Netheus

This is an early sketch of Netheus from my Zheph Skyre series. There is no simple explanation for this character...

Netheus started off as a lifeless invention created by Zheph. He was a large steam powered armored suit that he can pilot with various weapons and gadgets. Zheph was trying to make something that would protect him from whatever the city could throw at him, something that would show just how ignorant the city has been, and something that could make him seem larger than his actual short size. Zheph is really uneasy about being shorter than Vanessa.

Zheph had been working on this invention for years and was nearly completed by the beginning of my first book. It wasn't until certain circumstances that forced Zheph to try to come up with a way to make his suit even more powerful. Certainly it was powerful compared to anything in Corthon, but he witnessed something dreadful from the outside world that made him uneasy. The suit's weapons weren't powerful enough, it wasn't fast enough, and it couldn't fly high nor long enough for him to face this particular challenge. He ends up stressing over trying to improve his invention, but he just can't figure out the technology yet.

He ends up finding a spell written on a scroll to enchant the thing with life, which he is skeptical at first, but he realizes he is out of options. Zheph uses the spell and it makes Netheus come to life as a creature. Zheph wasn't expecting that and now can't figure out what to do with him. Seeing how Zheph is now responsible for Netheus, he takes him with him to face this challenge.

I was thinking of making Netheus into a sphinx, as I had not included that species in my story at all, and he seems to represent a sphinx most of the time. I decided this armored form will only appear when Zheph is joined up with him. As you can see, Netheus's main weapons are two blades on each arm. They can be used like Wolverine's claws or they can turn and slash in the opposite direction as if they became one blade.