Shieldmaiden

Lyta, the Shieldmaiden, believes herself to be the survivor of a shipwreck who washed up on Themyscira, with no memory of who she was before. In truth, she is the daughter of Ares and Circe, sent to Themyscira by her mother, so that she would be beyond her father's reach. Only Hippolyta and Diana know of Lyta's true origins. Growing up, Lyta proved to be strong even by Amazonian standards, and prone to fits of temper and violence.

While playing with her dearest friend Anaxarete and a pair of Bana Amazon twins in the wilds of Themyscira, one of the twins accidentally triggered a rockslide which killed Anaxarete and injured Lyta. She flew into a blind rage, blaming the other girls for the accident, and said "Gods, any god, give me a weapon!" as she fumbled around. This, her direct request for aid, allowed Ares to intervene on her behalf in spite of his ban from Themyscira. She found a spear and a shield -- Ares' own. When the red haze cleared, one of the Bana girls was dead, the other badly injured. Lyta was given Bracelets of Submission which controlled her berserker rage, and banished from Paradise Island into the care of Diana Prince, Wonder Woman, so that she might learn control and atone for her actions. Her secret identity is that of Diana's niece.

Lyta has strength equal to her mentor's, inherited from her father. She also possesses his spear and shield, which cannot be wielded by another without her consent, and which she can call out of thin air into her hands. When she is not wielding them, they reside in another dimension, hanging on the wall in her father's hall of Areopagus. She is extremely accurate with her spear, and as the weapon of a God there is little it cannot damage. The spear "will remain sharp so long as man draws the blood of man" and likewise, the shield "will not break so long as man fights back against his attackers". Finally, the subtlest of Lyta's abilities, which no one is aware of, is a constant empathic projection of anger, causing tempers around her to fray, most often manifesting itself as an impatience with Lyta herself, something in her expression or tone that makes you irrationally want to break her nose -- fortunately, it's effect on metahumans seems to be limited.

The blonde, red-eyed Shieldmaiden has become fiercely devoted to Wonder Woman, eschewing membership in groups like the Teen Titans in order to remain at her side. She tends toward jealousy at the mention of Donna Troy and Wonder Girl, but it is a one way rivalry that generally met with bemusement by both. While bad tempered, Lyta is also extremely shy, afraid of losing control and ill at ease in the Patriarch's world.

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A doodle inspired by one of Jeff Herbert's (www.heromachine com) comments on one of his old character contests -- sidekicks. I went ahead and colored it to test my new tablet (I love it, but dear LORD, my hand hurts) 15 minutes with Wikipedia got her backstory sorted.