Not sure if the rest of you do this, but I kind of sometimes turn my characters’ retainers into supporting characters. Like one of Zakuro’s is her estranged sister Sayuri. I was tinkering around and didn’t really like the eye color of one of Kriss’s retainers, and next thing I knew I had overhauled them into Kriss’s parents and two of her sisters (Kriss is the youngest of seven daughters).
For reference, Kriss hails from Aerslaent. While the canon tells us literally nothing what it’s like, from my supposition and basing on how the map depicts a Viking-esque longship in that region, in my head Aeslaent’s environment is much like the islands and cultures of the North Sea (Scotland, Ireland, Norway, Sweden, Iceland, and the Faroe Islands) and the Northern Empty is the North Sea. So kind of this mix of northern Gaelic and Scandanavian, a bit like the Hebrides or the Isle of Skye, and just as rain-soaked and storm-battered.
Okay so I’m really just tinkering around with the character creator and want to show off because I had fun making these little people only I can see. :p
Also, it’s really friggin’ hard getting screenshots of retainers. >:(
So from top to bottom we have:
Ryssuwil: The Old Bear of the Mountain and Kriss’s father. A titan of a man whose rages literally shake the earth around him, he rarely speaks more than he needs to and more than a few think his only words are “[disapproving grunt]”, “[grudgingly approving grunt]”, and “[intimidating growl].” Preferring to live out in the woods and mountains of his island and caring little for most people, his tempestuous romance with the sea witch Syggswys gave him seven daughters, all of which he typically refers to as simply “girl.”
Syggswys: The Storm Witch and Kriss’s mother. A dangerous and wild woman who is technically not a pirate, her strange branch of conjurery and geomancy focuses on the waves and storms that plague the region. Her magic can see a ship through a hurricane or navigate a reef, or likewise hide them from the kraken and sea serpents indigenous to the Northern Empty. It can just as easily hex or bring down maladies upon a man who offends her, making her an object of fear and respect among the locals. Having no small talent for rolling the bones and reading omens such as birds, stars and animal entrails, she comes ashore only when the portents tell her is right, which only contributes to the complex - and often stormy - relationship with Ryssuwil and the seven daughters she’s born him.
Iyrngeim: The Grey Siren and Kriss’s eldest sister. A proud woman who prefers civilization far more than either of her parents, Iyrngeim makes her living as a skald, a local variety of bard, at the local jarl’s court. While she does posses some small talent for magic, she prefers music and the finer things. She thinks of her youngest sister as hotblooded and far too much like her father with Kriss’s berserker ways and affinity for animals.
Skoeflona: The Golden Oak and Kriss’s youngest sister. Somehow not inheriting either of her parents’ proclivity for bloodsoaked carnage and violence (note that their entire courtship was a whirlwind of fire and blood), she serves as a wandering healer and conjurer. A kindly and sweet tempered woman that Kriss is fiercely protective of, she has been seen tending to wounded animals as much as humans. Some stories put her command of magic as rivaling that of her mother’s, while others claim she can speak to wild beasts. Most of these are probably just superstitious locals.
