Trout Priest - the initial idea

During a short, relaxing break in Bibury, UK, my partner and I visited the Trout Farm.

Turns out there is an implement to kill the caught fish called a Priest. This seemed like a cool niche bit of fishing gear - was it a cross-shaped knife? A fancy bishop-resembling cudgel?

We asked the person working there to show us. Nope. Turns out a priest is just a stick. A bonking stick.

But that didn't stop us getting ideas! And it turns out there are some fancy-looking priests out there.

Effectively, it is a fish mace. So, using a mace to ensure things are dead sounds pretty Paladin/Golden Order to me...

The initial sketch - already it was clear that you would play as a priest in fishing waterproofs, dealing with undead & rotten giant trout that walk into land.

A slightly nicer "cover art" concept.

I got excited and started working on a prototype...