#mc au

I'm still not settled on what Ilian can or cannot do in this au and how much of kom lore/abilities apply here but

Basically, what my mind came up with for Ilian is that he lives a sort of double life.

One as a creature, and one as a "human." But not because he enjoys living among humans or has any fondness for humanity. Far from it.

It's simply because pretending to be human makes certain things easier.

He's still far from being a social butterfly, and I don't think he'd interact with people any more than he absolutely has to. His disguise is less of an identity and more of a tool. A mirage, if you will, hahaa

Honestly, I can't decide whether this should be something all entities can do, or if I should tie it into his original abilities and make it more of a doppelgänger-style power. You know, a wolf in sheep's clothing type of thing?? Maybe???

As you can probably guess, he'd use that disguise not only to blend in but to make stealing a whole lot easier. He'd still have to be careful, of course, but I imagine he's gotten pretty good at making himself seem completely unremarkable to merchants and villagers.

Besides, he never stays in one place for very long. He wanders from settlement to settlement, taking advantage of wherever humans happen to gather. I could also see him targeting lone travellers every now and then.

What else...Ah, right. His stalking.

I gave it some thought, and I don't think he'd stalk players because of the specific people they are. Instead, he'd stalk them to study them— their behaviour, habits, routines... all for different reasons.

Maybe he's trying to learn how humans behave so he can imitate them more convincingly.

Or maybe it's as practical as learning how to use tools, open doors, bypass traps, or understand the little safety measures people put in place.

...Or maybe it's because the more he knows about you, the easier it is to play you like a fiddle.

I actually had that idea before I even designed him, but now I really want to lean into that whole stalker/doppelgänger horror-mod type of entity. Like, not the overrated ones but the really eerie, dreadfully slow-pace kind of stalkers.

God... imagine if he could create mirages or illusions of people he's been observing.

You.

Your pets.

Your friends.

Other players.

Imagine walking through the forest and catching a faint glimpse of your neighbour... or even yourself... standing silently behind the trees. You blink, or take another step—

—and it's gone.

Or worse.

You catch that same figure standing just outside your window in the middle of the night.

Now that would be terrifying.

I'm still figuring all of this out, but I wanted to get these ideas down somewhere before they disappeared from my head ^^'

That's all I've got in me for today

The doodle was kinda rushed too so it doesn't look as good

Just wanted to have so visual concept to yap about him more

I dont have a design for his human disguise yet, this is just a wip design

Anyway, going sleep as it's... way past my usual bed time haha