KORANDA

Origin

Awa was playing her kora at a festival when a storm brought down the stage. She kept playing so the crowd would stay calm, and the music turned into glowing kente-coloured light that held the stage up until everyone was safe. Her songs have held people together ever since.

Powers

• Kora Song: her kora music becomes glowing ribbons of light that hold and lift
• Story Weave: her stories appear as glowing kente-pattern pictures that guide people
• Baobab Root: calls strong roots from the ground to hold up falling buildings

Weakness

Forgetting: when a story is told wrong or forgotten, her power fades; she needs her people's voices in call-and-response.

Sidekick

Kiko, a baby pangolin with kente-patterned scales.

Villain

The Unweaver, who unravels patterns and erases stories.

Costume

a deep-green and kente-gold fitted hero suit with kente-pattern panels and red trim, a gold kora strap, flat gold sandal-boots.

Episodes (every episode opens with a true fact)

1. Episode 1. True fact: The kora is a West African harp-lute with 21 strings. A storm brings down a festival stage. Awa keeps playing and the music holds it up. Next: The light was kente-coloured.
2. Episode 2. True fact: The baobab tree can live for more than 1,000 years. A school roof starts to fall. Koranda calls baobab roots to hold it. Next: Stories are being erased all over Dakar.
3. Episode 3. True fact: Griots have kept history alive through song and story for centuries in West Africa. The Unweaver unravels the city's stories. Koranda leads a call-and-response that weaves them back. Next: The Unweaver tells his own story.

Koranda and every Fire Empire Universe character are original creations of Fire Empire LLC. Character art is AI-generated and does not depict any real person.