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I originally envisioned the character as a spinoff of the Lightweight series I designed as a teenager. At the time, I put Lightweight in a teen superhero team and the character that is now Kaihime was a member of that unit. Originally named Oenone, after the tragic Greek figure, her name change came recently when I wanted to divorce her from the Greek allusions in the wake of Cyrus’s origin story. I lifted the name of another legendary figure, the Japanese warrior women Kaihime, for the technically enhanced heroine from another plane of reality.
The character was actually originally inspired way back when by just one picture, the cover image for Allegra #1 by Scott Clark. I loved the idea of a heroine embedded with technology. Though it would be a decade before I actually read an issue of Allegra (and found the series woefully weak considering a solid creative team of Clark and Steve Seagle) I knew that the idea of a heroine embedded with technology was cool.
Later on, another inspiration helped shape the visual imagery of the character. That figure was Kerrigan from Starcraft, a figure I just featured in a great Cosplay Friday.
I have let Oenone / Kaihime float through my imagination for the past twenty years. She took shape over a few different incarnations in the years between as most of my oldest characters have, usually connected with one unit of young heroes or another. Now she finally sees her debut as part of the Walking Shadows cast.
Her mission and her adventures will continue in future updates to Walking Shadows, every Tuesday and Thursday.
