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Today is the second of December, year 2002. My dream of doing something significant this year was a success, albeit not that big. I have re-started my hobby in drawing and hopefully it won't wane again this time. Perhaps next year, i can do something even bigger. Anyway, enuff of this chitter. This page is going to be pretty short of images because i just got my eyes re-checked and bought a new pair of prescription glasses. So i had a dizzy of a time trying to focus with my eyes, and, consequently, to draw. <oh well> This time however, i am going to do something neater than scribbles of my manga world. Because today, i'm going to write fiction. Yes, ladies and gentlemen. Stories with letters and words in it. Here it goes. -oOo-
-oOo- Salamanca: 1806
During the the 3rd century in a group of islands known as the Filipinas archipelago, there lived a clandestine faction of society known as the salamangkeros who came when the colonizers began developing the countrysides into cities. Escaping the tyranny of their homeland, they had escaped brutal inquisitions of their widely misunderstood order and inhabitated Manila away from th eyes of the fearful. For decades they have debated if they should disband their knowledge of ethereal magicks to live as normal citizens of society, since their talent is not based on blood like the native shamans do. They know they hold great responsibility, since only they have the means of battling an evil known as the Corrupted, unworldly beings that was borne from the remnants of the Creation. Should they decide to cease operations, humanity would be defenseless. Many agreed that it should be done since one reason the Corrupted become attracted to this world is the use of ethereal magicks themselves. There can be no broken glass if there was no glass in the first place, so to speak. Some however, kept silent and believed that it may be needed once more. Years passed, and the elders of the order were pleased that all has gone well. Not a spawn of the Corrupted were detected by their Watchers. Until one day, in a drench of pouring rain came a visitor. A person dressed in tattered black clothes, face hidden under a hood, carrying a strange long sword and a revolver. This person was, no doubt, equipped as a hunter-seeker, an instrument of the salamangkeros in the older days to be the merciless slayer of the Corrupted when one of the most powerful of the fiends was able to emerge from the nether-rifts from which they can come into this world. Who held the forbidden tradition of the hunter-seekers up to this day? And how were they found out when they took all precautions to remain a secret? And most importantly, why is this person here now? The visitor wearily unsheathed the sword in hand, made a gesture with it, and lifted the hood revealing a female in her late teens. Both her hair and pupils were disturbingly pale, almost white. In a struggling voice there came their answer. She is Jillian Ibarraconmienda. She came here to ask for help. An entity similar to the Corrupted has emerged in the southern provinces. And she is its child.
~ The Shamans ~ It has been three generations since the colonizers came to the lands. The tribe shamans translated themselves as village counselors or albularyos and healers during the colonial occupation to help keep their place in the local hierarchy of the community. Although many of the inhabitants changed their beliefs, there are still some who was able to perpetuate their shamanistic knowledge skillfully by translating them into local superstition and lore. Stories of bales (Tikbalangs), enchanites (Engkantos), and the elementals have always been preserved as twilight stories and to scare children into bed. Yet there are some stories the shamans themselves are afraid to tell, names of evil too terrible to utter lest evil eyes be set upon them. There were entities, the shamans prefer unnaming, that has lingered in the night and playing in the shadows that was believed to have sprung forth when the earth bled and the islands came into existence. They knew it to be powerful since, when its presence is felt, the night feels deeper, the ground twists as if it loathes its own existence. It has not taken a life. At least, not yet. Not until the possessions and apparitions. Lately, the shamans have witnessed the night spirits possessing people more often, seemingly taking refuge in the frail human body. Exorcising these spirits was so difficult that the victim could die. And most often, did. Bales and enchanites began appearing more often as if they are running away from something. In an attempt to understand the matter, a shaman volunteered as a medium and began to communicate with the restless spirits. A being, or more likely, a thing, formless and negative, have been corrupting the spirit plane out of existence. They do not know what else this 'thing' intend to do. But the anitos have told them -- soon it will enter the mortal plane and take a form. The shamans were not in anyway capable of fighting it, much less do anything against a horror not yet physical. And then it happened. A man from a foreign land came upon them unexpectedly and took refuge as an inhabitant. Not knowing what he is and what he's doing here, he simply disappeared everynight, only to be back in the morning. Suspecting he is some demon-worshipper they feared to even investigate him. But as he stayed longer, the horrific apparitions and possessions gradually disappeared. And, as soon as he came, he left. They did not even know his real name. When they asked him who he was, his only reply was, Ibarra. -oOo-
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Here's sort of a poster pin-up attempt <note, i said attempt, ok?>. It's done impromptu, and i found out i still couldn't draw the things i visualize. Ugh. If you look carefully, her legs and feet are still somewhat weirdly connected to her body. About Jillian Ibarraconmienda's character -- well, i seem to have forgotten where i got the name Jillian (no, it's not from Gillian Anderson), but i think i was thinking (heh) of a guy-sounding name for a girl. Also, i was apt to avoid using those old-school names like Maria Asuncion and such. Her surname, Ibarraconmienda, is the full surname of Chrisostomo Ibarra, from Jose Rizal's Noli me Tangere. Also, she has some Spanish blood in her veins so she has to have many fine features <ooh yeah>. At first, i envisioned her as a quiet and reserved person, almost as cold and distant as her pale eyes. But on second thought, it looks boring for a significant character. So to liven her up a bit, she's kind of arrogant and annoying sometimes. A person who doesn't mind her unique destiny and simply believes that each day is to be lived the fullest. I then placed hair clips to give her beautiful curly hair some notable, yet simple, decoration. |
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Another haphazard character i made, Pedrito Batungbakal was supposed to be an apprentice of a senile salamangkero-turned-albularyo in old Cavite. I'm trying to avoid a Japanese stereotype, but i guess it couldn't be helped. I'm thinking of ways of making him even more unique or something. Giving him a confident alternate-self when he activates his wizardly aura looks promising, and i hope it does the trick. If not, perhaps an outrageous hair style will do :D. I just thought of the name Pedrito for someone who's simple (and sometimes stupid) guy who knows his goals and is optimistic about it. The local sounding surname was to put a tint of comedy in it. His name is somewhat of a play for Pedro Penduko as well without sounding too 'common'. |
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Now i was thinking about the kind of world they're living in. 1806 just came off my head with no real reason for the number. Besides, this was an alternate-reality in the first place, kind of, what-happens-if-this-thing-didn't-happen-in-history kind of thing. With that in mind, i can freely place in historical elements of that period in any manner. Just like how i cook noodles from left overs. :)_ So, to go on, there has to be support characters as well. No mascot yet, but I made westernized names of local folk creatures like Bales for Tikbalangs and Enchanites for Engkantos. It does sound kind of lame, but who knows? It might sound cooler the longer you say it often. |
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-oOo- Ok, that's it for now. If you look up there, i've never really inked any of my works. It's either they're all pencils like all the sketches in this page, or incomplete. It's like i'm being stumped in a test when i couldn't answer a question whenever i fail to complete these drawings. For some finishing words, Salamanca 1806 was my attempt of making a theme about our history. In these days when animanga lovers, fanatics, and otakus know more about the Meiji Era and the Tokugawa period more than they know about the history of their own country, i wanted to honk the bell of awakening. I do admit, i know nil of 19th century Philippines, but there are things that i can base upon like the old traditions i witnessed as a snotty kid. Btw, Michael Poe, the maker of Exploitation Now, just started a new comic named 'Errant Story'. His main character (almost looking like my Jillian, coincidentally), looks pretty cool as a half-elf (his style is also animanga style). Go check it out. Just google the web site or something to see it.
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All materials
on this page and web site are mine !! All mine !! mine, mine, mine !!
copyright 2002 Francis del Mundo -oOo- |
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