Hunter
Added 2018-07-23 17:46:19 +0000 UTC
It's been a long, LONG time since I did any art, but the mood struck tonight.
Getting into a character's head properly generally requires me needing to draw them myself. This is the main character I've been writing for Chrishaun Keller Hanna's collaborative world, the Shaman States of America. Liz Fox - the monster hunter and mage otherwise known as Sangríðr.
Liz is half Norwegian, half African American, and specializes in urban hunts, slaying the monsters acting within city limits. She's an Air Force brat who was dealt a rough hand in life, but turns her energy toward avenging and protecting people who are easy prey for some of the nasties in the SSoA universe.
She is a Viking volur, a sorceress, and works primarily with Odin and his gifts. By enacting geases (magical pacts) through ritual boasting and vows before battle, she gains magic related to darkness, air and gravity.
Like Hector, Liz is a Dark-themed character, but I am taking her in a different direction than Hector: Liz's experience of the element is not one of life and potential, but one of frigid cold and intense gravity, as well as deep insight. Her magical name, Sangríðr, is a Valkyrie name meaning something like 'intense violence'. It's a fairly apt descriptor for Liz.
Not a lot of people know the deep historical relationship between the Norsemen and the countries of the Middle East and North Africa - there was a cultural exchange between those cultures for a long time. I was inspired to create Liz after reading about the Varangian Guard, the Vikings who served as elite soldiers and bodyguards for the Ottoman Empire. Between the 1000s-1600s, you could find Vikings as far south as Cairo in different roles.
