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.
Morta and Bastion: I need a piece between teenage Morta and her father, Bastion. Similar to Nona’s baby showers or Decima’s weddings, Morta experiences a funeral at least once a year. This scene takes place following one of Morta’s pseudo-deaths. She wakes from death and finds Bastion waiting for her by the Origin Well. He plucks her from her open casket and sets her on his knee like a marionette.
Morta: Teenage Morta died soon after Decima’s wedding and is still wearing her maid of honor getup. She hugs her knees to her chest, resting against her father. Morta’s always played the adult for her sisters and has been robbed of her childhood. Here, in Bastion’s presence, she lets down her hair and shares her feelings, thoughts, and concerns. She looks relieved, freed of the weight resting on her shoulders, her fears about her baby sister, Nona, and the hatred humanity feels towards her; it’s been too much for one person, even a duchess. She longs to be loved like her sisters, a duchess of fertility or one of life and love, but that’s not the hand she was dealt. Who but family and the criminally insane could ever love death?
The knife dangles from her nape, an unstrung doll string and a neglected implement. The blade rusts because she hasn’t used it in many months…
Bastion: He consoles her, his many arms hovering above her shoulders from beneath his cloak. She’s vulnerable, swayed by his words and paternal bond. He knows just the right strings to pluck and cords to tune. Morta is desperate for someone to lean on, to be held when she has nightmares, to be tucked into bed, sung a lullaby, and offered a glass of warm milk. She wants to be the child she never got to be, and Bastion knows it. A doting father, an absentee guardian, and a thoughtful groundskeeper. The architect of fate wears many faces and plucks many strings. Morta is being manipulated, but she doesn’t care. She’s relieved to be with someone who loves her, even if it's all pretend.
In a way, this scene is equal parts heartwarming and tragic.
Background: We are in the cathedral in front of the Origin Well, and Morta’s open casket lies next to them. Something comes up from the well in the background, an eerie, shadowy tendril that beckons to an oblivious Morta. Something terrible waits in the darkness, a ruined city, and the horrific Zygotes…