This will require short lines of dialogue for two female characters. 

• Voice: Regal, grounded, emotionally rich

• Tone: Commanding without being cruel; maternal without softness

• Accent: West African-inspired preferred; strong enunciation and warmth in cadence

• Age: 40s–60s range (flexible), must sound seasoned but powerful

Queen Mainouma rules the desert stronghold of Ibare with a soul forged by loss and leadership. A queen by burden more than ambition, she has held back tides of violence and chaos through sheer resolve. She is Nasumba’s mother — fierce, conflicted, loving in a way only warriors love: through sacrifice. Hers is a voice others look to when all else collapses.

Think Queen Ramonda (Black Panther) meets Lady Jessica (Dune) with a touch of Yaa Asantewaa.

• Inner strength beneath grief

• Righteous authority tempered with humanity

• A leader who’s been hardened, but not hollowed out

“I did not raise you to be good, Nasumba. I raised you to survive the kind of world that eats good men alive.”

The Sleepless Mother

• Voice: Ageless, otherworldly, reverent but unsettling

• Tone: Serene and seductive, but always a touch off — like a lullaby laced with arsenic.

• Accent: Pan-African or West African undertones encouraged, but layered with something spectral or ancient.

• Age: Beyond comprehension; her voice must transcend time, yet feel intimate.

She is the embodiment of sleeplessness and ancestral memory — a deity whose influence spans generations. In Nasumba’s descent into obsession, she appears not as a nightmare but as a beautiful, maternal comfort… whose embrace you never wake from. Think Galadriel in shadow, Hades as a mother, or a siren that sings of peace as the world burns.

• Seductive calm with unnerving undertones

• Power without needing to shout

• The kind of warmth that should feel safe… but isn't

“Your warriors scream into the night. But it is I who cradle their terror, quiet as breath, soft as silk. Come, child… lay your burdens here.”