Nor is one of my most dearly beloved characters, and possibly the one I've had with me for the longest (in terms of active use- otherwise that award would go to Blanc). Nor was always, in a way, part of my way to convey the more intense emotional waves I'd go through in a sympathetic light, regardless of incarnation- and as a result, they were given a severe case of Neuroticism and impostor syndrome issues, regardless of incarnation.

Originally, funnily enough, they started out as a skeleton dog design back on a 3DS drawing application that I planned to auction out around early October 2016. You can see the remnants of that in the bands around their neck and on their back- they were loosely supposed to mimic a ribcage and spines! However, after having a lack of a representative character for several years and attempting to find something that meshed with me, I ended up promoting this funny little design to my sona.

I was moving on from just my dog drawing stage, and as a result, I was incredibly indecisive with what Nor should be- so Nor started out as a shapeshifter (albeit a flawed one), but the design I would call 'core' Nor was always there. However, the shapeshifter/alternate animal aspect of their design faded away quickly as I grew more and more fond of the core of their form: If I could describe it, their body form is a mix of multiple animal families I enjoy, mainly canidae features coupled with avian legs with the long neck and general bodyplan of some depictions of dragons (but with the body language of a housecat)- and that's remained pretty consistent throughout their existence! But the shapeshifter aspect of their design was relatively brief at the end of the day, and rather unexplored (which, honestly, I don't mind- I find what I do now much more fun).

Around 2017-2018 came the concept for their current existence that I'd been toying around with for a while: like a colonial organism, Nor is a bunch of (magical) microorganisms all under one united hivemind- this guy is a Siphonophore if you look hard enough into it. I think at this point (although I'd been low-key having it for a long time even before this, hence the shapeshifter thing), I'd been going under severe impostor's syndrome: and what better to represent that feeling than an entire being attempting to cluster itself into a form that was far more steady and approachable (and failing to as they became intensely emotional)? They also became their cream and paler grey colours at this stage instead of the stark black and white, and ultimately, I like these colours for them more (especially as it helps convey the extremely contrasted 'activated' stage the organisms enter when under threat). I'm really happy with this concept, and as you can see, it's stuck and probably will stick indefinitely.

In complete honesty, as a creator, I have a really bad habit of getting rid of characters that I associate with bad periods of time: I have this tendency to associate these designs strongly with the time periods they were active in, and as a result, it's easier for me to get rid of them instead of attempting to recreate what they meant to me. Nor's exceptional in that way: they've stuck with me for many, many years and many, many different changes in life, in spite of everything, Nor's continued to stick around- and to me, at least, that's special.

Nor isn't my sona any more (and hasn't been for a long while), but ultimately, they're a character that's been through many things with me and survived the test of time- they're the general mascot of what I do (primarily on toyhouse) these days, and still very much loved. I'm genuinally, continually awed by the lovely response to them, and I hope I can continue doing things with them for many more years!