More Legends of Varlata world-building concept art. Wait... I mean Legend of COCKPUNCH. Or do I? The Black Barrens as the twin suns set over the Penumbra range. The silhouette could be a beast, a Ranger, or something else entirely. Art by Sam Burley (@samburleyart), an illustrator and concept artist specializing in fantastical environments with multiple credits for work on Magic: the Gathering and Dungeons & Dragons, Valve, and Bethesda. Here’s a little backstory on the Black Barrens: “To be seen by source, you must first learn to see. To learn to see, you must first learn to notice.” — The Decree of Dagrún, Scroll Three “True power has one wellspring: true names.” — The Decree of Ǫlrún, Scroll One There are no easy paths to the Oracles of the Edge. This is deliberate. On the 10th day of the 10th month of the 10th year of life, each boy in Varlata is called to travel. The Pilgrimage of Osa predates the name Varlata. It predates all of our memories. Perhaps it has always been... A lad of ten and a half years may be on the cusp of physical maturity, but to truly become a man, he needs his true name. And for this, he must journey to the Oracles for the Anointing. There are two paths to the oracles. More accurately, there are two starting points, each a small gate in the Free Trade Zone. One gate leads into the land of House Hallux and the other into the land of House Hime. Each boy must choose which gate to enter, and once through the threshold, navigate north until he reaches his destination... or dies trying. And the dying isn’t difficult. There are at least 10 challenges along the way, each designed to kill. Roughly 30% of boys never return, but how they meet their end is never known... Members of House Hallux and House Hime make sacred vows to protect the safe passage of pilgrims up to the foothills... but no further. All routes travel through the Penumbra mountains and, if a pilgrim gets lost or takes too long, the Black Barrens. So feared are the Black Barrens, the shadow cast by the Penumbra when the twin suns set, that most households forbid mention of it for months leading up to the Anointing... More lore: cockpunch.com/podcast 4.8 stars on Spotify