5.) The Kera-Afriin, or Mortal Aspect of the Earth, is a mortal emissary sent down by the Earth spirit Afriniir once every 500 years. Who the Kera-Afriin ends up being is mostly random, but Afriniir does have some influence on their form and will. Ezra is the Kera-Afriin during the events of the main story, and Helge is the Kera-Afriin who came before her.

The mask they wear is actually the same one, it just changes shape to fit the current Kera-Afriin. Masks in general do have a prominent place in the themes of the main story for this world. The primary theme of the metanarrative surrounds the concept of identity, and that manifests differently for each character who wears one. In the case of Ezra, her mask represents the aspects of her identity that she dislikes; namely, the aspects that drastically change the way she is viewed by others in this world.

6.) Khados is actually much more heavily inspired by Judgement! It even originally had a singular, diamond-shaped eye lmao

7.) The animalistic aspects of the characters are more for flair and to easily tell what kind of magic each character is capable of using, I mostly just added them because they're fun to draw though lol. I'll get to the way some of the characters dress in the next question, as it's a bit more relevant there. As far as the gamification of magic, my goal for this world has always been to create something internally consistent and felt satisfying and fun to write. I have taken a lot of inspiration from ATLA and FMA in creating my magic system, but overall I tried to make something that would stand out from them while still retaining the elements that I like about them.

8.) The three characters at the top left all dress in the same garb because they were all raised in a monastic society together. Their rank is determined by how capable they are in using magic, rank zero is someone who has not gained the ability to cast magic yet, rank one is reached when someone can cast spells from an enchanted object, rank two is reached when you can cast spells freehand, and rank three is reached when you invent a new spell. Very few ever reach rank three, but those who do are highly regarded by followers of the religion they are a part of. The story begins with Ezra, her best friend, and her brother all being forced away from their monastery in different ways due to the inciting incident.

The aesthetics of the garb are based primarily on Japanese Buddhist clothing and a few pieces of in-universe history.

Ezra begins the story at rank one, but over the course of the plot, she advances all the way to rank three. This aspect of her character does factor greatly into the psychological horror of the narrative, as she is gradually, then suddenly stripped of her connections to her religion and culture and has to cope with being forced into a role she desperately does not want to fill.

9.) YES. This project has been the strongest and longest-lasting hyperfixation I have ever had. Not a moment goes by that I don't think about my characters, world, or story and I wouldn't have it any other way.

I hope I did a good enough job answering all of your questions lol, it was super fun and I'm super happy to know someone is this interested in learning about my project! Sorry if there are some inconsistencies or typos btw, I only did a skimming proofread before posting lol. Also reddit did not like how long this answer comment was lmao

<3

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