#Theria The Cold Paw

[thunderboltfire]

I was having fun with making up their voices! I've also decided to solve a question of languages (languages color-coded to avoid confusion).

Also, this one has quite a lot of tiny text, so I've included transcripts.

[ID: a list illustrated with colored doodles of characters' heads. Titled Who speaks what?

Igna [cartoon picture of Igna's face drawn in brick red color]: Native language: illiraian (southwestern regional form). Understands enough elvish to know when she's being threatened, and can ask for directions, but not much more.

Argo [cartoon picture of Argo's face drawn in sap green color]: Native language: northern elvish. Fluent in illiraian, hardly discernible accent. (it took Igna 3 months to figure out what's off - he rolls 'R' a bit too hard and his vowels sometimes are pronounced too close to the back of his throat).

Theria [cartoon picture of Theria's face drawn in muted brown color]: Native language: Samhran. Fluent in illiraian, audible samhran accent (difficulty pronouncing consonant clusters, palatalising 'L's and 'T"s, mixing up vowels and dyphtongs, sometimes sing-song affect to the vowels). Speaks basic Andaran and broken Omtheron.

Daen [cartoon picture of Daen's face drawn in violet color]: Native language: Moer. Fluent in illiraian, Andaran and gods know what else. Communicative in old elvish. Understands both dwarven languages, but speaks neither. No discernible accent in illiraian.

Haart [cartoon picture of Haart's face drawn in blue]: Native language: Kará (east-dwarvish). Fluent in illiraian (mostly without an

accent, but he often switches soft and hard 'H'). Understands some Andaran and Omtheron. Knows his local variety of sign language.

Knows some expressions in samhran (exclusively swearwords and toasts).]

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Results: Igna is a spoiled kid, she's the only one in the group who has the luxury of speaking her native language day-to-day. She grew up in complete nowhere, with a very scarce contact with other languages. Tentative A1 in elvish, due to her dad trying to teach her.

Argo probably had the knowledge of Illiraian hammered into his head during his education - inhabitants of Riss speak exclusively a dialect of elvish day-to-day, but the duchy is an enclave, and it would be severely imparing not to know the neighbors' language.

Theria has been away from home long enough to gain a pretty good grasp of Illiraian, and has around B1 level in Andaran. Both spoken with a pretty thick accent, her native language is from a different language family with a strikingly different phototactics, and she's learnt the foreign languages pretty late.

Daen speaks many languages, and all of them pretty well. Maybe it's his long lifespan, but it's possible he's got a knack for language learning.

Haart has had a similar situation to Argo in a sense he's lived in a close neighboorhood of another language and learnt it in childhood. He comes from a merchant house, so it's understandable his family would want him to know foreign languages.

[ID: a scale diagram titled "profanity meter" Left to right: Daen titled "Apocalyptic event indicator", Igna titled "curses when hurt", Argo titled "curses if pissed", Haart titled "curses to emphasise" and Theria titled "Fuck is a sentence divider"]

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I have to face the fact that Theria most probably has a severe case of unwashed mouth. Her mercenary career spans a good few years when she enters the stage and she doesn't seem like the type to watch her language, so in all probability she doesn't even notice that she curses like a sailor.

[ID: a list titled "Voice and expression". On the left side there's an up-and-down double ended arrow titled "pitch". Characters from top to bottom:

Igna: Easily the highest voice of the group. Clean, and rather strong despite it. Makes an open and honest impression when speaking, fairly good singing voice.

Theria: on the lower side of feminine voices, full-bodied voice with a bit of a vocal fry, on average way louder than the rest of the group. Enjoys singing, but easily dominates a choir

Argo: rather raspy, matte voice. Has a tendency to mutter - the limited sensitivity on the scarred side of his face makes it harder to speak clearly. Speaks quite fast despite of this. Can't hold a note for his life.

Haart: soft, full baritone. Probably the nicest laughter. Nice singing voice, talks with his hands a lot. Makes a characteristic huff when he's nervous.

Daen: low, resonant voice. Clear pronounciation. Reticent, rarely talks more than necessary. Makes a formal impression.]

Last but not least, my trials to work out how would they probably sound like. (I'm not really one to do voiceclaims).

[thunderboltfire]

Alright! I've got a little carried away, so here's the main cast of Isaldi illustrated with their corresponding associated animals! (only sketches, sorry)

Igna: I've associated Igna with griffins for a very long time, to the point I've debated giving her 'griffoness' as a moniker.

She has a griffin on her coats of arms, but the more important cause was her being a half-elf. Similarly to how griffins have parts associated with different types of animals but are their own distinct creature, she is something many people consider a hybrid and yet she is something more than the sum of inherited traits.

Some Wanderers jokingly call her a rookling, because of her bearing a lot of physical resemblance to her father who's widely known as Eberre 'The Rook'. (the natural consequence of this should be a rook-based griffin, but alas, Isaldian griffins don't really function this way XD).

Argo - Weirdly enough, a dog, and more specifically, a hound. He is very fond of dogs (elves, contrary to humans haven't domesticated dogs), he likes hunting and he is characterised by undying loyalty. Compared to Igna he has less reservations to kill, either sentient beings or not. Add to that a heightened sense of smell and he starts to have a lot of similarities with a hunting dog. Contrary to most of them, however, he isn't too fond of physical affection and is a relatively quiet sort, so while I've drawn him with a pointer (a type of dog he'd probably want to have) most of all, he resembles a sighthound.

Theria - self-explanatory, she is a social canid incarnate. The similarities to a wolf run deeper than her physicality - she has a strong need to belong and is very much an extrovert, suffering when left in solitude. Expressive and aggressive if need be, but also very affectionate. What is her strenght, however is her downfall - she still hasn't come to terms with a loss of her whole mercenary unit and even vengeance for her late mate's death hasn't brought her peace.

Daen - corvids aren't an original choice for an equivalent of a vampire, but still, the intelligent omens of doom are a correct association. As a field medic, Daen more than often is elbows-deep in gore. I've chosen the hooded crow, due to them looking like they are wearing an apron. Apart from that, grey+black color combo is very on-brand for him.

Haart - an ox. Haart's unique abilities are what makes him valuable, but also unfit for his original home and community, like something gentle which inevitably harms its surroundings due to its size. He does his work dilligently (he's often the first person his friends ask for help) and came to love his found family, but he has a soft heart that longs for a home that never may be.

I’m going to start putting up OC question posts for you guys to reply to! I do this in my art server already but I thought I’d do it here, too :)

First question: what animal is your oc most like? Can be based on appearance, physiology, behavior, symbolism, or any combination of the aforementioned! Feel free to reply or reblog.

[thunderboltfire]

Here she comes! Theria's reference sheet was tricky as a concept - she's a werewolf (wifewolf, if You will), so she had to have her two forms shown, but also I wanted to preserve the format of the other refs. Also, her human form is clothed because she just habitually doesn't wear underwear

[thunderboltfire]

And may death find you alive.

[thunderboltfire]

Valentine's Day loredump pt. 2

Theria and Närn

cw: graphic descriptions of violence

cw: survivor's guilt

@rayless-reblogs @kaldurcalm

Before the battle of Haergard, Theria was from a certain viewpoint, a completely different person. She still was brutal, but she was also loved. She had her place in the world.

Werewolves and other shapeshifters, despite technically being humans, are often not really welcome in human settlements. In the far north, they live among themselves, but these places also aren't devoid of conflict. When their home villages become too small for too many strong personalities, some people have to leave and strike out on their own. Often they wander a bit before settling down. It wasn't different with Närn and Theria, except they've had a different idea.

They moved south, onto the continent and started working as mercenaries. First it was only the two of them, but after a few years they've had a little over forty people under their command, all of them shapeshifters.

Theria was a fairly social and observant person and a good problem solver. She acted as a second-in-command to Närn. It was almost like in a large wolfpack - for a lack of a better word, Närn and Theria were married, even before they've left the north.

The company was successfull, fulfilling a variety of contracts. They were disciplined, reliable and thanks to the infamous shapeshifter regeneration, they suffered next to no losses, even in an open battle.

Whether they've overshot by taking a contract not knowing what they will face, whether the plan of battle was doomed to fail, and maybe due to a problem of the sabotaged communication, Haergard was their last battle.

The mountain elves, who appeared on the battlefield in laughably small numbers had a very widespread intelligence and knew the exact position of the Covenant's troops. Apparently they've sent constructs with silver - plated weapons against them - the exact accounts are unclear. It suffices to say that until any reinforcements came, only four shapeshifters were still standing, among them Theria, still holding the banner among her corroding and screaming comrades.

She blacked out from her injuries shortly after the battle ended.

Närn was still alive, altough unable to move. He has been moved into the field hospital when she was unconscious, but she was confident that given enough time, he would make it. She was far from a medicine woman, but she's dressed enough shapeshifter wounds to be able to tell if a wound is going to close on its own. He was going to be fine, he just needed time. She even managed to speak with him.

He didn't make it.

She didn't try to run - at this point she didn't care whether she was going to live or die. Death for death, fair enough. She was promptly imprisoned and sentenced. Except, the sentence itself was delayed because no one wanted to deal with finding a method that would kill a shapeshifter during a full moon.

Theria was sure that Närn didn't die from his wounds, that someone had to help him. She was convinced she had proof that he died of poison - but she was met with indifference.

It happened quicker than anyone was able to react. She fulfilled her comrades initial funeral rites, has left the rest to one of the living survivors, found the medic who treated her husband and broke his neck.

She had a bit of luck in her misfortune. Erydan, the contact of Covenant's intelligence offered her a deal - a pardon for service. Initially she was indifferent, but finally he managed to pique her interest. The mission seemed difficult enough for her to die anyway, and in her mind it was always better to die fighting. She was supposed to join a small team of people meant to rescue someone - a prisoner, and apparently from under the Yrreth of Zvaerit's very nose. She wondered who was crazy enough to attempt something like this.

-----------------------------------

Theria is functionally a widow in mourning, recovering from a trauma of losing a loved person. As such, for a first few years she is too hurt to seek any relationship, either romantic, or purely sexual. After that, when she recovers somewhat she sometimes has short flings, but nothing permanent. Should she seek another mate, she'd look among the shapeshifters like her.

She considers the romantic and sexual sphere to be an important part of life. She is pretty open about her sexual experiences (way too open for some people's taste), it's very hard (if even possible) to embarrass her and she considers following one's desires to be a natural and healthy course of action.

She clashes on this topic with Igna, who treats her own desires as wants, not needs, and thinks her reasons for indefinitely putting off starting a romantic relationship are important enough. Theria's jabs at Igna are in fact underlined with her own grief - she's seen people of insane physical resistance die next to her, and she's aware both humans and elves are much more fragile than shapeshifters. In her own mind, they should enjoy themselves while they're still both alive, because who knows how long that lasts. And maybe she's annoyed by their indecision. Just a little bit.

Some time after she warms up to the rest of the team Närn's topic stops being touchy for her and she's willing to talk about him, despite his loss still being a painful memory. It's only a part of the larger problem, as she didn't lose only him, but also her place in the world, the majority of her friends, and to add to that, the majority of faith that the shapeshifters ever will be treated with respect. Theria is an intense personality, she lives her emotions fully, both good and bad ones. If the bitterness and restlessness sometimes makes the better of her she isolates, sometimes not eating for days on end.

The broken pendant she wears belonged to Närn and was gifted to him by her - the sheer streght of one of the blows he's taken has broken it in two. She had taken it after his death, fitted it on a loose collar and intends to wear it until death comes for her, too.

[thunderboltfire]

It's Theria o'clock!

(bottom right bubbles: "Damn you Theria, if You can't help, then don't make it worse" "Ugh" "Ah, now it's ugh, and what have I told you about drinking on your own?")

Some context: side effect of being a werewolf is a decreased alcohol tolerance - in short, despite being 6'4'' tall, Theria is a lightweight. Shapeshifters' organs also work with varied efficiency due to their powers waxing and waning in monthly cycles, so she never really knows how much she can take and it's embarrasingly easy for her to drink herself under a table. However, in the face of her unprocessed grief, Theria is prone to become self-destructive and sometimes the perspective of feeling horrible afterwards doesn't stop her at all. Haart often acts as Theria's external impulse control, and if anything else fails, he's able to just carry her back to her quarters.

After the redesign Theria is also the only person from the Isaldian main crew who neither wears armor, nor keeps her hair gathered away from her face in any way, not even in combat. It's mainly due to the fact that in case she shifts to her wolf form and back, she would come back with her hair loose anyway, and apperantly she decided it's too much hassle. Apart from that, her hair is very thick, a little coarse in texture and it doesn't submit to any attempts at styling, which is why no matter how much she would brush it, it always looks messy anyway.

[thunderboltfire]

I debated the layout in which I'd like to post these three, and while I like the vertical one, I think they also work well as a triptych.

[thunderboltfire]

Isaldian crew vs. attitude towards death and the concept of fate.

It occured to me that having a bunch of characters who regularly risk life and limb sort-of necessitates that they have some sort of attitude towards the perilous circumstances they face, and towards the fact they're often surrounded by death. The whole thing turned out to be pretty long (plus Theria's illustration turned out to be pretty gory), so I'm putting it under the cut.

(CW: Blood, CW: Gore)

Igna - Blaze of glory

Igna's acutely aware her line of work may result in a violent death. However, generally once she considers a matter or an ideal worthy enough, she's willing to fight for it, and by extension, die for it, if it comes to that. Her furious determination extends to the matters or life and death; if she is really set on defending something, or someone, she doesn't back down - even if she logically speaking should. Was she to willingly sacrifice her life, she'd want it to happen in a way that won't make her easily forgotten, and she'd want it to matter, or to make some sort of a difference. That being said, she definitely doesn't seek an opportunity to die with a bang. She would much prefer to live to see the end of the war and she is generally afraid of death, however her fear is fairly easily dulled by adrenaline and/or anger. Igna doesn't believe in predestination - but she believes in providence.

Argo - death behind a shoulder

It's very probable Argo has heard one time too much that he should not be alive. His very existence has brushed with death practically since he was born, and as a result he has a deeply ingrained attitude of someone who's aware he's living on a borrowed time thrice over. He believes that becoming a Wanderer, he pretty much signed up to a premature and probably gruesome death. This constant proximity to the perspective of his own demise has desensitised him, to the point that he appears weirdly calm in life-or-death situations. It's often read as though he doesn't really believe he can die at all, which cannot be further from truth. The weird atmosphere of his early life has led him to become a fatalist, and a pessimist - he's pretty certain he's going to die young, but having survived so many dangerous situations he just gave up on constant gauging when exactly it could happen. He has a pretty good self-preservation instinct that preserves him from immediate danger, but he easily takes up daunting tasks with a nigh suicidal courage.

Theria - deathwish

Theria has had a pretty active deathwish since the battle of Haergard. Like most shapeshifters, she posesses very quick regeneration ability, which makes her incredibly hard to kill. Her body can take a lot of punishment before she stops actively fighting, making her a terrifying juggernaut, in either her human or wolf form. She throws herself in the face of danger, almost taunting fortune to turn on her and finally strike her down. She doesn't go around in a blind self-destructive mode all the time, as she tends to her injuries and doesn't hurt herself blindly, but she's way more prone to take unnecessary risks than any other member of the team. Her ache after the loss of her mate and brethren has lessened with time, but she very much doesn't fear death at all.

Daen - the deathless

The Bloodless are notoriously hard to kill - they age very slowly, and like all magically altered humans, they recover quickly even from deadly injuries. Daen considers himself worthy of death for his past transgressions, but also he thinks of death as an easy way out of a proper penance. He is acutely aware that his skills, knowledge and experience makes him more valuable to the other people alive, and so he tries to keep himself in a good form to help others. He doesn't put himself (or others) deliberately in a way of senseless danger. Daen believes in a complete self-determination, interestingly at the same time he's quite religious.

Haart - the unwilling

Out of the whole team, Haart is the one that geniunely fears death. He has to face it pretty often, and deal it too, but that doesn't mean he's at peace with its perspective. He has a most acute self-preservation instinct out of them all, and the fact he's able to wrestle his fears into submission and head into fray over and over again is a testament to his resolve. He knows being a Scorchwielder, he has no other way to live, but he wishes a lot that he didn't have to do it. Having a pretty subdued role in a dwarven society as a young man, he wasn't raised to challenge status quo in any fundamental regard. Having witnessed a lot of senseless death, he thinks that the determining force of many aspects of life is sheer luck.

[thunderboltfire]

I've decided to give Haart a salade helmet, based on vibes and aestetics alone.

[thunderboltfire]

Theria The Cold Paw: masterpost

Tagged as: #Theria, #Theria the Cold Paw

Category: OC

Homeworld: Isaldi (original setting)

Visuals:

Reference sheet

Sketchdump + loredump (on werewolves and drinking)

Sketch: animal symbolics

Group portrait: The Team -> Tag yourself

Sketch: Give me two seconds! (guest appearance)

Inktober2022: The Cold Paw

Sketch: Modern/metal AU

Colored sketch (loredump-related): The Deathwish - The Unwilling - The Deathless

Sketch: Posturing

Text

Loredump: Voice and languages spoken

Loredump: thoughts of Death and Fate

Valentine's Day loredump

[thunderboltfire]

Warning: I do my best to tag things in accordance to possible sensitive or otherwise nsfw content, but this blog may have content including topics, humor and imagery not suitable for children. Character masterposts

PCs:

Iwona The Gorion's Ward (Baldur's Gate 1, Baldur's Gate 2)

Nela the Rogue (Tav)

Xeddrinth (also Tav)

Xaere (DnD)

Lisa Ice-Vein (Skyrim)

Wanda Shepard (Mass Effect Trilogy)

V (Cyberpunk2077)

OCs:

Igna Sharille

Argo Riss'Aerle

Theria the Cold Paw

Daen

Haart

[thunderboltfire]

You’ve called for reinforcements and they’re all you’ve got, or first special counter-magic unit’s group photo. 

From left to right, top to bottom: Daen, Theria, Haart, Igna and Argo. Most of them have appeared in one form or another in my drawings, but I finally redesigned all of their gear and hopefully get some consistency, lol.

(ID: A digital drawing featuring a group photo of five characters placed on a white background - two are standing in the back, three are in the front row. In the front on the left side there’s a dwarven man with blonde hair and short beard, standing nonchalantly and scratching his brow with his middle finger. He’s looking to the side and smiling, holding a wooden pipe between his teeth. He’s wearing lamellar armor with a blacksmith’s apron over it and a pair of heavy, runic gauntlets on both his hands. He’s wearing heavy boots with metal reinforcements, red, loose trousers, torqouise padding with short sleeves and orange shirt underneath it. There’s a yellow and red scarf around his neck and he’s got a war pick/warhammer strapped to his belt.

In the center there’s a half-elven young woman with green eyes, dressed in a chainmail, place bracers, mismatched plate gauntlets, a steel helmet with raised visor and a chainmail coif around her neck. She has a dull brown tabard with a white griffin and a vertical sword on her chest and she’s holding a sheathed longsword in her right hand. Her left hand is resting on a visibly used heater shield with the same griffin and sword as on her tabard, only on a red field. She’s grinning and looking straight at the viewer, singular strands of hair from her black bangs are peeking from under her helmet’s brow.

On the right side, there’s an elf sitting on a chair, resting his head upon his right fist, with elbow propped up on his knee, looking at the viewer with a crooked smile on his face. He’s got light grey hair, blue eyes and pale complexion, the right side of his face is crossed by four fresh scars, running from the line of his hair down to his chin. He’s wearing leather bracers, right one reinforced with steel on the outside, leather archery gloves, brown trousers, knee-high leather riding boots, short-sleeved green padding with dark green shirt underneath it, and a sleeveless dull brown brigandine, closed with a series of leather buckles in front. He has a blade strapped to his left side, and a quiver of arrows on his right hip, a recurve bow is laying on his knees. His left hand is doing something with its bowstring.

In the back, there’s a tall man in an indigo zhupan, reaching half of his calf. over it he’s wearing a steel breastplate, he’s got leather boots and leather gloves, both in shades of brown. He’s got long, black hair tied behind his head, with a visible  parting in the middle of his head. His skin is unhealthily pale, with dark circles under his eyes, whose irises are almost white. He’s facepalming and has a bitter expression.

Next to him is an even taller, visibly muscular woman, with unkepmt long, brown hair, golden wolf-like eyes framed in black and big teeth with sharp canines, that she’s showing in a grin, holding her tongue out. She’s got her hands on her hips, she’s wearing a dark brown sleeveless top, and over it an olive green folded kind of garment similar to a chiton or a kilt, reaching just above her knees. It’s pinned with a brass fibula on her left shoulder, and is gathered with a wide, leather belt around her waist. She’s wearing worn leather boots on her feet, a collar with a chipped piece of metal hanging on it on her neck and she has taped fists. She has tanned skin, and several lighter scars are visible on her bare arms.)

[thunderboltfire]

next: mr. walking OSHA violation and heavy metal aunt with a permanent eyeliner.

4/5 done!

[thunderboltfire]

It’s the resident werewolf again!

I’ve decided to rework Theria’s backstory and think on some more comfortable clothes for her. I guess werewolves would find clothes similar to a chiton or a kilt very comfortable - made from one piece of material, it can be just pinned up again in case of urgent transformation. It’s also pretty loose or folded in most places, so it wouldn’t be torn to pieces or uncomfortably stretched by the changing body. I’m still not sure whether she should wear armor at all.