More On the UA Series

To add a little more color ahead of tomorrow's release, here is more detail on the story from which the forthcoming project emerges. 

More on Nikkita

Nikkita is the main character of the story of the UA series, and the subject of the forthcoming art project. I envision her as more of an all-rounder type fighter, less so an expert specialist. That is to say, rather than making her an expert at a given discipline, I aim to have her be proficient in many fighting styles.

UA is a fantasy universe. Aside from the Elves and the relatively limited existence of magic, there are all manner of creatures, including wild dragons that inhabit the Haierline Ridge region in West. In general, the world that this story takes place in is more “classic medieval” than anything else, so you’re not going to see things like guns here, though you can see individuals with magic firing magic “bullets” or something along those lines (more Nanoha, less Teana). Nikkita, however, is not a “magic user” per se, having not realized she even has a capability to use magic until after escaping execution. Instead, her skills are in using various weapons including swords, bow and arrows, glaives, and spears. After coming into her heritage as a Consort of the Azure King, however, she almost exclusively uses either twin swords, or a bow and arrows.

Personality wise Nikkita starts off very personable. Part of her military success comes from her abundant charisma that inspires others to follow her command. She is kind and disciplined, a hard worker who is always pushing to do more and overcome any odds in her way.

But after her ordeal and awakening to being a Consort, she begins to close off a bit more. She has a different kind of charisma, one born of fear and awe of her power, not respect and admiration of her as it had been before. She is less kindly, more aggressive, and more reckless. She also shows greater impatience and intolerance, so far as to snap at her mother during training, despite never having done so in the past. This is all a determined shift she makes, believing she failed as Princess of West in not being strong enough that she could stand beside her father so he didn’t have to go to such lengths to protect her.

Nikkita starts to shift back the other way when she nears the end of her training with her mother. Through all the training, and a few encounters with assassins sent after her, she comes to realize that her illusions as to the meaning of strength would play more into the hands of those who targeted her in the first place. She does not want to betray those who believed and died for her sake, least of all her father who gave his life so she could one day face the world as who she is. Thus, while she remains somewhat impatient and more aggressive, her personality mostly reverts to what it was before.

The Other Queens

I haven’t yet decided when, or if, Nikkita will become Queen of West. Once I get past the whole setup of her discovering her heritage, West is under foreign control, what with the royal family already dead or exiled, and no replacement named. It’s certain she will at least call herself queen as she seeks to reclaim her homeland, but I don’t know where that path will lead her.

South is also ruled by a monarchy, but it functions more in a parliamentary system at the start of events. The last monarch died before his heir was very old, the power of the kingdom left to the Senate. This system exists because the Mar-Grave royal family, which predates the Azure King, has often been plagued by sickness and misfortune for its rulers, they often dying young. Even now that the monarch, Queen Hide Mar-Grave, is old enough to fully assume control, she hasn’t because she has a relatively sheltered upbringing that has led to her being fairly disinterested in assuming that responsibility, coupled with the concern by some that should she assume the throne fully, she would only manage to stay there for a brief time before either sickness or misfortune claims her too. Despite holding tremendous strength and power, she is a relatively shy and bookish young woman at 16 or 17 years old.

Hide is mistaken by those who first meet her as being very bright, born exactly because she always has her nose buried in a book. But she doesn’t read very educational books. Mostly what she reads are novels and various fantasy stories. This is born from the fact that her power is so great. She wasn’t very good at controlling her power, so when she got agitated or excited, her power would leak out and hurt people. She hated that she would endanger her friends, so turned away from most activities, desiring instead to be quiet and reserved as a means of keeping her power subdued. Despite having a small pet dragon, because of her inner power but lackadaisical outward nature, she is known as the Sleeping Tiger of the South.

To the east is Ira Ignis, Queen of East. The Ignis family crest depicts a bird with a serpent in its claws. This is said to represent East’s desire to conquer West. As West traces its history back to the Azure King, East traces its history back of the humans who opposed him. It had often been seen that East was as antagonistic to West as West was to East, but in recent generations, East had seemed to become more tolerant of West. Ira is supposed to be the one that would change that and restore East’s dominance.

Ira enjoys battle far more than Hide or Nikkita. She looks forward to opportunities to test her power, skill, and tactical wit against others. But she is not reckless as Ashowan was said to be. She is conscious of placing a mission ahead of her personal desire, so will take the best strategic route if it means securing a favorable outcome. For this reason, she does not personally attend Nikkita’s would-be execution, having been wary of the probability of precisely what happened. Nevertheless, she looks forward to fighting Nikkita one-on-one someday.