"For you see, after my sacrifice I thought it was the end. Abandoned by the one I loved and the colony I helped protect, only to find... A cathedral buried beneath the surface of this desolate world. For a statue much bigger than a spaceship towered over an ancient colony. Its people gone, but their god's presence still lingered. For the statue offered protection, nourishment, it even spoke to me and left me with many trials ahead. For it told me that I am now Chosen, the Talons of a God! For you see, after my sacrifice I thought it was the end. Abandoned by the one I loved and the colony I helped protect, only to find... A cathedral buried beneath the surface of this desolate world. For a statue much bigger than a spaceship towered over an ancient colony. Its people gone, but their god's presence still lingered. For the statue offered protection, nourishment, it even spoke to me and left me with many trials ahead. For it told me that I am now Chosen, the Talons of a God! I am no longer a mercenary, but a crusader who is willful to do their bidding..." ~Ayv-11 (Ayvil)

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Hee-Ho howdy everyone! I'm finally back with some more proper lore/illustration/data-logs or whatever ya wanna call it! This time we're delving, deep-deep- DEEP into Ayvil's past. Now with a bit of extra context and elaboration of what was said on her reference sheet. For those who don't know Ayvil is an Alpha Fruit Kobold, creatures made by the Ultrinians as super soldier mercenaries. However, after one mission, Ayvil decided to give and sacrifice her life to stay behind on a desolate waste world to escort civilians and soldiers out as the enemies overwhelmed her. Miraculously, she survived the encounter, but was thought to be alone as the planet was bombarded from orbit. Surviving this encounter and retreating underground she found an ancient complex, a sprawling super-city without any population what so ever... and a massive statue of a Tiamat or a "Multi-Headed Dragon" with many leaves sprouted around it with a knightly figure in the middle overlooking what is described as a cathedral.

For those who don't know this is actually a Love-Bot facility during the A.I-War that was now long abandoned as it's population was wiped out as it plunged the universe into an incredibly dark era. Ayvil believed that the statue was somehow alive, that it was not a machine but brought to life by some force she's never heard of before. Here she would browse various books and items left behind by it's previous inhabitants and survive many years down in the guts of the twisting corridors that the Love-Bots had once built. Going through extremely rigorous training, pushing herself to the limits and etching odd otherworldly symbols upon her armor. Adopting herself as one of the "Chosen" for her valiant sacrifice and believes that she will ascend into some form of godhood.

Skipping ahead, the Ultrinians find her many years later in which she will claim that it has been hundreds of years. The Ultrinians believed that she was suffering from some form of Space-Madness before taking her home to be examined. She would not fight for them anymore, and she also was not able to be decommissioned in a more peaceful manner. Not even a few months later was their facility destroyed by an outside invading force as Ayvil and many other Alpha Kobolds spread across "Planet Materia" and went into a deep hiding. Ayvil there would continue to teach the practice of the pillars and become a crusader and a leader of her own combat force.

...Now let's skip all the way to the present which is a good 50-60 years in the timeline where Ayvil finally meets Thomza and Tia as well as the gods she worshipped. To this day the information is left vague with Thomza claiming to have no intervention or stakes in her training to become "Chosen" while Tia has been eerily silent about it stating that it does not matter what happened, that she is subservient. Some scholars of the Pillars of Faith believe that Tia is the one who blessed her with terrible might while others will say that she followed her faith all on her own. A few still believe it was results of space madness while others believe there could've possibly been an A.I in the statue that wanted revenge or to protect over it's followers. Everything though remains a mystery as the original cathedral was destroyed by Yggdrasil.

...Phew- that was a lot now wasn't it? Although I really wanted to expand and finally talk about something that's been around for years in the setting, but I felt I never made it fully public or had an entire topic about it. Ayvil is admittedly, still my favorite character to write alongside Thomza, Hunter Star and Aellea. I felt like I really wanted to give her some spotlight and I might start doing some more... "Individual" character spotlights even if they're all purposefully tied together by fate. Other than that? I hope you all have a wonderful day everyone! Seeya around!

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Disclaimer and Copyright: These characters involved, and the artwork belongs to me, TwistedHensley. The Skin to Scales universe also belongs to me there, TwistedHensley... You get the drill. I want to point out that this is an Epic Dark Fantasy setting with a lot of mythological and religious tones and that there is no real-life connection to any of these events, religions, characters and it is fully, grounded, in fantasy. There is no copyright infringement also intended to other forms of media as Skin to Scales is meant to be its own thing and something I've been working on for a very long time. This is the same setting where faith is a massive part of the magic system.

Other Disclaimer: You are allowed to share my artwork as long as I am credited, but do not upload it anywhere else, edit it and or mark it as your own if that wasn't common sense...