DESIGN NOTES: Alrika - community post #8

Diamante here, to talk about one of my babies - Alrika!

WHO IS ALRIKA

Alrika is one of my main D&D characters. I play as her in Hoard of the Dragon Queen, an adventure module for D&D 5e. She's a half elf barbarian, Path of the Zealot, originally born in Greenest. Barbarians are a martial class, specialized in melee heavy combat, and they rely on their special "Rage" condition to inflict more damage and take less of it.

As a character, she embodies most of the stereotypes associated with D&D barbarians: she isn't book smart, loves a good fight and is always eager to face adversaries stronger than her, to prove her worth as a warrior. Her goofyness contrasts with her loudness, and everything is kept together by a strong sense of community.

She might not have graduated from any school, but she's smart in her own way, and she's an honest, genuine soul, who's seen and faced a lot of hardships in her life: she grew up poor with her single mother, a human woman who tried everything in her power to keep their family afloat, but didn't do very well.

Alrika turned to the streets and joined a gang, got in a lot of trouble because of how easily she resorted to anger, and later in life she ended up in jail. Not wanting to break her mom's heart anymore, she took that rage and used it to fuel her next job: she became a gladiator for a few years, before her contract expired and she came back home, where the adventure module began...

THE FIRST DESIGN

My idea for Alrika came to me in Spring, when I was taking a short vacation in the mountains with my boyfriend. There's no internet up there, so we turn on the TV to keep us company: that's when I saw an old WWE match and she appeared. By she, I mean Bianca Belair. It was love at first sight. Her energy is PERFECT, she is stunning, and her LOOOONG braid? That she incorporated in her fight coreographies? I'm swooning. I've also wanted to make a character inspired by wrestling and wrestlers for the longest time, so when our friend Dan offered to DM Hoard of the dragon queen, I was on board.

Style-wise, I wanted to keep my inspiration from Bianca Belair, and I didn't feel like creating another cookie-cutter western european-inspired look for a character. I also knew D&D barbarians don't require armor to benefit from their special abilities and I took advantage of that.

I researched the "chola style", to make sure that could be a good fit. I'm definitely not the best person to describe the many ramifications of the subculture here, but what I found about it - especially the whole aspect of feminine strenght and reclaiming a term that was originally denigratory - was extremely interesting to me. Of the chola subculture, Alrika incorporates a high braid, baby hair on her forehead, big hoop earrings and a shirt that's only buttoned (in her case, laced) at the neck, exposing the bra. She also wears black eyeliner and dark red lipstick. The white chaps are there to represent wrestling as a sport.

Her first design is meant to show that she's strong and very much in your face, that she's proud of her body and the many battles it carries.

STYLE CHANGE

Alrika wore that outfit for a few sessions, until our party had to undergo a full makeover to look as different as possible from our past selves (no spoilers of the module!), but we were allowed to carry our personal style and tastes in our new clothes.

Her second design is inspired by Dehya, a new character from Genshin Impact. I like her so much (no spoilers for those who haven't played the Sumeru Archon Quest yet) and I thought her clothes would look so cool on Alrika the moment I saw her! She shows her body with confidence as well and the color palette is pretty much similar to Alrika's. However, it could only serve as inspiration. As much as I'm sure Alrika would look hot in Dehya's clothes, that's not *her*! And it doesn't fit the vibe of the campaign, either.

From Dehya, I took the things I liked the most: the two-colored bra with fabric floating in the back, the gold elements, the two belts, the gloves, the high boots with big flaps. Then it was mostly a game of mixing and matching those elements on Alrika and making it make sense (kind of. It's fantasy, after all).

I liked the baggy pants that Alrika wore in her previous design and I kept similar feel with the baggy flaps of the new ones. Also, as much as Alrika shows off her midriff and bra, she doesn't show much breast skin, and I put a shirt on her. A crop top is mandatory. She's a barbarian! She can go out in the wild with her tummy out!!

The only design element I didn't pick was the gold circlet; it's a Circlet of Strenght, a magical object that our party won during a tournament (fanfare plays in the background).

COLOR SCHEME

White, red and anthracite are the main colors in Alrika's overall design, and each color has a distinctive meaning.

Red is for her passion: for life and living and thriving, for her big personality and big laugh and loud voice, and for her fighting spirit.

White represents her softness: she might seem tough (and she is) but she's a caring person, a genuine soul, a Good One.

Anthracite is symbolic of her being a rock to cling to. No matter how hard the obstacle is: don't worry, because Alrika got your back, now and forever!

You can see that these colors are always present, but in different proportions. When the party first met her, she was mostly red and white, with just a touch of anthracite. Back then, Alrika presented herself as a loud woman who would fight anything and anyone, but with a soft spot for her mom (a very huge soft spot, too), and wasn't too reliable.

As time progressed, she became a good ally, a reliable friend. Her passion and softness haven't disappeared, they've just been put into another perspective. Gold - which was already present in the previous design - makes a bigger appearance, thanks to her Sky Daddy Bahamut, the golden dragon God of justice, the Deity that is guiding her on her Path of the Zealot.

Alrika isn't the D&D character that I've fleshed out the most, but that doesn't mean I don't love or enjoying playing as her. I'm also loving to share these bits about my process, 'cause I feel they're a good insight on the way I create all, or at least most, of my characters. In her simplicity, Alrika is offering me a lot in return, and I couldn't be more happy of having created her!