[center][color=a187be][h2]Marissa of the 9th Gate[/h2][/color][/center] [center][color=a187be][i]"I guess I don't need to bother going to work if I'm trapped here."[/i][/color][/center] [i][b]Appearance[/b][/i]: Some sort of magic user, judging by the large western style witch's hat sitting on her head and the cape. Aside from the mandatory hat and cape, though, she doesn't look much like a witch at all, instead opting for more casual clothing - currently, a short black trench coat over a knit pink&purple turtleneck and her local equivalent of jeans, with very comfortable looking running shoes. At 5'6" and 130 lbs, with a rather average body type with no features overdeveloped or out of balance, she looks very much normal person, as long as one doesn't mind the fact that her skin is steel-grey. At least, until one sees her eyes, which are very much [i]not[/i] human. Rather than circular pupils, hers are in the shape of a cross, the ends of which run all the way across regardless of which way she's looking. Aside from the abnormal shape, the irises are a pleasant shade of purple. [b][i]Age[/i][/b]: Q'varat 223. No known translation to Earth years. Appears relatively young - perhaps in mid twenties. [b][i]Gender[/i][/b]: Female, or very close to it. [b][i]Occupation[/i][/b]: Head Magician of the 9th Gate's #7 Engineering Complex. Extremely wealthy, so long as one accepts payment in iridium slips. [b][i]Abilities[/i][/b]: Elemental manipulation. Eldritch energy manipulation. Limited eldritch summoning. Limited space distortion. Wide-spectrum vision. [b][i]Skills[/i][/b]: Improvised weapon usage. Basic defensive arts. Building magical devices. [b][i]Personality[/i][/b]: Volatile and paranoid would be one way to put it. Generally, she tries to be friendly and helpful, but she has the annoying tendency to have massive mood swings. Generally she manages to keep these mood swings under control, because they're technically a [i]problem[/i] rather than a genuine part of herself, but she isn't yet able to keep her head cool when angered. That'll take quite a bit more practice. She is rather sociable and curious, and has the tendency to ask lots of questions about anything she doesn't know about when she doesn't think she can figure it out herself. That curiosity was the entire reason why she became a skilled sorceress, and she certainly isn't going to stop being curious about things any time soon. Everything she encounters, she assumes has a perfectly valid scientific explanation, and oddities that don't line up with her experiences catch her attention quite easily. She is unimpressed by magic, but may be impressed by other magic [i]users[/i], depending on how unique their talents are. [b][i]Biography[/i][/b]: The 9th Gate is a rather pleasant place - Mgaaras waving about and reaching up from the pathways into the sky, Uxuvos racing to and fro through the air, spreading their phosphorescent radiance all about, and people of almost every species trying to get from one place to another. It is also a very difficult to manage place, and faces constant threats from every sort of thing imaginable and unimaginable while simultaneously having to worry about the increasingly difficult demands for transportation of modern life. A number of guard complexes, engineering complexes, and pseudocomputing complexes were built in the past Q'varat 55, and each of them has its own unique role to play in keeping everything running smoothly, lest the 9th Gate be absorbed by the 10th Gate, which is rapidly outpacing everything else in terms of power and growth. Marissa [s]is[/s] was the head Magician of one of the Engineering complexes, and was rather good at keeping her subordinates in line. On paper, at least. In truth, she was roughly as respected as a huvok'devaachk (some sort of squishy equivalent of a broken coffee mug swept into a sewer grate), and kept finding increasingly annoying magics blocking the door to her private garage. The Transplanar Laboratory down the hall, of course, had a solution - an altar that focused enormous amounts of existential energies in order to merely move from Point A to Point B instantaneously. She built one of her own out of schematics borrowed from the Transplanar Laboratory (being the head magician has its perks, after all), and summoned seven units of the Grand Brain to assist in the device's operation. It went smoothly for a week as she used it to transport herself to and from her office/garage and her tiny, worm-filled apartment. She made a massive error in judgment, however, when she programmed a set of vague and unusual coordinates into it, despite the protests of the Seven, resulting in being dumped in a completely unrelated place. The Tavern. [b][i]Likes[/i][/b]: Food. Cute things. Tentacled monstrosities. Being around people. Bad movies. Religion. Studying. Alcohol. Contradictory statements. [b][i]Dislikes[/i][/b]: Being around people. Tentacled monstrosities. REALLY bad movies. Studying. People who aren't pushy or curious enough. Politicians. Getting drunk. [b][i]Fears[/i][/b]: The dark, apparently. Being trapped in a small room until death by starvation or dehydration. Brain damage. Job interviews. Swimming. [b][i]Weaknesses[/i][/b]: Being called an idiot. Eldritch abominations. Strong alcohol. Bullets and sharp things (if they hit). Schedules. [b][i]Other[/i][/b]: All of her limbs have been upgraded to modern pseudo-organic cybernetic standards, and in the interest of preventing undue injury in the Lab, all truly vital areas are protected by a subdermal energy displacement mesh. Her species has a very high degree of organ redundancy.