Name: Tara Blackwell

First Appearance: The Traveler Chronicles

Tara is almost as well-traveled as her teammate Mani.

Ms. Blackwell is among The Travelers, the group of young heroes destined to free Second Realm from the oppressive grip of the Demonlord Paradox. While you'll always have your squeaky-clean hero types in a group, Tara really didn't fall into that category. Sure, her heart was always in the right place, but that didn't mean that she wasn't going to have a little fun in the process. Before she joined up with the team, Tara was quite the thief back in Hamir-Tobei, making a living out of picking pockets, breaking and entering, and the like. These talents served her well when she joined up with The Travelers as the team's 'security expert', for lack of a better term. She's fearless, highly intelligent, and a damn good shot to boot. And like Mani, she ended up making an appearance in Realmwalkers as well.

Tara ended up joining up with Natalie and company after their brief trip to Second Realm in order to procure a few weapons and goods not only for the people of New Malstron, but to hunt down the menace known as Kaiser Dark. She was a part of what many considered to be the rogue Travelers, the individuals that had fallen out of favor with the King. It was going to be a nice little subplot in the whole Realmwalkers timeline, that of former friends and allies forced against each other. War of The Travelers is still high on my list of projects to tackle in the near future.

What the Hell Kind of Weapon is That? : That seems to be what people ask the most whenever they see it. It's called a cipher, and it's pretty much a homage to the videogame Strider, since my boy Hiryu uses a weapon of the same name and very similar design. The best way to describe it is a nightstick, but with a large blade at the end of it. I'm sure it'd hurt like a mother to get smacked with something like that.

Alternate Personas: Tara actually also appeared as a character in a story by my friend Jake not too long ago. He was flipping through my notebook and came across a couple of sketches of the young lady, and fell in love with her design. She became an aristocratic white mage in his world (and her name changed slightly to Terra), and had quite an impact on things in that world.

Random Sidenote: I don't know if it's a reflection of the character or whatnot, but it seems like just about every time I draw her, Tara's got a different hairstyle. I need to just pick one and stick with it, but I like the idea that she keeps changing it up on a whim.

The Future: Oh yeah, she's going to be around for a long time to come. She's an absolute blast to write and draw, and I can't wait until I can insert her into Freelancers. I'd love to explore her back story a bit, so don't be surprised if you see a one-shot with her pop up around here sooner or later.