Project Vérbőr

Lore

"A world fractured in half, two different beliefs, two different bloods".

The Albino people are forced to live in the remote recesses of the continent, closer to nature and its forces, establishing their own villages far from the more developed communities of men and their envy. The nature of their conflict arises from "The Use", the ability of albinos to channel the strength of the four natural elements to exploit them to their advantage in life and battle.

The eternal disparity between the populations of Albinos and those of men has taken root in the religious fervor of the latter. This Cult is based on the mythical feud that occurred between the two creator divinities of the human race: their belief claims that one of the two Gods took away from his brother the possibility of controlling the elements, keeping them all for himself and guaranteeing to his human offspring the ichor or black blood, while the half of the betrayed God was taken away.

The Albino warriors of the Svarog, users of fire, the Nogara, users of water, together with the Vilas and the Erd, users of air and earth, strenuously oppose the persecutions of the Cult of the Betrayed God, aided by the forces of nature.

Who knows the truth hidden behind the warmongering creed of men?

The Svarog

The most tribal and perhaps frowned upon people, prefer places with sources of constant heat, such as the slopes of an active volcano, however it is very important that there are abundant sources of water to support the use of their abilities.

At the foundation of each of their communities, the eldest member takes the hottest body from a magmatic source, which will be the fulcrum of the perpetual flame, protected and fueled by the Vestals, to guarantee good fortune and prosperity. Their dead are bled out of their ichor and burned on funeral pyres, usually placed in high places. Their people are perceived from the outside as destroyers, but they see Fire as a creative and birthing force before anything else; the origin of vital energy itself.

Their skin takes on the color of cold embers with the advancing of age and use of flames, the extremities of the body tend to be darker and shinier when they act as conductors. They are completely hairless, the hair follicles of the body are burned, now the pores disperse excess body heat via jets of hot steam. In addition to cooling themselves, they need to drink plenty of water to keep body fluids and soft tissues at a stable temperature. Some tend to wear white masks to maintain some resemblance of their natural albino appearance, while others resort to more radical methods,abrading their skin with salamander slime. Whether hidden by their masks or not, their eyes cry constantly, with dark almost indistinguishable pupils and irises.

Sholeh

The idea behind the character was to use composition and shapes that communicate firmness, composure, but also power and resolution. I wanted his appearance to communicate his advanced age, but at the same time exude reverence. Sholeh is the first character I created for this project: getting him out of my mind was an incredibly fun challenge to complete, honing my skills and techniques.

Since the first variations and iterations of Sholeh's clothing, the idea was to base myself on the practicality of the character: he doesn't dress up particularly, he always carries with him only what is necessary, whether useful or symbolic.

Fire Salamanders, Lavic Amphibians

Fire salamanders commonly live in volcanic territories, surrounded by streams of incandescent lava and solidified magma. There are not many natural predators to this creature, however they have an excellent bioluminescent camouflage system that allows them to camouflage with the surrounding environment, especially in the eyes of voracious flying predators. Among the main attributes that characterize these lava amphibians are an innate resistance to fire and heat and the secretion of acidic saliva that these creatures use to dig their nests in lava rock. This last characteristic is also the one that mainly determines their presence among the Svarogs, who use this irritating and acidic property to whiten their skin for cosmetic purposes.

Having imagined this world with precise rules and a hard magic system from the beginning, the idea with this little creature was to make it as plausible and believable as possible. I didn't deviate too much from a real salamander, iterating only on the upper part of the head and forking the tail, imagining it could use it to camouflage itself among the smaller streams of lava. I had a lot of fun working on it.

Tahra

My most recent creation. With this character I pushed myself beyond my limits, using more photobashing than the other works in this entry, which is my favorite rendering technique. I had the image of him in my mind: an ethereal figure, capable of communicating sacredness, mystery and silence. I really enjoyed working on this one.

Although I had the idea from the beginning of making Tahra an elusive and mysterious character, I still explored different possibilities, delving into real-life references of real vestal priestesses' outfits from ancient Greece. The problem was that they were more functional than "ethereal", bringing the character too close to that of Patriarch Sholeh, leading me to discard the possibility of using that type of ceremonial clothing.

It's only the beginning...

Thank you all for the attention and consideration you have given to the prelude to what will one day be an even larger and more layered project, rich in characters, creatures, places and their compelling stories. I thank all of you again, my classmates in the master's degree in concept art, my friends and all those who support me along this path!