#Theria The Cold Paw

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And may death find you alive.

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Here she comes! Theria's reference sheet was tricky as a concept - she's a werewolf (wifewolf, if You will), so she had to have her two forms shown, but also I wanted to preserve the format of the other refs. Also, her human form is clothed because she just habitually doesn't wear underwear

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I've decided to give Haart a salade helmet, based on vibes and aestetics alone.

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Valentine's Day loredump pt. 2

Theria and Närn

cw: graphic descriptions of violence

cw: survivor's guilt

@rayless-reblogs @kaldurcalm

Before the battle of Haergard, Theria was from a certain viewpoint, a completely different person. She still was brutal, but she was also loved. She had her place in the world.

Werewolves and other shapeshifters, despite technically being humans, are often not really welcome in human settlements. In the far north, they live among themselves, but these places also aren't devoid of conflict. When their home villages become too small for too many strong personalities, some people have to leave and strike out on their own. Often they wander a bit before settling down. It wasn't different with Närn and Theria, except they've had a different idea.

They moved south, onto the continent and started working as mercenaries. First it was only the two of them, but after a few years they've had a little over forty people under their command, all of them shapeshifters.

Theria was a fairly social and observant person and a good problem solver. She acted as a second-in-command to Närn. It was almost like in a large wolfpack - for a lack of a better word, Närn and Theria were married, even before they've left the north.

The company was successfull, fulfilling a variety of contracts. They were disciplined, reliable and thanks to the infamous shapeshifter regeneration, they suffered next to no losses, even in an open battle.

Whether they've overshot by taking a contract not knowing what they will face, whether the plan of battle was doomed to fail, and maybe due to a problem of the sabotaged communication, Haergard was their last battle.

The mountain elves, who appeared on the battlefield in laughably small numbers had a very widespread intelligence and knew the exact position of the Covenant's troops. Apparently they've sent constructs with silver - plated weapons against them - the exact accounts are unclear. It suffices to say that until any reinforcements came, only four shapeshifters were still standing, among them Theria, still holding the banner among her corroding and screaming comrades.

She blacked out from her injuries shortly after the battle ended.

Närn was still alive, altough unable to move. He has been moved into the field hospital when she was unconscious, but she was confident that given enough time, he would make it. She was far from a medicine woman, but she's dressed enough shapeshifter wounds to be able to tell if a wound is going to close on its own. He was going to be fine, he just needed time. She even managed to speak with him.

He didn't make it.

She didn't try to run - at this point she didn't care whether she was going to live or die. Death for death, fair enough. She was promptly imprisoned and sentenced. Except, the sentence itself was delayed because no one wanted to deal with finding a method that would kill a shapeshifter during a full moon.

Theria was sure that Närn didn't die from his wounds, that someone had to help him. She was convinced she had proof that he died of poison - but she was met with indifference.

It happened quicker than anyone was able to react. She fulfilled her comrades initial funeral rites, has left the rest to one of the living survivors, found the medic who treated her husband and broke his neck.

She had a bit of luck in her misfortune. Erydan, the contact of Covenant's intelligence offered her a deal - a pardon for service. Initially she was indifferent, but finally he managed to pique her interest. The mission seemed difficult enough for her to die anyway, and in her mind it was always better to die fighting. She was supposed to join a small team of people meant to rescue someone - a prisoner, and apparently from under the Yrreth of Zvaerit's very nose. She wondered who was crazy enough to attempt something like this.

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Theria is functionally a widow in mourning, recovering from a trauma of losing a loved person. As such, for a first few years she is too hurt to seek any relationship, either romantic, or purely sexual. After that, when she recovers somewhat she sometimes has short flings, but nothing permanent. Should she seek another mate, she'd look among the shapeshifters like her.

She considers the romantic and sexual sphere to be an important part of life. She is pretty open about her sexual experiences (way too open for some people's taste), it's very hard (if even possible) to embarrass her and she considers following one's desires to be a natural and healthy course of action.

She clashes on this topic with Igna, who treats her own desires as wants, not needs, and thinks her reasons for indefinitely putting off starting a romantic relationship are important enough. Theria's jabs at Igna are in fact underlined with her own grief - she's seen people of insane physical resistance die next to her, and she's aware both humans and elves are much more fragile than shapeshifters. In her own mind, they should enjoy themselves while they're still both alive, because who knows how long that lasts. And maybe she's annoyed by their indecision. Just a little bit.

Some time after she warms up to the rest of the team Närn's topic stops being touchy for her and she's willing to talk about him, despite his loss still being a painful memory. It's only a part of the larger problem, as she didn't lose only him, but also her place in the world, the majority of her friends, and to add to that, the majority of faith that the shapeshifters ever will be treated with respect. Theria is an intense personality, she lives her emotions fully, both good and bad ones. If the bitterness and restlessness sometimes makes the better of her she isolates, sometimes not eating for days on end.

The broken pendant she wears belonged to Närn and was gifted to him by her - the sheer streght of one of the blows he's taken has broken it in two. She had taken it after his death, fitted it on a loose collar and intends to wear it until death comes for her, too.

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It's Theria o'clock!

(bottom right bubbles: "Damn you Theria, if You can't help, then don't make it worse" "Ugh" "Ah, now it's ugh, and what have I told you about drinking on your own?")

Some context: side effect of being a werewolf is a decreased alcohol tolerance - in short, despite being 6'4'' tall, Theria is a lightweight. Shapeshifters' organs also work with varied efficiency due to their powers waxing and waning in monthly cycles, so she never really knows how much she can take and it's embarrasingly easy for her to drink herself under a table. However, in the face of her unprocessed grief, Theria is prone to become self-destructive and sometimes the perspective of feeling horrible afterwards doesn't stop her at all. Haart often acts as Theria's external impulse control, and if anything else fails, he's able to just carry her back to her quarters.

After the redesign Theria is also the only person from the Isaldian main crew who neither wears armor, nor keeps her hair gathered away from her face in any way, not even in combat. It's mainly due to the fact that in case she shifts to her wolf form and back, she would come back with her hair loose anyway, and apperantly she decided it's too much hassle. Apart from that, her hair is very thick, a little coarse in texture and it doesn't submit to any attempts at styling, which is why no matter how much she would brush it, it always looks messy anyway.

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You’ve called for reinforcements and they’re all you’ve got, or first special counter-magic unit’s group photo. 

From left to right, top to bottom: Daen, Theria, Haart, Igna and Argo. Most of them have appeared in one form or another in my drawings, but I finally redesigned all of their gear and hopefully get some consistency, lol.

(ID: A digital drawing featuring a group photo of five characters placed on a white background - two are standing in the back, three are in the front row. In the front on the left side there’s a dwarven man with blonde hair and short beard, standing nonchalantly and scratching his brow with his middle finger. He’s looking to the side and smiling, holding a wooden pipe between his teeth. He’s wearing lamellar armor with a blacksmith’s apron over it and a pair of heavy, runic gauntlets on both his hands. He’s wearing heavy boots with metal reinforcements, red, loose trousers, torqouise padding with short sleeves and orange shirt underneath it. There’s a yellow and red scarf around his neck and he’s got a war pick/warhammer strapped to his belt.

In the center there’s a half-elven young woman with green eyes, dressed in a chainmail, place bracers, mismatched plate gauntlets, a steel helmet with raised visor and a chainmail coif around her neck. She has a dull brown tabard with a white griffin and a vertical sword on her chest and she’s holding a sheathed longsword in her right hand. Her left hand is resting on a visibly used heater shield with the same griffin and sword as on her tabard, only on a red field. She’s grinning and looking straight at the viewer, singular strands of hair from her black bangs are peeking from under her helmet’s brow.

On the right side, there’s an elf sitting on a chair, resting his head upon his right fist, with elbow propped up on his knee, looking at the viewer with a crooked smile on his face. He’s got light grey hair, blue eyes and pale complexion, the right side of his face is crossed by four fresh scars, running from the line of his hair down to his chin. He’s wearing leather bracers, right one reinforced with steel on the outside, leather archery gloves, brown trousers, knee-high leather riding boots, short-sleeved green padding with dark green shirt underneath it, and a sleeveless dull brown brigandine, closed with a series of leather buckles in front. He has a blade strapped to his left side, and a quiver of arrows on his right hip, a recurve bow is laying on his knees. His left hand is doing something with its bowstring.

In the back, there’s a tall man in an indigo zhupan, reaching half of his calf. over it he’s wearing a steel breastplate, he’s got leather boots and leather gloves, both in shades of brown. He’s got long, black hair tied behind his head, with a visible  parting in the middle of his head. His skin is unhealthily pale, with dark circles under his eyes, whose irises are almost white. He’s facepalming and has a bitter expression.

Next to him is an even taller, visibly muscular woman, with unkepmt long, brown hair, golden wolf-like eyes framed in black and big teeth with sharp canines, that she’s showing in a grin, holding her tongue out. She’s got her hands on her hips, she’s wearing a dark brown sleeveless top, and over it an olive green folded kind of garment similar to a chiton or a kilt, reaching just above her knees. It’s pinned with a brass fibula on her left shoulder, and is gathered with a wide, leather belt around her waist. She’s wearing worn leather boots on her feet, a collar with a chipped piece of metal hanging on it on her neck and she has taped fists. She has tanned skin, and several lighter scars are visible on her bare arms.)

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next: mr. walking OSHA violation and heavy metal aunt with a permanent eyeliner.

4/5 done!

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It’s the resident werewolf again!

I’ve decided to rework Theria’s backstory and think on some more comfortable clothes for her. I guess werewolves would find clothes similar to a chiton or a kilt very comfortable - made from one piece of material, it can be just pinned up again in case of urgent transformation. It’s also pretty loose or folded in most places, so it wouldn’t be torn to pieces or uncomfortably stretched by the changing body. I’m still not sure whether she should wear armor at all.