Gooday everyone,
Welcome to the Deacon Corner. If you’re new here, this space dives into the inspirations behind the images you’ll find throughout the books on these pages. What began as a place to share commission breakdowns has grown into something more. In addition to detailing how each piece came to life, you’ll now find expanded chapter notes, lore entries, and my own black-and-white concept illustrations which are raw glimpses into the ideas that shaped this world before they fully took form.
Before we begin, it’s important to say that none of the beautiful stylized images found in the hard and soft copies of these books would exist without the incredible talent of Sickjoe who is quite literally the heart and soul of this visual world. If you appreciate his work as much as I do, I highly encourage you to visit his gallery and explore more of his creations.
Now, without further ado, let’s take a look at the featured image and learn a bit more about the lore hidden in this chapter.
We'll be using adult Morta for this commission and all her prior points apply save for a few minor differences detailed below.
Igor: He is Morta's personal attendant and was made from her rib. He is technically an advanced Gnatu similar to Bastion and armed to the teeth. As he is an older model, his camera lens is dated and he looks far more menacing. Morta had a hand in his design and she was inspired by mythological interpretations of the pale horse with a healthy enthusiasm for spiders. Igor is a mechanical cross between a horse and a black widow. Eight legs with hooves instead of paws, fangs, a mane made of extension cords, and an abdomen of interchangeable parts, gears, and spinning screws.
In this scene, Morta is riding on his back side saddle. Igor is about the only creature/person/thing that she acts lady-like for, dropping her usual cold demeaner and letting her hair down. Igor is Morta's pale horse and he is a force to be reckoned with especially to anything that might threaten his mistress.
As for the background, Morta's home is her personal battleship, the Yamato. An old historical Japanese battleship that sunk when its munitions hold exploded. The Gnatu have stitched the remains of this battleship into the garden and Morta patrols its halls on the back of Igor, lost in thought. The other Gnatu are terrified of her and hide beneath every crack, crevice, empty bullet casing, and loose porthole they can find.