seasons of gasoline and gold

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eternal WIP i finally coloured up. wanted to draw some of sir heaven's arming clothes & figure out the headgear layering

knights never cut their hair because it is believed to aid with their dialogues with the holy beasts. as a result of the fumes, their hair bleaches over time and the ends are so fried that they basically just crumble away

ooh thank you! i'm not sure if you mean my avatar or my header pic but i have made a transparent Guy From My Avatar and you can see him here:

as for the sphinx in my header.. enjoy a secret different colour version

They use an ancient alchemical art known as a dialogue - envisioned as a conversation between the user and the metal.

the Mercury enginesmiths obviously use hydrargyrum/quicksilver in their art, which is considered to be one of the purest elements due to the fact that it doesn't react to ichor fuel. so it can be used inside active engines without interrupting them. The tattoos on enginesmiths' palms and fingers (not pictured, this is an old drawing) allow them to manipulate their element. In practice, it looks a lot like playing the piano with no actual keyboard. This is a skill which takes a lot of practice, and the control is directly related to finger movement and position, rather than some innate brain power telekinesis. The tattoos are made of a proprietary ink that, allegedly, contains ichor fuel and molten gold.

enginesmiths can work like this because hydrargyrum is already liquid at room temperature. the Mars armoursmiths don't have that advantage - iron, the element of Mars and what 99% of a holy beast is made of, is solid at room temperature. so what they have to do instead is heat up their iron until it is malleable, at this point a team of armoursmiths will stretch and drag it into shape using their dialogues and hammers, often following some kind of template (so that a beast's components stay the same shape even when replaced). This is really hard work and takes a lot of skill, and the iron is never nearly as malleable as quicksilver is, so the combined pulling power of many armoursmiths is required to get the job done. for the biggest iron plates, like those used for Saint Taurus, it could take up to a hundred armoursmiths.

using this technique, armoursmiths can form iron into almost any shape, but it can only stretch so far, and inexperienced armoursmiths often make the error of assuming a shape that seems fine while the iron is hot will hold when it is cold and contracted. the contraction of iron has to be factored into every creation and if it's not taken properly into account, the final product, cold and hard, could crack or buckle.

to create small items which require a lot of finesse, an enginesmith and an armoursmith often work side by side, with the armoursmith forgoing dialogue work in favour of just pouring molten iron into a mold formed of liquid quicksilver held in the right shape by the enginesmith. this is how they make their small engine blocks and pistons which would be a little too fiddly for the usual push and shove method of shaping iron

(knights' dialogues follow a similar principle. while actually piloting a holy beast is rly physical job, a lot of levers in there, the dialogue allows the knight to be aware of everything taking place within the beast, which lets them issue informed orders & know when to call for more power from the heart or the belly etc. the dialogue tattoos of knights are strictly controlled knowledge. most people don't even know where to look to find them (along the spine))

dragons are a manifestation of sin that descend upon a town that has not paid its dues to the church, and that's all there is to it. overexploitation of natural resources obviously isn't a new theory (i've seen texts from the 16th century warning about the effects of it) but here it isn't that cut and dry, the cause and effect is not so simple. many more factors in play.

as for your second question - everyone's allowed to have favourites! as long as you understand the hierarchy and don't go around acting like saint guinefort is objectively better than krokodilos or whatever, you're fine. a lot of people consider the first holy beast they ever saw to be Their One, because they tend to make such an overwhelming first impression. especially to someone for whom the most advanced technology in their household is a plough. people will happily debate the merits of each one and explain how they've chosen their favourite.

now, things are a bit different when the more controversial beasts come up. you like saint lycaon best? that's a strong political statement that, if made in certain loyalist areas, could get you in trouble. and if you like saint pantera, what the fuck is WRONG with you?

Not so much fanclubs in a fandom sense, that's a bit of a modern invention. They would have taken their worship very seriously and one of the most common pilgrimages of the time is a tour of all the stables, where you can get iron pilgrim badges made out of old armour plates. I have drawn Mercury and Mars wearing them before ⤵️

The badges are worn as a sign of devotion but also to prove that you've visited those stables, because as the stables increase in importance, they don't just let anyone wander in to see the relics and beasts. You have to prove that you've been to other stables before, the more the better, otherwise you may not be worthy of checking out the good stuff. It is expected that every member of the laity go on a pilgrimage at least once in their lives.

Craftspeople do capitalise on this by selling small devotional items that you can take home and set up in your own shrine. I've drawn one of these, a mass produced woodcut print of Leun, but these are super common and usually not of high quality, fudging details so that they might resemble any given beast if you just squint a little. This one is on the upper end, quality wise

But the most central part of how one is expected to 'commune' with a holy beast is in their breath. huffing fumes is right there in the scripture - I mean, they are practicing engine worship, so of course they're placing huge significance on the smoky part. Grifters often sell what are essentially empty bottles, claiming that they have captured some smoke or some of the beast's breath, making it, essentially, holy air. Fun fact, when an important member of the Church is dying, he has the option to request a death by engine fumes instead of a natural death, and in a severely hypoxic state they share their final wisdom with the congregation, often in the form of a prophesy.

So, onto folk saints! They do exist - assuming you mean large mechanical creatures which have not been built by the Church. in which case yep those exist, the theocracy has sole control of the fuel supply within its own borders but there are plenty of other parts of the world. But there are also beasts that straight up don't exist but are worshipped by the laity within the theocracy. Rumours of odd sightings spread into stories of some new beast who can help you fix your gout if you pray to him. The Church considers it heresy but just like in the real world, that doesn't really stop people. Except in the case of the annexed Midean region, where people practicing "idol worship" are executed.

Oh they were having one hell of a golden age before those damn Mideans decided they wanted independence about 300 years ago, and before the dragons stopped appearing with such frequency.

The slow fall of the theocracy began with the Midean civil war/war of independence, which was a narrow win for Mez but has been a burden on them ever since. The Mezian theocracy grew by annexing surrounding nations and cementing its chokehold on fuel supply, and its colonisation of Midea was what brought it to power in the first place, long before that, especially given that Midea was the world capital of of enginesmithing at the time and an exporter of fantastic technology. So that was all great, for the Church, until the war of independence which lasted almost a century. Midea lost and did not become an independent state, but it marked a significant shift in how the population believed & behaved. That's partially why Saint Lycaon was taken from Midea, he is essentially a hostage under threat of destruction if his people don't fall in line. The constant struggle to police those areas taxes the Church of its resources and civil unrest doesn't seem to be dying down any time soon.

Before the war, the theocracy's power was absolute within its own borders. After, it has retreated to its strongholds of Salvius and Forza (where the biggest stables are) and all but abandoned the more remote regions to fall to ruin. Not so much a spoiler, but a major plot point of the story, set at the end of this age, is that the final death-prophesy of a cardinal was: unless taxes were paid by the laity [dying of plague], the Church is under no obligation to send the beasts to aid them in times of peril. During the 'golden age', this would have been an unthinkable act of miserliness, and the Church would have sent those beasts out whenever and wherever, often to random villages not being attacked, just to give people a chance to see them. The massive waste of fuel was not a big deal because there was always sooo much more waiting, and the sky was full of dragons. Now, every drop must be preserved.

old art alert lol.. november 2021. but check out my first pass at my devil card before I realised that the chariot was a better fit for him.

bury your maze

map of Siren (modern day)

^ the scene

he was hanging by the end of it trust me

hi!!!! hope you have a good time :>