Heyo, Necro here! Just thought I'd let ya'll know that even though it's been like a month, I should be able start posting more art soon. I've finally finished my latest drawing and I'll share it here tomorrow... Hopefully. Anyway it's a drawing I'm super excited about since it's of my original species type of thing called the Anima Marionetta. What is an Anima Marionetta? Well if you actually want to know the answer to that then I have some good news for you because I'll be blabbering on all about that in this post.
Been busy writing some shiz for my original story lately and this is just a rough bit of writing I scraped up about the history of things in the story. Anyway hope you like it cuz I'm super excited to draw more Marionetta and write some more stuff for the story. Necro out. :3
The Anima Marionetta are a race of creatures born through the alchemical practice of Animamestiere, an art that was developed by the first witches and passed down through the generations. Anima, the force said to breathe life into the inanimate and live within all things capable of love, is the very power wielded by the witches and used to create the Marionetta.
How Anima works and what exactly it is remains a mystery to all. What is known is that certain individuals seem to be born with this extraordinary power. These individuals have a natural talent when it comes to practicing Animamestiere and cultivating the power of Anima. It was established early on that individuals with these talents were in fact not human, but something else. Eventually, they came to be known as Witches and went on to form the first Witch clans. Aside from their otherworldly powers, Witches tended to develop strange appearances such as claws, pale skin and hair, glowing eyes and other unusual features which separated them further from humans.
Though it was thought that only witches had the ability to use the powers of Anima, the recent events involving Alcide and his followers would suggest that humans may indeed be capable of harnessing the power of Anima as well.
The process of Animamestiere involves first creating a physical vessel, a body for the Marionetta. These vessels could be constructed from any materials and take on any shape or form, although they were most commonly humanoid. The ancients often crafted the Marionetta vessels from nature and they resembled tree or plant-like creatures, however the later Marionetta created by Alcide, were constructed from porcelain and clockwork and took on more mechanical, doll-like appearances. The second stage to the process of Animamestiere is giving life to the vessel, it is said that this required a witch with a clear mind, a pure vision and true love in their heart.
The motivations and reasons for the first witches creation of the Marionetta were purely spiritual. The practice of Animamestiere was seen as a highly spiritual and sacred art that brought one closer to nature and cleansed the soul. It was believed that this sacred art was not only about breathing life into the inanimate, but giving a piece of one's own soul to their creation, giving life to a part of one's soul that was once forgotten, therefore the Marionetta were believed to be parts of their masters' very spirit. This belief would explain why the Marionetta, when given life by their masters, take on certain traits, behaviors, even memories of their creators.
Through studying these beings it has become clear that the Anima Marionetta behave just as any person does, with emotions, thoughts and a will of their own, however it would seem as though each Marionetta is affected by the mood or motivations of their master at the time of their incubation. If their master creates them with love in his heart, the Marionetta's personality and behavior will reflect the best of that person. If their master creates them with hate and scorn in his heart however, the results could be incredibly dangerous.
It was also found that Marionetta go through no infantile stage. Once life has been transferred into the vessel, the Marionetta also seem to inherit the basic motor skills and social knowledge of their creator, therefore there is no need to learn these basic skills as an infant would have to. Even with their basic knowledge however, much is unknown to new born Marionetta and most cannot read at first.
As well as far greater physical abilities than any human, the Marionetta also have no need to eat or sleep and are unaffected by certain temperatures and conditions that would kill most humans. Due to these incredible strengths, Marionetta can be potentially dangerous beings which is why most of them along with witches and other creatures of Anima came to be feared by humans.
Because of the potential dangers posed by Marionetta, the witches developed a strict code to make sure the Marionetta and power of Anima could never be used to harm others. The first rule of the code of Anima was that no witch could ever allow themselves to create a weapon or practice Anima with any trace of anger within their heart. The ancients only allowed those with a pure soul and love in their heart to practice Animamestiere, which is why meditating, being one with nature and finding inner peace were all staples in the cultures of the first witch clans.
Though there was once peace among the clans, humanity's fear would become a reality when a certain group of witches broke the code of Anima and began using it's powers for their own gain. This group of witches twisted the power of Anima, using it to kill creatures, enslave their souls and bring them back from death as hollow puppets to command as they pleased. This dark art would become known as Necromancy and the undead creatures born through it would be named the Necro Marionetta. Though it's practice was strictly forbidden by the clan chieftains, many witches were corrupted by it's power as it was a much quicker and easier way to create Marionetta and the results yielded Marionetta who had seemingly no emotion or free will and absolute obedience for their masters.
The witches who practiced the ways of Necro seemed to go mad with power, greed and bloodlust. They began terrorizing and enslaving countless creatures, many of which were humans. Eventually the conflict between the witches of Anima and Necro grew into a devastating war that would shatter the once peaceful clans and decimate any trust that humans once had for witches.
With so much chaos and destruction as well as the Witch clans turning against each other, humanity had no choice but to defend their species and take up arms against the seemingly god-like Witches. The Order of Zuiverheidsblad was formed to defend mankind against any beings who wielded other worldly powers including witches and though they were very much human, it seemed as though the Order held some mysterious supernatural powers of their own which they used against the witches.
Much was lost and it was no longer clear who could be trusted anymore, for this reason the Order of Zuiverheidsblad initiated what was known as the Black Purification; a total eradication of any beings who wielded the power of Anima or Necro. Many details are unknown, though it is said that this terrible war came to an end during the Black Purification, but at the cost of countless lives and the destruction of the witch clans. After the war, only a fraction of the once great witch tribes remained. Those who practiced the dark arts of Necro were either put to death or disappeared from the face of the earth. The pure of heart witches who still remained were banished to other lands by the humans and the practice of any form of other worldly power outside the Order of Zuiverheidsblad was strictly outlawed.
The witches and practice of Anima faded from the land and eventually became forgotten while man built their new world atop the ashes, but the darkness born from Necro seemed to have poisoned the very earth. Long after the death of all known Necromancers, dark creatures; demons of Necro still roamed the earth and spawned in seemingly endless legion while the dead began to rise up as hollow vessels filled with rage. The cause of these dark events remained without an answer and many believe it was the Curse of Necro, for this reason the Order of Zuiverheidsblad remained ever vigilant to defend the land from a seemingly endless reign of sorrow.
The Anima Marionetta were among many of the fantastical things which were born through the first witches' practice of Anima. Though they had existed for ages alongside their witch masters, their history was lost to the fires of mankind's wrath, as all things of Anima were after the Black Purification.
It was thought that all relics of the old world of witchery were erased, however many of the witches and their Marionetta survived throughout the generations, hiding in the shadows of man's new world. It was not until years after the great witch wars that Alcide, the doll maker, unknowingly created a new generation of Marionetta; the Neo Marionetta, and the beings of Anima began to step out of the shadows once more.