Clearly there is some tension between Aziri and Arkuron, but the relationship was not part of the initial script. When I was working on the character designs, I had already been designing a LOT of new characters. To save a little time, I thought maybe two of the pilots could be the same race, saving me the effort of one design. When I decided to make Aziri and the commander the same race, I worried that people might think they were related. And that got me to thinking, why NOT make them related?
That then led me to the idea of some level of expectation between the two, especially with Arkuron being such a by-the-book military guy. Having already established Raszec (the orange snake-like alien) as another rigid officer type, it then became an even more interesting three-way dynamic, where Arkuron probably has more in common with Raszec than his own kin. I’m not entirely sure where all that will go, but I like that the pilot group has that built-in source of tension I can play with. And all because I was lazy and didn’t want to design an extra alien!
Nice depiction of the tension. Also Aziri’s concerned look for Roka is a nice detail.
Species looking the same doesn’t need to trigger the ‘are they related question?’.
Especially for the readers that have watched/read a lot of sci-fi.
In this case it came up for me because Aziri stayed behind or was at least slower to leave than the rest.
Lazy does seem to go well with being creative, doesn’t it? 😉
Still, this chapter full of fun new characters comes across as anything but lazy.
I think once I start introducing repeat aliens regularly, I’ll quickly get over that concern. And I do plan to start doing that since it’d be nice to start seeing other members of certain races, so each one isn’t just a one-off.
I think what gave me the family feeling was not that they were the same species, but Aziri’s expression when Arkuron shows up. That’s not an “Oh crap, the commander…” but rather, “Oh crap, Uncle Arky’s gonna whoop me…”
And yeah, my head-canon at the moment is that Arkuron is Aziri’s mother’s brother and the only reason Aziri is in the forces is because Arkuron can’t say no to his little sister. Ajuri said Aziri gets a good job in the USP, Arkuron sighs and makes it happen, but is making Aziri work for it and is on his case left and right.
I was actually thinking uncle as well! But only because the father-son thing is a bit too common and I didn’t want to go that route. Oh, that domineering Ajuri. What will she strong-arm Arkuron into next? 🙂