Arista

Aristaeus, better known as Arista, is the main protagonist of Hollow Earth. She is the illegitimate daughter of Lachlan and Indigo, the foster daughter of Geneva, foster sister of Wren, Falcon, and Robin, and the paternal half-sister of Qi and Raziel.

Born as a Lamia - mortal mix, Arista harbors the ability to manipulate the element of earth to her bidding, yet having them develop later in her life than usual and struggling to use them properly. However, she is optimistic that she will make it to the empire as Geneva's departing wish despite whatever obstacles may be in her way.

Personality
Despite the rather unfortunate events prior to her upbringing, Arista was raised in the forest of Greenup by the Avaquik congregation, living with the dominant family consisting of Geneva and her children. Being raised in the wilderness gave Arista extensive knowledge of survival techniques such as hunting and navigating through harsh terrain, which she is very mindful of and practices it faithfully. She uses this intelligence to her advantage during her journey.

Aside from being gifted in the art of living in the wild, Arista is best known for her never-fading optimism and friendliness towards just about anyone she meets. Cute, polite, and adventurous to no end as it seems, she loves to explore and make friends as she does so, willing to help anyone in need and doing just about anything she can to overcome whatever inconvenience she might encounter. However, due to not having much contact with other humans, Arista can also come across as awkward and naive at times. Despite her initial fear and sadness of leaving her home, Arista eventually comes to and takes her quest in stride.

Appearance
At twenty years old, Arista is a youthful, thin woman with milky platinum blonde hair that is fixed into a ponytail with the hair atop her head slicked back to let locks of her bangs hang freely, pale teal / bright aquamarine eyes, notably pinkish skin, long legs, and the hereditary Lamian symbol on her back in the middle of her spine. She is noted to look almost exactly like her mother, Indigo.

Arista sports a spring green shoulderless top that has two separate sleeves that she wears on her upper arms, and the top has a mint-colored band at the top over her chest and a darker-colored diamond graphic in the middle of her abdomen. She wears a hunter green knee skirt with white stripes and diamonds, and she wears what appears to be sandy-colored kitten heels for shoes. She also wears an emerald necklace.

History
 Before The Show 

Despite having an emperor as her father, Arista's birth was not a particularally fabulous one.

Indigo, bearing the bastard child of Lachlan as a product of their affair, gave birth to her baby in an alleyway located in one of Skoteinos Pass's villages. The little girl was born healthy, full-term, and strong,a clear sign from the Deities that she would live. Exhausted yet grateful her baby survived the long labor, Indigo named her new daughter Arista, as she considered her baby to be the most beautiful thing she had ever seen.

For the first month of her life, Arista remained hidden with Indigo, moving from place to place to avoid detection from the mortal public who would do harm to both mother and baby should they be found. For a short while they stayed in Greenup so Indigo could present her new child to her good friend Geneva, explaining that she planned to sneak aboard a departing cargo ship in order to escape Mirus and raise Arista elsewhere.

However, one night not long before Indigo planned to leave, a pack of patrol dogs picked up the trail of a Lamia. Indigo spots the bounty hunters from afar and attempts to get away unnoticed, but the dogs detect her and give chase while the patrol shoots at her with arrows. Indigo attempts to fight back, but is shot in the leg, slowing her down significantly and lowering her chances of a successful getaway.

Realizing that there is no hope for her, Indigo flees back into Greenup and abandons Arista deep within the forest, hoping that one of the Avaquiks would find her and take her in. Shortly after leaving her daughter, Indigo is mauled by the dogs and dies from her injuries as one of the hunters catches up and fires a fatal shot.

Arista was found Geneva, who takes her in as one of her own children to honor Indigo's memory and final wish of Arista living a happy and safe life. However, a lone Nojoah named Subine finds out that a Lamian baby is in Greenup, and attempts to locate it to steal and take in to report. However, he is stopped by Geneva, who threatens to kill him if he ever returns. Subine slinks away, silently pledging to come back when least expected.

Under the watchful eye of the Avaquiks, Arista grew up among them with Geneva acting as her adoptive mother. She learned how to hunt and fight, learning the ins and outs of surviving in the wilderness.

More Coming Soon!

Trivia

 * Arista means "beautiful" or "the best" in Greek. Her name also has other meanings; in Latin, it means "grain", "harvest", or "ear of corn", while in Persian Farsi, it means "bride". Dawn has confirmed that Arista's name not only refers to her beauty, but also how she was "harvested" from the forest by Geneva after Indigo abandoned her, believing it would be a nice fit.
 * Arista's appearance is actually genetically inaccurate. Given that she was born to a blonde mother and a ginger father, Arista's hair should be strawberry blonde, not platinum blonde. However, she carries blue eyes like both of her parents.
 * According to Dawn, Arista was previously going to have ginger hair like Lachlan, but this was changed because she looked too similar to Qi and Raziel. She wanted Arista to be recognizable as Indigo's daughter as well as Lachlan's, and the audience would know who's child she was.
 * Arista didn't develop her earth-manipulation abilities until she was an adult. Pure-blooded Lamias developed their abilities whenever they hit puberty, and Arista is a mortal - Lamia mix; her status as a halfblood delayed her powers' onset.
 * She has no idea who her real parents are at the start of the story. Geneva managed to convince her that she was the daughter of a commoner couple whom couldn't afford to raise a child.