Long ago, Obea left the home that she shared with her sisters Gris and Jual, the only other Azizas born from the random material of Jo’s Disc shortly after the naming of the Discs. Their home was a Cotton-Wood that, unlike the one the Luminary Nyame would eventually come to call home, was called Mam and was only home to the three Azizas who lived there for a long time tending to the needs of their mother as she floated through space. Obea was her Mam’s light, always shining into the dark corners of space to keep her mother safe from collision. Obea often flew ahead of her mother and eliminated threats whether random features of Jo’s space like asteroids and comets, or flocks of flying whales, or more nefarious threats, like the aggressive raiders of Cotton-Wood trees who captured whole trees and poached the cotton of their seeds, preventing the seeds from floating and eventually sprouting. Gris was her Mam’s force, strong enough to change the mighty Cotton-Wood’s direction at Obea’s suggestion or her mother’s whim. Gris was always on Mam, always patrolling her surface for any pests or parasites and strong enough to rid the impressive Cotton-Wood of any threat to its physical being. Jual was her Mam’s spirit, the only Fonlander in her youth capable of perfect fluency in the language of the trees who could perfectly communicate the thoughts and feelings of her mother. Jual was the first born of the three Azizas and she often sought council with other flora of Jo’s Disc, initially on behalf of her mother, and eventually as their official emissary and sworn protector to beings ignorant in the communication of the flora, including the trees and the flowers.
The three Azizas left their mother when they reached maturity after many thousands of years, when Mam was old and happy to float space alone into the infinite embrace of the space of Jo like an eternal sleep.
When Obea left her mother, she went in search of the Luminary Nyame, whom she’d met over the course of travels with her mother and was eager to travel along with her on her adventures around the Disc. Even though Nyame was much older than her, the two were kindred and became quick friends. Nyame reminded Obea of the love she experienced with her mother and her sisters and the two enjoyed a very intimate connection.
Nyame inspired Obea to travel the Discs of the Fonlands and they enjoyed many adventures together and apart. It was on a trip to the Disc of Agbe that she learned of the mmoatia, specifically the pale one of the Deep known as Ahdis, and even though she only saw Ahdis from a distance in a cavern that she’d been led to by Nommo dignitaries hoping to impress her, she recognized the power inside of Ahdis. When she returned to the Disc of Agê she spoke with the young Tracia on the surface when she visited the domain of Golden Trumpet in the jungle. And shortly after that meeting, she nearly found herself in a battle with Pultine in the forest when she sat to enjoy some berries, which apparently were under Pultine’s protection who attacked her almost immediately. Pultine was strong and full of life, eager to test her might against anything that dared step to her, and Obea could only resist the fight because she knew something that the young aboatia did not. Obea was a parent of each of the mmoatia and she was excited to be part of such impressive Fonlanders who were emerging as leaders of their disc. She was content to know of them, she has never told them what is obvious to her, and she never intended to be involved in their lives.
But then Jual found her on the Cotton-Wood that Nyame called home, where many knew to find Obea if they were looking for her, and she told her about corrupted star eaters that used their dead bodies to create a new being of the Fonlands that was fueled by death magic.
Obea knew that she and her sisters would struggle against star eaters corrupted by death magic. Obea needed help that she and her sisters could direct against the frenzied madness of the star eaters that were hard to defeat without careful coordination and overwhelming force. Obea realized that with just four effective warriors, they could overwhelm eight death magic corrupted star eaters, and she went first to the Zar Spirit Warriors because of their renown, but they just laughed at the Azizas, happy to spite Jual who they were at odds with because Jual had admonished them when she was the special guest of Jo at the Shooting of the Stars. The Zar are not sensitive to the needs of flora inhabitants of Jo’s Disc and Jual was not shy about calling them out.
Obea racked her brain how they could recruit four warriors effective enough to do what needed to be done so they could rub it in the face of the smug Zar Spirits when they stopped the corrupted star eaters.
Then she learned of Anansi’s aspiration to have a purview known to other Fonlands, the wannabe Vodun of stories. And Obea suggested trials for him, to bring her four warriors. She knew that he would not fail, no matter how difficult the task. The son of a Vodun had much to prove and he was smart enough to do the seemingly impossible.
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