#oc: Derran

[persephinae]

[ooops-i-arted]

Inktober 16: Derran Kanis. Baby's first Jedi OC, now with 20+ years of drawing skills.

[ooops-i-arted]

AHHHH MY GIRL what a wonderful thing to wake up to!! She looks amazing! Thank you so much!!!

And the last one.

@ooops-i-arted's Jedi OC Derran Kanis floating some rocks like a proper Jedi 😁

[jackhkeynes]

While Embers Cool

excerpt in translation from spycraft trevold While Embers Cool (originally written and published in Welsh as Pan Oera'r Glo), 1890 work by Hasinick author Kjartan Rhysvor.

Toll'emendanç por y mas son complið, jusc oy, ða vray meðes a i y ci dou rig d'ardois derran allignað cos scaðr. The repairs to the farmhouse are all done, now, if he really did get those last two rows of slates lined up right.

Posc veg yon final i se descen y gaz des nuot vars fastig, oc parisc sigt dijarbr. When he finally lets his gaze drop from the clouds to the roof, it looks decent.

Noc just exact com valent, nentamen: l'eç ardois aun untal nuvreç e plattað ant cogn parfait y catr. Not quite like it should, though: the slates are so unmistakably new and uniform with perfect corners.

Scey ne bon mont fragnç e lamn jagottað a casc postion yonoscon y glaç joivrau ne japot tras l'yarn e bojau l'ardois a vougheç. There should be cracks and uneven edges in all the spots where the ice dammed up in the winter and pushed the slates awry.

Pu toð ig es partið. Cay comoscon ða toð ci annað ern diglað, ben ða alcun cainç den n'er bogr occors. But all that is gone. It is as if all those years have been erased, as though none of it had happened at all.

[laigaming]

Another Character Profile Thingy

Full Name:  Seren Lir

Gender and Sexuality: Cis female/bisexual demiromantic (basically “aromantic except for the only idiot I can tolerate romantically Theron”)

Pronouns: She/Her

Ethnicity/Species: Kaasian Human

Birthplace and Birthdate: Dromund Kaas; she’s 28 at the start of her class story I’m too lazy to calculate the year

Guilty Pleasures: Good wine, fine dining.

Phobias: Being controlled.  She is also very prejudiced against Force-users and the idea of someone using the Force to control her mind makes her sick.

What They Would Be Famous For: I mean, all the Cipher Nine stuff is in the shadows and explicitly not something you get famous for, so I guess she’d be famous for taking over the Alliance and holding it together after Derran resigns her post as Alliance Commander.

What They Would Get Arrested For: In the Republic at least, assassination, espionage, war crimes, murder.  In the Empire she’d probably have to kill a Sith to not get a free pass.

OC You Ship Them With: Can’t think of any, honestly.

OC Most Likely To Murder Them: She stabbed Corso once, so Avei has a shoot-on-sight policy towards her.

Favorite Movie/Book Genre: Doing something fun?  For pleasure?  Wtf is that?  Eventually Theron gets her into some dumb mindless holodramas (space soap operas?) but she’s very embarrassed by the fact she gets kinda into them and keeps it way on the down low.

Least Favorite Movie/Book Cliche: Force-users saving the day, as she doesn’t generally like them.  (I would guess this would be a cliche in the Star Wars universe??)

Talents and/or Powers: All the espionage and combat training expected of an Imperial Agent.  She also took specialized combat training for techniques to take down Force-users.  Otherwise, she’s a perfectly normal (albeit very athletic and healthy) human

Why Someone Might Love Them: Well, she is gorgeous.  Also if you get on her good side?  She’s very loyal and protective.

Why Someone Might Hate Them: She’s frequently kind of a dick.  She’s also racist towards nonhumans.  She slowly gets better but ...still.

How They Change: Seren starts out a cold, unfeeling, loyal agent of the Empire.  But through her work and the abuses she suffers at the hands of the Empire - as well as the revelation that her sister is alive and actually well-off as a Jedi - causes her to question the Imperial culture she’s been raised in.  She develops a conscience, chooses to break herself free of the Empire by the end of her class story, and by the time she joins the Alliance (starting with the goal of finding and saving her sister, but ultimately choosing to act for the good of the galaxy and the people in it) she’s actively choosing to be a good person and help people.  (Even if she’s still a cold, unfeeling dick more often than not to people she doesn’t like.)

Why You Love Them: The above.  Personally I find it hard to root for evil asshole characters, but Seren discovering her humanity and reaching a point where she draws a line in the sand and tells herself “No more.  I won’t support the Empire any more” is something I really enjoy.

[persephinae]

[ooops-i-arted]

It has been a PITA month, please take pity on me and ask me about my OCs (or Cara Dune, her creators shafted her so I like to think she's under my guardianship now)

LotR OCs (mains are Lailuva, Helwynn, and Mahtarnis)

Star Wars TOR OCs (mains are Avei, Derran Kanis, and Illivrin)

Uncommon Questions for OCs and their creators:

Send me a # (questions for OCs) or a letter (questions for creators) and I’ll answer

QUESTIONS FOR YOUR OCs

What’s the maximum amount of time your character can sit still with nothing to do?

How easy is it for your character to laugh?

How do they put themselves to bed at night (reading, singing, thinking?)

How easy is it to earn their trust?

How easy is it to earn their mistrust?

Do they consider laws flexible, or immovable?

What triggers nostalgia for them, most often? Do they enjoy that feeling?

What were they told to stop/start doing most often as a child

Do they swear? Do they remember their first swear word?

What lie do they most frequently remember telling? Does it haunt them?

How do they cope with confusion (seek clarification, pretend they understand, etc)?

How do they deal with an itch found in a place they can’t quite reach?

What color do they think they look best in? Do they actually look best in that color?

What animal do they fear most?

How do they speak? Is what they say usually thought of on the spot, or do they rehearse it in their mind first?

What makes their stomach turn?

Are they easily embarrassed?

What embarrasses them?

What is their favorite number?

If they were asked to explain the difference between romantic and platonic or familial love, how would they do so?

Why do they get up in the morning? 

How does jealousy manifest itself in them (they become possessive, they become aloof, etc)? 

How does envy manifest itself in them (they take what they want, they become resentful, etc)? 

 Is sex something that they’re comfortable speaking about? To whom? 

 What are their thoughts on marriage? 

 What is their preferred mode of transportation? 

 What causes them to feel dread? 

 Would they prefer a lie over an unpleasant truth? 

 Do they usually live up to their own ideals? 

 Who do they most regret meeting? 

 Who are they the most glad to have met? 

 Do they have a go-to story in conversation? Or a joke? 

 Could they be considered lazy? 

 How hard is it for them to shake a sense of guilt? 

 How do they treat the things their friends come to them excited about? Are they supportive? 

Do they actively seek romance, or do they wait for it to fall into their lap? 

Do they have a system for remembering names, long lists of numbers, things that need to go in a certain order (like anagrams, putting things to melodies, etc)? 

What memory do they revisit the most often? 

How easy is it for them to ignore flaws in other people? 

How sensitive are they to their own flaws?

How do they feel about children? 

How badly do they want to reach their end goal? 

If someone asked them to explain their sexuality, how would they do so? 

QUESTIONS FOR CREATORS

A) Why are you excited about this character? B) What inspired you to create them? C) Did you have trouble figuring out where they fit in their own story? D) Have they always had the same physical appearance, or have you had to edit how they look? E) Are they someone you would get along with? Would they get along with you? F) What do you feel when you think of your OC (pride, excitement, frustration, etc)? G) What trait of theirs bothers you the most? H) What trait do you admire most? I) Do you prefer to keep them in their canon universe? J) Did you have to manipulate or exclude canon factors to allow them to create their character?

[persephinae]

I just think he's neat

[persephinae]

It's interesting to think about my two Elden Ring ocs

Both Tarnished and pulled to the Lands Between the Fog, however both viewed their destiny differently

Revyss was a kind person who always helped others, an astrologer who studied stars and magics, dragged and compelled to go on this quest to become Elden Lord, something she did not want. No matter how much she cried and screamed, she was compelled by a geas to do this until she succeeded. She had to become braver, fiercer, and lose a part of herself to break the cycle and complete her destiny.

Derran, on the other hand, was already brave and fierce from the start. He was a warrior through and through. He did not know fear or fatigue, he held the flame of ambition within his fist. If he must complete this quest then he would do it as quickly as possible, striking down all who got in his way.

However, as he started assisting others too small and weak in the Lands Between, he learned kindness, patience, empathy, and friendship. It was through Boc and Rya that the reason for becoming Elden Lord changed. He wanted to use his strength and ambition to become someone who protected those who would be trampled and forgotten by others.

I just think they're neat

[ooops-i-arted]

One last art for 2023, featuring Derran Kanis, my Jedi OC.

When I made her at 12, I dreamed of one day writing an EU novel for Star Wars. Now I get to write a bunch of fanfiction in the Star Wars universe and share it with y'all. So I guess I got my wish after all (without dealing with official copyright law or Lucasfilm/Disney lol). This was definitely not my most creative year but I am hoping 2024 will give me more opportunities to get back into it.

[ooops-i-arted]

It's the last day of June but I have one more post in me for @jedijune but it's a little different. The goal of Jedi June is to appreciate the Jedi, but this time I'm appreciating them in a more meta sense.

I saw Attack of the Clones in 2002 as a wee lil preteen and as soon as I laid eyes on the Jedi, I instantly wanted to be one. I wanted a cool lightsaber and space adventures like many a kid, of course. But I was also hitting those awkward teenage years and all that comes with it and I had no words for it, but I knew I was experiencing it different than my peers. I only heard "gay/queer" as an insult or an opportunity to be bullied or even murdered. I wouldn't hear "asexual" until after college. But I knew that more than anything I wanted to imagine being a Jedi because then I would never have to get married. (Also: they had girls. My sister and I watched the AotC VHS over and over and over again and memorized every single frame that had Aayla and Shaak Ti and Bultar Swan and Luminara Unduli and Barriss Offee. Even though you had to be a thin, pretty girl, girls still got to be Jedi.)

And on top of all of that, I was supposed to be too old for toys but I still wanted to make stories. So I took my happy ass and my allowance money to Borders and bought this:

This, here, is Baby's First Fanfiction and Fanart. I wouldn't fall in love with LotR until January 2003. So this is where I got my start as a writer and artist of characters. (I drew all the time since I could hold a pencil, but mostly dinosaurs and animals.) I loved writing and drawing before, but it was the Jedi that first catapulted me into what I've become as a fan artist and fanfic writer now.

So for fun I dug out Baby's First Jedi OCs and decided to draw them with twenty-one more years of art skills:

For a little background, 2002 Preteen Me had a Very Grand Plan of writing a novel, submitting it to Lucasfilm, and getting it published. It would be about Derran Kanis, My Most Wonderful Jedi OC and her life and her adventures, and the very last scene would be choosing her Padawan, whose final line would be "Yoda, my name is." (Preteen Me was confident that since we don't actually see Yoda in action this wouldn't break George Lucas' rule of not revealing Yoda's species or background. The focus would be all on My Wonderful Jedi OC anyway.)

A little Yoda is a lot easier to draw now after all the practice with Grogu! Should I call Favroni and tell them it was my idea first? XD

I was obsessed with the Jedi Apprentice series most of all, so of course there had to be more characters for them to get into Shenanigans with for both generations.

Leronna was Derran's friend, a wise and serious Jedi Master. Derran was the Qui-Gon of the relationship and more of a risk-taker, while Leronna was more solemn to balance her out.

Their other friend was Mukdon, because I thought a Hutt Jedi would be really cool and unique. To contrast Hutt stereotypes, he was rather un-confident and a worrywart.

Of course Yoda needed a friend to get into trouble with, so he had Leronna's Padawan Te-Mon Zeyon. Te-Mon was the serious and play it safe one to contrast Yoda being more reckless (I figured he couldn't be that wise and solemn yet but that cheerfully mischievous side had been there the whole time.) Now that I look at him, I think I accidentally designed a Light Side version of Kylo Ren's TFA outfit.

Last of all my redraws was Tama Ci, a posthumous character and Leronna's first Padawan. Losing her to an illness made Leronna reluctant to take another Padawan and contributed to Te-Mon being more cautious, since he didn't want to risk himself and force his Master to face another loss. I don't remember for sure but I strongly suspect her design was influenced by Aayla Secura, since she's my sister's favorite Jedi and we often tracked down any content or merch of her together.

No I will not post any of the fanfiction... it's baaaaaad. It was written by a preteen and it shows. (No offense to any of you in that age range - just that as an adult, I've learned a lot more since then.) But like favorite dolls you take off the shelf and play with now and then, all these characters hold a special place in my heart. Derran, as my first and most dearest - the core of my first grand plan for a long fic - is very special to me and my oldest "active" OC, now existing as a character in SWTOR.

The Jedi were escapism and a refuge for me as a kid, just like Din Djarin and his friends are for me now. So that's what I really appreciate most. That even as a preteen/teenager, in all those awkward years, I still had a place to mentally escape and pretend I was a badass space monk who never had to get married and could live in a cool building with a huge library.

[ooops-i-arted]

Jedi Knight Derran Kanis for @jedijune

(Because this event is about Jedi appreciation and who do I appreciate more than my OC I've had since 2002?)

[ooops-i-arted]

@auditect said: Is she the one you compared to Ahsoka (at least in an earlier incarnation)?

Nope! That would be my other Baby's First Jedi OC, Lia Skye. I'm not 100% sure which character I made first, but my earliest Derran stuff in my Jedi notebook is dated 2002 and there's no Lia til 2005, although I know I made her earlier because she was part of Baby's First Novel, which was my own version of Star Wars Episode III because I couldn't wait til it was released lol. Derran's fics were short ones inspired by the Jedi Apprentice series (though I also wrote those for Lia too).

Lia was like Ahsoka because:

Apprentice to an Important Canon Character (Obi-Wan, because 1. even at 12 I knew Anakin had no business being around kids 2. Obi-Wan was my favorite so I wanted to write my OC with him)

The Important Canon Character spends WAY more time worrying about the OC than his friend/brother of 10 years

In fact in my Star Wars Episode III Version Anakin's Dark Side turn takes place completely offscreen and way more time is spent on Lia and Obi-Wan helping Padme hide her twins lmao

Losing the OC is 10 times more devastating than anything in canon or the relationship with the friend/brother (Lia is Anakin's first Order 66 victim)

Lia was TOTALLY SPESHUL AND AWESOME and had multiple lightsaber colors and even her eye color changed at some point because of Force Bullshit I Made Up. Also she had the same hair color and similar eye color as me but that was toooootally a coincidence lol and so was her age being only a few years older than mine. In general even her appearance was Speshul and Yooneek

However even at 11-12 I put my Jedi OC in Jedi robes and not a tube top or cocktail dress looking thing (that one's on Lucas not Felony tho)

Lia was an AMAZING COMBATANT for her age and also had special awesome visions that no one took seriously but were Very Important. She was also able to fight characters that should have been way above her skill level (like Count Dooku and she puts up a good fight before Anakin killed her). After her death she appeared as a Force ghost too. Obi-Wan also kept her lightsaber To Remember Her By

Lia regularly broke the rules but was always Justified and Right in the end and the Council either let it slide or even agreed she was ultimately right (although I never villainized them in by writing, it was just Lia was Too Amazing For Them To Truly Understand. I was a teenager in full No One Understaaaaaands Me mode, what can I say.)

All my favorite Jedi liked her and thought she was cool (Felony has Plo Koon, I had Obi-Wan and Yoda and Aayla.)

To contrast, Derran's only real Speshul trait was having the same hair/eye color as me (toooootally a coincidence I convinced myself at that age), she was a more balanced, albeit amateur character.

That said writing Lia was a huge escape after dealing with school & peers' crap all day and I don't regret it. It was mental and emotional self-care and it was fun. I still have all that bad fic and I still love it; even if I don't consider it "good" anymore, it made me the writer I am today and there are still things I look at and I'm like, that's a good idea I can execute better now, or I really like that turn of phrasing, so on. It made me a better writer and Lia has a special place in my heart. Nowadays she exists as my Jedi Knight in SWTOR, Skye Lir.

Drawing of Lia Skye from 2005 & in-game screenshot of Skye Lir from 2016. And to bring it around full-circle, in SWTOR Skye was Derran's Padawan. :)

Writing overpowered maybe-a-self-insert OC is self-care. But if I'm paying money to a company owning a massive franchise, it's not unreasonable for me to expect better quality writing than a depressed anxious amateur preteen writer desperately suppressing her own queerness and filtering the asexuality she doesn't understand through Jedi fanfic lmao. Or to put it another way, if a friend just getting into baking makes me a cake, I will support her efforts regardless of the quality of the final result, but if I buy from a popular well-known bakery I'm gonna damn well expect a good cake.

[jackhkeynes]

Lonxter Yatherpot

recipe taken in translation from the 1763 mealbook A Complete Lithing of the Towns and Cities of Markland, for the Edification of the Good Food Amateur, written by independent traveller Lord Carrow, Baron of Ebbasham.

Un pog dy bouðr fondr n'un gran paðel scaudr e l'agnel crostar par lot, emmenar an ardois, soulor oc refair a trey rennot d'agnel taglað e trencað, all'ugnlac eð ag morn (tandic l'eç dou derran retenir). Melt a little of the butter in a large shallow dish and sear the lamb in batches, remove to a plate, then repeat with three trimmed and sliced lamb kidneys, the onions and the carrots (these last two remaining).

Ci yettar con farin dessur, laiscar dou minut, soulor y savoranç e boglon affigr tout parmettant de boglir. L'agnel, rennot e fougl a laurer lor y paðel emmenar deur y foy. Dust with flour, leave for two minutes, then add the seasoning and broth, and allow to boil. Pour in the lamb, kidneys and lorrer and remove from the fire.

Y tatover despleyar ne trenc sur y carn e soulor eç voncirar con bouðr calt. Eç covauclir e cogr un hour e demy sur foy preuç. Arrange the tartover by slices over the meat and then glaze with hot butter. Place on a lid and cook for an hour and half on a low fire.

Candon son y tatover rent fort broun, tout emmenar deur y foy eð acqueldar pront. Once the tartover are well-browned, remove from the fire and serve immediately.

[ooops-i-arted]

Derran and Skye for the @jedijune​ prompt Meditation/Mindfulness.

Skye is very active and generally prefers to move while meditating, but Derran is adamant Skye try lots of different things to find what works best for her, and Skye finds that the rushing waters of the Room of One Thousand Fountains help her settle into meditation as well.

Also I just love the concept of the Room of One Thousand Fountains, and I’ve been trying to create my own version in SWTOR for in-game Skye to enjoy:

[ooops-i-arted]

10/18/20:  I found some old art, one of the first drawings I did of Derran Kanis, my very first Star Wars OC, in 2002.  So I decided to redraw her.