#i should probably? choose a type and redrew what i did | Explore Tumblr Posts and Blogs

fantroll-purgatory · 6 years

Photo

@nightfurywitch

Hi! I’d like some help for my fantroll. I wanna keep her as a mutant, but I’d love some suggestions so she’s not too Mary-Sue-ish. Here’s the basics:

Name: Abiska Menura

I can’t find any readily apparent meaning for Abiska, so I think we should change it to Ligeia, a mythological siren. Menura is fitting and can stay, though! Ligeia Menura.

Blood color: Aqua (HAHAH GET IT?)

Now I notice you have her situated as both a teal-range mutant and a seadweller. I feel like to pull this off, you have to have a more cohesive-feeling reason. She can’t be aqua-blooded just because you want her to be. I think… that I want to bump her up to a cerulean-range mutant. This is because it will give her the capacity to have some psychic abilities- we’ll be utilizing the Siren theme that’s inherently built in with her lyre association.

To justify her seadweller attributes, we’ll say that she has chimerism. When she was born, she experienced a unique mutation that resulted in her having two blood types. Though she primarily presents with the blood characteristics of a cerulean-range mutant, some seadweller organs have started to develop. This means that when she was first hatched, her fins may not have been present, and she would’ve avoided suspicion on that front.

Planet: Alternia

Sign: Lyra

Lusus: Birdmom (a lyrebird with male plumage and webbed feet)

She is about in range for a bird lusus, so that’s good! I don’t know why she needs to have webbed feet, though? I guess it would make sense with the siren theme. Land/sky and sea combined… Just make sure to have Ligeia’s hive near to water and make it clear that birdmom’s kind often lives near water.

Strife Specibus: Harpkind (The Dragonhead Harp from Monster Hunter)

I don’t want to rely too heavily on the harp theme, at least not for her PRIMARY/initial weapon. The Dragonhead Harp is something she could alchemize once inside the game, maybe, but I wouldn’t make it her starting weapon. For her beginning place, I think maybe…. Scythekind? Sirens are often seen as psychopomps, guiding spirits who lead the recently deceased to the afterlife. So giving her a weapon reminiscent of the grim reaper seems appropriate.

Modus: Composer (you have to play a specific note to get an item, and holds 12 items)

Since you’re especially interested in her singing abilities, maybe make it a Note Holding modus instead. The inventory can hold 12 items, and the more important/larger the item is the longer she has to hold the note in order to extract it from her sylladex.

Backstory: Born in a brooding cavern, she was noticed by an unknown Jadeblood and was kept in secret until she was given to her lusus

Relying on a random friendly Jadeblood for help seems a little too easy. I think maybe her cries should’ve been hypnotizing, and so she managed to kind of mind control the Jadeblood into helping her out and protecting her until a lusus could choose her. As for Lyrebird mom, well, the difference in blood color wasn’t quite significant enough for her to refuse to raise the child outright- and even if it was, Ligeia’s singing would probably have convinced her, too.

Personality: Perky, a bit of a dreamer, she’s always “Playing the Harp”. She’s OBSESSED with the troll version of Gorillaz, and wants to learn how to play all of their songs. Even though she’s a midblood, she’s surprisingly calm, but can be SUPER vicious if provoked.

I can’t believe you haven’t made a joke about her being interested in the troll version of the band AQUA. Or The Beach Boys. Hehe. I hope she’s at least a huge fan of Troll Plastic Beach. I like you having her as a bit of a head-in-the-clouds type. I think her personality could use a little more bolstering? Like her not being outright aggressive, but perhaps being two-faced. You’ve made her a heart player and I definitely agree, but a bit part of heart players is that they tend to have a sort of fragmented self. Dirk splits himself into AI components, which is a pivotal part of his character, and Nepeta and Meulin both roleplay.

So your character should have some sort of self-division or way of performing herself. Maybe by taking on roles of characters from her songs? Wanting to be a star herself? Or maybe even taking on roles and acting as someone who tears down the phony images of others?

Ancestor: The Redeemer, a mutant rights activist who gathered followers through song. She was slain by one of the Condense’s assistant when she was shot in the throat.

Very symbolic death right there. So she did protest songs? Really interesting!

Quadrants: She only has a moirail, Sarlut.

Land of: Pluck and Echo (LOPAE)

You’ve not mentioned anything about your desired quest, so it’s hard to really gauge whether or not this is a good fit. I think Echo is definitely a good aesthetic choice for her personal theme, though! I might alter pluck to be something more quest-oriented, unless pluck is actually relevant to your planned quest.

Consorts: Easily Distracted Steel Grey Lemurs who Like Dancing

As cute and HILARIOUS as that idea is, I’m going to have to veto it because of the amphibian/reptile rule. We’re going to go with Turtles. Because the first lyre was made out of a turtle shell and all that. Turtles.

God Tier: Bard of Heart

I LOVE this for her. A passive destroyer of self. Now, technically, if we were being totally canon compliant, she couldn’t be a Bard because it’s a male-exclusive class. But I’ve always found that rule so… so silly. So I’ll overlook it here, if only because she’s already a mutant. Maybe the rules don’t know how to handle her. Anyways- she has an ability to passively and even accidentally destroy a person’s individuality- which relates back to her mind control abilities/siren’s song. Her passive manipulative tactics that I suggested can feed really easily into this role.

But when she becomes more actualized, she’d be able to passively destroy THROUGH self, taking hold of her identity and her pride in it and allowing others to do the same and creating massive, powerful force through this identity and self of personhood, through soul. Her inverse, Maid of Mind, also allows her to actively create logic and action, creating understanding for those around here and driving decision-making.

Extras: She’s a VERY talented singer. She wears the hoodie out in public to hide her fins. Since her horns are so big, she listens to music through earbuds which have her sign on them.

So, what are your thoughts? I hope she isn’t too bad.

She’s not bad at all! I like her quite a bit, really. So let’s go on to the design!:

First and foremost, the hair, glasses, skirt, and shoes were all edited from this fan-troll spritesheet here.

I’ve also made two versions of the sprite- one with more hemoanonymity, because I think broadcasting her bright color would be a little dangerous. But I also recognize she’s the descendant of a rebel, so she might be willing to take the risk!

Now let’s go head-down:

Horns: The horns you gave her were a little thick and a little visually busy. I gave her some thinner horns to balance the design better and only gave it one offshoot, so it would still look like the lyre without complicating things overmuch.

Hair: I wanted to keep it short and keep the overhanging bangs as reference to your original design, but also wanted to make it curlier and more voluminous. I based the style somewhat off of art of Orpheus that you see, but it also just looks nice and flowy and pretty. On the more blatant blood color sprite, I also added the dyed bits to her bangs in her new blood color (#2389e8).

Glasses: I didn’t want to just rip off of Feferi’s goggles, so I decided glasses instead. The circle glasses with the two-toned colors and the twin bridge are a direct reference to a picture of Noodle from a recent Gorillaz album! I thought it’d be a nice reference to her passionate interest.

Symbol: I redrew it to make it a little more defined and also put it in her new blood color, #2389e8.

Skirt: I wanted to have her in a nice flowy skirt as a reference to the ocean/sirens and mermaids in general. I put it over some black shorts, though, so she’d still have a nice functional outfit. The skirt is more of an aesthetic and themeatic addition!

Shoes: I wanted to give her some black shoes without them being quite as generic, so I gave her some shiny black slip-ons. They’re cute and are probably the kind of shoes you’d see a young performer wear at a recital!

Thank you for sharing this lovely troll!

-CD

#nightfurywitch #Abiska Menura #ligeia menura #mutantblood #tealblood #ceruleanblood #seadweller #review #redesign #cd review #submission

3 notes · View notes