Question Any Advice For Writing Draelvasier Characters?

[Ham Salad]

I have been considering creating a character who is a member of the Draelvasier species (created by Tathra Khaeus ), and presumably part of the associated faction. However, I am not entirely aware of all of the species’ writing “quirks”. What I mean is, what are some important things to keep in mind while writing them? What are some subtleties of writing them that would be easy to miss? Given that the Draelvasier are a fan-created species with a great deal of effort put into their creation, I feel a greater obligation to respect the species’ overall “vision” that I wouldn’t feel when writing, say, a Bith.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Ham Salad

Hi there, Ham. Just wanna say it's always a heartwarming thing when I see people approach something I poured my heart into with such respect. This is a really good question you're asking so - whilst we have resources on the faction forum to help with answering this question, I'm gonna take a stab at it here for you. But I'll be honest I never feel like I'm good at answering this question.

- What are some of the things to keep in mind, while writing a Draelvasier?

Well, their perspective is wildly different on the Galaxy than most of any other species. Some might call it indoctrination, but essentially the Draelvasier are educated from birth to adopt very specific values. Especially the xenophobic hate of 'aliens' as we know them.

Oh, and they never refer to each other as men or women. Simply Draelvasier or Drael. They don't really care about all that nonsense, how they mate doesn't even require the opposite sex.

Tathra Khaeus is the creator of the current era of Draelvasier, having achieved success in generating what I call birthing pods and creating hatchlings for the first time in around 830ABY. Draelvasier grows up real quick, and they tend to fall within a spectrum of races known as Baedurin and Aeravalin. However, there is plenty of in-between.

Drael, believe in a meritocratic food chain - exclusively for their own of course. Based on their core values of militarism, discipline, and strength [not just the physical kind]. So they aren't afraid of throwing hands with each other to prove something but they're also open to just logistical, pragmatic debates when called for.

Another thing to keep in mind is their size and physical prowess. The Drael are one of the most physically resilient and strong species in the Galaxy.

- Subtleties that are easy to miss?

They aren't just monsters. They have a kinship and a great deal of care for honour, and a twisted sort of love for Tathra. Even with him being abusive and ruthless as he can be. I always like to compare them to, Thanos or the Decepticons or the Locust from Gears of War in that there is a twisted sense of righteous justice in it for them. Which is ironic, given how hateful they can be. But that's only the face presented to the puny aliens of the Galaxy.


-
If you want to discuss joining the faction; The Draelvasier. I'd be happy to talk about your own ideas and incorporate them into an epic baddie. My discord is The Metachief#6918.

 

[Parvati]

I'm also curious. Also where do you guys all find the awesome play bys?!

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Parvati

I hope my response to Ham helps inform you. As for the playbys, it's funny that you should mention that! Two years ago, when I was running the Bryn'adul faction [old draelvasier faction], playbys were ridiculously hard to come by.

Now, I use the midjourney AI to simply mix the commissioned art of Tathra with various prompts and buzz words to create new art that well, looks like a Draelvasier. It's really been very helpful where as before it would've been impossible to have such cool but fitting playbys.

 

[Sethrak]

Can confirm, playbys were a pain.

 

[Srina Talon]

Some of the newest things that I've seen generated in regards to art are gorgeous (in that I'm a scary space monster kind of way) and really lend to a fantastic visual.

I've never written a Drael but I've of a lot of content from where they're involved - And there was a wide range of personality and culture to be absorbed aside from "let's blow up this world yeehaw" from character to character. It's cool to see those nuances being discussed here.

Be big, bold, brave and when in doubt seek Tathra out xD

 

[Ham Salad]

Tathra Khaeus

Thanks for your helpful and well thought out response. Unfortunately, I do not have Discord (planning to fix that at some point), so direct messages will have to suffice for now. My basic concept for the character so far is that he is an ambitious officer in the Draelvasier Navy, who wants to prove both his abilities, and the superiority of the Draelvasier Navy over the Draelvasier Army. I am planning to flesh out his character more than that, obviously.

I also attempted to get some AI image generators to produce something that looks vaguely like the Draelvasier. This is the closest I managed to get:

Spoiler: View at your own risk

I'm not sure which (if any) of these abominations I will use as an avatar, but I am strongly considering the first one or second one.

 

[Tathra Khaeus]

Ham Salad

Interesting concept. As of the moment, I think it'd definitely help you to actively read into the Draelvasier lore currently. As, with the faction going minor ICly 8yrs ago - civil war, hunting and war with the other factions during that time has led to pretty much total destruction of the Drael society.

So whilst previously the Draelvasier were indeed an active military element. They're scattered and more so a faction of just individuals currently.

As for the images you generated, [gave me a good laugh] my friend the Draelvasier aren't actually lobsters. They're humanoid. You can see more examples of the Drael here, on our currently-in-progress update to the species codex page. I'll help you find a much higher quality, and more suitable playby once you've made a discord account so you can join the server. That's where all of our discussions/planning etc goes on so its very helpful to have it.