Acanthus the War Bear (and Mugwort)

Hello!

The War Bear won the poll, so I drew Acanthus, the jolly murder machine (and his older sibling Mugwort, the little shit). Acanthus and Mugwort are Thistle's siblings and they care about each other a lot! She's actually the oldest of the three.

Design wise, I ended up going with the direction "Thor from God of War but happy". Though I'm happy with it, I don't think I have quite settled on certain details. Like the armor and how he carries his weight. That kind of thing tends to get ironed out as you draw the character. It's like you're growing more familiar with them. 

Speaking of which- I'm working on the horny illustrations now! I actually started sketching them out before I figured out the design lol. But I'm having a lot of fun and I think you all are going to like it. 

 I hope you like the look of him! Let me know your thoughts in the comments!

Okay, here is for the lore dump:

The War Beast siblings were all born from the same blood of their general, created to fight in an endless war on the Fields of Iron and Blood (the wrath plane of Hell). There, the armies fight proxy wars on behalf of the other arch demons so, in theory, no fighting spills to the other planes. Many many demons and souls die useless deaths. But war demons are created for this: to fight, to kill, and then to die. It's an honor to serve your purpose.

Thistle is the oldest of the three and, in comparison, the most level headed and was the one who made decisions when it was needed. Acanthus was an utter murder machine, ripping apart their enemies by day with his berserker rages and cracking jokes around the campfire at night. Mugwort, born from just a scattered drop of blood, served as scout and flag bearer, and all around little pest. 

Families are not really a concept in Hell. No one is born, they are created, so there are no parents, no children, no loved ones. Hell is not built around unconditional love. But connections are made nonetheless and the unit had each other. 

And then they lost the war. 

It was brutal, fire rain down from the sky and blood flooded the earth. Their army was decimated. Their unit was 50 was whittled down to three. Everyone they had ever knew was dead. 

That day Thistle faced a decision as she realized nothing she had done in her life to that point had mattered- to run like a coward or die like she's supposed to. Before she came to a decision, she realized that Acanthus had been injured- his left arm was burnt off and his eye was lost. He was going to die unless Thistle and Mugwort got him help. Thistle ended up dragging the big lug through burning wreckage of her world and the three escaped through a doorway into another of the planes. Cowards, but alive and together. 

After recovering, Acanthus discovered that his periods of sudden black out rages did not serve him as well in civilized areas of Hell as it did on the battle field. He decided to return to the Fields as a paid mercenary, despite Thistle begging him not to. Acanthus doesn't want to die, though, he want to earn enough to settle somewhere someday and maybe even get his berserker rage fixed. Until then, Mugwort will help keep him out of trouble. Thistle, no matter how hard she tried, couldn't get herself to join him. The Field simply fill her with too much despair. 

Thistle instead wandered the planes till she ended up in the Gardens of Malum. She was looking for a sense of purpose and instead she found Dandelion. The dandy hired her as a bodyguard and, despite her not really liking at first, they settled into the dynamic that we're familiar with.

Acanthus and Mugwort find time to go and visit Thistle, often spending a few nights at bars and exchanging stories. One day, they hope that they can be together again.

Haha, that ended up being longer than I thought it was going to be. I hope you all enjoyed it at least. If you didn't, well, I promise the sexy drawings are coming soon.