Study of Arazue in Green Ink

Study of Arazue in Green Ink, 2025. Green ink on vellum, 4 x 6 in.

Arazue is the most level-headed and serious of the three priestesses in Ashes and Dust. As a native of the Zabool region, she has a strong rapport with the locals… except for her sister, Tiranna, who single-handedly runs the family’s soap- and candle-making business on the settlement’s outskirts.

This is a new drawing based on in-game graphics from 2020. It was executed in Alt-Goldgrün ink by Rohrer & Klingner with a Jowo #6 broad nib.

Study of Leoba Lighting Candles

A blue pen and ink figure drawing of a woman with long dark hair, wearing an ornate clerical outfit, standing on her tiptoes and holding a lit match in her outstretched hand.

Study of Leoba Lighting Candles, 2025. Blue ink on vellum, 4 x 6 in.

There are two reasons why Leoba’s main duty at the Zabool Shrine of Lucca is keeping the candles and incense cones lit: she’s the tallest of the shrine’s priestesses and can reach most of the candles without a ladder, and she’s not good at much else.

Aside from maintaining the candles, Leoba spends her time in contemplation and prayer before the sacred pillar or in her quarters in the shrine’s basement. She mainly prays for a renewed connection with the Goddess Lucca and the Returned, who she saw in ecstatic visions as a child but not since.

Study of Teccla Sweeping Ash from the Shrine Steps

A sanguine red pen and ink figure drawing of a woman wearing a cloak over ornate clerical wear, with a scarf over her face, holding a broom.

Study of Teccla Sweeping Ash from the Shrine Steps, 2025. Sanguine ink on vellum, 4 x 6 in.

Ashes and Dust is set in the Rodinian city-state of Zabool. The settlement is situated near a crater of eternal flame that spews clouds of ash into the air at regular intervals. This “ashfall” is one of the few natural cycles of time present on Neith, and functions as a day/night cycle for the settlement’s residents: people sleep while the ash falls and dig or sweep themselves out after it stops.

The natural rhythm of the ashfall conflicts with the rhythm of time as kept by the Enshrinement of Lucca, which depends on the burning of sacred candles. The priestesses at Zabool’s Shrine of Lucca often perform illuminations and read passages to an empty shrine during ashfall and repeat the readings once everyone else has woken up. One of Teccla’s jobs around the shrine is keeping the front steps clear of fallen ashes.

“Sweeping, sweeping, sweeping!
Sweepy, sweepy, sweep!
Sweep away the ashes before they get too deep!
Line them up like prisoners, back them up against the wall!
Raise your guns and—”

— Teccla's sweeping song, thankfully interrupted

Study After Ashera

A brown pen and ink figure drawing of an albino girl with a surprised expression, wearing an oversized clerical outfit with her sleeves covering most of her hands.

Study After Ashera, 2025. Brown ink on vellum, 4 x 6 in.

In Ashes and Dust, if the player solved enough puzzles and opened enough of the mysterious reliquaries, a new character would have appeared while the priestesses were sleeping during the second ashfall.

Arazue, waking up early to start cooking, finds an albino girl lying curled up in Leoba’s washbasin by the stove in the shrine’s kitchen. The girl is unable to speak and can only utter “ahh” sounds. The priestesses dress her in a spare, oversized shrine attendant’s uniform and try to figure out who she is and how she suddenly appeared in the shrine.

Leoba recognizes her from a prophetic dream she had in which a pile of ashes turned into a girl who uttered nonsense sounds before exploding. She decides to name the girl “Ashera” after a porcelain doll she had as a child. The doll, in turn, was named after a character from a popular book about an artificial girl made out of porcelain and imbued with the soul of the inventor’s daughter.

Teccla tries to teach Ashera how to speak, and she’s able to parrot a few words, but it’s unclear if she understands anything she’s saying.

There’s someone else who’s interested in Ashera, as well: a Zeelean nobleman calling himself “the Collector” who has been pursuing her and the reliquaries across the ashfields.

This drawing is a new pen and ink version of a sketch of Ashera done for the game in 2020.

Study After Priestess Arazue Zishangal

A brown pen and ink portrait drawing of a woman with short light hair smiling, wearing an ornate clerical outfit, with text in a cursive script below her portrait.

Study After Priestess Arazue Zishangal, 2025. Brown ink on vellum, 4 x 6 in.

Arazue would have been one of the three playable characters in Ashes and Dust. A native of the ash-covered Rodinian region of Zabool, Arazue was raised in the faith of the Enshrinement and ended up becoming the first-ever ordained priestess of Rodinian heritage. She returned to her hometown of Zabool after the war to help rebuild the settlement’s looted shrine and aid the fractured, traumatized community.

Between Teccla’s random intellectualism and Leoba’s spacy scrupulousness, Arazue was the voice of reason of the trio:

“I can’t believe I have to say this, but we’re not spending the shrine’s food money on knives! And we’re absolutely not playing around with knives in the first place! What is wrong with you two?”

— Arazue

This drawing is a new pen and ink version of a sketch of Arazue done for the game in 2020.