Getting it Right- A Study in Character Design

Kiri, half-naked female barbarian of Hyboria



 Kiri (properly spelled, and not based on game name availability) as a concept has been around for many years now. The first roots of what she was to become formed as early as the 1980’s, where the character commonly known as Kiri the slave girl, played by Tanya Roberts in 1982’s The Beastmaster, was a core influence.

Originally the character was about as deep; a freed slave with some training as a female warrior, leaning toward skills as a rogue or thief, and with a inclination to wear very abbreviated clothing, and almost certainly no armor. With Kiri first put to pen & paper on a character sheet for tabletop gaming, this started as your basic bikini-clad female barbarian; fairly standard fare for high fantasy and sword & sorcery.
　
This soon evolved into a topless character who wore naught but brief bottoms; the original was a full-cut pair of white, department store-issue, nylon brief panties. This was followed by a large white breechcloth that if anything resembled a diaper. Clad in this and in a silvered, metal collar and bracelets (elements influenced by Wonder Woman’s trademark costume), her world of origin was finally set in Anaron; a tabletop campaign world of high fantasy, typical Dungeons & Dragons stuff, but with custom elements of post-apocalyptic. This would eventually explain traces of high-tech materials including synthetic fabrics. A similar thing was done in John Norman’s Gor novel series, where the counter-Earth Gor, lorded over by alien, advanced powers, maintained a classical world technological level, but high-tech appeared in at least some novels.


Her standard garb finally evolved to above-mentioned metal collar and bracelets, and a full-cut pair of white plastic panties (alternatively, latex rubber pants at times), obviously real fetish influence here; Kiri finally had a trademark costume of her own. Armed with a sword, this was all the clothing Kiri managed to need for many, many leagues and pages of adventure, and indeed were those adventures! Misadventures, of course, would be the most accurate term, as Kiri’s propensity to (understandably) find massive trouble soon became standard practice.
　

Early Kiri 3D render, now a fully realized concept, including the rubber pants

So…how to repeatedly depict in graphic detail the plight of a slave girl running from sword fight to sword fight in just a scrap of plastic underpants, misadventure after misadventure, when she should have been rightly maimed or killed from the onset? Well, high-tech was one answer of course, where Kiri had extreme regenerative qualities (think X-Men’s Wolverine) that had her endure extreme physical violence and punishment without actually expiring from it. The first solution was the collar, that simply put, had the qualities of the old Ring of Regeneration from classic D&D. At later points it was the panties themselves that also bestowed some powers or abilities to her.
　

Interestingly, the whole thing was like a reverse on 2007’s Empowered superheroine manga by Adam Warren. In the case of Empowered, her flimsy and very rubbery or plastic-like "hypermembrane" body suit was the source of her superpowers, at least until the suit took damage in combat, which of course it frequently and inevitably did, leaving Empowered weak as a kitten and a classic damsel in distress.

In the case of Kiri, who starts with virtually no clothing, there are virtually no abilities to rely on. A high constitution and dexterity, in character sheet terms, are always her strengths, but Kiri is consistently skinny to the point of emaciation, leaving her with nearly no actual physical strength. While not truly intelligent or clever, she did always manage to have an almost feral shrewdness in most situations; part of this was street smarts due to her tendency to cavort or cross paths with society’s dregs wherever she managed to find herself.

Trained to use a sword and bow, Kiri typically has the moves, but lacks enough strength with either weapon to be truly skilled and effectual. This in part explained her mode of undress as a female warrior- physically weak, she relies on an agile, fast combat style that often included acrobatics.
　
Other classic, high-fantasy female characters would make their contributions for influence- Paolo Serpieri’s Druuna; a well-endowed heroine in a grungy, post-apocalyptic world where she continuously endured helplessness and rape, often at the hands of notably inhuman mutants or creatures. There was also Axa comics, where the title, sword-wielding blonde heroine from an equally apocalyptic setting, in a very liberating moment stripped her clothing off and left the safety of domed city of her birth to adventure the dangers of the wilderness outside, typically topless. Like both of these, Kiri really had a streak of anti-heroine in her from the onset, which eventually became her permanent archetype.
　
It was purposeful design that Kiri not be just another buxom female adventurer; not just another Barbie in a metal bikini with a sharp blade at her hip. No, Kiri would be flawed, attractive but not a physical specimen. Also severely character flawed; from almost the onset her need to travel and adventure in slave gear and panties stemmed from an overwhelming desire for defeat and helplessness- something which of course she received amply in nearly any environment she found herself. Tamer cheesecake-style bondage soon devolved to full, graphic violation and torment; full, gruesomely medieval torture that often destroyed her mentally and physically.

With the introduction of the Prophecy into all her incarnations, she was effectively deathless; cursed by a dark goddess to live an existence of virtual immortality centered on horrifying torment and abuse. In many ways the ultimate damsel in distress and masochist, no method of execution was too severe or barbaric. Indeed, in barbaric Hyboria, Kiri would find the desire to ‘try’ as many methods of death as she could, often ‘setting herself up’ for a terrible and inescapable ordeal. Perhaps in this desire for her own torment and self-destruction is her deepest streak of cleverness.

This lead to the possibility of many, varied death scenarios for Kiri- most of them extremely violent and gruesome, involving extreme mutilation and sexual torture. With the Prophecy in play, she could do it all, again and again, always with knowledge of the Prophecy that all this was a warm-up for the real eternity she would suffer in the Hells, Gehenna, etc. As a character Kiri is doomed on a level and magnitude that is difficult to fathom, but tones of a willing martyr mean this is a destiny that Kiri is informed of, ultimately accepts, and eventually embraces with an almost fanatical passion, so strong is her desire to be humiliated and tortured.
　
　
With these JPEG’s found on the web some years back I realized I had found my near-perfect personification; a female model who would have been ideal to portray Kiri. Very attractive and alluring, but with a skinny, bony figure. Small-breasted and very visible ribs and shoulder bones that Kiri would have from her innate weakness. Very pretty, with the full crimson lips Kiri needed, and with a nose and ears that might have been just a bit too large.

The small-breasted and skinny physique that was a near-perfect match for Kiri

The tousled, unkempt hair on the model was a desirable quality as well

Lean to the point of gaunt, with bony legs and knees

The prominent nose and ears that fit Kiri’s concept

Kiri’s backside still had to be a tight and shapely one

Note the jutting ribs and visible shoulder bones

Kiri had to be capable of this smutty, lascivious manner

Of course, the full, crimson lips and platinum blonde locks

A figure weak and ineffectual, but a bearing that proudly displayed her nakedness and helplessness 

Who of course looked superb in slave shackles

A nice side view

Good reclined view of the upper body

One more closeup

If anything, not a cover model; perfectly beautiful in her imperfection.

With this and previous drawings to work on as the blueprint, most good MMO’s have a nice detailed character editor to create and work with. Age of Conan being exceptionally good. The body was easy enough; Kiri’s northern, barbarian, often-Scandinavian heritage meant she was not short, typically about five foot seven or eight inches in real life equivalent. It left her somewhat tall and ungainly; with AoC’s editor, reducing her thickness as much as possible to depict her emaciated frame. Reducing the breasts to the smallest size possible, in direct sacrilege of the female barbarian textbook.

Finally, the face. How to get that wantonness, that imperfect beauty. AoC was a perfect game for that, since Hyboria is scarred, grungy, violent. Quickly I realized the Guttersnipe female face was near-perfect, but the stock mouth was too upturned, the face too odd, almost deformed in some way.

With slightly more modest gear, adding a Vanir halter top

The characteristic lip sneer

Softening the features a bit, pulling the lips out and thickening them a bit, with an ample red lipstick in the common makeup face coloring, they had that licentious pout that was either beckoning or sneering like a streetwise urchin, depending on how the animations moved them. At that point, Kiri was staring back at me out of the editor screen, in all her perverse glory. Nearly as perfect as I had dreamt her.

Standard collared barbarian getup

Her latest look

Full upper body

Evening jewelry social with collar

The very Bioware-like dialogue frame in AoC is, in my view, one of the coolest things about the game that really showcases the character models and their details. Thus, it was a great pick to screen capture some nice close-ups of her. Then the body markings; again this one was easy, selecting Cut by the Thornbush as it most resembled multiple whipping scars. Since I rolled Kiri, more recent patching seems to have subdued the brightness of these face and body markings. The brightness of the blue eye shadow and the brilliance and glossiness of the lipstick seems to have faded, and the visibility and color of the body scars is reduced. Hopefully this will be improved at some point.

Displaying her barbarian female briefs

Scandalously dressed in Akhet Isle's Souk district

Finally, while I reduced her frame as thin as I could get it, I did put just a bit of fullness on her hips. She needed a little shape there to ensure she'd fill out those trademark hot-pants, and make them look exceptionally good on her ass.

The rear view on those short pants

The fit of the Nemedian hot pants is snug, her hips full just enough to wear them well

Adorned and collared, fighting barbarian whore

　

Original Kiri concept property and copyright of PhanPhoe Creations, 2008

An Urgent Mission in the Noble's Quarter

[Warning: Flagrant sordidness and extreme sexual violence]


The Golden Boar in Tesso. Her contact Bellonda was there at the usual time; once every seven days unless otherwise noted. Kiri’s propensity at finding undue amounts of trouble had the woman scrambling to find an assignment where she could actually use her; the fact that the collared Brythunian covered many leagues of Hyborian wilderness clad in little more than skimpy briefs had a great deal to do with it, but perhaps the obvious had yet to sink in. That Kiri relished in the danger these missions presented her…little doubt at all that most had ended up as disastrous as they did…yet, somehow Kiri was returning and able to report success. Perhaps it was the ends they needed to be concerned with and not the means.

 



 

Mingling with the evening crowd at the Golden Boar again



So what if the last assignment proved that Kiri successfully mated with a giant spider in the Wild Lands, and ‘Bell really didn’t want to think too hard about the difficulties and details of a hardened and serrated ovipositor as long as her forearm entering a woman’s vagina, much less forcing in clammy, glutinous egg mass into her womb-

She’d paled a shade or two whiter just considering the pain that such an impalement would cause, but then Kiri was the kind of girl who had made it through the gauntlet of the pirate isle of Tortage with a spear shoved up her ass by the Red Hand. Suffice that somehow, Kiri had once again delivered.
 

The last job...an ignoble success, but still a job done

Back to Tarantia for this one!






Now, this time the mission called for a return to Tarantia itself, namely the Noble’s District. There was the matter of getting a hefty tax payment through to the crown; the chief problem was getting past the embattled regions of the city encamped by infiltrating Nemedians and mercenary troops.




Taxes meant for the crown in Tarantia had to get through






Riding out at dawn



Most of Tarantia, the alleged center of western civilization in Hyboria was a seedy, disreputable place. In the old city, the slums or the noble’s areas she could just as easily walk a street or two and make a few silvers for an evening. In the lower parts of town, it a simple matter of getting a huge and eager warg cock in her, in one hole or another. Thick and red and knotted with veins, often covered with sores that dripped pus, she slurped and sucked eagerly at them all, relishing in the feel of the hot stream of come that surged down her throat until she gagged and choked.



Back in the largest city of the dreaming west

Gulping it all down, lapping up all that spilt on the ground, it was a distasteful if not practical source of nourishment and sustenance for the scantily clad barbarian bitch, who partook in this particular meal often. Despite the fact that those lupine cocks cramming her cunt like impaling logs were often rife with disease and infection…but to a slave of destiny ordained by dark gods that had suffered hideous torture and death a hundred times over, what was a communicable disease or two?


The bridge linking the Old City and Noble's District

 




The long road up is wide and open, but still under guard of the king's men



Reaching a narrower choke point near the first bridge

 


Sending her horse off to friendly ground, it would be footwork from here







In the Tarantia Commons, the rape gangs were a constant threat, and she’d been raped and then strangled on more than one occasion, and those were the most squalid of Aquilonian streets. In the Noble’s District, at least the streets were relatively clean, other than the occasional pile of horse dung, so one might find her there barefoot, much to the scoff of noblewomen looking down their noses at her. The men didn’t really seem to notice her barefooted state as much as her bared breasts dangling above the skimpy briefs that were often her only garb. Tits, as she was sometimes called by more capable female adventurers, with a combination of affection and patronizing, and the fact that she’d had her butt complimented for the fit of those tight briefs, which only heightened the barbarian slave’s excitement at dressing like that.

Clad in the skimpy briefs and armed with a blade; standard getup for our collared Brythunian

Up the stairs to the embattled region...

If one thing's for sure, that tight, panty-clad butt is heading for a serious whipping...



Clad like a barbarian she-slave, ready for action



This surely looks like a fine place to get a sword shoved up her ass

The Nemedian encampments were dense enough for Kiri to consider trying an alternative route, crossing a bridge still held by the city guard, then through the mausoleum. Of course Kiri had heard the tales, but the restless dead only shambled and cavorted through such tainted grounds during the dark of night, and it was still some hours to sundown as the collared Brythunian entered the ancient burial grounds.



On the edge of the Nemedian encampments

Entering the mausoleum complex



The way appears to be clear!



Taking the final steps to the entry

Less than corporeal things ARE skulking about here

Nearing the far edge of the burial grounds

In the shadow of the last mausoleum, checking if the coast is clear




She had slipped through the graveyard easily enough, somehow escaping the spirit’s strong sense of her life force and her rich blood, climbed over the high wall surrounding the place, stealing to rooftops and crossing under the support arch of a bridge to reach the western portions of the district.



Up a thick carpet of ivy, to the top of the high wall

 





Leaving the besieged regions at her back





Now to the rooftops

  
 




Seeing what lies beyond

From here, she spies a bridge she can slip into the far side of the Noble's District with

 
  


Moving along a fortified wall



After many turns in the streets and alleys she find a villa complex.
Wait...didn't 'Bell mention something about villas??






After a time, Kiri realized she did have a tail; some of the undead that trailed behind on her scent. Having taken the mother of all wrong turns, she came to a steeping blood pit, grounds to some fall Acheronian sorcery that plagued the underground of that city. Morbidly fascinated, drawn by the urge to see her own blood spilt, she lingered had too long. Too late she realized even more restless dead ambled here-



A familiar coppery tang fills her nostrils, she tastes it on her tongue

An entire pool of blood!

She is hopeful; she may able to get herself sacrificed here after the mission is done

Realizing she is not alone

Something is coming from behind her



Oh gods! The undead descend upon her!



From all directions they came at her as she fled from the edge of the blood pool, feeling their desiccated, jagged fingers, nails almost claw-like, dragging and slashing at her body. The intent of the ambling undead was particularly single-minded, despite the appearance of the desiccated automatons. The first swipe of a jagged wooden club went for her gut, landing with a graze just above the waistband of her tight briefs; she heard a rib crack under the blow as it forced the air from her lungs. The advancing corpse to her right wielded a heavy stone hammer, and appeared to be more on target- with every intention of smashing her genitals to a pulp.



The first blow lands above the waistband of her rubber pants, cracking a rib




Her pain and helplessness are absolute




The blows rain down on her skinny, half-naked body




Her pain and terror mounting, Kiri weakens





Clubs and hammers bashed at her, the next solid hit landing low until Kiri realized the intended target- having landed in the front of her briefs, just above the crotch of the skimpy pants.

Gods...so helpless! Fighting the undead horde in her underwear!

The creatures take aim at her exposed naughty bits, crushing and splattering



A double blow finished her: A second blow swung levelly across her crest, crushing and mutilating her bared breasts in a cloud of spurting blood. Finally slipping and low with its momentum carried on a loping step forward, one of them found their ultimate target. The abomination swung levelly and powerfully, right for her hips. The heavy club sported knots of wood sharpened to a considerable point.




A vicious hammer blow to the backside of her briefs



The head of this ghastly weapon was slammed squarely into the crotch of her briefs, striking her genitals with hideous force. Had a water skin or untreated sheep’s bladder been filled with blood and struck violently, the effect would not have been more grisly or more bloody. The Brythunian’s genitals were nearly instantly pulped, erupting in thick spurts of blood that carried with them finely mashed bits of her smashed cunt. The conglomeration landed wetly and with an obscene sound as it spattered on the ground and surrounding stonework.

Blood spurts sickeningly as one club mutilates her bared breasts, while the second smashes her genitals to pulp!

At last she collapses helplessly, her genitals are butchered and sodomized with their weapons

The underclad Brythunian collapsed quivering in pain, slipping in a pool of her own blood, slipping into darkness-

~Chronicler Olinda of Nemedia