Finished submission for  rukis contest.

......................................................................
A note on the weapons. They are energy based. The swords release gas that ignites along the blade. When swung hard enough it can fling ignited plasma at enemies. The "spears" are actually long ranged weapons that shoot plasma. Their spines open out, collect and ignite gases, that are sent along the spear's point and shot out from the end. The spear can also be used as a stabbing weapon. Each gathers the gases from the air the Fuji are in, so they are assured infinite or at least close to ammo. These are designed to cut through body armor and energy fields. They are based on the Flambard (or Flame bladed sword) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Flamberge and the ranseur http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Ranseur. They are not shown in their active state because it would harm the carrier. The ax is simply an ax. Also using plasma, it is used to cut through hull armor.

The armor is a combination of body armor http://janeheller.mlblogs.com/body.armor.jpg and Roman armor http://www.ryanbyrd.net/images/roma.....ldier-sml.jpg. The tail is bladed, and ends in a morning star, so it can be used as a weapon itself.

The female's clothes are for the most part, traditional Roman garb, made to fit a creature with a tail.

The transport ship is loosely based off a manta ray, though Scales says it looks more like a flounder. I used the Moya (Farscape) and a Minbari (Babylon 5) ship as references for the detailing. It has six rotary guns at the front for defense, and two added rotary engines for maneuverability with the main engine in back.

The cities are based entirely off of a description Rukis gave me herself.

I tried to capture several emotions in the characters pictured, including the little guys walking in a line. Everything from excitement, pride, worry, depression and curiosity, the multitude of emotions that happen when one leaves to fight, and possibly die, to protect their own. It started simply out of a desire to not draw everyone in the same exact position and make it boring, but evolved into something a lot deeper as I worked the lines.

A note on the status lights. On the helmets, they monitor the health of the Fuji are either on, off (helmet detached), yellow (injured), or red (dead). This helps expediate medical assistance. On weapons off, on one light (charged), all lights on (activated). The computer panel monitors the condition of the suit, determining whether or not it needs serviced or repaired. Also regulates forcefields. The lights above it monitor the computer system. One light on means idle, all lights on means it is working, all blinking means there is a malfunction somewhere. Off means the suit is off. The Fujis can key in codes into the computer to take the suit on or off, thus preventing thier armor from being knocked off.

Also Fuji are defense oriented. They do not invade. Rukis told me herself. I kind of figured as much. Though the suit would easily work in defensive situations as well as offensive. This is on a water colony, not their homeworld.

I had a lot of fun drawing this. This has taken a very long time to create. Probably somewhere in the range of 70 hours. Hope you enjoy!