Katafray Project: The Design of Katafray

Now that I had a character, I needed a look. How to make my character match my personality? Did I even want to do that?

Well, I did. While some of my characters should in theory look different than their personality, Katafray was a pretty overt person. She should, I figured, look like who she was. Looking down my list of traits, I identified these ones as visual:

• Arrogant
• Cultured
• Disdainful
• Honourable
• Inexhaustible
• Intelligent
• Pompous

These all had physical traits I felt I could associate with them; in fact, all but two could be suggested by height. Arrogance, disdain, pomposity and honour are all traits we immediately associate with height. (As sort of a complement to something Jess has previously discussed.) Intelligence demanded attention-getting eyes; we associate the eyes with intelligence very readily. And cultured could be potentially indicated by choosing one of the more elaborate hairstyles

Still, it was clear that emphasising height was going to be a key effort in making Katafray work. My first two choices went directly to that; she got long upward horns that made her look taller, and a hairstyle that lifted right up with them.

The face had to fit double duty: I picked the one that had the most prominent eyes, but looked stern. Already she was looking appropriately arrogant.

And finally, well, her tendrils were mostly whimsy. Those ones just looked good.

Next up: We actually begin playing these guys!