interstella ✦ eyes

🌐 Setting

The story takes place in a modern, urban fantasy setting, with different humanoid species coexisting with each other. Some people are capable of performing magic using different parts of their body, such as their bones, blood or nervous system. Aside from the human realm exists the realm of the puenymphs, a species of humanoid capable of transforming into a specific animal using blood magic, who often also hide among the human population disguised as regular humans. There is also the demon realm, a layer of reality overlayed on top of the world, where demons, the physical manifestations of deceased human souls, reside. They cannot cross over into the realm of the living unless witches allow them passage, and can only die the same way they died as a human.

The core of the story takes place in Loonarium City, a formerly popular merchant hotspot on the coast fallen from grace as the heart of the city, the mall, has lost popularity and become abandoned. The eccentric and influential Nathan U. Cunningham, profiting off of generational wealth and an early inheritance, invests into the renovation of the dilapidated city mall, claiming to do so to generate accessible housing and job opportunities. Alan Matthews is part of the less fortunate individuals who become financially dependent on Nathan’s offers and join his seemingly philanthropic organization out of necessity. As more and more people join, the organization develops increasingly cult-like practices, worshipping Nathan as a god-like figure for his “philanthropy“ and possession of powerful magical abilities seemingly able to alter reality.

🔮 Characters

Nathan U. Cunningham is the leader of the organization, promising jobs, housing and healthcare to those who join him. His magical abilities come from a curse he contracted though an ancient book, making his body deteriorate and mutate over time the more he uses the electricity based abilities powered by his nervous system. As his body continues mutating, he becomes increasingly frantic in his search for ways to "cure" himself, no matter the cost, denying the reality that such a "cure" cannot exist.

Alan Matthews has become dependent on Nathan due to his difficult financial situation, now working for the organization and living in their provided housing. He is closed off, severely depressed and becomes aggressive when he feels threatened. After a failed incident where Nathan attempts to transmit the curse onto Alan, they form an involuntary psychic bond, where Al receives a small fraction of Nathan’s abilities. This also leads to a memory altering spell Nathan has placed onto Alan breaking, making him remember the traumatic past they share.

Samuel Gryffin is a puenymph with the ability to turn into a phoenix, disguising themselves as a human as he is terrified of being found out. He was found by Nathan when they were struggling to transform back into their human form, which Nathan used to blackmail them into giving him Samuel's healing phoenix blood in return of staying quiet. Nathan would keep on demanding more blood to fuel his attempts at a cure, disregarding Samuel telling him that their blood is incapable of such and Samuel's declining health from donating so much blood. Samuel and Alan meet working for the organization, and they slowly grow a close bond and open up to each other, becoming romantic partners and helping each other grow.

Robin Gryffin is Samuel's younger brother and Nathan's apprentice, a puenymph with the ability to turn into a european robin. Due to puenymph society basing your value on the animal you can transform into, he was underestimated and not taken seriously. Feeling the need to prove himself, he became Nathan's apprentice, and moved into the human realm with Samuel. Robin idolizes Nathan to the point of obsession, denying Nathans wrongdoings no matter what. After an incident leading to Nathan ripping off Robins arm, he placed a spell on Robin, making his body return to it's former state when injured. His arm remained amputated due to the spell being placed on him after the incident.

Charly Bee is a demon who was accidentally brought over into the realm of the living by a witch. For a while, she lived with said witch due to not legally posessing a home, but after a falling out between the two of them, Charly needed a new place to live. They snuck into the abandoned mall and lived there in secret for a while, until Samuel and Alan discover her. Charly lives with the organization now and becomes friends with Samuel, Alan and Robin, but Robin and her have a falling out due to Robins obsession with Nathan. Charly has a bubbly personality, which they use to hide her mental health problems, and is insistent on keeping her cause of death hidden.

as you can tell, I adapted a lot of changes I made in my alternative outfit design for Robin I made a while ago, mainly the face, skin and prosthetic.

I really wanted the design to be top heavy to contrast against the long, thin legs, which is something I wasnt really able to achieve with the old one. I always wanted Robin's hoodie to be really oversized, but because it had to fit under the jean jacket, I couldnt commit to that exaggeration. This is why I changed the hoodie into the zip-up hoodie jacket with the halter top underneath, which is also convenient for quick transformation.

The oversized hoodie also gives the impression of being too small to fill the role expected of him, which fits well with the themes of his character and his apprenticeship with Nathan. The hoodie also has huge zipper teeth, making it look like he is being swallowed whole, reflecting Nathan's treatment of Robin and foreshadowing what happens later on. The blue hoodie strings also look as if the mouth swallowing Robin is crying: while Nathan is deliberately mistreating him, he still presents himself as a victim of his curse and is extremely emotionally unstable, leading to acting cold towards Robin in one moment and crying on his shoulder in the next.

with the old design, I felt like her wings were taking away attention from the tail feathers, which are supposed to be the defining feature of a peacock. Not only that, but peacocks aren't exactly known for being great at flying, especially with how long their tail feathers are compared to the wings, which look way too large on Cordelia's design.

I fused them with her arms not only to make them less attention stealing, but also because I think it would be interesting due to Cordelia being unable to transform and having these arm-wings permanently. It also makes sense considering having her animal genes activated and being transformed into this hybrid form while lacking the hormones needed would cause some issues, plus its a neat callback to Beatrix's second pair of wings being underdeveloped and incapable of flight too.

In combination with the tail feathers resembling a long train, the wings now give me the vibe of a layered, elaborate dress. Her long, feathered neck now resembles a ruffled, high-necked collar, adding onto this dress-like silhouette of a princess/some kind of royalty. I specifically tried emulating this because of her heritage of puenymphs with "rare genes", something treated like a status symbol in puenymph society especially after Queen Cyra's/Beatrix's rule.

Ironically though, because of her disability, Cordelia doesn't choose to present herself this way, but is rather forced to inhabit this form by her genes, her literal heritage, reflecting how people perceive her this way due to her ancestry. If she was able to choose her form like other puenymphs, she would likely avoid having her tail feathers out at all times due to how inconvenient they are. She herself is actually very down to earth, which is shown using the simple white sundress she's wearing.

Happy April fools lmao

They were genuinely so much fun to draw, it took me right back to the time when these were still canon….

I originally wanted to do this with the entire main cast, but then realized that Robin, Alan and Samuel's designs would pretty much just be turned into white men all wearing similiar clothes 😭 so I've only done it with Charly and Nathan because their original designs have their own appeal at least

Though these designs don't fit at all anymore I do think they are still really appealing, Charly's design looks so cute I'm considering making that a seperate character for my minecraft lore!!