The foundling stared up at the Mandalorians, silent and shell-shocked. One of them crouched to his level, switching from Mando’a to stiffly accented Basic.
My entry for @kate-komics’s Mandalorian OC contest! I’ve been meaning to design my own Mando ever since I started watching the show, and this gives me an excuse to actually do it!
This is Xing Feyrin, a young foundling weary of their cramped covert. After swearing the Resol'nareand earning their beskar'gam, they took a joyride into the depths of Wild Space – with no prior astronavigation experience. Predictably, they marooned themselves on a backwater planet and even went native.
Progress pics and more character trivia below the cut!
This was the initial sketch of Xing. It came together surprisingly quickly once I decided on the “Mando with a samurai aesthetic” direction - which coincidentally mirrors the armor design of the earliest Mandalorians, the Taungspecies! Couple of design notes:
The non-beskar armor is modeled after samurai plate armor. It’s haphazardly strung together with the beskar'gamfor added protection and style points
The straw cape is inspired by the Japanese mino.I saw lots of Mandos with swooshy fabric capes, so I wanted to do something different for Xing’s.
The leather wraps around vambraces and shin guards are borrowed from the Mandalorian Crusaders. I am just really fond of the leather aesthetic!
And now for some general notes about Xing:
Xing uses they/them pronouns, but doesn’t mind he/him.
Their name is pronounced “shing” - inspired after the Chinese character 星 for star. Although they don’t know it, their biological family were nomadic spacefarers.
Wear and tear put Xing’s “fancier” equipment - namely their dual blasters and rising phoenix, out of commission. Since there was no way to fix or replace them when planet-bound, Xing had to get creative with their arsenal. The belt and holster around their hip now store decidedly more “analog” weaponry - more on that later!
They also painted their beskar'gam after they realized they’re stuck on the planet for the long run. White for a fresh start on a new planet, and orange for freedom gained from being marooned.
Their helmet is the only article that is painted dark grey for mourning. In the early days they wore it in remembrance of their past life in the covert. Once the HUD flickered out for good, the helmet became dark and claustrophobic - the complete antithesis to their wanderlust - so they only wear it in times of extreme danger.
Not pictured in the sketch, but featured in the final: the painted fingernails have do have a purpose beyond aesthetics! The black pigment contains ground-up flint, which creates sparks when struck against metal.
Also not pictured: two flasks of viscous lighting fluid they keep in their holsters. When smeared on their beskad and struck by their flint-tipped fingernails, they have a flaming sword in short order! My headcanon is that beskarhas an extremely high melting point, so wielding it while set aflame won’t chip or dull it like other blades. I have a pic of this in the works!
