Study After Priestess Teccla Kitzingen, 2025. Brown ink on vellum, 4 x 6 in.
The Vaster Conspiracy is hardly the only story set in the world of Neith. Two years before beginning that novel, I worked on another story, Ashes and Dust, which was meant to be an adventure game featuring three priestesses of Lucca who the player could swap between to solve puzzles and open locked reliquaries to unveil a larger mystery.
Some of my designs for Ashes and Dust, such as Enshrinement clerical outfits, phylacteries, reliquaries, and shrine architecture, have persisted and show up in The Vaster Conspiracy when Vaster visits a shrine and meets the priestesses Cinehilde and Miccola.
Teccla, one of the game’s three playable characters, is mentioned in the scene in which Vaster meets Archpriestess Cinehilde:
“Meissa leaned in and examined the cover of Cinehilde’s book, which featured golden Zeelean letters embossed into the brown leather. ‘Oh... Teccla, did she send you more books?’
’I don’t know how she gets away with misusing shrine funds to send me these all the way from Zabool, but I appreciate it!’
’There are shrines all the way in Zabool?’
Cinehilde set the book on her lap and looked up at Vaster. ‘There are shrines in every city on Neith. The Enshrinement maintains the Goddess Lucca’s presence in the world, all across the world.’”
This drawing is a new pen and ink version of a pencil sketch I initially did of Teccla for the game in 2020.