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Character Blog #4: The design process of Sokoto
🕑 Added 2024-12-08 17:06:01 +0000 UTC
Sanu! Today's character blog will cover one of the oldest character portraits in Waifu Britannica, created all the way back in November 2021 and only a few months after Victoria 3 was officially announced. So put on your best nerdy glasses as we talk about the great calipha herself, Sokoto.
Sokoto was originally designed by Claivin for Waifu Universalis, and is also one of the oldest portraits he made going all the way back to March 2019. The original iteration of her has this very sick afro which I carried over into WB (despite my doubts it is actually a Hausa-Fulani hairstyle). However, I was internally debating on whether to retain the rest of her design and demeanor due to the fact I was unsure if Sokoto would remain the only playable West African (and one of the scant few Sub-Saharan) states in Victoria 3 at the time, much like how Sokoto was in Victoria 2.
Only four indigenous states existed for Sub-Saharan Africa in base game Victoria 2
Since Sokoto was designed all the way back in November 2021 when information about Victoria 3 was scant and before the better state of Sub-Saharan Africa was revealed, I figured that it was extremely important that Sokoto had to be represented properly and with dignity. Claivin's design is great as it depicts her as a Hausa-Fulani warrior. But since she might potentially be the only playable West African state unlike in Europa Universalis IV, I thought that maybe another design was needed for her.
Fortunately, the Sokoto Caliphate provided the rich culture and history needed to carry her redesign.
The Sokoto Caliphate was a nation founded by Usman dan Fodio in 1804 during the Fulani Jihads and was the most powerful polity in West Africa throughout the 19th century. Its territory encompassed the borders of modern day Cameroon, Burkina Faso, Niger, and Nigeria, and was a great patron of scholarly pursuits. The state ended in 1903 after being carved up by Western imperialist powers, but the office and title of the Sultan of Sokoto still survives to this day in modern day Nigeria, serving as the spiritual leader of Nigeria's Muslims.
One aspect that caught my attention when reading up about Sokoto was its dedication to scholarship. Usman dan Fodio was a scholar, philosopher and reformer who wrote hundreds of books about religion, government, culture and society. This affinity to scholarship and philosophy was also passed down to his successors. After he established the Sokoto Caliphate, he promoted literacy and scholarship to both men and even women within his empire. A movement founded by his daughter Nana Asma'u called Yan Taru called for the education of women within Sokoto, and the movement still survives today in modern Nigeria.
Basically, what I got from this was that the Sokoto Caliphate was full of smart people.
With this knowledge, I themed Sokoto's character design around being an Islamic scholar. The Quran and a misbaha (Muslim prayer beads) are front and centre in Sokoto's design, as if she is in the middle of reciting (perhaps even leading one for an audience). Because subtext is for cowards, the mountains of books behind her are there to hammer home that she is a learned person (very smort).
The glasses are there because I thought it was cute (will die for her).
Left image: A picture of a Palestinian sheikh that the internet frequently misidentifies as Usman dan Fodio
Centre and right images: Abubakar IV of Sokoto
As for the clothes Sokoto is wearing, I used a design of what I originally thought was an artistic interpretation of Usman dan Fodio. Only when I was writing this blog did I found out that it actually belonged to a Palestinian sheikh. In my defense, this image is frequently touted as Usman dan Fodio online, and even a Nigerian edutainment Youtube channel that I used as research used this sheikh's design for Usman dan Fodio. The cape Sokoto is using however is from a real Sokoto sultan, specifically from images of Abubakar IV (her afro got in the way for the turban though, sorry).
Overall Sokoto's design is one that I am very proud of and I think looks really good even though I drew her three years ago from the writing of this blog. Her design also set the standard of how I approach African cultures and countries that usually don't get a lot of attention in English speaking media (if at all). Many people often do not know how rich and vibrant the culture and history are of African peoples on both sides of the Atlantic. So when I approached other Black countries after Sokoto, I try my best to depict them wearing the culture and history of their people, trying to chip away at the 'Darkest Africa' stereotype of Africans set during this time period.
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So that's it for Sokoto! This week's blog comes three weeks after the previous one, and unfortunately you can sometimes expect gaps this long or longer as I'll skip weeks due to either my schedule or lack of interest. The next character has not been decided yet, but I may put it to a poll to paid members. Until then!
