[hider=Nika Pešek][center][img]https://i.imgur.com/GhKgawD.png[/img][/center] [b]Name:[/b] Nika Pešek [b]Age:[/b] 18 [hider=Bio] Nika Pešek was born an ordinary girl, or as ordinary a girl as one might find in Iliad City, where the rhythms of the Epic of Making echo as though it had been sung only minutes before. She found her start in life as the daughter of Pavel Pešek, a stoic, methodical crafter of armour, tools and weapons for the city’s elite – after all, no amount of industrial precision can improve upon the technical mastery, or ability to produce custom orders, of a mage-smith – and Atanasija Pešek, herself daughter of Pavel’s major supplier of raw materials with a finely honed business sense and a wicked sense of humour. Though a match primarily made for commercial reasons, the two found that they were not only a capable team but also emotionally complementary and quickly became a mutually reliant, perhaps some might even say loving, couple. Nika was thus born into a moderately wealthy household with two capable and affectionate parents. Things seemed to be looking up for her. For the first years, they were. Nika learned to take in information, manipulate it and communicate it quickly, picking up reading and writing earlier than most children and extrapolating concepts that she hadn’t learned elsewhere from her previous knowledge; indeed, one of her earliest memories is Atanasija’s delight (and Pavel’s horror) at her having figured out the basic premise behind foreign exchange trading. As such, when her parents announced that they were having a second child, she took quite a bit of reassuring that she wouldn’t lose out on affection as a result. In the end, though they did manage to convince her, it wouldn’t matter. For all the magic of the healers at the hospital and the advancements of modern medicine, Atanasija and her son died in childbirth when Nika was six. Life carried on. Pavel’s work continued, even if he couldn’t negotiate such good prices for his pieces as his wife used to be able to and often found himself waking to a pillow wet with tears. Nika still did relatively well in school, even if her mind, whose keenness let her understand what had happened better than many of her age, became clouded. Forward they marched. That cloud, however brewed lightning. Nika’s grief quickly became determination. Her mother was gone – and thus she had to make up for her loss through effort; so went her child’s reasoning. For all her father saw this and first tried to quell this feigned strength born of pain, then to channel it safely by having her help him in the forge, it only grew more powerful and all-consuming within her as she aged. Seeing that he had to do something, and also noticing her burgeoning magical ability, Pavel decided that it would be best to send Nika to one of Iliad City’s famous magical academies; there she might be able to find a place for herself, out of her mother’s shadow, he reasoned. Of the two, he decided to send her to Marduk; he had always liked the idea of the place more than Ishtar and, moreover, he felt that the sense of order there might be stabilising. Nika, of course, passed the entrance exam with flying colours and was thus enrolled at the Marduk Academy for the Mystic Arts at the age of twelve. Unfortunately, two things stood in the way of Marduk being a good place for Nika. Firstly, though Nika’s style of thinking was primarily logical and systematic, like the one that Marduk espoused, that logic was incisive rather than constructive or stabilising. Where Marduk sought to impose rules for its students to follow, Nika tried to prove them flawed or circumvent them as she believed right; where Marduk laid out a system of magic for its students to rely upon, Nika sought to tweak and customise it for her own ends. She quickly became known as a maverick to the staff and a smart-alec to her peers, though she was at worst a bit prickly to those who actually got to know her. Indeed, as a result of the second factor keeping her from aligning fully with Marduk, she didn’t have much focus left over to hurt anyone or engage in the school’s social landscape. Over the last few years, Nika’s goal had gradually shifted from filling the void that her mother had left in her and her father’s lives herself to simply bringing her mother back. She was a strong mage, after all, and stories abounded in this most storied of cities of strong mages challenging the dictates of fate and the natural order; why could she not do the same? Once she arrived at Marduk, she dived into the academy’s library, searching for ways in which that might be done. Necromancy Nika quickly dismissed; its abilities, she found, tended to be unpredictable, bringing about a facsimile of life as often as real life from beyond death. She would not risk her mother for that; she needed something predictable and consistent. Thus Nika turned to chronomancy; she borrowed some books on the subject, read them cover to cover and began to practice. Now, chronomancy is a stable magic, bound to some of the simplest rules of the universe, but it is also a highly dangerous one. Nearly every book Nika borrowed was filled with warnings and cautionary tales of mages freezing themselves in time only to be unable to think and thereby loose the spell or people being pushed into the wall of a slowed zone and being shredded into chunks as individual parts of their body sped up going through to the other side. For this reason, Marduk itself only typically teaches chronomancy as a subject in students’ final years and only then to those who have excelled elsewhere and are of a cautious, considered disposition, for they, in the staff’s opinion, are most able to approach it successfully. Nika? If it was dangerous for her to use it on people, she reasoned, she’d just do so with objects instead. That’s what she’d been doing for most of her life, after all. Taking a dozen books on chronomancy out of the school library over the course of a term would have obviously raised some alarm bells with the librarians anyway but the school really took notice when Nika began using her new magic in her practical Elemental Magic classes, hastening the velocity of her projectiles to a degree that became suspicious to her teacher in the subject. Of course, when he asked her, she told him exactly what she was doing; there wasn’t any sense in hiding what wasn’t wrong in her eyes. This gave him sufficient cause to raise it with the remainder of the staff and, before long, Nika found herself embroiled in something that wasn’t quite a disciplinary process, given that this wasn’t [i]against[/i] the rules, [i]per se[/i]. The school, meanwhile, was left with the problem that Nika had apparently been skilful enough to use chronomancy on her own and would undoubtedly carry on using it, potentially endangering herself and others, but to let her do so publicly might be seen as condoning it generally and cause the rest of the student body to plunge headfirst into the discipline. The solution that they came up with was to prohibit Nika from using her chronomantic spells in her regular school life until she was able to take chronomancy as a regular class but to assign her private tutoring with the specialist teacher who taught it as a subject, one Doctor Hannah Baumann, up to that point alongside it. Irritated but with little choice in the matter, Nika complied – at school; when she was at home she continued her practice – and started attending the sessions. These became the major reason that she stayed at Marduk. For all that she chafed at the school’s more structuralist tendencies, Dr Baumann, a patient, analytical and empathetic soul, in line with the archetype of most chronomancers, had a disposition that was perfect for focussing Nika’s passion. It was she who, deconstructing Nika’s understanding of chronomancy, tailored their private lessons to expanding that ability to its fullest; she, alongside Nika herself, is responsible for guiding her to alter her frame of reference to move objects in space by moving them backwards and forwards in time. The two have developed a close bond over the years, one that they retained even after Nika joined her class properly a few years later; from the outside looking in, one might even regard her as a mother figure. Nika would be horrified at this perception. She hasn’t forgotten her original goal, not in the slightest, and, even as darkness begins to suffuse Iliad City, it remains her foremost objective. Now eighteen, only a few months from graduating, she believes that she has all the power and prowess that she needs to return Atanasija Pešek to her life. The long wait, years of lost connection, could be over, if only she can end them. It’s time to see if she’s up to the task.[/hider] [hider=Mundane Skills] [indent][i]- Forge Adept:[/i] Nika spent much of her life with her father, watching him ply his trade as well as helping out in various places and, increasingly, moulding the iron herself. Though she was around his forge less and less as she grew up and attended the academy, she’s still a capable mage-smith with the understanding necessary to craft tools and weapons, though, unlike her father, she is less capable of producing high-quality armour.[/indent] [indent][i]- Chase-Cutting Mind:[/i] Nika rarely takes the difficult path, not because it is difficult but because it tends to be slow. This sometimes means following in others’ footsteps and putting in little effort of her own but, as a dynamic thinker, if she feels that current solutions aren’t superior to what she can come up with herself, she’ll take the latter and damn the consequences. This combination of apparent laziness and maverick puts her somewhat at odds with the traditionalist factions of the Marduk Academy but gets her the results she wants quickly and occasionally in places that others could not.[/indent][/hider] [hider=Magic] [u]Chronomancy[/u] [indent][i]- Revert:[/i] Nika is capable of moving an object, objects that once were an object or several objects conceptualised either as one or a collection of objects, other than herself, backwards or forwards in time up to the first or last point that she interacted with it/them. She may not do so to other sapient beings unless they are willing or unconscious. Once this process begins, she may not chronomantically influence anything else until she halts it and lets time resume for the objects in question.[/indent] [indent][indent][i]- Recall:[/i] By changing the frame of reference within with she uses her reversion, Nika can cause something to move backwards or forwards in time spatially relative to other things, effectively allowing her limited control over their spatial position, with all the limitations of her usual reversion. Nika’s signature ability, this allows her to do such things as summon things of importance to her person and perform tricks not dissimilar to those of a telekinetic.[/indent][/indent] [u]Enhancement/Enchantment[/u] [indent][i]- Magic Infusion:[/i] Nika has an excellent grasp of basic enhancement magic to change a material’s properties like weight and strength, as might be expected from a mage-smith’s daughter, and is fairly skilled at transmutation, changing an object’s fundamental nature. She is far more capable in altering inanimate objects in these ways as opposed to living matter; moreover, doing so takes more energy, focus and time the more complex the alteration or larger or more complex the object being altered is.[/indent] [indent][indent][i]- Disintegrate:[/i] By lowering a material’s ability to resist stress to close to nothing, Nika is able to cause a small object to crumble to a powder, an ability she learned from her father as a necessity for creating alloys. Doing so takes more energy, focus and time the larger or more chemically complex the object is.[/indent][/indent] [indent][i]- Spell Infusion:[/i] Nika is able to place spells into objects, either for one-time use or indefinite reactivation (with more energy, focus and time) by either herself alone or anyone. She can do this with her own spells or, with their help, can infuse objects with the spells of someone else according to her own design. Should the spell have a cost in energy, this is drawn from the original caster of the spell upon the item’s activation.[/indent] [u]Elemental Magic[/u] [indent][i]- Temperature Manipulation:[/i] Nika has been able to magically heat and cool materials from an early age – taught it by her father, given its crucial role for a mage-smith – and, like her father, is particularly good at raising small and mid-sized objects to very hot temperatures. Naturally, Nika was a little smug at being already adept with this in her early years at Marduk while her classmates were still studying the less advanced pyromantic magics.[/indent] [indent][i]- Metal Manipulation:[/i] Nika is able to telekinetically move and reshape small amounts of metal with a heightened level of precision, again taught by her father as a vital aspect of mage-smithing. Given that she was taught to do so with heated metal and rarely uses the skill outside the forge, she finds reshaping non-molten metals more difficult than a mage of her ability otherwise would.[/indent] [indent][i]- Elemental Generalism:[/i] Though she prefers the versatility of channelling and refocussing the magic of others into objects to supplement her own spellcasting ability, Nika did go through the basic Elemental Magic courses at Marduk and is thus able to summon and project small amounts of fire, summon and manipulate small amounts of water, manipulate small amounts of air, manipulate small amounts of rock or earth and summon small amounts of light.[/indent] [/hider] [hider=Infused Items]Nika has infused several items with magic and spells and stored them in the basement of her house. By recalling them through time with herself (or her gauntlet) as the frame of reference, she can summon them to her person, use them as she wishes, then return them to storage. [indent][i]- Receptor Gauntlet:[/i] A somewhat crude gauntlet, made largely of steel enchanted for lightness and strength and padded with linen, with four midsized tubes built into the outer structure; each has an lip attached to an end that unscrews from its tube. Internally, a chain connects each finger to a lever within each tube, enabling the activation of non-magical mechanisms. Nika has forged this to act as a framework for use of several of her infused items; by placing them within the tubes, storing them and then moving them backwards through time using the gauntlet as the frame of reference, she can summon them for immediate use without having to worry about accidentally getting them stuck inside an errant limb.[/indent] [indent][indent][i]- Blasting Pipes:[/i] Steel tubes enchanted for lightness and strength, each containing a unique firing mechanism activated by its internal lever, pre-loaded with a single round/material and rifled where it is useful. After activation, Nika may revert the pipe and round to their original state, ready to fire again.[/indent][/indent] [indent][indent][i]-Wax Rounds (4):[/i] Shoots small arms bullets made of wax; intended to subdue.[/indent][/indent] [indent][indent][i]- Standard Rounds (4):[/i] Shoots regular small arms bullets secretly acquired from her father’s stock; for potential future lethal engagements.[/indent][/indent] [indent][indent][i]- Fire Siphon (1):[/i] Uses an infused water spell to displace a naptha-based fuel through a nozzle. A small flame is generated in front of the nozzle when Nika activates the non-magical trigger, allowing her to use it as a flamethrower; if not, she may simply spray the fuel and ignite it with her fire magic.[/indent][/indent] [indent][indent][i]- Switch-Sword (1):[/i] Takes up the two central tubes for purposes of stability and consists of a thin box of steel, infused for lightness and strength, mounted above them. An infused water spell may generate water to extend what is effectively a shortened estoc blade, infused for lightness and strength and used primarily for stabbing.[/indent][/indent] [indent][indent][i]- Regenerating Shield (1):[/i] This takes up the two central tubes for purposes of stability and is mid-sized, flat and circular. Made of a single sheet of steel, it would likely be too heavy for Nika to use effectively were it not infused for lightness, as well as for strength; it is also infused with a chronomantic spell that slowly reverts damage done to it upon activation by its user.[/indent][/indent] [indent][indent][i]- Manipulator Arms (4):[/i] A simple arm-like construct with a claw at the end, made of steel infused for lightness and strength. Nika uses these to help her work on her various projects, as well as to practice either her fine chronomancy or non-molten metal manipulation.[/indent][/indent] [indent][i]- Self-Repairing Truncheon:[/i] A simple cudgel made of oak infused for strength, infused with a chronomantic spell that automatically reverts damage done to it.[/indent] [indent][i]- Chronomagnetic Generator:[/i] A fist-sized mechanism that uses a combination of a solenoid, a magnet and infused chronomantic magic to generate electricity at a rate desired by the user. Nika created this as a project for her practical chronomancy class and, though it isn’t especially better than just using a battery, she has kept it for sentimental reasons.[/indent] [hider=Potential Future Infused Items] [indent][i]- Blasting Pipes:[/i][/indent] [indent][indent][i]- Stun-Strike Wire (1):[/i] Launches a wire infused with electromantic magic provided by another mage; used to stun.[/indent][/indent] [indent][i]- Lifeguard Amulet:[/i] An amulet worn on the body. Should its wearer be close to death, the amulet drains the remaining energy from them. After a few minutes, it generates a protective layer of water, lifts them into the air so as to get them clear of obstacles and then reverts them to a few minutes prior to their death. The amulet at this point breaks from the strain, which also alerts the wearer to what has happened.[/indent] [indent][i]- Self-Repairing Armour:[/i] Armour infused with a chronomantic spell that slowly reverts damage done to it upon activation by its user.[/indent][/hider][/hider] [b]Personality:[/b] Nika never quite got over her grief for her mother’s passing; somewhere in her heart it still burns, flaring up every so often to remind her of the absence. This she treats as motivation; for this reason she is a profoundly determined young woman, used to self-sacrifice and putting off immediate pleasures for longer-term goals. She is also perhaps a little conceited and overly trusting in her own capabilities. These factors mean that she has few friends; to those she trusts, however, she is loyal and demands their loyalty in return. Most of all, though, she is quick-minded, never failing to take an option that others would consider ‘easy’ if she believes it wouldn’t be a detriment to herself and then squeezing it dry for every single benefit she possibly can (though Dr Baumann has managed to ease her towards rating long-term gains and forward planning a little more highly) and, in the same vein, cutting through pre-existing thought if she believes that she’s found a better way. She’ll make it work. She always has. [b]Faction:[/b] Marduk by schooling, though her philosophy is far less one of structure for order’s sake than structure (imposed by others or herself) for convenience’s sake. [b]Are you a Descendant of the Illuminated Poet?:[/b] No[/hider]