My record here is probably something a bit more than 16:19, I had to split the project between the background and character art because it was obliterating my laptop so my numbers on exact time are a bit messy for this one.

Deldrys turns from the bars of the library shelves to glance over as Riomackt cheerily flits over to ask them where to find the scrolls about Faelin mutations and if they can help pick out some good ones, Deldrys gives a tired look as they remember that the form studies texts are on a different floor on the other side of the building and realize that this Tserlial is going to expect them to fly there with them.

Riomackt is the first Tserlial I ever designed, they actually predate the whole concept of Faelins. I drew Serivas and Riomackt as their own goofy things and then somebody started asking me questions I didn't like about Serivas' gender and sexuality so I panic wrote a whole species concept about extradimensional mercury monsters with five different genders that are all androgynous compared to human gender norms because I really wanted to make super sure that I could scare them off by the sheer power of my absurdity. As for the actual character, it took a while to think of but lorewise they're the parent of a mutant form Faelin named Barilk that I don't think I've posted on newgrounds. Barilk is a green and yellow, serpentine mutant that's kind of a awkward middle ground between Tserlial and Marstyl, specifically they have eight wings and no legs. Well Riomackt's story involvement at the moment is that they saw this little abomination hatch and started asking questions, due to the fact that Faelins don't do parenting and hatchlings have the instinct to flee larger creatures, Barilk almost immediately figures out how to fly and is gone in a heartbeat. Leaving Riomackt to dwell on their confusion and eventually go out searching for their strange child and information on how and why it happened, they're at this library hoping to find a few books they had seen cited in other books that didn't quite go as deep as they wanted.

Deldrys is our main focus here though, they're an amalgam between a Tserlial and a Kyerten that met their untimely deaths in a raid on the library they worked at. The last big advocates for Quicksilver research had just been killed or banished and the angry majority against it had a big wave across the country as the news broke out, an advocating minority hid away and fled while mobs swept through the streets and destroyed any records of the practice; scientists were killed in the streets, records keepers and librarians were lucky to get away with only being interrogated, buildings burned, and the lucky Quicksilver advocates fled the country. Delfir and Cydris were not lucky, the library they worked at was one of the country's leading stores of scientific knowledge including a fine collection of texts about the fine details of Quicksilver and similar research; the mob poured into the front door, broke windows to charge and fly through, Delfir was overpowered at the front desk and ripped apart within the first few minutes, Cydris had been on the second floor balcony sorting some new fiction novels and evaded a few of the flight capable rioters during the initial attack to go hide in a third floor broom closet while the mob massacred their coworkers and looted the building for rare books and expensive equipment. After the mob was done with the place though, they set fires throughout the building and left it to burn, Cydris managed to get out of the burning building with a few books only to be caught outside by a surly marstyl twice their size who, upon realizing that Cydris was from the library staff and had been attempting to sneak out with some less than loved information, they envenomated Cydris while dragging them off to the trench grave for the other librarians and left them to die on top of the corpses as the highly reactive venom melted them from the inside out. These two unfortunate deaths led to the amalgamation of their remains that gave rise to Deldrys though, who has flickers of their memories and general knowledge and a mix of their traits and all that fun stuff. Deldrys was smart though and when they woke up dazed and confused in a trench full of bodies, they waited for an opening before making a break for the woods and eventually getting out of the country to go find somewhere that doesn't lynch people when the political climate shifts.

Before the amalgamation, Delfir had been a 54 year old Tserlial with a past in the shipping industry that had given it up to work at the library to catch their breath after a bad crash almost three years prior, Cydris was 46 year old a burnt out Kyerten scholar that tried but never could get traction with a hypothesis on form changing tech that settled into the library job about 12 years before the amalgamation.