I felt like adding one more thing before I start work on the second series. And that's the inspiration behind each of the characters. These characters have been developing since I started this story in 2012, and over the years they've changed and evolved into who they are now. There's still 3 characters yet to make an appeal as they come in series 2. So they won't be mentioned here for spoiler reasons. For now, we stick with the series 1 chapters. So, let's begin.

Aries Natuica

When I first started writing this, it was with the intention of making it a YouTube series with two friends at the time. Obviously that went nowhere as we were in primary school at the time. But we were all going to play a character each, and Aries was mine. Although at the time I hadn't had my gender awakening and Aries was first called Stephanie, then Tessa. And once I had my gender awakening, so did Aries.

Aries isn't a self insert, but they were intended to be the character that I played. So we share a gender identity and have loosely similar appearances. Basically they're my transition goals appearance wise.

Their personality and backstory were inspired by a few of my favourite characters of all time. L Lawliet from Death Note in particular was what gave me the idea to give Aries a foster parent. As L is also an orphan who ended up with a foster parent after being given up. L's eyebags also made it into Aries design, as well as his extensive knowledge on one particular topic.

Another character that went into Aries was Hiccup from HTTYD. One of my childhood favourites. The determination to fix Izroulia came from Hiccups determination to train dragons and prove they're safe. The sass and running head first into danger was heavily inspired by Hiccup.

I haven't given Aries any diagnoses, but since I and these characters that inspired them are very Autistic/ ADHD coded, Aries comes off like that too at times. I left it open for them, they can have one or both of those if the reader so chooses. But they're definitely not neurotypical.

Icarus Perri

Icarus is an amalgamation of all the girly, ditzy, fashionable and sometimes tropical themed characters from my childhood. Cleo from H2o, Felicity from the sleepover club, Draculaura from monster high, Merliah from barbie in a mermaid tail, Aquamarine from... Aquamarine. The tween girl media of the 2000s has such a chokehold on my nostalgia. And Icarus is the love child of all of that. I used to love those beach themed bedrooms in the 2000s, and I always pictured the girls that had them as people like Icarus.

But I also wanted to show that these ditzy girly-girl characters can be more than just a punchline and hold their own as a character. Hence why I gave her dyslexia. She's not a dumb bimbo, she has a reason for being a bit scatter brained and that's OK. She's still thriving despite that, she still has best friends despite that.

I also decided to make her half Hawaiian not because she'd a typical tropical aesthetic girl, but because Hawaii has so much history and mythology around the ocean since you know, Hawaii is made up of islands. It made sense for Icarus, someone who ended up a mermaid with a deep love for the sea would have family roots in the islands of Hawaii. Her mothers side of the family raised her on the stories of the myths and taught her traditions like Hula from a young age which only grew her love for the sea.

Pandora Edge

Pandora is a more chilled out version of the smart bookish girl character. She came from all those movies where the 'nerd' / sporty tomboy gets a makeover at the end. Expect I didn't give her a makeover because she doesn't need one, none of those 'nerd' /sporty tomboy characters did. The smart, bookish character isn't less of a person because they're not into glitter and makeup.

She came from Emma from h2o and a bit of Kenny from the sleepover club. Two more characters from my childhood. Pandora took their tomboyish-bookish tropes and cooled them down a bit into a more laid back version of the trope. And let's be honest, all the characters that fit into that trope are so gay, so Pandora HAD to be a lesbian.

Zagreus flyy

Zagreus didn't come into existence until a few years after the others actually. He came about because I thought "hey you don't see mermen that often" and decided to add one in. His appearance was inspired by Howl from Howls moving castle, and his personality came a bit from Luka from miraculous ladybug and a bit from those classic chill surfer dudes you see on every beach themed movie. A few months after I first made him, I found out there's a game called Hades with a main character also called Zagreus and thought it was a funny coincidence. After playing it and falling in love it it, Hades Zagreus did definitely sneak into my Zagreus a little bit. They had a similar vibe, what can I say.

I've never liked male characters in groups of girls with huge egos and the forced relationship with one of them. So I made damn sure Zagreus was a genuinely good person who was friends with the group because they shared things in common and cared for each other. And to really hammer that home, made him not even like girls at all. In fact all my male / masc leaning characters I made sure didn't fall into any gross male character tropes like 'bad boy' that's just a bully or 'nice guy' that's low key creepy.

Zagreus is just a cool, genuine dude.

Haruki Ray

It's pretty obvious when you look at his colour scheme, but his dragon features were inspired by Toothless. The shape of his horns in particular. I didn't want to completely rip it off so there's differences for sure, but it's clear Haru's dragon side came a bit from Toothless. And the side fringe is just an homage to my emo days when I created him.

As for his personality and story, the calm vibe with the rough edges came from Uta from Tokyo Ghoul. He's chill, but can fight and do some damage. That's what I took Haru's vibe from. Haru ended up growing into bit of a softer person as I continued to develop him, but that protective edge always stuck.

Micha Nishinko

Fun fact: his full name is Michaelis. But he's always shortened it to Micha to make things easier. I won't even lie I straight up stole the name Michaelis from black butler's Sebastian Michaelis who also happens to be demon. Although the two are completely different aside from the name. Micha as a whole was always intended to be soft and timid, smart and loving. The one that'd be drawn with big doe eyes in an anime and have a soft voice.

Near from Death Note, Tamaki from BNHA, Nagisa from free! Iwatobi swim club. They're all the kind of characters I took into Micha.

Another fun fact: I made him before I made Haru, and in Michas likes I listed dragons as one of his interest's. A few weeks later I made Haru while hanging with an old friend and when they noticed I made a dragon character they pointed out Micha should have a crush on him because he liked dragons. And boom, Micha became Haru's love interest.

Styxx sucrose

Now Styxx I designed literally just because I wanted a pretty boy with long hair in their somewhere. You know that hierarchy of character needs meme?

Yeah that's why I made Styxx. I wanted someone that fit this. Also because I needed an aquatic character to help out the Merfolk, and the idea to pair him with Zagreus came when I realised almost none of my make characters have short hair, and that Zag and Styxx have the longest in series 1. Guess I have a type.

But pretty as he is, he still needed a good personality. So I figured someone in his position in the story would be a kind, calm, laid back person. I actually don't have any characters in particular I directly put into him, he's more of a personification of the calm, nature dweller trope.

Willow colt

Willow I made because I wanted at least one human in the group to balance out all the magic. She may be pretty new to the story now but she continues to grow in series 2. Her appearance came from the fact I LOVE redhead girls and absolutely had to have one in the story. Girls suit red hair so well in my opinion, especially if they have freckles too. She also doesn't really have an exact group of characters I plucked from, she's more of the personification of the surfer, boating girl trope. The kind that'd totally do the whole van life thing if she had the chance.

Her Atonic seizures she had as a child, and still had a slight risk of as an adult I gave her because I was yet to have a physically sick/disabled character. But I wanted to have one because hey, representation yo. I have tons of gays and gender queers in here. A few mental disorders but yet to have a physical one. Her condition is explored more in series 2.