"Who knows what mysteries wait to be found? What stories wait to be told? What good is it to be afraid what may lie in the dark?"
-Kieran

Kieran's origins have been... lost in the fog of time, to be honest. I the earliest appearence of him in anyone was back in 2008, around June. Who knows how long before then he was around. During his creation he's had a few changes... I'm not actually sure if there's anything about him that's really set in stone right now, honestly.

The first instance of Kieran as a character may have been on IRC, during a period where I was creating multiple fursonas for myself. I don't remember what Kieran was made for... I think it may have just simply "to be a bird." Regardless, Kieran was born. Just a very basic, very simple Raven. Why Raven? I dunno. I think it was that Ravens were just popular birds... and full of mystery and magic in mankind's mind, really.

Or I'm just trying to be unsuccessfully poetic, and really I just picked the first popular bird that came to mind.

To be honest, for the longest time Kieran was kind... unimpressive, unremarkable. I believe he started with a more modern sort of setting. And really he was just a very average guy. Boringly so. Just some student who went around and did things... It's so hard to talk about him because there wasn't really much to say other than "he was a bird!" In fact, to this day, I still can not decide if Kieran should remain as a Raven, or become a Carrion Crow. Ravens are bigger and bulkier than crows... and Kieran is not big on body... plus, depending on who you ask, Ravens and Crows may have different connotations. Still, I can not seem to pick one.

One thing I did know was how I wanted his 'wings to be.' Now, what I've noticed is that furries usually make three kinds of wings on their birds (if their birds do indeed have wings).
Type A) Back wings - The most common type of wings I find, Where they simply place the wings on the character's back like an angel.
Type B) Hand wings - More commonly found on toony characters, where the wings are just hands, and primary flight feathers are made as fingers
Type C) Wing Arms - The least common, Where the wings extend off the arms, demonstrated here.
Obviously, I picked Type C for Kieran. It's just a personal preference that I enjoy, and will use on the rest of my bird characters in the future. Hand wings are too toony for me, and backwings just ADD limbs, which is silly. Unless it was some kind of magic bird...

Kieran began to develop more when I started... introducing him to more fantasy settings. I don't know what inspired me to do so- perhaps it was just the stereotype of the black-feathered raven- but for some reason, I decided Shadow Magic was the way to go with Kieran. This Kieran took a lot of inspiration from a variety of video games I played... Arcanists from Final Fantasy Tactics A2, Affliction Warlocks and Shadow Priests (especially) from WoW, Shamans and Druids from Fire Emblem, Malzahar, Swain and Veigar from LoL, and the Shadow Wings finisher from Baiten Kaitos (http://tinyurl.com/qhnykqt) All of these various depictions of dark magic melded over the years into Kieran's concept.

The dark magic itself is another thing that's been in flux for me, both in regards to what it does, and it's source. Sometimes it's imagined as as the ability to attack with shadow made solid or tangible, obviously taken from my video game days where even the darkest of shadow magic was made to be big and flashy. Sometimes it is depicted as much more subtle, manipulating the shadows themselves. Sometimes, the magic is taught and learned, making Kieran more of a wizard. Sometimes the magic involves communing with shades and spirits... or other unknowable beings... perhaps through ritual or sacrifice (Indeed, some concepts of kieran involve arms lined with scars from various sacrifices of his blood). This more... mystic, or witch-like depiction of Kieran seems to be the strongest... though I am still deciding what the nature of these beings he communes with, as this magic will not be restricted to Kieran alone.

These powers may be alien, strange, and frightful, but I try to avoid making anything in my settings TRUE, PURE evil. In fantasy, Fantasy!Kieran, while sometimes depicted as strange or eerie, is usually very polite and helpful. To those who don't know his true nature, or that can see past the spookiness, may come to seem him as a guide, a teacher, or at the very least... a friend. Let's hope his friends on the other side don't ask for something he can't give...

Modern Kieran is a lot less spooky, but also less develop than regular Kieran. I original depicted him as a student, interested in literature and poetry (Quoth the Raven "Suck my balls"), to make him seem all classy and cultured. I had also created him a laaarge connection of other bird characters that he would be intereacting with, seen Here: http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1601623/ and http://www.furaffinity.net/view/1601972/ here. I think he also had relationships with a few of them too.

Now a days, Kieran has... evolved a bit... He's still a student, and may still have an interest in literature that he did, but I feel he's more fit as an archeology or anthropology major than a literature. His large cast of characters will probably be dispersed, if I saw to reuse them again, and in fact he keeps appearing in my head as befriend to Sammy. Indeed, I do believe these two would make great spooky buddies, though while Kieran enjoys the occasional horror story and may indeed enjoy Halloween, he does not even hold a candle to the Duke of Spook, Sammy. Compared to his fantasy self, he's a lot more... laid back.

Kieran, like his Buddy Sammy, is a character that is... less sexually developed... but unlike Sammy, he started off a bit more risque, and has in fact toned down a bit. He still has his moments, but they are not as common. Especially in a fantasy setting, where Kieran tends to act more mysterious and eerie, which I fear might be... tarnished by sexuality. Maybe this is part of why I think he and Sammy would get along?

Like most of my other Characters, Kieran has made appearences as an Ironclaw character... The big problem though, is that Ironclaw has nothing to sustain his... flavour of magic, so I decided to have Ironclaw!Kieran act as a Druid (especially when summoning Goblins or casting Blights). As well, this iteration of Kieran is much more... strange, due to his career choice... In fact, he is currently an active character in the time of typing this.

Kieran's concept is as mysterious as the character is... from creation to today, there are mysteries to him that even I can't solve. Yet, Kieran is something that has not gone away, and I do not think he ever will. Instead he will continue to shift and change. Hopefully I can pick something for him.

Especially since I think he's my boyfriend's favourite.

Art done by the fantastic Chetchaka, Uploaded with his permission.