#divine protector

[nickysfacts]

All hail Mothra, the queen of the Monsters!

🏝️🦋👑

[mysterioushimachal]

Dev Vishnu Matloda: The Mighty Guardian of Seraj and His Mystical Powers

[just-floetcoeur]

My designs of the Divine Warriors.

Past version + a ver. with evil Shad. Man Shad has changed lol.

I got lazy with Kul’zak’s design. Was sick of drawing armour.

I tried to think up of headcanon lore for them but I don’t have much.

Irene the Matron

Goddess of light, health/healing, life, fertility, abundance, peace and motherhood

Region: Ru’aun, Phoenix Drop

Symbols: The purple spring leaf and unicorns

Song inspiration: “Thought I would be satisfied seeing you content at the other side. But somehow I thought these crazy thoughts that I deserve to be loved, I deserve to know love, we deserve to live in love. I wish there's no end to our time together.”

- Bulbel, Mili

“I’ll take your hand and guide you through all the steps one takes to move on to a place, a world unseen to us all. But it’s okay, we’ll be together, my friend.”

- What Will You Leave Behind (End Titles), Maude Plante-Husaruk & Max LL

“Though I’m about to wreck, you still have your life ahead. All things that lose their way can find it again. There is no inertia in the ocean.”

- Adrift, Stray Gods

Shad the destroyer

God of the Nether, shadows, destruction, death and vengeance

Region: Nether, Falcon Claw

Symbols: Red spears and the wolf

Song inspiration: “There was a boy who shared your bones, your eager blood, your affinity for love. He had it all in his hands and he watched it all turn to sand.”

-Holy the Sea, Forgive Durden

”Could this be the day I have waited for when all my hard work doesn't go ignored? Maybe she was right, they will realize I can change the world, open up their eyes. They know I am more than some eager blood. Not some average bones, I believe in love. I just want to prove I deserve this gift. I will change this world, maybe this is it.”

-Life Is Looking Up, Forgive Durden

“The mind plays tricks, you are confused. The man you seek is long gone, dead and cold, a story told by those he trusted, those he loved, and those who then moved on.”

- I Know Those Eyes / This Man Is Dead, Brandi Burkhardt & Thomas Borchert

“Watch out for the wicked ones who call themselves beloved ones.”

-Holy the Sea, Forgive Durden

”You're a fool to think this princess could ever really love a couple of poor boys like us.”

-The End and the Beginning, Forgive Durden

He and Irene were created as opposites, representing the two sides of the moon. Where there is light, there is darkness. They both need each other to exist but they can never truly love each other.

They basically have Celestia and Luna’s story. Shad hated how Irene was so much more loved. He hated how she bloomed with her divine powers while he thought they were a curse. Because of them, the villagers saw him as a monster. He was tied to the darkness against his will. But just like a moth to the light, he could not look away from her.

“The moon will sing a song for me. I loved you like the sun.”

He thought that by joining the Divine Warriors he’d finally be seen as a hero, that he’d be recognized for his actions. But Irene was always number one. With that resentment already growing, the Divine Warriors betraying him was the thing that unleashed all his rage. He became the Shadow Lord and created the Shadow Knights to kill Irene.

Falconclaw was probably the only village that didn’t see him as an evil divinity (aka worshiping Shad the destroyer and not the Shadow Lord).

On that note, Shad probably hated to be called “the Destroyer”, reinforcing his image as “the bad one”. But he accepted the relic for Irene. “I will make this curse my blessing.”

Esmund the Protector

The only one who doesn’t have an FFXIV equivalent.

God of mountains, ice, guards, law, order and miners

Region: O’khasis

Symbols: The Violet sword and the bear

Song inspiration: “I’m sure that she would care to hear your argument as to how your presence is the reason she is sick. But I suppose it’s in vain, since her life is ending when I thrust this blade into her heart a-thumping.”

-The End and the Beginning, Forgive Durden

(Except Esmund would stab Shad, not Irene)

“Lights will guide you home and ignite your bones, and I will try to fix you.”

-Fix You, Cody Fry

He fucking hates Shad. He copes by saying it’s because he’s evil but he just wants Irene to love him.

Enki the Keeper

God of time, nature, wisdom, knowledge, moon and arcana (magic)

Region: Gal’ruk

Symbols: The blue hourglass and the owl

Song inspiration: “The mountains seceded, the light and dark depleted. We lost Adakias, but regained our science. Our world was finally reunited. So this is my cue, of where to leave you. Now it's your story to retell and pass on because an idea is only relevant if it's being thought upon. So remember, never surrender ‘cause the unrelenting constancy of love and hope will rescue and restore you from any scope.”

-The End and the Beginning, Forgive Durden

“The rest is up to you to do with what you’ll do, to learn and love and laugh ‘til the cycle circles back. I’ll just separate, weigh anchor, disengage, divide and disappear, and see you in the mirror.”

- Genesis, Forgive Durden & Casey Crescenzo

“You really are the chosen one, the calculated sacrifice. Please listen to my last words before I fade away. This is my gift to you: Live for your love every day. Please don't let your tired heart stop beating.”

- The End and the Beginning, Forgive Durden

Enki was also jealous of Irene’s love for Shad but he didn’t feel good betraying Shad. His death was his repayment for what he did.

Kul’zak the Wanderer

God of the stars, wind, wanderers -wandering merchants, bards, rogues, travellers, drifters, …-, freedom and prosperity/money

Symbols: the green walking stick and the elk

Region: Tech’ens

I’m basing off his whole personality of the one and only thing he’s ever said in the whole series: “Imortality? Hm, that doesn’t seem so bad.” So I made him a greedy bastard. Where Irene is the healer and leader, Shad the lancer and dps, Esmund the tank and Enki the support mage, Kul’zak is the rogue. He’s not completely selfish but he’s definitely the most selfish of the Divine Warriors. He helped Enki and Esmund cuz he thought it’d be fun.

[theevilfishywizard]

Divine bloodlines

Enki has a bloodline due to the incubation pendant

Kul'zak has several bloodlines due to having a shit ton of sex

Esmund has a bloodline due to political marriage

Irene has an indirect bloodline due to her sister

Shad HAD a bloodline but his daughter didnt grow old enough to continue it

Menphia does not have a bloodline due to not wanting kids

[warlocks-and-phoenixes]

[gumbootillustrations]

divine warriors loredump!

so yeah, the divine warriors! admittedly, i'm fascinated by them - i rlly rlly wish that we'd gotten to see more of them + their powers/domains/abilities in mcd, especially considering that they're a driving force behind the plot. so, i've gone ahead and done some redesigns for the sigils (above) and expanded on the domains and abilities of the divine warriors within the context of ashes, ashes.

more under the cut!

irene retains her matron title. for her domains, i rlly wanted to lean into her being a deity of life and family; as such, her official domains are  life, light, healing, childbirth and parenthood, fertility, marriage, tradition, beauty, and romantic/familial/platonic love. menphia also has domains over aspects of love (namely over sexual/carnal/manic love), but i wanted them to sort of have an aphrodite ourania (irene) and aphrodite pandemos (menphia) sort of vibe. in terms of the abilites that her relic gives its wielders, its a lot of what's seen in canon mcd: lots of healing and light abilities, but also some dimensional manipulation and time manipulation stuff thrown in there for the shits and giggles.

for shad, i rlly wanted to play into him being both a mirror and a foil for irene. where irene creates, he destroys; where irene brings life, he brings death. his official domains are that of death, darkness, chaos, the afterlife, change, rot and decay, the Nether, bloodshed, and madness. although he's also a war deity like menphia (and, to an extent, esmund and xavier), he's mostly associated with the worst bits of battle - the blood, the rot, the awful awful deaths, that sort of thing. his relic grants its wielders a lot of destruction-associated powers like disintegration and rot/plague/death stuff, but also some shadow and blood manipulation as well.

like a lot of other folks, i felt like enki was the best fit for a knowledge deity. he looks after scholars, librarians, witches, and inventors; officially, his domains are those of knowledge, air, magick, prophecy, the weather, winter, reason, and lightning. from here, you'll start to see pretty much all the warriors having some sort of like. elemental association? is the best way i can put it. i've sort of based it off of the minor arcana of the tarot; the suit of swords, which is associated with air, is the suit of knowledge and the mental realm, which i thought was fitting for enki. enki is also one of the four seasonal divine warriors (the others being esmund, menphia, and kul'zak); he gets winter, mostly because of his centre of worship being in gal'ruk. wielders of his relic get air and weather manipulation powers, as well as powers related to memory and access to witchcraft (if they aren't witches already). they also gain clairvoyance.

esmund! again with the tarot symbolism; esmund is associated with the element of earth and the physical world, hence the mountain in his sigil. his domains are those of protection, earth, wealth, autumn, boundaries, earthquakes, guardhood, and the harvest. the domain over the harvest might seem a little left field but it makes sense i promise! i sort of saw esmund's association with the harvest not only being because of him being an earth deity, but also because i feel like being able to provide is a form of protection, and given the setting of mcd, i feel like being able to provide a good harvest is a part of that. this is also why he is associated with autumn. regarding the abilities that his relic provides, there's a lot of earth manipulation and barrier/force field creation stuff in there; his relic wielders are also freakishly stronger and more durable than those who wield other relics, sort of playing into esmund himself being a tank.

i changed menphia's title to 'the conqueror' because i thought it'd be a bit more fitting for her, especially considering how i'm working tu'la in ashes, ashes (more on that later). i also changed her colour scheme to more of a blue/copper theme despite her being a fire goddess - i thought it was neat, considering that blue flames are those that burn the hottest. her domains are those of warfare (the glorious bits), fire, soldiers, political power, summer, passion and courage, festivals and celebrations, and sexual/carnal/manic love. i'm still not suuuper sure on the abilities that her relic gives its wielders, but there's definitely some pyrokinesis and emotion/heat manipulation, along with some combat-specific foresight in there. i'm open to suggestions!

nothing much really changes regarding kul'zak. he's a nature deity and watches over journeymen and particularly sailors, given that he's a water/ocean deity; he's often worshipped by pirates. officially, his domains are travellers, water, animals, the wilderness, the cardinal directions and navigation, hunting, and spring. i really wanted to lean into him being a man of the wilderness and not really having a home in urban environments. as such, his relic grants its wielders a lot of wilderness-based abilities, like shapeshifting, water and plant manipulation, and camouflage, with a bit of teleportation in there for all your wandering needs.

xavier is probably the divine warrior that i've changed the most. first off, he becomes a divine warrior in ashes, ashes where he isn't in canon mcd. i also really wanted to lean into him being the founder of the jury of nine, hence his title - the justiciar. he's associated with the domains of guardhood (along with esmund), loyalty, metal and metalworkers, justice, balance and order, peace, brotherhood, devotion, and artisans. where esmund looks after the more physical side of being a guard (being your lord's shield and spear, aka the protection side of things), xavier looks after the more emotional side of being a guard - the devotion to your lord and the comradery that you share with your fellows. his relic's abilities capitalise on that, with its wielders being able to both amplify and nullify the magick of the people they're fighting alongside/against. there's also a bit of metal manipulation and a lot of supportive magick in there too.

and, as a fun little tidbit - a lineup of the divine warriors! (the layout is inspired by @star-boi0720 - the way you lay out your drawings like this is mint as 🤩)

i'm still not suuuper happy w kul'zak or irene's designs but i'll get there in the end i guess :)

[laurancezvahlslefteyebrow]

Let’s talk about Esmund and Garroth shall we?

we shall

Esmund was the protector. Many thought this because he was a divine warrior and a guard to Lady Irene but that’s only half the truth. Esmund was a divine warrior yes, but he was never a guard. Let alone one of Irene’s.

Other believe it was due to his sheer strength. Which is also half true. He was a large man, built like a brick wall type. But he rarely solved things with his fists or his sword. He was a gentle giant, preferring to talk things out.

The truth behind his title is one that’s been seemingly forgotten by time.

Esmund was a prophet. He had visions of the future, and warned his people in accordance.

Before meeting Irene, they were only right about 60% of the time. After receiving his relic he was able to zero in on every detail and they became much more accurate.

That was Irene’s reason for choosing him, his want and his ability to help others without reward.

Esmund was nothing more than a lumberjack. He had no money to his name, and the townsfolk often feared him for his abilities. After all, before the divine, no one had ever even heard of magicks.

Eventually Esmund fell in love with a women who wasn’t Irene, and they had a child. Unfortunately, Esmund would never get to witness his child grow..

When Garroth was young he’d had visions. They were usually nothing, or so he thought. But on occasion, he’d see a plate slip off the table and shatter moments before it happened. He’d see a thief run through towns 10 minutes before needing to duck out of the way.

He usually ignored them, figuring there was probably some way to have known that was going to happen.

Then it happened.

Garroth saw his brother die. He watched as a dagger was driven into his back by an unknown assailant. Then he lay still on one of their mother’s rose bushes.

Garroth rushed to their mother’s garden as fast as his legs would take him, praying to anyone, everyone that he was wrong.

But there was Vylad. Limp and bloody, cradled in his sobbing mother’s arms.

The visions stopped after that.

They stopped until he saw Vylad again. Until the Island. Until Garroth began to learn more about Irene.

About Esmund..

[goat-guy-tm]

Wowie those Divine Warriors are pretty cool. Hope nothing bad happens to them-

Would you believe me if I told you I didn't touch this for months and then finished it in one go pulling an all nighter.

[opel164]

The art from tonight’s stream~! (Also, Shad wasn’t supposed to be lookin so confused but he does and I love confused villains so it’s fineeeeee)

[theweightofdivinity]

Wolf-blooded.

Moon-tempered. Bone-loyal. Wolf-hearted.

[inky-rosepanda]

Yall explore something with me real quick

What if the Demon Warlock is actually Enki?

Ok, so as far as I know, there is no evidence to back this up(in fact, I think there might be some against it), but I enjoy this headcanon simply for the angst. I mean, all of the divine (or the ones who have close relationships with Irene) eventually becoming the thing they fought against??? The implications, the plot!

The exploration that could be done with this- in season 3 ep 2 Shad mentions Esmund aura in retrospect to the protective barrier around the portal right. What if the "spell" keeping the Demon Warlock on the Island is Esmund magiks?

Throwing away the Enki=DW headcanon rq, the Demon Warlock definitely knows what went down between the Divine Warriors right, to the point he taunts Aph about it. Yet he's still there. Meaning they couldn't/wouldn't get rid of him and if he is Enki it kinda make sense, considering they couldn't kill Shad either and ended up sealing him and a different dimension (im just realizing the parallels as I write this).

But if he isn't it is also interesting to think about cause it means that they failed they're jobs, remember Irene created the Divine Warriors to fight "fate" as she puts it and yet they just left a dangerous demon sitting around for at least 900 year, on a populated Island at that.

If he does know as much as he pretends too it's likely that he came after/during the whole Shad thing, which of course opens a different avenue of exploration- the funactionallity of the group after betraying their team member and perhaps finding out the truth of their relics. (This kinda lends to my theory that Irene and Shad were the power houses of the group)

Do yall see what I see or am I crazy

[mysterioushimachal]

Anant Balunag’s Journey: The Divine Guardian of Devbhoomi Himachal Pradesh

[dilly-dahlia]

and what if i wrote a novel (like actual novel) inspired by the Divine Warriors. what then.

[xielianslver]

I have all the Divine Warriors deaths in mind. I'll eventually draw somethings about them but here you go.

Shad: Never truly died, as we know. Which is funny. God of death yet she continuously tries to live. He wears clothes not meant to be buried in a casket. But ones made to attend the funeral because they are alive. Even after becoming who he is today, her "armour", although reaks death. Shows how he will kill to live.

Irene: She never really died, just "disappeared." (or something I haven't thought that far). Much like Shad but different. God of life yet she tries every waking second to die. All those that she has loved, have been met with a tragic end. Her clothes resemble that of the body laying in the casket. Even in her new form she can't help but wonder when her death would come.

Menphia: She died while saving the one she loved. Enki. In the fierce fight with Shad she was the first to go. The one to make the sacrifice that saved centuries of people. Menphia wasn't one to make sacrifices, she was a selfish woman. Yet, Enki and Irene were important to her.

Enki: He set fire to himself inside his library. It was suicide. He took all the knowledge with him. No one knows why, as they never found his journal.

Kul'zak: He died doing what he loves best. Getting drunk and dancing on a ship. He death was peaceful, and calm. Mature if you will. Much like himself.

Esmund: He was mauled to death. Perhaps it was Xaiver, the boy he helped build into a man. Xaiver was the first Shadow Knight. But who knows. It was a gruesome sight. Despite Esmund's eagerness to protect those. He seemed to have failed at protecting himself.

[garbagepile]

I talked about this headcanon of mine before here

About how I think Irene sacrificed someone dear to all the divine warriors to make each of their relics, but I haven't talked about their reactions to this yet.

Simply put; in mss6 we see a sort of empty white space where Aphmau and her relics are in. While this is, I believe, a figurative and not a literal thing. It got me thinking about the relics people would use, would they recognise the people they lost when they used the relic? I think potentially not immediately but over time.

I want to focus on Esmund, a roleplay I'm in where I play Esmund has made me a little Esmund pilled (Irene is still my favourite divine warrior however).

I think that Esmund and his brother were close. Confided in eachother and gave eachother advice when they needed it. (Though still having the usual bickering siblings have). And the grief and guilt over losing his younger brother hit him hard. But I specifically think he coped with this with keeping himself busy, by getting more involved in his duties. And by being even more devoted to Irene. So, when it slowly daws on him that he sees or hears his brother when he uses his relic. He denies this having to do anything with the identity of the relic, coming up with excuse after excuse. Even after they slowly learn more about how relics work.

He digs himself a hole figuratively, deeper and deeper into his now unquestionable devotion for Irene. So, when the truth gets undeniable he has no choice but the double down and dig deeper. And come to the conclusion that since Lady Irene's judgement is so just, his brother must've deserved it then.

I think that Esmund shielded Irene from many criticisms. Not only to shield her, but himself aswell. Because then him continuing with following her is right and just, then he doesn't have to feel guilty.

And by shielding her, he further enabled her ruthlessness when it comes to the greater good and pride and things of the sort.

I hope that makes sense

[gumbootillustrations]

UGH I FUCKING FINALLY FINISHED THIS

so yeah, have the divine warriors of the second war of the magi!!

more deets n closeups under the cut :3

aph!! i like to think that although the incarnations of the divine warriors r generally pretty similar, they do have some minor differences. for example, whereas the matron of the first war of the magi (irene) had one of the sets of wings on her head covering her eyes, the matron of the second war (mcd!aphmau) has both of them held back. this is bc whereas irene had lost her humanity (and therefore the ability to connect with mortals), aph hasn't - and, therefore, her eyes are open to the struggles of humanity. additionally, i took a lot of inspiration from honkai impact 3rd for these designs - in aph's case, i was inspired by elysia's herrscher of human: ego battlesuit and how it looks like a wedding dress (which a lot of folks have interpreted as an expression of her love for humanity, which is smth i want to convey w aph).

i think my favourite part of aaron's destroyer form is his seal (the thingy behind his head like a halo). i wanted to rlly play into the whole destroyer/devourer aspect of his abilities and domains, and i thought a black hole would fit perfectly! it also sort of (unintentionally) plays into how i see the dynamic between the matron and the destroyer and how they're both mirrors of each other; whereas the destroyer, well, destroys (and his black hole devours everything in sight), the matron creates and nurtures (seen in how aph's seal is almost like a white hole). i also wanted his armour to look a lot like the armour that shadow knights wear, albeit without all the spikes and spines and whatnot given that he isn't a shadow knight himself (shad's destroyer form from the first war probably looks a lot more similar to traditional shadow knight armour).

i'm lowkey suuper proud of how travis's keeper form turned out (even if i had to go back right at the end n fix it bc i forgot to add his tail 😭). i wanted this form to sort of be a mix between a high mage and a rogue: whereas the keeper embodies knowledge and magick, travis himself is a prankster who relies on cunning and trickery to gain the upper hand on his opponents. as a result, he's the only one who doesn't automatically manifest a weapon when he shifts into this form - instead, i feel like he chooses to rely more on magicks and witchcraft during combat.

katelyn's design was lowkey the hardest to pin down. originally, i wanted to go for something that was suuuper inspired by roman armour and had a copper and teal/turquoise colour scheme, but it wound up feeling too magical girl-ish and i scrapped it. i've retained the roman inspirations, but i headcanon that her flames are so hot they burn blue, so i settled on a blue-and-white colour scheme w some purple elements. i think my favourite part is her gauntlets! i feel like she uses them as an extension of herself/another pair of hands to punch with. the blue elements also lean into menphia's association with the moon - in ashes, ashes, tu'la is based on the roman empire and, as a result, is where werewolves originate from, and with werewolves having such close ties to the moon.... yeah. i'll probably do a post on tu'la later on at some point.

my blorbo

garroth's design is probably the one that's changed the least, but i'll still need to update his ref sheet anyway. i don't know if i conveyed it very well but the sort-of wing-things on his back are slabs of earth that can be shaped into a shield - originally i had him holding a shield but i wanted him to look a bit more divine warrior-ish so i retooled his design.

the boy! i was tossing up between having vylad or dante fill the role of the wanderer, but i settled on dante as i feel like vylad fits better as a sort of weird guide sort of figure within the narrative. plus, i have a real soft spot for dante and wanted him to remain in the limelight a little bit - i love his dynamic with garroth and laurance and i wanted to explore that further. i sort of wanted to play into his whole red-and-blue colour scheme that we see in canon diaries, but bc kul'zak is a nature deity (specifically of the wilderness), i wanted to incorporate some greenery into his design. i hope i've done an okay-ish job here - overall i'm pretty happy tho, but i can't promise that there won't be any tweaks in the future.

this is a redhead laurance propaganda spreading blog and i Refuse to apologise for it. i'd like to think that laurance's original colour scheme is similar to his justiciar form - lots of beautiful reds and golds and oranges to match the flames of his father's forge - but after he comes back from the nether with a Severe fear of fire he switches to the greens and browns that he's known for in canon. eventually he slowly begins to reclaim his fire and returns to the golds and oranges that he's introduced with (haha colour symbolism go brrrrrr).

but yeah. the special interest is special interesting. let me know if u have any questions!