Descendant of Esther

Clothed version of: [link]

Kissed by fire, the proud sons and daughters of Fyreden and his chosen mates were once eagerly sought after in an era when great human kings of yore ruled from their seats in Elshanae’s northern reaches. Their known descendants living on the offshore island of Eresiryr prospered from their reign and became a part of the triad of kingdoms governing the north. That was until dark days brought the barbarian hordes of Ereuk the Mauled upon them, from beyond the unchartered waters of the Sinreave.

Sadly, Eresiryr was an appealing target for his raiding armies and, for decades, its people were forced to watch their beloved homelands burn in ruin and witness their freedoms brought to heel for slavery. That was until Rwaren, a bastard son of late King Avren the Watcher, rallied a devastated realm to his banner and through tactical brilliance managed to drive Ereuk’s forces off their lands, shortly after single-handedly slaying five of the barbarian king’s warrior sons personally, at the Battle of Maiden’s Pyre.

Although behind every great man, as they say, lies a great woman. For it is thought Rwaren would never have become Avren’s successor if it weren’t for his passionate half-sister, Ilia. Many great tales have been spun between them, yet if there is one their people recall more intimately of her was when she was taken captive after her people's capital, Tyr, fell when her father was murdered at the bloodied hands of Ereuk’s greatest champion, Zurzan. Ilia surely grieved, yet in her was the blood of Esther, Fyreden’s most beloved companion. So it was during the third moon after her capture that she walked free from Zurzan’s camp with his severed head by side, illustrating that her celebrated beauty was his demise. From it Ilia had managed to cut the head from Ereuk’s greatest host and, whether intended by her or no, gave seeds of dissention their chance to be sewn within its then starving, leaderless ranks; an act some say changed Eresiryr’s fate for the greater good.

Since then, Ilia has been glorified as a heroine to her people and thought of as one of the most beautiful and wisest of descendants from Esther’s womb. It was through her will that Tyr was restored as their kingdom’s heart, and had her father’s blade, Kaen, returned to Rwaren after rescuing it from Zurzan’s unworthy possession of it. Yet it is unknown what became of her in the years thereafter. Some say her beauty sent her across the sea as an exotic consort to Merek the Seafarer, which may have allowed her to learn the ways of the Zaira and proud fire elementalists there in his homeland, Zerran. Nevertheless, Ilia’s life is a mystery after Rwaren received their father’s throne...


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lol, what can I say? I promised ages back that I would write up a story for this piece, and decided to fix some issues with the art that some friends pointed out. (Thanks!) So I guess you could say I’m happier with this piece now, and hope some may find the story above interesting enough. I swear it’s sad though when a work you’ve only completed some couple of months back is considered ‘old’, by meaning that you cringe trying to remember some of the methods you used to draw it. It had a very painful, messy layer setup...


Artwork // Ilia // Lore - © Kristopher P. Love.