Eggshelled (Beta Name)

With aid from Sparky, the residencies of the eight characters:

Ranch Keeper - Slightly rolling hills to flat temperate plainsland
Desert Strider - Oasis amidst rolling dunes, windy badlands
Mountain Climber - Rocky, warm cliffs and cavernous canyons
Taiga Explorer - High-altitude, cold-weather evergreen forest
Lighthouse Dweller - Windy and rainy; jagged, rock- and reef-laden coastline with mountainous, deciduous forest inland
Ocean Wanderer - Lives on a houseboat that meanders about the globe; at start is in a subtropical area
Jungle Delver - Equatorial rainforest
Swamp Rider - Humid wetlands

The symbols:

Just a nitpick for now: Tundras are areas where there's permafrost, so there wouldn't be plants with deep roots like trees hanging around there.

But how would the middle two deal with winters and rain? I mean, working indoors during a blizzard or a rainy spell is one thing, and even a warm-blooded creature can manage for a short time outside. How does a cold-blooded creature that's as large as that dude will be even survive outside when the temperature's below freezing?

(Also between you and me, I think the guy in the rocky area is the one living the sweet life.)

In prior generations, surviving in such places would have been completely impossible - or at the very least, requiring long periods of hibernation, IE several months (possibly as long as an earth year, the length of one of their seasons) sleeping through the coldest and darkest parts of the year in a well-warmed place such as a deep cave or near a hot spring. Even then, survival wouldn't be guaranteed, especially if a dramatic change happened while they were asleep. (Cave collapsed, spring went dry or heat source failed, etc.)

Technology, however, has solved that and provided methods by which the range of territory in which their species can survive expanded. Artificial sunlamps, mechanical heaters, and burning fuel (I imagine this being a culture where solar power was tapped much quicker and more efficiently, and other fuel sources less prevalent) pick up the slack when the sun just can't hack it anymore. Those living in such areas also have clothing designed to better insulate against the wind and wet, and hold heat better than what us warm-bloods would be able to stand for too long; their scales help protect them against getting burned, and the insulation allows them to act outside for certain durations - a few hours or so, I'd say, not quite all day.

The Lighthouse Dweller has an extra advantage to her residence - hydroelectric generators and wind power make up for the lack of sun. Also, much of her lighthouse is also built with a strong plastic-glass substance that basically causes the entire building to function like a massive greenhouse, which is how she can wander around wearing basically just sashes and ribbons. She doesn't do a lot of traveling, heh.

Also, fixed the tundra thing. More an issue of me picking the wrong word, there. :)

Well, how cold is the Lighthouse? I could understand if it was a more-or-less tropical region that's warm all year round, but if it's anything like the weather I attribute around lighthouses (see: the Maritimes), the idea that that the whole thing is like made from plastic or glass is pretty terrible, since those materials lose heat like crazy.

The material isn't actually glass or plastic, it's a synthetic of some sort similar to both but exactly like neither. It has remarkable heat-retaining capability, one that the Rilskarn haven't quite yet figured out how to replicate. (Otherwise chances are they'd build all their buildings out of the stuff.) Whatever it is, the Lighthouse keepers - it passes down the generational lines, occasionally getting handed off to a new family whenever its current custodians don't have/choose not to have children - have kept care of it and kept it lit for time out of mind.

(TLDR: It's not glass or plastic. Full explanation is a spoiler.)

Okay, well, if it's a super insulator for heat, it means that it's also harder for heat to get IN. But I mean, that shouldn't be a problem for you to rationalize, since you mentioned all of these ways for the Rilskarn to GENERATE heat. So they would clearly have much cheaper/more efficient insulators produced than us as a whole, basically making the only thing special about the material the fact that it's transparent. (You don't even have to make it work like glass in transforming the sun's energy to heat energy, just explain that it's ~*MYSTERIOUSLY*~ transparent.)

That works. :)

The Desert Strider. The torso and head are good, but the rest I am not very happy with. My fault for starting out trying to draw him in a more complex pose - was wanting him as if he'd just come up from the left heading right, then turned to face back left again. Couldn't get his torso to twist properly, or at least to the point I was happy with it, so eventually just gave up and had him facing left completely.

Note to self: leave complex poses for when you have the design down more.

Infodump image!

Okay, so just the biggest directly-artwork thing I should mention first is that they still look unbalanced, but not because of the tail size. They just look unstable because you've got their chests as thicker than their waists, which should logically have the most mass, seeing as it would be their center of gravity. As you have it there, it just looks as though you made a snake man and stuck some legs on 'im. :P (I understand that this is mostly because you're just doing circles for general lines, but it's something you should keep in mind, as it can help your figures appear more natural overall.)

Wow that was long. Anyways. Some stuff about the information there:

• Any particular reason why males and females have different crest sizes? What are they even for?
  
• If they're historically solitary hunters, how does that affect their social structure? Why do they have any inclination to work together?
  
• By their heads being 'slightly larger than human average' do you mean proportionally, or as a reference for their size? (Just a random q.)
  
• Feather mane: Male/female difference being why? Why does it exist in the first place?
  
• So you made a point of mentioning it, but why is there a curve in their spine at all?
  
• What do you mean by "collects blood at night" when referring to the tailfin?

Figure: Yeah, hence the parenthetical comment about "oh this section here probably needs a circle so it would be wider". I noticed that after I uploaded the pic and started looking at it in more detail.

Crests and Manes: I mainly added it because I like the design idea, much like "why do the trolls have horns". That and I think they look weird without some variant of hair. But my logical reason is that it was originally a mating thing, more than likely. Males had the crests as part of the mating competitions, much like many horned animals; females had the larger manes as a way of attracting mates. Somewhat outdated now that the race is sentient, but it's not as if humans don't have vestigal leftovers.

Social structure: They don't, actually. Like I said, they're a highly anarchic race - they have no central government and no centralized forms of power, no monetary system (they operate on a basis of favors owed or goods exchanged, or fend for themselves), and tend to stick to family units for company. They greatly value personal freedom and space, which is yet another reason why they don't have any collective dwelling centers bigger than a small village - absolutely zero large cities. They've a tendency to gather into groups only as necessary (example: invention of their communication network/internet equivalent) then break up when the task that required their gathered skill is complete.

Spine curve: I do imagine them with some level of flexibility to their torsos and hips, allowing them to bend backwards and forwards a little - which with a perfectly straight spine wouldn't be possible, or would be very painful. They still don't have the ability to do so that we do, but they're not as straight-built as a lizard. Otherwise they'd have a more horizontal frame, and their heads and necks would need to be designed and positioned differently to look straight.

Tail Fin: You suggested a membranous area that collects blood during rest periods, assisting them in waking up from sleep enough so they can get to a heat source. The tail fin fits the design idea well, IMO. The only other place I can think of is some kind of skin flap under the arms and/or legs and webbing between the fingers and/or toes, neither of which is quite as interesting to draw (and the webbed hands could be problematic for them as far as holding/manipulating objects).

For the curvature of the spine, I know there won't be the same level of horizontalness that a lizard or dinosaur would have, but the spine should still be mostly straight. It's not whether or not there's a curve in the spine that makes something more flexible, it's more related to how many tendons can actually manage to connect themselves to the spine. So yeah, a gentle curve is fine/expected, but a curve that's unique in the way a human's is seems largely pointless. Example

And the thing with the "collects blood" is more that your phrasing seemed off; blood wouldn't go there at night since they would lose all their warmth when it's colder than they are. Everything else about it was dandy.

Gotcha, on both counts. Thanks :)

After a discussion in the chatbox, ideas for weapons (subject to editing):

Ranch Keeper - Right now, stuck on either a whip (which unless bladed or studded doesn't make much of a weapon with the Rilskarn frame/posture; however works well with lassos/lariats she would use) or a staff (blunt weapon issues, but staves are pretty basic weapons in all cultures, swinging a stick is one step up from punch/kick) or spear (no reason I can think of why she'd use it, though)
Desert Strider - some kind of bladed polearm: halberd or glaive
Mountain Climber - finger claw extensions, helpful in climbing
Taiga Explorer - axe(s), useful in gathering firewood as well as fighting (yes he relies mostly on technology for heat but firewood is necessary for "worst case scenarios" and because everyone likes a warm fireplace :D )
Lighthouse Dweller - technology-based weapon, exact details undecided; design will be spear-like, though
Ocean Wanderer - trident, used for fishing
Jungle Delver - wide, flat wrist-blades, double as machetes
Swamp Rider - tail-attached weapon, exact details undecided

Ranch Keeper from the front, going with the whip for weapon of choice for now. No idea why I ended up drawing her diagonally. Apologies for the drip stain. >_>

Some music I'm considering using:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=4rk9-46EDbo / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=9asrRTteEGI
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=qJ-Un4mYJc8
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=na05_MBdupQ
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=T5Ko6l-Hu4I
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YlEspp3lhTo
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=gssh9mmbLoE / https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=owcVuJjMt6w
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=iZwSr-sHE5U

Also might use some of the unused Homestuck tracks, of course. "Sarabande" is one I'm looking for a place for, specifically, among others.

And we're go.

http://www.dominationforum.com/viewtopic.php?f=40&t=1917

Relocated to MSPAForums: http://www.mspaforums.com/showthread.php?39965-Eggshelled

And mirrored: http://nixshadow.com/mspfa/?s=319