She sails the waters at the head of her army, close yet far from the depths where her people swim. She casually toys with a giant green stone jewel, a gift from a god, as she contemplates the sky.
OC Commissioned by Anomalous Thracian. November 2025.
Digital painting, photoshop and wacom cintiq. #noAI
“Ardarael, the Dargonesti” – dargonesti are the sea elves of the Dragonlance fandom. She’s a warrior, an exile, a general and a hero.
A painting, a final memento of a brief but meaningful journey together. During 2025, I struggled to listen to my art—I listened and heard only silence, or the call of distractions. I accepted very few requests, and only from people I cared deeply about. One of these was Anomalous Thracian, with whom I worked for three years. So many paintings, so many ideas, so many stories.
It can all end so quickly.
I didn’t know it, yet I was desperate to finish this painting without wasting too much time. And so this painting was finished, and just in time, you might say. Thracian loved it; he framed it and showed me a picture just before the end. I will hardly ever forget this painting.
Go, Ardrael, sea elf, heroine and warrior, aboard your ship. We’ll see each other on the other side of the dawn.
About Ardrael
“Ardarael (“the Sapphire Blade”) is a Dargonesti (sea-elf) barbarian, in exile from her people for no fault of her own. She has spent most of her long life living amongst the surface peoples, intermittently by land and with restful times at sea (on a ship with her “found family” who she regularly returns to sail with). At the time of this image, Ardarael is doing a decade-long term of service with the “Free Company of the Golden House” of Tarsis, and for her heroics, has been honored with a position of a grand command. She maintains a direct friendship with the Queen of Tarsis (a ruler who is also, at this time, the Guildmistress of the House of Gold). This painting is set nearly 1,000 years before the Cataclysm.
Ardarael, during this period, wears a large emerald carved in the shape of a wing, pointed downward – one of the sacred symbols of Shinare – which is worn beneath the breasts, over her armor. This oversized gemstone marks her position as a favored champion of Shinare. It is somewhat obscenely large, and has been described as “problematically big”.
[…] In this “scene” she is on the galley ship, depicted alone— I imagine that this is a character study of her complexity as a person, and the complicated history and emotions therein. Much of her story is an exploration of “the weight of time”, and specifically what the impact of being a long-lived elf traveling for centuries in mostly human and dwarven cultures would be like […]”
Other works
Other paintings created for Anomalous Thracian. Behind each of them lies a long and fascinating story.
Use of this artwork
You can share this artwork on a social media only if you credit me properly in the caption, “Artwork by Elena “Greenedera” Zambelli http://www.greenedera.com”. Thank you for the understanding.
For any other use of this artwork, contact me first. And don’t feed it to the Ais.
If you’re interested in digital downloads without watermark for personal use, licensing the artwork for a new project, or you’d like a custom print, please contact me.
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Copyright 2025 Elena Zambelli, All Rights Reserved.
Created on 02 November 2025, published on 27 January 2026 | #noAI
Last page edit: 27 January 2026
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