Sailor Haumea

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It's all up!

For the sake of the tl;dr folks, I've divided this out. Hopefully it will be relatively easy to skim to find what you want.

My entry for =DracheaRannak's Dwarf Planet Senshi Contest. I chose Haumea, which probably doesn't surprise those who know me. I lived in Hawaii 8 years, and I do have a bit of a shtick with it if you see how I dress when I actually make an effort (I like Hawaiian prints).

Note: I do not actually know Hawaiian, so if I need any correcting for the language, feel free to let me know.

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SENSHI STATS
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Name: Rochelle Ili'ili'alohi Natsumi Kwan, nee Penhasco
Meaning: Rochelle - little rock; Ili'ili'alohi - glittering stone (Hawaiian); Natsumi - Summer beauty (Japanese); Kwan - mountain (Korean), Penhasco - cliff (Portuguese)
Note: Her name reflects a common scenario for people from Hawaii; she has a more common given name, but she is given multiple middle names that reflect her cultural background. She's also married, so that just complicates matters

Age: 24
Birthday: July 12 (Cancer)
Ethnicity: Technically, half Hawaiian, quarter Portuguese, quarter Japanese. She identifies as Hawaiian.
Home: Waimanalo, Hawaii
Height: 5'4"
Weight: 145 lbs

Likes: Spear fishing, torch ginger, barbecues, being around lots of people
Dislikes: Disunity, Portuguese Man-o-war (a jellyfish; she's gets stung a lot), Wyland and Lassen and other generic sell-out tropical artists, touristy beaches
Strengths: Sculpture, she's warm and approachable
Has trouble with: Managing conflict (she tends to be a bit of a doormat), she's a bit judgmental about other artists, overcoming grief (explained in story)
Dream: To be a mother (with a living family)

Element: Rock/childbirth
Symbol: One of the Hawaiian petroglyphs representing childbirth (it's on the image and the brooch)
Brooch:

Attacks:
Piko Mothering Embrace -- A healing attack. Haumea makes a few circles with her hand around her navel area and then directs her hand to the person she wants to heal. They're then briefly encased in lava rock, and when the rock cracks, they are healed.

It's name, piko, refers to small holes carved into rocks by ancient Hawaiians. They believed that their newborns would be blessed if they stuck the end of their umbilical cords in this hole.

Haumea o keiki -- (Haumea's Children) Multiuse. Haumea twirls her spear around; lava rock appears below her, and light erupts light, which forms into two spirit like beings, representing the planet's moons, Naumaka and Hi'iaka. They are more effective in defending against attacks, but they can attack offensively if need be. Haumea tends to use it a lot, not so much because of fighting, but because she believes them to be the spirits of her twin daughters that died at childbirth. Their presence comforts her, so they're usually around her, as if they were her actual moons. Haumea says they talk to her, whether or not that's the case remains to be seen.

Pali Collapse Haumea's primary offensive attack. Haumea makes a few circles above her head with her spear, gathering rocks around the end as it happens. She then throws her spear at her opponent, rocks trailing.

The name refers both to her rock element (pali = cliff), and also the King Kamehameha influence in her fuku, as one of the decisive battles in his quest to unite the islands involved forcing the opposing army off the Pali cliffs in the Ko'olau Mountains of O'ahu..

Generic Spear throw -- If in doubt, she can throw her spear as a generic physical attack. She can instinctively power it if she's devoted to it enough; she has some latent powers as a sorceress.

Story:
Rochelle Penhasco led a relatively mundane life before the events leading up to her awakening as Sailor Haumea. The third of five children, her childhood was always surrounded with many people with lots of love and energy, and Rochelle, always the extrovert, thrived on it. Her artistic talents and moderate academic skills were enough to get her into Kamehameha Schools, an academy run by the Bishop Estate for children of Hawaiian descent, where she really grew proud of her heritage. In high school and beyond, she would find herself fairly involved in Kau Inoa and the quest for Hawaiian recognition. Through these activities, Rochelle would meet her future husband, Anthony Kwan, primarily of Asian and Hawaiian descent.

Other than her marriage at the end of her third year, university (at UH Manoa) followed a similar undramatic path. Rochelle would receive a job teaching art as well as an after school Hawaiian class at a small charter school in Kaneohe, spending her free time carving sculptures from interesting rocks discovered by her contractor husband.

Life took a turn a year or so after graduation, when the couple decided to have children. While it took a few tries, Rochelle soon found herself pregnant with twin girls. However, early in the pregnancy's seventh month, Rochelle went into labor and delivered the two; neither survived. The grief was hard on Rochelle. One night, soon after being released from the hospital, she would find herself wandering on the rocks near Makapu'u.

In her ear, she heard two voices whisper to her, and the rocks around her glow. The spirits of her two moons, Hi'iaka and Naumaka appeared and told her to go to their sister, Pele. Rochelle hopped on the next plane she could to the Big Island. Here, in the midst of the sulfurous smoke of Kilauea, Rochelle would speak with her eldest daughter from another life. Pele told her of her identity, and gave her a small stone made from her lava that would allow her to transform.

As Sailor Haumea, she is certain a threat is coming she must face, but for now, she works to protect her people from the spirits that would threaten her home.

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DESIGN COMMENTS
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I had a very specific design goal in mind through all this: to avoid turning Haumea into a hula girl. Because she's not. Hi'iaka's a hula girl. Hula's not all there is to Hawaii, k?

I decided to go the more warrior route and modeled Haumea to look as such. She's a senshi after all. As a senshi, she's also a princess or even a goddess, so I gave her the colors of the ali'i, yellow and red. To reach these two ideas, I modeled her fuku after statues of King Kamehameha. The texture on her collar, cape and sashes is from fine feathers, what the real clothes were made from.

I read that the "element" that Haumea is most associated with, besides childbirth, is rock, so I made that her element. I thought it'd be fun to give her a petroglyph theme to further that (petroglyphs are Hawaiian carvings into rocks), and a little more review into petroglyphs revealed that there were a LOT of different petroglyphs representing childbirth, and the piko thing that is mentioned in one of her attacks. The pattern of her skirt uses multiple petroglyphs pertaining to children and family, and also tells of the sailing to Hawaii.

Again, avoiding sterotypes, I didn't want to give the stereotypical flower in hair. Maybe a haku lei, but not a single flower. I got inspired by an image I found that was in the Hawaii magazine article on naming the dwarf planet Haumea, and decided to turn her tiara into a similar fern headdress.

To tie the green in, I made her eyes green and wrapped a ti leaf lei around her waist and her spear. Her hair was made a dark red to have something more unnatural for the anime theme, yet not distract from her tropical theme, and it helps tie into the red of the fuku. Body-wise, she's very curvy, suitable for a symbol of childbirth and motherhood.

I thought putting a senshi from Hawaii in high heels was kinda sacriligious, but $1.99 Longs rubbah slippahs were a bit tacky for a senshi. So I made her barefoot. I kept her bare armed for a similar reason, but to tie the entire look together, I wrapped kukui nut leis around her wrists and ankles.

Stats wise, I wanted to make her like a modern Hawaiian. She's not pure Hawaiian, and she doesn't go by a Hawaiian name. Yes, there are some Hawaiian names in relatively common usage, but you don't have to have a Hawaiian first name to be Hawaiian. She's proud of her heritage, and it shows, but her hobbies, other than the Kau Inoa involvement, are relatively normal. The most special thing is that she knows Hawaiian, which she learned at Kam. Schools; it's hardly common knowledge.

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ART COMMENTS
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Most of what I've wanted to say is in the design comments. I did want to mention that I rendered all the textures myself, even the pattern. The background was referenced from a picture near Makapu'u or the Blow Hole on O'ahu, which is fairly close to Rochelle's home of Waimanalo.

The image itself is supposed to be Rochelle summoning her attack "Haumea o keiki." As mentioned in the story, she believes the spirits she summons in the attack to be the spirits of her twin daughters who were born premature and died shortly thereafter. This is very important to her character, so I thought it was a fitting way to draw her.

The background was developed to reflect her rock element (rocky shore as opposed to sandy beach), yet have the blues contrast with her more warmly colored appearance, allowing her figure to pop more.

Stock
Pose: Sailor Staff Weapon 68 by =SenshiStock
Pattern: Petroglyph Pattern Stock by me