Wednesday 31 October 2012

http://issuu.com/themarcthomas/docs/off_the_chain/17


this is somehing i did a few weeks ago, only some of the illustrations were minE, it was a good group effort.

Tuesday 30 October 2012

Short story

Durthang-the castle of the misty isle.

Between nalvara and turntain is the sea of Eaxmuir( the dagger sea) in this sea is an isle and a kingdom was there, Durthang, the smallest of all the kingdoms in Eldain. It was a gift from the turntain kings to a great warrior family, long ago.

There descendent was a king who ruled over Durthang with his queen and their infant daughter. One night in mid winter a travelling family came to them out of the Fairy Mountains. Fear held the subjects of the court for none had ever passed through those mountains before. The family of the fairy mount came to the king’s hall and their leader the old woman Eenmire said to the court that she would stay for a year and a day and that she would need a house. Against council the king granted her this though none know why. The woman and her family did much around the town acting as healers and fortune tellers But the towns people soon said many things, true or not about the old woman and her family, the people of Durthang claimed that the family sacrafied animals to dark gods and were in league with the seelie court. the amount of reports became more and more troubling, one woman even claimed Eenmire had executed her son. The king could no longer ignore the dark things going on in his kingdom and sent his men to kill Eenmire. the king waited for the men to return but they did not, as the sun set the old woman came before the king holding the heads of the three knights, one was turned to bronze, another into iron and the last into tin. She dropped the heads onto the floor of the hall smashing the stone tiles, the old woman believed it was only her and the king and queen in the great hall but on the balcony above the kings adviser and soothsayer watched in horror. Eenmire said to the king “I have healed many people, cured many diseases and paid you well yet you sent these men to kill me, there will be great consequences for your kingdom” and with that the door into the great hall opened and water flooded in as if the hall was beneath the waves, the water washed over the woman turning her into sea foam, as the waters washed over the king and queen they were transformed into wolfhounds and then as if it had never happened the water and the witch were gone, leaving only the two dogs.

The family of the witch were known from then on as the line of kain and they were banished from the castle and lands by the soothsayer, the towns people burned the family’s houses, and killed some of them, yet some escaped into the catacombs at the edge of the isle, where the towns people would not go. The line of Kain’s banishment had ended in many of their deaths and they swore revenge on the people of the kingdom. Some left then to the mainland in fear but many stayed and cursed the royal family. Machoul one of kain’s line and Eenmire’s grandson lived alone in a small cave but ventured too near to the town too often and the great Warrior Earbran tracked him back to a cave, there the boy ran deep into the cave and hid beside a deep pool. he ambushed Earbran and pushed him into deep waters. The Warrior could not swim in his mail and before he could get to the edge Machoul jumped on him and cut his throat, Earbran swung his sword wildly and severed the boys hand which sank like lead in the pool, the warrior struggled but soon perished in the cold waters. Machoul cut the warrior’s own hand off and using the blood of his ancestors and the hate that burned in him, he joined it to himself. It was a trait of kain’s line that their people had dark skin and black hair but pale eyes.

Machoul for that reason stood out amongst his people for he had the pale right hand of Earbran instead of his own. He changed his name then to Macgol Finahm (white hand). He took also from Earbran the pale claymore glallos and wrapped its handle in eel skin for otherwise the pale hand would not grasp it.
A year or so later Macgol scaled the wall and broke into the castle trying to kill the steward, he was caught as he hopped the wall and imprisoned and he was to be hung at dawn. Macgol spoke to the jailers assistant and convinced the boy to release him, Macgol swore an oath to the boy and thanked him. He escaped but would not abandon the isle and went to live then with the strange family of kain who remained, they scraped a living off rocks and delved deep into the water filled caverns on the sea shore, they became queerer and queerer. Macgol Finahm lived there for many years and learned from his relatives.Back in the caste the steward would rule until the young princess was of age.
(change kain to the ‘houndmaker’)

Macgol then left the people of Kain, going first into the fairy mountains where he journeyed into the Nibwayn and visited the seelie court. He spoke with them and against the fairie’s will took the crown of wisdom, so long had it been lost from this world, No fairy would fight him but they banished him from the Nibwayn telling him then that his blood was a curse upon both worlds. The crown allowed him to speak to the birds and the beasts and communicate with the council of Miryarch, from whom he learned how to talk to the hearts of men, though after a while they realised his purpose and spoke little, except the ones he tempted with resurrection who offered him guidance whenever they could.

He left then journeying into Wilderland where He tried to live in peace. He fell in love and had a daughter and lived happily for a while but the fire in his heart burned him so that before long he Wished to return to the castle, avenge his family and claim it as his own. He visited every town rallying warriors, promising them a place in the castle if they joined him and promising them any treasure they could take. He also proved himself as a swordsman and leader in this time. He took on an apprentice who seemed strange and seelie, a young man with black eyes. he then heard of Groki the blue and loving his daughter so, he chose to have another child, though his spouse never knew his true motives, he sired two sons, twins, one looked as all the children of kain do the other was pale as moonlight, with white hair and pale eyes that hated the sun. before the boys had seen a whole season he took them in secret from his home to Groki’s forge and gave them to Groki in exchange for two artefacts, Macgol asked for the strength of ten men, so Groki fashioned for him a glove made of giant’s skin, burned it black and stitched it together with moonshine, Macgol then traded the second son and asked for the powers of the seelie court, so groki made a necklace, a living oyster hung from a silver chain, embedded in its shell was a green stone looking much like glass to the human eye but Groki told Macgol Finahm it was from the foundations of the Nibwayn, at the heart of otherworld. It was not long after that Macgol and his army came to edge of the Eaxmuir sea and so as not to be noticed, Macgol used the Necklace Groki had fashioned, to walk his men across the sea floor. Macgol met once more with the line of kain, a solemn and rag tag lot who were wide eyed and feral, he met with his aunts Hrotha and Ardith and the line of kain joined the warriors under Macgol banner, a hounds head engulfed in flame.

It was then that Macgol and the line of kain summoned the dark forces and sacrificed a follower from wilderland, whose blood spilled onto the sacrificial rock and stained the earth around it, the wind began to howl, a thunder clap rended the air and a foul storm boiled up from the sea. It was that night as the storm hung low and heavy that they attacked Durthang. A great ram hammered on the castle doors, the guards were caught unawares as the army seemed to spring from nowhere. The gate splinted and split open before they could brace it. The warning bell was sounded and the town descended into chaos. Taking her family sword and shield and gathering the two wolf hounds the princess escaped in the passageways in the walls of her castle. Macgol wielded Glallos so ferociously that none could best him, its pale blade shining in the dark, none could block him and the across the battle field Glallos could be heard ringing as it split helms and severed limbs. It was in this time that the jailers apprentice now a man and wielding a pitch fork came before him, Macgol told the man he had pardon, that he would honour their oath and that no man may touch him or his family. The jailers apprentice gathered his family and walked out the front gate, no one tried to stop him as he wandered into the mists. The castle was then set ablaze and one of the line of kain severed the head of the steward. The soothsayer came forth then, the axe Vol-Nor in hand and challenged Macgol to single combat. The soothsayer was dead before he swung the axe, quartered by Glallos in the fight. It was then that a yeoman drew arms against Macgol, Macgol drew first blood but the yeoman blinded him with burning pitch, Macgol flailed blindly and the yeoman cut a deep wound on Macgol’s leg. Macgol then asked the gathering crows to be his eyes, and Macgol severed the boys sword hand. The yeoman cauterised the wound in burning pitch but lay on the ground in pain. Macgol raised Glallos above his head but stumbled as someone ran him though, a sword pierced his back and burst from his chest. Macgol’s apprentice had seen an opportunity to kill Macgol and take the castle and Macgol’s magic artefacts for himself. the yeoman picked himself up and fled down the cliffs into the sea. As the apprentice bent down to claim Glallos, Macgol’s body and everything on him bubbled into sea foam, the crown of wisdom, the blessed glove and amulet all turned to water and even as the apprentice gripped Glallos’s handle it turned into sea foam and flowed back into the ocean. The castle was taken, the last of its warriors gathered and killed. With Macgol dead a quarrel soon broke out amongst his followers. The apprentice didn’t admit to killing him as he knew how loyal the line of kain was and feared they would execute him. The fight over who would claim the castle boiled into combat and turmoil, brother fought brother, the fires in their hearts could not be quelled, Within a week none remained within the castle walls. It was sacked and left in ruin, burned so only the stone wall and keep remained and none claimed it for themselves. The line of kain was almost entirely wiped out in the terrible battle, the crows and seabirds feasted on the dead. Nothing was gained, nothing was claimed. All who followed Macgol and lived disbanded and went their separate ways.

Finahm-white Hand.

Nor-rock/stone

Vol-struggle


Saturday 27 October 2012

well at the moment i cant find how to attach sound files so i cannot show my work so far. however, it has not been very successful and i have chosen to change my idea to something more within my safe area. i was going to do a fake interivew/music video for an animated band, like the gorillaz meets spinal tap, however the sond just hasnt really come together and i think it may just be simpler to do a different idea.
my new idea is for an animation about a blind thing that sees in sound. it is influenced by an animation about a blind girl i saw, although i didnt think of that until afterwards. the blind thing will be a creature of some kind in a kind of underground forge full of assorted curios and trinkets, the sounds (like a clock ticking or a drip of water) will illuminate the image and allow the creature to see. 

Sunday 21 October 2012

First post.

today is the day this blog started. only 4 weeks into my current project.