Bartholomew Series

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Bartholomew Series

Icki's story takes place in the year 2076 in a country called Bartholomew. The whole country of Bartholomew is surrounded by a wall that is greater than the Great Wall of China. No one gets in, and no one EVER gets out. This country is ruled by a tyrant named Bartholomew (hence the name of the country) with psycho-militaristic followers called the "Prodigies". The custom is a mix of modern day and medeval times. Icki doesn't like this kind of society, and tries to take down the system.

013 (Thirteen) lives in the country of Bartholomew, just like Icki. However, Thirteen's story takes place nearly fifty years later. Though the wall still surrounds their country and Prodigies are still plentiful, a few things have changed. For one, it's now ruled by Lord Brom and his daughter, Abby. Also, instead of names, everyone (besides the two I just mentioned) has numbers. All of that changes, however, when Thirteen and Abby's pathes meet...

009 (Nine) a.k.a. Kidd's story takes place two years after Thirteen's time. The Bartholian Wall is finally coming down, and new land beyond Bartholomew is available! To get this new land, however, one has to fill out a form and stay at a temporary camp until you can be given your share of land. As there is only one form left, Nine (who is only fifteen-years-old) is sent by himself to the camp. Now he has to learn to be on his own...

HEY EVERYBODY!

Like the numbers from this page? Maybe you're a Thirteen fangirl? Whatever you are, the NumbersRUs fanclub is for you! It features the original numbers exclusively, as well as fan art by others and maybe even you! It also offers a REAL number system, almost exactly like the one from the story!

You don't even have to have a DA account. Just send everything via flammingcorn@hotmail.com, and I'll post it for you! Trust me, you're gonna love it! Just click the link below...

http://numbersrus.deviantart.com/

Icki sitting at the window

Title's pretty self explainatory...

Icki being subdued by a Prodgy

The country of Bartholomew is ruled with an iron fist by a despot named Lord Bartholomew. The bigger dude in the picture is one of Lord Bartholomew's minions known as the Prodigies. In this scene, Icki's trying to fight the system. However, the system's fighting back with a plank of wood with bloody nails through it...

Thirteen cover

This is the cover I designed for my book "Thirteen".

Finis, the town hopeless.

This poor fool is Finis. Finis is constantly beaten down by his own society, and itching for a chance to beat it back. Icki finds him and convences him to join his little gang of rebels.

My first picture of Icki.

This is the first (and best) picture I drew of Icki. Forgive the crinkles in the paper. It's been carried around a lot and handled by a lot of people, not to mention had a touch of Diet Coke spilled on it.

A shirtless picture of Icki.

This is just a cool picture I drew of Icki shirtless. Why? I don't know. I just never drew him without a shirt. Also, I like to exploit his anorexic-looking physique. Makes ya feel sorry for him, doesn't it?

026 as an adult.

This is Twenty-six all grown up. Kind of like a punk Forrest Gump, you can count on him to not have a clue what's going on. However, he does pretty good when it comes to manual labor and loyalty. I gave him green hair to represent this.

013 as an adult, and showin' off his tattoo.

This is what I'm talking about when I mentioned the tattoos. As Thirteen is over 13-years-old, he has the official tattoo stating his number. For it to be official, it must be performed by a trained Prodigy and placed on the right side of one's lower-back. Thirteen's showing his off... (just as a note, Thirteen's hair colour is baby-blue [simply blue in this case, because I didn't have the right colour] to represent innocense and purity).

Standing At The Wall

When not scrounging for food to save them from starvation or fighting to stay alive, Thirteen, Thirty-two, and Twenty-six hang out a little. For them, standing around without strife or worry is a luxury. Guess it's one of life's simple pleasures...

For Thirteen's Fan Girls

Okay, Thirteen has finally agreed to pose semi-nude for his fan girls. He is even being nice enough to give in to wearing these cute little undies for you...However, it's a little out of Thirteen's character, so he's acting a little shy. ^_^ Trying to cover himself and even blushing a little...

By the way, his boxer-briefs there were inspired by this pic..Really shoulda asked permission 0_o Sorry...
[link]

The vaccine pic updated

Aw! Now doesn't that just break your heart? That lttle tear drop is just too much! It's the same as the other vaccine pic, but it's...well, updated! Looking at it made me want to update it...Anyway, it's more like the nicer version of it. Less butt in it, see? Alas, as the last one was rather funny, this one turned out rather sad. It looks pretty cool though, even though Thirteen came out a little more cartoony than usual...Hmmm. He deserves a lolly pop or something for being a good boy at the doctor's...

Smash

Here's a pic of Thirty-two being as arggressive and hateful as always. Of course, now he's accompanied by lyrics from the angsty and oh-so-awesome Offspring song "Smash". That could honestly be his theme song! Trust me, just go listen to it...
By the way, my shading is horrible and his abdomin is unproportional. Thought I'd point them out before you do...

Waking up next to you...

Believe it or not, no sex is involved with this picture. They are, in fact, just going to sleep. Why are they half naked then? Thirty-two always sleeps that way, and Seventy-five has found herself in a surprise over-night stay without her pajamas...Seriously. Thirty-two may not be a fan of saving it, but Seventy-five is. She wants to wait for marriage, and Thirty-two actually respects it. However, mating or not, he is looking forward to waking up next to her.

You can ignore the information I have given however, and keep your dirty thoughts if you want to. I give you permission to. ^_^

013 having a not a not-so-happy moment.

Thirteen's not so happy in this picture. That's because vandalism (a.k.a. graffiti) is against the law, and in the country of Bartholomew, there's no such thing as "cruel and unusual punishments". Here, he awaits judgement by Lord Brom himself, and they're making sure he doesn't go anywhere. Don't fret, it'll turn out okay.

022.

While Thirteen, Thirty-two, and Twenty-six are part of their own gang, 022 here is part of a rival gang lead by 039. Twenty-two is kind of like the love child of a geek and a goth. Though he enjoys wearing black and getting piercings, Twenty-two is a brainy little dude who enjoys reading as well. His favourite book is William Golding's "Lord of the Flies".

The first picture I ever drew of Thirteen.

This is the first picture I drew of Thirteen. As you can see, no drastic changes, but there are enough to make a difference.

Twenty-six.

What can I say? It's just a picture of Twenty-six. Of course, it's also the best picture of Twenty-six I've got.

Twenty-two can't see without his glasses!

If you didn't already see the first picture of Twenty-two, then you need to. If you did, then you'll have already realized that he was wearing glasses. His glasses are like no other glasses, however. His glasses dangle from a head-piece that straps onto his head. They also have green lenses. Either way, no matter if they were normal or not, he's pretty much blind without them.

A back view of Twenty-two.

A back view of Twenty-two. I drew it to see how his hair would look and how his glasses strapped on would look. It looks pretty good though, so I thought I'd put it on here.

A sad picture of Thirteen.

Thirteen lives in a gang, for the mean streets of Bartholomew make living by yourself a hazard. His gang leader, 083, is very abusive, and takes his anger out on Thirteen by cutting his arms with a razor blade. Hurt and scared, Thirteen runs off by himself to heal.

Thirty-two's abused back.

One reason why Thirty-two is so bitter is because he's been put trhough a lot of pain in his lifetime. These mulitiple scars all over his back are what he got for shop-lifting. They go from his shoulder-blades down to his ankles, and even on the back of his arms.

Thirty-two doing what he does best...fighting.

Thirty-two has had to fight to survive since birth, and that's very well what he's gonna continue to do; fight. Here he is fighting in a cage match for money. He's getting the worst end of it right now, but he'll bounce back...

Unlucky Thirteen

Okay, since I have a lucky Thirteen pic for 7/7/07, I now have an unlucky Thirteen pic for Friday 13. ^_^ He's so paranoid, he's sweated off his eyeliner! As you can see, he's geared up, lucky underwear included (note the lucky charam shapes!)...

One-hundred

This is another member of the same gang as Twenty-two. His name is One-hundred, but he's often called the "Pretty Boy"...He has a charming hair-metal twist to his punk style and is a shamless flirt. Of course, he's almost as hateful as Thirty-two...

Little Thirteen and Thirty-two

If you've read their bios (as featured on deviantart.com. See bottom link), then you'll remember that Thirteen was found by Thirty-two and taken in. Yeah, Thirteen was separted from his mommy at only five years old. Unable to find her, he hid behind a garbage can and began to cry...Thirty-two, however, accustomed to eating out of the garbage, was digging around for some food when he found the little child. Bringing him to his leader, Eighty-three decided to take him in as one of their own...

http://flammingcorn.deviantart.com/art/Thirteen-57737877

Angel Thirteen

Do not be alarmed! Thirteen is not dead! I just drew him as an angel, simply because he's the closest thing you can get to an angel on Earth.

STFU!

A picture's worth a thousand words. This one, however, doesn't have any. Well...not direct words anyway.
Ah, yes. Thirteen isn't the only guy who has to get a yearly vaccine. Everyone does, and that includes that hateful but loveable in a weird sorta way Thirty-two. *Sigh* He's good and angsty again. I was missin' that after all that lovey-dovey crap I drew...
Anyway, while Thirteen sorta sucked it up and took with a wimper, Thirty-two's raising H@#$ about it. As for Eighty-nine there, she's having a moment. An "I'm gonna give Thirty-two a free enema, even if he needs it or not, the next time he comes in here" moment...
Oh, and Thirty-two's not saying anything real specific. He's just rambling on with a bunch of nastiness...We all know what Eighty-three's thinking though...
I've also realized that I forgot his "032" on his lower back. Be nice and over-look it please. I'll fix it on the real drawing, but it'd be silly to resubmit over a tiny fluke...

Blood and gore, I do adore!

Eh...well, thinking back to the last Sixteen picture, I suppose he could make a good butcher...or serial killer. At least he is slicing to save...and loving it. Saws and body parts to Sixteen is like putting a kid in a candy store.
Why am I drawing Sixteen so much? I just want to. Is he important to the story? He shows up twice, but not really. He's just fun to draw. Especially now that I gave him a face instead of a surgeon's mask.

"Will you be my friend?"

Come on, Thirteen! Is there EVER a time when you're not cute? Well, actually, yeah. I could draw him all sorts of ways that would be TOTALLY uncute! Of course, what fun would THAT be?! Yeah, so now I have him being all cute an' stuff like usual...Oh, and notice Thirteen's new scar on his abdomen. Keep patient, and you'll find out what that's all about...

Kick Him When He's Down

...Thirty-seven walked over Thirty-two, glaring hatefully down at his defeated opponent.
"Look at Daddy's little mistake! Did you REALLY think that you could defeat me? You little s#%@! Listen, boy! You have no idea what happened to me behind those doors! If you think those scars lining your back are the worst fate a man can suffer, then get down on your knees and thank God for your innocence! You're an insolent little b@#$% compared to me! Before you even CONSIDER fighting me one on one again, you keep this in mind!"

Basically, Thirty-seven was not born into being a Prodigy, so to become one, he had to "proove his worth". This involved a series of horrble torturous trials. Once he had taken them without showing weakness, he was accepted. What horrible torturous trials did he face? No Bartholoian knows, but there's probably a good reason that nobody talks about it...
Oh, and Thirty-two, once he discovered that Thirty-seven was the Prodigy who raped his mother and caused him to miserably exist, he wanted nothing more than to make him pay. That is the scene we are looking at now...
Last but not least, those are lyrics from The Offspring's song "Kick Him When He's Down"

What kind of pill...?

Feelin' pretty sorry for Thirty-two right now. I'd totally run if I were him...

Youth Gone Wild

Here is a picture of almost every number I've made! The only two missing are Ten and Sixty-four, and that's because 1) there isn't anymore room, and 2) I haven't designed them yet. Anyway, they're separated by gangs, with Seventy-five and Twenty-two near the middle because the switch over. As for the title, it comes from a song called no other than "Youth Gone Wild" by Skid Row. Yeah, I realize that Eighty-nine, Eighty-three, and Thirty-seven can't really be called "youth" anymore, but they were youth gone wild at one point in time...This stupid thing took me FOR-EV-ER! Mostly because I'd get tired of drawing it and put it off for a while...

Somebody To Love

This really doesn't make any sense, since Thirteen already has somebody to love, but I've been listening to Queen's "Somebody To Love" obsessively all day, and decided to sneak the lyrics into my latest drawings...Eh, it's cute anyway...

Spike, the bully.

Amongst the people Kidd encounters, this is one of them. His name is Spike. He's rude, angry at the world, and wasn't been treated very good when he was little. NOT a dude to mess with. He's also insecure, and chooses weaker targets to harass. By "weaker targets" I namely mean "Kidd"...

Finis at the stakes.

This is how Icki first meets Finis. He has gotten in trouble and has been tied to a stake to cool down for a couple of days. As you can see, he isn't really happy. The perfect person to help fight the system, considering that they did this to him.

As it was 7/7/07 and I wouldn't get this opportunity again until the year 3007 (in which I wiil be too dead to draw), I decided to make a very lucky drawing! Ironically, however, out of all of my characters that I have, I've choosen Thirteen for my lucky seven drawing! Why? For one, Thirteen is supersticious and would LOVE this day! For two, he has seven liberty spikes just to add to it. For three, it is, yet again, ironic! Why wouldn't I draw it?!

Here is a link to the original version:

http://flammingcorn.deviantart.com/art/Lucky-Thirteen-59305636

My punk rock children; 026, 032, and 013.

Here is Thirteen as a child along with his adopted "family", 026 and 032. For them, having hair like that at an early age is normal (it's actually choosen by their mothers as soon as they can have hair like that and sticks with them throughout their entire life). As for the collars, everyone gets a number, and along with it they get something that tells it. From birth until age 13, they have these collars. Once they turn 13-years-old, it gets tattooed onto them.

032 as an adult.

Here's Thirty-two all grown up. He's pushy, hot-headed, and stubborn (thus his hair colour is a firey red!). He is an excellent fighter though, and he'll take anyone on no matter what the size. He makes it really difficult when making group decisions, though.

Numbers

Here's a cool pic of Thirty-two, Twenty-six, and Thirteen showin' off their numbers...Thirty-two looks pretty peeved with Thirteen and Twenty-six...

Aw! Cute, is it not? It almost doesn't look like Thirty-two 0_o Anyway, I think they make a wonderfully cute couple. It has the lyrics from "Hey Jude" by The Beatles added to it. Why? I guess 'cause eveytime I look at this picture, it makes me think of that song! ^_^

Here's a link to the original before I added the lyrics:

http://flammingcorn.deviantart.com/art/Thirty-two-and-Seventy-five-60470706

Thirteen in a Pillory

Aw, poor Thirteen. The Bartholoian justice system sucks. Anyway, he was charged for (suprise, surprise) vandalism and found guilty. Anyway, it was ten lashes or two days in a pillory (that device he's locked in), so to save his skin, Thirteen chose the pillory. Now he's wondering which one really was the lesser of the two evils...

013 getting his yearly vaccine.

Poor Thirteen! As most Bartholians are dirt poor, they can't afford real doctors. Because of this, a family member will study all they can to become some-what of a substitute doctor. In this picture 089 (I know Thirteen's calling her 083, but I've changed her number since then) is playing the part of subsititute and is giving Thirteen his yearly vaccine. If I were him, I'd be scared too...

Let's spawn!

I wanted him to say, "Let's mate.", but the word mate would be like "sex"...The word "spawn", however, is more like "Make children". Believe it or not, Thirty-two has more than pleasure on his mind. He wants to actually start a family, which I think is rather sweet...By the way, if you haven't already read what looks like a math problem down below them, this chick is named Seventy-five and is Thirty-two's secret lover. She's actually from the same opposing gang as Twenty-two and Fifty-one, but she forbiddenly fell in love with Thirty-two. In return, Thirty-two felt the same forbidden attraction, and well...you can see the result.

013 having a happy moment.

Love is in the air! Along with spray paint fumes...Anyway, Thirteen's got that lovin' feelin' and just has to let it out! Too bad for him that vandalism is illegal and he's too stupid to NOT put his name on it...

051.

051 is in the same gang as 022. Fifty-one is the kind of the person who is full of himself and unaware of how he actually is. He also the one who usually starts things. His least favourite person in the world is Thirty-two, and they're often found fist-fighting each other. Other than that though, Fifty-one shows a bit of a soft side by taking care of his nephew for his deceased sister.

Thirteen.

This is just a nice picture I drew of Thirteen. He shows a lot about his character in this picture; his melancholy expression represents his broken spirit, his lucky rabbit's foot shows that he's supersticious, and his posture expresses his low self-esteem. Whoa...I didn't mean to get all psychological there!

Thirty-two.

Thirty-two is the perfect example of a bad person. He doesn't mind hurting people, and when he does hurt people he feels no remorse. Not at first anyway...He becomes a bit softer near the end of the story. Anyway, right now he's expressing his hatred toward everyone.

"Ironically, 013 is supersticious"

Thirteen has been cursed with having that big unlucky number stick with him all of his life; it's even tattooed onto his lower back! To make matters worse, poor Thirteen is highly supersticious. In this picture, Thirteen is dismayed as a black cat has taken to him...

Thirteen hangin' out.

Here's just a simple picture I drew of Thirteen. He's just sorta hangin' out on a brick wall, since that IS the dominant land-scaping you'll ever see in Bartholomew.

Thirteen gets some love...

Here we have Thirteen being kissed for the first time by Lord Brom's daughter, Abby. It's a pretty sweet picture, I think. It's also the first time Thirteen has any real joy in his life. Oh! Speaking of firsts, this drawing happens to be the first drawing of 2007! Completed 01/01/07 at 4:27 AM.

Thirty-two on the operating table after a bad fight.

Thirty-two makes his living fighting. When he gets his rib broken in a fight, his only choices are to let it heal and starve or keep fighting. Of course, he keeps fighting, and the next thing you know, that unattended rib gets really bad. Finally, it pains him so bad, he passes out. However, here we have a nice doctor performing surgery on him to put his rib back into place.

Scars...

This picture of Thirty-two has, quite possibly, the WORST mohawk I've drawn in a while. Anyway, forgetting that, I've accompanied Thirty-two with some lyrics that (even though I'm not a real fan of the song) go with him quite well. Those scars on his back....THAT is what you get for shop-lifting in Bartholomew. He has 150 all together. Can't count them all? That's because they go from his shoulder blades all the way to his ankles without stopping...

Thanks, Twenty-two!

Seventy-five and Twenty-two have sort of a brother-sister relationship, and as Seventy-five has been out seeing Thirty-two in secret, Twenty-two has been covering for her. Here, she thanks him for it...

Prodigy propaganda posters!

Yay! Prodigy propaganda posters! Try saying that five times fast...
That dude REALLY needs a hug...

Plotting...

Ah, yes. Back by popular demand is the notorious One-hundred and along side him is the not-so-popular (and rather snotty-looking at that) Fifty-one. Together they are plotting which one of Eighty-three's gang members to attack, either Thirteen (the little one) or Thirty-two (the savage)...

Interrogation!

Poor Thirteen! He's been brought in for interrogation! Luckly, the Prodigies questioning him realize that Thirteen's to scared to even wet himself from fear, let alone rat someone else out. They give it up as a lost cause, and let him go...Yeah...it was supposed to be a real funny comic of the two Prodigies arguing like an old married couple, but I was too lazy and drew a pathetic little Thirteen instead...You know ya wanna hug him after this one...

"I do not feel that I am short..."

Here, featured for the first time, is Thirteen's gang leader, Eighty-three. Now, while Eighty-three is a tall 6'6, Thirteen is a tiny 5'5...Which means that, technically, they're both right.

Like a Surgeon...

Yay! The return of Sixteen! In case you don't remember him, he was featured in the "Thirty-two's operation" picture. As for that other guy, he's a just a random back-ground guy. Go ahead and give a number yourself if you want to. Either way, even though Sixteen has a love of his work and is enthusiastic, this sometimes makes him seem a little gruesome (him enjoying cutting into human beings and all...). Yeah...poor Sixteen. The random guy has mistaken him for a butcher...

The Secret is Reveiled! (SPOILER ALERT!)

If you haven't been able to keep up with the number stuff, here's a little recap for you; Thirteen belongs to one gang lead by Eighty-three. Twenty-two is part of another gang lead by Thirty-seven. At this point in time, the two gangs are waring.
Now for a little explanation reguarding this picture. When Twenty-two was fifteen, Thirty-seven got him a job as a "file keeper" in The Bartholian Number Station (the place where you get numbers, births and deaths are kept up with, and where files of every Bartholian in the country are kept.). Even though Twenty-two was young, his high intelligence allowed him to get the job.
While working there, Twenty-two was to copy every file there and bring them to Thirty-seven. Finally, working in secret, he had copied every file. That included Thirty-seven's file as well...Upon copying it, Twenty-two found out a horrible secret about Thirty-seven; he had dismissed as a Prodigy for raping a civilian! Thirty-seven made him swear to take it to the grave with him...
Now in the present time, Thirty-seven has commanded Twenty-two to look up Thirty-two, Thirteen, and Twenty-six as to find a way to defeat them. It is upon that that Twenty-two discovers another disturbing bit of information...Thirty-two was concieved when his mother was raped by a Prodigy...

After the Surgery (SPOILER ALERT!)

Poor Thirteen! What starts out to be a common belly ache turns out to be appendicitis! Sure, it's easily taken care of here, but in Bartholomew, it's life-threatening. Ah, but Thirty-two has connections! That's right, the return of Sixteen! However, as with Thirty-two and his other patients, Sixteen hasn't been so gental in saving Thirteen's life. Right now, Thirteen is safe from death (unless it gets infected), and working off the drugs necessary to keep him under...Injection-induced nightmares still haunt his mind, and the pain is starting to come back...
Oh, and on a pg-13 note, I know he's supposed to have pubes down there where those nasty stitches are, but I keep all of my drawings in a massive binder that I call "The Monster", and little kids look at it frequently, so I'm keepin' him hairless so as not to pervoke akward questions from them...Thirteen has, in fact, hit puberty.
Thirteen and anyone else I've mentioned in this discription (C) B. Roberts a.k.a. me!

One-hundred redesigned

Considering that One-hundred is only a minor character, this remake wasn't really necessary. However, I wanted to add some things and well...I sorta got carried away. Of course, now he looks awesome! Makes me wanna give him a bigger roll in the story...

The Tyranny Begins

My story begins like this: Thirteen is running from Thirty-two. Previously in an untold scene, he had abandon Thirty-two to fight Thirty-seven's gang alone out of fear. Thirty-two is angered by this, and after taking on Fifty-one and One-hundred, goes after Thirteen for revenge. Thirteen runs, only to run into a Prodigy. The Prodigy then arrests him under vandalism charges. During his trial, Thirteen is found guilty and sentenced to ten lashes. As innocent and untouched as Thirteen is, even the thought of being whipped makes him cry...

Kidd, the hopeless anti-hero.

This little mess-up happens to be the youngest main character I have. He is confused, thrust into a world of unknown and left to fend for himself. He makes from friends (and enemies), but most of all, he makes a name for himself...Kidd! Gee, isn't THAT creative?

The song on this page is "Let's Have a War" as performed by From Ashes to Autumn.