# Marea — hero design, rig and animation

Marea is ISLA's original traversal hero, authored procedurally in `character-nature.js` (`createHero(THREE)`). It is not based on, and does not reference, any existing character.

## Design

- Matte black undersuit with a fine twill weave and a teal sheen.
- Deep Atlantic teal clear-coated plate: chest, back, pauldrons, gauntlets, hips, outer thighs, knees, shins and boots.
- Brushed gold trim, a gold breaking-wave crest on the chest and a gold crest line over a glossy black helmet.
- A one-piece iridescent visor.
- Cyan energy seams along the flanks, spine, arms, legs, temples and wrist emitters. They brighten with flow, at night and in slow-motion hero beats.
- A flamboyán-orange cowl scarf whose two sash tails are simulated as cloth (`hero-cloth.js`).
- The grapple line is a cyan energy tether fired from the wrist emitters, with sparks at the anchor.

## Rig

The rig is unchanged from earlier builds:

- 1.82 m tall, with the foot origin at the sole and forward along −Z.
- 11 named joints: `head`, `left/rightArm`, `left/rightElbow`, `left/rightLeg`, `left/rightKnee`, `left/rightFoot`.
- Three marker joints: `sashAnchor`, `chestMarker` and `hipMarker`.

## Animation

Joints are driven by slightly under-damped springs, so limbs overshoot and settle.

**Swings** follow the arc. The hero tucks while dropping in, whips long through the bottom, then kicks the legs through and reaches forward on the way out. The body hangs along the line.

**Releases** go through three stages:

1. Launch, head first along the trajectory.
2. Gather, with the knees drawn up.
3. A star-shaped silhouette at the apex. After a perfect release or a sky leap, this plays as a slow-motion hero beat: time slows, the camera orbits and pushes in, and the score dips under a low-pass filter.

**Sky leap.** The hero sweeps both arms back while charging, then drives both fists overhead at takeoff.

**Dives.** Holding C turns the dive into a streamlined arrow. The camera-driven skydive stays spread-eagle.

**Hard landings** drop into a three-point crouch. The hardest impacts add a brief impact-frame slowdown.