The Declanian
Embracing the Chaos of Creation
If you’ve been reading the recent novella Born of Ash and Iron, you may have noticed some peculiar observations about Captain Volm and his Lieutenant.
To be completely honest, Andrew is writing checks that my Apple pencil has to cash. Don’t take this comment as a jab. I welcome the opportunity to build new races and characters in Stellar Empire.
While many of our Stellar Empire alien races have real-world amalgamations to draw from, such as Pantheras being lion or cat folk and Eukary having mouse-like features, the Declanian were an intriguing challenge because we were building them in real time as Andrew has been writing out the story. And Andrew wasn’t clear on what they were at the start.
Normally, the races were some mixture of humanoid animals, but the Declanian were just… Declanian? Then there was the mention of hairless, blue or dark grey skin, mottled. That was as far as we considered them. So… like mad scientists, we started concocting the Declanian. Andrew researched. I mused. We considered with Mike how science and culture would mix based on choices we made.
The Declanian have two thumbs on each hand, and - that in itself - created a mental block for me. I already hate drawing hands; now these guys have TWO thumbs??? Mike and Andrew pondered how controls for starships worked differently for them. Could other species even use their equipment? Their weapons?
Eventually, we settled on this look:
And then I simplified it further (for future animation projects 🤞):
You can learn more about the Declanian in their Stellar Empire Wiki entry. To be honest, Andrew, Mike, and I build this Stellar Empire universe out like a scene of Professor Honeydew and Beaker from the Muppet Show. Sometimes-okay, MOST times-it feels a little chaotic, but you end up more entertained that way. 😉
So, as you read Born of Ash and Iron, and you see mention of Captain Volm, picture this little guy and set the scene for your mind:
