While getting settled into my new PC at the beginning of April and going through the folders of files I transferred over from the old one, I stumbled upon a few unfinished projects, including this portrait of the Ventrannan soldier, Brynjarr, who I designed back in late 2020.

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FurAffinity ◈ Weasyl

Brynjarr is a character I have given quite a bit of thought to, despite not drawing him at all aside from his introduction over a year ago. What makes him stand out is the fact that he's a Lightbearer Dominion soldier, despite being a Ventrannan--the species is very new to the Dominion, their world being a member for less than a century, and the Ventrannans are a generally peaceful, friendly, and kind-hearted species. As a result, it's quite rare for them to leave their homeworld, and those that do are almost exclusively found in scientific, medical, and research fields.

As a result, Brynjarr is quite the oddity, a member of a species largely unknown to the galaxy, and one that displays a cold and serious demeanor that flies in the face of what little the official documentation of his kind describes, an infantryman from a species of pacifists... but even in his previous introduction, I hinted that this might be an act of sorts.

Despite being a brave, loyal, efficient and dedicated soldier, I have always thought there was more to him than that. His demeanor is based more on what he thinks is expected of soldiers than his true nature, combined with a feeling of alienation from the other species he finds himself surrounded by and a desire to be taken seriously by them.

But, I figured there was still more to it than that, and had been weighing a few possible scenarios in my mind... The idea that keeps coming to mind is that, at some point early in his career, he made some sort of mistake that caused squad mates of his to be injured or even killed, perhaps his "soldier" act cracked and at a decisive moment he panicked and failed to take action, perhaps freezing up when he should have opened fire on enemy forces and covered his allies, and his inaction having consequences he's borne the guilt of ever since.

Will we ever know the specifics? I'm not sure. I had also considered Brynjarr being one of the soldiers on board the same cruiser as Domec, and forcing the two to interact or even share living quarters for a while, the overly curious and friendly Domec pestering Brynjarr with all sorts of questions about his species and homeworld and what brought him to where he is now. Maybe eventually he'll confide in the dopey space janitor. I like the idea of them being friends and Domec being the one that gets Brynjarr to relax and open up a bit, while still keeping that "opposites attract"/"buddy cop" energy going.