Design Notes: Expeditionary Hierophant
Helian League Faction Designs
The faction’s design is largely aesthetically inspired by the ancient Greece, combined with the aesthetic sense of many other cultures, predominantly medieval European and Arabic. And the most obvious: they are inspired by elven/fae folklore. As their lore suggests, they are very disciplined and orderly, while at the same time naturalistic. Because of their faith, they prefer to implement brighter colors. Helrin have an affinity to fire, due to their allegiance with the Sun goddess and due to the sun-lit environment they live in. Hence, most of the population can wield fire; this shows in their character, as they can be fierce as blazing flames and are not as meek as some would believe.
Some can wield other elements as well, one being the model I want to talk about.
Today, as a contrast to the last design process we published, I would like to present to you the design process of a model from the Helian League faction: The Expeditionary Hierophant. (Check out her profile for more sculpt image)
Background
A hierophant is an interpreter of sacred mysteries and arcane principles. In the game, her role is that of a healer and a potential leader of the Helrin party, that travels alongside the Helrin Expeditionary Force in pursuit of new discoveries, adventures and expansion. She is blessed by the patron goddess of the Helrin, Hyperia. While she is not expected to lead from the vanguard, she can cause more than enough trouble for the opposite side with her divine spells. Not to mention that she is singlehandedly capable of keeping your models up and fighting, while the number of enemies keep dropping.
Armaments
When making this design, we tried to keep the lore and realism in mind. As she is not expected to absorb the full force of the enemy offensive, her armor is not fully encompassing her. However, it denotes her status and should give her very good protection.
Her forearms and shins are covered with metal vambraces and greaves, which are meant to protect and decorate her. Her torso is protected by a cuirass made of 2 segments; the lower one that protects the abdomen and the upper one that protects the chest. Like with real armors, her cuirass reaches to about the navel, as to not inhibit mobility. The rest of her lower torso is protected by faulds, or in this case just one fauld (armored skirt). The rest of the body is protected by stylishly-tailored padding (gambeson), which should do well enough against any light slashes and impacts. Her head is currently exposed (mainly due to aesthetical reasons), but she might as well wear a helmet or armored hood in a life-threatening situation.
Details
(At some point in the past, Rin were introduced to and adopted plate armor (I’m not yet telling from whom!). However, as they lack certain technology, their armor might not be entirely on-par with what we now know as a full plate harness (it is more segmented than Earth’s 14th, 15th century plate armor). Nevertheless, what they might be lacking in metallurgical technology, they make up for in craftsmanship, as each of their armors is a work of art and is made to perfectly fit the wearer.
An important point is that aesthetics play a major role in the Rin cultures. Similar to the customs of our own world, where armor often emphasizes the wearer’s anatomy, the Rin also tend to make armor in a way that it flatters the body and the style of its wearer. In the case of this particular model, the armor is made in a way to show her feminine grace. However, since she is an expeditionary hierophant, someone who is on the road a lot, practicality and effectiveness had to be considered.)
Weapons
Finally, she carries a staff, embedded with a mana stone, to assist her with the channeling of mana.
An important note: usually, the flow of mana through one’s body is impeded by armor and multiple layers of clothing (this is why arcanists seldomly fully garb themselves). But in the case of divine mana, which the Hierophant uses, the intensity of mana is mostly dependent upon one’s zeal and faith – it seems to manifest within. Another fact is that Helrin are capable of crafting enchanted metals with unique conductive properties – something that is hard to find elsewhere.
The Art
She was the first digital drawing I did, so her art has lots of space for improvement.
The Sculpt
Our sculptor, on the other hand, did a tremendously wonderful work with her in my opinion! I think he captured her grace and leadership very nicely!