#tyalaskr

[getvalentined]

Tyalaskr is my oldest (surviving) OC, having been originally invented in his roughest, simplest form when I was 11 years old; this makes him 27 this year, which is a hell of a thing.

He's Riv's bestie. Possibly his boyfriend. Definitely his husband, but in the "for tax purposes" kind of way. They don't live in a region that has taxes, so nobody knows exactly what they mean by this. They were born on the same day!

Random OC lore below.

Tyalaskr is the only male in his entire species, and is the result of a vicious breeding project undertaken by his mother over 10,000 years ago. His father was an aur, like Riv, which means that Tyal shouldn't have been able to be conceived at all because there shouldn't have been a soul available for him to form around—but somehow there was, and now he's here.

Tyal has 60+ "sisters," although they're actually almost entirely grandnieces and great-grandnieces; his mother's species operates similarly to ants or bees, with one queen capable of breeding and a host of sterile workers/warriors/etc., all of which refer to each other in sibling terms regardless of what generation they come from. This species is one of three that were intentionally crafted by one of the first generation born on the planet, and were designed specifically for use in war. The culture that made them is long gone, but they've never really been able to shake off their original purpose.

He's immortal on his father's side and almost indestructible on his mother's side, so Tyal is just gonna be here forever and he's made peace with that for the most part. He has limited shapeshifting abilities (from his mother's side) that allow him to move in and out of mortal society periodically, although he spends a lot of time living with the aur.

In spite of being considered a success as far as his mother's breeding projects go, Tyal has a lot of what could be considered birth defects:

Instead of having feet like his sisters or cloven hooves like the aur, he has mostly-digitigrade three-toed almost-hooves with a dewclaw in the back, which aren't very functional on the majority of terrain.

The opening of his mouth is too small for his teeth (because aur don't have mouths but do have teeth) so he has some difficulty opening up very wide without hurting himself.

There are multiple places where he produces feathers instead of hair due to a follicle mismatch, most notably along one side of his head, the underside of his ears, and several points on his tail (which is not visible in this picture).

The inability to shapeshift properly could also be considered a birth defect, particularly since he has access to pretty much all the abilities of an aur save for sublimation.

His longer-than-normal limbs (particularly the structure of his legs and feet) make him slightly heavier than he should be, which gave him some trouble learning to fly; thankfully, aur can levitate when they reach adulthood, so Tyal is able to leverage that together with his wings and hasn't had much trouble since childhood. He still doesn't like wearing anything heavy, avoiding metal accessories, weaponry and armor entirely, opting for the lightest and most minimal clothing possible.

I'm gonna cut myself off here because, again, this is my oldest OC so I could talk about him for years. I will not bore you further.

[kingofbeartraps]

Tyalaskr, my oldest original character and Kortha's "older brother." (It's complicated, he's technically her great-great-grand-uncle, but the social structure of their species simplifies family relationships; Tyal is an outlier in every respect already, so it's easier for everyone to just call him "brother.") He's the ancient, exhausted and disproportionate result of a crazy breeding experiment performed by the second queen of his hive, so he's a half-breed and hoo boy does it show.

High-res on Pillowfort

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[getvalentined]

Very old and barely cleaned up art of the majority of the main cast of my unfinished fantasy novel, because I realized that these are all trapped over on my old compromised blog and I'd like to have them over here.

Tsh'ander Clan West | Verrim kil Hadir vi Amalathae | Myn

Relia Eidanri | Asforahl | Marashac

Riv | Tyalaskr | The Meli

Deidric Carnelian-19 | Cieni *high whistle/click sound* | Kortha VI

This is roughly the order of introduction, if I'm remembering correctly, although it gets a little muddied after Tyalaskr.

Random nonsense about these freaks under the cut.

Verrim was born missing one arm and about 30% of either lung in a deal his mother made with their patron god to make sure he inherited a specific magic that only presents in Amalathae women, without which he would have been taken from her at birth and raised up elsewhere.

Myn and Riv are members of a species born from the energetic aftershocks of the creation of the planet. They have a static population—when one dies, another is born to take their place and carry the energy that creates their equivalent of a soul. This is referred to as a "changeover," not reincarnation.

Asforahl and Marashac are the last survivors of the first generation born after the First made the planet and a manufactured species to populate it.

Tyalaskr is the result of a complex breeding experiment involving the murder of one of Riv and Myn's people, the changeover of which led to the birth of Riv. Tyal and Riv are best friends and share a birthday.

The Meli was accidentally created in a magical splicing accident that resulted in a couple people and at least one large feline getting fused together into a single living thing. It has two hearts, several extra ribs, too many vertebrae, and telescoping legs.

Deidric comes from a culture where hair color defines a person's role in society. She is, unfortunately, a genetic aberration who was born to parents with white hair (commoners, ~90% of the population) while she has black hair (nonperson labor, ~9.9% of the population); her teacher is a white-haired man who was born to black-haired parents ~50 year prior. Their culture is in shambles.

What would constitute the closest thing Cieni has to a surname is a series of sounds that literally can't be produced by most spoken or any written language, so that's what you get.

[getvalentined]

@felishaww : Tyalaskr (OC) in “What You See"

Tyal is my oldest original character; the unfinished novel from which he originates, The Indori Cycle, has been recast and recut a good dozen times since its inception, and somehow he always survives the chopping block. He comes out a little different every time, but he’s had more or less the same design since 2013 so I think he’s set at this point.

FFVII Palette Challenge

[kingofbeartraps]

And here’s my boy, Tyalaskr. He is the smallest character in the cast and takes up the most space in his portrait, which is why it’s taken so long.

As the result of one of Highmother Kortha’s breeding experiments, Tyal is an uncomfortable blend between the last man-made “demon” species and the aur, which means he shouldn’t have a soul and other weird things. (He’s very orange in color, making him the only afiri with coloration outside the realm of blues and violets.)

He’s old and tired and determined to help where he can, but quite accustomed to no one ever knowing what he’s done (aside from his best friend). Needless to say, this makes getting swept up into the VERY PUBLIC mess with the indori a point of…frustration.

As usual, I’ll post a cleaner version once they’re all finished.

[kingofbeartraps]

Indori character blurbs

Deidric -- What is a soul but a burdensome thing, all full of indecision and heartache? Be grateful that you'll never feel the weight of a soul in your chest; thank the stars you'll never know what it is to drown in sorrow. Relia -- The golden daughter of the gilded leader of a city carved from alabaster and bone, does she ever feel the pressure of a world's worth of expectations fighting to bury her alive? Tsh'ander -- Such work you've done, struggling through the woods into the world outside, taking everything and everyone with you. You've worked so hard, we love you, and we will never be more ashamed. Verrim -- When the sun reached down with all its hands and he only had one with which to reach back, is that when the light withdrew and left him to wade through the fire of foresight alone? Myn -- It's only in those private moments, when she closes her eyes and the world is reflected back through vision that has never seen the long road of forever. She settles, stills, sleeps. She never wants to be alone. Tyalaskr -- You've been out of place so long, perhaps you never had a place to begin with. There's no doubt it would have been so much better if this--if you--had never come to pass. Riv -- What have you done? You must return it to the cycle, return it to the heavens, remove it before the blackening reaches the coil of creation buried in your breath.

[kingofbeartraps]

In which Tyalaskr is not pleased with his niece’s cohorts (and she isn’t either).

Fun fact: Tyal can’t completely close his mouth when he isn’t shifted to something a little less creepy because he has too many teeth. This is probably connected to the fact that his father’s species not only doesn’t have teeth, but lack mouths entirely.

[kingofbeartraps]

Things I did on my hiatus, part one.

It was recommended while I was trying to get my head on straight that I do some things that were just for me, where other people’s opinions and preference didn’t matter, and I did my best to take this idea to heart.

These are all from the fantasy novel/series that I always used to describe as “the book I’ll never write.” While on hiatus I successfully completed the first three chapters (that’s over 20,000 words, by the way) and outlined the entire first book from start to finish. It actually works now, after a lot of rework and a complete cast restructure--about half the original cast was cut entirely and replaced, although the other half mostly just went through design changes from the last attempt to write it, way back in 2008. The oldest of these characters was originally created when I was about 10-11 years old, so it’s been a long time to refine and rework the older cast members.

Tsh’ander, at the top, is the first POV character and basically our hero, she’s an ambassador for an elven race currently relegated to reservations due to their lack of magic. Next to her is Relia, my beautiful plus-sized princess and head of guest affairs at the tower where the Council meets and passes judgment on the free world. (Note: All humans in this universe appear to be either of African or Indian descent. No white humans.)

Myn and Riv, second row, are “unicorns.” This is the result of description being lost in translation by the first mortals in 2-3 ages to run into one. Their proper species name is “aur.” Myn heads up the Council that rules the free world and Riv is...a long story.

Tyalaskr takes up the entire third row and he’s the unfortunate result of an aur being bred with an afiri, a species of demon constructed during the first war. He’s ancient, exhausted, tiny and loves the world too much to let it fall apart on his watch. He’s also Riv’s best friend.