some concept designs of Bess for my eldritch masked ones au at some arbitrary ages
if you missed it, i started writing some of my thoughts about the purebond root masks and it got out of hand lmao. you can see the full ramble in that link there but long story short: purebond root wants to grow, takes nutrients from the host and spreads. it interprets the dna of the host and the mask and grows. in Bess's case that means that the owl feathers are repeated down her back and arms etc, but also means that the person continues to grow bigger.
the mask/purebond root does take over eventually and is constantly starving, concerned only with growing and growing. most adults are not going to make it too far past Stage 1 (Bess ~24y/o). the inner circle would hang out in Stage 2 (Bess ~36 y/o). and The Elder (Ballum's descendant usually) is the only one in Stage 3 as they are the one who is prioritised for food, probably gets offerings, probably is like a god. anyway just wanted to indicate a steep growing curve.
roughly this is where i'm at with the purebond root progression:
Stage 0 (children) - nothing, clearly a man-made mask
Stage 1 (adult) - uncanny valley, realistic mask
Stage 2 (inner circle) - transition, person with animal traits
Stage 3 (elder) - unfathomable and compelling, you probably wouldn't believe this was once a person
pinterest board if you are interested in visuals for the stages (not sure if everything is categorised correctly)
some sketches i did shortly after my rambles but not sure will be completed
bede walking away from the masked ones (and his big fucked up owl mum lol) he is like the scale for what an average person is in relation to adult masked folk since he never wore his
,,,and now i am remembering i wanted to give eldritch bess multiple eyes and i fORGOT </3
anyway lowkey obsessed with big fucked up bess and rust attending her. she's also hella tall and barely a person anymore in terms of body but arguably she is more a person because she is more alert and has more heart. she will throw hands with anyone threatening bess or any of the masked ones. she will care for bess through thick and thin, whether it is appreciated or not
and some sketches of bess, rust, quill, and plug hehe
