Ravna's Ready for Adhomai (Prejoroub Fur Longcoat + Lyod Snowglasses)

[Sycmos]

BYOND Key: Sycmos
Discord Username: Syc#3133
Character Name: Ravna Surtaeva

Item Name: (if you are applying for multiple items, it should be made into a list with the description, name and appearance together):

- prejoroub fur longcoat:
"A dense and heavy longcoat of dyed tenelote leather, with a liner and collar of prejoroub fur and decorative trimming throughout." 

- Lyod snowglasses:
"A pair of protective glasses hand-sculpted of reindeer antler, intended for use in arctic climates to protect from snow blindness."

(Thank you Nienna for offering to do the spriting for both.)


(Thank you Dinwardo for the 'concept' art of Ravna in traditional Lyodii clothing. Inspiration and influence for the design below.)


Item Function(s): The prejoroub fur longcoat will function as any other jacket without a hood, with two storage slots and a zip/unzip function. The Lyod snowglasses effectively function as welding goggles, granting welder protection but at the cost of reduced vision. As they are glasses they cannot be pushed up like goggles, forcing the wearer to make a choice whether to keep them on for protection or remove them entirely for better vision.

Why is your character bringing this item to work?: Given the presence of the SCCV Horizon in S'rand'marr at the current moment and the climate of Adhomai I thought it was appropriate to introduce these items as a means for Ravna to better equip herself for the cold climate and display some of her character background. I realize that this is entirely situational to the current event arc but given the possibility for potentially visiting Moroz or another cold planet in the future I thought it would not hurt to show her being resourceful and having apparel she would have worn in the Lyod be used elsewhere on her travels.

How did your character obtain this item?: Given that the Lyodii live off of the land that they inhabit the longcoat was handsewn by a family member with a prejoroub pelt that Ravna herself produced, and the snowglasses she carved herself from shed antlers. They are staple cold weather clothing at home, and are about as normal for her to wear as anyone else would wear a jacket elsewhere in cold weather.

What value does this item have to your character, and what story does it tell?: The initial idea for Ravna's background leaned heavily on Sami culture in regards to sustenance practices with tenelote/reindeer herding and planning nomadic migrations around grazing, and borrowed elements of Sakha (Yakut) and Ukrainian historical dress for the design of her tattoos. When it came to her full name (Ravna Tuyaara Sainkho Surtaeva) however I ultimately derived it from Tuvan, Altay and Sakha (Yakut) backgrounds, and looked further into those groups for the manner of dress her people would wear. Given that the Sakha and Selkup (from the region neighboring the Republic of Sakha, as well as Tuva and Altai) are acclimated to living in incredibly cold climates I found it appropriate to incorporate some of their traditional clothing into the 'concept' art I commissioned and presented above, and ultimately was included in the sprite. The snowglasses were a much later idea after Ravna had already existed for some months as I began researching arctic societies and how they performed basic tasks in temperatures far exceeding subzero, and discovered the use of snowgoggles by Inuit groups. While these various groups are somewhat removed from one another culturally and geographically I thought that it was appropriate to utilize these themes and ideas given Moroz' and ultimately Dominia's nebulous Eurasian makeup, and to represent aspects of groups that admittedly do not have much of anything to show for in our lore.

Examples:

Sprites:

(A larger image provided of the sprites, with the .dmi provided.)

ravna (1).dmi

Additional Comments: 

I never anticipated that I would make such a big deal out of what really is just a small blurb on a Dominia wiki page, but Ravna has given me a particular drive for exercising otherwise undeveloped lore that I haven't had with any of my other characters to this magnitude. I hope to sometime relatively soon release a canon lore app that will better give this group on Moroz more background so that anyone who has second thoughts about playing one will have more to work with and ultimately feel comfortable being an asset to what the human lore team is ultimately trying to portray with their work.

I hope that you all enjoy this as much as I have. It's been enjoyable getting to learn about all of these different groups that I previously knew very little about, and trying to do them some sort of justice by playing a character that exhibits an Aurora-appropriate spin on their history.

 

 

 

Edited February 14, 2023 by Sycmos
Swapped out sprite images and .dmi with updated ones.

[niennab]

Ravna is an incredible, well realized character highlighting an aspect of Dominia so rarely seen.

Bias aside, I think that there's no greater time to get this in game than now, since the server has yet to visit uniquely cold places such as what we've so far seen from Adhomai. Arguably Ravna's work in Engineering will lend itself to its use should she need to step in the server room or telecomms as well. +1

[KesterShadowHair]

I believe with all the evidence presented/notes that Sycmos wrote. I think these custom items would be a great addition to the character. Ravna is a staple character to our current engineer roster/ the only consistent Lyodii character played that I know about. I hope this gets approved +1.

[WickedCybs]

Approved.