Project Pantheon - Loyal Counselors

While thinking up on Azi Dahaka's design as well as the myraid of Ordovician creatures that could be used as a template, I had an interesting conversation with regarding how to characterize and write divine beings, and afterwards I just had to put some drawings on paper. We talked about a lot of things, but a few things that stood out is having a mindset of "what does this character want" when different characters interact the trio of "presence, personality and responsibility". It really helps creating motivations for characters and makes character development a lot easier.

Originally gonna two seperate deviations, I figured it would be better to submit as one because both of them present an "ideal" rather than just a member of their god-heads personal posse. Here, Thoth and Raphael are the closest friendship to their respective Pantheon leaders, and are not just subordinates, but effectively co-rule their domains along with them. Their bond is especially unique in their closeness, as in the universe of Project Pantheon, both Michael and Ra are supposed to be ideals rather than relatable, but in regard to these two, they can be more personable, sharing their grievances and their joys.

Also a personal experiment on creating a "universal style" for project Pantheon. In short, so far my current style is a mix between western, moba art and some anime... specifically old-school Digimon. Now let's dig deeper shall we?

The Archangel Raphael - Outremer's Lady Minister of the Sciences, and to some in the deity community, his effective empress. I made Raphael female because I'm a huge fan of female scientists like Marie Curie, and Raphael here is not just a healer and patron to doctors, but to science in general, making her the walking, talking think tank of how Outremer can constantly improve in all walks of life. Raphael wants nothing more than caring for the people and discovering new things, new lifeforms and new places, something that clashes a lot with Michael's policy of strict neutrality. Her relationship with Michael is notable in-universe in that while it is very professional, she's the only other person where Michael can talk... casually, and vice versa. All his grievences and regrets, he goes to her, even though he knows that having close relationships like this is against Angelic protocol (everyone knows what happened with the Nephilim). They can't afford to induldge in comforts like mortals. The problem is that their feelings are mutual, but their sheer professionalism and protocol knows that it's wrong, and knows the social and political effects it would have; as a god-head, Michael would look like an even bigger hypocrite than he's already percieved as, and for Raphael others would consider her rank as un-earned and a result of "relations", undermining her centuries worth of honest effort and training. Her quest for understanding leads to nigh-constant experimentation, even terraforming planets from the bottom up just to see how the slightest changes in conditions can change the long term evolution of species.

Design-wise, she's part Scientist, part Noblewoman, and part Medic. She's lively, inquisitive, witty and charming, basically the exact opposite of the more stoic and martial Michael. Because all angels have their faces partially hidden (thanks Digimon), her personality is reflected more toward body language. Her attire is a combination of lab coat and a medieval robe, to highlight both her status and her profession. It's also meant to be form fitting, because unlike Michael (who's a speedy punch-tank), when she needs to get down and dirty, she fights with agility and the use of knives and sword-wips generated from her wings and hidden under her gloves, so she needs freedom of movement. I also tried to balance her softness with elements of sharpness, as in-universe, as the Angel of knowledge and science, the blades she generates are even sharper than the knives Michael can make from his wings. The only things sharper is Michael's burning sword, which is sealed away for personal reasons. In-universe her charm and liveliness makes her the closest thing that the Abrahamic faction has to a "Great Beauty" (think the role of any goddess/god of beauty), so her figure essentially has more "ideal" proportions. Her wings are a lot more technological-looking than the "traditional" wings of Michael, to highlight her role as the head of technology. She is also the tallest non-monster female celestial being so far, just under Michael's height.

As co-ruler, she's the almost always to first to butt-heads with Michael and the first to compromise, especially when it's in regards to diplomacy and managing the entire galaxy, offering a warmer hand to Michael's martial tone and heavy-handedness (to paraphrase from Ren). Officially she's supposed to be part of a Triumvirate of Michael, Gabriel and herself, but in terms of raw power, she far outclasses Gabriel, and is, unknown to other pantheon heads, more than likely just as powerful as Michael, if not physical power, but her intellect and ability make up for it. In-universe her mentor (and father figure) was none-other than Samael, the chief assassin and poisoner before he became a nephilim (Michael killed him... you can bet their relationship became very strained for a while), so it's her other job to also think of possible conconctions for weapon systems... a job she very much dislikes but does so anyway due to pragmatism's sake. The necklace around her neck is for remembrance, as each piece represents the lives of those she was close to, lost in the Omni-War.

Thoth - God of Knowledge and Personal Scribe of Ra. Unlike Raphael, Thoth is much less powerful when it comes to pure, well, god powers, but in Ra's eyes the most loyal and most trustworthy companion, and the feeling is mutual. He has no ambition to be "da strongest", and is always to serve along with his wife, Ma'at. In a universe filled with ambition and intrigue, to find an individual like that is... unlikely to say the least. Ra, Thoth and Ma'at essentially help run the empire together, and while Ra is head and ultimately has the final say, he always takes their advice into account. Thoth is so trusted by Ra, when Isis' plot was foiled, he (along with Isis' son Horus) was the one to convince Ra to spare her life during one the few moments when Ra was consumed by aploplectic rage. During the Omni War it was Thoth's idea to unleash Ammit to help fight against the newly-empowered Apep, help they sorely needed. Afterwards he also convinced Ra and Anubis to have Ammit be weaponized futher.

Thoth's design basically a bird scribe... science-fantasy bird scribe. His scrolls are wrapped around his arms and waist to highlight this... he even has some purity seals on his sholuders. In fact one of his god powers is literally to pull an infinite scroll from his arms to write something new, like an eternal record filled with important events, discoveries and innovations. His glasses are actually a gift from before the Omni-War, allowing him to see even sharper and write down even smaller text-within-texts. He cherishes these glasses because it reminds him of a time where things were simply and everyone contributed to the sharing of knowledge. Otherwise he's very conservatively dressed, with more robes than anything else, ro contrast with the almost-shirtless Ra.

As a loyal servant he records everything that happens, making sure administration runs smoothly along with managing the solar-system version of The Library of Alexandria... as in the planets are completely artificial and is all about storing knowledge. He even works together with Anubis to manage Ammit's needs and wants... basically that's the one thing he complains more to Ra than anything else.
"With every passing of time, Ammit makes yet another fool-hardy and inconvenient demand to quell her appetite... when clearly she has had more than her fill today. Anubis should be doing much more to make her re-consider goals other than devouring anything she finds interesting"
Maybe that's just Ammit's way of messing with him after the weaponization process ... Meanwhile Ra just laughs.
It's also his job to figure out ways to fight Apep and other similar beasts like her (including Azi Dahak). Thoth is currently more worried about how relationships between Pantheon are currently so bad that, if something were to happen and everyone had to band together... they wouldn't do it.