Warframe: Depowered (Medieval Frame) [6/26: Warframe: The Iron Age Sneak Peek! Ember, The Pyromancer]

[ForgemasterHD]

Haha, thanks, guys. Don't worry about the upvotes, really: I do this cause I felt I needed to get it out of my system. If I didn't draw it, I probably couldn't sleep. (Some of them were actually works done in the middle of the night).

 

Yeah, Ash is definitely one of the lighter units I intend to draw, but Ninjas are too light to be interesting, if you get what I mean.

 

 

Just drawing this with a helmet over it is kinda lackluster :P  Gotta go through the drawing board!

If I may, You could probably get away with A chainmail chest piece, with armor along his arms, and below the knees. A couple of belts along his hip, a blade on his back or hip and I think you'd be set.

[Borkvah]

Dude, this is some incredible stuff, i would so love to see some lore tales for this :)

[FatViking]

That's if the Lotus was the head of the Ten'ou... Hell she might not even be the one behind the sundering. That individual might just drop them into the era with little more then an "IOU an explaining" and let them wing it. Having to piece what happened from the locals who'd they have to gain their trust cause Saving a city is one thing. They are still associated with the guys that betrayed the Empire. for the Maddening powers of the Void -or just for fun... Yeah one of the Fallen is THAT guy-

 

Excalibur would be the one of the few remaining Brother Captains -as opposed to Warframe's Excalibur being the newly awakened rookie- Thus he bears the burden of leadership and must decide what the Ten'ou should strive for in this new era. Restoring the Empire? Rebuilding the Ten'ou? Protecting the current nations? or Bringing divine justice to the Fallen ones? Making matters worse is he doesn't have the same camaraderie as his Sci-fi version. Basically only meeting the Three other Tenno - Mag, Loki and Rhino, The agreed on starter frames- for the first time in Haelm. So not only does he have other people to deal with... he has to gain his fellow ten'ou's respect as well.

 

-The other Tenno are awakened at the same time but in different regions and areas and not to a such a major attack-

 

 

Mag goes from being the heart and Excalibur's childhood friend-who is oblivious to Her massive crush on him- to The near emotionless Kuudere warrioress. While Mag tends to be seen as the most passive aggressive of the Fem frames in Warframe. Fantasy Mag is more direct, If something needs to be done she is generally one of the first to act. She still keeps her the" glue that holds the group together" aspect.... but its in a more Mother Lion way.

 

Essentially she goes from...

 

The one you can cry with

and cries too you

 

to

 

You wonder if she even does cry-she does... on the inside when no ones looking!-

 

 

 

Loki, Loki is still pretty much the smart guy of the bunch, being more analytical and logical then the rest. However while Warframe Loki was more insufferable genius, a tactical prodigy and at times vastly cold and logical -I still don't really grasp what it means for others to die- and liking to lord over you with the fact he knows his smarter then the rest combined. Fantasy Loki is more grounded in that his Knowledge comes from living in the world. He is still the badass bookworm but instead of treating you like an idiot for not knowing... He loves the fact he can get to talk about something -His kinda of motor mouth now but hey he has that voice you'd listen to for hours anyway!- He is the most "bro" to Excalibur -IE Excalibur screws up... Loki doesn't write him off as a failure or jump to the "Unfit for command" cause mistakes come and go, His got plenty of them... which he'll gladly tell you about... He seems almost proud of his idiot phase-  He'd be the oldest of the starting four

 

 

But wait... If Loki goes from the snarky genius to the Brotastic Knowledge giver... What about Rhino!

 

I always saw Rhino as Loki's opposite, While Loki is Intelligent and Logical, Rhino is Grounded and Wise. Rhino is the rock the team stands on. Serving as the pillar to keep them on track. Big Bro Frame basically.

 

Weeeellll

 

Fantasy Rhino is ahem a bit umm how do  I put this... **** here is the easy way to say it

 

He went from Stoic, calm, humble and brotherly too

 

 

with a heavy does of

 

and yes that be his Taunt pose, Come at me bros!

 

Oh yeah... Since Melee would be a more prominent component... The person with Titan like strength, the ability to shrug off blows and with a Elf pedigree of Kings -his only a 1/4 human on his mothers side- - He comes from a long line of #$&(% Primes!-

 

Fantasy Rhino is high on his own Egotism -Meaning he is basically Gilgamesh who went to the Gym more, personality wise- The ladies flock to him, People are generally just in awe of his power and ability to laugh in the face of overwhelming odds -

 

" WHICH OF YOU IS THE MOST FEARSOME BASTARD IN THIS RAGGISH LOT? I NEED AN OPPONENT THAT I ATLEAST CAN CALL SOMEWHAT A CHALLENGE

 

-The Biggest mother ****ing beast comes rampaging down the town lane-

 

"-sighs- I guess you'll have too do.

i love how you described their personality, especially the personality of Rhino and Loki *o*

[Calayne]

Lol, Frostwolf, that is one MAJOR HUGE blurb you got! Very nice descriptions of the characters, too!

 

I definitely always thought of Loki as the older brother sort, and I always considered him the tactical genius and the strategist. But as for the hiearchy of Warframes... 

 

I never considered them to be the talkative sort, and I never envisioned them doing any talking, if at all, in fact. The transmission of thought and purpose would be done through Lotus, and they're all professional, though still very much human. Since they're accustomed to seeing each other plainly, and there's nothing to hide between one another, I always thought they would trust one another implicitly: Like true comrade in arms.

 

After all, if they came from the Void together, they must have spent time in the void together. They're a cohesive military force, I feel, and don't need any patching up, or worrying about emotional outbursts. 

 

I thought of this: The Ten'ou (We're totally making this the official name for Fantasy/Medieval Frame) come from different regions of the planet, and were selected by The Lotus during the first war, after a disastrous near-defeat. The Void was a training and proving grounds of the first batch, and while hundreds, if not thousands, were chosen, only a dozen survived. Not gonna spoil who I think come from where, but it'll become plenty obvious when their designs are revealed. Loki is Nordic, as is obvious, and Excalibur is English, obviously, though I'm not keeping too much into the historical designs of their helmets and armour.

 

But anyways, Exaclibur is definitely a central character, though I hesitate to call him leader, per se: He leads the charge, does well overall and rallies the troops, but I don't see him needing to make decisions like that: Lotus does that for them, and they more or less trust her and each other. 

 

To be honest, I was already thinking of a story for the theme, though I'm reasonably sure that writing it would do a disservice to the story: Rather, I'll be doing a story board of it, along with another comic project I had in mind for the four starter frames. 

[Calayne]

Weapons, armour and accessories. Can't see very much, from here. Basically, the concept revolves around knightly gear, though leaning more towards an adventurous side, rather than of nobility, so I decided to give him a hooded cloak, which he sheds during battle. The three blades he carries around are his only weapons, and he lacks any form of range equipment, as befitting a sword master.

 

Wielding the greatsword (Dubbed Excalibur, his namesake), to devastate un-armoured or lightly armoured targets, he can also dual wield it with his one-handed sword (Named Avalon) to a small extent to provide some versatility. More often than not, against heavily armoured opponents, Excalibur resorts to finesse and skill to slip past armour with the point of Avalon, penetrating vital organs without resorting to brute strength.

 

He is also a master of close-combat fighting, and his dagger is by no means only a last resort. Closing in to grapple targets when duelling one-to-one, he employs various locks on his opponent before a quick and fatal strike of his razor-sharp dagger on a vital point.

 

He also has a sun-symbol, with the Lotus insignia engraved on its face. "Hail Solaris. Hail Lotus." is carved on the back.

 

 

 

 

[ForgemasterHD]

HNNNNG

[Calayne]

OH MY GOD, CALL A DOCTOR! WE GOT A SEVE-HNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNNGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGGG!!!!!!

[FrostWolf]

-Snip-

 

 

 

The trap with that set up... is you run the risk of making the Ten'ou Characters blur together. They're not characters they're  fighting styles that can be used interchangeable. Its something I've done before, and hated myself for doing so in retrospect.

 

if you have different setting with the potential for lots of twists and turns, Why try to preserve Lotus and the Tenno's dynamic into it.   I mean unless you have really cool spin to it., it seems very much, you want the same focal figure in place. You want the Status Quo for the Tenno to be the Status Quo for the Ten'ou... So Why? Why just be the minions of the Lotus again?

 

Lotus is for lack of a better term the Generalized personality of the Tenno. Granted the Tenno started off as Player avatars so Lotus worked since you wouldn't have very pronounced or distinct personas. -granted the issues has come back since they want to make the Tenno more individual-

 

 

Making her the hivemind again is just retreading something that's been done. It looks more like you want the Ten'ou to be more blank slants for Players -IE they project their personas onto the character- then have them be distinct.  Now if that's what you want. That's okay.

 

However if you want more distinct personas... how do their persona's come out then? Cause you can only Do so much with Bouncing off the Villains and NPCs who will have to have much stronger personas.

 

 

Lets ask a set of questions and you'll see where my concerns are.

 

Why would Excalibur be a central character?

 

If his not the leader or trying to be since Lotus makes all the decisions for them -A Leader is some one who must make decisions- and they all just agree with her choices, What sets him apart from the rest,

Edited October 21, 2013 by FrostWolf

[Calayne]

Haha, well, those are fair points made, and I do think that one doesn't need to keep with the Lotus being their voice and head thing. But what I think you may have misunderstood is that just because they don't talk, doesn't mean I don't think they have character. That's quite akin to saying mutes are people with absolutely no character, and I find that to be quite untrue.

 

Sure, they may not talk much, if at all, but I think how they communicate with one another can be portrayed through their gestures: Which is why I said a graphical media would be much better suited for that. Their body language, the little cues to show that they prefer the company of some over the other. They're a professional sort, sure, but I do still think they are people deep down. Well, sort of. They're blood-curdling demon hounds trained in another dimension, but that's beside the point.

 

And when they do speak, if ever, it will be for something they truly believe in, if they were to break their vows of silence. The Ten'ou will speak for different things: Some out of despair, some out of rage, but never do they speak lightly. It's a commodity and a luxury people take for granted, and I think as characters in such a serious life, they've learned not to waste their breath. Especially not when they can just mind-link.  :P

 

As to why Excalibur is considered a central character... Like I said, he leads the charge, and he rallies the troops, though they need little of either to begin with: They know their sh*t. But I see him as the character with the strongest will power, the most charismatic of the warframes, because... Well, he's the stereotypical hero, and he's got Slash dash. But Loki is still the smartest of the bunch, and he'll defer to Loki when it comes to strategy and tactics, while Loki relies on Excalibur's courage and strength of personality to pull off the truly dangerous, suicidal, life-or-death manoeuvres. Mag and Trinity are still the emotional support when they need it. They're all close as a unit, sure, but I'd still definitely love for more chemistry between characters. Just less speech.

 

Though, you may be right with the Lotus and leadership bit. But there's one thing I do still need her for: Relaying information between Ten'ou, and, for the sake of the readers, having someone explain what goes on. I'm partly inspired by your time-line post on top, probably will do it as if it's a record of the Ten'ou, seen in hindsight. I'm not sure if Excalibur should be clearly defined as a leader in that sense, though: They all have their own opinions, and they should clearly reach a consensus as a team. But perhaps that Excalibur-leader dynamic only comes about when everyone cannot come to a single decision, and he speaks for them.

[ForgemasterHD]

White kind of materials do you use? It doesn't look like you ink your drawings.

[Calayne]

Haha, that's quite the eye you have, Forgemaster.

 

Well, I normally do (did) if I have time, but these are pretty much just 0.5 and 0.3 HB and 2B mechanical pencils. I used to ink, when there was more time, but I can no longer afford the technical pens I normally use (I need to get three or four, usually, for a good distinction between lines), and inking has me doing another level of work, and I actually do draw the body underneath it, before adding armour, piece by piece, and then playing with it before setting it in 2B. 

 

It's really crazy amounts of work, and it requires a certain style in mind before I pull it off. Mostly because ink has only black-or-white, but lead has many, many shades of grey. More than fifty, I would say.

[ForgemasterHD]

I prefer pencils, my problem is my drawings smudge easily. Yours seem very crisp and well-drawn. I would rather draw all in pencil myself.

 

That said, thank you for the information. :)

[Scyfle]

Excal 2.0 looks awesome. He looks like a king in armor.

[FrostWolf]

-snip

 

 

Snake Eyes, Jericho and We Three prove you can do a fully fleshed out mute character/cast. Hell Fantasy Banshee being mute was trait I tossed around when I decided to make Rhino a High Elf Prick! The visualization is however crucial, Do you show facial expressions? How "hard" is the armor to allow for very subtle movements to be shown. ETC ETC

 

It seems you want a General Feeling to the Ten'ou as whole, its very 40k Space Marine/Spartan...and its kinda turning me off to the idea. I mean I saw where you were gonna go the moment you used the "Lotus elite trained in seclusion" as your origin process. A vow of silence and mindlinking  You're really not humanizing them your making them as inhuman as their Tenno counterparts seem.

 

 

Level with me...

You just don't do dialogue. "I need the Lotus to be the all knowing exposition giver!"

 

No you don't, wouldn't allied persons be qualified  sources of info since they've lived through the hell... That would require dialogue and actually having other people interact with the Ten'ou which you seem to want to be that enigmatic  island unto themselves that Mere mortals can't understand. Maybe its all the DS9 and Farscape I've been watching I just can't be excited for a &*$$genized group with all the kinks worked out.

 

The mindlink... well logically if their mindlinked you shouldn't have expo dumps anyway unless you do the Telling them something they should already know and if that's happening... you might as well have them talk to them each other.

 

I'm sorry, the Professionals = Silent Badass = Zzzz... Even 40k Space Marines Joke and shoot the **** with each other... The Memorable ones anyway.

Why do they have a vow of silence in a combat order? That makes no damn sense. I mean if it was an intimidation tactic -The Persian Immortals- I could see it, but A key  Villain shows up and they just ... or let Lotus Sass at him/her.

 

It is your project, and I can only give my opinion, IDK Some of your lore choices aren't really Thrilling form a long road point of view. essentially you're making your narrative dependent on outside characters or the Villains.

 

I guess I'm more worried, cause I asked for Excalibur as a character... and you gave me the answer in the form of how he functions as part of the group. Who is he as an individual? If he was tree what type of tree would he be! Your characterizing the group and the Individuals are just cogs in the machine.

 

That's what bugging me about your approach has this very... I can't think of the word.  This isn't even about the dialogue thing, you can pull that off. Complete silence with just motions to tell the story completely doable! Its something I couldn't do.

 

Let me just lay it out.

 

They all come from the same training background!

Okay, offscreen true companionship... don't get to see that grow. just accept it.

 

They're all  completely devoted to each other as True brothers in arms and Trust the Lotus completely.

No inter character conflicts okay

 

They're all real quiet and only share info via mindlink with each other.

No one has secrets -which is bull ****- and are serious most of the time. Limited to no interaction with NPCs okay

 

Let me guess they do a mission and get sucked back into the Void so they don't have to interact with the outside world cause that's pretty much the only thing that's missing.

 

It basically just the Tenno... with a high fantasy paint job. There is no real distinct difference other then Magic instead of Tech. Orcs instead of Grineer.

 

It seems your very against having them be relatable human in any real substantial way... and only want them human in a very abstract sense of the word.

 and that's just not really exciting or interesting from a characterization point of view.

 

I mean its interesting from the view of Kickass Warriors killing High Fantasy horrors in super awesome ways but that only lasts so long.

 

Edited October 22, 2013 by FrostWolf

[Calayne]

@Forge Master: Try using mechanical pencils more lightly. Pressing too hard against paper tends to smudge the graphite core and when your hand runs over it, it'll smudge, too. And if you can't avoid that, put a piece of paper under your hand, while you're working on parts where your hands will touch the completed areas.

 

And @FrostWolf:

 

Well, those are fair points, certainly. I can see why you'd be concerned, and to be honest, I never did quite imagine that they'd have contact with allies outside their own circle. If that were the case, they'd certainly start talking to allies who don't have mind-links. 

 

But the idea is this: Like you've pointed out, characters can be quite fleshed out based simply on actions. And one can already tell what sort of a person Master Chief is, though he hardly even speaks. And the point is that instead of relying heavily on shouting at each other, the bosses and anything that asks for an &#!-kicking or making long, verbal jokes, the Ten'ou just go about their business... During business. This hasn't exactly included down-time yet.

 

If you want a Dragon-Age or Dungeons and Dragons style universe, it's totally possible to write a story in such a manner. Personally, I think it'd definitely be a world more interesting, and you can see other characters rather than just the Ten'ou. But the suggestion that they become less than human just because they don't talk to anyone, have no conflicts among one another and seem to display no emotion is strange. "Substantial" is really quite subjective, in this sense. I believe what matters more is the writing and portrayal, rather than just what is said.

 

I do have to mention the context of this story I had in mind: It isn't exactly ported to any of the other fantasy universes yet, or has any other factions. The theme is that the Ten'ou are alone, and that they're just beginning to fight on a planet that has already been taken over by oppressive forces. A la Warframe. Survivors are hiding, or are held in prison camps. They wage a war to recover the planet. A la Warframe. 

 

However, it's not an exclusive idea. Ideas are not monogamous in fan-fiction. You can really just portray them as you like, and it's just as valid: In as many realms as we want, settings as we want, and so on. 

[Calayne]

Ash concepts:

 

May have seen this coming, but Ash is a ninja. Demon assassin of the group, with penchant towards espionage. Armed to the teeth, he's able to sneak deep into enemy strongholds to obtain whatever information is necessary, or to silence critical enemy personnel. Espionage is not his only skill, however. In a full-scale battle, Ash can dual wields his katana and wakizashi, closing in after harassing his opponents with his throwing stars, the Hikou. He also uses his katana in one hand, while using his kunai in the other as a parrying weapon or a projectile if necessary.

 

[yuikami]

Ohhh I really love this concept of Ask one. Medieval fan unite!

[Kaian-a-coel]

\o/

[Calayne]

Oh my God, it's Yuikami. H- hello!! 

 

Haha, I'm surprised you like Ash's design. Looking back on it isn't nearly as satisfying as when one's actually drawing it, strangely. If you don't find it rude for me to ask, I'm actually curious to know what you think of the designs. I honestly think I could use an opinion.

[sirwarriant12]

Ash concepts:

 

May have seen this coming, but Ash is a ninja. Demon assassin of the group, with penchant towards espionage. Armed to the teeth, he's able to sneak deep into enemy strongholds to obtain whatever information is necessary, or to silence critical enemy personnel. Espionage is not his only skill, however. In a full-scale battle, Ash can dual wields his katana and wakizashi, closing in after harassing his opponents with his throwing stars, the Hikou. He also uses his katana in one hand, while using his kunai in the other as a parrying weapon or a projectile if necessary.

 

:D   :D   :D    :D    :D    :D   :D   :D   :D    :D    :D    :D AWESOME!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!

[Calayne]

Haha, thanks. Next update will be in a couple of days to a week. Think I'll do Frost next, then Mag, Trinity and Banshee.

[ForgemasterHD]

I suggest reading this thread with this music playing in the background for maximum epic:

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

 

Edited October 23, 2013 by ForgemasterHD

[Calayne]

What's with the thick bar of empty space, though? :O

 

Man, there was a quote, I think I read somewhere from another topic on the forums by Ralph Waldo Emerson: "In art, the hand can never execute anything higher than the heart can imagine". 

 

The music makes me think of what I'd do with the story if I could animate it in 3D. It's just crazy. So many ideas, I think all of you are just bursting with them, like me. Almost makes me want to change courses. 

 

... Almost. ;x

[Calayne]

Trying out my old tablet: Seeing so many awesome digital art tempted me to give the old lady another try. Here's the work-in-progress piece:

 

[Calayne]

For ease of viewing, I'll be putting this here, and then linking the post later on as an archive! 

 

Hailing from the land of the rising sun, Ash is a honed blade of the Tenno: Master spy and assassin, he is feared by those who have reason to earn his wrath. Death comes silently and swiftly as he creeps forth from the shadows, as the winds whisper his name: "Ash, the Doom-bringer; Ash, the Blood-letter." Only a flicker of realisation comes upon his victim as his depraved visage falls upon them before a final, flickering glint of steel. And then, quiet.

 

Those who die, don't see him. Those who see him, die. Death awaits you.