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.
Seeking to end the war with a decisive strike, Persephone abandons her usual subtlety and assaults Icarus head-on. But Icarus anticipated this. In preparation, he resurrects his most dreaded design, the Wyrm.
These creatures are not mere weapons. They are living catastrophes, Lovecraftian dragons that breathe fire hot enough to fuse sand into shimmering glass. Once, Icarus had relied on them to secure his greatest victories. Since then, he’d sworn never to shape them again. Their return now is both a deadly insult and a rare honor, for he deems Persephone a true threat, though still several wars away from becoming his equal.
There are few Wyrms, but each is a mountain unto itself. Persephone throws the full might of her brood against just one: Orcas of all sizes, her fiercest children, swarm and harpoon the beast in a frenzy of desperation. When at last it falls, shattered and bleeding black ichor across the sands, she raises her head in triumph.
And sees nothing but despair.
From the mountain above, Icarus descends astride a twin-headed wyrm, its eyes burning like suns. Behind him, three more wyrms emerge from hiding; silent, patient, and deadly.
Cornered and depleted, Persephone spends the last of her brood in a reckless distraction. As the battlefield erupts behind her, she launches herself forward, cutting through fire and ruin, aiming for Icarus with a singular goal:
To cut off the serpent’s head before it devours her whole.