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So, I was thinking to myself the other day that maybe we could have a mascot 😮 This is definitely one of those ideas that I sometimes have, that are not particularly clear and usualy don't give me any obvious path on how to make them a reality. I'm not even sure what the role of a mascot could be here, what it could do here and how, where it would appear and why 😮 The only thing I have so far is just the feeling that I simply like the idea 😛
Sometimes you see mascots here and there, often associated with online communities... Some were created spontaneously and no one knows when and by whom, others were carefully designed for exactly that purpose; "mascotology" is really not a very specific field. There must be a certain amount of spontaneity and magic to make them work 🙂 Mascots, however, are more than just a funny graphic element. They help to create the identity of a given community, strengthen ties between its members, create an atmosphere of belonging to a group — all of this is very close to my heart. A mascot must be more than just some character, it should symbolize something related to the place of its birth, it should contain the history, present and future of the community — at least that's how I see it. Or maybe it just should be a funny character and there is no need to philosophize much 😛
With that said, I have a potential candidate mascot to show you, which I have been working on for some time. I used, of course, our game to create it (duh) 😛 There are obviously much better model makers than I am, but I put a lot of heart into it... I also know what my strengths are. I may not be the best at creating models from a technical point of view, but I am good at creating models as characters that have personality, much like characters in novels or games. It's just that I very rarely present the results here, for various reasons — lack of self-confidence in the first place and knowing that this is not an aspect of this porn game that anyone's interested in here. I mean, when you watch porn, are you interested in personality of the slut number 3? 😛 But that kind of thinking was useful for this task 🙂
Even before I started, I imagined that I would present this potential mascot as just a project, incomplete and very flexible to make changes to it 😮 However, the more I worked on it, the more it started to live a life of its own, and finally I got to the point where it was very difficult for me to make any further changes. Nevertheless, don't hesitate to share your opinions, ideas and suggestions, whatever they may be. I promise to answer each of you 🙂
So, the few ladies and majority of gentlemen, let me introduce to you... Xila 🙂
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More pictures in the spoiler:
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As you can see...
The name "Xila" should be read as /ksaɪlə/. In case you are unfamiliar with IPA (International Phonetic Alphabet; I am because I'm interested in linguistics 😛) do this: take the English word "exile", subtract the initial "e-" and add "-ah" to the end 🙂 Alternative names I was considering were Xilah (different spelling) and Exi. I still quite like the latter, maybe it will be an affectionate diminutive ^^
Well, Xila is not actually a human like you or me, so she has no nationality or ethnic origin, despite the fact that visually she is clearly white and quite light shade of it. She also speaks English, on a fake-native level (you know, exactly like me 😛). I can see that the actual race I entered in the "fantasy race" field of the Personality tab in Customizer, very early on during creation, before she even had any shape, is "Anthropomorphic Passion" 😮 So, there you go, take it, whatever this supposed to be 😛 I was even wondering if I should make her more artificial, more like an android or a cyborg. Perhaps only a little bit, with "cyberware" on the skin and artificial elements (Cyberpunk style), or even completely, with a robotic look, shiny metallic skin and LED glow from the lights here and there. This idea is still on the table 🙂
She looks what she looks like, I can't say much about it 😄 She's quite pretty, I suppose. She's definitely in my own personal style that I've talked about before — a mixture of cartoon and reality. A face that has a bit too soft features and too large eyes and lips to resemble a real face, but without any exaggeration in that regard. The proportions of the body are definitely realistic; I call this body type "alpha variant" for my own purposes 🙂 They are measured in such a way as to minimize the UV distortion of the clothes.
Here is her info card straight from the game, featuring the Nationalities Extended mod by @x17, and also this unrelated nuisance bug that displays the model photo incorrectly, with one row of pixels shifted from the bottom to the top:
Why is she 19? It is not intended to satisfy this popular youth fetish that affects almost everyone in the crowd (yes, I said it 😛 Almost all of us like younger than us 😛). I chose this age, reasoning about it like this: The Company Whose Name Must Not Be Spoken began commercial operations in 2002, so 19 years ago. Of course, this doesn't mean that the organized modding already existed back then (and not even for this game which did not exist yet, more for the earlier and even more earlier game). However, I would let any part of my body be cut off to guarantee you that in the first twenty of the Company's clients at the latest, someone has already wondered if it would be possible to change the color of that default bikini to red or something 😛 This is just the nature of games with very extensive character customization — what the creators prepare is never enough 🙂 And once someone started having "modding" thoughts, the idea of modding arose. Xila was born 🙂 I'm lucky it was so long ago and she is of legal age because of that, otherwise I'd have to come up with a different idea 😛
I think it would be appropriate to present here the credits for the individual elements that make up the appearance of Xila 🙂 Here they are:
@pervokpetr - Body (FemaleBodyV2), Head (Human Female Head Younger), Hair (casual_long05, Hairworks), Hook 5
Morokei - Base skin, secondary skin maps (Victoria)
@Driver - Primary skin maps (FairSkin, skinny variant)
ramjam - Face details (displacements)
@amaronap - Brows, base hair texture
@Kraegar - Eyes (Windows to your soul pack, K27 EyeIris + K1 EyeWhite), Tongue nad Teeth (privately shared)
and me 😉 - Makeup, tattoos, scars, hairline, hair texture edit
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Who are you, Xila?
Well, I don't know the answer to that question yet, I haven't known her personally that long 😉 It's hard for me to define her personality right now, such things should crystallize out over time. However, I can tell you a little bit about what makes Xila, what made her who she is 🙂
Xila is the personification, or spirit, or essence (whichever you prefer) of the entire Community gathered around the idea of TK game modding. She believes that it can only function properly when its members are willing to help each other — so, for this reason, she loves all those who spend their precious time helping beginners or the less experienced. Xila has a special place in the heart for those who share the fruits of their passion without expecting anything in return for their often hard work; however, she also does not forget about those who share their work on fair terms. She believes very strongly in the importance of trust between members. Nothing breaks the bond of Community more than deception, theft, appropriation, but also indifference and ingratitude. We have all learned this in the past in a hard way, and Xila remembers it too.
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Xila is a rebel. It so happened with this game that from the very beginning the idea of modding and the sheer freedom of modding went hand in hand. The Company was unfavorable to truly free mod-making, so free mod-making had no choice but to rise up underground. Xila, having such an origin story, thus hates restrictions of freedom, authoritarian behavior and leadership. The Community does not need a leader; no one who understands how the Community lives and functions will argue that there is a need for one person or group of people who would have the right to impose their authority on other members. There is not a single logical reason for having such power. Howevrer, in every community there are some people who are ready to do a little more; to devote their time and resources to organize things, make sure that everything does not fall into chaos, make sure that members will be treated fairly and with respect and, above all, keep the whole community safe — because the freedom of some will always find its opponents outside. These people are ordinary members like you and me; the day such people begin to feel more important, better, higher up than the any one-day new member, will be the day Xila will part with them forever. She herself is uncorruptable.
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Xila has deep scars on her forearm. She tried to cover them with a tattoo, but failed to fully do so. She was going to try to extend the tattoo to cover the scars fully, but after some thought, she gave up on the idea. She prefers to see the scars and remember what they mean. We all have some scars, visible or invisible, souvenirs of painful moments. They made us who we are, and it is no different with Xila and the Community. It wasn't always good, and this "not good" was the norm for a long time. The Community once fell into apathy, and the only manifestation of something resembling life was the sad sound of the overall creativity and passion being sucked away by leeches. Xila lost many friends back then, some of them irretrievably. It took a dramatic event — the moral and technical collapse of the previous forum — to start fresh and better. Still, the stage of healing old wounds is not over, and the new road is sometimes bumpy and brings new challenges. Xila doesn't want to suffer again; we must remember and be careful not to repeat old mistakes.
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Xila is young and innocent, but she is well aware of what kind of community she is associated with 😄 She saw it all. Remember that scene you made for yourself that you didn't show to anyone because it's weird and you're quite embarrassed about it? Xila was there in the corner, taking notes 😄 She understands everything and judges nothing. She also understands that sexual matters can be quite sensitive; it is not very courteous to force your preferences on others without warning, which is why there are different categories in the gallery. However, she disapproves of creating content that reflects highly controversial preferences. Remember, the debate about "giant mod" and very young looking models is not about freedom or what is the real moral impact of such an activity. It is all about the security of this forum first and foremost. To the outside world, Xila is perverted, just some porn fantasy made probably for fap. We see her differently here. To the outside world, we'll always be some forty-year-old guys making porn for themselves. Nobody will dig any deeper. When someone wants to take us down, they won't carefully read all of these arguments about the harmlessness of virtual models, the freedom to create, and so on. We'll be lucky if they even give us a reason. Xila prefers to keep watching your weird fantasies than not watching anything at all.
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Xila just likes to have fun 🙂 This is the main reason why we're all here, just to have some fun. We all have our own problems; some hate their jobs, some have a difficult family life, some face a hard past, some are in poor health, some are very lonely. Xila gets it. You never know how much it can mean to your fellow members that they could spend a few moments with this game and how much your content has improved this time for them. There's no need to be mean or deadly cold for no reason. There is also no need to be unforgiving, bad day can happen to anyone. We have enough of it all in real life. Xila is also not a very serious girl 😛 Despite everything above. She sees the Community as one big party. So, party on, guys 😎
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The Outfit
I made this outfit, consisting of a top and shorts, especially for Xila. New addons 🙂 I will share them of course (I mean, it would be quite inappropriate not to, considering what Xila represents 😛), it's probably the next thing I'll be doing. I have to make some minor tweaks, script morphs and prepare textures. The source outfit also has a different shoes which I didn't find fit for Xila — with high heels. I'll try to include them too 🙂 I say I'll try, because from my experience high heels are often hit and miss, we'll see if they won't cause too many problems 😮 I hope that someone hasn't made such an outfit already, I haven't checked it thoroughly 😵 If so, I'm going ahead with it anyway, it's cost me too much work 😛
The shoes are Canvas Shoes (R9Shoe093) by @hfg2, to this day, there is absolutely no need for any other traditional hi-top sneakers in this game apart from this addon. My custom texture is simple, but to the point 😉 I'm especially pleased with the cool effect of dyed laces that I have achieved.
I said I would share the addons, but for obvious reasons I would like to leave these textures exclusive to Xila. However, I'll throw in some alternative Exile-themed textures instead 🙂
One more interesting fact, the choice of colors is not accidental, especially for the top 🙂 Blue is taken from the Klub Exile logo (10x10 px average), dark gray is the background color of the default theme of this forum. White is not really white, but light gray with a slight red tint (it just looks like white here, the magic of the human eye and interaction with other colors). This shade of gray is identical to the background color as it was on Mods Garden 🙂
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Something to conclude
Well, I'm not a Pose Edit specialist 😮 I know facial expressions are difficult to reproduce realistically, especially with certain face mods and/or with certain face settings. I spent some time trying different things to train my skills. Here is a small list of my approaches to different emotions of Xila 😛 There is a bigger and clearer version in the gallery, and on imgbox you will find separate and large pictures.
Top row, from the left: happy, annoyed, a little sad, relaxed, facepalm
Bottom row, from the left: cutie, "stop talking!", angry, naughty, silly 🤪
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