Inquisitor WIP Web Comic, and an apology...

[Dexter]

I have to start out by apologizing for being absent from this forum for some eight months now.  Real life swallowed me whole, and I've been up to my eyeballs in commission work until recently.

Before I vanished into thin air, I had a thread that was both a fluff-check and general C&C for a web comic I was working on, that centers on an Inquisitor's hunt of a Chaos Cult.  For those interested, the thread is located here:
http://www.the-conclave.co.uk/forum/index.php?topic=958.msg12490#msg12490
Instead of continuing that thread, I am starting a new one.  In the time I have been away from The Conclave, I have been doing a lot of musing and re-writing of my initial ideas, and what I have now is a huge leap from what was last posted in that thread.  

To start, I will re-introduce the main character, my Inquisitor Andreas Grundvigg.

Grundvigg is an Inquisitor of the Ordo Malleus, and was recruited into the service of Lord Inquisitor Micah Trejo as an Acolyte.  Prior to serving in the Inquisition, Grundvigg was a Commissar in the Imperial Guard, and earned distinction for his heroics in a war against a PDF that had turned to the worship of a daemon of Khorne.  At the conclusion of the war, Lord Inquisitor Trejo was so impressed with how Grundvigg maintained his composure in the face of Chaos, that he spared him the execution that was the fate of the other Imperial soldiers.  
Grundvigg is rated Chi on The Assignment, granting him a measure of immunity to psychic powers, and is perhaps responsible for his ability to stand resolute in the face of Chaos, before his induction to the ranks of the Inquisition.  A side-effect of this is an almost palpable aura of fear that he exudes.  This served him well as a Commissar, as the officers and soldiers under his watch were often more afraid of him than they were of the enemy.  As an Inquisitor, it serves him well in interrogations, although it severely limits his ability to work undercover.
At some point during his past (meaning, before the story arc of the web comic takes place) Grundvigg lost his right arm in battle.  It was replaced by a highly advanced bionic arm, which incorporates a shock unit.  As a Commissar he was an extremely talented pugilist, and this boosted his ability in hand-to-hand combat to terrifying levels.  However, this injury and augmentation put the final nail in the coffin when it came to working undercover, and Grundvigg is now unable (or unwilling) to disguise his terrifying nature.  When he has need of subtle methods for investigations, he makes use of members of his retinue, or even hired agents.  He carries a master-crafted bolt pistol fashioned as a revolver.  However, being that his former shooting arm has been replaced by a large bionic weaponized arm, he is unable to use it to fire conventional firearms.  Due to his right-handedness, he has terrible aim with his left arm, and only uses his pistol for point-blank executions.
Grundvigg is a moderate Sloarian Istvaanian, believing that mankind is at its finest in war, and thus is constantly pursuing the enemies of the Imperium, and pressing others into his service to assist him with his missions.  He believes that the fighting men and women of the Imperium are it's greatest asset, and is highly opposed to members of his retinue using alcohol or narcotics.  He believes these substances pollute the Emperor's weapons.  Furthermore, he believes that romance has no place in the life of an Inquisitor.  An Inquisitor's duty must be to the Emperor and the Emperor alone.  However, he does frequent Imperial-sanctioned brothels.  He claims this is so as not to deny that which makes him human.  Whether or not he actually believes this, or if he says it simply to keep from looking like a whore-monger, is up in the air.

So, that's his background as of right now.  In my old post I had several WIP images of him, and I currently have a more updated one uploaded to me DeviantArt account:
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/085/1/7/andreas_concept_4_by_dexterkong-d3cjnzu.jpg
I have shown this to my friends, and they have said that he has an air of grumpy authority about him, but that I need to add more bells and whistles to make him look like an Inquisitor, and not just an angry bearded Guardsman.  So, hopefully my final concept of him will be finished soon.  I am adding scroll casings, some purity seals, and a book or two to him to give him that Inquisitor vibe.
(Also, I realize that his coat just sorta... ends, over by his left hand.  Didn't see it until I scanned it.  Oh well.)

The main conflict of this web comic, as I said earlier, will be Grundvigg's hunt for a Chaos Cult.  This cult will be dedicated to Tzeentch, and the Thousand Sons Sorcerer Lord, Kazemde Khaldun, will be pulling the strings.  Their goal is to utilize a piece of technology they have uncovered from the days of the Heresy to open a gate to the Warp.  To do this, they will need to collect many psychics to plug into the machine to serve as power sources.  This idea is a piggyback off of the Akashic Reader, the machine Koriel Zeth was building in the Horus Heresy novel Mechanicum that would enable her access to the sum of all knowledge.  

In further posts in this thread I will introduce the other main characters, and hopefully get discussions going about what works and what doesn't.  I realize that things like electrified bionic arms, bolt pistols, and Chaos Sorcerers blow this out of the range of "balance",  but keep in mind that this is a web comic and not a gaming campaign.  For every advantage that one side has, I am going to counter it with a greater advantage the other side has, or with an unperceived weakness.  I am very much looking forward to comments and criticism.  Don't hold back, be harsh if you feel you must, I've got the stones!

[Dexter]

So, opposite Grundvigg is the other main character, Karis Lamtron.  She is the current reagent of the Medici Trade Syndicate, which was one an economic and aristocratic powerhouse.  However, her inheritance is a crumbled ruin of it's former self.  For several generations before her, beginning at the apex of their power, prominent members of her family would indulge in the most exotic, expensive, and taboo of vices.  These took their toll, especially the use of narcotics, and the family wallowed in hedonism as their name became increasingly distasteful.  By the time Karis was born, many of the trading outposts in the Medici Trade Syndicate had cut all ties with her family and were operating as independent businesses, and many more of their employees had abandoned their duties and posts altogether.  The identity of her mother was unknown to her, and her father succumbed to complications brought on by his rampant narcotics use by the time she was twelve years of age.  Her inheritance at that point consisted of the flagship of the Medici Trading Syndicate, The Athena, her conscripted Kroot mercenary bodyguard, and something she had never known her family had possessed: a Warrant of Trade, signed by the Emperor Himself. 
Karis has spent the next ten years of her life undertaking the monumental effort of rebuilding the Medici Trade Syndicate, in an image that suits her own tastes.  Her upbringing was unique, to understate things.  As a child living on a trading vessel surrounded by adults indulging in various forbidden pleasures, the only stable adult presence in her life was her Kroot bodyguard, who had been working for her family since before her birth.  Her efforts to re-establish her name has seen her trading with various alien cultures, as she was not raised with the typical Imperial aversion to aliens.
Where Grundvigg is going to be a harsh, stern, towering personality, Karis is going to be much more of an everyman (everylady?).  Her somewhat isolated upbringing means she did not have Imperial superstitions and prejudices drilled into her head as a child, and she has a much more practical outlook on life.  Of course, if she wasn't a sanctioned Rogue Trader, this outlook on life would be enough to warrant her execution by Imperial authorities.  She is clever, however, and has quickly learned to use her Warrant of Trade as a get-out-of-jail-free card.  Grundvigg encounters her early on in his mission, and attempts to order her to allow him free use of her ship, however she reveals her status as a Rogue Trader and after a brief argument, the two reach an agreement.  Karis will act as part of Grundvigg's retinue for the duration of his current mission, and in return, he is to use his Inquisitorial authority to aid her in re-establishing her family's old trade routes and outposts.

I've done two concepts for Karis so far, the second of which I like a lot better than the first.  Here they are:

http://fc06.deviantart.net/fs71/i/2011/085/9/a/karis_concept_1_by_dexterkong-d3cjruh.jpg
http://fc04.deviantart.net/fs71/f/2011/090/c/0/karis_concept_2_by_dexterkong-d3cx6au.jpg

The second concept has her dressed more like a hive ganger or mercenary, which I feel fits her personality better.  She is somewhat bitter at her family for their opulent ways, and feels a measure of disconnect with the culture of aristocratic presentation.  She also makes use of Eldar weapons, having successfully traded with a group of Eldar Corsairs on several occasions. 

Anyways, that's all I have on her for tonight.  I'll discuss her more in future posts.

[Ynek]

I think that one of the most important things when drawing a comic is that the characters are easy to draw repetitively without getting bored, or ending up making them look different in every frame. So, go with what you like, and go with what you can do consistently. Otherwise, you'll only get bored and give up, or notice that every time you draw them, they look different, and give up.

I've only ever finished a couple of comics in my time (not 40k based... They were based around another sci-fi background that I doubt anyone in here is nerdy enough to know about. No offence to those of you who wear your geekiness as a badge of pride. ) but the above reasons are probably the main reasons why I've only ever finished two comics - I either made the designs too complex and gave up trying to keep them constant, or got bored with how bland the characters were.

Although I'm sure you already know that, since the drawings I'm seeing here hint at considerable artistic experience. They're certainly a whole lot more interesting than my drawings, which always lack that 'human' feel. My art always looks like a half-insensible computer drew it. (As opposed to a half-insensible moron with the IQ of a lemon. )

Anyway, if you get the comic up and running, I'd be interested to read it. It certainly sounds interesting. I just hope that you've got the drive and personal discipline to keep with the project to the end, rather than getting bored halfway through like I keep doing with any sort of long-term artistic projects.

In short: If you go ahead with this, and keep with it, I'd be very interested to see the result.

[Dexter]

As far as the design goes, I am with you 100%.  Part of the reason I've had to draw and re-draw Grundvigg so many times is that I was having trouble finding a good balance for him.  As the central character, he will be featured on most pages, so his design needs to be simple enough that I can draw him from any angle with a high degree of consistency.  To that end, on my most recent concept for him, I kept things simple.  However, the classic image of an Inquisitor is anything but "simple", and I need to figure out a winning formula of how much "Inquisition zazz" I want to pile on him before I create something I'll hate myself for.  For Karis, I think I've got the right balance.  Many of the details of her outfit can be drawn fairly easily from all angles.
I appreciate your comments on my art.  Generally, when you want to bring life to a drawing of a person, it's best to use real people as references.  Each character in my comic (other than the Kroot, for obvious reasons) is modeled off a friend of mine.  Speaking of the Kroot, here's his picture:

http://dexterkong.deviantart.com/gallery/#/d3cjqbz

I've been sitting on this idea for a while now, and have been putting a lot of thought to it.  I have a beginning and ending point for the comic, and a pretty good idea of what will happen in the middle.  The more thought I put into my characters, the more I come to like them, and the more eager I get to start putting things on paper.  When I get this going, I'm definitely going to follow through with it.  I've never been the type of person to start a project and abandon it.  Years working as a commission-based artist has beaten the "abandon" reflex out of me.

[Shannow]

I like the sound of it all, except the use of the Medici name, its too recognisable I think within history and obvious games. Other than that very interesting and look forward to seeing/reading more

[Dexter]

I'm somewhat on the fence about the use of the Medici name myself.  I may just use the name Lamtron instead to remove any confusion.  Having it be a family business, and have a different name than her, is a little too much of a disconnect in my opinion.

[Ynek]

Having it be a family business, and have a different name than her, is a little too much of a disconnect in my opinion.

Unless she changed her name to avoid the negative connotations of being associated with such a decadent and honourless family... A bit like how the British Royal Family changed it's name to Windsor after the war. (Since they didn't want to be associated with the Germans.)

[Dexter]

Good point, but I wonder, what effect would that have on the legitimacy of her status as a Rogue Trader?  I know that Warrants of Trade are hereditary charters, and with her being the only member of her line alive, would changing her name nullify her status as a Rogue Trader?  Hard to say.

[Ynek]

Good point, but I wonder, what effect would that have on the legitimacy of her status as a Rogue Trader?  I know that Warrants of Trade are hereditary charters, and with her being the only member of her line alive, would changing her name nullify her status as a Rogue Trader?  Hard to say.

The Warrants of Trade, as I understand it, were originally mostly hereditary charters, but over the centuries, the number of hereditary charters has decreased, and are now something of a rarity. Most are simply life-long charters which cease to be valid after their owner has passed on. (A little bit when people are 'knighted' in the modern day. Centuries ago, a knighthood was hereditary, but nowadays, most knights are simply life-long peerages. So, Sir Ozzy Osborne will not pass on his title to his son, Jack, when he expires. Neither will Mick Jagger or Paul McCartney.) Generally, hereditary charters are rare, and rarer still are the rogue traders who use them. Many hereditary rogue trader families might have settled down on some world or another that they discovered or brought into the fold of the Imperium, instead becoming the Governors of the world rather than traders. At least, that's the impression I got from various threads on here and other places. I encourage anyone to correct me if I'm mistaken.

However, even then, a warrant of trade would probably have more tying it to it's owner(s) than a simple name on a dotted line (which could be easily forged). Biometric data, family genetic sequences, psychic signalling, etc. would probably be common. In short, I'd imagine that there's a lot of things in the actual document itself beyond simple writing on paper to tie it to a particular family.... So if she chose to change her name, for whatever reason (marriage, distancing herself from her family's past, or simply wanted to pick a name that sounded more 'buccaneer') it probably wouldn't affect her charter's legitimacy.

It could also lead to an interesting dialogue with the Inquisitor when he finally comes aboard her ship. Perhaps (at his request, to prove that she is actually a rogue trader) she shows him her charter, and he points out that the name on the paper isn't hers. At this point, she could explain about her family's decadent past, and this could lead to the Inquisitor offering to help clear up her family's good name in exchange for safe and free passage...

Just some ideas. Apologies for the verbal diarrhea.

[Dolnikan]

It all depends on the terms in the warrant of trade, some will be specific to someone with a specific name, some to descendants or even some really idiotic inheritance like the first of the formar trader's descendants to empty a bottle of water.