Everything Goes On

 

Profile

Isselina L'anaira, better known by her English localized name Iseult Lanigera, is an apprentice mercenary and scientist. She is a member of the Iorans, a species of mammalian aliens native to Galaxy Lambda whose physiology is most similar to rodents on Earth, and is the adoptive daughter of Gunjin Shouma, leader of the Inuwashi Gunjin mercenaries. She is easily described as a serious, independent young woman whose key positive traits include bravery, intelligence, selflessness, determination, and loyalty—at the same time, she is known to be incredibly stubborn, quick to agitate, and highly prone to self-isolating when upset.

Iseult tends to behave in a very guarded manner around strangers, sometimes to the point that she can come off as distrustful or even aloof. In reality, she is an incredibly sweet, kind, and even motherly young woman who is highly sensitive to the suffering of others, and is protective of those in more vulnerable positions than she is. She is also much more fun-loving than she let's on, enjoying singing and dancing, and playing games. Perhaps most standout is her love of botany and mycology—she claims that her interest in flowers and other plant life was fostered by her older brother, Diarmuid, and she seems to find herself most at peace when she is able to find the time to garden.

Though Iseult appears to be a calm, sensible individual on the outside, she is eventually revealed to be an incredibly troubled young woman. The turtles initially meet her when they've been imprisoned in the Triceraton Arena as gladiators—she herself was forced to fight after having been framed during a job that went awry thanks to the "partner" she had teamed up with. She is able to escape with the other gladiators thanks to the confusion caused by the turtles rescuing Professor Honeycutt and later appears as part of Traximus's rebellion during the Triceraton invasion of Earth. Afterwards, she reunites with the turtles during an incident in Northampton where she's pursued by Abigail Finn, who planned to capture her to restore her reputation. While trying to avoid her, Iseult reveals her motivations for coming to Earth—she's seeking a cure to the deadly pandemic that is ravaging her people.

Almost a decade ago, a mysterious virus broke out in the Ioran Domain. Referred to as the Dearg Virus because of the tell-tale red rash that develops as the disease progresses, it's proven itself to be insidious due to its high infection rate, long incubation period, and 100% lethality rate. As a child, Iseult's entire family, along with most of those who lived in the agricultural research facility on the moon of Eriu she called home, fell victim to the disease—she herself was infected at one point as well, but was asymptomatic and survived, and remains the only Ioran on record who has an acquired immunity to the virus. Though the event was traumatic, Iseult has vowed to find a means to end the virus and save the Ioran Domain—to that end, she had her adoptive father train her in combat and other skills so that she could become a mercenary and travel the universe in an effort to find a cure. She believes that Earth's plant life may hold the key, as the Dearg Virus is noted to be reactive to certain light waves—analysis of those emitted by Earth's sun have proven the strongest she's ever encountered, and she decides to set up shop on the planet. After dealing with Abigail, she ends up moving into the basement of an abandoned warehouse in New York City, where she spends much of her time researching the virus when she's not hanging out with the turtles or assisting them in their battles.

Despite being one of the cooler personalities among the cast, Iseult is noted to suffer from occasional impulsive, reckless tendencies when successfully agitated, which usually occurs when she’s witnessed some kind of injustice against an innocent. The events of her past have left their mark as well, as she shows signs of suffering from PTSD and survivor's guilt—she often questions why she alone survived her brush with the virus while countless others perished, and has become so obsessed with finding a cure that she's developed unhealthy workaholic habits. (At one point, the turtles learn that she only survives on four hours of sleep a day.) Even so, she is still considered a beloved friend and faithful ally who is highly valued for her intelligence, loyalty, and dedication to getting the job done. She's not sure what she plans to do once she's successfully completed the cure prototype and delivered it to the Domain, but she suspects that she still has much, much work lying ahead as the Iorans work to rebuild their fractured society.

Skills

• Ioran Physiology: Like most Iorans, Iseult is an incredibly speedy, agile individual, and a natural acrobat. Her fur coat also keeps her warmer in cold environments, and she has excellent night vision.
• Strength: Even when she's not wearing her strength-enhancing gauntlets, Iseult is known to be very strong and can easily lift the larger, heavier turtles with little effort. How much she can lift while wearing them is unknown, but she's shown to be capable of punching through solid concrete while they're active.
• Hand-to-hand combat: Iseult was trained in various alien martial arts by her adoptive father, Gunjin Shouma. Owing to her tendency to get thrown around due to her small size and light weight, she tends to prefer hit-and-run tactics in combat whenever possible.
• Intelligence: Iorans are noted to be a highly intelligent species and Iseult is no different. She's known to be quick to learn and absorbs new knowledge easily and with little effort.
• Technology: While Iseult isn't an engineer or tech geek to the same extent as Donatello, she's is capable of navigating computer terminals and can perform basic coding and hacking if needed.
• Botany and mycology: As Iseult grew up in an an agricultural research compound, she has a natural love of learning about plants and fungi. It's usually only useful in the context of her research, but it is shown to be incredibly helpful in survival situations where she's able to correctly identify which plants and mushrooms are safe to eat, as well as those that have medicinal properties.
• Virology: Owing to her research into the Dearg Virus, Iseult has circumstantially become well-versed in infectious diseases—it proves useful during the Outbreak arc, as she manages to develop a program that can accurately predict when there's likely to be an outbreak of mutants.
• Medical knowledge: In addition to her knowledge of infectious diseases, Iseult manages to function as a field medic and carries a number of equipment on her so she can bandage wounds, set broken bones, and even perform minor surgery if necessary.

Relationships

Tamesis Lanigera: Iseult's mother and the head scientist who was in charge of the Eriu Agricultural Research Compound. Tamesis was a strong, intelligent woman who did everything she could to protect her community right up until the end, and was the one to inspire Iseult's strong will and dedication.

Diarmuid Lanigera: Iseult's older half-brother, who was a member of the Réalta Lann Corps. He was born due to a previous relationship Tamesis had before meeting her husband, and formed a strong bond with Iseult due to them being the only single births among their mother's children—he was also the one who instilled many of Iseult's beliefs in protecting others and showing empathy. After the Dearg Virus claimed most of their family, Diarmuid did everything he could to protect Iseult until he too was finally infected with the virus. As his final act before his death, Diarmuid sealed himself and his little sister within an abandoned store, as desperate residents of the Eriu compound wanted to experiment on Iseult due to the discovery that she may have acquired an immunity to the virus.

Iseult's Father and Siblings: Although not much can be said about Iseult's relationship with the rest of her family, flashbacks and visions that Iseult occasionally has would suggest that the deaths of her father and eleven other siblings affected her just as deeply as those of her mother and Diarmuid.

Gunjin Shouma: Iseult's adoptive father; while she bemoans his overbearing protective nature, she loves him all the same and always refers to him as "father" when speaking with him or others. Shouma befriended Diarmuid during the latter's days at the Réalta Lann Academy of Blades and rushed to Eriu after receiving a message from a dying Diarmuid begging him to rescue his sister. He would discover a scared, confused, sobbing Iseult desperately trying to rouse her brother's corpse in the abandoned store that Diarmuid had sealed the two inside—heartbroken by the sight, Shouma immediately resolved to raise Iseult as his own daughter and, after providing Diarmuid with a traditional Ioran burial at sea, took her away from the compound ruins as Utrom humanitarian workers arrived to try and bring aid to the remaining survivors.

Gunjin Yuuto, Seiji, and Aki: Iseult's adoptive "uncles" and Shouma's brothers. The three of them happily dote on their "niece" and Iseult cannot help but draw lines between them and the turtles, at least in terms of their roles within the Inuwashi Gunjin's team—Shouma is the leader and coordinates the others in battle, Yuuto is the strength and protects the others, Seiji is the brains and designated mechanic, and Aki is the wildcard and most natural athlete.

Hamato Leonardo: Iseult admits that Leo can be a little on the stiff side, but still respects his capabilities as a leader who can guide his family even in the most heated of combat situations. Their relationship is purely professional and they aren't particularly close otherwise.

Hamato Raphael: Iseult seems to have a friendly relationship with Raphael despite their differing interests. She playfully teases him from time to time but avoids pushing his buttons, and ends up coming to him for advice on her relationship with Donatello.

Hamato Donatello: Iseult and Don hit it off very quickly due to their similar intelligent, curious personalities. As their friendship develops, they soon discover that they share a lot of the same core beliefs and values, eventually leading them to develop mutual romantic feelings for each other. They hesitate to act on them, however, as they both know that once Iseult's research is complete and she's created a cure prototype, she'll leave Earth and return to the Domain, begging the question of whether they should even attempt to pursue a relationship at all.

Hamato Michelangelo: Mikey has become Iseult's self-proclaimed tutor in Earth culture, which mostly consists of him shoving as many different movies, comic books, and video games in her face as possible. Strangely, Iseult only seems to find him mildly annoying at worst and actually enjoys his company, at least as long as he's not getting up to mischief.

Trivia

• Iseult's name in the Ioran tongue proper, Isselina, refers to a white eight-petaled flower native to the Ioran homeworld of Magmell. The flower absorbs far more sunlight than is actually required for photosynthesis—at night, it utilizes the excess in order to produce bioluminescence, glowing golden to attract pollinators. It has strong associations with freethinkers, philosophers, scientists, engineers, and travelers, and is often given to relatives as a traditional gift upon returning home from a long trip.
• Iseult's favorite color is gold, noting it reminds her of sunlight and the flowers of her namesake
• Her hobbies include gardening, singing, dancing, and fishing
• Her favorite foods tend to largely be fruits, nuts, and seafood--she's particularly fond of shellfish and becomes unreasonably addicted to New England clam chowder during her time on Earth.
• Her music preferences tend to largely veer towards dance-oriented genres such as electronic, techno, disco, and pop.
• Her primary form of transportation is a collapsible hoverboard.
• The gauntlets Iseult utilizes to enhance her physical strength were actually developed in order to assist in rescuing survivors from rubble in disaster-stricken areas.
• The "dagger" strapped to her thigh is the standard Phoza Beam Sword wielded by members of the Réalta Lann, and belonged to Diarmuid.
• Iseult has expressed the desire to have children someday. This may prove tricky seeing as the person she's fallen for is from an incompatible species...

Development Notes

• Iseult's original concept was a genetic experiment of Bishop's sent to infiltrate the turtles alongside her brother. I ended up abandoning this concept because her design was a liiiiittle too cute, at least when compared to other similar canon characters like Quarry or T9581, and I also realized there were more opportunities for worldbuilding if she were an alien.
• In addition, she was originally supposed to be based on a chinchilla. As I kept making adjustments to her design, she eventually became more and more squirrel-like, at which point I decided to just roll with it. (However, my notes on the Iorans still have them down as having evolved from a rodent-like species similar to chinchillas, and the ethnic group genetically closest to their ancient ancestors still has many chinchilla-esque traits.)
• Since she was originally going to be an experiment of Bishop's, I opted to pick a knight-themed name and quickly settled on "Iseult," after one of the titular characters of the tragic legend of Tristan and Iseult. Fortunately, this managed to transfer over when I made her an alien and resulted in many of the naming conventions with the Iorans being inspired by Ireland, Britain, the legend of King Arthur, and Celtic mythology.
• Although I prefer to treat Fast Forward as non-canon, there are a lot of concepts I enjoy from that particular season--the coloration for Iseult's main outfit, for example, came from the armor the turtles wear on their arms and legs during that season. I am also very fond of the Inuwashi Gunjin, who are now part of a species allied to the Iorans called the Washi and have been reimagined as a quartet of mercenaries.
• When it came to her weapon, I initially thought of giving Iseult a chain of some sort—sketches testing the concept, unfortunately, proved it to conflict with her tail, so I decided to go with a pair of gauntlets instead.
• Iseult's legs were originally more human-like where the biggest difference was that she had three toes instead of five. This never felt sufficient enough for an alien character, though, so I eventually swapped over to digitigrade legs.
• Iseult's ears were originally rounder and more mouselike—these were a PAIN to drew from different angles, though, so I ended up swapping to more pointed ears inspiration by European Red Squirrels in their winter coats.