Thursday, July 18, 2013

Strange Stars Art


Here are representatives of two historical cultures of the Zuran Expanse, courtesy of Jez Gordon, illustrator extraordinaire.

On the left is one of the zurr. They flourished between the time of the Great Collapse and the present era. The Expanse is named for them, though how much of the territory their civilization actually controlled is a matter of debate. The zurr are only known from their iconography (images of tall humanoids in unadorned, flowing robes and elaborate, non-representational masks), some ritual sites with oddly angled monumental structures, and a few apparently functionless artifacts. Mysteriously, they left no information technology or tools necessary for an advanced civilization behind, but their presence is attested on multiple worlds. They are blamed for unleashing the ssraad upon the galaxy.

On the right is one of the researcher-sadists called Faceless Ones. In the time of the Great Collapse, a cabal of  like-minded individuals set themselves up in a orbital sanctum and set about to explore extremes of sensation. They replaced their faces with featureless metallic masks that were actually incredibly sensitive sensory and recording apparatus. Their lower limbs they likewise replaced with mechanical ones covered with sensory fibers in a variety of modalities. The Faceless Ones strove to experience and archive everything they could about their depraved experiments on those they fell into their hands. Ultimately, they created the Algosians as their servitors and collaborators.

11 comments:

Jack Guignol said...

Damn, those are good.

Gothridge Manor said...

Yeah, what Jack said. And add an MFer at the end.

Jim Shelley said...

Very nice artwork! I especially like the faceless one. It has a nice fluidity to it.

Trey said...

Thanks! Yeah, Jez does good stuff.

Chris C. said...

Nice artwork.

I've met some of those "researcher-sadists" in my time in academia, lol.

Unrelated to this post: what's up with the raccoons so bad you need a polearm to deal with them?

Trey said...

@Chris - I can imagine.

What indeed is up with those racoons? Seriously, though, I've never had any particular trouble with them, but occasionally you hear stories of raccoons wrecking havoc in peoples' attics.

Zak Sabbath said...

good job Jez

R Parker said...

Faceless Ones: I have no mouth and must o-face.

Looks excellent, Trey.

Trey said...

Heh. Thanks man. Jez did some good work.

Al said...

Nice, very evocative

Trey said...

Jez does good work.