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Description

Lady Mantis has so far been one of the most interesting Indie City characters to do for two major reasons. The first is that she is the first fusion of multiple characters into one - Indie City is meant to be a mashup of many different universes, so just like settings and assets, characters and stories are mashed together as well. The second is that in order to create her, I had to learn a lot about real world Japanese samurai culture, specifically the Onna-Bugeisha, who are women trained in the art of combat. You'll see some of this play out in her description, as well as other mentions to other characters , Enjoy!

Description:
  Lady Mantis is a woman of two faces - both of which are not to be trifled with under any circumstances. During the daytime, she is the manager of a family-friendly harbor restaurant known as the Mantis Maw, known for their cooked seafood delicacies such as grilled EyeEye and seasoned Reginalds. While she doesn’t cook the food herself -that job lies with twin chefs Ribby and Croaks- she can be seen on the floor quietly overseeing the restaurants atmosphere. At night, however, she turns the Mantis Maw into underground fight club, with her as its leader. During this time, the Mantis Maw is open to anyone willing to duke it out with reigning champions, earning cash prizes in the process, so long as you obey her rules. There are simple and to the point; fight honorably, without weapons, and stop when the opponent has clearly been rendered unable to fight. Break one of her rules, and you’ll be unkindly escorted out of the Maw. Or worse, you could have to face the wrath of Lady Mantis yourself. And given she's a trained Onna-Bugeisha, the odds are not in your favor.
Brief History:
  Lady Mantis isn’t a native to Indie City. She immigrated to the borough of Hallownest as a child with her mother and her two sisters when she was 5 years old, fleeing a fungal outbreak in her home country which caused those afflicted to become reanimated corpses of themselves. It was due to these circumstances that her mother made it her goal to teach her daughters self-defense, in the hopes they will resist the dangers they might face in their new world. Therefore, Lady Mantis and her two sisters soon began to learn tantōjutsu, a martial arts fighting style involving a dagger. While forbidden to carry daggers while outside the house, their training in martial arts helped them out of some tough situations, such as giving them an edge in sports to standing up to potential bullies. However, unlike her two sisters, Lady Mantis hungered to use her training for legitimate fighting, so much so that she joined the Indie University wrestling team when she was a sophomore in high school. It was during her time on the team as a senior in college that she met Ribby and Croaks, incoming freshmen brothers striving for a culinary degree. Taking pity on their lack of confidence, Lady Mantis took them under her wing, and trained them just as her mother trained her. They soon became nearly inseparable, developing a brothers-sister relationship. After her graduation, Ribby and Croaks promised they’ll always be there for her if she needed them.
  Unsurprisingly, the first thing Lady Mantis pursued after college was becoming a professional Martial Artist. This went against her mother’s wishes, who only wanted her to know tantōjutsu to defend herself, but Lady Mantis ignored her outcries and kept fighting day after day. Slowly but surely, Lady Mantis got more and more obsessed with fighting - and winning- match after match, so much so that she became distant with her mother and her once-close sisters. However, her uphill winning streak was not to last, when during one matched she let her bloodlust get the better of her and used unauthorized techniques on her opponent, causing them serious bodily harm. As a result, she was disgraced by many in the industry, and unable to find any competition who would accept her, she was forced to find work elsewhere.
  With her mother and sisters long abandoning her, she found herself seeking help from Ribby and Croaks, who kept to their promise and hired her to be a manager at the Mantis Maw (which, to be fair, they named after her.) Though her transition from fighting to restaurateur was difficult, she eventually learned to properly oversee things at the establishment. Yet her hunger for battle never ceased, so she proposed a business deal to Ribby and Croaks to turn the Maw into an illegal street fighting arena. They reluctantly agreed, under the condition it would only happen at night, behind the restaurant, and with her responsible for anything that may happen. Thus the Mantis Maw fight night came to be. Her club currently operates to this day, but its not known except to the Indie City Underground how to apply for a seat in the ring.

Trivia:
  Lady Mantis yields a naginata at all times, whether she is running the restaurant or the fight club. Most of the time she keeps it upright, but she has been known to use it very effectively, especially against those who don’t follow her rules.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Made in June 2019 using ink, paint.net, and photoshop.
The Lady belongs to Tarsier Studios.
The Mantis Lords belong to Team Cherry.
This version of the Lady and the Mantis Lords were created by me, Foalies.
Do not redistribute without my permission!

Description

Lady Mantis has so far been one of the most interesting Indie City characters to do for two major reasons. The first is that she is the first fusion of multiple characters into one - Indie City is meant to be a mashup of many different universes, so just like settings and assets, characters and stories are mashed together as well. The second is that in order to create her, I had to learn a lot about real world Japanese samurai culture, specifically the Onna-Bugeisha, who are women trained in the art of combat. You'll see some of this play out in her description, as well as other mentions to other characters , Enjoy!

Description:
  Lady Mantis is a woman of two faces - both of which are not to be trifled with under any circumstances. During the daytime, she is the manager of a family-friendly harbor restaurant known as the Mantis Maw, known for their cooked seafood delicacies such as grilled EyeEye and seasoned Reginalds. While she doesn’t cook the food herself -that job lies with twin chefs Ribby and Croaks- she can be seen on the floor quietly overseeing the restaurants atmosphere. At night, however, she turns the Mantis Maw into underground fight club, with her as its leader. During this time, the Mantis Maw is open to anyone willing to duke it out with reigning champions, earning cash prizes in the process, so long as you obey her rules. There are simple and to the point; fight honorably, without weapons, and stop when the opponent has clearly been rendered unable to fight. Break one of her rules, and you’ll be unkindly escorted out of the Maw. Or worse, you could have to face the wrath of Lady Mantis yourself. And given she's a trained Onna-Bugeisha, the odds are not in your favor.
Brief History:
  Lady Mantis isn’t a native to Indie City. She immigrated to the borough of Hallownest as a child with her mother and her two sisters when she was 5 years old, fleeing a fungal outbreak in her home country which caused those afflicted to become reanimated corpses of themselves. It was due to these circumstances that her mother made it her goal to teach her daughters self-defense, in the hopes they will resist the dangers they might face in their new world. Therefore, Lady Mantis and her two sisters soon began to learn tantōjutsu, a martial arts fighting style involving a dagger. While forbidden to carry daggers while outside the house, their training in martial arts helped them out of some tough situations, such as giving them an edge in sports to standing up to potential bullies. However, unlike her two sisters, Lady Mantis hungered to use her training for legitimate fighting, so much so that she joined the Indie University wrestling team when she was a sophomore in high school. It was during her time on the team as a senior in college that she met Ribby and Croaks, incoming freshmen brothers striving for a culinary degree. Taking pity on their lack of confidence, Lady Mantis took them under her wing, and trained them just as her mother trained her. They soon became nearly inseparable, developing a brothers-sister relationship. After her graduation, Ribby and Croaks promised they’ll always be there for her if she needed them.
  Unsurprisingly, the first thing Lady Mantis pursued after college was becoming a professional Martial Artist. This went against her mother’s wishes, who only wanted her to know tantōjutsu to defend herself, but Lady Mantis ignored her outcries and kept fighting day after day. Slowly but surely, Lady Mantis got more and more obsessed with fighting - and winning- match after match, so much so that she became distant with her mother and her once-close sisters. However, her uphill winning streak was not to last, when during one matched she let her bloodlust get the better of her and used unauthorized techniques on her opponent, causing them serious bodily harm. As a result, she was disgraced by many in the industry, and unable to find any competition who would accept her, she was forced to find work elsewhere.
  With her mother and sisters long abandoning her, she found herself seeking help from Ribby and Croaks, who kept to their promise and hired her to be a manager at the Mantis Maw (which, to be fair, they named after her.) Though her transition from fighting to restaurateur was difficult, she eventually learned to properly oversee things at the establishment. Yet her hunger for battle never ceased, so she proposed a business deal to Ribby and Croaks to turn the Maw into an illegal street fighting arena. They reluctantly agreed, under the condition it would only happen at night, behind the restaurant, and with her responsible for anything that may happen. Thus the Mantis Maw fight night came to be. Her club currently operates to this day, but its not known except to the Indie City Underground how to apply for a seat in the ring.

Trivia:
  Lady Mantis yields a naginata at all times, whether she is running the restaurant or the fight club. Most of the time she keeps it upright, but she has been known to use it very effectively, especially against those who don’t follow her rules.

-------------------------------------------------------------
Made in June 2019 using ink, paint.net, and photoshop.
The Lady belongs to Tarsier Studios.
The Mantis Lords belong to Team Cherry.
This version of the Lady and the Mantis Lords were created by me, Foalies.
Do not redistribute without my permission!