DIANA (pronounced: Dee-an-ah)
Race: Shaftan
Eye color: Hazel
Hair color: Dark brown
Distinctions: Beautiful golden wings
Her eyes once dulled by years of street life and her long hair matted with dirt and grime, loneliness had all but snuffed out Diana’s hopes for the future. But her world changed forever in one moment of chance and sacrifice, and she found a love that would raise her from the shadows and transform her into the beautiful woman she longed to be. Always mindful of her past, she strives to take advantage of every opportunity to learn and grow in her new surroundings, but troubling circumstances persistently challenge her best efforts to find the purpose and fulfillment so long denied her.
~Story~
When Diana was a young girl, her parents were victims of a Purge, an arbitrary culling of Shafta’s immortal population perpetrated secretly by the Elder. She soon joined a group of other outcasts led by Patch, a rough but kind man who taught her how to survive on the dark side of paradise. For almost a decade, she lived on the streets, exchanging sexual favors for food, shelter, and perhaps a teasing semblance of the companionship she too often dared to wish for. She found a good friend in the young boy Sali, a fellow outcast who somehow maintained a ready smile and a cheerful outlook no matter how dark the day.
As it turns out, his good intentions would change her life forever. One night, after an unusually long time without a willing partner, Sali found for her a troubled young man whom he thought would like a comforting touch. This young man was Luke, a prince from another realm whose vain pursuits had brought him to Shafta and ultimately ruined him. His worsening mental condition left him extremely vulnerable, and Diana responded immediately to his desperate need for comfort and companionship, remaining at his side long after their initial encounter. Because Luke is the first person to behave as though he meant to stay with her, Diana quickly begins to view Luke as a lifemate, for better and for worse, and travels with him to the palace which still shelters him, despite how far he’s fallen. There, Luke sees to it that she has everything befitting a princess. In rich gowns and fine jewels, her natural beauty has its first real chance to shine. Her innate kindness and modesty quickly earns her the sincere admiration of servantfolk and courtiers alike, and she is all the more cherished for her shy elusiveness.
But all is not well behind closed doors. Luke’s fear and paranoia steadily escalates, and eventually even Diana’s kind words and gentle hands can do nothing to ease his heart. He begins to shut her out, and at times the pain of rejection consumes her. Her suffering catches the eye of the gentle myndling Semiyar, and he resolves to do his best to be for her what Luke cannot, and never could be. She accepts his affection, charmed by his manner and the promise of the steady and reassuring companionship that all Shaftans so desperately crave. Swept into exile along with Luke’s small household, she continues her affair with Semiyar in the shelter of Julian’s mansion. Though she and Luke now live quite separate lives, she is still touched by his sad plight, and remains somewhere always close by should he ask for her.
Diana is copyright © Kelly Kilbourn