Huh, looks like the latest piece is going to be the first one here showcasing my anthro artstyle outside of the banner. That's definitely a fun little detail!

That was concept art long coming, but at long last, some pieces were figured out, and therefore the concept has been set off.

As some of you know, I'm aiming towards the proper conversion of the plot that will occur in Prelude to Ascent, as it is the best way to kick off the story of Dark Children project - you get the best circumstances to meet the main three characters you already are seeing in the comic (Kellie, Draga, Ninkoul) and a few more, you get introduced to the world they live in through Kellie's eyes, and it's a good place for the foundation of character growth that will take place throughout the project.

When creating this gang, I knew for a fact to not rely on whatever will be happening in the comics too much, because with me choosing to let this cast become the portrayals of themselves than something specific, I was fully aware that the plot will more than likely shift in the events that will take place simply due to how the characters will drive it forward to the same results. There will be noteable parallels or loose inspirations some of you may swiftly find if you have a keen eye, but outside of that, my goal is to make sure that this group feels like its own in the final product. Right now, all I have is their designs and baselines (especially due to the world building being in progress), so there is still lots of work to do, and I'll dedicate time to it whenever I find it possible. So expect me to occasionally doodle/draw this group doing all sorts of things to get a feel of what I'm doing with their individual stories and the setup of their homeland.

Now with that out of the way, time to introduce them!

This is a group of people who live in the capital of Astantia, Frelyndor, or perhaps, somewhere within its range. The country is known for its industrial advancement, putting them in the leads of creating innovative technologies and pushing the evolution forward. Despite things looking relatively nice and clean on the surface, the mindset of Astantia is narrow-minded, creating gaps in understanding of the wonders the world still can hold, hiding behind science in hopes for it to explain many phenomenon. In fact, some people, fully aware of it, are even taking advantage of this...

Some of the few people that oppose this view is the group of friends, who roam the cities' streets and shadows to dig at the bottom of the nasty things behind the curtain and slowly eluding to people that things are not as simple as they believe it to be. Some people call them rebels. Some people may call them heroes or a community of differing beliefs. And to someone they're cockroaches that need to be eliminated.

The personalities and ages are still getting finalized (so personality traits may be inaccurate), but in vague terms a majority of the gang is young adults, much like Kellie.

Avier

Species: aardwolf/hyena

Avier is the brains and heart of the team. Being a hacker and messing with a bunch gadgets, he's the most resourceful when it comes to digging up dirt and keeping everyone's morale. With a lack of any powers to back him up, his equipment and tech become his greatest perk to back his friends up in a pinch - reactive jets, portable devices, electromagnetic bombs, weapons fitting for a mission, etc.; which gets further pushed beyond their limits with his improv skills. He may be very faithful in people he interacts with for most of the time, but don't get fooled about his intelligence. He may be more aware of what he's doing than you think, merely being light on his feet and aiming to express the optimism for others. He's also almost never seen without his aviators.

Kiren

Species: irbis/snow leopard

Kiren is the second half of the group's center, standing side by side with his close friend Avier thanks to his practical on-hand approach and the strong belief that the reality may drop you to the floor face first, but that means you just have to get up and keep going. The gothic fashioned young man has found himself dealing with handful of troubles due to not being afraid to express how he feels towards things he found disrespectful, disgusting or manipulative, especially if he is close enough to throw a punch to the face, more so when said people's actions are directed towards people he cares about. He wields the power of electricity, which allows him to perform all kinds of tricks and even draining places of power, but due to not necessarily showing signs of ever having the said powers until recent events, his body has a hard time adapting and stay protected from the extensive amount of discharges, leaving him occasionally with burns and danger of frying himself alive if he takes it too far.

Sunlight (Sunny for short)

Species: beaver

Sunny is a little blonde mute who normally communicates with people through signing and writing. Having a hard time being in groups of children, she always found herself interested in gadgets and technology that her father always had at their place. By crossing paths with Avier, she found herself drawn to his interests and home, which caused her to eventually become a nearly daily visitor, willing to assist the hyena in his deeds and learn more about the things they're both passionate about. Thanks to Avier's dedication to the kid, she also now wears a brooch, a sign-to-speech scanner of his creation, which she can always turn on and off at any moment depending when people may be having trouble reading her signing or what solution she'll find more productive.

Vild

Species: quoll

As an air wielding detective from Frelyndor's police department, he is dedicated to making sure his job is done thoroughly in every case he takes upon himself. He's earned himself a reputation as a "Rebel Silncer" (name is subject to change), a pursuer of criminals with powers and other unique aspects that can often overwhelm the average police forces, as well as a man who deals with sensitive cases, being the only one in his department with powers. Never takes off his eyepatch, constantly on guard, hard to please with a mere job well done, so he can often be found on edge with how seriously he takes his duty. It was pure luck and matter of communication from the third party that Avier and Sunny, when they first met him, succeeded in convincing him to let them get away from the authorities and cover for their escape. In return, Vild chose to assign their "rebel" cases upon himself, making it easier for him to cover their deeds if ever caught red handed by the police and help them escape rough situations. Even when disapproving of Avier's methods, Vild still has a hard time not agreeing that sometimes they need someone outside of authority to push with their beliefs.

Enza (written with the original creator)

Species: penguin

Enza was originally a rescuee from one of Vild's cases shortly after she moved to Frelyndor, aiming to find her place there as a girl growing into adulthood. After some time spending around him for safety, she became beloved by everyone working at the detective's department, as she always came to cheer on everyone doing the best they can. Open minded and wearing her heart on the sleeve, she often tries to accompany Vild in some of his missions, even if he protests against this, and can have rather unique situations where her following her intuition and logic somehow helps the gang to push through a pinch that seems to be a dead end. She wields fire, allowing her to assist in ways she wouldn't be able in pure strength and muscles.

CL3RK_23 (Clairk for simplicity)

Species: cyborg chameleon/[REDACTED]

As a being from a deceased world, Clairk has landed into Frelyndor, only to be lucky to be found by Avier and Kiren during their usual routines, and patched up from the amounts of damage she sustained during the travel through space and prior to it. Out of what she's willing to tell, her kind was capable of mending flesh and metal together in a way that they worked as one, both stretching and expanding as a one grew older. However, due to unknown circumstances, the entire species came to events that triggered the wipe-out of their kind, including everyone she could have known. It leaves her in constant thoughts of what could have gone wrong and why. She's actively participating in stopping the opposition Astantia gang frequently faces, firmly believing that whatever's being brewed for this region can do more harm than good. Thanks to her equipment augmented into her body, she's capable of stealth, melee combat with blades coming out of her arms, and other technology related matters to further assist Avier in his deeds.

Trevis

Species: squirrel

Trevis' biggest dream was to be able to contribute to medical science with his passion towards both pharmacy and botany, and has successfully earn a doctrine of his specialities to reach the top of Frelyndor by joining one of its biggest labs. However, the more the nervous looking doctor spent time in that lab, the more he questioned its bounaries, which in his eyes went even further than his morally questionnable methods of experimenting and exploring medicines. His final straw snapped when he was assigned to take care of people meant to become subjects to some animalistic experiments against their will, when he chose to help them and other people capable of leaving the lab escape, destroying the progress made by his colleagues and taking with him any delicate substances that came from the experiments and which he could bring with himself, before completely going into hiding. With Avier's gang he's found himself most comfortable exploring what he always wanted to do, seeking his own path towards medical science and helping people in need.

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As it was mentioned before, the gang's home and the antagonist are yet to be fully setup, so everything can have the capacity to change depending on how the narration plays out.

Until then, that's what we'll end up having for now.

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Dark Children is a dark fantasy project in works that covers the story of misfits that try to overcome their own demons with the obscure past of a fallen civilization haunting them.

Currently in works is a comic set up in a world within Sonic Universe, known by the title "Prelude to Ascent".

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