Some thoughts on Tellurian society. (In original Aristasia lore, "Telluria" was just Earth; in Deiamachy Opera, it's Aristasia's all-male counterpart with whom it's locked in binary orbit.)
Like their female-intermorph counterparts, Tellurians have two common sexes and an uncommon third. I've been trying to determine what it's based around without just reusing hair colour, and the only coherent thing to come to mind... is the old-school "seme/uke" dynamic, if only in the sense that one tends to be taller and stronger on average.
In most regions, Tellurians are encouraged to be fighters. Even their courtship rituals outwardly resemble sparring; "same-sex" couples usually just punch each other a lot, but chelani-equivalents are often specifically expected to defeat their prospective boyfriend in battle first.
Emotional repression is severely frowned upon, as is "being a dick". This, combined with the above, tends to result in guys who primarily express their friendliness and openness with "want a quick fight?"
As such, if a Tellurian is glaring stone-cold death at you and refusing to throw hands, you have seriously pissed him off.
While inter-sentient relationships are fairly common, especially over on Contra-Earth, Tellurians and Aristasians seem to be ontologically incapable of mutual attraction, viewing each other as weird annoyances at best. To give you an idea, Galen is seen as strange for just wanting to make friends with some Aristasians.
Some very, very rough design work, because I've got enough of that to post now.
1-1) Concepts for some Contra-Earth kin: Cytherans, Lepidopterans, the scarecrow-variant Galateans, and an unfinished doodle of a halfling (i.e. "squirrelfolk").
(Please ignore Misha down in the corner there. :U)
1-2) Gian and Renatus. I went back to that old "neon noir" Marathon AU concept for Gian's outfit; for Renatus, I figured that primary colours would make a good contrast to Angelus's black-and-white.
1-3) Full-body doodles of Reina's sisters--at least, the ones whose full designs I hadn't yet figured out (Reina, Teresa, and Leonora had theirs already)--plus Galen.
2) Redesigns of the three main Pyro Heart girls (yeah, three--Lavender's a trans girl now) and Fei, along with refs for Jasmine and Honey Pizza. While Pitaya didn't change much, Jiangsu's and Lavender's old outfits weren't really working for me anymore; I also wanted Fei to wear something that was both more evocative than "dark grey hoodie over black pants" and casual enough for her to wear around campus.
3) The rest of DV's mirror universe core seven (minus Jack).
4) The Ashlands crew, minus Aleph and Yasada. Erylis got totally overhauled on account of "got hopelessly stumped on what to do with her old leather punk getup"; Durga's outfit is fancier, and Dimah went back to his old, more grounded veil.
5-1) There was always meant to be a male counterpart to the Panregina species, but it took me a while (i.e. late last year) to settle on a direction. (The pre-evo still doesn't have a name as of this post.)
5-2) That, in turn, gave me an idea for a male counterpart to the Abyssonya species, modeled on the peacock mantis shrimp.
5-3) Assorted monstrum. Need to figure out how to make this cockatrice not look so much like a mundane rooster with other bits glued on.
Lo-fi doodles no. 15; most of this is actually from late last year.
The last four "Aristasia Megaman" bosses who didn't already have designs. (Note: I drew Leonora's bangs better later. :U)
Revisiting that old "mystic" setting by giving Zephyr (the djinn) and Jalila a refresh.
A rare pic of the Spada brothers sharing the same space.
Astrid's fashion tastes skew rather ascetic.
Lantana Juane, on stage.
A guy that I'm still working out what to do with; the original dream-based concept was "giant protag with human-size partner" that then became "inverse mecha" (as in, the human-sized partner became a robot).
Four of the nine Iris sisters, because a partial set is better than a non-existent one, I guess. (And yeah, one of these has been in the folder for... a while now.)
Project no. 58: Cordelia, Lady of Water and certified Worst Girl.
So Cordelia was always going to get made as part of this sub-project, but I put her off for a while over one element: her full-length dress. That bloody thing took at least three days and most of my "poolside siesta" skein; I'm glad it ended up being the right length, because if it didn't go over Cordelia's shins after all that time and effort, I'd have [redacted]
All that aside--I think Cordelia came out really well, and she looks great in person. Hell, that huge dress even allows her to sit up without needing to be leaned on something.
Project no. 57: Reina, Lady of Glass. Given her issues with her family, maybe it's appropriate that she didn't get made at the beginning of this sub-project. :U
I used some parts that had been rejected for Archangel Michael (noted below) for her hair. The two spikes are meant to emulate the shape of her bangs on that side of her head; I wasn't sure about them at first, but figured that this was better than the distracting gaps that a flat piece would leave.
Now let's sit her with Teresa--oh, they got in a fistfight.
{antique white}
0) ch 15
1) sc 3, hdc 3, dc 8, ch, turn
2) dc 8, hdc 3, sc 3, ch, turn
3) dec, hdc-dec, hdc 3, dc 7
{layer on top of each other}
--
[BANGS B (Reina's left, our right)]
{antique white}
0) ch 11
1) sc 3, hdc 3, dc 4, ch, turn
2) dc 4, inc 2, hdc 3, sc 3, ch, turn (12)
3) sc 3, hdc 3, dc 6
{repeat R0-3 once more}
{NOTE: I used a rejected piece from Archangel Michael; this is an approximation}
{silver mist}*
0) ch 15
1) sc 14; join rounds
2-13) sc 14
{cuff for Reina's left arm only: ch 16 silver mist, dc 15}
*{for Reina's right arm: start w/antique white, cc silver mist on R6}
--
[HAND & THUMB] x2
{black}
0) ch 7
1) sc 6, continue on other side, sc 6 (12)
2) sc 12
3) cc black, [sc 6, inc] x 2 (14)
4-6) sc 14, tie off
7) {thumb} ch 3
8) sc 2
{gems on Reina's right hand: [MR 6, sc] for center, embroider for accents}
--
[GAUNTLET]
{monet}
0) ch 6
1) sc 4, dec, ch, turn
2) sc, hdc-inc, sc 3, ch, turn
3) sc 4, dec
4) sc across ends of R1 and R3 to form point
