First drawing of the year and I knew it had to involve a dragon character, originally I wanted to draw Rudolph and Clarice in Shiny New Year but couldn't quite figure out the poses for them or how to draw them as actual reindeer. Instead, I switched over to an idea I had stewing for quite a few months now of a character I hadn't drawn in a few years when I was being a cynical A-hole over Valentines Day, Princess Delanuvesh of Talona. It was also an opportunity to revamp the Talonans' head design to something more crocodilian, since their heads originally looked pretty basic, I might have to do the same for the Dakimans sometime in the future as well.

Now Empress, Delanuvesh dedicates her reign to exacting vengeance against those who wronged her and humiliate the foreign powers who destroyed her family, by establishing an autocratic regime and building up the military to one day recreate the ancient Talonan Empire. She hopes that, by subjugating both the neighboring Sister states of Dakima and Wyvertia and conquering the coasts of America and Africa, it would give Europe pause and create a Great Power that all of Dragondom could rally behind. In 1940, Talona signed the Pact of Steel with Japan, Mexico, Mirnapustny, and Romania and two years later, with the Co-Prosperity Sphere tearing across the Pacific and Southeast Asia and the Balkan Tripartite invading their neighbors, the Empire threw its own hat into the ring when it declared war on Dakima and Wyvertia on May 18, 1942. The Empress' fifteen year thirst for blood and vengeance would see fruition as Talonan lead and steel crashed into their neighbors' cities and fire would consume much of their lands.