How to get an AER cameo character

in #aer4 years ago

It's not as fun as How to Train Your Dragon but probably a bit easier (for you anyway ;D).

This is only here because the original one was and also it's much easier to get your attention this way ;D The link in the footer text is going to my post where I have colourbox so you can get a closer look at the tiny pics as what's here is just screenies from my blog layout

What's this all about then?

The idea stemmed from aeons ago, as I thought it might be fun to slot in some friends as cameos either floating around in the background or as friends/associates of the main characters.

Then I thought well I have to build background characters anyway, may as well expand it out as making characters for people is much more fun than generating randoms, so I made it a Patreon tier. Then I quit Patreon.

Nobody cares, how do we get a character?

If you interact with me regularly here or associated Discords (linked at the bottom of my posts) or deviantart (where "interacting" means a lot of happy comments back and forth not "hi" every once in a blue moon) then all you have to do is ask. Leave a comment on a post or ping me on Discord (in a channel is best as I think we need to be friends for messages and I don't accept friend requests from people I haven't spoken to extensively) or send me a message on dA, I'm easy.

Alternately you can buy me a ko-fi or throw something in the Paypal.

Cool, what kind of characters can we have?

Many and varied! Has to be either self-insert or your own characters though, no fanstuff as I'll probably get in trouble :) Following are the 3d bases I sculpt from plus examples of characters in that classification (both canon and cameo).

Base

Nice, easy, plain old human.

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Evolved

Usually has features from other animals (most notably ears, tails and fur), though some may look exactly like a Base and seem to have a superpower (such as eyesight and/or hearing that's well above average) or just have something slightly unusual about them (like elfin ears, slightly larger eyes, slightly longer digits etc). On a pure technicality all the non-Base are Evolved but "Evolved" ended up being the catchall for anyone not Flier or Mer.

Screenshot_20200509_234019.png

Merfolk

Selkie

Usually (but don't always) have legs and can traipse about on land. They don't do very well in hot/dry climates unless they can be kept at least cool. Exceptionally good swimmers that can hold their breath for ridiculously long periods of time and see really well in the water, pretty much like dolphins and whales (incidentally they can detect and hit the frequencies of dolphin and whale song so can learn to communicate with them).

Screenshot_20200509_234143.png

Nereid

Have gills and can't breathe air. Have fish or eel tails or octopus/squid tentacles. We're also probably highly unlikely to see many if any in the near future as my current story blocks are all terrestrial. If I ever manage to get rich and develop this thing full time, there are some prehistory stories that feature them.

Screenshot_20200509_234232.png

Fliers

Avian

Bird people with feathered wings and tails. They also have two decorative head feathers and a crest that may be comprised of finer feathers that somewhat resemble the hair or very definite feathers.

Screenshot_20200509_234409.png

Dragonkin

People with bat wings that have a terrifying thumb claw, ridiculously long prehensile tails with a thing on the end that can usually but not always bludgeon, slice or stab, and horns growing out of a horn crest in which is embedded a "gem" of polished keratin (which is a highly sensitive area so they're quite paranoid about getting hit in the head in the same manner guys protect their groins). The horn crest is a major defining feature as all Dragonkin have it and other Evolved with horns don't.

Screenshot_20200509_234509.png

Hybrids

You can absolutely have any kind of hybrid character you like.

A note on Tribe

A substantial number of Fliers and a much smaller set of non-Fliers (usually children of Fliers, but also ones that married/got adopted in) belong to "Tribe" which is made up of a bunch of smaller Tribes scattered over the world. Most of them are titled Tribe [whatever a traditional name of the place was] though Europe uses "House" and Scotland and Ireland and possibly Wales use "Clan". Tribe Fliers are generally easy to pick as they get tattooed on their 25th birthday with one tattoo from each parent (originally it was supposed to be matrilineal and patrilineal from each parent and while some still do that, generally by the time my current block rolled around they'll just pick their favourite tattoo off each parent). Additionally if they have a lifemate they'll usually get marriage tattoos (which is just something symbolic to them so no losing wedding trinkets). Clearest examples are higher up in the post but here they are again so you don't have to scroll:

Screenshot_20200509_234642.png

Ae'nur and Tsa'run have the same tattoo on their right arm (it's a matrilineal one, and inconveniently not very clear because I wasn't focused specifically on tattoos in either pic), the clouds on Ae'nur's left arm are from her father, and the one on her neck is a marriage tattoo. Tsa'run has a fleur-de-lis on his left shoulder from his father.

Some non-Tribe people have culturally appropriated this like Zara's little adoptive family did (she and Dak have Juan's tattoos).

Obviously characters can have whatever ink but if you'd like your character to be in Tribe there is a convention :)

Another convention is Tribers tend to keep their hair long, having it cut short means you've done something dishonourable.

It's also possible I may just end up chucking you in there if not given a lot of information and it seems like a good idea at the time which happened to Boomy (I asked him if he wanted Braveheart facepaint and he said yes and then I got carried away).

Pets/other animals

Totally doable as well though I don't have any other animal bases so the 3d will take a while til I develop some. I've only got a vague idea of what kind of plant and animal life has developed in this head-universe so go nuts.

Sweet! How many can I have?

As many as you like.

How does the queue work?

I should probably resurrect the todo list. Things are added to the queue as they get requested. They get done in the order I get them. Ko-fi and crypto bribes get bumped to the top. If I get multiple requests from one person the first request will go in whenever I got it, and the subsequent ones will slot in after everyone else who hasn't had one yet/for a while (unless they're all bribed paid for).

Wait what's the catch?

No catch. Your characters are your characters, you're just letting me use them. I'll even send you a blend file of the rigged character when I'm done and you can do whatever with it.

I've got some cool vehicle/fashion/architectural/other/etc designs!

Sweet, I'm open to ideas if you want to share. And definitely not very good at that kind of thing. Same deal as the characters, your stuff is your stuff that you're letting me use and I'll send you blend files when I've made them.

This post is a much nicer laid out page on my blog.

Does this count as #showcase-sunday as it's kind of a repost or did I change it too much? :)

Want a crowd character? If you interact frequently with me here (either on my posts or your posts or better yet both!) or on one of the linked Discord channels, all you have to do is let me know and tell me what you'd like :) Everything you need to know is (probably) here and if it isn't just ask (sorry the link goes offsite to my blog where there is colorbox rather than the one here which is only here because the original one was).

Thanks for looking! ^_^

Come hang out on Discord with us!

#teamaustralia on PAL | ANZ | Be Awesome | artbees

-={ commission info | ko-fi }=-

Ask me nicely if you want an upgoat/cute critter footer.

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Holy gamoly ...@ryivhnn ...does all this stuff live in your head? As in stuffed in your cranium along with everything else? {meanders off to investigate ko-fi...which sounds suspiciously like coffee and money mixed}

Yep pretty much XD Hence why it's called the head-universe ;D

I never actually thought about that with ko-fi but...it makes sense :O

you are one sharp human being {genuflects graciously} ...Respect!!

LoL only with things like this, I'm usually that much inside my head you'd probably think I was rather dull if we ever met in person XD

I mentioned you in my latest VLOG ....... but as usual had to edit it because I spelt your handle wrong !! It is by far the MOST DIFFICULT pseudonym I have ever come across. I now have it cut and pasted on a sticky note for future reference.

How did you come up with that name? I am curious...

ps: With your fertile imagination I doubt you would be dull ....

I've seen harder XD

or at least ones that I've found harder, I'm sure the people that use them don't find them hard ;D

I don't remember how I came up with it, I've been using it forever (over two decades x_x).

Beard. Bearded character of some sort. :)

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Sure ;D

:D! I can't wait to see it, but I understand how long these things can take.

Take your time and don't burn yourself out!

It's just the 3d that I'm making hard for myself. The sketchies won't take too long once I actually sit down and do them :D