Kiera Shakur

Name: Kiera Shakur

City of Dominion: Volk ( a sort of version of Victorian London)

Family: The Noble House of Shakur

Family Crest: A Crescent moon. Two swords

Age: 17

Rank: Companion to Aristo Dasciano

Description: Dark skin, dark eyes, dark hair. Petite and shapely but hides it underneath shirts and suits.

Since she is chosen as a Companion who is usually always men, her being the sole exception, Kiera had left all her feminine trappings, cut off her long hair and worn male clothing since she was chosen at the age of 10. 

Since then she has been treated as male and has experienced more freedom than other girls around her. But in exchange for that freedom she is also deemed an outcast and a peculiarity. She has to give up the future that girls of her rank hoped for: marriage and children since who would want to marry someone like her? A girl who is not really a girl; a girl who is trained in the art of war instead of the art of conversation. Who is taught how to wield a sword rather than a paintbrush. Who converses far too intelligently, and behaves far too freely with other men. 

Being a Companion, no one dares to give her a cut direct, or refuses her entry into their houses and offending her Guardian, but whenever the Guardians and Companions manages to drag her to one of the society parties or personal outings, she is whispered and stared at.

Frankly, though she often wondered how her life would be if Aristo didn't choose her as his Companion, she knew that the life she lived now is better than what her family would ever offer for her. And by family she meant her grandfather, the Patriach of the Shakur family. 

With both her parents dead, she is left in her grandfather's not so tender mercies. 

Kiera is the child from his son's second marriage to a woman who did not come from nobility, and her grandfather hated that and didn't bother to hide it. Cold neglect and vicious words were often her grandfather's choice of torture. And the situation only got worst after Kiera is chosen as a Companion rather than her two half brothers; her father's sons from his first marriage. 

Background ideas

These are the imagery that brings me to mine of The Three Cities: Volk (a fantasy version of victorian London), Sihr (the fantasy version of the Middle East, basically the desert), and  Shǎn Diàn (a fantasy version of somewhere in China).

(Shǎn Diàn)

(Volk)

(Sihr)

The Three Cities have a long-standing alliance with each other, strengthen by their trading ventures. Volk, the city in which Kiera Shakur lives is a version of Victorian London; unlike Sihr ( a city that runs wholly on magic) and Shǎn Diàn ( a city that runs on steam and clockwork) uses both magic and clockwork which is supplied by the other two cities. 

In return, Volk supplies them with their military power and the protection of the Guardians of Volk.

Book 1 of this series: Guardian of Volk, takes place in Volk (obviously).

The Guardians of Volk are nine men that comes from the nine noble families of Volk who has enough magic in their blood that lets them able to turn into giant wolves. Aristo Daciana is one of these men and with his fellow Guardians is trained from infancy to fulfill their duty and obligation to protect the cities if needed. 

But when using the power of the beast, the man disappears completely, which is why they need to be controlled by a Companion; someone who is bound to them through blood and magic.

A Companion, like a Guardian, is chosen when they were children by the Guardians themselves. When the Guardian first uses his power, the beast will pull him towards his Companion.

This is how Aristo finds Kiera.

But there is one problem, Kiera is a girl when all Guardians and Companions through the ages has been men only. 

But Aristo's beast ignores Kiera's two half-brothers and chooses her instead. 

So, Kiera leaves her identity as a girl and lives the life of a man in a rigid society where gender equality does not exist, scandalizing her family and everyone who sees her, much to Aristo's amusement.

But in the official inauguration of them as Guardian and Companion something happens that turns Kiera's world upside down. It is discovered that she isn't the chosen companion of her Guardian, that there is another more suited; her illegitimate half-brother, Faelan.

Confused, frightened and left out in the cold, Kiera must find her way back to who she was, who she would have become before fate played her false. 

But after experiencing so much, would she be satisfied with the life she was meant to have as a young, normal girl of noble blood?

Copyright © 2012 by D.F. Jules

...all artwork comes from deviantart.com.. 

NaNoWriMo novel: Preperation

Book 1 of the Three Cities Series: Guardians of Volk

Genre: YA. Paranormal. Fantasy. Clockwork

Kiera Shakur has been handpicked and chosen to be the companion of one of the Guardians of Volk since she was a child. As a companion she must abandoned all family ties, her self-identity as a girl and all imaginings of the future; marriage, husband, children. In an occupation that is traditionally held by men, she must stand alone with only her fellow male companions and Guardians as friends. Having 'tainted' blood in one of Volk's noble family, and being a woman in a man's world, Kiera did not feel like she belonged anywhere except beside her Guardian, Aristo Daciana.

Then one day, in her official inauguration as Companion, it was discovered that she wasn't the chosen companion of her Guardian after all, that there was one more suited, her illegitimate half-brother, Faelan.

Confused, frightened and left out in the cold, Kiera must find her way back to who she was, who she would have become before fate played her false. 

But after experiencing so much, would she be satisfied with the life she was meant to have as a young, normal girl of noble blood?

Copyright © 2012 by D.F. Jules