Choi Lu 🐟

For Zazil and Tonalli I didn't have a clear theme, so their designs and approach have been a little messier.

Zazil was considered to be a mildly well-known fighter and quite popular whenever she participated in the tournaments. She'd be an anemo claymore user. Meanwhile, Tonalli would be a scholar, he probably helps with the logistic with each big event held in the arena; he'd be a dendro catalyst user and his attacks would be cempasúchitl-themed. Both take inspiration from some descriptions and references of how some prehispanic warriors and scholars would dress like (mostly shown on Zazil's arms and legs, and Tonalli's face paint and both's jewelry).

They probably come from Iansan's or Kinich's tribe. Though Tonalli used to admire his big sister and Zazil used to care a lot about her baby brother, their duties have made them grow distant, which can sort of be reflected by how their elements don't work that well together in-game, as they don't have an elemental reaction.

Plot-wise, Paimon and the Traveler would meet them when they accompanied Kachina and Mualani to the arena. Zazil would be participating on her own, while Tonalli would get dragged to (reluctantly) team up with Dimas and Tonatiuh, both of whom were looking for a buddy who could participate with them.

During the Abyss invation, Tonalli would be helping working overtime with the logistics. He probably ended up pretty shaken by the death toll. Zazil nearly died, but she was lucky to survive. The aftermath would be the start of them bonding back.

I had a small sketch trying to give Tonalli a more streetwear-inspired look, but uh... I think I lost the sketchbook where I drew that :c

First and foremost, these OCs were first planned before the Natlan leaks and we had practically no point of reference as to which creative direction would the game have for the nation. I might not be an expert, but I do know Natlan's name stems from nahuatl, a language that is spoken in some parts of Mexico by certain communities. From that I could guess Mexico would be one of the main places from which hoyoverse might take inspiration from. So yeah, most of my Natlan OCs are heavily influences by Mexican culture.

These three are Dimas, Meztli and Tonatiuh (I'm leaving their names the same even if they've been used in-game for lore stuff).

Since before the Natlan trailer we only knew it was going to be the nation of war, my first thought (and fear) was that hoyoverse would make it some edgy nation only focused on fighting; and since I wanted a core concept to create some characters, I thought it would be pretty interesting to design a group of characters inspired by traditional dances. That's how I came up with the base background that the three of them are members from a small dance troupe.

I also hoped we could get more dark-skinned playable characters in this nation, but I felt it shouldn't be overlooked that some mestizaje could have occured. So that's the reason why Dimas and Meztli are paler, they're also cousins, btw.

My first idea for their lore was that both Dimas and Meztli have Fontaine heritage, with the difference that Dimas was born in Natlan while Meztli was born in Fontaine but due to the "curse" she had to move back to her father's homeland to live with her cousin's family. Tonatiuh is their childhood friend and the three have always been more interested in dancing than fighting, so they made the dance troupe.

After the Natlan release, honestly, I grew a little disheartened and my hype deflated, but that's a topic that could get its own post. I also guess I had been hyping the nation for too long that once it came up I was like that final scene from Finding Nemo with the fish in the plastic bags like "Now what?"

Anyway, after the release and more insight of how the nation was structured, I kind of tweaked the trio's lore. They still had the dance troupe, but instead of stubbornly sticking to it because they don't want to fight, I decided that they'd focus on preserving traditional dances instead of wanting to lean towards the more modern style that seems to be common in Natlan (as a personal note, this actually resonated a lot with me, it's very common to see some older traditions in risk of being forgotten for the sake of modernity, not sure if it's only a latam thing).

As a small side effect, this allowed me to make the joke of broke humanities students having to do odd-jobs to sustain their true passion project.

With the introduction of the ancient names in the lore, and for a likely way to introduce the trio to the lore, I considered giving them ancient names. So Dimas and Tonatiuh have ancient names, and at the beginning of the AQ the dance troupe could have met Paimon and the Traveler when they accompanied Kachina and Mualani to the arena. Their big problem would be that, although they don't like fighting that much, as ancient name bearers they're required to participate in the tournament. Meztli can't join them because, since she was born in Fontaine, she isn't connected to the ley lines in Natlan so she couldn't be brought back to life if she were to fall in battle.

Once Natlan's Archon Quest finished and the inhabitants could leave the nation, those three would probably become travelers, wanting to both share some of Natlan's culture with others as well as learn about other nations.

That's basically what I managed to imagine for their lore. Now, let's dive deeper into their designs!

I'm starting with Dimas because I liked making his fullbody the most.

He's a pyro polearm user. His vision would be located at the back of his hat.

Following the core common theme of traditional dances, his design is heavily inspired by the chinelos/danza de los chinelos; this is mostly depicted with his hat and the upper part of his outfit. I recall the chinelos that would often come to my home town would flail huge flags when they performed, so I made Dimas a polearm user, and one of his movesets would turn the polearm into a pyro-infused flag.

Following with Tonatiuh.

He's a hydro catalyst user and his vision is located in the front part of his hat.

His whole design is heavily inspired in the danza de los viejitos; this is mostly shown in his hat with colorful ribbons and the cane that he'd use for his moves (I'm pretty sure I designed him before Neuvillete came out because back then I thought a hydro catalyst user with a cane was a pretty original idea, lol). At first I considered him making from the same tribe as Mualani, considering that's the hydro tribe, but considering his background involves him coming from a family of healers/chamans, I think he'd fit Citlali's and Ororon's tribe better.

Last but not least, Meztli! She's probably the one I've made the most changes design-wise, lol.

She's a dendro sword user, her vision is embed in a fingerless glove that she wears on the right hand.

She's probably the one with the least clear inspiration. Her dress was originally inspired by the long skirts used in most folkloric dances all across the country, but considering how most characters are modeled, I gave her a smaller version. Still, some of her elemental attacks would have her dress morphed into a huge skirt that applies dendro with each attack. I also considered some of her moves would have her using dual swords as a small hint at the danza de los machetes.

When Natlan was released I was rather disheartened at seeing most characters were wearing more urban inspired fashion. So after nearly three years of creating these guys, I finally sketched a sort of updated version of their designs.

I tried to give Meztli a more asymetrical lower half, and her hair is now combed in twin braids with colorful ribbons. I also changed some elements on Dimas and Tonatiuh, as well. I was slightly inspired by the "Meximalism" (it's a fashion trend that has been blossoming in Mexico and tries to embrace the loudest and most colorful parts of our culture, it's pretty cool!)