Dark Embrace/ Xi De Yngbo()

Dark Embrace/ Xié è De Yōngbào(邪恶的拥抱)

During the 'Hunters of the Dark Saga' (around the late 1900s), events lead to Hsien-Ko and Mei-Ling coming across an unusual disturbance in China: a portal. After discussing with one another, they decide to investigate as they have had no solid lead to saving their mother. Unknowingly, they end up traveling into a brand-new reality. In this reality, the Cryas Chronicles reality, they end up on the word of Umbralus. In an initial battle with a strange creature, Hsien-Ko becomes afflicted with a strange substance of this world. Through intel, they learn this substance that bled onto Hsien-Ko is a dangerous substance known as Corriyami. Corriyami is dangerous to lifeforms as it causes them suffer Corruption, leaving them as nothing more but an erratic, dangerous victim of the mutagenetic substance. In time, it eventually kills the victim, using their bodies to eventually fuel its simple needs to multiply and survive. However, Hsien-Ko is different since she is an undead being of which do not exist on Umbralus nor Illumalus.

Over their journey to make it to the world capitol, Lunalos, in order to see if the portal there can lead them home, Hsien-Ko deals with the very real fear that this substance might do something to her, possibly something that even Mei-Ling can't save her from. Afflicted with nightmares and even being taunted by her inner darkness, it all comes to a critical point during a battle with a large group of Corrupted, beings who fall victim to Corruption. In a near death situation, the Corriyami in Hsien-Ko, which had been festering and mutating in her during their travels, awoke and caused a new power to awaken in both her and Mei-Ling. This new power... nay new form gave them the advantage they needed to win. Upon having a chance to rest and take stock, they found that on Mei-Ling's talisman form, the phrase '邪恶的拥抱' was written on her rather than the typical phrase. They would refer to these forms as Xié è De Yōngbào, though would also use the phrase 'Dark Embrace' as well. From then on, the sisters would practice their use of these new forms to give themselves an edge in battle as they saw the potential they had with these otherworldly powers bestowed by the Corriyami. However, upon their initial return to Earth, they decided to keep these powers a secret to their friends and allies till they felt the time was right to explain how they got it.

Cryas Darkstalkers and Cryas Chronicles Notes

As I slowly roll things out and get my creative juices flowing, I am fully embracing hearing and answering any questions you may have about my Cryas Darkstsalker mythos or the mythos of Cryas Chronicles. Granted, CC will take some time since I don't have much in the way of art, but I got some ideas and lore to share. CDS will be more readily having lore dumps and stuff as we march on. Hopefully and honestly, I hope this will be a great outlet for me to just share things and get my brain going. I may have a private Discord server where I try to organize this stuff, but that is a bit more exclusive as I am nervous about letting randos in. However, this blog is more in the open for people to engage with and is in a format that is friendlier to the idea of sharing such lore. I am very excited for the future. :3

Fundamentals of Magic and Magi Artes

In the Cryas Chronicles reality, magic is a phenomenon that is known by many civilizations throughout the different realms. While many had their own ideas of what this phenomenon was, magic in due time was studied and understood what it was at its core by some. Magic is understood as the ability for an individual to manipulate different forms of energy and forces in the universe to perform different effects. Over many, many millennia, several forms of magic described as 'Elementals' were discovered and documented. The Elementals are as such: Fire, Ice, Terra, Wind, Lightning, Water, Dark, Light, Energy, and Aura. Each elemental has a connection to a different form of energy or force:

Fire and Ice both deal with the ability to manipulate heat energy, but in different ways. Fire is the ability to concentrate heat into a targeted area while Ice is the ability to rapidly remove heat from a specified area. Interestingly, the use of Ice magic does cause areas around the field of effect to feel increased temperatures as the energy cannot be destroyed and must be placed elsewhere. Many tend to throw the heat into the air.

Terra is the manipulation of the force of gravity. Historically, many have made use of it to manipulate the ground and rocks to cause many effects as they manipulate their position in order to attack. Fundamentally though, Terra magic is not reliant on dirt or rocks to be around in order to be used. So long as one's ability to concentrate gravity is excellent, then they can still make things work.

Wind is the manipulation of the atmosphere to move air in a desired way. So long as the caster is in an area where air is present, Wind magic can be used.

Lightning is the manipulation of electrical energy.

Water is the manipulation of water particles in the environment. The power and effects of such artes is dependent on the environment, both in terms of water being in the soil or atmosphere.

Dark is the use of energy to manipulate soundwaves. Historically, Dark had been associated with the perceived notion of evil, negative emotions, or dark energies. But eventually, it was discovered that Dark Magi Artes had an affinity for soundwaves. While many things can produce sounds, the way sound is manipulated via Dark Artes has been noted to be particularly dreadful.

Light is the manipulation of electromagnetic radiation. In the past, Light Artes were associated with perceived notions of good energy, positive emotions, or even the stars. However, with scientist discovering the existence of electromagnetic radiation, a fundamental understanding of Light Magi Artes came to be for the masses.

Energy is the manipulation of energy in its most pure, raw state. Devoid of the typical understanding of the elementals, Energy Artes tend to be rather destructive and difficult to perform as the ability to manipulate such force requires a keen mind and deep understanding of energy manipulation.

Aura is the manipulation of a special form of energy that is both corporeal and ethereal in nature. In a sense, it is a form of energy that is connected to an ethereal essence that many call 'life force'. While all complex life forms have auras to a degree, it is strongest in animals and intelligent lifeforms.

Making use of Magi Artes requires one to train themselves to understand the basic fundamentals of energy manipulation. In some cases, some people will have an affiliation for one elemental in particular, but some might be more gifted to be able to understand multiple. Even with that in mind, study and training is required. While each elemental has other applications outside of combat, the many Magi Artes that exist have been documented and tiered in a way to give an understanding of not only their power, but difficulty in use. The tiers of Magi Artes as follow:

Tier 1 = Neophyte

Tier 2 = Intermediate

Tier 3 = Master

Tier 4 = Arcane

Tier 5 = Mystic

Tier 6 = Ultima

Not only does each tier indicate power, but also gives an idea of the stamina required by the caster in order to make use of such artes. As the caster practices more, they can better improve their use of stamina in order to cast Magi Artes more efficiently. While taking time to focus on casting artes can be risky in battle, some casters found a way around this with the use of Spell Charges. Inducing a Magi Arte into an object, casters can instantly make use of Magi Artes in battle with not time wasted on incantations. However, they are limited and based on the power of the Arte, can take time to properly induce into an object.

Corriyami

Since I am in a mood, I do want to explain about a very important thing to the Cryas Chronicles mythos:

Corriyami.

''For as long as the people of Umbralus and Illumalus have called those two realms their home, there has always been the constant fear of a substance that exists in both realms. Some saw it as a sick creation of a deity, others saw it as just a natural plague of the world. Whatever they believed of its origin, one thing was clear throughout history: its horrific effects on animals and their fellow kin.''

Corriyami as it is more understood in the modern times is an extremely dangerous mutagenetic organic substance. It has been recorded in coming in two states of matter: an extremely dense fog and as a semi-fluid liquid state. The fog form of Corriyami is significantly denser than air, so tends to be found relatively close to the ground. The fog state tends to be most commonly observed in caverns, low level areas on the surface, or leaking out of victims. If enough of the fog state is present, it will condense down to the liquid state. The liquid state can range in size from puddles to massive lakes, generally the most common form of the substance. Typically, researchers and inhabitants have noted its tendency to exist in areas where rainfall cause the substance to move down, eventually collecting into many areas such as valleys, caverns, or below sea-level lake beds. Corriyami in of itself is denser than water, so will fall to the lower level of bodies of water as the water pushes it down. The color of the substance tends to be that of a primarily violet-blue hue. Many have noted a very pungent, musky, rotten like scent in areas where Corriyami has been noted to be present.

What makes Corriyami so dangerous and feared by all is what it does to its victims. As mentioned, Corriyami specifically targets lifeforms that have blood in their systems, so the likes of plant life and insects are immune to the substance. Thus, all manner of animal and intelligent life-forms that require blood, like Umbrians, Illumins, and Aunakins are susceptible to Corriyami. For it to infect a victim, the fog or liquid state must be absorbed into the body via contact with the skin. When it enters the victim's body, the substance will travel through the victim's body, seeking a pathway to the individual's brain via the victim's nervous system and bloodstream. As soon as Corriyami makes contact with the skin, the body does two things. The first is to alert the victim via pain receptors firing off to alert the individual. Once the alerts are sent, the body then creates adrenaline in order to give the individual a fighting chance to escape from the source of the Corriyami and fuel the immune system in order to seek and destroy the substance. Due to the co-existence of Corriyami and life-forms on Umbralus and Illumalus for hundreds of millions of years, the immune system of the lifeforms there are quite capable of combating and destroying the substance. But in return, the Corriyami has grown resilient and persistent, more or less brute forcing its way through the body.

When enough can make it to the brain, the Corriyami will infect the victim's brain, sending signals to the body to cease the immune system's attempts to further combat the invasive substance. This begins what many know as 'Corruption'. The first step of Corruption is the shutdown of the pain receptors, carefully manipulating the victim's nervous system in order to do so. The individual for the time being will still have control of their body as the Corriyami allows the body time to heal from the initial assault. As the body heals, the Corriyami will slowly set the foundation for the next big step by eating at non-vital fluids and organs of the body. This allows more Corriyami to form and spread throughout the body as it is being carried through the blood stream. As it does this, it begins to supplant the immune system, consuming and converting white blood cells. Should any diseases begin to enter the body, the Corriyami will merely consume them. A cruel form of protection for the victim. Once the immune system is fully taken and enough of the substance has moved throughout the body, inserting into areas where the muscles of the body are, the terminal stages of Corruption can commence.

Full Corruption, as it is diagnosed as, begins with Corriyami hijacking the motor controls of the victim via their muscles. As it does this, it will then begin the process of supplanting the blood cells in the individual. Despite the destruction of blood cells, the Corriyami will take on the role of the blood cells via carrying vital air molecules and nourishment thought-out the body where it is needed. The substance still needs the victim alive for as long as possible. Once all the blood in the victim has been converted, the victim is no longer in control of their actions. Unable to talk, unable to move of their own accord, they merely exist now as a living incubator for Corriyami. At this point, the Corriyami will start to move the victim around. While it does need to infect other organisms in order to continue the cycle, it is careful at how it interacts with other lifeforms. While pain receptors have been completely destroyed at this point, the Corriyami is careful with how it engages.

As the victim, dubbed 'The Corrupted', are moved around, their body will begin to secrete out bits of excess Corriyami that is made in the body. Should the Corriyami determine that a lifeform poses a threat to the victim, it will do what it can to keep the victim from being killed via mutating parts of the body to defend itself. Aggressive tactics are implemented to either scare off would be attackers or to attempt to harm and spread the substance. However, should this not work, the body will begin to create liquid blisters of Corriyami laced fluids upon the skin, where they will eventually burst and spread some of the substance onto attackers. If all else fails, the Corrupted will retreat. In circumstances where the Corriyami can happen upon a harmless lifeform, it will secrete Corriyami from the body to then spread to another victim. This process of multiplying in the victim's body and spreading the substance to others while also keeping the Corrupted alive goes on for days. During this time, the Corriyami begins to eat at more and more fluids and organs in the body. Once it is nearing the end of running out of parts of the body to consume, the Corriyami will seek to find an area close to populated areas or an area with high concentrations of Corriyami. Once there, the victim remains motionless as the Corriyami finally kills the victim. From there, the rest of the organic matter is consumed from within at a rapid pace. With this rapid consumption of the body, gaseous Corriyami is expelled from the with much force, spreading as much around. Once it is done, all that remains is the skeleton of the victim. The cycle has been complete and the Corriyami can begin anew.

The highly volatile and high energy nature of Corriyami makes it relatively difficult to destroy. While the immune systems of life forms on Umbralus and Illumalus have evolved overtime to create special antibodies that exist solely to destroy Corriyami, they are not full proof and can be completely overwhelmed if too much of the substance enters into the body. Even if an individual can escape and not suffer Corruption, the individual is left in a sickened state for quite some time as the body gets weak from expending so much energy to have the immune system fight in overdrive to destroy any trace of the substance. Corriyami has been found to be immune from any sanctioned, conventional means to fight bacterial and viral infections. However, it does not mean it is fully immune from being destroyed. From what few tests have been allowed under the strictest guidelines, some chemicals have been found to be able to destroy Corriyami. However, those tended to be chemicals of extreme danger in themselves to lifeforms and even then, required a high amount as the substance will still prove resilient from chemical attacks as the Corriyami would merely try to convert whatever chemical particles tried to breach its structures. Effectively, the substance has to be overwhelmed. Radiation is the most effective means of destroying the substance, but once again, still requires a high amount as the substance's structure is resilient enough to stand strong.

Mei-Ling Design Notes and Inspiration 1/2

Unlike her younger twin, Mei-Ling actually went through a large degree of changes compared to both versions of her design in the main timeline. Honestly, went through a large degree of some research and thought to get to the current design that I now have for Mei-Ling. I hope you find some of these notes interesting and fun to read.

I say two designs, but technically Mei-Ling has like 3 designs: Vampire Hunter, the Darkstalkers OVA, and Vampire Savior. Really sad the only full body look of her VHunter design is literally her sprite. The illustration of her Hunter design from one of the covers of a Street Fighter vs. Darkstalkers comic by Udon is quite the beautiful pin up shot, but makes the mistake of giving her the bracelets she has as part of VSAV design. Oops.

Her design is honestly not that different in the OVA compared to her VHunter design. Only big differences are the color of her clothes under her robes, her pants being a different color, the main color of her robe being a defined orange color, and how her hat is both taller and is both orange and yellow. Actually, sounds like a lot really, but design of the clothes themselves are not that different.

Her VSAV design is a general overhaul of the Hunter design. I can only imagine the reason that was done is because they had to animate her for the 'Detached Souls' Dark Force and it might have been a major pain in the ass to animate her robe and sleeves. It isn't bad, but I hate the hat and prefer her robe being open rather than closed. It is genuinely surprising that despite being a non-playable character, the team gave her a different design. A nice consolation.

OH RIGHT, I need to talk about what my thought process was. Sorry, just needed to note all the interesting design things regarding her different designs. So, I generally have stuck with the design she had in VHunter as I just prefer it more compared to her VSAV design. I might have given a jab to the artist who made that pin up of her for that Udon comic. Let me retract that cause I did basically the same thing when I first started drawing her back in 2020. Tweaked the colors here and there to my liking and made her sleeves not as large, but generally the same idea.

Later on, added a little detail on her clothes that I saw an artist by the name of Murai do with her interpretation. This won't be the last I will bring up this artist, hoo boi.

At one point, I changed the sash around Mei-Ling's waste to be an Obi Sash as to make things easier for me.

Around mid 2021, when I was getting more serious about my Cryas Darkstalkers mythos and even further with my love and obsession with the Shao sisters, I went about the process of giving them a makeover, truly trying to give them distinct enough designs. While Hsien-Ko was not too different as her core design was basically near perfect, there was a lot of room for change for Mei-Ling. I mean hell, she had different official designs anyway, what is stopping me from going ham. I mean hecc, look at this concept sketch when they were considering her design change from VHunter to VSAV. Quite a bit of thought. However, I wanted to go further.

Since I wanted to flesh out the sisters, I went about thinking about their potential heritage, the time period they were alive in during the Qing Dynasty, women's fashion at the time for the potential social status they could have been in at the time, the occupation they were training for, and the fact that…well they are Chinese. Since Mei-Ling gives the vibe of being very into her culture and wanting to maintain it, I wanted her clothing to both show off her heritage and her role as a Xianshushi Mystic. Hsien-Ko is said to be more 'modern' in her mannerisms compared to her older twin, so why not have Mei-Ling be more traditional. The first thing to get us on track is to start at the beginning. Mei-Ling and Hsien-Ko were born in 1730 in China during the Qing Dynasty period. In my research and with corroboration with a friend of mine, I decided that the Shao sisters would be a mix of Han and Manchu, two ethnic groups that were the most prevalent at the time period. Their mother was Manchu while their father was Han. However, since their father was killed before they were born, they were more influenced in the ways of the Manchu people as they grew up. The Shao family in themselves are not among the imperial courts or the elite. However, because they have provided a great service over the centuries, they are given more leniency and not treated like the common folk. Plus, with eventually being trained to become Xiānshù warriors as their mother saw great potential in them, that helped to influence them as well.

To start with, let us begin with the robe. So, to my understanding in the main timeline Mei-Ling was generally based on the idea of Daoist priest attire. Doing some searches, jiangshi films did feature such priest like characters with that general idea, even with the color. However, I wanted to do a bit more looking. In my search, the open robe design that her VHunter and my design go with is something referred to a beizi (褙子).

Some parts of Daoism do have their priest having an open robe design, but also the beizi in general was a form of wear that the Chinese people did wear.

It was around during the time of the Qing Dynasty and according to Wikipedia, it was something that was dominant among the Han women of the time. A nice way to acknowledge her Han roots. Yellow doesn't seem to be really a thing with actual Daoist priests' attire, but it just fits Mei-Ling so well, I stuck with that color. While the beizi is prominent with having long sleeves, I decided to trim it down enough to where it ends past her elbow, kinda like her VSAV robe's sleeve length. Ey, giving some credit to that design. As for the trimming, this card I came across showed it in a neat way where it is actually not just flat but has some dimension to it. I liked that and went with it, along with the idea of the trimming being orange.

The hat is loosely based on a hat known as a guānjīn, shown on the far left of this image.

The main timeline version was certainly not one to one about it. But honestly, I like the stylized, simpler idea, so I used that as a base. I took a lot of observations and notes from the way the OVA hat is drawn. However, I just prefer the hat to be one color, so I stuck with yellow. I liked the yin-yang symbol as well, so kept that too.

Another minor detail about Mei-Ling's beizi are these almost padded looking pieces of cloth that follow her trapezius to around the middle of her shoulder. Honestly, I just made them up. These concept sketches I made show me coming up with the idea as I was thinking of her design. It just looks cool and neat.

On to the garment underneath.

With the Shao sisters also being Manchu, this is where some of the influence kicks in. The Manchu wore a set of clothing known as 旗裝 (qízhuāng). The specific kind that the sisters wear falls under something known as Bianfu (便服). Mei-Ling's bianfu is stylized to be a robe that is the length of a magua.

The sleeves are loose and long enough to reach her wrists. The main part of the robe is rich red color while having trimmings and a collar of a lavender color. Contrasts nicely against her beizi.

You may be curious what is going on with the cloth around her waist. Honestly, it was only put there mostly to help solve an issue I had with Mei-Ling's design: the bagua mirror. So, in this shot from the OVA, it is held up by a set of straps.

Ok, fair enough. But the issue is that nothing from the front suggest that those straps even exist. The mirror may as well just be magnetically attached to her a la video game style. In my concept phase, I was wondering what to do. One thing I did notice that was really cool was from the story 'Monsters and the Secret of Immortality'.

Granted, the design of Mei-Ling in that story is wildly different from any incarnation of Mei-Ling, but it presented a neat idea: her mirror was holstered at her waist. Not only that, but it did also look a lot more like a bagua mirror in its design. The mirror's design in this story set the base for how I design the mirror, though I only have two rows rather than the typical three. However, she is wearing attire that doesn't really fit with either her Han or Manchu roots, so I needed to come up with something more fitting to her culture. In my research, I did stumble on something that fascinated me.

What you see is not the original image that inspired me, but still illustrates the idea. Cloth at the waist held in place by a ribbon. I honestly don't know if that idea of garment has a name, but it struck a chord: Have the mirror hang around her waist.

Unlike any official design of Mei-Ling and to differentiate herself from Hsien-Ko, I decided to switch from the baggy trousers to a more straight cut pair. Looks nice and smooth and still goes along with the kind of trousers they wore in that time era. The color I chose just honestly meshed well with her bianfu, plus is warm compared the cool colors of the trim of her bianfu.

While the wristbands she has for her VSAV design are cool looking, something about them just doesn't mesh well with what Mei-Ling is supposed to be. While yes, she is a weapon master (and likely taught Hsien-Ko all she knew about weapons), she is presented more as the mystic of the duo. They look rough and tough. Honestly, would look better on Hsien-Ko in all honestly since she is in the thick of battle. However, I still wanted her to have something at her wrist. I chose to go with a simple orange jewel bead wristband. Simple and elegant for her.

So, if the mirror was moved to hanging around her waist, is there nothing at her back? For a while, there wasn't anything. But eventually, the idea of putting some kind of design back there did come to mind. Eventually, I landed on this design.

Her ref sheet goes into to detail about it, but to put it simply dragons have a big thing with their family considering their mother upon using the Art of Unusual Transformation turned into one. According to what I found via searching Japanese sources, primarily the Japanese Wikipedia entry for Hsien-Ko, there is mention of their mother transforming into a golden dragon. That is very cool since the OVA and a few anthology stories show this.

Mei-Ling's official hairstyle is best described as a bob cut. I went with the OVA as a general base, but slowly overtime adjusted it.

On both sides of her hair and near her hairline, there are these basically fangs. Despite her being more human in appearance, I thought it was still a nice idea to subtlety add some mildly wild elements to her since she is non-human. A bit crazier are these two pincer locks of hair. Honestly, I just took what was already part of her official design and exaggerated it into something cool. For some asymmetry, one is larger than the other. As for the general shape of her hair, I did fan it out more for volume as to make her hair different from her human form.

Mei-Ling's general body shape. Honestly, besides making her distinct from Hsien-Ko as they are both fraternal twins, I just wanted to really make her unbelievably beautiful. In a way, considering hardly anyone gives her the time of day because she is non playable, I just like the idea that she is actually very voluptuous and gorgeous. So that is why she has the general proportions she has. I wouldn't say she is skinny or the typical anime proportions: She is just fit, well endowed, and curvy. Among the Cryas DS cast, the only character that is around her breast and butt size is Felicia. As for why she also has tone to some parts of her body, the fact is she was conceptualized with that as you can see with this concept sketch of her official design. Mei-Ling has just about everything going for her in terms of looks.

Whenever she has appeared in games or media, Mei-Ling has had a multitude of different eye colors. I personally just stuck with green, like the OVA did. Green just looks nice on her, really makes her face mesmerizing. Specifically, I wanted the shades of her eyes to be more of like jade.

For now, will need to end things here for the first part of this design blog as I have used the permitted 30 images for a blog and the last bits require more images to explain things. So be sure to head to part 2, the final part right here:

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Mei-Ling Design Notes and Inspiration 2/2

If you stumbled on this randomly, please go read part 1 first before engaging any further. Please and thank you.😊🙏 Unlike her younger twin,

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. :)