Raustis - Meaning to mine, dig, or delve in Lithuanian.
Tool of choice - A custom multipurpose scythe/sickle shaped merging of multiple digging devices; a circular high speed buzz saw on the head’s front, a drill with hyper sonic vibration amplifiers on either side to break apart even the hardest rock in seconds upon the back, and a sword on the bottom end of the staff with the mechanism of a jack hammer built within it.
Backstory-
Raustis is well known in his village for his very helpful purpose among the many whom share the same job as him, ever since his arrival he has had but one trade he has felt duty bound to which has given him quite the reputation even in far off villages great distances from his own. Aside for one hobby he prefers to keep to himself, Raustis is a miner of very precious and valued minerals, many of which are heavily desired and requested where he lives on the island. To name some of these minerals off which he searches for, the list goes as follows; silver, emerald, solidified protodermis (solidified being in it’s purest state, the easiest to melt and to remold), crystals of many color variations, iron, steel, and even coal.
Despite setting out to mine for many, if not all, of these minerals he has gained his reputation for a few select attributes he holds, as well as one mineral he struck a plentiful supply on. The attributes being his immense strength, his surprising height, and despite being the height of an elemental hero he wears a mask with holds no power while the mineral he had mined a plentiful supply of was gold and a mother load is what he had found of it. Raustis’ most known accomplishment and biggest success, enough to be marked in the villages record books, this deed has gained him a few names yet much recognition of his skills in digging, and as a thanks village-wide he was honored by the local armor smelters/forgers with a merging of their most plentiful minerals mixed with a clump of the gold he had unearthed. These minerals merged with gold were crafted into an armor with the shine and majesty of gold, yet the durability of pure iron, this replaced his heavily worn and tarnished silver armor, and even the silver of his multipurpose mining tool was replaced with this strong gold.
The one thing which was not replaced upon him was his mask, instead the mask he had always worn was submerged in melted gold since replacing his mask as though it were nothing felt as though it was a betrayal to himself. To wear a mask of gold brought up a fear that it would change him, allow greed to consume him, bring him to be egotistical, and would overall cause him to lose sight of whom he was, why he was here, his destiny would be forgotten. He was selfless and wished to remain humbled by instead having his mask be gold layered, while he accepted the rest of his new armor due to it’s increased durability. Though his stature and appearance is rather menacing to many, his heart is a kind one and is more concerned with keeping those around him protected rather than attack the threat itself, leading his people through tunnels and routes to safety, even if he has to make them himself.
±--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------+
So this is Raustis, his backstory isn’t the best at all, but that is what it was when I first made him, and that is what it will continue to be. I can’t lie when I say I’m very pleased with how he turned out compared to his previous version I originally made back in 2008, and slowly added onto over the years, and I’m definitely glad to have finally finished his revision (though if I do have one regret, it’s that I made his too so huge that I needed to make a stand to put behind him to get any kind of dinamic pose of him with it). Big thanks to the help of @Poaki and @JMP for aiding me with some suggestions in during my builder’s block, he’d still be sitting on my shelf with a thin torso, and one spindly arm otherwise.
Now the pictures, there were far too many to put them here, so I had to put them on imgur.
Click picture above for album
One of his small features I decided to add was these flip out shoulder mounted mining lights, they’re nothing special though I feel they do add to his character and his purpose in his village.
I welcome any critiques and opinions about Raustis that any might have, and would genuinely love to know if there is anything I could improve upon (aside for the issue of blue pins, I didn’t have enough in black and I’m working on that now). To end things off, here is a before and after to show how he’s changed.
