A great piece of art I had done by  Magolobo

A background on these two, it might take a bit of reading but bear with me. Unless you're not interested and just want to admire the picture instead :).

These are two characters from the book I am currently writing "Tales of Diora: The Rise of Sarmaia". These two in particular respectively are Sherazi Raza, Queen of Nidea and Tala Calderon, Queen of Altheria.

Sherazi is an Anubian jackal from the kingdom of Nidea. When Sherazi was born into slavery, the Nideans had already been conquered and enslaved by the Rocai empire, a kingdom I based on the ancient Egyptians. Sherazi had been bought by an adviser to Pharaoh when she was five and used for housework and basic gopher tasks. She was an exceptional dancer and would watch the harem dancers and practice her art when she was not performing her duties. One day the harem mistress spotted her and brought her into the harem, teaching her and further perfecting her skills to the point she became a favorite of the master and even pharaoh. It was when she started to develop and mature that her master had seen her beauty and desired her as a bedroom slave as well. During this time she had learned from second hand accounts and witnessed the history and current plight of her people. From the time she was 13 to the time she turned 16 she thought on and grew increasingly hateful towards the Rocai for what they did to her people, her master included when she witnessed him kill a slave for sport. That had been the breaking point for her and later that night, after her master had pleasured himself with her and ordered her away she grabbed his sword and killed him. Realizing what she had done she quickly fled into the desert to hopefully escape to the Talman empire where slavery was outlawed, and the Talmans generally disapproved of the Rocai and their methods. She wandered lost for days until she came across a hidden grove, as she inspected the grove she came across a burning willow tree. While the tree perplexed her she also felt oddly safe and slept under it. While she slept the goddess Althea spoke to her and told her she was meant to command her people and overthrow the Rocai. Armed with the knowledge she returned and began an underground campaign to free her people, using natural disasters caused by the goddess until she had them all assembled in the grove. From there she reached out to the other kingdoms, some remaining neutral while others provided them with some weapons, Tala, the Queen of Altheria even going so far as to secretly meet with Sherazi and train her in the ways of the ranger, become her best friend and taking a vow of sisterhood with her in the process, which later brought them name "The Bow Sisters". Armed with their weapons and training the Nideans returned and fought a week long battle until finally Sherazi herself fought her way to Pharaoh and killed him. After defeating the Rocai the Nideans appointed Sherazi their Queen who then established their capital at the site of the grove, building a Shrine to Althea around the burning willow. Unknown to her people Sherazi had been impregnated by her old master the night she killed him but managed to hide it, giving birth in secret as well, only her closest advisers, Lotar, and Tala knowing about the child. You'll have to read about him later when I get around to posting the story ;)

Tala's story is less dramatic but still pretty interesting from her standpoint. She was a wolf born into a poor family in Theron, the capital city of the Altherian Kingdom, a kingdom I based on the Spartan/Greeks. From the moment she could walk and talk she was instructed in the ways of battle by her parents, until they sent her to school, where the curriculum involved instruction by philosophers and scholars as well as more refined combat training and strategy by former soldiers and generals. Tala herself excelled as a Ranger and in accordance with the ways of her people would have focused her training on that specifically when she turned 18 and went off to the Eldora, a building based on the Parthenon but was a large academy and training ground instead of the temple of Athena like the Greeks actually used it for. Anyway, fate had a different plan for her. When she was 16 she was sitting outside her alley home when she met the current prince of Altheria, Lotar Calderon. He admired her for her spirit and personality and despite the laws forbidding out of class marriages, they began a passionate relationship. At that same time the Sarmaian War had been reaching it's end, but not before claiming the current King, Kaelos, whom Tala's son would later be named after, leaving the 16 year old Lotar to become the king. After being crowned he immediately got rid of the law forbidding the class relationships and presented Tala to the people as their queen. It was after she became Queen that she learned of the Nideans and went to help Sherazi herself. She did all she could and returned to Theron, unable to participate in the actual battle due to political reasons and the fact she was pregnant with her first son, Kaelos, who as stated before she and Lotar named after Lotar's father.

That's about all I have for them, if you actually read it I'd like to thank you for taking the time :). Hopefully I'll have the story up and you can actually get to see these two in action.