Occult Family | 4 Packs* | No CC

"While looking for ghosts, Nebula saved someone on the verge of death, and they stole her heart. Their first kid was also a dreamer, but she didn't look far. The second one went further, and the world brought him so much joy that he laughed as much as possible."

Gallery name: Occult Family
EA ID: Cowcolate

Household Funds: 30,000 Simoleons
Packs Required: Life And Death + Island Living + Werewolves + Vampires + Free Holiday Pack + Reaper’s Rewards
Location: Sulani or Ravenwood

Nebula Roark (She/Her)
  Summary: Elder Mermaid, Mother of Morgan and Bonney
  Career: Undertaker (3) ━> Gravedigger
  Aspiration: Ghost Historian
  Traits: Ambitious + Gloomy + Looner + Foodie + Vegetarian + Quick Learner

Orion Noodles (They/Them)
  Summary: Elder "Alien", Nebula's Spouse
  Career: Lifeguard (2) ━> Wave Watcher | Diver (3) ━> Sunker Treasure Hunter
  Aspiration: Beach Life
  Traits: Chased By Death + Outgoing + Kleptomaniac + Genius + Clumsy + Home Turf

Morgan Noodles (She/Her)
  Summary: Adult "Spellcaster"
  Career: Freelance Writer
  Aspiration: Soulmate
  Traits: Lazy + Bookworm + Noncommittal + Perfectionist + Geek + Alluring

Bonney Noodles (He/Him)
  Summary: Young Adult Mermaid Ghost
  Career: Entertainer (1) ━> Amateur Entertainer
  Aspiration: Friend of The World
  Traits: Vegetarian + Slob + Bro + Goofball + Glutton + Gregarious

Selene Lupus (She/Her)
  Summary: Young Adult Werewolf, Engaged with Morgan
  Career: Business (1) ━> Mailroom Technician
  Aspiration: Freelance Botanist
  Traits: Bro + Loves Outdoors + Loyal + Active + Self-Assured + Collector

Pandora Ourobus (She/Her)
  Summary: Young Adult Vampire, Bonney's Spouse (technically a widow)
  Career: Painter (1) ━> Palette Cleaner
  Aspiration: Master Vampire
  Traits: Jealous + Macabre + Family-Oriented + Creative + Hot-Headed + Quick Learner

While sims are quicker to make, they take a lot more work than a build to publish, and I'm not sure what to include or mention. They never got much traction on The Gallery or any of my socials, so I'm curious to see if it would be any different here.

I chose these as my "test" due to them having the being the ones I'm most proud of and having already a lot of photos, as I made these for a challenge in the "Simmer Brasileiros" Discord Server, where you could make a lot with one tiny house for each occult or a family that included all of them.

Making 6 builds would've taken forever and I rarely make sims, so the latter seemed more appealing. I didn't have all the occult packs, but managed to improvise with what I had. I actually find it funny the possibility that Orion is not actually an alien, while Morgan is just a wannabe spellcaster. I'm aware Life and Death technically doesn't come with a new occult, but the CAS is a banger, and it had just came out, so it was really helpful.

Before starting, I thought about how to connect all of them in the same family, and decided to make 3 couples, taking advantage of the ghost to have a second mermaid, which helps to sell the family idea, plus they have the most stunning skin tones! I actually never made sims with fantasy skin tones before, and had just watched Wicked, so that was one of the inspirations.

A vampire that had a dark form looking like a goblin was really fun to make! The biggest challenges were how the big ears limited hairstyles, and the fact that every outfit had to work with the green skin as well. I imagine she was transformed by Vlad, and if you read Dracula, you'll know how awful that process is; so it makes sense she would try to hide it. Selene is the opposite to that, and learned to embrace her more wild form, while Orion never felt the need to hide themselves. 

This idea of family implies they have lots of skills, money and high-ranking jobs, however I didn't want to overpower them too much, as that would be boring, so everything is on the lower side. Although, something they have a lot is traits, which I made sure to maximise in order to characterize each sim better. For that, I avoided repeating traits and choosing boring ones, as I would often have done in the past.

Overall, I love how they turned out, but after making so many outfits and spending so much time adding preferences I just felt mostly exhausted, and had no energy to write a more detailed description about their backstory. Posting them on the internet was also really scary, similar to what I felt when I started sharing my builds, just way more personal as these are supposed to be people! Weirdly, I just felt relief posting it here, I suppose it's because I've sat with these sims for a while now, and am not too attached at them anymore.