This is their current logo, uploaded as an emote on Discord.
If you guys haven’t heard of the upcoming app, Neptune, you should check it out. They have Beta testing starting any day now. In the Discord app, you can sign up for the waitlist, join contests, and converse with other content creators. I entered two of their contests so far. I put their specifications down below. Neptune’s mascot is an adorable little octopus named Moody.
I was thrilled with my submissions because I have been trying to expand my portfolio using tools I haven’t typically used before. My first submission, The Happy Depths of Neptune, features one of my most advanced attempts at 3D specifically in Adobe Illustrator. In the past, most of my minimal 3D work has been in Adobe After Effects. It was fun to play with lighting and shadows.
My second submission was based around the idea that Social Media really unites everyone, even though we are all completely different and unique. The tools I utilized were “objects on path” and “blend”. Somehow, I had never touched those tools before. I tried to evenly space them, but knew there had to be a better solution. I am very excited to use those tools in the future! It looks very professional and was a huge time saver.
Moody and the Assassin’s Pause
The cold steel of the dagger pressed against Prince Dorian’s throat, but his blue eyes—like the ocean on a stormless day—did not waver.
“You’re supposed to kill me, aren’t you?” he asked, his voice steady.
The assassin, known only as Vex, hesitated. His grip on the hilt slackened, just enough for the prince to notice.
“I was,” Vex admitted. “But now I’m not so sure I want to.”
His voice held uncertainty, something foreign to him. He had never faltered before. He had defeated pessimists, warlords, and tyrants with exactness. Yet here, in the candle-lit chamber of Neptune’s royal estate, something was different. He had heard a voice—deep, ancient, and powerful whispering into his mind.
“Do not end him– not yet.”
The voice belonged to Moody, the god of the deep, an octopus whose presence stirred the tides and whose mind reached beyond the ocean’s depths. Moody had spoken, and Vex paused.
Prince Dorian frowned. “Then why hesitate? You were sent by the Resistance, weren’t you? Because of the things I’ve said? The things I’ve done?”
Vex’s jaw tightened. Yes. The prince’s words were poison, spilling into the digital realm of Neptune, a once-thriving social platform now drowning in his relentless negativity. The app had been a sanctuary, a luminous gathering place where people found joy, humor, and camaraderie. Until Dorian tainted it, spreading cynicism like angry confetti, turning friends into enemies and laughter into bitterness. Worse still, his rage seeped into the sea itself, darkening the waters with a corruption that only Moody could sense.
Moody, had chosen Vex to be his hands beyond the ocean.
Vex lived in the shadows, but even he had his own brand of honor. He was an assassin and a protector. He eliminated those who twisted power for themselves, those who took more than they gave. Vex was a Robinhood of the land and the sea. He had joined the Resistance to fight against corruption, not become a tool of blind vengeance.
Now, Moody had shown him another path.
The floor trembled beneath them, the faintest ripple of power surging upward. The prince’s breath hitched.
“You feel that, don’t you?” Vex murmured. “Moody is watching.”
Dorian swallowed. “You believe in that old legend?”
Vex tilted his head. “I don’t just believe. I understand and live by his wisdom.”
As if in response, the walls of the chamber groaned. A slick, glistening tentacle emerged from the shadows, its surface was iridescent beneath the flickering light. Another arm followed, then another, until the great form of Moody loomed before them. His skin pulsed with bioluminescent patterns, shifting from deep indigo to an ethereal teal. His massive golden eyes fixed upon the prince, not with malice, but with something far worse. Disappointment.
“You pollute my waters. You taint what should be a place of light. Why?” The words filled the air, though Moody’s face never moved.
Dorian exhaled shakily. “I just… I just wanted people to hear me.”
Moody’s tentacles curled slightly, and the very air seemed to hum. “At what cost?”
The prince averted his gaze. He had felt powerful when his words stirred outrage when his pessimism spread like wildfire. But standing here, before a god of the deep, he realized how small he truly was.
Vex sheathed his dagger. “I don’t think you need me to banish you from this world. I think you need to understand what you’ve done.”
Moody extended a single tentacle toward Dorian, its tip resting lightly against the prince’s forehead.
“See.”
Dorian gasped. Images flooded his mind. The ocean darkening, vibrant reefs turning lifeless. He saw users of Neptune withdrawing, their joy replaced with exhaustion. He saw how his words had twisted friendships, and turned hopeful voices into echoes of anger.
Then, he saw what Neptune had been before him—a place where people connected, laughed, and shared joyous moments. A place of light, not shadow.
Tears burned at the corners of his eyes. “I didn’t mean for this…”
Moody withdrew. “Then undo it.”
Vex folded his arms. “Change starts with you, Prince. Words have weight. You don’t get to throw them into the ocean and pretend they don’t ripple outward.”
Dorian took a breath, steadying himself. He nodded. “Tell me what I have to do.”
Moody’s being pulsed, the energy of the ocean shifting, retreating from its state of ruin. Around the palace, the waters stirred. From the depths, an army of octopi emerged, their luminous forms spreading throughout the kingdom, reminding the people of the light that had been lost.
Neptune, the app, would heal. The ocean would, too.
Vex, the assassin who had once taken lives, had, for the first time, saved one.
As Moody sank back into the shadows, his voice appeared once more in Vex’s mind.
“Well done.”
For the first time in a long time, Vex allowed himself a small smile.
The tides had turned.
And this time, they carried hope.
I’d love to know your thoughts, I’m always looking to improve!
