[b]Name:[/b] Mother Astraea

[b]Age:[/b] 19

[b]Height/Weight:[/b] 5ft 11, 140lbs

[b]Race:[/b] Pure blood Lanostran

[b]Appearance:[/b]
[img]https://i.pinimg.com/736x/9f/f8/29/9ff829ffb8431c5c4bab963bd15dd617--book-characters-fantasy-characters.jpg[/img]
Astraea's body like her mind and past is full of conflict. Her facial features are marked only by a beauty spot on her right cheek. She looks pure and untainted, long silver blonde hair flowing to her shoulders but there is a hint of pride and arrogance in the strength of her brow. 

The purity of her features clash horribly with her body which bears the bumps and scuffs of a lifetime training for war. Her fathers beatings were savage and relentless and she bears the marks of scars and breaks from years of training. Nevertheless through her survival her physique was moulded to be strong and lean allowing her to move and fight with a perfect mixture of pace and power.

Her eyes are deep emerald seeming to dance with each emotion like leaves on the wind. 

[b]Background: [/b]

[i]... yet when the full might of the Varyan armies was revealed the Lady knew there was no hope of victory, only valiant and noble defeat.  Her anger was terrible to behold for she knew that she was stronger than the Ravenous One yet she could not harm him. She knew her people could deal a crippling blow to the Ravenous one's forces but at the price of their complete annihilation. 

She raged in her chambers for many days yet her love for her people was too strong and she made her sacrifice so we might live.

Remember her last words to us:
"The warrior does not retreat he redeploys"

Extract from The Lady's Sacrifice by Sofia[/i]

These final words are ingrained in Lanostran culture and are interpreted in different ways. Many took it as the Lady's instruction not to fight on but to survive and assimilate into Varyan culture, accepting the place in society her sacrifice bought. However there is an extra part to the text that was taken out in the reprinted versions that are now sold today.

"It is said that the fallen tears of those that watched our Lady surrender bloomed into flowers at their feet. They bloom to this day as a sign that our Lady still lives."

These words suggest a more literal inflection to the Lady's words and it is for this reason the text was quickly considered heretical. Copies were seized and destroyed yet many were saved and smuggled away to remain at the heart of the sect better known as The Lady's Anger (henceforth to be referred to as the sect).

They agreed upon assimilation but with eyes for seeding themselves through the Varyan hierarchy (particularly the military) and eventual revolution. Though this sect had strong support to begin with, when the anger and hurt of defeat was still burning brightly, it has begun to dwindle after two decades of propaganda, peace and prosperity. 

Lanostrans eyes have been opened to new worlds and new cultures that are in many ways more inviting and inclusive than the closed military culture of the Lady. Intelligence and ambition is now regarded above pure strength and honour and, to the disgust of the sect, Lanostran's have even bred with filth from other countries. Members of the sect keep strictly to the old ways leaving them arrogant and prejudiced, isolating them further from the people they claim to represent. Nevertheless due to their rigid and incredibly effective training programme they remain the best soldiers with the Varyan Armies and as such rise to the top.

Nevertheless the sect is currently in a time of crisis. They have achieved their mission of infiltrating the upper echelons of Varyan society and are ready for revolution yet despite their best efforts they are loosing the people. Do they compromise their ideals and approach other cultures, accept half breeds and even pure filth into their midst in the aim of freeing the Lady or continue to hold true to their beliefs with no hope of anything beyond a violent but noble death.

Mother Astraea was born into two parents that were both strong supporters of The Lady's Anger and as such was raised believing the inferiority of other people and the need for revolution. Her parents trained her in the old ways to be a clinical warrior and as tradition dictates she was sent out on her journey into the wastelands to kill a daemon.

Unlike other children she feared her first kill remembering the pain and anguish she had felt when she had first cut a young boy with whom she was sparring. His howl was primal but his pain had almost crippled her and the beatings her father had imbued upon her for not pressing her advantage had done little to numb her fear.

With nothing but spear and shield she advanced into the wasteland. Silence and speed her best weapon yet the daemon had outfoxed her. It came at her from nowhere knocking her spear to the ground and only her speed and shield prevented her from taking a mortal wound. Even as they circled the daemon taking care to keep himself in front of her spear she felt a single emotion like the drumming of a heart.

HateHateHateHateHate

She had never felt the like of it. She had felt fear and anger, happiness and sadness but never pure mindless hate. It filled her with a strength she had never known and with no weapon she attacked. Her loathing spurred her forward the shield knocking his claw aside her foot crashing into the daemons flank driving it backwards towards the rocks. Then her spear was in her hand and even as the daemons back hit rock she threw.

This was the one kill she would never regret. She has μισώ (greek for hate) tatoo'd on her neck on the left hand side to remind her that where people hated she would always find the strength to fight back.

[b]Personality: [/b]
If Astraea had been born into another family she would never have picked up a weapon. Her very ether glows with a warm empathy that moves her with great passions and emotions that are unsuited for the battlefield. Nevertheless she was born and raised a pureblood Lanostran and so had a weapon placed in her hand as soon as she was strong enough to hold one. 

She was drilled not to feel yet she is an individual whose very ether breathes empathy. 
She was drilled to cause pain, yet her ether is designed to heal. 
She was drilled to hate when all she wanted was to love.

She weeps openly as she flows across the battlefield with a sinuous lethal grace and though she tells her fellow inquisitors she weeps for the joy of battle it is because the pain and death that comes with any conflict causes her such pain she feels her heart might break.  She is a deeply conflicted individual as easy to love as she is to hate for though she is empathetic and kind at heart; her upbringing not only drilled her to be a disciplined and skilled warrior but also to harbour a scathing distaste for anyone not of pure Lanostran blood.

[b]Talents/Ethereal Abilities:[/b]
Pureblood Lastronan: Lastronans are deadly warriors trained in combat from a young age. Astraea has been trained to kill unarmed and armed in one of the more brutal and effective military training regimes. She is a highly disciplined and skilled warrior imbued with a code of strength and honour that can also be her undoing. A match for almost all in straight combat underhand tactics are dismissed by her with scorn and derision.

Ether Empath: Astraea's natural ether bathes in her a warm glow, nevertheless it seems to crave the presence of others and burn strongest when they are feeling stronger emotions. Astraea can naturally sense and feel others moods as if they were her own. 

Healer: Astraea was thought to be without an ethereal ability all through her life and it was the source of many beatings from her father who tried to push her empathetic ether down a destructive path. Her true talent was only revealed when she left her fathers instruction to enter the Red Seminary where her empathy was no longer suppressed and downtrodden but accepted and understood.  It was discovered to her great suprise and joy that Astraea has the ability to heal the majority of wounds and she is working hard to improve that skill. It is in healing that her real personality seems to appear. Mid battle she will get the opportunity to repair some of the damage she does to the world and help her fellows and she takes it eagerly her tears drying up as she places her hand upon the wound embracing the opportunity to repair some of the damage she has caused.

Orator: Astraea is not only able to sense others emotions but also instil a little of her own through her words ( I must stress she can't make anyone do anything only feel what she is feeling). 

This is a gift she has kept closely guarded due to her own religious confusion however it comes out particularly in her healing as a form of anaesthetic. As she heals the wound she feels such joy at being able to help that as she talks to the individual she pushes that sensation across numbing pain and giving the patient a similar sense of euphoria. She keeps the fact closely guarded and pretends it is part of the healing experience for fear of what it may lead too (a heretical inquisitor would not be treated kindly) Nevertheless this power can come across unintentionally when she is feeling particularly strong emotions.

[b]Personal Seal:[/b] Astraea's official seal is a blue hand with an open palm where the white lifelines make up a trident. The hand is representative of her position as a healer and the trident her heritage.

[hider=Character Relationships]
[b]Father Ragnar[/b][@lovejoy]
Astraea was very confused by Father Ragnar from the moment she met him. Before she had even introduced herself she had felt uncontrollable anger and intollerable pain. She had avoided him as much as she could but when it became clear their paths were linked for the forseeable future she attempted to bite the bullet. She tried to be nice battling against his emotions even as they lit a fire in her brain yet he responded with forced civility. It took immense quantities of an extremely potent liquor for Astraea to learn the reason for his dislike yet sadly this only increased her contempt for him. Though she understood and wept for his pain his hatred of her was incomprehensible. Had her parents been killed by a Varyan she would have focused her attention on the individual Varyan and removed his head or died in the attempt thus putting to rest her families debt. To hate an entire race because of the actions of a small group showed a petty and weak nature she could neither understand nor accept. For the good of the unit Astraea accepts and returns Ragnar's curt civility though the mix of his loathing for her and her contempt for him means it takes immense self control to still her hand from reaching for her spear.

It helps Ragnar is the protector of the group and as such she is duty bound to protect him from harm or they all shall perish. She has never been one to desert her duty!

[b]Father Rodion[/b] [@Drakey]:
Lanostre has never been a technologically advanced place and so Rodion mixes Astraea with a sense of wonder and contempt. On the one hand his ability is truly incredible and he has created things that have made her break into spomtaneous applause. On the other without his little toys she could flip him over and spank his backside with a hand tied behind her back. What honour is there in such a man?

Astraea finds it deeply soothing to watch Rodion work for when fully concentrating he is almost completely devoid of emotion which allows her to relax and enjoy her own emotions for a change. Nevertheless with Ragnar following him round like a lost puppy she withdrew yet with the distance growing in their relationship Astraea has begun to return to enjoy the tranquility.

[b]Father Hassan [/b][@Sisyphus] ( I very much agree tough one so I'll begin with this. Feel free to pm me)
As an empath Astraea is the only person that truly knows Hasaan's underlying fear and that the cocky boy act is just an act. They began as good friends Hasaan cocky and good natured on the surface but always fearful. It was only when Hasaan discovered her gift that he began to pull away terrified that she would tell someone else his true nature. Nevertheless despite the fact that she would not ever tell anyone the damage was already done.

Hasaan struggled to be himself around her and as he became more involved in the arts of stealth and secrecy she began to loose respect for him. On the face of it they are friendly and cordial but there is a slight tension running between them.

[b]Father Yerokhin [/b][@The Angry Goat] 
Astraea feels the greatest kinship with Father Yerokhin, who as the group tank, needs the most healimg and is the most honourable combatant of any Varyan she has ever known. He is a true test to spar with and is the only one to ask her of daemons and accompany her to hunt. At 7ft if he had green eyes and an elfish smile her mother would have had them wed before tea time yet his brutish Varyan features are unappealing to her prejudiced eyes.

Nevertheless she adores time sparring with Yerokhin whose emotions and words never vary, a quality she deeply admires.  Her fondest memory of the Red Seminary is the afternoon they spent trying to develop a one shot kill on an opposing protector. The theory was she grab onto his belt as he barrels foward with his shield extended knocking people aside. He retracts his shield as she use the momentum to leap and throw her spear. She almost lost her front teeth Yerokhin nearly lost his head but Astraea had never laughed so hard in her life.


Despite the fun she is terrified that he may figure out her secret for she struggles to match his Varyan devotion which is unwavering and unquestioning. She continues to flee before being drwawn back in by a new challenge yet it seems he is also wary and occassionally he is understandably curt and irritable. 

Her greatest fear is that on the day of the revolution she will need to put her spear through Yerokhin's heart to free her Lady
[b]Mother Ziotea[/b][@shylarah]
For many year Astraea enjoyed dismantling Ziotea in a variety of ways on the battlefield and off. Though Ziotea has a fiery toughness Astraea was born and raised in a strict martial code and her experience allowed her all the advantage she needed. She took it to brutal effect, indignant at Ziotea's insistance she was half Lanostran- as if any true Lanostran would consort with a mere slave.... I mean by the Lady she didn't even have green eyes. Add to that her blatant disrespect for the Lady and Ziotea's fiery temper, which in turn through her empath nature riled Astraea even more, she enjoyed the perpetual humiliation of putting her in her place. Nevertheless over time Ziotea's power grew and even as Astraea prepared to humiliate Ziotea in a new fashion she was caught by a concussive blast of such force that it smashed her against the wall. Since that day things have been more even between them and with Ziotea's power continuing to grow Astraea is mentally preparing herself to reap the savage rewards of her own cruelty. Regardless she will not bend!

[b]Mother Tatiana[/b][@oppositionJ]
Astraea cannot comprehend how anyone can consort with daemons, beings of purest hatred let alone control and manipulate them, who knows what foul pacts must be made. As such she treats Tatiana with scepticism and is far less apologetic about reading her emotions than the other inquisitors. She is waiting for the slightest sign of that hatred to appear in Tatiana at which point she will take matters into her own hands and honourably end her life. Nevertheless the presence of Tatiana does have a beneficial affect on Astraea for when a daemon is present the pure hatred of the daemon is a lock Astraea can fix upon helping her to numb the pain and anger that comes with battle and pushing her forward against the enemy.

[/hider]