Barona

Barona is a female Red Fox vulpinoid (vulpes vulpes) created by Chris F. Grant for the science-fiction Empires story that appeared in the pages of Yarf! (1989-1996), and then in one chapter of Furrlough issue #1. Her full name is "Ketterinna Anorissa Barona".

Corporal Barona is a member of the Central Alliance military forces and a devoted, professional soldier in the Tank Corps. A taciturn and gruff female fox in her early twenties, she was befriended by the young, naive Private Brion Tomac, the sensor tech on the tank. Other crew members of the tank, called "Ace of Spades", included Lieutenant Kotlin, the commander, and Sergeant Drake Shaddock, the gunner.

In the story "Empires: The Ace of Spades" as presented in Yarf!, Barona's tank was on long-range patrol when the Central Army lines were overrun by a sneak attack by Irrykanoi Imperial forces. The arch-rival of the tank crew was Morrigan, a Captain in the Imperial Army. While Barona and Morrigan never met or indeed never even knew each others' names, their ongoing battle of wits lasted for 40 chapters and some 440 pages in the pages of Yarf! from its inception at ConFurence in 1990.

Later, another character joined Barona named Celon Delosi, an Arctic fox vulpinoid character created by one of Chris Grant's friends. Barona and Delosi were intended to become regulars in a sequel feature called "Empires: Thunderhead" that was to be an anchor feature in Antarctic Press's Furrlough. The project was discontinued by the editors of Furrlough after one chapter due to the initial desire to maintain Furrlough as a "furry-only" book; whereas the Empires 'verse featured humans interacting prominently.