Yesterday, 06:06 AM
-=MERLING UNDERSEA KINGDOM=-
This challenge is brought to us by CBinnsIllustration our previous challenge winner for the The Wanderer.
“Deep in the Atlantean Trench, where sunlight never reached and pressure could crush steel, the merling kingdom of Nyalindor gleamed like a constellation beneath the waves. Its cities were grown from coral and shell-glass, winding along volcanic ridges and glowing with bioluminescent currents. At its center rose the Celestine Spire, a living palace of sacred coral, home to Queen Sayali, the Silver-Finned Regent. She ruled by the Mandate of the Abyss, a divine right passed through her bloodline from the Deep Gods, mysterious, ancient beings said to sleep beneath the trench floor. Nyalindor’s society was as layered as the ocean itself. At the top were the Pearlborn Houses, noble families claiming descent from sea dragons. Each House controlled its own domain: reefs, thermal zones, or shipwreck fields, governing them as Sea Lords. Though loyal to the Queen, they enforced their laws, collected their own tributes, and trained elite clan-knights in martial and mystical disciplines. These knights, adorned in eelbone lamellar and bearing tridents etched with oath-runes, were both warriors and scholars, upholding the honor codes of their Houses. Every three years, they gathered at the Spire to renew their oaths in a sacred ceremony known as the Moonflow. Below the nobility swam the Coralmoot, a respected guild of artisans, scholars, and cultivators. At the base of society were the Siltkin, common merlings with no noble blood. Many worked the trenches or served noble courts, though some rose as merchants, pirates, or spirit-weavers. Their villages clung to the sea floor, glowing faintly beneath drifting kelp. Among them, the oldest songs and deepest magics endured, passed down through whispers rather than scrolls.
Beneath the stillness of the deep, unrest began to ripple. House Irothis, proud and secretive, had pierced the sacred boundaries of the Leviathan Grave, a shadowed trench where the bones of ancient sea titans rested in silence. Their defiance of the Queen’s decree was more than rebellion; it was a provocation against the old powers slumbering in the dark. Heavy with duty and worn by years of quiet rule, Queen Sayali summoned the Council of Twelve Tides to weigh the unthinkable: to censure one of the Pearlborn, or draw the realm into open war. As the noble Houses armed their knights and stirred their banners, the ocean itself began to shift, currents thickened, lights dimmed, and the deep began to murmur with voices not heard in an age...”
We invite all artists to unleash their creativity and design an secretive Merman or Mermaid!
If you would like to also enter this into the characterdesignreferences.com challenge you can find more rules and information here:
Character Design References Challenge Rules
If you would like to also enter this into the characterdesignreferences.com challenge you can find more rules and information here:
Character Design References Challenge Rules
- No photograph paint overs, must be 100% original work. (See next rule for exception)
- 3D is permitted and renders MAY be used as whole or in part of a painting, as long as YOU created the work. Pre-made and/or purchased, online, assets are forbidden.
- AI may be used in the ideation process, but the final image must be 100% hand-drawn.
- Studies are recommended, but not required.
- There is no restriction on image formats (horizontal, vertical, square).
- Environment backgrounds are optional.
- Keep in mind you are not required to stick to what is in the passage. It is more of a guide in terms of mood.
- You must post at least one WIP in the WIP thread to be accepted into the final poll.
- Finals must be posted in the finals thread before the deadline.
- At least 3/4 of the character must be visible (minimum from the knees up).
- Only ONE submission per person in the finals thread.
- No fanart. We want to see your original, unique interpretations!
- Voting will be held for 5 days after the deadline.
- In an event of a tiebreaker, a winner will be chosen through a randomized name picker.
-=WIP THREAD=-
Deadline is Sunday, June 1st, 2025 @ UTC: 23:59
LEGEND'S SKETCHBOOK_001
To all artists struggling to create and are intimidated by A.I. (anti-imagination)
"Everything has been done, but not by you"
To all artists struggling to create and are intimidated by A.I. (anti-imagination)
"Everything has been done, but not by you" 
