The Yamatami (the Kingdom of Lorule sneak peek)

Another sneak peek for ya'll!! This time it's for the Yamatami! As a quick heads up, the next sneak peek will be of the Oocca race's redesign and rework and I'm super excited to show y'all that one! But until then, let's continue!

I ultimately decided that I’d have way more fun (and produce better designs) if I focused more on the characters and not basic presentation of the races they belong to, so here’s the completely revamped version of the Yamatami card! :3

Quick funfacts about the Yamatami and the characters here in general!

-The Yamatami as a race is me taking an existing tribe from an LoZ game and completely reworking it for a different purpose! They originally and only showed up in the game Freshly-Picked Tingle’s Rosy Rupeeland as a primitive tribe of Hylians (or humans I really couldn’t tell which) and I thought they looked unique enough to make into a full-on race, with some obvious changes of course.

-Mamba an existing but super minor character that exists in the very same game! She’s also the only one with any significant design (to an extent) in comparison to the rest of the game-version Yamatami, so I figured she’d make for an excellent character to represent my headcanoned version of the Yamatami. :3 As she is now, Mamba is the princess and next-in-line for the role of chief due to her father being current chief. Mamba doesn’t have much interest in leading the tribe though, and is instead far more interested in the world outside their marshland boundaries. She’s a dreamer, very friendly, and somewhat naive, but all she wants is to be able to make her own path.

-Faux was inspired from a completely different LoZ character from a completely different game: they’re based on the Faux Hero character from Tri Force Heroes; I chose the character based on the red hair and the potential to give a character fox-inspired motif and a fox mask to match the name, so here it is! :3 As a character, Faux is resourceful, fast, and cautious. They’re one of the best warriors the Yamatami have to offer, and through that they’ve become the trusted bodyguard to Mamba. Faux might seem indifferent to the overtly friendly princess but don’t let that fool you; they are ever watchful and ever so protective of their princess. Designed them to be androgynous because I haven’t decided on a gender, if they end up even having one in the first place that is! I’m not sure yet though, what do ya’ll think? O:

-The Yamatami is designed with snakes in mind, and as such they are built to be lean, thin, and with flexibility in the forefront of my thought process. They’re tall but are light on their feet and even lighter in weight, surprisingly; they can very easily support themselves with and onto their huge tails if they wanted, which is a common practice they use to get a high-point survey of their immediate surroundings. The masks were already a part of the Yamatami, but I retooled them to be more significant in their culture: the masks are always of an animal, and they represent the strongest traits in the wearer. For example: Mamba’s mask is that of a deer because of her gentle, friendly, and social disposition, but it can also represent how flighty she can get. This mask is never taken off (especially in public), so much so that the Yamatami wear them even while transformed (although more as a hat since they’re too big to wear them properly when transformed).