spilling my mind on paper

FAQ

Q: What software do you use? A: Aseprite. Generally, I recommend doing pixel art in software made specifically for pixel art. They're more lightweight than regular digital art softwares like CSP, there's pixel perfect settings for cleaner lines, and it helps with exporting faster (through use of frames) and lossless resizing. Good alternatives are Libresprite and Pixquare (iOS).

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Q: How did you do all the stuff for the project wiki? A: Carrd Pro Plus subscription (unfortunately), getting back into CSS/HTML, learning a little bit of JS, and a ton of patience as I try to NOT rip my hair out due to Carrd's limitations even with Pro Plus.

The most intensive custom codework I've done so far are for the conversation topics in the Dialogue tab (i.e. the dialogue lines where you are offered choices and the topic resumes in later times you talk to the character again, like Balor's 'strawberry milk' conversation), and for the character bio tabs.

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Q: How did you make the fake screenshots? A: Taking in-game screenshots at 1x display resolution for the backgrounds, manual editing the rest. At 1x, the true resolution is still at 200%, so I had to do the dialogue box/portrait/sprite work in a separate file, export those 200%, then smack them into another .aseprite file where I keep the screenshots.

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Q: Is the custom journal background for Cheri's bio a template? A: No! I did edit that based off of the vanilla journal UI, but I edited colors, added the wear and tear on the pages, bookmark and tabs, and the receipt (based off of a part of the shop UI) to better match the look of Cheri's in-universe accounting ledger. Most of the additions are hand-pixeled, as opposed to frankenspriting.

Q: Is Cheri's house interior real in-game footage? A: No. It's a drawing. I'm too scared to open the game's map files after seeing how the assets are organized.

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Fun Facts

Cheri was first announced as a concept in the unofficial FoM server on June 24th 2025, and their first portrait concept shared on July 4th 2025. It's been a year of development by now!

It took me a while to name the project, but I settled on "Petals Upon the River" because it's a reference to a rare but very much real hamon (temper line) design called Yoshinogawa ("Yoshino River") depicting cherry blossom petals and water ripples - example here. This pattern is also what Cheri has on her new sword's hamon.

(Art by Araimin on VGen!)

Speaking of petals, early on during development, sometimes I have thoughts that it would be too on-the-nose and maybe tropey in a lame way to have a Japanese OC with cherry blossom motifs — especially considering I'm not even Japanese. I think the direction that Cheri has gone towards is pretty cool by now, but that thought is certainly part of why I decided to give Cheri and their home province a more specifically Buddhist background/worldbuilding rather than Shinto. I also thought that the system of spiritually uplifted people and deifying them instead of a pantheon of unknowable, all-powerful gods is more in line towards the canon faiths we have in FoM (i.e. the dragon worship).

As of currently, the project has three focal characters across several arcs of Cheri's life (Cheri themself, their Master for the "past" arc, and Chihiro for the "future" arc), and 5 full-fledged members of the supporting cast (Snow White, Nagamitsu and Shizuruhime from the "past" cast, and Balor and Cheri's two travelling partners, whom I have not revealed officially yet). There's also quite a bit of background characters, like the old Master's parents, who are decently developed.

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The Arrival

"A so-called 'adventurer' and traveler from distant lands who started a new life in Mistria with the help of an old friend."

... that's what it says on paper, anyways.

Born in the moon-bathed province of Gyokurin in lands far west of Aldaria, Cheri is the most recent addition to Mistria's community and the local errand girl. They arrived in the dead of winter, having been brought to town by Balor, who introduced her to Lady Adeline as an old friend and contact of his from the Adventurer's Guild — resourceful and especially skilled with the blade.

In reality, Cheri had never been an adventurer in the first place. She was a mercenary — the sort that kills for money and survival instead of noble or higher causes — with a near-ghostly reputation as the fair-haired, Blood-Red Swordsman. Balor had earned her entry to Mistria through his good charms and the help of some forged documents, and Cheri took to prove his vouching of her skills with great diligence.

Following her Master's final order, 14 year-old Cheri fled across their homeland, eventually stowing away in a ship that managed to escape the blockade and ending up in foreign Aldaria. Utterly alone with no one to depend on other than themself, they took to the life of a sword-for-hire, surviving through their exceptional skills... until they came across a peculiar advert written on the back of a storybook page. It called for protection detail during 'delivery of a precious cargo', and Cheri answered.

It was then that the young swordsman met Balor and his motley crew of rogues and con-men. He became her mentor — teaching her literacy through screenplays and knife combat, among other things — but their relationship evolved over the years into something of its own. They travelled together for about three years as a ragtag group of thieves and killers until a job gone wrong, and a job that Cheri found for them at that, killed the other members of their group.

After the incident, Cheri made herself scarce out of guilt and shock. She lived the vagrant life with her then-mount Kintsugi before giving the little stallion away at some point as her psyche worsened. She travelled alone ever since — throwing aside the name her Master had given her all those years ago, becoming known only by her epithet and the lethal dance of her blade.

Balor and Cheri reunited by chance in a sleepy Aldarian village years later. Barely living life and hanging on to the very end of their rope, Cheri accepted his proposition to aid Mistria's rejuvenation. He gave them their new name, and after two weeks' worth of waiting, the two travelled together to Mistria.

One last adventure, for old time's sake...

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Past Ghosts

While Cheri has taken up more peaceful work in Mistria, they've never really viewed themself as anything but their Master's prized student. They would have passed it off as the importance of carrying out his legacy seeing that, as far as they're aware, they're the last standing member of his noble house by service. The sword they carry at all times is proof of that. It's the clan's heirloom blade, passed from leader to their successors, and one that their Master wielded as a youth himself before his marriage.

However, the simple truth is that Cheri is afraid of the idea of failing her Master, despite the fact that his death meant he cannot pass such judgments upon her. To Cheri, if no one in the world will embody her Master's ideals — especially his chosen heir — then what was all his efforts worth? What is her life meant for?

Growing up in the midst of a civil war, Cheri was taught that survival matters above all else. Anything one does to ensure one's continued existence is justified, so long as one only does what one must. This was the core ideal of her Master's motto: 'Strike true, strike to kill'.

On a surface level, it can be interpreted as 'precision and confidence in the act of killing'. Inability to land a clean, lethal strike is to cause undue suffering to one's opponent and oneself. However, the true meaning of this philosophy is 'only draw your blade with the intent to kill; nothing more, nothing less'. Because the blade is the reflection of the wielder's intent, Cheri never purposefully flaunts her blade nor her skills, and neither does she take pleasure in her work as a mercenary, despite utter lack of guilt in the act. To Cheri, drawing blood and taking lives is simply a means to an end.

This philosophy is also why Cheri has less qualms to do things under the table than Balor does, and why it's unlikely for her to judge others harshly for everything they've done to survive. To be quite honest, the only reason she has not returned to her old ways (not completely, and at least not openly) is because it would ruin Balor's reputation by association, considering he was the only one who vouched for her presence in Mistria early on.

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Settling Down

Life in Mistria is something Cheri struggled with greatly. Having first lived in shared dormitories with her Master's other disciples — working as an indentured servant and stablehand outside of her studies — then a vagrant life that's only broken up by their short stint of travelling by wagon and horse with Balor's crew, the idea of having a roof that is not only permanent, but also one she could call her own is an alien concept.

Cheri spent that first winter refurbishing the cottage she'd moved into with Ryis and Landen's help. However, even once the roof was no longer collapsing into itself and the floorboards caulked, Cheri found herself restless. She ended up bunking with Balor most nights. It did not help (lighthearted) gossip that she was his partner and not in the sense he intended when he described Cheri as such. There's only so many times they could call each other 'old friends' and refusing to elaborate without it sounding like an euphemism, after all.

Eventually, to Balor's relief, Cheri learned to indulge in the finer things in life. They decorated their house with comfortable furniture, all in soft materials and pretty pinks and, courtesy of a favor Louis owed them, got themself a wide variety of fashions — men's clothes, comfortable yet sophisticated to fight and dance in, but in the rich colors and patterns the court ladies back home had worn. These were the things that first them social status and later lifestyle had denied them.

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Connections, Old and New

Cheri, once you get past their consummate professional front, is actually quite the social butterfly. Their work requires them to not only be diligent and resourceful, but also to carry themself with grace and charm. Information and connections are worth more than gold — both to them as a fixer, and to them as a person who's always craved kinship and acceptance.

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Early on, Balor was the only person that Cheri genuinely, honestly cared for. When they were both younger, he took up a mentor role: teaching young Cheri literacy through his trove of storybooks and screenplays, and later throwing knives and how to do tricks with them. Their separation, Cheri's youth and her deep emotional reliance on his presence, and Balor's own guilt about her involvement in their heyday hurt them both as an individual and as a duo.

Nowadays, there seems to be a gap between the two; Cheri tried but could not understand why Balor so doggedly wanted her to grow roots in Mistria while being evasive and noncommittal about his own stay. This difference is the greatest conflict in their present-day relationship, though once they resolved it, they've become inseparable in a much healthier way. Balor's quite pleased to be the Dragonsguard's wine uncle, so Cheri, as his counterpart, gladly took up the post of vodka aunt. They're partners-in-crime, in the literal and metaphorical sense.

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Reina first met Cheri while they were foraging for something to eat. At first, Reina assumed this was an occasional habit, until it turned out that despite Cheri's constant visits to the Inn, they have never once been seen eating proper meals. This had been an appalling discovery, so now Cheri works for the Sleeping Dragon Inn as Reina's sous chef in exchange for free breakfast — a compensation they cannot deny, as denying this kind of hospitality wouldn't be a good look. To that end, Cheri was fairly compensated, while Reina is reassured that her friend is at least eating one meal per day.

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As Cheri lived near the bridge in the Eastern Road, it makes her neighbors with Ryis and Landen. She struck a quick friendship with Ryis on their mutual appreciation for craftsmanship, woodworking, and fashion, along with their feelings of being unmoored in a new life. Cheri's skills and odd habit of making intricate wood sculptures with just her survival knife amused Landen, and he immediately hired her to assist with odd jobs and manning the till. They occasionally have dinners together, and Landen even grew to view her as his eccentric new niece.

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March and Cheri have a relationship, if 'relationship' is defined as 'having interacted in any capacity'.

Their first meeting was a disaster. March's carelessly-phrased aside had offended Cheri, who at the time came to him to commission new throwing knives to match her old set, as some of them had been lost in hectic fights. She ended up issuing a challenge to forge her knives that are good by his standards, with the catch that the ornamental work had to be the exact same as the old knives'. March ended up producing beautiful knives that were too light compared to old ones. He got a sound dressing-down and to his bruised ego's dismay, Cheri even paid twice the rates for the first commission and the reworked knives.

Ever since, they've found themselves in a constant volley of passive-aggressive exchanges — including publicly bickering with each other on the town's notice board, which Adeline had to put to a stop, only for the two to continue everywhere else around town... and loudly.

It was not until a passing teasing comment Cheri made when they ran into each other outside the Bathhouse and March's explosive, flustered reaction to it that this so-called relationship's nature changed. All of Cheri's hostility disappeared, replaced by an incessant need to irritate March in every way possible, as he has unfortunately made himself an easy target. March eventually began to retaliate, inviting Cheri to odd competitions, and trying to break her composure (which has backfired spectacularly on occasion).

Despite all the backtalking and teasing, March and Cheri have always held respect for the other. Cheri may have gifted him a resin-cast paperweight of a 'redheaded worm' once, and March may constantly threaten to kick them out of the forge when warming up in winters, but neither will go as far as to be purposefully cruel to each other.

However, it was also this back-and-forth dynamic that prevented them from growing closer, as neither Cheri nor March are good at speaking honestly, and the status quo made them — or at least, March — question the kind of relationship they share and if it could grow to be genuine, even if just as friends.

Eventually, they do get along... after March accidentally asked for Cheri's hand in marriage by gifting her a replacement sword. They compromised on calling it an engagement while they figure out this whole 'dating' thing.

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Caldarus is possibly the oddest connection Cheri's developed in Mistria. Where she came from, dragons are mere animals, so to Cheri's logic, talking dragon statues are more realistic than talking dragons. It was this novelty that made her seek out Caldarus — first by listening to his grand tales of ages past, and later a mutual exchange. From Cheri, how they're trying to adjust to life in Mistria, and from Caldarus, the simple joys of transient life that he'd observed as a statue.

Cheri finds comfort in the fact that Caldarus is so far removed from 'normal' human norms despite living in the human world, and felt secure in his lack of expectations of normalcy. And Caldarus not only likes Cheri as they are, but cares enough to check in on their wellbeing through dreams.

Despite this contentment, however, there was one uncomfortable observation Cheri has made of Caldarus: his wisdom, philosophy, and teacherly demeanor... he reminded them of their Master. Sometimes they found themself wondering what would happen if Caldarus were in their Master's place. What, then, would they have become today? But such fanciful thoughts always made them awfully guilty as, for better or for worse, their Master was the one who shaped them into what they are today...

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Snow White was the latest addition to Cheri's ever-expanding family. Cheri has always had a fondness for horses, and moreso for war horses, as they are the type of equine they grew up surrounded by.

Snow White happened to be of a breed historically used as cavalry horses during the War of the Lilies, but in times of peace raised as dressage and parade horses for the Crown's guard. Snow White also happened to be the most notorious horse in one of many stables Cheri visited in their search for a travelling companion to and from the Capital. A mare too smart for her own good, with a mean bite and history of kicking down stable doors when agitated... all the works. This alleged poor temperament is the reason why Snow White, despite her pedigree, was on the brink of being sent to the chopping block.

Cheri stepped in and ended up striking a deal with the stablemaster: if they could so much as ride Snow White in under a year, then they would need to only pay a pittance for a steed worth her weight in diamonds. Little did that stablemaster know, it was his loss — because Snow White turned out to be a loyal, protective companion... if occasionally mischievous. 'Like horse, like rider' exhibited in full force, apparently.

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Cheri is someone who has not had the chance to mature in a healthy way because of their isolation and the general circumstances of their upbringing. Even as a child, the only people whom they could model a deep relationship off of were her Master and his husband. The sort of dedication, acceptance, and lifelong companionship they had was something they yearned for their whole life, but felt like they could never obtain because they were not a 'normal' person, even if only platonically.

She's haunted by the burden of her legacy and basing off her entire sense of self around said legacy, which was exacerbated by her blind adoration of her Master for 'saving' her and giving her purpose. This was also what caused Cheri to cling to people like Balor and their old friends, because to her they are the closest people to the sort of 'normal' she's known her whole life.

Moving to Mistria and their new life there was the hardest decision they've ever made... but it was also the best, because for once Cheri can finally see that they are not so removed from what they believe normalcy is, and that they are more lovable — and more loved — than they think they are.