Oh, I forgot to add— I feel weird drawing them like cats because well, they’re not cats. They’re leaner, they have longer legs and heads, etc. I still use cats and dogs as references though ^^;;
also, do you personally see the gems as part of their anatomy, or just an in-game visual? I kind of see them as both, I spose. It’s hard to imagine them realistically, but it’s also hard to imagine a nicheling without them, so I tend to imagine that they’re kind of a similar material as horns, and that they grow from the chest gradually and turn different colours or are painted with plant juice or whatever.