Aya pic 2

 

A different pic of Princess Aya by Henry in a different art style, mostly relevant due to showing more of the outfit as well as her blades.  Shows a nice amount of detail even if it isn't our preferred style.  I'll eventually right something about the swords specifically and post some weapon specific views.

Takuya Bio

By Henry

High Priestess Niang was always thought to be keeping things from the rest of the government, but no one was prepared to see just how many. The raid on her temple revealed hundreds of scrolls and evidence of secret experiments, many of which while not officially illegal would have been made so if it was known. But the one that sparked the whole investigation was the experiment that managed to escape: a young boy named Takuya.  Takuya selective breeding and experiments done on him from a fetus up until he escaped as a preteen, creating someone with so much magic floating through his body that he was partially a mana construct himself.  He managed to escape from the temple he was housed in during a chaotic battle between the priestesses and an enemy faction, and eventually ended up near the palace as the Empress was passing. 

Takuya's only knowledge of the Empress had come from Niang and the other priestesses at the temple, so when he came across her he  expected a fight. Instead the Empress saw what he was, and that he was hurt and went to help him up. Her guards were on edge but she stayed perfectly calm as she reached for his hand with a smile. Takuya looked up into the eyes of the most beautiful person he had ever seen, feeling a sense of caring and safety he didn't think possible. When he took her hand that day, his life changed forever. When his handler came demanding him back, the Empress defended him both out of wanting to know more and out of disgust from such things being kept from her. She fought and killed the handler before taking Takuya in for questioning. He explained what he was, and what he knew about their other experiments as well as what was planned for him in the future. He was given an offer he couldn't refuse, to stay in the palace and work for her against Niang. It was at that moment that he began to know what he now calls his real family, and he is forever grateful to Li Ling for giving him purpose and a home with her. Years later he still works for her with undying loyalty. Always ready to not only research for her to but to put his magical power to offensive use and kill those who would threaten his true mother, The Empress.

Takuya Concept

original sketch

redesign sketch, both by Henry

While I have a few mages now when i was first starting off I didn't really have much idea of what I wanted from a mage character, and also noticed I didn't have any real male characters. As I worked more on magic, Takuya slowly came to life. He was actually first a character in a random one off scene that was fixing some magic device, just to give some more flavor before randomly deciding he would be the first male I really brought to life.  The concept itself changed a few times from an older man from a different nation, until eventually being a local mage but without much detail. It wasn't until way later I decided to use him to explore some secret aspects of magical factions in the Empire and directly tie him with the Empress and her family.  That idea mostly stayed the same but it's been tweaked more for the game to make him closer to Aya's age and a full on adopted family member that had been with them for years.  Though he has changed into more of a pretty boy the tattoos have been consistent, sort of my take on a rune type deal with symbols of divine power carved into flesh to enhance certain forms of magic.  So now he's both a family member that allows me to look at males more, as well as explore things relating to magic as he is head mage of the Palace.

Old Empress and adviser pic

Art by Henry

An old pic of Empress Li Ling and her Adviser, one of the first pics  http://mahenbu.deviantart.com/ did for me, back before the project was really a thing.  The adviser in the pic named Kreia will likely get a minor redesign or at least a touch up for the game.

Fight Scene preview

I've already posted the cutscene test but this is a text less fight scene in the actual comic form.  Just to show people how they will all be drawn up. Of course these used the mainstay Henry along side my writing out the panels and stuff.

Kanak Sujah

Art by Henry

Kanak Sujah was a hunter in a small village on an isolated island, when a pirate attack destroyed his home he expected to die as well but fate had a different path in store for him.  An ancient phoenix spirit bonded to him in his final moments, restoring his body and granting him powers and martial arts skills beyond that of any mortal.  Wielding the cosmic flames themselves he erased the pirates from the world before leaving his ruined home, to travel the world and beyond.  Through the spirit he had gained knowledge of ancient fighting styles long forgotten from the world, and his body was reborn with every death stronger then before.  For decades he used his powers to spread peace, and grant the helpless the power to protect themselves and their homes.  As time went on though he often found peace rarely lasted more then a generation and those he helped often turned into the wicked themselves as years passed.  At first he didn't falter but with each of his deaths the doubt and anger grew within his new body, until after 100 years it consumed him.  He decided people didn't deserve the knowledge of war and combat, and together with a band of disillusioned heroes they decided they would remove the capability from the world by any means necessary.

Aya Li Qiao

Art by Henry

Princess Aya Li Qiao is the eldest daughter of Empress Li Ling Qiao and the heir to the Imperial throne.  Born for the sole purpose of one day replacing her mother, instead of a child out of love she has struggled with understanding her place from a young age. Her mother is very strict and constantly pushes for Aya to be better in everywhere and was never really there emotionally. Such a way of raising resulted in a young girl who always felt the only way to earn her mothers love to constantly prove herself. So she strives to learn and understand the political intricacies as well as mastering the family martial arts.  She has very little friends outside of her family and palace staff, any outside social interaction almost always being for the sole purpose of learning how to deal with people as a princess and sitting in on meetings regarding law or trade.  Most of her free-time is spent training instead of hanging out with others leading to a more introverted princess who rarely has the patience to really deal with those outside her circle and struggles to define herself beyond the fact that she is the daughter of a loved and feared Empress.

Aya Li Qiao Concept

Both By Henry

One of the protagonists of the second timeline is Aya Li Qiao, the daughter of the Empress and actually the first character I made.  The colored image on the right is her initial design with the sketch on the left her redesign for the current projects.  She was actually made for an online roleplay I was in and from there sort of made a setting around her and even a short story.  She was sort of based on wonder woman initially, a princess from a female dominated society with mystical artifacts to help her out  While some of that is still present, she mostly is her own thing now, more reflective of various martial arts stories I used to read and watch. When I started the VN it has been years since the initial design and so everyone involved has a more clear idea of how the setting looked, so she was remade with more setting appropriate style and more original hair style then before while still showing the original inspiration. In many ways the idea behind her is that of the young martial artist training for the long road of mastery, and dealing with the various enemies and trouble that is on that path.

Cutscene test

As it says a test for a fight sequence with more dynamic feel