A demon to some and fearsome to all but her Lodestar, Ash is called the N'allai Wysae-roja by the superstitious, translating roughly into "fickle destroyer", "fallen guardian from the Void of time" or "fell beast that cannot be predicted." Fashioned by the Virabalbara to wield their Key, she possesses the powerful and agile form of a wild cat crossed with the adaptable humanoid build and an intellectual capacity beyond most, she is believed by many to be a demonic being summoned by the treacherous Warlord Fergus to overtake the aging Aram, Emperor Garrick the Second.

A fearsome figure of legend in both the New World and the Ancient, the Wysae-roja was to be the spearhead of the Imperial war machine, alarming the Amiiroans and prompting them to launch a desperate attack on its place of creation, the hidden city of Korah. However, the beast escaped and came to be known in the New World as a horrible feral creature that could disguise itself as a human in the day, but would be revealed for its true self in the light of a full moon.

In reality, however, Ash is the unfinished product of scholar and mage D'jhorra Maliin, forged through years of painfully intense manipulation of the Aldyran child Jocarra's astral shadow. Seemingly savage and brooding, almost bordering on madness at times, Ash haunts Jocarra, who would later be called Jayli, as a black secret of the past that burns with the question of Humanity...

However, when the grandson of the new Emperor, ignorant of his heritage and connection to the legend of the One who Holds the Key, encounters the beast by chance, he eventually comes to know the elusive Jayli - and fearsome Ash - as Jocarra, "one who loves peace," and the question of her own Humanity is at last illuminated by the light of the Lodestar. This beacon and star of Jocarra is known as Luke Damon, who's very name means "good friend and bringer of Light."


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A portrait of Ash, the anthropomorphic form of Jayli. She may be seen as the foe from the dark tales which I have told, or as the perfectly flawed creature that she truly is, embracing traits of both man and beast. Luke once hated her as the Wysae-roja, but now loves her as Jocarra - the one beneath the surface.

Ash and The Tripartitus are © Jen Philpot.
Adobe PhotoShop 7.0. No references. 20.

PRINTS AVAILABLE AT http://jocarra.deviantart.com/prints/