Descent

To give anyone who cares an idea of how involved my world building can get here's Zenobia - a different Zen from the concept previously posted. In my notes for the modern devil girl, I made an offhand reference to her being named after a notorious and legendary figure from her people's history, one she is descended from and identifies with.

I suppose I should clarify that whatever monsters I've come up with generally have Earthly origins. They're the inspirations for our mythology and often don't match up with what's been imagined or said about them. They might be stronger, faster, live longer, look monstrous, or have superhuman abilities but, no one is casting spells or opening gateways to other planes of existence. I won't dismiss supernatural stuff. It's just not a major factor in what I'm doing. Besides, there are other creative artists out there - thousands of them - who already deal with it and do a better job than I ever could.

Getting back to Zen & Zen...
While I was writing the background material for modern Zen (born in 1964), her namesake's story started coming together. It just popped in there, like the Stay-Puft Marshmallow Man. So, I also wrote down the history for a Dark Ages devil girl named, Zenobia (born 1171). A demon princess exiled by her "wicked" stepmother, forced to survive among superstitious humans during the Crusades... It was a fun little stab at fairy tales and fantasy. I don't know if I'll ever get around to it but, all of these little ideas, details, and characters I dream up keep spawning more, interlacing with each other, with our own history, myths, and legends.