For Inktober, I decided to draw things from the Phoviverse. Here’s the 31 things that I drew.
Day 1 – Kinisis
Kinisis is the personification of the Phoviverse, the universe’s avatar and its creator. Nearly 14 billion years ago, the deity settled down in a little corner of the multiuniverse and gave birth to four beautiful little gods, who went on to maintain Kinisis’s new universe. These days, she spends her time hidden away in the universe’s core, living a life of luxury while her kids do all the work.
Day 2 – Kenon
Kenon is what many call a Voidborn. He is a creature who was born outside of any existing universe. Normally, Voidborns go around murdering other beings who weren’t born inside universes, but Kenon fell in love with Kinisis and decided to dedicate part of his otherwise boring existence helping her raise a universe. When not brooding in the space-between-spaces of the Phoviverse, Kenon spends time pondering existence and wondering who the real father of Kinisis’s godly children is.
Day 3 – Kairos
Kairos is the Dragon God of Time, often referred to as the Whenvern. He is a pride, boastful being who maintains the flow of time and its consistency across the Phoviverse, while also making sure that no one builds any damn time machines. Kairos adores being worshiped and will try to grant a few extra years of life to many of his most devote followers, but he absolutely hates it when mortals try to sacrifice virgins to appease him. As far as Kairos is concerned, he just wants praise and prayers, not sacrifices.
Day 4 – Epani
Epani is the Goddess of Space. She takes many forms, but is most often seen soaring through space in the shape of some sort of massive, scary sea creature, using clawed fins to effortlessly sail across the universe. The Panelix, as she is often known as, fulfill multiple duties, from birthing new stars to clearing orbits to young planets, to shepherding materials to and from black and white holes. For reasons that not even Epani can explain, some mortals worship her as a god of war, despite the fact that Epani is not a fan of any sort of conflict.
Day 5 – Yisini
Yisini is the Goddess of life, a long, serpentine creature who spends a lot of time preaching that life should be left to evolve and do its thing and then completely contradicts that with her experiments to create eternal life. The Allbirther’s main job is to create an initial spark of life in the form of single-celled organisms, which she will then assist as they slowly grow into more complex beings. Yisini is capable of creating fully-formed life forms, but can only do so by combining the genetics of species she has already created. All across the universe, Yisini is regarded as a holy symbol of love, romance and reproduction, and is not above partaking in those activities with mortals.
Day 6 – Arkadin
While many call him the Thantophor, the Doom Bringer and the Lord of Death, Arkadin’s real domain is that of decay and renewal. His duties consist of taking old matter and recycling it so new, refreshed matter can be used by Epani and Yisini to create more creatures. Unfortunately, the majority of beings in the Phoviverse tend to ignore Arkadin’s recycling duties and focus on his death-bringing ways. Despite being the personification of death, Arkadin is a relatively quiet yet friendly individual who cares deeply about the health and well-being of the universe he calls home.
Day 7 – Kohra
Kohra is a Kronospast, part of a shapeshifting species known for living for many centuries but also being “lokish”, rude, tricky and always trying to pull the wool over the eyes of others in order to gain more power. Kohra though was never any of those things, and many would call his kindness “stupid and annoying.” That wouldn’t have been a problem if, up until recently, Kohra hadn’t been the heir to the Kronospast Throne. Getting into an argument with a Time God didn’t help matters. Instead, Kohra found himself living a quiet life, adventuring with a bunch of weirdos while donating money to cancer research charities.
Day 8 – Timik
Timik is a former Temthan bodyguard, who worked multiple jobs at multiple temples dedicated to the Allbirther Yisini. Like many Temthans, he was regularly invited to join in on the many raunchy celebrations dedicated to the Allbirther. He would often find himself evicted from these celebrations due to the fact that Timik has always been a believer in safe, protected sex. How Timik ended up going on adventures with a Kronospast, a member of a species who were clear enemies of the Temthans, Timik has no idea, but at least he doesn’t have to worry about unwanted pregnancies any more.
Day 9 – Kayen
Kayen is the son of a former Minister of Finance for the Skyavok government. Described by most of his peers as “sweet but boring”, Kayen led an uneventful life until he was kidnapped by cultists worshiping the Panelix. While Kayen managed to escape, he found himself plagued by cultists until he ran into the Panelix herself, who claimed she needed him for something. If it hadn’t been for that yellow Skyavok, Kayen would have never made it back home and would have never met Timik, Kohra and Phovos.
Day 10 – Phovos
Phovos has a weird relationship with reality. Although most Ksithanai only live to the age of 80, Phovos is over a thousand years old, thanks to a weird mix up with a yellow Rethavok she met when she was 24. In the following millennium, Phovos went on to help build the city of Palaestra and became known as The Raptor, one of the most powerful Ksithanai alive. Running a city though has taken its toll on Phovos, so when she got a chance to go adventuring again, she immediately took it.
Day 11 – The City of Palaestra
I’m not good at drawing landscapes. Anyway, Palaestra is a medium-sized city located on the neutral planet Portalia. The city is best known for its massive stadiums, the Dessaron Battle Arenas, where amateurs and professionals alike can battle each other and compete in tournaments for large prizes. The revenue and taxes generated from these televised battles allows the Palaestra government to maintain a large number of services, such as a local health service and a universal supplementary income to improve those on low wages.
Day 12 – Banikan
Banikans are terrifying, clawed, horned monsters, standing at about 3m tall, not including the 75cm horns on their heads. These creatures are basically kangaroos but way more deadly, known for tearing their prey to shreds. On top of that, Banikans can use rudimentary magic, just in case their sheer strength and terror wasn’t enough. Needless to say, most other races leave these guys alone. That being said, Banikans are caring parents and live peacefully in tribes, while harmlessly worshiping the Thantophor.
Day 13 – Voidetic Sea Serpents
Voidetic Sea Serpents are space-faring creatures that normally drift aimlessly, absorbing light and eating asteroids, using their fearsome appearances just to distract any would-be predators. Many of these beasts are tamed and used by Skyavok and Vohra to travel from planet to planet.
Day 14 – Ksithan Warrior
The Ksithanai are an odd species. They are closely related to the Temthans, but lack the scaly skin that their reptilian cousins have, instead having weird, fluffy fur on most of their bodies, and long, hairy manes. Ksithans are capable of healing fast and adapting to their environments, meaning that they can be a powerful enemy if you anger enough of them.
Day 15 – The Death of Arkay
Arkay was a member of the adventuring heroes known as the Dessaron. He was a kind, caring, bright yellow Skyavok who loved everyone and everything. On April 7th 2017, Arkay was killed while attempting to stop a gang from murdering a young family. While his death was mourned by many, a controversy followed Arkay’s final words, with the hero reportedly muttering “so this is how mortals feel” before passing away.
Day 16 – Empress Agapia
Agapia is currently the ruler of the Temthan Empire, having been elected a bunch of years ago by a bunch of places in the main circle of Temthan planets. Really, Agapia is just a figurehead and religious leader, giving something for Temthans to look up to while their local governments make all the rules.
Day 17 – Void Islands
The territories of the Skyavok consist of two things – a single planet called Threa and a large number of floating rocks and asteroids that make up a ring around Threa’s star (which is also called Threa). These rocky outcrops are an anomaly. No one knows why there’s breathable air around them or how they float so non-menacingly or stay in one piece. Hasn’t stopped the Skyavok from building houses on them though.
Day 18 – Luck God
Why is Arkadin, the Lord of Death, pretending to be a god of luck? No one’s really sure, but since it amuses the Thantophor, no one’s bothered to ask.
Day 19 – Elksia
Elksia is probably one of the most famous Vrekans alive. She’s the happiest member of the Dessaron, but she’s also known for terrifying fits of rage and anger against those who threaten the innocent. Like most Vrekans, Elksia has little feathers and other avian features, as well as a massive pair of blades that can retract in and out of the armour casing on her arms. When not tearing things to shreds, Elksia loves cuddles and tickles!
Day 20 – Tenuk
Tahnahos was once heir to the Kronospast throne. Just like his father, Lord Avra, Tahnahos was cruel and cunning, not to mention incredibly smart and charming, and utterly devoted to worshiping the Whenvern. One day, on a regular kidnapping mission to secure subjects for Kronospast experiments, Tahnahos suddenly snapped, renounced his worship of any deity and saved the 200 prisoners the Kronospasts had captured, killing twenty Kronospasts in the process. He became one of the four Dessaron, changing his name to Tenuk. While Tenuk normally spends his time shapeshifted into the form of a tall Rethavok, occasionally Tenuk returns to his normal Kronospast form, simply to mock his father. What made Tahnahos snap all those years ago? No one knows. Not even Tenuk.
Day 21 – Lokmah
Lokmah is one of many Thraki Temthans who resides in Portalia. Unlike most Thraki, who tend to isolate themselves away from other types of Temthan, Lokmah moved to Palaestra and worked his way up the ranks until he was one below the Raptor herself. Lokmah has served Phovos as a loyal secretary for the last 20 years, to the point that she trusts this wise Thraki to look after the city in her place.
Day 22 – Phovos (Casual)
The Raptor isn’t like other Ksithanai. Most Ksithans like to wander around with just small fabric wraps covering their private parts. Phovos prefers wearing proper clothes. She also carries her axe around on a regular basis.
23 – Friendly Thraki
Thraki are not a species of their own, but an unusual sub-species of Temthan. Like all Temthans, they are capable of breeding with others and creating many strange sub-sub-species. Also like Temthans, they don’t particularly like wearing clothes. Most wear wraps to hide their dangly bits, but some Thraki wear special underwear which they can telepathically remove at will.
24 – Behevok
Behevok are a Panvok species that never became intelligent the same way Vohra or Skyavok did, and were never uplifted or helped by other species to become sapient. Behevok are large, armoured herbivores that peacefully go around eating grass in Rethan territories, most commonly in sparse forests and open plains. When fully grown, Behevok have no natural predators aside from Rethavok and Banikans, but these days, most Rethavok keep them as pets or work animals.
Day 25 – Rethavok Sergent
Yes, typo, I know.
The Rethavok are an odd race. Tall, muscular, heavily built, they always seemed too brutish to be able to form a coherent society with universal basic incomes, national health services and one of the most powerful military forces in the Phoviverse. Many believe this is because Rethavok are hermaphrodites, being both male and female. The struggle to finding a mate having been minimized, Rethavok find themselves bonding together more easily and being far more willing to work together to create a better future for themselves.
Day 26 – Tiberia
Tiberia are a strange, humanoid species that live in secluded forests across the universe, worshiping Epani and Yisini and offering their healing services to anyone who happens to wander by. Turns out, not many people wander by because Tiberian forests are a little too secluded…
Day 27 – Baby Ksithan
While baby Ksithans may lack horns and are incredibly fluffy, they are also vicious little bastards who will happily chew your fingers off.
Day 28 – Chibi Deities
Being gods, the four main deities can be as big or small as they want. For example, Yisini is about 5m tall and has a tail that can stretch out over huge distances and is normally at least 50m long. Kairos, while on duty, has a wingspan of about 1km. Epani is about the size of a small moon. In comparison, Arkadin is about 2m tall.
Day 29 – Retvik Rethianos
Retvik is the leader of the Dessaron and the General of the 270th Rethan Legion. An accomplished soldier, Retvik is a skilled fighter and vastly intelligent – more intelligent than his peers would like to admit. Retvik is also a member of the Rethianos Family, a lineage of Rethans dating back over 2000 years, following strict rules about who a Rethianos member may live with. Being the youngest member of the 21st Generation of Rethianoi, Retvik is forbidden from having children and must remain as an active soldier until the age of 100.
Understandably, Retvik is a rather grumpy, uptight being.
Day 30 – Voidling Day
Every November 30th, young Skyavok decorate skulls made out of cardboard and go around knocking on doors and asking for sweeties, in exchange for being cute, singing songs and promising not to throw eggs at older Skyavok’s houses. The following day, while Skyavok kids sleep off their sugar comas from ingesting too much candy, adult Skyavok get completely plastered and spend their time drinking and playing games.
Day 31 – Panton
Panton is a theoretical being, a combination of Kairos, Epani, Yisini and Arkadin. While it is possible for the four deities to be merged together by their mother, this form should only ever be used in potential end-of-universe scenarios. Kinisis is very thankful that she has not had to call on the power of Panton.
Yet.