Here he is, our secondary-to-primary protagonist for TCotC.

As with Pamu, he got a design change -- and, after much debate and a hard decision, a name change as well. Solaris is now Seirios.

You see, in the eight years Solaris has existed as a character (I was just thirteen when I first created him), he has never gone through a drastic design overhaul -- nor has he had his name changed, unlike some of the other characters in the TCotC universe. "Solaris" is a Latin name meaning "of the sun," and it very much grew to suit him over the years -- he's the opposite of Pamu in that he is a very emotionally open character, is full of saturated colors palette-wise, and faces the exact opposite kind of character conflict and development that Pamu goes through during the story. Pamu is very much a character tied to the shadows, while Solaris is undoubtedly tied to the light.

Of course, during the decade I've spent writing TCotC and fleshing out its universe, my understanding of the ancient world has greatly improved. Solaris was always intended to be of Hellene/Greek descent; given the time period the first part of TCotC is supposed to take place in, he would be of Mycenaean descent in particular (his grandmother would have been a full-blooded Mycenaean, so Solaris himself is a mix of Kemetic/Egyptian and Hellene/Greek heritage). Solaris having a name of Roman origin would make no sense at all, and it never has; I still don't understand how my 13 year old self let this slide at the time, as I've always been meticulous about details. Either way, he's had the name for so long that I didn't have the heart to correct it until now.

It was Pamu's design overhaul that made me certain I wanted to give Solaris one, too. These boys have stayed true to their oldest designs for so very long, but -- as I grow older and get a better handle on character design -- I've come to realize just how simplistic and boring their old designs are. Sure, they were much easier to draw like that, but they weren't very spectacular to look at. I want TCotC to be as good as it possibly can -- it's my life's work, after all. Instead of just sticking to my old designs and powering through everything, I wanted to do what would make me -- the CURRENT me, not my 13 year old self -- happy and proud of my work.

And so, here we are. Solaris finally gets his name changed to something appropriate, and he gets a fresh new design to go with Pamu's. Like Pamu, he also keeps the dull-colored and red-eyed "Risen" form, though that won't appear until much later in the story -- I will update their current references when that time comes.

Seirios (or "Siri" for short -- yes, yes, there's probably going to be a lot of "Hey Siri" jokes in the future) is the same character as he was before, he's just got a new coat of paint. The name "Seirios," which means "glowing," "sparkling," or "flickering," is the most archaic version of the Greek name for Sirius -- the brightest star in the night sky. Sirius is also part of the Canis Major constellation, and is therefore sometimes called "the dog star" -- very suiting for a dog character, eh? In any case, Sirius was an incredibly important star in both the ancient Greek and ancient Egyptian cultures -- the Egyptians knew it as "Sopdet" and personified it as a god(dess) in its own right. There's even an ongoing subject of star myths present in TCotC's plot, so it's all the more fitting that Seirios here would bear the name of such a sacred star.

All in all, I'm quite happy with Seirios' new design and new name. I hope you like him too!