Apollo Zoticus

I introduce Apollo Zoticus, a newly adopted character in The Utopian Legend as of the most recent revision.

Apollo lives in the large Mediterranean city known as Neocropolis. His home city, much like Japan's Shrine Hills, is populated with numerous fancy buildings dedicated to particular legends (although unlike the Shrine Hills it is all in a smaller space with less travelling distance). It is also home to the Olympus Coliseum, where numerous events and activities are held such as the Utopian Gladiator Tournaments, in which Apollo participates. These tournaments not only feature performance fighting (almost like fencing, but even more interesting to watch) but also athletic events to further demonstrate the contestants' potentials (almost like the Olympics). There are no deaths, but pride is on the line and the prizes are highly desired. Among all the events, the one that performed best overall is declared the winner, and is treated like a great celebrity. Oh, and monetary compensation is also offered as well!

Anyway, Apollo has been the champion of the tournament many times in a row. He considers it a job, but an enjoyable one; he does like to show off his almost "Herculean" strength sometimes. Whenver he earns money from the tournament, he deposits it in the Zoticus family "nest egg" (their "stash," you might say). They aren't saving it all for anything in particular; it's just some type of natural instinct to collect and save valuable treasure. The treasure Apollo values most is his younger sister Athena, who spends her time searching ruins for valuable artifacts. He will not allow anyone to harm her.

Apollo is one of the people in Utopia that still holds a strong disliking to Creations or anything related to them. Clinging to an event from years ago where a Mage's Creation went berserk beyond control and caused massive amounts of devastation, he has assumed any and all Creations are capable of doing it all again. Athena attempts to tell Apollo that they are not all like that, but he is very stubborn. It will take something life-changing to make him think otherwise about Creations...

This is my first time EVER making a Griffin character. Many hours were poured into making his design; half were spent with pencil and paper without respources, and half were for tweaking the design digitally with some sources to get ideas and insight. I believe in total a rough estimate of SIX hours were spent designing Apollo. Originally I had a Gladiator helmet in the picture with him, but I felt it unnecessary in the digital tweaking; he doesn't wear it outside of the tournaments. At least, not unless there's a REAL battle about to go on. I also got rid of the laurel wreath he had on his head; it seemed too narcissistic. His design was an attempt to fuse some method of "Mediterranean" style to a relatively normal attire. A lot of attention was given to the patterns along the shirt and pants. I like how it all turned out anyway. Hopefully things will now be easier once I begin to design his sister Athena.

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