This is way easier than writing. Wait, this is writing.

Iiiiit's sketch dump time!

This is really not anything I want to see the light of day, but since the light of day rarely hits the internet, I guess we're good. My nemesis, Male Appearance, has won the day this time. Apparently in my head they're just taller, skinnier women. This points to MANY PROBLEMS.

The Crown, half-dressed. This is a pretty indecent portrait by Salish standards.

Irith turned out pretty blond in this next one when I look at the jpg, and it made the shading on her shirt go all crazy as well. (I think I'm sticking with Irith.)


But I'm really starting to feel for this character. This is how it usually works for me-- I draw a few times, then I know what I'm talking about. Quilin is an anomaly. Irith's fighting a few battles at once when we meet her. She's gradually accumulated power over five years, and she likes it, but she can't maintain it. The power she has, she holds as Salin, not as Irith. Irith never got a chance to develop an identity outside of Salin, so when she's outside that role she's deeply uncomfortable, restless, and mostly unaware of herself. She's already gone a few years past the point when she lost the ability to pass for a boy, but she's not a girl anymore and she doesn't really know what it means to herself to be a woman. She's been falling hard for her general, which bothers her on a couple levels... it's unprofessional and girlish, following up on it would mean losing her power, she doesn't know if his loyalty is to her or to Salin, and she doesn't have any idea what to do with all these emotions and thoughts anyway.
Irith's story is up in the air, as is her name-- can't even remember any of the rest besides Arrashi. But so far it's been helping to think of each character's arc individually. Right now, I'm thinking that after Ennel disappears into Hlamis, Irith knows she's in trouble. People who have wanted her out of office for years anyway see their chance with her general out of the country. So when she hears word from Hlamis that Ennel was captured, Irith goes after him, abandoning her post and leaving the country. She had such an isolated experience growing up that it doesn't even seem like a particularly bad move to her to show up at Quilin's bunker; she knows him, and after all, he'll quickly realize there is not much leverage to be had by holding her ransom. Salin doesn't want her back, they have a new Crown. She's not a warrior, because I REFUSE to go down that route, and she's not magical at all. She's an administrator. And it's possible that she might end up being Quilin's liege. I thought Ennel would, but that's a little difficult to reconcile for me even now, and while I was picturing the two of them leading Hlamis, why would Irith work so hard to avoid being dominated by Ennel and then let him have a wizard?

The trouble with Irith: This is coming down to Wizard, Weaver, Warrior, and.... Woman? I must somehow avoid this.