The Re-imagining of King Necrochadnezzar (Patreon)

The undead that haunt the Frostlands of the 7th realm have largely been considered a inexplicable menace, their origins and whatever malignant purpose the ravenous dead serve lost to time. A common (if unverified) theory is that they are remnants of the mythic 6th realm, animated by the same wicked powers thought to have brought about that epoch's calamitous end.

One of the better preserved undead hubs was a site known as the Winter Palace, an ancient stronghold dedicated to an ancient king called Necrochadnezzar. Much has been made of this revenant in popular culture since archeologist-adventurers uncovered what details they could on a daring expedition, with Necrochadnezzar becoming a kind of stock villain in many plays and novels.

Enter Courtney Celadon (she insists the name is alliterative, though it's unclear which way), famed goblin "scholar" and pulp fiction author. Her hit series "Queen of the Sixth" radically reimagines the Sixth Realm not as a epoch of infernal evil as is common in most cultures, but instead a bygone era of science, exploration, and passion. Its heroine, Dr. Necroka Nezza, is the realm's foremost arcane scientist, whose list of brilliant accomplishments is only matched by her list of steamy romantic interests.  While derided by actual scholars as wildly unfounded and almost offensively inaccurate, the "Queen of the Sixth" series has a massive commercial success, with over sixty entries and counting and hundreds of thousands of copies sold. Its fanbase, who call themselves "Sixers", are vast, enthusiastic, and prone to brutal arguments over which of Necroka's lovers is her OTP.

The strangest wrinkle of this rather indulgent reimagining of a largely unknown bit of history came recently, when a new archeological/zombie hunting expedition made its way to the Winter Palace. To their surprise, they found the site not a frozen over fortress occupied by legions of mindless undead, but a technovilla occupied by revenants of the Sixth realm, undead but far better preserved in bodies and minds thanks to the wonders of (unfounded) arcane science. And at this strange procession's head is Necroka Nezza herself, short a pulse yet otherwise ripped right from the bawdy cover of a Courtney Celedon novel, her brilliant mind and tendency for melodrama and passion undiminished by time, cold, or her own uncertain reality.

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This one was a bit of a challenge, I gotta admit. And it was made a little slower than usual because I tried working in a way bigger resolution than I usually do x)

Hope you enjoy tho <3