This is my African Wild Dog witch doctor, Shai! She's insane and quite deranged, I warn you. :D But man is she fun to draw!

______________________________________________
She is a Witch Doctor of sorts; though in the traditional sense of the word, witch doctors were merely spiritual 'doctors', providing small cures for every day problems and good luck charms to ward off evil. Shai is neither of these things. She boils potions made of fur and bones; she casts spells and hexes on plants, animals, and people, she talks to the dead, and she both consumes and calls forth evil. She possesses the ability to cure, but also the ability to curse. The dark magic within her gives her ultimate power, but she has never used it to its full potential. She curses her gift and power, but it is all she has.

Shai's past is full of darkness. She never speaks of any of it. Her demeanor is cold, shut off, and mysterious. She hardly ever speaks, conversation is not her preference. With one look it feels as if she could tell you everything you would ever consider saying. When she does speak, the low tones of her voice carry the ancient drawls of the African people. She is often heard muttering an ancient language, but no one knows of what.

No one knows where this mysterious and strange canine came from. Shai herself speaks that one day, she woke up, and she was. All that was her past and all that was her future was laid out before her, and she lives it.

Shai lives in an extremely secluded part of the African desert. She constructed her own hut with her bare paws from mud and sticks. An oasis is nearby for water, but she has no desire to live within it's beauty. Instead, she endures the hot, dry environment where she hardly ever leaves her home during the hot sunny days. Night time is preferred, where she is usually found sitting around her giant bonfire, constructing some sort of voodoo item or strange trinkets.

Those who seek Shai have good reason. It is said that although she can place terrible hexes and nighmarish plagues upon individuals, she also will help you.....for the right price. For those with ailments; cancer, heartache, depression, sickness, even happiness if you desire to be rid of it--she will absorb your sickness and retch the black, concentrated evil from her own body. This act can only be performed on certain nights of the year, under a full moon in a cloudless sky. Payment must be sufficient, for the task is not easy on her body. What is the price you ask? It could be money, it could be your dearest possession, or it could even be your soul.

In physical stature, Shai is tall, lanky, but not emaciated. It is clear that her muscles would give her the ability to rip you to shreds, but she is lean. She is able to transform herself into her wild form, the four legged wild dog, at will. She rarely does this in front of others. She prefers a night time run, and always enjoys a good hunt. She prides herself on stealing prey from lions. Besides her wild form, she is also able to shift into an ethereal mist form--however, she is completely visible while doing so. Shai loves to sneak around villages and scare pups at night with this trick.

Her eyes are vast and empty like the night sky. They are a pale purple, with slightly darker glossy pupils; one would look at her and deem her blind. She may in fact be; all she will divulge is that she can "see further than you can see". She does not have problems getting around, and will look you in the eye. It is eerie to wonder if she is looking at you, or through you.
______________________________________________

Shai and art © Meg Sadler 2014