These Are Official Ref Sheets I Have Made For Hsien-Ko Shao And Mei-Ling Shao Of Cryas Darkstalkers.

These are official ref sheets I have made for Hsien-Ko Shao and Mei-Ling Shao of Cryas Darkstalkers. Very proud to detail not only their full designs, but aspects of their layers of clothing, tidbits about their bodies, and even how they looked when they were young humans! I did quite a lot of research into their looks and designs since they were born in 1730 AD in the Guanzhong region of what is in the modern Shaanxi province in China. That period of time was during the reign of the Qing Dynasty. Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are a mix of Han and Manchu.

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Hsien-Ko Shao and Mei-Ling Shao

A personal playlist of songs I feel work with Hsien-Ko Shao and Mei-Ling Shao of my Darkstalkers AU, Cryas Darkstalkers. Twin sisters born i

Wanted to share this playlist I have been working on and off on for some time. I recently found a bunch of really cool and interesting songs to use for this playlist. Basically, the idea of this playlist is to find songs to basically tell the story of characters vaguely from beginning to end. For this one, it is of Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling from my Cryas Darkstalkers mythos and without a doubt it is the longest with +50 songs used. Makes sense since they are the main protagonists of Cryas Darkstalkers. I am proud of this and look forward to giving this a long listen. Maybe you'd like to give it a look and give it a listen!🎶😎🎶

I do have ones for other characters and will share in time. I hope you enjoy! 😁💙💛

Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling Lore Bits

Want to give some scattered bits of lore information regarding the Shao sisters in Cryas Darkstalkers. Help to give you a bit more insight into them as people beyond just being Xianshushi jiangshi. 🤗

Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are an ethnic mix of Manchu and Han, with their mother being Manchu and their father being Han.

Due to their mother, many customs and cultural aspects they hold onto are predominantly Manchu in nature.

Pickled vegetables, like cabbage, play a major role in their diet. The coffin they travel with has compartments with jars of such delicacies ready for consumption or preparation for meals.

Mantou (馒头) is a staple food that the sisters will eat often. A steamed bun made of wheat, they will sometimes add other flavoring in the process to add some additional flavor.

Due to the incident that made the sisters aware of what happens when a jiangshi tastes blood, Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling refuse to eat any meat-based food if it wasn't prepared by them or a very trusted individual.

As far as meat in their diet, they primarily obtain that via fishing or small game hunting. When they have the chance with what little money they get, they do buy pork as a treat. Blood sausage was something they did consume in a soup when they were human. However, they no longer consume this as they can't.

Often, Mei-Ling will grill them food over a fire. From grilling meat to making varies types of stir fries, it is a great day when the Shao sisters can enjoy a meal cooked over a campfire.

For a hearty and filling meal, Mei-Ling will make baozi (包子). Quite the savory dish.

As a special treat for difficult hunts or special occasions, Mei-Ling will make suziyie doubao (蘇子葉豆包), one of Hsien-Ko's personal favorites. It is a steamed bun filled with sweetened mashed beans.

Mei-Ling has a major sweet tooth. Her personal favorite sweet is a treat that their mother would make for them: Sachima (沙琪玛). A very sweet fritter treat, it is strands of fried batter that are bound by sweet, sugary syrup. She remembers by memory how to make this treat.

Another sweet on Mei-Ling's radar is dragon's beard candy (龍鬚糖), a treat similar to cotton candy. An incredibly rare treat, she tries to find time to figure out the secret to making this dish as it is difficult and time consuming.

Mei-Ling does try her best to not eat as many sweets. It isn't so much because she fears getting fat, just more so keeping in mind the idea of self-discipline and control.

The sisters don't actually eat as much rice dishes as you would think, thanks in part to how they grew up. But they do engage occasionally when the chance arises.

Tea and water are common for the sisters to drink. Interestingly, they do prefer to drink warm/hot water rather than cold water.

Dark Embrace Powers and Abilities

In this entry, I'd like to go over the powers, abilities, and aspects of the Dark Embrace for Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling as they are quite a big part of Cryas Darkstalkers lore. To start out with, official ref sheets of their designs to help visualize some things that will be discussed:

To start things off, 'Dark Embrace' (Xié è De Yōngbào) is a technique known as a 'Burst'. Burst is the term used by beings in the Cryas Chronicles reality in regard to the ability of using stored potential energy in the individual to invoke a power-up in the individual. This power-up can simply be a boost to aspects of the individual's capabilities or manifest in a transformation in the user. For Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling, the Dark Embrace manifests as a transformation invoked by their Qi, mutated Corriyami, and the 'shadow selves' that were created in them thanks to the mutated Corriyami within. The appearances they take on invoke the looks of beings that would later come to be known as Corrians.

Once both sisters have enough potential energy to initiate the Burst, one sister can trigger the transformation and cause both to transform. Later on, through training they find a way to where only one sister can transform and the other can hold on to their stored energy to tag in later better utilize their stored energy in a strategic manner.

When Hsien-Ko uses the Dark Embrace, her physical strength is bolstered to further heights, allowing her to overpower quite a number of physically powerful individuals in close quarters combat. Not only that, her stamina and endurance are increased to allow her to tank her way through hits with greater ease, allowing her to get into the thick of battle and power on through with great fervor. Another benefit is her healing factor is hastened, allowing her to recover from horrible wounds quicker to allow her to get back into the battle. While it is unknown if Hsien-Ko can regrow body parts while in the Dark Embrace should they be severed, it is theorized that should the limb still be in one piece, she could attach it back and her body could re-attach to the limb. However, neither sister is in a position nor desires to test this theory.

(credit: @o-corvo-art)

An interesting quirk of the Burst is how Hsien-Ko's sleeves can move and function. While Hsien-Ko has always been able to move her sleeves with manipulating her Qi, in the Dark Embrace they move in ways as if they have a mind of their own. The sisters theorize it is Hsien-Ko's 'shadow self' that takes control of the sleeves during the Burst, allowing Hsien-Ko to more focus on what her body is doing. Because the shadow self is a part of her psyche, it synchronizes better with her movements and makes her quite a dangerous foe to face. Speaking of shadows, if Mei-Ling attaches to Hsien-Ko while in the Dark Embrace, she can call forth the Qi and Corriyami in Hsien-Ko's body in the form of an energy mass that is referred to as a 'shadow'. This mass of energy is able to be manipulated to take on the form of fully functioning limbs, weapons of varying kinds only limited by the imagination, or they can attach to the inner lining of Hsien-Ko's sleeves and drape out to give her 'wings' of sorts. These wings allow for Hsien-Ko to fully be able to fly.

(Credit: @itsununnusart) Initially, this shadow mass was only able to be called forth by Mei-Ling, but overtime as Hsien-Ko improved her capabilities with the Dark Embrace she eventually found a way to do it herself. This effectively gives her six functioning limbs to work with, making her incredibly dangerous if she is fresh and ready for battle. Another noteworthy aspect of the Dark Embrace, and the mutated Corriyami in general, for Hsien-Ko is how the influence and voice of her inner jiangshi, Xienian, are effectively nullified. However, cautions are still taken to assure she doesn't taste blood in case that still triggers this inner darkness to come forth.

(credit: @masterartlocked)

Mei-Ling, like Hsien-Ko gets a notable increase to her physical capabilities and stamina, able to match up more to her younger sister's base form. However, that pales in comparison to the other profound changes to her. The immediately noticeable feature of Mei-Ling's Dark Embrace is the shadow mass on her. When she initiates the Burst, her arms melt away as the Qi and Corriyami in her body sprout from where her arms used to be. During this Burst, her shadow becomes her arms. These shadow limbs make Mei-Ling an incredible dangerous foe to face down. These limbs are quite powerful as they are able to pulverize bodies, shatter rocks, and even pierce metal. Not only is it strong, but it is very resilient. While it can be cut off, the shadow will grow back fairly quickly from the stub left on Mei-Ling’s body, without causing pain to the jiangshi spirit. Due to their amorphous nature, they can change shape per Mei-Ling's will. Beyond simply taking on the shape of normal arms and hands, they can change size and length per her will. Should she need to, she can change the shadow to take on the form of varying weapons, of which are many thanks to her knowledge as an enthusiastic weapon master. However, one of the most prominently used forms of her shadow is that of a dragon. This 'shadow dragon' is basically a corrupted mirror image of the memory of seeing her mother's dragon form the day she sacrificed herself. It is a cathartic way for not only her mother to still be aiding her in a way, but for this corrupted image to pulverize her foes with great ferocity.

(credit: @o-corvo-art)

Beyond the shadow, another notable trait of Mei-Ling in the Dark Embrace is the astronomical increase in her magical powers. Not only are her Xianshu arts increased in their potency but so are the many magi artes she learned from her friends and allies in the other reality. So great are her magical capabilities in the Dark Embrace, she is capable of even using the powerful Jrukoshn Aarts with relative ease.

(Credit: Bunny_Bones BunnyBones ✨COMMISSIONS CLOSED✨ (@Bunny_Bones_) / Twitter)

A shared aspects with Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling in the Dark Embrace is the fact that due to the nature of how they obtained this Burst, both sisters are immune to the Corruption inflicted by Corriyami.

Powerful as the Dark Embrace is, it is not without limitations. Like all Bursts, it requires a certain amount of stored potential energy in the user in order to even make use of the Burst, of which the amount varies between each individual, each Burst, and their skill with the Burst. Once the Burst is active, the user only can only keep the Burst active for as long as there is enough stored energy to fuel the Burst. With practice, the energy consumption can be made more efficient to keep the Burst going longer, but eventually the reserves will run dry. Normally once the pool of energy is gone, the Burst will force the user to deactivate the Burst. However, individuals can force the Burst to break past this limitation and keep it going once the potential energy is gone. However, this is incredibly dangerous as the Burst is then relying on the user's own life forces as a means to fuel the Burst. Should the user recklessly keep this up, it can kill the individual. Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling nearly had this happen to them in the Void Labyrinth, the Burst only shutting off once they fell unconscious after a great ordeal. Should this happen, individuals can be left in a comatose like state as their bodies try to recover and stabilize their energy.

I made mention of this in my introduction and in my description so I should tell you a bit about one of my life-long passion projects. So, what is Cryas Darkstalkers? Cryas Darkstalkers is an elseworld of my creation. The story follows the journey of Hsien-Ko Shao and Mei-Ling Shao from the fateful night when they became jiangshi to the countless adventures they face through the centuries. While they are the main protagonists, other characters also have big roles as the two sisters make friends, allies, and enemies along the way. But the sights and people they meet don't stop with Earth. The strings of fate see the two crossing the boundaries of space time to another reality, interacting with new races, face tough dangers, see incredible landscapes, and come across powers they had never seen in their world. Basically, I plan to use the foundation provided by the official lore, non-canon material, and my own interpretations to craft an AU of Darkstalkers. I love Darkstalkers, but talks with friends who are also fans have made me really question aspects of the lore from its inconsistency, dumb ideas, and questionable lore. So, I just want to make one of my own for fun. Not only that, but I want to give some personal justice to the characters Hsien-Ko Shao and Mei-Ling Shao. Those two characters mean pretty much everything to me. No other fictional characters have I latched onto more than Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling. Their designs, their lore and ideas really resonate with me; they clicked in my head, and I just fell in love with them! They have some really cool stuff going for them but got screwed over in Vampire Savior due to Hsien-Ko's popularity. I remember a developer said that Darkstalkers is in a way where the character you pick is the main character for you. Well, Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling are the main characters for me, so Cryas Darkstalkers follows them.

In time, I hope to share more lore and information regarding the characters, their lore, the world building, and story ideas I have and such. I hope you will have fun with me on this journey. :)

Mission of the Shao Sisters

I want to go over something in regard to Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling: their goal. In the original Darkstalkers lore, the sisters transform in order to have the power to free their mother's soul. The game's story seems to imply that by defeating the Darkstalkers, their mother would be freed. However. that doesn't add up. At the time when the sisters became jiangshi, it would have 1746 as they were 16 at the time. At that point, many of the cast were not born yet. And those who were alive would have had nothing to do with the sisters and their plight. So, is there a specific amount they have to defeat? Or specific ones they have to beat? No matter how you string it, it makes no sense. And while the OVA implied the idea that Pyron's presence (along with I believe a source from Japanese sources) caused the dark forces to awaken around the time when the raid happened in their area...that is inconsistent since Pyron first arrived around Earth at the time of dinosaurs. He only returned once he was ready to consume the world. Yeah, none of that for this elseworld.

In Cryas Darkstalkers, things are altered to give a sense of direction for them while still being aimless and long enough for them to be around for the amount of time that they would be around. They know their mother's soul was lost to the darkness. However, they don't know what this darkness is: Is it a demon out there that has their mother in its clutches or is it a place that imprisons their mother to endless suffering in oblivion? They don't know and seek to journey across the lands to find out the answers to save their mother. Of course, they still hunt Darkstakers. Initially, it was to vent anger but in time is used to help win favor from the locals of China in order to more easily obtain information. That, and they still feel a duty as Xianshushi to protect the innocent from the dark forces of the night. It all works out in a way.

However, their journey not only has them travel beyond the borders of the middle kingdom, but even further beyond to lands across the horizon and past the oceans. They meet many kinds of people and Darkstalkers, which over the centuries causes them to slowly start seeing the world in a more nuisance lens of gray rather than the strict ideas of black and white. Not only cause of what they see from the side of humans and non-humans, but even forging bonds, alliances, and friendships due to circumstances or understanding of conflict from their own experience and pain. A fantastical, if dangerous journey of saving a dearly lost loved one and of growth and improvement in various ways. 😃