Y'Mera Xebella (Challa of Xebel)

# Princess of Xebel

## Y’Mera Xebella Challa

Atlantean Royalty

*Description here ~ Justinian*

## History

### Early Life

Princess Y’Mera Xebella Challa was the first of two children born to King Ryus in the Kingdom of Xebel during the human calendar year of 1997. A mother, who the wise king would never mention by name, lost her life during the birth of both Mera and her twin sister Hila. Growing up in the shadow of King Ryus was not an easy feat for the two young women of royal blood, the concept of a loving mother or father faded from reality as court ministers and councilors took both Mera and Hila in as wards to further their education. Their father ruled the kingdom…. almost afraid to look in the direction of either of his children given the resemblance both held to their mother... leaving them neglected. The court soon substituted itself as the comfortable location that the young princess could find solitude; delving into the history and customs of her kingdom and observing the debates between advisors and emissaries were more than enough to acquire a grasp on the Seven Kingdoms of the Sea.

The loving care that any child deserves was finally provided in the form of Lady Lammia, King Ryus’s mother. Lady Lammia was a kind soul, one that had been trained in the art of statecraft during her tenure as Queen of Xebel…. but a maternal touch was not lost upon the elderly woman. Mera had not met her grandmother until eight years into her life when the Dowager Matriarch finally returned to Xebel’s realm after a series of diplomatic missions to further the legitimacy of Xebel and strengthen its ties to those that could assist its weakened position.  Whereas Princess Mera had been treated as an inferior by those in her father’s court her entire life, always causing her to strive for success to prove those individuals wrong, Lammia brought a rewarding tranquility to life. An entire world was opened to that of the daughter of Xebel, a side that no courtly influences could train…. the ability to love another person for who they were rather than what they could offer. Lammia brought a well-rounded wisdom to the cerebellum of Mera, detailing the family heritage that her father had neglected to explain…. even granting her mother a long-forgotten name: Persephone. With every passing year, the Dowager Matriarch of Xebel proved to be a fruitful relationship that Mera had taken an opportunity on -- each day the young princess was engrossed in studies during the morning hours, learning by the side of her grandmother in court during the evening, and learning to bask in the pleasures of relaxation when night calmed the ocean.

That stability was ruptured when King Ryus finally acknowledged the presence of Princess Mera when she turned fourteen. The oversight of both children of the Xebel bloodline had soured relations indefinitely in the family tree. Neither Mera, nor her twin sister Hila, saw King Ryus as anything but their monarch…. not believing that they had been derived from his genetics given his indifference to either of their existences. Regardless, the twins rendered under their liege when he beckoned his first command to either of them in more than a decade: to begin training in the form of personal combat. Mera readily accepted the judgement of her monarch, unlike that of her sister who chose to flee the Kingdom of Xebel in the stillness of the night. Neither child of King Ryus was particularly close with the other, their personalities often conflicting in ways where arguments were the most common form of communication. Lammia had tried to instill within Mera the ability to forgive and compromise…. the ability to care for another….. yet Hila disregarded every attempt at reconciliation -- leaving both disgruntled with the other. While Princess Mera was worried about the well-being of a person she had grown up with…. her foremost duty was to that of Xebel, not to a person that had made herself an outcast at every turn.

The training that King Ryus had prompted Princess Mera to forgo was rigorous. Sleep and rest were absent for six years of her life as she pushed herself to her mental and physical limitations. Each morning she was trained in the form of close quarters combat by the head of the royal guard, Cidan, with an emphasis on sword, quadrants, and hand-to-hand. The training was exceptionally brutal, Mera often returning to her chambers with a new series of bruises until she learned how to successfully defeat her attacker. The middle of each day was still filled to the brim with courtly meetings to try and understand what it would be to someday rule…. but Mera’s cranium was oftentimes distracted by her wish to storm off to the courtyard once more to try and avenge her defeat earlier in the morning. Often, that revenge came in the form of the evening training where she was taught by her mother-of-sorts, Lammia, the powers of hydrokinesis. Hydrokinesis was a special set of abilities that was only learned by those of royalty within the Kingdom of Xebel. A mixture of their bloodline and well-guarded secrets were what granted those of royal blood in the Exiled Kingdom to perform such a feat. This cumbersome scheduling was routinely followed for close to eight years….. an experience that Princess Mera would not wish upon her enemies. For at the end of it all, the daughter of Xebel had turned into a different woman altogether: one that was always prepared, able to conquer any odds, and ready to rule.

At the age of twenty, the Princess of Xebel was offered a private audience with her father in a long-abandoned tower within the palace. It was there that Mera was finally introduced to the plans that her father had in place for her…. why she had her formative years stripped away from her and was cast into a lifestyle of maturity from the age of six. She was given a double purpose, neither of which Princess Mera was entirely thrilled about…. but would do so for the sake of her kingdom. She was to be married to the military chieftain, Nereus…. and was to plot a daring assassination attempt upon the royal family of Atlantis. The Kingdom of Xebel had long been at odds with Atlantis, but to have Princess Mera utilize the gifts given to her to secretly assassinate those that had long enforced harsh policies against Xebel would have put the kingdom in a far greater position. Despite the internal protests that had mustered within the corporeal form of Mera, she agreed to both, and was certain to explain to her father that killing the remaining blood of King Atlan was not going to be a process of only a single day. King Ryus accepted that fact before granting Mera twenty-four hours to depart for Atlantis… relying on her abilities to triumph against the odds. One artifact, that of a recording device in the form of a shell, was gifted to Mera from her father….. a recording of her mother that she was not to open until she was met with a decision of moral importance. With her items in tow, and her farewells said, King Ryus opened the protective barrier around the Kingdom of Xebel to allow his daughter passage to Atlantis….. Mera’s mind focused on the task at hand and nothing more.

Upon arriving in Atlantis as an ambassador from the Kingdom of Xebel, Mera was invited into the court of Queen Atlanna and King Orvax to further relations between the two distant kingdoms. The close relationship that Princess Mera formed with those of Atlan’s blood was one of deceit and treachery, both cunning traits she had learned during her days in court. It was there that she waited for the perfect opportunity to strike, to enact the legacy of her father and promote the hegemony of the Kingdom of Xebel over the pretenders in Atlantis.

Every action that was taken within Atlantis became one that Y’Mera Xebella Challa took in stride. When Queen Atlanna was ostracized from Atlantean society on the order of King Orvax, Mera took it upon herself to garner the absolute trust of the fallen queen through messages and routine visits to the queen’s guarded chambers. It was during one of these conversations that the rumors of Atlanna’s bastard child were confirmed…. A name given to him as well as a lighthouse that the queen feared she would never see. With that information in mind, Mera took it upon herself to secretly track Arthur Curry through proxies to try and establish the first step of her plan at eliminating the royal family for the glory of Xebel. However, when the Princess of Xebel took it upon herself to confront her foe face-to-face, her steadfast determination faltered the longer that she remained within the half Atlantean’s presence… so much so that she fled back to Atlantis’s troubled political sphere without an ounce of blood of her blade. It was as though she had awoken from a thousand-year sleep, though she was too late to prevent the rise of King Orm after the deaths of both Queen Atlanna and King

Through a fresh set of eyes, Princess Y’Mera continued to loosely follow the instructions given to her by her father a handful of years prior….. King Orm was a plight to both the sea and land….. and seeing him dead would not bring further guilt to the Xebellan’s conscious. In secret, Mera continued to plot the death of King Orm, only for the opportunity to be snatched from before her when he was murdered by those on the surface. Elation did not fill her thoughts as her lifelong goal had been achieved, but rather a hollow sense remained present with her. Victory was not satisfactory, instead she felt as though she betrayed everything that her people had once stood for… spoon-fed lies by her, now dead, father that only sought personal gain. In the hopes of redemption, she once more sought out Arthur Curry to establish him properly on the Throne of Atlantis. Mera felt as though she owed Queen Atlanna, the woman that she could have saved……. She owed all of Atlantis, and she would provide them with a king and bestow upon him what knowledge she could. Not only was Arthur the only hope for stability in Atlantis, but for the fractured soul of Y’Mera Xebella Challa.

## Powers and Abilities

### Powers

* **Atlantean Physiology**
* **Hydrokinesis**