" On a distant planet, an ancient species known as the Nebelung lived and thrived deep under water. They were ruled by a king called Kronos who was known and loved for having killed the great leviathan beast that tried to destroy the whole city of Altamira a few thousand years ago. The leviathan’s remains, which are bigger than the entire surface of Altamira, were slowly incorporated into the city’s structure.
Mameha was part of the hunt for the leviatan, She couldn't survive his terrible attack, Shivara learned them a hard lesson that later on would make her fight for what she beliebed in.
Some generations later, king Kronos was betrayed by some members of his own royal assembly. The king found out about their intentions of going up in the land but before he could stop them he got killed by one of the Kai’sa. A civil war began which lasted several years
After the death of the king.
The resources and the cohesion of the kingdom decreased, up to the point where getting food was difficult and the hope was almost gone. Shivara kept on fighting for her own life and for her people, nowadays they are a group of rebels and they want revenge.
"cuando la tirania es ley la revolucion es orden" - Calle 13
"When tyranny is the law, revolution is order"
The Kai’sa managed to lower the sea level enough to expose one of Altamira’s shallowest and unexplored areas which became an island. They slowly started venturing out onto the beach and then upwards to a 100 meter tall cliff side rich in gemstones, powerful crystals and minerals. They started settling above ground on the city they named Mannat.
Generations later they evolved as a separate civilization completely adapted to living above ground and to keep the Nebelung under submission, they started hunting them. This hunting practice became a tradition, tightly woven into their culture. Due to the lack of food on the barren cliff side, they became cannibals and disguised this practice as a main social event that kept them empowered as a thriving civilization on top of the food chain. Kai’sa leaders managed to blur their Nebelung origins throughout the years, separating and differentiating themselves from the underwater species enough that newer generations would accept their eating tradition as a common practice. "
With all this context Shivara my character to create must be strong, dangerous, and kind of battered. I'm gonna introduce some of the ideas that where in my mind.
These are only some of my inspiration for the mermaid, from The movie Siren, to Bayonetta, to Zelda breath of the wind and even some of the outfits used by the singer Rosalia.
I wanted to do some short of Gothic Mermaid some short of grunge and with some kind of dark and avenger personality. This mood board of the top can also suggest some short of sexuality even when not very intentional to be honest. The main aim of her sexuality its mainly making her scary and make her look like a grown up "woman".
This where some of my initial ideas for mermaids.
Afterwards I got to the shape and some of the colours I wanted to use, the facial features, clothes and weapon.
COLOURS
FACIAL FEATURES
CLOTHES AND WEAPON
All this decisions will have consequences in the final result in the 3D model and the rig of the final pose.
Thanks for reading!