GyKin

This is the Intellectual property, game design & concept art for Everlost. This is Copyright © 2025 Khor Atheliem. All rights reserved.

Stage 1: Basic Sketches

Here are my inception designs from the point of just getting the look of the race the way I like.
Later on, I get to use my degree in fashion in the attire and style of world creation.

Stage Two: Research.

After delving into the Chinese zodiac, I discovered that roosters tend to clash with one another. While they generally get along with most other zodiac signs, there is noticeable discord among themselves. This insight influenced my world-building, prompting me to draw from my own heritage.

Reflecting: I reflected on the history of the Scottish people, who have long been embroiled in conflicts, often pitting family members against each other due to the influence of foreign monarchs. Over time, many Scots have dispersed globally as a result of clearances, uprisings, and English persecution. Even in the present day, forming a new clan requires the approval of the British crown.

What are Roosters?

Going back to the traits of a rooster.

Their Strengths:

Observant and meticulous, confident & flamboyant, honest & direct, hardworking & resourceful, protective & loyal.

Their weakness:

Can be overly critical, may come across as arrogant or boastful, prone to vanity and a need for admiration, and prone to rigid viewpoints

Stage Three: world-building.

The Clans

In this world, I envisioned the roosters to resemble the Scots, dispersed globally in small clans. These clans are modelled after actual chicken breeds, but in Everlost, only five breeds remain, as all others have been lost or eradicated due to internal conflicts and wars.

Motto: “Herald the forged Dawn.”

Basic lore

They serve as envoys, merchants, and conduits of information. Without a permanent residence, they integrate with other races and settle wherever possible. The sole exception to this is their headquarters, located within the NyalKin Kings’ mountain fortress, where the clans are administered. Although they are largely nomadic and dispersed, they are loyal members of the forge trinity faction. Furthermore, they are the only race capable of venturing deep into the Shiren’s territory, particularly into the mangrove swamps inhabited by uncontacted tribes. This journey would spell certain doom for any other race attempting it.

Sheren and Gykin

There is an old tale about a Gykin egg that ended up in a Sheren brood-pool. The uncontacted tribes believe this was a challenge from their deity, the Great Serpent. Sheren’s acceptance of the hatchling demonstrated their value, as both species emerge from eggs and are considered siblings of the shell. Since that event, the Shiren have vowed never to harm a Gykin. Only the most robust and well-prepared Gykin venture into the deep swamps of the Shiren. They maintain some communication channels with the uncontacted tribes and the modernist Shiren residing on the fringes of the rainforest and swamplands. The Gykin always present feathers to the spiritual leaders of the tribes, who use them to create intricate headdresses.

NyalKin and Gykin

The Blood Horn Rebellion was ignited by Hragn the Gored, a rebellious NyalKin warlord who suspected the Sheren of hoarding the earth’s treasures. Determined to “pierce the serpent’s heart,” he gathered an army and set fire to forests to access the wealth hidden beneath the ground. In retaliation, the Sheren cursed the mountains, summoning swamp leviathans to destroy NyalKin settlements and contaminate their rivers, dragging the NyalKin King into conflict with its Sheren neighbours. A GyKin named Kyre the Dawn-Caller intercepted Hragn’s plot and handed them over to the Sheren. Kyre, along with 11 clanless GyKin, airlifted Sheren assassins to Hragn’s hideout, where he was killed by a single Ghostfang dart. His final words were, “The birds… they were supposed to be neutral.” Following the Blood Horn Rebellion, the three races established the Everstone Pact: the NyalKin vowed never to disturb the rainforest, the Sheren promised not to poison the rivers, and the GyKin committed to serving as witnesses and mediators to ensure both sides honour the pact.

No New Clans

Every eight years, a group of nineteen warriors from the three races venture into the deep marsh in search of a titan apex predator. To keep their peace and commemorate the war, they do this. Eight Shiren, eight NyalKin, and three Gykin always make up the hunting group. They are required to wear antique armour and weaponry and are prohibited from possessing contemporary equipment. The Shiren carry ghost fang daggers and are dressed in black vine armor. The NyalKin are equipped with obsidian Warhammers and wear stone-carved war masks. The GyKin are equipped with wind-whistling arrows and wear light feather scale cloaks. To survive, the three races must cooperate. The majority of those who enrol are elderly and want to fight one final time, win or lose. However, this is the opposite for the Gykin. The hunt attracts the clanless, for all those that make it back from a successful hunt alive are referred to as “Dread Walkers.” When a Dread Walker is spotted, commoners express their respect in different ways. NyalKin bow, Shiren hiss, and GyRen click their beaks. Clanless members are generally considered with a great deal of mistrust, but a clanless Dread Walker is an exception. Some,e even with their popularity and fortune, have tried to form their own clan, based on creed rather than breed. Their petitions to the clan council to form a new clan have always been turned down. The formation of a new clan based on creed could allow non-Gykin to join that clan, which is the primary reason the clans reject such petitions.

Renegade and Non-Clans

Some Dread Walkers have broken away and formed renegade clans in opposition to the council’s strict mandates. While others have built institutions resembling a clan, within the grey areas of the law. These grey institutions have clan crests, but they act more like a corporation. Instead of clan members, their members are regarded as employees. While they don’t hold council seats, the council reluctantly allows them to operate as long as they wear clanless tartan. Sometimes the council uses these corporations in political manoeuvres, being that these institutions are technically not a part of the official government.

Then, to the extreme, renegade clans.

The Forged Trinity is being undermined by these renegades, who are often found in hostile faction territories. The goal of these renegade clans is to seize control of the Council. They are often funded by opposing factions to create disharmony rather than bringing any change. These renegade clans function as governments in exile, and each has a unique tartan. There is usually violence when members of the established and renegade clans come into contact with one another. It is appropriate for both parties to take an enemy’s tartan as a trophy.

Long Tail Claws

However, the majority of outsiders think that the council’s resistance to reform is what led to the formation of these outlaw clans. The Long-tail Clan, which sprang from a dead breed, is the most dreaded clan. This clan even permits non-GyKin to be members in blatant disobedience of the council’s laws. This clan behaves more like pirates; some perceive them as terrorists and others as freedom fighters.

Corporations

Swift Beaks

The GyKin Council has a diplomatic correspondence network. Swift Beaks is an independent Corporation that handles mail and product logistics.

Quills

It’s a different story. From the outside, it appears to be an artisan store with in-house tailoring, fragrance, trinkets, and antiques from all over the world. However, in reality, they are weapons showrooms with in-house gunsmiths and armourers.

Non-Clan History

First, a clanless group asked to establish a new clan based on a lost council seat.
This is the Long Tails, an extinct Gykin breed. These GyKin were rejected; they then took the dead clan’s name and banished themselves peacefully. Fifty years later, a separate group led by a Dread Walker attempted to establish a new clan, but they were turned down. They came to be known as the Broken Wings because their supporters rebelled and were all forcibly exiled. Subsequently, a GyKin industrialist looked into the grey areas of the law. They created a corporation called Swift Beaks, which had a lot of characteristics of a clan but neither a tartan nor political power.

Then, 500 years later, a group of exiled Gykin abruptly created a clan. They didn’t make any request to the council, and because of their small size, they let other races join. They are referred to as the long claws & the council views them as a terrorist organization. The Quills are the newest group. They may not have a seat in the council room, but they do have authority, unlike Swift Beaks. In confidential council sessions, they whisper into the ears of delegates and grease the palms of foreign envoys.

Finished Designs

Female 1

Male 1

Female 2

Male 2

Basics

Rogue trader selling goods and information brokers.