An Absolute Mess

The original design for the Blood Scion was, and honestly still is, unappealing to me, and I had made my thoughts known on this as early as late January. When put next to the other secondary form vampires have that are present in the Elder Scrolls games, the Vampire Lords, something about them feels uninspired. From a game dev perspective, I can understand why they look the way they do, it prevents the need from needing to reanimate a ton of things so they could do what the game designers set out for them to do. What we're left with though is something I'm simply not a big fan of and had a hard time imagining Janarius becoming.

Fortunately, who gives a shit about canon? We're artists here, we can design whatever we damn well please! Early hammering out began, mainly just to get vibe/colors down

If there's any aspects of the ESO Scions I do like, its the colors and the legs. It makes sense in my mind that if Lamae is trying to mimic the Vampire Lords, that the Blood Scions would take on a warmer color pallet to contrast with the VL's cold tones, so that was an aspect I wanted to keep. As for the legs, well, its the most monstrous aspect of the Scions that I like, and one that could easily be pushed to fit our needs. The head is there too, yes, but to me it looks too similar to the VL's facial structure, which as an aspect I did want to change.

Many animals have been, jokingly or otherwise, used to describe Janarius, and the two that were ultimately used to inspire this design were bats and snakes.

Scion Jan is overall sharper and much more angular in comparison to his humanoid form, overall being much more calculated, and potentially cruel while in this form. Many more of his physical features are more snake-like as well, chief among them his jaw structure, which is able to open much wider than before and where the hinge-like structures in his teeth become much more pronounced and deadly, meant to dig in and assist in keeping prey trapped while he has his fill of blood, alongside much more... pronounced structures that weren't set in place til much later in the design process.

The more bat like features come into play in several more areas. The ears, the fact hes got much more hair on his body that normal while in this form, and to some extent, the mandibles. Is there a better name for them out there? Yeah, Im sure there is, but it feels appropriate for them since ultimately their purpose is to keep food close and restrained. There were early debates to give him non functioning wings, but those were ultimately scrapped in my desire to keep Janarius feeling distinct from the VL's.

The mandibles are actually a very recent addition, inspired from concept pieces of Detlaff from the Witcher 3: Blood & Wine that one of the players sent my way after they found out a bit earlier than everyone else about our plans. They make sense to me, especially once I saw how they moved and functioned in the game. Ultimately one of the defining aspects of Janarius as a character is his insatiable hunger, and his inability to be truly satisfied no matter how much he consumes. Why wouldn't this form made with the intention to be an apex predator not have something more to it to ensure it can do the job it was ultimately set out to do? Plus, I think they add to the intimidation factor greatly.

While there are other aspects to it that exist, I think it would be for the best if everyone else at the table figured them out in time :^) For the time being, here is the final full body, and some tracks that I get jiggy to whenever I'm doing work involving this monster