DEVIL'S GUTS [Dirofilaria Daemonium]
FIG 1. :: VASCULAR CENTER - The parasite imbeds itself into the heart on the host. Due to the quasi-immaterial nature of the vines, this seemingly lethal blockage eventually causes some cardiac-related symptoms and yet does not result in immediate threat to the host's survival.
FIG 2. :: KNOWLEDGE - The parasite is categorized as a Daemonium (demon) rather than an Aegritudo (affliction) because it is sentient and communicates with its host through visual, auditory, and tactile hallucinations. There is debate on whether the brain is the true first target of the parasite, rather than the heart, as the first symptom of an infection is the intense sensation that one is no longer alone.
FIG 3. :: INVASIVE SPREAD - The parasite uses the vascular system as a guide to infect the full body, but as infection progresses it can expand beyond and wrap around, into, and through all structures and systems. Similiar to the plant named after it, the parasite will eventually smother the host.
Work in progress!! Lot of this is visual filler/placeholder nonsense. I need to work on the contrast and filling in spaces with more meaningful linework and motifs; Make it read like I want it to more. But the major shapes and stuff are settled.
I recently got to buy some pages from an antique medical textbook, which inspired me a lot for Witch Watcher. This will be a speculative biology illustration for the parasitic demon Salma is infected with.
Salma Auerbach was born to highly influential parents, meaning she could have been and done anything. But a teenaged crush on a controversial nun-turned-doctor, Sister Dr. Vicenta Santos, led her down a path of unorthodox and highly specialized education and training to help pioneer a whole new kind of medical field alongside the object of her affection. Nothing had ever been hard for Salma until she'd grown to learn just how morally bankrupt her mentor-turned-lover could be. Salma avoided becoming a scapegoat by being a whistleblower instead, and robbed Vicenta of all the glory of their accomplishments while saddling her with all the blame of their wrongdoings.
While Salma has lost the person who motivated her to rise to her current (famous, notorious) career path, the work itself has gotten its roots into Salma. She's tasted success, and she intends to best herself; Salma is even willing to infect herself with a demonic parasite to further her research and cement her name into history. Having to face a demon in her own mind, with no way to veil herself from the knowing gaze of an Angel older than mankind, is just an inconvenient symptom to her.