Naiad Color Rites

Jun 01

k4ll0: So Bioware did the awful thing to actually reveal Tali’s face AND doing a crap job at it. That made me pretty much deny the whole thing ever happening (..among other things) so Tali’s “official” face is still a mystery to me.I’d like to point out before anyone gets mad about her looking ‘wrong’ that this is 90% my headcanon and it’s not meant to necessarily meet anyone else’s ideas about her looks. How she looks here is based on my views of Quarian biology, geography of Rannoch, codex/dialogue, and earlier Quarian concepts. I always try to make my headcanons logical in a biological sense (adsjghf im so funny) but since we don’t know that much about quarian physiology, most of my “facts” are guesses at most.So if you’re interested, go ahead and read the massive wall of lol-science text because I obviously had too much time in my hands.Sooo.. The first thing you have to remember are the enviro-suits and how important they are to quarian culture. They’ve been worn by quarians for hundreds of years and there’s no way the suit’s design hasn’t been inspired by how the quarians look underneath the suit. It also makes it quite certain that quarians don’t have horns, big ears or anything that would greatly effect the suit design (both aesthetically and functionally). Secondly, according to the codex Rannoch’s surface temperature is over 48°C so it’s one hot place to live in. Most mammals that live in hot places on Earth have huge ears for cooling purposes but quarian suits make that idea seem quite impossible or at least very un-practical. Since quarians are probably not cold-blooded, I’d imagine they would have a ‘ventilation’ closer to us humans but more suited for Rannoch’s temperatures. The ‘cuts’ and lines on her face are like a super efficient cooling system and they pretty much cover the whole body as well, keeping quarians from overheating but also saving them from having to sweat all the time. Sweating would suck in that suit.Also since Rannoch is mostly a desert planet, and thus a very brown habitat to live in, quarian skin color is most likely very ‘natural’ looking. Any overly colorful skintones (green, blue, purple etc) don’t really make sense from evolution’s point of view, so to me quarians have always had a wide variety of brown-ish skin color to help their ancestors blend into their surroundings.And as for the overall skin type, I’d like to think quarians are more like turians than humans. Grunt once said that humans, asari and salarians are soft and thus easy to kill, turians and quarians not as much. So quarian skin would be tougher and thicker than human skin since their physique is obviously quite the same. The markings on her face are kinda like tattoos. Having something special decorating your face and body is something I see quarians appreciate, but anything other than permanent tattoos would be too much trouble because of the suit. The ‘text’ itself is a part taken from Migrant Fleet ships’ walls, and it probably has something to do with their homeworld as always.And no hair. At least in a sense that humans would think as hair. To me growing any ‘fur’ in that suit makes no sense since I doubt they’d have hair in any other reason than for aesthetical purposes, and no-one gets to see it anyway because of the damn suit. Since they already use a lot of cybernetic augmentations in their bodies you’d think they also used some sort of medicine or technology to stop any unnessecary hair from growing. At least I would. But yeah if they had hair, it’d be kinda like dreadlocks because ..because I say so.Lastly, I’ve seen a lot of art and posts that describe quarians kinda sickly-looking because of all the years spent in the enviro-suit. I honestly can see where people are coming from with the idea but it’s still not how I see quarians. Yes they are often sick because of the immune system and sterile environment, but I’d also like to believe that the suits are damn well made and don’t really affect their overall appearance that much. Otherwise you’d hear a lot more whining. ..wow I wish I could hide text in photo posts. that’s a lot of crap text. I think I just got myself +100 pathetic geek points. level up, man.

k4ll0:

So Bioware did the awful thing to actually reveal Tali’s face AND doing a crap job at it. That made me pretty much deny the whole thing ever happening (..among other things) so Tali’s “official” face is still a mystery to me.

I’d like to point out before anyone gets mad about her looking ‘wrong’ that this is 90% my headcanon and it’s not meant to necessarily meet anyone else’s ideas about her looks. How she looks here is based on my views of Quarian biology, geography of Rannoch, codex/dialogue, and earlier Quarian concepts. I always try to make my headcanons logical in a biological sense (adsjghf im so funny) but since we don’t know that much about quarian physiology, most of my “facts” are guesses at most.

So if you’re interested, go ahead and read the massive wall of lol-science text because I obviously had too much time in my hands.

Sooo..



The first thing you have to remember are the enviro-suits and how important they are to quarian culture. They’ve been worn by quarians for hundreds of years and there’s no way the suit’s design hasn’t been inspired by how the quarians look underneath the suit. It also makes it quite certain that quarians don’t have horns, big ears or anything that would greatly effect the suit design (both aesthetically and functionally).


Secondly, according to the codex Rannoch’s surface temperature is over 48°C so it’s one hot place to live in. Most mammals that live in hot places on Earth have huge ears for cooling purposes but quarian suits make that idea seem quite impossible or at least very un-practical. Since quarians are probably not cold-blooded, I’d imagine they would have a ‘ventilation’ closer to us humans but more suited for Rannoch’s temperatures. The ‘cuts’ and lines on her face are like a super efficient cooling system and they pretty much cover the whole body as well, keeping quarians from overheating but also saving them from having to sweat all the time. Sweating would suck in that suit.

Also since Rannoch is mostly a desert planet, and thus a very brown habitat to live in, quarian skin color is most likely very ‘natural’ looking. Any overly colorful skintones (green, blue, purple etc) don’t really make sense from evolution’s point of view, so to me quarians have always had a wide variety of brown-ish skin color to help their ancestors blend into their surroundings.

And as for the overall skin type, I’d like to think quarians are more like turians than humans. Grunt once said that humans, asari and salarians are soft and thus easy to kill, turians and quarians not as much. So quarian skin would be tougher and thicker than human skin since their physique is obviously quite the same.

The markings on her face are kinda like tattoos. Having something special decorating your face and body is something I see quarians appreciate, but anything other than permanent tattoos would be too much trouble because of the suit. The ‘text’ itself is a part taken from Migrant Fleet ships’ walls, and it probably has something to do with their homeworld as always.

And no hair. At least in a sense that humans would think as hair. To me growing any ‘fur’ in that suit makes no sense since I doubt they’d have hair in any other reason than for aesthetical purposes, and no-one gets to see it anyway because of the damn suit. Since they already use a lot of cybernetic augmentations in their bodies you’d think they also used some sort of medicine or technology to stop any unnessecary hair from growing. At least I would. But yeah if they had hair, it’d be kinda like dreadlocks because ..because I say so.

Lastly, I’ve seen a lot of art and posts that describe quarians kinda sickly-looking because of all the years spent in the enviro-suit. I honestly can see where people are coming from with the idea but it’s still not how I see quarians. Yes they are often sick because of the immune system and sterile environment, but I’d also like to believe that the suits are damn well made and don’t really affect their overall appearance that much. Otherwise you’d hear a lot more whining.



..wow I wish I could hide text in photo posts. that’s a lot of crap text. I think I just got myself +100 pathetic geek points. level up, man.

i made a dwarf paper doll/reusable blank i can use whenever i want to design dwarves (whose proportions are not easy to get right the first time).  and then i turned it into varric okay why not.

i made a dwarf paper doll/reusable blank i can use whenever i want to design dwarves (whose proportions are not easy to get right the first time).  and then i turned it into varric okay why not.

I just thought it would be cool to see Varric’s original concept and the concept of his appearance from The Silent Grove comics side by side.  It’s almost startling how the years have aged Varric. Varric’s original concept is by Matt Rhodes.  The second concept is taken from [Faces of Thedas: Varric].

I just thought it would be cool to see Varric’s original concept and the concept of his appearance from The Silent Grove comics side by side.  It’s almost startling how the years have aged Varric.

Varric’s original concept is by Matt Rhodes.  The second concept is taken from [Faces of Thedas: Varric].

May 30

[video]

May 27

I believe in fires at midnight…. only varric can see what’s written on those pages, it’s his magically power

I believe in fires at midnight….

only varric can see what’s written on those pages, it’s his magically power

May 25

something entertaining: The Fox Sister by Christina Strain and Jayd Aït-Kaci -

webcomicsweekly:

Many of you might be familiar with Miss Aït-Kaci’s work on Sfeer Theory, a longer running comic, but since I’m attempting to review some newer comics, I decided to highlight this little gem.

The Fox Sister is Miss Aït-Kaci’s latest collaboration with author…

May 18

[video]

[video]

May 17

spicyshimmy replied to your post: Reblog with a screencap of your desktop. NO CLEANING.
okay, you win. (did you notice the billions of saved files right on my desktop of those feynriel and connor comic pages? i’ll never forgive this desktop for resizing it so small so people couldn’t see and weep while i cackle and hoard…)

…i did.  i didn’t know whether to be secretly delighted or just…bury my face and laugh.  i only recognized them because i see those thumbnails every time i go into my current art folder to pull up my working files, and sometimes i have to pause and just…wonder.  (wonder whether i should make more, or wonder what must have been going through my head.  also, wonder if i should go back and fix some things.  art is never finished.)

i hope you know that those comic pages are blackmail material on me.  or, well, to certain people they may be.  in case you ever wanted to know how to twist my arm.