When I first knew for sure I was going to be the owner of my own Heliot, my brain started to concoct who he would be. The what was easy, of course. One big horn protruding from his forehead. Gotta be a unicorn (I’m sure more creative people have come up with better ideas but gdi I really wanted a unicorn)! I thought, “Okay, well if he’s a unicorn he’s gotta be a pure soul.” That’s what unicorns are portrayed as, and that was the original plan.
For anyone following my Instagram, you are well aware that this is not what I stuck with.
The more I looked at him, and the more I considered his features (especially with how yellow he was due to age), the more I thought that, maybe he was pure once. Not so much anymore. Though, it wasn’t until I started painting him that I thought about using golden accents as a means of ‘corruption’. I painted his horn, and gave it little lines that sort of resembled cracks, and I had my ‘aha’ moment.
Soon his hands followed suit.
In the meantime, I pondered a name and backstory for the fellow. The picture of a broken man came together with nefarious plans for some of my other characters (which I will elaborate on later in the post). I thought about unicorns and their usual place in medieval fairy tales, and considering human nature, it wouldn’t be that far fetched for a rich family to keep one as a pet regardless of sentience. His corruption comes from doing something extremely uncharacteristic to unicorns: spilling innocent blood.
I thought about how this might effect him, and knowing I wanted a very bitter character, decided to trap him in a castle for eternity for his deeds. Because of this, he’s stuck in basically a time bubble, explaining his taste in gaudy clothing.
When I got to the forehead, I knew I wanted something there since it goes on for days. The mandala seemed like an obvious choice to go with the circular indent for his horn. But how did it get there?
While Micah may not be able to leave his castle, undoubtedly his life in the castle has given him (conscious or subconscious) control of the rulers that followed. He probably played off being an advisor at first, and gained more power as his claws continued to sink in over the centuries. At a certain point, he had his own advisors to help craft and build magic-seeking devices to find those who may be able to both set Micah free from the castle and stop the corruption slowly spreading all over his body.
In one of those instances, I imagine some kind of priest/rabbi (more than likely Jewish descent) bestowed the mandala on him as a means of slowing the corruption, and probably gave him his human name. Micah is Hebrew for “Who is like God?”, and (I think you’ll agree with me) suits him very well.
As far as his unicorn name goes, I’m going to say it’s not something that can be written or spoken (and that’s more or less because I’m lazy). Rather, it’s something that’s felt/experienced. His herd (I’m sure that’s not the right word, but if there’s a specific word for a group of unicorns I don’t know it) communicated through a sort of telepathy through their horns. Originally Micah was the leader and protector of his people, and his judgement was what kept them both together and alive. He was a picture perfect example of benevolence, albeit somewhat prideful. One of the few things that translates over to his current character.
Of course, where there is a leader there is usually a loving/devoted subject eager to take their side. That’s where Diana comes in.
I’ll have to write up a post just for her. Diana is a Minifee Sircca that I have yet to talk about on here (because I’m Instagram obsessed sorrryyyy), and IC she was to be Micah’s soulmate once she reached the proper age. Before that happened, he was captured. Lured out by innocent (looking) children and sold to the highest bidder.
While Micah is stuck in the hell that is the lower levels of the royal family’s castle, Diana becomes more and more restless/discontent. Eventually she splits from their group to look for him. Because of the danger unicorn’s face in this world, a kind witch she meets at the wood’s boarders makes an offer to help her by teaching Diana a spell she can use to shape shift to a human form. No strings attached, she’s just a super cool witch.
Eventually after centuries of searching, Diana finds Micah when one of his magical patrols scoop her up and haul her off to the castle. She recognizes him, but barely. The feeling she gets from him has been distorted heavily. Still, he is who she has searched for, and Diana promises to help him in any way she can, again taking up the mantle of a loyal (and loving) servant.
Relations to other characters:
Micah, Diana, Fray, and Merriwether are all from the same story. Ultimately Micah is the antagonist while Fray is the protagonist. I wouldn’t call it original, but I’ve always loved the juxtaposition of the ‘innocents’ being the evil force and the demonic/strange containing the good. Fray, with his horns, is a textbook example of a demonic looking fellow, though his heart is anything but. Micah is a beautiful, graceful creature who wants nothing more than to exterminate the bulk of humanity. The world isn’t black and white, after all.
Merriwether is the one who can save Micah (so he thinks), though she has no idea how. Micah intends to force her to figure it out, and it’s up to Fray to save her (if he can). All this will eventually be posted here, I’m just trying to get my ducks in a row with the story. Thought it would be something fun to post either bi-weekly or monthly. I’ve got a couple chapters written already, but of course Micah won’t be in the beginning. That’ll be much later.
Hope you liked these 3 parts to Making a Unicorn! You can count on seeing much more of Micah in the future, along with the rest of my crew.
Moth Ashes, A BJD Blog 
sounds interesting xD