This is my roommate’s cat, appropriately named Kitkat, which I have been pet-sitting for the last week. She is normally scared of the wind but once everyone left town Kitkat warmed up and has been camping out in my room. One thing I have learned, a cat is a lot more cost effective than a space heater at night.
Now back to business! The Kalille are an important race in the world of Shadowdawn, and it should be noted that despite their obvious feline traits they do not think of themselves as “merely” cats. The reasons for this trace back to the origins of the Kalille as a “divine race”, as they were first simply nature spirits and the force of Balance in the fledgling world of Lexis caught between the angellic Gladiere and demonic Dragons. They chose their current form as a means to fully embrace their unique position in the world and become more a functional part of it. What this actually means is something for future stories to explore, but suffice to say calling a Kalille a “cat” is an insult of the highest order to them (and something that Ket endures often). Humans of Lexis have picked up the less volatile colloquialisms of razorcat (or sometimes, devilcat) based on their metallic bone structures and spear-like tails, but Kalille generally react more strongly to the base word than these human terms.
- Ket the Blackwing
Ket is a highly unique character in the setting of Shadowdawn, even as far as Kalille go. He is, as his denomination may indicate, the only Kalille ever to have black-feathered wings which quickly caused a superstitious mob mentality to bubble to the surface and his eventual forced exile. Being an outcast of a highly reclusive society forced him to use his natural abilities in ways Kalille never had to before.
As an artist – and given the people I’ve talked to I’m not alone in this – drawing animals is HARD. It took years to even get Ket to look the appropriate size and to make matters worse I had to give him wings, which are also not so easy to draw let alone on a quadruped. I eventually got comfortable with the shape but of course my own style took over so it’s not exactly photorealistic or even typical of how manga handles animals, but I like how he turned out. I started playing with armor pieces to have him fit with the technomancy-centric setting, but as he is is more know for psychic abilities I didn’t go too overboard on that end.
Finally presenting a new character, Morsett Daikuri, next time. Thanks for reading and see you soon!
