lunaedulce

[lunaedulce]

What's going on with Drolta?

Alright, I kinda promised @g-vlssz to also write down some historical context for this femme fatale. And admittedly she is the hardest character to figure out in this regard. Because we do not know a lot about her.

Don't get me wrong: We know two things about her. She is from Ancient Egypt and she was a priestess of Sekhmet. It stands to assume that she is also the reason, why Eszebet got to drink from Sekhmet.

Here is the issue: Ancient Egypt is a thing that was around for 3000 years. The oldest definite proof of worship of Sekhmet we have dates back to the 14th century BC. And as far as I know the last temple build for her was erected in the 1st century AD. So, we have a good 1500 years during which people definitely prayed to Sekhmet - and during which Drolta could theoretically have been created.

Given that we do not know how long vampires are around in the world of Castlevania, we also cannot use that information to somehow narrow it down. (I mean, according to Katie Silva Morana was from Ancient Sumer, which fell around 1750 BC.)

And once again, there is just the fact: Religions change over the centuries. The way we worship changes.

One way to go about is to look at her Blackness and make some interpretations about that, given that Egyptians usually are not Black but Arab. But... historically speaking this is a huge, huge controversy. Because whether or not Ancient Egyptians were Black is a big, big disccussion to this day. And to be honest: I am not gonna throw my hat into that ring.

There is one line, Drolta says, though, that makes me think that she might actually go back to about 1200 BC. Because she remembers her time as a priestess with the "smell of dead bodies". (I don't quite have the full quote there right now. But something along that lines.) And that one stood out to me, because the Egyptians were not that big on human sacrifice (outside from Retainer Sacrifices). Usually Sekhmet would get sacrificed either goats or bulls, but not humans. But... there is some kinda shacky evidence that while Egypt was having a war with the Hittites, which ended up very, very bloody, some prisoners of war got actually sacrificed to Sekhmet.

Going through all I have on Ancient Egypt and Sekhmet, this is the one instance I can find where there is (even though shacky) evidence of human sacrifice to Sekhmet.

But again, it is kinda hard to say.

Something that might play into her motivations, though, is the colonial history of Egypt. Which is a bit more complicated than a lot of white folks, who don't do history, give it credit for. Egyptian culture and mythology is fascinating. It is. Kid!me was not the first person who looked at that and was entranced. No, that goes back to even Ancient times when Greeks and Romans looked at Egypt and had the exact same reaction. Which makes it so complicated. Because, of course, colonialism of Egypt started a long, long time ago with the Greeks and Romans.

But... It was kinda different back then, mostly because Egyptian culture might have gotten mixed up with some of the Roman and Greek customs, but the Romans and Greeks never forbid or even much restricted Egyptian worship. Quite on the contrary, as they took up some of the gods, especially Isis, who became very popular both in Greece and Rome.

Now, if you are wondering: Why did worship of the Egyptian gods even end? You should know the answer: Christians.

See, the Romans were very okay with the worship of the Egyptian gods. Because they were polytheistic. But then along came Constantin, who not only moved the capital of Rome from, well, Rome, to Constantinople, but also made Christianity the main religion of the Byzantine Empire. Originally they kinda sorta still allowed other worship, but then along came Emperor Theodisius, who in line with his name was very much not okay with it. Not only did he had soldiers burn down temples throughout the Empire, he also forcefully converted people to Christianity. (As in: "Convert or die" forcefully.) Something people later would call the Heathen Hunts.

And with that... Well, with that the Egyptian gods became forbidden to pray to. Now, there were later again and again attempts to bring the worship back, but even after Egypt was no longer part of the Empire, it had Muslim rulers. And while Muslims at the time were mostly okay with Christians and Jews hanging around and doing their thing, they were often not as cool with the polytheistic worship of some other cultures.

And yeah, no matter what time Drolta comes from... She probably was there when they burned down the Sekhmet temples. And yes, she very much also was there when the Europeans came to Egypt and plundered the graves to then (ugh) fucking consume bits of mummy or use mummies in their paints.

So, like... If, after all of that, she decided "vampire messiah is gonna punish all the humans" sounded actually fairly good... I would not exactly hold it against her.

And that is all without going into the "she was probably Sekhmet's guardian the entire time or something" thing, that clearly is implied by the text.

[lunaedulce]

I have 0 clue what prompted this idea

[lunaedulce]

Hi there take some drawing studies I did with varying levels of effort

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A Eurylochus drawing based on @abandoned-raccoon 's design of him because I'm like, super normal about this guy.

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A LOST POEM Translated from Qunlat

Slow blink, seems to say... I'm going to eat you, little fish! Purr, soft soothing friend.

[lunaedulce]

A lesson in diplomacy

A young Poseidon learning his first lesson in diplomacy (and making his first mistake) while facing Sekhmet. In this Epic AU where Greek and Egyptian gods unite, I couldn’t resist bringing this chaotic what-could-have-been memory: Poseidon’s first mission in Egypt. Sent by Zeus and teaming up with Hapi, the God of the Nile, but as you guessed by Hapi’s report to Sekhmet on the table, well things definitely didn’t go as planned!

[lunaedulce]

Achilles’ love language is bullying

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He also made pretty good researches for her. You always cooked my friend.

So for me it's like 30 minutes from the new year, but yeah I just remembered I never posted my Penelope design. And since the Ithaca Saga dropped and all, it's only fitting to post I feel.

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20 years of waiting

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SAW THIS AND HAVE AN OVERWHELMING URGE TO DRAW ODYSSEUS DEARLY BELOVED

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ithaca saga telemachus design

I really liked trying to figure out a way to implement some Athena and Odysseus elements on his design while still keeping the Telemachus silhouette. But I'm very satisfied with how he looks! Kinda makes me want to make an animatic for Odysseus, but I probably won't

also the brush I used for the line is by pixelstains on deviantart!

[lunaedulce]

really quick comic based on this post by @fangirling-phoenix

[lunaedulce]

A quick sketch of my own version of Polities (for any enjoyer here especially @ardenzia777), we need more art from that sweet character! I love Steven Dookie’s voice so much! I had fun designing the winions and also that huge wind bag behind Polities.

[lunaedulce]

I couldn’t resist to make a sketch of @kyleesarthell ’s design of Antinous (thank to @owinous) I purposely drew only one scar on the eyebrow to show it happened before he got the second one, ironically, on the same spot.

thewisdomsaga #wisdomsaga #telemachus #antinous #epicthemusical #art #digitalart #greekmythology #odyssey #theilad

[lunaedulce]

Finally ready to unveil Sekhmet! She has been hanging out in my drafts, waiting for her moment. I had a blast bringing her to life alongside the official design of Poseidon in Epic.

In my AU of Epic the Musical, I love to imagine a wild alliance and political drama between the Greek and Egyptian pantheons. Picture this: you’ve got a sea god with a short fuse and a PhD in holding grudges, and then there’s Sekhmet—a bloodthirsty lioness goddess with anger and daddy issues who’s taken a vacation from Egypt because she’s DONE with everyone’s nonsense: talk about a fiery lionfish duo!

For those who aren’t in the know, Sekhmet is a powerhouse in ancient Egyptian mythology—both a fierce warrior and a healer, which makes her the ultimate embodiment of destruction and healing (honestly, she’s like the original multitasker…)

I had fun with her character design, especially her hair. I aimed for those thick curls to channel a lion’s mane (even though I know ancient Egyptians favored wigs—shhh, let’s keep that between us). I like to imagine that the gods have multiple forms to match their moods—kind of like a divine wardrobe change! In my first design phase, I didn’t base her dress on the iconic red seen in her statues and hieroglyphs. Instead, I drew inspiration from traditional Egyptian dresses. But, I plan to show her with her actual official dress.

But I’m planning to show her with it in future posts!

[lunaedulce]

Sadie Adler that I will not finish

[lunaedulce]

When the world is colder

than a frozen boulder,

you keep me warm.