Ing Rao concept

art by Kopi

As evidenced by some of the other characters I like to showcase different aspects of society with some of these characters.  With Ing Rao the idea was to showcase a few different things at once through her. For background wanted someone that had a connection with Tribals since otherwise they wouldn't have a real presence, so she was created to sort of be a bridge between tribal communities and the main society of the empire. Most of the Visual Novel handles the concept of honor and family traditions through martial arts but I wanted to have a way to show there are other aspects besides that.  So adapted an old idea for a monster hunter who hunts exotic beasts to use for her hobby of cooking, into Ing Rao who is a famous chef and hunter.  The darker skin and different dress style was made to help distinguish her from those from the main parts of the Empire.

Xiao Quan Bio

Art by http://kopianget.deviantart.com/

Born to two lesser nobles she was groomed from as soon as she could talk to interact with the various factions and nations that involve themselves with the Empire. She was schooled and trained by them to be an ambassador of sorts with other nations as well helping to broker deals with the various guilds and groups. Unfortunately for them she never had much interest in that or anything else they tried to have her focus on. She was instead fascinated by the world of martial arts, starting one she saw an exhibition match between two local heroes. She fell in love with martial arts at that moment and would do anything to see more; she collected countless books and went to every tournament and event that she could.  By the time she was 13 she had an encyclopedia like knowledge of the fighting styles of her region as well as the techniques and family lines of various fighters.  While her parents supported her interest as a hobby they didn't allow her to actually pursue her dream of being a fighter herself.  Eventually she had enough of not being allowed to chase her dream, and with the help of her loyal retainer she ran away from her home in pursuit of dream of a martial arts adventure.

Xiao Quan Concept

Art by http://kopianget.deviantart.com/

The idea for Xiao Quan came with me wanting to involve a younger character that could help shed light on lesser nobility as well show how the lives of younger royals are. So that is the idea behind her background, a young noble who hangs around the main ones.   Her personality was a result of my desire to want a more nerdy fangirl character, and since a lot of the story involves martial arts it made sense for that to be her obsession.  So she was made to have a more cute look because I felt it would mesh well with her over the top attitude regarding martial arts and just how excited she can get about it.  I wanted some sort of yo-yo as something she can play around with and even fight with to show her creativity and knowledge of technique, the artist behind her decided chinese yo-yos would be best.

Video Menu test

A short video of the menu being tested