#ellara aphros

[fantroll-purgatory]

Ellara Aphros

@ghostlyshoes

Yeah, I know for now she looks a tad like a certain canon character we know. Though she’s a trollsona and somewhat based off me anyway. I’m open to changes in design you might want to put forward though! (Note: the one on the far left was created by a friend for me!)

Hmmm… I might want to play with this idea of her looking like Vriska a little bit, actually. It’s very uncommon for trolls to share signs, which means they’re very closely related if they DO share a common sign. So I think… Usually I don’t jump the gun on talking about themes and ideas like this all the way at the beginning, but I think I want her ancestor to be at least related to Mindfang. Maybe her ancestor was one of Mindfang’s Hypothetical on-planet descendants… 

I want to do this connection link if only because of her interest in the zodiac, interest in history, interest in destiny, stuff like that. 

Planet: Alternia

Name: Ellara Aphros ‘Ellara’ is close to ‘Helena/Helen’ which means ‘bright shining light’ or Torch. It may have connections to ‘Helios’ the Greek sun God in lexicographical meaning. ‘Aphros’ comes from ‘Aphrodite’ Venus’s Roman counterpart. It also links to both ‘Phosphorous’ (A Chemical element which is highly reactive and glows with a bright white light, ‘phosphorescent’ meaning to glow, particularly in the Dark which could also relate to her god-tier Sylph of Light which means ‘Creator of Light’. And the word ‘Amp’ a unit of electric current.

Eilidh might be a better option than Ellara, because it is the Gaelic version of the name Helen. 

Aphros might be good, though the amp thing doesn’t feel particularly related to her name or her theme… And she’s not particularly focused on beauty, so referencing Aphrodite might not be the best option? Maybe Vernal instead. Vernal references the Vernal Equinox, which is the solar position from which the Zodiac was determined. 

Eilidh Vernal. 

Trolltag: ghostlyCensurer, predeterminedSpectre [GC, PS]

‘ghostlyCensurer’ refers to her being the ‘watcher’ from far afield. Unspotted and unnoticed by most everyone. As well as her silent analysis on the suburb which she lives above of. ‘preterminedSpectre’ is pretty similar. ‘Predetermined’ In her need to know the future and 

extrasolarObserver instead, maybe? Extrasolar implies a far distance away but also references her light theme, and Observer links back to the watcher thing but just… sounds better with extrasolar than Censurer does. Oooooh or extrasolarAugur to reference her interest in things like tarot… 

Typing Quirk: Replaces ‘E’ with ‘3’ (Reference to her lusus, who is a Cerberus so three heads) Uses the ‘V●ᴥ●V’ Dog Puns wherever possible Punctuation in packs of three (!!!, ???, …) (Especially when excited about a certain topic)

I think the 3 could still work with the Papillon mom because 3 looks like a butterfly’s wing. 

Blood Colour: Cerulean

Symbol: True Scorpio (Originally ‘Venus’) (Venus can also mean ‘Morning Star’ (connected to the meaning of Lucifer, which again connects to the light theme (light bearer) and well as her Cerberus lusus))

Lusus: Corgiberus (The Pack-Mind) Slightly air-headed but rather friendly. Can be intimidating due to her massive size and loud barking noises. The closer trolls come to approaching the hive the louder it starts barking. It can reach levels that deafen the odd rust or brown blood.

Alternate (this one might keep with the Cerulean colour more) Butterbark A giant ‘Papillion’ or butterfly dog. It has it’s ears set as it’s wings and three giant compound eyes, two in the standard place at the side and one acting as a ‘third eye’ in the centre. It’s very friendly despite its oddly terrifying features. (Butterflies are thought to be spirits of the dead watching over you in many cultures and circles. This links back to her ‘ghostly’ and ‘spectre’ trolltags)

I like the Papillon idea a lot better! Butterbark… Barkflymom… I like the idea of this cute papillon dog with earwings that is also a little bit armored. Friendly, cute, a pal. Butterflies are also often references to the Impact of the past and also the potentiality of the future, so I think this adds some additional layers to her theme. 

Alignment: Chaotic Neutral

Strife Specibus: Stationarykind (Using several types of stationary, pens, pencils, rulers etc. Although she is generally less skilled at using each one of them, it’s also what she uses in order to note down a lot of her findings and obviously more practical than tossing a book.)

I actually like the idea of her using Tarotkind. She pulls a combination of cards and has to utilize the attack that is produced by that combination. Example: Say she pulls a two of swords, a two of wands, and the magician: she’d have access to a 2x1 sword, both sides of which can function as a magical focus. But if she pulled the hermit, the fool, and a three of cups, she might summon three old banged up juggling cups. 

Fetch Modus: Zodiackind Yep all 48 signs. She builds up association between objects and what she uses to read people/the future and they go into 1 of 48 different ‘sections’. Although, she has to work out which section the object has actually gone into herself.

You should have this visually look a bit like a constellation map and each of the items is a “star” in a constellation. She has to map out the entire constellation and then pick out the appropriate star corresponding to the item she wants to retrieve. 

Powers: None (As typical for most highbloods)

She gets Blueblood Psychic Resistance, at least. 

Title: Sylph of Light

(Explanation for this will be lower down and referenced in her personality/interests) 

I actually have to protest that she’s a Seer of Light. A passive observer, someone who utilizes mediums through which to obtain and analyze information. Someone who searches for information, cares deeply about collecting and understanding it… But it would also push her to learn how to engage with other people, because passive classes are all about the good of the group.

Land: Land of Blockades and Gleam (LOBAG)

Land of Meteor and Twinkle. I wanted to give her a LOMAT acronym to reference Vriska as well. It could be a landscape covered in observatories, with the meteors circling the planet also metaphorically referencing her distance from others. AND meteors give off light. Fun.

Denizen: Paris (Paris kidnapped Helen of Troy, which is where the route of her name comes from, it makes sense that they would be a challenge for her.)

Here might be where you use the name Aphrodite instead. An image-focused deity who is somewhat motherly… It was Aphrodite’s fault that Paris kidnapped Helen of Troy, so it feels more appropriate to use a deity.

Dream Moon: Prospit

Hive Location: A hill overlooking a suburb, her hive being mostly apart from any others. It has a large window which has a view of the town in almost it’s entirety. She’s looking upon the lives of others without interacting with them. It’s fit with a telescope which can be used to look at the stars and planets above. Or sometimes ca be used to look across various sections of the planet (but not too far.) She finds herself analyzing (or over analyzing) these things.

Hive: Generally, a large mess; mostly consisting of various half written essays and complaints, half read books and other materials strewn across floors and desks. Many plush animals also lay around the hive, a lot of them rather pristine (she uses them as kind of a comfort, rather than to demonstrate anything). Doesn’t stop her from losing her a lot of her supplies, she’s really good at loosing things.

Personality/Backstory/Interests: Ellara has spent most of her time observing people and observing the lives of others through her own eyes rather than interfering with them or making them better in any way. She’s a hermit with an interest in people but with no actual friends. She generally considers herself a critic and sometimes finds herself critiquing several types of literature across troll history. She’s fond of finding metaphors within them, even if they make little sense or are just kind of esoteric. She has a hard time completing everything she intends to or sets out to do, however, either due to her fear of failure, lack of commitment or general sense of laziness.

Although her main issue perhaps that she is too pushy and critical and this leads her to come off as unwelcoming, defensive and antagonistic. Since she’s not all that good at getting on with people, mostly due to her isolation and common state of introspection (even if it leads to her frequently doubting herself). She finds it hard to tell when her criticism is welcome or needed and gets herself worked up when she dosen’t really need to. She’s really quick to think of the worst possible outcome to a situation and isn’t afraid to remind people of it. She states she would rather be ‘right or pleasantly surprised’ which gives her an air of arrogance. She’ll rather plan out her steps into the unknown and gather the knowledge she needs before attempting anything, she’s very wrapped up in analysing the possibilities of the future and the past. Whether this be through scientifically trying to analyse trends or through using tarot cards and analysing star placements. Although she has been known to make the occasional impulsive decision, normally leading to bad consequences.

I do like the idea of this character being an outside watcher. I want to push that a little bit by having her fascinated with people. Enjoying researching their histories and who might be related to them and all that. Gathering useful data that she can then interpret through the lens of her zodiac signs or tarot cards. Create a kind of fascination with ancestors in general. Knowing their histories and how people are likely to mirror those lives…  

And I think you should have her be just a little interested in pirates. Maybe not interested in sailing or combating herself, but maybe have her be interested in the history of them, the strategies they employed, and the superstitions they believed in. 

In fact, having her be superstitious in general may be a good idea? 

If you want her to be a prospit player, you can’t have her decisions be Too analytical or rational. I think you should make her have just a sort of bet-on-it feeling with regards to fate and destiny and the future-seeing objects and predictors she uses. She can be ultimately worried about the decisions she’s making, but have her fall back on these interests and habits instead of Thorough Thought. 

And now for design!:

Oof my tablet started throwing a fit halfway through this so it’s not my best work, but here we go! 

Horns: We never see horns that are different heights and it was a little too obvious that her horn was just Vriska’s horn with a bit erased. So I gave her some horns that look like butterfly wings and antennae. 

Hair: Just a few more fun flips for effect. 

Glasses/eyes: I edited them so that there was a jeweler’s magnifying glass over her one eye, along with a light attachment. I thought it was a good way to reference her wanting to analyze things closer. I also edited her makeup to be a bit less thick, got rid of the eyebrows, and edited her left pupil to be shaped a bit like a butterfly. I wanted to create 3 pupils to keep with the three concept. 

Mouth: I thicked the lips a little and added some fangs. 

Scarf: I wanted to create some visual difference between her jacket and Vriska, so the best way to do that for me was… make a scarf. Like the kind fortune tellers wear in movies, with the tassels. 

Pants/Shoes: I redid them entirely, mostly because everything looked a bit clunky and proportionally off? I wanted to keep the kind of platform shoes, though, so I did that. I also added some butterfly wings to her shoes in white. 

Thanks for sharing her!

-CD