Vivie gears up for a sprawling Burning Sky ODYSSEY!
Due to… honestly reasons we’re uncertain of, Vivie’s initial character reveal didn’t get posted, even though it was already written and everything. But whatevs. Now you get to not only meet her but also witness the reveal of the Burning Sky ODYSSEY Cover art! Lucky you!
Vivienne “Vivi” Costa is the protagonist (and sometimes main character) of Burning Sky Odyssey. Real talk. The girl’s precious. We love her. She might not be everyone’s individual favorite, but she’s basically our group favorite. She’s our weird little Third-Person person, and we adore her for it. That said, the love we have for this character has caused us to… change course, more than once with her story. We really, REALLY wanted to give her a story that did her – and the wonderfully dysfunctional cast around her – the utmost justice.
Burning Sky’s Eccentric Inventor Wants To Show You Her Latest!
In case the name didn’t clue you in, Burning Sky ODYSSEY is a major quest in search of something amazing. That part has always been true. The problem was that the team dynamic never felt quite right. We really had to iron this one out the most until we finally settled on something that suited all of the colorful and fun characters this story brings to the table.
As for Vivie’s character design, it was pretty simple. Because the land she comes from is effectively the Burning Sky equivalent of Central and South America, all mashed into one, we wanted to give her look a wee bit of Hispanic flair. More than that, though, we wanted the design to convey some of the character’s other standout traits. Her inventive smarts with things like her headgear and gauntlets (the former alludes to another character detail you’ll learn about). She’s also wearing some other tech-y stuff we look forward to showing. Ultimately, it all brings her more in-line with Burning Sky’s sci-fi side in a way that none of the other leads really are.
The poncho is obviously a cultural thing. But we wanted to express her happy and colorful personality, so we made sure that it was.. well… colorful! The silver hair is an intentional quirk to make her stand out. If you’ve read the PRELUDE, then you know people in this universe don’t really have funky anime hair colors on the regular. It generally requires dye (like Faye’s pinkish hair) or some sort of power. So we gave her a funky anime hair color as a means of really helping her stand out.
Burning Sky Odyssey: In Search Of A Legend
Blessed are the thinkers. Those who dream of where to go next.
Blessed are the travelers. Those who wander the land in the name of discovery.
Blessed are the outcasts. Those with nowhere to go, and yet everywhere to roam.
Vivienne Costa is all of the above. A tireless adventurer and an… eccentric, but brilliant young tinkerer who belongs nowhere. Thus she goes anywhere, sharing her quirky inventions with settlements who can use them. Always game to seek out the next big discovery in this bizarre, beautiful world she so adores.
Her life’s goal, though, is the biggest discovery of them all. A place spoken about in myths, legends, and the bedtime stories her abuela would tell her as a child. Elysium – the City Lost in the Clouds. A quest that will take her and a band of similarly displaced allies through the savage Badlands, home to demons like none anywhere else. Not just the beastly Akuma, but bandits of a different breed. Ravagers.
Burning Sky Odyssey Sends In The Misfits
When we sat back and thought about Burning Sky ODYSSEY, it was difficult for us to really pin down what the vibe of it was until much later. We kept trying to give Vivie all of these different character arcs and things, but none of them worked. They didn’t feel like they “fit” her. And, for numerous reasons, we didn’t want to put out the idea that anything was “wrong” with her (nor that she’s flawless). Then, looking at the people around her, it kind of hit us. ODYSSEY isn’t about one character. More than any other Burning Sky story, it’s about the entire team, not just the one or two people at the center of it.
With the focus broadening a bit, or at least becoming clearer, we realized exactly what this story’s themes were going to be. We had some lovable and terrible, funny and frustrating people to play with. They were the textbook definition of the ragtag bunch of rowdy misfits. So we leaned on that. In the end, we’re looking forward to showing all of the ways they play off of one another when Burning Sky ODYSSEY drops! ‘Til then, thanks for reading!
Keep up the Awesome!
Voyager