The Fall of the Pieomancers

_{Edit 15.08.2011: Refined some areas for better overall impact. A lot of minor tweaks can sometimes make a difference.}

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It was too late!

The Pie had been summoned, but the binding ritual had been disrupted. The remaining pieomancers scrambled as the ferocious technofairy brought its steed around for one last strike. Casting a ward that she knew would never hold, the last pieomancer felt her eyes fill with tears of remorse. Not for her own end, but for the Pie of terror that they had unleashed upon the world.


<sub>A Brief History of the Technofairy Empire

Technofairies used to be regular fairies until they successfully opened a portal between worlds and brought back an artifact - a miner's helmet.

After many decades of attempting to reverse engineer it, they succeeded, and learned to power it by attaching widgets to their wings and fluttering them real fast. The technique was later used to power a wide array of other interesting mechanisms, often adding magic into the mix.

The helmet, however, retained a spot of special importance and not only because of its historical value. Their command of light allowed the technofairies to tame the fearsome pandamoths, turning them into steeds that were quite intelligent and quick to obliterate targets marked by lightbeams.

The combination of technological prowess and swarms of critters that put Australia to shame guaranteed quick ascent to power and foundation of the Technofairy Empire. Nobody objected much as the technofairies took upon themselves the role of guardians of the lands, protecting them against invaders and, more importantly, against anyone who might take it upon themselves to open portals and try to bring through artifacts, such as miner helmets, sharp objects or giant pies.

And that's why you don't use bamboo for staves if you're into pieomancery - it attracts pandamoths and angry technofairies.</sub>

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I had fun with this. I had this cute fuzzy moth wandering around my room when the announcement about the contest hit my dA inbox and one thing sort of lead to another.

I used the slice of pie stock for the decorative elements on top of the pieomancers' staves (center and lower right), the helmet for technofairy's headdress (upper center) and the panda should be obvious.

Corel Painter 9, Wacom Intuos 3, a few early mornings.