dyad-of-fate
The Dyad of Fate
We're just a couple of nerds writing stories together! Our current projects are Siege of the Crystal Citadel ⚔️ & Hidalgo 🌌~
Creators: NamelessOkami & YarneScrapsMishaps
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Here, as a little treat enjoy a first pass design of "Ghost" aka Stella Knightly as a kiddo. She's an albino racoon taur, and technology savant. A side character that doesn't properly show up until waaaay into the story, but we're currently working on her backstory right now. She will VERY likely change at least one or two more times before her design is settled, but she's an insanely cute kid.
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Are Thorne and Kestrel's character designs done yet?
You have... no idea how hard this made us laugh, thank you X'D
And for the most part Kestrel is done, yes~ The only thing left for them is a few tattoos, and those will just evolve as I get to them. But since these are on Kestrel's back (most likely), I'm just calling them done. Really the only big thing I want to draw is Kestrel with their hair down but I know what that looks like.
Now Thorne's design may just continue to evolve and change until we get further in the story- or maybe it will just have small changes until we actually finish haha. But this is the most up to date version and there are key features that are locked in place: long and lanky, delicate, lil snaggle tooth fang poking from his mouth, monochrome pallet with dark skin, kinky-curly hair, heterochromia with one dark eye and a light eye, and freckles. His patterning may change a few more times, tattoos are a hope but those aren't designed, we knoe he has a few accessories but not sure what exactly yet, he has family scarification (cultural thing) but those aren't designed yet- we want to do our research and make sure we don't use a real culture's practices incorrectly... but yeah! Yarne is pleased with what his face and body type looks like. And he actually looks like his mom and dad's kid now, so that's a nice bonus.
Here, enjoy their canon height difference. For context, Kestrel's about 6 feet tall (183 cm). Which means their dog half is about the size of a large pony. Thorne's actually not terribly short for a wolf :)
Oh I guess that one thing will be redrawn on Kestrel, now that I'm looking at this. That shirt is not in line with the fashion of the Wall, so they probably wouldn't wear that unless they made it... overall fashion in story is more like 1920's meets 1940's - 50's era (from various places around the world). Clothing design isn't a strong suit though, so I just draw them in whatever my heart desires at the time XD
Thorne's jacket is canon though, it's his dad's old coat.
#sotcc#art by okami#visuals#questions and answers#wolf#centaur#questions#also we got a question about taur anatomy so we're working on that one >:3#hoping to get it done this weekend but we gotta compile about four years of thoughts into a cohesive post.#may end up it's own little series#we shall see#feel free to send in questions#they help streamline the process of worldbuilding
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why do her friends call her needles
WELL- it's mostly a joke about her day job as an acupuncturist... but also a nod to her night-life serial killer interests. Her signature is to use acupuncture to keep her victims immobile while she effectively tortures them. That being said, her night life activities are kept on a short leash due to her role in the Wall's underground as an emergency doctor and amature psychiatrist- amature meaning she practices, but doesn't have an official degree. And she's actually rather successful.
Needles and her husband "Doc" (Hope Greyson, an ex-research scientist who lost his practice due to experimenting on patients) are basically one of the underground's two-person team for emergency medical attention in Brandt (one of the provinces of the Wall), and who you go to if you have a particularly weird case. And despite their urges, they both keep eachother in check... Doc experimenting on Needle's victims gives them both more than enough satisfaction without going so far that they get caught. Afterall, he gets people to experiment with but she has to be very picky so can't just go after any ol person to satisfy his needs. They're our crazy mad-scientist-serial-killer duo.
Anyway, she actually likes the nickname better than her given one; Carmen Pointer. Enjoy a rough concept
(They're both mega side characters, and not even alive in story propper but it's fun to write their banter.)
#sotcc#siege of the crystal citadel#art by okami#visuals#centaur#carmen pointer#aka 'needles'#deertaur#deer#not really sure what deer i didnt wrote it down#hope greyson#aka 'doc'#we have the underground really well built because of these two#and carmen's 'mom' Nightshade#Nightshade may have an actual appreance innstory propper? not sure yet#she's a major part of a side story/prequel/historical point of the Wall though#which will be written eventually lol#carmen here tho flits in and out#questions and answers
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*and then we remembered that his wife, the serial killer, is named Carmen
*when you forget you named your evil doctor guy Hope and do a double take when your writing partner's character calls him by his name
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*when you forget you named your evil doctor guy Hope and do a double take when your writing partner's character calls him by his name
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Centaurs....... centaurs have two rib cages. I don't like that.
#fun fact#we opted for 'two very long lungs' option for our taurs :)#which are more densely packed with alveoli (air sacs for gas exchange)#their upper chest cavity really consists of like... four total major organs#lungs. heart. and a first stomach.#everything else is down below~#we opted for not four lungs for many reasons but mainly the more stuff you have to fill with air#the less efficient they will work- your first set of lungs near the airways would fill first then the second presumably larger lungs second#makes breathing way my complicated than a simple in and out#though we HAVE seen lots of designs which make the four lungs work :)#oh#we do stick to the double hesrt rule though.#one is the complex heart near the lungs which oxygenates the blood#the second one is for making sure bloodflow is uninterrupted and this is where the bulk of the cleaning of the blood happens#also two stomachs minimum.#first one is grinding only and looks for things that Really Shouldn't be in the body#cuz fun fact!#once a horse swallows it's not coming back up#but these are people and we don't judt have horses- so body plans have to meet in the middle for some things.#so taurs have at minimum two stomachs to make sure they don't get poisoned or swallow sand#nutrients are derived and broken down most from the second stomach nestled right near the front of the ribcage
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it's hilarious how if you do any amount of research into life or death melee combat the prevailing themes that emerge are that
you're gonna get tired very quickly
tired leads to injured, injured leads to tired, tired leads to—
you're not gonna be as composed as you expect
humans are more fragile than you think and also more durable than you think. both are true and neither stop them from dying of an infection later (DO NOT GET BITTEN)
DO NOT GET STABBED (generally good life advice)
DO GET A SPEAR
knights are faster than you think
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“My wife’s horse has a problem with flies bothering his leg wound so she harnessed her Doctoral degree and fashioned him jean suspenders…”
(Source: Ben Voytas)
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#mmmm yessss#we love us morally grey characters#or characters with good morals who have faults#or charcaters who claim to have no morals who-
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how do u write fighting or do u have any tips? i have an idea for a fanfic not mcyt related but im terrified ill write the fight scene poorly as it makes up a majority of the fic.
Fighting and fight scene tips! I have a couple I guess! The tricky thing is fight scenes are really subjective. It's hard to give a "and here's all the puzzle pieces you need for a good one" kinda answer. But I can at least tell you the stuff I think about while I'm writing.
You know the drill, writing tips under the cut:
1. Research
I feel like I put this on every tip list. Research the thing you're doing. The Internet is your greatest friend and confidante. Look up YouTube videos of fighting competitions. Look up the weapons your characters are using. Figure out how many bullets are in the magazine for the gun type your character is using. Research how far you have to be to survive that explosion. Figure out if the cool sword breaker was actually useful in combat and why. Get a reasonable measure for how much blood your blorbo can lose before they pass out. This will help you paint a clear picture for yourself about what needs to happen, and why. Your readers don't necessarily have to have that clear picture, but the more you, the writer, know, the more likely you are to write a consistent, understandable narrative.
2. Character POV is important!
What does your character even know about fighting anyway? <- the most important question to ask of your POV character. This establishes what your character can tell your audience about what's going on. Has your character never fought before? Are they familiar with the weapons used? Do they know counters for fighting styles? Do they even know how to throw a punch? Do they have a high pain tolerance? These things will inform how the character informs us, the readers, about what's going on. Generally speaking, lack of consistency is what makes fight scenes frustrating, in my opinion. Sitting there and going "hey wait, how did that teenager know better battle tactics than the general they're fighting?" Takes you out of the moment and ruins whatever cool thing that teenager just did. Going "hold on, what do you mean the sniper didn't realize he was out of bullets?" Does the same thing. Keeping the characters consistent stops your readers from questioning the validity of the scene.
3. What can your readers see, and is it the same as what the characters see?
Similar to above, but a little more meta. Fight scenes are often played for drama. You're putting the character in peril, and that peril is for a reason: to make the audience have an emotional response. Can the readers see an ambush because of your 3rd person omniscient perspective, but the characters can't? Is that a good thing? Will it ruin the shock and surprise of the ambush, or will it induce dread and up the stakes? The enemy has a poisoned sword. Is this obvious to the audience in a way that isn't for the character? This is playing with suspense in a fight, adding and subtracting stakes for the readers, and it needs to be balanced against what the characters know.
I'm mentioning this as a thing because revealing your hand to the audience can be a really interesting way to add suspense, but if the audience feels like a character should've been able to see it coming [ex. How come the assassin didn't anticipate someone poisoning a blade during a fight?] it ruins the immersion of the scene, and makes it feel like you the author are shoving the characters in a direction. Generally speaking if the readers can see the hand of the author moving, it breaks immersion.
[Notably, I don't write in 3rd person omniscient. I write in 3rd person limited. I don't often have a chance or reason to reveal information to the audience that the main character doesn't know, because the audience is observing the world through that character.]
4. What are the guys in the back doing?
Everyone knows the Main Character has to fight the Antagonist at some point, but normally the MC isn't alone. They have friends and allies, or their pet dog. They have a supporting cast, and that supporting cast wants to help the main character. So... where are they exactly? A pitfall I see in Big Final Fight Scenes pretty often is, the MC brings an army, or their crew, or their super friends or whoever, and yet somehow, they end up fighting the bad guy alone, and the writer just... Doesn't address the other people in the room. And you the reader are left going, "Wait, why is no one intervening?" This gets especially immersion breaking when the main character inevitably starts losing their fight [because drama, few fights are easy]. Our MC might die! Why is no one trying to run even a basic distraction on the Antag? This isn't to say you have to have your supporting cast get involved in the final fight -- sometimes you need that solo showdown! But you do have to have a convincing reason to keep the rest of the cast away. If we the readers are under the impression there's six other people in the room just standing there, because you the writer forgot they were there, it gets kinda awkward.
5. Zoom in! Feel it. Zoom out! See it.
Okay so, you now know: Basic information on how your character(s) fight, what your POV character(s) know, what the readers can see (either the same or different from your characters), and you know where everyone is and what they're doing. You have your god's eye view ready. How do you show it?
Zoom in, zoom out.
There is a balance to fight scenes, in about the same way there is a balance to an art piece. There is a foreground, middle ground, and background. Each have importance, each need focus. The foreground is what is happening immediately in front of your POV character, it's their thoughts, what their weapon feels like, any wounds they've taken. It's bullet time, and observations, and right in their face. The middle ground is the surrounding 5-10ft. It's the people beside them, it's what's just past their opponent. It's the rest of the room, or the sound just out of view, or the object just out of reach. The background is everything past that. It's distant explosions. It's their friend getting wounded. It's an archer on the next rooftop.
How much of that you want your audience to see, how you want to vary that, depends on what you as an author view as important. If you want to focus more on the character, their struggle, their opponent, you will write most of the fight scene in the foreground. Focus on what the character feels, the sensation of movement, the pain, fear, exhilaration. Focus on the words they're saying [or not saying]. Focus on what they know, what they're telling the audience. If you want to highlight the battle, how the main character is working in their surroundings, you will focus on the middle ground. This is what the character looks like from an outside perspective, how they fight against their opponent. This is them trying to reach an item, or shove their opponent into something. This is running, and kicking, and trying to figure out if your friend is still by your side. This is seeing your comrade go down out of the corner of your eye, or admiring someone's fighting style, or screaming orders at someone. The background is anything further away, a distant problem that is putting on pressure. A ticking time bomb. This is the building catching fire, the lightning in the storm overhead. This is superman fighting off the alien army while your MC is trying to kill the general. This is you reminding the audience the rest of the world hasn't stopped turning while the MC has been doing MC things.
Generally speaking, I like to move through all three spaces several times during a fight scene? The main character is hurting and holding onto their sword, and breathing is hard. The antag is pressing the advantage, trying to back them through the space. But they can't lose too much ground, because their friend is fighting the second antag over there, and they're bleeding from a fresh cut. They have to win, they have to escape, because the sound outside says the building is groaning on its foundation-- and the main character stumbles as the building rocks. [And I've just moved through all three types of ground, giving the audience a clear view of what's happening].
You don't have to bounce reliably through the space. Not showing the background for a long time means you can surprise your audience with a new hero or villain swooping in! Or leave us in suspense about that magic ritual we're supposed to be stopping. Not showing a middle ground side character implies your MC is so distracted they won't know their friend is hurt until it's too late -- etc.
If it helps, I like to imagine there's a little invisible camera panning around, taking dramatic shots of everything, like you're making a movie, and writing accordingly.
Uhm!! Hopefully that's helpful?
Some broader quick tips:
Fight scenes are very fast, and generally happen over a period of a few minutes. That time will feel significantly longer because it's jammed packed with Stuff Happening, but the fact remains, it's only a few minutes. Keeping the timing in mind helps you figure out if backup can arrive to help, or if it's reasonable for someone to miss the fight happening, etc,
On that note, if it's a battle specifically, battles [especially medieval ones] are short. They don't last all day, unless they're a siege, and even then, sieges are long periods of digging in and waiting with short clashes peppered around.
This might just be me, but try not to overuse metaphors? We get it. The swordsmen look like they're dancing. But not everything they do is graceful or dancer-y. Sometimes you can just say "and he punched him in the face." Unless your writing style is naturally super flowery, in which case, do continue. Consistency is key.
Do some basic research on wounds. Suspension of disbelief can only carry so far, and pain is genuinely debilitating. Also, yes coughing up blood is a very dramatic "the character is dying" cue, but in real life it only happens on very bad lung/throat wounds. If what you're writing is Super Realistic, maybe don't throw that in there.
Write confusion with care. You might not want your audience to know what's going on all the time, but if your audience genuinely can't figure out what's going on, why something is happening, or who it's happening to, you will eventually lose your immersion.
Write comedy with care. If your fight is non-serious, or if your character in a serious fight doesn't normally take things seriously, jokes are allowed to happen. But sometimes if you don't take it seriously enough, you will chop the knees off your drama. Maybe save some of the jokes for after the life-threatening battle is over.
I think! That's everything I can think of just now! I hope it helps :'D
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It’s funny when American authors come up with a new European nation so their main character can be a secret royal without the pain of researching a real nation. We should all start doing that with North America, just make up a new state. My protagonist lives in New Utahioshington which is the 51st state and located between Delaware and Maryland
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well what if i want to bite the hand that feeds me but fondly. gently. what then
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Kill me once, shame on you.
Kill me twice, how did you did that.
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“he would not fucking say that!” then put him in a situation that makes him say it, we wanna see him squirm
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