@@placeholderdoe This is less "fanasy", and more of just some genre bending, GOURMET, conceptualization and masterful artwork. This world reminds me of Scorn and Kenshi.
the birds are a super cool touch i can imagine they have a almost naturally formed symbiotic relationship the birds circle bodies allowing the rat catcher to locate fresh materials and the birds get acess to more easily cut meat that they dont have to spend time pecking at into small pieces to eat.
"the mud hides more than it shows" gave me a mental image of what, seen through the early-morning fog, looks like nothing more than the stump of a small tree growing out of a mound in middle of the field, only for that mound to rise up, and it become clear that this stump was actually the hat of a tall, wide creature, and the mound was its tatty old robes
This was....a lot. From design to the story. The creative process showed the care and irritation of the creator, the amount of ink, and led on paper just showed so much, it was as if the rat catcher moved each stroke, equal parts deterring the artist from their own creation, but assisting just enough to allow the creator to chase this morbid yet beautiful high. Every thing about this world has enticed me to seek more, its so beautiful.
Monstergarden, do you ever finish a video and think, "Aaaah that was a really good one!" I hope you do, because this video is the second of yours I've ever seen and I love it like hell.
...I am in awe of the implications of the magic/mana system. Also, it makes sense for carrion type birds to a literal "corpse picker." And even if you change it, it's a funeral concept to work around! (◠‿◕)
You are really talented artist, I'm saying that because you could've given up but you didn't you improved and now you managed to draw a masterpiece and the story is very good I personally adore the grim world building you use as inspiration for your art you should continue with this world its really interesting. So please continue making videos about this grim yet magical and very beautiful world and all the characters within it
I meant to say you are not as talented as some other and yet you still improve and one day very, very soon you will come to level were no one will be able to say anything bad about your art
@@markojovanovic6398 thank you for the encouragement. I will keep going and try to improve my art. but There will always be people that dont like it that is just a part of it.
Meerschaum, pronounced meer-shawm, is an interesting magnesium silicate called sepiolite that is naturally soft and easy to carve until exposed to heat. It is porous and floats on water, so it absorbs the tar of the tobacco changing it's color over a long time from white to yellow, orange, and then red. Mined in Turkey and carved in Vienna, the material quickly replaced the more common clay pipes. Sepiolite is also used in cat litter 😉
Itd be cool if the glute he plays is only audible for rats, so he isn't noticed by humans, but if you pay attention, a soldier could see the rats freaking out.
I love the idea of the wind whistling through the rat catchers stolen fingers, making this gentle sort of haunting hollow sound (think like a quiet Khaen) as he moves across flat windy fields. Makes me think surviving mages would be slightly terrfied of that noise.
[I really like this character and I think he lends himself well to verse so I wrote a nursery rhyme for young mages to learn] Across the moors, the Ratcatcher comes To call his darlings in from the cold. He plucks the trinkets from their thumbs With bloodied hands, impossibly old. If you should spy him in the field Or in your dreams at night. His hook-like crutch he's sure to weild And snatch you from the fight. Across the moors the Ratchatcher comes Flanked by corvids, feathered, black. We'll soon become his sorry sons And, once we do, we won't come back.
I never knew how much I liked this type of fiction - dark fantasy I think it would be called. Dark, gritty, muddy, with an archaic atmosphere. I was transfixed by this video, it's a masterpiece of fantasy design and storytelling. What I would give to read a book in this style and with such characters...
The way you recite this tale is almost song-like in your rythm and passion. Not only are you a impressive artist and story writer, but a remarkable orator as well.
I think it might've been cool if he didn't just hang the thimbles on his arms, but each of those was actually on an extra finger. Like he has been eating so much tar that the extra fingers have grown all the way down his forearms, so now they look like overgrown twigs. Would also give him motivation for taking the thimbles, he's actively using them so he expects to amplify his power, tying back to his power hunger. Take it or leave it, but anyways! The concept on this one is insane, I've always liked "Leichenfledderer"-characters (body-looters in english, but that's a specific german term for "people who rob the fallen specifically after/during a battle") and the idea for the tar is messed up in the best possible way! Loved the video throughout, great job!
I think that this could work well but with a twist Thimbles alow you to cast magic ok But that doenst mean more Thimbles = stronger spell There is 2 good options 1: more thimbles passed a certain number (like more than 11) muntiply the power of the spell in a HUGE level, but the mana usage is Proportionally bigger (like the power is 4x but the cost is 5x) Meaning the most pratical aplication of this is multiple mages combine their thimbles to make launch a devastating spell 2: more thimbles doest mean more power but less "heat" like not only you need mana to cast the spell but also wait for the thimble "cool down" With better materials you can make thimbles that cool down faster But you can compensate this with the Amount 3: because he have a huge amount of them, he can cast a gigantic amount of diferent spells, so much that sometimes not even him can know what exactly gonna come out of his fingers (for a boss fight for example)
I wish I could draw like you one day. I’ve barely managed a style of flat and conventionally attractive characters. But my current character idea is absolutely not that. Absolutely love being able to see your reference images and how they work into your ideas. It’s make my own art more creative and I’m happier with it
Tolkien would love you. In a different universe, you two could've forged the most elaborate and amazing fantasy universe. I think Lord of the Rings and most fantasy worlds would be all the better had you been involved. You are so full of talent!
I believe this character would work great in a visual media, just a silent mysterious figure in the background doing something sinister and the viewer has no idea what to expect from him
I wonder if the crows that accompany him are there to eat the skin that sloughs off his hands as he casts his spells, and the parts of the mages he doesn't take for himself
Monstergarden I love this channel. The lore of the world is super intriguing and a fresh concept i've never heard before. I have a suggestion though regarding the name of the rat catcher. It certainly fits the vibe of the character, but I wonder if there is any way to include rats into his character somehow. A rat catcher's job is to capture pests namely rats. My idea for fitting the name to his character is that he views war and the sides that wage it as pests as he is not loyal to either side. He is disgusted at the depths at which people would go for mana. Thus he views the corpses of the fallen not as human, but as filthy rats plaguing the land and by collecting tar he is selling his services to any who will pay thereby receiving the name by those on the battlefield as the Rat Catcher.
An encounter with the rat catcher: My old man was drafted to fight the opposing army in the civil war. I knew this day would come, after all i was born into this conflict. my father had always had a penchant for fire magic and was regarded as such being considered a pillar in the community. But thats all in the past now, Rickter, his ashy shepard companion, returns with his journal and a letter of condolence regarding his death on the field of battle. It reads "your father did what no one else was willing to do. the few of us there were left to save owe our lives to him. we sent Rickter ahead to deliver his journal of magical research to you we hope it reaches you in good faith". I tend to Rickters wounds, hes a tough mutt but mangled nonetheless. My fathers journal contains everything knows of fire magics, he always said he would teach me the way of fire but i never thought it would be like this, it is what it is i suppose. Flipping through the journal he mentions that without a powerful catlyst and years of magical experience fire magic at this caliber he describes can easily kill a man at the cast of a single spell, I take it as a mere challenge. As im searching for wood i can use as a catlyst for an environmental cast i think "this would be much more simple with fathers thimble". i realize it must remain on his corpse. the thimble that i considered to be my birthright is now sitting in the middle of a barren battlefield just rusting away, i refuse to stand idley by and allow that to happen. so i gather up a flint, steel, oil, some firewood, give rickter a kiss goodbye and set off to take whats rightfully mine. Ive been following our armys trail for days. corpses of neighbors and men i had seen everyday but some months ago are scattered everywhere, my father nowhere to be seen. I knew what i was looking for, the smoke that came from his body had a scent of burnt grass easily trackable with someone familiar to it like me plus it was generally visible from pretty far away. i encounter whats left of the regiment my father was assigned to lead into the battle "What are you doing here!!?" they ask me "im here to retrive my old mans thimble, which way is he?" the crowd goes quiet avoiding my eye contact until one speaks up "last i saw he was due west of here but..." "but what?" "it seemed the rat catcher was dragging his corpse away..." This news left me beyond infuriated. I had been told of the rat catchers scavenging ways as well of his powerful magic but ill be damned if i let a mere rodent stand between me and whats rightfully mine. "one of you lend me a thimble." they offer me the best thimble they have, a shiny copper one with patterns of swirls and twists. itll have to do for now. i thank the men and wish them safe passage back home and with that im off west to fight the rat catcher and take back whats mine. I smell the smoke, i must be close. i use the supplies i brought with me along with rags from the clothes of a corpse and a large log from the ground to make a large torch, the plan is to use the copper thimble in conjuntion with an environmental cast to burn the rat catcher down in one giant flaming attack. it risky sure but what do i have to lose. continuing west i can now see my fathers smoke stack, im close now, a couple more feet and i start to hear a somber sounding flute playing. odd, am i really that hungry to halucinate like that? i mean going days without food wasnt exactly abnormal for me the village hardly had enough for everyone, my father took it as a chance to teach me the importance of fasting to build magical constitution and i had been drinking water from ponds on the way. thats when i saw him, the rat catcher. he was the one playing the flute, figures. his skin flaked behind him and he slowly walked along, my father nowhere to be seen. i plant the torch i made earlier in the ground and harness the energy of its fire. "FWOOSH" i engulf the rat catcher in a cloud of flame a moment of victory quickly fades to a world of pain, my ears ring violently, my vision tunnels, and i can feel the tar enter my blood stream as i drop to one knee clutching my body but i dont care all thats left now is to recover so i can get what i came here for. as i get my hearing back i notice i can still hear the flute. i look to where i had scorched the rat catcher even with my vision blurry and doubled i can tell hes not there but for some reason i can still hear his flute playing. i turn around to see him standing behind walking the other direction, my fathers corpse dragging behind on his hook. the rat catcher i burned before was an illusory spell he probably sensed me miles away, i had been played. i think about calling out to him but i decide against it to save my energy. i gather what little might i have left and cast a large sweeping wall of fire to cover my approach toward the rat catcher. by body aches with every step i take, im running off pure willpower at this point. i see a green light peer through the smoke of my previous attack. he casts a kind of terraforming magic to catch my foot as im running i trip over and hit my head hard on the ground. "how did he know where i was?!" i think as i wriggle my shoe off my foot, breaking free of the ground. im in pursuit again finally reaching my fathers still volitile corpse i search for his thimble, its usually on his left middle finger but its nowhere to be seen. "you fight like a wild animal" says the rat catcher as he lifts his arms revealing all his collected thimbles of dead sourcerers alike "but all wild animals die eventually" i spot my fathers thimble in his collection. it shimmers gold with patterns of fire "THATS MY THIMBLE!!!" i shout at him pointing at my fathers thimble my arm trembling from exhaustion "then take it" in a fit of rage i harness whats left of my energy and my fathers leftover in his corpse magic and cast an explosive rend with all my might im thrown up in the air several meters by the blast at the peak i see the rat catcher still unscathed moments before crashing back to the ground knocking me unconsious. My head is pounding, i cant move my body, everything hurts, the tar has made its way into my lungs, i can hardly breathe "what happened?" i think "am i..... dead?" then i hear the rat catcher "youve earned this thimble your spirit and determination will prove you very useful in your future. our paths will cross again but next time you will be the corpse. help is on the way, you caused quite a commotion here." i try to respond but my body is still to weak but i hear him walking away, still playing his flute this time a beautiful, soft, hopeful melody. I awake in a tent bandages on my body and head. everything still hurts very much yet i still let out a sigh of relief, im alive. i stand to get up and leave and i notice a little smoke coming off my body, i must have undergone some metamorphysis from exerting so much magic. i step outside to see a full moon. it makes me think of the rat catcher and how maybe we were destined to meet.
i left out details and context for added layer of mystery and also because i wrote this in like 55 minutes and just didnt think about alot of that, but i would still love to clear up/ brainstorm things i left out.
The backstory to this character is incredible but for some reason I feel sorry for the rat catcher as his past appearance and yet I also paradoxically feel angry at what he’s done to become his current appearance and yet I understand why he does what he does
If this were a TTRPG, the bodies of dead mages would no doubt be a target for scavengers and those looking for quick money. Many would probably be put off from this occupation or side hustle not by the idea of absconding with the dead like ghouls, but by the thought of dealing with those who would pay for them. The Rat Catcher sounds like a subtly frightening individual simply because of the nature of his work and the lengths he's willing to go for more power and knowledge, but even for those who fear only the harm others can do to them, he's also terrifyingly powerful. Mages sound like the sort of profession where most die young and thus the old should be feared.
Listening to that story made me feel like I was sitting around a campfire, watching an old, battle-worn adventurer telling me one of the many stories and tales he had amassed over the years. I hope you never stop worldbuilding; It's one thing to be passionate about something, but when it's something you've got a wide range of skills in too - such as your drawing, storytelling and design ideas - that's when it becomes something more. Thanks Monstergarden, for rekindling my love for worldbuilding
There are many pipes and many pipe materials. Meerchaum pipes are fantastic for a heavy smoker because unlike wood or corn cob they're porous stone. A lot of guys smoke them while wearing gloves to avoid and darkening from hand oils. Ive had a few, a couple nice custom pipes and a nice plain one. I got sidetracked there. I'm fairly certain it's pronounced meer-shum like beer-thumb.
Dude, this setting is so cool. It makes me want to play a D&D game set in this world, or at least to do more worldbuilding for my own world. Also, the designs remind me a lot of the game Darkwood, which I would totally recommend looking at if you haven't already.
This is what I (and I think many others) have been looking for. Refined, intriguing, suspenseful. Fantastic stuff. Know that we appreciate the time and effort you put into these! Please, don't push yourself into burnout.
WOAH!!!! the story ur friend on dis wrote is literally so good!!!! i love the art too! its so spooky and the design leaves no plot holes. i found ut channel today with the video of magic system. im going through ur videos. i love world building so much, i love the art u do that comes with it. its spooky and unsettling yet pulls u in like a hook in ur gut and i just want to see more and more of this! i want to see this world, system and characters ur creating becoming into a beautiful, intricate and absolutely amazing story!
this is legitimately a really good design concept that works soo well with the magic system, the design is so good! I love the storytelling and the drawings
I love your character/creature designs so much! You have such a strong aesthetic and your shape language is incredible! The story was sooo good as well!
Man, if i had a game studio, definetely would like help from this guy to make characters, honestly man this is quite creative, the story, the design, all of it.
So I was just thinking about the, _"growing extra fingers"_ idea, and they made me think of something... from what I've seen so far of your drawings, they tend to simply be an additional digit, added next to the original four... but if mages bodies tend to become malformed, what if normal growth of a finger only occurred if the mage got lucky?? What if they could grow from strange spots on the hand, like from the palm, below the rest of the knuckles, or down by the wrist? Or rather than properly forming, as an independent digit, they could grow incorrectly, fusing with another finger, resulting in some mages having club-fingers??
I absolutely LOVE this!! I have always loved such mysterious characters with such amazing and intriguing designs! I love the story you're building and as an artist these are the types of characters and stories I wanna make too! I love the minute details and the addition of crows/ravens gives it even more depth, Just amazing!
Gotta say that your videos are my exact brew of lore, design and deep dive into non-conventional worldbuilding . Just watched your mages and dwarves vids while drawing and I could FEEL my brain expanding deepr into my own design. Thank you for that and for your awesome, honest and unique videos!
Absolutely in love with your style. I've been designing a similar character recently, and I made the exact same revelation about posture. As soon as I gave it a hunchback, it fit the personality soooo much better.
Maybe the ravens eat the magic organ of the wizards when the rat catcher is done with them. Maybe the crows have long legs or look different in some other way
To me, it feels like you've re-described death or the image of death from the black plague. A mix of malicious yet somber creature which has humble beginnings. The rat catcher seems almost like he's afflicted or addicted to his work.
im really happy your channel is getting the traction it deserves. your art is phenomenal and ill be sure to draw inspo for my own worldbuilding projects
I can just imagine fighting in a war and you are startled by a noise and just wake to see a hunched dark figure over the corpse of a friend, and all he does is brings his disgusting hand to his face and say… shhhh
Top to bottom, writing and drawings, this is some serious gourmet shit
im glad you liked it
I was about to say the same thing.
@@monlenz haven’t gotten into fantasy but I would totally buy a book of this
@@placeholderdoe This is less "fanasy", and more of just some genre bending, GOURMET, conceptualization and masterful artwork. This world reminds me of Scorn and Kenshi.
@@hhhicantbreath5960 Scorn + Kenshi with a spicing of magic? Aight I'm in
Manamorphosis is the perfect name for a magical-mutation phenomenon. Totally stealing that for a DnD game!
My thoughts exactly when I heard it! Such a cool name for such a cool concept
I hope none of my players come across this channel, for I shall be called thief and imatator
There is a 2e setting (Dark Sun) that uses this concept. Defilers (one type of magic user) mutate into dragons over time.
And think that mana is pure will make everything come together
Stealing in general is for suckas, but if you are using it for fun in a game, probably no harm no foul...
the birds are a super cool touch i can imagine they have a almost naturally formed symbiotic relationship the birds circle bodies allowing the rat catcher to locate fresh materials and the birds get acess to more easily cut meat that they dont have to spend time pecking at into small pieces to eat.
Thank you for your insights, SleepyCrow98
i also like to think the birds also gather around him to eat the flaked-off pieces of skin
I love this
Ravens and crows are 100% smart enough to figure out an arrangement like that
@@no-lifenoah7861 smart enough to tell their kids bout him too, id love to think its been one long lineage that follows him
"the mud hides more than it shows"
gave me a mental image of what, seen through the early-morning fog, looks like nothing more than the stump of a small tree growing out of a mound in middle of the field, only for that mound to rise up, and it become clear that this stump was actually the hat of a tall, wide creature, and the mound was its tatty old robes
his hands slowly undergoing necrosis from mana use is so fucking cool
This was....a lot.
From design to the story.
The creative process showed the care and irritation of the creator, the amount of ink, and led on paper just showed so much, it was as if the rat catcher moved each stroke, equal parts deterring the artist from their own creation, but assisting just enough to allow the creator to chase this morbid yet beautiful high.
Every thing about this world has enticed me to seek more, its so beautiful.
Damn, even your comment is pure poetry.
@@falsevacuum4667*poetic* 🤓☝️
Big fan of dark fantasy. Glad that youtube recommended you
thank you i like dark fantasy too so thats what my art tends to go towards. There will be lots more like it!
Monstergarden, do you ever finish a video and think, "Aaaah that was a really good one!"
I hope you do, because this video is the second of yours I've ever seen and I love it like hell.
...I am in awe of the implications of the magic/mana system.
Also, it makes sense for carrion type birds to a literal "corpse picker."
And even if you change it, it's a funeral concept to work around! (◠‿◕)
You are really talented artist, I'm saying that because you could've given up but you didn't you improved and now you managed to draw a masterpiece and the story is very good I personally adore the grim world building you use as inspiration for your art you should continue with this world its really interesting. So please continue making videos about this grim yet magical and very beautiful world and all the characters within it
I meant to say you are not as talented as some other and yet you still improve and one day very, very soon you will come to level were no one will be able to say anything bad about your art
@@markojovanovic6398 thank you for the encouragement. I will keep going and try to improve my art. but There will always be people that dont like it that is just a part of it.
Meerschaum, pronounced meer-shawm, is an interesting magnesium silicate called sepiolite that is naturally soft and easy to carve until exposed to heat. It is porous and floats on water, so it absorbs the tar of the tobacco changing it's color over a long time from white to yellow, orange, and then red. Mined in Turkey and carved in Vienna, the material quickly replaced the more common clay pipes. Sepiolite is also used in cat litter 😉
could also be written as mare-shawm. Its actual meaning would be "sea-foam" in german.
Hope he sees this because tar is part of his magic lore, so his pipe could be completely red!
I could very well see the pipe being used to remove the excess tar in the rat catchers body, ngl
@@LethalPastry Nah dude he uses his big magic to keep it white so he can flex on the haters.
Itd be cool if the glute he plays is only audible for rats, so he isn't noticed by humans, but if you pay attention, a soldier could see the rats freaking out.
I love the idea of the wind whistling through the rat catchers stolen fingers, making this gentle sort of haunting hollow sound (think like a quiet Khaen) as he moves across flat windy fields. Makes me think surviving mages would be slightly terrfied of that noise.
[I really like this character and I think he lends himself well to verse so I wrote a nursery rhyme for young mages to learn]
Across the moors, the Ratcatcher comes
To call his darlings in from the cold.
He plucks the trinkets from their thumbs
With bloodied hands, impossibly old.
If you should spy him in the field
Or in your dreams at night.
His hook-like crutch he's sure to weild
And snatch you from the fight.
Across the moors the Ratchatcher comes
Flanked by corvids, feathered, black.
We'll soon become his sorry sons
And, once we do, we won't come back.
BAMM
Holy cow that is awsome.
:O
Is there more of you to read?
@@sportenapfeltorten2095 ☺cheers
Fabulous!!!
I never knew how much I liked this type of fiction - dark fantasy I think it would be called. Dark, gritty, muddy, with an archaic atmosphere. I was transfixed by this video, it's a masterpiece of fantasy design and storytelling. What I would give to read a book in this style and with such characters...
Great story and great design. I gave some support with a thumbs up and a subscribe!
really appreciate the support
The way you recite this tale is almost song-like in your rythm and passion. Not only are you a impressive artist and story writer, but a remarkable orator as well.
he didn't write the story, his friend did. his art and worldbuliding is so engaging though
Manamorphosis is a great explanation for why mages have less health, from a game perspective
I think it might've been cool if he didn't just hang the thimbles on his arms, but each of those was actually on an extra finger. Like he has been eating so much tar that the extra fingers have grown all the way down his forearms, so now they look like overgrown twigs. Would also give him motivation for taking the thimbles, he's actively using them so he expects to amplify his power, tying back to his power hunger.
Take it or leave it, but anyways! The concept on this one is insane, I've always liked "Leichenfledderer"-characters (body-looters in english, but that's a specific german term for "people who rob the fallen specifically after/during a battle") and the idea for the tar is messed up in the best possible way! Loved the video throughout, great job!
that would be vary cool!
It would kinda look like wings... Crows and Ravens and Rats and Fingers
I think that this could work well but with a twist
Thimbles alow you to cast magic ok
But that doenst mean more Thimbles = stronger spell
There is 2 good options
1: more thimbles passed a certain number (like more than 11) muntiply the power of the spell in a HUGE level, but the mana usage is Proportionally bigger (like the power is 4x but the cost is 5x)
Meaning the most pratical aplication of this is multiple mages combine their thimbles to make launch a devastating spell
2: more thimbles doest mean more power but less "heat" like not only you need mana to cast the spell but also wait for the thimble "cool down"
With better materials you can make thimbles that cool down faster
But you can compensate this with the Amount
3: because he have a huge amount of them, he can cast a gigantic amount of diferent spells, so much that sometimes not even him can know what exactly gonna come out of his fingers (for a boss fight for example)
I wish I could draw like you one day. I’ve barely managed a style of flat and conventionally attractive characters. But my current character idea is absolutely not that. Absolutely love being able to see your reference images and how they work into your ideas. It’s make my own art more creative and I’m happier with it
What is your character?
Tolkien would love you. In a different universe, you two could've forged the most elaborate and amazing fantasy universe. I think Lord of the Rings and most fantasy worlds would be all the better had you been involved. You are so full of talent!
I love how tar mirrors an actual addiction in this story
I believe this character would work great in a visual media, just a silent mysterious figure in the background doing something sinister and the viewer has no idea what to expect from him
Holy cow did your buddy do an amazing job on that tale.I was just going to share this with my one friend, but. Ow I need to show it to others as well.
I wonder if the crows that accompany him are there to eat the skin that sloughs off his hands as he casts his spells, and the parts of the mages he doesn't take for himself
i feel like i found some traveler obscure journal, that describes what he had seen along his journey. I loved it.
I just discovered this channel, but im already a big fan. The design, the Storytelling, both of top notch quality
My head canon says those birds are his children. He transformed them by accident. He may or may not regret it.
The person that made that story should right a fucking horror story. That little tale was amazing.
i really like the design, bravo.
thank you
Monstergarden I love this channel. The lore of the world is super intriguing and a fresh concept i've never heard before. I have a suggestion though regarding the name of the rat catcher. It certainly fits the vibe of the character, but I wonder if there is any way to include rats into his character somehow. A rat catcher's job is to capture pests namely rats. My idea for fitting the name to his character is that he views war and the sides that wage it as pests as he is not loyal to either side. He is disgusted at the depths at which people would go for mana. Thus he views the corpses of the fallen not as human, but as filthy rats plaguing the land and by collecting tar he is selling his services to any who will pay thereby receiving the name by those on the battlefield as the Rat Catcher.
An encounter with the rat catcher:
My old man was drafted to fight the opposing army in the civil war. I knew this day would come, after all i was born into this conflict. my father had always had a penchant for fire magic and was regarded as such being considered a pillar in the community. But thats all in the past now, Rickter, his ashy shepard companion, returns with his journal and a letter of condolence regarding his death on the field of battle. It reads "your father did what no one else was willing to do. the few of us there were left to save owe our lives to him. we sent Rickter ahead to deliver his journal of magical research to you we hope it reaches you in good faith". I tend to Rickters wounds, hes a tough mutt but mangled nonetheless. My fathers journal contains everything knows of fire magics, he always said he would teach me the way of fire but i never thought it would be like this, it is what it is i suppose. Flipping through the journal he mentions that without a powerful catlyst and years of magical experience fire magic at this caliber he describes can easily kill a man at the cast of a single spell, I take it as a mere challenge. As im searching for wood i can use as a catlyst for an environmental cast i think "this would be much more simple with fathers thimble". i realize it must remain on his corpse. the thimble that i considered to be my birthright is now sitting in the middle of a barren battlefield just rusting away, i refuse to stand idley by and allow that to happen. so i gather up a flint, steel, oil, some firewood, give rickter a kiss goodbye and set off to take whats rightfully mine.
Ive been following our armys trail for days. corpses of neighbors and men i had seen everyday but some months ago are scattered everywhere, my father nowhere to be seen. I knew what i was looking for, the smoke that came from his body had a scent of burnt grass easily trackable with someone familiar to it like me plus it was generally visible from pretty far away. i encounter whats left of the regiment my father was assigned to lead into the battle "What are you doing here!!?" they ask me "im here to retrive my old mans thimble, which way is he?" the crowd goes quiet avoiding my eye contact until one speaks up "last i saw he was due west of here but..."
"but what?"
"it seemed the rat catcher was dragging his corpse away..." This news left me beyond infuriated. I had been told of the rat catchers scavenging ways as well of his powerful magic but ill be damned if i let a mere rodent stand between me and whats rightfully mine.
"one of you lend me a thimble." they offer me the best thimble they have, a shiny copper one with patterns of swirls and twists. itll have to do for now. i thank the men and wish them safe passage back home and with that im off west to fight the rat catcher and take back whats mine.
I smell the smoke, i must be close. i use the supplies i brought with me along with rags from the clothes of a corpse and a large log from the ground to make a large torch, the plan is to use the copper thimble in conjuntion with an environmental cast to burn the rat catcher down in one giant flaming attack. it risky sure but what do i have to lose. continuing west i can now see my fathers smoke stack, im close now, a couple more feet and i start to hear a somber sounding flute playing. odd, am i really that hungry to halucinate like that? i mean going days without food wasnt exactly abnormal for me the village hardly had enough for everyone, my father took it as a chance to teach me the importance of fasting to build magical constitution and i had been drinking water from ponds on the way. thats when i saw him, the rat catcher. he was the one playing the flute, figures. his skin flaked behind him and he slowly walked along, my father nowhere to be seen. i plant the torch i made earlier in the ground and harness the energy of its fire. "FWOOSH" i engulf the rat catcher in a cloud of flame a moment of victory quickly fades to a world of pain, my ears ring violently, my vision tunnels, and i can feel the tar enter my blood stream as i drop to one knee clutching my body but i dont care all thats left now is to recover so i can get what i came here for. as i get my hearing back i notice i can still hear the flute. i look to where i had scorched the rat catcher even with my vision blurry and doubled i can tell hes not there but for some reason i can still hear his flute playing. i turn around to see him standing behind walking the other direction, my fathers corpse dragging behind on his hook. the rat catcher i burned before was an illusory spell he probably sensed me miles away, i had been played. i think about calling out to him but i decide against it to save my energy. i gather what little might i have left and cast a large sweeping wall of fire to cover my approach toward the rat catcher. by body aches with every step i take, im running off pure willpower at this point. i see a green light peer through the smoke of my previous attack. he casts a kind of terraforming magic to catch my foot as im running i trip over and hit my head hard on the ground. "how did he know where i was?!" i think as i wriggle my shoe off my foot, breaking free of the ground. im in pursuit again finally reaching my fathers still volitile corpse i search for his thimble, its usually on his left middle finger but its nowhere to be seen. "you fight like a wild animal" says the rat catcher as he lifts his arms revealing all his collected thimbles of dead sourcerers alike "but all wild animals die eventually" i spot my fathers thimble in his collection. it shimmers gold with patterns of fire "THATS MY THIMBLE!!!" i shout at him pointing at my fathers thimble my arm trembling from exhaustion
"then take it" in a fit of rage i harness whats left of my energy and my fathers leftover in his corpse magic and cast an explosive rend with all my might im thrown up in the air several meters by the blast at the peak i see the rat catcher still unscathed moments before crashing back to the ground knocking me unconsious.
My head is pounding, i cant move my body, everything hurts, the tar has made its way into my lungs, i can hardly breathe "what happened?" i think "am i..... dead?" then i hear the rat catcher "youve earned this thimble your spirit and determination will prove you very useful in your future. our paths will cross again but next time you will be the corpse. help is on the way, you caused quite a commotion here." i try to respond but my body is still to weak but i hear him walking away, still playing his flute this time a beautiful, soft, hopeful melody.
I awake in a tent bandages on my body and head. everything still hurts very much yet i still let out a sigh of relief, im alive. i stand to get up and leave and i notice a little smoke coming off my body, i must have undergone some metamorphysis from exerting so much magic. i step outside to see a full moon. it makes me think of the rat catcher and how maybe we were destined to meet.
i left out details and context for added layer of mystery and also because i wrote this in like 55 minutes and just didnt think about alot of that, but i would still love to clear up/ brainstorm things i left out.
Cool story
The backstory to this character is incredible but for some reason I feel sorry for the rat catcher as his past appearance and yet I also paradoxically feel angry at what he’s done to become his current appearance and yet I understand why he does what he does
I love this design - I can picture the sound of the thimbles twinkling and clattering as he moves.
The Mirsham Pipe is a really cool little detail. They're made of a porous substance that reminds me of bone in texture, structure and colour
You see a feeble man, who cares you thought, but the moment he stretches his hand covered in "bloody DOG TAGS"
If this were a TTRPG, the bodies of dead mages would no doubt be a target for scavengers and those looking for quick money. Many would probably be put off from this occupation or side hustle not by the idea of absconding with the dead like ghouls, but by the thought of dealing with those who would pay for them. The Rat Catcher sounds like a subtly frightening individual simply because of the nature of his work and the lengths he's willing to go for more power and knowledge, but even for those who fear only the harm others can do to them, he's also terrifyingly powerful. Mages sound like the sort of profession where most die young and thus the old should be feared.
Listening to that story made me feel like I was sitting around a campfire, watching an old, battle-worn adventurer telling me one of the many stories and tales he had amassed over the years.
I hope you never stop worldbuilding; It's one thing to be passionate about something, but when it's something you've got a wide range of skills in too - such as your drawing, storytelling and design ideas - that's when it becomes something more. Thanks Monstergarden, for rekindling my love for worldbuilding
There are many pipes and many pipe materials.
Meerchaum pipes are fantastic for a heavy smoker because unlike wood or corn cob they're porous stone.
A lot of guys smoke them while wearing gloves to avoid and darkening from hand oils.
Ive had a few, a couple nice custom pipes and a nice plain one.
I got sidetracked there. I'm fairly certain it's pronounced meer-shum like beer-thumb.
Dude, this setting is so cool. It makes me want to play a D&D game set in this world, or at least to do more worldbuilding for my own world. Also, the designs remind me a lot of the game Darkwood, which I would totally recommend looking at if you haven't already.
Great artwork for a great story
a treat on my recommended. as an aspiring writer, that story told at the end was a thing of beauty.
This is what I (and I think many others) have been looking for. Refined, intriguing, suspenseful. Fantastic stuff. Know that we appreciate the time and effort you put into these! Please, don't push yourself into burnout.
This is such a rich story which gives such an amazing sense of depth to this piece. Bravo!
This is amazing
thank you, im glad you like it
I just got this in my recommended and I'm not dissapointed at all. your art is AMAZING and it just looks cool, thank you for posting this c:
WOAH!!!!
the story ur friend on dis wrote is literally so good!!!!
i love the art too! its so spooky and the design leaves no plot holes. i found ut channel today with the video of magic system. im going through ur videos. i love world building so much, i love the art u do that comes with it. its spooky and unsettling yet pulls u in like a hook in ur gut and i just want to see more and more of this! i want to see this world, system and characters ur creating becoming into a beautiful, intricate and absolutely amazing story!
Interesting concepts.
That thimble thing was pure genius. Nice touch.
I don't know how I've come across this channel, but I'm glad I did. It's really freakin rad!
The tale and the desing are amazing. It really gives ancestor memories' from darkest dungeon vibe. Can't wait for another tale from you.
this is legitimately a really good design concept that works soo well with the magic system, the design is so good! I love the storytelling and the drawings
Awesome and horrifying. Great world building and tragic horror story writing.
The writing is amazing! And having the visuals coming to life make the whole experience superb. Congrats!
I love your character/creature designs so much! You have such a strong aesthetic and your shape language is incredible! The story was sooo good as well!
from one artist to another this is amazing.
Sir, I'm extremely jealous of your level of skill.
This kind of reminds me to old and darker Jazza content. Loving it
i always like designs that are hunched over and have tons of trinkets and stuff drooping off
I adore the magic system youve created.
AAAAAAND like that I've subscribed, this video is amazing, fantastic art and amazing story telling just perfect!
I'm not even really into fantasy stuff but holy shit every video on this channel has me hooked
im in love with this world already
this has a surprising number of parallels to Grimnir in a way that is really pleasant to see unfold over the course of the video
This whole series so far has felt like if dnd and Darkwood had a grotesque baby and im all here for it
amazing, just amazing.
The art, the story, the idea, the everything just held me breathless. Thanks for such wonderful video
I love everything about this, the process, the drawings, and the thoughts behind it all. Keep at it!!
He's so cool, i love the wandering whimsical af guy
you are incredibly good at designing and getting ideas across through your art, you are an inspiration, keep up the good work!
He hunches back all the time, has an interesting in magic, corpses and trinkets? He’s literally me
This concept is amazing. I like it a lot and enjoy listenning to the video.
Man, hitting the like button for this one just felt like no where's near enough, this is fantastic.
That's just beautiful
The design, the idea and the story are all fascinating and well done!
I absolutely adore what I've seen of this setting and system you've built!
Man, if i had a game studio, definetely would like help from this guy to make characters, honestly man this is quite creative, the story, the design, all of it.
absolutely stunning, both the story writer and yourself for narration.
This is a reminder that bone is technically also a metal and I think a good consideration for some kind of poor man's magic conduit.
So I was just thinking about the, _"growing extra fingers"_ idea, and they made me think of something... from what I've seen so far of your drawings, they tend to simply be an additional digit, added next to the original four... but if mages bodies tend to become malformed, what if normal growth of a finger only occurred if the mage got lucky?? What if they could grow from strange spots on the hand, like from the palm, below the rest of the knuckles, or down by the wrist? Or rather than properly forming, as an independent digit, they could grow incorrectly, fusing with another finger, resulting in some mages having club-fingers??
I absolutely LOVE this!! I have always loved such mysterious characters with such amazing and intriguing designs! I love the story you're building and as an artist these are the types of characters and stories I wanna make too! I love the minute details and the addition of crows/ravens gives it even more depth, Just amazing!
Gotta say that your videos are my exact brew of lore, design and deep dive into non-conventional worldbuilding .
Just watched your mages and dwarves vids while drawing and I could FEEL my brain expanding deepr into my own design. Thank you for that and for your awesome, honest and unique videos!
i really hope you receive and read more stories like this! this is one of my favorite videos to return to in the evenings
A harrowing tale and a haunting design.
You deserve your success good sir.
Incredible work put in this character, gongrats to all involved
Absolutely in love with your style. I've been designing a similar character recently, and I made the exact same revelation about posture. As soon as I gave it a hunchback, it fit the personality soooo much better.
As a person who suffers from Skin Problems. This Character is my Spirit Animal!
I love this more material interpretation of magic
And it's grim nature~
Even when telling a horrifying story about war, your voice is still so soothing and calming
Horrifying! Amazing work. I love the narration and the character building process
Both the drawings and the writing are amazingly talented and inspiring! Instant sub
Maybe the ravens eat the magic organ of the wizards when the rat catcher is done with them. Maybe the crows have long legs or look different in some other way
Unbelievably inspiring, this little dive I've taken into your channel has been worth every moment! Keep on!
To me, it feels like you've re-described death or the image of death from the black plague. A mix of malicious yet somber creature which has humble beginnings. The rat catcher seems almost like he's afflicted or addicted to his work.
i love the name of your channel and all the monsters you create. very inspiring
Absolutely fantastic work. Wow.
im really happy your channel is getting the traction it deserves. your art is phenomenal and ill be sure to draw inspo for my own worldbuilding projects
Wow, the imagination here is truly inspired and inspiring!
Man I love these characters! It'd be cool to see them animated in a Don Bluth cartoon style.
I also get secrets of NIMH vibes form him...
I can just imagine fighting in a war and you are startled by a noise and just wake to see a hunched dark figure over the corpse of a friend, and all he does is brings his disgusting hand to his face and say… shhhh