Once again, it’s been far to long since I’ve updated. This is the tight sketch for a painting I’m currently working on, which I’ve already projected and started painting. Check back for the final illustration in the coming days.
As far as the story goes, I imagine the spellcasters are three Imperial Battle Mages (magi? Is that the proper plural form of “Mage?) an elite sect of soldiers which are credited to the Empire’s success. In the world they exist in, I see the Empire as being the only major power to understand and harness magic. The upper ranks of the Imperial Army are required to have training in the Magic Arts, and the practice of unsanctioned magic is illegal. The Holy Emperor, who is viewed as a near-deity amongst his peoples, sanctions the merciless hunting and genocide of any other culture caught practicing even the least of mana manipulations, such is his paranoia that another magic-using nation will arise to challenge his might.