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.
In the hidden archives of the Scholars, Star Charts breathe and pulse like living creatures, organic parchments imbued with the restless will of the devourer. When unfurled, their surfaces convulse with subtle life: veins of mucus ooze like slug-trails, and constellations drift beneath translucent layers of shifting ink.
Felix receives a sacred scroll depicting Ursa Minor. To a Resonant like him, the stars loom in three dimensions, as real as the dusty shelves and antique tombs that surround him. He can feel the void between the points, a bone-chilling emptiness that creeps along his spine.
Because Felix is bound to Leviathan Sitis—the monstrous wyrm coiled in the Bear’s belly—he can decipher the beast’s path. The ritual is as grim as it is precise: with a knife, he scores the flesh of the scroll. The parchment bleeds, and where the crimson scab forms points the way Sitis will stir next among the stars.
As the fresh wound seals itself, the chart twists, and realigns. Felix’s heart hammers as he traces the glistening scar, knowing that each map is both guide and oracle, an unpredictable, living thing that can heal, shift, and even rebuke its reader if misused.