#wulfmaiden

To make up for it here's some v messy doodles of the Maiden herself :))

sort of, anyway. I cannot FOR THE LIFE OF ME decide on which of these I like the best. the left is nice because it's more recognizable as hornet, a bit more colorful, and I like to imagine that the bone crown on her cape is formed from ancient weaver legs she tore from the shrines you find through the game in proper the queen can desecrate whoevers grave she wants fashion. and tbh it just looks a bit better from a character design pov

the RIGHT one fits more of the vibes I was going for originally - pale being, holier-than-thou, VERY much takes after her father, maskless, loses her red because the color is closely associated with hornet finding and fulfilling her identity, something she explicitly does not do in Wulfmaiden. But its just. gah. they're both so pretty.

I'm tempted to make the first one hornet immediately after transformation and the second lone later in her reign, but also I kind of just want to choose one? but im not sure? help

more notes: - !!! SHE HAS ALL SIX ARMS !!! I just didn't bother drawing the right side for clarity's sake lmao - when standing still, the silk gown will not usually be flowing freely like this, but instead sinking into the ground like GMS's strands do. - silly freaky abdomen.... makes her look more of a queen... those extra legs DO work and are NOT vestigial but aren't really good for walking, she mostly uses them to make her inventions much faster. - also all of her main arms are weird icky disjointed nonsense, and can function both like regalar human arms (bottom two sets) or crawly spider arms (top set) - spider peets... - uuuuu fuck i just realized i forgot to include the Paleharp design in this drawing but never fear I plan on doing some more exposition and design doodles for her in the near future

anyways. I have TONS more versions below in varying states of dress/undress. She'll usually be wearing this silken veil too, but again, for the sake of reference clarity, I didn't include that version above.

I was going to make this part of a larger post but the long wait to get that done isn't giving me enough dopamine so I'm putting it here instead lol

"While she incorporates silk skills liberally into battle, hornet's formal training and life experience have left her predisposed to expertise with a blade. [...] Forged from the crooked crown of the god she has defeated, the Paleharp is longer, sharper, and more radiant than her former needle ever could have been." (Excerpt from my own writing)

This thing is, as you can tell, no longer the needle she used during Silksong. It does recycle the needle's metal and make, as well as parts from GMS's body and lost weaver artifacts, but together these pieces form something new and of enormous importance to the new queendom. Much like the King's Brand, it is both a literal and metaphorical symbol of rulership; few are permitted hold or touch it, and none to wield it but the Wulfmaiden. It's not as if many could, anyways. The Huntress has grown greatly since her formal mortal state, and her new size rivals some of the largest folks and beasts alike she encountered during her time as an adventurer and stranger in Pharloom. Her new instrument (teehee) of war suits this stature well, and its weight is no different.

The Paleharp is a significant piece of equipment both to hornet and the new nation, but when actually in battle, it is used in conjunction with her other faculties. She has five more available clawed hands to slash and tear into her rivals, and she wouldn't be the new queen of silk if it wasn't among her primary methods of attack. However, the harp does more than just slash and cut. Its blade can focus silk into a searing hot edge, its banner waves endlessly to instill morale into her hunters, and its strings are the means of conveyance for the musical messages she sends throughout Pharloom. It shines and gleams, the beacon through which the Huntress's warriors are made aware of the kingdom's strength and eternal quality.

Some other notes!!! I had to resist making it something super complex and intricate bc I want to 1. have fun drawing it 2. match the simple silksong style wherever possible. Also, this thing towers over so many bugs that it doesn't have to be forged in the most complex shapes to be scary!

This is a GREAT time to bounce off of my previous eva post and explain in more detail what exactly is happening to hornet's soul/crests!

The first is what her crest situation actually looks like, and the second is just a version without GMS's silk so you can see the upper crest more clearly (also, the one image on its own was way too obnoxious bc of its length).

So, she actually gets two new crests upon her joining the higher caste! These are the Angel Crest (upper) and the Monarch Crest (lower), as well as a third structure, the Sylphguard (that chunk in the middle).

The Angel Crest This one is constructed in her shell immediately after binding GMS. As I discussed in that ask I linked, Grandmother Silk is a POWERFUL higher being, pale and immense, and although hornet is strong-willed and has a unique lineage to her, she simply isn't a match for the sheer vastness of influence GMS would have over her. Thus, much like how Silksong's canon crests are the reflections of other bugs, beings, and lives converted into something usable for Hornet, Angel is indeed a slightly toned-down, more hornet-like version of what Grandmother Silk would have actually possessed, but emphasis on the slightly. This thing is exceptional (and also, you'll notice, very big)

Its middle memory slot is a HUGE ever-producing spool rather than an actionable ability. It derives its thread directly from the bearer's own internal store of soul for the infinitely generating silk - a highly unique skill for a crest to plunge directly into its user's innermost substance. You can also see here how that conversion is happening, as GMS's signature tuning fork creates vibrations that hones the liquid into a form more focused for a variety of intricate uses.

Some other important parts of the Angel is that, like the Shaman, it bears snail-like motifs and has an emphasis (here, it focuses exclusively) on silk skills. It's also significant to note that it feels very cleary un-hornet, from the lack of tools to the sharp edges and spines which feel more reminiscent of her father's palace than her own whims (this moveset would be suuuuper reminiscent of GMS's own, not made for one-on-one combat but built for sweeping and destroying many at once). This affects her in a more literal sense, too; for the short time that this is her ONLY crest, right after her fight with that silken god, hornet is colder, crueler, and so obviously not herself that those who had the chance to interact with her during this phase were sure they were about to face a horrific future.

Sylphguard A small non-crest, not unlike the vesticrest (though much different in function), Eva indeed lent her strength to Hornet where she was able. In Wulfmaiden, Eva's absorption is not her end, as she remains part of hornet's subconscious and realizes at once that the soul she has just been bound to has been entirely claimed by granny's threaded curse. She can feel something more wonderful, more raw, more compelling trying to break out from this silken seal, and she creates a barrier which blocks the greater portion of GMS's sway and siphons silk in smaller portions to hornet's truer self.

The Monarch Crest Weaver and wyrm, hunter, animal - hornet is not defined by the empress she defeated but by her own history and make. While Wulfmaiden!hornet has not reached the full climax of her identity journey and, as a higher being, is more a reflection of some of her more unsavory instincts and desires, the Monarch is FAR more a reflection of her than the Angel. For its design, I drew inspiration here from the beast, the hunter, and to a certain extent the reaper, as well as weavers/Herrah, PK, and her own shape and character (also, spider webs, fur, and the markings I like to draw on her horns). This is the crest she uses to rule. I imagine its moveset is something between beast and hunter, then greatly intensified. This is a crest built for something that rips and tears and thrashes and gnaws and hunts. The crest of a killer and ruler all the same.

While the Angel Crest is now permanently affixed to hornet, representing but perhaps also, in fact, creating her godhood, the crest which it feeds silk into can be changed, as you mentioned. Like in game, these may slightly affect her behavior and fighting style. However, considering how powerful the Monarch feels for her (and how, gameplay wise, literally powerful it would be! Call it a mary sue build? Uhhh yeah! She's a deity now!), I doubt she would be switching things up often.

She DOES continue to draw from the Angel, though, and not just through normal silk use. When emotions flare, more silk might draw up more freely and in a larger volume, and Eva might be under more pressure to sustain her defenses. Additionally, if she chooses, hornet could switch to the Angel in its entirety, and be barred off from it again by Eva's helping hand as needed. While she is unthinkably fear-striking and formidable, an unleashed force unmistakably unquestionable in power and a being derived from silken rage this way, I'm sure it would grow increasingly difficult to ground her back into a somewhat reasonable ruler with each use. Hornet, even as a higher being, prefers her better senses anyway.

Other fun bits:

I'm mostly focused on lore here, but for ui design, this shit is so kickass there's no way I'm not using it. Considering the pin/needle imagery and the sharp points and the silk spool (and the ridiculous size), this would probably be most reflective of the Angel, sans the weaver masks. I don't have a design for it yet, but a Monarch Crest hud would be something more like weaver legs or claws, maybe horns or a lil pk crown on top! And that's where those weaver masks can go. Not sure what effects weaver masks might have - maybe they require two damage to break? Generate silk on damage? Idk!

I'm also kind of curious about what happens to Zylotol and Zango. But I feel like its a pretty safe assumption that they're the targets of one of the first royal hunts since I can't imagine Hornet allowing lifeblood to persist in Pharloom

"I now detect your nature in full. Not weaver in any sense, I see, but Pale, not unlike myself. I had the feeling. I indeed also witness you too are like me, in that you are something higher than mortal bug and shell."

"Though my sanctitude is undermined by my creators' failure to give me form, you have judged me rightly in greater part, Lady. But it is not from intuition alone that you declare these truths. I can feel your gaze penetrating to my own soul. You can see its marks."

"A talent which you no longer alone possess."

"A skill, in fact, shared by all who are as expanded in nature as yourself. In that way you have grown greatly since our last meeting. I felt it, the conflagration, of two, and then one. You are bound to her."

"She is bound to me."

"Of course. Your presence is now staggering, both in form and in aspect."

"And good that it is, for I have taken her place as monarch of these lands, thing of weaver thread."

"I discern animosity in your voice, Lady. Am I now your enemy?"

"I bear no hatred to you as I might my true foes, yet your existence itself, now that I understand it with greater clarity, is a threat to my very life."

"Your reign, you mean."

"They are one and the same."

"And I suspect you cannot be reasoned with?"

"I can be convinced of your binding in the place of your destruction."

"Then we may remain amicable, Dear Lady, for that is a fate I can welcome, however selfishly."

"Selfish it is not, for your joining into my growing character will serve the new kingdom."

"You are freeing me from a prison eternal. However you see my weakened capacities used once I am no longer me, let it be so."