I knew early on I wanted to have some characters that helped show the magic nature of the setting without being mages themselves. I also wanted a character that while they could fight it wasn't their primary purpose. I combined the two and developed it into the idea for Eraeli. I made her a traveling blacksmith from outside of the Empire so I could have a reason to show in greater detail how others feel about the setting as well as expand on what world building would be possible over the course of the VN. Setting her from outside of the empire gave me greater flexibility in what she looked like and decided to go with a more African influence with addition of a third eye for a more mystical look helping to cement that she was indeed from a fantasy setting and offer both a needed perspective as well as show off some more non combat mystic elements.
