Skydda
The Maiden's Shield, Skydda
Wandering from town to town in backwater Stirge, Skydda is a devout follower of the Shieldmaiden, a goddess of protection and self-sacrifice. As a trice-celled Zhelt, they are a single individual, but composed of three partially-fused souls and personalities. Though originally from different walks of life, they came together under a shared love for one another and a powerful belief in helping those less fortunate than themselves.
Physical Description
Body Features
Facial Features
Two of Skydda's selves were once humans, and this is reflected whenever one of their cores takes up a position in the head, as it's only during these times that their face has any features whatsoever. Either in an effort to make other humans more comfortable or as an affectation of their past lives, they both form eyes in the proper position of their otherwise smooth visage.
Wow, I loved the concept! Zhelts are amazing, have you been inspired by other works, or is this an original creation? The art is cool as well, Skydda seems badass :P If somebody hurts them in one of their nuclei, do they lose one of their souls? And do they die if all nuclei are killed? I think the article would be even better if some of the words were linked to articles with more information (Zhelt, Stirge, Shieldmaiden...). Great job, though! :)
I'm glad you liked it! I'm a fan of the Zhelt as well, though admittedly I didn't intend to make two of my Inktober articles about them quite so soon... I imagine I've picked up bits and pieces of other media I've run across over time, but mostly they were inspired by realizing one day that eggs just... kinda look like slime creatures sometimes :P Each nucleus is a bit like an individual brain. If you hurt one, it's going to be bad for the soul involved. Damage one too much, and you've essentially killed that individual part of the whole. Zhelt are only born with one nucleus, so melding them together acts almost like a marriage of sorts, but slightly more... intimate. I'll definitely do a bit more cross-referencing of links and the like in the future! The main Zhelt article can be accessed from the 'species' section of the sidebar, but it's still pretty heavily placeholder, and most of the rest isn't even that yet.. One of these days I'll sit down and start getting them fleshed out, but Inktober won't be the time. Not yet, at least!