kienan

kienan reference
left: with scars hidden, center: feral form, right: fully exposed

kienan reference
left: mature kirin form, right: neotenous kirin form

overview

wip

personality

wip

backstory

kienan is one of a pair of twin kirin fawns, born in the early 1930s. their mother, yeong-mi, was the guardian spirit worshiped by a small village in the mountains of south korea, a benevolent creature of good fortune. during the japanese occupation she was captured, one of many magical creatures who were trafficked out of korea and into captivity.

art

our work

devotion~
kienan's countless hours spent kneeling in devout, desperate prayer were often made more uncomfortable by a thin layer of dry rice scattered over the hard ground, tiny grains digging into his flesh and leaving painful impressions that lasted for hours afterwards...~

wait with me~
upon joining ailios' pack, tiarnane quickly becomes something of an older brother figure to kienan. they share a special bond, two traumatized boys abandoned by the abusers they still love despite everything...~

brainfuck~
nigh infinite regeneration allows for some... creative forms of torture...~

hawwoween~
doodle~

i'm so glad i met you~
when you've lived your whole life with nothing, you're grateful for everything~

safe haven~
adjusting to life outside liam's cult has been difficult and frightening, but discovering his connection to the nature has brought some small comfort...~

long live the king~
ailios has quickly become kienan's all, his whole world, like a god and a king and a father all at once to the little lost fawn...~

time out~
liam and his associates often found creative ways to torment their toys...~

nightmares~
dozens of lifetimes of torture and gaslighting have left kienan a shadow of a person, crushed under the emotional trauma of experiences he can't even consciously remember...~

kienan charm design~

stray~
ailios gave him an old sweater practically as an afterthought, unaware of the full context and significance of this small act. the soft garment is kienan's very first and most precious possession, symbolic of the protection and comfort he finds in ailios' dubious care...~

magical kienan~
if someone tells me that it is wrong to hope, i will tell them they are wrong, every time~
a fantasy idea, really, of a self that is good and strong and kind enough to help others. the outfit is certainly something ailios might commission for him; he loves spoiling his little pet with cute things~

only you~
ailios and kienan have a strange relationship, violence and tenderness intermingled until they are one and the same...~

doodle~

concept: feral ailios & kienan~
an earlier version of ailios in werewolf form, and with a much less dramatic size difference~

concept: feral kienan~
kienan's usual shifted form~ with liam's seal on his forehead constantly draining magic from his body and his mental and emotional state frozen in childhood, his animal form defaults to a tiny, frail fawn, unable to access his more magical forms without significant strain~

doodle~
a small sketch from a scrapped project of the main cast taking kienan to pride - unlikely but a fun idea~

confession~
almost every aspect of kienan's religious upbringing doubled as both a part of the relentless manipulation and gaslighting meant to break him down, as well as, well, an opportunity to take advantage of him~

give yourself to me~
some of kienan's lives under liam's rule allowed him a little softness in his earlier years, raised by acolytes of the cult in isolated but peaceful quiet, until it was time to be presented to his true master, innocent of the horrors to come... the different approaches allowed the capricious priest to break him down in a variety of ways, just to keep things interesting~

god will provide the sacrifice~
child sacrifice can take on many forms...~

not there~!
creative uses for playground equipment~

concept: magical kienan
this design was especially important to me as a korean person. lolita fashion has established variants inspired by traditional japanese kimono (wa lolita) and chinese qipao (qi lolita), but lacks a similar concept for korean hanbok. imagining a korean variant for kienan was a comfort project i'd like to keep exploring; i call it han lolita~

kienan concept: everyday hairstyle~

kienan concept: stray hairstyle~
after liam abandoned him he spent months wandering the woods. though he spent most of that time in fawn form, foraging for whatever he could find as the ground grew cold and barren, by the time he stumbled into ailios' territory he was worn ragged in any form~

kienan concept: formal hairstyle~
for important days and rituals his handlers would sometimes braid his hair back from his face, looking clean and presentable to perform his role or to cater to the specific tastes of the faithful~

b-big~
he may be tiny and frail but he does his best~

twins~
kienan and his twin, dana, were cut from their dying mother's womb in their delicate fawn form, so tiny they likely would not have survived without the wild magic of their species sustaining them~

yours forever~
the twins could not be more different in personality. though they were both raised in liam's cult, kienan and dana were designated for wildly different upbringings. kienan was broken down into a timid, fragile creature, while dana was pampered and adored, her deaths clean and quick. despite their drastic differences and the distance maintained between them, they retain an instinctive closeness and trust in one another that becomes apparent whenever they are together~

kienan icon~

concept: kienan
the beginning: kienan has been a dear and central character in our headspace for as long as any of us can remember, through various redesigns, names, and incarnations. this most recent design represents my decision to stop being scared of other peoples' opinions and to share my truest self.