Project Wardens: Introducing Violet
Art by Koseki
THE WOLVERINE QUEEN
Violet’s story began many years ago, when the horizon-gazing of a little girl atop her nest of garbage birthed a simple dream: to carve her name and bidding into the hearts and minds of all within her reach. With death and treachery as her greatest teachers and sharp weaponry her closest friends, Violet earned a reputation as one of Slayer’s Valley’s finest assassins, renowned and feared for bold, if not unconventional methods and serving the Anarch loyally while biding her time. When her day finally came, she threw all of her cunning and connections into a bid to take her master’s throne. The dust settled in a matter of hours, and Violet stood tall as the new Anarch of Slayer’s Valley.
The reign of the self-ordained “Wolverine Queen” has been an era of significant change across Slayer’s Valley as well as the greater Anarchies. As the authority over the Hunter’s Guild, Violet has used her authority to breathe new life into the once-decaying mercenary profession through continued improvements to once dysfunctional systems and bylaws. With the well-being of her powerbase at the forefront of her priorities, she has also gone to great lengths to ensure that her most vital supporters and allies remain secure and rewarded for their loyalty, while punishing those who would disrupt or betray her.
Across nearly 15 years of rule, Violet has proven herself as a worthy leader and capable ally. In personal affairs, however, she is famous for being quite the reveler, injecting an uncanny merriness into any situation she pleases. Plenty have complemented her charming hospitality, but others, especially those who have known Violet since her assassin days, know her whimsy belies decades of determination to take and keep hold of her place at the top of world. Regardless, and as proven by the fates of anyone who ever stood in her way, it is far healthier to stay on Violet’s good side.
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WHO IS VIOLET?
You may have recognized her from the short story that I posted here a few weeks back, which depicted Violet during her aforementioned mercenary days. The Violet of Project Wardens’ main narrative is separated from these events by almost two decades and depicted as in the prime of her rule. As you can tell, she’s clawed her way to the top and is enjoying every ounce of power she has.
In the story, Violet employs Vincent Irefel as her Champion and uses him as her go-to problem-solver for important tasks and affairs. Despite their differences, their relationship is one of genuine comradery, each serving as the other’s closest friend and confidant in a world of lost marbles. Throw Vincent’s apprentice in the mix and you might have something that resembles a bizarre, dysfunctional family.
Violet is particularly fond of Vincent, more for his loyalty and lethality than his rigid “Mainland” principles, which she has done her best to satisfy while trying to simultaneously subvert them. Vincent, on the other hand, doesn’t really requite those feelings—visibly, at least. She’s simultaneously the devil on his shoulder and his sole enabler for dispensing justice, and while he doesn’t match Violet’s charisma, he does meet it in his own stoic way.
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BEHIND THE SCENES
Violet has been a fun character to design and write around. She’s a more recent addition to the story, designed to be both a foil and an anchor for Vincent’s character, meeting his no-nonsense attitude with abundant, controlled bursts of nonsense. She is also a second mentor to Vincent’s apprentice, providing him with different perspectives while also filling in anything that Vincent so happened to keep blank. Granted, she thrives as her own character, but she really shines brightest when Vincent is around for her to poke at.
For Violet’s design, I absolutely wanted to go in the direction of “over-the-top royal,” but with a hint of Western Anarchy barbarism. The end result is something that takes the themes of a pompous monarch with a mob boss and puts them in a fantasy blender.
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MORE TO COME…
At this point, I’ve introduced two of the three most important characters in Project Wardens. As things slowly start kicking into gear, you can expect more information about the world and characters. Next time you catch me writing anything to do with Project Wardens, you’ll finally meet a certain character who finally has a name!