Offering to the Buried God

Artwork for my RPG Omios Ures. Tthe first real pages of the book deserved something grandiose, mystic and transporting (and understated!)

This artwork took a couple months of throwing ideas at the wall, none of which seemed to stick until now. Quite happy with this.

The original idea was a worshipper standing on the edge of the abyss. After a lot of trial and error, I realized the problem with the idea is that it made the spectator feel like a passive observer rather than a participant, and it blunted the spectator's relationship with the abyss.

So I got rid of the worshipper altogether: the chasm becomes the subject, and the spectator an active participant. The lit green candle fulfills the narrative role of the "worshipper" idea; it evokes ritual, holiness and mysticism since it burns an unnatural color.

The distant city was a last minute addition. But I figured it helped sell the scale of the abyss even further, and kind of gave a needed "continuity" to the world, makes the viewer ask questions. "What is that city's relationship with the great pit?", and so on!