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"Why I'm here? Truly? What happened to you, warlock? What extinguished the light of joy from your life? What happened to bring us here, to make this the other's final hour?"

"...done laughing? Do NOT mistake my mercy for weakness, you depraved little BITCH. Truth be told, I don't care about your sob story. We've ALL suffered. Even I! As if suffering is meant to be another dick-swinging contest? I used my pain to better myself. To turn the pig iron I was into steel. To rise from my ashes like a phoenix. Tell me, what have YOU done with YOURS? Take it out on people who didn't deserve it? Take shortcuts to power and gain worthless baubles, curried for slivers of your soul? And yet *I* am the weak one here, no?"

"Last warning, cultist scum. Surrender, and be spared. Stand before me, and fall just as better folk and worse fiends have -- a smoldering heap of broken bones and torn guts! Which is it?!"

"--FINE! HAVE AT YA!"

As they say, the most powerful weapon on Earth is the human soul on fire. On Alvatera, the mortal soul burns just as bright. Let's be real, my 2021 reference of Raziya had one big flaw: horribly asymmetrical eyes that made her look like she had a deformity. Given the pre-battle vignette art pieces of her closest battle-buddies, Raziya was long overdue for her own badassery. It was due time to ignite the fires of my passions once more.

For this update to her outfit, I decided on some smaller tweaks and consistency among her outfit. As a cool frog once told me, one shouldn't use a color only once in a picture. As an azure bringer of adventure agreed, iconic character designs also utilize a distinct and concise palette. As such, I'd turned the leather of Raziya's anklets and her new sash the same reddish-brown I used for her mane and staff. Oh yeah, I also changed her buckled belt to a sash, with a shield-ish buckle over where it ties together. At this rate, I'd give Maia a sash instead of her belt. Don't tempt me.

As for that blue "grip tape" on her staff? First, happy accident while sketching that it leans more toward one side. If not using the staff like a spear in like an extended grip, Raziya would also use it as a walking stick, so I decided to keep it as it was. Easier that way too. As for the sapphire blue like her eyes? One, to use the blue for more than one thing. Two, it'd be cool to see Seeker pyromancer-monks acknowledge their oaths through adornments on their weapons. As blue is Maia's main color, it works off the idea that Raziya swore an oath to protect her. Makes sense from lore too -- Maia's deity Veravela is the consort of Raziya's goddess, Aralisi. And it's not the first time I'd used this same blue for an "Oath Staff", either! Lastly, I'd shod Raziya's staff not with wrought iron, but bronze. Apparently there were bronze-headed maces in the Middle Ages here and there, and I feel it'd fit the faux-Egyptian feel of Raziya's homeland nicely.

Description
"Why I'm here? Truly? What happened to you, warlock? What extinguished the light of joy from your life? What happened to bring us here, to make this the other's final hour?"

"...done laughing? Do NOT mistake my mercy for weakness, you depraved little BITCH. Truth be told, I don't care about your sob story. We've ALL suffered. Even I! As if suffering is meant to be another dick-swinging contest? I used my pain to better myself. To turn the pig iron I was into steel. To rise from my ashes like a phoenix. Tell me, what have YOU done with YOURS? Take it out on people who didn't deserve it? Take shortcuts to power and gain worthless baubles, curried for slivers of your soul? And yet *I* am the weak one here, no?"

"Last warning, cultist scum. Surrender, and be spared. Stand before me, and fall just as better folk and worse fiends have -- a smoldering heap of broken bones and torn guts! Which is it?!"

"--FINE! HAVE AT YA!"

As they say, the most powerful weapon on Earth is the human soul on fire. On Alvatera, the mortal soul burns just as bright. Let's be real, my 2021 reference of Raziya had one big flaw: horribly asymmetrical eyes that made her look like she had a deformity. Given the pre-battle vignette art pieces of her closest battle-buddies, Raziya was long overdue for her own badassery. It was due time to ignite the fires of my passions once more.

For this update to her outfit, I decided on some smaller tweaks and consistency among her outfit. As a cool frog once told me, one shouldn't use a color only once in a picture. As an azure bringer of adventure agreed, iconic character designs also utilize a distinct and concise palette. As such, I'd turned the leather of Raziya's anklets and her new sash the same reddish-brown I used for her mane and staff. Oh yeah, I also changed her buckled belt to a sash, with a shield-ish buckle over where it ties together. At this rate, I'd give Maia a sash instead of her belt. Don't tempt me.

As for that blue "grip tape" on her staff? First, happy accident while sketching that it leans more toward one side. If not using the staff like a spear in like an extended grip, Raziya would also use it as a walking stick, so I decided to keep it as it was. Easier that way too. As for the sapphire blue like her eyes? One, to use the blue for more than one thing. Two, it'd be cool to see Seeker pyromancer-monks acknowledge their oaths through adornments on their weapons. As blue is Maia's main color, it works off the idea that Raziya swore an oath to protect her. Makes sense from lore too -- Maia's deity Veravela is the consort of Raziya's goddess, Aralisi. And it's not the first time I'd used this same blue for an "Oath Staff", either! Lastly, I'd shod Raziya's staff not with wrought iron, but bronze. Apparently there were bronze-headed maces in the Middle Ages here and there, and I feel it'd fit the faux-Egyptian feel of Raziya's homeland nicely.