#euphora

well @asheep-asleep you are in luck because I LOVE talking about my characters and will in fact take any excuse to do so!!

This is Lucerne! (pictured on the right here) She is princess and heir to a yet-unnamed wasp kingdom I've been working on with a friend of mine.

Though her mother, the queen Euphora (pictured above), is incredibly strict and places many expectations on her daughter, Lucerne is competent and takes this all in stride.

Lucerne is perfectly capable of playing the part of one who is graceful, refined, utterly unaffected by others. She does not plan to rule this way when she takes the mantle of queen, however. She would much rather live closer to the common bug, to put as much trust in them as they do in her. To learn their names, their interests, get to know them. This has put a bit of a rift between her and the queen.

Unfortunately, things will get much worse before they get any better.

Now I have to backpedal a bit and talk about some characters who aren't mine but are relevant (and hey the art is mine so I want to show it too :3). Callisto (left, also in first pic), is a royal knight and Lucerne's personal guard. Her father (right) is Elias, head of the Order of Thorns, the kingdom's knights.

Callisto and Lucerne have known each other since they were very young, and are very close. Callisto has a massive crush on Lucerne, who returns these feelings. In fact, Callisto is one of the few who gets to see Lucerne's more playful and mischievous side, and the ribbon she wears is a gift from her princess. Lucerne loves to tease her. Lucerne also quite enjoys gardening.

While on a trip together, Lucerne and Callisto came across a beautiful forest grove. One moment, Lucerne was calling out for Callisto to come look at something, the next moment she was just. Gone.

Callisto eventually found Lucerne, trapped and suspended in a giant glowing fruit. She had been put into some kind of stasis by a god with unknown intentions.

A god with power far too strong to be cut down by any regular sword... And so Callisto has made it her quest to figure out how to save Lucerne.

Sidenote for fellow bug nerds, they're all based on irl wasp species:

Lucerne and Euphora are executioner wasps (Polistes carnifex)

Callisto is a ruby-tailed wasp (Chrysis ignita)