This artwork is absolutley fantastic! Excellent expressions and details <3

Aw thank you!
Was super challenging, but really happy how it came out! Knowing the backstory for them deffo helped to give it bit more life too .3.

awwww such a fun looking team, Im sure they had a very fun time on the seas ^^

Awesome work Darb, this looks so fantastic

aa they are the space navy kind! but yee, they had quite a few fun weeks ... .w.'
Thank you!!

Space is just one large black sea ^^

This is soo good! Ya did such a good work as always!
It is a such amazing drawing, very well maded. Ya put into it alot of your free time , effort and your heart into this art and it just show how fantastic this turned out!

Keep it up with this amazing work and have a good one! ^^

Aw thank you!!
Really enjoyed working on this one, as daunting having 5 people in pic was! I usually have a little story in mind for each chara when i draw them but this time the story was all written up ;3;

Such an amazing piece, looks super good! Really loving it and also that story, so dark, poor babs here ;_;

Thank you! ;u;
And yeahhh ... poor babs, they deserved better ;3;

I kept expecting they to arrive at there home with trauma, this was worse. Have you ever felt like doing a alt ending where they make it but only after several years and have to recover.

A wonderful piece

Thank you!! <3

Are these guys the ones mentioned by the end of the story?

Yee!
From left to right: Bei, Grünza, Enzzelmaiz, Kazal, Medolovonza
The MC of the story is unseen as they took the photo here

That's some Dead Space level shit you wrote. Great job!

I just read through the story.

I have found my lower jaw permanently affixed to the floor.

An amazing work. Kudos to you.

Glad you liked the story!! <3
Means a looot!

Loved the pic, clicked on the story, read through the whole thing...

...I'm OK, I'm just gonna need a moment...

Aaaa kind of a whiplash i know ;3;
But thats how disasters be ..

Hopes yous oki tho .3.

Oh this is a neat pic, seen it around! Darbs said they wanna do a story for a while!

...what are these tags?


It's always scary to think stuff like this happens cause of stuff like Byzantine Generals problem and other seemingly mundane stuff.

Yeah the Odraani setting is generally really bleak and dark, in stark comparison to the happy, colourful lizards .w.'

Yeee ... being so reliant on fragile tech and being at the mercy of the forces of nature/space

Just finished the story...

I'm gonna need some time to recover after that one xwx very very well written though, I really enjoyed it!

Aaa glad you enjoyed it! ;3; Hopes it didn't cause sleepless nights, some people reported struggling with et x.x'

That story just...holy shit

.. a tad bleak .w.'

Fuckin hell, that story man D:

aaa feels like a tonal whiplash compared to my art, but gosh, I love writing bleak stories .w.'

It's actually getting my own creative juices flowing! Hope you don't mind if I write my own non-canon short story sometime in the future ;)

Image be like: aww so cute
Story tags be like: Murder, Suicide, Death, Coffin, Coffin, Cemetry, Pidor

Odraani setting in a nutshell!

LOOK AT ALL THESE CUTIES, AAAAH!! <3 LOVE THIS! ;w;

Just a happy gang of crewmates! <3 .w.'

Can I make the joke

Oh thats a good story. FTL travel is scary.

Thank youu!
Space is scary no matter what.

They look so nice and happy and cute and... oh NO WHAT DO YOU MEAN THE STORY NEEDS CONTENT WARNINGS??? D8 OH NOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOOO

Aaaa am sorryyyy ... but that's how the setting be like; bleak and cynical ;3;

Yeahhh, I know. :}

Don't let our whining make you think that your work shouldn't be as dark as heck. Write what you want to write. <3

Wonderful work!

Thank you! <3

I can't stress enough how one's impression of this wholesome picture gets completely turned on its head just by reading the context behind it, you certainly have a knack for writing

Aw thank you!! Yeah I wanted to give the picture a bittersweet vibe .. wishing to just relive those first few days, or thinking how things could have been different, but it's all left to one's imagination.
Aaa I'm not sure I have a knack for it, feels like this was a case of 'lightning in a bottle' .. but I'm happy it left such a huge impression on the readers ;3;

Don't worry about it, just write and build your world the way you feel like it and everything will turn out fine, you've spent a good deal of your artistic career making art around this theme and I'd say your efforts are paying off

I look forward to your next Odraani tale!

(and hopefully the families of the departed don't take it too hard... ;_;)

love these cute lil gits so moooch!! <33
the poses an comp is all so perfect ;3;
and the story is so damn good *chef kiss*
such a well written dark thriller/sci-fi horror? im not good at assigning genres xD but its just epicly done! thanks for sharing with us all <33
*throws mug on ground* ANOTHER!

aaa thank you dude! <33
Would be/ have been fun to explore more of their personalities, relationships with each other a bit more ;3;

Aaa I'm not sure what the genre is either haha ... I don't know much about writing in general so I have no idea what am I doing .w.' <3 But I'm so happy it turned out be an interesting read ;u;
ANOTHER??? I SHOULDDDD

Seeing the pic: "Oh, squad goals! I hope nothing bad ha-"

Seeing the story tags: " . . . Ah."

:')

i mean they were heck of a squad ;3;
... but yeah, space is perilous

I LOVED this story, very intense but great concept - very good backstory to such a happy pic

Thank you!
The pic is really meant to be a bittersweet reminder of things could have been

Awesome! I love how natural/believable everything feels.

Aw thankies! <3
I tried to make places lived in, clothes worn in and people being caught in a random moment <3

Beutiful work!

But after reading the story, it's like looking at ghosts... O.O

Thank you!
Yeeee ... wanted to have the pic be thought starter, what could have been if all went well, what people could have done differently, and what these guys were like before the everything happened .3.

I put the story aside for a few days to mentally prepare myself and it still hurt. Those poor scalies.

Aw blesso ;3; Yeah it a tough read, kept some people awake thinking/in dread ... but I'm glad my writing had such a deep effect on people ;3;

Indeed, it's a well-written story regardless!

Just hope they are all at peace.

Do you have any other stories? Any in the works?
Loved the story too, reminded me a lot of Aniara, if you've ever heard about it.

Aaa I have a spinoff of this, one of the journal entries from different people's perspective; different formatting and style but I wanted to try out something else - I'm not an experienced writer ;3; -
There's one I have all 'sketched' up, just need to sit down and write it; it's more of a crime novel thingy buuut I fear it a little.
Glad you did! <3

And yeee, saw a recap of it and it kept me awake for a bit x.x Stories with isolation, hopelessness and helplessness hit me hard, on a different level

I know I'd like to read more of them!!

They so cute!

They wereee ;3; <3

They still are! X3

Lizerds (and snek) gang!

Scalie gang!

Haven't logged into this site in, like, going on two years before now, but literally had to drop in because I'd stumbled across this. 0__0

I adore this pic. I will truly never get over your eye for fitting details both in your characters' designs and your bgs. There's just so much to look at and admire, and both your chars and the settings they're created within always feel so real. <3

The short story you attached to this is genuinely gut-wrenching, compelling, and everyone within it makes it feel so horrifically believable in the best of ways. Everyone's little dynamics with each other - the slow degradation of the ship, the state of the crew, and the lingering dread that comes with all that and only gets worse as time goes on. Finally, the last action report: "None. Clean it, scrap it, inform all the next of kin" basically. Ouch.

Really drives home the feel of "better times long gone" that radiates off the pic. Like a snapshot of a time before a group of friends drifted apart, it hurts the soul. I love the artwork, of course. Everyone's expressions suit their personalities, I feel. Bei the dad, he looks so hyped; I can imagine him planning to show this pic to his kids once he gets back home. Kazal totally looks like a bro, and I love the way his tail is all-but-wrapped around Medolo's. <3 I get the feeling Enzy's just kinda there in the back, like, having to do this but having much more important stuff he wants to get back to. Generally distant as ever, I suppose?

huffs Okay, that was alot! Anyways, had a lot to say, found all this extremely compelling. Love it, Ms. Darb! Thanks so much for sharing this and the lovely little crew. ^u^

Aw thank you for the amaze words, was a treat to read!!
I really love your observations ;3; 'Better times long gone' is EXACTLY the vibe I wanted to achieve with the picture ;3; Kind of a painful nostalgia, 'what could have been' and such.
Wish I thought of that name because it's perfect ;u;
And yeah, we have a bit of an insight of the massive difference of the personal and global odraani behaviour ... - first few weeks - friendly, caring personal relations vs the cynical, cold, matter of fact bureaucracy that is the whole faction ...

Love your description of the gang; all of them are really accurate! <3 Enzzi is kind of a loner, a bit socially awkward nerd for example ;u; Grünza is also similar to Bei, excited to go home to see his BF ;3;

Aaa thank you again for the review! <3 Means a lot I drew/wrote something that motivates such thoughts ;w; <3

Well.......I did not expect such a read from such a pic, but it was an amazing read. Poor lads. The last words got me.....

Aaa kind of a whiplash i know ... poor souls indeed ;3;
Glad you enjoyed the read <3

I highly enjoyed it! Especially how fast the downward spiral went as soon as the first death was mentioned. And the thougth how long the ship was gone AFTER the last words
/the last entry

god this whole story is heart breaking. seeing another perspective from Irrni was an awesome touch!
But man thia one is leaving an imprint on my mind

Aw thank you! <3 Yeah, was interesting to have a situation which is summed up in a few lines in ones journal, then said event is experienced first hand. That kind of disconnect and trivialisation of violence.
Aaa im flattered my writing did so ;3; <3

I would like to see a picture of the narrator as well.

Aaa they are left unseen for the purpose of being an ambiguous chara. The gender, looks is up to the reader so they can project themselves into them fully. ^^

Clever.. I was thinking I reaalllly want to see this as a Graphic Novel... I can hear the music for some of the scenes perfectly.. Done right this could be ICONIC inside and outside of fandom. Daunting prospect I know. Just saying...Consider Patreon(ing) the idea..
Fandom has a ton of fluff and icing art, but so little in the way of lasting memorable content.

Damn it would be awesome to turn this into a graphic novel or comic ... the thing is, regardless the funding, it would be waaaay out of the scope of my skills; storyboarding is not a strongpoint for me ... though could commission one to do thumbnail one .3. (I already have Patreon, and its a MASSIVE help in focusing on art ;w;)
And yeah, would be lovely to have this story reach more people, but then again, I'm not sure I could deal with a the public eye and scrutiny ... @.@

Get someone to run interference/ secretary for you. Nothing stopping you from being your own voice but lets you focus where you need to. Ideally of course. When I win the lottery we will talk :D

Agree with that Defenbaugh says here, your world could potentially be a sci-fi sleeper hit if done right. But I understand that widespread popularity can be both a blessing and a curse, and you may find yourself with a rather troublesome fandom behind your back too. For now, I suggest that you focus on putting out more arts and stories to flesh out your world, maybe sketch up some dialogue pages or two to help practice your storyboarding skills. I know you can do it!

I just noticed Medolovonza's stars in her bunk. T.T

Yeeee, good eye ;3;

Great art and well written story. I feel like any commentary would be too much of a spoiler, but I guess I'm curious what the upper echelon (captain, etc.) knew regarding their survival chances to put it in the least spoiler-y way I can think of :)

Aw thank you! <3 Aaa I think you can spoiler a bit; just add a bit of a header and its all guud ^^

One navy lizard, left all alone.
No more hope of ever reaching home.
Silent and sickly, slumped against the hull
Went to sleep forever... and then there was null...

But the victim stood up once more
Self proclaimed leader, wandering forever these accursed floors

aaa love it :D <3

Could imagine this like part of the navy folklore in a way, part of telling the story to new recruits on their first voyage

Rhyme of the recently ancient mariners…

What a happy and friendly bunch they all are!. But yet bittersweet, knowing what happens to them.
What a grim and tragic fate.. V._.V

The level of detail that you've put into this picture is awesome, really beautifully done!.

Yeeeahh ;3;
Someone described it as 'better times long gone' and its a perfect summary of what happened. A moment where everyone was happy, feeling proud, excited, only to enter a downward spiral soon after.

<3

Oh I get it yeah!.

It was a pretty disturbing read from the point things began to take a gradual descent into chaos aboard. Very sad how it ended up, but I was hooked the whole way!
Awesome story and i liked the unique format too!.

I was a little confused by the incident in the infirmary at first. But it looks like to me, that this conspiracy thing was going on long before the narrator was made aware.

Wait.. Weren't there several other ships joining the jump to their destination?.

you ever think of posting your stories to Archive of our Own?

This is a wonderfully rendered piece. Such charming designs.
That story though, whew! I do not envy their situation in the slightest. Just goes to show the inherent dangers of space travel. I'm hardly delve into survival horror, but this art work was a good lure. "Can't judge a book by it's cover" as they say.

Fuck, there was no hope. Based on the reactor samples, the ship could have experienced more time than the Odraani civilization has been around. Whatever remains survived where probably because the bacteria were all frozen before decaying everything. And all because of corrupted data.

Drawing is cute and fun though. Will we ever get to see Amme?

Good question. Still don't know what this "amme" means, perhaps "mother"?

I think Amme is Zenril's wife. Zenril is the narrator; we get the name in the second to last diary entry.

Maybe, but I think it's better to confirm from the author

There is a lot of hints and context implying Zenril is married to Amme. Not outright stated, but Zenril tells Hin that he is married and speaks about going on trips with Amme. The entries for Day 284 and 321 give good implication. Going through the story again is fun as I am noticing more cultural things.

Just read the story….those poor guys, and a descent into madness. 12114 years of accidental time dilation due to a an error with the FTL….what would their relatives be told?

Let's just say the authorities skipped the ugly details

The picture: :D
The story: D:

didnt read the whole story just a bit from the start and a few at the end... and damn thats so fcking dark... they need to make a movie out of this with these characters tho not humans...

The ships traveling in jump gates undergo stasis in the process, which means 12,114 years elapsed to the ship while only seconds have passed in the current dimension

The story is absolutely haunting - I don't think I've read anything quite like it before. Thank you for sharing it!

Crazy to think that the whole story was caused due to a math error.

I've had this cued up on a tab for a while knowing it would be a good story to read. I applaud the format and way in which it was delivered. When it comes to things space and physics fundamentals, far often people don't understand just how catastrophically bad a few decimal points off can be.
(For interest: 39 digits of pi would suffice to calculate the circumference of the known universe to the width of a hydrogen atom. We can round that down to 30, right?)
I did a tour of service in the military. While I realize many like to admire and fetishize the various organizations and units, far too often it's missed that the base goal of such groups is to exert their will over others. With dire consequences (killing) and with equipment whose purpose is to be built cheaply, and work within an acceptable level of failure and loss.
This means out of 4 stasis enabled heavy dreadnought cruisers, one might not make it. And due to the training and mission of those on that dreadnought, A minor systems misalignment will have the crew fall back onto training which won't serve them particularly well in the face of such a failure.
A very well told story Darbaras.

Yee it's disturbing to think that the whole disaater was caused by the smallest of errors - and sent the whole ship either tearing itself apart or just slowly waiting for certain death.

For example, I have no idea if the upper brass really deserved that gruesome end they suffered. The mutineers were at their wits' end and lost their faith on the authority who's not doing enough to keep morale in check, and had to vent their pent up anger completely ignorant that they're just hastening their likely inevitable demise.

A very thought provoking piece of literature indeed...

Is Medolovonza's death canon or non-canon?
If its non-canon then that would explain her continuous reappearance in your art.

Aah it canon ;3;
Those arts are pre-Null

Holy crap..what a story! 10/10!

1/ this might be my favorite story I've found on this website! Like it is a masterpiece in my eyes!

2/ so this is my only question I think I have for you, since the last log from the mc is day 6134, how did they die?? Did they kill themself? Also Dame, there poor wive is going to react badly to there death.. :(

Yes... if you read the last line from the journal Zenril said "ending my shit", probably realizing how far off they're gone and that there's nothing left for them

A tragic end for the Odra and their fiance

*shift
God damn it, typo Dx

Hey I know that feeling XD

Also thank you for replying to my first ask! :3

So i forgot to ask this in my earlier comment

1/ was the mc audio/written logs ever found or did they simply decay/get destroyed?

2/ what the heck was that time dilation?? I remember one crew mate said 6-7 days equals around 1-2 seconds..so was the ship traveling in freaking milliseconds?? I'm just trying to figure out how appearing six seconds later equals 12,114 years..

I'm just wondering and be thankful if anyone could answer my questions for this amazing story! :3

1. It was recovered, the text is now archived as investigative material written here.

2. Yes, time dilation is part of the Odraani's faster than light jump gate technology for their vessels.

Vessels traveling through the gates will undergo spacetime stasis where they arrive in the destined jump gate after a week or two and up to a few months in exceptional cases; in the poor Kamrili's case though a critical gyroscoping input error in the navigation computers which mafunctioned the ship's coordinate values, causing it to remain in stasis exponentially longer.

1/ah got it! Judging from that last report, I'm imagining our mc logs are there best look into what happened!

2/ ohh okay, that makes sense! I guess I was just trying to put logic/math to calculate that amount of years

Also lol I just saw what your you wrote instead of shift XD

Before I forget to say this, thank you for replying to my to asks/questions!
I think I only got three questions left and that will be all for now :)

1/ were the ghosts/hollow husks the mc seeing real or just simple madness?

2/ two part question, first, I'm guessing something major happened between log 4984 and log 6012 to make the mc change so much.. and second, I'm surprised there were even three people still alive before they got gunned down by the mc in log 6012.

3/ I think you said something about this, but I do hope one day we can see a pic of the mc in the final days!

1. Chances are they're completely delirious and you can hardly blame them considering how weak and broken they are by that point :'c

2. Can you imagine being trapped in a cold, dark, corpse strewn ship with no food left for years on end? I'm surprised they didn't off themselves even earlier and just shuffled on for well over 17 years

3. We can hope... but there is a pic that gives a pretty good picture of a crew in his last days (https://mobile.twitter.com/EliseHeider/status/1587174507134984196)

1/ yeah..that makes a lot of sense :(

2/ once more a very good point, also I need to ask this, the body the three crew members were eating..that was the mc last friend body wasn't it? Because he moved them into the flight deck area after he died right?

3/ oh dame o.o
Pic is really well done but Dame..I feel horrible for them..

For point 2... who knows? And it probably doesn't matter who that is at this point since Bei was moved years before, everything is lost :'c

Pray for the Kamrili

Indeed, pray to the kamrili!

Ps thank you for answering all the questions I had! I hope your day is going great! :3

Yw! <3

Excellent artwork and what a fine sci-fi story attached. Read a few snippets before sleep and quickly decided to consume the entire thing.

Carry on being awesome!

This Story...This may sound silly, but i really wish there to be a deus ex machina moment. Like, yes i don't want to discredit the artist/writer, but these are good people, they didn't deserve this fate. They were...good people. :'(

Still gives me an idea of a non-canon cross over, so that one of their versions get to tell the tale. Because FTL-Travel and the time-travel are complex topics and one thing i understood so far, is that they are linked in motion. The Fate of Kamrilli 12000+ years later can't be changed, but just imagine another stellar-empire finding chrono traceses,to tunnel and pull the only 7 days old Kamrilli out of stasis 12000 years later. All the adventures they could have, with the ultimate goal to reach the Brallü not 12000 years late, but just a late week. There still would be a paradox of the 12000 year old Kamrilli and the 7 days late Kamrilli, because both ship would be existing in the same time and space, still think thats better out come for them.

I got that idea from another sci-fi empire that had to deal with giant time-stopping space jellyfish, where they saved the ship by tracking chrono traces, as they called it, to tunnel from the old derelict ships to the only days or months old ships, that were trapped in time by the said jellyfishes and save them. They had the paradox of old derelict ships and only for few days trapped ships, but figured out that timelines branch out so that all outcomes are equally true. I didn't understand the technology fully, but it's something about gravity particles trapped in a accelerator tunnel, that drills with its mass through short time differences. And that the process is energy intensive.

Thanks for reading this and thanks to Darbaras for making the art and story.

This is such a great art piece! The story that you made to go alongside it is just as great, the fate of the crew was a bit sad but it was a wonderful read straight to the end!

Late to the party but I saw this pic before quite a while ago and thought what a joyous bunch

And then just now I actually went and read the story.

Good god. Starting out wholesome, ending in nightmare fuel, it's amazing.

Love the partial tail sleeve shorts

https://media.discordapp.net/attach.....3616_026_1.gif

.

Now that's some proper grim sci-fi horror there. Closest thing I could compare it to would be being trapped on a spacehulk lost in the warp (just without demons and genestealers ofc), or I guess if the Voyager from Star Trek went very wrong. The whole time dilation thing also gave of some slight Forever War vibes.

Splendid work both with both the story and artwork! Really contrasted and elevated the written work along with it.

Reading the content warning
What I expected: https://youtu.be/k1-TrAvp_xs?si=l1i72U8MGc1JMd2j
What I recieved: https://youtu.be/hG6HHExLDzY?t=1190

The story might be one of the most harrowing yet amazing pieces of work I've read.

No voy a mentir pero esta historia fue muy impactante y me dejó un poco mal igualmente es un arte hermoso y el hecho que loque cuenta me partiera el corazón ❤️ es un mérito y realmente espero poder ver más historias del artista y quizá terminé con finales más felices solo el tiempo lo dirá

Don't know why i missed the story link, got pointed to it now by a someone.
Holy bisquits. That's dark as hell itself, and masterfully written. Space is no joke, one mistake, and...

The spirit of *good* old fiction is strong in here.

You have quite some talent at writing, the story was a disturbing, but amazing read. Very well done!

Brought District 9 to my mind even, as in sort of a prequel to it, how over such long time everything can crumble apart, sanity gone, decay. I liked the incident report attached too, the whim of fate, which on the outside is a mere snap, a freak accident of a moment. Disturbing!

And glad to see so much activity here, so many interested in taking a look at them and their story!

My favourite kind of furry reptiles <3333

I’m gonna read the story tomorrow, because judging by the other comments it’s really good

Your art is unique and has a life to it. I look forward seeing the rest of your gallery.

I just came here to comment to say that I still think about this story even years after I read it. I couldn't remember your name or the story name and it took me a bit of effort to find again. This was excellent!