"Why hello, little rosebud. Are you lost?”

For our thirteenth edition of Spotlight on IRIAM: Meet The Streamer, we’re joined by Rinaza Thorn, the Garden Floor Boss of the Elysian Tower: Lore and Voice Acting VTuber group. Also known as the Royal Rose, her memories are often filled with scenes of a palace and a love for alchemy. On stream she loves to chat, sing, and write lore while enjoying the company of her community, the Rosebuds!

What inspired you to become a VTuber?

My creative direction is heavily influenced by Studio Ghibli films, visual novels, MMORPGs, and high fantasy literature. When I discovered VTubing through a fellow creator in 2021, I fell in love with the familiar aesthetics that inspired me in childhood. Moreover, having a streaming identity allowed me to comfortably explore other creative avenues, resulting in accepted Casting Call Club roles for manga dubbing and Steam game projects.

What drew you to IRIAM, and what made you decide it was the right platform for you? Were you creating content before joining, and if so, did that experience influence how you approached your start on IRIAM?

My content creation journey began on Twitch in 2021 using a pre-made model. When another creator introduced me to a new US VTubing platform, I applied in 2025 and was selected for the IRIAM Founding Streamer program. This provided me with my very first personalized Live2D model and a connection to the platform's staff, who have been tremendously supportive and positive.

IRIAM’s unique features—such as fan badge mechanics and structured event weeks—have served as incredible incentives for small creators like myself, offering audience engagement and community-building guidance. While my previous platform experience focused heavily on gaming, IRIAM has allowed me to better my skills in live chat interaction while providing a comfortable space to showcase my vocal talents.

Drawing from my background in voice acting and my love for creative writing, I approached my start on IRIAM with a clear vision: to cultivate a community centered around lore and immersive storytelling.

You’re part of one of the few self-made VTuber groups on the platform. Could you tell us a little about the group, how it came together, and what inspired its creation?

The Elysian Tower is an independent, non-corporate VTuber group made up of three members: Rinaza Thorn of the Garden Floor, Katsutoshi Norizuki of the City Floor, and Starry Muse of the Auditorium Floor. Every interaction with our shared community directly drives our story, unlocking interactive lore and milestones—like in our beta visual novel game played monthly!

Fans act as Adventurers who fall into this world for reasons unknown. Without their original bodies and no explanation for their arrival, the only commonality amongst Adventurers is the task assigned to them: “End the Tower”. Adventurers must explore the world, interact with Floor Bosses, and discover secrets to understand what their task really means and if there is a way home.

Coming from a creative friend group who loves D&D and voicing over visual novels, I—on a whim— pulled a handful of them into a midnight group chat and appointed them members of the Elysian Tower before even telling them what my vision was. Through both confusion and laughter, the power of friendship prevailed, and my IRIAM debut was graced by the voices of everyone who eventually became an Elysian Tower Floor Boss.

We designed the Elysian Tower to have separate floors, where everyone could freely choose their thematic ideas and character history without restriction. By splitting “character’s past” from “story’s future”, this layout gave us the most freedom to market as one entity while maintaining our independent communities and lore preferences.

The tower has a creative way of using IRIAM’s built-in features to make your lore feel interactive and keep your community involved in the story. How do you incorporate the platform itself into your storytelling?

By exchanging IRIAM fan badges for storytelling content, fans can unlock self-scripted, self-voiced lore videos and earn community steps to use in the beta visual novel game. The more badges earned on our IRIAM streams, the more fans can explore in-character. This curates a highly-engaged community and internally motivates us as streamers to create more platform-specific content.

“Newcomers have the freedom to lurk, engage, or become a Rosebud so that they too can welcome future fans to our streams.”

Speaking of community, you have a reputation for creating a very welcoming environment, especially for newcomers. What do you think is most important when building a community where people feel comfortable and encouraged to participate?

Making people feel seen is my priority! IRIAM’s zero latency allows for real-time chatting, which is essential to the platform’s close-knit culture. The Rosebuds make me who I am today, so I spend many moments letting them know how grateful I am for their presence and support.

My community is also active when welcoming newcomers. While I give my introduction, Rosebuds have taken on the tradition of T-posing in the chat. This unique greeting makes many people laugh and confused, which seems to be a common response to my chaotic antics in content creation.

The “T” had no original meaning, though it can be argued it stands for my last name “Thorn”, “Tea Time”, or the Elysian “Tower”. Every day, Rosebuds help me decide what the “T” stands for, which is a funny little conversation starter that gets the chat rolling. Newcomers have the freedom to lurk, engage, or become a Rosebud so that they too can welcome future fans to our streams.

In lore, Rosebuds are shaped like small radish critters, so T-posing is also just a very cute visual!

You recently had the opportunity to participate in an event at OffKai! What was that experience like and what did you take away from being part of such a large event?

Attending OffKai as my very first convention was an unforgettable experience. I am deeply grateful to the Rosebud community and IRIAM staff for giving me the amazing chance to be featured on venue signage as well as join the IRIAM Cruise to stream live on the big screen during the convention. Being this involved meant the world to me as a small indie streamer, giving me a huge boost of motivation to continue down my storytelling niche.

These special opportunities truly inspire me to keep creating, writing, and sharing new lore that brings joy to the Elysian Tower community.

What are some memorable moments or streams you've had on IRIAM?

During my one year anniversary on IRIAM, my community created a game called “Guess the Rosebud”, where they all secretly changed their profile pictures to the fanbase image and their names to “Rosebud” with different numbers.

While celebrating, I did my best to identify my community members. I had to use a lot of context clues, such as word choice and typing speed. Creating such a silly game made me cry happy tears, because it reflected the trust and inclusive environment I try very hard to cultivate. I learned so much about the synergy within the community, and I am deeply moved that so many Rosebuds feel secure enough to share and connect so openly.

Since joining IRIAM, how do you feel you’ve grown as a creator, and has the way you approach streaming changed since your debut?

Since joining IRIAM, I feel that the platform has helped me create intent and purpose in streaming. I have always been passionate about my interests, but it was not until the Rosebud community that I felt enough confidence to keep growing, especially in writing and singing. The desire to grow is almost always there; the actual challenge is figuring out where to start. IRIAM was that starting point for me, and now it is my home where I continue to build my community and love for storytelling.

My approach to streaming has been consistent since debut. I balance being live on the platform to chat, and I work on lore projects in the background for Elysian Tower content.

“I also equally enjoy simplifying our complex ideas into bite-sized content that makes lore clear, engaging, and accessible to any audience. ”

What kind of streams can viewers expect from you on the platform?

Most of my streams are chat-based, where the conversation is wherever my thoughts take us for the day. I often sing as well, songs ranging from Vocaloid to musicals like EPIC.

When I’m not fighting the printer or vacuuming my ceiling, I like to talk about my business endeavors, especially on how to market the Elysian Tower. I love world-building and character designing; I also equally enjoy simplifying our complex ideas into bite-sized content that makes lore clear, engaging, and accessible to any audience.

Looking a little further ahead, what would you love to accomplish over the next few years as a streamer? Are there any events, projects, collaborations, or new types of content you’d love to explore in the future?

In the next few years, I would like to apply what I am learning in game design to create a visual novel game for the Elysian Tower. I would also like to write an original song for the Garden Floor Boss, one that touches on the idea of ever-changing identity and how to navigate losing one’s self. As I continue applying for more voice acting projects, I strive to also become a major voice in a video game series!

There are many dreams I want to make a reality, and I will always thank the Rosebud community for constantly motivating me to reach that next step.

Do you have any upcoming projects or events we can look forward to?

With many thanks to the Rosebud community, I am excited to be part of the lore video production by Merryweather. I am also looking forward to hosting the Elysian Tower’s “Share Your Lore” event again in January, where we invite other writers to share their character stories and designs.

Editor: Meira

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