Channel 1000, Tell the World

hey there internet. author here. this year has been really rough on me, but nonetheless, i have some updates to share, believe it or not.

i have developed some details on kouri over the past months, particularly the affinity wheel and a marking guide. if you had read the previous update, you would know that such was a goal for me at the time! kouri species info can be found here, but here's the images themselves because i know having to follow outbound links are annoying.

oh, and i guess the fact kouri heads and necks are a little strange.

putting the neck of a quadruped on a humanoid torso is not for the weak.

anywho, another thing i was able to do was make updated references for a majority of the cast, including the current paragons. unfortunately i wasnt able to get to actor, kagami, and the previous paragons...Yet.

the ones i'm particularly proud of are the current paragons and the primal kouri, as their new designs are leagues better than what they used to be, in my opinion. these include flex, akari, inori, vice, and obviously tpk. it's obvious that flex is my favorite because of how much attention they get/how much i draw them orz.

kind of related but outside of the scope of canon, i've been engaging in AU chats with some mutuals and it's really helped me think more about the worldbuilding of c1k, and what it's like to live on baiko! so far i've pondered the idea that indigo kouri manipulate liquid metals that reside within the spines, the same metal that is used in kouri-made electronics! very interesting stuff.

here's some designs from that corner of the internet!

also!!! yes seeing jasper's design reminds me that fawn is actually my most recent attempt at conceptualizing the hu-liik. i'm really enjoying how they look this way. their eyes are a combo of kouri ones since the kouri descend from hu-liik. actually same thing with the jagged mouths, the paragons can have those, or variants of them.

i liked the idea of the hu-liik "affinities" just being the metal classes. as the kouri move away from hu-liik they become more diverse! (much like humans and their ape ancestors)

so, a lot of design progress this time around. unfortunately, i haven't made a lot of progress writing wise. i think i started writing up affinity blurbs and got a good ways through but i think that's it.

i think that's everything! see you next time!

worldbuilding is always an upward climb, but we're getting there. i've got things on kouri biology and development down, as well as other societal things that we need for general plot. affinity system is rough but i've got something to work with. on top of that, we have a timeline established for larger history. we've come up with factions, but they need to be fleshed out a bit more.

speaking of plot, rough outline and formal outline are done, actually! work is underway on the first draft, and one third of it is completed. first draft is still pretty rough, and there are parts that can definitely be improved. i guess thats what the second draft is for, isnt it?

in terms of art, there's a lot to be done. settings are the glaring problem. who woulda thunk, a character artist struggling with backgrounds. anyways. that needs to be done. other than that, more work on kouri designs and species markings needs to be addressed.

we do have visual reference material for the main cast, though we might do some tweaking depending on other factors like the species design and affinity systems.

in terms of how i'm feeling, i gotta admit. i feel like work on this project is stupidly slow. that's because it is, unfortunately. but i'm trying to do what i can with what i have. unrelated, but man i wish i could do black and white manga style (manga is one my big inspirations, especially seinen), but i've got another idea that's good for that, and c1k needs color as affinities are based in them.

so that's our status! i'll try to keep this updated when changes come up. this one's long because it's the first one, the others may be shorter.

until we meet again!