Basically he is tied to Conquest because of a signed contract where he works directly for them aswell (besides doing his normal job)! Though it was an unsafe working contract unfortunately since he actually got coerced by the horseman into signing. This way, Conquest could have easy direct access to resources from the surface to their heart's content... He got threatened that he'd ruin the poor man's life if he didn't comply (supposedly). Conquest is not all that nice in this AU basically lol

A nutcracker man he is to be exact... Idk what (or how many) countries from the real world do exist in the ponr universe, but if I were to choose a nationality for him I think it would be Serbian! Originally he moved from his home country so he'd be closer to his normal working place! Then accidentally ran into Conquest on a Christmas night out in the forest collecting some wood for heating... And got screwed over since then because of his good working position and thus getting exploited for it.

Only one other horseman knows about this and unfortunately for them (War...), they're mostly out of the picture after Shit Hit The Fan (wont spoil it yet... Just know it relates to Lord Life in this), so they can't really do/say anything about it for now (not because of Conquest though. He's bad except to his colleagues in this AU lol)

Basically the way relationships work in wonderland is completely different to Auradon or the Isle, it was supposed further emphasise the differences between the three places as a different set of culture.

Auradon

Auradon has the more traditional relationships and friendships. Romantic are monogamous that leans more man/woman especially in royal/noble families so lavender marriages and arranged (like Courtney and Alejandro's) marriages for political reasons are quite common. However things like polyamory and cheating are really looked down on and it's a 'save yourself for marriage' sort of deal. Obviously this changes slightly across each of the states/kingdoms with them all having slight variations of what they find acceptable, especially between the classes and the idea of marrying for love when it comes to sexuality, but this is basically the baseline.

So their markers for these relationships are wedding rings between lovers, and crests worn by family and occasionally incredibly close friends. Symbols of their loyalty and commitment.

An example of this is both Courtney and Alejandro wearing their families' crests through jewelry- mainly necklaces. They had rings of each other's crests as is common when engaged but they were returned when Alejandro was initially love potioned and called it off.

Isle of the lost

Because the isle is all about rejecting the 'good' and 'moralness' of the heroes in Auradon, things like friendships or romantic relationships are looked down on and seen as only for the weak. Instead, they run on tentative alliances and no strings attached sort of things, because on an island populated by all the villains, caring about things is dangerous and likely to make you a target. So any connections are strictly referred to as alliances.

Since these alliances are the closest to any kind of relationship or caring that they're allowed, people in alliances tend to wear clothes/an item to signify it, they're obvious markers that you are a part of a group who will protect you and you would do the same in return.

For instance, Heather's group wearing leather and Leshawna's with the pirate get up.

Wonderland

Unlike the other two, Wonderland doesn't really do labels. It's kinda pointless when everything changes constantly after all. Because of this, there's not really any structure relationship-wise compared to the other two. So it's not really frowned upon to sleep around or have multiple partners, unless there's specific circumstances involved, and it's also not frowned upon to have close connections and depend on others- unlike both Auradon and the Isle respectively.

Because of this, the closest thing that they have to any kind of relationship is whether or not you belong to someone and they belong to you. The parameters to this can range anywhere from basic friendships to devoted relationships and they're all held in as high of a regard as each other. So like with everything else, wonderland is really fluid with it- the only exception being the current Queen and the royal family.

And the signifier of this, as with appearances, is dictated by wonder. For example, in a human once they have found someone they will always be loyal to, and once it's confirmed that that person will return it wholeheartedly, they start growing a part of the other person through hair. It's basically Wonder's way of saying 'hey look, this person belongs to you so much and is yours that you literally have part of them with you forever'. It only works when it's mutual, and it shows their commitment and loyalty to those people, so it's severely frowned upon to abandon them or not put them first when it comes to someone you don't have the same connection with. It's also incredibly taboo to cover up these indicators since it's seen as disrespectful to the people you are bound to- like you don't want them anymore or are ashamed of them.

So think soulmate aus but it forms long after you've made a connection, once it's there you can't get rid of it, and the nature of the connection is never the same.

Now, Izzy would be the only one out of the trio who actually has hers on display as streaks in her hair- the longer brown hair is braided and because of the fact that it's on the top of her hair she either hides it in her hat in specific places, or more commonly, she wears it around her hat and it gets mistaken for decoration. Which was why Heather didn't notice it when they met. The black hair is short enough that it easily hides in her natural hair so depending on how she wears it is how visible it is.

For Eva and Neha it's a hell of a lot more complicated.

Neha's physical appearance can't change so these streaks don't appear in her male form, and like I said I had originally planned to have them in her cat form but decided against it for one main reason- wonderlandians in animal form can both speak and have their indicators on display, Neha can do neither in her cat form which gets her mistaken as a regular cat. This was/is actually an important plot point in this au, fun fact!

As for Eva, her mother despises both Izzy and Neha so she has to hide it for that reason, but also because the queen believes that as royalty they're not supposed to be owned by anyone, they are the ones who own not the other way around. There's a lot of things that Eva does that subtly rebels against the queen, but letting the hair show isn't one of them. She has to cut it often since the speed it takes for it to grow back is unpredictable, on desperate occasions she tucks it into her collar or pins them into her ponytail. She does however like to keep the strands for Izzy to either braid together or put onto a hat to see if that can bypass Neha's curse or not.

So as far as relationships go, think of the Isle as having allies and allies with benefits, Auradon as having monogamous relationships and friendships, and Wonderland as having queer-platonic relationships that varies depending on the pair/group!

And also yes, these changes do also happen to people who stay in wonderland long enough.

BEFORE WE START, any sai users, here are my brush settings regarding lineart / linking, and in general, these are the settings I use for all my art and edits. Size wise, I usually draw with 1, but for line width, I’ll change between 1, 0.8, and 1.5.

1. So first and foremost (wow, look the way I’m typing got more formal), you want to open the sprite you want to edit on. Here I have Dave. A good resource for sprites / assets from PQ is from this blog, in case any one needs it. 

2. If you need to, make edits to the base. Usually, if not the hair, I’ll make an edit to the character’s shading colour or their face. In this instance, it’s going to be the latter. So in this picture, what you want to do is colour pick from his skin, make a new layer and on that layer,  you’ll ‘erase’ (draw over) his expression. 

2.1. Lower the opacity on the coloured over layer so that you can see his original expression- mainly I do this so I can see the proper placement of his facial features and such. Here, I’ll sketch the change I want. 

2.2. After it’s sketched out, I’ll line it proper and fill it in, and now he’s like smug (shame that it gets covered up by his bangs in the finished edit).

3. Now we’re to the fun part! Well, onto the more fun parts. Here is where we’ll start our sketching. Sketching isn’t mandatory, especially on smaller, minor edits such as changing shirt colours or adding small accessories, but if you want do things like drastically change their haircut, or to give them a new outfit entirely, sketching is probably a good idea. Anyways, lower the base’s opacity, and then  decide what kind of outfit you want to sketch on your base, and do it. 

4. After sketching, you’re gonna line! Lower the opacity on both the base and the sketch- though that’s probably a given. Completely optional, but I tend to put my layers in a folder set for organisation purposes. Also, please name your layers, it’ll help you good (OKAY SO LMAO. I forgot to take the screenshot of me mid lining, so I eyeballed all my finished lines out to make it look like it was incomplete.)

4.1: Anyways, yay! The lining’s complete. I know this is supposed to be a tutorial, but process photos are fun too. 

5. Now we’re onto pre colouring. I say pre colouring because this is like setting the base for colouring? Yeah. Anyways, I’ve made another folder set for colouring, pulled the base sprite into it, and then set a coloured background under the base for transparency and etc- I usually go with a colour which will contrast the piece’s main palette, which in this case, is blacks and shades of red. 

5.1. Now we’re going to put the base colour into the newly created lineart. What we’ll do here is turn the transparency on the base sprite down till it’s completely gone, and then we select every inside of the lineart.

5.2: With the base ‘white’ (the greyish white) colour from Dave’s original sprite, we’ll fill the lineart. 

5.3 However, after this, you’re going to want to check your transparency because it won’t always be perfect- actually, it won’t be perfect. Usually, you’ll get that small,  shitty white outline which overall imo ruins the piece when it’s transparent. 

5.4. What you’re going to want to do to rid of this, is- going back to 5.2, after you’ve filled it, and you still have the selection on, you’re going to reverse the selection (arrow pointing to it, ‘pologies for non sai users because I don’t know the equivalent), and then erase. It’ll seem like you’re just erasing the background, but I swear it’s worth it. 

5.5 See? Now it’s clean. Yay!!!

5.6 After that’s figured out, you’re going to want to redirect your attention back to the base sprite, and then erase all the shit that’s leftover from it, such as Dave’s sleeve which is poking out from the side, as shown in the pic. 

5.7 Bam. And now he’s all cleaned up proper and ready to roll. 

5.8 A completely optional step, but my favourite since I love lining. What I usually do, so that the lines look smooth(er), and more precise with the style, is that I ink it a bit to create line width variation in certain parts of the sprite, and also to create shadows.

6. Finally on colouring- I’m probably numbering all this shit wrong, but you know what, I sucked at math. Anyways, colouring- figure out your palette, and basically base colour parts of your sprite. The blackish part on the shirt is an airbrush texture. 

6.1. Tip: If you’re using dark greys or blacks, I’d recommend just picking the exact shades from other PQ sprites so they’re all??? Idk, the same? To put it simply??? Yeah. 

6.2. Shading is- another probably basic thing, but I’m explaining my particular process, but how I go about shading is by making a clipping layer over the layer I’m currently shading on to ensure that it only colours on that part. Then, I put it on multiply, and then toggle around till I get a good mid shade. To each their own, however, these are just my tips and tricks that I use personally. 

6.3. And after you’ve shaded your entire piece, you’re done! Yay, he’s edgy now! 

6.4. Though I did make my end sprite with a texture, and for SAI users, it’s relatively easy. Just open the png file of your sprite so that all your layers are in one and it’s a happy pic, and then go to to the textures drop down menu and select your texture. For this, I decide to use the grunge texture. I also used this texture on my Derse Prince edit, and I used a TV screen texture on one of my Hal edits. I don’t know if texture packs come with other art programs, but if they do, just experiment and see what you like! It’s not obligatory, but it’s a nice touch for some edits.