Krak University States

This has been a while coming, but I’ve gotten another pair of concept arts done, this time for the Krak and their University State. Done by the ever-talented https://www.deviantart.com/blu3dawn14, we can now see just what the Krak actually look like! As with most of these pictures, there’s a pair of them; one in a military uniform, and the second in more commonplace “civilian” garb.

First off we have a Krak officer in a dress uniform. You might notice the stylings being a little similar to university formal gowns, and that would indeed be the root of the design. As they are a University State, their entire government is organized like one gigantic university, and as such their military dress uniforms are reflective of this fact. Of course, there’s a distinct lack of rank insignia, specializations, and citations displayed on the uniform. At first glance this makes it a bit challenging to identify who is in charge, but as their culture is… fiercely meritocratic to put it gently, anything beyond the broadest selection of ranks is politely but firmly repressed.

The actual design of the Krak is based, broadly, on various crab and crustacean creatures. The original and broadest inspiration for them was the coconut crab, the largest crab species in existence. However, as one can see there’s more than a little lobster in the design as well. What was once rather substantial pincers have evolved into finer, more precise manipulators, but they still retain some of the raw power that crustaceans are known for.

The more common clothing for most Krak is a researcher. With the core of their society built around knowledge and the acquisition of said, the life of a lab assistant isn’t so much a trope as it is a reality. The climb up in society starts with actual research, even if it is just doing the grunt work that is verified peer review.

Once again, it’s worth commenting just how important and useful it is to get even a few bits of concept art done for characters and races while writing. The act of getting art done and designed forces one to think of how they use technology. How they dress. How they, at a base, interact with the world. And it makes it substantially easier to come up with those little details that make it clear that they’re their own unique culture and species.