Stella

* In-game
* Render

>
> "*I really believe that the cards just help us get clarity. It's not about the future, so much as tuning into where you are right now. And what energy you can work with and what energy you can send right to the trash, see ya, no thanks!"*
>

**Stella** is a character featured in *Goodbye Volcano High* and a student at Volcano High.

## Appearance

Stella is a canary-yellow stegosaurus who stands at 5'7". She has lime green hair and blue eyes. The feathers on her legs and the spines on her back and tail are lime green, matching her hair. Her snout and tail are a darker shade of green, and she has violet finger and toe nails. Her thagomizer (the four long spikes on the tip of her tail) is white. Her hair is tied up in two buns over the back of her head.

She wears a white long-sleeve shirt; the shirt has pink sleeves with pastel blue, green, yellow, and orange stripes towards the top, and the shirt is tied at the back with two pink bows. She wears large jean shorts that go over her waist and a violet choker, and pink top straps are visible from the wide opening of her shirt.

## Personality

Stella is an optimistic girl who enjoys sharing positive vibes with her friends. She considers herself an expert on astrology and tarot cards, which she uses for various divination purposes in order to soothe her anxieties about the future.

She is also shown to have quite a backbone, especially when it comes to her friends; when Naomi begins lashing out against the rest of the Dinogang, Stella takes it upon herself to defend them from Naomi's berating, and she tries to give Naomi some perspective.

She likes to think there is at least a "higher order" in order to make sense of chaos. Stella can easily be seen as being similar to a theist, with her role representing people who feel like real life is chaotic and full of suffering, but cope with tragedy by believing there must be a point to everything leading to something planned. She struggles with the idea of seemingly random unfortunate events, such as the asteroid, being simply that. While she ultimately does not disown her tarot cards, she does rig them, representing how she is more motivated to take control over her own life with the choices she makes, rather than letting fate dictate her life.

When thinking about the future, Stella mentions she wants to "have a freaky garden full of ferns and make all my friends cookies every week in a little basket, with a little garland of my best herbs all around the edge."

Stella does not like shoes and refuses to wear them, even at school.

## Background

Her best friend is Sage, and the two are rarely seen without each other. She affectionately calls him "babe". Sometime before the game began, Sage introduced Stella to Fang, Trish and Reed outside the school, and she became part of their friend group.

Stella mentions her family used to move around a lot and so she has dealt with the instability in her life that has come with that. She used to live in a place known as Cliffside.

She is a member and the head of Volcano High's Gardening Club, along with Rosa. Stella has a crush on Naser, viewing him as her "husband".

She spent the summer working as a babysitter and doing tarot for her mom's friends on their wine nights.

## *Goodbye Volcano High*

Throughout the game, Stella will often do card readings for Fang.

### Episode Seven

In Stella's bonfire scene, Stella pulls The Tower card. Fang asks Stella if the universe can go back in time, but Stella replies her mystic powers are limited to cardboard. Fang asks for a reading anyway, but Stella is unsure, mentioning she is thinking she is done with card readings, feeling too disheartened about the future and how things seem to suck. Stella is unsure if she is alright, thinking she is relying too much on her cards. Fang tries to cheer Stella up, mentioning change is not always bad and posits that their hard times right now are a challenge. Fang says Stella has the strength to carry on.

## Gameplay

Opportunities for affinity:

* To be written

## Development History

Stella was developed during the earliest stages of *Goodbye Volcano High*, when the game had been imagined as a dating sim. It is presently unknown which of the three player characters (Fang, Rosa, or Leo) she was designed to be a romantic partner for, though concept art of her kissing Rosa during this iteration does exist. When the dating sim concept was dropped, Stella was folded into the main story. Stella's early designs featured her with a slimmer body, more angular facial features, and short sleeves instead of long sleeves. Stella and Rosa were given larger bodies because the developers wanted more body diversity instead of portraying all the main characters as slender.

Stella is first seen from the behind in the Reveal Trailer using her third pass design. The Teaser Trailer shows her icon (greyed out) and her tarot card minigame. Her final design appears at the end of the Story Trailer, where she is seen sitting in a grassy field with Sage, Fang, Trish, and Reed.

Stella was mentioned as being the head of Volcano High's Gardening Club in some newsletters. Though she has an interest in gardening, her association with the club is never brought up in the final game. Additionally, she was originally one of the three known L&L players alongside Rosa and Sage. In the final game, Stella does not participate in L&L.

### Discord Bot

Stella has a dedicated bot in the official KO\_OP Discord server. She primarily interacts in the "#tarot-readings" channel where she can provide daily tarot readings using commands. Getting 7 tarot readings in a row from her will award the user the "Reflective" achievement role, and achievements are granted for 7, 14, and 30 readings in a row. Doing at least 30 Tarot readings will unlock love readings. She may also respond to the ".8ball" command in the "#bot-commands" channel.

## Quotes

* *"Um, I don't remember being friends with a GORGEOUS STYLE ICON. WHAT???"* (to Fang)
* *"What, you think that you're the only one? Sage isn't going to get to be a chef, Fang isn't getting CalderaFest--"* (confronting Naomi)
* *"Unfortunately, my mystic powers are limited to cardboard."*
* *"I don't know, babe. I'm thinking of getting out of the mystic business."*
* *"What's the universe saying here? Stuff sucks? Yeah, thanks for the insight."*
* *"I can't manifest my way out of the end of the world, can I?"*

## Trivia

* Stella is the only one of the main eight characters who is completely uninvolved with *L&L*.
* Although unconfirmed, the fact that Stella is always barefoot may be a practice known as 'earthing' or 'grounding' which is where one willingly walks barefoot to permit the natural electric charges of the Earth to stabilize them.

## Gallery

### Art

Stella's reference sheetPreliminary sketchAlternate designDesign first passDesign second passDesign third pass3D head reference (bottom, second from right)Front-facing design explorationAlternate sleeve designsStella's cellphoneStella with Rosa and Sage in a promotional illustration by Ellen Alsop"The Sun" shirt
### Pitch Trailer

Stella in the Pitch TrailerRosa kissing Stella in the Pitch Trailer
### Screenshots

Stella with Sage (bottom left) at the beach campfire in the Reveal TrailerStella with Sage (bottom left) at the beach campfire in the demoStella (far right) at the end of the Story TrailerStella tasting Sage's mealStella's photo in chapter threeStella putting up postersStella arriving at the beachStella with a tarot cardStella on the final day
## References

1. ↑ KO\_OP Newsletter: Volcano High bulletin September 2020 dispatch

**Other Volcano High students****Abby • Adanna • Alanna • Alexis • Alvin • Bag Girl • Chris • Claire • Damon • Dani • Dee • Des • Francesca • Jess • Kaylani • Kris • KT • Leo • Lina • Marcela • Mark • Marty • Mel • Morgan • Nick • Noor • Rando • Sam • Sarah • Saturday • Serena • Smoker Dino • Steve or Derek • Tom**