Four of Swords

Jun. 17th, 2013 at 8:51 PM

A large gryphon-like creature with heavy folded wings perches on a rocky outcropping with its back turned. Its head is turned sideways and one baleful yellow eye is fixed on the viewer. Three swords are leaning against the rock nearby and a fourth lies on a fallen fur cloak on the ground. The dawn sun is rising over the mountains in the background.

Photoshop and MotionComputing Tablet

The Four of Swords is a card about retreat and contemplation. In the traditional Rider-Waite deck, a young knight in armor is resting on a coffin. It's said (I couldn't find any references for this other than aeclectic.net) that knights would commission a sarcophagus before going off to battle, and if they came back alive, they would lie down inside it to meditate in thankfulness and humility for their safe return.

On Karn the place of retreat for the griff is different. Griff are fiercely solitary, and often disappear for days or weeks at a time into the remote mountains. A griff will stake out a lone campsite and respectfully avoid the camps of others. Woe betide the one who tries to disturb a griff in his place. Not only is it a gross social taboo, but chances are you'll end up in pieces at the bottom of a nearby cliff.

Alone, a griff can heal his mind and body. He can reflect on the struggles he has overcome and the fights still to come. It is a much-needed breather from the noise and chaos of life.

Current Music:Tatara Fumu Onnatachi - Eboshi Tatara Uta

Comments

( 9 comments — Leave a comment )

hyperion_swan

Jun. 18th, 2013 06:28 pm (UTC)

Nice! :D
Also, that story about knights and coffins is really interesting! :O

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pyraxis

Jun. 18th, 2013 10:42 pm (UTC)

Thanks!

Yeah it was annoying not to be able to find more info on it.

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jimnightmare

Jun. 18th, 2013 08:19 pm (UTC)

Hey I like this one. How big are griff? A giant bird coming out of the sky at you with 4 swords would be fucking terrifying. XD We know birds are scary because of our old parakeets. They're dinosaurs. Aeroplane would have ate us if she was bigger and then like done a victory dance. I think I remember she bit you that one time you met her then did a dance about it. XD That kind of thing was totally what her purpose in life was, she was way happy about it. Auugh now I got a mental image of the ghost of Aero with 4 legs holding 4 swords, like a little fluffy parakeet with those tiny plastic drink swords. She'd be terrifying anyway.

I like the story about the coffins too, that's interesting.

Resting on a mountain sounds kinda nice. Hanging out with friends on a mountain sounds better though. XD If I was a griff all the other griff would probably kill me after a while, be like "dude that guy's annoying".

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pyraxis

Jun. 18th, 2013 10:41 pm (UTC)

I don't think they fight with all four swords! I've never tried it but I would think it would be hard enough just to have one in each hand, or a sword and a main-gauche, and keep them coordinated enough not to be cutting your own arms. :P

But yeah that would be wicked, a bird coming out of the sky that way.

I remember Aero biting me. Clearly I just didn't accept her fast enough as boss of all humans everywhere.

Maybe there's other griff that like company too. It's not like everybody has the exact same personality, it's just tendencies and culture.

They're big enough to carry a rsakk in shape or a nok, as long as it's not too big a rsakk.

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jimnightmare

Jun. 19th, 2013 12:22 am (UTC)

Aww I was imagining a griff fighting with one sword in each hand and one in each foot too. One day a griff will be born that's not just ambidextrous but quadridextrous, and it will be the most terrifying warrior on the planet. XD

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pyraxis

Jun. 19th, 2013 02:14 am (UTC)

I bet some new shapefound griff somewhere has tried it. XD But really, they've got pretty big claws even without the swords, so maybe you wouldn't even need them. I mean think of how birds dive down on their prey with all their talons out. You could try and stab something like a skewer, or you could just grab it. XD

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jimnightmare

Jun. 19th, 2013 04:26 am (UTC)

Yeah giant claws would be kinda scary. Gah we can't think of this stuff without it like comparing to our pets in our brain and thinking like "What would that be like 100 times its size". Like right now we got this line of rat footprints up our arm with like tiny claw prints from we gave Spike a bath in the sink the other day and he didn't like it and decided to jump at us, rock climb our arm, and cling to our neck all in like 2 seconds. And he's a little dude with tiny feets, he just doesn't hesitate to use those feets and claws to rock climb up a person's skin if there's something evil you got to get away from like a sink bath. XD Getting grabbed by a giant bird would suck!! Instead of "hey tiny footprints" it would be more like "hey where did part of my arm just go".

I feel like there's got to be a game somewhere of skewering things though. Do they ever do that thing some types of birds do where they drop out of the sky real fast at a tiny target? That plus spears plus like a actual target board could be kinda awesome.

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