The name's Jayla Cephidae, and I'm a mutant jellyfish who likes to draw and yap about media!
This is my main blog, where I post ocs & multifandom junk, yap about whatever I make, or post announcements. If you wanna read media reviews or fanfic, my sideblog is @longshorelibrarian.
tags to note:
reef rambles - text posts about random topics
blue bulletin - announcements. May contain the occasional youtube or twitch link
ocean ocs - art/lorebits of my ocs! Sometimes I'll post the oc name if I draw them a lot. Some will even get updates.
For those who wonder, I've been on Twitter gushing about my Cypher System character Alya. She was made for a Curse of Strahd campaign and I loved playing her so much that she's now a permanent OC. You can read more on Character Hub below or ask me questions here!
I'll be gradually adding more lore to her I just gotta organize shit. I really should take more notes for my campaign experiences.
Alya is a sniper, so I designed her outfit based on riflemen during the Napoleonic Wars. She has knee pads for parkour and kneeling for hours. Her cloak is green because she’s from the org, the “Green Cloaks.”
Green Cloaks was a a volunteer guerilla force formed by villagers to protect their homes from shitty nobles. Their cloaks were green to hide in the woods. They would pick off soldiers unfamiliar with the forest and rob passing carts. They gradually became an espionage and assassination guild that cover the region. They target shitty nobles, and robber barons and the like. Think of a reverse Pinkertons where unions would hire them to protect workers instead of owners hiring them to harass workers.
Her hat was inspired by Capitano from Genshin Impact (I don’t play) and Inguin's hat from Witch Hat Atelier. The brim has a spell on it that can confuse anyone who looks at it, cloaking her identity. It works like those two-way mirrors allowing her to see beyond but folks can’t look behind. It also has her eyeglass prescription built in!
Also want to note. I gave Alya's braids a maze pattern. One thing to note about the Green Cloaks is that they used games to train young recruits for espionage and assination. So having a "game" on her head is a subtle nod.
So one thing that happened over the course of the year was me getting into Curse of Strahd. My friend Basil Strikes (a vtuber who likes to yap about ttrpgs) invited me to play the Cypher System! Little did he know that I have a special interest in Dracula and its adjacents/variants, so now, even months after the campaign has been concluded, I'm still here. The following designs are based on a combination of canon lore (think the game books and the fictional spinoffs like "I, Strahd"), Basil's campaign writing, and my own headcanons from having the story still stew in my head forever.
If you wanna read notes on the process, read below!
Design Notes
Portraits
I started with Strahd, since he has the most visual materials so it's easier to think of my own twist. I based his face off of actors Julian McMahon (Fantastic 4 2005) and Gerard Butler (Phantom of the Opera 2004). I wanted to give the vibe of this domineering yet capable leader and scholar (Dr. Doom) and this possessive romantic who's also overbearingly paternalistic (the Phantom).
After drawing Strahd, I copied and pasted his face and readjusted the features to make him younger. I wanted Sergei to look a bit haphazard, partially for story reasons but also to show "life." While Strahd is clean and mostly symmetrical, showing he's orderly and a bit of a stickler, Sergei is wild and full of life. I gave him blue eyes (not even knowing that he has them in I, Strahd) because blue is associated with "goodness." I gave Strahd blue eyes as well to parallel each other and I think it's stereotypical to give villains atypical features like come on now. Plus I think of Beauty and the Beast and how Gaston and Prince Adam both have the same eye color to show their connections.
Tatyana came last. She's also someone with official artwork but I started from scratch. I wanted her to be my idea of what a beautiful woman would look like to be easier. I based her face off of Emilia Clarke, because I love her thick eyebrows (great for expression) and I was moved by her performance in Penny Dreadful as Brona, due to the character's journey with victimization and becoming something unknown to herself and fighting for her agency. I also based her off of Zendaya who is gorgeous, and her red haired looks for Spiderman promo offered a great skin and hair palette to give warmth. Tatyana is often associated with the sun itself so I wanted to reflect that.
Ouftits
I started with Sergei. In Basil's campaign, he's a Gunslinger Knight of Argynvost! The knights of Argynvost are an order of warriors that worship the god of the sunrise Lathander. They defend Barovia from creatures in the night, and based on the lore of Monte Cook Games fight with magic guns and ride mechanical steeds. I gave him half-plate armor and gambeson for easy mobility and can translate to the biker aesthetic a bit easier. He has a Raven pauldron for the family crest.
Tatyana came next. I headcanon her as Vestani (which is the dnd version of the Romani people) and I referenced various photos and paintings from the 18 & 1900s. I gave her cool tones to break up the warmth of her palette, a patterned skirt for visual interest, and gave her sun earrings as a subtle nod to her book background as an orphan of the Morninglord's church.
With Strahd, I took inspiration from Cossack nobility, 15th century clothing, and the Targaryen outfits from A Knight of the Seven Kingdoms. Wanted to give him a long tunic to show wealth with the fabric, feather pins and raven details to tie to his house, and a large cloak for intimidation.
I like how I said I was gonna get active on tumblr. I really can't say what my problem is. I've been focusing a lot on school and work and I tend to be way more active on Twitter, cause even though Tumblr would be better for the long rambles I want to make about certain subjects, Twitter is where more of my community is. There's also a pressure (self-inflicted) to perform on here. I haven't finished adding the graphics to my alt page, longshorelibrarian, and I don't want to post anything there until I have them because I don't want to look like a bot. I also temporarily got out of a show that I was writing fanfic for and I still have a request from one person that I haven't made so I feel bad and just have been a coward in the darkness (if you're reading this I'm so sorry it's been hard to get motivation).
But I have really gotten into Curse of Strahd lately. Like hella into it. And I'm getting back into being a YouTuber. So I want to actually use this blog to share my process and thoughts on things. Maybe I should make a substack too? I don't know. I'm indecisive and the issue is that I have big ideas with little focus, or I focus so much on planning that I don't do the thing. But we pray and we move forward with what we can!
For those who wonder, I've been on Twitter gushing about my Cypher System character Alya. She was made for a Curse of Strahd campaign and I loved playing her so much that she's now a permanent OC. You can read more on Character Hub below or ask me questions here!
I'll be gradually adding more lore to her I just gotta organize shit. I really should take more notes for my campaign experiences.
Bro I like how I talked all this good shit about getting back into tumblr only to disappear. Part of it is not having a banner (I want to have all my graphics to keep from looking like a bot) and just my toxic attachment to Twitter. I'll get the hang of it here though. I still gotta do the graphics for my fanfic alt and work on that short story I promised someone eons ago, but ye. Hi! Have y'all been waiting on me or do y'all care? It's fine either way. You'll see me a little more often.
I'm sorry to anyone expecting things from this blog. I refuse to post anything until I have graphics cause I don't wanna seem like a bot, and I haven't had time to draw
