Good Afternoon Everyone and what a late day it has been for me. This is one of those very few times in my life where I accidentally slept in. I say slept in, but my sleeping in is waking up at 5 A.M. instead of 3 A.M. Then I just got busy with doing some tasks around the house and reading. Thankfully, I did not forget about writing this post. Now, in accordance with what the title says, let’s talk about: Zaya, The Unbroken.
Let’s dive in to talking about Zaya. Who is she and why does she get commissioned character art. Well first off, lets just use the little blurb that I have already pre-written on Campfire(writing program that I use). Yes, it’s lazy, but I’ve already have put off today’s post by way more than normal. Following up with that, I’ve also included some of her “physical stats” that I have written down about her. Again, because I am being lazy and don’t want to retype it all.
Alright, breakdown time. So first things first, Zaya is literally meant to be a warrior. She was raised in a warrior society by a father who is a great warrior himself. With that comes her father’s genetics and skills such as height and the ability to dominate on the battlefield. Think of the video game, Dynasty Warriors,(if you don’t know or have never played it, do it now.) and you will get the idea of what I mean when she can dominate the field.
Looking at her stats, you will see that I have said that she is seventy five inches tall, but in the bio it just says six foot. I’ll make it clear that the first number(75 in.) is her correct height. I’m not sure if I have said it anywhere else, but this puts her above majority, if not all the men in her community. When you have a father and a mother who are very tall, well, their kid is going to be ridiculously tall as well. However, this does put her in a position where most of the men actually feel intimidated by her, and that’s not taking into account here battlefield skills and talent. Well, not all men. The men who fight side by side with her share a deep love and respect for her because of her ability to lead them.
The Khan of her tribe would say, “She’s bold and daring. Just like her father, but she can command more men than he ever could.” Comments like this and other favors have put her in a position to protect her Khan’s “adopted” child. Well, it’s more like this child is a ward/god-child but that isn’t really relevant to the plot at this point in time. What you do need to know is that all of this has put her into a position of great prestige, and since she is a woman—men want to wed and have her bear their children.
Well, that’s gross and why would I say that? Culture, that’s why. Well, yes and no. Not all of the men see her as that. Let me explain.
Essentially we are looking at a nomadic people that lean heavily into the life of a warrior. Think Mongolian Empire mixed with clans that fought more often and never established one centralized empire. Dueling also became the default answer for the majority of transactions that could not be handled with a bartering system. You stole my livestock—we duel. You killed my brother, and I can prove it—we duel. You killed my mother, but I can’t prove it—we duel. Oh, you want to lead now, guess what—we duel. Essentially, the strongest get what they want by literally dueling for it. How does this apply to Zaya? Well, since she is in such a high position of prestige, anyone with ambition will seek to claim this.
At first, when she was younger, it was to try and curry favor with her father. Men proposed to marry her, and her father dueled them because they were not fit for his daughter. However as she go older, she learned that she was either going to have to eventually accept an offer, or learn to defend herself before someone came along and bested her father. Fear led her to this decision. Fear that her father would one day be bested as he got older. So over time, and time spent training with her father, she got really good and would eventually use these marriage proposals as a form of training for herself.
This, however, caught the eye of the Khan, where he immediately placed her into his service. Without going into any details, this essentially has elevated her into recognition and desirability amongst the other men in her community. So she continues to train, and eventually experiencing combat where she killed her first opponent. That’s right, her first, because despite the cultures answer to everything being essentially a duel, they do not kill their opponent otherwise it would bring dishonor down upon you and your family.
So when she is finally put on the front lines of a battle, she discovered that she was extremely good at it. So good, that she has rallied several broken lines and reclaimed lost battlefields with just the power of her skill and voice alone. Through these actions, her Khan awarded her with the armor that she now wears, the golden lamellar armor. Why is it gold? You’ll have to find out for yourself when you read about it, not going to spoil that now. Anyways, she’s really good at what she does if I have not made that clear enough, then re-read what I have just written.
A.G. Flowers 
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