Cosmonaut Yula Merkulova is a major character in From the Grave of the Gods.

Statistics

Full Name: Yula Merkulova
DOB: 18th November 1990
Hometown: Georgiyevsk, Stavropol Krai, Russia

Occupation:
- Roscosmos Cosmonaut

Bio

Yula is the imaging specialist aboard the Magnum Opus. Her role in the mission to Mars is to operate the ship’s imaging systems, taking photos of the mysterious object on the surface from orbit and providing analysis ahead of their landing attempt.

When Yula first joined the crew, she had kept her distance. This is the first time she has been part of a diverse, international team, despite having spent more time in space - on the International Space Station - than the rest of the crew combined. But after seven months of travelling through interplanetary space with the likes of Captain Queen & Commander Fowler, she was able to let her guard down and join in with the camaraderie.

Despite initially coming off as ultra-professional and aloof, Yula has a warm heart and a penchant for banter. An easy-going person, Yula loves her work and is excited by the prospect of setting foot on Mars. She has immense courage in the face of danger, and would do anything to protect her friends; though she can be a little trigger happy.

Creating the Character

Yula started life in the concept phase as Gloria Samson. I hadn’t really gotten any further than the name and date of birth before realising that I had a very… Western cast of characters. Not a great start for a supposedly international team! There’s not a lot I can really say about naming Yula; baby name books are a writer’s best friend when it comes to real-world names. Thankfully a friend of my wife’s is Russian, so I was able to check the name (and its spelling in cyrillic) with her - it turns out one of her friends has that exact last name!

As for the portrait… This time I was much further outside my comfort zone when it came to the face - making the lips not look clown-like was the major sticking point. The eagle-eyed among you may notice that the suit is almost exactly the same as Austin’s. After spending hours just painting the face, I figured '“why reinvent the wheel?”. So yeah it’s a bit of a head-swap. But in my mind it makes sense as a series of official portraits.