Frequently Asked Questions
Are Kivouachians the only life in the Kivouack? Nah, they’re not alone. Varieties of plants and microbes also inhabit the Kivouack. In fact, the latter act as the main source of light.
Where & what is the Kivouack? Let’s get this out of the way. Earth doesn’t exist in this universe, nor any other planet or celestial body. Not even the blackness of space is there. Instead, the Kivouack is a whole mandlebrot of land, air and bodies of water. The Underbirth sits in a space between lands, held up by bridges.
What can cause permanent damage to a Kivouachian? Any form of chemical damage can do the trick. Fires and exposure to extremely acidic/basic substances come to mind.
Why do some Kivvas have breasts & others don’t? Such body parts are pretty much like vestigial organs for these guys. The same can be said for any male or female specific traits. This binary only remains as a form of identity in their society.
Do Kivvas grieve? Yes, they do. They are social animals, after all. However, they don’t do funerals or any other big death ritual. At most, a couple of friends could grieve together. In the Underbirth, death is ultimately humiliating to its subject. Doing a funeral would feel more like a pity party than anything.
Can Kivvas change color or glow? Yes and no. Not any Kivva can achieve this. Instead, you’d need to undergo a ton of training to even turn a patch of skin into a different color. However, it is a common occurrence for a Kivva’s eyes to glow in the dark, at least in the videos.
What happens if a Kivva has multiple heads? If a Kivva had that going on, the heads would try to kill each other until one remained. A similar thing would happen if they were conjoined twins. It’s basically an instinct preserved from birth common to all newborn Kivvas.
How does poison or venom work for Kivvas? Nothing is potent enough to kill a Kivva. However, temporary irritation or extreme pain can follow.
Creating the Character
Overall Design
Kivvas are very much meant to represent the animal kingdom, including mammals, bugs, reptiles, etc. The scope for the character’s design is just about as vast, if not larger. Due to these thematic connections to the animal kingdom, they follow similar rules. Thus, they can’t do anything like magic, psychic readings or bending elements. The common traits between Kivvas seem to be cross-shaped pupils, three navels and three hearts to pump dark red blood. More of this biology is explained in the reference lore section, including how diet influences the tongue color. Still, people have the freedom to branch out to other subjects for certain design elements such as other forms of life.
Personality & Opinions
A character’s personality is very much a fundamental part of them, influencing their actions in the past and present. If not for the design, this is what they’re mostly defined by. If you do struggle with developing a character’s personality, there are at least two ways of working around the hurdle: finding a personality trait list to pick random options from or finding a subject of inspiration. Such inspiration can come from other characters, real people, certain objects and more.
It helps to allow your characters to develop views and opinions about the world they’re a part of. Subjects can include other characters, specific locations, events, activities and more! Additionally, this can easily tie itself with the character’s backstory, whether it concerns big past events or slow, yet steady developments over time. You can even show preferences as seemingly minor as those concerning food or fashion.
Backstory
Obviously, the era during which your character is born can easily influence what happens in their backstory. For example, if the character is born right before or during the War of the Ladies, they may get to see all the conflict, migration and city construction which follow it. Some things may not be inherently known to the Kivva until they are introduced in-universe at the right time. However, you can minimize the dependence on more specific lore by using methods like surrounding your character with your other characters. If a certain location doesn’t have enough available lore to completely rely on, then one can always create their own. Multiple people are using this method already, creating whole cultures and establishments for such areas.
Disability & Sensitive Subjects
What if you want to go further with your character? Some writers and artists here have that same idea and decide to tackle certain subjects with their Kivic OCs. This can involve disabilities, addiction, harmful relationships, amongst others. It’s always a benefit to research these topics before trying to depict them. There can always be something you didn’t remember or know of prior to the process. For example, learn about how a certain disability can affect aspects of daily life or the motivations for staying in less than stellar relationships.
What to Do?
Now that you have your Kivic OC, it’s common for folks to struggle with what they want to do with that character. Some people could feel overwhelmed by the number of ideas running around in their head, while others don’t know what to stick to. Either way, people need to focus on one thing at a time, so here are some routes they can choose from!
Shitposting:This is a very popular means of just lightheartedly exploring your character. This can range from already-existing memes to those entirely made up with the character in mind. Besides, this can make an easy laugh for those who also know of the character!
Organizing Lore:At least for some folks, organizing the character’s lore into a specific file, notebook or binder can help fellas focus on the OC. If decorating those notes with colors, stickers, doodles and more helps, then absolutely go for it!
Different Outfits:This is more of a design-focused idea where one can put the character in different outfits to explore their possible sense of fashion. Of course, there’s the three aforementioned styles of Underbirth fashion, but who says those are the exact limit? Maybe your character can be rather unorthodox with how they present themselves!
Fan-Fiction:Whether it’s just a small interaction between two characters or a whole series, fan-fiction can be a great way to flesh out your characters! Demonstrate what you want to see your character do, regardless of how qualified you feel about your skills! Practicing your portrayal is better than not doing it at all!
Make a Model:If you feel like you don’t want to just use one kind of medium for your character, then 3D modeling is certainly a valid choice! Most of the Kivvas’ screentime depict them as their Blender models, after all! Maybe one could be curious as to how their character could look in a 3D environment of a certain style. Obviously, programs like Blender have their hurdles to jump over, so don’t be so hard on yourself if you’re not satisfied with the result.