A personal practice of character design for an RPG adventure group in fantastical Chinese background. Though it is a fictional setting, I took Tang (Wuzhou) dynasty as my main cultural and visual reference for this project.
The story was taking place in a prosperous Chinese-like empire ruled by an outstanding empress. In this world, elves, dwarfs, and mythical creatures all exist but they only live in their own domain and are rare to see. As a woman in power, the empress was always threatened and surrounded by enemies inimical to her, so she sent her closet royal guards along with the talented civilian adventurers to carry out her confidential missions and maintain power.
Human. 24. One of the youngest and most accomplished members of the Empress’s guards. Nominal leader and the official supervisor of the team. Did not get along well with other members at first, but then realized their virtue.
Human. 18. Student of the royal horticulturalists, so granted by the empresses to travel with adventurers to collect magical plants in the kingdom. Seems thin and vulnerable but determined. Support the team with his healing potion and poisons.
Human. 29. Dancer and part-time assassin. Silent type. A little bit self-conceited. Her dance skills keep her body flexible and enable her to move agilely during the missions. The way she kills is as elegant as her dance performance.
Half-human and half-elf. 132, but looks like 11. Female. Powerful but somewhat unreliable mage. Unwelcomed member of the elf tribe due to her ethnicity. Alcoholic, sometimes unable to use magic when needed, causing troubles. Act as the elder in the team and teach life experiences and history to others.
Human raised by dwarfs. 16. Taught by her dwarf foster parents, she became an outstanding master craftsman but can’t fit into human society. She is in charge of ranged attacks and maintenance of other props in the team.