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Tirlag: The Teirnlord

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Some respite from my previous eye burning terror of a submission. :laughing: Here we have an almost complete absence of color. (It's sepia, but you get the idea.) At long last, I present to you Tirlag, the lord of the Teirn tribe, and my novel's main "antagonist."

Seeming as how so little is known of my storyline (ha!) I figured I'd enlighten you all just a little by posting a snippet from my LJ. *gasp!* (That is, if you are even remotely interested. I'll try not to give away too much, but there it is.)

Tirlag has a tendency towards obsession, in his case, having to do with humans and their cleverness, as well as their power. When he was young, he sneaked his way out of his family's camp and, being young, dumb, and adventurous, came across trouble in the form of a rushing creek. Teirn are notorious for their inability to swim, so he was tossed down along with the current. He was saved by a lone woodsman who, in a rare act of pity, fished out the pathetic creature and nursed him back to health. Shortly before Tirlag was set to return to his family, he watched the woodsman shoot down a Nehran (pallanoph from the Nehrannon tribe) carrying off a newborn calf. This had a profound effect on young Tirlag. (You can imagine, yes?) He was appropriately afraid, though this was overruled by his awe at mankind's abilities.

His life continued ordinarily enough after this incident: He acquired a mate, and rose in rank, and before long, had a daughter. Tragedy strikes here. (I'm so predictable, aren't I?) An errant male from the Skirdet tribe with a vicious temper tries to coerce Tirlag's mate into coming with him. When she refuses and moves to drive him off, he becomes violent, and in the resulting fit, fatally wounds both her and the cub. Tirlag happens, by some odd chance, to appear then, and glimpses the murderer as he takes off, leaving Tirlag to attempt to resuscitate them in vain.

With his family gone, Tirlag's life takes a new direction. The obsessions that once plagued him are brought back to the surface, having been repressed by the joy experienced through having a family. He is more soft spoken now, and less of the boastful pallanoph of his youth. However, he is still charismatic, clever, and a worthy leader, so as time passes, he unites the expanding tribes of Teirn under him. Tirlag is peculiar, however, in that he can be forgiving of others. (Pallanophs are subject to vindictive behavior.) Overall, he is seen by the Teirn as paternal, and at the same time, feared.


I tried to avoid the cliché. Probably failed miserably! At least he doesn't have some lame evil laugh while beating minions about. :roll: And he doesn't act "emo," either. Pallanophs don't really sulk so much as look overly focused. So there's that.

Acrylic sepia ink on some rather peculiar paper. Hunt 108 nib. (Highly recommended. :D)

Questions, critiques, comments, etc. are welcome. :)

Tirlag, pallanoph species, and art © April Schumacher.
Image size
997x762px 1.13 MB
© 2010 - 2024 pallanoph
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DarkSenereth's avatar
Uh, I have to admit, this character does sound kind of cliche. I don't know, maybe I'm just a tad bothered by the fact that humans are always the bad guys, and an animal in an animal fantasy story that aligns themselves with humans is automatically the bad guy as well. Why can't animal fantasy just portray humans as another critter that is of no more and no less importance than any other animal? Sometimes they harm, sometimes they help, but most of the time, they just coexist. Then again, maybe this guy is just a bit too reminiscent of the antagonist in The Sight by David Clement-Davies. I cannot stand that book for reasons too numerous and irrelevant to list here.

Take this criticism with a grain of salt, of course. I have my prejudices, and I have also read several animal fantasy stories where humans were portrayed as almost godlike destroying machines that were very good stories regardless. From what I figure, the real deciding factors are how relatable and believable the characters are (and that they're not just predictable, flat archetypes for wish fulfillment or soapboxing) and how consistent the world they live in is (if you say your characters don't tell stories for more than a few generations, don't have them telling stories about characters that lived many, many generations back).

One more thing (yes, I'm long winded) is that I'm having a hard time finding any truly objectionable behaviour in your description. He's obsessed with humans, sure, but that's not villainous in and of itself. He sounds like quite the diplomat, actually, being caring and forgiving as a leader. Naturally, this description won't have all the details of the story here, but it is kind of jarring to first read that he's the antagonist, then read the description where he sounds like a benign, kindly leader. (Of course, the road to hell is paved with good intentions and all that, so for all I know, he could be both kindly and antagonistic by virtue of being misguided.)