Chibi Lyamin al-Fulan

FINALLY! After a long, long time just having an idea of him in my mind, I finally got my act together and drew him. Let me present you the last team mate of Sasha's squad: Lyamin al-Fulan, the Algerian Mechanical Engineer.

He was born to a pair of Berber nomads in the Sahara desert, somewhere in south Algeria. They gave him the name of Lyamin, after the Alderamin star. His upbringing would turn out to be marked strongly by disobedience and rebellion to customs and tradition, as well as with a certain admiration and jealousy in relation to the European world he came to meet in his childhood, when passing towns and cities with his nomadic people.

One day, a 13 years young Lyamin decided to leave his family and nomadic life behind and sneaked away into the vastness of the Sahara, searching for a town or city to settle down and begin a new life, deluded by the thought of living a life like the Europeans he once saw. He never met his parents again.

Without a map to know of the nearest settlements, young Lyamin wandered for days through the desert, only coming to survive so long thanks to the survival knowledge taught by his people. When he thought everything was in vain and death was near, he was saved by a French soldier from a nearby military outpost. Passing a month under their custody as a factotum, they took him afterwards to the coast, to the city of Oran.

Amazed by the European city life, Lyamin, speaking mainly Berber and Arabic, doesn't wastes any time and diligently tries to learn French, the spoken language of the Europeans in Algeria. Passing most time with the French soldiers, who try to help him around, he also learns very soon about adults' pleasure, like gambling and alcohol, both illegal practices by the colonial government. The young boy adapts his Berber name to Liamine, to suit the French pronunciation better, becoming a trainee as Mechanical Engineer in the French Foreign Legion. It transpired that he was a gifted mechanic, and along the way he learned technical German words already.

Some years pass with Liamine living a sinful life in Oran, with lots of wine, women and gambling, naturally rising more than once problems with authority. Besides despising the military obedience, during his years in the Foreign Legion and Oran, he came to understand more about the political situation of his homeland: that of a colony under French rule, that was being recklessly drained to pay France's war debts. Learning that all Great Powers shamelessly exploit their colonies and enslave their people, he quits his service (just to deny to his superiors the satisfaction of throwing him out personally) and tries to survive for a time gambling in the underground.

By that time, he changes his name adaption back into Lyamin, and becomes involved with various revolutionary groups, aiming for Algerian independence. Though not sharing the major socialist views with them, he agrees mostly in the expulsion of all pro-colonial Europeans, of whom he begun growing a hatred. Seeing those groups as a profitable demographic, he sells his mechanical assistance, mostly engineering bombs with such ingenuity, they resemble more pieces of art in their complexity than bringers of death.

Naturally, Lyamin is eventually arrested by the colonial police and sentenced to death. Some hours before the execution, a deal is offered to him: to work for a certain organization in Europe in exchange for his life. Highly suspect about the deal, Lyamin ends up accepting and adopts the surname al-Fulan, "the someone". Some hours later, while he was officially executed, he was already being accompanied in a ship heading to Marseille ...

I hope you can figure out the rest!

Personality-wise, I think of Lyamin as a hard person to deal with. He can be charming, and his energetic manner is contagious, but his anger towards the nations that are considered Great Powers can make people back away from him. He is a gambling addict and stands by it, a passionate anti-colonialist who most certainly doesn't like to be patronized, and a talented mechanical engineer who can also be extremely loyal to those he esteems.

Lyamin al-Fulan, Vagrant Hearts and all related stuff are © of me/cekario