Colors of Autumn

This drawing was inspired by the lovely photograph Atena, in combination with the beautiful colors of autumn in the Netherlands now ^^

This is not the first time that Arto is submitted on DA, but it actually is the first time that you see him in a normal and more detailed context the first time was in this cat pile!
He is one of my first five siderian characters - Yava, Ravn, Arto, Rubi and Dani - and since this is the first time that I can introduce him properly, I'll put more detailed character info here!

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Character info
Full name
Arto Castor Erimos

Nickname
Opal, but only his younger sister (Darya a.k.a. Jade) calls him that. Arto  listens to the name Opal when Jade calls him that, but other siderians just call him Arto.

Species, gender and race
Siderian, male, Russian

Age (birthdate)
38 years at zero-point (1 year older than Stian)

Birthplace
Russia, most likely on or near the territory of his grandparents, Ivan and Nadjez

Parents
Mother: Helena Alvira de Montero [surname under construction]
Father: Theron Nestor Erimos
Both are featured in the first version of Fun in Malta's Plants (6th & 7th from left, the two laughing siderians with coffee)

Siblings
2 sisters: Robyn (Rubi) and Darya (Jade)

Mate
Norah, a Havana brown silver/white tabby with a dense blotched pattern, and maybe piebald spotting (but I’ll have to sort that out yet; I see a white chin, neck and feet)

Offspring
Probably 1 son (golden shaded with blue hair-tips, thick manes) and 1 daughter (lilac, most likely non-agouti, and short or semi-longhair). Names unknown yet.

Appearance
Nerdy, at first sight not very charming or attractive, slouching a bit (heavy brain and paws!). His fur is beautiful, though. Cream colored and a long, wavy fur. BlackMysticA previously correctly described him as "absent-minded nerd".

Shoulderheight
1.63 m, so he is somewhat above average, a bit taller than his father (and also a bit heavier skeleton).

Bodybuild
Tiger-biased, with a bit flexed spine (cat-like). His skeleton is a tiny bit heavier than average, but with a narrow shoulders, chest and pelvis, and big feet. For a Russian he is pretty normal, but compared to his parents and his sister Rubi, he seems pretty sturdy. (Jade actually was also a bit more sturdy than the rest of the family.)

Gait
Slouching (dragging his feet a bit), but long and fluent steps.

Head
Broad cheekbones, broadly placed ears and a slight pinch are his most typical features. His profile is the same as his father: flat head and flat nose, with a clear angle between the eyes (roman, no stop), and the tips of his nose is also sloping downwards (difficult to describe, but he has two angles in his profile: one between his eyes, and one near his nose lightals). His ears also have a typical slightly curved shape. His eyes have two angles, much like his father and grandfather have, giving him a somewhat tense expression. He is odd-eyed: one blue (left) and one green (right) eye.

Fur
Longhair, wavy. He has a very light creamy color, but I don’t know if he is x-chromosomal red or autosomal red (both are possible in his case). Either way – he was inspired by the dog breed golden retrievers, the light ones (my parents had one like that when I was a child).

Voice and manner of speaking
He has a somewhat deep (a bit hollow) but sweet and soft voice; strange combination. He sort of can’t raise his voice – instead of a bigger volume, raising his voice makes him sound more hollow and out of breath. He speaks nerd; that’s his native language. But he is not the kind of person to exaggerate. He has a normal way of speaking, but when he is working he doesn’t hold back from using very difficult words in science.

Voice references
The very best reference is Scar Symmetry - A Parenthesis in Eternity (the first minute, especially the second part, where he is sounding a bit deeper). It's difficult to find a good matching song where the lead singer isn't screaming or pitching his voice
Another nice example: Scar Symmetry - Orchestrate the infinite

Jewelry
None.

Dominant feature
Dry rationalism and a slouching, non-caring attitude, but he is a hard worker and can be very focused on his job.

Personality and mannerism
Calm, very humble and analytic, even when he is with his best friends. He is a beacon of rationality. Very boring according to his sister Rubi, who always pokes him to have more fun. He barely ever gives up when he is on a mission, but he tends to become very grumpy with setbacks and is then even more motivated and focused to work it out. Arto is not very interested in romantic or sexual relationships, and responds to males and females with the exact same attitude – thus far that some siderians (especially males) may think that he is asexual or doesn’t understand the concept of gender.

History
Sibling nicknames
Darya is the one who decided to name herself and her siblings after gems: Opal for Arto, Rubi (after the ruby) for Robyn and Jade for herself. Rubi is the only one who still uses that name and presents herself as Rubi to other siderians. And Jade sadly died at a young age (see below). Rubi still refers to her as Jade, but I think that their parents and Arto refer to her as Darya, since that was her real name. I personally refer to her as Jade.

The death of Jade
He lost his younger sister Jade during a sudden attack by humans. The reason of the attack is still under construction and the human behaviour at this point is the main subject of the new novel with Stian as main character.
As I envision it, Arto went out playing with his sisters (probably digging up fossils or something else that was initiated by Jade). I don’t know where their parents were at that time (possibly somewhere closeby, but far enough to be split up). The attack is very unexpected! They started to run away, but sadly Jade got hit and she is almost immediately dead (vital organs were damaged; very lucky or well-aimed shot). It unsettled them so much that Arto and Rubi went into a blind panic, ending up in an unknown area and getting lost. Somewhere during this panic, they run into Dani, who protects them from the humans – she probably kills two humans – and guide them to a safe place.
In the meantime, Theron and Helena also experience an attack by a small hunting group. However, I still don’t know if there are two hunting groups, or that Theron and Helena and their kids are attacked by the same humans, but just a few minutes or so later. Helena is badly injured, in such a way that she can’t walk anymore without the help of Theron – without his full commitment to her then, she probably would have died, too. She probably needs a healer to survive her injuries, so Theron decides to drag her to Notochord (yes, they walk right into the maw of Ferrus and Adler, but they arrive there before the shit hits the fan). At this point, I envision that they were near Notochord and that both Theron/Helena and Arto/Rubi decided to go to Notochord – as a sort of pre-arranged emergency plan, independent from each other. Arto and Rubi of course arrive earlier (with Dani) than their parents and they meet, and befriend, Tristan, Spike and Adler (characters by Mystic). It may be so that Theron and Helena take weeks or even months to get to Notochord.
There are still a lot of open questions here: When do Theron and Helena find out about Jade, and how? How come that they cannot find Arto and Rubi for a while, and vice versa? Is it because Helena is fatally injured and Theron is too busy keeping her alive? If Dani is an acquaintance or neighbour, then she would have known (how) to contact Theron and Helena? But she doesn't, so she must be a stranger (this has my preference now)? Do Theron/Helena and Arto/Rubi miss out each other in Notochord?

Fears
That a war breaks out between humans and siderians, and that there will be a lot of victims on both sides if so. He repels violence.

Dreams
Break-through and success in science XD

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Disclaimer
Arto is a male siderian, a fantasy feline species created by :devBlackMysticA:. Mystic was inspired by tigers, Eurasian lynx and Oriental cats to create siderians. Arto is a character of mine, adopted by Mystic in her world and one of the 'main' characters in her new graphic novel, Predator Control.
BlackMysticA is currently working on another graphic novel, Theory of Mind. Go check it out and support her!



A selection of other nice drawings featuring Arto and his close family:
- A pile of cats... , featuring Arto and Rubi, by BlackMysticA
- Cheederian behaviour-relaxing, where Arto is in the bottom right, stretching his back, by BlackMysticA
- Fun in Malta's Plants (v2), featuring his youngest sister (Jade) and the parents of his father, by BlackMysticA and me
- Cats and boxes... - Rubi in a cardboard box, by BlackMysticA
- Poke! - 1 page comic by BlackMysticA
- Midnight-Daylight, featuring Theron, by Mudstar
Rubi seems pretty photogenic, as both BlackMysticA and Mudstar have drawn here a couple of times... For drawings by Mudstar, see here, here, here and here. BlackMysticA also drew here in siderian behaviour sheets, here and here.