I drew this before Maxi, so the thing I said about "I'd like to clean up and de-sexualize my characters" is kind of contradicted by Strawberyl's massive fat balls. Oh well!
I very often convert my fan-characters into original characters and (over)develop the lore of Elae Meltaea.
Consequently, I've been meaning to retool my Eevees into original creatures - Carbuncles. Thanks to Kuroodod's stupidly hot new design for Sam (formerly his Eevee), I decided to draw Strawberyl, who would also correspond to Eevee. I drew him in a similar pose to how Kuroodod drew Sam. Just letting you know before you think I'm trying to sneak this past your nose or anything.
The Eeveelution tree is one of several inspirations I'm using for Carbuncles. Like the mythological carbuncle, these are small four-legged creatures with gemstones on their heads.
In Elae Meltaea, Carbuncles (or "Jelri" in their native tongue) begin their lives looking like little pale ghost-foxes. They can perform empathetic spiritual journeys ("Dives") with other living things. This allows them to learn from that living thing what it means to "be" a certain concept. With enough learning, usually requiring Diving with many different creatures, they will "Colorize" and become an adult form, similarly to how Eevee evolves into a themed adult form.
Each Carbuncle has a unique and individual "Color" as an adult. Strawberyl is a special case - please see his character sheet linked below for more information.
The Jelri normally do not have names, as they can recognize each other by sensing their Colors like fingerprints. You can presume someone silly like Rhubarb gave the Carbuncles their names (they are all portmanteaus of gemstones and food / desserts.)
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