards blocked the gate: A bright fox in a red tunic with a golden brim displayed the gruesome crest of his kingdom. He was towered by the largest person she had seen in her life; the two held their halberds grabbed firmly to block the entrance at any second when necessary.“Good morning”, Ida whispered with a low voice at the fox. His ears pricked up and he stopped chatting with his companion, a giant shire horse dressed in the same robe, and turned around: “Good morning, what’s your inquiry to enter the capital?” The light eyes of the fox, which reminded her of tourmaline, examined her thoroughly but with a still somewhat friendly gaze. Looking closer at the fox, Ida realized that his face was freshly scarred, one of his arms seemed to be injured; she sniffed carefully, almost not noticeably, and gulped once more.
Oh no … can it be …?
“I asked you a question”, the fox continued with emphasis. Ida tried to regain her posture, but before she could reply, he continued in a muttered voice, “I don’t think I have seen you around before. Or have I ….?”
“I’m just a farmer’s girl from south of the Lands and- ”
“A heavily armored one I must admit”.
“I carry my sword with me to keep guys like you at bay”, she snarked and bared her teeth, “I want to finally enter the capital to buy groceries I cannot find and purchase at the forest otherwise. I wish to enter.” The stallion, having remained quiet until now, huffed amused and looked away. The vixen shook her head. She should have planned this situation better.
“Kirr, let it be, I fear you’re no match for her. You, vixen, I allow you to enter. Feel welcomed to the capital and remain civilized”, the giant spoke with an amused ring to his voice and ordered to open the gate. His companion, slightly irritated, moved his halberd out of her way.
“No, no, she’s not Fia”, he spoke under his breath.
“Fia? How come you know her?”, Gunnar laughed, as Ida passed by the two, trembling internally. Her heart felt heavy. So, this todd was the the one, who fell …? He made it, after all … what a relief …Now the capital laid before her, she could not believe she made it: Seeing the half-timbered houses surrounding the crowded streets, all the loud and foreign noises, the hustle and bustle in the streets and alleys, all the impressions hammered into her mind all at once and felt overwhelming.
Larios surely would have been able to help her find him, but doubtfully would support her endeavor, and at this time of the day, he’d sit in his scriptorium and copy books. As if stabbed by a dagger, Ida suddenly felt her heart clench painfully and sharp and nearly sank down to her feet. Stay strong girl … not now, all these watchful eyes …Aimlessly and overwhelmed, the coal vixen moved away from the gates and the eyes of the guards, trying her best to blend into the crowds. Now having made it to her destination, she did not know where to start looking for … what was his name? Tiberius? She tried to recall what Larios told her. Just thinking about this mutt made her blood boil and raise her hackles.***
The sun started to slowly sink again, painting long and dark shadows to the ground. Ida, still utterly lost, at least was able to get a better picture of what the capital looks like, a very useful information for the future.No wonder Larios tried to escape the loud city all the time, she thought, looking longingly at the sky. Maybe she should have waited a bit longer, luring the dog deeper into the swamps instead.
Being lost in thought, she took the stairs up a platform to have a better vision on the lands to let her mind wander once more.
“Fia what are you-”
Ida turned around with a puzzled expression as she felt a sudden touch to her shoulders: A young fox with sharp features and a painted face looked at her, his eyes widened when he realized his mistake. “Excuse me?”, the vixen hissed and stepped a step aside.
“Sorry about that. I was about heading home from work and mistook you for a friend of mine”, the lavender fox spoke with a smirking voice, picturing the vixen closer. Ida shook it off and rolled her eyes, “Good evening”, she brushed him off and turned away.
“I just don’t know if you’re brave or plain careless to show yourself here. What mischief are you up to, vixen?”, the fox spoke with a sharp, almost daring tone to his voice. The vixen turned around in sweat; her heart began to race; she only longed to get left in peace, but she felt painfully seen.
“How? What …?”, was all she could mutter in her speechlessness, she began getting dizzy and wanted to leave. “I know a lot about you”, the todd continued, stroking his muzzle, while enjoying the bewildered look appearing on her face, “no, don’t expect me to loose my tongue, this would be plain reckless of you. But looking at you, I’m deciding that you’re foolishly careless.”
Ida wanted to know more, but her instincts told her to leave the scene; she felt like getting paralyzed on the spot. Who was he? Did Larios tell him anything about her?
“You seem to be hard of understanding, let me help you: How did it feel passing the guards? You have guts to show up here, luckily the barber surgeon was able to stitch him back together or it would have costed your life.”
“Giacometti-“, Ida screwed out in shock.
“So, you have heard of me just as well I see”, the fox countered her and crossed his arms in defense. Ida now felt completely overwhelmed; she now not only had met Kirr, but also his outraged brother.
“I did not mean to-“
“It does not matter now, not yet. Why have you entered the capital? What are you hoping to find?”
Everything felt too much for her, she felt helplessly alone and once again regretted not luring Tiberius in an ambush instead. She did not want to spill her heart to a stranger, the emotional wounds were too deep and fresh, and yet she felt weak.
“Tiberius.”
“Tiberius?!”
“I can’t tell you more”, Ida sighed, “but I need to find him.”
Giacometti mustered the vixen just as well, for simply spying King Herold’s kingdom she was armed too heavily. The lavender fox sighed: “Don’t. Just don’t. Even if I have a bone to pick with you at a later date, I would turn a blind eye to you and let you pass this time. I’m tired and want to head home now. Whatever you’re hoping to achieve, I advise you to not search for him.”
The vixen was torn in between leaving on the spot, but the hurting memory of the dog’s ambush and her partner’s murder was too present and overpowering, “So you know where he lives, hm?”, she spokes with an equally sharp and cutting voice, “He will pay for killing my partner.”
“I’m terribly sorry for your loss”, Giacometti paused, “I truly am, but I’m afraid I can’t let you do that.”
“Are you siding with this beast now?!”, Ida snarled and approached the fox dangerously close, reaching for her sword, “I was feeling like I can’t trust you townsfolk in this matter anyway or wait for you to finally help us fight back. That’s why we need to take matters into our own hands and bare teeth.”.
Giacometti stepped back, drew his sword and fixated the hissing vixen with his piercing eyes. The fox slowly moved his head sideways in a forcing manner, signalizing she could step back and leave the situation still. The vixen however replied with a deeper growl.
“I will bring home his head, just like your King did with King Denario’s”.
“You stupid bitch, you’ve got no idea what you’re doing! I can’t let your personal squabbles interfere with our mission-”
“Personal squabbles?! Who are you to boss me around”, Ida shouted and opened the attack with a first surprisingly powerful blow, “Where is he?!”. Giacometti, not having expected the sudden escalation of the situation and the power behind her hit, replied the attack and dealt out blows; stopping only when his blade stroked over her throat. The vixen did not step back. When his sword dangerously slide down hers, Giacometti hissed and grabbed into it the black without much thinking; he felt hot blood running down his shoulders and cheek.
“Ida, stop”, he snorted tensed up and locked eyes, “not here, not now. Don’t draw more attention to us like you do already.” Ida, having heard her name, stepped back with a sudden clarity like having woken up from a dream.
“Leave now, please”, the lavender fox begged, “everything will make sense to you at a later date.”
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
Convicted
Realization of the artwork made possible by getting sponsored by Mortem_Eternum, thank you!
“Only a couple of days ago Tiberius managed to return from the woods to storm the cathedral. Listening to Demetrius’ version, the dog, spluttering with rage, attacked and tore the cardinal apart in a frenzy, barely a moment after the tom-cat entered his field of vision. He himself barely escaped.
Sir Tiberius, he out of all folks! The kingdom still was in disbelief and sheer betrayal, it was this large dog after all, their extolled hero, who managed to take on and capture King Denario in a direct duel to present him to King Herold to finally put an end this cursed werewolf’s reign! It had been this monumental event which ultimately legendized the sighthound’s rule with his helping hand. At no notice, this former loyal servant of the Church, the Church’s Dagger, broke down the heavy doors of their cathedral to slash a gaping wound into the religious heart of their community. The cardinal was dead and once again the kingdom received a reminder that their true foes lived next door amongst them all.
On the eventful evening of the killing, Sir Gregor was patrolling close to the cathedral’s forecourt when the ambush took place. The giant knight, equally impressive in size, took notice of the turmoil and interfered immediately, albeit seconds too late to save Jean-Baptiste from the dog’s crunching jaws. Surprised to get confronted by his long-term rival, Tiberius ran off into the woods but the sighthound took pursuit and was able to apprehend him in a duel. Sir Gregor had not been armored at the time of the events, to his luck his inflicted wounds were relatively minor –
Today, the beast of the many titles was muzzled once more.
Foaming and agitated; his heavy metal shackles rattled dangerously. Gone seemed his sentience, Tiberius finally seemed to have turned into a feral animal: His eyes, white and widened in raving madness, looked at the masses with a blood freezing thirst, the animal folks passing by only had become meat in his eyes. Though, he always had intimidated folks by with his large size and deadly piercing gaze, barely ever speaking a word never helped making him appear more approachable; he stoically judged everybody and reminding them of their mortal sins by his presence alone. One wrong word and he could snap at them – if not immediately, then as the King’s carnifex, the public sword and butcherer. For over a decade it had seemed that Demetrius tamed, muzzled and controlled the beast to his liking, reality however told a different story. Little did they all know.
As the sun was starting to set for the day, the market square started to fill once more. Everybody wanted to take a look at the wolf that had been living between them for so long before he shall become victim to his own sword once his public verdict has been read. The marten couple Merlin and Pyro had followed the news with amused curiosity and decided to take a look at the grand spectacle, Lerke insisted to accompany them.
“Don’t mind me”, she purred softly and ran off to pedestal on all fours in the blink of an eye. With widened eyes she climbed up the pedestal and took a look from the first row. Merlin shook his head and leaned himself against a wall.
“This child’s unstoppable”, Pyro laughed and approached her partner with a teasingly spiteful smile, “with Tiberius good as gone now, imagine the possibilities … it’ll be glorious, I want to-”
“-shush”, the beech marten insisted and raised his fist, “now it’s not the time. But I ensure you, it soon will be.”
“I get you. But do you think they’ll make good use of him though? I’d love to sew new fur to the seems of my vest, as a little compensation for our friends gone. It would look great, don’t you think? … Oh, there, look! Our lovely clergy is entering the show stage.” With flashed teeth, the pine marten’s smile became even pointier and wider. Lerke, with large eyes, started at the iron wolf mask that restricted Tiberius’ bite.
The evening mass must have ended. Demetrius approached the dog at a smart pace, just to slow down shortly in front of him. His face formed a painfully distorted, tooth baring grimace. Invisible to the eye of the many were his swiftly patched up gash wounds, now covered under the look of his new cassock. Ansgar, the parish’s former vicar, followed the cross fox closely. In his arms, Judith embarrassedly covered her face as she felt the masquerading play that was about to unfold.
“It’s your duty to pay respect to the events with your presence”, Ansgar stated firmly. She nodded wordlessly and turned her head. Many folks passed the square with either a sneer or a cold look on their faces.
Sir Gregor appeared in the gathering himself and took a bitter look at his former comrade and friend, still unable to process what exactly had happened that evening. All he knew was that once more he appeared a moment too late to change the course of history for his own good. The giant schnauzer had longed for a direct duel for countless years, this confrontation however disillusioned and shook him.
Attracted by the events unfolding, the King’s half-brother Eladio arrived on the scene as well. The two martens watched every movement happening on the square meticulously. The knight stood behind the priest and gave the humiliated dog in chains and a snide grin. Demetrius hesitated for a moment, not taking notice of all animals gathering around him, watching. In a cry for closure he reached out to his previously loyal companion once more. As the Church’s Dagger had been tied to his name for years, he felt universal blame for the cardinal’s murder resting on his shoulders. Tiberius, unable to open his mouth, started to snarl louder the closer the fox approached.
“I still don’t know how to process the events …”, Demetrius started, “The pain runs deep in my chest for you to not only have taken the cardinal’s, but my Father’s life.” Judith moaned. “I don’t understand your reasoning behind this contemptible act, nor do I believe anybody else can … you don’t know the consequences I’m now confronted with. How could you do this to me?!“, the fox finally cried out in a whimper, unable to keep posture. Pleased, Eladio took a hand to his hips. Tiberius’ inarticulate rumbling became fainter, until he rose his raspy voice: “You … “, he growled, “shut the fuck up.” The fox winced a step back and bumped into the still content looking borzoi.
“Shut your filthy lying mouth for once, you wretched son of a bitch.”
“By God! After all I have done for you, after all prayers I spoke in your name, you’re thanking me with defaming me like this-“
“-you puny, low-born leech, I did not come for the cardinal but he had been in the line of fire …”, the dog laughed in a hoarse voice, before he went silent once more. Demetrius’ eyes glared; a murmur went through the crowd. Lerke, still glued to Tiberius, screwed her face in pure amusement: ‘This is turned out even better than imagined. This is all I ever wanted to know, but to see it with my own eyes?! Fantastic, this is absolutely fantastic. Tiberius, let’s have fun --’“Demetrius, that’s enough”. The borzoi’s soft but affirmative voice made the fox’s ears perk. The priest turned around, looked up. Eladio’s eyes flashed: “Your skin is irritated today. After all, your mentor was taken from you before your very eyes and with him our reverend guide. Go home and rest. I’m sure that either Sir Gregor or I will be accorded the honor to gladly take his head once our King allows us to. For now, let him growl and spit filth.” Judith insisted Ansgar she had seen and heard enough. The face the cross fox showed to the public looked hopeless and beaten for the first time. Eladio gave him a gentle push to the shoulder and animated him to leave the scene once more.
Gleefully Lerke ran towards her family when she heard Merlin blowing a sharp whistle into her direction. She immediately rubbed her head against Pyro’s legs: “I just got a brilliant idea”, she breathed, “let Giacometti know I want to meet him in the alleys past midnight, I need to let him know about what fun little idea I came up with … “
Today’s spectacle turned out to be way more entertaining and telling than anybody had anticipated. Many of the assembled folks forged different plans to use the seize of the moment. Judith for sure had reached her goal already; Demetrius had lost his face.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
A dog that bites
“What is going on …”
“First the cardinal, now the church …”
With widely open muzzles the bystanders stood in front of the blazing cathedral and couldn’t believe what was happening in front of their very eyes. The disbelieving priest had run inside the church with a loud scream when only smoke was emerging through the roof. After he had entered, the door was slammed shut.
A pleading cry was heard shortly after, or so the animals thought to have heard through the crackling fire, before the heat inside the building let the windows’ glass burst loudly. The flames now quickly were ascending outside and were sparked even more through the heavy wind blowing. The watching crowd slowly stepped back as the radiating heat got painful and the heavy smoke burned in their lungs.
Suddenly a massive black scheme jumped through the glassless window and clinged with his massive paws to the roof top. It panted loudly and breathlessly. The curious onlookers shrinked back when they recognize the culprit. The glaring flames reflected on a blood stained dagger, sharp teeth contrasted from the gory muzzle.
“It’s not a wolf! It’s the mutt! Tiberius!”
“Tiberius is back!”
“RUN!”
The giant dog howled in blood frenzy and licked his muzzle clean before he leaped down the roof top and caused the crowd to panic, separate and run into different directions.They always had feared the wolves -- but forgot that the true monstrosities were living amongst them.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter
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In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.
Social Life
The market place
Weekly markets are a gathering place for the whole kingdom and always take place on the market square, inviting visitors and vendors from all over the kingdom and neighbouring territories to gather in one place: Merchants of many professions sell their goods such as pottery ware, perfumes, soaps, cloth and clothing, paper, baskets and the like; Farmers offer their harvested goods; fisher from near and far their fresh or salty catches, the blacksmith and tanner, among many others, offers maintenance repairment of any kind and their own wares. Birds like to sell their feathers they have lost during moulting. Those then typically are used to build arrows ...
These markets are a societal highlight and always are accompanied by musicians and gleeman and plays for entertainment. Afterwards these gleemen ask for a little monetary compensation for their entertainment.In times of extreme hunger, on the first Sunday of each new month in Herold’s Lands, individuals get chosen to “provide for the kingdom” and get butchered in large ceremonies held by the local clergy and approved by the king.Monthly spectacles take place in order to satisfy the soldiers’ and knights’ needs for locking horns, to exercise and to tire them.
Inns and taverns
Animation by Lukathekingapple
Inns and taverns play a vital role in the daily life of many. They are a popular place to gather for a chat, to socialize with yet unfamiliar faces, to form alliances or to start batteries. They offer the possibility to get a warm and hearty meal and the safe place to stay for the night. They're the beating heart of each village and town.
Curfew
It generally is forbidden for anyone (without a blessing to their cause) to leave the city walls after nightfall. The night watch usually will not stray away from the city gate, and rather hold position. Farmers are exempt from this rule, as they usually live outside of the city walls, in the direct vicinity to the gate, where their farmlands are located.More about curfew and the nightwatch HERE.
Brothels
Albeit this profession is looked down upon by the general population, brothels are another vital part of society. They are located in fixed parts of towns and cities for a better reputation at first glance. Only in marked areas it is allowed for prostitutes to promote and offer their services. They are ordered to be kept clean; the surrounding streets are watched by the nightwatch to ensure order.For prostitutes it is mandatory to show themselves wearing a yellow dress when showing themselves outside.
Art done by Shep
Coat grooming and hygiene
As towns are highly populated, hygiene is highly regarded as a social standard, not only in regards of ettiquette, but also to prevent many illnesses to spread.Every town does have public bath houses, that allow a bath to clean and relax. There barber surgeons take care of fur grooming, claw trimming, teeth pulling, and on top, offer an open ear for health concerns. They treat mild infections, perform blood letting, and offer general consulting.
In nomine is © BlueHunter & his partner. Content written by BlueHunter.