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Specs on "The Settlers"
5 years ago
I've gone into specific details before on the Four Horsecubs of the Apocalypse, now I think I'll go on a bit about my inspirations for the characters in "The Settlers". You can view them from those links:
The Settlers 2 and The Settlers III - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/34730821/
The Settlers IV - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/34463465/
The Settlers 7 - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36463254/
My first inspiration started with my most favourite of the series "The Settlers IV" which is rich in detail, great missions to complete, good mechanics among the different races and a great storyline. I wondered if peace between all races were possible (including the Dark Tribe). I thought perhaps complete peace could only be accomplished if they were all babies (diapered toddlers to be precise) instead of adults. To do this, I needed to tone down their weapons and armour into toy weapons and very light armour. Each race has many different kinds of settlers, including smiths, farmers, priests, warriors, archers and squad leaders. I ultimately chose Level 3 Swordsmen, because of their toughness and I think soldier babies like that are very cute. I was quite happy with the result of the lineart. We see more booties and Mary Janes shoes on little babies, so those sandals and boots they wear are pretty unique and just as cute. After the lineart, I took care of the colouring. Most of the colours I chose were based on the box-art and in-game art. For every individual character, I wanted skin, hair and eye colour to be unique, as opposed to the same black hair, brown eyes and yellow-beige skin most settlers have in the games. I applied similarly to the other two pics. However when I got to Settlers 7, I chose only two soldiers and the other characters being named characters i.e. Zoe, Dracorian and Rovyn.
Now for some individual descriptions:
* The Roman baby uses wooden sword and round shield similar to the kinds Roman Legionnaires used for training. The feathered helm makes it pretty obvious that he's Roman. For colour choice, I chose a Caucasian brunette with blue eyes. He certainly looks battle ready like any trained legionnaire.
* The Viking baby looks pretty strong with that breastplate and axe. Originally the axe is double-edged, but I thought a single-edge one was safer. Also blunt calf horns on the helmet are less risky than bull horns. I know that Vikings didn't really have horns on a helmet but adds to the unique style of the armour. Most vikings are portrayed with sausage-pink skin, which is probably due to the cold and combines well with green eyes and red hair. The ponytails do look a bit girlish, but I can assure it's a boy and such hairstyles are portrayed with mythical dwarves.
* The Mayan baby looks very sophisticated in his feathers and jaguar skin. I'll say that the eagle-head and jaguar shirt are imitation of the materials for the sake of animal lovers. I have no real clue what Mesoamericans looked like, so I went for a colour scheme slightly different from the one in the game. While there are no spear-wielding soldiers in Settlers IV, there are in Settlers III, so I chose a spear to give a little variety to weapon choice for each baby.
* The Trojan baby looks pretty shy compared to the others, which is probably due to the destruction of the city of Troy. I honestly don't what Trojans looked like, but they were mostly likely similar to their Greek neighbours, so I choose a Caucasian colour scheme, but blonde hair and the rare grey colour. The armour he wears is completely based on in-game art, since the game units look a bit similar to the Roman units.
* The Dark Tribe baby is very recognisable. I got a better look at Dark Tribesmen in the cutscenes than in the actual game. I combined the Melee and Ranged units together with the spiked club turned into a club and a sack of acid to a sack of slime. Originally those units didn't have any mouths, yet somehow one of them sneezed in a cutscene of the expansion pack. Unlike the humans, those guys don't have any iris on their eyes, so I kept it that way.
* The Amazon baby is the only female in the early games. I thought for fun she would have the advantage over the other babies with a ranged weapon, but using plunger arrows to make sure no one gets hurt. Once again I chose a Caucasian skin colour, but with a hint of peach, with dirty blonde hair and aqua eyes. She certainly looks like a girl you shouldn't mess with.
* The Egyptian baby has perhaps the boldest colours I've chosen. My ideas for him came from the 1999 video game "Pharaoh". You shouldn't be surprised if he is wearing a dark brown wig, because that was the norm in Ancient Egypt. It was difficult to pick the attire elements, due to the great difference between the in-game art and the actual game units. Different from the other babies, you'll notice that the Egyptian is barefoot.
* The Asian baby is something else. The term Asian is very vague since you don't know what part of Asia he is from, but that's what the game calls it. I assumed he was perhaps Chinese due to the armour. Since most of the Settlers babies use swords, I decided a bamboo sword would add variety. His colour scheme is inspired by Genndy Tartakovsky's "Samurai Jack" with a different kind of brown eyes.
* The Nubian baby I designed a little from scratch because the game did not provide enough graphic or material for me. I had to actually do research to find out what a Nubian was (they still exist today) and how they may have dressed. I found a picture from "Sid Meier's Civilization" to get just the right kind of pigment and avoid stereotypes from 40s and 50s cartoons. I remember from "Wally's History of the World" that some tribesmen were incredibly wealthy with lots of gold jewellery, so I really went with making this baby bedecked in gold jewelry.
* The Musket baby I based the colour scheme from Renaissance paintings. His musket is a pop gun with a cork for safer play. The Cannon boy is perhaps the chubbiest of the babies and is the only one who wears a diaper with four tapes and his cannon is a pullstring cannon that shoots harmless projectiles, though it's a lot smaller than the bronze cannon that appears in the game. Zoe, Dracorian and Rovyn need no explanation as their colour schemes are based on their game models. If you're wondering all the characters in "Settlers 7" are Renaissance Germans.
All those babies look so adorable, you just want to pick them all up and cuddle them together. The message those pictures seem to give out is that no matter what you look like and how different your culture is, there should be no fighting or war as it would be your undoing and it would be horrible to see the wonders of a great civilisation wiped out from existence. It is more prosperous to be at peace than it is to conquer each other. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope you'll enjoy the game series if you haven't already.
The Settlers 2 and The Settlers III - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/34730821/
The Settlers IV - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/34463465/
The Settlers 7 - https://www.furaffinity.net/view/36463254/
My first inspiration started with my most favourite of the series "The Settlers IV" which is rich in detail, great missions to complete, good mechanics among the different races and a great storyline. I wondered if peace between all races were possible (including the Dark Tribe). I thought perhaps complete peace could only be accomplished if they were all babies (diapered toddlers to be precise) instead of adults. To do this, I needed to tone down their weapons and armour into toy weapons and very light armour. Each race has many different kinds of settlers, including smiths, farmers, priests, warriors, archers and squad leaders. I ultimately chose Level 3 Swordsmen, because of their toughness and I think soldier babies like that are very cute. I was quite happy with the result of the lineart. We see more booties and Mary Janes shoes on little babies, so those sandals and boots they wear are pretty unique and just as cute. After the lineart, I took care of the colouring. Most of the colours I chose were based on the box-art and in-game art. For every individual character, I wanted skin, hair and eye colour to be unique, as opposed to the same black hair, brown eyes and yellow-beige skin most settlers have in the games. I applied similarly to the other two pics. However when I got to Settlers 7, I chose only two soldiers and the other characters being named characters i.e. Zoe, Dracorian and Rovyn.
Now for some individual descriptions:
* The Roman baby uses wooden sword and round shield similar to the kinds Roman Legionnaires used for training. The feathered helm makes it pretty obvious that he's Roman. For colour choice, I chose a Caucasian brunette with blue eyes. He certainly looks battle ready like any trained legionnaire.
* The Viking baby looks pretty strong with that breastplate and axe. Originally the axe is double-edged, but I thought a single-edge one was safer. Also blunt calf horns on the helmet are less risky than bull horns. I know that Vikings didn't really have horns on a helmet but adds to the unique style of the armour. Most vikings are portrayed with sausage-pink skin, which is probably due to the cold and combines well with green eyes and red hair. The ponytails do look a bit girlish, but I can assure it's a boy and such hairstyles are portrayed with mythical dwarves.
* The Mayan baby looks very sophisticated in his feathers and jaguar skin. I'll say that the eagle-head and jaguar shirt are imitation of the materials for the sake of animal lovers. I have no real clue what Mesoamericans looked like, so I went for a colour scheme slightly different from the one in the game. While there are no spear-wielding soldiers in Settlers IV, there are in Settlers III, so I chose a spear to give a little variety to weapon choice for each baby.
* The Trojan baby looks pretty shy compared to the others, which is probably due to the destruction of the city of Troy. I honestly don't what Trojans looked like, but they were mostly likely similar to their Greek neighbours, so I choose a Caucasian colour scheme, but blonde hair and the rare grey colour. The armour he wears is completely based on in-game art, since the game units look a bit similar to the Roman units.
* The Dark Tribe baby is very recognisable. I got a better look at Dark Tribesmen in the cutscenes than in the actual game. I combined the Melee and Ranged units together with the spiked club turned into a club and a sack of acid to a sack of slime. Originally those units didn't have any mouths, yet somehow one of them sneezed in a cutscene of the expansion pack. Unlike the humans, those guys don't have any iris on their eyes, so I kept it that way.
* The Amazon baby is the only female in the early games. I thought for fun she would have the advantage over the other babies with a ranged weapon, but using plunger arrows to make sure no one gets hurt. Once again I chose a Caucasian skin colour, but with a hint of peach, with dirty blonde hair and aqua eyes. She certainly looks like a girl you shouldn't mess with.
* The Egyptian baby has perhaps the boldest colours I've chosen. My ideas for him came from the 1999 video game "Pharaoh". You shouldn't be surprised if he is wearing a dark brown wig, because that was the norm in Ancient Egypt. It was difficult to pick the attire elements, due to the great difference between the in-game art and the actual game units. Different from the other babies, you'll notice that the Egyptian is barefoot.
* The Asian baby is something else. The term Asian is very vague since you don't know what part of Asia he is from, but that's what the game calls it. I assumed he was perhaps Chinese due to the armour. Since most of the Settlers babies use swords, I decided a bamboo sword would add variety. His colour scheme is inspired by Genndy Tartakovsky's "Samurai Jack" with a different kind of brown eyes.
* The Nubian baby I designed a little from scratch because the game did not provide enough graphic or material for me. I had to actually do research to find out what a Nubian was (they still exist today) and how they may have dressed. I found a picture from "Sid Meier's Civilization" to get just the right kind of pigment and avoid stereotypes from 40s and 50s cartoons. I remember from "Wally's History of the World" that some tribesmen were incredibly wealthy with lots of gold jewellery, so I really went with making this baby bedecked in gold jewelry.
* The Musket baby I based the colour scheme from Renaissance paintings. His musket is a pop gun with a cork for safer play. The Cannon boy is perhaps the chubbiest of the babies and is the only one who wears a diaper with four tapes and his cannon is a pullstring cannon that shoots harmless projectiles, though it's a lot smaller than the bronze cannon that appears in the game. Zoe, Dracorian and Rovyn need no explanation as their colour schemes are based on their game models. If you're wondering all the characters in "Settlers 7" are Renaissance Germans.
All those babies look so adorable, you just want to pick them all up and cuddle them together. The message those pictures seem to give out is that no matter what you look like and how different your culture is, there should be no fighting or war as it would be your undoing and it would be horrible to see the wonders of a great civilisation wiped out from existence. It is more prosperous to be at peace than it is to conquer each other. I hope you enjoyed reading this and I hope you'll enjoy the game series if you haven't already.
