Same anon here also was curious - only if you would like to share of course - nuromai I have noticed has a different tail sometimes? Like the almost bug like to another one with feathers. Are they able to change their appearance at will or was it just a different character design? :)
Hello! TLDR; Their "true form" is abstract and reflects a lot of their current state (bug/draconic/creature features), but is disguised by an illusion spell, to recreate an appearance they had when they were still a celestial. c: Otherwise, I also just... like drawing Nuromai a little differently everytime. He's at war with his identity, and was even when he wasn't "changed" by the sea, and I like that his design reflects that. Until he has time to decide who he wishes to be, I think he will continue to change a lot, so more designs are absolutely going to happen. Long version;
Nuromai used to be a celestial (aasimar based) individual from an island, where they were one of many direct asexual descendants of a celestial entity (mother), but when the apocalypse (in-campaign; melantide) came and rose from a blackened sea with monsters and disease, that mother was eventually killed. Nuromai and his siblings lost their flight due to her fall, with many crashing from the skies as they had risen to protect her, Nuromai was one of the few that did not fly to save her, since he did not think she had a chance, leaving him, unlike most others, uninjured. The feathers display the state that he used to be in, but with the melantide, many things got changed, and the more bug/creature like appearance is a consequence of this voided divinity and, what he so far believes, a corruption of his soul. He is currently disguising himself with the aid of a passive illusion spell, pretending to carry that divinity, to "appear" as if he still holds starlight and feathers, in hopes of gaining more credibility, the more closely he resembles his mother in life. While he does not wish to be like his mother, it has unfortunately protected him financially a lot to sell his divinity to the highest bidder. (from their backstory doc for anyone who feels like it lol - its a bit more harshly worded as its from Nuromai's perspective,,, CW; insinuated death, some more grim descriptors, read at your own discretion)
"
Growing up divinity has already been frail, standing against the floods to come with faulty pride and certainty, as they argued that what was great, righteous, and powerful would always remain standing. Eventually, that certainty too would crumble, causing many of their kind to fall from the sky. Neither wave nor land left a pleasant impact on the bodies of the once hopeful prophets.
Their flesh would cling to the cliff sides like they had once to faith, feathers, and bones scraped off by the crustaceans of the coast.
Nuromai was relieved to find themselves on the ground when the foundation of their life crumbled and fell into the sea, the body of a god submerged in the tide, the blackened substance eating away at its flesh. Praised be divinity, and yet there it lies, no more than a feast for the beasts of the depths.
While the remainders of their kin grieved over the death of their lady or even went as far as to join her in her sunken grave, Nuromai chose to abandon the naiveties of religion, to let the corpses rest for evolution had taken its course. It had become apparent that the world had changed beyond recognition, that those who wished to live would have to change alongside it or perish with the flood.
There was no god worth dying for any longer, those who lived on those voided islands were those greedy enough to consume, to hold onto what little power they could hold, be it mind, body, or soul, anything you could claim ownership over would lend you power, that was for certain.
Nuromai had once looked down upon the people they chose to join, but the countless feathered bodies that scattered the streets had long turned their stomachs above their pride, admitting defeatedly that living was worth more than empty words of courage. ...
With the death of their mother Nima, most divinity within Nuromai and their remaining siblings was lost, whatever magic held their form together was absent, leaving them disfigured and void of light.
Eyes once blue now overcast with the appearance of a void, scars and flesh revealed where matter once knew no bounds.
Through the help of Cyrenic, Nuromai managed to maintain a lot of their appearance through the means of illusions, but behind closed doors their wings weighed like a dead limb on their back, their eyes black as the sea that their mother had drowned in. "
