The beginning of 2017 will pose many challenges ahead of me. (As well as for the rest of us.)
Among these challenges is how to rebirth after my past art slump.
The passion and inspiration I have felt these past few months has helped revitalize my interest in beginning new art projects. Hopefully unlike in Spring 2016; I don't make anymore ill-fated announcements for future works that ultimately never happened last year. (The Lady Malmsteen comic being the big one.)
Many fans attempts at doing their own takes on fandoms like TUFF Puppy and Sly Cooper continue to influence me. And I have witnessed their dedication to their work and am inspired to try again with projects I have been scheming this whole time.
Among them is an odd attempt at doing a Sly story that takes place after 'Thieves in Time'...but it doesn't tell the events of what happens after the supposed future sequel to 'Thieves in Time.' Rather it tells a story about what happens between 'Thieves in Time' and the yet-to-be-realized sequel. Before Sly managed to lay before the pyramids of Egypt to which he would continue to meet the rest of his ancestors; he ended up someplace else to which he discovers another ancestor of his. But this ancestor he discovers was a reformed thief who founded a "Great City" simply named 'Utopia.' (It is basically inspired by lost cities/civilizations like Atlantis and the Lost City of Mu.) It is also partially inspired by the Disney film Zootopia.
The main motive behind creating this great city by his ancestor came in the form of a mysterious stone. The stone now known as
The Megiddo Stone which Sly's ancestor plundered from the country now known as Israel. Like Gollum and Bilbo Baggins finding "The Ring of Power" it had a great influence on Sly's ancestor; so much so that he branched away from Sly's other thieving ancestors to found a city of equality, peace and prosperity the likes of which no civilization before or since has established.
The name of Sly's ancestor is
Archimedes Cooper; and he is the only ancestor of Sly to stop becoming a thief all together to pursue another "higher purpose." No it's not like Salem Kupar; he retired from thieving because of age and just worked on something more humble. Archimedes gave up thieving after finding the Megiddo Stone and was pursuing something he felt much greater and having a larger impact on the world. Archimedes Cooper is not yet depicted becauseof the mystery surrounding him.
Who is depicted however are some of his associates who helped found Utopia.
That is what is depicted in the top half of the circle; which in itself is 'The Megiddo Stone.'
Sly Cooper is there of course representing that period of time to which he finds himself in the Great City of Utopia erected by his lost ancestor absent from the Thievious Raccoonus. I figured it might be kind of neat if Sly witnessed the accomplishments of another one of his ancestors who WASN'T a thief his whole life. And to Sly's right are two associates whom Archimedes worked with.
The dark haired female wolf in robes holding a walking stick is
Angela; a gifted mystic who inherited her mysterious powers from he mentor Morticana. When Morticana passed; she passed down her powers to Angela as her successor. Angela loved Utopia as it created the ideal civilization capitalizing on true peace and prosperity. But she also loved Archimedes; perhaps even more. Archimedes unfortunately died under mysterious circumstances before witnessing the greatness that Utopia had to offer. So she swore to keep Utopia thriving by becoming its unofficial guardian and custodian. She did all this in the name of love for both Utopia and Archimedes; to which she considered Utopia the greatest thing ever introduced into the world and the greatest accomplishment of any of Sly's ancestors. If Utopia were to be lost; she would go to great lengths to restore it. Already sensing Utopia's great infrastructure collapsing from within; she meets Sly and mistakes him for being true to his ancestor Archimedes' cause. If only she knew Sly was much more keen on the traditions of his thieving ancestors rather than "The One Who Was Different from The Rest."
The collapse of Utopia from within was being orchestrated by a devious former ally of Archimedes; a vulture named
Nehkmun-Ra. Nehkmun-Ra as more or less the brains behind Archimedes' innovations. Like Dr. M of the former Cooper Gang though; he was insanely jealous that the Cooper took all the credit. He was driven mad by the idea that all the citizens of Utopia and its wealth and prosperity owed solely to Archimedes without Nehkmun-Ra receiving much of the credit. Nehkmun-Ra was a former high priest of Egypt; but also a brilliant technician who embraced both the mystical and scientific. Archimedes convinced him to help create Utopia after Nehkmun-Ra was expelled from Egypt for having conspired against the pharoah and trying to steal his wife. Although Archimedes' goals interested Nehkmun-Ra considerably...he also had a secret love (if not more lust) for Archimedes partner/possible lover Angela. He thought by outdoing Archimedes with his achievements he would impress Angela more. But Angela was more truer to Archimedes; and once Utopia was finished and Archimedes received all the credit; Nehkmun-Ra was driven furiously mad by jealousy at its worse. It is speculated that Nehkmun-Ra murdered Archimedes; but this has yet to be proven. What is true however is that secretly; Nehkmun-Ra is planning on undoing everything Archimedes accomplished; and with the arrival of Sly from time he saw endless possibilities of affecting not only Utopia; but future events of the world as well. The possibility of Time Travel with Sly's presence gave Nehkmun-Ra the incentive to pursue a more sinister plan; in the name of getting back at Archimedes as well as perhaps trying to win over Angela in his still hopeless quest to get everything he ever wanted out of life.
The main source of power to all this was through the 'The Megiddo Stone.' But the big problem was that the stone was not completely whole. Through some unknown force; when Archimedes first found the stone it split into two halves. One half remained with Archimedes; the other lost forever in time.
The missing half of the stone is where the second part of the story that happens at the same time of the aforementioned events begins. The 'Tangent' of the title 'Time Thief Tangent' refers to the present day to which
Carmelita Montoya Fox is still working on finding Sly Cooper. Bentley and Murray are also working on this as well; but they get sidetracked when they get hot on the heels of Penelope. Believing she held some of the answers that would help find Sly; Bentley and Murray split the scene to pursue her. Carmelita Fox meanwhile remained in Interpol to continuously conduct her own investigation. But in the process she was arresting large numbers of criminals and was getting overwhelmed. She decided to hire some help and recruited a former assistant officer from the Metropolitan Police Department; a young husky girl named
Sarah Brendhart. Sarah found it an honor working for Ms. Fox; though she wished she was out on the field with her on Carmelita's various cases which she handled by herself. Sarah mostly stayed behind answering all of Carmelita's calls and filing her paperwork; disappointingly becoming more Carmelita's secretary than her partner.
Sarah's wish would become partially true to become Carmelita's "Partner" when the head director of Interpol appeared one day before Carmelita. The rather foppishly dressed lion is
Director Igantius de Lyon. Known as Director Lyon to many; he had a very important assignment for Carmelita to which only her assistant officer would help her. Interpol had come under heavy fire for its use of mercenaries and Sly Cooper as a constable; all of which were Carmelita's decisions. Despite her continuously impressive track record; Director Lyon claimed that the committee were concerned where Ms. Fox's allegiance would lay in the future.
He proposed to them that to prove her honor and value; she would take a seemingly impossible case with only herself and her new partner Sarah. The case involved the other half of the Megiddo Stone; which was found by two ex-assassins: the Chesire-grinning serval
Ali Zavier and the beautiful but deadly brown furred cat
Mai Ling. Their employer was using both them and the stone to enforce a massive operation involving the harnessing of energy crystals. The Stone's mysterious power resonated energy from the crystals tend fold: making them produce far more energy than electricity or solar power. Of course he had been doing this as a scheme to get rich off this future energy boom illegally; and used Ali and Mai as his enforcers to keep investigators and authorities at bay.
It was odd that these two were working together for someone with merely profitable intentions. Ali and Mai had a sorted history together; theirs was tumultuous relationship both professional and romantic. Ali was a narcissit and egomaniac who believed his natural gift of seeing everything around him despite being born blind was a sign he was destined for greatness. Mai Ling was both repulsed by his ego but also strangely attracted to him. The two used to work together for the now defunct 'Assassin's Guild.' They are more or less mercenaries now. But despite their troubled past; having Mai around kept Ali comfortable if not for his own selfish desires. Mai's motives for remaining with him and the job they worked together on however were different. Her true purpose for going along with this venture remains unknown and will come slowly to light as the story progresses.
The main villain behind the operation (like Archimedes Cooper) is yet to be revealed. All that is known is that Director Lyon assigns Carmelita and Sarah to the case with the main objective of shutting down the mining operation and retrieving the lost half of the Megiddo Stone.
Although Carmelita begrudgingly accepts the case; she can't help but also feel there's more to this than simply shutting down an illegal operation and obtaining a mystery stone. Something that could bring her closer to finding Sly's whereabouts.
That's all the back story I can afford to share in this one pic for now. Hopefully the entirety of it will see the light of day soon; or at the very least begin this year and continue to the next and so on.
I also hope that in the future we get a Sly sequel. Because as this story takes place between Sly 4 and the possible Sly 5; the events that happen after this story also take place after "Sly 5."
And it all revolves around a mysterious stone...a stone with so much more secrets to unlock than any side realizes.
Sly Cooper and Carmelita Montoya Fox belongs to Sony
Angela, Nehkmun-Ra, Director Lyon, Sarah Brendhart, Mai Ling and Ali Zavier belong to me
![:iconshinragod:]( "shinragod")
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