#deerfolk

[shepscapades]

Souls in the Sand: Concept Art

As I’ve mentioned here and there, I’ve spent the last two years developing an original story inspired by a small Origins+Empires server a few friends and I started planning. The more I developed plans for my empire to be a sprawling overgrown cityscape of ruins and stone framework inspired by the nether, the more I built up this backstory for the character I wanted to play, a small deerfolk boy named Esra. From there, and over months of working and reworking the story and its characters, I’m proud to say I’m coming up on a 100 piece gallery for my Masters Exhibition to display this story in the form of a song-inspired comic, titled: Souls in the Sand.

Over the next month and beyond the date of my exhibition in April, I wanted to start sharing my work here! I thought it would be fitting to first share all of the concept work I did for the characters last semester as I took each character from their old lineup and reworked them from scratch to see if there were any designs I could make more unique or appropriate for the story. This process consisted of four stages: silhouettes, full-body mock-ups, face and head shapes/designs, and experimenting with the final characters’ designs with a set of unique expressions that best fit their personalities and narrative role.

Since each character was reworked separately, the “new” concept lineup is a little disjointed (and some of the characters’ faces actually ended up different from their full-body designs), but I thought it would be fun to line them up to compare the overall cast to their old designs. With each character(s) I post the concept process for, I may share little bits of the work I’m doing or talk a little about their narrative roles as I go, but for now, have Esra!

I know I don’t post original work here often, but I wanted to share parts of this journey with you guys because it’s been very meaningful to me! And I hope all of the work I’ve been doing may at the very least serve as a bit of inspiration or encouragement for us to keep making silly minecraft stories, to keep drawing the characters we love, and to keep being creative in whatever way is meaningful! <3

[justabitscrewy]

Second round of Art Fight went to @dwoodledip! I’ll be honest, it was hard figuring out which of their OCs to draw, but I had to go with the hot deer man ok, I didn’t have a choice

[my art fight profile]

[dwoodledip’s art fight profile]

check my blog for commission status

[phantasmalduelist]

If all else fails, Follow me into pale sunlight That's how I've been taught To see the gentle meadows Even in the darkest night

[bugpysforge]

Deerling steals food from farms and orchards to sell to the poor. Despite her excellent stealth, she will take advantage of her attractiveness and cunning charm to keep herself out of danger.

Race: Omikyr Class: Rogue Subclass: Wildcard Guild Location: Postwick Farm Alignment: Neutral Evil

View the pokedex of all dungeon pokemon by following the link in the menu.

[proxxifoxxi-art]

My PALADIN DIED on saturday lmao

So here is a Kipp the Satyr!

Wild Magic Sorceress and lost in the human realm! Luckily she sees it more as an “Extended Vacation”

[jadebrightwind]

Here she is! Autumn's sister, Firefly! She's had a rough life, and she's dealing with it differently from her sibling. It's been a journey getting to know her and trying to crack into her heart.

[tizravenkatthing]

Karma; Evocation Wizard and Morally Grey Arsonist 🔥

Dramatic video✨:

Still images so you can read at leisure below.

[erisethsp]

minecraft ocs from an origins server! these are axis and lille, the deerfolk!

don’t mind the three different art styles pls

also some extra doodles because i have so many everywhere (plus cameo from sierra, another oc)

[blocksmithkyra]

Did someone say Hermit ladies D&D AU? No? Too bad I did it anyways.

[theinsanecrayonbox]

Marvel twitter:  Meet the God of Thunder’s Mechasaur, Thunderhoof!

Me: Thunderhoof huh?

what i’m thinking: 

Marvel twitter: 

Me: yeah idk what i expected honestly

[heartfullofleeches]

Yan Deerfolk + Thembo Forest Guardian Reader-

[Brief mention of cannibalism]

A tree dweller fallen in the act of protecting their home births a protector with the guise of a twisted beast. The forest dwellers steer clear from their path in fear of being brought down by its fangs, claws, or the axe that has carried it through life's trials. That axe looks familiar to some. The way it bandages broken limbs free from wayward snares is so familiar too. Its eyes brings tears to all who stare back; the feeling more melancholic than fear.

You.

Horned shadows peer from the trees as the mention. It's you - the forester. They remember you well. The one who took care of many when you were all by yourself - even in your final moments. But your hands are so big now and you have such thick fur! You don't seem to remember much your old life either, but as they failed you in one life they wouldn't waste the opportunity to cherish you the next. You have a different form, and what's left of your human mind knows that they are the same.

Things were tricky at first. When you wanted to believe left alone or a member of the herd got too close you'd pick the offender up and place a part of them in your jaws. This eventually cools to you putting them up in trees - to the chargin of many.

That brings up mention of your diet. A carnivorous appetite was your curse for such a terrible end, but you could stomach other foods well enough. Rabbits and birbs were your usual meals, but your watchers knew a beast of your size would need something - bigger.

It's quite easy to lure stray humans into the forest when you're the embodiment of innocence and grace. You seem to like it so no harm done. Given they've never tell you what you were consuming. They brush off whatever offers of clothing they bring as campers forgetting their belongings. You've grown too accustomed to the smell of blood to figure it out.

While you slept in the day they'd take turns grooming you and admiring you up close. If they were lucky you'd throw an arm over one or two of them and trap them in a bone crushing cuddle till you woke. During the early hours of the day you sometimes shift back to mortal form. Everyone is on high alert for intruders then.

Despite the hurtles, life is good for all. Your herd cares for as you are and remain faithful even if you never regain your old memories. They take joy in riding on your back and putting flowers in your hair in spring - singing to you and huddling around you for warmth in the fall. As traumatic as your transformation was, maybe it was for the best. Now you never have to return the human realm again

[marokra]

Gem is a Watcher.

Sure, she doesn’t agree with their values and the listeners sent her to the life games as an inside agent, but that doesn’t change the few thousand Eyes that she wielded, or the wings on her back. She isn’t particularly ashamed of her heritage, quite proud of her existence as a demigod, really, but she didn’t want it to effect her relationship with her friends. She didn’t want to be seen as something to be feared.

That’s where the illusions come in.

Watchers can blend in with regular people scarily well. Not many choose to live out their lives among the beings they’ve watched over, but when they do, they could hide it all with illusions. Many choose to imitate an avian, but others try to hide their species entirely, masquerading as a human.

Gem was… neither of those people. She could never fit into one little box, loving the thrill of simply being, being whatever she wanted. Deerfolk? Sure! Dragon? Why not! Butterfly? Of course!

Gem didn’t masquerade as one thing. She was all things. A shapeshifter, if you will. She was happy like that, happy with the freedom to be whatever she wanted without disclosing her Watcher status. Nobody knew, and she was happy.

However, if any of her friends noticed her connection to the end, the eyes watching them, and her seemingly impossible ability to use vertical slabs, they didn’t say anything.

[fanged-cotl]

Anthropomorphic animal lore (subject to change)

I have been putting off this explanation because it's been daunting to try and fully illustrate it, so i am going to sketch and infodump this out. beware of mistakes or things that don't make sense yet x,O

anthro: humanoid body plan animal

feral: regular animal body

There are 3 main anthro species in my cotl au

Unguibus: "clawed people" canines, felines, rabbits, rodents, ect.

Ungulates: "hooved people" deer, cows, elephants, ect.

Avians: "bird people" self explanatory

All of these anthros are omnivorous, although some require more meat in their diet than others. Main sources of meat in these lands would be large, animalistic insects (like the enemies seen ingame), and feral (non-anthro) species: fish, amphibians, reptiles, and birds (will be explained later)

This cannon exists in a mountainous and forested biome with valleys, rivers, and a coastline. Animals that naturally live in these biomes will be seen as colonies, villages, towns, camps, settlements, ect. in this universe. So if you wanted to see elephant people, hippo people, maned wolves, tropical avains, ect. You would need to travel out of the lands. Instead you'll find coyotes, foxes, deer, sheep, raccoons, eagles, ect.

Lands in the old faith that have been affected by their ruling bishops, however, will have different biomes and new people.

Unguibus and Ungulates evolved from their original (feral) forms due to unknown divine intervention: (they used to look like regular animals)

Ungulate and Unguibus groups hunted and ate eachother throughout their evolutionary history. They have joined together, and fought each-other all across the world. The majority of species reserve their own cultural backgrounds and histories, and stigmas to match.

Many of these species have completely different gender identities/roles and cultural norms, which I will explore in sheepfolk and catfolk soon!

For a random stigma example, cats may be called "rat eaters" due to some groups of catfolk's persecution and consumption of ratfolk and other rodent unguibus in the past.

Ungulates of species that are known to scavenge on small animals and carcasses in real life, have eaten smaller "prey" anthros in my cannon. For example, irl deer sometimes eat small animals- so in my cannon, some groups of deerfolk have worked alongside predatory anthro species that used to hunt them, like canines, in order to hunt other anthros.

Other species like sheep lived more docile lives of farming, and some avian or catfolk groups may have only fished, ect. ect.

Most of this is speculative background ideas that won't be looked into that much, because now that magic and cults have taken over and anthros have become more accustomed to living in towns and developing technology, things have mixed together enough for species differentiation to matter less and less over time. Especially in Lambi's cult.

Domestic species like dogs, cats, sheep, ect. exist either because of population isolation or selective racial purity. (yikes i know)

Subspecies exist due to geological location and habitat (ex: indian wolf vs gray wolf, brown bear vs sun bear, ect,)

Species differentiation will eventually only matter for reproduction. Foxes, wolves, coyotes and dogs can interbreed because they are all canines but a zebra and a lion could not. The world will eventually melt together and the concept of visible subspecies and breeds will be history, but i'm getting ahead of myself-

Due to the rise of deities in the lands of the old faith, there are new anthro people emerging from the likeness of the bishops.

I will have to dive into these individual species and what they look like much much more in the future. This post was a bit of a huge fucking mess of me trying to get out my thoughts.

Considering that Unguibis and Ungulates have gone completely anthro, you might be wondering why birds and reptiles can be found feral and anthro in this universe? Bird anthros were created alongside the rise of gods in order to aid them. For example, Clauneck and Kudaai. Althrough this plan did not follow through fully, as there are plenty of individual avians that lived with their own ideas, acting as regular mortals do. Reptiles had a similar treatment, although it must've been even less effective, considering flinky has no humanoid body. Most of this is going to be left up to speculation.

Another thing I will get into besides sheep vs cat gender & culture is "turned" anthros. Which are the main enemies Lambi will fight. The turning of an anthro, and the nature of your physical form changing to suit your god will also explain Forneus's size and age, Clauneck and Kudaai's size & faces, why heretics on crusades.. look like the way they do...ect.

WHOO. ALL DONE RANTING! This is might have a few contradictions in it, but I needed to vomit all of this out in SOME way. It's so hard to communicate this without dedicating all my time to world building instead of character exploration & narilamb.

All of this blurb exists because of my love for spec bio, xenofiction, and some neurodivergent need for furry media to make biological and ecological sense with their species choices because 90% of the time it does not.

[phantasmalduelist]

Magic Doe

[bugpysforge]

Girafarig attacks opponents by using psychic powers. She enjoys using her flail to strike opponents while setting up physical and psychological traps.

Race: Omikyr Class: Fighter Subclass: Psi Warrior Archetype Alignment: Lawful Neutral

View the pokedex of all dungeon pokemon by following the link in the menu.

[deconstructeam]

The Cosmic Wheel Sisterhood: Water

Yu-ënia is a Deerfolk Witch, also known as Master of the Elements. 🔥🌊🍃⛰

We had the honor to count with Francisco Riolobos's art to illustrate one of her lessons, since Yu-ënia is Fortuna's mentor.

Also: one week less for release 👁