
I am a character artist who you can call Aura. Hello there fellow Tumblrs! Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are my favorite characters of all time and mean everything to me. :) He/Him/They/Them Creator of Cryas Darkstalkers and Cryas Chronicles. Pursuing to dedicate this blog to all lore and images relating to both this elseworld and OC mythos that I am crafting. If you wish to just see reblogs, my thoughts, and art check me out here: https://www.tumblr.com/auranovabloggers
45 posts
If You'll Pardon Me For Asking, Regarding Your Darkstalkers AU, Why Make Felicia A Wrestler Instead Of
If you'll pardon me for asking, regarding your Darkstalkers AU, why make Felicia a wrestler instead of a pop star? Is there any special reason why, or was it just for fun?
Oh no worries, I am happy to answer. π In Cryas Darkstalkers, Felicia is fully intended to be Mexican: both her biological parents being of Mexican descent, but importantly her adopted mother, Ramona Rose, is a Mexican living in America. Thus, Felicia grew up with such a culture. As she grew up, she was an avid fan of the luchador, El Santo.

Collecting comics when she could afford to buy them with allowance and watching any film she could of him. He was basically her idol and hero, as he was for basically the country of Mexico. Dude was crazy famous. Through him, she gained a love for acting and the sport of lucha libre.

(Art by Mastermaindd) While she hoped to maybe one day meet the legendary luchador, he would pass away before she could reach adulthood. Into adulthood, she is primarily an actress. Not only for her passion to entertain, but as a way to eventually catch the hearts of all to show how the unity of humans and non-humans was possible considering the loving mother she has and the people of Taos, New Mexico that grew to accept her. However, her love for lucha libre still burned fiercely in her. Once she built the foundation of her career as an actress, she would also pursue her passion of lucha libre on the side for fun. That would catch the eyes of people in Mexico in time. As a luchadora, she goes by the name of La Santa, in honor of El Santo.

(Art by Alm) In the end, just wanted to give some further depth to my interpretation of her. Considering I myself am Mexican American, wanted to do a bit more for her other than just saying she is Mexican in my mythos. So, the luchador angle was a fun one to give to her. Plus, like wrestlers, they entertain. And actors/actresses entertain, so why not have El Santo, one of the most famous individuals in Mexican history, be the reason she was inspired to go down the path she went. I hope this answers your question. π«‘ Have this bonus art advertising a charity match between La Santa and a fellow luchdor from the motherland:

Art is made by my friend Tori.
-
lunelvathetwintail reblogged this · 10 months ago
-
lunelvathetwintail liked this · 10 months ago
-
secretsocietyxmen liked this · 10 months ago
-
goodmudkip reblogged this · 10 months ago
-
goodmudkip liked this · 10 months ago
-
dash-n-step liked this · 10 months ago
More Posts from Auranova26
Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling Lore Bits 2
Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are polylingual. Both sisters are fluent in Manchu (their first language), Mandarin, Cantonese, and English.πΊοΈ
Mei-Ling can also understand well enough Burmese, German, Spanish, and Japanese. This comes down to mostly because of allies and friends over the years who speak these languages.
Both sisters can read the writings of the Crylesh and Ech Tung languages.
Both sisters have an accent to the way they speak outside of their native Manchu. However, due to being alive for so many decades and exposed to many cultures in their travels, they are fully capable of masking their accents when needed.
When speaking with each other, Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling will default to Manchu.
During their travels, Hsien-Ko likes to wind down by doing a bit of artistic hobbies. From ink sketches to wood carving, Mei-Ling likes to see her sister find a way to express herself and encourages her.π¨
Yes, Hsien-Ko will have her big sis be a model for her when she wants to practice painting people. As her skills and techniques developed, her paintings of her sister got more and more beautiful. This makes Mei-Ling very bashful of seeing herself being painted in such a way. π
The coffin that Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling use can fly relatively quicky. However, it is limited by the energy that Mei-Ling can put into it via her Qi. To combat this, Mei-Ling goes through exercises of a mental and physical nature to help her.
Via training, she is able to further efficiently channel her Qi to help fly the coffin for longer periods of time. Of course, there are nights where Hsien-Ko will let Mei-ling rest so she can build up energy for when it is needed.
Also, Hsien-Ko pulling the coffin still helps her build up strength and stamina as the bed/storage unit of the Shao Sisters is still heavy. Plus, she wants to help her sister out whenever possible plus see the sights of the world as they explore.
There are the rare times when Mei-Ling will pull the coffin herself by hand. While not able to pull it physically for the long distances that Hsien-Ko can, it is needed when going through a settlement. Plus, further helps her build stamina and strength.πͺ
Sometimes, Mei-Ling will do it purely to help her train when she and Hsien-Ko are already far out of the range of human settlements. Hsien-Ko will cheer on her big sister, which Mei-Ling appreciates.ππ
Made an adjustment regarding Wind element. Water, Terra, and Wind all use gravity.
Fundamentals of Magi Artes and Magic
In Cryas Chronicles (and to an extent Cryas Darkstalkers), magic has been a phenomenon that has prevailed for many eons in countless civilizations across the realms of the universe. Many cultures have described, observed, documented, and spread their own understanding of this peculiar ability that many lifeforms have been able to perform. In the purest understanding, magic is the ability for one to manipulate many forms of energy and the forces in the universe to heed their commands. Some cultures saw this as this work of supernatural forces beyond their understanding while others came to see these abilities with a rational, open mind worth time to study and truly understand. As the eons marched on and people discovered different forms of magic, 'disciplines' or 'elementals' of these artes were understood. While they go by different names, for the sake of you dear reader, here they are in a way you can understand: Fire, Ice, Water, Terra, Lightning, Wind, Dark, Light, Ethereal, Aura, and Astral.
One might be curious as to what these disciplines are. Fortunately, what they are and how they work will be presented
Fire and Ice share the same form of energy that is used to cast these artes: Heat energy. Where the difference lies is how the heat is manipulated. Performing fire artes has the user concentrate heat in whatever manner is desired. Ice meanwhile has the caster move heat away rapidly from an area at a need volume for the desired effect. Many forms of fire artes do take on the look of flames in various shapes and size, but the key feature is being able to concentrate that heat properly. Commonly, ice artes involve freezing particles of vapor and air to create ice crystal of various shapes and size for the need effect, though sometimes just the lack of heat to a certain degree can be more than enough. To a degree, both disciplines are intertwined enough to where some manipulators of heat will learn artes from both elementals.
Water, Terra, and Wind all use the force of gravity in order for the needed artes to be performed. At its basics, these artes require the user to both understand how to manipulate gravity and then the property of the desired substance to then move for the wanted effect. The better their understanding of gravity manipulation, the larger quantity and speed at which the substance can be moved. Due to water, the land, and air being all around for users to use, that is how these elementals got their names despite using the same force. However, there is a big difference between moving liquid particles, solids, and gases around. Practicing this is key to use either water, terra, or wind elemental.
Lightning is an elemental that involves the manipulation of electrical energy. Via this discipline, casters can either cause bolts of the largest and fiercest lightning to the smallest sparks of electricity, or even manipulate magnetic fields for whatever use is wanted.
Dark elemental is a peculiar form of magic that involves the manipulation of energy to vibrate. In essence, the creation of sound waves. While sounds are a constant in the lives of those in the universe, the particular soundwaves crafted by dark magi artes tend to involve inducing emotional response from the victim. Sometimes it can be pleasant or sometimes it can instill dread. It is up to the caster to manipulate sound for what they want.
Light magic is the manipulation of electromagnetic radiation in order cast various artes. While light is something we all see and can perceive, manipulators of light can command the various wavelengths of this energy for many applications. From clusters to concentrated rays of energy, the possibilities are endless.
Ethereal and Aura are an interesting pair of elementals as they use exactly the same energy, and both involve using that energy in the same potential ways. However, where the difference lies is how both source their energy, of which is known as spiritual energy. Spiritual energy exists primarily in a 'soul'. A soul is an extremely condensed cluster of energy that has tightly bonded in a bizarre fashion. Due to this occurrence, the energy that combines into these clusters take on special properties. These properties can potentially allow for the phenomenon intelligent life has come to interpret as a 'conscious'. While this energy is forged in by this occurrence, it doesn't have to just exist in a soul. Should something force the bonds that hold a soul together to break, the spiritual energy can scatter. No longer in its cluster, in time the spiritual energy will eventually convert into other forms of energy. It can last longer if it can inhabit other lifeforms, but in time it will lose its properties and breakdown into other forms of energy. While both elementals are capable of making use of this scattered spiritual energy, the primary draw of their abilities is the ability to maneuver through the bonds of a soul and siphon fractions of the immense well of spiritual energy. The key difference is the soul used: Ethereal draws on using the soul's of others while aura draws from the user's own soul for power. The ethereal elemental can use as many souls as needed, but due to each soul bonding in different ways, their wells to draw from need to be understood before they can cast any ethereal artes. Because an aura caster's soul is innately familiar to them, it is significantly easier to draw from this well. However, improper handling of this flow of spiritual energy can potentially be fatal. Either elemental is capable of numerous feats due to the immense amount of energy but can be dangerous is not properly learned.
Astral elemental is regarded as the oldest discipline of magic. The name of the elemental draws inspiration from the thought that all energy from the dawn of time came into existence due to the birth of stars and the cosmos as a whole. Primordial, raw energy that flows everywhere. In time, this energy and the forces of the universe allowed for the realms that would come to be. When astral artes were figured out and understood better, this allowed others to find their way to other forms of manipulating the forces and energies that exist.
Making use of Magi Artes requires one to train themselves to understand the fundamentals of the chosen elemental's discipline of manipulation. Some are only capable of one elemental; others are capable of many forms. Some individuals are natural gifted to use magic, while others require hours upon hours of training to even begin at a basic level, if they are even capable of doing so. As time marched on, people found a desire to regard certain magi artes into what are known as 'tiers'. The idea is to give people a benchmark idea that artes of a higher tier have much better effects or power, but also require better stamina and skill to even use these magi artes. The tiers of Magi Artes as follow:
Tier 1 = Neophyte
Tier 2 = Intermediate
Tier 3 = Master
Tier 4 = Arcane
Tier 5 = Mystic
Tier 6 = Ultima
Magic Artes require knowledge of the arte, stamina, and the knowledge of the needed amount of energy or force required to manipulate. With practice and experience, casters can use artes of any tier more efficiently so long as they understand their limits and the risks with each elemental. Many magi artes do require the user to be still and focus in order to properly manipulate their elemental of choice, which can be risky depending on the urgency of the situation. With that in mind, some casters found a way around this with the use of Arte Reserves. Inducing a Magi Arte into an object, casters can instantly make use of Magi Artes in situations with practically no time wasted on incantations. However, Arte Reserves are limited and thus users must keep in mind how many are still in stock lest they find themselves in a dangerous situation.
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~
Consider this a revision of this lore blog here:
I'd rather not completely delete this blog for the purpose of looking back on things and... well cause I don't feel like it. π
The power of the spirit compels you!
One thing that has always been a constant for me is how those who can use the aura elemental are immune to the corrupting effects of Coriyami. With the fact that I now am going forward with the idea of aura being spiritual energy manipulated from the caster's own soul, how does this provide protection from one of the most feared substances in the Cryas Chronicles mythos?
Corriyami evolved alongside lifeforms on Umbralus and Illumalus. As time passed over aeons, Corriyami evolved to specifically hijack the cells of specific lifeforms, fauna-based lifeforms to be exact. It never evolved to consume spiritual energy. In the simplest way, when one has the ability to use the aura elemental, their body effectively can use their spiritual energy to basically trick the Corriyami. While this doesn't destroy the Corriyami, it does allow the individual's own body and immune system to fight back against the Corriyami. The Corriyami is basically unaware of what is going on and is destroyed by the immune system or eventually passed through the body.
Mei-Ling Design Notes and Inspiration 2/2
If you stumbled on this randomly, please go read part 1 first before engaging any further. Please and thank you.ππ

With that disclaimer said, now we gotta talk about the Dark Embrace Burst for Mei-Ling. To be frank, most of the origins of how I came to give it to her and Hsien-Ko is basically already stated in Hsien-Ko's design notes, so you can go there to get an idea.

However, I would like to talk about some aspects of Mei-Ling's design in this form. The first time I drew her, it was super simple.

The first big note of change was with @capyguava rendition of Mei-Ling.

The additional markings on Mei-Ling's face were honestly beautiful, so I reworked her face to incorporate some of those ideas. Later on, made a render that fully showed of some other details.

The markings at her legs and feet and the mirror on her back. Having the mirror on her back was not only a call back to how the mirror was on her in her main timeline design, but also just really love the idea of how all that Qi and Corriyami in her body just sprouts out from there. This shot from her ref sheet shows off how there are some changes to the mirror as the story progresses.

The latest full render of her Dark Embrace steps up to show how her shadow can really look.

However, I want to give special notes to these two commissions made by O_C_o_r_v_o and aamiraglia.


I love the ideas they gave with the way her shadow can look. Like a flame or like water. It is sublime and I want to keep these in mind for future illustrations. Last note about the shadow: the shadow dragon. While the form her shadow can take is only limited by Mei-Ling's imagination, I really want to note the dragon. In a way, it is a form of catharsis for Mei-Ling. Utilizing the form of a dragon to bring down those who oppose her and Hsien-Ko. But also, it makes her feel connected to her mother as the shape of the dragon is similar to their mother's dragon form. The memory of that night is still quite strong. Makes it feel like her mother is aiding her in battle. It is ferocious in appearance, like Mei-Ling in this burst. But it is still eerily beautiful in a way with its majesty, like Mei-Ling.
Now to talk about Mei-Ling when she was human.

Off the bat, she doesn't really look that different compared to the major changes Hsien-Ko underwent when she became a jiangshi. However, I still wanted there to be some kind of difference. The biggest thing would be her hair. This is where Murai Shinobu comes back into the picture. I cannot say enough my love for her designs of Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling and how much her 'Share' doujin means to me and helped to influence some aspects of the sisters for me. In a way of tribute, I wanted Mei-Ling's hair as a human to have the same general style that Murai draws for Mei-Ling: a straight bob cut.



Overall, rather normal and nice for this young mystic warrior. Her hair color was also different. While Hsien-Ko as a human had cool shades of black hair, I wanted Mei-Ling to have more warm shades of black for her hair. Not too drastic a change in hair color when she becomes a jiangshi. Her eyes were also changed. Again, kind like what Murai did, I went for some shade of brown for Mei-Ling's eyes. As for her clothes, once again a bianfu. As a twist, the colors of this bianfu are the reverse of her later beizi's color scheme. Also gave her red trousers as to keep her whole color scheme being very warm and vibrant.
In Darkstalkers, some crossover games they have appeared in, and even a number of anthology stories, Mei-Ling has been shown to be able to move and talk. To represent herself, she has a simple cartoon face of a pair of eyes and a mouth.


That is all well and good, but I wanted to go further. I got inspiration from this very funny random sprite of a card of the sisters doing a costume swap.

With that swap, Hsien-Ko became the ofuda. However, her ofuda form has her hair and a hat. I wanted to do the same for Mei-Ling. My first time drawing that is shown in the 'Jiangshi Tongue' piece I made.

Expressive and cute. However, when going about making the ref sheet, I stumbled upon this picture made by the wonderful artist skm_nnm.

I adore the idea of Mei-Ling being able to fly like a little paper spirit! Which⦠to be fair she is. So that detail is now part of her ofuda form for Cryas Darkstalkers. Some tweaks here and there, namely making her still feel like she is paper being and thus flat but giving enough details to her hair and hat in this form.

That should wrap things up with this very long two-part blog. I hope you can understand my sheer love and adoration for both sisters, especially showing a lot of love for Mei-Ling as she really deserves it. ππ
Lot of searching and thinking with an end result I am super proud of. I hope you take care and have a good day!
The Bigfoot Tribe
In the lore regarding the Sahrijinn, I made mention of the Bigfoot Tribe. Honestly, kinda stumbled into the idea, but I felt it would be a cool way to introduce not only how their race left Makai, but also just happened to be friends with this effective race of powerful magic users.
If you wish to read up about the Sahrijinn, check it out here:
With that said, let me take the time to talk a bit about the Bigfoot themselves. Like all non-humans, their origin was in Makai. Originally, their fur appearance was not like the type of creatures they would eventually come to be commonly known and seen as. While still stocky creatures, their fur was much shorter. Bigfoot beings were a simple race that had simple principles. They did believe in strength but were not inclined to be aggressive. If anything, they were a friendly bunch... so long as you do not give them a reason to go feral. If you were courteous to Bigfoot people, they would return the courtesy. Give them food and they will quickly become your friends as the exchange of food is considered a sign of goodwill and friendship in their culture. Even with all the general kindness and friendly nature of the Bigfoot, they still were natural born warriors. While not inclined to be aggressive in conquering, they would sometimes pass the time by sparring with one another. It served both as a way to not only bond with others but even was used in courtship among the members of the Bigfoot.
The Sahrijinn were the first to establish peace with the Bigfoot. Since then, the two have stayed together as close allies. Via cultural exchanges and interactions, the Bigfoot would become excellent sparring partners among the warrior Ifrit and great allies if conflicts were to occur. In exchange, the Sahrijinn provided protections to the Bigfoot Tribe and taught the Bigfoot the ways of magic. This would lead to the Bigfoot tribe to eventually discover the art of Cryomancy as they learned of Pyromancy first from the Ifrit. This alliance and mutual growth would come to help once the Exodus of the Sahrijinn would occur. While the Bigfoot could have easily annulled their alliance considering they would put their race at risk, they refused to abandon their Sahrijinn friends. Deserting a friend is the worst offense among Bigfoot culture. They aided the Sahrijinn, providing further muscle and numbers to the fleeing Sahrijinn. While some Bigfoot were killed in the initial fleeing, the fallen were never forgotten by their kin. The Sahrijinn would hail the Bigfoot warriors who gave their lives on the journey as the greatest of heroes and made sure their names were kept in record.
Once out of Makai and onto the realm that would eventually become known as Earth, the Bigfoot and Sahrijinn would initially travel around together for quite a while. The Sahrijinn wanted to help the Bigfoot Tribe find a new home upon this unknown frontier of a new world. It took time, but eventually the Bigfoot found a spot they liked as it had quite an abundant source of food and water. While the Sahrijinn would leave, they always kept in touch with the Bigfoot Tribe as the millennia went on.
As time went on and as the land changed, the Bigfoot would also slowly evolve from the species they were. As the climate of the territory they settled in changed, their fur would change overtime to become a much longer and thicker coat to acclimate to the colder climate. This came to be handy once the Ice Age eras of Earth occurred throughout their time in this realm. Once the last major Ice Age happened, the Bigfoot Tribe would eventually be split off as the area they came to settle were separated by a land bridge that was broken apart by the end of the last Ice Age. The lands the two tribes would settle around would eventually become present day Canada and Siberia. In time though, they would reestablish contact with their separated brethren. This was accomplished by basically domesticating a species of seal over the years. With some aid from the Sahrijinn, these seals were eventually trained to be able to deliver messages at great speeds over the vast ocean that separated the two tribes. Granted, while the Marid could have reunited the two tribes, the leader of the Bigfoot at the time felt it was best to establish their tribe across both lands. That way, there were more safe places that the Sahrijinn could visit along with their own race. Plus, the Bigfoot already put in effort with befriending their seal friends and making their villages.
Things went well generally for the Bigfoot tribe. While they did have run ins with some aggressive creatures and even the ancestors of humans, they generally were in good numbers and health across the two artic territories. However, the one thing that the Sahrijinn feared would happen finally came to happen. The Gate opened up in the lands of the Eurasian continent. While it has been eons since the Sahrijinn and Bigfoot had escaped Makai and established civilization on Earth, the Sahrijinn were still fearful that their pursuers were possibly after them. This fear led them to believe they would not be safe in this realm and eventually devised a plan. In time, the Sahrijinn created the realm of Jannah for themselves. They would inform the Bigfoot tribe of the arrival of beings from their old homeland. While this was a surprise, they would not budge. While they appreciated the offer of being given a new home in Jannah, the two leaders of the Bigfoot Tribes both agreed they would stay on Earth. It was their new home, and they already had many friends across the land. They would not abandon their new friends. They urged their Sahrijinn friends to go on without them, which they did. However, the Sahrijinn did at least promise to keep in touch and always welcome the Bigfoot to visit should they ever want to. This was done by allowing the Tribe leaders knowledge of the location of the portal to Jannah, which was in what was Central Asia.
The Bigfoot Tribes of Canada and Siberia would have their fair share of run-ins with 'Darkstalkers' of the old homeland. However, while some were aggressors, some were passive and surprised about the presence of these strange creatures. Not only cause the Bigfoot were the only other species that could talk, besides humans, but because the language the Bigfoot spoke was basically Old Makaiin tongue. While the Bigfoot would still play cautious, they would eventually come to befriend the Darkstalkers that were respectful and provided food. However, they would never make mention or speak of anything regarding the existence of the Sahrijinn as the two tribes would not betray their oldest friends.
Beyond the new Darkstalkers that came to live on Earth, the Bigfoot have long had contact with many human civilizations over the years that would brave the artic lands that the Bigfoot called home. While many of the first nation people of Canada and Siberia would generally be on great, mutual terms with the Bigfoot, many of the humans that came from more 'civilized' lands were of a greater mixed bag. Some with aggressive intentions while others of curiosity. In general, the Bigfoot would keep hold of their lands, protecting them with vigor, even aiding their friends of the first nation and Darkstalkers variety. In the simplest sense, the Bigfoot Tribes were bros to all they considered friends.
That should hopefully give some good insight into the Bigfoot Tribe as a race. I hope you do enjoy and as always, I am happy to answer questions regarding lore of Cryas Darkstalkers. Till next time! πβοΈβοΈ