Phew, finally got this whole shindig done! I know I know I know it's been a while but let's not focus on my inconsistent as hell release schedule and focus on the good things, like this chapter (hopefully). Still the Hunted was the chapter of Paladin I was looking forward to most refreshing. Mainly because I wanted to change less about the content of the story and more so enhance it to its biggest heights.
Hunted is the chapter that highlights the scale of TItan the most in the series as both a community and organization and as such I wanted to really experiment with my descriptions and characterization a lot more. And what better way to display that than through the eyes of the most human character in Paladin? Even if characters like "Jared" or "Joe" will never make an appearance again I still wanted to make it feel like there is very much a world outside Sarah and James even if they still influence it.
Nowhere is that more apparent than with these two: Shameer and Alexandria. In the original story "Shameer" didn't really exist instead being replaced from more lines with Joe. However with the new themes and goal of representation I wanted I knew I had to be way more authentic. With help from a Pakistani friend of mine I grew Sharmeen's name and design around her character arc.
Shameeen and Phool in Urdu generally means "shy" and "flower," combined with the flower aesthetic I tired to reflect in her clothing and design. I really wanted to convey someone who has all the right pieces to grow, so long as the right conditions were met. The addition of Sqay as her foundation martial art was also to reflect this as the martial art mostly relies on a sword and shield, similar to James' signature knight role and Lexa's role as a leader.
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If a lot of this got lost in translation in comparison to Alexandria though I don't blame you. Because out of every character I genuinely think she is the most changed or unchanged character in Paladin depending on how you look at it. When I originally designed her Alexandria was just supposed to be an obsessively, one sided rival to James.
2021 Donniedrako looked at that, and realized how dumb that was and as such remodeled the character personality wise to be similar to what you see now. 2024 Donovan then looked at her and was like.
"Why are you white?"
Which kinda inspired me to have her get a more plus sized and muscle bound look with darker skin. Having her Pankratoin and Greco-Roman Wrestling more so parallel James was also something I wanted to add as I think it lead to some fight scenes more creative then the norm. In fact, that's kinda what this whole chapter is for anyway, a quick break from the norm to add a bit more history and lore to Titan while having fun.
I have a more sarcastic and dry sense of humor which I feel like gets reflected poorly within my writing. Hence why going the more insane and off the wall approach is what I lean in more. If it doesn't work for you I completely get it but, I still wanted to experiment and well, isn't that what the reboot is for in the first place? Either way if you don't like it then don't worry.
Because next chapter of Paladin will focus on the titular character's past once again in Origins: Haven