Yuanya
Yuanya is a qilin who was the queen of Niiba during the end of the Age of Kingdoms and the start of the Age of War, and was deeply involved in the events leading to the death of King Wyrrik and the beginning of the War.
Appearance
Yuanya has an angular body with long, straight legs and a whip-like tail. Her scales are dull sage-green, with pale cream on her underbelly, nose bridge, and inner ears. Her mane runs along her spine from her forehead to the base of her tail, as well as above her eyes, down the back of her limbs, and along her jaw; it is a fiery red-orange in color, darker at the tips. She has long straight whiskers the same color as her scales, and her hooves and antlers are dark green.
Personality
Yuanya is thoughtful, diplomatic, and slow to anger. She hides her true feelings behind a mask of placidity, and keeps herself intentionally distant in order to maintain her authority as leader. She is deeply loyal to her homeland and to her creatures, and considers it her life's work to ensure that it is kept safe, and that her creatures - both old and new - are cared for; when the Age of War began, she welcomed in refugees from many other neighboring kingdoms, including Tayutho, whose king had started the war.
History
Yuanya was born on Summer 77, y1862, last born in a litter of three to the reigning queen of Niiba. She and her two sisters, Reshya and Laolya, were educated from birth on a wide range of topics relating to their kingdom's history, political alliances, and culture, with the intention that one of them would be chosen to take their mother's place as queen someday. Yuanya was the savviest of the three, and had the strongest memory, though she was apathetic at the thought of becoming leader, lacking the determination and drive of her two older sisters and instead being content to let the two of them compete for the title.
When the trio was twenty-five years old, in y1887, their mother the queen gathered together the creatures of the capital city in an elaborate ceremony to announce which of them would become the next queen. Yuanya considered her attendance at the ceremony a formality, but as she prepared to congratulate and support whichever of her sisters was chosen, she was instead shocked as her mother called out her name. Her sisters, ever gracious, moved into a supporting role in the kingdom as Yuanya began her intensive training with her mother. Over the course of the following twenty-five years, Yuanya worked closely with her mother as the heir-queen, slowly transitioning into the role and taking on more and more of the responsibilities of queen, as her mother slowly reduced her own responsibilities.
Eventually, in y1902, Yuanya was crowned official queen of Niiba, and her mother retired fully from the position.
Relationships
Yuanya met King Wyrrik briefly several times throughout his life, in diplomatic meetings regarding their shared border, and she found him to be kindhearted and surprisingly competent for his age, increasingly so after having been given the magical gift of wisdom. As the king's magic began to corrupt him, Yuanya became increasingly concerned about the possibility of conflict, and she was happy to intervene in hopes of improving the lives of both the creatures of her own kingdom, and those of his. Though the intervention did not go well, and she did all in her power to defend her creatures from the ensuing invasion, she did still mourn when the battle ended and the king was dead.
Yuanya first met Faarza when she visited Niiba in search of aid, due to the worsening condition of their king, and was impressed with her loyalty and tenacity. They met again several seasons later, once the Age of War had begun, as Faarza had been appointed ruler of Tayutho after the death of Wyrrik, and Yuanya found her to be a timid, broken shell of the creature she had been before, under the weight of the war and her new responsibility.