Willow Yunaska
Willow Yunaska is a hermaphroditic individual and personal assistant to Emperor Aries Villanite of the Avinadal Empire. They were discovered in 193 AF when Avinadal forces raided a secret Hadi Enterprises facility — one of the same chain of operations responsible for the experiments that shaped much of the empire's founding generation. Willow had not yet been experimented on at the time of the raid.
They were among the prisoners rescued and housed across Regulus and Plasid. As a show of thanks for the liberation, Willow offered to serve as Aries' personal assistant. He accepted.
Little else has been formally recorded about their origins or background.
Willow Yunaska the record preserves of Willow is brief: they were found unexperimented on in a Hadi Enterprises facility, rescued by Avinadal, and responded to that rescue by offering to serve Aries as his personal assistant. The offer was described as a show of thanks.
This tells something — gratitude expressed through commitment rather than words, a willingness to orient toward service as a meaningful response to care — but it does not tell much. Their interior life, their history before the facility, their particular way of being in the world, has not yet been formally documented.
Willow Yunaska can be said is that they accepted liberation and then chose a direction, which is more agency than many people in their position would have found quickly.
Year 193 AF+: Lueria's Evidence, Avinadal's Exposé, and Willow Yunaska ►
In 193 AF+, Aries Villanite and Kiriko are reunited with Lueria, a figure from Aries' past connected to his escape from a Santerran facility. Lueria reveals she retained files and evidence stolen during that escape and has since collaborated with Avlister, a small activist group that spent years documenting corruption within the Santerran Federation. Avlister had been paralyzed by fear of retaliation, as similar groups were routinely eliminated by the Federation upon discovery. Lueria, frustrated by the group's inaction, risks her life and her connections by approaching Aries directly with the accumulated evidence. This intelligence ultimately enables the Empire of Avinadal to issue a public press release exposing a secret facility housing slaves and research subjects. Avinadal frames the facility as pirate-owned while conspicuously displaying Hadi Enterprises branding throughout, forcing the Santerran Federation into a public relations crisis as global audiences question government complicity. Empress Enyxia deflects questions about the Hadi Enterprises logos with deliberate feigned ignorance, amplifying political pressure on the Federation. During the raid on this facility, Avinadal's forces rescue all prisoners, relocating them to Regulus and Plasid. Among those rescued is Willow Yunaska, a prisoner who had not yet been subjected to experimentation. As an expression of gratitude, Willow volunteers to serve as Aries' personal assistant. A mysterious teal slime creature is also discovered within the facility.