Study of Teccla Sweeping Ash from the Shrine Steps

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

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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 Priestess Teccla Kitzingen

Study After Priestess Teccla Kitzingen, 2025. Brown ink on vellum, 4 x 6 in.

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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.