Lady Natalya Aelynn Rozensmyth and Ai Ru Song are two central characters in Shattered Wings. I’ve pulled together a glimpse into who they are, while showing off our first official piece of art of the two, brought to you by the incredible Inessa Burnell! Check out the hyperlink to see her website, and her fantastic portfolio!
Keep in mind that we won’t be going into too much depth with their personal history, since much of it is involved in the story of Shattered Wings, and we don’t really want spoilers here!
Natalya’s Appearance
Natalya is an Aerikan Prism Knight from the Kingdom of Vona. She’s a rather classic example of an Aerikan at that. Her skin is rather pale, but with a bronze shimmer to it, somewhat like a cross between a Nasian's and an Altian’s. She has bright golden eyes that faintly glow, and long brilliantly red hair that shines even in a dark room. Atop her head she has a pair of large foxlike ears. She also has a bushy foxlike tail.
Natalya dresses well, but with no frilly patterns or embellishments. She wears clothes she thinks are more plain, more common. Though, with materials that are more expensive than most commoners make in a year. She tends to try and find more traditional styles and fashions for whatever region she is going, hoping to tap into the spirit of the people who live there.
While most Prism Knights are melee combat specialists, Natalya is well at home with a longbow, or a firearm. She uses both with great ease, and even tests advanced prototypes for firearms in the field. When using a bow, she uses her training in crystal magic to form arrows for the precise shot she needs to make.
Natalya’s Personality and History
Lady Natalya Aelynn Rozensmyth is a Prism Knight of the Order of the Shimmering Eye. Her father is the Chief Advisor of Diplomacy to the King in the New Vonan Kingdom, and she herself holds a seat on the Assembly of Trust, a legislative body in the Kingdom. With all these responsibilities and connections, one might think her a stale politician, or frivolous noblewoman. She is anything but.
Natalya hates politics, and she hates being fussed over. She keeps no personal servants, and refuses to live at her father’s estate given that her father would try to push her towards a more… timid temperament. She is anything but timid.
Nat has been at the center of more than a few scandals, either exposing the corruption or heinous acts of one of the other Assembly members, even some in the Royal Congress, or ending up in the bed chambers of several government officials.
In her youth, which for Aerikans is many hundred years, she was quite cavalier when it came to her “modesty” and she used promiscuity as a weapon against her father. Her father would rather she take and auspicious marriage and quietly execute her duty as a member of the Assembly. So, in rather immature fashion, she made a point not to. Years later, she is not exactly proud of her actions.
Given her great disdain for sitting around and arguing about a problem instead of actually fixing it, her definition of politics, Natalya has pretty much abandoned the comfortable life of a noblewoman. She instead travels from town to town, helping people she feels like are not heard in the government, and experiencing as much of the diverse cultures and peoples of the New Vonan Kingdom as possible. She refuses to let people call her by her title, or treat her different just because of her station. She just wants to experience a commoner’s life.
She drinks just as hard as the others at the bars. She dances, and makes merry just like the commoners. She isn’t afraid to roll up her sleeves and get some hard work done, just like anyone else.
Ai's Appearance
Ai is much the picture of the average Illarian. Though, Ai is thin, even for an Illarian, who are quite light in figure to begin with. She’s incredibly physically fit, as you might expect from training at least three times a day since she was brought to the Order of the Twin Moons at eleven. She has sky blue eyes, and a cold, distant air to her.
As an Illarian, instead of hair, she has long, flexible plumes on her head. Her plumes, as well as the feathers for her wings, are a light brown in color. Ai’s are similar to that of an eagle’s in shape, optimized for soaring the mountain air.
As a knight of the Twin Moons, Ai uses magic to form her armor and sword. By mixing light and dark energies and casting them into an intricate weave, she is able to project armor onto her body, typically as a full suit of plate mail, made of a meta-arcane metal called Serrido Marble Steel. It’s a mixture of bright and dark metals swirling and rippling, not all dissimilar from Damascus Steel in appearance. Her sword is also made of the same material, and takes the shape of a somewhat stereotypical European longsword. The insignia of the Order of the Twin Moons is rather clearly visible on her chest plate. It looks like a silver circle with and smaller, darker silver circle inside, offset of the center from the larger circle, to the bottom left.
Ai Personality and History
Ai Ru Song is a recently graduated knight in training for the Order of the Twin Moons. As part of this graduation, by tradition in the New Vonan Kingdom, she is to spend at least a year studying under a full knight, even under a different Order, to widen the young knight’s understanding and perspective. Typically, those of the Order of the Twin Moons squire under those of the same order, since their tenants and teachings are incredibly strict. However, there have been rare exceptions.
Ai is one of those few exceptions. In fact, Lady Natalya Rozensmyth specifically requested her, which is quite unusal, since squires usually seek out a knight to study under themselves (or by lottery in the Storm Warden Order). So, to say that Ai is a bit uneasy with her assignment is a bit of an understatement.
She’d never say it herself, but Lady Rozensmyth is far from a proper lady befitting her station. Her lady is just as likely to wake in the morning on the floor of a pub, as she is a soft bed. She actively eschews behavior protocols and decorum, even walking about in public in her underrobes. She gambles, drinks to excess, even dirties her hands with commoner work. The scandal is almost too much for Ai to bear.
All of that aside, though, Ai greatly admires Lady Rozensmyth’s wisdom and insight. She seems to always know what to say, right when it needs to be said. Ai can feel the genuine care and compassion her lady has for the people of the kingdom. Sure, she openly fraternizes with commoners, but she earnestly loves being among them, sharing in their struggles, and trying to find a way to alleviate them. In fact, Ai wonders if her lady has a point.
Ai herself is the image of discipline. Every morning, she trains. Every afternoon, she trains. Every evening, she trains. She recites the full Way of Maikyo and Way of Selestra (the names of the two moons) as she goes through her full martial arts, and sword arts training sets. She practices her growing mastery of light and dark magic, and practices meditation in her constant struggle to balance the light and darkness that churns in her heart.
In battle, Ai focuses her anger, and wrath into the edge of her sword, and her will to survive and protect others into the strength of her armor. She pursues her enemy with unyielding ferocity. However, if Lady Rozensmyth, or one of her allies, were in danger, Ai wouldn’t hesitate for a moment to take even a mortal blow to protect them.
Ai is deeply scarred by the violence of her childhood. It is a subject that she does not discuss much, but constantly threatens to upset the balance beShe is able to find some measure of peace in the teachings of the Twin Moons. But the darkness in her has held her back till now from advancing to Squire.
Somehow, though, while serving under and learning from Lady Rozensmyth, it doesn’t seem to matter. As much as Lady Rozensmyth’s antics frustrate Ai, she can’t help but be moved by them. Lady Rozensmyth seems so sure of herself. So wise, so accomplished, and dedicated to her purpose. She doesn’t make excuses for herself, even when she makes a mistake. She doesn’t have regrets. And that’s something so foreign to Ai. She can’t help but admire it.
Thank you!
I hope you enjoyed this introduction to the two incredibly important characters in Shattered Wings What are you excited for? What do you think of this incredible artwork from Inessa Burnell? Let me know in the comments, or on social media! Don’t forget to spread the word, and share the site with your friends!
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