Wearing Power Armor to a Magic School Art Reference: Professor Chiska

It’s about time I ran through my art list and commissioned another reference for a member of the Academy’s staff. And whereas the last professor on the chopping block was most certainly one of the most hated by the gang, this professor on the other hand is probably the polar opposite! :D 

Say hello to The Hero of Hervahale, Professor Chiska Malamont! :D 

Perhaps one of the most ‘friendly’ faces to Emma’s cause, second only to Professor Sorecar! 

Professor Chiska truly is something of an anomaly on the Academy’s roster of staff. Her happy-go-lucky attitude, relatively ‘casual’ approach to tutelage, alongside her storied and rather complicated past, makes for a rather unconventional professor. However, through both merit and the particularities of her path in life, she’s found herself in what she and most of her peers would consider to be her final posting before she finally lands in ‘retirement’. Though many of her closest friends would honestly liken her current tenure to a form of retirement in and of itself. 

But that’s enough for Chiska’s past! Let’s quickly jump to the main subject on display here — her outfit! :D 

Now, Chiska’s outfit takes after both the uniqueness of her station and the eccentricities of her personality! 

First of all, we can see that her outfit fits much more in line with something one would expect from an adventurer, or at the very least — someone expecting to get into a scuffle! 

It’s more ‘practical’ than most of the staff’s attire; once again barring Sorecar! XD 

Indeed, there are many elements from it that take from Chiska’s earlier life! Not so much her life as a noble, but more so the life she led as an adventurer at one point! 

The two exceptions to this rule are of course, her Academy cloak/robe, and her staff! 

The former is self-explanatory! With the cloak very much being an element of her outfit taken from her tenure at the Academy! The robe is, however, rarely mentioned in the story; if at all. This is for two very simple reasons. The first, is that she doesn’t usually tend to wear it as the marker of her station is seen as somewhat ‘lesser’ than most. Thus, the robe/cape isn’t always enforced or expected as it is with other professors. The second ties back to that perception of her station as lesser. Simply put, the Academy doesn’t refer to her as a “green-robed” professor as it does with Belnor’s “red-robed”, Mal’tory’s “black-robed”, and Vanavan’s “blue-robed” statuses. Thus, even when she does wear the robe/cape, it’s always never mentioned, except as a descriptor of her person rather than an attributor to her station.

It’s… once again, a lot of Nexian Expectant Decorum, especially Academic Decorum as is seen in this particular niche of Nexian society! :D 

I’m once again drawing inspiration from my irl experiences but I digress XD

The second item that wasn’t often seen in her adventuring days was her staff! Though that’s not always true. You see, Chiska was often the type to customize her loadout to the missions she took on! And while there were definitely exceptions to this rule, Chiska was often of the mindset that the staff was too much of a ‘generalist’ weapon, at least when it came to how mages often used them. Because oftentimes, mages use staffs as a sort of magical crutch — wielding it like an extension of their magic and magic alone, rather than as a dedicated enchanted weapon. And while this is a valid strategy, Chiska simply sees other tools as being far more useful for their specific niches. A staff is often a jack of all trades, master of none, in her eyes. Though once again, this is very much not objective and more of a personal taste thing! 

Sorry for getting sidetracked there haha, there’s a lot going on in each of my character’s heads and I sometimes get into the zone into thinking ‘for’ them or sorta just imagining how they’d think as that’s kinda my writing process for their POVs so I got a bit carried away there XD

Beyond that, we also get to see a little quirk of the Baxi anatomy that’s often associated with Chiska’s family — that being the tint of blue in her sclera! Not all members of her kind have that, and most that do tend to be magic users of some sort, or simply related to one of the many major or minor noble families in her little corner of the Nexus! :D 

I’ll wrap this little description of Chiska by saying that the artist absolutely captured her personality PERFECTLY in this reference. There’s that sense of cat-like mischievousness, complete with a look of confidence in both herself and her decision making abilities that’s synonymous with who she is. There’s also a look of deadly experience in her eyes, one that really hearkens back to the untold years of adventuring and training she’s done throughout her life. There's just so much depth to this art and I can't stop gushing over how great it is! :D

Once again, thank you so much to MalMyrth0! :D

He did an amazing job on this piece, as he does on every piece! :D 

Artist Reference: MalMyrth0 on Twitter