Current update 0.6 : Base colors on tentacle face, ready for refining, redesigned construct.  Image resizes when clicked to your browser window, so bigger window is better.  View the link in a new tab for a full view.

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Outsider: A fully manifested Outsider is truly a horrific thing to behold, they send minds reeling in shock, their wild pulsating eyes sending any they look upon into horrified seizures and driving others insane.  While they have no defined form, many outsiders seem to prefer hooding themselves with torn flesh or bones, their eyes only visible within their darkened cowls.  Tendrils studded with life sucking orifices hang down from what could scarcely be called their face.  Their arms, sinew and muscle, perhaps multiple sets, generally end in razor sharp taloned digits, and their legs, if they even have any, are lost in tattered robes of shadow.  Their mastery of the Galefire is unsurpassed, allowing them to skim across the ground or teleport at will, all while unleashing devastating magick upon their victims.  In the past, an entire squad of Order Sect warriors were always dispatched when an Outsider broke through the veil, but the veil must be weakening, for more Outsiders manifest every day, and there are scarcely enough warriors to combat them.

Infected: The Outsider plague affects humans differently than the Syllarians.  While they both share the weeping, cancerous bone masses; the Syllarians grow it more like armor, whilst humans infected appear to be twisted and reshaped in the most agonizing manner.  The Outsiders seem to take vile pleasure in their infection of human forms, distorting them into horrific, pustule ridden fleshy masses, their limbs broken and reformed to the whims of their infector.  Weak compared to the Tainted Syllarians, they are still more than capable of cornering and tearing apart their victims with sheer numbers… every time making even more.  The tide of infected within Cenrea is ever-growing, and the commanders containing this horrific tide are slowly being worn down.

Construct: Regarded as a mere curiosity of those who came before the humans on the artificial world, the winged sphere design is displayed on many walls deep within their geometric labyrinths; and many areas that are still locked away from the Flame Sect.  One expedition saw a Flame Sect magus crack several of these steadfast locks.  His elation turned to terror as his escort of Order Sect warriors were turned into molten puddles by the winged sphere designs that had come to life from the walls.  They flitted silently, their stoic carved faces never changing, and swept their golden light across every warrior, then came to the Flame Sect magus.  There was little left of the magus besides his automatic familiar, and while the unlocking rites are now known, no one has ventured back to where the Constructs first made their power known.

Tainted Syllarian: Text coming soon.

Rest of the comps are here: http://galefire.com/2011/11/purge-the-outsiders-2-enviro/

Rev 2.5

rev1

Slayde outside of the Tainted Syllarians corrupted lair.

Flame Sect Magus: A Magus of the highest echelons of the Flame Sect, he commands immense arcane power, but is also chiefly responsible for research and development of lost and new technologies, both mundane and magical; as well as combining the two.

Crimson: The elite guardians of the Brothers, each handpicked at birth and trained throughout their lives, these individuals are the most potent warriors within the Sects.  Wielding immense magical powers and the most advanced weaponry from the Flame Sect, they are easily capable of leading troops or clandestinely eliminating threats.

Irons Artificer: As varied as their usually superfluous names are different, the Artificers of Irons are in the business of uncovering and realizing lost technology, and dissecting the wealth of knowledge left behind on the artificial world.  While most make their homes in Irons, they take no real side and will generally sell to the highest bidder.  While this has not been an issue in the past, the growing tensions between the Sects and Irons may make their neutral standing more difficult to maintain.

Syllarian Shaman: While most Syllarians are not gifted with the ability to touch the Galefire, those that can are generally revered and looked upon for wisdom within their respective clans.  Their wisdom belies their great power in battle, as the Sects and Irons have recently realized during the Syllarians rebellions.

Also here are some roughs to show my process a bit (not shown are my scribbles on sticky-notepad)

Obviously each one needs to be worked out individually.

Humanity has long relied on the Syllarians as cheap labor, ever since they were brought to heel during the Empire’s days of starfaring.  Since the Cataclysm and subsequent escape into the night,  not to mention changing attitudes, some of the Syllarians have decided to strike out on their own into the vast empty spaces upon the shield-world, mainly taking up residence in a vast mountainside sanctuary.  While some Syllarians remain loyal to their masters, or their laborious jobs, many have fled to this stronghold of Syllarians power.  However, rumors say that the Syllarians found something locked deep within the mountain sanctuary, something that should never have been found at all.

Syllarians are thick-skinned, muscular humanoids, usually between two to two and a half meters in height.  Their massive frames usually weigh in at several hundred kilos, with the largest of their species easily over two-hundred kilos.  Their hide is very tough, gnarls with age, and is crested in some regions with thick fur, varying in a range of colors from bright orange to dark purple.  Their eyes are generally sharp yellow, with thin pupil slits.  Male brows comprise of large bone crests, sometimes profuse with spikes and other sharp bone masses; these crests seem to feed into their warrior/tribal culture.  A short, furred tail seems to assist with balance, and it also adorned with jewelry at times on females.

Since leaving much of humanity behind, the Syllarians have taken again to shaping iron and carving stone, both of which seem to be profuse in the mountains regions of the shield-world (a curious development to the Flame Sect Artificers).  Humanity had nearly lost touch with the Syllarians in the mountains, so busy with their own problems, until the Tainted began to arrive that is.

Rev 3

Rev 2 (1/24/12)

Rev 1

The Shredder Point Defense system is Iron’s solution to the Syllarian and Outsider threats.  Mounting a monstrous canister single-shot round, the Shredder can punch through the thick, gnarled hides of Syllarians just as well as it can sever an Outsiders extra-dimensional ties with its host-body.  This is standard issue equipment for Irons veterans, especially when engaging in any sort of enclosed spaces.  Usually carried on thick, waist webbing, the Shredder pairs well with Iron’s standard battle rifle; however, ammunition is generally a concern.

Some more core concepts, and a description

The Core: Deep within the Nexus, locked away behind teknomajik and steel, an inconceivably huge ring wrought of impossible strength binds the Core; a tethered star that pumps burning energy throughout the exo-sphere of the world.  Gargantuan vented columns and ship-sized cables direct the unfathomable amounts of energy generated; all crafted of some sleek grey metal embossed with geometric designs, impervious even to the Sect’s directed energy weapons.

The secrets gathered within would keep the Flame Sect studiously laboring over it for decades, but one wrong step could prove disastrous.  Unfortunately, the Outsider plague was nearing the terrifying levels that forced the Brothers and their people to flee their old world; using the Core, and the ancient technologies and magicks locked within it may be their only hope for survival.  Unfortunately, the artificial constructs left behind by whatever long dead race built this place did not see it that way.

Edit 12/19/11: Updated final

PS: DAT SPREAD!