Levina Hemlessen

*"Traitor? No, I do not think Levina is able to be loyal to anything aside from art itself. The only reason she even bothers to humor the Thadrakos with her pressence is how they gave her the tools she needs to finish her most abitious projects"*

-President Shu Lin, speaking about Levina Helmlessen-

## Levina Hemlessen

Self-portrait of the artist in traditional clothing

## Physical description

### Species

human

**Levina Hemlessen** (born in Murad, Ortus  in 2227), was a known human artist and citizen of the Commonwealth, known as much for her great paintings as she was for her eccentric lifestyle and love for the art and lifestyle of old Earth. Ever since 2275, she has taken residence in the territories of the Thadrakos families, her great skill and nearly-unnatural ability to give life to her creations making her so famous amongst the Thadrakos, she managed to become the favourite of Galadanan Hadkan, the powerful head of the Thadrakos Hadkan family.

Currently, many young artists from within and beyond the families' borders seek to become Levina's students. Only a couple out of each hundred manage to achieve this, as Levina is only known to give attention to those she feels have "a gift for the arts". Also, while living in Thadrakos territories, Levina still holds no ill views of the Commonwealth  or other nations across the galaxy. Art is her life and nothing more.

While a divisive figure within the citizenship of the Commonwealth, Levina's paintings are still admired and displayed in many of Ortus' museums, including those of her hometown of Murad.

## Biography

### Youth

As many of those born in the city of Murad, Levina Hemlessen was surrounded by much of the culture and traditions humanity had managed to take with them during their exhile from Earth. While never a member of the Exhile party, the great paintings of humanity's ancient artists always impressed Levina, to the point where she spent nearly every hour of her free time witnessing the paintings, sculptures and other works of art of the People's Museum of Ortus.

While a good and promising student, Levina never tried any of the careers offered to her, her mind already focused on creating and improving the art of the great artists of Earth. Trying, and failing several times to create sculptures, Levina quickly focused her attention to drawing, especially the highly-realistic and humanistic works she had seen from artists such as Velazquez or Goya. Working to earn money for her tools during the morning and painting at night, she sought to go one step beyond her idols and not only focus on nature and animals, but also the new citizens who joined the Commonwealth every year.

### First works

After making her first painting, a self-portrait of herself wearing the usual clothing of women in 18th century Commonwealth, Levina began to try her luck with figures who did not have her same proportions. Starting with some of her Kithri and Alir  neighbours, Levina worked tirelessly in her small flat, trying to get the exact proportions and shades of her new models.

While extravagant, bad with money and prone to exageration, Levina quickly became quite popular in her block and street. Those who came by would be surprised to find grown Alir trying to put on the clothes of old, human nobles from the 16th century, or Kithri putting on fake capes, crowns and jewels of old kings while Levina tried to capture not only the looks, but also the mood and "aura" of her volunteers.

One of the most famous paintings at that time however, was the one she made of General Branicki after one of his many military campaigns. Commonly known as "the Annoyed Conqueror", Levina did not only manage to capture the image of the commander, but also his deep annoyance and anger as he was forced to stand still for hours without end. It is said that, after he saw the painting, Branicki himself was shocked and quite embarrassed about the mood he showed.

Friends and members of his command staff on the other hand said Levina had managed to capture the general perfectly.

### Presidential painter

Still in her early 30's, Levina managed to become the painter of many Commonwealth high officials, including president Shu Lin herself. Allowed to travel in diplomatic missions beyond the nation's borders, Levina also got to pain outside Ortus, meeting leaders from the Galactic Entente and even high ranking nobles from the Kingdom of Yadra.

In the highly-practical society of the Commonwealth however, Levina was never given all the support and monetary help she demanded for her more ambitious projects. Using nearly everything she earned to try new, alien materials previously untested for painting her works, Levina nearly lived in poberty, a fact not helped at all by her obsession with buying only the best materials at all times.

### Meeting the families

This changed however during a trip out of Ortus. Her ship, a vessel going to the Western territories of the Alir Commune, was suddenly attacked and boarded by a Thadrakos mecenas of unknown name. To the surprise of the crew and Levina herself, the Thadrakos refused to take any of the precious minerals the ship carried, or the Alir and human crew as slaves. Instead, he got to one knee, holding Levina's hand as he proclaimed to the seven minds how his quest was finally over and that he could finally return to his lords and ladies with pride.

As it turned out, Levina's works were not only famous amongst the Commonwealth and the realms in its borders. In the territories of the Thadrakos families, her paintings became a treasure precious enough to risk hundreds of slaves and dozens of ships for them. The Hadkan family in particular had invested many resources to get some of these paintings and promised a high reward to the Thadrakos who managed to bring Levina to them.

Seeing that maybe amongst these aliens she would get a chance to truly test her skills, Levina eagerly accepted to join the mecenas. After assuring Commonwealth patrols that she was truly leaving willingly, Levina was invited to the Thadrakos homeworld, a place which would quickly become a new home for her, one where she could admire the art of the universe and learn from it.