SNEAK PEEK: Designing Marlon Wallace

Hey Sneako Peekers!

We wanted to give you a little insight into the design process behind one of the biggest characters to feature in this campaign: Marlon Wallace. The character is a major driving force behind the story, and a big point of contact for the players. This is the person who provides the incentive for the player characters to come to Silver Spires.

In our initial pitch, we thought Marlon would be a man, and we started the design process from that angle. We wanted someone charming, welcoming, and a little eccentric. For our first round of sketches, this is what Niels came up with:

We thought 1 and 2 were pointing in the right direction, and discounted 3, 4, 5, 6 and 7. We really liked the outfit and pose of 6 though, and took elements of that to go forward with the design.

We also thought it would be good to try out a different body shape, perhaps a little wealthy belly would suit the character? 

Just for fun, we decided to also try out a few designs of Marlon as a woman. We had only spoken of the character as a man up until this point, but the designs we had been working on didn't feel quite right, and we felt it might be good to look beyond what we ourselves were expecting.

And in that final round we found our Marlon. She looks friendly but assertive, and by bringing in the hat from design 4, as well as the slightly unhinged smile, she looks a little kooky; exactly what we were looking for.

And now, we have Marlon's backstory, which we wrote up before we settled on a final visual character design.

Marlon's Story, written by Rose:

The Personal History of the Inventor Marlon Wallace

Marlon grew up in Twigwick, a village on the outskirts of Silver Spires, close to the Feymillion Jungle. As a child, she was fascinated by the whirling machines and glittering mechanisms created by the Mindspire district in the big city. 

Many families in Twigwick were not able to afford a house fairy of their own, and magic was sparse in the village. one fairy was shared between many residents, and it was only able to provide weak light to the streets and simple magical services. Marlon longed for the eccentric gadgets possessed by the rich Elven families of the spires, and this kindled  Her ambition to invent a way to bring magic to the folks who had none, so that everyone could enjoy the comforts of an arcane household. 

Once old enough to leave home, her enthusiasm for invention landed her a coveted apprenticeship at Bolo Steeple's workshop, one of the oldest and most famously recognised inventors of Silver Spires. There, Marlon excelled under the guidance of Bolo, and in time began working on her own creations that focussed on ways to create an abundance of magic. 

Over the years, it became apparent that Bolo and Marlon did not share viewpoints on the origins and characteristics of magic. Bolo was of the opinion that magic was like nature, and needed balance and care in order to thrive. Marlon saw magic as a resource, one that could be collected and distributed to all, as long as it was in plentiful supply. 

The turning point came when one day, Marlon was visiting her home village and spotted a glint within the detritus on the Feymillion forest floor. It was a shard of Fey Glass! she took it back to the workshop to tinker with it, and discovered that this shard was a fossilised fairy wing containing a tiny yet powerful spark of magic. she began to develop a way to collect and use this resource to create more arcane availability within the spires.

When Bolo discovered Marlon's project, he swiftly cast her out of the Steeple workshop, denouncing Marlon's work as unnatural and self-serving. This harsh treatment was a terrible shock to Marlon, but she didn't suffer long. the Spells Consortium, Bolo's biggest rival workshop, quickly hired her as head inventor. Since then, Marlon rapidly rose to become chief operator of SpellCo. Bolo meanwhile, immutably angry at what he considered to be a defilement of the precious traditions of the spires, never seemed to recover from the feud, and his work continued in the vein of old traditions, becoming less and less relevant to the modern crowds of the city.

Now, Marlon is the CEO of SpellCo, which has become a large corporation that creates and sells magical contraptions invented by Marlon. SpellCo have recently released their new product: the Spell Cell, an item that stores magical charge and therefore allows more widespread use of magic for all those within silver spires. Marlon has been lauded by many as an ingenious inventor, and a true blessing to the magicless folks within the spires. Now, everyone can use and enjoy the comforts of magic in their homes, and business is booming! 

Today Marlon leads a very comfortable life, surrounded by all the trinkets that her childhood self dreamed of owning. She sees SpellCo as the facilitator of her vision, and feels she owes a lot to the company personally, and so prioritises their profits without hesitation. sHe has also grown attached to her luxurious material surroundings, but the fear of being cast out again still clings to her heart. She hoards her own thoughts and ideas preciously, keeping her cards very close to her chest. Marlon still considers herself to be an idealist- as the city sings continuous praises for her ingenuity, her ego has grown to a point where she sees herself as the people's hero, a true champion of the magicless masses.

~

We hope you enjoyed this sneak peek! Marlon plays a big role in Stars of the Sea, and we are putting a lot of time and effort into getting the character just right. 

Thank you for reading our sneak peeks. Looking forward to showing you more of Marlon and her inventions soon 😉

Cheers,
- Niels & Rose