#thelen

[indignantlemur]

May I pretty pretty please have Thelen deep lore?

Thelen stan #2 💜

Alright! Emigre Deep Lore Snippet: The Thelen Problem!

Thelen was actually supposed to be Dagmar's initial love interest.

Emigre was a simpler story then. It would have been a sweet office romance type thing, with minimal unnecessary sci-fi elements and no intrigue or sub-plots whatsoever. Or rather, there would have been those things, but they'd be in the background. Secondary. B-plots.

Obviously, that didn't happen.

As I've mentioned in my previous deep lore snippet, sometimes my characters have very different ideas as to how the story should go than I do. Writing them sometimes feels more like interviewing them, to be honest. So, when I was first preparing to write Emigre, I had a plan. Dagmar/Thelen was the goal, as the primary relationship for the eventual quad, and I had it all worked out. Only...

Only, Thelen kinda shrugged when I tried to write it and said, "Well... okay, but what about her?"

And I, the actual person theoretically in control of my brain, wondered, "Who?!"

And Thelen pointed to a rapidly forming, nameless blob of a half-formed character that I had previously been quite unaware of. Which is especially alarming given that I am supposed to be in charge here.

"Her," he said. "She's the one for me. Don't get me wrong, Dagmar's great. Absolutely would, you know? But just trust me on this. You'll understand when you get there."

Which, of course, meant that I now had no plan for Thelen outside of a nebulous 'you'll figure it out' promissory note. I kept writing anyway, periodically prodding the character-blob in the half-hearted hope that it would develop into something useful. It didn't.

To be honest, I was starting to make backup plans for Thelen to remain a bachelor forever when I hit that first, big hiatus.

And then, years later, @the-lady-general wrote The Sheriff of Kumari Square and the nameless blob finally, finally had a name and a budding personality. Now, at last, I could work this blob into the actual story and make plans!

It could be a meet-cute! It could be another office romance! It could be a will-they-won't-they flirt fest! It could be--

And instead of cooperating with the faintest notion of an easy b-plot romance scene, the former-blob now known as Vrath effectively rugby-tackled Thelen out of nowhere, screaming, "WHY ARE YOU SO FUCKING PRETTY?!"

And I did, at last, understand.

[weedsekatzefollowers]

GOD i was looking at the playlists again and remembered that brionna seems to pretty much be hiding as many secrets as thelen LIKE HEY BRIONNA. STOP BEING SO MYSTERIOUS AND ALSO BEAUTIFUL

I’ve got to be honest here. Brionna might have a couple of secrets, but compared to Thelen she’s a saint. Everyone is, actually.

[indignantlemur]

Since we seem to be asking for additional character lore recently, any Thelen lore?

(From Thelen stan #2)

Hello Thelen Stan the Second! Marvellous to hear from you again! <3

Here are some fun facts about Thelen:

When Thelen isn't doing his job or keeping a weather eye on Dagmar, he's usually at home or at the bars and clubs. Andorians don't really do dance clubs, of course, but densely packed party scenes with strong drinks and loud music are nonetheless very popular! He rarely goes home alone - or at all.

Thelen has always been on the bigger side where Andorians are concerned, with more chitin and more muscle than most due to his lineage. He grew up learning the necessity of being careful with non-Sannev Andorians that he wasn't actively sparring with, especially when he was a kid - but even then, it wasn't a height disparity that he was dealing with so much as a bulk disparity. When Thelen first met Dagmar, he was genuinely alarmed by her size and, frankly, a little concerned. He's since met smaller Humans and realized that Dagmar is actually quite normal by Human standards, but that initial impression remains.

Thelen was never supposed to be Thoris' chief of security! He took on the role after the previous CoS was badly injured during one of Thoris' veeg hunts. He and his team have since convinced Thoris to hunt a little less frequently, and with more backup - something Thoris only agreed to very reluctantly.

Thelen met Thy'lek Shran during one of the man's many debriefings, several of which Thoris attended. He respects Shran's scrappy nature and willingness to seek out allies, but also does not think he would have made the same decisions had Thelen been in the other's place during the events of ST: ENT.

Thelen's favourite colour is brilliant, acidic green.

Thelen's (new) favourite food is those weird little Human meat-cake things Dagmar made with the brown sauce. He craves them, and nothing in Andorian cuisine quite compares.

[indignantlemur]

Click HERE for larger image!

Thelen's all done! Since Thelen is noted in Emigre as having much more chitin than average for an Andorian, his chitin map is more overt than Shral's, both in terms of how extensive his chitin is and how pronounced it is.

While Thelen's level of chitin expression is above average, it is actually the norm for Andorians belonging to Clan Sannev. Pre-Unification, they were something between a paramilitary force and peacekeepers, and largely imposed what passed for peace in those days by any means necessary in their territory. Sannev also cultivated protected trade routes throughout the continent, and as a result were a little more widely spread than the average Pre-Unification Clan. During those days, the leaders of Clan Sannev gave very unusual orders to their clan-members to selectively seek out spouses born to Clans which possessed inheritable traits like their own overly developed chitin. This had several effects, not least of which was ensuring that Clan Sannev actually had a very broad gene pool in comparison to other contemporary Clans of the time - though that benefit paled in comparison to the natural heavy armour gained through generations of careful trait selection. Sannev men and women are easily recognizable in modern times for their pronounced chitin and their more solid, heavily muscled forms - or rather, heavily when compared to other Andorians.

At some point I'm going to draw up a reference sheet for body types and chitin maps for the various characters so you guys can get a better idea of the kind of variety I'm trying to describe. It's on my to-do list. I'm actually really proud of some of the new things I learned and implemented for this pic, not gonna lie, so I included detail shots! Look upon my works, ye mighty, and despair!

[indignantlemur]

Some more in-progress pics! Shral up top, and Thelen on the bottom. Flat colours only for now while I play around with skin tone and colour palettes, but overall I'm reasonably happy with the poses! Both of their chitin patterns are opaque for the time being as well, though that will change in the future.

You'll note that while Shral has very pronounced subdermal chitin on his face and around his antennae, he doesn't have any on his hands like Thelen does. Coming from different Clans, both of them have differing chitin patterns and expressions thereof. Thelen has much more pronounced chitin all over the rest his body, which is a vestigial trait of Clan Sannev. Shral does not, which is in keeping with the dominant Clan Hrisvalar expression.

[indignantlemur]

In case folks have been wondering what I'm up to, I've started drawing again! We have a mostly done Shral, a half-way done Miraal, and a very in-progress Thelen so far! I plan to also do Vrath and Thoris, and eventually Dagmar.

[indignantlemur]

New tablet! New art program! New possibilities!

In other news, drawing and Stardew Valley have been getting me through this rough patch and I'm finally starting to feel more like myself again.

So, in celebration of that - here's an in-progress snapshot of Thelen! I ended up not loving the neck angle from the previous version - no matter what I did it just looked wonky - so I fixed it! 10% less sass, but also 10% less sanity damage from trying to figure out the shading!

[indignantlemur]

Sometimes I get frustrated drawing hairstyles from specific angles. They just don't look right no matter what I do, and I get really put out about the whole thing. Not drawing-hands-levels of put out, but definitely not happy.

Sometimes, I get so frustrated I badly edit powdered wigs onto whatever character I'm working on because it's hilarious and it makes me laugh - and if I'm laughing, I'm not frustrated. Every time I've done this, it's like a mental refresher. I can finally make the hair design work. It's like magic!

This works so well that it's now just part of my process. If I ever draw something for you, I can almost guarantee I'm going to stick a powdered wig on your character. Purely for my own sanity.