This Is So Inventive! - Tumblr Posts
OC ORIGINS TAG
Thanks to @anyablackwood both for tagging me and for the very cool post about her relationship to Japanese immigrant names! The rules for this one are:
"Talk about the origins of the names and personalities (and maybe even the design?) of a couple of your OCs!"
We don't have time for a couple so we will, of course, do Arlasaire from my Untitled Yssaia Game!
🏷NAME
Arlasaire comes from the Googly-Translated words for "Of Fire" in Irish. But then I spelled it more French because Thuillean (before I made it into a real Conlang) was me taking Irish words and spelling them "more French."
In universe, Giluniques d'Magnia made the name up for her because he was 10 and 10 year olds think stupid names sound cool. (Take me at 10, giving all my characters Japanese names to make them "more anime". Ick!) Why did he name her something? Because she was burned so badly and all her family died, so she couldn't speak for a long time. She couldn't read or write either, so House d'Magnia just said "Gil, this is your new human pet! You name her!" And so he named her Arlasaire.
"But she was like 8, right? What was her name before that?"
Good note: Before that, she was named Tjen-Sa -- which is a Saegen name because her father was Saegen. It means Boon.
This is because, before I was adopted in China, I was left on a orphanage with a note pinned to me, saying my name should be "Tian Zao" (which I think is 1st-tone, 4th-tone?) which means like "To be a talent from the Heavens". So yeah, Arls is fully a self-insert and I'm happy to own that -- make me the next Dante's Inferno.
(Sidebar: I've always thought of that as like... "My True Name", if that makes sense -- like in the Fantasy Magical Names sense. But that means it is too sacred to go by on a day-to-day basis. It's like... I'm Belle and you should call me Belle. But my legal name is Isabelle and my True Name is Tian Zao. I also had other Chinese names because of the way orphanages work and stuff. It's like... a gradient of trueness. Also, while I don't know much about Chinese culture, I know names are tied to your fate and sometimes, kids have to change their names if their fate is too big or something. But I have always felt that's the name that fit me best -- it SOUNDS the most like the kind of person I want to be.)
🕯CONCEPT
Arlasaire was most inspired by Tehanu from the Earthsea Cycle by Ursula K LeGuinn and Violet from Violet Evergarden.
🎨VISUALS
Visually, Arlasaire was inspired by Zuko and Todoroki, but while their scars make them look more handsome, I explicitly wanted her scars NOT to make her prettier. It was important to me that you wince when you look at her for the first time -- because that's what people in the world do. And I think, IRL, that's what we do too when we see someone who or hear someone who is little bit mutilated and we're not used to it -- even if we don't want to!
That being said, Arlasaire is also supposed to be babygirl. Look at her. She's just a little blorbo! She's just a baby 🥺 She only stabs a little! I want her to have these big gold eyes -- like how a scared black cat will hiss and bite and then look up at you big when you pet them and they realize they like it.
Her First-Half outfit is supposed to be simple but recognizable -- SO I CAN DRAW IT over and over and not die. You know how a lot of anime takes elements from Western fantasy but you look at it and go "Nah, that's so Japanese"? That's what I wanted to do in reverse, is take vaguely Japanese influence and then make it Victorian/French-ish. (So basically, I did western clothes without the buttons!) And then her simple outfit became the backbone of all Thuillean fashion moving forward!
SO YEAH now you know :D
