Welcome to the Keling Creation Guide!
First things to know, what are Akeli?
Akeli are a cat-like draconic species that changes as they grow! They start out as kelings, small bundles of excitement and innocent youth, and grow up to become moody akelings! They'll then fully mature into akelis once they reach adulthood.
They start off simple but will get complex as time goes!
Naming System for the Species:
Kel - A single kel, what babies, teens and adults are called when not using the full species name.
Kels - Plural for kel.
Keling - A baby kel
Akeling - A teen kel
Akeli - An adult kel
This guide will help you create standard kelings of any kind, whether they are MYOs, bred eggs, or adopt eggs!
Kelings, despite being simple in design, have a lot of things to look out for!
Mouth Notches and Nose Shape
Round Eyebrows
Cat-Like Ears with 1-2 tufts on each side.
Magic Gem
Magic Whiskers
Fox-Like Tail
Paws and Claws (3 or 4 toes on each foot)
All kels have a magic gem! This gem is made out of special, polished keratin. It is unknown how it makes kels utilize magic.
The gem is extremely durable and strong. Breaking a gem is almost impossible without the proper tools or strength to do so. A kel with a broken gem cannot use magic anymore, which is worse than death for them.
Their whiskers help them sense magic around them, whether it be someone casting spells next to them or sensing a magical creature approaching them.
All Akeli have a Magic Gem inbetween their eyes. This gem can be of any simple shape found below.
Note: Altering of the base shape form is allowed (i.e, stretching, squashing, rotating). Adding extra bumps is not allowed.
They can also be of any single colour except pure black or white.
All kelings have two baby spots! These spots are found over their nose and at the tip of their tail. The colour can be found at the bottom of the colour palette on the applications.
These spots do fade as they age up! One will fade out as they reach their teen stage (akelings) and the other will fade as they reach their adult stage (akelis)!
MYO Kelings have a choice of 12 base colour palettes to choose from, as well as 2 limited-time monthly palettes!
They can also have 2 secondary colours on their body! These colours can be used for simple and generic colour placements.
Anniversary MYOs can use up to three (3) secondaries!
Bred eggs and Adopt eggs can use all of their secondaries!
Here is a list of all placements allowed:
There are certain ways to fill in the application, so that staff members can make sure everything is legal when designing your keling.
First off, your character has to be drawn using a non-dynamic view (preferably side view), so that all their colour placements are visible (feel free to add a smaller, flipped version of the app art for asymmetrical patterns. Mods may ask for one with asymmetrical patterns on the head).
Also, your keling must have all their feet visible, for accent colour placements! The application should not be shaded and should have a single colour for the lineart. Finally, there must be a separate front view of their gem shape alone.
Accent, eye and gem colours must also be added next to the palette swatch, in the right box! They must be a solid flat colour swatch.
Also, you must NEVER delete your application. NEVER edit the application without a mod asking for changes.
Deleting an application will mean deleting your character from the group, as the application date is used for age requirements. You will not be getting your slot back if you delete your application.
Pinkie will be used as our example!
Right here, she has a perfect application!
The side view, the gem shape, even the colours are correctly picked!
She didn't forget her baby spots either! She's looking super sweet.
She is not wearing any accessories/clothes.
She uses a total of six placements (eyebrow placements do not count for the limit).
1. Ears (Outer)
2. Back (Saddle)
3. Underbelly (Full)
4. Gloves
5. Sock (Left)
6. Sock (Right)
The accent, eye and gem sections are filled in correctly!
Seems like Pinkie got a little too excited for her application!
She should be standing on all four and not leaping through the air! We do allow a maximum of one (1) leg in the air, however.
Looks like her accent also covers her entire feet! The accent should only cover the toes and fingers!
Oh no! It seems like Pinkie has Fluffy Whiskers and Hair Tuft! No upgrades can be applied on approvals, so she'll need to get those added afterwards.
Her baby spots are also too big and should be shrunken down especially her nose spot, which should not go higher than the nostrils!
Her mouth notches are wrong! The lower part of the middle notch should line up with the edge of the snout!
The Eyes colour section should not feature pupils, highlights or shading. Keep the section to the flat solid colour of the eyes.
Seems like Pinkie is missing her eyebrows! She'll have to get Eyebrow Swapper to remove them!
She's also missing some ear tufts on the inner part of her ears! And she has too many on the other side! There needs to be one (1) or two (2) tufts per side.
While pretty, coloured lineart with more than one colour is not allowed on applications. Please have the lineart be a singular colour.
Lastly, she doesn't have a side view of her gem! Don't forget to add it! Same for her eyes, if they are closed on the application we will need a side view!
There is nothing to worry about making mistakes in the applications. Moderators will be ready to help and provide redlines! (At your request)
Last step, your application description!
Once you're done designing and ready to submit your keling to DeviantArt, you must put this form in the description of your new baby!
ID: *You will be given this after approval. Remember to add it!
Name:
Base Gem Shape:
Placements:
Creation Type:
Hatching Location: (Both Lelin'Kel and Bri'Saw are available as Hatching Locations!)
Note that everyone's first MYO needs to hatch in Lelin'Kel!
Don't forget to put your aki count and tracker! Applications count for akis!
Once you are ready to submit your application for approval, head on discord and head to #keling-approval. Fill in the form there and a mod will get to it as soon as possible!