Lucia
"There's no choice left open to me. I can sit in that man's castle and rot... or I can leave. You know that I can't just let myself rot away. I choose to live. Look, if you're not willing to help me escape, I'll just have to do this myself."
Artist
As the lone princess of a kingdom on the decline, Lucia's responsibilities were endless, and deep down, she knew that she had to accept that despite how much she hated it. After all, her parents were not doing this out of resentment. Still, one thing sends her over the edge - her engagement to the tyrannical lord currently running an expansionist campaign across their continent.
Lucia cannot let this happen - not only does she not want to get married to such a terrible man, the real problem is the death sentence it'd surely sign for her and her kingdom. She endeavors to run away for a time while she figures out how to absolutely wreck his shit, as it were.
Her destination is the a border port town sitting near that very kingdom - he'd never think that his precious "prize" is hiding right below his nose. While there, she meets Arianna, a girl who, despite her cheerful exterior, also seems to carry around deep pain. Drawn to her, the two get closer and closer...
- Her skills in swordplay date back to childhood, and she's talented with most blades.
- As shameful as it is, she has a huge sweet tooth and can be bribed with sweets.
- Has a tendency to overdo her strength, sometimes breaking household objects.
Lucia is a shy girl at heart - especially in the matters of regular social interactions. The more she talks to people, the more she realizes just how little she knows.
Extremely cautious and secretive, she keeps things in for as much as she can get away with, despite the fact that it may hurt her relationships with others. She is completely blind to the concept of love, and when she does realize it, reacts with panic and confusion.
She's gullible and tends to fall for jokes, pranks and the like. This causes her to be on the receiving end of a lot of teasing (especially from Arianna).
- weapons training
- camping
- pastries
- dresses
- soggy bread
- grand balls
( friend and eventual gf )
A girl that Lucia meets in the town she escaped to and quickly falls in love with; the two of them hit it off right away, and eventually start dating; eventually Lucia tells her everything.
It is around that time as well that the town gets invaded by the evil lord's people, and the two decide to set out on a journey together to fight against the lord.
( comrades, friends )
A gang of women who are all disguised as men. They happen upon her when she is struggling to escape - she needs to get far away, and fast, and the five of them agree to take her there.
Needless to say, they figure her out pretty quick. Additionally, a lot of the hard lessons that Lucy has to learn about the world at large happen during their long journey, things that change her forever.
( childhood friend )
A young man around Lucy's age, the two have been friends since childhood. He's the child of the knight captain and they've learned swordplay together. Despite this, he was never able to keep up with her and she has quite the winning streak of their sparring matches.
Despite reservations, he is also the one that helps her escape - he considers her a sister, and is obviously very worried about the idea of just letting her go out all on her own. But he knows that he can't talk her out of it even if he wanted to.
( comrades, friends )
Three people from town who join Lucy and Arianna in their quest.
Pierce, a man in his 40s who lost his daughter to the evil lord.
Axel, a man in his 30s who was exiled from the kingdom when the evil lord took over, and has been planning a takeback ever since.
And lastly, Natalee, a young woman who lost her older sister to the lord. The three of them agree to join the cause and they all set off towards the evil lord's castle.
- Lucy, since her escape from the castle, cut most of her hair off, ending up with the hairstyle depicted here. She wanted to do it both to make herself unrecognizable, but also to part herself from that past symbolically. It also helps her look a little more masculine.
- She wears the vest that she has always worn during training, with bandages underneath that try to conceal her bust as much as possible - it's a constant anxiety of hers that something will happen, something will expose her, but she can do nothing, just hope for the best.
- She wears scarce accessories, basically only the earrings in her ears, and the brooch that she pins to her cloak, a gift from J.J. before they parted ways in the port city. She had a regular ol' brooch before, but doesn't use it anymore after she gets the gift.
- Her estoc, due to its length, is generally carried on her back for regular wear, since she takes it EVERYWHERE. The belt is a convertible, and she can pull it to her waist instead, making it easier to use for combat, but I wanted to show the back-strapped version as it is her more common way to wear it. It CAN also be unsheathed from the back by pulling the scabbard to her shoulder in case of emergency.