Tedla from Halfway Human by Carolyn Ives Gilman.
I’d done fan art of Tedla previously; but I felt compelled to revisit the character thanks to a generous fan buying me a new copy of the book. Eight years makes a bit of difference in art style >_>
To quote the original post from way back when:
This is Tedla. Tedla is a bland, an asexual being from an evolutionary offshoot of humanity. On its home planet blands are kept at a near-slave class, considered to be not human and much less important than either male or female. Blands are mentally, physically and sexually abused by their human masters, normally called guardians.
The long and short of the matter is, when I was 12 or so, I read a book called Halfway Human. What I read in it horrified my innocent little brain and I quickly returned the book to the store. Years later I encountered the book again. Not remembering anything about it I read it anew and was shocked to see the impact that book actually had on me. So I guess that makes this the most influential book in my life.

