Lykainion Valverdizj

Daughter of Liridon Eliad II of Valverdizj

Lykainion Valverdizj is a young woman raised in a small town near Krujë in Illyria. Her ‘father’, Liridon Eliad III of Valverdizj, had been born a nobleman. In his position he found he was often in uncomfortable situations, finding that he had to choose between the wishes of his leaders and the rights of simple villagers.

He eventually grew sick of the life and fled away to the countryside, taking the baby of a deceased female slave that he had bought from a Roman trader with him. He chose to spend his life as a cattle trader in Illyria and used all of his fortune to establish a profitable trading route with Scupii. He raised the baby girl as if it was his own. He was married to Andronika a hard working, patient and loyal wife who dedicated herself to the household and to raising his daughter, Lykainion.

Lyka was an energetic young lady from the day that she was born. Several times people have tried to teach her to read and count, but Lyka’s mind was always outside with the cattle and wildlife. Andronika did her best to show Lyka how to be a respected lady and good Illyrian woman, but it was futile. Lyka wanted nothing to do with manners, cooking or cleaning.

In Krujë, village men and woman were seen as equal as they needed each other to survive so Liridon had no issues teaching his daughter to work with and care for the cattle that were his livelihood. As she grew, he showed her how to hunt with a bow and how to fight with swords and shields. As she grew older she was allowed to accompany her father and the trading caravans, developing a good sense for reliable traders and learning the safest routes to Scupii.

During one of the cattle trading journeys, Lyka was given the lead on the way back, as rightful heir of her father’s position of leader. It was a bold move but the cattle and the traders got home without incident. It brought Lyka’s leadership talents and growing influence to the attention of the young men of her village, who were feeling threatened by her talent. They started putting pressure on Lyka to choose a husband from among them, each vying with the other to attract her attention. The law said that a woman was allowed to become the leader but once she married her husband would take the position. The men of the village were more comfortable under the guidance of a man than under a woman’s rule and had used the law many times in the past.

Lyka wanted to leave the village when the jealous men started to force her to marry one of them. She refused and so humiliated the man who had proposed. Around this time she began to get dreams in which she was going to be murdered, but was saved every time by female warriors. Not knowing exactly what it meant, she spoke to her father about and dream told him that in her heart she wished to be in a place where only woman lived.

Liridon had almost forgotten that Lyka was not his own blood and realized that she wanted to find her real family, the Amazons. Her soul had felt a connection. Even though he found it hard, he wanted to give her the world if he could and quickly organized a group of loyal bodyguards to escort her safely to the lands that were owned by the Amazons. The sergeant of the escort group had been instructed to give some documents to the Amazons, the story about Lyka’s history, and two Amazon necklaces.

At fifteen, Lyka is over 6’ tall with strong, trained muscles and excellent stamina. Her long hair is brownish blonde, which goes well with her slightly suntanned skin. Her small fair eyes are gray as rocks and her eyebrows are dark as the night. She is stubborn, impulsive and arrogant but bright. She speaks Illyrian dialects from her own region, some Thracian and a smattering of various other languages. She is frightened of thunder and fire and will do anything she can to stay indoors during one of those events.

Lyka has a tattoo of her birth tribe on her neck, and has a little coat of arms of her village tattooed on her wrist. It is a Roman lion combined with the coat of arms of Veneticae. She has never fought ever in her life, nor has seen war. She still sees it as a game, and can't wait to get into a real fight one day.

Tae'Nah athelfi arche: 4 July 2010

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