The Basitin Military in 3D: Part 6 - Battle on the Bridge

Post all your artwork here!

Moderator: Moderators

Message
Author
User avatar
Thallium
Templar
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:13 pm
Location: Beyond the Wall

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 10: Musician

#61 Post by Thallium »

Part 11 of the Illustrated Guide. This time we will be looking at the apothecary, a battlefield healer who hopes to keep the soldiers under his care on this side of the afterlife. Those of you who have browsed Tom's older Deviantart pages may recognise this image, I decided I liked his design for the basitin doctor so much that I would try and emulate it, with some minor alterations, into the style of the Illustrated Guide. I'll let you tell me whether I have been successful or not. Next up we come to the last of the "normal" images in this series, the cataphract, a mountain of armour that rides around the battlefield before crashing with the force of a tidal wave into enemy formations. After that, things are going to be... a little different for the final push to the end. Enjoy!

Any problems viewing these images, you can find them mirrored on my FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thallium/

Image

A hardy and stoic people, basitins are famed throughout the world for their stamina, stubbornness and their complete inability to know when to just lie down and die. Part of this is psychological: basitins are conditioned from birth to be soldiers and sent away to train with the military after their twelfth birthday, however much of it is physiological as well. Their muscle fibres contract and relax using less energy than a human's or keidran's do which contributes to their great endurance and their vascular system is interspersed with powerful valves that can detect a localised drop in pressure and constrict, slowing rate of blood loss from a catastrophic injury and making it more likely they will be able to survive. Nevertheless, despite these and numerous other adaptions, sometimes a basitin takes more damage then their body can handle, especially on a battlefield, and that is where the apothecaries of the Royal Military Medical Corps step into the fray.

Usually comprised of former soldiers who are too injured to fight on the front lines anymore, the apothecaries provide what medical attention they can to hopefully prevent their comrades from suffering the same fate as themselves. This includes bandaging and stitching wounds, preparing poultices to relieve pain and prevent infection, brewing potions, oils and decoctions to attenuate all sorts of maladies, setting broken bones and, if there is nothing else do be done, amputations and assisted suicides. The act of euthanising their compatriots who after suffering terrible injuries would rather die then live on as a cripple is a sacred task permissible to be carried out only by the apothecaries. If a soldier should choose this option, the act is executed by the use of a conical metal spike, about 25 cm long, placed underneath the jaw and then driven up through the base of the skull and into the brain, killing the wounded warrior instantly. Death by this method affords the soldier the same honour they would have received had they died on the field of battle: their name inscribed forever in gold upon one of the great black marble monoliths that reside within the Hall of Glory. The highest honour a basitin can achieve in their life.

Apothecaries operate behind their own battle lines and so are not equipped for combat, instead wearing a simple blood-red tunic and trousers with a long white coat to designate their job as a healer and, if necessary, an angel of death. One of the most unusual pieces of their clothing however is the blindfolds which they wear at all times when patients start being brought to them not long after battle commences. Basitins are fiercely private creatures, reflected in the draconian decency laws which are enforced on their island home. These laws have had such a strong impact on basitin psyche over the generations that even a soldier in the throws of agony would baulk at the thought of being exposed to someone in the course of their treatment, even a person trying to save their life. To counteract this aversion (and because they are legally required to), apothecaries blindfold themselves so that they cannot see their patient's indecency and instead rely on touch, sound, scent and often the patients own strangled cries of pain to locate and treat whatever injury lies before them. Apothecaries have an additional weapon in their medical arsenal from an rather unexpected source: mice. The Medical Corps specially train these creatures to be able to sniff out infection and other malaises, whereupon they return to their handlers and guide them through a combination of squeaks and tugs to the affected site. This role has gained the mice the nickname of "eyes" amongst the soldiers with many a wounded man joking that even if the apothecaries couldn't see them, their "eyes" would soon be able to tell them if the prognosis was good or bad.

Healing ones comrades may not be quite as glorious as killing ones enemies and it is unlikely that many ballads or songs will be written about the apothecaries fighting on the thin red line, nevertheless it is a job that makes a real difference, enabling those stricken in battle to maybe return and fight once more or provide a glorious end to those who are not so fortunate. For an apothecary, many of whom were once the ones on the operating table themselves, this purpose is enough and they go about their grisly business with the same courage and discipline as the most stalwart soldiers. Death is glorious, but life is glorious too
Image Image

What I cannot create, I do not understand.
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

User avatar
Thallium
Templar
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:13 pm
Location: Beyond the Wall

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 11: Apothecary

#62 Post by Thallium »

Part 12 of the Illustrated Guide. Today we will be looking at the second of the two major cavalry types: the cataphract, a hammer meant to smash aside all opposition with enough armour to be extremely difficult to bring down. These guys are probably as close to traditional knights as basitins come and it was very satisfying being able to draw all the armour for this guy.

And so we come to a turning point; the guide carries on for a little while longer but next week you will notice that things are going to be a little different. Same style and all, just a change of tack and for that reason I'm not going to say what next week's piece is going to be. Should be an interesting surprise I think. On that note, if this thread gets to 2,000 views, I'll release a final 3D teaser before the actual 3D uploads start in a little while's time. Enjoy!

Any problems viewing these images, you can find them mirrored on my FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thallium/

Image

A basitin army is sometimes known, by friends and foe alike, as the glittering host. As so many of the soldiers under their banner are armoured head to toe in steel, when the light of a brilliant summer day shines down upon the throng it is reflected in a thousand polished helms, curiasses and weapons to give the assembly an almost gem-like quality to any observing or unfortunate enough to be standing against them. Amongst the assembled congregation, there is none more armoured and more glittering in the common soldiery then the cataphracts, living mountains of castle-forged steel that, while slow by cavalry standards, hit with a hammer blow that can send even the most stalwart of opponents reeling. The second major type of cavalry unit employed by the basitin military, the cataphracts, like their lighter counterparts the lancers, are usually recruited from amongst those basitins with prior experience with horses to make caring for their chargers on the march easier and to reduce the training required to teach prospective soldiers how to ride into battle. While those recruits of lighter builds tend to gravitate towards the lancers, those of more stout and strong physique usually congregate within the ranks of the cataphracts; all the better to bear the heavy armour and weapons with which they are equipped.

Cataphracts are the most heavily armoured of the basitin soldiery, excluding senior officers. While their equipment is mostly of the standard pattern worn by most soldiers, it has some notable extra pieces not found within the armouries of other regiments. These are: a bevour to cover the neck and lower jaw, couters to protect the elbows, gauntlets with additional finger plates and cuisses to defend the thighs (the tassets usually attached to a standard pattern curiasses have been removed to accommodate the cuisses). The riders also carry the same large kite shield used by shieldbearers as well as a longer version of the shieldbearer's standard weapon, the burrick. Their mounts are similarly armoured with additions from the pattern worn by the lancers including a criniere guarding the horse's neck on the front and back as well as a croupiere for the defence of the hind quarters. All this extra armoured protection is required in order for the cataphracts to perform their function on the battlefield: a tidal wave that crushes all opposition.

Whereas the lancers are a shock cavalry: designed to do their damage on the charge before wheeling out and thundering back in again without ever stopping, the cataphracts on the other hand are utilised more like mounted infantry: smashing into enemy formations like a hammer blow and then staying put to finish the fight in melee. This tactic is used to counter one of the great weaknesses of a basitin army, the fact that it is very slow. The heavy armour and emphasis on formation for most infantry types makes it difficult to quickly exploit gaps or hurriedly reinforce isolated sections of the battlefield, a deficiency that has cost the basitins more then a few battles in the past. Hence the cataphracts were specifically designed to offset this, almost like a mounted greatsword, employing the speed of the horse to quickly manoeuvre them across the battlefield and the weight of armour to protect them even in fierce, un-moving combat where cavalry are traditionally extremely vulnerable. While primarily used in their mounted role, cataphracts are also trained to fight dismounted in case their steed is killed or the ground dictates that horses are more of a hindrance than a help.

While being a relatively recent addition to the basitin's military roster, the cataphracts have nevertheless proved their worth in numerous battles since their introduction. While the majority of basitin cavalry are lancers, having the support of the super-heavy cataphracts in key areas against infantry or other cavalry is invaluable as they simply refuse to die. It takes a particularly obstinate and fearless type of basitin to want to join their ranks as they will often be sent where the fighting is at its thickest or most dire, even going so far as to charge enemy spear formations head on, trusting to their armour to keep them alive in order to break through to assist trapped comrades or deal the hammer blow needed to break an enemies resistance entirely. They have been so successful in fact that there is talk in the upper echelons of the basitin military command of expanding their numbers as well as rolling out the additional cataphract-pattern armour pieces to other soldier types, starting with the greatswords, to see if the extra survivability they afford is worth the extra cost of manufacture. It is clear that as the rest of the races move towards magic as their most powerful weapon of war, the basitins will have to respond in kind to counter this threat. They may not have magic themselves but they have their ingenuity and the impetus to survive and if cladding every soldier on the battlefield in more armour then even the wealthiest of human knights is what it takes to win, then that is exactly what they will do.
Image Image

What I cannot create, I do not understand.
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

User avatar
Technic[Bot]
Grand Templar
Posts: 1246
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:48 pm
Location: México
Fav. Twokinds Character: Raine!
Contact:

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 12: Cataphract

#63 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Thallium wrote: Sat Jun 02, 2018 4:17 pm -Bloody snip-
Ah those civil war medic vibes are strong. In any case the last thing you want to see as a medic, or as a patient reall,y is your doctor covered in blood. In movies and games we are used to see the pools of blood around, that is just dramatic effect:
You can't "chop" comfortably if everything is swimming in red there is a lot of care taken, at least in modern medicine, to have an orderly and clean procedure. Sure is a field hospital but if the doctors look like these i imagine euthanasia is the most common procedure...
Speaking of that, your description was awfully detailed, did you come up with it by yourself or were you inspired by something. Also I am not sure a normal arm would be capable of puncturing the skull. You would need a press or a hammer for that.
There is also a fine line between honor and pride, heroism and arrogance and these guys seem to walk dangerously on the wrong side.
Also his right arm looks a bit off
Thallium wrote: Sat Jun 09, 2018 2:06 pm -Armored horse snip-
Now that is mechanized infantry, well not really but with that much steel... You get my point.
I am not sure if the whole, "pick people used to horses" would work here a draft horse is a different beast than the now "almost" extinct military/police horses. Those animals were breed specifically to fight, its behavior and upkeep would be different than your regular farm horse. The thing with domestic animals is that they were selectively breed to perform a job to peak potential to the point some thoroughly breed horses/dogs can't do much else than why they were bred for. In any case is any specific training required to be a cataphract? You know, be a lancer first then a shield carrier then you can apply? Or you just have to sign in the "cataphract" queue at the academy? Also do they have area of attack like in AoE II?

In terms of the drawing the horse perspective is on point, it is extremely easy to make them look like oversized ponies. An the armor is cool, but the legs are a bit unprotected. They are begging to be impaled or shot by some good old fashioned Spanish Tercios. Also probably is the perspective but the rider look a bit fat and his legs seems too thin and left arm looks a bit inconsistent with his chest.
In any case is a pretty good damn good basitin horsemen.
There are three things that motivate people: Money, fear and love.
Links to my ramblings:
Twokinds [of] data
PhpBB in the age of facebook
If you are new to this phpBB thing:
BBCode guide

User avatar
Thallium
Templar
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:13 pm
Location: Beyond the Wall

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 12: Cataphract

#64 Post by Thallium »

Technic[Bot] wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 2:38 am Speaking of that, your description was awfully detailed, did you come up with it by yourself or were you inspired by something. Also I am not sure a normal arm would be capable of puncturing the skull. You would need a press or a hammer for that.
There is also a fine line between honor and pride, heroism and arrogance and these guys seem to walk dangerously on the wrong side.
Also his right arm looks a bit off
I used what Tom wrote when he originally did this piece as a starting guide (usually former soldiers too injured to fight, mercy killing granting full honour etc.) but then fleshed it out as usual to give extra details. The basitin physiology part was me trying to come up with an actual physical answer to the question of why basitins are so much tougher than other races and I thought those were a few things that might make sense, knowing what I do about molecular biology.

Hmm maybe I should add a bit about a hammer; my thought was that it might be possible to do by hand because the base of skull is weaker than the front but I'm not sure how feasible that is still.

Can you describe how the arm looks off? It looks okay to me but then when you've been staring at something so long you rather lose perspective (haha) on how it looks to other people.
Technic[Bot] wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 2:38 am I am not sure if the whole, "pick people used to horses" would work here a draft horse is a different beast than the now "almost" extinct military/police horses. Those animals were breed specifically to fight, its behavior and upkeep would be different than your regular farm horse. The thing with domestic animals is that they were selectively breed to perform a job to peak potential to the point some thoroughly breed horses/dogs can't do much else than why they were bred for. In any case is any specific training required to be a cataphract? You know, be a lancer first then a shield carrier then you can apply? Or you just have to sign in the "cataphract" queue at the academy? Also do they have area of attack like in AoE II?
I agree with you about the differences between work horses and war horses but I still think that someone used to the former would still have an advantage with the latter over some city boy who's never been near one in their lives. I was more thinking about care and maintenance then riding anyway as basitin cavalry have no squires to do the grunt work for them.

In terms of cavalry types, I was thinking that the basitin military would work like a modern army where you get choice about where you want to go (within reason) and so comparing a cataphract to a lancer might be like comparing, say, a paratrooper to a normal infantry soldier in the modern world. I.e. the cataphracts might be seen as a more "hardcore" option for those nutjobs who really want to push themselves without quite being special forces (that's where the Du'hadrin and the Akorshakai come in), but you don't have to have done the "lesser" role before you can enlist in the "greater" one.
I was thinking more Rome: Total War with these guys in mind. Those damn Persians...
Technic[Bot] wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 2:38 am In terms of the drawing the horse perspective is on point, it is extremely easy to make them look like oversized ponies. An the armor is cool, but the legs are a bit unprotected. They are begging to be impaled or shot by some good old fashioned Spanish Tercios. Also probably is the perspective but the rider look a bit fat and his legs seems too thin and left arm looks a bit inconsistent with his chest.
In any case is a pretty good damn good basitin horsemen.
You know, I always thought the same about horse's legs and I looked and looked and looked for historical examples of horse leg armour and as far as I can tell it just didn't exist. The only tenuous examples I could find were on ceremonial armour rather than battle armour and so I decided to just go with the examples of history and just not give them any. I think the reason for this (as far as I could glean from various websites) is that horses really can't run very well when they have extra weight on their legs, or maybe chaffing or something like that. I also think it has something to do with cavalry's traditional historical role in battle which was, primarily, to destroy the enemy's cavalry and then just run amok in their back lines where there is little resistance. Therefore maybe the reason ancient knights didn't armour their horse's legs is because, as they were mostly fighting other mounted knights, they just didn't need to.

I think the fatness comes from the way his curiass is bowed outwards and the fact that you can't see the edge because the saddle's in the way. It's the same curiass as all the other guys have worn. I see about the leg, maybe that's always been a weakness of how I've drawn it and now its just been made more obvious by the horse. The left arm is always a challenge for me whenever I have to draw one that's held in tight against the curiass, I never quite know how to draw it properly (see also my longbowman for the exact same problem). Fortunately 3D does all the perspective work for me! Can't wait to start showing you guys that.
Image Image

What I cannot create, I do not understand.
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

User avatar
Technic[Bot]
Grand Templar
Posts: 1246
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:48 pm
Location: México
Fav. Twokinds Character: Raine!
Contact:

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 12: Cataphract

#65 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Thallium wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:57 pm Hmm maybe I should add a bit about a hammer; my thought was that it might be possible to do by hand because the base of skull is weaker than the front but I'm not sure how feasible that is still.

Can you describe how the arm looks off? It looks okay to me but then when you've been staring at something so long you rather lose perspective (haha) on how it looks to other people.
What you want to do is destroy the base of the brain. That is where the heart and the lungs are controlled and that way you disconnect the whole system and thus no more pain. So maybe if you get creative you can puncture through the throat
and in between the column to get there, but that is a bit complicated...
Also the hammers gives you an advantage: Is faster, the last thing you want while doing that is struggling to punch through the skull of your fallen comrade because he is too thick-headed.
In case of the arm: His right arm looks quite shorter than his left, at least for me, since it is occluded by his glove.
Thallium wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:57 pm I agree with you about the differences between work horses and war horses but I still think that someone used to the former would still have an advantage with the latter over some city boy who's never been near one in their lives. I was more thinking about care and maintenance then riding anyway as basitin cavalry have no squires to do the grunt work for them.

In terms of cavalry types, I was thinking that the basitin military would work like a modern army where you get choice about where you want to go (within reason) and so comparing a cataphract to a lancer might be like comparing, say, a paratrooper to a normal infantry soldier in the modern world. I.e. the cataphracts might be seen as a more "hardcore" option for those nutjobs who really want to push themselves without quite being special forces (that's where the Du'hadrin and the Akorshakai come in), but you don't have to have done the "lesser" role before you can enlist in the "greater" one.
I was thinking more Rome: Total War with these guys in mind. Those damn Persians...
My point was that you could not hope to pick a farm boy and expect him to handle a war horse with the same ease as his plow pony. You need someone to spend years working with this specialized breed, to do that specialized job.
Sure your local cowboy would have a leg up on that front but he won't have time to do much farming after enlisting.
Thallium wrote: Sun Jun 10, 2018 11:57 pm You know, I always thought the same about horse's legs and I looked and looked and looked for historical examples of horse leg armour and as far as I can tell it just didn't exist. The only tenuous examples I could find were on ceremonial armour rather than battle armour and so I decided to just go with the examples of history and just not give them any. I think the reason for this (as far as I could glean from various websites) is that horses really can't run very well when they have extra weight on their legs, or maybe chaffing or something like that. I also think it has something to do with cavalry's traditional historical role in battle which was, primarily, to destroy the enemy's cavalry and then just run amok in their back lines where there is little resistance. Therefore maybe the reason ancient knights didn't armour their horse's legs is because, as they were mostly fighting other mounted knights, they just didn't need to.
I once saw "historical" barding that consisting on "a curtain" chain mail over the horses legs. Keeps their legs protected from arrows and guys smart enough to hack at their hooves. Not much to protect against charging a pike formation thought.
There are three things that motivate people: Money, fear and love.
Links to my ramblings:
Twokinds [of] data
PhpBB in the age of facebook
If you are new to this phpBB thing:
BBCode guide

User avatar
Thallium
Templar
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:13 pm
Location: Beyond the Wall

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 12: Cataphract

#66 Post by Thallium »

Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 3:57 am In case of the arm: His right arm looks quite shorter than his left, at least for me, since it is occluded by his glove.
Ah I see it, the elbow needs to be dropped a bit to get it to line up with the other arm. Noted.
Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 3:57 am Sure your local cowboy would have a leg up on that front but he won't have time to do much farming after enlisting.
Now I want to see a basitin cowboy, lol.
Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jun 11, 2018 3:57 am I once saw "historical" barding that consisting on "a curtain" chain mail over the horses legs. Keeps their legs protected from arrows and guys smart enough to hack at their hooves. Not much to protect against charging a pike formation thought.
Yeah it seems to be a choice of either scale armour covering the whole horse (including some leg protection) or plate armour without leg protection. I haven't been able to find examples with crossover, I guess people must of had their reasons.
Image Image

What I cannot create, I do not understand.
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

User avatar
Thallium
Templar
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:13 pm
Location: Beyond the Wall

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 12: Cataphract

#67 Post by Thallium »

Part 13 of the Illustrated Guide. Well I promised something a little different in this one and I think you'll agree that this is definitely a little different. Not too much to say other than it was an extremely nice change of pace to put armour behind me for a little while and draw something very contrasting. Next week will follow the theme of large changes in era but this time in the opposite direction, going back far into the distant past to have a look at what a basitin soldier looked like during the Contact Wars when they first left their island home.

If the idea of basitins in a modern setting tickles your fancy, you can check out the entire book I wrote about that very subject: "The Art of War" which you can find in my signature or at viewtopic.php?f=5&t=13854%5Bimg

Any problems viewing these images, you can find them mirrored on my FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thallium/

Image

Sixty-six years have passed since humans first made contact with an intelligent alien species. It was not quite how they imagined it would go. For a world still in the early stages of recovering from the most devastating war in human history, the arrival of hundreds of thousands of alien refugees in the space of three weeks through a portal into a field in southern England was very almost too much to bear. To this day, no one quite knows how the authorities on our side of the rift were able to anticipate this mass exodus; all we know is that one day, without warning, the army placed a cordon around a significant part of the Wiltshire countryside with express orders not to let anyone in. Or out. Then from the dark, they came; thousands upon thousands of people, furred with long ears and a tail but people none the less, streaming from a great rent in reality that pulsed with ethereal energy. Day and night they came, a never-ending procession of people carrying all they owned on their backs; orderly and disciplined but visibly frightened and ill at ease. The soldiers guarding the inner ring of the cordon could only gape in wonder at the sight before them, they had been expecting War of the Worlds yet those that stood before them now were clearly civilians dressed in clothes from hundreds of years ago. At the start of the third week, the makeup of the refugees changed, with civilians giving way to armoured warriors, bloodied and battle scarred with broken weapons and defeat in their eyes. The guards were once again nervous about these new arrivals but orders came from above that these warriors meant no harm and were fleeing just like the others. Then, quite suddenly, the great rent in the air changed. It began to thrum, convulse and flicker and, just before it was extinguished with a sonic boom and a flash of light, a last, lone figure stepped through before the portal closed forever. He was armoured like many of the others but in black steel with gold trim and he had draped around his shoulders a crimson cloak that was torn and stained. His name was Keith Cornelius Keiser and he was the last of their race to make it out alive.

The basitins, for that was their name, were fleeing a great enemy; humans much like those that now stood open-mouthed before them but wielders of magic and with a distinct genocidal edge to their purpose. These “Templars” wanted conquest and they were not above putting all who resisted to the sword. The basitins were a warrior people, proud and strong with great martial prowess on the field of battle. But they had no magic and when the Templars arrived in force on the shores of the basitin’s island home, all that skill and military might merely slowed the Templars down instead of stopping them. Those in the high command of the basitin military were left with two choices: either they could stand and fight to the last as they always had, or they could flee, abandon all they had stood for over the centuries and run with their tails between their legs. For many nights the debate raged with raised voices and occasional outbursts of physical violence. At first it was many against a few: of course they would stand and fight and die, how could there even be debate about this? But slowly the mood began to change, propagated primarily by one of the three surviving High Generals, Ambassador General Keiser. After all, what was the point of dying with honour when there was no one left to remember their sacrifice? Eventually the decision was made, the basitins would evacuate their island and flee, but where could they go? This is the part where history gets hazy. As the basitins could not use magic themselves, the construction of a portal to another world must have been the work of someone else, probably a Templar who did not see eye to eye with his brethren. But why Earth and not somewhere else in their world? And how did the UK government know to expect them? These and many more questions still linger when considering those fateful days when the basitins first arrived; but the basitin high command never told and nor did the British government of the time. Now, with the recent death of Marcus Kaine, the last surviving member of the basitin high command, it looks like such questions will be forever lost to time.

In the weeks and months during and immediately after the portal opened, British service personnel furiously built a tented city with the help of soldiers and equipment flown in from all nations, including the basitins themselves. It was cramped and it was basic but it was safe and in it the remnants of the basitin race lived for the next 26 years. The question of what to do with them raged in the parliaments and congresses of all nations for decades, especially in the British government who housed them within their borders with the help of aid sent from all over the world. Debate roared back and forth continually until, with great hesitation, it was accepted that the basitins clearly weren’t going anywhere and that they couldn’t be kept cooped up in their internment camp forever. The only option left was one that sent chills down everyone’s spine. Integration. Over the course of the next few decades, basitins were gradually released from the camp and housed within society at large. Most stayed in Britain but many went to other nations who would accept them, western Europe and north America primarily. It was not an easy or painless process but the basitins had learned much of their human hosts during their time imprisoned and, furthermore, were under direct order from the by then late General Keiser to accept this new reality and integrate as best they could. All things considered it was a remarkable success with levels of violence, delinquency and other cultural clashes significantly below that predicted by experts. Soon basitins were present in work places, in hospitals and in schools and in all the places one found their human counterparts. However the one place that took basitins the longest to be allowed into was also the one they most desired: the military.

To date, the British military is the only armed force that has allowed basitins to serve within its ranks and even there it took a lot of back and forth before the decision was made. Partly this was a political issue: the general public and military brass were understandably concerned about giving aliens guns and teaching them how to fight in modern war but it was also a logistical issue. Basitins, while similar in many respects to humans physically are different in enough ways that several pieces of equipment had to be modified to fit them, primarily boots and helmets and this caused extra strain on the military’s supply chain. Fortunately however the will was there and in the late 90s the first basitin recruits passed out of the army training centres at Harrogate, Pirbright, Winchester, Catterick and Sandhurst. They saw action for the first time in the 2003 invasion of Iraq where they distinguished themselves as exceptional soldiers; tireless, disciplined and capable, everything one would expect given their martial history. So successful were they in fact that in 2009 the order was given to create a basitin-only infantry regiment to serve alongside their brothers already in existing units. This corps was expected to operate far above the standards expected for normal infantry soldiers; somewhere on par with the Parachute Regiment or the Royal Marines but without the veil of secrecy that surrounded special forces like the SAS. The name chosen for this regiment was the “Du’hadrin”, a moniker that had its origins in an elite cadre of bodyguards responsible for guarding senior officers, generals and the like on the ancient battlefields of the basitin’s homeland. Name thus chosen, the last thing to do was select a symbol to serve as a cap badge and also to emblazon upon the flags surrounding their new regimental headquarters at Credenhill near Hereford. The choice here was obvious: the Illyrion Rosette, the crook and sword symbol that had served as the sigil of the Eastern Basitin state (where most of the survivors had come from) and had become the de facto symbol of the basitin people as a whole.

The Du’hadrin are a shining example of the tenacity and indomitable will of the basitin people. From inter-dimensional refugees relying on handouts in a strange and frightening new world to asserting their rightful place at the top of the military food chain all within one lifetime, it is no surprise that basitins, and the Du’hadrin especially, are respected, sometimes grudgingly, across conflict zones the world over. From major wars in Iraq and Afghanistan to smaller operations where they serve as advisers and trainers along with other British and international military personnel, the Du’hadrin show just how right those politicians and military higher-ups were in the 90s that finally enabled the basitins to take up arms once again. The style of warfare may have drastically changed but a basitin will always find themselves at home on a battlefield.
Image Image

What I cannot create, I do not understand.
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

User avatar
Thallium
Templar
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:13 pm
Location: Beyond the Wall

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 13: Du'hadrin officer

#68 Post by Thallium »

Final teaser image for some of the work I'll be doing once the current run of 2D images ends. The basitins are magnificent fighters and their heroism and bravery are unmatched in the known world. However, not every battle goes their way...

Any problems viewing this image, you can find it mirrored on my FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thallium/ (in the scraps folder).

Image
Image Image

What I cannot create, I do not understand.
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

User avatar
Thallium
Templar
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:13 pm
Location: Beyond the Wall

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Future Work TEASER 3

#69 Post by Thallium »

Part 14 of the Illustrated Guide. Today we will be going far back in time to the days of the Contact Wars between basitins and keidran and humans and taking a look at what a basitin soldier looked like back then (they didn't always have that fancy plate armour). It was doing this piece that I realised that my method of drawing mail up until this point (free-handing lots of little circles) wasn't going to cut it and so I made a brush that was set up so that I could just draw a line and get a perfect row of mail links along it. I think it makes the mail look a lot better (and far less time consuming) then it would have had I done it free-hand and it is definitely the technique I will use drawing mail going forward. Next week we will be jumping once again into modern times (our version of "modern" that is) and have a look at a Du'hadrin infanteer in Combat Equipment Fighting Order. Enjoy!

Any problems viewing these images, you can find them mirrored on my FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thallium/

Image

The plate armour with which almost all basitin soldiers are equipped is one of the many reasons for their great success on the battlefield. It causes those areas protected to be almost immune to damage from cutting and piercing weapons and is only able to be seriously compromised by blunt impact weapons or those that concentrate a large amount of force in a small surface area, such as the hook of a halberd or war hammer. The only options for many of their foes therefore is to aim for the gaps in between the plates, a difficult task at the best of times, especially when their basitin opponents are not usually presented with such challenges. This is owing to the fact that most human and keidran armies do not feature many heavily armoured troops, especially among the peasantry that make up the bulk of their forces. However, this state of affairs was not always the case and it is in fact only relatively recently that such armaments became standard issue across the whole of the basitin military. For many centuries of warfare, basitins went into battle armoured not in plate but in gambeson and mail as they were the best protective equipment available at the time. The difficulty in gathering and refining enough iron and steel into large plates meant that such items usually went to senior officers, but even then there was certainly nothing large enough to turn into a cuirass or cuisses and so mail was the de facto standard across the military.

Shown here is a Shieldbearer from about the era of the Contact Wars, when the basitins first crossed the Grand Sea and encountered (and fought against) keidran and humans for the first time. One of the chief things to note is that it was not only the armour of the basitins that evolved with time but their weapons along with it. While modern Shieldbearers are equipped with kite shields and short swords, Shieldbearers of this era sport a large round shield and a spear. This is because, lacking plate, soldiers are much more vulnerable to enemy attacks of all kinds then they would be centuries later and so it made much more sense to keep your enemies as far away as possible with a long spear then it did to close with them brandishing a short sword. To that end, Shieldbearers of the era fought in a phalanx formation not too dissimilar from later halberdiers (which at this time did not exist), with the ranks behind the first pointing their spears through the gaps between the soldiers in front of them so that a charging enemy had multiple spear points to evade before they could even begin to threaten the men in the first rank.

Shieldbearers were armoured with an iron helmet, riveted together out of two pieces of metal and shaped with a conical tip in order to slough off blows to either side rather than absorbing the impact fully. Beneath the helmet was worn a mail coif attached to an aventail that draped over the throat and the top part of the chest and shoulders and under the coif itself was a padded arming cap to keep the mail off their fur and to provide additional protection from blunt impact. This setup was repeated for the body armour which was comprised of a quilted gambeson which extended all the way down to just below the elbows on the arms and just below the knees on the legs. Even by itself, the gambeson provided significant protection from cuts as well as minor blunt protection but when combined with the mail hauberk on top, these effects were magnified several fold. Extending to just above the elbows on the arms and about mid-way down the thighs on the legs, the riveted mail of the kind worn by the basitins during the Contact Wars was impervious to cuts from swords and held up well to piercing strikes from spears and long ranged arrow volleys (however short ranged volleys from powerful bows and crossbows were still liable to go through). Where it really suffered however is blunt protection as the non-structured mail links dissipated none of the force from a heavy impact weapon, leaving the gambeson as the only protection from such arms. Shieldbearers wore no lower leg protection but did have partial arm protection in the form of small iron plates covering the front of their forearms. This cloth and metal protection, when combined with the coverage from the large metal-rimmed wooden round shield provided a good defence against most of the hazards liable to be found on a battlefield some 300 or so years ago. It was certainly more protection than the meagre armaments given to the poor [censored] standing against them and it helped establish the basitin’s legend as un-killable warriors for whom deadly blows that would have slain any of their assailant’s compatriots merely bounced off harmlessly, allowing the basitins to close in for the slaughter.

Armouring its soldiers in this manner lasted in the Eastern Basitin state for hundreds of years and it was only with the development of new metal-extracting and working techniques that the development of plate (and the subsequent transformation of the basitin soldiery into what they are today) really started. The obvious question therefore is what developmental steps will be taken next? It is likely that the current soldier’s pattern of armour will eventually evolve to be very close to that worn by senior officers: almost total plate coverage with virtually no gaps that would truly make the basitin legions invincible. However, there is another potential route to be taken. Rumours abound of strange goings on in the alchemist’s laboratories located deep underneath Hohlen Hold; of strange noises emanating at all times of the day, bangs and crashes accompanied by plumes of grey smoke rising from chimney stacks and the ever-present scent of sulphur hanging in the air. As once the miners and metallurgists enabled a military revolution, so too one day might these alchemists, who return to the surface with their fur blackened and singed and rubbing their ears to get rid of the ringing sounds which plague them. What the eventual form this might take however, none but the alchemists and the high command know, and they are not telling.
Image Image

What I cannot create, I do not understand.
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

User avatar
Thallium
Templar
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:13 pm
Location: Beyond the Wall

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 14: Contact Wars era soldier

#70 Post by Thallium »

Part 15 of the Illustrated Guide. Getting very close to the end now with just one more to go... which you will have to wait a bit for as I am going away for two weeks from today. Final part will probably by either on the 14th or 15th of July. It will be worth it though as you'll get more than one image to really send the (2D) series off with a bang. This was the second hardest picture to draw purely because of the amount of line work and detail that had to go into it; drawing normal armour is much easier I'm telling you! Again, I will keep the content of the final post as a surprise, however I think you're going to like it; definitely my favourite piece by far. Enjoy!

Any problems viewing these images, you can find them mirrored on my FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thallium/

Image

The Du’hadrin are an elite basitin-only infantry unit in service to the British army. After their arrival on Earth in the 1950s, the basitins spent years in an internment camp before slowly being integrated into the general population, a process that took many years and a great deal of heartache on both sides to achieve. But, nevertheless, it was done and now the last remnants of the basitin people call Earth their home. One of the last areas of society for integration to occur for was also that which the basitins desired almost above all else: the military. For a warrior people, the decades spent unable to flex their martial muscles was interminable and so the announcement by the Ministry of Defence that basitins would in the next few years be allowed to start serving was like mana from heaven. At first it was just to the normal units of the military that they were attached to, however after noting their success in theatres like Iraq and Afghanistan, the top brass decided that a basitin-only unit was to be created, as a recognition of racial pride in a similar way to the Scottish, Welsh and Irish regiments were. This unit was the Du’hadrin and in the few years since its creation, it has served as a beacon of hope for the basitin people that one day their honour and pride might be restored.

Allowing the basitins to serve was not simply a matter of politics, it was a matter of logistics as well. While basitins are physiologically similar to humans in many ways, there are also important differences that means that extra consideration must be taken when equipping and deploying them for battle. Two of the most obvious difference are in the shape of their head and their paws, each of which required some creative thinking on the part of equipment designers to overcome. At first, quartermasters simply stocked a small amount of basitin-specific materials in addition to their normal stock of human gear, however in a bid to streamline the logistics necessary for supplying an army, the most recent equipment overhauls have attempted to integrate the differing accoutrements together in a modular fashion. For example, as shown for the Du’hadrin officer here in full Combat Equipment Fighting Order, the helmet has panels on the side held in by screws. These panels remain in place when worn by a human but if a basitin is issued the helmet, they can unscrew them to allow room for their ears. Another example can be found in the radio headsets issued to all combat troops. While humans have an over-the-ear design, clearly this would not work for the basitins and so now these headsets have a detachable insert in the ear cup (the part that actually produces the sound) which fits perfectly into a basitins inner ear. As a final example, trousers now feature an extra row of stitching at the back which comes closed, however a basitin soldier can cut along this stitching to open up a hole for their tail to go through. In this way, the MoD has managed to save both cost and space by integrating the different sets of equipment as much as possible.

One area however where this has not been possible is in boots. On the surface this seems like an unnecessary item for a basitin as the tough soles on their paws are more than a match for rough ground and stones. However a modern battle field is a much more dangerous place then the battlefields of the basitin’s past with extra hazards like sheared metal, glass and other sharp/hot hazards which would make short work of their paws and render them combat ineffective. Thus boots were a requirement, however no amount of clever designing would allow a boot that fit both a human’s foot and a basitin’s paw to be produced so this is one of a few areas where the supply chains diverge.

In addition to normal equipment, Du’hadrin soldiers go into battle with three weapons. Two are the standard L85A2 bullpup rifle with ELCAN scope and foregrip attached as well as the Glock 17 pistol which are standard issue across the whole army. However the third is a weapon that may seem impractical on a modern battlefield and is mostly carried as a symbol of racial pride: the Burrick, or short sword, that was wielded by their ancestors on the battlefield in days gone by. Seen here over the officer’s right shoulder, the weapon is largely symbolic, however it can serve a practical purpose similar to a machete if there is tough undergrowth in need of cutting or, if things get really desperate, as a substitute for a bayonet when the ammunition is gone and it’s do or die. Du’hadrin personnel are specifically told that they are not to use the weapon as anything but an implement of last resort, however that has not stopped several recorded instances of Du’hadrin soldiers charging en masse at the enemy with swords drawn, seemingly as a way of reliving their species’ glory days of yore.

The basitins continue to prove themselves in battle again and again and so it is no surprise that the Du’hadrin’s ranks keep expanding and more and more normal military jobs are being opened up to them. They are just too valuable of a resource to ignore. There is even talk of other militaries in countries with a significant basitin population such as the United States, Australia and Canada opening themselves up to basitin recruits, after having witnessed what they are capable of by the side of the British over the last decade or so of desert warfare and beyond. They may not be in their true home but there is little doubt that the basitins are thriving in their new environment. It only remains to be seen what new challenges and opportunities are destined for them in their future, where there is no telling how high they will rise.
Image Image

What I cannot create, I do not understand.
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

User avatar
Neptune
Master
Posts: 255
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 12:01 am
Location: The Wall.
Fav. Twokinds Character: the bear in my signature

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 15: Du'hadrin officer - combat

#71 Post by Neptune »

>Basitins
>with guns
>in post-WW2 Britain

I once made a countryball map where UKball was on a Galleon in the Great Sea, did you see that by any chance?
Image
Image Haha, he's so tiny! Where is he going?

User avatar
Technic[Bot]
Grand Templar
Posts: 1246
Joined: Sat Jan 27, 2018 9:48 pm
Location: México
Fav. Twokinds Character: Raine!
Contact:

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 15: Du'hadrin officer - combat

#72 Post by Technic[Bot] »

Wow just wow.
First you keep surprising me with the level of detail in your descriptions. It is clear you have spent a lot of time on this work of yours.
Excuse me for not quoting all the post but is a bit too much for that.

Anyhow, if you no not mind me asking: Any reason you choose Britain as the landing point of your story? You seem to be reasonably knowledgeable about Britanic geography and military make-up. Don't get me wrong i like the idea and island for and island, and the British have used foreign corps from teh turn of the last century. My curiosity simply stems from one little fact. The only thing more interesting that a persons work is the person himself.

On the other hand does Du'hadrin means something? As i once said my Latin is pretty bad but I have never seen that kind of language before, or did not realized it...

Also nice bit on the boots. Personally i have not given much thought about footwear for this kind of characters. But you do raise interesting points: Even if I for some reason decided to go to work without shoes, well i don't think my feet would survive the day.
In any case I took a few "classes" on product design and this poses a quite a nice exercise: to come up with footwear for a digitigrade, However not sure if your proposal convinces me. They probably depend on free movement from both their ankles and their toes for walking, and those boots seem too restrictive. Also not to mention that a digitrade stance is inherently less stable than normal feet.

Now some minor comments. "Modern" basitins seem a bit off. Their legs and torso seem too long and a bit disproportioned. The faces are a bit bland but lest be honest here the only thing harder than drawing hands are faces, specially in this case that you need to do some "speculative biology" to figure out how an British officer would look with a muzzle. Again take my advice with a grain of salt, i can't draw to save my own life.
Also just realized, sometimes your writing style can be a bit heavy, i read all the last 3 entries one after the other, and it was a bit harder that it should. Again english is not my first language so take it with a grain of salt.

Well and now you certainly owe us a Basitin Fusilier or musketeer. (Basitin Tercios maybe). Hell maybe some 1800's basitin soldier would be pretty cool too!
There are three things that motivate people: Money, fear and love.
Links to my ramblings:
Twokinds [of] data
PhpBB in the age of facebook
If you are new to this phpBB thing:
BBCode guide

User avatar
Neptune
Master
Posts: 255
Joined: Fri Dec 22, 2017 12:01 am
Location: The Wall.
Fav. Twokinds Character: the bear in my signature

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 15: Du'hadrin officer - combat

#73 Post by Neptune »

Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:26 am -snip-
I honestly think that Basitins finding themselves in 1950s Britain and burning a few towns before the UN discovers Mekkan and that stuff would be a super neato idea
Image Haha, he's so tiny! Where is he going?

User avatar
Thallium
Templar
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:13 pm
Location: Beyond the Wall

Re: The Basitin Military: An Illustrated Guide - Part 15: Du'hadrin officer - combat

#74 Post by Thallium »

Neptune wrote: Sun Jul 01, 2018 8:44 pm I once made a countryball map where UKball was on a Galleon in the Great Sea, did you see that by any chance?
I hadn't no, though please feel free to send me a link and I'll look at it, mostly just came up with it because that's what I know.
Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:26 am Wow just wow.
First you keep surprising me with the level of detail in your descriptions. It is clear you have spent a lot of time on this work of yours.
Excuse me for not quoting all the post but is a bit too much for that.

Anyhow, if you no not mind me asking: Any reason you choose Britain as the landing point of your story? You seem to be reasonably knowledgeable about Britanic geography and military make-up. Don't get me wrong i like the idea and island for and island, and the British have used foreign corps from teh turn of the last century. My curiosity simply stems from one little fact. The only thing more interesting that a persons work is the person himself.
Thanks very much, hopefully this last post will be even better. My reasons for choosing Britain and the military are simple: always write what you know, and I am both British and an army reservist (which is in fact where I've been the last 2 weeks) so I know both pretty well. I find it makes your worlds a lot more believable if you can bring the kind of specialist knowledge which you can't just look up on Wikipedia. As you said, Britain is also a natural pick because of their history of using foreign regiments like the Gurkhas so it's not out of the realms of possibility to make use of the basitin's natural talents for war.
Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:26 am On the other hand does Du'hadrin means something? As i once said my Latin is pretty bad but I have never seen that kind of language before, or did not realized it...
I'm afraid not, no hidden meaning here, it's just a word that I liked the sound of. I came up with it so long ago know that I don't even remember if it came from somewhere or if I just made it up.
Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:26 am Also nice bit on the boots. Personally i have not given much thought about footwear for this kind of characters. But you do raise interesting points: Even if I for some reason decided to go to work without shoes, well i don't think my feet would survive the day.
In any case I took a few "classes" on product design and this poses a quite a nice exercise: to come up with footwear for a digitigrade, However not sure if your proposal convinces me. They probably depend on free movement from both their ankles and their toes for walking, and those boots seem too restrictive. Also not to mention that a digitrade stance is inherently less stable than normal feet.
You're probably quite right that real digitigrade footwear would look different but alas I did not have the inclination to thought experiment anymore then converting normal boots to fit a paw. If you come up with anything you think would be more convincing then please by all means let me have a look and I might be able to modify how I do them in the future.
Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:26 am Now some minor comments. "Modern" basitins seem a bit off. Their legs and torso seem too long and a bit disproportioned. The faces are a bit bland but lest be honest here the only thing harder than drawing hands are faces, specially in this case that you need to do some "speculative biology" to figure out how an British officer would look with a muzzle. Again take my advice with a grain of salt, i can't draw to save my own life.
Hmm I think I can see where you're coming from, although I did use one of those human proportion diagrams to do the initial sketching. I think what it might be is the fact that (at least in the British army) you wear your trousers quite high up (higher than normal trousers) because the belt is pretty wide so maybe that is what is throwing it off a little. Yeah I knew I didn't have the chops to do anything but the most basic of faces so rather then spend weeks practising I decided it would be a better use of time to just do something basic and move on. Improvements for the future.
Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:26 am Also just realized, sometimes your writing style can be a bit heavy, i read all the last 3 entries one after the other, and it was a bit harder that it should. Again english is not my first language so take it with a grain of salt.
These pieces are the first bit of serious creative writing I've done since my story 8 years ago so I know I'm probably not as fluid as I was then, plus what I'm writing here is in an explanatory style which is inherently drier than a free form novel. When things move to 3D, the writing will continue but rather than being explanatory, it will instead tell lots of little tales from the perspectives of the characters in them so those should hopefully flow a little better.
Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:26 am Well and now you certainly owe us a Basitin Fusilier or musketeer. (Basitin Tercios maybe). Hell maybe some 1800's basitin soldier would be pretty cool too!
If only I had the time I could draw every kind of basitin from every time period, but alas we must prioritise and for the moment I'm going to be moving on to 3D for quite a while. I'm not ruling out ever coming back to this style of 2D (or hell, even doing what you suggest in 3D) but it won't be for a while I'm afraid.
Neptune wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 4:12 am
Technic[Bot] wrote: Mon Jul 02, 2018 2:26 am -snip-
I honestly think that Basitins finding themselves in 1950s Britain and burning a few towns before the UN discovers Mekkan and that stuff would be a super neato idea
Maybe in an alt-alt reality where the basitins are conquerors again but for the moment they're refugees in a strange land under circumstances which are mysterious at best and downright suspicious at worst. Maybe there are more shoes to drop about this in the future.

======================================================================================================================================================================

Part 16 of the Illustrated Guide. This is it friends, this is the end (for now) of the 2D images and so I thought I'd send you off with a bang, especially considering I've been away for the last 2 weeks. So here you are: 4 images (well 4 variations of 1 image) and what better subject to tackle for the last in the series but the top of the basitin military as a whole, the High Generals and Ambassador General Keith Cornelius Keiser in particular. I always knew I wanted to finish the series with Keith but I also knew that if I was to do him justice I would need the experience have having done all the other images first. I also knew that I wanted to portray him wearing his general's armour but a more realistic version than what you see in the comic so I spent a good deal of time hunting round for a suit that was both awesome and matched the comic one and I think I found a pretty good candidate (as you will see). I thought it would be good to have several different versions of this final image to as I wanted a version to match my previous "battle-ready" style as well as the one where he's in his comic form. There's also versions of both in silver armour in case the comic-black is not your thing and you're after something a little more realistic. Pick and mix your favourites. Small disclaimer: as I wanted this to be 100% Keith Keiser (and not my crappy approximation of him), I did copy some of Tom's line art for Keith's head, just so it would definitely be him.

So there we are, finished. Except of course not because the 3D images are going to be starting... next week! Yup, rather than take any more time off, I'm going to start uploading what 3D images I have weekly just like I've done for the 2D ones so expect to see the (frankly far superior) art starting soon. I have 5 done so far with a 6th on the way so what images I have will uploaded weekly and then I will just default to a "when it's done, it's done" schedule rather than try to stick to any kind of weekly or bi-weekly schedule which I know I will not be able to do. Enjoy!

Any problems viewing these images, you can find them mirrored on my FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thallium/

Image

Image

Image

Image

At the very top of the basitin military command structure are five individuals who wield near-total control over almost every aspect of their society and all the citizens who live within it. These people are the four High Generals and, sitting above them all, the King. Traditionally a triumvirate, the High Generals have recently, under what some would call questionable circumstances, expanded to include a fourth member, adding an Ambassador General to the pre-established group of Arms, Intelligence and Master Generals. Of the four, the Master General is a first-among-equals as it is their responsibility to oversee the work of the others and report directly to the King. The word “King” does not describe the position occupied by that certain individual particularly well as it comes from a mistranslation into human from the original basitin word which might be better interpreted as “ruler”. The King is a non-hereditary elected position, although once in office they serve for life and it is not just restricted to men either with several women having filled the role in the past. Those eligible to take over the role upon the previous King’s death are anyone of the rank of Tribune or above, giving a potential pool of about twenty candidates who must then compete for support from the voting body: anyone of the rank of High Marshal or above, or about five hundred voters. Once the votes are tallied, the winner takes office at the very top of basitin society and stays incumbent until their death, whereupon the election process is repeated.

The King may serve as the head of the basitin state but, as usual, it is those underneath that carry out most of the day-to-day jobs of running a complex society and the High Generals each have an extended portfolio of tasks which they administrate. The Arms General is responsible for overseeing the logistics for equipping and supplying the entire basitin military, as well as discipline and overall strategy, a position currently being held by Marcus Kane. The Intelligence General is the state’s chief bureaucrat with responsibility for gathering and storing the myriad different kinds of data and information a society needs and generates in order to function properly, with the position currently being held by Mordecai Seethe. The newly-created position of Ambassador General is a response to the changing nature of the world and the basitin’s place within it. With the map becoming filled in and the basitin’s isolationist ways becoming less and less viable, the position was created in order to ensure that proper contact between basitins and the other races could be established and maintained. It is therefore the Ambassador General’s job to oversee a corps of diplomats and have overall responsibility for the basitin’s foreign policy. The position is currently being held by Keith Keiser. Lastly, the Master General has oversight over any and all work carried out by the other three and has the most direct line of communication to the King who can dictate any changes to any policy they so wish. In addition to this overseer’s role, the Master General also has overall command of the civilian activity that goes on within the basitin state’s boarders, and importantly, is also head of the all-powerful law courts on which so much of basitin society depends. The position is currently being held by Gregor Thule.

The arms and armour of the High Generals are all unique, individual pieces of the finest quality available in basitin lands (or anywhere else for that matter). There is no pre-established pattern to which they must conform and the Generals wear no rank insignia; everyone already knows who they are. As such, each suit of armour is a highly personal piece which displays the tastes of the wearer and are usually as much works of art as they are functional battlefield protection. The suit shown here is worn by Ambassador General Keith Keiser, created under the orders of the late Master General Nickolai Alaric. The armour of a soldier at the top of the basitin military hierarchy is a master-crafted magnum opus with near total protection being achieved by the highly skilled royal armourers tasked with their creation. Such precise crafting of individual, overlapping and interlocking parts requires extremely detailed measurements to be taken and there was some hushed speculation about how it was that General Kesier’s armour fitted him so well considering he had spent the last six years in exile and so was not present for his suit’s creation under General Alaric’s orders. Alaric was therefore also responsible for the armour’s design which may explain the rather unorthodox choice to have the whole set oil blackened: black armour for the black sheep.

Regardless of the speculation surrounding both General Keiser’s armour and ascension to the position, he has since proven himself more than a match for the role in which he now finds himself. At first travelling to human and basitin lands personally for several years, with the eventual set up and training of the Diplomatic Corps (under his personal direction), he spent increasingly more time on the Isles and took up more of an administrator’s role, only travelling overseas for extremely important events such as the last-ditch negotiations with the Templar before diplomatic ties were severed and the great war began. With diplomacy abandoned and the drums of war sounding, Keiser was again thrust into an alien environment: direct battlefield command of an entire army. To be promoted under unusual circumstances is one thing but to be put in charge of the lives of thousands of men when you yourself have almost none of the experience required to enact that role is quite another entirely. In fact, there was much public and private debate over whether the law governing regimental appointments should be changed to prevent him from taking command at all. But Keiser had learned much of war in the years since his return from banishment and, in addition, knew that like any young commander he had to lean heavily on those under him that did have significant experience with directing large numbers of troops for advice. At the start, he had only limited input and the army under his command was run in large by those senior officers underneath him acting as regents with Keiser himself rubber-stamping any decisions made. But as months turned to years and the campaign against the Templar see-sawed back and forth, he gradually grew more and more into the role of leader and eventually took his place as the legitimate commander of an army, alongside his fellow High Generals and those others of very senior rank.

Keith Keiser’s story from underachieving child, to exile, to Ambassador General, to supreme commander of the combined forces of the Eastern and Western basitins, to boarder-line apotheosis amongst his people is a tale that is as exciting as it is long and so cannot be told in full here. Regardless of the journey, the outcome of it all is written on the stones of history: the basitins lost the war and fled to Earth as refugees with General Keiser at their head. For several years he toiled with various human governments to make the basitin’s new life a success, but his efforts were cut cruelly short when, on the way to the United States on a diplomatic mission, he perished at the age of 37 aboard the SS Andrea Doria when it sank just off Nantucket, Massachusetts in 1956. How things might have been different for the basitin people had he lived is the cause of much speculation, but regardless of what might have happened in the future, the legacy of his deeds in the past has secured his place amongst the history books, human and basitin, for all time.

However, not all is well on Planet Earth, for something sinister is stirring in the darkness; a plot that could threaten to consume everything in the fires of war that once engulfed the basitin’s home world years before. Everything is in place and the pieces have started to move. The fate of the Earth and all its inhabitants shall very soon be decided.

What can save us now?
Image Image

What I cannot create, I do not understand.
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

User avatar
Thallium
Templar
Posts: 388
Joined: Sun Sep 05, 2010 11:13 pm
Location: Beyond the Wall

Re: The Basitin Military in 3D: Part 1 - Shieldbearer V2

#75 Post by Thallium »

And here we are, the start of 3D! Strap in because (if I do say so myself) this is going to be pretty damn cool. So we start where we began last time round with the humble shieldbearer, the backbone of the basitin army. I won't re-post the description explaining how they function, you can check out the original if you'd like that (and laugh at the jump in quality).

So there will be two kinds (hah) of pictures from now on: the first will be re-do's of the old 2D images like this one. The second, more exciting, will be fully fleshed out scenes with lots going on (you know, actual artwork) and you'll get a taste of that next week. This first image should give you a pretty good indication of what things are going to look like from now on. As I think you'll agree, while producing these images may be slower, the increase in fidelity is more than worth it.

The text descriptions won't be going away either, they will however be changing. There's no point re-doing descriptions for these kind of images (I will just link to their originals) but for the full scenes, instead of the text being descriptive and explaining how various soldier types function, they will instead be short stories written from the perspective of those participating in the event being portrayed. There will, I think you'll be glad to hear, be more full scenes than simple re-do's.

So yes, that's it, please enjoy this new direction and as always feel free to let me know any comments or criticisms. They are always appreciated.

Any problems viewing these images, you can find them mirrored on my FA: http://www.furaffinity.net/user/thallium/

Image
Image Image

What I cannot create, I do not understand.
The imagination of nature is far, far greater than the imagination of man.

Post Reply