Lan Xiurong by @Thorvald (El Thorvaldo)

"Before that day, she wasn't political in any sense. They made her political. She's been fighting back ever since."

Lan Xiurong, the second distinct character I created for the IOT spin-off Multipolarity. She headed the Scarlet Lancers' observer delegation to the UN, and after King George's abdication served as permanent representative of the Co-operative Federation of Xinjiang. She reverted to soldiering during the second resistance, and thereby escaped the destruction of UN headquarters by the fascist Greater Union of New Scotireland. Late in her life, she would become the Prime Minister of the Federal Union of China, which I believe would make her the second ever female Chinese PM.

She lost her eye from torture during the Christos Xinjiang era in a brutal incident that witnessed the murder of her entire family. It spurred her to join the Lancers, where she became an icon first of the Chinese resistance, and later under her UN guise, the GUNS counter-coalition. Despite her horrific experiences, she miraculously never lost an upbeat temperament.

I spent two hours yesterday on the face, only to decide I didn't like the perspective and scrapped the whole thing. It's still not quite the pose I hoped for, and I'm not happy with the nose, but it's definitely better than the first take. The shading didn't turn out too bad, although it looked so much better on paper.

I'm not actually sure what sort of uniform she's wearing, but it's undoubtedly resistance-era. The National Army emblem would probably be more appropriate, but since that's commercial property I figured I'd stick with made-at-home.

[Originally submitted to DeviantArt November 2012.]