Beyond The Mirror: Pusher And The Puller

"This light, sears my bones,

But the songs they sing weaken me still.

Those whom kneel at the absolution of my intention will be returned to my womb.

My roots will take hold in their vessels. 

And from the remains will sprout my vineyard, ever eternal.

I will take my fill in jubilance."

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Sketch work done for Daemoria 's Beyond The Mirror Contest. daemoria.deviantart.com/journa…

 
Im Showcasing his character Ysith (of whom I love) Locked in a fist fights of sorts with my character, Iotoma.


I tend to hold others work, especially universes, IP's and fictional world's in high regards, so its not quite often I step out of my comfort zone to do something of the sort. Ive been in a bit of an art rut as well and saw this as a great opportunity to get my mojo back, unfortunately I wasn't able to meet the deadline, but these should be uploaded anyway. 

I’ve got 2 more coming Plus some leftover character development sketches for Iotoma I’ll be posting this week so keep tuned for those!

anyway,

When first approaching this contest project, one thing I did not want to do was to just create a character and say it exists in the world. I wanted to explore and make an addition that could be seamless and have artwork and characters that interacted in some visceral way with the existing world and characters. Even in the style of these characters I wanted to try do some some more looser designs, and have more exaggerated faces and dynamic movements, and lean away a bit from the more photorealistic approach I’ve been taking lately to my characters. This was a good chance for me to explore some new ways to approach character design.

My idea was to create a character, I've decided to name Iotoma, which I took from the name automata. Full backstory and everything. Iotoma was kind of my way to exploring the world of Daemoria, if there is one thing that I've learned from his work, is that it is quite expansive, and it is easy to get lost in the lore and not really have a clear idea of whats going on. that is not the fault of him, that just comes with world building for any artist, even myself. As she leaves her little space whole and explores the Bright Future, she will be exposed to new sights, sounds, people, creatures, and experiences. 

Id love to explain a bit more about her but I'm saving all that delicious text for another piece I’ll be uploading, this is just an introduction. I wanted to make a colored version but didn't have the time, so maybe later ill do it.

Anyway, enjoy! I hope I didn't butcher the lore too much.

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IOTOMA:

Iotoma is what is considered in my addition to the Bright Future, a Fabricator, or Fabrication. They are a large disposable work force that were created out of the advent of the structural ban of all cloning of synthetic or organic sentient specimens.

Iotoma is a 60 FOLD Class Female Fabrication who was assigned to the  AMIERMA - ULA, A 750 Meter tall Ultra-Heavy class super transporter belonging to the Gier Tribes, also known as the Baggar Fleet, as a multipurpose utilitarion and ship securiton.

She was on board the AMIERMA - ULA when the ship and her transport mysteriously went dark and all 350 Fabrications and 100 Gier crewman were killed by an unknown Eldritch class entity. Iotoma was the only survivor.

The reason for her survival is not specified, though it is reported by observers that she is  someway in contact with whatever Eldritch Class entity destroyed her crewman and fellow Fabrications. 

Last reports indicate that she is somewhere in the Ilimeina Front, assumingely making her way to Laughing Swarm controlled trade space.


HISTORY OF FABRICATIONS:

Small mining tugs, merchants, and utilitarian/research vessels (known insultingly as "Baggar Fleets") who existed outside of the Utopia relied on Cloned humans to operate machinery and work as vessel security for Baggar fleets. Being outside of the jurisdiction of the Psicomp also came with being outside its protection. Raiders parties, bandit fleets, cosmic based entities were of the least the Baggar Fleets had to contend with, and the already present struggle with severely outdated technology that was at-least 7 centuries behind that of the Psicomp and its neighboring municipalities led them to desperation.

In there desperation they turned to rapid breeding programs to increase the workforce and population of the fleet. citizens were encouraged, even offered valuable benefits for producing more children. but the overwhelming cost of managing multiple birth cycles led to the disbandment of this system. 

From the experimentation with rapid breeding programs, new technologies arised, specifically that within the world of genetics. A new system was introduced to create a subclass of of cloned individuals who could operate as a temporary solution until a final decision was made concerning new breeding programs.

Cloned individuals pre Structural-Banning, where referred to as the "Ideal Man", where designed to share the same 10 genetic samples, and where birthed from mechanical wombs. they were produced quickly, being born fully matured and could be utilized for work just a week after birth. The purpose of making them clones was to negate the chaotic nature of mixed genes that could produce a batch of faulty clones who may be too sick or deformed to be considered workable. this also lead to the booming of new industry and made the Gier tribe a small but noticeable spot on the galactic chessboard. The Gier tribe grew so much from this technology that the basis of all industry, trade, finance and culture was almost held by a pillar of cloning technology, unfettered, unregulated. 

this in turn caught the eye of Psicomp Justiciaries, whom loathed cloning an any shape or form. After the discovery of The Gier Tribe expansion, a war fleet was sent to Gier trade space with the intent to halt clone production. attempts to make a compromise with he Gier Tribes ultimately failed and they did not belong to psicomp space, therefore they could not operate under their laws and regulations. The psicomp request ultimatly urned into forceful demands, even then the Gier tribe refused, preparing for what may be a conflict. 

After many tense years of political back and forth, negotiations and diplomacy failed in a spectacular way when the Psicomp War fleet ran blockades on all trade routs to and from Gier controlled space, and developed pounding zones to block off vessels leaving Gier controlled space. This ultimately led to war that lasted 3 days with the utter defeat of the Gier fleets and the forceful Annex of Gier space unto Psicomp sub-territories that existed outside the utopia. The annex was not necessary but a legal manuever that gave the Psicomp the authority to enact regulation and ban of cloning and fraudulent genetic technology, in both its uses and its development.

The Gier tribesmen were now psicomp property, and were reverted back from a prosperous society to an industrious workforce.

This however did not blow out the fire of Gier Inginuity.

With an at least stable economy now flowing again, even under the control of Psicomp, Plans for a new form of workforce, based no longer on birthing, but  cybernetics to modify and adjust growing bodies that could be created from randomized gene pools, therefore completely negating the concept of clones. They where designed as partly human, but grown with synthetic organs, body parts, and components that could be easily swapped out if damaged or no longer functioning. they were made with genetic scaffolding technology and were completely modular, to the point where captains on ships could place orders for new units with specific parts, personalities, thought patterns, and abilities, even talents tailored to work under them or their ship specifically. they were built to be stronger quicker, cheaper and more disposable then clones.

Many Giers referred to them as "Fake of fakes" due to them being born from the ashes of the Gier Cloning program. but ultimately were given the name "Fabrications" as they will always be a mirror image of their origin.

Fabrications where peculiar in how they operated and thought. they had no fear of societal prejudice to what they were, they were completely sentient, and 100% self aware of who they were, where they came from, and their purpose. They saw no need for "revolution", no need to outdo their creators, they simply existed, to exist alongside them. Just like normal humans, Fabrications can be taught, can be reasoned with, can be coerced and manipulated, and in general posed the same issues to Gier society that any other human society would have. there introduction to Gier society was smooth and well received, though the real fear came from what Psicomp would do had they ever found out. 

After 10 years of the Fabrication introduction, Psicomp sent ambassadors to Gier space to investigate. after another 5 years of tense discussions and debates, Psicomp ultimatley ruled that Fabrications were considered a Sentient independent race born from the Gier People, and allowed them to operate and flourish in Gier space, and outside of Gier controlled zones, only as working units and security for transports. 

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