#nikephoros

Bring me to victory.

sketch dump of an oc that is giving me So much grief cus im never fucking satisfied w neither his design nor his story *tearing hair out*

that last one is my favorite still tho

completely unintentionally jiyong and his story has become a place where ive poured much of my traumas into... i realized the parallels of his story with MY traumas after the fact LOL if that makes sense?

for a long time i really struggled with him (and i still do, but now its mostly his design and not also his story and personality) but lately ive really managed to develop him well! im really happy about that because when i made him i knew he had potential but i just couldnt get there no matter how i tried.

anyway onto him and his story... (btw the worldbuilding is very much a wip and theres a lot i still need to work on and flesh out)

essentially his is a story of family trauma and revenge.

his father is Nikephoros, real name Min Jeongho. hes a dragon and celebrated knight from a House with very high standing in this world. he was the youngest of his siblings and thus is very much A Youngest Son. but unforeseen circumstances made it so he ended up the only one of his siblings alive to inherit his fathers seat as head of house.

now hes been head for a very long time already (dragons are very long lived so he's been alive long enough to show visible signs of aging) but all these years has refused to settle down to marry and have heirs. his adviors are SO stressed dealing with him.

which is then very ironic when he accidentally ends up fathering jiyong with a prostitute he spent the night with after celebrating some sort of feat (unsure, but definitely a battlefield victory or something of that note). unfortunately for jiyong and his mother, nikephoros' advisors learn of his existence before nikephoros does. and they can NOT accept a half-breed, most definitely infertile, peasant boy as their lords heir! they take matters into their own hands. their lord doesnt need to know.

hes in a dragons equivalent of his 50s-60s. fantasy korean (LOL) bisexual 9 ft / 275cm he/him characters that remind me of him: yan wushi, tianlang-jun

now jiyongs mom on the other hand i still dont know all that much about as shes the newest addition to this. nikephoros is so fleshed out because ive had him as an oc for years, i simply updated and upgraded him LOL. luckily these past few days ive been inspired to work on jiyong and his family so ive got more than i had for a long time

her name is Eirwen ir Heilyn and shes a unicorn. at the time of meeting nikephoros she was a prostitute but shes retired now (as either the madam of the brothel or simply a servant there). she was unprepared to have jiyong as conception between a dragon and unicorn is rare, but she did her best. thankfully she and her coworkers were close and they stepped in to help her with raising jiyong.

she gave jiyong a korean name (and his fathers surname) in the hopes of him being taken in by his father... in vain. because nikephoros couldnt give less of a fuck and his house wants jiyong dead. she had sent letters to nikephoros as well but none went answered (they were obviously intercepted by his advisors) and after the first assassination attempt on her son, she gave up on nikephoros. through luck or maybe even sheer coincidence she's managed to survive attempts on her own life as well as her sons.

at first i considered having her be killed by his fathers men but then i was like girl... not another dead mom trope lmfao fuck that

shes in a unicorns equivalent of her 40s i think fantasy welsh bisexual 5'10 / 178cm she/her

AND NOW... ONTO THE MAN OF THE HOUR...

Min Jiyong is a qilin/kirin, which are dragon/unicorn offspring (they are more often than not sterile). as both his parents have very little pigment (both their coloring is predominantly white) he has albinism. he grew up in the brothel, and spent much of his childhood working odd jobs such as fetching water, getting groceries, delivering messages and even mending clothes.

despite a difficult childhood his relationship with his mother is good and pretty stable. his father on the other hand... now his parents only did spend that one night together, so eirwen didnt actually know much about nikephoros except what she gleaned from that one night and what was public knowledge. she was honest and upfront with jiyong about his father although in the beginning she did have a naive hope that nikephoros would welcome his son into his house with open arms.

the first attempt on his life almost succeeded, and he still has the scar from that. its also the most visible. (he wears that shit like a necklace. he runs solely on spite and pettiness LMFAO)

as a child he taught himself how to speak as nobles do by eavesdropping on customers and imitating them.

as to not stand out too much he dyes all his hair black.

in his late teens and early 20s he met devora, who took jiyong under their wing as a bounty hunter. devora is a dragon, and a rare one at that, who used to have a high ranking position before they went their own way. so they had worked with nikephoros before, and knew him on an acquaintance level. when devora and jiyong parted ways, devora gifted him a pair of earrings similar to the ones they knew were nikephoros' signature pair.

devora had a profound effect on jiyong, more than they realized, as they were the closest to a proper father figure jiyong had ever had.

now he works as a bounty hunter. but his number one goal is revenge. on his father and his house. and he'll do whatever it takes.

jiyong is highly intelligent, adaptable and ruthless. hes patient when it matters, perceptive and analytical. hes resentful and cynical with an obsessive streak.

hes in his 30s half korean, half white bisexual 6'5 / 195cm (this might change? but as of now) he/him his insane character insp list, as seen by that little board i did: hua cheng, johan liebert, griffith, edmond (nu: carnival), alucard (specifically ayami kojimas), luo binghe, shen jiu/og! shen qingqiu, jin guangyao