Comic Books by Patrick Keith & Vicky Morgan-Keith

Ernor

(air' • nor ) proper noun - the prehistoric mythological world in which fenrae, ocktons and other fantastic critters live.

Whitepaw's Story

This is a telling of the First Age of the World of Ernor, before the Turning which ushered in the Dragon Age.

The first Ernor story centers on young Whitepaw, a cub coming of age in a pack of wolf-like critters who call themselves the fenrae. During his journey he is befriended by several of the creatures from the forests of Ernor. It is a tale of friendship, loyalty and cooperation as the characters learn the benefits of embracing their differences.

When Whitepaw's pack is overrun by the chic'tir, a menacing ant-like species, he must set off on his own the gather help from other fenrae packs before they fall prey to the advancing hives. On his journey he is unexpectedly aided by one of the lizard-like ocktons named Hask.

Whitepaw and Hask then part company only to realize there are dangers in the woods neither one expected to face alone. Whitepaw finally reaches the remaining members of the pack he was sent to find. Unfortunately they are more in need of help than he is. It isn't long before they catch up with Hask again who has also met a surprising new companion. The group continues on to the safety of the Ockton village of H'sak where they can escape the attacks of a group of mysterious bird-like creatures and Hask can complete her "very serious mission."

The group heads to the highrocks when they are prompted by a strange vision seen by the Ockton Mystics and are also introduced to a new character who lends her aid to the others in a spectacular way. Overcoming the hazards of travel, they are surprised to find adversaries that may be deadlier than the Chic'tr, the winged araku.

Whitepaw, Hask and their companions must defend themselves from the bird-like araku when they are attacked while traveling through the high-rocks. A fierce battle ensues and members of the group are hurt, but the attackers are driven away for the moment. However, one araku remains, injured during the fight. Despite opposition, Whitepaw insists on aiding the creature who just may be the key to his pack's survival. But the ocktons and other fenrae are angry-- and hungry! Will they see the araku as a potential ally or meal?

During the attack, Hask displays yet more of her skill in taking out the evil wingthings. More surprisingly, the wingthings themselves have their own version of Mystics and T'nor is surprised when her spellsong is foiled by one. The tiny mi'kar lizards shine in one dramatic moment and display their deadly defensive ability as well as providing a foreshadowing of things to come. This introduces the araku as a formidable opposition to all who enter the mountains of Ernor.

After resolving the conflict in the mountains, Whitepaw finally returns to his pack with the long awaited help. But when he returns he discovers that things don't always remain the same or turn out exactly as you expect them to.

Ernor is a lush world of forests and mountains with many strange and magcial creatures and we have started its journey through time near the beginning. Even though the story of Whitepaw is narrated by our Lorekeeper, we will see how his life affects future generations of fenrae and ocktons as well as some of the other inhabitants.

The first Ernor comic series was told in six bi-monthly issues that were available through Diamond Comics Distributor in 1999 to 2000.

See the Ernor World Map.

Read the Ernor review from the ComicBuyer's Guide #1354!

Plus, take a look at how the cover and interiors for issue #4 were created.

Characters

Whitepaw - The main character of our Ernor stories. He is a young fenrae cub who has just experienced his first "solo" hunt. When the territory of his pack is threatened by the ant-like chic'tr, he is made to strike out on his own to find other fenrae packs to help stave off the invaders.

Hask - An ockton wanderer. Ocktons are the dinosaur-like species that are the guardians of Ernor. They have a clan-like social structure and are interdependent. Hask travels from village to village running errands and delivering messages for the ockton elders known as Mystics. She is not accepted among most other ocktons due to a speech impediment so she tends not to stay in one place very long.

Flashdust - He is a Blacksoot warrior, a caste of fighters who conscript themselves out to the ockton villages as hunters and protectors. The Blacksoots have a very strict honor and tradition code that Flash is constantly aware of even though he finds himself in compromising positions from time to time.

T'nor - She is an ockton Mystic, the mages and spiritual leaders of the ocktons. Even though T'nor has recently just left her apprenticeship, she is a formidable spellcaster and has calming wisdom that tends to even out Hask and Flash's tempers.

Mi'kar - The mi'kar are a species not far removed from the ocktons even though they tend to be smaller in size. They have also developed a strong defensive mechanism to thwart attackers. Each mi'kar, depending on parentage, is born with a gland that can project a chemical defense, much like the cobra. However these chemicals, like silane, react with air and produce flames, for example. Many other effects are inherent too depending on which tribe the mi'kar belongs.

Araku - This birdlike species lives in the mountainous region of Ernor and is reclusive and withdrawn. They don't take kindly to intruders but when circumstances dictate, they can be hospitable when it suits their needs.

Chic'tr - These are the ant-like invaders that move into the lowlands from the mountains and invade Whitepaw and Hask's territory. The chic'tr have a hive mind structure and are lead by a queen. They communicate primarily through smell which makes it difficult for them to communicate with the other denizens of Ernor.

Destiny of Rai

There was a great disturbance in the village of sel, deep within the lushgreen forest. An egg had been laid within the village clutch mound that was like none other seen before. The Mystics of Sel agreed this was a sign from Rakkor, but what type of sign remained to be seen. For several days the blue tinted egg was watched over by some of the fiercest Blacksoot warriors. Vagrath, High Mystic of Sel, waited, as did all of the other ocktons across the Lushgreen. Once word had spread there was quite a stir. At the time, no one knew which ockton female had laid the egg, there was no way to question her....

Read the Ernor: Destiny of Rai Preview

We started working on this story sometime before the first series was finished. There is even a lead up to it on the last page of Whitepaw's story in the first Ernor comic series. I had worked up the story and done a few sketches to develop what we would like to see. After completing the script sometime around the fall of 2000 we began to work out the page layouts which continued to develop all through production.

It wasn't decided until very late into production that we should paint the interior pages digitally. Vicky had already started several of the pages in pencil and before we began to ink them, we were really looking for an alternative to finishing them. The way we produced the first series was very time consuming in the process of alternating between the two of us to pencil and ink the characters and backgrounds.

For the Rai book, I scanned Vicky's penciled paged and adjusted them for clarity then set about not only to tone and shade the characters in a grayscale but also fully paint the backgrounds and settings using digital means. The result, as you can see, is a greater depth and mood to the scenes as well as allowing us to create subtle and dramatic lighting and special effects that were not possible with just the black and white inked line art in the previous series.

The above concept of the mi'kar village shows a rough layout of the buildings which are basically a smaller version of what the ocktons build followed by the finished panel as it appears in the book.

The whole process has taken about as long as putting out the same number of pages the "old fashioned" way of inked line art. Even though we were not able to print the book in color, Vicky and I felt the painted process would be the next best thing and also allow us show some things that we weren't able to in the first story. We hope the readers will be pleased with the look also.