[Q+A] Mortis Ramble Thread

[skinstealer]

here you can ask questions about pretty much anything project-related, worldbuilding or character or meta stuff etc.


currently speaking is xavier; looking for stuff related to any of my characters. go nuts

[Guest]

What's some situations where the Rival is prone to doing ill-advised things or messing up trying to show off.
What sort of foods and serving styles does Frost like?
How anime is Shauna, in the negative sense.

[skinstealer]

without spoilers (that i KNOW you know, rime)...the rival is a very boastful person who wants people to like him, up until the point where he thinks their opinion doesn't mean shit to him. it's a fine line and can fluctuate a bit, but this leads him to doing a lot of things to try and prove that he's cool or worth admiration in some way. this can include but is not limited to doing stupid stunts involving shit that gets him hurt (sometimes badly, which thankfully doesn't last long due to being a concept IRL and not actually a zombie, i will not be showing or expounding much beyond vague shit on this but you're welcome to try and ask), trying to flirt with hot guys and coming off like a complete prick, and any time where he feels like his pride is being challenged, doing shit to try and counter that. the hot guys thing is especially a problem and something that wilson has mixed feelings about- he thinks that the rival's approach is abhorrently tacky if not outright kind of dickish (it's a lot of trying to be "cool" in ways that...while not pressuring, it's definitely qualifiable as coming on too strong in a lot of cases.) but in a sense, he's kind of jealous of how easily the rival can try, and engages with his gayness and flamboyance a lot more openly. the two of them also disagree a lot on how to handle trans stuff (both are trans men), but that's a whole other ramble.

i could...talk a lot about this guy, honestly. he's a hot mess.

frost eats a lot of cozy foods when he gets the chance to, but he can't cook for shit and has to order out. since he's also pretty broke, this is infrequent and i'd imagine it's mainly when ivory comes over. he likes big portions and has a huge appetite, which i'd imagine is pretty common for wasp combers, considering they're also based on dragons. stuff with sauce is a must, but he goes for sweet desserts as well.

shauna is a fucking edgelord who has been put through the wringer so many times that she's very capable of stupid anime monologues, which while enjoyably cheesy sometimes, if it weren't for the fact that she actually has enough power to back up any threats she makes, it'd probably lead to people not taking her seriously. aside from that, anyone who had the guts to try and become her friend would probably be put through a lot of angsty rage rambles, as she has a hard time internalizing when stuff could possibly be her fault and would much rather blame others after the events that caused her to discover her scrap powers. lots of monologueing.

[AceOfNothing]

Any fun facts about Obscura? Maybe something you had didn't get a chance to do in Gauntlet

[skinstealer]

oh god it's been a bit uhhh

i guess i've always wanted to show obscura and dropdead's relationship more. rin and i were just starting to test the waters with us being in a relationship when we decided we could have two characters be married, and even though their relationship had a lot of strain to it, i think there was something really valuable there, and interesting to portray. if i did anything with him these days, it'd probably involve the two of them trying to achieve a life of domesticity while also dealing with the effects of both being recovering drug addicts (i have no idea if rin ever divulged that giant fucking spoiler??? whatever i can talk about that too if people are interested)

[AceOfNothing]

Aw I like that. Hopefully ya both do explore that sometime, it'd be interesting.
Any hobbies you could see Obscura being into? Anything they'd collect or watch?

Can we know anything about Faint?

[skinstealer]

obscura would probably be into puzzles and board games, honestly- but board games would probably be hard to play with dropdead unless they're...digital, which makes them videogames i guess lol. he prefers tactile pieces and things that he can mess with his hands, but he does also want to be able to, yknow, play games and such with his wife. he'd probably be into romance to an embarassing degree (to him, i mean), which dd teases him about a lot.

faint is planned to be a character with some kind of dynamic with opera, and while i'm not sure what kind of appearances they'll make in future projects, como invited me to essentially make opera's equivalent of maes, parallel universe style. i chose a neuroth base because maes was planned to be a mantis at one point, at least i recall. i don't have a lot down for them yet, but i'm kind of thinking paranormal investigator?

[MarxzVulpez]

Are there any Morbit species you particularly enjoy? Be it like, aesthetically wanting to eventually make a character with etc

[skinstealer]

obviously i like the bugs, but i'd like to dabble a bit in...well, everything honestly. since fronting more i've realized that i want to expand my horizons artistically and really experiment on the same level as rin does. a lot of us in the system feel nervous about breaking out of our "aesthetics" and i think that while those will always be comfort zones for us, it'll be a valuable and validating experience to break out of that and embrace things that challenge us and make us think in new ways, maybe even discover a thing or two about ourselves in the process. for instance, through tim and some stuff with frost relating to plush shit, i realized "hey, i really like soft and gentle aesthetics in character design", and it's now something i work with a lot, and is honestly just as empowering to me if not moreso than the rougher edgy shit. all this to say: there's going to be a lot of variety from me, even if a lot of my characters are also just, yknow, cats spiders and bugs with goth/wintry palettes.

[skinstealer]

xavier again- going to be working on some maze trials anthology stuff, but just letting people know i'm good for more of this stuff, especially talking about the rival.

[AceOfNothing]

What is Rival? Any background (where he's from, come from a big or small family, any close friends)

[skinstealer]

oh this is a fun set of questions that you're not going to get a lot of good answers for, let's see how much of this i can answer cryptically

-rival is a concept, but i'm not allowed to reveal his IRL design, just his dream form. in dreams he resembles a wolf-like zombie who's literally falling apart at the seams, which is symbolic in more ways than one.
-he is from the same town and school as wilson and the two of them grew up together, but they are not friends and as his current stand-in name would imply, see each other more as unwilling rivals pitted against each other.
-he has a small family with two parents and no siblings, and gets along with them just about as well as wilson does with his parents (which is to say, not at all). avoids contact at all costs and pretends he doesn't see messages from them.
-as much as he tries to boast and come off like a big deal, he doesn't really have friends and due to a bunch of life circumstances, hasn't really had the chance to make any. ever. wilson's probably the closest he's ever had in his life and considering that involves the two of them slapping each other and screaming, it's not much to speak of.

[skinstealer]

shauna notes while i'm writing anthology stuff

-shauna is one of the few maze trials TCPs with significant amounts of power that does not actually ally with anyone else- most TCPs who accrue enough strength also get some kind of either followers or allies, but shauna is 100% a lone wolf and doesn't trust fucking anybody.
-this is also pretty standout considering she doesn't go after people either, she just...operates on her own and carries a metaphorical big stick. any larger, outwardly scarier TCP who underestimates her by her size is going to really fucking get it, though as of right now i don't think she has any kill marks, just a lot of experiences close to it. she doesn't like the idea of taking another person's life.

[knux400]

what is shauna's reaction to this image (the lil red hedgehog build on the side)

[skinstealer]

burning rage and then kicking it over and then feeling bad after because she has repressed toy empathy

[knux400]

But Does She Have Enough Empathy To Stand It Back Up Again

[skinstealer]

yes and would also put it somewhere safe and hidden

[knux400]

secret friend.........

[MarxzVulpez]

I know there are a few characters already getting updated/reworked designs, but are there any earlier designs that you could give us insight into how you would do them differently now? (E.g. Rin once doodled/showed off how Primus and tent types in general would look more like a tent if designed now)
Also gonna extend this to the other system members cause it's nice to see each of y'all's different design philosophies

[skinstealer]

hmmm that's a good question. i haven't done a lot of designs directly myself compared to the Vast Library Of Rin Ones and for the most part, i'm satisfied with the design work i've done...i guess one thing i am kind of sad about (but is definitely too late to change now) is that we never really captured the texture of the plush that inspired tim.


it's distinctly nubbly and curly and i'm not sure how to portray that without greebling the shit out of him, which is probably why we didn't do it in the first place. still, it's a cute texture...kind of wish there was a better way of going about it.

aside from that...i guess i would probably have some differences between how rin designed spider and how i would have worked with the same concept, but i'll be honest i think she's one of the best designs rin has ever done and i want to do her justice as is. i consider her a very nice gift from rin and want to make sure she gets a cool story... but hmm.

it's a good question for other system members as well so i'll leave it floating around for them as well.