My dear friend Dakerai again.

When we last left him, he had just discovered that Alli, the Princess of Ronia, was his twin sister. Logically, this would make our humble street thief also of the royal variety.

Here's the story: When Dakerai and Alli were born, relations between Ronia and the neighboring nation of Gantore were dangerously strained, and possible war loomed. The Ronian government got word of a plot to kidnap and kill the infant prince Dakerai--the first born child and the heir to the throne of Ronia (after all, what use was a princess?). In desperation, the King and Queen ordered Dakerai's wet nurse to take the child and hide in the far reaches of Ronia until things cooled off between Ronia and Gantore.

Unfortunately, this plan backfired in the worst way. Dakerai's nurse, while a clever, warm, and loving woman, was a few forks short of a dining set. She took Dakerai and...never gave him back. She brought him to Nashula, the farthest reaches of Ronia, hid him from the king's men, and raised him as her own. The Royal Family gradually lost hope of finding him, and Dakerai grew to be a happy, clever youth with ambiguous moral values. His nurse/foster mother died suddenly when he was 12, so he never had a clue that he was actually the Fabled Long Lost Prince of Ronia.

And then Contral tricked him into presenting himself to the King and Queen in the capital city, and things became supremely strange from then on. Our dashing street thief was hailed as the Lost Prince and immediately thrust into the princely life--fame, fortune, fine wine and dining, the works. At first, he thought it was great--money and power beyond his wildest imagination! A dream come true!

His joy was shortlived. As a prince, Dakerai was now a prisoner to schedules, rules, and etiquette. He could no longer go anywhere without a team of bodyguards, and every minute of his day was planned for him. He was forced to play a good son for parents he'd never known and a King he despised. He tried to run away and return to his old life; he was quickly caught and returned to the castle. For Dakerai, who treasured the freedom and independence the streetlife had provided him, his new life was hell.

He made for one very petulant prince.


At any rate, these drawings are a series of costume designs for various stages in Dakerai's young adulthood. I went all out on these, trying to combine typical fantasy outfits with historical period clothing. It was a lot of fun; I love period clothing.

Thief - his standard street clothes. This one's coloring job looks like SHIT because I colored it on the wrong side of the marker paper. Too bad, cuz I liked the lineart.

Prince - Wrangled into some silly ceremonial prince clothing. Here he is meeting for the first time one of the many banes of his new royal life: the Ceremonial Sword of Ronia. This sword is UGLY and HEAVY and Dakerai HATES it.

Wizard - As if our friend Dakerai was not special enough already, it turns out he has wizard's blood in him (think of it as a genetic mutation). Dakerai's one respite from the princely life is his wizarding lessons, where he learns to harness his anger and magical tendencies and gets to blow stuff up. This would be some fancy wizarding dress suit for an exam, perhaps.

King - One sad day, the King and Queen of Ronia bite the dust in an attack, and our hapless hero is forced to take the throne as the most unqualified, unprepared king in the history of the world. He ends up being known as Dakerai the Great by the time his reign is done, but for now he's a skinny short kid with no fucking clue what he's doing. And the crown is itchy.

This one is my favorite Used a bunch of historical references for this one. MAN IN KILT!!! Also, pearls and white for the "Virgin King," as Dakerai is known (it's a long story, he's not happy about it, blame the unicorn)


People who read all that get brownies.

Prisma, Copic, and Tria markers
[The Dakerai Trilogy]